Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Chicken Parm is the new Spaghetti

A long time ago I started making baked spaghetti.  My kids loved it, and it became one of those meals you could make in your sleep.  It's entirely possible that I did make it in my sleep a time or two.  And it is so fast, I could make it start to table in 25 mins.  We ate it about 3 times a month, and for a while, my kids took the leftovers to school in their lunches.

I posted the recipe here.

When we needed a little break from baked spaghetti, I wanted to replace it in our dinner rotation with something equally as quick and easy to make.  The kids kept suggesting Chicken Parmesan so I've been making something that the kids all eat and is still ready in a flash.  Because ready or not, baseball season is here.

Ingredients:
1 pkg frozen chicken patties
1 regular jar Prego Traditional
1 sm can tomato sauce
2 small zuchinni sliced
2 c mozzarella cheese, grated
dried oregano, basil, and minced onion to taste
salt, garlic powder to taste

Because this recipe is designed for "fast" and "brainless activity" I buy it all canned, jarred, pre-packaged, and frozen.  Sorry.  Don't judge. And feel free to do what works for you.

1. Lay out the frozen chicken patties like this:





(That small pan?  That's what Bubba eats. All by himself.)

2.  Heat the spaghetti sauce and tomato sauce in a medium sauce pan.  Add the desired amount of spices.


3. When the sauce is all bubbly and warm, pour it over the chicken patties.  Layer the zucchini slices over the sauce and top with cheese.  I probably use a bit less than 2 c. of cheese.  Just add as much as you like.

(I haven't added the cheese to Bubba's yet.)

4.  Bake at 350° for 40 mins our until the cheese is melted and the sauce is bubbly.  We serve with a salad and a side of noodles.  This meal is probably 45 mins start to table.

What is your favorite, go-to, it's baseball night, mom has a headache, crowd pleasing recipe?




4 comments:

Anonymous said...

This is a fabulous question... Spaghetti is a great one. Or tacos. Those are the two I'm thinking of... Or Taco salad.

Anonymous said...

Are those chicken patties breaded?

Anonymous said...

Are those chicken patties breaded?

Jenni at talking hairdryer said...

Yes, because, kids :)

We've thought about putting a couple of pieces of grilled chicken in their for the grown ups, but that requires me to thaw and grill chicken.