Italian Three Cheese Chicken Cutlets Over Pasta

 Today was a lazy day that consisted of sitting home, drinking beer and watching football. Not the kids, mind you- just us drinking the beer. It turned into the type of day where I wanted to make something quick and easy, using what I already had in the house.  Chicken cutlets and bread crumbs - CHECK! Three different types of cheeses, homemade sauce and pasta - CHECK! It was quick, yummy, and easy - plus, I cleaned out some of the refrigerator. I served the dish over pasta, but if you have some Italian bread in the house - serve it up as sandwiches!

Italian Three Cheese Chicken Cutlets Over Pasta (Serves 2)


 2 5-6 oz chicken cutlets
1/2 cup of Italian style bread crumbs
1/2 box of Penne pasta (8 oz)
1/4 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup of shredded Mozzarella cheese

1/4 cup of shredded Romano cheese 
1 16 oz can of crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce (season with 1 Tsp garlic & 1 Tsp oregano)
3 TBSP olive oil

Directions
Heat olive oil in pan on medium heat. Combine chicken cutlets and breading in a Ziploc baggy; shake to coat. You can refrigerate for 5 minutes to help the bread crumbs stick to the cutlet. Add breaded cutlets to heated pan, turning ever 4 minutes until cooked. Cook approximately 20  minutes, depending on the thickness of the chicken. Heat and season sauce in separate pan. Boil pasta and drain when finished. When chicken is almost complete, spoon tomato sauce over cutlet to cover; then evenly distribute three cheeses to the cutlets. Serve when melted - approximately 7-8 minutes. You can add more cheese if necessary. Add remaining sauce to pasta and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and a pinch of oregano. Serve cutlets over pasta.

Breakfast at Pillsbury's

It is simply amazing the gems you can find on the back of a Pillsbury wrapper. I was looking for some plain old pizza dough when I came across Crescent Recipe Creations. Curious, I inspected the tube to see if they had recipes to match the scrumptious picture on the labels and luckily, they did. Behold....the amazing Bacon-Cheese Tartlet!

Here's the recipe, but I must warn you, the dough was kind of a pain to work with....don't fret if you can't get the dough to stretch over the muffin pan grooves. I kept strecthing it over and it kept shrinking back. It made no difference! My husband ate 6 of them and refused to share with the kiddies.

Bacon and Cheese Tartlets

1 can Pillsbury Crescent Recipe Creations

1/3 cup shredded cheese - Swiss, Cheddar - whatever you love!

1/4 cooked chopped bacon ( I subbed turkey bacon)

1 TBSP chopped onion

1 Egg

3 TBSP whipping/heavy cream

Cut the dough into 12 square and gently press into mini muffin pan cups, shaping up and over the edges. Whip the cream with the egg. Spoon cheese into cups. Top with bacon and onions. Add a TBSP of egg mix to each cup. Add left over bacon and onions. Bake in oven at 350 for 15-20 minutes. Remove and let cook for 5 minutes. Enjoy!

I fully intend to play around with this recipe to make it more low fat. I did not add cheese to mine, as I am not a cheese person. I subbed turkey bacon for regular full fat. I am going to try plain egg whites to see how it comes out, maybe subbing bacon with Morning Star forms sausage patties, crumbled. I also want to try and make pizza bites, using mozzarella and fresh tomato. Ahh, the possibilities!