And lucky for me, he never complains about doing the dishes.

Continuing down the road of hubby-favorites...it's been pretty obvious lately that chicken parm needed to be in the mix this week. The look of desire/jealousy on his face while watching the new Carl's Jr. Parmesan Chicken Sandwich commercials has spoken volumes.

Side note. Being in advertising—a woman in advertising, in particular—I'm supposed to hate the Carl's Jr. (Hardee's for you East Coasters) commercials. I don't. I think they're genius. They have no qualms with marketing directly to the caveman, and make no apologies for it. I respect that. It's obviously effective. And let's face it...if you have to eat fast food, it's the best there is. Even the protein burger (no bun for moi) is deliciously messy. If you're gonna eat fat kid fast-food, go for the gold and get something that drips down your arm. Don't fake the funk like you're eating something healthy just because you look refined while eating it. Seriously, you're not fooling anyone.

So yes, Chicken Parm is one of the hubby's faves, which I'm glad about, cause I love it. Cheesy Italian comfort food? Done. I struggle to keep it reasonably low-fat, cause cheese really is one of the best things about it. But I do my best. Tonight was also hard because I made my half without the delicious herbed-cheese breading, and then got to watch him eat his between two slices of sourdough. He's lucky I love him.


Chicken Parmesan
12oz chicken breast tenders
olive oil
a couple cloves garlic, minced
1/4 red onion, chopped
1 jar marinara sauce (whatever you like)
small pour balsamic vinegar (1-2 tsps)
small handful basil, thinly sliced
2 slices provolone cheese, quartered
2 tbsp parmesan cheese
4 servings hot cooked pasta

Chicken breading (optional):
egg, beaten
Italian breadcrumbs, about a 1/4 cup
big pinch dried basil
big pinch dried oregano
big pinch parmesan cheese
salt and pepper

Heat a large splash of olive oil (about a tbsp) in a large skillet over medium high heat. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper and garlic powder. If you want to bread them, skip the sprinkling and dip tender in egg, then dip/roll in breadcrumb mix til well covered. Either way, then arrange chicken in skillet and brown each side for about 3 minutes. Remove chicken from pan and keep warm.

Heat a bit more oil in skillet. Saute onion and garlic about 2 minutes. Add marinara sauce, balsamic vinegar and basil, bring to simmer. Add chicken, reduce to low and cover. Once chicken is reheated, arrange provolone across the chicken and sprinkle with parmesan. Cover, turn off heat and let sit about five minutes or until melted. Serve over pasta. Serves four.
About 450 cals (including pasta), 9g fat, 4g fiber, 61g carbs, 27g protein

If you want the husband version, toast some sourdough, throw on some extra provolone and spoon on chicken and sauce. Eat while making happy noises as your wife stares longingly at your sandwich.

Yum. He even got real pasta. Lucky, lucky man.