What a delicious week! When I saw that our country was Italy, I wondered how we would ever choose a meal. Ultimately, it came down to something easy. I am in the midst of planting my summer garden, and I needed something my son could make. He hates gardening and gladly volunteered to cook instead of plant! I’m thankful that they enjoy cooking and love flavorful, interesting food. They haven’t always been that way-we went through the normal toddler stuff! But as they got older and my husband and my tastes got more varied as well, theirs also did. Trey is 14 (almost 15) and used to say that he wanted to be a chef. He loves to experiment with cooking. So I was thrilled that he made this meal all by himself!
We decided on chicken parmesan, some penne noodles with homemade alfredo sauce (one of our absolute favorites), and a salad.
For the chicken parmesan, we used boneless breasts and pounded them down a little thinner. Then he did a dredge of egg and then a parmesan/garlic powder/Italian bread crumb mixture. He fried them in some olive oil so the outside was brown and then placed them in a baking dish. On top, he put a spoonful of our homemade canned spaghetti sauce (I’ll blog that recipe this summer when I’m canning) and some mozzarella cheese. He then baked it in the oven on 350 degrees until the chicken was done throughout and the cheese was nice and melty.
For the alfredo sauce, this is our favorite recipe that we’ve used for years:
Alfredo Sauce
Ingredients:
1 pint heavy cream
1 stick butter
2 TBSP cream cheese
1 1/2 cups parmesan cheese
1 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
Instructions:
- On medium-high heat, combine heavy cream, butter, and cream cheese. Let simmer and cook until melted and smooth, stirring frequently.
- When the mixture starts to bubble, stir in parmesan cheese and garlic powder.
- Reduce heat to medium-low and let it simmer for about 5-10 minutes. You want it thick enough to coat a spoon when you dip it.
- Season it with salt and pepper and serve over your hot pasta.
We loved this meal and gave it a:
8.5/10
You can’t go wrong with most Italian food!
The Gephardts 