Freezer Friday - Chicken parmesan

One of our favorite freezer recipes is Chicken Parmesan. Everyone likes it. 

Here is the recipe from my mom:

Chicken Parmesan 

2 egg whites

1 tablespoon water

1 large garlic clove, minced

½ cup dry bread crumbs

¼ cup Parmesan cheese

1 ½ teaspoons Italian Seasoning

¼ teaspoon salt

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts - (pounded thin)

1 tablespoon olive oil

4 oz. grated mozzarella cheese

½ cup heated pizza sauce 

Whisk egg whites in bowl with water until foamy. Stir in garlic. Mix breadcrumbs, Parmesan and seasonings in shallow bowl. Dip chicken in egg whites then in crumbs. Repeat. Heat 1 ½ tablespoon of olive oil in skillet, add chicken. Cook for 4 minutes until golden brown. Add remaining oil to pan and turn chicken over. Cook 4 minutes longer or until cooked through. Top each chicken breast with cheese and cook until melted. Transfer to serving dish and drizzle with sauce.

This is how I adapt it for the freezer: 

I cook an obnoxious amount (usually about 10 pounds), but at the end of the day you have several dinners but the same amount of dirty dishes. Once the chicken is browned on both sides, instead of covering it with sauce I let it cool slightly on the cooling racks. Then you know the drill, the pans go into the freezer to freeze them quickly. Once they are frozen I put the amount my family will eat into labeled gallon size Ziploc bags and then right back into the freezer. 

When we are ready to eat I put the frozen chicken into a baking dish and cook @ 350 for 30-45 minutes (can vary depending on thickness of chicken). Towards the end of cooking I put the sauce and mozzarella cheese on. This keeps them nice and crispy, not soggy. Sometimes we just eat them plain with no sauce.  I love having these in the freezer, they are so tasty and really freeze well. Be sure to use fresh, not previously frozen chicken.  

I really need to learn to take better pics - these don't look very appetizing, but man they smell and taste so good. 

Pin It

I remember.

 This has been an emotional week. Every time I start thinking about 9/11 I start to cry. I know it's partly lack of sleep (hello cross-country 4:40 a.m. carpool) and baby hormones, but the loss of all of those lives has really affected me this week. I was grateful we could go to Tempe's Healing Field and walk around tonight. They have one flag to remember each life lost. Nearly three thousand. Very touching.

Freezer Friday - Raspberry Lime Rickey

I love yummy punch. Mel's Kitchen cafe blog has a delicious recipe for Raspberry Lime Rickey. Here's a quick idea to make it ahead and make life easy on party day. You can also take advantage of a good sale. (Raspberries are on sale this week at Albertsons for 99 cents). 

Just follow the recipe. I did a quadruple batch. When it was cooled off, I put 2 cups of the syrup into freezer quart size bags. Lay the bags flat in the freezer and smile because now you can have yummy punch when ever the mood hits you. I like to serve one bag in a punch bowl filled with Sonic Ice, a 2 liter of Sprite and some lime slices.