"Parmesan" Chicken & Life's Analogies

How can I accurately describe my life? I have often compared my life to the Monster’s University race, where Mike Wizowsky and Sully are racing while being pelted with body deforming orbs. Life is a race with challenges constantly being thrown at you, and regardless you have to finish the race – even with body altering orb impediments.

Here’s another description I recently shared with Dear Husband. My life is like a game of Chutes and Ladders. You plug along until you get to the top of the board, then unexpectedly you hit one of those mega long slides which sets you back, and you have to start all over from the beginning. Mind you there are also the huge ladders (hooray!). All the simchas and fantastic things happen too. Such a great analogy – right?

SO, what’s with all the drama? This happened…right after Rosh Hashanah. Sigh. No kickboxing for a while I guess….

Look Mom…No hands! (But at least my nails look good!)

However…I did manage to make some incredibly yummy chicken even while impaired! To console myself over my miserable condition, I took a field trip to Whole Foods. Now for some people, that may not be their idea of fun, but me…I LOVE perusing the aisles of nearly any store looking for new and exciting products. I also wanted to see if there were any major changes since Amazon took over the store (not so many). While checking out the vegan cheese section, I came across Dairy Free Parmesan Cheese by one of my favorite companies Follow Your Heart!!!

Now I’m the girl who dreams about cheeseburgers and pepperoni pizza, so finding a vegan parmesan made me extremely happy (ladder going up!). I experimented with my first batch using the chicken tenders from the chicken breasts I was preparing for another recipe. The “Parmesan” Chicken was a HIT! Everyone at the table raved about how excellent the “Chicken Parm” was. The BT’s at the table, who had actually had real Parmesan Chicken in a previous lifetime, attested to the quality and tastiness of the dish. YAY!

I ended up making a whole new batch of “Parmesan” Chicken for Sukkot, for our “treif” meal (Where I did make Kosher versions of pepperoni pizza, meat lasagna and meat nachos). The chicken was very easy to make (even “hand”icapped as Dear Daughter quipped), and there were very few leftovers (happy and sad all at once!).

For those of you who shun mock dishes, it wasn’t too “treif” tasting. Really.

And as a follow up, the hands are out of the braces BH!!! As for the rest of my life…I’ll keep you posted…

So…what analogies would YOU use to describe your lives??? Leave your descriptions in the comment section…I’d love to hear what you come up with!

"Parmesan" Chicken

2017-10-19 19:13:29

Serves 6

So delicious and super simple to make!!

Prep Time

15 min

Prep Time

15 min

Ingredients

6 chicken breast cutlets, each split in half to make 2 thin cutlets
1 cup potato starch
3 cups Panko crumbs (can be Gluten-Free)
oil for frying
1 28 ounce jar Pasta Sauce with Mushrooms
8-12 ounces shredded vegan "Parmesan" cheese
non-stick vegetable spray
1 pound fettuccine (optional - can be Gluten-Free)
FOR THE EGG MIXTURE
1 cup liquid egg
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon black pepper

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Cover a large baking sheet with foil and spray with non-stick vegetable spray. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk all the egg mixture ingredients until completely blended.
Place the potato starch in a pan or on a large plate.
Place the Panko crumbs in a lasagna pan (can be short and disposable).
Thoroughly coat each piece of chicken with potato starch, then completely cover with egg mixture, then place the coated cutlet in the Panko crumbs and press the crumbs into the chicken. Make sure that the chicken is completely coated with the Panko Crumbs.
Heat frying oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Place several cutlets in the pan and fry on both sides until golden brown. Place the fried cutlets on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining cutlets.
Spoon the sauce over the cutlets, then sprinkle the "cheese" over the top.
Spray a large piece of foil with non-stick spray. Loosely cover the chicken, sprayed side down. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove foil and bake for an additional 15-20 minutes until cheese has melted slightly.
While the chicken is baking, prepare fettuccine according to package directions.
Serve hot chicken over the fettuccine, spooning additional pan sauces over the pasta.