~ Balanced Dinner in 30 Minutes ~

You may be wondering why I haven't blogged any recipes lately?  No, I am not out of recipes.  I just haven't cooked lately.  You can guess why :)

I work a weird schedule...11pm - 7/8pm.  So, by the time I come home, I am hungry and just want to make something real quick.  So, this is what I made in 30 minutes last night.

Looks good?  Salad with raspberry vinegarette dressing, pasta with fresh veggies and parmesean chicken.  Yum!  I think it has all the food groups....

Does it look like a lot of work?  The chicken needs to be breaded and fried, things need to be sliced, boiled, drained.  How can I do it within 30 minutes??  The key is multitask.

Ok, I cheated a little bit too.  But, I like to call it preparation.  It's salad in a bag.  I usually don't buy that stuff, but it was on sale.  It's Prego pasta sauce, but I added green chilies (my fiance likes it spicy), red bell peppers, and onions.  Fresh veggies is healthy and doesn't take a long time to slice up.

The chicken was cut and frozen over the weekend when I had the time to do it.  I buy huge family packs when it's on sale ($1.79/lb for chicken breast), cut it, date it, and stick it in the freezer.  In the morning, before I got to work, I take a pack out and stick it in the fridge to defrost.

Now....the details....

Step 0:  Boil water for pasta

Add some oil and salt in the water.  Put pasta in the pot when it boils.

Step 1:  Beat an egg

Uh.....in a bowl.  Enough details?

Step 2:  Pour Parmesean bread crumbs into a big bowl

You don't need a lot.  Just pour like half a cup into the bowl.  You can always add more if needed, but you can't put it back once you dip the chicken in it.

Step 3:  Heat up the pan

Hight heat please.

Step 4:  Slice up garlic

Just a few cloves.  

Step 5:  Pour oil in pan and put the garlic in it

The garlic should sizzle.

Step 6:  Turn down the heat to medium high

Step 7:  Dip the chicken in the egg, THEN the breadcrumbs, then put it in the pan

Cover all sides evenly.  Do one and put it in the pan, every other piece, you should flip the previous pieces.  When all the pieces are in there, continue to flip the pieces till you think they are cooked.  Chicken breast doesn't take that long to cook.  Slice it open when in doubt.  The meat should be white.

Step 8:  Turn off the heat for the pasta

Step 9:  Pour the prego sauce in a pot and heat it up

Step 10:  Slice up fresh veggies and dump it in the sauce

Stir occasionally.

Step 11:  Drain the pasta

Chicken should be all done by now too.

Step 12:  Take out salad and dressing and mix

Chicken should be done by now

Step 13:  Try the sauce

Because you added stuff, you may want to add additional seasoning like salt, chili powder, oregano, and whatever else.  I like to add ketchup.  I love ketchup.

Step 14:  Put everything on a plate and eat!

I used 1/2 lb of pasta, 1/2 jar of prego and, half of a huge red bell pepper, half of a green chili pepper, a small onion, and about 2 chicken breasts (cut into 7 pieces).  That's enough for my fiance and I and lunch for me today.

It takes practice to get a good work flow going.  What can you make in 30 minutes? :)