K & K Cafe on Valentine's Day

Who needs to go out to a fancy restaurant on Valentine's Day when you've got the K & K Cafe? Don't worry, Kristi and I still dressed up like we had a reservation at a white linen restaurant. We just stayed at Uncle Keith's pad for the evening. And what a menu. You might want to sit down for this.

As an appetizer, we had Velveeta and salsa queso with tortilla chips. The main course was a Chicken Parmesan (with homemade bread crumbs) from Ellie Krieger of The Food Network. Dessert was strawberries with chocolate dip. Eat your heart out.

The night wouldn't have been complete without table decorations from Halsey's Homemade Valentines, and candles shaped like wine glasses, because we had to have some wine to go with our cheese.

So without further ado, let your taste buds shake, rattle, and roll. (Let the record show that the first recipe on the blog was posted by the little brother.)

Chicken Parmesan

Prep Time:

20 min

Inactive Prep Time:

hr min

Cook Time:

37 min

Level:

Easy

Serves:

4 servings, serving size 1 piece chicken

Ingredients

• 4 slices whole-wheat bread (1-ounce each)
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 4 teaspoons paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 (6 ounce) skinless boneless chicken breast halves, pounded to 1/2-inch thickness
• Olive oil cooking spray
• 1 jar good-quality marinara sauce (about 3 1/2 cups)
• 3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 2 tablespoons (1/2-ounce) shredded Parmesan

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the bread in the bowl of a food processor and process until fine crumbs are formed, about 25 to 30 seconds. Put the crumbs on a baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes, until golden. (You will wind up with about 1 1/3 cups toasted crumbs.)

In a medium bowl, toss the crumbs with oregano, garlic powder, paprika, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. In another bowl, whisk the egg whites and milk together. In a third bowl stir together the flour, and the remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper. Dip each piece of chicken, 1 piece at a time, in flour, shaking off excess, then egg, then bread crumbs, shaking off excess.

Increase oven temperature to 400 degrees. Place breaded breasts in a glass baking dish and spray on each side with cooking spray, about 5 seconds total per side. Bake breasts until cooked though and crumbs are browned, about 15 minutes. Top with marinara sauce, mozzarella and parmesan and return to oven for an additional 10 minutes, until cheese is bubbling.