Quick and Easy Chicken Parmesan with Sweet Plantains and Alfalfa Sprout Salad

If you use simple math, you will say to yourself, “This is not a 20-minute meal.” But it is. It can even be done in less time if you are a good multi-tasker and organized. You can accomplish the 20-minute mark like I did by cooking and preparing items concurrently. This was my first time making this meal, as it was done on a whim and part of a pantry raid. But I was still able to make this meal while taking pictures and video along the way, having my very curious kids tell me repeatedly how much they wanted chicken, and going outside to make sure they were playing safe. At the end of all the recipes are notes about items that can be substituted and other useful information.

Prep: 5-7 minutes

Cook Time: 12-14 minutes for chicken

Cook Time: 10-12 minutes for plantains

Serves: 4

1. Pre-heat oven according to package directions. For me this was 425 degrees F.
2. Line a half sheet pan with aluminum foil
3. Place chicken on sheet pan and bake for 6 minutes on one side (or half the cooking time for your brand).
4. Turn chicken with tongs and bake for 4 minutes.
5. Add sauce and cheese to top of each piece of chicken.
6. Bake for another 2-4 minutes until cheese is melted.

• 2 ripe plantains

• 1 TBS vegetable oil
• 1 TBS butter
• 1-2 TBS brown sugar

1. Peel and cut plantains.
2. Melt oil and butter together in pot.
3. Add plantains to pot over medium-high heat.
4. Let plantains caramelize, turning every 2 minutes or so to get brown on all sides.
5. Add brown sugar and cook until sugar is dissolved and coats the plantains.
6. Turn off heat and let cool some. This will create a crunchy, candy-like coating.

Salad:

• 1 cup alfalfa sprouts
• ¼ cup fresh parsley leaves
• ¼ cup shredded carrots
• 2 Persian cucumbers
• ½ apple

Salad:

1. Put alfalfa sprouts in bowl.
2. Cut or tear off parsley leaves from bunch and rinse under cool water to clean.
3. Toss parsley in bowl.
4. Place shredded carrots in bowl.
5. Peel and cut cucumbers in thin rounds or dice and place in bowl.
6. Peel and chop apple and place in bowl.

Dressing:

• 2 TBS olive oil
• 2 tsp. apple cider vinegar
• 1 scoop (45 mg) Stevia extract
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt

• Gluten free

• Vegan
• Calorie free
• Almost 300 times sweeter than sugar
• Made from leaf of Stevia rebaudiana

Dressing:

1. Combine ingredients over salad.
2. Toss salad to evenly distribute.

Many people confuse plantains for bananas based on looks alone. However, plantains contain much more starch than bananas. Unlike bananas, plantains can be used in every stage of ripening, from green to black.

Chicken Parmesan

• I know I call for four patties and there are only 3 pictured. It turned out my kids were fed one the day before.
• Parmesan can be expensive, so do like I did…use what is on hand. This meal was part of a pantry raid, so I used what was left of bagged shredded mozzarella and part of an Italian blend.

Plantains

• The easiest way for me to peel and cut plantains is as follows: Cut off the two ends of the plantain, use the knife to cut a slit in the peel from top to bottom, use your thumb and split the peel apart, cut the plantain in half length wise, then cut each half in half again length wise (now you have 4 long wedges), cut wedges into small pieces.
• I like using a non-stick pot for this recipe since it makes cleaning out any crystallized sugar easier.

Salad

• Believe it or not, I got all the ingredients from my local farmer’s market store, but not all on the same day. Since fresh produce can go bad fast, I often throw together salads in order to keep the ingredients longer and make use of them. So yes, this really was part of a desperate pantry raid to not let my produce go to waste.
• If you do not have access to Persian cucumbers, you can substitute with garden cucumbers. But I suggest you remove the seeds and pat dry to avoid making the salad too watery. You will not have to do this if you use Persian cucumbers.
• If you buy Stevia extract in a container, it comes with a scoop so you can easily measure.
• Stevia can be replaced with honey or granulated sugar, but the do not dissolve as easily and require more quantity.

Stephanie Bradberry is a freelance writer and editor. She is an educator, herbalist, naturopath and energy healer who runs her own home-based business, Stephanie J. Bradberry, LLC. One of her favorite pastimes is whipping up or trying out recipes.