Pinvestigation: Crispy Parmesan Zucchini Fries

I think I've got a couple recipes for zucchini (for my Brits, that means courgette) fries pinned on my recipes board on Pinterest. They just always look so good! But this one inspired me to actually do it.

The pin takes you here but the lady links up to here where the actual recipe is.

Slice the zucchini into thin slices. Season flour with paprika and garlic powder. Roll slices in flour mixture, dip them in egg, and drop them onto a plate with panko breadcrumbs, Parmesan cheese, and more paprika and garlic powder. Bake at 425F for 10 minutes, flip, and bake for 10 more minutes.

These were pretty good. I served it with the leftover marinara sauce from the chicken Parmesan bake I shared last Friday. I didn't take a picture of mine because they weren't very pretty. I think my zucchini was too big (see below) to make thin fries without just cutting off and wasting some of the middle of the zucchini. We've been getting some amazing zucchinis from our garden (see below) and when we came back from vacation, we had one in the fridge, another in the garden, and two from the store so I needed a recipe that used a lot of zucchini. It was annoying dipping each fry in each plate. I got a little lazy and used a ziplock bag but I wouldn't do it again because of the egg part. I'll have to try this again using smaller zucchini, I think. It would help with the smaller fries. Whoever thought I wouldn't want a giant zucchini like this one?

Seriously, I'm so happy our zucchini are doing great! I wish I had a store bought one to show the difference between them but this is two-three times the size of anything I've gotten from the store and is at least a foot long. I'm so proud of our garden!

Pinvestigation: Chicken Parmesan Bake

Just look at this deliciousness. I went to the store and bought the ingredients for the pin immediately.

My stomach started growling at when I saw this. The original recipe is from here but the guy posts a (helpful) video instead of a written recipe. Here it is written:

• 2 TBSP olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• red pepper flakes
• 6 boneless chicken breasts (I used three but they were huge - almost 2 pounds raw - so I cut them up into quarters)
• 2 cups marinara sauce
• 1/4 cup chopped basil (I used dry and at this step in the recipe added more red pepper flakes, salt, pepper, and garlic powder)
• 8 oz mozzarella, shredded (I had fresh mozzarella balls and just cut them up. I ended up probably using about 6oz instead)
• 4 oz Parmesan, grated
• 1 5 oz package of garlic croutons (I could only find garlic and butter croutons and they added so many points [I'm on Weight Watchers] to an already high point meal that I used half of this)

In a baking dish, put in garlic, olive oil, and red pepper flakes. Spread around to cover the bottom. Place chicken breasts (he left them whole but like I said previously, I cut them into quarters). Pour marinara sauce over. Sprinkle herbs/spices on top and then add half the mozzarella and half the Parmesan. Spread garlic croutons over that. Add rest of mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes (may take up to 1 hour depending on the size of the chicken - I did 35 min. and they were perfect).


I put the dish on broil for a couple minutes when it was done to brown the cheese. Here's what it looked like!

Pretty close to the original, don't you think? This dish was SO delicious! And SO easy! I will definitely be making it again. My only complaint was that the majority of the croutons were soggy which was a disappointment. I'll have to see if I can figure that out. I think it was all the croutons that were under the cheese. Maybe it would make a difference if I actually shredded the mozzarella instead of just cutting it up. I'll try that next time. In the mean time, pinvestigation complete!

I'm linking this post up to these parties!

Pinvestigation - Cheesy Chicken and Rice Bake

Pinterest. Sometimes the finds are pure genius. Other times they're just a pretty picture...like a beautiful person with no personality. Sometimes something looks amazing and you go to the site and there are horrible directions/instructions or you make it and the flavors are lackluster. That's why I think it's important to share a result once you make something off of Pinterest. We're going to call it a pinvestigation.

My first pinvestigation came from a cheesy chicken and rice bake. You can see why this picture made me drool.

I followed the pin to its original site and read it was also "healthy"! Woot! I scrolled down and thought it would be super easy to make. I then headed to the comments (when looking at a recipe online, I find it's extremely important to look at the comments. People who've already made it will come back and add their input which is really helpful). There were a few good reviews but I saw a lot of things like 'tasteless' and 'bland' or 'It was great! I added this, this, and this.' Not good. I knew I wouldn't be able to make it according to the instructions and have a winning dish that would be asked for again and again. Here is the original recipe versus what I did differently (in italics).

• 2 whole Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts (I used a 'normal' package of chicken breasts so I think there were probably four small-medium ones. Cook and cut it up into smaller pieces - while cooking, add spices like cumin, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper)
• 4 cups Cooked Brown Rice (I found this extremely frustrating. How much uncooked rice do you need to have 4 cups cooked rice?? I used two cups uncooked rice and probably had 5-6 cooked)
• ¾ cups Frozen Corn (I added a little more)
• 15 ounces, fluid Can Black Beans, Drained And Rinsed
• 1 cup Plain Greek Yogurt (or Sour Cream) (I used fat-free sour cream)
• 4 ounces, fluid Can Green Chilis (I omitted this)
• ½ cups Salsa (I omitted this because of my no-onion rule. Instead, I put in some red peppers and canned diced tomatoes [seasoned])
• 1 cup Low-fat Cheddar Cheese, Plus More For Topping
• 2 Tablespoons Fresh Cilantro For Garnish (I omitted this)

Preheat oven to 350F. Cook the chicken and the rice.

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except for cilantro and mix thoroughly to combine. Make sure the yogurt/sour cream and cheese are stirred in throughout the entire bowl. Season with salt and pepper if desired. Transfer to an oven-safe dish and top with extra cheese if you would like.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until heated through. Garnish with chopped cilantro.

The original recipe poster added - To make this process easier, I always have cooked chicken on hand, and use Uncle Ben’s Ready Rice. If you have those two things, this can be throw together in a matter of minutes! It can also easily be made ahead of time and reheated.

All in all, this dish was decent. I forgot to take an after baking picture but it looked just like the picture pretty much (except, I just realized yellow cheese vs. white). The spices I added to the chicken really helped and I couldn't imagine it without them. It was still kind of bland and I don't think just adding green chiles and salsa would have made any difference - it just might have added some spice. This dish is a good base and with some tweaking, it could be a great dish. I might have to keep working on it. Pinvestigation complete!

I'm linking this post up to these parties!