05-11-13-nonnas-birthday

Birthdays are fun. They mean we get to use the good plates! Not that we really need a reason, but you know what I mean.  Any ol’ reason to celebrate at our house, and having Nonna celebrate birthday #87 is more than a good reason!

Chicken parmesan, pasta, and spinach. Nonna cleaned her plate. It does my Irish heart good to see people eat – especially little old ladies. It’s funny how my normal eat-it-or-don’t attitude flies right out the window when I’m cooking for her. I’m usually quite snarky about other peoples likes and dislikes, but with Nonna, I really do want her to like it.  There’s probably something Freudian lurking around, somewhere.

Dinner really took no time at all to do. The pasta sauce came out of the freezer, as did the spinach. The chicken breasts were thin-sliced, dredged in flour, dipped in egg, and dredged in bread crumbs. Homemade bread crumbs from homemade bread. I’m an overachiever. What can I say?

I then fried them in olive oil, topped them with a bit of sauce, topped the sauce with some fresh mozzarella cheese, and popped them into a 350° oven for about 10 minutes.

I did add a bit of garlic powder, salt, and pepper to the flour and a pinch of sage to the bread crumbs, but otherwise didn’t season a lot. The sauce is good so I didn’t need to cover it up.

No birthday cake, tonight. I am heading in to make a key lime and coconut cake for tomorrow, though.

I’ll keep ya posted.