Dinner for One

I may be single and apt to eat alone most nights, but I don't like whipping up single serve meals. Even if I know that I'll be eating dinner on the couch while catching up on "Grey's Anatomy", I love sitting down to a big home cooked meal. I often find that these meals are packed with more robust and complex flavors than quicker and simpler "dinner for one" recipes. Another benefit? All the leftovers! Freezing individual sized portions of the leftovers leaves me with a variety of healthy meal options that can be ready after just a few short minutes in the microwave. One of the great things about these pre-portioned frozen meals is that I already know exactly how many points plus values are in each; this saves me from needing to do any calculations, and makes for easy tracking in my Weight Watchers e-tools. The price of frozen entrees at the grocery store has increased dramatically over the years, so it's also cost effective to make and freeze your own. I do, however, still stock up on my favorite Smart Ones meals when they're on sale.

Every now and then I'll get home too late to cook, and I'll find myself out of (or sick of!) frozen entrees. This has habitually been my favorite excuse to order delivery, but I'm trying to cut back on that this year. If I'm going to successfully curb my delivery food dependency, I'm going to need to invent and discover more recipes for quick and easy dinners for one this year! Below is a new favorite that I've made twice this past month.

Chicken Cutlet with Baked Spaghetti Squash Parmesan

Servings: 1 Serving Size: whole recipe Points Plus*: 10 pts

 

Ingredients

2 sprays  Cooking spray, olive oil
1  PERDUE® SIMPLY SMART® Lightly Breaded Chicken Breast Cutlets (22 oz.), frozen*
2 slices  Cracker Barrel cheddar cheese cuts 
1 cup  Spaghetti squash, cooked**
5 slices  Hormel turkey pepperoni
1/2 cup  Tomato sauce, canned
1 dash  Garlic powder
1 dash  Dried basil
1/4 cup  Part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded

* I bought a bag of these lightly breaded chicken cutlets earlier this month because it was on sale, and because I was slightly curious about this lighter version of their classic cutlet. They're pretty yummy, and have come in handy when I've had a hankering for a quick dinner that is slightly reminiscent of a naughty takeout meal.

** Each Sunday evening I roast a spaghetti squash. I love this vegetable, and throughout the week I enjoy it as a side dish or use it to help bulk up a meal. 

Directions

Preheat your oven to 400°.

Line a baking sheet with tinfoil and lightly spray it with an olive oil cooking spray. Place the chicken cutlet on one side of the tray. On the opposite side, shape one cup of spaghetti squash into a cutlet-sized bed. (In the photograph below you'll see some smashed roasted garlic on top of the spaghetti squash, I had some kicking around in my fridge and I thought it might be a good addition- it was!)

Top the bed of spaghetti squash with the turkey pepperoni, tomato sauce, a dash each of the garlic powder and dried basil, and the mozzarella cheese. Bake for 7 minutes.

After 7 minutes, take your baking sheet out of the oven. Flip the chicken cutlet over and top it with the two slices of Cracker Barrel cheese. I did not top the chicken with cheese the first time I made this for dinner, but I had some extra points to play with the second time around. What can I say? More cheese is more better! So, if you've got the points to spare, go ahead and add that extra cheese. Bake the chicken and squash for another 7-10 minutes, removing it when the cheese is bubbly and starting to brown.

Serve the chicken over top of the bed of baked spaghetti squash Parmesan. Last Friday night I enjoyed this meal with a side of asparagus and a light beer. It was perfect comfort food for a relaxing Friday night at home.

Cooking this on tinfoil makes clean up is a cinch- no need to soak and scrub the baking sheet, just toss the tinfoil!


*PointsPlus values calculated using the Recipe Builder on the Weight Watchers website