Avocado Chicken Parmigiana

Photo Credit: Health is Wealth Photos.

Chicken breast is a light meat, as opposed to the darker fattier meat in chicken thighs or drumsticks.  This light breast meat is generally less fatty while still being a very good source of protein.  The chicken breast, because of its light taste, is a versatile meat that can be cooked in a variety of ways.  You can add chicken breast to a large number of healthy dishes in order to increase your protein intake.

The cooking method used for chicken breast will affect its the overall calories and nutritional content. If you choose a high-fat cooking method such as pan-frying or deep-frying, the calories will be higher.  Keeping the skin on a chicken breast when roasting or grilling is a very good idea.  It helps to keep the breast moist as it cooks.

 

Once cooked, remove the skin from the chicken before serving it.  This will greatly reduce the amount of calories in the dish.  Some low-fat methods of cooking chicken breast which I'd recommend include poaching, boiling, baking and roasting.

Ingredients:

• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 1 (6-ounce) container of plain low-fat yogurt
• 1 juiced lemon
• 1 cup of dried bread crumbs, seasoned
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• salt to taste
• a small amount of butter
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 1/2 cup tomato pasta sauce
• 2 avocadoes, sliced
• 1/2 cup grated Mozzarella cheese

Directions:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C)
• Place yogurt in a small bowl and stir until creamy smooth. Add lemon to the yogurt and stir them together. Stirring the yogurt before adding the lemon will reduce curdling.
• In a separate shallow dish or bowl combine the bread crumbs, garlic powder and then add salt to taste; mix them together.
• Take a baking dish about 9" by 13" and a little pat of butter for each chicken breast.  Rinse the chicken breasts and then pat them dry.
• Dip each chicken breast in the lemon and yogurt mixture.  Remove them then place them in the bread crumb mixture.  Make sure the chicken breasts are coated thoroughly but not heavily.
• Place the coated chicken breasts in the baking dish and then top each chicken breast with the chopped parsley.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.  Remove the baking dish from oven and spread each chicken breast with 1 heaped tablespoon of pasta sauce.  Add the avocado slices on top of this and then the Mozzarella cheese.
• Return the baking dish to the oven and bake for another 5 - 7 minutes.  Remove when the meat is a nice golden colour and the chicken is cooked.  Bon appétit!