My $7 Challenge Fail: Parmesan Baked Chicken w/ Spinach Ricotta Penne Recipe

Last week, Sarah and Cate posted a challenge to feed their families of 4 for $7 or less. Though I'm only feeding myself, I thought, "Hey, this sounds fun. I want to watch my budget. I want to play!"

Rather than feeding three friends for good samaritan's sake (and because Mondays are more appropriate for Dancing with the Stars on the couch than they are for dinner parties) I made one serving of this for myself to eat, intending to cheat and multiply the cost by 4. Well, too much math, but I did end up with a simple, easy-to-throw-together meal that has plenty of protein, fiber and even a serving of veggies. And it has ricotta cheese. Score!

The best part of this meal is that if you can boil water, you can cook this. And if water-boiling is truly as far as you're willing to push yourself, most grocery stores sell perfectly delicious pre-breaded chicken patties for your microwaving convenience.

Parmesan Baked Chicken with Spinach Ricotta Penne

4 oz. boneless, skinless chicken breasts, scalloppine style
2 oz. uncooked whole wheat penne pasta
1 slice whole wheat bread, toasted and crumbled into thin breadcrumbs*
1 Tbsp. parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp. basil
1/4 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp. parsley
1/4 tsp. fresh black pepper
1 egg white
2 cups fresh baby spinach
1/4 cup part-skim ricotta cheese

Directions:

1. Toss bread crumbs with parmesan cheese and spices in a small bowl. In another bowl, beat egg white.

2. Dredge chicken through egg white, then bread crumb mixture and bake at 350F for 20-30 minutes or until chicken is cooked through and juices run clear.

3. Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package direction. Once pasta reaches al dente (or 1-2 minutes before end of cooking time), toss spinach in with pasta and cook until spinach is wilted. Drain pasta, reserving about half a cup of pasta water. Add ricotta to pasta pot and stir unitl combined.Use remaining pasta water to thicken sauce, if necessary. Add fresh pepper to taste.

Comments

[Sarah]

Wow, that looks incredible!! My mouth is totally watering between the beautiful chicken and creamy pasta.

[stylishhandwriting]

Oh, that meal looks delicious! I need to make something like this ASAP!

[Candy]

This looks so tasty! I love chicken and pasta. They are staples at my house.

[Allison]

Thanks for the comment!

Your meal looks like it's right up my alley. Great challenge to try out. I attempt to keep things easy, but sometimes I go overboard with ingredients so I'm sure I would be in trouble with it.

[amywhere]

Hello! How have you been? This looks great! We had lemon pepper chicken with noodles and peas last night, yum!

[Anna]

Looks sooo good!

[Aggie]

What a delicious looking meal!

[katelin]

this looks delicious. i may have to borrow that chicken recipe.

[Kevin]

That looks like a simple and tasty meal.