Slim Italian....

Last night's dinner was a winner all around!  Delicious, cheesy, summer-y AND Healthy!!!  I made "healthier" chicken parm & a 'non spaghetti' side dish... ;)

For the chicken parm, I started by heating about 6 cloves of chopped garlic (what??  Is that so wrong?? :)  in a pan with a little olive oil.  In the pan, I added a pint of halved cherry tomatoes and let them cook until they broke it down...broke it down to Chinatown....;)

I added about a half a cup of chopped basil to the tomatoes JUST as they were about done.

Meanwhile, I trimmed and pounded 2 chicken breasts, seasoned them with a little salt & pepper and threw them on the grill until they were cooked through.  Next I topped each chicken with a little of the tomato/basil "gravy"....

And then I added the chicken to the rest of the tomatoes and added a slice of the LOVELY smoked mozzarella to each piece.  I turned the heat on low and covered the pan with aluminum foil....

And about 5 minutes later...cheesy deliciousness!! :)

Perfection!  The only vice in this whole dish is the one slice of cheese (you could always use low-fat, fat free or even no cheese at all if you wanted to REALLY "non-guilt" this baby up), but the good quality cheese just made the dish.  Chicken parm with fresh flavors rather than the hundreds of extra calories from breading & frying = win/win! :)

And I was looking for a 'slim Italian side,' so I reached for my favorite "Skinny Italian" NJ housewife's new book and made the Zucchini Spaghetti Salad.  I STILL can't even believe this actually worked! 

First I julienned 2 zucchini into thin 'spaghetti slices' with a mandolin....

And mixed the 'spaghetti' with a little olive oil & lemon juice, salt & pepper and the KEY ingredient: FRESH CHOPPED BASIL  (DO NOT SKIP IT!...Like the cheese, this MADE the dish!)  Let it sit in the fridge to chill and soak up the flavors and ...That's it!  I never even knew you could eat zucchini raw...but this was a perfect summer 'spaghetti' side:)

Ok, ok...I doubt my Grandmom would eat "zucchini spaghetti,' but it's not a bad healthy substitute for a random weeknight!  We loved  it!

Can you believe it's Thursday already?  This week is FLYING by!  They all need to be like this;)