Pinteresting Recipe Review {week.1}

Baked Parmesan Garlic Chicken and Parmesan-Roasted Zucchini

Not so long ago I picked up a couple of avocados on my grocery trip and turned to Pinterest to find a recipe that I had remembered wanting to try.  As I opened up my Food to Eat board and scrolled {and scrolled and scrolled and scrolled and scrolled} to find the recipe, it occurred to me that I had a problem.  So I stopped pinning so much food.  And decided to start making some of it.

Today, I welcome you to the first installment of... 

This first week created a bit of a challenge in itself as I've taken some time away at a cabin in Eastern WY.  Being about an hour from the nearest full grocery store, not in my own kitchen, cooking only for myself, and not wanting to have to buy tons of ingredients or have lots of extra leftovers, I kept things quite simple.  

I was able to find two recipes that had been previously pinned to the board that met this requirement and I went to work.  

First up, Baked Parmesan Garlic Chicken.  It tasted... okay.  I would probably give it about a 3/5 stars. Generally speaking, I really love baked chicken breasts.  I find them to be simple, moist, and delicious.  This was certainly true of this recipe.  However, the seasoning was lackluster and the cheese just didn't stand out.  This is not my favorite version of the baked chicken breast, so I probably wouldn't bother to make it again.  In a pinch, there's nothing wrong with it.  But it surely didn't delight my taste buds.

I failed to take final product pictures, so this baking picture
will have to suffice to give you an idea of my version.

I suspect the difference between my version and this one was that I had used shredded parmesan instead of grated.  It's true, I'm kind of anti- grated parmesan cheese in a can.  However, in this case it probably would have been better at accomplishing the look of breading and overall coatedness of the chicken.  I also realized with this recipe that I never get too excited with things that use Italian seasoning mixes, particularly the dressing mix.  Or garlic powder for that matter.  Garlic is quite accessible and easy enough to chop up, so I say just go for it.  Forget the powder and toss is the real deal.  To sum this up, the concept is solid, the chicken was top notch, but the seasoning and overall flavor was mediocre at best.

This is another before
picture.  Check out all
that tasty cheese!

To go along with this recipe, I selected Parmesan-Roasted Zucchini.  For simplicity I used the leftovers of my seasoning/cheese mixture along with the salt and pepper that was called for in the recipe.  I don't think the italian seasoning really added all too much, but it certainly didn't ruin it.  I'd probably give this recipe a 4.5/5 stars.  As far as zucchini is concerned, this was pretty tasty.  Extremely easy to prepare for sure.  As you will see in the picture comparison, I used considerably more cheese.  It's all that Wisconsin influence I imagine.  My cheese didn't brown up quite as nicely, but I likely just needed to leave it in a bit longer.  The tenderness of the zucchini was superb.  This is one I would certainly make again, and it has endless possibilities with variations on your seasonings, so it's a keeper.

As for the fate of the pins on my "Food to Eat" board?  The chicken has already been deleted.  No need to revisit that pin.  The zucchini is so simple it doesn't get a spot in the family cookbook, so it won't make it to the "Tried and True" board, but for now I'll move it to the "Yummy" board.  I haven't introduced enough zucchini into my life to just automatically buy it or prepare it, so maybe if I see the recipe around while I'm looking for ideas I'll make it again.