Hit the Spot Chicken Marinara Melt

January 25, 2011 By Leanne Vogel December 6, 2015

Our homemade mini studio isn’t quite ready. We’ve decided to add one more layer of paint before setting things up. Dun, dun, duh… I’m so excited to use it, and show all of you what we’ve made! I’m hoping that by the weekend everything will be ready and rearing to go, and I can spend hours upon hours baking, picture taking, and snacking. Now that’s my idea of a perfectly awesome weekend! [Oh how things change as you age.] I ended up taking it very, very easy this weekend. I did a bunch of Valentine’s Day baking on Friday – there was chocolate flying everywhere! But as the weekend went on, I had less and less energy. It’s hard for me to admit when I’m feeling under the weather, but I’ve learned over time that sometimes the best thing you can do for yourself is to take a day off from it all and recharge your batteries. That’s exactly when I did on Sunday. No writing, no computer [I cheated a bit in the afternoon, but only for an hour!], and no chores! For a go-go-go person like myself, this a challenging task, but probably the best decision I’ve made in awhile. Balance is good, and so is fresh marinara sauce. Just sayin’. We watched movies, ate chocolate truffle cookies [recipe coming tomorrow], and painted. Our weekly casserole Sunday event was a small one this go around, due to our newly adapted laziness, and the fact that we have over 20 meals in our freezer. We’re good for awhile. I put all my money on this Chicken Marinara Melt, a Chicken Parmesan recipe adapted from Eat, Live, Run and boy am I happy I did! Can you guess what the magic ingredient is? Hint: if it were up to Lexy she’d have it all to herself…

Who am I kidding, she’ll take anything she gets. Like the time she pulled an entire cooked ham off the counter on Christmas Day… but I digress. It’s pepperoni! Not so magic I guess now that I’ve told everyone, eh? But this isn’t your run of the mill, average pepperoni. This pepperoni was picked up fresh from the butcher, made from the purest Alberta grass-fed beef.

Satisfying Chicken Marinara Melt

Author: Leanne Vogel

Recipe type: Gluten free, Dairy free

Prep time: 30 mins

Cook time: 45 mins

Total time: 1 hour 15 mins

Serves: 6

Inspired by: Jenna

Ingredients

Fresh marinara sauce:

6 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, finely diced
8 fresh tomatoes, or 28oz can of stewed tomatoes
1 6oz can of tomato paste
3 handfuls of chopped fresh parsley
1 clove garlic, minced
2 handfuls of fresh oregano
¼ teaspoon himalayan salt
pepper
½ cup white wine – I used non-alcoholic wine from Superstore. It was only $3 and it worked perfectly and saved us a bit of money too!

Casserole

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, pounded thin – if you don’t have a mallet, use the bottom of a saucepan. Either way, it’s therapeutic!
½ cup almond flour
1 cup breadcrumbs – I usually make my own every couple of months out of Kinnikinnick Foods Candidi bread and store them in freezer
¼ cup almond milk
2 eggs
¼ cup coconut oil
marinara sauce [from above]
1 cup shredded mozzarella daiya cheese – this stuff is amazing, and soy free!
½ cup pepperoni, chopped

Instructions

To make marinara sauce: place olive oil and onion in a medium sized saucepan, saute on medium heat until onions become translucent.
Meanwhile, combine tomatoes, tomato paste, parsley, garlic, oregano, salt, and pepper in food processor. Process until smooth.
Add tomato mix and wine to onions. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and allow to simmer for 30 minutes.
To make casserole: preheat oven to 450F, and melt coconut oil in medium frying pan.
Combine almond flour and breadcrumbs in a shallow dish, and eggs and milk in a second shallow dish.
Coat chicken in egg and milk mixture, then flour and breadcrumb mixture.
Place coated chicken in frying pan on medium-high heat. Fry until cooked through.
Place chicken at the bottom of 2.3L casserole dish, pour marinara sauce over top, then cheese, and finish it off with pepperoni.
Bake uncovered for 15 minutes.
And serve… to humans only.