Recipe for Disaster

Do not attempt to drive your 4-year old to preschool, take a shower, drive your 8-year old to Target, pick-up your 4-year old at preschool, play short-order cook at lunch, help your 8-year old build a 1,000 piece Star Wars Lego ship, have 8-year old's friends over, try to put the 4-year old down for a nap, bake chocolate chip cookies before dinner, cook Grilled Chicken Parmesan, have the 8-year old run a bath with freezing cold water, clean up and put everyone to bed.

Alone. Without back-up.

Mix all that up with a 9:30 pm phone call from your husband's friend, who is depressed and out of work, and doesn't care if your husband is not home, because all he wants to do is pour out all his problems on YOU.

Needless to say, it wasn't a good night. And, unfortunately, the husband got the grunt of it upon returning home at 12:00 am after an evening of consuming Sierra Nevada's at his local watering hole.

I often feel that it's the woman in the relationship who gets the short end of the stick while the man gets to play with his friends and eat out at fancy places for lunch on a frequent basis. But, when I really think about the episodes that happened last night, would I have really wanted to sit in a dark bar and drink Sierra Nevada's all night with a bunch of stinky guys? No. Would I have liked to ditch the depressing phone call friend on my husband? Yes. Would I have liked my husband to come home early and cook dinner? No, because I actually really like to cook. So, all in all, it's really how you look at these everyday situations and realize that maybe your stick ain't so short after all. (And trying to cram in a week's work of activities with your kids into one short day is not the best idea, either.)


Grilled Chicken Parmesan

6 servings

2 pounds thin chicken breast cutlets
Salt & pepper
Extra-virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 small yellow onion, finely chopped
28 oz. fire-roasted diced tomatoes
20 fresh basil leaves
1/2 cup Parmesan
1/2 pound mozzarella
6 cups mixed greens
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Heat an outdoor or indoor grill pan to high. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil. Cook for 3 - 4 minutes on each side and transfer to a foil-covered plate.

Place a medium pot on the stove over medium heat. Add 2 tablespoons olive oil, garlic, red pepper flakes and onion. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring often. Add the tomatoes and heat through, 2 minutes. Wilt in the basil and season the sauce with salt and pepper.

Preheat the broiler to high.

Layer the chicken with the tomato sauce in a casserole dish. Top the casserole with Parmesan and mozzarella. Brown the chicken Parmesan casserole under the broiler for 3 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare the salad.

Place the greens in a salad bowl. Dress with the vinegar and 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

Serve the chicken Parmesan alongside a little salad.

Voila! Delicious!

(Recipe adapted from Rachael Ray's 30-Minute Get Real Meals)