Italian Chicken Sandwich Recipe

Being married to a firefighter means I often don't have my husband at home to help me wrestle with the kids when I make dinner. So dinners in my house have to be easy, quick and healthy. 


Before I give you my first recipe, let me say 2 things about how we eat in our house...
1. We LOVE food. So everything I make has to taste good, or my kids won't eat it. 
2. I don't count calories. After my 5 year old asked me how many calories were in her shampoo bottle, I found it wasn't worth it for me to worry about the amount of calories I was consuming. BUT since I still want to be my healthiest, this means I have to watch what I eat very carefully, balancing whole, God-made food with appropriate portions. 


So this is my recipe for Italian Chicken Sandwiches. I've also included 2 side dishes to go with it. Hope you like it! This serves enough for me, hubby, 5 year old and 18 month old.


(I do my shopping at Trader Joe's so everything listed is their brand)


1 jar of Brushetta
1 loaf of par baked fresh bread
1 chicken tenderloin per person (2 or 3 for hubby). Marinate for a few hours in the juice of 1 lemon, a little olive oil, garlic powder and black pepper. 
1/2 a bell pepper, sliced
1/4 red onion, sliced
about 1/8 of a skim milk mozzarella ball, finely shredded


Heat oven to 350 degrees
In a frying pan, heat a small amount of extra virgin olive oil over medium high heat. Add the onions and bell peppers and cook until crisp-tender. 
While the vegetables are cooking, slice the bread in half lengthwise and hollow out the bread. Top the bottom half with about 1/3 of the jar of brushetta. 
Once the vegetables are cooked, remove from heat, and cook the chicken in the pan.
Top the brushetta with the vegetables, then the cheese. Place the chicken widthwise on the bread (this will make it easier to slice).  Top with the top half of the bread. Heat in the oven on a cookie sheet for about 10 minutes, until bread and brushetta are hot. Once heated, slice along each chicken tenderloin to make the sandwiches. 


Side Dishes


Parmesean Zuccini
Slice 2 zuccini width wise, into coin shaped slices. Place on a foil lined cookie sheet and lightly spray with cooking spray. Dust with parmesean cheese. Cook under the broiler for about 7 minutes, until cheese is melted and zuccini are warm. 


Caprese Salad
1 tomato for each person
about 1/16 of a mozzarella ball, finely shredded
fresh basil (3-5 leaves per person)
olive oil
basalmic vinegar
salt and pepper




Slice each tomato and place on a plate. Top with the mozzarella. Stack the basil leaves one on top of another and roll into a tight, cigar shape. Slice the basil so you end up with little "ribbons". Top the mozzarella. Drizzle a little olive oil, vinegar and salt and pepper over the top. 


Let me know how you like the recipe! 


Be kind to yourself!!