Operation Alabama Tomatoes 2014: Week One

So there’s this thing that happens during an Alabama Summer. It’s called…Tomato Season. When they start coming in, they seriously start coming in. I normally reject tomatoes that are out of season. I just don’t see the point in eating some pink-fleshed, mealy, shipped-across-who-knows-where kind of tomatoes. I’d rather wait until Summer and just eat so many of them that I don’t even think about tomatoes any other time of the year. Needless to say, our tomatoes started to come in by the basket load last week, which immediately forced me to figure out what to DO with all of them.

See? I told you. Operation Tomato 2014 in action, people…

Last week’s solution? BLT Panzanella Salad and Baked Chicken Parmesan with Roasted Tomatoes.

Cooking Light’s BLT Panzanella Salad:
Truth be told, who wouldn’t like a salad filled with homegrown tomatoes, sauteed sweet corn, delicious bacon, and big hunks of bread? The whole “bread salad” thing was pretty much invented for people like me. However, since I’ve moved over to the Weight Watchers world, I haven’t really participated in full-on bread salad, but I couldn’t resist this recipe. I substituted iceberg lettuce for arugula. Additionally, I really liked the idea of serving the salad on TOP of the tomato slices. Now, don’t get all “that sure looks like a lot, Amanda” on me. It is a lot. This salad fed four very hungry individuals and those individuals may or may not have gotten seconds. They definitely did NOT get thirds. At least that’s what I’m sticking with for THIS post. For those of you counting points, this recipe should count as 4 points per serving, so don’t go by MY photo…go by theirs. It is probably way more realistic!

Next up: Skinnytaste’s Baked Parmesan Chicken with Oven Roasted Tomatoes

Let’s talk Oven Roasted Tomatoes first. Remember Operation Tomato 2014? Well, roasting them for a sauce really helped me make a dent in some of those bowls of tomatoes. I used a variety of tomatoes and simply quartered them to be similar in size. You can eat 1/2 cup of these Oven Roasted Tomatoes and only count 1 WW point. Holla!

I added a splash of balsamic vinegar to my tomato sauce, but I’m crazy like that.

Okay so now that we have this delicious sauce and we’ve made a bit of a dent in Operation Tomato 2014, let’s use it on something! How about…

Skinnytaste’s Baked Chicken Parmesan!

Huge, Huge, HUGE hit in our household. I loved Gina’s idea to simply brush butter (or olive oil) on the chicken breasts before adding to the breadcrumb mixture. I especially loved her tip to slice the breasts in half, which gave us more leftovers the next day. It was so tasty that I almost felt like I was cheating. Ugh. Fine. I did cheat. I had a piece of bread with my meal. I know, I know…Ooooooooooooh. Addicted to bread= Me.

I served the dish over a small portion of whole wheat noodles. Total Points? 6 (chicken, sauce, cheese) + 3 (noodles)= 9 Total Points. If you sneak in a piece of bread, then go ahead and add those points too (cha-ching!).

Both dishes were super tasty! Now I have to figure out Operation Tomato 2014 WEEK TWO. Wish me luck…