Chicken Parmesan Panini Fest

I admit I made Chicken Parmesan Panini for dinner a week ago, but then something called "The Beginning of the School Year" got in the way, so I didn't blog about it until now.

I am constantly being reminded of why people don't cook during the week. I sort of laugh or roll my eyes when people tell me that they are picking up dinner every night, or that their kids love the pasta at Tony's. Then reality comes flying in the door and I'm not home til 8:30pm after an afternoon of BU and karate drop-offs and pick ups, and that is when it hits me: it would be a hell of a lot easier if someone else made this crew a meal. So, I'm thinkin' I'll buy one less dinner's worth of food at Wegmans this weekend, and put a "to-go" meal in our weekly planner.

That being said, here's a pretty quick meal to whip up from the freezer and the pantry. My boys will eat pretty much anything with Red Sauce on it, so I was pretty sure they would like this.

Vegan chicken patties are a staple in our freezer, so the only thing special I needed from the store was fresh whole wheat rolls. I bought cute little square panini-esque rolls that were easy to slice in half, and looked a lot like bread I had seen at Neezuntos.

What is the plural of panini? Get back to me on that one.

Anyway, the family liked these. We ate them with sides of red grapes and carrots and dip. Husband said they were "perfect for late at night" which is good considering our school night dinners have been happening at about 8:45pm these days. 10 year old dipped the veggie chicken pattie in dip and ate it. 14 year old got a bowl of sauce and dunked the whole panini before each bite.

Overall, paninis were good, although they did benefit from extra sauce or dip because they were not juicy like a marinated chicken breast may have been.

Counting pennies: Affordable. The vegan mozzarella is really the only high-price item. If you buy the individually wrapped slices there is no waste, or you have to promise to finish up the block of vegan mozzeralla in another recipe. Do it soon. Vegan cheese does not last long once it is open. Trust me on this one. It is not a pleasant realization that the $5 worth of vegan cheese you bought and used 1/3 of is now covered in powdery white stuff that nobody wants to investigate. Ugh.