Further Modified Mexican Chicken

While they're heading into summer across the ocean (not that I'm completely jealous...), we're hunkering down for Arctic blasts.  Yesterday we got a dusting of snow - on top of ice.  GROSS!!!  Hearing the nasty traffic reports and knowing that many cars weren't making it up the hill out of our small town, I decided it sounded like a lovely day to stay home!  Not wanting to go out to the grocery store or make my wonderful husband stop on the way home after a long cold day of work, I decided to see what I could make from things in the pantry and freezer (having just moved in after our wedding, I don't have a good handle on the food inventory). 

I had some, although not all, of the ingredients to make the processed version of THIS meal and decided to experiment. 

I had two family packs of leg quarters frozen, so used that instead of boneless chicken breasts (love that it worked to just throw them in the crock pots frozen! - And yes I was thankful for my two crock pots...feeding a ton of hungry boys these days)

Since I had upped the amount of chicken I used 2 cans of black beans (one in each crock pot).

Had a mostly full bag of frozen corn, so divided that between the two crock pots.

I  had one lime and some refrigerated lime juice.

Skipped the cilantro cause I didn't have any.

Used what was left of a LARGE jar of medium salsa (probably wasn't quite double the 16 ounces)

I didn't have cream cheese, but a dollop of low fat sour cream in each bowl was a hit and added that touch of creaminess.

Put everything except the sour cream in the crock pot and cooked it on high for 6 hours. 

Served over rice.

The boys declared it delicious!

Forgot to take pic after it was cooked...this is while it was cooking in the crock pot

La Dee Da Chicken

I was eating the leftovers of this for lunch the other day and explaining to my friend Roxie how to make it and she says "that's a bit la dee da ....".  I thought that is exactly what it is!  La Dee Da Chicken! This is so delicious.  And pretty easy.  I saw this recipe on pinterest, of course.  When the time came to make it, some of the standard pantry ingredients I thought I had on hand, I actually didn't.  So, I improvised a little bit.  Here's what I did. 

2 cups panko crumbs

2 cups pretzels, processed in the food processor to make crumbs (this was a WHOLE bag!)

1/2 cup flour

1/4 cup olive oil 

1/4 cup grapeseed oil

1/4 cup dijon mustard 

1/4 cup wholegrain seed mustard

1/3 cup spiced orange honey (plain honey would be fine too)

1/4 cup water

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

salt and  pepper

3 chicken breasts, skinned and boned

 

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F.  Line a roasting pan with baking paper.

In the food processor, pulse the oils, mustards, honey, water and vinegar until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.  Adjust flavour to taste.

Pound the chicken breasts out to an even thickness using a mallet, I do this is a ziplock so I'm not pounding chicken juice all over everywhere!  Sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper. 

For the next bit, you'll need three big 'containers' (bowl, dish ... ).  I found that my rectangular tupperware worked best. 

To the first container add half the flour.

To the second container add half the dressing.  Down use all of it because the remaining is going to be your dip for this delicious chicken.

To the third, add the panko and pretzel crumbs.  Mix them together.

Dredge each piece of chicken in flour, then in dressing, then into the crumb mixture.  I pushed the crumbs on a bit to make sure there were plenty and they stuck real well.   Place in roasting pan.


Bake for 15-30 minutes or until cooked through.  Mine took closer to 30 ...


Serve with remaining dressing.

We also served with roasted cauliflower and broccoli.