Sesame Pretzel Chicken with a Sweet Heat Sauce

I am always looking for new things to use as 'breading' for poultry or pork and, in my pantry, I had just the fix. When we went on vacation, I went a little crazy on the snack aisle, stocking up for the long plane ride and days on the beach. I happened to pick up sesame pretzels at Trader Joe's thinking they were peanut butter pretzels on sale. Wrong! No matter, they turned out to be tasty. With so many leftover though, I was looking for an innovative use and scored with a 'breaded' chicken dinner. These pretzels were multi-grain and packed quite a crunch so I pulsed them in the food processor until they were mostly crumbs, leaving a few larger pieces that aided in texture that resembled southern fried chicken. To pair with the sesame flavor, I opted for an Asian inspired sauce made from mustard, honey, crushed red peppers flakes and rice wine vinegar. Atop snow peas and mushrooms finished in sesame oil, this was a meal not soon forgotten. Here's the fix:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

2 cups sesame pretzel nuggets

3 tbsp sesame seeds

1 cup all purpose flour

1 egg

salt and pepper

Sauce:

1 tbsp whole grain mustard

2 tbsp dijon mustard

1/2 cup raw honey

3-4 tbsp rice wine vinegar

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp red pepper flakes (less for less heat)

fresh cracked black pepper

Side:

canola oil

garlic clove

2 cups snow peas

5 baby bella mushrooms, quartered

sesame oil

toasted sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 375° and start by using a basic breading technique for the chicken. First set up your breading stations with one plate for the ground pretzels mixed with the sesame seeds, one plate for flour seasoned with s & p and one bowl for the egg (beaten). When you are ready to go, pat the chicken breasts dry, season with salt and pepper and then start by dredging in the flour. Shake excess flour off and pull the chicken breast through the beaten egg. The last step is to lay the chicken breast in the pretzel mixture, pressing the crumbs over the entire surface on both sides. I wanted to retain the crunch of the larger pretzels pieces and simplify this dinner so I transferred the chicken breasts to an lightly oiled baking dish and baked them off for about 25-30 minutes.

The rest of the meal came together easily. All the sauce ingredients listed above go into a sauce pan on low heat and simmer away while the chicken cooks, stirring to help incorporate the honey with the mustard. About 5 minutes before the chicken is done, grab a sauté pan, add a little canola oil and a broken garlic clove. Over low to medium heat, add in the mushrooms and sauté for about 2 minutes. Add the snow peas to gently warm. To finish, add a touch of sesame oil (a little goes a long way), a pinch of red pepper flakes and top with toasted sesame seeds. Plate the snow peas and mushrooms first, add the chicken on top and then smother in the sauce. Yum!

Veggie Pesto

Non-traditional pesto has become one of my favorite go-to foods especially when trying to get in my daily 5.  Using veggies along with herbs, nuts, olive oil and good cheese, you can create a lot of different tasty combinations that are flavorful and healthy.  My favorite, as of late, is pea pesto and it whips up in a heartbeat so it's a great quick grab.  I blend it all using my Cuisinart hand blender with the processor attachment and I usually vary the ingredients each time.  However, here's one that is pretty standard:

1 can sweet young peas or 8 oz. frozen peas, thawed and rinsed

olive oil (about 2-3 tbsp)

walnuts (between 1/4 to 1/2 cup depending on how much crunch you like)

parmesan cheese (about 3-4 oz)

a few basil leaves to taste (optional)

1 garlic clove (optional)

salt & pepper

Blend away!  Once it's whipped up, I use it as a sandwich spread (this morning I made an egg salad using 1 hardboiled egg and a tbsp pesto), a dip with crudite, a pasta sauce, a salad topper and occasionally just a bite by itself.  I feel okay about that though...it's a veggie pesto after all!

Ground Chicken and Basil Burgers

Remember how I told you that I am into the ground chicken these days?  Well, last night I made one of the best burgers I've had in a while thanks to the chickens chasing the cows right out of the barn.  For the health kick that I am on, I chose to go with an open face burger on one slice of multi-grain, whole wheat bread.  The burger was so moist and flavorful, the bread was hardly missed.  Here's how it all came together...

Burger:

1 lb Perdue Ground Chicken

2 tbsp freshly chopped parsley

lots of fresh-cut basil leaves

sea salt

coarse ground black pepper

lemon zest of 1 lemon

2 tbsp Oikos non-fat Greek Yogurt

That's it!  It all goes in the bowl, mash together with your greatest kitchen tools - clean hands, quarter the meet (or half depending on your hunger pangs) and form into patties.  Don't forget they will shrink a little on the grill so make sure to make them flatter and rounder than your bread bun.  It also helps the burger to cook evenly and not puff into a muffin top when you put an indentation into the center of the patty.  Grill away!  Ours went onto a grill around 325 degrees for about 5 minutes on each side.

I served this delectable delight on a grilled slice of mutli-grain, whole wheat bread with romaine lettuce and a few slices of roma tomato.  On the side and for more protein and fiber, I also grilled up some chick peas.  This one's easy to and comes together in 5 minutes flat:

In a saute pan on the grill add EVOO, at least one clove minced garlic, 1 can drained chick peas, juice of half of a lemon, 1 chopped roma tomato and at the very end finish with about 5 to 6 basil leaves.  A fancy chiffonade cut to get the flavor going in the basil never hurt anyone.  Salt and pepper to taste and time to eat!

Hope you enjoy these two recipes this summer.  Now that June is almost here, my herb garden is getting full usage and basil is one of the star performers.  With easy recipes like these, I am sending good thoughts to the universe for a bountiful harvest throughout the summer...