Day to Day with C+J: Chicken+Pretzels

A few weeks ago I was in Rhode Island for work and on my way home I sat next to a very chatty gentleman. I fly a lot and I rather use that time to unwind from the work week, sleep or read; however, on this occasion I didn't whip my Kindle out fast enough and the man next to me started up a conversation. Long story short- he was a very successful businessman (I was lucky enough to get upgraded to first class during this trip) and he loved to cook. The conversation was mostly me nodding my head, smiling and occasionally laughing at his business adventure anecdotes, but he did share some interesting food ideas- one idea that struck me was baked pretzel chicken.

The next day I Googled it and found a ton of recipes! Craig gets bored with chicken, so I'm always trying to find ways to make it more interesting and this recipe fit the bill (it's pretty healthy too!). It was super easy to make and went really well with grilled vegetables. We also added a side of homemade grilled potato chips.

Pretzel and Mustard Baked Chicken (Click on link for recipe)

Ingredients:

2 cups pretzels
1/2 cup mustard- regular, dijon or spicy brown (we used dijon and it was really good)
2 tablespoons skim milk
Salt- about 1 teaspoon (I decided to omit the added salt since pretzels are already pretty salty)
3 pounds skinless chicken (we used 2 large chicken breasts which is less than 3 lbs)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. The recipe recommends using a food processor to crush up the pretzels, but I still haven't figured out how to use mine (I really need to figure it out), so we placed the pretzels in a zip lock bag and crushed with a rolling pin:

Place the crushed pretzels in a medium size bowl and set aside. Next combine the mustard, milk and salt (if adding) into another bowl and stir together. Roll each piece of chicken into the mustard mixture, then coat with the crushed pretzels and then place on a baking sheet lined with foil and sprayed with cooking spray (they also recommend using parchment paper):

We decided to cut our chicken into smaller pieces so that it bakes more evenly. The recipe says to bake for about 45 minutes, but if you end up cutting your chicken into smaller pieces then I recommend cutting the time down to 35-40 minutes....unless you want your pretzel crust extra crispy.

While that baked in the oven, we fired up the grill and made the sides.

Grilled vegetables:
1 yellow pepper and 1 red pepper (you can use any color pepper you want)
1 white sweet onion (I like the flavor of grilled sweet onions the best)
Olive oil (maybe about 2-3 tablespoons...we just kind of eyeballed it)
Balsamic vinegar to taste
Salt + Pepper to taste

Chop the vegetables up into bite size pieces, but big enough so they won't fall through the grill slats. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Add some salt and pepper to taste. We use kosher salt- more flavor and you don't have to use as much. Mix all the ingredients together....I make Craig mix it together by hand :)

Throw on the grill for about 15 minutes or however long it takes to get to the level of crispiness/softness you want for the vegetables.

Grilled Potato Chips:
2 large brown-skin potatoes
Olive Oil (enough to coat the potato slices)
Salt + Pepper to taste
Any other seasonings you want to use (we've tried it with paprika & rosemary and this time we used steak seasoning)

Cut the potatoes into thin slices:

Drizzle with olive oil and then season to taste. Mix all the ingredients together by hand. We recommend doing it by hand because the potato slices tend to stick together. Then lay each slice flat on the grill:

Be sure to keep a close eye on it while it's grilling because they cook pretty quickly. Flip frequently to get both sides done. I think we kept them on the grill for about 15 minutes on low heat. Grill them until they're at the level of crispiness that you prefer.