Pretzel Pop Chicken Nuggets

This recipe does not have a featured canned ingredient.  But it does feature 2 processed products.  I created it on a whim yesterday, because I had uncooked chicken thighs left over, from my Winter Cassoulet.

I've mentioned before how much I love the show Chopped, especially when they throw gummi bears, marshmallows or Fruit Loops into the basket (and not for a dessert course).  And thus, Pretzel Pop Chicken Nuggets were born.

If you are a food snob, you might as well stop reading now. But if you don't mind taking your kids to McDonald's once in a while, don't care that every last thing that they eat is organic and have picky young children (or spouses), this recipe is for you. 

Pretzel Pop Chicken  - Serves 6 (measures are approximate)

2 lbs boneless chicken thighs - trimmed and cut into nugget size pieces
2 cups Rold Gold Pretzel Sticks (these are nice because they are not too salty)
3/4 cup Kellogg's Corn Pops
2-3 tbsp All-Purpose Flour
2 eggs beaten
Salt, Pepper to Taste
1 1/2 cup canola oil

Heat oil in a deep 10 inch skillet to 375F
Heat oven to 250F

Season chicken with salt and pepper

Pulse pretzel sticks and corn pops in food processor until ground.  Add flour.  (This makes a fine cornstarch- like powder that adheres well to chicken).  As there are corn pops in this I could see how the coating might achieve this characteristic


Beat eggs in a bowl and dip chicken pieces into coating mixture.  (I usually put breading on a piece of tin foil and tilt the tin foil to help coat the chicken vs. my fingers).

Fry in batches.  About 7 or 8 per batch. 3 or 4 minutes per side, or until dark golden brown. (Remember not to overcrowd the pan as it reduces the temperature of the oil too much.) Transfer to a rack and/or paper towels to absorb excess oil.  Season with salt and pepper.

Transfer to oven to keep to finish any remaining cooking.  Nuggets should register 180F when done.

My kids loved these!  My 14 year old requested to make them again.  As frying pulls out pretty much what salt you put in, you end up with a crunchy, well-seasoned chicken nugget with just a tiny hint of sweetness.  Chicken thighs also hold their moisture better than breasts, so you also get a tender and juicy nugget of flavor.

Colonel Sanders would be proud!

Pretzel Pop Chicken Nuggets

Speaking of McDonald's, I read that their chicken nuggets are 44% chicken and have 38 ingredients.  Mine are 90% chicken if you count the breading as 10%.  These have a better ratio and were fried in healthy canola oil... so I think we're ahead of the game.

Game... maybe make them for Super Bowl.

This post is linked to:
Daily Organized Chaos - Foodie Wednesday

Winter Cassoulet with Italian Sausage and Chicken



Chicken Broth, Tomatoes, Beans

Featured Ingredients: Chicken Broth, Cherry Tomatoes, Cannellini Beans

Is there anything better on a frigid winter night than a stew? Although cassoulet sounds so much prettier, it is literally the French translation for stew. This one tastes as good as it sounds.

I pulled this recipe from my vast binder of printouts and torn magazine pages that I have collected over the years.  The end result is an adaptation of one from Real Simple magazine.  It's one of those recipes that I set aside to try, but never got around to it.  Now I'm wondering why I waited so long.  The original recipe only called for Italian Sausage. When I wrote out my grocery list, I actually misread the recipe and thought it also needed chicken.  As I recall when I made cassoulet in culinary school, there was more than one protein. So now I had to work in the chicken.

I reduced the number of beans (3 cans - or 1 can too many if you ask me) and added 1lb of chicken thighs to share the stage. This addition makes the cassoulet not too filling but doesn't leave you hungry.

Cassoulet - Serves 6 to 8

1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb sweet Italian Sausage (casings removed)
1lb boneless chicken thighs, most of fat removed and cut into 2 inch stew size pieces
1 1/2 cups Chicken Broth
1 onion, thinly sliced
3 carrots cut into 1/2 inch pieces (about 1 1/2 cups)
3 parsnips cut into 1/2 inch pieces (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 15 oz. can Cherry Tomatoes undrained
2 15 oz. cans Cannellini Beans
1 tsp dried thyme leaves
1/2 tsp salt
Dash of black pepper
3 cloves garlic minced
1 cup plain dry bread crumbs
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 tbsps unsalted butter melted

You will need a 5 1/2 quart cast iron dutch oven or a vessel that you can use on your rangetop and then put safely into the oven.


In your vessel of choice (I love my Le Creuset pot) heat oil over medium heat.  Cook the sausage until browned, breaking up into bits with a wooden spoon or spatula.  Place in a dish lined with paper towels.

In remaining oil/fat saute chicken for about 4-5 minutes to soak up sausage flavor and begin cooking process.  Do not cook through.  Remove to another plate.  Pour out any excess fat.

Add chicken broth, onion, carrots, parsnips, beans, thyme, salt, pepper,1/3 of the garlic and return sausage and chicken to pot with any remaining juices.  To borrow a line from Guy Fieri, "everybody in the pool."

Stir and scrape up any brown bits.  Bring to a boil and reduce to a slow, steady simmer. Cover and cook for about 35 minutes until vegetables are nearly tender and liquid has thickened.

Heat oven to 400F.  In a bowl combine melted butter, breadcrumbs, parsley and remaining garlic. 


(I combined it in the pot where I melted the butter.  Anywhere you can save doing a dish.) Sprinkle evenly over the cassoulet and place in the oven.

Bake uncovered for 10-15 minutes until crust is golden and your cassoulet is bubbly and delicious.  If you find your crust isn't browning fast enough and you don't want to over cook vegetables, put the broiler on for 1 minute or 2 to help you along.

Your final stew should be moist but not have a lot liquid leftover. The flavor of the Cassoulet marries perfectly with a glass of Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc.

Winter Cassoulet with Italian Sausage and Chicken

Farfalle with Butternut Squash and Arugula Walnut Pesto



Diamond Shelled Walnuts

Featured Ingredient: Shelled Walnuts

This product fits into my "other can-tainers" category.  While not a traditional can, this product has a pull top made out of sheet metal so it qualifies.

If you like efficient recipes where you can multi-task and work on several elements at one time, this is the recipe for you.  You can roast the squash, while your pasta water boils and you prepare the pesto part.

The most challenging part is preparing the squash.  Personally, I like dishes with more rustic knife cuts, but I tried to make some effort to make semi uniform dices for the final picture.  When I was in culinary school, they gave us the tool below as a guideline to help us hone our knife skills.  Do the ends justified the means?  Do we really need to waste so much of each vegetable to have geometrically shaped food on our plates?

Farfalle with Butternut Squash and Arugula Walnut Pesto

1. Roast Butternut Squash.  You will  need:

4 cups large diced butternut squash (these don't have to be perfect)
1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 tsp salt
Dash of pepper
2 tsp brown sugar
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Preheat oven to 400F
Mix ingredients in a large bowl.  Spread out on one layer on a large baking sheet.  Roast 30-35 minutes until fork tender, not mushy rotating squash about 1/2 way through cooking time.

While butternut squash roasts... Set water in a large pot to boil.  Add 1 tbsp of salt to water

2. Prepare Pesto.  You will need:

1/2 cup walnuts
2 cups baby arugula
2 garlic cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup parmesan cheese divided

In a food processor, pulse walnuts, arugula, garlic, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt and pepper until combined but some texture remains. Slowly pulse in olive oil.  Stir in 1/4 cup of cheese.  Taste and adjust seasonings.

3. Boil 1lb Farfalle Pasta until al dente. Save 1/2 cup of the pasta water.

Return pasta to pot add pesto, pasta water and mix to combine. Fold in roasted butternut squash. Top with additional parmesan cheese and chopped walnut pieces.

Farfalle with Butternut Squash and Arugula Walnut Pesto

Mango Banana Quick Bread

Featured Ingredient: Mango

I have a special place in my heart for mangos. That may sound weird, but I associate some wonderful times in my life with a Mango. Like my first trip to Grand Cayman, driving by all the ripened mango trees, and buying those just picked fruits bursting with a slightly superior juicy sweetness.

Then there is the proudest moment in my career. I was working for Snapple and suggested we use employees instead of models on our bottles for a promotion as a way to tie it back to its roots, as Wendy the Snapple Lady was actually an original employee. 105 employees showed up for an internal photo shoot and 24 were chosen by the promotion agency. Perhaps I got a spot because I take a beautiful photograph with a fish eye lens. Based on a random drawing my Snapple flavor would be 8,000,000 bottles of Mango Madness.

I suggested they temporarily rename the flavor to Milda Madness, but that didn't happen. The promotion was very successful. CNN did a piece on the newly revived brand and I got my mug in the story. Snapple employees loved that they or their friends were on bottles and part of this big marketing program. I was on top of the world.

So mangos make me happy. But, right now the mangos at the store are green.  I also had coconut left over from the pina colada cheesecakes and always have frozen bananas on hand.  I figured I would continue my tropical tangent with an Island inspired quick bread.  Canned mangos don't seem to hold up as well in liquid as peaches for example.  These were rather soft.  But since they are being mixed into a batter with a mashed banana, it was fine for this purpose. 

Mango Banana Quick Bread - Serves 6 - 8

3 tbsps butter
1/3 cup sugar (I reduced the sugar, because the mango is in syrup)
1 egg
1/2 cup mashed banana
1/2 cup mango medium dice
2/3 cup sweetened coconut divided
1 tsp orange zest
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsps baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 350F.

2. With an electric mixer or stand mixer with paddle attachment cream butter and sugar until light.  Add eggs and mix to combine.  Add banana, mango, orange zest and mix to combine. I like using the "cake" method for quick breads - which is creaming butter and sugar together, adding egg, flavorings then alternating remaining dry and wet ingredients. This seems to yield a lighter tasting and more moist bread.

3. In a separate bowl mix remaining dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

4.  Add 1/3 of flour mixture to wet ingredients in bowl, stir briefly to combine, add 1/3 of the milk - not 1/3 cup. Alternate with dry and wet ingredients 2 more times, ending with milk.  Make sure not to stir ingredients too much and overwork batter.  Fold in 1/3 cup of coconut.

5. Spray an 8 in X 4 in pan with cooking spray and pour batter in pan.  Top with remaining coconut. 

6. Bake 50-55 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

Mango Banana Quick Bread

Petit Pina Colada Cheesecake Pie

Featured Ingredients: Sweetened Condensed Milk, Pineapple - Crushed

More snow in the Northeast today had me craving a tropical destination. Nothing reminds me more of the warm sun on your face and your feet in the sand than a Virgin Pina Colada. Drinking one on the beach is the defining moment that says "I'm on vacation."

I know this is a very long-winded title for such a little dessert.  I recently bought a set of 4 - 6 oz. little pie tins.  I originally was going to make this recipe into bars or put this into an 8 inch pie plate, but the thought of a personal size petite little treat was too good to pass up.

Pina Colada Cheesecake

Crust:
1 1/4 cup Honey Maid graham crackers crushed
1/3 cup melted butter

Crush graham crackers in food processor.  Remove to a bowl and stir in melted butter until combined.
Press crumbs into pie plate or bottom of an 8 X 8 pan if you are making bars.   If you decide to make bars, spray the pan with cooking spray and put a piece of parchment paper into the pan with enough paper to fit the pan with a little bit hanging over the sides. This will help the parchment paper stick but will help you lift the dessert easily out of the pan so you can make even cuts.

Filling:
1 8 oz. package of cream cheese (1/3 less fat) softened
1 tbsp flour
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tbsp pineapple juice (from canned pineapple)
2 tsps coconut extract
5 oz. sweetened condensed milk
1 egg

Mix cream cheese, flour, lemon zest, pineapple juice, coconut extract and sweetened condensed milk with an electric mixer until smooth.  Add egg and mix until well combined.

I read that cheesecakes that have flour in them are less likely to crack.  I actually tested two cheesecake recipes and both didn't crack.  In this recipe it doesn't matter, as this cheesecake would be covered with a topping, but its good to know for future reference.   Place cheesecake(s) in a shallow roasting pan with a little bit of water.

Topping:
1/8 cup sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
10 oz. crushed pineapple in juice undrained
1/2 tbsp butter

1 cup sweetened coconut, toasted

Stir together sugar, cornstarch, pineapple and butter in a small saucepan.  Heat over medium heat and stir frequently until thickened.
Cool to room temperature.  Spread over cheesecake.   Meanwhile preheat oven to 325F.  Lay out coconut in a single layer on a baking sheet.  Toast coconut 3 minutes.  Keep checking coconut frequently and keep mixing coconut so it toasts evenly.  Toast until fragrant and lightly colored.  Sprinkle coconut over pineapple topping.

 So, "if you like Pina Coladas..." you'll love this dessert.

Petit Pina Colada Cheesecake Pie

This recipe is linked to:
sweet-as-sugar-cookies.blogspot.com