Day 150 : Spicy Spud Crusted Chicken

This is one of my favorite chicken recipes.  I came across it a long time ago and though the idea was a bit weird to me I fell in love with the taste and texture of this.  It really is easy to make and there is so much flavor!  I haven’t done it yet, but I bet you could do other seasoning blends too and get great results…. maybe italian, cajun, greek, etc.  For the potato flakes I like using regular Creamy Butter style, but you could try whatever you like.  Normally you would cut the chicken into strip sized pieces, but I just pounded mine out a little tonight and left them as whole breasts.

 

Spicy Spud Crusted Chicken

Serves : 4                         Time to make : 40 minutes

Ingredients :

• 3-4 large chicken breasts, cut into pieces
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 2/3 cup instant potato flakes
• 3 T. (basically 1 pkg) taco seasoning
• 1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1/3 cup shredded parmesan

Directions :

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Melt butter in a shallow dish and set aside.
3. Combine potato flakes, taco seasoning, cayenne pepper, and parmesan in a second shallow dish.
4. Dip chicken pieces in the butter first, and then roll into the potato mixture making sure to press the coating onto the chicken.
5. Bake for 30 minutes or until done.

 

Day 113 : Ham Steaks with Pineapple Salsa & Chipotle Oven Fries

Happy Easter everyone!  Today was a great day.  Perrin woke us up this morning, super excited because the Easter Bunny had come while he was sleeping.  Then we spent the morning hiding eggs and playing with the kids’ new playhouse (an Easter gift from us).  The weather was FINALLY warm and sunny, and just perfect.  We went for a family walk, played in the yard and even got to fire up the grill!  I’m just sad to see the day end.

Dinner tonight was awesome to say the least.   We’ve had the ham before, and it is so good, especially for how simple it is.  The fries are a method I use often, but today I changed things up a bit and bought some tiny yellow potatoes and used chipotle and smoked paprika on them which was a nice combo and went well with the bit of heat from the pineapple salsa.  Not pictured here, I also made an Angel Lush Pineapple Cake with Strawberries and we had corn on the cob.  It really was a feast lol.  We even got the corn that is part yellow, part white which I think is the best, and it was grilled to perfection tonight.  (We leave it in the husk and just put some butter in that and wrap the entire thing in foil and toss it on the grill)

For the ham, I like to just hit up the deli section and ask them to cut it rather thick.  It’s usually thicker than their largest size based on the little thing they have to choose from, but I find most of them are ok with making it a little bigger upon request.  You could of course buy a ham and slice your own or whatever.  The recipe normally calls for crushed pineapple, but I really think there is a major difference in flavor between canned and fresh pineapple and if I have the option I will always go for fresh!

Ham Steaks with Pineapple Salsa

Serves : 4                 Time to make : 20 minutes

Ingredients :

• 1.5 lbs of ham, sliced thick (you should get 4 slices about 1/2 inch thick or so)
• 1 cup fresh diced pineapple
• 2 tsp. jalapeno, diced (remove seeds if you want to make it less spicy)
• 1 T. fresh cliantro, chopped
• 2 tsp. fresh lime juice
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 T. orange marmalade

Directions :

1. Combine everything but the ham in a small bowl and mix together.  Set aside or make ahead and chill. (The longer it chills the more the flavors will marry together)
2. Grill your ham slices until heated through and you get good grill marks on both sides (about 10-12 minutes).
3. Serve with salsa on top.

Chipotle Oven Fries

Serves : 2-3          Time to make : 35-40 minutes

Ingredients :

• 1 lb potatoes, washed and cut into wedges of similar size.   I like to use small reds or yellows because they are easy to prepare and roast well.
• olive oil, enough to drizzle over potatoes
• salt & pepper
• chipotle seasoning
• smoked paprika

Directions :

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees, and line a baking sheet with foil.
2. Arrange wedges on foil in single layer and drizzle olive oil over all of them.  You don’t have to drown them, but it’s ok to be a little generous.  The oil really helps them to brown and roast up.
3. Season with salt and pepper.  I like to use a course salt for this and fresh ground pepper.
4. Season with chipotle seasoning and smoked paprika to taste.  Using your hands mix them all up and spread the oil/seasonings all over them.
5. Roast for 20-30 minutes or until tender and browned.