Tuesday: Pretzel Crusted Chicken Fingers with Honey-Mustard Dipping Sauce

 

Does anybody else get their kids involved with preparing dinner? I love finding kid-friendly things for them to do in the kitchen, so they can have some kind of ownership of the meal. I've noticed when they help make something, they are more likely to eat it. For the pretzel crusted chicken, the kids helped me crush the pretzels in a big zip-lock bag and mix the honey-mustard dip together with a wooden spoon.  When daddy got home that night, they proudly told him that they helped make dinner, and that it was going to be yummy. They were right, they were delicious! This recipe also came from FamilyFun's special edition magazine Dinnertime! I am so excited about this magazine, that I can honestly say, I will probably be making all 98 recipes they have in it!

Pretzel Chicken Recipe
6 servings

 1/4 cup mayonnaise (light preferred)

1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1 1/4 lb chicken tenders
3 cups hard sourdough pretzel nuggets (I used Snyder's of Hanover Sourdough Nibblers) 

1. Mix mayo, mustard and chicken in a large ziplock bag, coat it and stick in fridge for 15 minutes. 
2. Heat oven to 425* Degrees. Put pretzels in a large ziplock bag. Crush them with a meat mallet or rolling pin until course crumbs are formed and pea sized chunks. Pour 2/3 of mixture into a shallow bowl.
3. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray it with cooking spray. Take chicken out of bag, and dredge in the pretzel crumbs. After every 3-4 tenders, add more pretzel crumbs to dish. Put tenders on the baking sheet and spray lightly with cooking spray. 

 Bake for about 18 minutes. 

Honey-Mustard Sauce Recipe
6 servings

 3 TB mayonnaise
2 TB whole grain mustard ( I didn't have this...just used 3 TB Dijon and it turned out fine)
2 TB honey
1 TB Dijon mustard
1 tsp lemon juice 

1. In a small bowl, whisk all ingredients together. Serve with the tenders and a crunchy vegetable like broccoli or cauliflower that has been slightly steamed.

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Plan and Prep Ahead 

Here are some helpful techniques to make life a little easier once dinner time hits. These tips will especially help those that work full-time and don't have a lot of time to prepare dinner. 

~Crush pretzels and keep in zip-lock bag until ready to use. 
~Marinate chicken in bag ahead of time for up to 24 hours. 
~Make dipping sauce ahead of time, refrigerate until ready to use.

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Who likes to CHANGE IT UP? 

~Serve with baked sweet potatoes instead of broccoli.  
~Use crushed cornflakes, saltine crackers or breadcrumbs instead of pretzels.  
~Add parmesan cheese to the pretzel crumbs for a cheesy flavor. 
~Sprinkle some Italian seasoning on top of the chicken tenders. 

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