Sunday, March 14, 2010

Cheese-It Chicken

“It is said that love makes the world go 'round - the announcement lacks verification. It's wind from the dinner horn that does it.” – O. Henry

Really, I think we all need more dinner horns, although what a dinner horn is exactly, I’m not quite sure.


I didn’t need any dinner bells or horns this weekend, though. Cheese-it chicken is one of my husband’s favorites. Warning: I can’t guarantee the heath benefits here, but it sure is delicious. I made it with sides of asparagus and cous cous.

You can see I used chicken tenders instead of chicken breasts here. For some reason, everyone in Richmond was acting like it was about to snow on this cloudy 60 degree day, and the grocery store was a mad-house. Chicken tenders were all I could find.

Ingredients: 
Boneless skinless chicken breasts
Philadelphia cream cheese
White Cheddar Cheese-its

1. Allow cream cheese to reach room temperature for ease of spreading.
2. Put roughly a half-cup of cheese-its into a ziplock bag. Make sure you get all of the excess air out of the bag to avoid it popping. Crush the crackers. (This can be done by hand or on a very bad day with a mallet of sorts. Meat hammers, soup cans, and fists all work lovely.)
3. Smear chicken breasts with a very thin layer of cream cheese. (Thicker cream cheese is definitely delicious, but I try to be a little bit good, here).
4. Pour crushed crackers onto a small plate. When the chicken is coated, bread it by using tongs to roll chicken over the cheese-it crumbs.
5. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees (Fahrenheit, just in case anyone international is reading).
Total prep time: 55 minutes
Alternatives and notes:
  • White Cheddar Cheese-its seem to give the best bread-crumb-esque coverage.
  • I can’t tell the difference between Cheese-Its and Low Fat Cheese-Its, though my husband can.
  • Instead of cream cheese, I’ve used olive oil to moisten the chicken and give the smashed crackers something to hold onto.
Happy Cooking, and if you figure out what a dinner horn is, let me know.
-KSP


(Click here for printable recipe)

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