Pretzel Chicken with Mustard Dill Dipping Sauce

This is Cheyenne's favorite chicken recipe, she informs me. We've been having this fairly frequently; the dipping sauce is good as a salad dressing, too!


Pretzel Chicken

• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 large eggs
• 1 T Dijon mustard
• 3 cups pretzels (NOT low sodium!)
  
• 1 1/2 lbs chickens (I like using tenders)
• Black pepper

If using large chicken breasts, cut into smaller pieces. Crush the pretzels in the food processor until a coarse flour forms. (I like it still having largish chunks of pretzel.) Whisk the eggs with the Dijon mustard. Put the flour in a large shallow bowl, then the egg/mustard mixture in a second bowl, then the pretzel flour in a third bowl. Sprinkle chicken lightly with pepper, then dredge in the flour, then the egg mixture, then the pretzel mixture. Heat half a cup of oil (what the recipe calls for, I think I usually glug in more than that) in a skillet over medium high heat until hot but not smoking-- drop a little pretzel chunk in and it should immediately sizzle. (I have finally figured out how to fry things-- it takes the oil a long time to get up to heat, but it has to be truly hot for the frying to work. I generally start the oil heating before I start breading the chicken.) Cook on the first side until the pretzel coating is dark brown, about 2 minutes. Flip and cook on the other side about another two minutes. Serve with the mustard-dill sauce (essential!)

Mustard-Dill Dipping Sauce

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 2 T finely chopped fresh dill (or 2 tsp. dried dill)
• 1 tsp. honey
• 1/4 cup Dijon mustard
• 1/8 tsp. pepper

Mix all together.

Raisin Bars

The other day, I found of can of raisins that had been lurking in the back of the pantry until it was mighty near its expiration date. I knew I had made raisin bars one time that were a hit with the kids, but as much as I racked my brain, I could not think where I had found that recipe. Now, a week after making a ginormous batch of oatmeal raisin cookies, I found the recipe-- actually typed into my computer and ready to print. This only stiffened my resolve to try to actually get more recipes typed up and PRINTED OUT! And, hopefully, some up on here.

Raisin Bars

Filling:

• 2 1/2 cups raisins
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup applesauce
• 1 tsp. lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Bar:

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup flour
• 1/2 cup coconut
• 3/4 cup butter

Preheat oven to 350°. In a medium saucepan, heat raisins and water to boiling; simmer 15 minutes, then drain. Stir in applesauce, lemon juice and cinnamon. In a medium bowl, combine oats, flour, sugar and coconut. Cut in butter until crumbly. Press 2 ½ cups of the crumbs into a 13x9 ungreased pan. Spread raisin mixture over the crumbs. Sprinkle on remaining crumbs and press in lightly. Bake 30 to 40 minutes or until light brown. Cool completely and cut into bars.

And, the oatmeal raisins cookies weren't a bad way to use raisins, either. And it's hard to improve upon the taste of this cookie dough. This is the recipe that is printed under the lid of the Quaker Oats cylinder.

Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 3 cups oatmeal
• 1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350°. Beat together butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Stir in oats and raisins. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool on sheet 1 minute; transfer to rack.