Honey Mustard Pretzel Chicken

Ingredients:

4 cups hard pretzels (like sourdough), coarsely crushed
1/2 cup neutral tasting olive oil
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
1/3 cup honey (Iike clover or orange blossom)
1/4 cup bottled water
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
coarse salt and fresh ground black pepper
1 + 1/2 pounds boneless chicken breasts

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 400° F. Set a wire rack (like an oven-safe cookie rack) over a large rimmed baking sheet.
2. In a food processor pulse the pretzels until coarsely ground (small crumbs with some small pretzel pieces) then add them to a large, shallow bowl. Wipe the crumbs out of the food processor.
3. Add the oil, mustard, honey, water and vinegar to the food processor and pulse until smooth.
4. Season with salt and pepper. Taste and adjust the flavor to suit your own tastes by adding more mustard or honey.
5. Pour half of the dressing into a large shallow bowl and add the chicken breasts. Turn to coat them evenly then dredge them in the pretzel crumbs using your hand to pat them on if needed.
6. Set them on the wire rack and bake 20 – 25 minutes or until cooked through (internal temperature 165 – 174 degrees F.).
7. Let the chicken sit 5 minutes before serving with the remaining honey mustard dressing.

 

ELK's Solo

 

ELK's Holiday concert was Monday December 1st and he had a solo in the first song, Funky Old St. Nick. Here is the link to listen. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRU9KY45ZKY

My first Quilting project

My Christmas present to myself was to take a quilting class. December 1st I took time out of my busy schedule to take a class to make a table runner. I was able to get the top of the quilt completely done in the 3 hour class. Finished up the runner and need to take a picture of the finished project.

This is the second runner I made this weekend. I have just the binding left to do. It is about 1/3 of the way done and should get it finished to night. This is going to be a Christmas gift.

Found new blog I found

Been busy researching how the Scandinavian countries celebrate the holiday and found this fun site.
 A Scandinavian Christmas // Starbucks Giveaway

Found one cute idea that I hope to make for the house.

It should be a fun project to make with the boys.

I am receiving a sweepstakes entry in exchange for writing the blog post for the Starbucks Giveaway. Check out there site by following the link....


inspiredbycharm.com scandinavian-christmas-starbucks giveaway

Checkout the Christmas Card I made!

Modern Christmas Christmas

Click here to browse our Christmas card designs.

View the entire collection of cards.

Ditalini Italian Soup

 

 

Ingredients:

2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

1/2 cup chopped onions

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 can diced tomatoes with juice (I use the ones seasoned with basil and oregano)

2 tbsp tomato paste

2 cans reduced sodium chicken broth

1 tbsp Italian Seasoning

A couple of dashes of Texas Pete hot sauce

A pinch of red pepper flakes

Meatballs (I am a really big fan of the frozen Armour Italian-style meatballs, for a quick meal)

1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1 1/2 cup Ditalini pasta

Couple pinches of salt

Pinch of dried oregano

Pinch of dried basil

Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onions and saute until translucent, about 3 minutes, adding a little bit of salt.

Add the garlic to the pan and saute together with the onions for 1 minute. Then add the meatballs, can of diced tomatoes, chicken broth, tomato paste, Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes and dashes of hot sauce. Simmer for 15 minutes.

While still simmering, add the Parmesan cheese and Ditalini pasta and continue to simmer another 15 minutes.

Remove pan from stove top, add dried oregano and basil. I like to also add some freshly grated Pecorino Romano, but that's just preference.

*****

 

Junior Show

Hogs Wild 4H Club

We have 10 members this year and two want to be's in a few years.

Since the boys pigs were 1 pound apart they ended up in the same class for confirmation. The judge said there pigs were about 1 week over done and shelffy. Don't know what shelffy is and I guess the judge could smell the bacon frying and that why there were one week over due. He said they would have done much better if the show was one week earlier. I don't understand his reasoning. The pigs weighed 261 & 260 lbs and ended up with red ribbons for confirmation. I think it is because both pigs have the Kain trait of short legs. Stumpy pigs.

                ADK and his pig "Bacon Chunks"                                 ELK and his pig "Reggie"