Recipe #5 - Pecan Chicken with Seasoned Potatoes

This one is a two-fer!! The chicken was ok - Rusty LOVED it! Plus, it was really easy. I LOVED the potatoes - they were my favorite part! Several years ago, my mom cleaned out a lot of her cookbooks and I ended up with them... This one is from the Best of Country Cooking, 2001. (I will add - one thing that kind of stinks about going through cookbooks that are 10+ years old is that they don't have a lot of our current day mentalities of "light" or healthy. I've had a pretty hard time of using old fashion cookbooks yet still finding a nice meal that isn't an overload on the calories.)



The Main Course - Pecan Chicken
Ingredients:
*1/3 c finely chopped pecans
*1/3 c dry bread crumbs
*1/2 tsp dried thyme
*1/2 tsp paprika
*1/2 tsp salt
*4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
*3 tblsp dijon mustard

Combine the pecans, bread crumbs, thyme, paprika and salt in a bowl. Coat chicken with mustard, then dip into pecan mixture. Place the coated chicken pieces in a greased baking dish. Bake, uncovered, at 375 for 30-40 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink.

I wasn't sure how I would feel about the mustard flavor, but to be honest, it wasn't very strong. It gave it almost a sweet taste once it was done. The pecan mixture didn't stick very well to the chicken (not sure if I should've used more mustard??). After I coated the chickens and placed them in the baking dish, I dumped what was left of the pecan mixture on top of the chickens, just to give them a little thicker top coat.

Seasoned Potatoes
First of all, this recipe is only for 2 people. If you're cooking for more, you'll definitely need to increase the size. Second, I've NEVER used canned potatoes to cook with before, and I completely felt like I was cheating by using them. I will use them again though - they were so good!!

Ingredients:
*1 tblsp butter
*1 can (15 oz) small whole potatoes, drained
*1/4 tsp of any seasonings/spices you prefer

In a skillet, melt the butter of medium heat. Add the potatoes and sprinkle the seasonings over potatoes. I used just a little bit of garlic powder along with all purpose seasoning salt. Cook and stir for 15-18 minutes over low-medium heat until the potatoes are golden brown and soft. **Note - if the potatoes start to pop at all, lower the heat.**

Enjoy! TTFN