Cookin' with Moxie

I was SUPER excited for this month’s Secret Recipe Club blog assignment. I got Kelly’s blog over at Eat Yourself Skinny who has some amazing recipes. She is close to my age (20- something)  and loves cooking just like me. Plus we are both obsessed with our very cute dogs. I think it was fate that I was lucky enough to make some of her food. I spent about an hour on her website trying to make a short-list of recipes that I wanted to try. No luck; I ended up with eight. I needed some new, fun and healthy dinner recipes so that narrowed my list down even further. In the end, I couldn’t pick just one so I made three of her dishes! One night we ate her Pork Chops with Balsamic Peppers, another night we ate her Coconut Chicken and Honey Vinagrette Salad, and finally for a side dish one night I made her Green Beans with Lemon Mustard Vinaigrette. My new dillema was picking which one to blog about today! Don’t worry, you will see all of my renditions of these three recipes at some point, but today I chose the Coconut Chicken Salad. It was my absolute favorite by far.

First off, baking the chicken instead of frying it, like I usually would, is much healthier for you. The combination of panko breadcrumbs, Cornflakes and shredded coconut is ingenious. Monday night dinners don’t have to be so boring anymore! That mixture is the perfect balance of texture, crunch and sweetness on a chicken tender. I forgot to mention, if you are on Weight Watchers or know someone who is, please direct them to her blog. Kelly makes it a point to always include calorie/fat information on each of her recipes as well as WW point values. She can’t make it any easier for you!

Coconut Chicken and Honey Vinaigrette Salad
(adapted from Eat Yourself Skinny)
Ingredients:

• 1 lb chicken tenderloins
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup crushed Cornflakes
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 6 cups mixed baby greens
• 3/4 cup shredded carrots
• 1 small cucumber, sliced
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes

• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
• 3 tablespoons dijon mustard

Directions:

1. Whisk all vinaigrette ingredients and set aside.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Combine coconut flakes, panko bread crumbs, Cornflakes and salt/pepper in a bowl. Put eggs in a separate bowl.
2. Lightly season chicken with salt and pepper.  Dip the chicken in the egg, then in the coconut crumb mixture.  Place chicken on a cookie sheet lined with non-stick foil for easy cleanup.  Lightly spray with cooking spray and bake for 26-30 minutes turning halfway (13-15 minutes on each side), or until chicken is cooked through.
3. Make your salad in a bowl by combining baby greens, carrots, cucumber and tomato.  When chicken is done cooking, slice on the diagonal and place on top of individual salad bowls.  You can choose to be healthy like Kelly and drizzle a little over a tablespoon of dressing on your salad OR go crazy with it like me. Serves 2.

Want to know a fun little trick? When making this vinaigrette, or anytime you are using honey, spray the measuring cup or spoon beforehand and it will slide right off! You won’t end up losing any because it won’t stick to the cup. This salad dressing was so good that I have already made it three times. If you glance back at Kelly’s recipe, you will see much smaller amounts of these ingredients to make the dressing. I took it upon myself to multiply that by four because I don’t see how I could ever want less than one and a half cups of this dressing. Believe me, it is THAT good. You will have to refrain from drinking it all by itself. Let’s be honest, that’s just gross. I swear I didn’t do it! Don’t look at me like that!

Tutti Mangia!

 

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