Honey-Drizzle Cheddar Cheese

It's Christmas time and I get to host Christmas Dinner for the second year in a row. The challenge is preparing it with a 4-year old and a 7-week old baby. I keep saying to myself, "keep in simple". How can you really keep it simple when you're preparing food for a dozen people? Simple would be having pizza delivered. I'm not going to go that route, of course. So after coming up with a menu that consists of a cheese & cracker appetizer, I decided to do something a little different. Enter a recipe from Kraft.com. I decided that I could do something different yet simple.

So easy. Take a block of aged white cheddar cheese, drizzle it with honey (or better yet - English Golden Syrup) and top it with a combo of chopped nuts and dates. I was a little nervous only because I'm not a huge fan of honey. But, I've gotta tell you, it was wonderful! I used hazelnuts since I had them on hand and they worked out really well. The balance of flavors between the ingredients was wonderful. This is definitely an appetizer that I'll put out again or even take to a friend's house.

Ingredients

1 8 oz. Aged Reserve Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese

1/4 cup honey

1/2 cup chopped nuts (any kind: walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans)

1/2 cup chopped dates

1 apple, sliced
crackers

Directions

1. Place cheese on cheese board; drizzle with honey.

2. Top with nuts and dates.

3. Serve with apples and crackers.

Side Note:

I really should start concentrating more on food presentation. I primarily only use recipes that have a photo of the end product. I don't like leaving anything to the imagination in this respect. In the real world, do people spend that much time thinking about the presentation or are we all thinking more about the taste and temperature of the food we prepare?

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/honey-drizzled-cheddar-cheese-123518.aspx

Tuxedo Sesame-Crusted Chicken

Now that I feel almost human again (I can bend over) after giving birth just over 6 weeks ago, I've gotten back into the swing of cooking. My energy level has returned from zero and I was finally able to fill out my dinner menu calendar for the month of December. I had abandoned it back in March while I was in my first trimester and sleep, or at least being horizontal, overrode everything. I think we ate nothing but pasta for three months. I may not follow my dinner calendar to the date but that's okay. I had planned this meal to following a Boxing Day meal of left overs. I moved this to tonight since I didn't have all of the necessary ingredients for the meal I had "planned" for tonight. I'm behind on grocery shopping and laundry. That's the story of my life.

So this recipe is brought to us by the creative people at McCormick, the spice company. I've prepared this once before but I forgot how easy it is to make, or else I'd make it every month. I even made organic chicken tenders using this recipe for my son. This time I made it smarter and will use my "smarts" to make my life easier in the future. After you read or skip over reading the ingredients and directions, I'll tell you what I did differently and then give you my family's feedback.

Ingredients 1 cup panko (Japanese bread crumbs)

3 tablespoons Sesame Seeds

3 tablespoons Sesame Seeds, Black

1 egg

1 teaspoon Garlic Powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon Red Pepper, ground cayenne

1 1/2 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast halves, pounded to 1/2-inch thickness

3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided

Directions

1. Mix bread crumbs and sesame seeds in shallow dish. Beat egg, garlic powder, salt and red pepper in separate shallow dish. Dip chicken in egg mixture. Coat evenly on both sides in bread crumb mixture, pressing firmly so mixture adheres to chicken. Discard any remaining egg and bread crumb mixtures.

2. Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in large nonstick skillet on medium heat. Add chicken; several pieces at a time; cook 5 minutes per side or until chicken is browned and cooked through. Repeat with remaining chicken, adding remaining oil if needed.
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So I failed to read the directions in their entirety before starting the preparation. I've failed to do this before and I've really screwed things up. Apparently I didn't learn from that experience, but it didn't matter this time. In fact, I found an easier way to do things.

In a gallon size plastic bag I mixed the bread crumbs and all of the spices. I didn't add the garlic powder, salt or red pepper to the beaten egg. It just went into the bag. In fact, I completely forgot to add salt. Oops. It's such a necessary ingredient that isn't all that necessary in this dish. I dredged the chicken in the egg and then tossed it directly into the bag with the breadcrumbs and spices. I tossed it around like shake-n-bake. I know I'm not the first person to every do this, but I know how awesome the first person felt when they did it! Pure genius! No messy hands, no bowl full of gooey mixture on a plate. When I was done I just tossed the bag out.

I cooked the chicken as directed, for 5 minutes each side. I didn't cut it open to check it.

The first comment my husband made after trying it was, "this is really juicy"! Yay! I didn't dry it out. He proceeded to give me a critique much like that given by the judges on Chopped (my favorite tv show). He asked what the little kick was. Red pepper I told him. He said it was just enough to give it a little something.

The real test came when my son was told to try it. He finished off his haricot vert like it was Nutella, doing everything he could to avoid this "new" chicken. He was so hesitant to try the chicken, even though he got to shake the spices and breadcrumbs together in the bag. He tried it, with ketchup of course. I think the photo says it all.

He learned to give a "thumbs up" tonight. :)