Crunchy Chicken Fingers with Spicy Avocado

I have been on a big avocado kick this year and have been eating it at least once a week. I was looking through my Robin Miller cookbook and came across this quick and low fat recipe and knew I would have to give it a try.


I made this just for me as Tom still thinks chicken is totally gross.

Preheat your oven and gather some ingredients.

You will need some chicken, avocado, lime, bread crumbs, hot sauce, hot peppers, sour cream, garlic powder, oregano, paprika, thyme (I forgot it!), cilantro - if you are one of those people, salt and pepper.


Slice your chicken.


Combine your bread crumbs with the spices and the salt and pepper.


Dredge your chicken through the bread crumbs to get it evenly coated.


Drop the chicken on to pan coated with non stick spray or use the wonderful non-stick foil that I love. Get these guys in the oven for 20 minutes.


Chop up your peppers. I used some sport peppers and they were HOT!


Combine the avocado, sour cream, hot sauce, lime juice and hot peppers together. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. If you are one of those cilantro eating people you can add that in at the end as well.


After 20 minutes get your chicken out. It didn't brown as much as I wanted but it was cooked through.


Plate up the chicken with the avocado and enjoy! This sauce can be used with a bunch of different things and would be delicious on a turkey burger or fish tacos. The chicken was seasoned well and crunchy, but the sauce was definitely the star for me.

Mustard Chicken Wings

The 4th of July is probably my favorite holiday. I love fireworks and I love grilling up burgers and hot dogs. I also love tasty appetizers and these Mustard Wings really are simple but packed with flavor. You can do them in the broiler pretty quickly or at a slower temperature depending on your schedule so they really are a great way to get food out for guests without having to do a lot of work.





We have nothing to preheat or prep at the moment because you want to let the chicken marinate for a while ahead of time. I let mine go for about 2 hours. Time to gather ingredients and get that started.


You will need spicy mustard, chicken wings, hot sauce, garlic, olive oil, lemon, and some pepper.


Combine everything together and add a pinch of salt if you'd like.


Put the chicken in a bag with the wings and toss it in the fridge and forget about it for a while.


Preheat your oven or broiler and get the chicken down on a pan. I like to use a wire rack over some foil so the wings get nice and crispy. Pop them in the oven and follow instructions for either the broiler or the oven method. I used the oven at 375 degrees.


The recipe has you basting with the marinade, it is important you do your last baste with at least 5-10 minutes of cooking left to kill anything lurking from the chicken.


Getting delicious!


These were super easy and full of flavor. It is a nice change from burgers and hot dogs or a fun and simple appetizer. I hope you are all having a great week!

America's Test Kitchen Roast Cornish Game Hen with Cous Cous Stuffing

Game hens are so perfect for people that dine alone. They are easy to work with, portioned perfectly, and often on sale at a lot of grocery stores. This recipe from America's Test Kitchen's Cooking for Two cookbook is perfect for dining alone or for sharing with someone. Tom finds these little hens quite frightening, so he won't even be in the area when I am making them. But trust me, they are absolutely delicious. That being said, I cut this recipe in half.





Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and lets gather our ingredients.


You will need a game hen, of course, some broth, balsamic vinegar, cinnamon, ginger, parsley, brown sugar, lemon, shallot or onion, cous cous, currants or cranberries, and pistachios or pine nuts.


The first thing to do is to toast the pine nuts or pistachios. Pay no attention to my dirty stove...


Chop up the onion or shallot.


Measure out your cinnamon and ginger.


Measure your broth, cranberries, and chop up your lemon. Prepping is the most important part of a successful meal. If you have everything ready you don't have to scramble.


Cook the shallots over medium with the cinnamon and ginger for about 3 minutes.


Stir in the cous cous and cook for about 2 minutes, this smells so good you won't believe it!


Stir in the broth and bring to a simmer, get it off the heat and cover it with a lid.


That is a lid in my house, Corelle has many functions.


Once that has hung out for about 5 minutes get it into a bowl and fluff with a fork.


Stir in the nuts, cranberries or currants, lemon juice, and parsley. Add some salt and pepper and you are ready to move on to your hen.


Line a cookie sheet with foil and place a rack on it. I am just using one of my cookie cooling racks.


Behold the little hen that terrifies my husband.


Stuff that bugger with your cous cous stuffing.


Cross the legs and tie them together. I have always just used embroidery thread to tie up my chickens and hens, I don't own butcher's twine. I am sure that there is some horrifying chemical in there but so far I have suffered no problems from doing this. Season the outside of your bird well and make sure it is breast side down on your rack. Put the hen in the oven for about 25 minutes.


While the hen is in the oven we can make the balsamic glaze. I made almost the full amount of this glaze because I knew I would love it. Measure out the ingredients.


Get the ingredients in a small sauce pan over medium heat and let them simmer for about 2 minutes. It will thicken and reduce down.


Reserve some glaze for serving.


After 25 minutes pull the hen out and brush with glaze. Flip the hen over.


Brush the other side with the glaze as well. Put them back in the oven for about 20 more minutes. Having an instant read thermometer is a really good idea if you are making whole birds like this.


Crank the oven up to 450 degrees and pull the hen back out and give it one more glaze. Put the hen back in for about 10 minutes or until your instant read thermometer says 160.


Get the bird on a cutting board and give him one more balsamic bath with the glaze you reserved. Don't be alarmed if the hen looks a little over cooked, it is just the darkness of the balsamic.


I served this up with some asparagus and it was absolutely delicious and not nearly as hard as I had thought it would be. It is all about timing and making sure you have everything prepped and ready to use when you need it.

Crispy Onion Chicken

This recipe is brought to you by my husband's love for french fried onions. We always have a can in our pantry and I have never used them. Well one day at Sam's club he decided he needed the giant bag of fried deliciousness and I have been staring at them in the pantry ever since. I came across this recipe in Taste of Home and decided to give it a try.




You don't need much to make this dish, just some chicken, worcestershire sauce, garlic salt, ground mustard, butter and a GIANT bag of french fried onions. Ok, a 6 oz can will actually work. Preheat your oven to 350, grease up a baking dish and lets get cooking.


Melt your butter and add in the worcestershire sauce, garlic, mustard and salt and pepper.


Crunch up your onions and get the butter mix in a shallow dish.


Roll the chicken through the butter.


Roll the chicken through the onions.


Pop the chicken in your greased baking dish and pour the remaining butter mixture over the chicken. Bake this for about a half an hour and prepare a side while it cooks.


I tried these Trader Joes asparagus that are in their freezer section. They were ok, a little too mushy for my taste.


Get your chicken out of the oven and plate it up.


I just squeezed some lemon juice on the asparagus and I was ready to eat. The chicken turned out crispy and delicious and the leftovers made an awesome stir fry later in the week.