Pretzel Chicken with Cheese Sauce and Roasted Cauliflower

This is a fun recipe to do with the kids, they can smash up all the pretzels. We had some Cauliflower on hand so I roasted it to go along with the chicken. A little extra sauce on the cauliflower was delish!

Recipe: (serves 4)
Ingredients:
4 medium chicken breasts, boneless, skinless
2 cups pretzels
1 Tablespoon fresh thyme leaves, chopped
1/2 cup Egg Beater's
2 Tablespoons water
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon flour
1 cup fat free milk
1/2 cup sharp yellow cheddar
1/4 cup jack cheese
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon grainy mustard
non-stick cooking spray

Directions:
1. Pound chicken breasts with a meat mallet to about 1/4 inch thickness. Preheat oven to Broil 500'F.
2. Grind pretzels in a food processor or give the kiddos a chance to bam them in a plastic bag for fun. Transfer the ground pretzels to a shallow dish. Place Egg Beater's and water in a second shallow dish. Coat each chicken breast in pretzels then dip in the Egg Beater's, then dip in the pretzels again and lay them on a baking sheet coated with non-stick cooking spray. Broil chicken in 500'F oven ~ 4-5 minutes per side or until chicken is cooked through to an internal temperature of 165'F.

3. While chicken is in the oven, in a medium sauce pan over medium heat, melt the butter and add the flour to it, cook for ~ 1 minute to cook out the flour taste. Add the milk whisking constantly until the milk comes to a gentle simmer, stir in the cheese and mustard with a wooden spoon. Once the sauce is combined, remove from the heat. Serve chicken hot topped with the warm cheese sauce.



Roasted Cauliflower
Recipe: (serves 4)
Ingredients:
1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons Parmesan Cheese
2 tablespoon olive oil

Directions:
1. To make this recipe a quickie, I steam the cauliflower first then finish it off in the oven. Fill a large pot with about 1/2 inch of water and steamer basket. Add cauliflower to steamer basket and steam covered about 5-7 minutes until knife tender.

2. Transfer cauliflower to baking sheet, toss with garlic, Parmesan and olive oil and broil at 500'F for about 5 minutes until just starting to brown and the garlic is fragrant. Serve hot.