Crispy Cheddar Chicken

Well, it’s been a while since we have updated this bad boy. Sorry about that--it's been pretty busy with the holidays. I hope you had a great Christmas, Kwanzaa, Festivus, or Hanukkah, and may 2012 be your best year so far! I have to say, my cabinet and spice rack are continuously growing with all these new ideas for dishes to make. It’s been an adventure! This next recipe is really good. I borrowed it from a friend, Smashley, who has a blog as well that you should also check out! Gotta give her some major props. She not only cooks, but also does wonderfully crafty things. It is: http://kissmysmash.blogspot.com/

Prep time: 15 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients:
-4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
-1/2 cup of milk
-2 eggs
-2 sleeves of Ritz crackers
-3 cups of shredded cheddar cheese
-1/4 tsp pepper
-1 can of cream of chicken soup
-2 tablespoons of sour cream
-2 tablespoons of butter

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.2. Place the Ritz crackers into a large Ziploc bag. Seal the bag, and crush the crackers into small pieces (think breadcrumbs).

3. Add pepper to the crackers. Yes, I know--in the picture that is salt. LOL, I omitted it out of the recipe because of the salt on the Ritz crackers already.

4. Line up 3 bowls. Fill the first one with the milk (and mix in the eggs), the second with the shredded cheese, and the third with the crackers. 

5. Rinse the chicken breasts in cold water.

6. Using your newly created assembly line, dip each chicken breast into the milk, then into the cheese, and finally, into the breadcrumbs. What I took away from Smashley's blog is that she had trouble getting the cheese and cracker bits to stick to the chicken. So, I decided to try and mix milk and eggs to help form a stickier consistency. (Also, I wonder if the order of things matters--like cracker bits before cheese? I will try that next time). You really have to kind of mash both the cheese and cracker bits onto the chicken.

Here was the result. Notice that I sprinkled extra cheese over all the chicken just for good measure.

7. Place the chicken in a pan, and cover with tin foil. Bake for 35 minutes. 

8. While the chicken is baking in the oven, heat up the can of cream of chicken soup, and combine with the sour cream and butter.  

9. Stir over medium high heat until well combined and hot.

10. Remove the chicken from the oven, remove the tin foil, and place back in the oven for an additional 10 minutes, or until the edges of the chicken are golden brown and crispy.

 11. Remove the chicken from the oven, pour sauce over each piece, and serve. Yum!

BTDubs, did you happen to notice that in this last picture, there is a piece of chicken missing? Yeah, it didn't escape. Actually, since Josh was my guinea pig, when I told him about what was in the sauce (sour cream) he got a little scared. So here's a note, don't tell your guinea pigs what you are making, just have them eat it. He did end up taking a little bit of sauce in the end.