Honey Mustard Pretzel Chicken Fingers

A few years back, I got the Hungry Girl cookbook for Christmas.  There are a lot of great, easy recipes especially when cooking for one or when counting calories or following Weight Watchers.

That being said, some of the recipes rely a little heavily on prepackaged, processed foods.  Whatever your food philosophy, I think you could still find a few things in the book worth while. 

One of the recipes that I tried right off the bat was the Fiber One Chicken.  It’s simple enough, high protein, low on fat and oils, and obviously high in fiber.  Problem is, Fiber One and any Fiber One products do not sit will in my tummy.  I gave their popular breakfast bars a couple chances and decided it was not worth it.  I stick to my Kashi’s, thankyouverymuch.

So why not use the same method but with different a different “breading”?

Honey Mustard Pretzel Chicken Fingers
Inspired by Hungry Girl and The Piggly-Wiggly

Ingredients
-3-4 medium or 18 ounces boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into “tender/finger” sized pieces
-2 servings or 56 ounces Rold Gold Honey Mustard Pretzels* (about 1 cup when crushed)
-1/2 cup egg whites
-1 tsp. Garlic salt
-Pepper and Salt to taste (I used some Tastefully Simple Green Tea Pepper seasoning, which also has garlic and other spices so you may want to add in more…get creative)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a Ziploc bag, combine pretzels and seasonings.  Use a rolling pin to crush pretzels to crumb like consistency, with some pieces a little bigger then others. (You can also do this in a food processor).
2. Spray a baking pan/sheet with cooking spray (I used a cooking rack as well) then set up assembly line of chicken, egg white, pretzel mixture, and your baking pan. 
3. Dip each chicken piece into egg white, then coat with pretzel mixture, then place on baking pan. Repeat until all chicken is coated.  Spray with cooking spray.
4. Bake for 10 minutes, then turn chicken, then bake another 10 minutes or so until chicken is cooked through.

This will easily feed to hungry adults and then some when paired with a veggie or other delicious side of your choice!

*You could easily use any pretzel you like or even a cracker.  I have seen similar recipes using Ritz crackers.

Nutrition facts for whole recipe:
Calories: 788
Fat: 12.5g
Carbs: 48g
Protein: 139.5

Media Play

For those not familiar, Media Play was a retail store I *think* only in the Midwest that carried books, movies, music, video games, and some small electronics.  Where I grew up, it was the place to buy your Puff Daddy and the Family – No Way Out album and Britney Spears singles.  I think it saw its demise when Best Buy and Barnes and Noble moved into town.  I am sure the interwebz and sites like Amazon.com had something to do with it, too. 

Anyway, this isn’t about an overpriced former retailer.  This post is about something different then food or fitness and I wanted to share some things I have been digging lately that could have been found at that store.

Music:
I recently ripped my original copy of Fiona Apple – Tidal into iTunes. This one goes out to my friend Angela.  We used to know all the words to the angsty, breathy Fiona tunes.  (We also knew most of the words to No Way Out, we were diverse like that).  No matter what you think of her, it’s amazing to think that Fiona’s first album came out when she was only 19 and looking back through my adult eyes, on the video for “Criminal” how edgy it was. 

Other recent downloads:
-Band of Skulls, Friends and Light of the Morning
-Florence + The Machine, You’ve Got The Love

Books:
I finished The Help by Kathryn Socket in less then two weeks.  I couldn’t put it down!  Recommended reading fo sho.

Right now I am reading The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo by Steig Larson.  Also…can’t put it down! The first few chapters were a little slow, but things are so good.  I will probably finish it within the week.

Movies/TV:
We finally watched The Blindside over the weekend.  It was exactly what I expected.  Feel good movie with good acting.

Looking to start a new tv series on DVD – thinking about True Blood.  Thoughts?  And please oh please tell me I am missing out and NEED to be watching Glee yesterday.  I am torn on whether I will like it or not…

3 Shower kind of day

Is it too soon to complain about the heat?  Considering only two weeks ago it was rainy and in the 40’sF.  Yesterday was pretty much the opposite of that.  I am stubborn and went for a run anyway.  I am one of those types if you tell me I can’t do something, I will probably do it anyway.  Especially when it comes to fitness.

The first 4 miles of my planned 6 went really well.  I felt pretty zippy in fact.  After 4, things pretty much sucked.  It felt a lot warmer then 95F with the highest humidity ever.  Oh by the way, just to illustrate yesterday was a record high temp here.  I still managed to finish in a respectable time, but it included a couple bouts of walking in the shade.  I was completely soaked through and through and it took forever to stop sweating so the “shower would take,” you know, when you are so sweaty and you shower, but you still sweat after the shower?  This term was coined by one of Mr. BKL’s friends – who is male.  Hmmm.  I do sweat more then the average female I guess.  I don't know if this picture really illustrates the brevity of the sweaty situation…

 

You know what else is cool?  These awesome tan lines on my feet…there are also matching ones on my shoulders and it looks like I am wearing my watch, even when I am not…

And also since I am stubborn, I wanted to find the illusive zucchini for our garden that no one seemed to have over the weekend, plant it, and fence in our little plot. (I am not sure my new fencing will keep the possibly carnivorous rogue squirrels that live around here out, but it looks nice!)  I.hate.squirrels.

So our garden now includes:
-zucchini
-snap peas
-Brussels sprouts
-tomato
-sweet basil
-cucumber

There is room for a few more things, but they will have to be small.  Peppers perhaps?

I still have yet to wrap my head around Lost.  Anyone else?  I have to read some of my favorite recap sites today and see if they offer any new light on the situation.  Overall?  I wasn’t disappointed.  I think the show ended much like it went all 6 seasons – up for your interpretation.

Work It Out

Whew – it’s hot up in here.  My easy paced 4 mile run yesterday left me completely drenched.  This week the weather might make for some interesting workouts! Highlight of last week was my first 10 mile run in 8 years.  My distance PR is 12 miles, so my goal is to hit that at least once this summer.  Probably not happenin’ this week in 90’s and high humidity.

My workouts for the week of May 17th – 23rd:

Monday, 17th
10 mile run, 1:34:00
Tuesday, 18th
12 mile bike ride, about 51 minutes
Wednesday, 19th
OH squat
6 x 45
6 x 55
6 x 55
back squat
8 x 95
hang clean
3 x 5 x 75
bench press
5 x 80
6 x 75
5 x 75
standing one arm cable row
3 x 10 x 40
-2 mile run
-45 min. Baptiste/Vinyasa yoga
-1.5 hour walk with a friend
Thursday, 20th
6 mile run total, 3 miles to the gym, 3 miles back
Friday, 21st
deadlift
2 x 6 x 135
sumo deadlift
2 x 6 x 135
cable pull through's
3 x 10 x 50
Arnold press
3 x 8 x 20's
inverted row smith machine
3 x 6 x BW
Pallof press
3 x 10 x 60
push press
2 x 5 x 65
2 mile run
1 mile @ 7.5, 1 mile @ 6.0
Saturday, 22nd
rest day
Sunday, 23rd
4 mile run - didn't wear my watch!

What a weekend!

This past weekend we celebrated Mr. BKL’s masters degree completion with a little grad party with our families.  Everyone was able to come, including all of his family which was great since it had been a long time since everyone was together. And it was the first time both our families had been together since our wedding almost 3 years ago.

It was a lot of work between the baking, cooking, and cleaning, but it was so worth it.  We couldn’t have asked for a more beautiful weekend weather wise.  My prayers were answered!

Friday night we made chicken enchiladas for us and my parents in-law.  I didn’t take any pictures, but the recipe from Tyler Florence can be found here.  We cut it in half for 4 people and still had leftovers.  In addition, we had mixed green salads and Mexican rice as sides. 

For the party, we kept it simple by grilling.  To go along with the grilled goods, I made Cara’s Wagon Wheel Taco Pasta salad. I used rotelle instead of wagon wheels.  I also made Pioneer Woman’s Chex Mix and we had some other dips/chips for appetizers. Fruit and veggie trays and an amazing broccoli/bacon/grape salad from my Mom rounded out the dinner good. 

For dessert, my mother in laws famous walnut walkaway bars and oatmeal caramelettes, and my marshmallow fondant sugar cookies. (I apologize in advance for not having the recipes for the grape/broccoli salad or my mother in law’s bars!)

Here are some pictures from the day:

Graduation theme sugar cookies.
 
Oatmeal caramelettes and walnut walkaways.

 
Yours truly and the graduate.

 
Our niece telling her uncle a story.

Thanks for coming everyone!  Congrats husband.

Work It Out

I had a very busy week preparing for the graduation party we had for Mr. BKL this past weekend, but I still managed to get some workouts in.  This weeks weather forecast is very promising.  Can’t wait to take advantage!

Here is my weekly workout report for the week of May 10th – 16th.

Monday, 10th:
7 mile run, about 63.

Tuesday, 11th:
OH squat
6 x 45
3 x 5 x 45
Hang clean
3 x 5 x 65
front squat
3 x 6 x 65
bench press
5 x 80
6 x 75
6 x 65
standing 1-arm cable row
3 x 10 x 30
prone plate switch
3 x 4 switches ea x 2.5# plates
2 mile run
20 min yoga

Wednesday, 12th:
6 mile run (3 miles to and from gym) It may have been more like 6.25 since there was road construction on the normal road I run on to the gym, so I had to detour a bit, making it longer both ways.

Thursday, 13th:
deadlift
2 x 6 x 135
sumo deadlift
2 x 6 x 135
cable pull throughs
4 x 10 x 50
arnold press
4 x 10 x 20's
inverted row, Smith machine, feet on bench
(I moved the bar up to chest height to make it harder)
3 x 6x BW
Paloff press
3 x 10 x 50
2 mile run

Friday, 14th:
4 mile run, 33:14 (best time yet for this route)

Saturday and Sunday:
None, but I was busy with the party and wasn’t exactly loungin’ around:)

Happy Birthday, Dad

Happy Birthday to the guy who taught me that the number 13 isn’t superstitious – even if your birthday falls on Friday the 13th.  Happy Birthday to the guy who taught me how to laugh at myself, and how to make others laugh.  To the guy who taught me to always try to be the best that I can be.  Happy Birthday to the guy who taught me that practice makes perfect, even when I didn’t think I needed it.

Happy Birthday to the guy who stopped at all roadside markers on vacation and videotaped them, and videotaped out the front window while driving through the mountains. Happy Birthday to the guy who taught me to appreciate nature and the names of what seems like one billion plants and animals.  To the guy who when I was old enough to be too scared to play with the leaches myself, put the gross leach on my hook, and after said leach caught a big fish, took it off the line for me.  To the guy who taught me that the best times in life were in the middle of a lake on a hot summer day, classic rock playing on the radio.

Happy Birthday to the guy who always tells the best stories, and always had an answer for my endless questions. 

Happy Birthday to the guy who I can thank for my love of coffee, ice cream, and a hand made burger on the grill.

Happy Birthday to the guy who showed me what happens when two people fall in love, how to have an amazing family, and what a Dad should be.

Happy Birthday to the guy that taught me to follow my dreams – whatever they may be.  That sometimes taking a risk in life is worth the reward.

I realize these things might for some be better said on Father’s Day, but I think my Dad is more then just a Dad.  He is also my friend. 

Chocolate Protein PB Cookies

This recipe comes by way of Mama Pea at Peas and Thank You.  She could be the cutest, funniest, Mom blogger ever.  The main reason I saved this recipe is because my brother had asked me the day before if I had any recipes with protein powder.  Ask and you shall receive.  I decided that since I had all the ingredients on hand, I would make my own batch.  (Ironically, Nicole at Prevention RD made a batch and blogged about her own adaptations, too!) 

These are a light chewy, chocolatey, guilt-free cookie.  A great way to have a treat and get some protein.  The flavor of your protein powder will determine the taste.  Mine happens to be chocolate, so it’s double the chocolate goodness.  I think a vanilla flavored powder would add a fun twist to these.

Chocolate Protein PB Cookies
adapted from Peas and Thank You

1 c. old fashioned oats
1 1/2 bananas, mashed
1/4 c. natural peanut butter
1 t. baking powder
4 scoops (each scoop approx. 21 g.) of protein powder of your choice
1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
4 packets of sweetener like NuNaturals (I used Truvia)
1/2 c. almond milk (I used skim cow’s milk)

Preheat oven to 350.  Place all ingredients in a large bowl and stir until combined.  Scoop batter by heaping tablespoonful onto a cookie sheet, and bake for 9-12 minutes, until cookies are firm. I made mine into 12 cookies.  Nutrition facts will vary depending on your protein powder, sweetener, and milk choice, but the original recipe facts are as follows:

If you make 12 cookies like I did, for 1 cookie:
Calories: 112.67
Fat: 4g
Carbs: 12g
Protein: 7.46g

Race For The Cure

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to participate in the 5k run at the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure held at the Mall of America.  I have participated in walks and other fundraising events, but the size and inspiration of this one was truly memorable.

It was amazing to see all the people out for a good cause, but at the same time knowing those 50,000+ people have all survived or had been affected by breast cancer was overwhelming. 

My cousin Kieren organized our team this year in support of family including her Mom, my amazing aunt Carol who underwent her own battle with breast cancer just his past fall.  She is doing great and we are so very thankful for early detection.  My Dad’s Mom, Grandma H., also is a breast cancer survivor of almost 20 years and she continues to amaze me with her independence and health.

Kieren, her dad, and I ran the 5k which started at 7:30 – it was a cold one having been about 32 degrees when we left the house that morning.  (We being my husband and I – who was the bestest husband ever for being there for the whole thing, holding my bag, taking pictures, etc.  I heart him.)

Once we made our way to the start line I was amazed at the number of people!  Needless to say, we knew immediately that running this for time was going to be out of the question.  We bobbed and weaved our way through the mass of people to finish at about 31 minutes.  We really couldn’t go any faster (unless we had gotten to the very front of the group at the start!) and it really wasn’t about running fast anyway.  It was about the experience. 

After the run, my Mom, sister, aunts and other family members did the 5k walk which was a site to see.  Like I said 50,000 people were there!  Alright, enough talking, here are some pictures from the day:

 
My cuz and me right after we finished the run – a lil sweaty despite how cool it was! (Apparently I was sporting the popped collar look all day.  Don’t be hatin’)

My sister and Mom writing down who they are walking for, Carol and Grandma H.

 
Sisters!  My aunt the survivor, my Mom, and my two other aunts.


The whole team! Including my little 2nd cousin Natalie who made the walk for her Grandma.  I think it’s cute how my mom is looking up at her smiling. Do you think she is ready to be a grandma herself??? ;o)

Work It Out

My weekly workout report for the week of May 3rd – 9th:

Monday, 3rd:
7 mile run, about 64:00. Rain and hills!
Tuesday, 4th:
-3 mile run to gym
push ups on Smith machine
3 x 10
one arm db row
3 x 10 x 25
-3 mile run home
Wednesday, 5th:
4 x 800m, 3 @ 7:20 mile pace, 1 @ 7:40 mile pace
I jogged a 400m in between each one and some warm up and cool down, 4 total miles.
Thursday, 6th:
4 mile run, 35:30 ish
45 minutes yoga
Friday, 7th:
push press
3 x 5 x 65
inverted row, feet on bench, smith machine
3 x 7
pallof press
3 x 10 x 60
-3.25 mile run on treadmill
Saturday, 8th:
Nothing formal, but volunteered for Stamp out Hunger and loading and hauling food was a good workout!
Sunday, 9th:
Race for the Cure 5k Run! Ran a fun race with my cousin.  Not exactly a PR setting course.  There were a ton of people, which was amazing and inspiring!

This weeks eats

After trying new recipes for a while, we seem to have found quite a few we like for weekday meals.  Hence, the lack of new recipe posts.  Instead I thought I would give a little recap of the things I have made this week.

Weekend – I made homemade pizza using Mark Bittman’s pizza dough recipe.  Toppings included pizza sauce, Amylu’s Andouille Chicken Sausages, jalapenos, and onion.  It was a hot one!

For breakfast, most weekends I stick to my oatmeal and Mr. BKL isn’t a big breakfast eater, so he will usually just eat at lunch time.  This weekend he declared we must make pancakes!  Seeing as we registered for and received a very nice electric griddle for our wedding(almost 3 years ago), which, ahem, has never been used, it worked out quite nicely.  My reason for never using it was simply out of sight, out of mind.  It didn’t have a home in our small kitchen and was stored elsewhere.  I made a home for it in the kitchen so I promise you, dear skillet, we will become better friends.  Here is Mr. BKL doing the fancy pancake makin’:


We used Trader Joe’s Multigrain Pancake Mix.

Monday – leftover Trader Joe’s Carrot Ginger soup with added butternut squash puree.

Tuesday – My version of Real Simple’s Meals Made Easy cookbook Saucy Eggs.  Basically all it entails is eggs poached with marinara/jarred pasta sauce over pasta or bread.  I had some eggs to use up, half a jar of pasta sauce, and some Tofu Shirtaki noodles. Perfect. So I poached my eggs (my new favorite way to make them) so they were still runny inside, and added them to the heated sauce and noodles. 

Wednesday – I have been hoarding my POM juice from a way’s back and after a cleaning extravaganza this weekend, Mr. BKL saw that the few bottles of POM were almost close to expiring.  Gasp!  So, we made my POM Hot and Sweet Sauce with chicken breast, broccoli, and brown rice.  Yum! 

Speaking of POM, there were also a few POM spritzers made over the weekend.  Some non-alcoholic, some with. Goes something like this: ice, vodka, Fresca, and POM.  Add a lime if you have one on hand.

 

Question: Do you have anything you received as a gift (wedding or otherwise) you asked for but have never used?

Work It Out

Highlights of the week include another great 7 mile run. 

Weekly workout report for the week of April 26th – May 2nd:

Monday, 26th:
-7 mile run, 62:30
Tuesday, 27th:
-5 mile run, 45 on the dot
-45 min Baptiste/Vinyasa yoga
Wednesday, 28th:
OH squat
7 x 45
3 x 6 x 55
hang clean
4 x 5 x 75
front squat
2 x 8 x 75
bench press
4 x 80
3 x 6 x 75
seated cable row
4 x 6 x 75
plank
3 x 30 sec (trying to make these harder vs. holding longer)
-2 mile run
1 mile @ 7.6mph, 1 mile @ 6.0
Thursday:
e-z 4 mile run, about 36:00
Friday
-run to the gym, 3 miles, 26:00
then…
sumo deadlifts
3 x 6 x 135
SLDL
3 x 8 x 30
one arm db shoulder press
3 x 8 x 25
inverted row, smith machine, feet on bench
3 x 6 x BW
pallof press
3 x 10 x 60
-3 mile run home, 26:30
Saturday
20 min yoga
Sunday
e-z 4 mile run