Baked Chicken Strips and Homemade Onion Soup Mix

We eat a lot of boneless, skinless chicken breasts in our house.  Even before I started Weight Watchers, Joe and I were picky about chicken and pretty much boneless and skinless white meat was what we ate.  Now that I am on Weight Watchers, that is the lean protein of choice.  The problem comes with finding different ways to serve it.  I probably at this point have 15 recipes that I rely on but could always use more.

So, instead of making the stuffed peppers that was on the menu plan for tonight (which I determined that Joe wouldn't eat no matter the recipe I used) I decided to look for a new chicken recipe.  I have done breaded chicken in the past many different ways, but ran into one on  www.allrecipes.com.  I made a few changes to it (for instance I didn't pour melted butter over the chicken before putting it into the oven) and turned out a fairly good recipe.  If I make it again, I will have to make a one major change to what I did (that I put in italics below) but we all (Taelin included) came away from the table satisfied with what we had.

This recipe also gave me a chance to whip up something else that was on my list of things to try and make but hadn't had a reason to.  I often used the Lipton Onion Soup mix in different dishes that I make, but since paying more attention to what I am putting into our bodies, it was something I stopped using.  Then, I decided to see if I could find a recipe for a homemade version made from the spices I already had in my kitchen. I found a couple different recipes and created one with what spices I had hand.  So this post actually has two new recipes!   Here you go..

 

Baked Chicken

Ingredients

1/2 cup fat free sour cream

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 clove minced garlic

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts cut into strips

1 1/2 cups crushed cornflakes cereal

2 tablespoons homemade onion soup mix

Directions

1. Mix the sour cream, Dijon mustard, garlic, and pepper together in a large bowl. Add the chicken and turn to assure the chicken is coated. Refrigerate 20 to 30 minutes.
2. Combine the cornflakes and onion soup mix in a bowl. Gently press the chicken breasts into the cornflakes mixture to coat and shake off any excess.  (I think next time I will make sure that there isn't a ton of the wet mixture still on the chicken.  Obviously there needs to be some, but on some of the pieces there was too much and it made the coating kind of soggy)
3. Put the coated chicken in a baking dish that has been greased (I used my Misto that has olive oil).
4. Bake in the preheated oven (400 degrees) until the chicken is golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. 

Homemade Onion Soup Mix

Ingredients

2/3 cup dried, minced onion
3 teaspoons parsley flakes
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon celery salt
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper

Directions

Put all the spices into a container that can be tightly sealed and shake the heck out of it.  I used two tablespoons for the recipe that was supposed to use a half of a store bought packet and we both thought it 

tasted pretty good.  I figure the next time I use it, I will be sure to shake it up again.  The thing I loved most is how NOT salty it was....I will never buy a Lipton soup packet again. 

So there you go...baked chicken with a little different preparation and a substitution for a pre-made mix I will never have to buy again. Win-Win in the Crowe house tonight!