Baked Honey Sriracha Chicken Tenders

Hi everybody.  I'm sorry I've been absent lately.  Alex has been going through a 5 WEEK "Wonder Week" and it's been challenging to say the least.  Add to that the fact that I think he's sensitive to dairy and now we have food challenges that make menu planning even harder.  No more milk, cream, yogurt, ice cream, froyo, or my beloved cheeses :(.  The things we do for our babies.  Am I right?

This is a recipe that's a total keeper AND Alex-friendly!  Who knew that something so simple could taste so good?  It's spicy and sweet with a wonderful crunch.  And get this.  ZERO oil!  The secret to achieving this is by using light, airy panko bread crumbs and baking on a wire rack so that both sides get nice and crisp.

We made them last night and I literally had to make a quick blog post to share with you all.  That's how much we loved this meal!  I apologize for the horrible lighting in the photo but that's what happens when you eat in the dark.  Boo Winter!

Baked Honey Sriracha Chicken Tenders

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup Sriracha hot chili sauce
• 14 oz uncooked chicken tenders without breading (or use boneless skinless chicken breast and slice into tender-sized pieces)
• 1 cup Panko bread crumbs

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400F.  Place a wire baking rack on a large cookie sheet and spray with cooking spray.
2. In a small bowl or large ziplock bag, mix together honey and Sriracha sauce.  Add chicken tenders and toss or squish to coat.
3. Add bread crumbs in a separate large ziplock bag.  Transfer chicken tenders into bag.  Seal and shake to coat.  Place chicken on wire rack.
4. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until chicken is no longer pink in center and bread crumbs are golden brown.  If desired, serve with additional honey Sriracha sauce for dipping.

Source: Barely modified from Betty Crocker

SRC: Pumpkin Pie Yogurt Parfaits

I've got something delicious and nutritious for this month's Secret Recipe Club!  I was assigned Serena and Deanna's blog, Teaspoon of Spice.  They are both registered dietitians so I was excited to see what healthy yet tasty recipes they had on their blog.  The pictures made everything look so delicious!  In fact, though I had not visited their blog before my assignment I realized I had seen some of these pictures on pinterest and even re-pinned them myself.  That's how you know you've made it big in the blog world is when people find your photos to be so beautiful that they must collect them.  Speaking of pinning recipes, did you know you can now hover over my pictures to pin them?  So easy!

It didn't take me long to decide on a recipe since I'm still working through my 16 cups of pumpkin puree and this one was staring at me on the homepage.  However, I'm not much of a gingersnap fan and wanted to keep this really light and fluffy.  Easy enough because I used graham crackers instead of gingersnaps and just sprayed some whip cream in place of the cheesecake layers.  If you'd rather use the cheesecake layer (which I'll admit, does sound wonderful!), checkout the original recipe linked below in the source.

It has all the flavor of a pumpkin pie with a light, silky texture making it the perfect easy, no-bake dessert to impress your Thanksgiving guests.  Heck, I would even eat this one for breakfast if I added some crumbled granola or maybe some nuts.  Since it's made with 0% fat Greek yogurt, it's practically sinless!

One Year Ago: Savory BBQ Pulled Pork Cinnamon Roll and Taco Dip
Two Years Ago: Roast Beef with Onion Gravy
Three Years Ago: Peanut Butter Fudge Cheesecake
Four Years Ago: Sweet Potato Souffle and Peanut Butter Cup Brownies

Pumpkin Pie Yogurt Parfaits

Yields: 6 servings

Ingredients

• 15 oz fresh or canned pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling) 
• 1/2 cup brown sugar 
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger 
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg 
• 2 cups nonfat Greek yogurt
• whipped cream or Cool Whip
• 6 graham crackers

Directions

1. In a large bowl, stir together pumpkin puree, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and yogurt.
2. Place cookies in a ziplock bag.  Crush with a rolling pin until you have crumbles.
3. Starting with the yogurt on the bottom, divide pumpkin yogurt, whipped cream, and graham cracker crumbs into six tall serving glasses making however may layers you want.  Refrigerate until serving.

Source: Modified from Deanna Segrave-Daly, RD of Teaspoon of Spice

Apple, Brie, and Sausage Pizza on a Pumpkin Crust

Have you ever had a moment where you looked at a recipe and thought "hmmm...this is interesting...different and could it *really* work?".  This was one of those recipes to me when I was searching for a way to use some of my 16 cups of pumpkin puree.  Yes...you read that correctly.  16 cups.  That's enough for EIGHT pumpkin pies and I wasn't about to do that!

When you get over the fact that this is a non-traditional pizza without any sauce and instead think about the ingredients it does have, it starts to make a lot of sense.  Brie and apples aren't anything out of the ordinary.  Sausage is always delicious.  And pumpkin pizza crust?  Just a small departure from pumpkin bread.  Starting to warm up to the concept already, aren't ya? :)

I have to say that I truly fell in love with this pizza.  It has a subtle pumpkin flavor but you can tell it's there by the fun slightly orange color of the dough.  I'm actually starting to formulate a dessert pizza in my head using this crust...

Melty brie.  Need I say more?

Sweet apples and salty sausage meld together to form this unique glaze-like "sauce" on the crust.  And then to finish, instead of arugula I added some fresh sage which left me wanting more with every bite.

It was really quite a delicious Fall treat!  This pizza could make a great Thanksgiving appetizer (cut into smaller rectangular pieces a la Donatos pizza style) or dinner entree.  Please give this one a try.  You won't regret it!

One Year Ago: Spicy Garlic and Ginger Chicken with Green Beans and Smoked Macaroni and Cheese
Two Years Ago: Caramelized Onion Mashed Potatoes
Four Years Ago: Spinach, Sausage and Cheese Manicotti

Apple, Brie, and Sausage Pizza on a Pumpkin Crust

Ingredients

For the Pumpkin Pizza Dough

• 1 1/2 tsp yeast 
• 3/4 cups warm water (~110 F), divided 
• 5 TBSP + 1 tsp brown sugar 
• 1 TBSP unsalted butter 
• 1 tsp salt 
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cups pumpkin puree

For the Pizza

• Corn meal
• 4 baking apples such as Fuji, Honeycrisp, or Granny Smith
• 4 oz brie 
• 2 spicy Italian turkey sausage links, casings removed 
• 4-6 fresh sage leaves, rubbed and chopped chiffonade

Directions

1. In a small bowl, proof the yeast by combining it with 3/8 cup warm water and brown sugar.  Let sit for about five minutes or until it starts foaming. 
2. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine butter, salt, and the remaining 3/8 cup water. Heat until the butter melts. Let it cool until warm, but not hot. 
3. Pour butter mixture into the yeast mixture and then into the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix the pumpkin puree into the yeast and butter mixtures. Then mix in the bread flour. Using the bread hook attachment, mix the dough on speed 2 for 10 minutes. Cover the bowl with a damp kitchen towel and allow the dough to rise in a warm place until doubled, about one hour. 
4. Preheat oven to 500. Sprinkle some corn meal onto pizza pan.
5. After dough has risen, flour it and shape into a ball.  Stretch into desired size and shape. Place on prepared pizza pan. Bake for 3-4 minutes and remove from the oven. 
6. Meanwhile, cook sausage in a skillet over medium heat, crumbling it up using a spatula. Cut apples into thin slices. Layer onto pizza. Next layer slices of brie onto the pizza. Sprinkle with turkey sausage. 
7. Bake assembled pizza for 10-12 minutes or until bottom of dough is starting to get brown.  
8. Garnish with fresh sage and serve.

Source: Modified from Eats Well with Others as seen on PreventionRD