Friday: Music and a Meal

I’ve decided to try something new every Friday starting today!  It’s kind of like dinner and a movie (you remember that, right? I do!), but takes less time.  Each Friday I’ll post a new music video, and I promise not to post all country, but since I am a country girl, I can’t really deny it.  And I’ll post a recipe for a meal to go with it.  If time permits, I’ll even show you how to cook it, but that’ll have to wait for a couple weeks until I get into a kitchen that has natural lighting.  For today I thought I’d pick an up tempo summery song and the perfect mix of recipes for a dinner on the porch!  So, without further ado, here’s this week’s Music and a Meal: Tim McGraw’s “Southern Voice” and Honey-Pecan Chicken with Dirty Rice from Southern Living (I have made a couple small tweaks, but they’ve mostly Southern Living’s recipes).

Honey-Pecan Chicken, Dirty Rice, Salad, and Iced Tea

Ingredients for Honey-Pecan Chicken:

• 2T light soy sauce
• 2T honey
• 2C wheat Chex (or similar), crushed
• 1/3C finely chopped pecans
• 1t pepper
• 6 skinned, boned, and trimmed chicken breast halves
• Pam (or similar)

Ingredients for Dirty Rice:

• 1 package UNCLE BEN’S READY RICE Whole Grain Brown Rice
• 2T olive oil
• 1/2 diced onion (or red onion)
• 1 diced red bell pepper
• 1 diced green bell pepper
• 1/2 C diced celery
• 1/4 C  low sodium chicken broth
• 1/2 t Cajun seasoning
• 1/2  cup  chicken broth

Ingredients for Salad:

• 1 bag of salad
• Any desired toppings
• Dressing

Ingredients for Iced Tea:

• Brew your own iced tea bags, or powdered iced tea
• Water

How to:

1. Chop all veggies and prepare all ingredients (trust me, this will make your life a million times easier later)
2. Preheat oven to 425F, line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and coat with cooking spray.  Start (slowly) heating up oil in a large frying pan for dirty rice veggies.
3. Stir together soy sauce and honey in a shallow bowl, set aside.
4. Combine cereal crumbs and pecans in another shallow bowl.
5. Put veggies in frying pan, stir occasionally while you dip the chicken (or better yet, get somebody to cook with you at this point).
6. If desired, sprinkle salt and pepper evenly over chicken.  Dip both sides of chicken breast in soy sauce mixture; dredge in crumbs and pecans.
7. Arrange chicken breasts on baking sheet and bake for 15 to 20 minutes.  Put rice in microwave.
8. Get vegetables to about 85% done, add Cajun seasoning and chicken broth.  Stir for about a minute, or until the rice is done, then add the rice to the vegetables and cook for another minute or so.
9. Prepare salad however you want to (I’m a big fan of the bagged salads), mix/prepare iced tea.
10. Plate up food and enjoy a delicious dinner over sparkling conversation regarding the awesomeness of “Southern Voice” by Tim McGraw!