Once upon a time there was... Pretzel-Crusted Chicken Breasts with Cheddar-Mustard Sauce

This is one of our all-time favorite recipes. As you may be aware, we really enjoy smothering things in cheese. And it just so happens that this recipe makes a giant pot of cheese that can be used for smothering! Rachael Ray is behind this terrific idea - we've only slightly adapted her recipe.

You'll also notice we have less pictures than normal for this recipe. That's because the cooking of the chicken is kinda quick and splatter-y, so we didn't have time to take many and they didn't come out very well.

ingredients

4 4-oz chicken breasts

5 oz bag of pretzels

1 Tbsp fresh thyme (or 1 tsp dried)

salt and pepper

2 eggs

oil for frying

2 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp flour

2 c milk

3/4 lb (2.5 c) sharp, yellow, cheddar cheese, shredded

2 Tbsp spicy brown mustard

parsley, pickle, and lemon for garnish (optional)

instructions

1. Prep. Beat the chickens flat. Heat some oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.

2. Process the pretzels until finely ground. Put them in a shallow dish and add thyme, salt, and pepper.

3. Put eggs in another shallow dish and whisk them up.

4. Dip chicken in egg, then in pretzel to coat.

5. Put chickens in the hot oil. Cook, about 4 min on each side, until no longer pink.

6. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium add. Add the flour to it and cook for a minute.

7. Whisk in the milk. When the milk just starts to bubble, stir in the cheese and mustard. Season with salt and pepper and remove from heat.

8. Serve by SMOTHERING YOUR CHICKENS WITH CHEESY GOODNESS!!! Top with the optional fancy stuff if you want.

So there you have it, that's pretzel crusted chicken! On Wednesday, we'll show you how to make those scalloped potatoes on our plate...

Moo!