Baked Chicken with Homemade Bread Crumbs & Spinach and Feta Quinoa...

When I don't know what to cook, I've now been finding myself looking up recipes on Pinterest.  A few months ago I blogged about My Reluctance To Join Pinterest, and now it's my best friend. Last night was one of those nights where I knew I had chicken in the fridge but I had no idea what to do with it.  I found 2 recipes on Pinterest and made them my own.

The first was this very simple and easy baked chicken recipe.  Click the pictures for the recipes.

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I didn't have any bread crumbs so I decided to make my own.  We had Saltines, Cashews, and frosted flakes in the pantry, eh what the heck I thought, it works.  I added some salt, pepper, basil, oregano, and cayenne pepper, and smashed it in a Ziploc bag with my meat pulverizer. I followed the recipe as instructed the rest of the way by coating the chicken with flour, egg, and then I pretty much shake-&-baked it. :) 

The other dish I found was a great surprise.  I am still learning how to cook quinoa and experimenting with it in different ways. Now if you don't know anything about quinoa, you can read about it here.  It's a wonderful source of protein and VERY VERY good for you. It's a grain and is similar to rice or orzo in that it will take on the flavor of whatever you cook it with. My favorite is red quinoa. This recipe is for Spinach & Feta Quinoa. 

I did not follow the recipe EXACTLY.  You can visit the website to get the exact one, but my version is below:

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1/2 small onion (chopped)  --(Don't freak out if you don't like onions, they cook very well into the sald and you can hardly taste them.  They do add GREAT flavor)
1 cloves garlic (chopped)
1 bunch spinach (roughly chopped)
1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
garlic salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup feta (crumbled)

Directions:
1. Heat the coconut oil in a pan.
2. Add the onion and saute until tender, about 5-7 minutes.
3. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about a minute.
4. Add the quinoa, water, half of your spinach and season with garlic salt and pepper and bring to a boil.
5. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer until the quinoa is tender, about 20 minutes. Add the other half of your spinach towards the end of your boil.
6. Remove from heat, and mix in the feta.

I was not expecting the sweet batter of the chicken to compliment the spinach and quinoa salad so well, but I have to say it is the perfect combination. Here's what my final dinner looked like. 

Let me know if you try my homemade breadcrumbs and this yummy quinoa salad.  I just had it for lunch today for leftovers and I was so inspired I just had to write this blog about it.  Enjoy!