The Second Most Delicious Chicken in the Whole Wide World

Awhile back, I posted about The Most Delicious Chicken in the Whole Wide World.  This bad boy is a close second.  Hard to go wrong with pecans and chipotle and orange zest and cheese, I'll tell you what.  I'm always looking for a yummy way to make chicken less boring and more juicy since chicken's a huge part of my new "try not to be so fat" diet.  And I served it with, you guessed it, mashed cauliflower (which is also a part of said diet).  I'm hoping that the new diet won't make my husband waste away to nothing.  Guess I'll just have to feed him lots and lots of beer and ice cream with dinner every night.

Spicy Pecan-Crusted Chicken

Source: Eating Well

4 boneless/skinless chicken breasts
3/4 cup pecan halves
1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs (I used seasoned whole wheat breadcrumbs)
1 1/2 teaspoons freshly grated orange zest

1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground chipotle pepper
1 large egg white
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon canola oil, divided

Place each piece of chicken between sheets of plastic wrap and use a meat mallet to flatten them to about 1/4" thick.

Process pecans, breadcrumbs, orange zest, salt, cheese and ground chipotle in a food processor until the pecans are finely ground. Scoop mixture into a shallow dish. In another shallow dish, whisk together egg white and water. Dip each chicken breast in the egg white mixture and then dredge both sides in the pecan mixture.

Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes or until internal temperature reaches 165.