Macadamia Crusted Chicken Breast

New Year's Day dinner was supposed to be homemade meatballs from an old, and time-honoured family recipe; only to find that the ground beef we had in the fridge had gone off. In a moment of panic, I rifled through the fridge trying to find a quick substitute for dinner. I found a packet of chicken breasts. I had been drying some bread to make breadcrumbs and thought to make breaded chicken breasts. But c'mon, its New Year's Day dinner, and I wanted to do something just a little more "special" for dinner. I remembered I had some macadamia nuts in the freezer (I always keep nuts in the freezer to give them a longer shelf life), and so my brain began churning.

The results were amazing. The only thing that I would change is next time to look for ground macadamia nuts in the supermarket rather than trying to grind them myself, which actually turns into a butter. But it did work out very well, regardless.

Ingredients:

4 chicken breasts, thawed
3 cups breadcrumbs
1 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
1 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp Middle Eastern 7 Spices
3 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1 cup ground macadamia nuts
2 eggs
1-2 TBSP water

1. Mix together the breadcrumbs, spices, and ground macadamia nuts very well, set aside

2.Beat eggs with enough water to thin and set aside

3. "Bathe" chicken breasts in the egg wash and then place in the breadcrumbs mix, coat very well to make a crust. Place in a non-stick, ungreased, baking sheet. Bake in a 395*F oven for 30-35 minutes until cooked through and crust is golden brown.