You can only eat so many waffles... (Leftovers, Part 2)

As delicious as the waffles were on Sunday morning, Jamie and I only had a couple each, and ended up with about 7 leftover (I should have cut the recipe in half).  Leftover waffles don't really tempt me all that much (leftover apple crisp, on the other hand, with its buttery crumbly topping...  I could eat that in a bowl with milk on top just like cereal and it would be just as perfect as it was hot from the oven).  Day-old waffles can be popped into the toaster to get warm and crispy again, but you really can't reclaim that hot and fresh from the waffle iron quality.

But I really hate to waste ingredients, so I'm always trying to think of creative ways to re-purpose leftovers.  So my definitely interesting, but maybe slightly strange idea was to turn the waffles into bread crumbs in the food processor and make oven-baked breaded chicken with some brown rice, and a honey-mustard sauce to dip the chicken in.  I say it was strange, simply because the waffles had blueberries in them.  But not so many as to have an overwhelmingly blueberry flavor, just slightly sweet and fruity, so I think it ended up working in the end, although this recipe can certainly be made with regular bread crumbs (Panko would be nice and crispy.).  At least Jamie said he liked it...  although he might have been trying to spare my feelings.  :)

Printable Recipe

Oven-Baked Breaded Chicken
For the chicken:

• 3 chicken breasts, cut into strips
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 cups bread crumbs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Preheat the oven to 350.  Place a piece of foil on a baking sheet and spray foil with non-stick cooking spray.

Set up your breading station with separate bowls of flour, buttermilk and bread crumbs.  Stir the salt and pepper into the flour.

Dip the pieces of chicken into the flour, then the buttermilk, and lastly the bread crumbs.  Repeat with all the chicken and arrange on the baking sheet.

Bake the chicken for 30 minutes, until chicken is cooked through and breading is browned and crispy.  Serve with brown rice and the honey mustard dipping sauce.

For the dipping sauce, whisk together the following:

• 3 tablespoons stone-ground mustard
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice