Spicy Pecan-Crusted Chicken

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind. Between taking care of the kids, cooking, cleaning, errands, blogging, etc., I have been busy putting together multiple proposal packets to send off to literary agents. It continues to amaze me the hurdles one has to cross when getting a book published and how long the entire process takes! I have gotten several "rejection" form letters, but it keeps putting a fire in my belly. I know that eventually someone is going to love what I am doing and want to help me progress. (I'm actually keeping all of my rejection letters so that when my book is finally published I can look back and remember the hurdles I had to cross.)

So, I've had many days recently when the kids come home from school , my husband walks through the door, and I don't have a clue as to what I am making for dinner. The other night, in my haste, I pulled out some chicken and noticed I had a ton of pecans in the pantry so I came up with this: a thin breast of chicken, crusted in crispy pecans with a kick of cayenne, served over a crispy bed of mixed greens...now that's my idea of a delicious quick-to-the-table dinner. It was so good I figured I should share it with you.

Spicy Pecan-Crusted Chicken
Serves 4
If you are in a real hurry you can let the chicken marinate while you get the rest of the ingredients together. Also, if you are gluten intolerant you can use rice flour in place of the whole wheat flour.

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup buttermilk
juice of one lemon
1 cup pecans
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup stone-ground corn meal
2 teaspoons paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon cayenne (more if you want your chicken really spicy)
3 tablespoons coconut oil

Marinate chicken breasts in shallow baking dish with buttermilk and lemon juice for one hour at room temperature or in fridge overnight.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Chop the pecans in the food processor until fine. Combine the pecans, with the flour, cornmeal, paprika, salt, pepper and cayenne in a shallow dish. Dip chicken in dry mixture. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat for about 2 minutes until very hot. Meanwhile, place a cooling rack on top of a large cookie sheet and then set aside. When skillet is hot, quickly pour coconut oil in skillet and then follow with the chicken. Saute for about 4 minutes per side or until both sides are golden brown. Remove chicken from saute pan and place on cooling rack. Put chicken in the oven and bake for about 10 minutes. Remove and serve immediately.