By: Jodie Shield, RD

You may have noticed that I have devoted my last few blogs to convincing you to eat family meals together. I wrote about the importance of Establishing a Dinner Routine, How to Improve Your Child’s Eating Behavior at the Dinner Table, and I offered a Week Night Survival Menu: Last-Minute Lasagna. Many of you have told me that you are committed to eating together as a family. Now here comes the  but . . .  sometimes your kids, especially teenagers,are not so enthusiastic.  No worries. Let me share with you my secret weapon.  It’s a recipe that I ran across years ago and have tweaked it to perfection. It’s better than fried chicken!  My family calls it Ritz Cracker Chicken. Whenever I want everyone home – even my college kids – all I have to do is tell them I’m making Ritz Cracker Chicken, and every seat is taken at our kitchen table.

To lighten things up, and save me precious time, I always have our meat department remove the skin from the chicken – there’s no extra charge. However, make sure they leave the bone-in as it adds to the savory flavor.   My family loves dark meat, so I use chicken thighs and drumsticks, but chicken breast works well too. I also like to use whole-wheat Ritz Crackers because it does add a little extra fiber. This recipe is not exactly what I would consider “low-calorie” or “low-fat.”  However, compared to the original recipe, I have reduced both by half!

I know my kids are reading my blogs and will back me up on this recipe! So what have you got to lose? Give my secret weapon recipe a try and let me know what your family thinks!

Ritz Cracker Chicken

Serves 4 -6

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

8 bone-in chicken thighs, skin removed

1 cup whole-wheat Ritz Crackers, crushed (about 1 sleeve or 35 crackers)

1/2 cup butter, melted

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

• Dip each chicken thigh first in melted butter then dredge through the crushed cracker crumbs. Coat each piece well; shake off any excess crumbs.
• Place the chicken in a large baking dished coated with nonstick cooking spray or small amount of melted butter. Be careful not to crowd the chicken.
• Bake for at least 60 minutes. If you like your chicken crispy cook about 20 minutes more.

Nutrition Information per thigh:

368 calories

29 grams protein

9.5 grams carbohydrate

1 gram dietary fiber

23 grams fat

10 grams saturated fat

187 milligrams cholesterol

207 milligrams sodium