Lazy weeknight meal ideas: Make chef Helene Henderson's easy mustard chicken and flatbread pizza with cauliflower

Sometimes making dinner after a long day can be hard.

Chef Helene Henderson, a mother of three, understands how difficult it can be to get a nutritious meal on the table at the end of the day. But the chef has whipped up two simple dishes to make cooking easy, affordable and healthy for the entire family.

As the founder of Malibu Farm, a fresh farm-to-table restaurant in California, New York City and several locations across the country, Henderson shared her simple mustard, chicken and breadcrumbs recipe and a lavash pizza with cauliflower dish that’s both delicious and stress-free.

Chicken with Mustard and Breadcrumbs

Chicken goes really well with mustard, and there are several ways to make a chicken-and-mustard dish. My "rule of crumb" is: the thinner the chicken, the finer the breadcrumbs should be. So a thin breast goes well with dry bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese and cornmeal or with couscous. A thicker, skin-on breast goes well with fresh breadcrumbs.

Ingredients:

6 tablespoons Dijon mustard

4 eggs

6 thin-pounded chicken breasts, seasoned lightly with salt

1 cup flour

Olive oil

30/30/30 Bread crumb mixture (breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, yellow cornmeal)

Directions:

Combine the mustard and eggs. Dip the chicken in the flour. Then dip the chicken into the mustard-and-egg mixture. Finally, dip the chicken into your coating of choice.

The chicken can be prepared to this stage and refrigerated one day in advance.

When ready to serve, sauté the breasts in butter and olive oil, two or three at a time maximum. Do not crowd your skillet. Sauté until brown and crispy (about 3 minutes per side). Transfer to paper towels to drain.

Makes 6 servings.

Lavash Pizza with Cauliflower

This isn’t really a pizza at all. It is more of a cracker. A cracker full of bubbling hot cheese and thinly sliced cauliflower.

Ingredients:

½ cup Ricotta cheese

1 egg

Shredded three-cheese blend

Olive oil

Flour tortillas

Lots of finely sliced cauliflower

Directions:

In a food processor, combine the ricotta, goat cheese and egg. The exact quantities are not important; you just want to end up with a spreadable cheese mixture.

Brush olive oil on a sheet pan, and lay the tortilla on top.

Spread goat cheese and ricotta mixture on tortilla, distribute shredded cheese over it, and top with lots of finely sliced cauliflower.

Drizzle olive oil on top, and season lightly with salt. Bake in a preheated 450 degree oven until lavash is starting to brown around the edges and get crispy. I am not gonna tell you how long that will take, because it really depends on your oven. Bake it until it is done. Remove from the oven and cut into squares.