Pecan-Crusted Chicken Tenders

After making a dinner or two that my preschooler gave the "thumbs down" to, I decided to make something that I was sure he'd eat and my expectation was to have a frustration-free dinner.

This Pecan-Crusted Chicken Tenders recipe came out of a March 2008 copy of Southern Living Magazine. I've haven't made this recipe in the almost four years since I tore the page out of the magazine. I decided it was about time to try it.

This is another recent recipe that calls for me to dredge something. I'm so over dredging in a bowl that, once again, I pulled out my plastic bags instead. Every time my husband sees me shaking something in a bag he eyes me like he knows I'm thinking, "I'm so smart. Shaking this bag when others get messy using a bowl." He'd be right. I am thinking that every time I refuse to follow a recipe and dredge.

I altered the ingredients in the recipe since I didn't want to buy saltines and my husband has a recent preference for all things breaded in panko breadcrumbs. Another change I made was with the amount of paprika the recipe called for. It called for 2 tbs. Yikes! Seems like a lot. I only have hot paprika in the house, so I opted for only 1 tbs. Next time I'll be sure to get sweet paprika.

Note: Coating the chicken in flour will lock in moisture and the breadcrumb coating will add crispness.

The verdict? Well...the preschooler gave it the "thumbs down" and Daddy gave it the "thumbs up". I think this is what happened. I feed my child organic chicken and my husband gets the chicken laden with whatever organic chickens don't get. I keep them separate when I'm preparing a meal. I did my shake-n-bake move with my son's chicken first. Maybe I didn't shake the bag enough because his chicken definitely had more of the hot paprika on it than did my husband's. My husband had some of the spicier chicken and then I had extra chicken that I tossed in the bag with what was left over of the mixture and tossed in extra panko.

My husband liked the subtle kick that the paprika gave the chicken. He didn't pick up much of the pecan flavor though. Next time I make this recipe I won't grind up the pecans. I'll crushed them. He tried my son's chicken and said it was great, but maybe a bit too spicy for a 4-year old.

Ingredients (adapted)

1 1/2 cups panko breadcrumbs or 16 saltine crackers, crushed
1/4 cup pecans, ground (just finely chop them up)
1 tbs sweet paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 egg
1 1/2# chicken tenders (I just used 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced into tenders)
1/4 AP flour (place in ziplock bag)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425F and mix first 5 ingredients together in a ziplock bag.
2. Whisk egg.
3. Place a wire rack on a baking sheet over parchment paper and spray rack with cooking spray.
4. Toss chicken in flour, dredge in egg (I wish I could do this in a bag too) and toss in breadcrumb mixture.
5. Arrange on wire rack and bake for 18-20 minutes, turning once half way through.

Snack Time!

My very kind and generous neighbors brought us a bunch of Christmas treats back in December. Everything was delicious but one thing caught my eye and taste buds. I love salty and sweet snacks and having those flavors together in one snack is heaven.

Do I even need to list the ingredients? Pretzels, Hershey Kisses, M&Ms.

Directions

1. Put pretzels on a sheet pan.
2. Wrap Kisses and put in the center of the pretzel.
3. Bake at 325F for 2 minutes.
4. Push an M&M in the center
5. Cool in refrigerator.

Blueberry-Banana Stacks

Having my neighbors back in town and coming over for dinner inspired me to try three new appetizer recipes. Their children were visiting grandparents out-of-state, but I still had three young ones to try and appeal to. I found this recipe in Parents Magazine back in April 2009. Simple, cute, versatile and bite size. They were a hit!

Ingredients:

8 mini flavored popcorn cakes (or mini rice cakes)
strawberry cream cheese
1 banana, sliced
8 blueberries

Directions:

1. Spread popcorn cakes with strawberry cream cheese
2. Place a slice of banana on top
3. Add an extra dollop of cream cheese
4. Top with a blueberry

Crunchy Chicken Fingers

It seems as though every night is a struggle to get my son to eat something different. The cost of buying him organic chicken tenders really adds up quickly. In an attempt to get him to eat chicken tenders that I make, so that I know exactly what's in them, I decided to try a Parents Magazine recipe. If it's in a Parents Magazine and its a recipe for children, it's gotta be good, right?

This recipe was easy enough to make. A little dredging here and little tossing there and into the oven it goes. After that it went onto a plate with every child's favorite condiment - ketchup. Do you think he ate it? No. Did I try to entice him by mentioning it was rolled in cereal? Yes. Did my enticing work? No. After spending two hours in the kitchen making dinner (chicken tenders, a casserole and sweet potato chips), I wasn't going to make a PB & J. Eat it or go to bed hungry. Mommy is done playing restaurant every night.

My husband ate the chicken tenders and he really liked them. I'll be sure to keep this recipe handy and maybe, one day, my little one will eat some homemade chicken tenders.

http://www.parents.com/recipe/chicken/crunchy-chicken-fingers/