Kid tested tenders
Contributor: Sarah Robertson
There’s not a mom out there who hasn’t felt like a short order cook at some point. Well maybe she’s out there, but I don’t feel like making her acquaintance. For the great majority of us, life is hectic enough without also juggling the culinary requests of every member of the household. I’ve done my share of trying to make multiple meals before realizing, with the right strategy, most recipes can be easily doctored to placate both my darling husband and my young son.
Here’s a tip: start with the kids (since, let’s face it, they are who’s really steering this ship.) Think about making something they’ll eat and then transforming it into a dish interesting for the adults palate as well. With fall and football season upon us, I recognized this opportunity, and dare I say I hit a home run, er, got it into the end zone on my first try. How about Baked Buffalo Tenders? With very little extra effort everyone is happy and you’re MVP for the day. Okay, okay I am going to cut out the sports metaphors before I get a penalty.
Baked Buffalo Tenders
Ingredients:
What you’ll need:
- 1.5 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts; cut into similarly sized strips (for even cooking and all.)
- 2 6 oz containers nonfat Greek yogurt
- ½ cup crumbled bleu cheese (reduced fat, premium, gorgonzola….again, your call.)
- 2 cloves crushed garlic
- 2/3 cup buffalo sauce (We like Frank’s RedHot) plus extra for dipping
- 1 ½ cups bread crumbs (Use store bought, seasoned or plain, homemade…any will do.)
- Salt and Pepper
- Cooking Spray
- Carrot and celery sticks (optional)
Prep
Preparation:
The method is really pretty simple. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. In a medium bowl, prepare the homemade dressing by combining one container of the Greek yogurt with the bleu cheese, garlic, and mix well then set aside.
Cut the chicken into strips and season with a little salt and pepper. Set aside roughly 1/3 of the chicken for your little picky eaters.
In a shallow dish add the remaining chicken and cover with the buffalo sauce. Meanwhile, spread the breadcrumbs onto a plate.
See where I am going with this? Starting with the plain batch of chicken first, dip the strips into Greek yogurt and then dredge in breadcrumbs.
Arrange on a cooking sheet lightly sprayed with cooking oil. Repeat the yogurt and bread crumb dredge using the buffalo soaked chicken next. Lightly spray all breaded strips with cooking oil and bake at 400 for 13-17 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink. Feeds 3-4.
At this point you can serve ‘em up as dippers in the dressing along with carrots and celery, or try getting creative by making buffalo chicken wraps. We like to use whole grain tortillas, adding fresh lettuce, chopped tomato, sliced red onion, and of course the bleu cheese dressing along with the extra buffalo sauce, creating (fairly) guilt free spicy wraps, while our little guy munches on the plain baked strips and carrot sticks. Hey, to each their own.
