Crispy Chicken Tenders and Sweet Potato Fries

The great thing about this recipe is what you can do with the leftovers (if you have leftovers). If you plan on taking this for lunch, you can easily re-heat it in the microwave. Or, cut it up and put it on a salad with dried cranberries and shredded cheese for a nice chicken tender salad. I also like to cut up the leftover chicken and saute it with fresh garlic and serve over pasta with a marinara sauce (I'll post the detailed recipe in the future). Here is what my husband and I had for lunch today:

Chicken Tenders
serves: 6 (serving size is approx. 2 pieces)

1 1/2 lbs organic chicken breast tenderloin
1 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/3 cup whole milk
2 eggs
salt
pepper
1/2 tsp chili powder
2 Tbsp Olive Oil

1) in a small bowl beat eggs and milk until smooth, set aside. 2) in a medium bowl combine bread crumbs and chili powder. Add salt and pepper to taste. 3) over medium heat, heat olive oil in skillet. 4) dip chicken tenderloins into milk bath, then dip into bread crumbs, coating evenly. 5) carefully place coated chicken into hot oil. Turn chicken over when one side is golden brown, and cook the other side until it is also golden brown. Cooked chicken should be white all the way through and have an internal temperature of 165 degrees. 6) place chicken on paper towels to drain off extra oil.

Sweet Potato Fries
serves: 6 (serving size is approx. 12 pieces)

3 sweet potatoes
1 Tbsp lime juice
1 tsp chili powder (or Grill Mates Cinnamon Chipotle Rub by McCormick)

1) Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. 2) roughly peel sweet potatoes and slice julienne style. 3) place sliced potatoes in bowl and coat with lime juice. Sprinkle with seasoning. 4) place fries in single layer on non-stick cookie sheet. 5) bake for 20 minutes or until crispy on the outside. Make sure you flip them after 10 minutes to make sure they brown evenly. Adjust time based on your oven.

I was out of chili powder today which is how I found out how great the Cinnamon Chipotle Rub works. It really does taste amazing on the sweet potatoes. For the chicken, I left out the chili powder today and substituted with some Cajun seasoning I had. The nice thing about cooking for yourself is that you can experiment with ingredients until you find a recipe that works for you!

The family reviews:
Dad: "Delicious!" (held up two thumbs as he said this, so it must be good, right?)
Baby: (devoured his fries and then made the sign for 'more', I'm taking that as a positive comment!)