Not Your Average Nuggets

I wish I'd thought to take a picture of our dinner tonight, but we were too busy inhaling it to think of sharing it through a blog! Usually when I make up a new recipe it stems from looking at many others and not finding exactly what I want, so I do an ingredient inventory and come up with something that will work with what I have and/or the flavors that I'm going for.

My children love chicken strips, as most seem to. Mine have never had an actual Chicken McNugget, however. I have always breaded and baked ours, turning them into crunchy chicken salads for the adults or letting the little ones dip the tenders in ketchup. Then I stumbled upon a recipe that called for dredging meat in ground hazelnuts. That got me thinking, but I didn't have nearly enough hazelnuts needed. Trader Joes' almond meal came to the rescue! My ingredient measurements are approximate, as I was completely winging it (no pun intended), but yours should turn out just as wonderfully as mine. My two-year-old is not a big meat eater, and she gobbled up two strips happily. That's a record.


Almond-Crusted Chicken Strips

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Mix together on a plate:
1 cup almond meal
1/4 cup finely grated romano cheese
freshly ground pepper

Whisk together 2 eggs in a shallow bowl. Next to this bowl, place a plate with about 1 cup all purpose flour on it. Set the plate of almond meal mixture next to those.

Cut two large boneless, skinless chicken breasts into strips (about 1 1/4 lbs, plus I had a few leftover tenders in the freezer that I added to these).

Dredge the chicken in flour, then dip in the eggs, letting excess drip off. Roll in the almond/cheese mixture. Place on a cookie sheet coated with olive oil spray. Once all the strips have been coated, spray with a light coating of olive oil. Bake until the meat is no longer pink in the center and the topping is crunchy, about 20 min (depending on the thickness of your strips, this may take more or less time).

This fed the four of us, and I served it with a drizzle of honey mustard (mix equal parts honey and dijon mustard), a salad of mixed greens, white balsamic and olive oil, maple syrup candied walnuts, apple slices, and a few shreds of smoked cheddar cheese, and red quinoa.