Early morning recipe share: Oven baked Crispy Chicken Tenders

Before I post these, let me just say I LOVE the book: "Cook Yourself Thin: Skinny Meals You Can Make In Minutes" by Candace Kumai, Harry Eastwod, and Allison Fishman. EVERYTHING I have cooked from that book has been delicious, and they list the calorie content item by item (so if you have a main part of the meal and a side, you know how much each part is worth). I highly recommend this book, and it's 2nd, "Cook Yourself Thinner Faster". I know you can get the first one cheap on Amazon, and I've even seen it in the discount books at Kroger!

Both of these recipes I'm posting this morning come from the Cook Yourself Thin book, but I also have recipes I'm planning to try from all over- other blogs, pinterest, other cookbooks. I'll try to give credit where credit is due each time I post a recipe. I've got a lot of recipes I'm going to try, but I'm only going to post the ones I really love. So if you see it here, you know I think it's great.

So first off, dinner last night. Oven Baked Crispy Tenders with Coleslaw:



These were great because they're crunchy, but the marinade gives it a better than average chicken tender flavor. The crunchiness makes you think you're doing something bad when you aren't. And the coleslaw is great (and I'm not even a fan of it, usually), and much less fat than it's mayonnaise containing full-fat counterpart!

This serves 4
Calories per serving, chicken (3 tenders) with coleslaw: 519
Calories per serving, chicken alone: 420
Calories per serving, tartar sauce, 27

Ingredients needed:
For the chicken
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1/4 tsp dried thyme
1 bay leaf
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 cup nonfat buttermilk
1 lb chicken tenders (about 12 tenders)
1 1/2 cups corn flakes, crushed to medium crumbs (I did this with my hands.)
Non stick cooking spray

For the coleslaw
1 1/2 (10 oz bag) cabbage slaw mix
1 red bell pepper, sliced thin
2 tbsp thin-sliced red onion
2 tbsp shredded fresh basil
2 tbsp shredded fresh mint (JP doesn't like mint, so I omitted this.)
1 tbsp low-fat sour cream
1 tbsp nonfat buttermilk
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar (white wine vinegar works, too)
2-3 dashes of hot pepper sauce
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

For the tartar sauce
1 1/2 tbsp low fat sour cream
1 tbsp nonfat buttermilk
1 tsp dried parsley or 1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
1 tbsp sweet gherkin pickle, chopped
1 tbsp water

In a medium bowl, combine garlic, spices, and buttermilk. Add chicken and turn in the marinade to coat. Refrigerate 1 hour.

While the chicken is marinating, make your slaw and tartar sauce.

For the slaw, mix cabbage slaw mix, bell pepper, onion, and shredded herbs in a large bowl. In a small bowl, whisk together the sour cream, buttermilk, vinegar, hot pepper sauce, salt and pepper. Pour dressing over the slaw mixture and toss to coat.

For the tartar sauce, whisk together all of the needed ingredients in a small bowl. (That's it, you're done with it!)

About 15 minutes before the hour is up, line a baking pan with aluminum foil, spray with non-stick spray, and preheat oven to 400.

Place the cornflake crumbs on a plate. Drain the tenders. Pick up a tender with one hand, and turn it in the corn flake coating. Use the other hand to gently press additional coating on the sides. (Note...if you do not do this right, you will have sticky, corn flake covered hands. Less will stick to the tenders and more will stick to you. Learned this the hard way!!!!) Lay the coated chicken on the baking pan, arranging them in a single layer. Bake at 400 until they're firm and no longer pink when you cut into one, about 15-20 minutes.

To serve, divide the slaw among 4 plates. Put 3 tenders n each plate and top with a bit of tartar sauce.