Oven Fried Chicken

Don't let the name of this dish fool you - there is no frying involved!  I took a chance and made up my own recipe with stuff I had in my pantry and it was actually good!  Not only was it good, but when hubby came through the front door he said, "Something smells good!" - and it was!  Also, I served green beans with this and included that recipe below.  If you're making this chicken & the green beans, start the green beans cooking first, then move onto the chicken.  It will make sense as you read on, but that's just my extra tip.  So here we go...

You'll need:

• 1 cup plain bread crumbs
• 1 tbsp black pepper
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tbsp salt (more if you like - all these are approximate, if you like more pepper or garlic pepper, add it!  You really can't mess it up)
• 3 eggs
• flour (probably a cup or two)
• 1 1/2 - 2 lbs boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into tenders

**Also, make sure to spray your cookie sheet with some type of cooking spray.  I use my trusty olive oil spray, but anything will do.  Preheat oven to 350

To make this chicken, I set up my assembly line to make it as efficient as possible - I can never be too efficient when trying to cook with two little people bopping around the kitchen

Chicken and flour - I cut the chicken into tenders myself - that's why they're all different sizes and shapes :)  If you are looking for all little more uniformity, put the chicken in the freezer for about 15-30 minutes, it will make it easier to cut in more equal sizes - or just buy the chicken tenderloins

Eggs (whisked with fork), and breadcrumb mixture (breadcrumbs, pepper, garlic powder, and salt, mixed up)

First I rolled the chicken in flour, dredged them in the eggs, then rolled them thoroughly in the breadcrumb mixture - it's messy, but easy!  And your fingers will look like E.T.'s by the time you're halfway through, but that just means you're doing it right!  Here's the chicken before I put it in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes (or until it's cooked through - I'm paranoid about undercooked chicken so I usually cut through the thickest parts and check for white all the way through just to make sure)

Here is the chicken out of the oven - not super beautiful, but it tastes great!!  I wonder if brushing the tops with egg wash would make it more golden brown??  I might try that next time :)  

Now for one of the sides, I went easy - 

You'll need:

• two cans of green beans
• one onion (I love sweet onions, but you can use whatever you like)

I know you're thinking, what's the big idea??  But, I promise, these green beans are yummy!  My distant relatives (like two generations ago) in Kentucky, I believe, cooked their green beans this way (probably not Del Monte, but whatever) so this is how my mom always made them - easy & good!

Start by chopping the onion

Dump in the green beans, dump in the onions.  Cover, heat.  Once it's boiling and the onions have begun to soften, they are easier to mix into the green beans.  Mix them up and continue to simmer.  The longer the better (yes, all the nutrients are probably completely cooked out of the green beans, but that's how we do it).  

Once the rest of your meal is ready, add a couple pats of butter, mix and serve.  Let me know if you like these!  Everyone in my family LOVES these green beans (even the little people)!

And here's the finished plate!  I didn't think the chicken was all that to look at, but it tasted great!  And we had the green beans & rice, as well.  Yes, that is rice-a-roni, chicken flavor.  When I said this was a cooking blog, I didn't say it was a gourmet cooking blog and I'm not ashamed to say we love us some rice-a-roni at our house!

What do you think?  Will you be trying the oven fried chicken?