Microcosmic Greens Budget Fancy Meal: Oven-Fried Chicken Tenders, Tender Microgreen Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

jessamynorchard (67)in #recipes • 6 years ago

I’m not sure what people’s essentials are in their respective pantries, but there are a few things that I really think are worth having in a kitchen because they can “fancify” some really relatively cheap or out-of-the-freezer meat that might otherwise be a bland dinner.

I used to keep Bisquick around all the time, but when I found out that one can make a baking mix on your own, I’ve stopped having it around as much...however, I picked up a box the other day and have been trying to get through it.

When we do eat meat, we usually buy it in bulk and freeze it for later. This works nicely for smaller portions. For example, this recipe feeds two.

We really enjoyed this quick and tasty easy weeknight meal that felt fancier.

In my pantry, we always keep balsamic vinegar. A bottle lasts a long time, a little goes a long way, and it’s great on salads. The Scientist doesn’t like a sweet vinaigrette, I do...and with the tasty bitterness of the Premier Kale, Mustard varieties, Cherry Belle, and French Breakfast Radishes in this salad, I thought I sweeter dressing would be better (although no dressing is also amazing). I ended up making a little extra dressing than needed, so I threw that in the fridge that will keep for a week or so.

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Microcosmic Microgreen Salad with Bisquick Oven-Fried Chicken Strips

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For The Vinaigrette

1 Tbsp sugar
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

I take these ingredients and put them in a mason jar and shake it up to taste. If you feel it needs more of one thing or another...add it. Do what you feel. This ratio seems to work for me pretty well.

For The Chicken

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F.

Not going to lie, I’ve modified Betty Crocker recipes for years. This chicken is a variation of the original recipe for their Ultimate Chicken Fingers, and it’s right here.

I always add an f-load of garlic to anything, so my version of anything always will make you smell like garlic the next day. No worries of vampires here.

I put the dry ingredients in the bag (including cayenne powder, extra paprika, and the f-load of garlic powder) after coating the chicken with the egg and it works like shake and bake.

The chicken is placed on a greased pan and then covered with butter before going into the oven. Turn the chicken about halfway through (around 7 or so minutes), and voila!

For The Microgreens

This is one of the many reasons I love micros. You can eat them by themselves, you can add them to just about anything, or you can add dressing and make them into a salad. I like to make sure that the seed heads are all removed from the micros at point of harvest, but you might run into one or two in the process. I toss the greens and then use the vinaigrette sparingly as to allow the individual flavors of the greens to come out.

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