Chicken Tenders Part II

I usually reserve experimenting with food when my husband will not be having dinner with me. I suppose it's also good practice for a cook to try things out on herself before she subjects her family to it!

Background on this experiment: We keep tortilla chips in the house at all times and inevitably the broken chips and crumbs at the bottom of the bag get thrown away. I have said to myself many times: garnish for soup or chili! or use in a casserole! Then after my post on chicken tenders it occurred to me I hadn't thought about using them in place of breadcrumbs. Sure, i have eaten many things at restaurants with the phrase "tortilla encrusted" but never got out there and did it on my own. Then by chance, reading a copy of Rachel Ray magazine, I cam across her fun tip of the day: "try using crushed tortilla chips in place of breadcrumbs." so with the blessing of the chef who coined the term "Yummo!" I set my sights on something simple: chicken tenders.

I didn't want to just bread tenders and be done so I went back to some staples and favorite flavors. First I seasoned the tenders with my favorite Mexican seasoning. Next my "wet" ingredient was ranch dressing. Then I placed them in a plastic bag with the finely crushed tortilla chips and fried them in a skillet until golden brown. I think they would do very nicely if baked and I think next time I may increase the spices a little more because the salt from the tortilla chips can overwhelm the flavor in some bites. However, the chicken came out extremely moist and since I had some leftovers, they were fed to and got the husband seal of approval when he returned from work travel last night.