Healthy Chicken Tenders

A few months ago I was in California and I happened to be in a Trader Joe's.  I love Trader Joe's and they don't have one here in Southwest Virginia.  I came across some almond meal.  It is almost almond flour, but not that finely ground. I bought some and brought it home for some vague future use.

The package mentioned that it could be used for breading.  What a good idea!  After a quick peek around the Internet, I discovered that by using this for breading chicken tenders and then baking them, I fit in with a bunch of healthy diets.  It works with Atkins, Paleo. and plain old low fat!  So give it a try.

   

Healthy Chicken Tenders

1 pound chicken tenders, or chicken breasts sliced into strips.
1 cup almond meal
2 eggs

spices of choice... some suggestion are cumin and coriander and chili powder for a Mexican flavor, or garlic and Italian seasonings. On this occasion I used:

1 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
1/4 teaspoon paprika
pepper


   

Preheat the oven to 400.  Use foil to line a baking pan and then spray it with Pam.  Or use parchment paper.

   

I prefer to snip the tendon and remove the bit of white membrane on the tenders.  Then rinse the tenderloins and pat dry with a paper towel.

   

Break the eggs in a medium bowl and whisk them until smooth.

   

Put the cup of almond meal in a good sized bowl.  Add the spices and stir together with a fork. 

   

Now for the assembly line.

   

Dip the tenders into the eggs and then coat both sides with the almond mix.  Place on the prepared baking pan and then do all the rest,  leaving a bit of space between each tender.

   

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.

   

 I cut one in half to make sure they were done.  If you want them to crisp up a bit more you can place them on a cooling rack, but I was hungry and just put the hot tenders on a plate and served them with some Ranch dressing for a dip.  The bottoms got a bit soggy, but they tasted great.  Lee could taste the almond, but I couldn't.  Maybe it was the Ranch dressing I used!

   

You can't just have meat for dinner, so I steamed a bit of broccoli to go with the tenders.  I had some Alouette spreadable cheese left over from making ham roll-ups a few days ago.  It was the garlic and herb flavor, but any flavor you like will do.  The Alouette is low carb and does not have  a whole bunch of fat, so I had a plan.

   

After steaming the broccoli, I put the hot vegetables on top of the 1/3 cup spreadable cheese I had placed in the bowl.  The broccoli melted the cheese into a delicious sauce.   I  had cut the broccoli and cooked it in the time it took for the tenders to cook.  Bam!  Dinner!