Love me tenders

Love me tenders

Besides loving Elvis, I love a good chicken tender that's been baked instead of fried. These tenders have been marinated, first.

For 1.5 lbs of chicken tenders:

Marinade:

Chicken tenders

1 tsp granulated garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp white pepper

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp dry basil

Dash of chili powder

Dash of paprika

1/4 cup vegetable oil

Let marinade for as little as 1 hour or as much as overnight in a Ziploc bag. Make sure you massage that chicken to make sure it is completely coated.

Place in refrigerator until ready to use.

Okay, ready to bake the tenders. Prepare a cookie sheet with a cooling rack in it. I use foil to cover cookie sheet for easy clean up. Spray cooking spray on rack before putting chicken tenders on it.

In flat plate pour 1 cup bread crumbs and 1/2 cup panko crumbs. Top with 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, dry parsley, salt and pepper. Combine mixture very well.

*Remember, the tenders have been marinating in lots of seasonings.

With paper towel, dry off tenders, not completely cleaning off, just excess liquid.

One by one, pat into crumb mixture to coat very well. Now this is my secret......take finished cookie sheet. Refrigerate the prepared tenders to dry out for about one hour. If you don't have time, as long as you can 🙂

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray cooking spray on all tenders. Don't overcook!

Should take 20-25 minutes. Turn once.

Ready to go into oven.

Let's get baking!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

1 whole thin skinned orange, remove the stem and cut in quarters. Keep the skin on the oranges.

In a clean large food processor, add the orange quarters, 1 1/4 cups of sugar, three large eggs, 1 tsp of vanilla, 1 tsp of orange extract, 1 tbsp of Triple Sec liqueur, optional, 2/3 cup vegetable oil.

Pulse all ingredients in the processor and then puree until mixture becomes a batter with specs of orange peel.

Add to the processor:

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Process all dry ingredients until they are entirely incorporated into the batter.

Bake in a greased and floured spring pan, using a parchment paper circle on top of the greased bottom.*

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place in the center rack of the oven. Bake for 30-40 minutes, depending on your oven.

Remove from your oven and let it cool down completely. Dust with powdered sugar or make a drizzle of 1/4 cup powdered sugar and fresh squeezed orange until thick and smooth. Pour onto the cooled fresh orange cake.

Cooking with Love

with Gianna Conte (Jan)

Love me Tenders