Oat-Crusted Chicken Tenders and Oven-Roasted Kale

When I first got mt pups, I felt guilty about leaving them home all day in their kennels.  They were missing out on so much activity during the 9+ hours I was at work.  All it took was one day off work for me to realize that all my dogs do all day is sleep, but at least outside of the kennels they can snuggle.

I was planning on making fancy pizza rolls for dinner tonight- the same ones I was going to make last night.  However, around 4:30-5:00, I was unable to view the webpage with the recipe.  Since the dough would take 1+ hours to rise, I decided to go with plan B: oat-crusted chicken tenders and oven-roasted kale.  The chicken tenders were crunchy and tasty.  I highly recommend trying them! The yellow blob is honey.  It's not as photogenic as one would think.

Oat-Crusted Chicken Tenders (From Better Homes and Gardens) 

 Quick-cooking oats

dried bread crumbs

salt

pepper

chicken strips

butter, melted

1.  Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.
2.  Combine equal parts oats and bread crumbs in a shallow dish.  Add a pinch of salt and pepper.
3. Dip chicken in melted butter, then oat mixture.  (Think assembly line)

 
4.  Place chicken tenders on a baking sheet that has been coated with cooking spray.
5.  Bake chicken tenders in oven for 15 minutes or until cooked through.  (It took us 20 minutes)
6.  Enjoy chicken tenders dipped in any or all of your favorite sauces!

As for the oven-roasted kale, we followed this recipe exactly.    The kale was super crunchy and delicious.  The only down side to cooking it was the prep time- about 25 minutes of cutting and washing.  The washing took the longest because of some little 'friends' I found.  By friends, I mean bugs.  This is par for the course when you eat organically*; sometimes you will come across a bug or two.  I pulled off all the bugs (about 6) I could see, then thoroughly (we're talking one tiny leaf at a time) rinsed each leaf.  Plus, I'm telling myself the 15 minutes at 375 would kill anything!   *Note: the last bug I found in my produce was in July when there was a caterpillar in my broccoli.   I do not think there is anything okay about bugs in food.  It grosses me out, and I am composting the remainder of the kale to not have to deal with the critters.

Have you ever found a 'friend' in your produce?  What did you do?