Monday Morning Recipe and a widget

Today I thought I would share the recipe I use for Chicken fingers. Rylie is an extremely picky eater but this is one recipe that she really likes.

I used to crush saltine crackers, add seasoning and use that as my coating for chicken fingers. Rylie and Ray liked them a lot, especially because it was nice and crunchy. Then I found this recipe and tried it. They really liked these chicken fingers and I like the fact that they are so much healthier. especially if you use a low-fat dressing.

Crunchy Chicken Strips
Start to Finish: 20 minutes

Ingredients
Nonstick cooking spray
2-1/2 cups crushed bite-size cheddar fish-shaped crackers or pretzels
2/3 cup bottled buttermilk ranch salad dressing
1 lb. chicken breast tenderloins
Bottled buttermilk ranch salad dressing

Directions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line a 15x10x1-inch baking pan with foil; lightly coat foil with cooking spray. Set aside.
In a shallow dish place the crushed crackers. In another shallow dish place the ranch dressing. Dip chicken tenderloins into the dressing, allowing excess to drip off; dip into cracker crumbs to coat. Arrange chicken in prepared pan.
Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink (170 degrees F). If desired, serve with additional ranch dressing.
Makes 4 servings
Quicker Crunchy Chicken Strips: Prepare as above, except use one 10-ounce package of cooked refrigerated chicken breast strips instead of the chicken breast tenderloins and bake only 5 to 8 minutes or until heated through.

How do you like my cool little music widget? I saw one of these over at Indigo's blog Scream Quietly. Indigo's blogs are really amazing. Her writing really has the power of visualization and a way of reaching out and touching people. She actually has more followers than I've even had of total visits yet. If you haven't read any of her writing yet, you should really check it out. She also recently got her AOL journal transferred over here: Quiet Screams of Raven's Lament.

I love the song Concrete Angel by Martina McBride. I just don't know how long I'll be able to leave it up. I cry almost everytime I listen to it. If you don't know the song, please take a few minutes and stay and watch the video. It's very touching and, unfortunately, not an uncommon problem. I don't know about anyone else, but every time I hear or read some story about child abuse it touches me deeply. I empathize with the children and become so angry at the abuser and those who were aware and yet did nothing about it.

Of course, I'm not surprised by my low number of visits and followers. I mean who really wants to read about cooking, cleaning, etc? It's certainly not an exciting read for (most) men. Women, well they get enough of that stuff at home and certainly don't want to spend their precious few minutes reading about it. The rest of the stuff here is either family stories about what we've been doing or an occassional tag here & there. Nothing too exciting to make people come back time and again.

I often wish I had Indigo's God given talent of writing. I think it would be so special to be able to write and have it really reach out and touch people. Ahh, but then I would have to have something to write about. Hm. There are stories within me, I just don't think it's somewhere that I want to go. Just a dark murky place that I really do not want to revisit. I've been down that scary road one too many times and it always takes me on a journey that I really don't want to be on. It's a ride that I can't seem to control. I try to take it slow and control it, however, it always seems to have a way of veering off the course I've set and careening wildy, picking up speed and taking me to an inner valley of darkness that I don't want to go to.

Ahh, and I've probably just written a bunch of crap that no one really understands. That's okay. I know what I mean and I am sure there are a few of you out there that know the feeling all too well.

Well, so much for my trite little post about a recipe.
Have a beautiful day,
Jill Marie