Grown-Up Chicken Fingers w/Spicy Dipping Sauce - Healthy Recipe Ecstasy (2024)

Ever have a day where you just feel like being a kid? When stress wasn’t part of your vocabularyand the only thing you worried about was getting your homework done in time to watch Party of Five? (Whatever happened to Neve?) Saturday mornings (at least in my house) were dedicated toSaved By the Bell and California Dreams –not running errands or trudging through Home Depot –and Saturdaynights were a time to cuddle up withfamilyon the big orange couch (that’s a SNICKreference for all you people born in the new millennium). Exercise wasn’t a chore, it was just another fun playtime activity – gymnastics classes, running through the neighborhood with friends, playing tag….And junk food, fried food, and sweetsweren’tthe enemy– just some of life’s yummy treats.

Chicken fingers, chicken nuggets, basically anythingthat involved frying chicken topped the list for me as a child. Confession time – I was a picky eater so that list wasn’t very long. It pretty muchwent like this: tuna fish and saltine crackers, peanut butter and saltine crackers, McDonald’s chicken nuggets and Swanson’s fried chicken TV dinners (with mashed potatoes, corn and a brownie if you must know). But, here I am, 20 years later, and I eat everything, I swear! Except olives. Nope.Just. can’t. do. it. *Shudder* Anyways, back to the matter at hand: chicken fingers. Aren’t they the best?I loved them as kid, andI still love them as an adult. Give me a basket of chickenfingers and fries and a big bottle of ketchup, and I’ll give you a happy girl.

Of course, as an adult, I can’t indulge in my passion for crispy friedtenders as much as I’d like. Until now, that is. Until these almond flour-encrusted, gluten-freebaked chicken delights – that are, in a way, even better than the real thing –came into my life.Sure they’re missing that crunch you only get from a good deep fry but they make up for it in spades with anutty, herby flavor and a soft texture that just makes me want to cuddle the little tenderloins. Yes, I want to cuddle myfood. I’m weird, I know.

Using fresh herbs is key here.Yes, dried herbs would work fine if you’re pinched for time and/or money, but the fresh herbs really give the tenderloins that extra flavor boostthat makes them special. Oh, and ketchup? Sure,the sugary tomato stuff wasgreat when I was a kid. But, these grown-upchicken fingers need a grown-up dipping sauce. That’s where spicy sun-dried tomato dipping sauce comes in.And the world makes sense yet again. Past meets present, present meets past, and I get to have the comforts of childhood combined with the knowledge and wisdom that only adulthood (or Mr. Belding) can bring.