Cap'n Crunch Chicken Fingers

Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away...so far, far away, in fact, that I did not have any kids, responsibilities or fears...I had a delightful little dish at a delightful restaurant in a delightful mall called the Mall of America.

The delightful restaurant was Planet Hollywood. Which may or may not have been the scene of an incredibly inebriated teenage me, in Mexico, being refused entry. You can't make me tell you. You'll just have to spend the rest of your years wondering if the scene really happened.

My lips are sealed.

BUT...the delightful dish? Cap'n Crunch coated Chicken Fingers. They were to. die. for.

I recreated them the other night, much to my enjoyment...my kids were kinda "meh" about them...and I decided that they should be more of an appetizer than a main dish.

But, they were delicious nonetheless!

Oh...and let me preface this by saying this is the first and last time that you will ever see me post a recipe that involves a fairly significant amount of work. I'm usually more of the dump and pour and whip it up quick variety of cooks...this is out of my box.

Worth it...but out of my box!

You'll need to grab yourself some chicken breasts, cover them with saran wrap and pound the heck out of them, so they're not so fat:

Then cut them into strips:

Grab a box (yup, the whole durn thing!) of Cap'n Crunch cereal...

And throw it in a food processor to turn it into crumbs. Little crumbs. Teeny crumbs. VERY unlike what you see in the last photo...you'll need much less texture than what I'm showing you.

So, ignore it. Kind of. Those three things above are flour, eggs (beaten) and Cap'n crumbs. Kinda makes me wonder, if Cap'n Crunch was cremated, would you get crumbs?

Sorry...digression.

You're gonna wanna dip in flour, then egg, then crumbs. I did flour, egg, flour, crumbs...but I think the second flour dip was a bit too much. Too floury, if you'd believe that.

And, here's where I made another mistake (gasp!! Yes, if you can believe that! I make mistakes. Lot's and lot's of mistakes. Learn from me. Please. I won't steer you wrong. I'll save you from my pain and agony and stress and despair.)...I did this all assembly line fashion...coat, coat, coat, then right into a big ol' pan of hot oil.

Bad move. I should have coated ALL the strips, THEN fried. Which, actually, you probably already knew. It's my blond hair. It really trips me up sometimes.

So...coat, coat, coat...then get a big ol' pan of oil all hot and bubbly and begin to fry (will you just pretend with me, that I'm all organized and have it all together and that the following photos were taken calmly, serenely, patiently...while I waited with a heaping pile of strips all ready to go and not taken while I was stressed, sweating, swearing, rushing to coat more strips 'cuz my oil was getting too hot and I was trying to get these godforsaken, stupid things cooked? Okay? Thank you.)

And that, my friends is Cap'n Crunch Chicken Strips. Oh..wait!!!

I actually took a picture of the final product!

(Once again, a plea to ignore my fine Corelle china. Hey...don't judge.)

Cap'n Crunch Chicken Strips

5 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips

1 box Cap'n Crunch, food processed to fine crumbs

2-3 eggs, beaten

1-2 c. flour, seasoned with salt and pepper to taste

Lot's of oil (enough to cover strips in oil to fry in pan--heat oil on medium to medium high about half way through coating strips)

Coat chicken strips in flour, then egg, then cereal crumbs. WAIT UNTIL ALL STRIPS ARE COATED, then fry in batches in hot oil (keep children out of kitchen!!) until golden brown. Remove fried strips to paper towel lined cookie sheet and keep warm.

Serve with your favorite sides...or (better yet!) serve as a delicious appetizer!

Stay tuned for a recipe that is the polar opposite of this one: Quick and healthy.

The end.