Cap'n Crunch Chicken Fingers and Bacon Green Beans

I have always been a cereal fanatic. I love it so much, I don't just eat it for breakfast. Sometimes when I was younger I would eat it for every meal of the day. That doesn't happen so much anymore, but I do eat it frequently. Sometimes I eat it as a snack between meals instead of a meal. I eat it without milk. When I was younger, I was definitely most enthusiastic about the super sugary cereals (Cap'n Crunch and Cocoa Pebbles being my favorites). Now I've learned to like "healthier" cereals (especially Honey Bunches of Oats), but I do still enjoy the occasional sugar-overdose.

I believe I first heard of using Cap'n Crunch as a coating/batter for chicken on the Food Network ages ago. I somehow convinced my mother to make it, she hated it, we never had it again. I remember it being delicious but I think it was too sweet for my parents.
We had some chicken breasts I had frozen earlier in the week because I was afraid of them going bad so I decided to thaw them and that I would try to make the recipe again to see if I still liked it.

I didn't really think of a side-dish to go with the chicken until I had already put them in the oven. We had some green beans left and the tiny bit of bacon in the fridge was looking very sad, so I made a recipe my Grammy used to make. My dad's side of the family traveled around a lot, but they lived in the south a lot (my father was born in Virginia, they lived in Texas for I don't know how long, and eventually moved to New England sometime before my father and uncles were in high school). What I've learned from certain family recipes is this: everything is better with bacon and almost everything in southern cooking has bacon (or some other meat) to help flavor it. This is pretty much law and I have no problem with it.

Cap'n Crunch Chicken Fingers (recipe adapted from Breakroom Test Kitchen)

• 3 cups Cap’n Crunch cereal, crushed
• 1/2 cup corn meal (or crushed corn flakes)
• 2 lbs chicken tenders (or chicken breasts cut into tenders)
• 1 egg
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 375°F.

Combine the crushed cereals (or cereal and corn meal) in one bowl. Combine the egg and milk in another bowl. Combine the flour, paprika powder, garlic powder, salt and pepper in another bowl. Dip the chicken tenders into the dry mix, then into the egg mix, and then coat with the cereal crumbs. Arrange tenders on a baking sheet lined with aluminium foil and sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 20-25 minutes, flipping the tenders over halfway before they're done if you want them to be extra crispy. if you aren't sure they're done, just take a knife and cut one in half: when the juices run clear, the chicken is done.

Bacon Green Beans

• about 4 strips bacon, cut into about 1" pieces
• green beans (not sure how many I used but for larger amounts, just adjust the amount of bacon)
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp ground black pepper

Clean and cut your beans. Put some water on the stove to boil. When water is boiling, drop your green beans in for about 10 minutes or until you can pierce them easily with a fork (if you like your beans mushier, leave them in longer and skip the next part). To keep beans crisp, after draining them, dunk them in a bath of ice water for about 30 seconds. 

While your beans are boiling, grab a skillet and cook your bacon over medium heat. After the bacon is done, get rid of most of the bacon grease (but not all— leave maybe 1 tbsp. I know it sounds weird and unhealthy, and it probably is, but trust me, it's delicious)When the beans are done, place them in the skillet with the bacon and flip the beans until the bacon is incorporated and they are coated. Add salt and pepper to taste, tossing again to make sure the beans get coated.