Crunch Chicken Tenders

Over the weekend, my boyfriend and I spontaneously decided to have lunch at Fratello's, a super good restaurant (one of my favorites) that is in my hometown, Appleton. Fratello's has two locations in Appleton and one in Oshkosh. I recommend going to any of them if you ever get the chance. Besides great and unique food, the atmosphere is classy and romantic. Another bonus is that everything is priced well, even for college students like my boyfriend and I. Stuart and I were running errands in our comfy clothes, picking up a golf glove for me and Brewers T's when we got pretty hungry. We really didn't want fast food from the Fox River Mall food court and that is when we spotted Fratello's. The one we went to is actually attached to the mall, so it's not as fancy and doesn't have a water view, like the other two. I would never wear athletic shorts and a t-shirt to the water front locations, but hey, this one is in the mall so we figured it would be fine.

Ok, ok, I'll stop raving about Fratello's...lets get to the recipe. So Fratello's is known (at least in my family) for their crunch chicken tenders. They're served as an appetizer but I think they would make a perfect meal, too. They are sweet and crunchy strips of lightly breaded chicken tenders served with honey dijon mustard. After Stu and I went there for lunch and split the chicken tenders, I wanted to recreate them at home.

And that is exactly what I did! They turned out pretty close to Fratello's. I was impressed with myself and I think Stu was too.

Crunch Chicken Tenders 

Ingredients
1 lb chicken breasts, precut into strips (I was feeling a bit lazy with cutting the chicken myself)
approx. 3 c. Cap'n Crunch cereal
1 c. milk
1 egg, scrambled (optional, I didn't have an egg so I used more milk)
1 1/2 c. pancake mix
2 Tbsp. butter
Kosher salt
small amount of sugar

Instructions
1. Pour the Cap'n Crunch into a large ziplock bag. Crush with hands or a rolling pin but be careful not to puncture the bag. You could use a blender or food processor also.
2. Add some salt and sugar to the crushed cereal. I didn't actually measure anything. These two ingredients I did to my taste preference.
3. Place the cereal, milk, pancake mix and scrambled egg into separate bowls.
4. Dip a chicken strip into the milk and then coat with the pancake mix.
5. Then dip the strip into the egg (or milk if you don't have an egg, like me) and coat with the cereal.
6. Place strip on a plate and repeat 4-6 for all the chicken strips.
7. Heat up a skillet with the butter at about medium heat. Add the chicken strips once the butter is melted.
8. Cook for about 4 minutes on each side or until there is no pink left.
9. Enjoy with your favorite sides (I did onion rings and peas)!