Buffalo Chicken Strips

I know, I know. I'm the guy who never calls. I'm the friend that always flakes. I swear, I have a good excuse...




Between the annual Scottish Walk, SNOMG 2009, an hour long wait in a Target checkout line on Christmas Eve (brilliant plan, I know), Christmas, and New Years, I barely found time to document what I had going on in the kitchen.

Christmas was very good to me, however. Aside from some fabulous gifts (West Wing, the Complete Series!!), I received four cookbooks this year! It was just the motivation I needed to get my butt in gear... or so I thought. Time got away from me yet again. Work started to get busy, as January is our biggest month. My Christmas break with school ended. The New Year came and went.


I got back in the saddle this past weekend, so to speak. It's been a sad weekend. Well, for me, anyway. I finally took down the Christmas tree, packed away our ornaments in a box that says "CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS, JUST ADD TREE!", and took down all the lights hanging around the apartment. It's my least favorite part about the holidays. There's so much build up and good cheer, and just like that, it's over.


There is one bright shining beacon in my life that helps me navigate the post-Christmas emo-fallout: FOOTBALL! That's right. The one thing that does happen right after the holidays is the NFL postseason. It is approximately one month of nail-biting temper-tantrum-inducing gridiron awesome. I love it!


Yesterday was the first weekend of the Playoffs, and it... did not treat me well. At all. Patrick and I have a bit of a rivalry in our house. He's a Baltimore Ravens fan (forgive him, Lord, for he knows not what he does), and I am a New England Patriots fan. I must admit that I more than enjoyed the Ravens' bitter loss to us earlier in the season (it was a close one); I may have gloated like a bratty nine year old a bit too much, but I will neither confirm nor deny such accusations against my sterling character.

Well, I got my just desserts yesterday, and boy, did Patrick enjoy every single minute of it. The Patriots lost... with flair. The final score against the Ravens was 33 - 14. It was brutal.


The only thing that got me through the turmoil of yesterday (other than Sam Adams Winter Lager and my own tears) was one of my favorite things about football season: tasty gametime food. And what we had was not only tasty (I enjoyed it very much in between cursing the Patriots with creative expletives), it was incredibly easy to make.

Buffalo Chicken Strips

Ingredients:

7 or 8 skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut into strips (can be pre-cooked, see note about cooking times)
1 1/4 cup your favorite buffalo wing sauce
1 to 2 cups seasoned bread crumbs (amount depends on your level of crumb coverage)
1 cup milk
3 eggs
8 ounces blue cheese, crumbled


Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Pour bread crumbs out on a plate, and set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs and milk.

3. Dip each chicken strip in your egg and milk mixture, coating thoroughly. Then roll your strip in bread crumbs, until they are covered completely. Place in a 9 x 13 baking dish. Lather, rinse, and repeat until all your chicken strips have made their way into the baking dish.

4. Drizzle buffalo sauce over the chicken strips evenly.

5. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes, checking periodically toward the end of the cooking cycle for desired level of done-ness and crispy-ness. (**SEE NOTE.)

6. Plate your chicken strips, and top with crumbled blue cheese.

**NOTE: If you are preparing this dish with pre-cooked chicken strips, reduce your cooking time to 15 to 20 minutes.