Fried Chicken Tenders with Garlic Mashed Potatoes

We had this for supper tonight. I was hopeful that it would be a way to get Nathan to eat actual chicken, rather than chopped/pressed/formed chicken nuggets, even if they were fried. Plus the picture made them look really good. It's from S&D Jan/Feb 2009.

Fried Chicken Tenders
2 eggs
1 tbsp water
1 lb boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1-in. strips
1 pkg (8oz) sesame crackers, crushed (about 4 cups)
1/4 to 1/2 cup canola oil
1 envelope chicken gravy mix, optional

In a shallow bowl, combine eggs and water. Dip chicken in egg mixture, then coat with cracker crumbs. In an electric skillet, heat oil to 375 (I don't have an electric skillet, I just used my regular skillet on medium heat). Fry chicken strips, a few at a time, for 5-6 minutes or until golden brown. Drain on paper towels. Meanwhile, prepare gravy mix according to pkg directions, if desired. Serve with chicken strips. 4 servings

Garlic Mashed Potatoes
2 cups water
3 tbsp butter
1/2 to 1 tsp garlic powder (I hate ranges like this. I used 3/4 tsp)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3/4 cup milk
2 cups mashed potato flakes

In a large saucepan combine water, butter, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil; remove from heat. Add milk. Stir in potato flakes with a fork. 4 servings.

So make sure you crush the crackers to a powder (kinda like that Bible verse) because if you keep big chunks, they will not stick to the chicken. This was one problem I had. Another one is that my chicken wasn't all the way defrosted, so I think that may have had an impact on how well the crumbs stuck. I would say only about half of each piece actually had cracker stuck to it. As for the frying, of course it was an unhealthy option, but I thought if the kids would eat it, it would be protein, and you can't take that away from it, regardless of what you are adding to it. But of course, Emma and Nathan wouldn't eat it. Samuel did, but he eats almost anything anyway so that doesn't even count. So the chicken recipe I won't save because it was a lot of work, plus I had to buy the crackers special for it, and the 2 little ones didn't even like it. The potatoes were pretty good, for fake potatoes. I will keep that recipe to use as a last minute thing, or when I don't know what to make for supper, or something. Because I usually do have those flakes on hand. And I actually really like fake potatoes, even though that is a little crazy of me. My sister and I used to make huge portions of fake potatoes and fake gravy for lunch when we used to be home alone at lunch times, like during the summer and stuff. So yummy. So it's like comfort food to me. Anyway that's the story for tonight. And can you believe I got it posted within 2 hours of eating it?