Chicken Fingers, and proof that I OWN the Roux!

Oh look, Keri breaded stuff to put in the oven again - what a huge shock. NOT! Anyway, I did indeed bread up some chicken breast tenders so that The Hub could indulge in some Chicken Fingers and we could have a quick and easy dinner. I did it using the same breading method I did here except I just used plain milk for the wet dip, and I seasoned the crumbs with a generous amount of Cayenne pepper, a bit of Garlic Powder and Salt and nothing else. Then on to the roasting rack they went and into the 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes: (actually it was more like 17 minutes, just to be exact.)

Meanwhile, I had some leftover chopped Cauliflower, and to it I added some Broccoli florets (The Hub only likes the "tree looking" part. Serious.)

Into a microwave-safe covered dish these all went, along with a teaspoon of water. After I finished making the cheese sauce and about 5 minutes before I was ready to serve dinner, they got microwaved for 3 minutes, stirred, and microwaved another minute - then I just kept them closed so the steam kept at 'em until I was ready to put them on the plate.

And because The Hub isn't hugely keen on veggies in large amounts, and (let's be honest here) because I can, I whipped up a quick little sauce for the veggies. I melted two teaspoons of "won't hurt your Hub's cholesterol" Olivio Spread in a sauce pan:

And added two heaping teaspoons of flour to the melted spread, whisking it together:

except that I am so money at making a Roux now that I don't need a fancy whisk - I just used a fork, yo:

Then in went a cup of skim milk that had been warmed in the microwave for a minute and it cooked over high heat while I kept up with the fork/whisking until it reached "nape" consistency - it's French, so you pronounce that last "e" - meaning it will coat the back of a spoon and not slide off, and when you draw a line through it, that line won't close back up, like this:

Then off the heat I added in 3/4 cup shredded 2% cheddar cheese:

... and stirred it :

.. until it was smooth liquid cheese perfection:

This really takes no time at all now people.. It is almost a crime how easily it comes to me, considering how I struggled with it in school... Poor 19 year old Keri with her broke-ass Roux... and underage, so she couldn't even drink away her failures. At least not in public. BUT I DIGRESS!

So the Chicken is done, crispy and yummy out of the oven after 17 minutes:

Nothing left to do now but get it all on a plate while it is good and hot, complete a cheesy drizzle of deliciousness for those perfectly steamed veggies, as seen on my plate at the beginning of the post.

mmmmm.