I really enjoy cooking with all of my kids. I think as a parent it is important for our children to learn how to cook and have fun in the kitchen. It is a necessity, we all have to eat, why not have fun doing it! My daughter especially loves to help me, even when it comes to planning big parties and entertaining. Since she was five years old, Alivia has appeared with me on local television shows doing crafts and recipes. She is awesome in front of the camera, and has been asked several times to do various segments.

The past few years, Alivia has been excited about competition cooking and contests. Together we have won several recipe contests. The recipe I am featuring today we brainstormed and created together. It has now been published in “The Taste of Home” magazine four times! I am sure you can image how excited we both are to open up a magazine and see our winning recipes that we worked on together.

This featured recipe was inspired by watching our favorite movies! We love to invite friends and family over for movies and fun food. We decided to take our “movie time popcorn and pretzels” and use that as a coating on our chicken tenderloins. What goes with popcorn and pretzels? Butter and spicy mustard of course, so that became the inspiration for our ingredients.

We have many more ideas and many more contests coming up that we are planning to enter. It is so exciting to have a daughter that is interested in doing the same things that I like to do. I was so happy when she could join us on the set of Midday Arizona to help demonstrate this family friendly recipe. This has been a fun way to for her to learn, create and have quality time with me that I will always cherish!

Servings

6

Chicken Tenders

  • 1½ pounds chicken tenderloins
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 2 teaspoons garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 4 cups miniature pretzels, crushed
  • 2 cups air popped popcorn, crushed
  • ⅓ cup Challenge Butter, melted

Dipping Sauce

  • ¾ cup plain Greek yogurt
  • ¼ cup peach preserves
  • 1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard

Directions

  • 1

    Add chicken, buttermilk, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper to a large plastic zipper bag. Seal and shake to combine, refrigerate for 30 minutes.

  • 2

    While chicken is marinating, make your dipping sauce. In a small bowl combine yogurt, preserves and mustard. Stir to combine, refrigerate until needed.

  • 3

    Preheat oven to 400°F.

  • 4

    In a large shallow dish, combine crushed pretzels and popcorn. Remove chicken from marinade and dip both sides into the pretzel mixture, patting to help coating to adhere. Place on a parchment paper or foil lined sheet pan for easy cleanup. Drizzle the tops of chicken with the melted butter.

  • 5

    Bake in oven for 20-25. Coating should be crispy and browned, and chicken should no longer be pink.

  • 6

    Serve chicken tenders with dipping sauce.