Pecan Crusted Chicken with Apple Salad

I am always looking for new ways to cook chicken. What attracted me to this recipe was the pecans and the dressing for the salad, plus I LOVE fruit in my salad. The chicken was very good, but I had a difficult time getting the pecans to adhere to the chicken. I think that If I made it again I would finely process the pecans in the food processor and omit the breadcrumbs. The dressing for the salad was out of this world, so good that I think I could just eat it with a spoon!

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7 chicken tenderloins or 2 medium chicken breasts, sliced
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 nutmeg
1 egg
salt and pepper, to taste

Salad:
1 red apple, thinly sliced
1 green apple, thinly sliced
3-4 big handfuls lettuce
1 cucumber, sliced
1 carrot, shredded
raisins (optional – I didn’t use raisins but I think they’d go really well in this salad)

Dressing:
1/2 cup maple syrup
4 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
2 teaspoons lemon juice

For the chicken:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees F and line and/or grease a baking sheet.
2. Season your chicken tenders with salt and pepper.
3. If you don’t have bread crumbs, toast 3 pieces of bread and pulse in food processor.
4. Combine the chopped pecans and breadcrumbs together with cinnamon and nutmeg in a medium bowl. Crack the egg into a small bowl and whisk.
5. Dredge the chicken tenders in the egg, then dredge in pecan mixture. Place them on the baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.

Salad & Dressing:
1. Combine the apples, lettuce, cucumber, carrot, and raisins (if you’re using them) in a large bowl.
2. Combine dressing ingredients in bowl and whisk until well combined.
3. Toss the salad with dressing and serve the chicken over the salad.
Serves 4.