Have you ever wanted to make something for dinner only to discover a half hour before mealtime that you do not have the correct ingredients? It is frustrating. My family likes baked chicken cutlets. I was about to prepare the cutlets one night for dinner when I realized I ran out of Panko bread crumbs, and had no bread to make bread crumbs. What’s a Mommy to do?

A bag of Cheetos was in the pantry. I figured the orange-dyed, jagged, crunchy delicacies might work the same way bread crumbs do. So I pulverized (I love this word but awkward to use in daily conversation) what was left of the Cheetos bag to create a crumb mixture. Chicken and Cheetos? Who knew!

Marisa Macy’s Chicken Cheetos

Ingredients:

3-4 boneless, skinless chicken tenderloins

2 eggs

1 cup of Cheetos crumbs (to make: pulverize a small bag of Cheetos in a Cuisinart)

Directions: Cut chicken tenderloins into strips or nuggets. Coat the chicken with the egg wash. Then dip the egg-coated chicken into the Cheetos crumbs. Place chicken onto a glass baking dish or cookie sheet that has been greased with olive oil. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes or until done. Buon Appetito!