Chicken Finger Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing

I found this recipe online and have been dying to try it.  This was my first experience with honey mustard dressing and...yum!  It added a lot of flavor to the salad without adding a lot of calories.  I also used Jennie-O turkey bacon to cut back on fat.  I know the chicken is breaded and fried but without any additional carbs I considered it a pretty healthy meal.  Those who never cook with buttermilk might be tempted to use regular milk for the marinade but don't, it really adds a lot of tenderness to the chicken to use buttermilk and the small container cost me 88 cents.  If you want to make this for dinner but have kids (like mine) who don't love salad, just give them the chicken strips with dressing as a dipping sauce and add a side of fruit or veggies. 

2 large Chicken Breasts cut into strips (not too thick or they take longer to cook)
1 C. Buttermilk
1 Egg
1 tsp. Garlic Powder

Put all ingredients except chicken into a ziplock bag and smoosh together.  Add chicken and marinade 2 hours in your refrigerator.

1 C. Flour
1 C. Bread Crumbs
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. seasoning salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. Baking Powder

Put all these ingredients in a separate ziplock bag and shake to combine.  After chicken has marinaded, drain off milk mixture and put chicken into the bag with the flour mixture.  Shake to coat all pieces of chicken well.  Heat some oil in a skillet on high heat (enough oil to fill the skillet to about 1" in the bottom).  You want the oil to be VERY hot because the chicken will cook faster and absorb less of the oil so just watch it carefully.  Once the oil is hot enough (you should see ripples in the oil), put the chicken into the skillet and fry until golden brown about 4-5 minutes.  Test the chicken by removing it from the skillet and slicing it down the center.  If it is still pink put it back into the skillet for another minute or two. 

Dressing:
1/4 C. light Mayo
1 1/2 T. Honey
1 T. Mustard
1/2 T. Lemon Juice
about 1/4 tsp. Garlic Powder
2 T. Milk

Whisk together all ingredients.  Make your salad by combining chopped Romaine lettuce, shredded cheddar cheese, bacon, and hard boiled eggs.  Lay a couple of chicken strips over top of salad then drizzle dressing over top.  Store left over dressing in the refrigerator.  This recipe makes enough chicken for 4 salads.