Macaroni and cheese with chicken strips. Okay, let's give it a try. I got some chicken tenders and brined them in pickle juice for an hour. While that was happening, I prepared to mix in the flour, salt, pepper, paprika, my homemade Cajun seasoning and 3 eggs. I mixed it up and realized I need to add some milk. Then, for the breading, I did a 50/50 mix of panko and breadcrumbs. I put all the chicken in the seasoning mix and got it well coated. And then, I put each on into the crumbs. Honestly, this part was so tedious. I wanted to make sure each chicken tender was properly coated and it took forever. Next, I sprayed my air fryer with some avocado oil and put the chicken in for 12 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit making sure to flip it half way.
For the mac and cheese, I used a recipe from the Cooking Foodie, I'll link it down below. 4 cups of milk, a teaspoon of salt, 1/4 teaspoon of pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon of paprika. Once, that came to a boil I dropped it to medium heat and added elbow macaroni. I made sure to mix it frequently. When it was done cooking, I took it off heat and added cheddar cheese. Luckily, my neighbor has a cheese grater because I definitely don't. Recipe calls for 7 ounces of cheese but I had no idea how much that is so I guesstimated. Next time, I'll definitely add more cheese but this wasn't that bad. Thanks for the recommendation. And of course, I had to add some reaper hot sauce at the end because I felt it would taste good.