Baked Chicken Bites (glazed carrots & kale chips)

Baked Chicken Bites:

Take two chicken breasts (I like to pierce both sides of the chicken with a fork so it soaks up the seasoning a little better) and cut into 1 inch square pieces.  Coat all sides of the pieces with your favorite BBQ sauce and sprinkle with salt & pepper.  Let the chicken soak up the sauce in the fridge.  I left mine in for one hour... just depends on how quickly you need to make dinner & how much flavor you want soaked into your chicken.  (I love tweaking recipes each time I make it to see what I like best.  Switch out the BBQ sauce for something you like... maybe a salad vinaigrette or olive oil & seasoning.) 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Fill a little bowl with bread crumbs and roll each piece of chicken in the crumbs.  (I used store bought panko bread crumbs, but you can easily make your own by simply putting pieces of your favorite bread in a food processor.  My favorite bread crumbs I've made were from a delicious Asiago french bread :)  )  

Line the chicken pieces in a baking dish.  Bake for 15 minutes or until cooked throughout and golden on the outside.  The first time I made these, it only took 15 minutes, but the next time, I had cut them in bigger pieces so they baked for 20 minutes.

I served these delicious Baked Chicken Bites with glazed carrots and kale chips.  Patrick liked his with a side of BBQ, but I liked drizzling some extra glaze from the carrots over the chicken.
(see below for side dish recipes)

Enjoy!

Glazed Carrots:
Chop up carrots and toss them into a skillet at medium heat.  Sprinkle with 1/4 cup of brown sugar, 2 tbsp butter, and dash of salt.  Stir everything together and add 1/4 cup of water.  Simmer covered for about 20 minutes (while chicken is baking) or until carrots are tender.  Check on the carrots occasionally, making sure to stir them and add a little water if it loses too much liquid.  Save the extra glaze to use as a dip with the chicken :)

Kale Chips:
My favorite recipe {here} from Smitten Kitchen
I put mine in at 350 degrees at the same time as the chicken bites and just had to take them out a few minutes early.  Gives you a little snack as you wait!