Easy Peasy

• Pour the Italian salad dressing over the chicken in the baking pan. Turn to coat. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 F. You could also marinate the chicken tenders for a few hours or overnight before baking. A word of caution -- it's fine to marinate the tenders overnight and then bake in the same marinade because the marinade comes up to the boiling point while the chicken is baking. It's a health hazard to drain any excess marinade and save it for another use.

Extra Tender Tenders

• Bathe the tenders in a marinade of dried Italian dressing mixed with yogurt or buttermilk. The dairy product does extra duty by adding tartness to the chicken while tenderizing it. Follow the dry mix package directions, but instead of oil and vinegar, use the dairy product of your choice. If you only have bottled dressing, use 1 part marinade to 1 part dairy product. Marinate the chicken overnight. If the marinade starts to evaporate too much from the pan while it's baking, add a splash of wine or chicken broth.

Fried in the Oven

• Crunchy chicken tenders with a double snap of Italian seasonings bakes to a golden brown. Mix half a package of dried Italian dressing with bread crumbs. Make the salad dressing with oil and vinegar combined with the other half of the package. Or use bottled dressing. Dip the chicken into the liquid salad dressing and then into the bread crumbs. Bake until done, turning over half way through the cooking time.

One Pan and Dinner is Done

• Supper's on the table in less than 30 minutes with minimal cleanup time when you add rice and vegetables to the pan with the chicken tenders. Measure the liquid salad dressing -- you need twice as much liquid as raw rice. For example if you have 1 cup of rice you need 2 cups of liquid. It doesn't have to be all salad dressing -- you might want to cut down on the vinegary taste. Use chicken broth, tomato juice or tomato soup to maintain the Italian theme. Vegetables could include eggplant, green and red sweet peppers and mushrooms. When you make the dish another time, try green beans, yellow squash and zucchini.