Homemade Chicken Nuggets and Freedom Fries

Have you ever really wanted some nuggets and fries but thought that taking an extra hour and a half was the way to go? Then this is your recipe! Seriously, though, I love feeding the boys this type of thing, but the pre-made stuff is all chemicals and preservatives and deep fried and exactly what the kiddos love. So I make my peace with it by doing it myself; then I at least have an idea of what's actually in it and they will eat anything that looks close enough to store or restaurant bought fries. This recipe makes a couple of meals' worth, depending on how many / how big mouths you have to feed.

You will need:

2 lbs red-skinned potatoes, scrubbed
2 Tbsp Olive oil (I've said this before, but not EVER EVOO for cooking, right? Save it for salads)
Kosher salt
2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
5 egg whites or egg-related substance (about 3/4 c)
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 c whole wheat / whole grain flour
Kosher salt, pepper
1 1/2 c panko bread crumbs
Dried thyme leaves, ground sage, fresh rosemary
Spray oil

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Prep! I have an awesome freedom fry (sorry, I read online that there was actually a bill put in after 9/11 to change French fries to Freedom fries and it was too awesome to not repeat) cutter, made by Starfrit, but if you don't, chop your potatoes into 1/2 centimetre matchsticks. Approximately. Ish. Cut your chicken into bite-sized chunks, depending on the size of your chompers.

Set up your breading station, starting with the egg wash. Mix your egg whites and mustard in a pie plate or equivalent. Instead of using shallow dishes, given the size and amount of the chicken pieces, we are going to use sealable plastic bags for the rest. Put the flour and some salt and pepper in one bag, the breadcrumbs, sage, thyme and rosemary in another. Get two sets of tongs!

For whatever reason, whenever I strip herbs, I always think of the line in Brokeback Mountain about "you boys playing stem the lily". I don't even know what that means.

I like to get the fries going first; put all your 1/2 centimetre matchstick potatoes into a large-ish bowl, drizzle on the (NOT EVER EVOO) olive oil and kosher salt. You can really use any coarse salt, I really like sea salt also, but my kids don't know from fancy.

Swirl around with  spatula, then spread out in a single layer on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper.

Bake for 30 minutes, flipping halfway. On to chicken!

Take your cutup chicken, dump by batches into the flour bag, bounce around until completely covered.

Take the floured chicken out of the bag and dip it into the egg wash. Flip once to make sure completely wet. I suggest tongs, but it's your fingers.

Dump the eggy chicken into the breadcrumb baggie, bounce around until coated.

Lay out in a single layer on a baking sheet (I strongly suggest parchment paper), spray with oil and bake for 25 minutes, flipping halfway through. More tongs!

When you are done, the should look something like zo:

I didn't work out the calories because I kind of messed around with serving sizes, but I would guess this is way lower than whatever you can buy at a store or restaurant. Approximately. Being a Canuckleadian, I also usually add a homemade gravy for the Freedom Fries, but that is totally up to you.

Enjoy!

Shrimp And Garlic Pasta

It's Wednesday! So you know what that means: no hubby and some type of vegetarian or vegetable-laden food. Today it is shrimp with a garlic cream sauce; I really wanted carrots in it, but I didn't have any so I used broccoli. Trust me! Broccoli is so sweet in a meal like this, it's like buttah.

You will need:

1 Tbsp butter
1 small onion
6 oz mushrooms about 2 cups sliced
10 garlic cloves (I am using Chesnok red, because it is ah-MAZE-ing)
1/2 c white wine
2 c broccoli florets (tiny!)
Salt, pepper
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1 c homogenized (3.25%) milk
400 g shrimp / prawns
170 g whole grain linguine
Pinch finishing salt (optional)

Prep! Slice your mushrooms, floret-ize (is that a word?) your broccoli, meaning cut them into small trees, mince your garlic, amazing or otherwise, peel and de-vein your shrimp. Boil and salt a pot of water for your pasta. I'm using linguine, but use whatcha got.

Heat the butter in a large saucepan (not non-stick. sticky), cook the onions and mushrooms together at medium heat until softened, about 4-5 minutes. Add in the garlic, cook for one minute more. Just one!

Add in the wine, scraping up any nummy bits on the bottom. Add in the broccoli, salt and pepper, cover with a lid and cook for 3 minutes, until the wine is mostly gone.

Sprinkle on the flour, stirring to coat.

Slowly add the milk, covering just the bottom of the pan at each addition, stirring until all is added. Cook for 3-5 minutes until somewhat thickened. Taste! Probably pepper, right? Salt too, most likely.

Add in the shrimp, stirring until heated through, 3-5 minutes. You can tell they are cooked through because they will turn pink. Stop then. Don't overcook your shrimp. Nobody likes rubbery shrimp.  No.body.

Drain your pasta, plate away. This makes 4 servings and comes in at 344 calories each, including the pasta, which is not bad! Add a salad and dressing, maybe a bun, Bob's your uncle!

 

Special side note: I have an absolutely embarrassing amount of finishing salts and this is the perfect dish on which to use them. I used a Smoked Chardonnay Oak finishing salt here, but any fancy salt would add an extra punch of amazing.

Pork Medallions with Blueberry Salsa

A good friend sent me some amazing (shot!) blueberry salsa; it pairs perfectly with pork tenderloin, which tends to lend itself well to lighter flavours as well as being low in calories. 

Should you  not have an awesome blueberry salsa connection, any fruited salsa or chutney would work, maybe even a marmalade. I think one of the recipes I collected from my fambly involved a chutney, hmmm, will have to have a look-see. I will throw it up here if so, double recipe! Here is what I did:

You will need:

Black Bean Soup

We are still in the deep freeze, but at least it feels more season-appropriate. Totally fine for -40 AFTER Christmas. Okay, not really, but when we make up rules like that, we feel more in control. Canadians! Masters of self-delusion! At any rate, a friend mentioned black bean soup the other day and I haven't been able to get it oot of my head. Here's what I came up with.

You will need:

1 tsp butter
2 leeks
1 small carrot
1 celery stalk
3 garlic cloves
2 cans black beans (540 ml each) - rinsed, for the love of all that is holy
6-ish stalks cilantro
3 c chicken stock (or vegetable stock, should you want to make this vegetarian)
28 oz can diced tomatoes
Salt, pepper, ground cumin

Prep! Dice your carrots and celery, mince your garlic. Separate the stems from the leaves on the cilantro stalks, set leaves aside. Mince the stems.

Leeks are a little different. Cut off the dark green tops, set aside for stock (haven't tried them yet in there, totally going to!) and rinse the insides of the white / light green parts. You would not believe how dirty it is in there. Guh-ross. Cut the ends off, then slice lengthwise. Rinse under running water, pulling apart the layers. Then slice lengthwise into three pieces, then crosswise. You know, make them smaller. Exactly how is not important.

Heat the butter in a large Dutch oven, add in the leeks, carrot, minced cilantro stems and celery. Cook until somewhat softened, about 4-6 minutes. Add in the garlic, cook for only one more minute. Just one! Or until you can smell it, so maybe 30 seconds.

Add in the (rinsed, right?? don't skip this step, for reals) beans, chicken stock, tomatoes, salt, pepper and about a teaspoon of ground cumin. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cover. Let simmer for 20 minutes, tasting about halfway through. Probably needs more pepper. And cumin. Maybe even some salt.

Remove the lid, let simmer for five more minutes while you chop up the cilantro leaves into thin slivers. My old cooking instructor would insist that I call this en chiffonade, but it really isn't that fancy. Slivers! Add in the cilantro leaves, cook for five more minutes, done!

This also came out to 6 big cup and a half servings, at 243 calories each, with an unreal amount of fibre and protein. Hey! I just realised this could also be vegetarian! And it's not even Wednesday!

Enjoy!

J's Custom Carrot Cake

I know I have touched on this a couple of times, but I really do have the best neighbour ever. And she has birthdays and everything. This year I figured I would make her something very specific to her, as she has a couple of food sensitivities. Also, food opinions, which I think is very important, in that she digs whole grains and natural as much as possible. The cake turned out to be completely rich and luscious! Here's what I came up with; I think next time I will switch out some butter for applesauce and do the calorie count. Happy birthday, J!

Roasted Garlic Potato Chow-dair

I had a bunch of roasted garlic left over from the mayo the other day, so I figured I would put it to good use in a yummy soup, mostly because it has been ALMOST -40 the last couple of days. Gross! Anyway, I used red-skinned potatoes, because that's what I had, but really, you should use russet. That's what all the cool kids say. I also threw in cauliflower because I get all excited when I see something in which I can potentially hide vegetables.

You will need:

2 slices bacon (I like reduced-sodium because I like to suck the fun out of everything)
1 large onion, finely chopped
1/2 large carrot, finely diced
1 celery stalk, finely chopped
2 heads roasted garlic
3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
2 tsp thyme
Salt, pepper
1/4 c white wine
4 c chicken stock
1 lb red-skinned potatoes, diced
2 c cauliflower, chopped
2 c milk

Lots of prep! Dice your potatoes, carrot and celery, chop everything else finely. Cut the bacon into small chunks. Don't make your potatoes too small, say about half a centimetre across. Gotcha! Slipped in the metric system when you weren't looking. Don't worry about your cauliflower being any particular size, you just want it relatively easy to break down. Now, start! If you haven't any roasted garlic already (whaaat? doesn't everyone have 9 roasted bulbs just kicking around??), see here for instructions

Brown the bacon in a large Dutch oven, remove the bits and set aside.

Add in the onions, celery and carrot, cook until softened, 3-5 minutes.

Add in a head and a half's worth of roasted garlic, about 10 cloves. Cook for one more minute. Add in the 2 Tbsp flour and 1 tsp of thyme, stirring to combine. Add in salt and pepper. Cook for 3 minutes, until it starts to stick to the bottom.

Deglaze with the wine, stirring to scrape up all the browned bits on the bottom. Cook until the wine is all gone, then add in the chicken stock, potatoes, cauliflower. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes, until the potatoes and cauliflower have softened.

Taste! Re-season as necessary. I like to break up the potatoes a bit, using a potato masher, but you could also use a hand-held blender. I prefer the masher because I like to leave chunks, but it you are into smooth soup, use one by all means.

Turn the heat up a smidge and add in the milk. Using a garlic press, crush the rest of the roasted garlic cloves into the soup - about 4 or 5. Stir and cook for another 5 minutes or so, uncovered, until it has thickened somewhat. Taste again! More pepper, probably. More thyme for sure. Make it so!

I garnished each bowl with the cooked bacon from the beginning and portioned this into 6 1 1/2 c servings at 209 calories per. Add on a slice of whole wheat, whole grain bread and some butter, good to go for supper or lunch on a really FREAKING cold day.

Enjoy!

Roasted Garlic Mayonnaise

I really like this recipe because it makes a small batch, only aboot 8 ounces, so you can make it regularly and try different variations. Much more wieldy than the 2-litre batch I remember from cooking school.

You will need: