FPT: chicky nuggets

I meant to publish this about a month ago, but things got crazy, then crazier, and now are calm again. We spent this weekend finishing a month's worth of laundry, putting up Christmas lights and decorations, brewing beer (the husband) and enjoying a couple cups of chai (me). Planning to go easy on the gift-giving always makes Christmastime so much more enjoyable.

That aside, here is my favorite recipe for the boy...

Veggie Chicken Nuggets (aka "Chicky Nuggets")

Ingredients:*

1 lb ground chicken
1 eggplant
1 small bunch spinach
1/2 onion
2 garlic cloves
1 tomato
1 egg
salt and pepper to taste
breadcrumbs

*These ingredients are all approximate. I try to regularly roast a whole chicken so I can use the bones to make chicken stock. When I do, I'll serve it for dinner, then remove all the extra bits of chicken and use that for nuggets. For veggies, I use whatever is on hand, but almost always try to include spinach. For breadcrumbs, I save the heels from our bread loaves.

Instructions:

Make breadcrumbs by pulsing heels or a couple slices of bread in the food processor. Put crumbs on a small plate.

If not using pre-cooked chicken, brown ground chicken in a pan, drain if necessary, and put chicken into food processor.

Saute onion, garlic, eggplant, and (briefly) spinach in a small amount of olive oil. Put in food processor. Add tomato, if using, egg, salt and pepper.

Process until a paste forms. If the paste is too sticky, add a tablespoon of breadcrumbs and pulse to combine. Repeat if necessary.

Take a spoonful of the paste, make a ball, roll it in the breadcrumbs, and smush into a small nugget patty. Place it on a baking sheet that has been lightly greased with olive oil. Repeat until the sheet is full, then spray all the nuggets with olive oil. Bake at 400F for about 10 minutes, or until the top is crispy.

Carefully flip the nuggets. Spray with olive oil and bake until this side is crispy. Let cool before serving. Since this makes such a large batch, I like to freeze the extras so I have them on hand for lunches.

The Boy says... yummies! (He's happier than he looks here. Something shiny popped up in the other room and took his attention.)

FPT: blueberry banana pancakes

Since I forgot to make more bread last night, and since I've decided to do away with the Boy's sugary cereal bars, I had to come up with something quick for breakfast this morning and decided to take the opportunity to sneak some good fruits into the meal. Frozen blueberries are a must, in my book -- buy blueberries on sale, then freeze. You can use them in so many recipes and they freeze quite well. I also happened to have a couple bananas, so used one as the "sweetener" (my nutritionist friend says a banana counts as 2 servings of fruit due to its sugars). Here is the result...

Blueberry Banana Pancakes

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup white flour
2 eggs
1 1/4 cup milk
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp honey (optional)
1/2 cup blueberries (smushed)
1 banana (smushed)

Combine all ingredients. Pour 1/3 cup batter onto a hot griddle or frying pan. When the top is starting to bubble, flip.

The Boy said... yummies! (Note, however, the rejected pieces on the left. Those were the ones in which he found suspicious dark blue blobs.)

food for picky toddlers

When I was a child, I was a very picky eater. Heck, I'm still a picky eater some ahemmumblemumble years later, though I've learned to try and like more things over time. But this is the reason I believe it drives me CRAZY when my little boy refuses the food I give him. It has already passed through my picky food filter, so he should just trust me. Alas.

There was a brief, shining moment when the Boy would eat whatever crazy food we gave him. Then, he became choosy. As it has increased over the last year, I've slowly learned how to handle it and to not become overly stressed or worried or angry about his lack of eating. There are, at least, a few things he generally will eat, listed here in order of importance (to him)...
"dip" (all hail the mighty ketchup)
cereal bar
applesauce
hummus
gyro meat
pizza
pretzel sticks/chips/crackers
potato/sweet potato fries
chicken nuggets
waffles/pancakes
toast/pita
malai kofta
cheesy taquitos
PB&J (a recent addition, thanks to a new homemade bread recipe)

Notice the absence of chopped up fruits or veggies. If it's not pureed to all get out, he won't touch it. Even if it is pureed, he'll abandon it the moment he comes upon any small chunk that managed to avoid the blades. And as of late he won't try anything pureed unless it's the right color (beige).

My pediatrician says to feed the Boy whatever we eat, and that he'll eat eventually. I've also heard others say you don't want to become a short order cook, that it can take a dozen times before a child will accept a new food, that you have to look at their nutrition over the course of the week, etc. All of this is true to some extent. Of course he's going to eat eventually, because eventually we'll be at grammy's house and she'll feed him something he likes. In the meantime, I'm freaking out.

So, this is my current solution: I feed the Boy a modified version of whatever we are eating for dinner, if it is something he may conceivably eat (for example, if I'm making tacos, I'll make him a taquito). If he doesn't eat, he doesn't eat, but it's just one meal. If it's something I know he would never try, I make something else for him (preferably in advance and frozen). What I'm trying to improve upon is the addition of sneaky veggies into those dishes he likes, and to make everything homemade. One staple I often have frozen on hand: homemade chicken nuggets with spinach and tomato. I've also found success with roasted red pepper hummus (red pepper + chickpeas = nutritional power combo).

A new concern for me is sugar. I've always been very sensitive to the effects of sugar, and I suspect he is also. I almost never give him sweets, but sugar can creep in via certain fruits and prepared foods like his beloved cereal bars. Today, I experimented with restricting ALL sugars, and so far he's been calmer, more obedient, and less of a pain at naptime. We'll see if it holds.

All this to say: I'm going to start trying new recipes under the Food for Picky Toddlers banner (FPT) and will post my results.

Do you have a picky eater? What recipes work for you?

Canned Cherry Pie Filling

I meant to post this last month, when cherries were still on super-sale at the grocery store. But, if you happen to live someplace where cherries are still available or if you have a stock pile in your freezer, then give this recipe a try. I found it on Simple Bites, and it is quite delicious.

SPICED CHERRY PIE FILLING

4 cups cherries
3/4 cup sugar
3 Tbsp cornstarch*
1 cup water
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp allspice
2 Tbsp lemon juice

Prep your water bath canner and jars.

Wash and pit the cherries. (We discovered this was quite easy to do by hand if using previously-frozen cherries, as they are slightly mushy.) Blanch the cherries for a minute in a pot of boiling water. Drain and move cherries to a separate bowl.

In the pot, mix together water, sugar and cornstarch. Add the spices and heat over medium-high, until everything is dissolved and bubbly. Add the lemon juice.

Remove pot from heat and add cherries with their juice. Pour filling into prepared jars and process for 30-40 minutes.

We had 3 bags of cherries, which allowed us to triple this recipe... I think. It's been awhile so I can't remember all the details. Suffice to say, it gave us 4-5 pints plus about 10 4-oz jars to use in making campfire pies (I hate wasting most of a large can of cherry pie filling just for a few campfire pies).

My buddy Jamie helped with this canning, and she made some yummy cherry turnovers with this pie filling. Though she made her pastry from scratch, you could easily use frozen puff pastry to make a quick toaster-strudel-esque treat.

*The original recipe called for Clear Jel,** which is recommended by the USDA. Since I do not have Clear Jel, I simply used organic cornstarch.

**Clear Jel is a modified corn starch available online. It is supposed to remain more stable during the heating/canning process, but I want to do more research before I use it. In particular, I want to know if it uses GMO corn, which, given the preponderance of GMO corn in commercial foods these days, I suspect it does.

21st century menu planning

Juggling schedules for 2 small kiddos and 2 adults has inspired me to find ways to organize and streamline my tasks and projects. Top of that list: menu planning. Cooking from scratch takes a lot of time and preparation, and it's no longer easy for me to run to the store at the last minute because oh-my-goodness-I-forgot-the-feta-cheese. Several months ago, I got tired of standing in front of the pantry at 5 pm wondering what to do, so I tried menu planning with a white board on the fridge. That didn't last long. Recently, I've given it a second try...

...enter Pepperplate.

The husband and I decided to enter the 21st century a few weeks ago and bought ourselves a Kindle Fire. Actually, it was just so we could keep the little boy quiet for 2 hours on an airplane with back-to-back episodes of My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic. But, I also took the opportunity to test out some organizational apps. Pepperplate is a menu planning app. And it's pretty much fabulous.

Start by building up your recipe list. On the Pepperplate website, you can import recipes from dozens of different sites just by copying and pasting the URL - they even have a quick-add button you can put on your browser's toolbar. I imported my entire recipe box from allrecipes in a matter of minutes. You can also enter recipes manually, if necessary.

Then, plan your meals for the week. I like to create "themed" nights to help narrow down the choices and to keep me from making too many curries night after night.

Simply add the recipes you've chosen to the shopping list, and you'll never forget some random ingredient again. (Although, if you're like me, you may forget to actually include it in the recipe when cooking.)

The website has more functionality than the app, but you can still do the bulk of your planning and list-making with the app. If you have a Kindle, which uses fixed wireless networks, make sure you synch your app BEFORE you leave for the grocery store.

I apologize if this whole post sounds like one big Pepperplate ad. There is more I wish it would do - for example, include prices on the grocery list, like the Out of Milk app. However, it has been extremely helpful in keeping me on track with the menu planning. 

And that planning, in general, has saved me time and money. It most certainly has saved my sanity in the evening - that witching hour when my toddler transforms into a more energetic version of Voldemort. It usually takes me about 30 minutes or less to plan dinners for the week, and I do it on the weekend so I can shop without the kids. If I have enough time, I may even go a little wild and drive through the coffee hut before shopping so I don't have to share my drink with anyone named Little Hyper Voldemort.

Do you menu plan? If so, what techniques have worked best for you?

the garden of small fruits (and veggies)

It is now officially summer in the desert, and an excessive heat warning is already in effect. Temperatures are supposed to be in the mid-110s the next few days. Once glance at my garden and you can tell. 

I debated whether or not to plant a spring/summer garden this year - what with a new baby and all - but ultimately decided to give it a go. Unfortunately, I have been unable to harvest much due to the ridiculous heat and a ridiculous influx of GREEDY BIRDS. Nearly all my grapes and most of my tomatoes have been ravaged by these nasty creatures. What remains is curiously small. (I presume this is due to lack of nutrients? Heat? Way too much sunlight?)

For example...

Small tomato:

Small watermelon:

Small carrot:    

(Ironically, the carrots I pulled for this photo op were much bigger than the others I've harvested.)

I'm thinking it's about time to tear it all down and let the garden sit until fall. Who wants to be outside weeding in this heat, anyway? 

little distraction

Sorry for the long delay in my posting. I've been a bit distracted the last couple months by this little human who is nuzzling my hair...