Health(ier) Chicken Nuggets

Ease: 2.5/5     Kid-friendliness: 5/5     Taste: 4/5     Time: 3/5

My daughter LOVES McDonald's chicken nuggets. We have one whole drawer in her toy shelf dedicated to McDonald's toys. Which told me, we probably go there a little too often. So I searched around for a healthier option for nuggets.

I'll start by staying that I thought these tasted better than McDonald's nuggets and they may save you some fat, but they don't save you any time or effort, which is the whole reason we go to McDonald's in the first place. But if you or one of your family members has a craving for nuggets, but don't want the extra fat, these will satisfy. My daughter seemed to eat them with as much enthusiasm as the restaurant ones anyhow.

I used a heavy freezer bag for rolling the bread crumbs, but even then the crumbs punctured it, so have a second bag handy to transfer to once the crumbs are rolled out. Rolling them on a tea towel helped (if anyone has a better suggestion for crushing bread crumbs, let me know!).

What you'll need:

• 1 3/4 C herb seasoned crumb stuffing mix
• 1/4 C grated parmesan cheese
• 3 Tbsp margarine
• 1/4 C low fat buttermilk
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F

Measure stuffing mix into resealable plastic bag. Seal bag and place on flat surface. Crush crumbs by rolling and pressing rolling pin over bag. 

Open bag and add parmesan cheese. Reseal bag and mix thoroughly.

Melt margarine (in microwave on high for 45-60 seconds or in saucepan on stove over low heat). 

Place melted margarine, buttermilk, and pepper in medium shallow bowl. Stir well. Set aside.

Rinse chicken breasts and pat dry with paper towel (not sure if this step is really necessary).

Place chicken on cutting board and cut with small, sharp knife into 16 chunks of equal size (about 8 pieces per chicken breast)

Dip each chicken chunk into buttermilk mixture, let drip, place 3 dipped chunks at a time into bag of crumbs. Seal bag and shake until chunks are coated. 

Place coated nuggets on an ungreased baking sheet. 

Place baking sheet in oven. Bake nuggets for 4 minutes, then turn and bake for another 4-5 minutes (I had to cook mine closer to 15 minutes before they were done) until golden brown and chicken is no longer pink. 

Serve!

Recipe from American Heart Association Kids' Cookbook

Things my daughter says that I don't have the heart to correct...

My daughter is nearly 3 and giving her father and I a run for our money these days. As everyone knows, kids this age say some pretty amusing (and embarrassing) things. Here's a sample of a few that I can't bring myself to correct:

• She calls a computer a “piano”; 
• She calls her nipples “buttons". Like a belly button;
• Anyone wearing a dress is a ballerina or a princess;
• She thinks any service or trades person who comes to our door is "Bob the Builder";
• She thinks the letter "M" is pronounced like "bah-bah-bah-bah-bah!"

-    McDonald's has some brilliant marketing people. Brilliant. We can't go to Wal-Mart without immediately hearing "Mommy, I'm hungry. We need some bah-bah-bah-bah-bah, you think?". We can discuss my role in this later, but if it weren't for their commercials, that lovely little melody wouldn't have been one of the first songs my daughter ever sang. Brilliant marketing tool. 

      

S   Coming Soon: a healthier, but still tasty version of McDick's chicken nuggets...

S