Kid | My Kids Really Eat This

Necessity is the mother of invention… I was watching a girl friend’s children and it was near dinner time. I’ve had unfortunate experiences trying to feed one of them (and that child was probably traumatized as well) so I thought, how can I compromise— good food I know they will actually eat without gagging? Chicken nuggets!! Well, I don’t often have prepared ones on hand (it’s just not our thing) but I did have some gorgeous fresh Bell & Evans chicken breasts and thought, this should be easy enough. Well, sometimes we have bread crumbs in the pantry, but they were used. Boy am I glad. I made the most delicious bread crumbs to coat the chicken, that not only did my kids and her kids gobble it up… I had enough to feed both parents and their friend when they came to pick up. And everyone loved it- kids included!

In a Cuisinart I took yesterday’s baguette, a few end pieces of whole grain sandwich bread, olive oil, salt, pepper, and Penzy’s “Mural of Flavor” spice mix. Mural of Flavor is a combo of Western Mediterranean spices and herbs, which is perfect for chicken. (I often coat drum sticks in it and roast them for an easy meal), it can be purchased online http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/shophome.html if you don’t have a store near you. We have one in Norwalk near Stew’s. If you can’t do either— a blend of dried oregano, thyme, marjoram, garlic salt, dried onion, lemon pepper and chives would produce a similar product.

I pounded the chicken breasts so they were about 1/4-1/2 inch thick, soaked them in milk and coated them with the rough breadcrumbs. I cooked them in the oven, turning once, at 350 F until done but still moist, only 10-15 minutes (it depends on the thickness, you can always take one and slice it, if it’s no longer pink and solid its done). I cut them into nugget size and served them with buttered noodles, spinach and broccoli. You can cut them smaller before you coat them for a more traditional nugget.

Tips for spinach: Baby Spinach only takes a few minutes to prepare— one of the easiest fresh veggies to serve! In sauté pan add 2 teaspoons water and organic baby spinach. Heat covered on high until wilted. (Steaming is fine too!) Drain any excess water. Keep off heat until ready to eat, then add pat of butter, pinch of sea salt and a couple of twists of black pepper. Reheat, stirring in the added ingredients until coated and serve. You can also sauté garlic in a little olive oil and/or butter then add spinch(Garlic powder for those really quick meals).

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I love all seafood and my children like most kinds. I’ve told most people that my “go to” meal for them (one I know they will finish happily) is salmon with rice and veggies. But mussels became a regular dish two years ago when we were in New Hampshire with a girl friend and her two girls. All five kids loved the mussels we moms ordered, that now we get them/prepare them often when we’re together. My three year old is the biggest fan. He orders them out at restaurants too. He was the one who pleaded with me to buy some the other day.

One pound, cleaned and de-bearded PEI mussels
1/2 TBSP olive oil
1-2 cloves garlic chopped
1 shallot chopped
handful of chopped fresh chives, parsley and/or basil
1/2 cup white wine
1 plum tomato chopped

Lightly sauté shallots for two minutes over high heat in olive oil. Add the garlic and cook another minute or two until just done but not brown. My husband’s trick: add the white wine and take it off heat it stops it from cooking further – esp. if you’re not ready to eat quite yet. I always just added the mussels and everything else but the garlic and oil got too brown (it changes the flavor). I usually use the NZ Sauvignon Blanc we’ve got around (hint: Black Box wines have great value and taste and keep wine fresher than an open bottle. It’s 4 bottles in one box, so easy for backyard bbq’s!) but any drinkable white will do. About 1/2 cup for 1 pound of mussels. Add mussels, fresh herbs and tomato. Cook covered on med-high, stirring once or twice, until open and cooked through- about 8-10 minutes. Serve in large bowl with crusty bread on side for dipping. Amazingly you won’t need salt! The mussels are usually salty enough.

My kids eat them and several of my friends’ children do as well! If you like seafood, but think they won’t just introduce it to them… have them try yours and see if they’ll bite!

My Kids Really Eat This

getting kids to eat well in the real world

Tag Archives: kid

Chicken “Nuggets” with Homemade Bread Crumbs

PEI Mussels