Homemade GREEN chicken nuggets!

Back in the kitchen!

It's so darn hot and humid here that I've really been avoiding my kitchen (how I love the grill and crockpot) and feeling sad about not cooking, so I sucked it up and went for it today!

I had some leftover roasted chicken from our "Christmas in July" dinner on Saturday so I decided to make some chicken nuggets.

Here's what you'll need:
~1 c cooked chicken - roasted, grilled, boiled, in the crockpot - whatever you prefer!
~1/4 c spinach (I used frozen)
~1/8 c bread crumbs (plus about 1/8 c more for rolling nuggets)
2 handfuls of mozzarella cheese
1 egg

Combine all ingredients in a food processor until they hold together and can be rolled into balls. Add more breadcrumbs if needed. If mixture dries out, add a teeny bit of olive oil. Form into balls and coat in bread crumbs. Flatten slightly to form "nuggets" and baked on an olive oil-coated cookie sheet at 375 for 15 min, turning once half-way through.

Jude isn't big chicken fan and refuses to eat spinach, but he's mmmmm-ing away as I type this. They're a hit! They are pretty similar to my broccoli bites but something new to try. Experiment with some other veggies and cheeses, too!

Stay cool, everybody!

Kitchen sink (SUGAR FREE!) banana bread

I decided to play around to try to come up with a sugar-free sweet treat. I really despise bananas, but Jude's "mmm!-ing" and my hubby's, "This tastes like Starbucks!" comments led me to believe that it turned out quite well. I call it "Kitchen sink banana bread" because I really just went through my cabinets and threw in everything but the kitchen sink!

Here's what I used...
~2.5 overripe bananas (NEVER throw out brown bananas! Freeze those bad boys!)
1 egg
2.5 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp honey
1/4 c milk
1 1/4 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
Roughly 1/4 c? apple sauce... I made my own by simmering diced apples with cinnamon and a wee bit of honey over low heat until I could mash it up
A couple tiny boxes of raisins
A handful of old fashioned oats

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a loaf pan. Combine applesauce, bananas, oil, honey, vanilla, cinnamon, and milk in a large bowl. Mix well. Add egg and mix. Add flour, oats, and baking soda and stir until combined. Add raisins, if desired. Pour mixture into pan and bake about 35 min. The mixtuer will likely only fill about half the loaf pan (height wise) but you can double the recipe, if you'd like!

I drizzled the finish product with a bit more honey and served it to my anxious little guy. He loved it!

I forgot to add - you can basically add ANYTHING you want to this! You can't really mess it up. So if you have extra pears laying around - throw them in! Dried fruits? Try those! Have fun experimenting!

3 ingredient hummus

This one is great for picky toddlers and so easy for mom or dad to make. All you need are some canned chick peas, partially drained, (try other types of beans, too!), olive oil, and garlic, to taste. Combine all 3 ingredients in a food processor and pulse. Add olive oil sparingly until mixture is smooth. This is a great recipe to hide some veggies in... maybe some spinach for a fun green hummus or some corn in a black bean hummus~! I love to throw in sun-dried tomatoes, too... so yummy. Serve with some steamed carrots for younger toddlers, on a grilled cheese sandwich, or just on some pita bread. Mmmm.. delicious!

My sister's blog!

Just wanted to post a link to my sister's blog and website. She's a graphic designer and just made the CUTEST moving announcements for our parents. She even gave me a handful of notecards that she made. Adorable! Her boyfriend is a super talented woodworker, too. I keep telling her to start a serious Etsy shop with him, but nada yet. So Caitlin, DO IT! Hello, baby toys, household items, etc!!!!

Here's her blog:
http://caitchebook.blogspot.com/

And her website:
www.caitchebook.com

Happy Fourth of July!!!!!!

I hope everyone enjoys celebrating our nation's Independence Day with family and friends, eating delicious food and relaxing a bit! My loving husband has THREE DAYS in a row off, so we are super excited to have a bunch of hang out time with Daddy!!!

Here's a picture of the delicious No Roll Sugar Cookie recipes that I use for almost every holiday.. sugar cookies - that don't require rolling!!!! I got it off of a pack of flour, but I'll post it next week when I have a bit more time. This is a photo of my poor cookies AFTER I dropped a bunch that I had painstakingly decorated. :\ Sigh. At least I could salvage some! (I lost my blue food coloring, so I added a few blue jelly beans as stand-ins, hehe!)




Happy 4th! Enjoy!