Oh my goodness. Because I have gotten behind in blogging, David made these chicken tenders about a week ago and I'm just writing about them now. But I'm still thinking about them!
We were lucky enough to actually have chicken tender meat from Ruby's Pantry so the chicken took no prep work. We also don't have seasoning salt so we just used regular salt and I wouldn't change a thing about this recipe!
The recipe says to cook for about 3 minutes a side (6 minutes total) but our chicken needed more like 9 minutes total. We also could only cook two pieces at a time due to the pot we used (in an effort to use less oil) but this just meant we had to eat in shifts. I ate mine with a honey mustard dipping sauce but ranch or even nothing would be great too. I served them with oven roasted potatoes. The potatoes got kind of ignored because everyone was so obsessed with this chicken! It is seriously a 10/10!
Like in the pictures, ours came out a little light too (making it not look like restaurant chicken) but it was cooked all the way through and I don't think it sacrificed any of the taste. I would DEFINITELY make this recipe again (well, actually I'd have David definitely make this recipe again. He's my deep fry guy). We have tried other recipes in the past to get that crunchy, crispy outside and they were total flops. This is the way to go. We even did the homemade buttermilk (a tablespoon of vinegar for every cup of milk) since we never have buttermilk on hand (are there people who actually buy it when there's a substitution that's that easy??).
I believe this recipe made 16 tenders, which for us, was two packages.
Saturday, June 20, 2015
Friday, June 19, 2015
Homemade Spinach Crackers
To continue the veggie effort, I decided to make homemade spinach crackers. I actually doubled the spinach they said to and used salt (not bouillon). I tried to make these in the blender, rather than the food processor but it got too thick and I ended up mixing a lot of it by hand. They definitely were easy to make though. The hardest part was rolling out the dough.
I think they taste sort of like saltines. I can't taste the spinach at all (although they do come out green). They're very dry and I wonder how they would be dipped in something.I rate these about a 3 out of 5. Little Girl doesn't mind them but she doesn't exactly gobble them up either. I'm not sure I'd make them again just because my target audience didn't thoroughly enjoy them. Although, I may try to experiment with different things in them such as cheese, bits of other veggies, or different seasonings.
There is a chance I made them thicker than they were supposed to be but I don't think this was a problem (and I didn't even have to adjust cooking time). The recipe says it makes about half a box of crackers. I was somehow expecting this to be more than a sandwich baggie full but I suppose that's about right.
I think they taste sort of like saltines. I can't taste the spinach at all (although they do come out green). They're very dry and I wonder how they would be dipped in something.I rate these about a 3 out of 5. Little Girl doesn't mind them but she doesn't exactly gobble them up either. I'm not sure I'd make them again just because my target audience didn't thoroughly enjoy them. Although, I may try to experiment with different things in them such as cheese, bits of other veggies, or different seasonings.
There is a chance I made them thicker than they were supposed to be but I don't think this was a problem (and I didn't even have to adjust cooking time). The recipe says it makes about half a box of crackers. I was somehow expecting this to be more than a sandwich baggie full but I suppose that's about right.
Thursday, June 4, 2015
Broccoli White Bean Dip
In an effort to get my toddler (and myself) to eat more fruits and vegetables, I've been sneaking them into things lately. I make smoothies, veggie muffins, fruit pancakes, add veggie purees to things (like spaghetti sauce or mac and cheese), etc. Basically, I take food I already eat and find a way to amp up its nutritional value. My latest thing is dip.
I make a variation of hummus (no tahini and I alternate between garbanzo beans and cannellini beans) that is basically just beans, a splash of oil, and spices. I also thought this would be a good snack for my toddler. She doesn't like things dipped in things per se but she does like to be spoon fed (which is especially ironic because we never fed her baby food and try to let her feed herself as much as long as we can tolerate the mess). I thought a dip of some sort would be similar.
Broccoli seemed like an obvious choice to me. I'm not really sure why because as far as I know, the common types of dips don't include broccoli (spinach and artichoke is the one that comes to mind). I did also think of cauliflower because that wouldn't add an unappealing color but Little Girl doesn't care if her food is green. She just hates eating vegetables plain.
Ingredients:
I would definitely make this again. Next time, I might even add the cauliflower in addition to the broccoli to up the veggie intake without altering the flavor much. I would also be tempted to try this with other vegetables (and no broccoli) and change the spices. This is a very versatile recipe. Maybe something with peppers and italian spices? Or carrots and ginger? I'll have to experiment!
I make a variation of hummus (no tahini and I alternate between garbanzo beans and cannellini beans) that is basically just beans, a splash of oil, and spices. I also thought this would be a good snack for my toddler. She doesn't like things dipped in things per se but she does like to be spoon fed (which is especially ironic because we never fed her baby food and try to let her feed herself as much as long as we can tolerate the mess). I thought a dip of some sort would be similar.
Broccoli seemed like an obvious choice to me. I'm not really sure why because as far as I know, the common types of dips don't include broccoli (spinach and artichoke is the one that comes to mind). I did also think of cauliflower because that wouldn't add an unappealing color but Little Girl doesn't care if her food is green. She just hates eating vegetables plain.
Ingredients:
- about 1/3-1/2 bag of frozen broccoli, heated up
- 1 can of cannellini beans, drained
- garlic (I used about a tablespoon because it came out too fast and this is really garlicky but still good. Maybe a half tablespoon would be better?)
- paprika, just a dash
- splash of oil (or water) to get the right consistency
- about 1/3 cup of mozzarella cheese (I don't know if this was necessary but I wanted to mask the broccoli flavor as much as I could without making it too unhealthy. I might just leave it out next time because I'm not sure I even taste it)
I would definitely make this again. Next time, I might even add the cauliflower in addition to the broccoli to up the veggie intake without altering the flavor much. I would also be tempted to try this with other vegetables (and no broccoli) and change the spices. This is a very versatile recipe. Maybe something with peppers and italian spices? Or carrots and ginger? I'll have to experiment!
Wednesday, June 3, 2015
Manly Mac and Cheese
For some reason, I always think of Kielbasa as a manly food. Maybe because it's meat but it seems even manlier than say, brats. I don't know why. So I came across a recipe that is essentially homemade mac and cheese, peas, and Kielbasa. The recipe turned out great! I followed many commenters suggestions and doubled the sauce. I also made the entire (16oz) box of noodles and just dumped what fit into my dish, leaving some for leftovers for a different meal. I think I used about 2/3 of the box (more than what the recipe calls for) and the sauce to pasta ratio was perfect.
Also, I used garlic powder instead of minced and whole milk instead of low fat (our daughter has a hard time going through a whole gallon before it goes bad so we usually use it in our cooking). I'm also not sure how much of my cornstarch actually made it into the milk mixture. Most of it seemed to be stuck to the bottom of the bowl but the cheese really thickens things up.
It came together rather quickly and I give it a 4/5. Of course, it's not the healthiest of meals but that's what the peas are for! It also tastes fine leftover the next day.
As with all of my homemade mac and cheese recipes, this had a slightly grainy texture to the cheese sauce and I even used expensive cheese this time instead of generic. I think melted shredded cheese is just always going to do that to me. Or maybe what I call expensive and high quality still isn't high enough quality. It's not from the deli. On the other hand, I can put up with this texture and David doesn't care so I would rather get more cheese for my money than buy the most expensive kind I can find.
I would definitely make this recipe again but more as a treat because of the high fat content. Plus, we don't usually Kielbasa on hand. It just happened to be on sale last week.
Also, I used garlic powder instead of minced and whole milk instead of low fat (our daughter has a hard time going through a whole gallon before it goes bad so we usually use it in our cooking). I'm also not sure how much of my cornstarch actually made it into the milk mixture. Most of it seemed to be stuck to the bottom of the bowl but the cheese really thickens things up.
It came together rather quickly and I give it a 4/5. Of course, it's not the healthiest of meals but that's what the peas are for! It also tastes fine leftover the next day.
As with all of my homemade mac and cheese recipes, this had a slightly grainy texture to the cheese sauce and I even used expensive cheese this time instead of generic. I think melted shredded cheese is just always going to do that to me. Or maybe what I call expensive and high quality still isn't high enough quality. It's not from the deli. On the other hand, I can put up with this texture and David doesn't care so I would rather get more cheese for my money than buy the most expensive kind I can find.
I would definitely make this recipe again but more as a treat because of the high fat content. Plus, we don't usually Kielbasa on hand. It just happened to be on sale last week.
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Whole Wheat Banana Pancakes
Don't ask me how but somehow today, I found the time to make pancakes for lunch. Usually lunch is just heat up leftovers or something equally quick because Little Girl doesn't like waiting. I did give her her lunch first while I cooked and then when I was done, she still got some. Plus, there are some leftover for her to enjoy tomorrow.
The recipe is super simple and actually fairly quick (but nothing seems quick enough to a 16 month old). The only change I made to the original recipe was adding a dash of cinnamon to the dry ingredients. I mashed the bananas with my hands, which proved for lumpy pancakes but they still turned out okay.
I also don't usually cook the breakfast foods around here. They are one of the things David is really good at making and he understands our griddle so I let him do it. However, these just sounded really good and I got it in my head that I had to make them. So I did. I made them in a frying pan though because our griddle was in the dishwasher.
They turned out great! I would say I only got about 4 servings out of it but we eat a lot of pancakes around here. I think Little Girl ate a pancake and a half all by herself (after eating her whole lunch that is). I don't know where she puts it all.
The pancakes don't need syrup but everything is better with syrup on it. We even still had some of our homemade syrup left so this was extra good!
You can't even taste that they're whole wheat instead of white. I also bet for the people who like nuts (but not me), that they would be good with pecans or walnuts in them. These pancakes were basically banana bread in pancake form. You can't get better than that!
The recipe is super simple and actually fairly quick (but nothing seems quick enough to a 16 month old). The only change I made to the original recipe was adding a dash of cinnamon to the dry ingredients. I mashed the bananas with my hands, which proved for lumpy pancakes but they still turned out okay.
I also don't usually cook the breakfast foods around here. They are one of the things David is really good at making and he understands our griddle so I let him do it. However, these just sounded really good and I got it in my head that I had to make them. So I did. I made them in a frying pan though because our griddle was in the dishwasher.
They turned out great! I would say I only got about 4 servings out of it but we eat a lot of pancakes around here. I think Little Girl ate a pancake and a half all by herself (after eating her whole lunch that is). I don't know where she puts it all.
The pancakes don't need syrup but everything is better with syrup on it. We even still had some of our homemade syrup left so this was extra good!
You can't even taste that they're whole wheat instead of white. I also bet for the people who like nuts (but not me), that they would be good with pecans or walnuts in them. These pancakes were basically banana bread in pancake form. You can't get better than that!
Cleaning Your Hairbrush
I'm just gonna say it. I have never cleaned a hairbrush or comb in my entire life. Usually when they get gross, I decide they're cheap enough to throw it out and buy a new one (this happens every few years). I am always good about getting the hair out of it right after I use it but those little dust things that happen around the bristles sure annoy me. I decided to follow this advice. You mix warm water, 1/4 cup borax, and a squirt of dishwashing soap (preferably in your sink but any basin should do it). Then soak your brushes and combs for 30-45 minutes. Let air dry. They're supposed to come out clean.
Well, I did this. I soaked them for 45 minutes. I had a comb and a brush, both mostly hairless but with the dusty things. This did nothing for the dusty things! I was so disappointed! It did clean the oils and grease out of them, which I suppose is an improvement. But it's really the dusty things that get to me. I have taken to cleaning them out with a tweezers but this has taken me about an hour so far and I'm not done (I know, you're thinking "how gross is her hairbrush??" but they're just so tedious!).
From now on, I will just replace my hairbrush every time they bug me until I figure something else out. Pinterest fail!
Well, I did this. I soaked them for 45 minutes. I had a comb and a brush, both mostly hairless but with the dusty things. This did nothing for the dusty things! I was so disappointed! It did clean the oils and grease out of them, which I suppose is an improvement. But it's really the dusty things that get to me. I have taken to cleaning them out with a tweezers but this has taken me about an hour so far and I'm not done (I know, you're thinking "how gross is her hairbrush??" but they're just so tedious!).
From now on, I will just replace my hairbrush every time they bug me until I figure something else out. Pinterest fail!
Monday, June 1, 2015
How to Clean Your Dishwasher
It may seem odd that you have to clean your dishwasher when it constantly has soap and water running through it. Believe me, it gets dirty. I usually clean ours when our dishes stop coming out clean, about 3 times a year. We don't typically rinse our dishes before putting them in and there are some things we know are going to come back dirty, like eggs. In general, this works for us and we are able to save lots of water by not rinsing. Some detergent companies even argue that they need the food particles on the dish to cause friction with the soap (or something equally weird). Even though we have an older dishwasher (that we actually got for free on the side of the road), it still gets the job done but only if I keep it clean.
In the past, I have taken apart every loose piece and washed them in the sink (if they fit) and wiped everything down.I still try to do this about once a year but it really is a lot of work to do every time and to me, it just isn't worth it. I have also tried commercial dishwasher cleaners like Dishwasher Magic. I actually love Dishwasher Magic and think it works great but I felt like this was something I could do with a homemade cleaner (i.e. cheaper).
Today, after pinteresting about it of course, I tried vinegar and baking soda. You put a glass measuring cup with 1 cup of vinegar in the top rack of your dishwasher. Then add 1 tablespoon of baking soda. Of course this causes a reaction so be sure to do this when the cup is already in your dishwasher. Then run your dishwasher (with the rest of it empty) with the hottest cycle you can. Voila! Your dishwasher is clean.
I hope it goes without saying that food particles, especially if you don't rinse your dishes, can get stuck in places that can also affect the efficiency of the machine. Since these were too big to fit down the drain, get them out with your hand before you do the vinegar cycle. You should also periodically look for them, even if you aren't completely cleaning the washer.
In the past, I have taken apart every loose piece and washed them in the sink (if they fit) and wiped everything down.I still try to do this about once a year but it really is a lot of work to do every time and to me, it just isn't worth it. I have also tried commercial dishwasher cleaners like Dishwasher Magic. I actually love Dishwasher Magic and think it works great but I felt like this was something I could do with a homemade cleaner (i.e. cheaper).
Today, after pinteresting about it of course, I tried vinegar and baking soda. You put a glass measuring cup with 1 cup of vinegar in the top rack of your dishwasher. Then add 1 tablespoon of baking soda. Of course this causes a reaction so be sure to do this when the cup is already in your dishwasher. Then run your dishwasher (with the rest of it empty) with the hottest cycle you can. Voila! Your dishwasher is clean.
I hope it goes without saying that food particles, especially if you don't rinse your dishes, can get stuck in places that can also affect the efficiency of the machine. Since these were too big to fit down the drain, get them out with your hand before you do the vinegar cycle. You should also periodically look for them, even if you aren't completely cleaning the washer.
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