Crispy Parmesan Chicken Strips – Cooking with kids

October 28, 2020October 25, 2020 ~ SL ~ Leave a comment

This is part two of a two-part series and a paid partnership with Manitoba Chicken Producers. As always, all opinions are my own and I only promote products that I use and love.

If you caught part one of last month’s Cooking with Kids post, we made Bruschetta chicken from the new Now You’re Cooking with Manitoba Chicken Youth Education Booklet. Although my daughter had fun making that recipe, her request when we were done was to “just make chicken strips next time.” So that’s exactly what we did.

We made the Crispy Parmesan Chicken Strips, also from the Now You’re Cooking with Manitoba Chicken Youth Education Booklet. The recipe comes together quickly (even quicker if you apply some meal prep strategies that I will fill you in on.) and is super simple for the kids to help with.

If you’re interested in receiving your own copy of this brand-new resource, contact Manitoba Chicken Producers at: consumerrelations@chicken.mb.ca Please provide your name and mailing address and they will be happy to send you one.

I knew that convincing my little helper to eat the chicken strips wasn’t going to be a challenge, so we focused on working together, learning and having fun. I did however run into a few obstacles when she realized that we weren’t making “the ones we usually have.”

Tip 1: Use cooking with your kids as an opportunity to learn and develop skills

We started by reading the recipe. What better way to develop reading skills than with an authentic situation where they can apply their reading strategies? It went something like this:

“Preheat oven to 425 F…What’s F?” Cue an additional learning opportunity that we applied later when we checked the temperature of the cooked chicken strips using our meat thermometer.

Food safety tip: The internal temperature of cooked chicken should read 165°F.

“1/2 cup mayo…Ewww I hate mayo!” But guess what? The mayo is the best part of this recipe, because it does two things: 1) Allows the breading to stick to the chicken, 2) Crisps up the chicken strips without any additional oil or butter. I took the opportunity to explain that mayo is made with eggs, and since we usually use eggs for chicken fingers, this time we are going to try eggs in a different way. She was sold and we moved on.

Tip 2: Teach about food safety

Before we got started, we washed our hands and talked about why that is important. We also talked about how poultry and other meat can make you sick if it isn’t cooked so that we shouldn’t, for example, sample the breading while we’re making the chicken fingers. (This was important to mention because it almost happened!) When we were finished, we made sure to put everything that came in contact with chicken in the dishwasher and used soap, water and antibacterial spray to clean out the sink and all surfaces, and of course, we washed our hands again.

Tip 3: Make it fun! Let them use all of the tools.

I’m pretty sure what my daughter liked most about making these chicken strips, was using all of the tools. Whisks, tongs and spatulas are fun for kids so bring them all out, even if it means having a few extra dishes to do afterward. You can save time in other ways, with these meal prep tips.

Meal prep tips for this recipe

Slice, portion and freeze your chicken

When I did last month’s post, I bought a club pack of chicken, used four breasts for the Bruschetta Chicken and sliced the four remaining breasts for the chicken strips and froze them. That is one strategy that will save you at least ten minutes, because you won’t have to slice the chicken or have extra dishes to do. If you were making this recipe with a new package of chicken, you could also consider cooking the remaining breasts in your slow cooker, shredding them and freezing them for other meals like I did in this Back-to-School Meal Prep post.

Reduce the number of steps in the breading process for the chicken strips

Another time-saver we discovered while making this recipe was to coat all the chicken in the mayo parm mixture, instead of dipping each strip individually. Combine the ingredients, then pour over the chicken and toss with tongs until all the chicken pieces are coated. That makes breading a one-step process. (This is also great for when cooking with kids, because everything seems to take longer.)

Improvise and use what you have on hand

This recipe called for basil, but when I reached for it, I realized that the grocery clerk who assembled my order, had given me mint instead. We swapped it out and used dill. You can add any seasonings or spices to these chicken fingers. Don’t have mayo? Use eggs, or mustard, or milk. Anything that will allow the breading to stick to the chicken. If you choose to use a liquid other than mayo, be sure to brush the breaded strips with butter or spray with canola oil to crisp them up. No panko? Try corn flakes, breadcrumbs, potato chips or pretzels. Anything to get that crispy texture.

There are so many great recipes on manitobachicken.ca that you can try with your kids and you can search them by cut or by preparation technique. There are a lot of basic recipes that call for ingredients you most-likely already have on hand under the Kid Friendly section of their recipe page. You can also check out the chicken section of my recipe index for other great recipes using Manitoba chicken.

What is your family’s favorite way to enjoy Manitoba chicken? Comment below and let us know!

Oatmeal Applesauce Muffins with Salted Caramel Chips

September 30, 2020September 28, 2020 ~ SL

Every summer my grandma and my friend give me apples from their trees, so I make my own applesauce and use it in my baking year round. I wanted to develop a muffin recipe that was low in sugar and used a good amount of applesauce. Also, a recipe that was filling enough that the kids wouldn’t ask me for another snack after having eaten.

These muffins are made with oats and whole wheat flour, which will give energy and satisfy hunger. I like to use almond milk, however, to keep them school-safe, use dairy, soy, or oat milk instead.

What you need to know about these muffins

My kids devoured these.
They don’t contain sugar (maple syrup and applesauce sweeten them up)
You don’t even have to use your mixer. A whisk or spoon will do.
You can freeze them for lunches or snacks.

*These school-safe energy bites also make a great lunch box snack!

Meal Prep Tip

In my Meal Planning for Busy Families Online Course, I mention baking muffins while you eat dinner as a strategy to save time. You can pre-mix the dry and wet ingredients when you do your meal prep for the week, then combine them and pop them in the oven while you’re eating. By the time you’re finished eating, the muffins are ready. Bonus points if your oven is already pre-heating from having cooked dinner!

Other great muffin recipes

I usually stick to a rotation of about 3-4 different muffin recipes. They’re all shared on my Tried & True Pinterest Board. Our go-tos are the Healthy Banana Muffins (with chocolate chips!) and the Healthy Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins (again, with chocolate chips.)

Double Batch Oatmeal Applesauce Muffins with Salted Caramel Chips

This low-sugar recipe is quick to whip up with a bowl and a spoon. No mixer required!

Course Breakfast, Dessert, Snack

Keyword applesauce, double-batch, muffins, oatmeal

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Servings 28 muffins

Ingredients

2 cups unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup maple syrup
4 tbsp canola oil
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup almond milk
1 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla
1 bag Chipits Salted Caramel Chips can use butterscotch chips

Instructions

Combine all wet ingredients.
Add dry ingredients, except salted caramel chips and stir until combined.
Add salted caramel chips.
Use a triggered ice cream scoop to dispense in muffin liners.
Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

Cooking with Kids – Bruschetta Chicken

September 20, 2020October 16, 2020 ~ SL ~ 1 Comment

This is part one of a two-part series and a paid partnership with Manitoba Chicken Producers. As always, all opinions are my own and I only promote products that I use and love.

Did you know that September is National Chicken Month? In our house, chicken is always a hit with the kids. While chicken drumsticks and chicken fingers are their favorites, they also enjoy shredded chicken in some of the recipes I make. I try to get them to branch out and try new ways to enjoy chicken. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Getting the kids involved in preparing recipes is a great way to expose them to new foods and to teach them about food safety.

I used this Bruschetta Chicken recipe from the new Now You’re Cooking with Manitoba Chicken Youth Education Booklet. It contains three recipes that are easy to prepare with kids, plus the graphics are pretty and there are a variety of chicken farming facts, lots of food safety tips, and cooking techniques, perfect for budding young chefs.

If you’re interested in receiving your own copy of this brand-new resource, contact Manitoba Chicken Producers at: consumerrelations@chicken.mb.ca

Please provide your name and mailing address and they will be happy to send you one.

My seven-year old is the only one who wanted to help this time, and she happens to be my pickiest eater of the four kids, so I had my work cut-out for me. I knew that getting her to taste this recipe would be a challenge, so I tried a few strategies I thought might help ease her into it.

Tip #1 – Know your child’s food phobias

Before we started, I went over the recipe with her and had her read out the ingredients. Right away, she said “I don’t like pepper!” I also know that she doesn’t like “green things” a.k.a fresh or dried herbs in her food. She didn’t say anything about the basil when she read the recipe, so I left it for the moment.

Knowing which foods are going to raise red flags for your kids, can help you find a substitution or expose them to the food in a positive way.

Ways we exposed these recipe ingredients while making this recipe:

Picking fresh basil and tomatoes from the garden
Feeling the basil, touching the leaves, tasting a fresh leaf
Cracking pepper over all the chicken breasts except one
Peeling garlic for the bruschetta mix

Positive interaction with new foods, could help kids build up the courage to try them. Even if they refuse to try them the first time, repeated positive exposure could help.

In my daughter’s case, she was having fun doing all the prep work and spending some one on one time with me so that overshadowed the fact that she thought the basil was “too spicy” when she tasted it. She put it aside and carried on with preparing the recipe.

I knew that even though she liked most of the ingredients for the Bruschetta Chicken, the major problem would be that all the components were touching. Deconstructing is a great way to get around this because you’re still exposing them to every ingredient, without preparing another meal that you think they will prefer.

Tip #2 – When in doubt, deconstruct

Before I got to chopping the tomatoes for the bruschetta mix, I sliced some and put them on a plate. On the side, I added a small bowl of mozzarella and some fresh basil leaves and I left a space to add some cooked chicken.

Serving all the ingredients on one plate separately, allows kids to make independent food choices. If it’s on the plate, you’ve approved it for their consumption, so now they get to choose if and how much they will eat.

She ended up eating everything, except the basil. I will call that a win for today. I didn’t have to make a different meal and she ate what was available, simply presented in a different way.

When I thanked her for helping and asked if she had fun she replied with “Next time can we just make chicken fingers instead?” So, guess what? Next month, that’s what we’re making in part two of this series, also from the Youth Education Booklet.

There are so many great recipes on manitobachicken.ca that you can try with your kids. You can search them by the cut or by the preparation technique. There are also a few delicious deconstructions and reconstructions blog using fresh Manitoba chicken, like this Asian Grilled Chicken Salad and these Greek Chicken Wraps.