Chicken nuggets.....

So, with this baby has come an entire boatload of nesting and homemaking craziness from this mama!  We've torn apart rooms, rearranged entire rooms, and even cleaned out and re-purposed rooms.  Along with all that I've been trying my hardest to keep my three guys eating well and on a schedule, of some sort.  A friend posted this nice little recipe that we tried out, and I have to say, it is a HIT!   So long, children yearning for mushed chicken innards and such pressed into chicken nugget shapes from the drive through.  They are thrilled with chicken nuggets from our oven!  I followed the recipe exactly, except for the small change in making it Gluten Free for our family.  On the next go I intend to change up the flavors and spices a little bit for hubby's taste buds.  This recipe fed our family of four supper, two of us for lunch, as well as stashing a third of the batch in the freezer for an easy supper in the future.

Popcorn Chicken

3 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3/4 cup whole wheat flour (used gluten free baking mix in place of whole wheat flour)
1/2 t. sea salt
1/2 t. garlic powder
butter

In a medium sized bowl, stir together flour, salt and garlic powder.  Using kitchen shears, cut chicken breasts into tiny bite sized pieces.   Toss chicken in flour mixture to coat well. 

Smear a thick layer of butter on the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking dish.  Pour coated chicken into dish, spreading so that they are in a single layer.

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.  Stir chicken and bake another 10 minutes.

http://heavenlyhomemakers.com/high-five-recipe-popcorn-chicken

Really....must.....blog......

I really need to blog much more regularly! I must create a schedule that I can stick with....and stick with it. Not something that would regulate and take away from the creativity or make it forced, but something that would get me in the habit to blog more than once every three months.

Last night I spent a wonderful evening (hours and hours I'm sure) hopping about and perusing various blogs, mainly Play Create Explore and The Imagination Tree where I found a plethora of wonderfully fabulous ideas for kids play and development. My first "experiment" was "Treasure Rocks", aka Coffee Playdough. My boys LOVED IT! I had to tweak the recipe just a touch and use rice flour as we don't have wheat flour in our house (gluten allergy). But it worked great and I enjoyed playing with the dough as well-being it smelled like my favorite drink.

My boys spent hours with their cousins playing with the "Treasure Rocks". Hiding them, breaking them open, discovering their treasures, hopping about in joy, asking Mama to put the treasures back inside the rocks and hide them again. Thankfully even after baking, the insides were still soft enough to remold for hours and hours of play. Also, one of the girls scooped some water from a nearby puddle and softened her rock to make it even more malleable, so it is very easy to re-soften (much more successful than trying to soften playdough ;) ).

Snagged some used coffee grinds from Mum this afternoon (why do people look at you funny when asking for used coffee grounds?), I'll drink a cup or two of joe' this evening and have enough grounds to make another batch of dough tonight so then can play with the raw dough tomorrow and see where their creativity takes them! Creativity! The name of the game these days! :)

Gluten Free...

I keep hearing people say they wish they could "go gluten free" so they could lose weight easily. Makes me giggle at the thought. Eating gluten free isn't a "diet", it's a lifestyle. You can lose weight with almost any lifestyle change, it's simply the fact of sticking with it.

The "easy" or what my optimistic attitude has seen as a huge benefit in a gluten free diet, is the strictness with which one has to adhere to because of the scarcity of "gluten free" foods. Before my hubby was diagnosed as gluten intolerant we ate fast foods entirely too much (even as a wife/mom trying to get into a good/organic food lifestyle). With cross-contamination and gluten being found in most prepared foods it was simply unsafe to breeze through a drive through or simply grab whatever prepackaged/convenience food was on the first shelf. BLESSING IN DISGUISE!

Fortunately, we have found restaurants that have food that is safe for my hubby and truly enjoy a wonderful dinner out and/or a yummy pizza delivered a time or two a week. Even in our home, the pantry choices are different than before his diagnosis was given (thankfully I am generally, but not always, wise enough to not buy the pack of Oreo cookies because lil' ol' ME will be the only one eating the entire package).

Over the past five years the "gluten free industry" has grown tremendously and we have been very fortunate to find more and more advice, products, and support. But at the same time, what has been a very "healthy diet" due to most products being made with whole foods and healthy nutritional values, now is very likely to become a sugar laden, overly processed, prepared food industry all it's own with very few of the health benefits of the original gluten free lifestyle. I for one intend to be scrutinizing labels and companies in order to keep our diets (what we eat, not an attempt to lose weight) on a healthy road. Just some food for thought. :)

Article that prompted this late evening blog :) : http://health.yahoo.net/rodale/MH/is-gluten-making-us-fat