Chicken…….Nuggets? – Monday Made

“The only real stumbling block is fear of failure. In cooking you’ve got to have a what-the-hell attitude.”~Julia Child

I first made this recipe about six years ago, before I had children. I saw Nigella make this on one her shows and it stuck with me. She made it using Ritz crackers, which I have tried (they are delicious) but then I got into the habit of using the crusts from our loaf of bread. I’m like a child. I don’t like eating that first or last piece of bread, but I also hate waste so I tend to hoard them in my freezer!

When I actually looked up the recipe on the web it wasn’t quite as I had seen it prepared on TV, so my recipe here has been evolving for six years. It’s been made with gluten-free bread, with corn “bread crumbs”, with almond meal and finally, as it is written here, with rye bread crusts and macadamia nuts.

What you need:

• 1 chicken breast
• 2 light rye bread crusts
• 1/3 cup macadamia nuts
• 3 tbsp yoghurt (I use greek)
• oil spray

What to do:

1. Slice the chicken up into strips about half to one centimeter thick.The length is really up to you. I do small ones for my kids, long ones for adults.
2. Mix the chicken and yoghurt in a bowl. Cover and refrigerate for a few hours.
3. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degreesC. Line a baking tray with paper and give a light spray with oil.
4. In a food processor blend the nuts and bread until they are a fine crumb. Add a pinch of salt or some cayenne pepper if you like.
5. Remove excess yoghurt from chicken before coating them in the bread crumb mix.
6. Give crumbed chicken a light spray with oil before baking them for approximately 20 minutes. Check your fattest piece to make sure it’s cooked through before serving with a little bit of dipping sauce made with greek yoghurt, cumin, a little salt and maybe some lime juice (or whatever you fancy, really!!)

Serves 2 adults or 4 toddlers!

Honey Tea Loaf – Monday Made

“There is no trouble so great or grave that cannot be much diminished by a nice cup of tea.” ~Bernard-Paul Heroux

It’s nearly the end of Monday and no post yet!!

I have had a lovely afternoon of tea drinking and chatting while small people played. I did mention to the double trouble that we could bake but they were so wound up in their own imaginary world that it didn’t even register.

The baking did eventually happen. My dinner was taking much longer to cook that I thought it would and I found myself with a couple of cranky toddlers who needed entertaining.

Honey Tea Loaf is very entertaining. I saw this recipe on a kids’ cooking show called I Can Cook. It looked like a bit of fun, possibly yummy and, as an added bonus, it is dairy free.

I used French Earl Grey tea to make this, the recipe just said “decaf tea”. I don’t think there is enough caffeine in it to cause an issue. The recipe originally called for mixed fruit, but I only had sultanas. I think a little bit of orange rind would have gone nicely, though.

What you need:

• 100g sultanas
• 70ml warm tea
• 1 1/2 tbsp  honey
• 1 egg
• 150g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp mixed spice

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degreesC (160 fan forced)
2. In a small bowl mix the tea and sultanas together and set aside.
3. Mix together the dry ingredients then at the eggs, sultana mix and honey until just combined.
4. Bake in a lined loaf tin for about 25 minutes and enjoy the insanely good smell coming out of your oven.
5. Allow to cool before slicing and serve with butter or Nutlex (or whatever your butter alternative of choice may be…..)

Scented Playdough – Monday Made

“Just as there is a trend toward high tech today, there is another trend toward high touch- homemade and wholesome.”~Meryl Gardner

My kids are nuts for playdough. We did have a large supply of it due to multiple playdough Christmas presents, but alas, we threw out the last tub of it yesterday.

I remember my mum making us playdough when we were children (and then also me eating the playdough because it looked to yummy but it really just tasted like salt). She used to let me add the food colouring (very game). I would always add all different ones and end up with brown playdough. Ick.

My kids requested green and pink, like their chairs. I had the great idea of adding some of the flavour essences that I had to give it a pleasant smell. I went almond essence in the green and cherry essence in the pink/red.

Obviously, my “adding a dash” method of food colouring proved to make iridescent dough. Surprisingly (but maybe due to the cooking) the colouring does not transfer onto your hands when you play!

I was a little concerned about how wet the mix was when I first put it on the heat, but in about 5 minutes I had perfect playdough. Too easy!!

This recipe yields about two cups of playdough.

What you need:

• 1/2 cup salt
• 2 tblsp Cream of Tartar
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 tblsp oil
• 1 cup water
• food colouring
• flavour essence

What to do:

1. Mix all ingredients in a medium saucepan.
2. Stir over medium/low heat until it eventually thickens up into non-sticky dough. Touch it to check it doesn’t stick to you, keep cooking a little bit more if it does. Try not to over cook it or your dough will dry out quicker.
3. Store in a sealed plastic bag or plastic container in the fridge.

Oh, and why “Rocket Man” music? Two reasons: Last night we watched the International Space Station fly over. My son was extremely excited by the concept. Also, for father’s day, we had gotten Colin this Bucket-Man “Jetpack” t-shirt.