If you’ve read my earlier posts, you know my kids were raised mostly vegan until recently. This meant a lot of whole grains (read: Pasta) and the occasional fake-meat chicken nugget. If you’ve ever tried fake meat (or shmeat as we used to call it), the texture is much different than real meat. Even the “healthy” stuff made at home sans preservatives and such still has a much softer, less chewy texture.
Getting my kids to eat real meat has been a HUGE challenge. Champ will eat pretty much anything, but he’s been eating Paleo since he started solid foods. Carl will eat bacon, and we did get him to try a bite of steak once. Jude wants nothing to do with any of it, and has taken a “that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it” approach. I feel like they would rather STARVE than eat on many days. I admit that I’m mostly just a big wuss. I realize that kids won’t allow themselves to starve, but I can’t handle two exceptionally-difficult-because-they-are-going-on-a-hunger-strike toddlers.
So, I’ve decided to loosen-up a bit (at least until they’re old enough to successfully bribe). The truth is, they’re doing pretty well. Carl asked me for green onion and shredded cabbage for his bedtime snack the other day, and that, my friends, is a WIN in my book.
So, thanks to my fancy food chart (which I will share in a future post) I’ve decided to focus more on trying new fruits and veggies (and actually consuming them). This means I’m going to be okay with them having My Paleo Chicken Nuggets for many lunches and dinners, with a side of the “real food” I’m cooking, and extra fruit and veggies, I’m fine with that. I don’t want eating to be stressful and yucky for them, so I need to chill out. For reals.
Paleo Chicken Nuggets
- 1 lb ground chicken*
- 1 cup coconut flour
- 1 cup almond meal
- Dash poultry seasoning
- Several eggs -or- 1 cup or so of unsweetened coconut milk**
Roll out the ground chicken on parchment paper or a silicone cutting board until it’s an inch or so thick. Put it in the freezer for 30-60 minutes until partially frozen (it’s easier to cut and bread that way). Cut ground chicken into strips, or rounds. Or if you want to get crazy (or just have time to kill), use cookie cutters to make fun shapes, like the Dino Nuggets in the store. You have to work kind of fast, because you still need the meat partially frozen for breading. Once cut, dunk the meat in egg/milk, then roll in flour mixture. Place on heavily greased cookie sheet, and cook at 350 for 30 minutes or so.
*I opted for ground chicken, because it is more like the texture of vegetarian chicken nuggets.
**I don’t like being too specific here, because I hate wasting ingredients, and I think everyone has different “breeding” skills. I start out small and add more egg/milk or coconut/almond flour as required.
This recipe was inspired in part or in whole by this recipe
