Homemade Chicken Nuggets

Many of you may or may not know that my family rarely visits fast-food restaurants.  This was a huge struggle for me in the beginning since during my college days I survived on Jack-in-the-Box tacos.  But after my first son was born I began to hear myself saying, "I would never feed my baby fast food".  So the natural question was then why am I eating it.  So my family made the decision that fast food was not going to be in our vocabulary.

Since my job is to feed and shop for my family I have been trying to find ways to feed them the best and healthiest way possible.  My oldest son, at 3 1/2 does not know what McDonalds is although he does know what a double-double is.  Because of living in Southern California we have In-n-Out... the best hamburgers in the world.  So on occasion when time does not permit for me to make a meal or if we happen to be craving some In-n-Out we do stop in.  But I can vouch that In-n-Out is one of the only fast food joints we will go to.

The other is Chick-fil-A.  The only reason I say this is because my husband got some free meal coupons from a co-worker and we decided to use them.  We got the sandwich and waffle fry combo for us and the chicken nuggets for the kids.  When we opened them I was surprised to find that the chicken nuggets were just that.  They were chunks of breast meat cut into bite size pieces, breaded and fried.  Aside from the frying part these chicken nuggets have made my fast food approved food list.

But I still have to stick to my guns about eating fast food.  While it is done in my house (maybe twice a year) I still don't want my boys to think that this is good food to eat all the time.  So I decided to make chicken nuggets at home.  I have made them in the past but always to order and this time I wanted to make a bunch of them, freeze them and then use them when I needed to.

I started with 3 chicken breasts.  I trimmed any extra fat or stuff that I don't like off of them and cut them into bite sized pieces.  I then dipped them into milk and then tossed them in my breadcrumb mixture.  Sometimes I have homemade breadcrumbs but this time I used store bought.  I then put them in a single layer on a baking sheet with some extra breadcrumbs sprinkled on the bottom so they would not stick.  I put them in the freezer overnight... and viola... homemade chicken nuggets.

I labeled the freezer bag with the cooking directions just in case Papa or a grandma wanted to cook them.  And into the freezer they went.  We are going to have some next week.  I hope that you try these at home.  You can take a few minutes a month and make a ton of these.  You know exactly what you are feeding your family and you can feel good about what they are eating... good luck!

Toy Sling

Since I was blessed with boys this means that I cannot be the kind of stay at home mom who makes pillowcase dresses or giant flower headbands for my kids.  I am left being more creative to find things to make for my boys that are cool but functional.

We are working on turning their "bedroom" into a playroom.  We have taken off the bed frame and turned the bed into a couch.  We put a television in there just so they can watch their movies while we watch ours.  As it turns out they have more stuffed animals then I realized and needed somewhere to put them...

In came the Toy Sling idea.  I took some leftover fabric that I had from making their pajamas and turned it into a place to store their stuffed animals.  My original design was more of a pouch but you couldn't see what was in there and if you can't tell what you have then we might as well donate all the toys... so I made this...

This is the view from the bottom.  And it is a simple triangle and I have attached it by sewing button holes along the front and two at the back.  I used some mug hooks I got on sale from CVS and instant room changer... love it!

I really like it and plan to make a second one for the opposite corner since I didn't realize that they had some bigger ones that just don't fit in their right.  I will post pictures once their room is done.  We are planning on painting the walls since Franco decided to paint it with a sharpie one night...

An Inspiration for Us All

Life Without Limits by Nick Vujicic

Just by looking at Nick you know he has overcome a lot.  The reason why I wanted to read this book was because I saw a YouTube clip of him.  I knew that he had something to say.

His tale is of heartbreak and surpassing the limits.  He has learned to overcome the most simple of tasks and has done so with the help of God's love.

This is a fantastic book for anyone to read.  You don't need to be looking for motivation but you will find it here.  He talks of his dark past and how God was able to help him move past it and find that he had a purpose in life.

For me that was the most important message.  He talks about God's love and how you can use it to your advantage.  I am looking to start a new career and this is just the motivation that I needed.  But unlike him I am not going to learn to surf... which is an amazing feat with arms and legs.

Nick is a true inspiration to us all.  I feel that I am able to tackle everything once reading his words of encouragement.  Heck, if he can do it... so can I.

I urge you to check out Nick's website Life Without Limbs...

Mom Spotted

This is a super cute blog about different product reviews.  She covers all kinds of products that my family would use and buy.  I love this giveaway right now for a BBQ set for outdoors.

Check it out here... momspotted

Enjoy!

Good Friday

I know that today is Earth Day and it seems that most people are concerned about the earth these days... so am I.  It seems that as long as I can remember my dad started recycling... even buying me a can crusher for Christmas one year.  But another day has become more important to me these days... Good Friday.

I am a new Christian and have found great peace in knowing that God loves me and sent his only son to pay for my sins.  I am overjoyed that he has touched my families life and I want to share it with my friends and family.  Tonight my husband and I are attending the Good Friday services at Emmanuel Faith Community Church in Escondido.  The pastor has asked us to share our testimonies with the gathering tonight... and I am nervous.  Speaking in front of large groups is not my cup of tea but what if someone out there was like me and needs to hear my story?  So before I share it tonight I have decided to share it with you.

My Testimony

I did not grow up in a Christian home.  I grew up in a loving home that taught me about love, family and being a good person.  I attended a Presbyterian Church school from kindergarten through second grade and then made the transition to pubic school.  I remember going to chapel in school and I did not like it at all... but then again God and Jesus were not big topics in my home.  God was not shunned but not the focus either.

As I grew up I began to question just like every other kid in the world.  When I got to junior high I became friends with a girl who grew up in a very Christian home.  She attend a youth group on Wednesday nights... and me wanting to hang out with my best friend started attending church.  The only thing it did was present me with even more questions.  I needed proof... physical proof in order to believe.  But was given none.  My best friends mom even offered to have a private bible study with her daughter and I.

It started off great.  I thought I would be the "smart" teenager and ask the hard questions... abortion and gays.  I do not recall what we actually talked about and I think looking back that that was part of my journey.  I was only to be exposed to it and it wasn't my time.  I started to believe that I didn't need church nor faith in order to go to heaven.  I only needed to be a good person... and that's the point, right?

Treat others and you would like to be treated... I was a good kid and I figured that would be enough.  Throughout high school and college I never gave much attention to religion or spirituality.  I did start to explore Buddhism with my ex-husband and found great power in the belief that all things are connected.  I loved the focus on family and relating to others but it never felt right.

It seems that 2004 was the start of my path toward God.  My father got diagnosed with cancer.  My dog of 18 years passed away.  I lost my grandfather to prostate cancer.  I got divorced.  Then I lost my other grandfather.  It was a rough time... it seems that all the men in my life were being slowly taken away.  And if things couldn't get any worse my father died in May 2005 and then his brother was diagnosed by the very cancer that killed my dad and their two sisters.  In my eyes, God turned his back on us.

Then life started to turn around.  I met Hermann while working at Starbucks.  For me it was instant... I knew I loved him right from the start.  We started living together in 2007 and within days found out we were having our first child.  We had our first son in December 2007 and our second son in January 2010... suddenly religion became even more important.  Hermann's aunt became a Christian and it made me start to question God all over again.

I decided that it was time to rent The Passion of the Christ.  I had heard a lot about this movie but didn't really know what to expect.  As I watched I began overcome with emotion.  If nothing just from a human stance that someone endured all that he did and never had any hatred toward the people who did it.  People tell you of what Jesus endured during his last hours but when you actually see what was done and how it was done... it just broke my heart.  I needed to know more.

My husband and I spent many late nights discussing different religions and searching for churches in our area.  It seems that we were both ready to give it a try.  But it wasn't until September 2010 that we actually went to church.  We never really discussed going but we just went to be the night before and decided that we were going to go the next day.  We had often came up with a ton of excuses of why not to go and I don't know if we ran out of excuses or what but it just seemed like the right time.

I remember walking in to church and feeling completely out of place.  It wasn't until about our 4th or 5th Sunday that I began to feel a strange calm come over me.  My older son was talking about God and how he made the whole world and it didn't make me mad (like it used to) instead I was overjoyed that he and his brother will grow up with God's love.  A few months after going to church and seeing the great impact it was having on my children I accepted God into my heart... and that was the best decision that I have ever made.

I feel that I am raising my children better now then I ever did.  I am giving them God's love and letting them know his love every day.  I appreciate things more now than I ever did.  I am at peace and am so happy that I get to spend eternity with my husband and my children.  When I look back on it I believe that God has given me back the men in my life.  I have an amazing husband and two sons that I absolutely adore.

My husband and I plan to be baptized this year.  God's love has blessed my family and I couldn't be more happy.

Real Food for Thought

What's for Dinner?

A simple enough question but how much thought do you put into your food.  For most American's and families these days I am sure it starts with some sort of packaged or boxed product that vaguely resembles food and if you simply add water it magically becomes dinner.  Or how many times have you simply driven through your local fast food joint and called that dinner?

How did we get like this?  How did we go from having great, homemade food to eating food that could last years on our shelves?  Is it out of convenience, laziness or brain washing?

Don't get me wrong... I do it too.  There were times when I was growing up that my mashed potatoes started life out as flakes.  I have even driven through any number of fast food places and served it to my family as dinner.  But one afternoon a few years ago I decided that enough was enough.  I was a stay at home mom and I needed to make my families food as fresh and healthy as possible.

I started really simple... I watched Food Inc.  A great documentary that shows you basically where your food comes from.  Since so many of us are not into slaughtering our own beef we buy it neatly packaged under cellophane and assume that it is good for us.  We purchase our fruits and veggies from the supermarket and don't pick them ourselves.

My first call to action is to look at what you are making our family for dinner.

Tonight my family is having Turkey Burgers (on whole wheat buns) covered in bacon, swiss cheese, and sauteed mushrooms and corn on the cob.  Granted I didn't make the buns but I am making the burgers myself.  If you are opening a box tonight for dinner just take some time and stop and think about how much effort it would take to make this meal from scratch... I don't want you to feel guilty about using it but I want you to start thinking about it.

The first step is to be aware of what you are eating.  I am making my family spaghetti in a few days and am using jarred sauce.  I can easily make sauce from scratch but it was on sale a few weeks back and I figured it would be nice to have some on hand.  I just want you to start thinking about where the changes can be made.

I want to try to post every Wednesday some sort of food related, educational post to try to hold myself accountable in keeping with my new found food values but also to help educate and inspire my friends and family to make simple, little changes in their diets to help remove processed foods from our diets.