Making Homemade Chicken Nuggets

Are you sick of McDonalds, but you're forced to return every day because your toddler refuses to eat anything except their chicken nuggets? Fast food gets expensive, not to mention it isn't exactly health food. But what if you could save money and make the food a bit healthier and still get your toddler to eat it? Now you can; just make your own nuggets at home and save a bundle!

Start out by taking a full chicken breast and cutting it into cubes. Then toss it into a food processor and chop the chicken until you have ground chicken. Alternatively, you could just buy ground chicken at the grocery store to begin with, which is a good way to get through this fast. Add your spices, salt, pepper and parsley to the chicken. This is a good time to blend in any other ingredients you want to make your nuggets healthier. Tofu, cooked cauliflower, and eggplant all blend well into chicken. If you think you can get away with adding some pureed carrot or broccoli, go for it. Just be careful not to add too much and change the consistency of the chicken mixture.

Now, you will need some flour, an egg beaten in a shallow dish and some spicy breadcrumbs. Roll your chicken mixture into balls, there should be enough to make about 8. Dip them in the flour (make this tastier by adding a bit of consommé powder), then coat with the egg and finally dip in the breadcrumbs. Set the nugget ball aside and do the rest of the chicken mixture up the same way.

Use a fork to squash the nuggets a bit and to make them look like the fast food versions. Then bake them in a preheated oven for 8-10 minutes at 350º, or until they turn golden brown. This is far better than deep frying them, like they do in many restaurants. Your kids will never know the difference.

To finish everything off, save those nugget boxes from McDonald's and serve your homemade version in the fancy box. Add some store bought sweet and sour sauce, or mix up your own honey mustard dip (just mix honey with mustard!) and serve it in a little cup beside the nuggets. You may not have your kids eating salads just yet, but at least you can save some money and they'll enjoy a slightly healthier version of their favorite food.