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Nugget’s Lunch – April 7, 2008

(clockwise from upperleft)  unsweetened vitamin C applesauce, whole grain cracker sandwiches with a mixture of miso paste, sunflower seed butter, jam and orange blossom honey, apple-shaped bites of muenster cheese, a spiderman napkin, and ‘Enjoy Life’ brand nut-free gluten-free soft-baked Happy Apple cookies. Drink: organic enriched rice milk.

Easy Homemade Macaroni & Cheese

A fifteen minute lunch that the children can help prepare. 

Easy Homemade Macaroni & Cheese

8 oz.  pasta noodles

course grain salt, about 2 teaspoons

3 Tbs. unsalted butter

1 egg

5 oz. can evaporated milk, divided

1 tsp. ground mustard

few drops hot sauce

fresh ground pepper

3 cups freshly grated cheese

Bring a large pot of water (12-16 cups) to a boil.  Add pasta noodles and salt.  Boil according to directions, usually between 9 and 11 minutes.  Meanwhile, in a small bowl lightly whisk the egg, half the milk, mustard, hot sauce and pepper.

Remove pasta immediately from stove and drain the water, then return the noodles to the same warm pot, and add the butter.  Turn off the burner, and place the pot on the still warm heating element, stirring as the butter melts.  Add the egg mixture, and mix to coat.  Add the cheese and stir thoroughly until the cheese has melted.  Add enough of the remaining evaporated milk and stir.  Serves 2 adults and 2 children.

***

*KITCHEN NOTES* 

(1) The pasta noodles I used are pictured above – and though it was admittedly a nice touch that they are called “Nuggets”, there was a more important reason choose them.  Rather than use elbows, I want a pasta with lots of ridges to give it more surface area to absorb liquid as well as more crevices to hold the cheese sauce while still being a small and compact pasta. 

(2) This recipe is adapted from the Cook’s Illustrated recipe for Stovetop Mac and Cheese, which I enjoy because it is fast and easy and the children can help out in numerous ways.  They are more likely to eat food that they helped prepare, even though macaroni and cheese is always a hit.

(3) I use whatever cheese I have on hand, but always freshly grated (the preshredded cheeses are coated with an anti-caking agent, which inhibits melting).  Young cheeses do better than aged cheeses because the fat seperates more readily in aged cheeses.  Be sure you have the burner heat OFF prior to adding the cheese, because that can cause seperation as well.  The mac and cheese for this photo used a combination of 30% fontinella, 30% asiago, 10% parmigiano reggiano, and the remainder of a mix I had on hand (sharp cheddar, queso blanco, asadero and monterey jack).

(4) Technically, it takes just a tad longer than 15 minutes depending on the time it takes your water to boil.  But once the water is boiling, the rest comes together in under fifteen – promise.

 

The Eponymous Favorite

These are my son’s favorite nuggets. When he smells them cooking he runs excitedly with his sister through the kitchen, plucking the nuggets right off the paper towels as they cool.

Coconut Pan Fry Chicken Nuggets

1 lb. chicken breast, cut into chunks, trimmed of excess fat

3 Tbs. grapeseed oil (or other high smokepoint oil)

2 Tbs. toasted sesame seed oil

1 Tbs. potato starch (or cornstarch)

1 Tbs. unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 C unsweetened coconut flakes

In a 12″ cast iron skillet (or nonstick skillet) heat 1 1/2 Tbs. high heat oil over medium heat until shimmering (about 2 minutes). Place chicken chunks into a medium sized bowl. In a seperate small bowl, whisk sesame oil, starch and flour. Pour over chicken, and toss by hand until thoroughly coated. Place coconut in a third seperate small bowl. Dredge each chunk seperately in coconut, but dredging all the chunks prior to frying so you can place them in the skillet all at once for each batch.

Pan fry the nuggets in two batches. Place half the chunks in the skillet. Take care not to let the the chunks touch each other; this way they cook thoroughly and brown nicely on the bottom. After 4 minutes, flip them over. Pan fry an additional 1 to 2 minutes, just until the internal temperature of each nugget reaches 165 degrees. Remove from heat immediately and drain on paper towels or brown paper bags.

Prior to frying the second batch, quickly wipe out the old oil and coconut bits before placing in the second batch, since the coconut leftover in the pan will burn. Place remaining 1 1/2 Tbs. oil in pan, allowing it to get hot before placing chicken chunks in the pan.

*KITCHEN NOTES* The key to these nuggets is the velveting technique used in Asian cooking, which typically uses a combination of egg whites and cornstarch to marinate and coat the chicken, which protects the small chicken piece exteriors from getting tough. I used sesame oil instead of egg white. A great optional addition is sherry. Kosher salt is used instead of standard table salt because it is easier to control the amount you are using. If you prefer sea salt, add it immediately after removing the chicken from heat. Finally, the extra step well worth the payoff: Using a thermometer to check the temp of the chicken, allowing you to remove the chicken immediately without over-cooking, ensuring a juicy, moist and thoroughly cooked nugget. Enjoy!

Tree Nuts List

A sampling list of Tree Nuts

Common and not-so-common tree nuts, or food items that always contain tree nuts:

almonds
anacardium nuts
artificial nuts
beech nut
brazil nuts
butternut
candlenut
caponatanut meat
cashews
chestnut
filberts
gianduja (a nut mixture in some chocolate)
Ginko nut
hazelnuts
hickory nuts
horse-chestnut
Lichee nut
macadamia nuts
malabar chestnut
mandelonas (peanuts altered to look/taste like tree nuts)
marzipan (almond paste)
mongongo
Mortadella (may contain pistachio)
nan-gai nuts
nougat
Nu-Nuts ^TM (peanuts altered to look/taste like tree nuts)
nut butters
nut extract
Nutella
nut meal
nut meats (another name for tree nuts)
nut oil
nut paste
nut pieces
pecans
pesto
Pili nut
pine nuts
Pinon
Pistachios
pralines
Sheanut
walnuts

About

Why did I start this blog?

I am a stay-at-home mom to two children, affectionately referred to as the nuggets.   As I ease my way into the diverse world of healthy, responsible and delicious packed lunches for my husband and children, I thought it would be fun to document my journey as I (hopefully) become better at it.  There are a couple reasons for my desire to do so, including:

• limiting the waste that is so common with packed lunches
• providing a diverse and healthy assortment of food
• expose my family to new tastes and textures
• learning to cook and prepare healthy meals for an active family
• being conscious with our lunch money, knowing there are better uses for it than fast food
• posting lunches and other ideas will keep me on track with my goals to keep our family on the road to being healthy and fit, as well as hold me accountable for staying motivated

My son, 4 years old, is our original Nugget and currently in preschool.  I recently began packing his lunch because he now has an after school program he attends one to three days a week.  He also has food allergies, which remain a persistent underlying concern as the world today (extended family, schools, society at large) slowly adjusts to the increasingly prevalent number of children with life-threatening food allergies. 

Originally, my son’s allergies were to dairy, egg and tree nuts.  He has since outgrown the dairy and egg allergy (yay!), but remains allergic to tree nuts.  As an interesting aside, there are two tree nuts he is not allergic to – almonds and pine nuts, both of which he was exposed to during breastfeeding and inadvertently as beginning eater.   Though recommendations change regularly as pediatric allergists continually learn more about their specialty, the current recommendation for my son (particular to his situation), is to continue exposure to peanuts, almonds and pine nuts to inhibit a future allergy from forming to those food items.

My daughter Rooni is 2 years old, and has tested allergy-free.  She eats lunch with me, so if we enjoy a picnic somewhere I will post our lunch, but otherwise she will not get as much air time as her sibling and dad!

Lunch Nugget Statement of Purpose

It is very inspiring to view the number of websites about lunch making, and I am going to try and incorporate many of the things I learn into this blog.  I had no idea about the endless lunch possibilities that avail themselves to anyone committed to venturing beyond standard kid lunch fare!

Primary goals for this blog:

• track our lunches
• enjoy the progress I make on my journey to create appealing, healthy kid lunches
• have a personal catch-all place to store ideas, tips and fun things I learn along the way
• share a glimpse with family and friends about our lives – if we cannot break bread in person, we can at least share from afar!

Secondary goals for this blog: 

• keep tree nut allergies in the conscious awareness of family, friends and readers
• provide good lunch ideas for anyone struggling with tree nut allergies
• maintain focus for the more general goal of living a healthy lifestyle
• learn to take better pictures of the food

 

Nugget’s Lunch Today

Nugget’s lunch today:  (clockwise from upperleft) tabbouleh, hard boiled egg with sea salt, red bell peppers, maple syrup stroopwafels, and reduced-sugar strawberry jam with sunflower seed butter on sprouted whole wheat berry bread.  Drink (not pictured) 50/50 Strawberry-kiwi juice & water.

Dad’s lunch: (clockwise from upperleft) buttercream mashed potatoes & chicken stew (leftover from dinner), plantain chips, celery and crunchy natural peanut butter, grape tomatoes, macaroni goat cheese and bacon.  Drink (not pictured) lemonade.