Have I mentioned that I am not a morning person? I probably haven't, so let me be sure to state it now. I. Am. Not. A. Morning. Person. I stay up to at least midnight (midnight is the latest if I'm really exhausted), but usually anywhere from 2-3am is my average, then I wake up around 10:30am usually.
My night owl tendencies have been groomed since middle school where I would stay up late reading and rereading and rerereading the Harry Potter series. It then developed to not only reading, but playing The Sims, and I added WoW about 5 years ago. It's just part of who I am. If I don't have to get up early, I won't. Sleeping is one of my favorite past times. Ever. Well, other than all of the other things I like. But sleeping is just tops! It really is. Anyways, time to stop gushing about how great sleeping is... moving on!
Erin's house is the complete opposite for her, but that's what happens when you have 3 children that are 5 (almost 6), 4, and 1 (almost 2). The older two (Bridget and Logan) are up around 6am, and the baby (Maeve) is usually up between 5:30am and 6am. For my dad that's not a problem. He's been getting up around 4 or 4:30am my whole life, but it's kind of a big change for me.
It's kind of funny though. I always end up getting kind of used to it. Kind of being a relative term that is. Saturday TJ and I were up about 6 or 6:30am because baby Maeve was crying because she heard my sister Erin, Bridget, and Logan up, and wanted out of bed. So I went back to get her out of bed while Erin was busy with Bridget and Logan. Of course she had gotten herself so worked up at that point she kept shoving off me so I set her down and she went running off to find Erin. No one can replace their momma.
Maeve is very friendly now that she is over her "stranger" phase. She loves TJ and enjoyed watching her morning TV shows while sitting in his lap. Nemo enjoyed them as well!
Maeve absolutely loves hats. Today was no different. When she put on that cowgirl hat she kept it on for a very long time.
For dinner we wanted something that everyone would enjoy, so after TJ and I got back from grocery shopping, we started on dinner. We had Crunchy Whole-Grain Chicken Bites, which is from 29 Minutes to Dinner Vol. 1 from Pampered Chef. It's so easy and everyone loves them!
Everything you need for the recipe is in the picture above, with a few exceptions. We didn't actually make the homemade coleslaw that is included in the recipe because we were short on time and had some very hungry kiddos! So instead you'll notice the Marie Callendar's Coleslaw dressing. We needed the cabbage and carrots to make that, so that's what we did. The homemade coleslaw is really easy though, and needs the mayonnaise, sour cream, carrots, and celery for it. The watermelon is because it goes really well with this dish and is very summery, aka perfect for AZ heat!
For the dressing and slaw, you'll need 1/2 tsp reduced-fat sour cream, 2 tbsp reduced-fat mayonnaise, 1 pkg (1-oz) dry ranch dressing mix (divided), 5 stalks celery, and 2 carrots. For the chicken bites, you'll need 1-lb chicken tenders (breasts work too), 1 egg white, 6 cups whole-grain chips, 1/4 tsp paprika, and vegetable oil/Pam, and hot sauce and crumbled blue cheese for topping (optional).
Peel the carrots and use a julienne peeler to cut the carrots into julienne strips for the slaw.
Trim your chicken if you need to and then cut it into bite sized pieces.
Ignore the chicken in this picture, I hadn't made this since last summer and my brain wasn't quite working! What you're supposed to do is to add your egg white and 1 tbsp of the ranch dressing mix and whisk it. Then add your chicken. I did it out of order, minus the whisking.
After you mix your egg white and ranch dressing mix together, add your chicken, like this!
I apologize in advance for the back and forthness of this post (yes, I just made up that word. Roll with it!), but Erin and I were working together and this is the order we did it (not recommended, but entertaining none-the-less! I hope... LOL).
After you add your chicken toss it with the egg/ranch dressing mix mixture. You want them well coated and well... slimy! Be sure to ask whomever happens to be nearby if they would like to lick your hands or have you do their hair after having mixed these together. In case you're thinking I'm crazy, I'm not. Your hands come out fabulous! *evilgrin*
Time to move the carrots into a bowl so we have room for the cabbage for the Marie Callender's coleslaw dressing recipe!
Erin thought this would be a great time to show me the mandolin tool Pampered Chef sells because I had been asking about it since I made radish slaw. It's an awesome tool, but the grater on it was making the cabbage pieces too small for the coleslaw. But it was worth a shot!
Place your Sun Chips (or whichever whole-wheat chip you use) in a ziploc bag.
Erin suggested that instead of using the really heavy and loud meat tenderizer to crush the chips (and sound like you're breaking everything in your kitchen), I use the pastry roller (I think that's it... I'll have to check that!). It worked really well, and was in fact much quieter!
Back to the coleslaw! See? I told you it was going to be full of back and forthness (there's my new word again!)! After giving up on the grater, Erin pulled out the santoku knife and got to chopping.
Yay for crushed chips! You want to make sure that there are no big chunks left. They're not ideal for coating chicken with!
I don't know if you can tell that Erin is wearing a Spiderman bandaid, but she is. So since TJ and I had been teasing her all day about her being a klutz (it runs in the family I guess, and is probably something else I failed to mention about myself.), she pulled out her anti-finger chopper! Earlier when trying out her new mango slicer to slice up a mango for Bridget, it didn't quite cut through the skin all the way (she forgot to peel it). So, brilliantly might I add, she pushed the mango all the way through, and apparently she confused her thumb with mango! *golfclap* But with her anti-finger chopper Erin is sure to not injure herself further, because no one likes fingers in their coleslaw.
After you crushed your chips, add in your paprika and the rest of the ranch dressing mix. Keep in mind that you'll be adding less to this if you do the homemade coleslaw.
After combining everything in the bag, add half of your chicken to the bag and seal it.
Toss to coat the chicken. You want them coated generously, so don't be stingy with it! If you have to sprinkle some on top of the chicken after you pull it out of the bag, then do so.
When I said don't be stingy, I meant it. You'll probably need to crush more chips and add them to the original bag, because chances are, whatever chips are left are probably soggy. Soggy coating doesn't work very well.
Break time for Mommy! Well, not really, but close enough right? Maeve was a hungry girl so Erin had to stop and feed her.
After you finish crushing more chips and add them to the bag, add the rest of your chicken to the bag. Toss to coat, don't be stingy, etc.
Place them on cookie sheets (stoneware works too). We used more chicken than the recipe called for because we were feeding 3 adults and 3 children, so if you make just what the recipe calls for, you shouldn't have this much!
Don't forget to spritz the chicken with vegetable oil (if you have a spritzer filled with it. If not, Pam works too) before putting it in the oven. Bake them for 14-16 minutes or until golden brown and no longer pink in the center.
Maeve was still a hungry girl!
Bridget and Logan were really excited that I wanted to get a picture of them! So Bridget grabbed up Logan and started spinning with him. They're the cutest!
Maeve finally let Erin get back to finishing the cabbage up, so we were able to add it to the bowl with the carrots.
After adding the coleslaw dressing it was time to refrigerate it. It was supposed to have been in the fridge for 2 hours, it got 15 minutes. Same thing, right? :P
Mmmm crispy, golden chicken bites!
Time to cut up the watermelon! Erin, no chopping fingers off please! I don't think a Spiderman bandaid would help LOL
That was dinner! Chicken bites, cole slaw, corn, and watermelon. So yummy and good!
I posted this picture a few blogs ago about Erin's cat, Hailey, deciding to "help" me write one of my blogs. Well, this happened on Saturday. And yes, she was a huuuuuge "help"!
<3 Kate
Crunchy Whole-Grain Chicken Bites [click to print]
Serves 4
Dressing and Slaw
1/2 tsp reduced-fat sour cream
2 tbsp reduced-fat mayonnaise
1 pkg (1-0z) dry ranch dressing mix, divided
5 stalks celery
2 carrots
Chicken Bites
1-lb chicken tenders
1 egg white
6 cups whole-grain chips (such as Sun Chips)
1/4 tsp paprika
Vegetable oil
Hot sauce and crumbled blue cheese (optional)
Method
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. For dressing, in a small bowl, whisk together sour cream, mayonnaise and 1 tbsp of the dressing mix (reserve remaining dressing mix for chicken); set aside.
For chicken, cut chicken tenders into 1-1/2 in. pieces. Whisk together 1 tbsp of the reserved dressing mix and egg white in a medium bowl. Crush chips in a resealable plastic bag; add remaining dressing mix and paprika and shake well.
Add chicken to egg mixture; mix well to coat. Add half of the coated chicken to crumb mixture; shake to coat with crumbs and arragne in a single layer on a cookie sheet or rectangular stoneware. Repeat with remaining coated chicken and crumbs.
Spray chicken generously with oil (such as Pam). Bake 14-16 minutes or until chicken is golden brown and centers are no longer pink. Remove from oven.
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