Chicken Scaloppini

Today’s Recipe is a family favorite:  Chicken Scaloppini.  Many times when I go out to eat I think, “this is good but I could make it at home easy”,  so I usually do.   I don’t even remember which restaurant this recipe comes from but we have been making it at home for years now.  We often feed it to guests because it is always a winner.  When nana came down for a visit we fed her this meal.  After eating several portions she said “I eat too much at your house, but everything is so good! I’m going to gain weight on this trip for sure!”  I smiled and said “it would be interesting to see if you do.”  When she got home, she weighed herself and had lost 5 pounds.  That was enough for her, she now eats like I do (and makes this recipe to impress company).

Another nice thing about this is that a little chicken can go a long way.  So here’s the recipe:

Chicken Scaloppini

Ingredients:

3 boneless chicken breasts skinned and cut in half.

2 eggs slightly beaten

½ C. lemon juice

2 C. Whole wheat Flour seasoned to taste (I use garlic salt, lemon pepper and Italian seasonings)

4 full strips of bacon

6 thin slices of swiss cheese

2 C. heavy cream

3 roma tomatoes chopped

6 large mushrooms sliced

Preparation:

Fillet each breast in two to three pieces so it is about ¼ inch thick.  Pound chicken with a mallet until thin.  Set aside.  Fry bacon until crisp.  Remove, crumble, and set aside.  Dip chicken in egg, lemon juice, then breadcrumbs.  Fry in bacon grease, briefly.  Place in large baking pan.  Place one piece of cheese on each breast, pour cream over chicken reserving about ½ cup.  Put ½ of crumbled bacon in the cream, mix into cream. Place in 350 oven.  Cook mushrooms in remaining grease until they begin to get tender.  Add tomatoes and cook 2 minutes longer, until tomatoes are tender.  Crumble remaining bacon into tomatoes and mushrooms stir in remaining cream.  Pour this over chicken, return to oven.  Cook until chicken is cooked and cream is bubbly.

Serves 6

this seems like a good time to include my recipe file.  The recipe for Chicken Scaloppini is included therein.  This is one file I send to all my friends who ask for my recipes.

my Healthy Recipies

P.S. if you want to make your own restaurant dishes at home olive Garden and Red Lobster each have several of their recipes listed on their website.

Enjoy!

Better than Mickey D’s Chicken Nuggets!

So, my sweetheart frequently gets chicken nuggets for my daughter, which she loves.  Unfortunately, we have to peel off the breading and scrape off the sticky stuff left behind to even make them somewhat healthy.  This is almost as time consuming as making them from scratch in the first place.  So I have been on a quest to make homemade chicken nuggets that are as good or better than those purchased at the fast food restaurants.  This nugget needed to be tender, flavorful and juicy.

I tried a couple of recipes that I found on the internet but they did not meet my standards.  Then, while heating some prepackaged nuggets, I started examining the label… that is where the idea for my version first started blooming.  Listed among the ingredients were: sugar (of course, it’s in EVERYTHING – well nearly everything) and chicken broth.   I found a breading recipe on the internet, which I modified and I was ready to begin.  After making my chicken mixture I fried some up to taste, gave some to my daughter for the final seal of approval – which to my delight was an overwhelming yes as she continued to beg for more.  I fried up several batches for her before I could even make the breading!

So here it is, my version of chicken nuggets

battered and Fried nuggets on the left, baked nuggets on the right

Chicken Nuggets

3 chicken breasts

1/4 tsp garlic salt

1/8 tsp lemon pepper

1/4 tsp Italian seasoning

1/3 cup chicken broth

1/4 tsp honey

Chop the chicken into chunks.  Combine all ingredients in a food processor until chicken is finely chopped.   Line a cookie sheet with wax paper, drop spoonfuls of chicken mixture on the paper and shape into nuggets.  Place nuggets in freezer for 10-15 minutes.  (this makes them easier to coat with breading)

prepare breading Mixture as follows

Breading for Chicken Nuggets (coats about 20 nuggets)

2/3 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp stevia powder

1/4 tsp poultry seasoning

1 tsp vinegar

1/2 tsp baking soda

2/3 cup water

Combine flour, salt, stevia and poultry seasoning in a bowl.  Prepare water but do not add it yet.  Put baking soda in a separate bowl.  Pour vinegar over baking soda and immediately pour both into the dry mixture.  Pour water in bowl and mix well.  Let mixture sit about 5 minutes.

Coat nuggets in breading and fry in a pan of hot oil, until breading is golden brown and nugget is cooked through

** for a simple baked version coat chicken mixture with seasoned flour or bread crumbs, spray with cooking spray and bake for 25-30 minutes (or until chicken is cooked through)

My daughter does not like sauces so I did not prepare anything for her, however this would go great with our favorite barbeque sauce recipe Ginger Sauce found in the Better Homes and Gardens Biggest Book of Grilling.  My modified version of this recipe follows

Ginger Sauce

1/2 Cup Ketchup

1/4 Cup honey

3 Tbsp soy-Sauce

3 Tbsp Water

1 Tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp chili powder

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl, cover and refrigerate until ready to use (the book says to refrigerate for at least 6 hours.  It would probably be better if I did but we find it is excellent even when used immediately)