Growing up, I never was allowed to eat processed food. I wasn't even really aware of the whole "not allowed" part. We just didn't. It has often lead to cravings for things that I'm not actually even sure I like. Once in high school I wanted nothing but Spaghettios. For weeks, I was dying for Spaghettios. And then I had them, and they were SO gross. But tater tots? Tater tots are not gross. Tater tots are crispy balls of joy. And when we were first dating and I had a fabulous, talented repertoire of say, maybe, two whole dishes that I knew how to cook, we ate a lot of chicken nuggets and tater tots. They weren't regular chicken nuggets though, they were some special organic, all white meat, magically healthy chicken nuggets that I got from a health food store near where I lived. It's been years. (Fine, a freakin' decade!) But the other day, I decided that I really, really, really wanted to eat chicken nuggets and tater tots. And then I searched. And I could not find a single store bought nugget that I felt okay about. So I didn't buy any and I whined about it loudly and frequently. And this is why I love my husband. Because he made me, especially from scratch, without a single word, comment or expectation, homemade chicken nuggets. They are delicious. They might not fool a kid raised on the packaged (or fast food restaurant) ones, but they certainly were enough for me. HOMEMADE NUGGETS
Ingredients:
2 boneless skinless breasts
1 t paprika
1/2 t red pepper flakes
salt and pepper
bread crumbs
egg
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 400 F.
Salt and pepper the chicken breasts generously. Cut the breasts in chicken nugget sized pieces. In a small bowl, whisk an egg. Add a bit of pepper to the egg. On a plate, put the bread crumbs, between a half cup and a cup, mix in a teaspoon of paprika and the red pepper flakes, a bit more salt and pepper. Then take the raw nugget hunks and dip in egg, shake, then dip in the breadcrumbs, shake again and place on a cooking sheet lined with tinfoil. Bake at 400 F for 10-12 minutes. You can flip them at 5 minutes.
7 comments:
are those cauli-tots on the right there? 'Cause I have some in the freezer right now, waiting for tomorrow's dinner....
and I love your husband too, just in a different, non-competitive way. :-)
They are indeed caulitots. They were awful. I sincerely hope yours are better. I threw out the leftover ones.
Someone please tell me what a cauli-tot is...and please don't tell me thay are cauliflower stems masquerading as tater tots.......
Caulitots are mashed cauliflower formed into tater tot shapes. I rolled some in parm and baked, and rolled some in panko and baked and stuffed some with cheddar and then rolled in parm or panko and baked. They were all equally repulsive. And I'm a big fan of cauliflower.
On the upside, they weren't nearly as disgusting as your cauliflower caper cheese casserole.
OMG. I LOVED my cauliflower casserole; it is one of the best things I have made recently. Ungrateful wretch.
Verdict on the tots:
A: interesting. sort of garlicky
G: (vomited) --> not sure that was due to the tots, though.
me: revolting but not totally disgusting. They tasted mostly like parm cheese and cauliflower. Not sure I'll make them again- cauliflower crisps or with cheese is much better.
I was just coming to ask about the cauli-tots.
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