baked Archives – The Pinterested Parent

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baked

Sun
13 ^th

Macaroni & Cheese Bites With Ham

Posted by Pinparent — 2 Comments

Being a working mom, it is hard to be away from my daughter all day. It is a struggle for me to walk out that door every morning. If I am lucky I get to see her wake before I walk out the door. Most evenings I do not return home until almost 6 pm. When I get home from work, I am so excited to see my munchkin. The last thing I want to do is spend all my time worrying about dinner & then getting into our usual battle over her not eating it. It is exhausting. I try to opt for quick kid friendly food during the work week. It is difficult with my daughter’s picky diet. It is honestly a roll of the dice as to whether she will eat or not. Even her old standby foods sometimes fail us, but still I try. I am always trying to re-introduce foods even the ones she hates in hopes that she will learn to like them. One food that she has never liked & has often puzzled me is mac & cheese. What kid doesn’t like mac & cheese? Mine apparently.

My daughter like most toddlers loves bite sized foods. For some reason it is not simply enough to cut the food into small pieces, it must be formed this way from the get go. I am not complaining though, I find the little morsels to be fun to eat as well. Our last experiment was bite sized macaroni & cheese with ham. Would this fool my little food diva into eating it? Let’s find out.

This is a quick & easy one.

Ingredients:

1 box of Velveeta shells & cheese

1 6 oz ham steak thinly diced (about a cup – 1 1/4 cup)

1 egg

Pepper to taste

Directions: Preheat the oven to 400. Prepare the boxed mac & cheese. Mix in the diced ham, stir until ham is evenly distributed. Stir in the egg & add pepper to taste. Spoon the mixture into a greased mini muffin tin filling to the top. Bake for 15 minutes. Use a spoon to slide out the bites.

Did my bite size treats impress my tough little food critic? Unfortunately this experiment failed me. She took a bite & said, “I don’t like cheese.” & then spit it out. The good news is they were a big hit with my husband. I did get Mai to eat at least an ear of corn on the cob. Back to the drawing board, but for those of you with mac & cheese lovers in your midst, they might enjoy these bites. The battle continues.

Tue
13 ^th

Oven Baked “Fried” Chicken

Posted by Pinparent — 7 Comments

I love fried foods. The problem is they don’t feel the same way about me. With all my tummy issues, it is impossible for me to eat anything deep fried. I miss french fries, chicken wings & fried chicken. Luckily, all of these naughty foods can also be baked in lieu of frying.

Oven Baked “Fried” Chicken

Ingredients:

A family size package of drumsticks (about 12 drumsticks)

2 cups of Panko bread crumbs

1 cup of parmesan cheese

1 cup of flour

2 eggs beaten

2 tsp oregano

1 tsp garlic salt

1 tsp paprika

Pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425. Combine the bread crumbs, parmesan, oregano, garlic salt, paprika & pepper in a large bowl. Pat the chicken dry. Dip the chicken in flour & then dip into the egg. Put a 1/4 of the breadcrumb mixture into a large Ziplock bag. Put 3 chicken legs in the bag & shake until well coated. Dispose of the leftover contents of the Ziplock bag. Do this 3 more times until you have coated all of the chicken legs and have used all of the breaded mixture. Place the breaded drumsticks on a foil lined baking sheet & bake for 45 minutes.

Baked Pickles

Posted by Pinparent — 4 Comments

There are a lot of interesting food combinations out there these days. There are food pairings that I would never think of like peanut butter and bacon, deep fried oreos, and deep fried pickles. I remember the first time I ever heard of a deep fried pickle. I thought that it was so strange and then I tasted one… Wow! I was hooked. If ever I was out and saw them on a menu, I had to order them. The problem is now that I am off of fried foods, I miss them. So, if you can’t fry them, bake them.

This is a quick and easy snack that is fun to eat and tasty.

Ingredients:

15 mini dill pickles

1/2 cup of egg whites

1/2 cup of flour (I use wheat flour but regular all purpose flour will do)

1/2 cup of bread crumbs

Directions:

Preheat your oven at 400 degrees. Slice the pickle in half lengthwise. Pat dry with a paper towel. Coat in flour & then dip in the egg white. Roll in the bread crumbs and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes. Serve with low fat Ranch dressing.

My husband said that he likes these even better than the fried version. They were gobbled up quickly.

Thu
13 ^th

Sweet Potato Chips

Posted by Pinparent — 8 Comments

I started a new job a few weeks ago. While I love my new job, it has been quite a change for me. My last job had me on my feet all day. I was used to being on the run. With my new position, I am at a desk more the majority of my day. Not only am I not getting as much activity, I am also snacking much more while sitting at my desk. I needed to find healthy snacks to bring to work that did not make me feel guilty. A while back my mother-in-law bought us a bag of sweet potato chips & I absolutely loved them. How difficult could they be to make at home?

Ingredients:

2 large sweet potatoes

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp of cinnamon

1 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp sea salt

Directions:

Preheat oven at 400 degrees. Wash & peel the potatoes. Slice the potatoes in thin even slices.( Try to cut the slices as evenly as possible.) Drizzle & rub with oil. Toss with cinnamon & paprika, coating each potato evenly. Spread out potatoes on a baking sheet in a single layer & sprinkle with the sea salt. Bake for 20-25 minutes. (Cook times will vary) Turn off oven &

The baking can be a tricky process. Watch them carefully to make sure that they do not burn. If you have some slices that are thicker or thinner than the others they will cook differently. Thicker cut slices may not be crisp.

I made these to bring to work the next day but ended up eating almost all of them as a late night snack. I guess I will have to double the batch the next time.