Clare’s Baked Cheesy Chicken Fingers

So here we are flying through the week again, and as always I am looking for a meal I can have on the table for my family, nice and quick after a long day’s work. This is a great one for the kids to help with, always great as a finger food when you have people over and ideal to over make and pop next week’s portion in the freezer or to take to school / work with a wrap or salad the next day, these always go down a treat with my family and I hope you enjoy them too. In my opinion these are far tastier than any chicken take outs 🙂

>>>>>>>>>> Claire’s Baked Cheesy Chicken Fingers <<<<<<<<<<

Makes: 4 servings

Preparation Time: 20 minutes

Total Time:  55 minutes

Ingredients

• 125g/4½oz fresh breadcrumbs using really nutty brown bread

• 2 tsp parsley

• pinch of salt and pepper to taste

• 4 boneless and skinless chicken breast, cut into strips

• 50g/2oz plain flour

• 3 medium / 2 large free-range eggs,  beaten

• 2 tbsp melted coconut oil

• 4 tbsp of finely grated Parmesan cheese
• 100ml of milk

PREPARATION

1. Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas 5. Oil two baking trays with melted coconut oil.
2. Mix the breadcrumbs, parsley in a bowl. add the finely grated cheese and mix well, add salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Place the flour in another  bowl.
3. Dip the chicken pieces in the milk, then the plain flour, then in the beaten egg and finally coat in the breadcrumbs. Shake off the excess and lay the cheesy chicken fingers on the oiled baking tray.  This is much easier if you keep one hand clean from the egg and milk for dipping into the flour and bread crumbs.
4. Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes, turning once. Remove from the oven when completely cooked through and golden-brown all over.
5. Serve the cheesy fingers with a variety of dipping sauces, use red sauce, barbecue sauce , the curry dip I used for chips, or any you like best. My family love these with a green salad in summer and with baked chips and beans during the colder months.

This was done with a whole chicken breast but works equally well with the fingers

Tip: Over prepare these and freeze additional batches (before placing in the oven) in your freezer containers and over cook a few for your lunch the next day, to bring to work with a salad, or in a wrap or for the kids chopped up with some pasta in their lunch boxes.

Thank you for reading you FABULOUS people    <

❤ Clare with the Hair ❤

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Oven-baked Fish & Chips (with half the calories of your traditional Fish & Chips)

A classic combination given a  healthy makeover by oven cooking the ingredients instead of frying. All the flavour with a lot less fat!

Makes: 4 servings

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 40 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 880g of floury potato, scrubbed and cut into chips, (leave the skins on) for a healthier option use Sweet Potato
• 2 tbsp olive oil, for me it is Coconut Oil but you can use one of the lite oil sprays
• 50g fresh breadcrumbs, I use wholemeal but feel free to use breadcrumbs of your choice
• zest the peel of 1 lemon
• 2 – 3 tbsp chopped parsley
• 4 x 140g/5oz thick  white fish fillets (up or down the numbers depending on your requirements) this is based on 1 per person,
• 200g cherry tomato, I like to sprinkle a little black pepper onto these

I also like to add a green veg on the side of this but you can opt for your favourite and steam this.

PREPARATION

1. Heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. Pat chips dry on kitchen paper, then lay in a single layer on a large baking tray. Drizzle with half the olive oil , coconut oil or spray and season with salt. Cook for 40 mins, turning after 20 mins, so they cook evenly.
2. Mix the breadcrumbs with the lemon zest and parsley, then season well. Top the cod evenly with the breadcrumb mixture, then drizzle, with the remaining oil again using your option. Put in a roasting tin with the cherry tomatoes, then bake in the oven for the final 10 mins of the chips’ cooking time.

As far as easy goes this is way up there. it tastes delicious and needs very little attention while in the oven, this is one of my families favourites

NUTRITION

Per serving: 366 calories

• Tip , Healthy benefits

  We have halved the fat and calories of this traditional favourite by cooking it in the oven instead of frying, and even better again with coconut oil of your lite oil sprays. Although potatoes don’t count towards your 5-a-day, they’re a useful source of vitamin C as well as B6, potassium and manganese and if you opt for a sweet potato you have seriously increased the health benefits, Remember to add a nice green vegetable with this to make it a truly great family meal.

Let me know how you get on with this and as always if there is something you would like me to make, then let me know in the comments section below or via the contact me page.

Thank you for reading you FABULOUS people

❤ Claire with the hair McCarthy ❤

Week 5 Food & Activity Diary (admittedly not my best week)

Well week 5 has to be hands down my least active and worst food week to date 😦 But I had kind of planned it like this, ‘honest’  as my regular readers will know I have been on a 21 day No candy, No cakes, No white bread, No white pasta, No white rice, No chips, No fast food (be it curry’s, burgers, pizza etc) No chocolate, No ice cream, No alcohol challenge, this came to an end before the weekend so I indulged in a nice Thai meal from Limerick’s newest Thai and Noodle restaurant KAYA and I choose to have my favourite from here which is ‘NASI GORENG’ Malaysian Fried rice (I opted for brown rice) with prawn, chicken and topped with
a fried egg and grilled chicken sate, incredibly tasty and a real treat at the end of my 21 day challenge. I washed this down with 3 very large glasses of my favourite wine 🙂 , After just 21 day’s without any wine I was actually quiet merry after my three glasses.

I then headed off to Dublin Saturday and Sunday night, to enjoy some night life, get in some shopping, visit the new beauty bar in Penney’s and to see the fab Ed Sheeran, a busy few days filled with fabulous moments and memories that will last a life time 🙂 On week 5 and I have been taken this plan very seriously and I think the odd down time and weekends like I just lived are as important as the food and activity plan.

I found the 21 day No candy, No cakes, No white bread, No white pasta, No white rice, No chips, No fast food (be it curry’s, burgers, pizza etc) No chocolate, No ice cream, No alcohol challenge pretty ok to do and I felt great from doing it that I have decided to jump right back in to another 21 day’s 🙂 (My hubby and kids just love this decision) 🙂

So as much as I think breaks are needed and treats are good I also think you need to use them as a break and not the norm, if I didn’t go straight back into the 21 day challenge then I may give up altogether and this can not happen. I am too determined for that!!

I have served up some delicious foods to the family this week even though I had a bit of a break and from a few weeks ago where they thoughts some meals were a little boring or tasteless, they are now enjoying them and I think I am learning to create ‘Clean meals’ better than I could 5 weeks ago.  We have swapped out most junk food for healthier food options and as a family we are all feeling better. I do not buy junk food in the supermarkets, I think if it is not in the house then it is highly unlikely that in the evening (when the dinner is done, the soaps are on and my feet are up / this is my weak time) I will get up and walk to the shop for nibbles or nice things. even the label ‘nice things’ or ‘treats’ is wrong, sugar is not good for us, white breads and pasta are not good, yet we have been programmed to think these are our treats, out rewards in food form, the marketing teams and advertising people behind these ‘nice things’ have fooled us all 🙂 the swine’s!!

This is a selection of some of the food’s I prepared at home this week, the hubby and the kids fancied something nice so i treated them to home-made scones ( I gained serious brownie points with these) 🙂

Exercise wise, activity wise, I actually did ok , even with my days away. I used the gym in the hotel I stayed at in Dublin, I attended two ‘Fit Camp’ classes and one ‘Spinning’ class, with still walking to and from work each day, this is a serious improvement from where I was 5 weeks ago. If you would like to join me on one of the classes I attend in Limerick then get in touch and we can go together, messages I have received from readers over the last few weeks mentioned the lack of an exercise buddy or the fear of entering a class alone when they did not have any idea what to expect, has been putting them off attending. So if you would like to join me then you are more than welcome. Get in touch and we will attend together 🙂

Still an on-line Unislim member (in membership alone) not actively following the plan because as I said last week, I find the on line plan so what confusing and the advise given by Unislim has been to attend a class (as yet I have not found the time) but this week I hope to find time to do this, I have a fairly busy week in work and a few social events to get in, so it maybe the following week before I attend a class but I am determined to learn how this plan works as from looking at all the plan’s out this seems like the best for me and the social media supports via Twitter and Facebook are brilliant.

Thank you for reading you FABULOUS people

❤ Claire with the hair McCarthy ❤