{Healthier} Homemade Chicken Nuggets

I haven't made chicken in awhile - mostly because I found that fish is healthier and takes about half the time to make. (Lazy? Sometimes.)

When I do make chicken, I usually make a breaded chicken with some sort of vegetable side. Sticking to this recipe, I changed things up just a bit so I made chicken nuggets and paired it with asparagus. It was delicious! This is great alternative, (and healthier) option than buying frozen chicken nuggets (And hello, I'm not 8) -  And a great recipe to make on the weekends for football parties!

Chicken Nuggets

Ingredients
Chicken Breast, cut into nugget sizes pieces (obviously)

Italian Bread Crumbs

Egg Whites

Parmesan Cheese

Olive Oil

Dipping Sauces
I bought Stubbs BBQ sauce from Whole Foods

and also had Dijon mustard

Directions

Heat oven to 350-375F

In deep dish pan, pour 2 tbsp of olive oil - you will bake the chicken after it's been on the skillet for a few minutes.

In one small bowl, put about a cup of egg whites. In another bowl, put a mixture of Parmesan cheese & Italian bread crumbs (you can also put in panko if you want.) 

In large skillet, pour 2 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat

Dip chicken breast pieces into egg whites, then dip in the bread crumb mixture. 

I then put the chicken on the skillet for a few minutes, browning the outsides.  

You could continue cooking the chicken all the way through on the skillet, but I prefer to bake them.

Bake the chicken for about 15 minutes, flipping them over at least once. If you need to, you can sprinkle on more of the bread crumb mixture.

I paired the nuggets with Stubbs BBQ sauce and Dijon mustard - but you could even go for a healthier dip and make a balsamic vinegar/olive oil dip.

Asparagus with Lemon Cream Sauce

Ingredients
1 lb Asparagus

1 tablespoon Olive Oil

1 teaspooon Sea Salt

Asparagus Prep:

Clean off your asparagus (who knows what bugs have been on it)

Break off the ends of the asparagus wherever it feels most natural. 

In deep dish pan, lay out tin foil.

Pour 1 tbsp of olive oil on foil.

Place asparagus on oil and rub around to cover the asparagus

Sprinkle on Sea Salt (or skip the salt if you want)

Bake in Oven on 375 for about 7 minutes
**I recommend putting this in the oven while you are preparing your chicken nuggets

Lemon Cream Sauce

This was a total bitch to make. Excuse my language, but there is no better word for this process. 

1 lemon

1/2 C light cream

3 tablespoons of butter (use "I can't believe its not butter" to make it seem healthier)

1/4 C egg whites

1/2 tsp Nutmeg

1/2 tsp Sea Salt 

In a skillet, add in the light cream, butter and salt. Bring to a boil stirring frequently so it won't stick to the pan. Once it starts to boil, bring the heat down to low.

Now this is where shit hit the fan - literally - if I had a fan on my ceiling. My sauce kept curdling no matter how low I put the heat. And you don't want it to curdle -  A) it ruins it and B) it looks gross.
And mine started to curdle so I grabbed a wooden spoon really quick to mix it and part of the cream flung to the ceiling. True story. 

I ended up pulling the skillet up from the stove to make sure it cooled down a little bit. Then, in a small bowl, take 2 tablespoons of your cream mixture out of the skillet, and mix it with the egg whites. (Some people use the egg yolk - but that has a lot of cholesterol in it so I went with egg whites - but what do I know?) Slowly put the egg whites and cream mixture back into the skillet, stirring frequently (again, don't want it curdle.) 

Squeeze your lemon into the mixture. Taste it and if it's a little off, add salt and nutmeg to your liking. 

Drizzle cream sauce over your asparagus and serve. Even though it was a pain to make, it ended up being really good - I'll have to practice this sauce again.

Enjoy! XO