Stealth Ninja Vegetable Experiment: Beets

Recipes, Stealth Ninja Vegetables

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29 Jan 2010

Here we go – Phase Two of the Stealth Ninja Vegetable Experiment. Before you dive into Phase Two, check out the first phase, where I chopped, steamed, roasted, and pureed all of the vegetables that will be used in this experiment.

Now that I’ve got a fridge and freezer full of pureed vegetables, it’s time to try cooking something with them!

The first recipe I will try takes advantage of pureed beets. Beets are new to me – I’ve never eaten them before, so they’re officially New Food #10 that I’ve tried in 2010. I certainly didn’t expect to hit this New Year’s Resolution within the first month of the new year! That doesn’t mean I’m going to stop trying new foods, though.

I chose to use the beets first because there aren’t many recipes in the Deceptively Delicious cookbook that I wanted to try that use beets. This recipe could optionally use pureed spinach, sweet potatoes, or broccoli.

First up in this cooking adventure: cut up a chicken breast into chunks. This, too, is new to me (and almost earns an Adventures in Chopping designation!) I’ve never cut up a raw chicken breast before. I’m not much of a fan of handling raw meat. It makes me think of where it comes from, and being an animal lover, I’ve always had a bit of a hard time reconciling my love of animals with my enjoyment in eating meat. Ignorance is bliss, I suppose (though I do feel better about my meat choices since switching to eating organic meats. At least this chicken wasn’t a genetically modified FrankenChicken).

I got out my One Big Knife and sliced up the chicken breast. (The recipe calls for a pound of chicken breasts, but I only had 1 thawed, so I went with that).

Next, I mixed up the bread crumb mixture. Wow, it smelled delicious!

Then came the pureed beets mixed with egg. This would be the dip that would hold the bread crumbs on the chicken nuggets.

One by one, I dipped the chicken pieces into the stealth ninja beet mixture, then coated each one with bread crumbs and it aside. When they were ready to go, I heated up the skillet.

I cooked the nuggets 3 minutes on one side and 4 minutes on the other. I may have needed to go a little longer over slightly lower heat, as my breading was starting to burn. They smelled great, though!

At long last, all of the chicken nuggets were cooked, and it was time to give these puppies a day in court.

The obvious thing here is, well, they’re red. I can just imagine a picky eater shunning these nuggets because they look weird. I’m guessing that the best bet, color-wise, would be to make these with pureed sweet potatoes instead, to get the closest match possible to the color of the chicken and breading. (Green nuggets from broccoli or spinach would look equally weird, I suspect).

However, this isn’t about looks so much as it is about taste – at least for me, as I’m getting pretty used to eating funny colored things that happen to taste good.

So, I sat down with my funny looking chicken nuggets and a cup of ranch dressing, and…

Nom nom nom!

They were mighty, mighty good! No sign of beets in the flavor. I could eat these chicken nuggets all day long! So, despite having eaten beets tonight, I still could not tell you what they taste like – and that’s A-OK with me!

In conclusion, the first Stealth Ninja Vegetable Experiment, Beets Edition, was a success.

What stealth ninja vegetable will I try next? *dun-dun-duuuuuuuun!* You’ll have to wait and see!

Chicken Nuggets with Stealth Ninja Beets

Posted January 30, 2010 by Shelly in Posted In: Dinner

Adapted from Deceptively Delicious: Simple Secrets to Get Your Kids Eating Good Food by Jessica Seinfeld. Requires pre-prepped vegetable puree - can use beets, broccoli, spinach, or sweet potatoes - I used beets. You can't taste the beets - though if the people you're feeding are adverse to weird food colors, avoid the beets - they make your chicken nuggets red! Quite delicious, though!

Details

• Prep Time:
  10 min
• Cook Time:
  20 min
• Ready In:
  30 min

Ingredients

• 1 cup bread crumbs whole wheat
• 1/2 cup flaxseed meal
• 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese grated
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 cup beet puree (about 2-3 beets, roasted & pureed)
• 1 egg large
• 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast rinsed, dried, and cut into chunks
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions

Pre-prep: Prepare your vegetable puree. Cut the chicken breasts into nugget-sized chunks.

1. In a bowl, combine the bread crumbs, flaxseed meal, Parmesan cheese, paprika, garlic powder, and onion powder.
2. In another bowl, mix the egg and the beet puree.
3. Sprinkle salt on the chicken nugget chunks.
4. Dip each chicken nugget into the beet puree mixture, then toss the nugget in the bread crumb mixture until coated.
5. Coat a large skillet with non-stick cooking spray and heat over medium-high. When the skillet is hot, add the olive oil.
6. Place chicken nuggets into the skillet in a single layer. Do not over-crowd them. Cook for 3-4 minutes or until golden brown on one side, then flip each nugget and continue cooking until chicken is cooked through, 4-5 minutes.
7. Remove from heat and serve with your favorite dipping sauces (barbecue, ketchup, ranch, etc).

Nutrition Info: Approximately 359 calories, 14g fat (2g saturated), 30g carb (7g fiber), and 33g protein per serving. Approximately 33% each carbs/fat/protein.

Posted: January 29, 2010 at 10:01 pm
{Tags: beet, chicken, puree, Recipes, resolutions}
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