Chicken Sliders

The idea for chicken sliders came about when I was thinking of a cooked meal I could make for my son that I could freeze, and have ready in a few seconds after a quick defrost in the microwave.  So voila, the idea for homemade chicken sliders came about.  I ground the meat for these sliders at home, so there's no ammonia or pink goop in them.  There's no salt and can be frozen so they're great for babies.  However, these sliders taste awesome to my adult palette, and would be a fantastic appetizer If served with a dip, or served on a cute Hawaiian bun with some toppings would be an awesome little meal.

Ingredients:

2 large chicken breasts, partially defrosted

1 small onion chopped

3 medium carrots 

1 cup of cooked white rice (brown rice, quinoa, or cooked barley would work well)

1 egg

1 tsp garlic powder, smoked paprika, and cumin

1/2 tsp kosher salt (optional)

Directions:

Break the carrots into small chunks and place in food processor.  Pulse carrots until they're chopped, and place in a bowl. Repeat this step for onion, or chop by hand.  Place veggies in a bowl.

Cut the still partially frozen chicken into large chunks, and place in food processor.  Pulse for about 15 seconds and scrape sides of bowl.  Pulse for ten more seconds or until chicken looks crumby (you want to avoid making chicken paste). Scrape sides of food processor and place the chicken in same bowl as veggies.

Add egg, spices, and rice to chicken and veggie mixture.  Mix with a spatula until combined.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.  After time has passed, divide mixture in bowl into four sections.  Take about a tablespoon and a half of the mixture and roll into a small ball.  Squish the ball flat into a patty and place on a plate.  You should be able to make 7 patties per section (about 28 total patties).

Pour about a tsp of olive oil in a sauté pan and heat on high.  Place about six to seven patties in the pan and brown.  Flip the patties, drop the heat to low, and cover sauté pan.  Cook patties until they reach internal temperature of 165 degrees.  Place cooked patties on a plate. Wipe pan with paper towel before sautéing each batch of patties in a fresh teaspoon of oil.

 If not serving immediately allow patties to cool down, and place in a large freezer bag and freeze for later use.

Serve with ketchup, BBQ sauce, or spicy mustard.

Puréed Beets for Baby

While cooking these beets, all I could think about was this episode of "House of Style" an old 90's fashion TV show hosted by Daisy Fuentes on MTV. On this one episode that I recall vividly I remember Todd Oldham taking an old button down shirt and using raw beets to stamp a polka dot design all over it. He then took a pair of new Doc Marten boots and cut the toes out to make "boot sandals." Oh the 90's.

Anyway my beets came out so awesome I set aside about half to make myself an awesome salad for lunch tomorrow!

Puréed pears for baby

These pears come out awesome, so awesome that I would eat this myself over some ice cream for a treat!

Also don't discard the water as it makes an amazing pear juice, or if reduced a pear syrup!

Babies gotta eat too-Broccoli and carrot purée

My coworker planted the idea that baby is going to turn orange because I've been feeding him sweet root vegetables for the past two months. So I decided that this weekend I'd introduce broccoli, mixed with some carrots so that it wouldn't be quite so bitter. He had a funny when I fed it to him at first, but he finished his bowl and laughed while I was feeding him. In all I'd say he thought it was great!

Babies eat too!

I also make my own baby food and freeze it. The latest batch was Calabaza pumpkin which I prepared in two ways: steamed and oven roasted.