Yesterday I tried a new recipe for a slow cooker (low sugar) pork bbq. It was pretty much a fail. Both kids cried over having to take their required number of bites, and I had to force myself to eat it, also.

Tonight, I was determined to find a new recipe to share with all of you that was in line with my own personal nutrition goals, and one that my family also liked. It’s a difficult job to please my kids who would love to eat either a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or a happy meal every day.

I found a recipe online and then made some changes. While baking it, and shortly after taking it out of the oven I decided that I had yet again found a dud of a recipe, and started to mentally prepare myself for the battle that would ensue with my kids over making them eat it.

However, they took their first bite of a nugget and my son said, “I think I like this!”. I expected my daughter to tell me it was horrible (because they did NOT look too good, to be quite honest), but the more she ate, the more she said she liked them.

Each child had THREE servings of these nuggets!

I love that they are made from ingredients that are healthy and that they don’t include any of the artificial junk that our typical frozen nuggets are made from.

Here’s how I made them:

Ingredients needed:
1-2 lbs chicken breasts cut into bite sized pieces
1/2 c. coconut oil
1 c. almond meal (I bought mine already made, or you can grind down your own from almonds)
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp oregano

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Melt the 1/2 c. coconut oil and put into a small bowl.

Mix dry ingredients and put into a second bowl.

Drop the chicken pieces into the oil, then lift out of the oil and drop into the dry mixture.

 

 

Coat the chicken well and then put onto a foil lined cookie sheet.

Bake around 16-17 minutes in the oven. Mine weren’t quite brown enough for me, so I ended up broiling them for a few minutes while keeping a close eye on them.

They weren’t pretty. I didn’t expect to like them and I certainly didn’t expect my kids to. But they did. And not only are they eating CLEAN chicken nuggets, now they’re also getting extra protein and fiber through the almond meal and the added benefits of the coconut oil. These are going to be a weekly item for us from here on out!

Enjoy!!!