Happy New Year: Healthy Fish Sticks

I hope everyone had a happy and safe New Year. We had a completely wild and scandalous New Year's Eve. OK, not really we just sat at home with cocktails and a movies. But we could have if we wanted to.  I did whip up some Jell-O shots that turned out pretty good. I will have to post a recipe soon.

Have you made any resolutions this year? I tend to make my resolutions on birthday. Last year I resolved to quit smoking and I am proud to say that on December 19, 2011 I was officially one year smoke free. This year I resolved to continue to be the best wife and stepmom I can be, to lose about 15 pounds and to do what makes me happy no matter what anyone else thinks.

For my blog I resolve to write at least three recipes a week and to post updates in Facebook daily.  Tell me what you would like to see more of?

Since it is New Years and I know so many people have vowed to adopt healthy diet I will restrain from posting my coconut cake recipe. I will give you a few weeks to earn a treat.  This is a healthy version of the kid's favorite, Fish Sticks.  You can use any type of white fish in this recipe, I happened to have Swai in my freezer.




Ingredients
1 lb White Fish
1 cup Fiber One Cereal
2 Egg Whites

Seasonings to Taste
Garlic Powder
Old Bay Seasoning
Red Pepper Flakes
Salt
Pepper







Directions


Preheat oven to 400 F

Add Fiber One Cereal and seasonings to the blender. Blend until well mixed and crushed.




Cut fish into strips.





Dip the fish into the egg whites. (Ignore the bit of yolk that slipped through.)



Coat with "bread crumbs".





Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.





Nutritional Info
Serving size 4 oz

Calories: 126 Carbs: 14 Fat: 2 Protein: 19

Spicy Popcorn Chicken

I have a confession to make, sometimes I fake it. The screams you hear are not heartfelt, I just want you to feel good about yourself.  Yes, I am talking to you, Mr. Scary Monster in the haunted maze.  I admire your effort, but I saw you coming long before you jumped out to scare me.  I have to give you an "A" for effort. I don't want you to be sad because you didn't scare me,  I am sure you scared the teeny boppers that were in line behind me though.

Speaking of faking it, sometimes I have to fake it with my meals for my family.  They want chicken nuggets and I want to feed them something a little bit healthier.  This is my version of spicy popcorn chicken using Fiber One cereal.

Ingredients
2 egg whites
2 tbsp spicy mustard
1 ½ cups crushed Fiber One Cereal
1 lb chicken breast tenderloins


Seasonings to Taste
Salt
Pepper
Garlic Powder
Crushed Red Pepper
Hot Sauce



Directions
Preheat oven to 450 F. Coat dish with cooking spray

Chop chicken up into bite pieces.

In a shallow dish combine crushed Fiber One cereal, salt, pepper, garlic powder and crushed red pepper.*



Add a couple of dashes of hot sauce to egg whites.





Form an assembly line.



Dip chicken into egg white mixture.



Coat chicken with the Fiber One cereal mixture.



Add to cookie sheet.



Bake for 15 minutes, then use a spatula or tongs to flip the chicken pieces. Continue baking until golden brown and or until a meat thermometer registers an internal temperature of 165 degrees F (juices will run clear when cut with the tip of a knife).



Try not to get distracted by an episode of Supernatural or you will have extra crispy popcorn chicken.



*Here is a helpful tip that I wish I thought of earlier.  If you crush the cereal using a blender or a food processor, add the seasoning beforehand and you end up with crushed and seasoned coating for your chicken.

Better for your Chicken Parmesan

Most people dream in black and white or in color.  Apparently I dream in butter.  The other night I swear all of my dreams involved butter.  In one dream I was sauteing garlic in butter.  In another dream I was melting butter to pour over popcorn. The funny thing is that there was a soundtrack to my dream and it was the music they play during my Zumba classes.  I guess my good angel and bad angel were are war at with each other.  When it came time to make dinner the next night I knew it would be a good idea to come up with a compromise to keep them both happy and so that I could go back to dreams of Justin Timberlake my husband.

I came up with idea for this recipe when I saw on the box of Fiber One cereal that you could use it as a substitute for bread crumbs.

Ingredients

1 cup finely crushed original Fiber One Cereal
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp Italian seasonings
Salt & Pepper to taste
2 egg whites
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 pound chicken breast cutlets
Linguine
Mozzarella cheese





I usually buy chicken breast and pound them out.  It is a great way to relieve stress, but the cutlets were on sale that week.  You may need to tweak the seasonings to suit your family's tastes.

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 13 x 9 pan with cooking spray.

Finely crush the Fiber One cereal. I used my blender, but you can use a food processor or smash in a plastic baggie.



Add crushed cereal to a bowl and mix in seasonings



Set up an assembly line of the chicken, egg whites and cereal mixture

Dip the chicken in the egg whites.



Coat chicken with cereal mixture.



Bake for about 15 minutes and remove from oven.



Cover with pasta sauce and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.



Return to oven and bake for an additional 10 minutes or until sauce is heated and cheese has melted.



Serve over cooked linguine or any pasta you choose.



My family loved this meal, they never even suspected they were eating something relatively healthy.

Nutritional  Information (just the chicken)
Calories: 145 Total Fat: 1.9 g Cholesterol: 55 mg Total Carbohydrates: 10.4 g Dietary Fiber: 4.9 Sugars: 0.7
Protein: 25.8 g

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