Pork Nuggets

I came up with these so that my daughter could have a good chicken nugget alternative when her sister eats them. Plus, when I give her pork normally she chews it but won’t really swallow. These have a very soft texture and are easy to chew.

1 lb of pork (dark meat preferable)

1 cup of Cheecha puff crumbs

2 eggs

Salt to taste

Safe oil for frying

 To get the Cheecha puff crumbs I dump a bunch of the puffs in my food processor and grind. You’ll need about a cup. Pour half the cup on to a plate and save the rest. Cut the meat in to chunks then grind it in the food processor. I use dark meat because the white dries out easily and then my daughter will chew it but spit it out. The texture of the dark meat seems to suit her more. After you’ve ground the meat, add the half cup of Cheecha crumbs. Then add one of the eggs and salt to taste. Turn the grinder on again to mix. Once all of that is well blended scoop out small amounts and form your nuggets. I usually make them about 2 inches tall. In a bowl, beat the other egg. One at a time, place the nuggets in the egg and cover them with it. Then drag them through the crumbs on the plate to make a crust. Fry the nuggets in about a 1/4 inch of oil on medium-high heat until they are cooked through. You can also bake them but the crust doesn't look as pretty that way.

 

Popped Sorghum Quinoa Bars

1/6 cup whole grain quinoa
1/3 cup quinoa flakes
1 cup popped sorghum
Dash salt
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 tbs canola oil

Preheat oven to 325 F. Using a coffee grinder, grind the whole grain quinoa to a fine powder (alternatively, you could try using quinoa flour). Mix the powder with the flakes and spread them out in a thin layer on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, take out the pan and stir the mix then out it back in for about another 8 minutes or until lightly toasted. (Thanks to Amanda, author of Baby B's FPIES Test Kitchen for the flake roasting tips). Let cool a few minutes then dump in to a bowl. Add the popped sorghum and salt and mix. Add the maple syrup and oil then mix until everything is equally sticky. Coat a small pan with oil (I use a small glass Tupperware) then press in the mixture tightly. Cover and refrigerate until solid, a couple of hours. Cut in to bars and serve.

Sorghum Bread

This recipe has a similar texture to cornbread. The sorghum tastes like a mix of wheat and corn, or at least it’s mild and not too nutty like many other gluten-free flours. It bakes to a coarse consistency though, like corn, so if you want yours to be fluffier replace up to 1/3 of the flour with quinoa flour or some other fine flour. My daughter prefers hers sweet but you could take out a few tablespoons of sugar if you prefer yours more savory.

2 eggs

7 tbs sugar

4 tbs canola oil

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2/3 cup sorghum flour

Dash salt

About 1/6 cup water

Preheat the oven to 350. Place the whites in one bowl and the yolks in another. Beat the whites until you get defined peaks. Add 6 tablespoons of sugar to the whites, one at a time, whisking well after each tablespoon. To the yolks add 1 tbs of sugar, the canola oil and vanilla. Pour the yolk mixture in to the whites slowly and mix well. Add the flour mixed with the salt alternating with the water. You don’t want to add so much that your batter becomes watery, just add a bit at a time when you see that the flour is making the batter too thick to mix easily. You need to preserve the smoothness of the batter so you don’t lose the egg bubbles made in the whites. That’s the only thing that’s going to make your bread rise. Once everything is mixed, pour it in to a mini-loaf pan greased with canola oil or a half dozen cupcake pan. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Quinoa Muffins

If you’ve ever tried baking a recipe without baking soda/powder you know that it just comes out like mushy bread pudding. I searched all over the internet to see if I could find a way to bake without baking soda but couldn’t find any recipes. I decided to just adapt one and see what happened. After a couple of experiments I got one that worked very well. You won’t get as much rise as a recipe with baking soda but it will be enough to make the muffin fluffy and not mushy. Here it is:

2  eggs

5 tbs sugar

4 tbs canola oil

½ tsp vanilla

½ cup quinoa flour

Dash of salt

1/8 cup of water

Preheat the oven to 350. Place cupcake liners in a six cupcake pan. Separate the yolks from the whites. Beat the whites until soft peaks form. Add 4 tbs of sugar, one tbs at a time, whisking between each. Add the 5^th tbs to the yolks as well as the oil and vanilla. Softly whisk the yolk mixture in to the whites. Mix the salt in to the flour then sift it over the egg mix and fold it in gently. Add the water carefully mixing the batter. Pour the mix in to 6 cupcake liners and bake for 25-30 minutes. Let cool before serving.

Potato Bites, aka "Chicken" Nuggets

Now that my daughter is getting older she has begun to notice the foods that her big sister gets to eat. Many times she points and complains because she isn't getting the same food. It's made me have to come up with ways of giving them the "same" food, or at least the closest I can come. These are her "chicken" nuggets. I got the idea for them after my husband mentioned that the stuffed potatoes looked like fat chicken nuggets.

Crush up some Cheecha Puffs and mix in some mashed baked potato. Use about a quarter Russet potato to about a handful of puffs. Make sure it's sticky enough to hold up to frying. If it's not, add more crushed puffs. Beat an egg and dip the nuggets in it then fry them in enough heated oil to reach up about halfway to the nuggets. With one potato you can make the nuggets and then some French Fries to go with them. Of course I also offer her a real meat to go with them since eating a bunch of potato isn't very nutritious but at least she feels like if she's getting food just like her sister's. Oh and as "ketchup" I usually put a spoonful of carrot or squash puree.

Stuffed Potatoes

These are based on a recipe that my mother prepared very often as I was growing up. It usually calls for loose, fried ground beef but because I can't add some of the ingredients to bind the potato I prefer to make little hamburgers that I can surround with the potato crust. You'll need 1 egg that will be used for both the burgers and the potato so don't throw it out before you have used it for both.

Cheecha Puffs (enough to loosely fill a 12 oz bowl)
1 egg
1/2 a baked potato,  cooked and peeled
2-2.5 oz of ground beef
Salt

Crush the Cheecha Puffs until you get mostly powder crumbs. Pour half the crumbs in to a separate bowl. There, mash the baked potato and mix it with the puffs. To the original bowl add the ground beef and about a teaspoon of the egg (get some yolk and white) and mix it with the Cheecha Puffs. Add salt to taste. Mold the beef mixture into little balls then flatten them to the size and shape you want to fit in your potato mix. Fry the beef shapes until cooked and let cool for a few minutes. Grab some potato mix and form a shell around the beef. Beat the remaining egg with a fork. Once the beef is completely covered with potato dip it into the egg then fry it in a heated pan with enough oil to reach up to the middle of the potatoes. Fry until golden brown on all sides.

Meatloaf

8 oz ground beef
1 egg
1 tbs veggie purée (I use carrot or squash from Earth's Best)
2/3 cups crushed Cheecha Puffs
Salt to taste

Crush enough Cheecha Puffs to get about 2/3 cups of crumbs/powder. Mix in all the other ingredients. Place mixture into a 3x5 loaf pan lightly greased with a safe oil. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 for 60-75 minutes. Let cool a few minutes before serving. If you'd like to add some gravy, check out the post from November 5, 2011.

Quinoa with Pork

A small piece of pork loin (about the size of your baby’s fist, or about 1/3 of a chop)

½ cup of whole grain quinoa (Ancient Harvest brand)

1 ¼ cups of water

1 tbs olive oil for browning (or any safe oil)

Salt

This dish has a texture similar to valencia rice, just a bit more “al dente.” In a small sauce pan fry the pork in oil, just enough to brown it on all sides. Add the quinoa and sauté for about a minute. Pour in the water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and cover. Simmer for about 18-20 minutes and salt to taste. You’ll notice that I put in more water than the box recommends and I cook it longer. That’s to help the grain get softer and more palatable for small kids. The pork gives the quinoa a lot of great flavor, it’s actually something I’d eat myself all the time, now that I have discovered it.

Coconut Quinoa "Shortbread" Cookies

1/3 cup Nutiva Coconut Manna (at spreadable temperature)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 tsp prepared quinoa flakes (very sticky, thick) Ancient Harvest
1 tbs maple syrup
2/3 cup quinoa flour

These are based on my eggless quinoa cookie recipe, but the coconut manna makes them better (at least my daughter thinks so, lol). Cream together the sugar and manna then add the quinoa flakes, syrup, vanilla and flour. Mix until you can roll it in to a dough. Take about a teaspoonfool and make a ball, place it on a pan coated with canola oil and quinoa flour (or parchment paper instead). Repeat the process until you've used all your dough. Flatten the balls down with your fingers so they are about 1/4 inch tall and about 2 inches across, they will stay the shape you make them. Bake at 350 for 12- 15 minutes until golden brown.

Here you can see the balls of dough and the pressed cookies.

The finished product :)