I'm not good at frying... in fact I'm horrible at it. That hasn't prevented me from attempting it! The oil is either too hot or too cold... which makes the food gross no matter how you spin it.  But I managed to make chicken tenders from scratch and it didn't take too long. We had kale and mac and cheese (from scratch) as well.  It was pretty decent.  

The recipe is below, but the measurements are not perfect.  I'm not the best at perfect measurements so you will have odd measurements like "shakes"... Anyway, here's how it all went down:

Ingredients:
3 boneless chicken breasts
1/3 c vinegar or lemon juice
Avacado Oil, Grapeseed Oil, Canola or Vegetable Oil (for frying)

Milky Marinade

• 1/2 c dairy creamer or buttermilk
  
• 1/2 c milk
  
• 2 eggs
  
• 3TBL garlic powder
  
• 2 squirts Caesar or Ranch Dressing
  
• 2 shakes Parmesan Cheese
  
• 3 tsp paprika
  
• 3 tsp crushed red pepper
  
• Salt & Pepper to taste
  
• Optional: hot sauce

Dusty Coating

• 1 c flour
  
• 2 TBL garlic powder
  
• 2 tsp cayene pepper
  
• Salt & Pepper to Taste
  
• Optional: Herbs or Lemon Pepper Seasoning 
  

Ok well, that's what I did. My lovernauts told me that they were "pretty decent chicken tenders".  I must say they were not crappy and they disappeared pretty quickly (and not because we were starving either).  Hope you find this recipe useful! If you have any tips about frying on a stove top please leave them in the comments!  

We pack our lunches because, it's cost effective and also, I know what they are eating.  I remind them that what isn't consumed at lunch should be brought home (and eaten as the snack for the afternoon).  Food is not wasted.  But lately I've had a difficulty with creativity in their lunchboxes.  The kids have no access to a microwave so the variety of hot/thermos items is very limited... so I thought.  

Since the school year began, my kids have been begging me to provide sushi in their lunches.  Sushi? Really guys, how shi-shi for you to ask.  But a coworker brought in some really cool sticky-rice balls for lunch one day and I thought, my kids would love that.  She let me know how easy it was.  So I decided to grab up some sticky rice, but while in the market the kids asked for seaweed chips for snack and I said to myself, I'm making sushi.  How hard could a California roll be?  I mean, we've eaten hundreds of them at restaurants.  I know what's in them. May as well go for it!  I didn't buy the bamboo mat, but I did buy sushi rice and I rolled it like a burrito or a roti.  All in all the kids were pleased. So was I. It tasted light, fresh... amazing.  Next time I'll add rice vinegar, but to make it briny I suggest mixing a bit of soy sauce in the rice before applying to the nori sheets. 

Here's what I used...the video will walk you through it in 20 second:
2 Nori sheets
1 cup Sushi rice- don't rinse it!
1/4 avocado
3 sticks of imitation crab meat

soy sauce
wasabi
ginger

We love waffles! I mean what isn't there to love about a warm delicious, light, fluffy but also crispy waffle.  We've added everything from meat to fruit and have come up with some pretty amazing combinations (which we will share).  Recently we made banana bread waffles.  What made these guys super special was the secret lentils added to the batter without the kids knowing until it was too late (days later).


Ingredients:

• 1.75 c  all purpose flour
• 1 over rip banana
• 1 c buttermilk
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 c turbinado
• 1/3 c vegetable oil
• 1/3 c lentils (soaked over night)
• 1/3 c coconut flakes
• 2 Tbl baking powder
• cinnamon, nutmeg to taste

Honestly there is no method to our madness.  We aren't top chefs so we literally mix everything at once in a big bowl and then put it on the waffle griddle.  If you do not want the lentils to show up in the mix (which I recommend) blend them with the banana.  It may smell weird but you can't taste it in the waffle once it's cooked.  We paired ours with chamomile tea, and kids got to choose between chocolate sauce, honey or vanilla ice cream as their topping.

We got up and got ready twice on a two hour school delay. (Not sure how to explain this one). No biggie! We headed to Dunkin' Donuts to have  a quick, sweet treat before heading to school!  Dunkin' Donuts is a special treat for us, so everyone was delighted to bide our time in this sugar shack!

Brownies are pretty basic.  More basic than a box recipe. We were shocked at how easy it was to make these awesomely delicious treats!