Oven Fried Rosemary Chicken Nuggets

Finally! It's about time I shared another recipe here. I mean, it IS a food blog after all. Tiny confession: I have one more blogpost for our trip to Italy. I have to share the rest of our trip, some photos of what we saw, and my sweet, sweet nephew (let's be real, the best part is pictures of him!). But in the meantime, I thought I'd share this with you.  

I found this recipe several years ago and tweaked it for my dad who is gluten free. You are more than welcome to use bread crumbs, but I've only ever made it with rice chex, and have loved it every time. I made it for a dinner party once and got rave reviews. 

I've got to be honest for a second. I'm terrible at cooking chicken. I pride myself in being a pretty decent cook, but along with trying to fold fitted sheets, I fall short every time. I've tried multiple "tried and true" methods and even use a meat thermometer, and yet somehow ruin it every time. Poor Isaac. His favorite meat is chicken and I always end up making it tough and dry. How is that possible? 

But wait! Somehow this chicken turns out super tender and juicy! Why? I don't know--and I'm not going to question it. All I know is that this oven fried chicken is super flavorful from the spicy mustard and fresh rosemary and that it doesn't end up tough and dry. And then it's got walnuts and parmigiano reggianno, which happens to be my current obsession right now. 

The original recipe is for whole chicken breasts, but I thought I would turn them into chicken nuggets for this post because anything miniature is super cute. Show me small bowls, spoons, cups, etc and I automatically want them. Dolls houses? They are the CUTEST!!...Depending on the occasion, you can choose which version you would prefer to make/eat. 

I'd love for you to make them and let me know what you think! 

Turkey and Black Bean Enchiladas

Welp, it's been awhile since I last posted a recipe (story of this blog). Sorry about that. *guilty emoji face* But I'm going to make up for my recipe absence with enchiladas. Surely, that corrects all wrongs, right?? 

I don't know if you all have any Christmas food traditions, but I know several people whose families eat tamales at Christmas. Mexican fiesta? Yes, please, I'm down--especially if I can top everything with avocado. My family didn't do that growing up. Instead, our traditional favorites were things like tiger butter, ham dip, and white trash. Interesting names, delicious food. 

So with Christmas right around the corner, I figured you could honor your family tradition or tap into someone else's family tradition and eat Mexican food to celebrate the Christmas season. These enchiladas are filled with protein, veggies, and cheese and wrapped in a doughy tortilla <3. I used store-bought enchilada sauce, but you could definitely make your own. Also, they ended up being a bit spicy, so if you're not a big fan of heat, used a mild enchilada sauce or go easy on the sauce. You'll definitely want to top with sour cream, avocado, and some green onion and cilantro. We didn't have any green onions, hence why they aren't in the picture. 

I served mine with roasted Brussels sprouts and cauliflower because roasted veggies are my jam, but these would pair nicely with some Mexican rice or chips and salsa. I'd love to hear what you all have planned for Christmas and what your favorite Christmas food tradition is!! Comment below! :-D

P.S. MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone!!!

*GIVEAWAY*!!! How to make an iced latte with an aeropress

Although Aeropress is sponsoring this giveaway, I was not compensated for my time and all opinions are completely my own. 

If you've followed me for a hot second on instagram, you know that I love iced lattes. I can't think of a meal that an iced latte wouldn't make complete. Iced lattes all day, every day :-) However, at $5 a drink, it's not a habit I can afford to keep regular. I mean, Isaac only lets me allocate $40 a month for blow money #budgetprobs. So awhile back I started to experiment with making my own iced lattes. 

Then came a string of very disappointing iced drinks. I tried brewing strong coffee over ice, cooling brewed coffee and adding milk and ice, instant coffee with ice and milk, and even tried making espresso with a mokapot. All resulted in watered down coffee/milk (or a disgusting, bitter product with the mokapot) that I always poured down the drain. Wah wah.  Then an amazing thing happened. My husband bought me an aeropress (and burr grinder--fancy fancy) for our anniversary. Really, I think it was more of a gift for himself than for me (sorry, babe), but it turned out to be the best. gift. ever. After a few failed attempts, and reading multiple blogs and watching several youtube videos, I finally came up with a delicious drink that strongly resembles an iced latte made with espresso! 

Now, this can't be considered true espresso, because apparently there are strict guidelines for the temperature and pressure in order for it to be considered espresso, but this tastes pretty darn close. (in my opinion at least). The secret is to use freshly ground espresso beans, press the grounds tightly in the aeropress, and to add a filter on top of the beans (in addition to below the grounds). This increases the pressure needed to push the water through the aeropress, which I'm pretty sure allows it to extract more flavor. 

The aeropress can be used to make more than just espresso. I think it was originally intended to make regular coffee. It just happens to be the perfect tool for making espresso :-). The great thing about it is that it takes up barely any space, it's portable, it's super affordable, it makes great coffee/espresso, and all you need is boiling water and coffee grinds. Two thumbs up. 

So I wanted to share with you all, the how-to on making this perfect iced latte. Aaaand, the makers of the aeropress were generous enough to offer a free giveaway for one lucky reader!!! See below for how to enter!

The first step is to make ice cubes made from brewed coffee. This isn't absolutely necessary, but I think it's much better because I don't like watered down iced lattes. I bought the ice cube tray in my picture on clearance at target. Isn't it so cute??

Once you have coffee ice cubes prepared, you're ready to get started. Pour 2/3 cup of milk into your cup and add 2 tsp of flavored coffee syrup. I'm personally a fan of vanilla, but you choose whatever flavor is your favorite. Oh, and go with cow's milk if you can handle dairy. It is waaaay better. Why drink something you don't even really like?! (I'm looking at you almond milk)...Then add a few coffee ice cubes and a few regular ice cubes. Place your cup in the freezer (that way your milk gets niiiice and cold). 

Next, set-up your aeropress. Place a paper filter in the black filter basket and wet with water. Screw it onto the bottom of your aeropress. 

Grind your espresso beans finely with your coffee grinder. You'll need the equivalent of 4 cups, which is 1/4 cup finely ground espresso beans, or 16-17g. Place your grounds into the areopress.

The next step is to place another filter on top of the grounds and to press it down firmly. Be sure to shake the aeropress a little before you tamper it down so that the grounds are even. I use a spice bottle to press the filter and grounds down because it happens to be the perfect size in diameter and length. Now you're ready to make your espresso! (see picture above)

Boil 1/3 cup water and add to your aeropress. Place the plunger in and slowly press down until you reach the bottom. You will hear some hissing. I've read instructions that say to stop when you hear this, but I've had better luck pushing until I hit the bottom. I've been able to almost get a crema doing that. 

Congratulations! You have just made a shot of espresso!!! Add to your cold milk, stir, and enjoy!!! Just an FYI, if you want a hot latte, just heat and froth your milk before adding the espresso instead of chilling it. It's delicious that way too. :-)

Gosh, I just think the coffee is just so beautiful! Don't you agree??...I know, I'm ridiculous. As far as the giveaway is concerned, the drawing begins today and ends Sept 26 and you can enter two different ways. The first way is to comment below with your favorite coffee drink (make sure to put your first name and last name initial). The second is to find my instagram giveaway post and comment by tagging a friend! I will be drawing and contacting one lucky winner Sept 27, so keep an eye out.

Can't wait to hear what you think about the final product. I hope you love it as much as I do!  I'm sure your budget will  :-)

If you're interested in buying an aeropress yourself, click here. Their product page is here, and their facebook page is here.