Recently, actually the last few days, we've spent quite a bit of time at the doctors office and urgent care center with 2 of the boys. One, because he started having kidney and urological issues on top of all his "normal" GI issues and the other because he's two and a half and thought swallowing a penny would be a good idea. This from a kid who normally refuses to eat any meal after a few bites because most food ends up giving him some form of tummy distress. Wonder what the thought process was on that one????

Anywho, so at the urgent care, where we spent many long boring hours in the waiting room, they have a TV tuned to the Food Network, constantly. I'm assuming this is considered a "safe" channel for everyone to watch since most adults don't want to be stuck watching Disney Jr. for hours on end without wanting to blow their brains out, and most parents, and their kids for that matter, don't want to watch Maury Povich asking "Who's the Daddy?" while couples duke it out for hours on end. (On a side note, is Maury Povich even on TV anymore? I'm one of those adults who wants to blow their brains out on a daily basis because my kids are watching Disney Jr so I have no clue what adults watch anymore, sorry.) Well, back to the Food Network, though the urgent care considers this a "safe" channel for the masses to watch, for my family it's any thing but "safe". I'm mean we're not "offended" by anything on the Food Network per se, just that everything they cook or bake on there would end up causing a reaction in all the kids that I'd rather not deal with. And seeing all the yummy butter drenched food in all its HD glory is torture sometimes.

But as I was sitting there with one kid or the other I started getting into my substitution mind set and thought that I'd give a couple of the recipes I saw that looked so good but were unsafe for the kids a substitution makeover. So when I actually had a late afternoon with no visits to the doctors office booked I thought I'd work on Chicken Picatta in an Artichoke sauce as well as some mashed potato popovers and I had made some safe sourdough bread earlier in the week so added that as a side. Here are the original recipes I used: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/chicken-piccata-recipe/index.html , http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Artichoke-Sauce .

Now my Chicken Picatta can't have a lemon butter sauce since we can't do citrus or butter so I had a jar of artichokes leftover in the refrigerator from a different meal. Since I don't like to waste food because our grocery bill is sky high due to having to buy allergy friendly foods I thought I'd better use those up.

Chicken Picatta

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts (We have a family of 5, use how ever many will feed your family)
Salt and Pepper

1/2 cup all-purpose flour (if you are avoiding wheat/gluten use flour of choice)

2 large egg (can use egg replacer if needed)

1 tablespoon water

3/4 cup panko bread crumbs (I use Progresso they are dairy and soy free)

Powdered garlic, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning mix (to season your bread crumbs)

olive oil

 

Place your chicken breasts between two pieces of Press and Seal wrap, I like how it will seal itself, place on a cutting board and then beat the chicken breasts, one at a time, with a rolling pin or other hard pounding instrument of your choice, until they are all a uniform thickness. They cook more evenly this way and get super tender!

 

Beat the eggs with water together and place in a shallow dish. Season your flour with some salt and pepper to taste and place in a shallow dish. Place the bread crumbs you seasoned into a shallow dish as well and line up with the dishes of flour and eggs. (Note: I like to run my panko crumbs through the food processor or blender to make them a finer texture when I am breading something, up to you)

 

Dip the chicken breasts into flour and shake off excess one at a time. Then dip into egg mixture and then into the bread crumbs making sure to coat both sides.

 

In a pan heat your olive oil over medium heat, once hot place breaded chicken in one at a time. Let cook until lightly browned on each side. Place onto a parchment paper lined shallow cooking sheet like a cookie sheet. While you are cooking the chicken in the oil preheat your oven to 400*. Once all the chicken breast are browned and on the sheet place in oven for about 15 minutes.

 

Potato Popovers

 

These are super easy. Just use some leftover mashed potatoes, or you can whip up a batch of instant mashed potatoes to use, do this in advance and store in the refrigerator to use later.

 

Season your mashed potatoes however you like, "butter" (We used Earths Balance Soy Free Spread), "cheesy" (use Daiya cheddar shredded nutritional yeast cheese), salt and pepper, whatever suits your tastes.

 

Spray a muffin pan with safe no stick cooking spray and fill each cup to the top with potatoes. Use a fork to scratch the top of each and put a dollop of safe "butter" or brush with olive oil. Place in the oven with the chicken. These will take a bit longer to set up. I had to end up putting them under broiler after I took the chicken out of the oven so they would brown up.

 

Artichoke Sauce

 

1/4 of a small onion chopped

2-3 garlic cloves, minced (I used jarred minced garlic)

1 tablespoon olive oil

14 ounces canned artichokes hearts, drained, rinsed, and chopped

2 tbls all purpose flour of your choice

1 can or 2 cups chicken broth

Sprinkle of Nutritional Yeast (adds a creamy cheesy flavor*) 

2 tsp dried parsley

Salt and Pepper to taste

 

In a pan heat olive oil over medium heat, add chopped onion and minced garlic and saute for approximately 5 minutes. Add in artichoke hearts and cook an additional 1-2 minutes. Add flour and mix it with the onion, garlic, and artichokes, cook until a light blond color, this helps to remove some of the floury flavor. Add in the chicken broth and stir constantly to break up the flour and to remove any clumps, heat to boiling. Turn down heat and add in nutritional yeast, parsley, and salt and pepper. Continue stirring to combine flavors. Serve over the chicken, Yum!

 

 

*Nutritional yeast is a vegan power house and adds a cheesy flavor to foods. You can find it online or in the baking/cooking aisle of your local nutritional/health food store.

 

** Make sure you are reading all labels on foods you use looking out for allergens that affect you and your family. Whats safe for one person may not be safe for you.