Chicken Nuggets Recipe

Yes, I admit it. I cook not-so-healthy suppers sometimes. Last week, I had one of those nights. We had home-made chicken nuggets and Kraft macaroni and cheese. The recipe for the home-made chicken nuggets came from a cookbook my friend Nicole let me borrow. This cookbook is a once-a-month cook book which encourages freezer-ready meals. I thought this recipe sounded really good and easy. It also uses items that I always have on hand which is right up my alley. So without further ado...here is the original freezer-ready recipe. (I just made it and cooked it in the same night, though.)

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts
3 Tablespoons margarine or butter, melted
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup dried bread crumbs - Italian style (I just used plain breadcrumbs)
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Cut chicken into 1 inch pieces (kitchen shears work best. Good thing my sister got me a pair for Christmas!!!) Combine chicken, melted margarine, and Worcestershire sauce in a 1-quart freezer bag. Combine the bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese in a second freezer bag. Tape the two bags together. Label and freeze.

To prepare for serving, thaw and remove the chicken pieces from the marinade. Shake them (a few at a time) in the bread crumb bag to coat. Preheat over to 450 degrees. Arrange chicken on a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 7-9 minutes or until no longer pink in the center. Makes about 4 servings.

A few tips that I can offer after making them for the first time would be the following:
1. I used 3 large boneless, skinless chicken breasts. Next time, I will only use 2. For only 2 people, it makes a lot and it is very filling so we ended having too many chicken nuggets and not enough bread crumb mixture.
2. After greasing the cookie sheet and letting the chicken nuggets bake for 7 or so minutes, do NOT turn them over to cook  the other side of the chicken nuggets. I made this mistake and then when I was ready to put them on the plate to eat, the nuggets stuck to the cookie sheet and we lost the breading on one of the sides (The breading is the best part!).
3. I would probably cut up the chicken and let it marinade in the butter and Worcestershire sauce for at least 1-2 hours prior to cooking if you are not going to freeze them. I think letting the chicken marinade for a longer period of time rather than just coating them briefly and then putting them in the crumb mixture would have given them even more flavor.

As mentioned, we ate macaroni and cheese with the chicken nuggets but my Foods teacher in Junior High probably would have not liked that as the nuggets and the mac and cheese were pretty much the same color. So to add some variation of color to the plate and to make it a bit more healthy, you could serve the nuggets with mixed veggies.

Let me know if you make this and how you like it!