Homemade Easy recipes; Homemade Chicken Nuggets and Gourmet Fries with Kraft Fresh Take

As a busy mom, I’m always looking for meal ideas that are kid friendly and adult friendly. Meaning food that the kids can enjoy and actually eat; but have a delectable flavor that the adults can enjoy as well. My kids love chicken nuggets. What kid doesn’t? But how can I make a twist to that common meal and make it something we can all enjoy? So we came up with some homemade easy recipes to make the perfect family dinner!

Homemade Easy recipes: planning stages

I’m always brainstorming for fresh family dinner ideas. The kids want chicken nuggets. But the Husband and I can only eat so many of them. So in an attempt to please everyone; I thought I would try my hand at making homemade chicken nuggets with gourmet french fries and our traditional fry sauce.

I saw a great recipe for Chicken Meatballs made with some Kraft Fresh Take, and that sparked a great idea on how to get this easy family dinner to come together to please both the kids and adults. So off I went to Walmart to pick up my supplies.

I originally thought the Kraft Fresh Take would be in the spice isle. You know where all the other baking mixes are. But really they are found in the cheese isle. Which makes sense because it has real cheese! So obviously it would need to be refrigerated. It was really easy to find the Kraft Fresh Take. But what was difficult was deciding on which flavors to use. Oh my goodness. They all sounded so good. I literally went through about 20 text messages to the husband with us both going back and forth on which flavors to use.

You can see more about my shopping trip, including all the other items I had to pick up this day. Just visit my Google + Album. But let’s get into the homemade easy recipes! I’m sure you are getting hungry. I know I’m getting hungry for these just by writing this all up!

Homemade Easy recipes: Homemade Chicken Nuggets

When we lived in Germany; I experienced the best chicken nuggets. I haven’t been able to find anything like that here in the USA. They were a lot more natural and had the best breading. Well I came close this weekend when I made our homemade chicken nuggets.

You first need to prepare the Kraft Fresh Take seasoning package. The mixing bag originally comes with the cheese and the seasonings in two separate sealed ends of the mixing bag. Simply open the package and it will open the two separate sides. Shake them together to mix the seasonings with the cheese. And then you are ready to go.

 

Making homemade chicken nuggets are actually a lot easier than you would think. Especially with the Kraft Fresh Take! The biggest part is cutting up the chicken breast into nugget sizes. But if you have a quality knife, it is really easy. I used my jerky knife and it was really easy. Took less than 3 minutes to cut it all up.

Then simply dip the chicken nuggets into a beaten egg. Make sure both sides are well coated. Then drop into the Kraft Fresh Take mixing bag. We tried out the Cheddar Jack & Bacon recipe and the Smokey Mesquite BBQ recipe. Shake until both sides are covered well. Then place on a baking sheet. I love Stoneware, so I didn’t need to use any cooking spray. But if you are using a normal cookie sheet; you  may want to spray with some PAM or use aluminum foil to prevent sticking.

Then simply bake at 375 Degrees for 20 minutes. There is no need to turn or flip the nuggets. Simply check the chicken nuggets to ensure that they are cooked thoroughly. Then you are done! Serve alongside our delicious homemade gourmet fries and western fry sauce. We also added a green salad to round out the dinner.

Homemade easy recipes: Homemade Gourmet fries

You all know, being in Idaho; we love our potatoes! And I especially love my gourmet homemade french fries! But sometimes we want something a little different. And the Kraft Fresh Take definitely gave me the opportunity to spice up our traditional fries, all while allowing me to cut the fat but add flavor!

We had a hard time picking which flavors of the Kraft Fresh Take to use on the french fries. They all sounded so good. But finally we settled on making half of the fries with the Cheddar Jack & Bacon recipe and the other half with the Chili Lime & Panko recipe. Oh my goodness, they were so delicious. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

We love homemade easy recipes, so I loved making these gourmet fries with the Kraft Fresh Take. It really was easy! Simply get your Northern Idaho Yukon potatoes. Slice them to french fry style. These ones you will want to cut a little thicker than you would if you were frying them in a deep fryer. There is no need to peel the Idaho Yukon potatoes if you wash them well. If you are using russet potatoes you may want to peel them first. The skins are a bit different in taste and texture.

Now these are the tricks of the trade to get amazing fries. First; soak them in ice cold water for 20-30 minutes. This reduces the starchiness of the potatoes and prevents them from sticking to each other as much. Then rinse them, place them on a microwave safe plate. And microwave cook them for about 8 minutes. For a full plate of 3 cut up potatoes. This cuts down on the oven cooking time which keeps the outside crisp but not too crunchy. It also helps to cook the inside better.

Then batter them in a beaten egg and shake until well coated in the Kraft Fresh Take recipe bag. Place on a stoneware pan, or on a greased cookie sheet. Cook at 375 degrees for 20-30 minutes. Check for tenderness on the inside of the fry. If it is still firmer than you prefer, cook longer,  checking every 5-10 minutes until they are the perfect tenderness.

The Gourmet fries are absolutely delicious on their own. Or you can dip them in our Western Fry sauce to really bring out the flavor of the Kraft Fresh Take recipes!

Now simply add a great green salad or green vegetable to the table and you are set! How did the family react? J. ate everything on his plate. He even took seconds. He says he doesn’t know what he thinks about them, but seeing as he took seconds and never complained; I’m going to assume he enjoyed our dinner. T. refused the gourmet french fries. But that’s not surprising as he’s gone on strike of eating anything potato related. But T. did however love the Mesquite BBQ chicken nuggets and ate three servings of them.

When I asked the Husband if he liked them. He said, “no” followed by a lot of snickering. All while he was piling up his 5th plate full! So; I think it’s safe to say he enjoyed it as well. Because it wasn’t hunger motivating him onto this 5th plate full. We all loved the flavors, the uniqueness it brought to an ordinary meal. And I absolutely love how easy this was to make! The perfect homemade easy recipes!

We will definitely be using the Kraft Fresh Take flavor packets on upcoming meals to shake up the boring old baked meat. I am also excited to try out some Kraft Fresh Take baked chicken cut up into a salad! Talk about a gourmet salad!

Be sure to Watch for the Kraft Fresh Possibilities Tour truck which will be making stops across the country from March through the end of July. To see if they are making a stop in your town you can check this website: Fresh Possibilities Tour. To learn more about these delicious seasoning packages and to even find more recipes be sure to visit Kraft Fresh Take online.

Did you like our homemade easy recipes? Be sure to PIN IT! And share it with your friends with a link to our site so others can find it.  It’s sure to be a hit with your friends and family. And I’d be forever grateful for the share.

What Homemade easy recipes would you make with Kraft Fresh Take?

 

I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community. This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias®  and Kraft Foods #FreshTake #cbias #SocialFabric. However all opinions, photos and recipes are 100% my own.