Becca Jane St Clair

[Nuggets, shown with a big pile of Ranch dressing made from powdered ranch dressing mix and creame fraiche]

[please excuse the mobile phone quality and half empty plate!]

I’ve been whipping these up for the past few months, and I realized that I hadn’t shared the recipe, so I thought I would remedy that. This recipe works well with diced chicken (for nuggets), mini fillets (for fingers), and even with boneless chicken breasts if you want to make chicken Parmesan.

You will need:
-Boneless, skinless chicken (breasts can be used whole, diced into nuggets, or sliced into fingers)
-Equal parts ground almond and grated Parmesan cheese. Depending on how much chicken you have to coat, start with 50g of each and use more if you run out. (or do what I do, and just dump some in a bowl. LOL)
-100ml single cream or milk (if you run out, use more)
-1 egg
-1 tsp paprika
-1 tsp oregano
– a sprinkle of salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 180C and line a baking tray with parchment paper or spray with cooking spray.
Pour cream or milk into a bowl and whisk together with the egg. Combine the ground almonds, Parmesan, seasonings, salt and pepper in another bowl.
Coat each piece of chicken by first placing it into the bowl with the egg/cream mixture and then into the “breading” mixture.
Bake for 20-30 minutes, depending on the size of your chicken (breasts will take longer, nuggets might only take 15 minutes). Topping should be golden in colour and if you poke a toothpick into the chicken the juices should run clear.

Serve with your choice of dip and a side salad. To serve this as Chicken Parmesan, you don’t need to pre-cook the chicken, just add it to a dish with some sauce and top with a little grated cheese, then bake!

Tim has decided these are better than the frozen ones from the grocery store. If you’re feeling ambitious, you could try frying them in a few centimetres of oil or in a deep fryer instead of baking them. I’m too chicken (hah!) to attempt to fry things in oil on the hob!

These are diabetic friendly as they do not contain any breadcrumbs or flour and are also suitable for a low-carb diet. Other recipes suggest using coconut flour, carbquik, ground flaxseed, and other non-flour options. Before using low-fat Parmesan cheese, read the label to make sure they are not full of sugar, as is the case with many low-fat cheeses.

~~*~~
The contents of this post, including images are © Rebecca J Lockley and Tim Lockley unless otherwise stated and should not be reproduced without permission. If you are not reading this on http://blog.beccajanestclair.com, my facebook page, Networked Blogs, the RSS feed(s), or through an e-mail subscription, please notify me.

[LJ readers reading this on the LJ RSS feed: Please click on the link at the top of the entry to go directly to my blog to leave a comment, as comments left on the LJ RSS do not get seen by me. Facebook users reading this from my Networked Blogs link can either comment on facebook or on my blog. If you are reading this through an e-mail subscription, you might need to go directly to my blog to view videos and images.]

For full Copyright and Disclaimer, please read http://www.blog.beccajanestclair.com/copyright/

If you’re going on holiday to Wales, don’t forget to pack some reusable bags for your shopping, including souvenir shopping! If you want a plastic bag, you will have to pay 5p for each bag. Everywhere. From Tesco to the corner shop, farmer’s market stands to tourism sites. There is no escaping the plastic bag “ban”, though there are some exceptions. Using very small plastic bags with no handles or small paper bags is still free.

There are also certain items that you can put in a plastic bag and not be charged, such as fruits and vegetables….however, those have to be the only items in that bag when you walk away from the till. From their informative website:

“You could have loose apples, potatoes and pears in one bag and not have to charge. If you then placed a box of tea bags in there too, you would need to apply the charge.

This is to prevent a loop hole in the law. A person can not put an apple in one bag with lots of other shopping, a potato in another bag with lots of other shopping, a lettuce in another etc. and get all their single use carrier bags for free.”

Which is quite clever, because I could see someone attempting to do that!

The plastic ban also brings up a different kind of disposeable bag…what about fast food? Here’s what the website has to say:

“If you went to a fast food restaurant and purchased a packet of fries and a burger then the fries can be placed in a free bag as they are only part wrapped and you would not be expected to place these in a reusable bag as there could be some food safety risks. If the burger is also placed in the bag, then the bag would be charged for. This is because it is safe to place wrapped food into a reusable bag and the purpose of these Regulations is to change customer behaviour every time they shop and in every situation.”

Wow. Tim and I didn’t eat any fast food while we were away, so I hadn’t thought about the impact of ordering fast food at all. Imagine being charged an extra 5p each time you ate at McDonalds!

I’m also curious as to where the 5p you pay for a bag goes…and the answer is that the shops can do whatever they like with the 5p, though the Welsh Assembly expects “that the proceeds should be passed on to charities or good causes in Wales, and in particular to environmental projects.”. So…any time you need a plastic bag in Wales and pay 5p for it, you could just be lining the pockets of the shop. Or, you could be donating 5p to a worthy cause…hang on a minute, if I pay 5p for a bag I’m helping out charity? That actually doesn’t sound too bad….is this really going to prevent people from asking for plastic bags and bringing reusable bags?

I didn’t know about the charge before we went to Wales, but fortunately, Tim and I always carried folding reusable bags in our rucksacks, and our house at home is loaded with canvas, burlap, and plastic shopping bags — Tim would probably say I collect them, and he might be right. I like to pick up bags when we are on holiday because it brings a smile to my face when I pull that one out to use. For example, when we were in Austria, the local grocery store was called “Billa”. We purchased one of their extra-large shopping bags we affectionately call “BillaBag” and I can take that bag into town for a shopping trip and not need any other bags. I also have a bag I purchased in Walt Disney World on our honeymoon, a bag I bought on my first visit to Stonehenge, and the familiar blue IKEA tarp bags, which always remind me of my time working there. I purchased a bag from the Vale of Rheidol Railway on this trip!

I’m also glad I stuffed a bunch of carrier bags into the caravan for rubbish, or we would have had to purchase rubbish bags!

~~*~~
The contents of this post, including images are © Rebecca J Lockley and Tim Lockley unless otherwise stated and should not be reproduced without permission. If you are not reading this on http://blog.beccajanestclair.com, my facebook page, Networked Blogs, the RSS feed(s), or through an e-mail subscription, please notify me.

[LJ readers reading this on the LJ RSS feed: Please click on the link at the top of the entry to go directly to my blog to leave a comment, as comments left on the LJ RSS do not get seen by me. Facebook users reading this from my Networked Blogs link can either comment on facebook or on my blog. If you are reading this through an e-mail subscription, you might need to go directly to my blog to view videos and images.]

For full Copyright and Disclaimer, please read http://www.blog.beccajanestclair.com/copyright/

Wow, what a holiday! Tim and I have been in Wales for the past three weeks with his parents caravan (thankfully!) and what an amazing time!!

I meant to write up blog posts on Tim’s laptop while we were there, but of course, I never seemed to find time, so here’s what you will get glimpses of in the coming weeks…

~Multiple visits to the Talyllyn Railway and Llechfan Garden Railway….including Have-A-Go where I drove a steam train!

~Massive walks…Dolgoch Falls. Nant Gwenol and Dolgellau to Barmouth

~Vale of Rheidol (still too wet to do Devil’s Bridge!)

~The Welsh Highland and Ffestiniog Railway….NINE HOURS of travel by steam!!

~Welsh place names with no vowels

~Machynlleth Market, Aberystwyth, Portmeirion, Harlech Castle

~LLangolen Railway, Bala Lake Railway, Llanberis Lake Railway, Fairbourne Railway

~Snowdon Mountain Railway

and much, much more!!

I personally have over 2500 photos to go through, who knows how many videos, and whatever Tim has that he wants me to publish…

This could take a while!!!

~~*~~
The contents of this post, including images are © Rebecca J Lockley and Tim Lockley unless otherwise stated and should not be reproduced without permission. If you are not reading this on http://blog.beccajanestclair.com, my facebook page, Networked Blogs, the RSS feed(s), or through an e-mail subscription, please notify me.

[LJ readers reading this on the LJ RSS feed: Please click on the link at the top of the entry to go directly to my blog to leave a comment, as comments left on the LJ RSS do not get seen by me. Facebook users reading this from my Networked Blogs link can either comment on facebook or on my blog. If you are reading this through an e-mail subscription, you might need to go directly to my blog to view videos and images.]

For full Copyright and Disclaimer, please read http://www.blog.beccajanestclair.com/copyright/