It’s been a successful week in our household when it comes to meal times. While many people have tapped into their culinary skills since the start of Covid, others (like me) have gotten into a meal-time funk.
At first menu planning and mealtimes were exciting. Baking and cooking were activities I could do with my girls and was a great way of talking about colours, the 5 senses and even introducing simple math concepts.
Eventually, menu planning and mealtimes became one more task on my never ending to-do list. The first trimester of my pregnancy didn’t help and the fatigue and nausea caused me to rely on more prepared foods that required less cooking and prep time. The girls went back to daycare, I went back to work and while I was lucky enough to have help with meal prep, I never seemed to spare enough time to experiment with new recipes…then Harper joined the world and the lack of sleep led to a lack of motivation hence leading to the mealtime funk.
About 11 months in the making.
2 months postpartum and I am not only back to work but I am also ready to get back on track. It’s incredible how much headspace plays a role in health. Something that I’ve always known but have been reminded of this last week. It’s nice to be back in the headspace.
So this week I spent time on Pinterest and created a new and exciting menu for the entire family. What a difference! The girls loved participating in the baking and cooking, they ate so many more veggies than they have been over the last couple of months and were more adventurous and willing to try new foods – an indication that maybe they too felt that we were in a meal-time funk. Their favourite new recipe? Chicken Zucchini Bites.
If you know me personally, you probably know that I’ve been a vegetarian for most of my life. I don’t prepare or cook meat and strictly rely on my husband for these things. This week I stepped out of my element, something I highly recommend you try. I was so proud of myself! Mostly for not giving my entire family food poisoning by serving them undercooked meat, but truly because not only did my kids love this dish, my husband was a huge fan too!
Below is my adapted Chicken Zucchini Bites recipe. It’s gluten free, dairy free and packed with nutrients. It can be served with organic ketchup or an aioli. While we didn’t have any leftovers, this recipe also works as an easy freezer meal. Freeze half the bites you bake and store in freezer for up to 3 months. We baked the bites but you can certainly try air frying them if you want them extra crispy.
Curious what else we made this week? Check out my Carrot Zucchini Muffin recipe that doubled as a lunch and breakfast meal.
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Chicken Zucchini Bites
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Yields: 4-5 servings
Ingredients:
· 1Lbs Raw ground chicken
· 2 cups Grated zucchini*
· 2-3 Green onions, sliced
· 1 Clove garlic, minced
· 1 tsp salt
· ½ tsp pepper
*Leave peel on zucchini but be sure to squeeze water out after grating. Do not skip this step otherwise bites will become soggy.
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 400
2. In a large bowl, mix together chicken, zucchini, green onion, garlic, salt and pepper. Mixture will be quite wet.
3. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop meatballs with a heaped tablespoon or with a gloved hand and gently smooth with your hands. Mixture makes about 20-24 bites.
4. Bake for 23-25 minutes or until thoroughly cooked.
Recipe adapted from: https://www.onelovelylife.com/chicken-zucchini-poppers-gf-df/
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