This past December, Tara received one of the best gifts she could hope for…

It wasn’t a puppy (though that would be awesome).

It wasn’t a unicorn (again awesome).

No, it was a 2 year subscription to her favorite magazine: Clean Eating

(super duper mega awesome!)

If you are not currently reading this magazine cover to cover every month, do yourself a favor; go buy one issue and take it for a test run. From cover to cover you’ll find clean recipes that are easy to make and taste pretty damn good (not to mention pretty easy on the wallet for the most part).

It was in the pages of this magazine that Tara got the courage to step outside of her food comfort zone and begin to (pun intended) really get to the meat of cooking. Trying recipes she felt were out of her league only to discover that she could actually make food that was good for the palate as well as good for the waistline.

The breaded chicken cutlet recipe below is a variation on a recipe found recently in the March 2012 issue of C.E. The original recipe called for the use of panko and pork cutlets but we used chicken breasts and had some nice seasoned bread crumbs laying around and you know where there’s bread crumbs that need to be made into a coating there’s one of our favorite things to use while cooking…

Awwwww yhea, the Magic that is the Bullet!

We also threw in a dessert with this recipe because we have recently discovered the wonders of frozen bananas (we know, we know – guess who’s late to the party). Seriously how come no one told us sooner how awesome frozen bananas are? Not just to eat plain but to again pull out the magic bullet and make some of the most delicious frozen dessert ever to come across our lips (is there a dirty joke in there somewhere?)

Enjoy!

Breaded Chicken Cutlets

Ingredients:

• 2 – 4 chicken breasts cut in half (depending on how many mouths you’re feeding)
• 2 eggs or egg white equivalent
• 1 c bread crumbs (have a little extra around just in case you need more)
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Oil for frying

The Breading:

Now if you’re using already made bread crumbs you can skip this part or scroll slowly so you can see our pretty magic bullet do wonders…

Before

After!

 In a shallow bowl (or plate if you can keep the counters clean unlike *cough*Tara*cough*) mix the bread crumbs with chili pepper, cumin and pepper (add salt if you’d like but we skipped it).

Crack eggs (or pour egg whites) into a separate bowl. If using shelled eggs make sure to whisk (trust me I know some of you will forget that part!).

The Chicken:

Okay funny story (and why the title of this post is “making do”). The reason we chose this recipe was because it called for the meat to be pounded (oh yes there is the dirty joke we were looking for) and there’s nothing more fun than pounding meat right? The only problem? What we thought was a meat tenderizer was actually a garlic press and even though Tara had been looking at (and using) the garlic press for months she was certain it was masquerading as the meat tenderizer she had *seen* over and over again in the kitchen drawer…

Lay a nice size piece of seran wrap down on the counter. Lay one piece of chicken on top. Add a few drops of water (to help prevent sticking) and then either fold seran wrap in half or lay a new piece over the chicken.

Pound away!

(feel free to play Barry White at this time)

You want the chicken to be about 1/4  inch in thickness so it won’t take much. Repeat this step (remember to add a few drops of water to each portion of chicken) until all pieces have been pounded down made thin.

Putting it all together:

The culinary term for coating cutlets is “dredging”. Next time you want to impress someone with your cooking, just throw that term around a bit…There really is no need to verbally explain how to dunk your chicken in egg and then coat it with the bread crumbs. However the pictures came out pretty good:

  

Once every thing is coated, heat up frying oil in pan and get to cooking. Remember because these are thinner portions of meat the cooking time is dramatically decreased. Each cutlet will only take about 2 – 3 minutes per side.

Banana Goodness

The ingredients:

• Frozen bananas
• Anything else you can think of that will please your palate

Frozen bananas have become quite the staple in our household. No longer are we buying one bunch for quick “go to” breakfasts and snacks. Now we’re buying multiple bunches during the week knowing full well we’re going to be freezing at least half of what we bring home for the sole purpose of having something handy to curb the sweet tooth.

The easiest way to freeze your bananas is to have a handy Silpat that can cover a cookie sheet. This way once the banana slices are thoroughly frozen you can just roll the silpat to loosen the slices and then easily slide into a covered container.

They are delicious sliced and frozen.

Nothing added.

But when you put them in a blender something magical happens. It’s like eating ice cream. We are not kidding! And oh the possibilities. If you think it’s gonna be good, chances are it will be.

One of our favorite concoctions is 1 cup frozen bananas + 1 tbsp peanut butter + a drizzle of maple syrup and a few chopped almonds…

Have a little bit of chocolate around the house? Maybe some semi sweet baking squares or chocolate chips? How about some peanut butter? How about you make these frozen bad boys:

• 4oz semi sweet chocolate
• 4 tbsp peanut butter
• 3 bananas (thick slices)

In a microwave melt the chocolate and peanut butter together (Zap for 1 minute, stir and zap again for 30 seconds or until smooth). Dip bananas slices and then freeze for about an hour. This is where the silpat mat comes in real handy. Seriously go out and buy yourself one just to make life easier!

If you’ve never tried frozen bananas, you’re missing out. Once you try them (of course that’s assuming you like bananas) you’ll definitely be on the look out for your own tasty concoctions. No matter how you eat them you’ll definitely say:

~ Now that’s good eatin’ folks!