Homemade Fish Sticks

These could not have been easier! And they were seriously so good!

My hubby, who is conservative with his compliments when it comes to food ;) even proclaimed they were better than the fish fry he went out for during lunch last Friday.

And the best part, no nasty additives - just fish!

I checked out a few other leading brands of fish sticks to see if I could find out their ingredient list. For my recipe, the total ingredient list maxed out at 5 - fish, breadcrumbs, egg white, salt and pepper. 6 if you include the cooking oil.

For Gorton's Classic Breaded Fish Sticks:

And for Van de Kamp's Crunchy Fish Sticks:

Ingredients
Alaska Pollock (Fish, Sodium Tripolyphosphate to Retain Fish Moisture), Bread Crumbs, (Wheat Flour, Sugar, Salt, Yeast), Wheat Flour Enriched With (Niacin, Ferrous Sulfate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Vegetable Oil (Cottonseed and/Or Canola, and/Or Sunflower, and/Or Soybean With Tbhq and Citric Acid As Preservatives), Water. Contains 2% Or Less of: Modified Food Starch, Salt, Sugar, Leavening (Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Sodium Bicarbonate, Monocalcium Phosphate), Dextrose, Monosodium Glutamate, Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Spice, Paprika. Contains: Fish (Pollock), Wheat. Manufactured On Equipment That Also Processes Other White Fish.

So just a few ingredients that stand out to me - both brands have Monosodium Glutamate in them - better known as MSG. Ugh, really? And they both have nasty Vegetable/Canola/Soybean oils.

Both also mention 'Tbhq' - what the heck is that? According to Wikipedia, it is a food preservative, however, Natural News states it best - 'The FDA allows amounts of up to 0.02% of the total oils in food to be TBHQ. This may not sound like a lot, but it does tend to make one wonder why there needs to be a limit on the amount if it is apparently a 'harmless additive.'


They go on to list countless other things we could tear apart, caramel color anyone?, but why bother. It is a fish stick people - not a space ship. It shouldn't be so complicated -- and nasty!

So, back to the point of my post - my super simple Homemade Fish Sticks! Try them - they rock. I promise! And no MSG or nasty fillers, minced fish 'pieces' etc etc. They will take just as long for you to make from scratch as the nasty ones would take to bake in the oven.

Super Simple Homemade Fish Sticks

Ingredients:
1.25 pounds white fish of your choice - I used wild caught Cod
1.5 cups breadcrumbs - eyeball the amount, add more as needed
1 egg white - I had just enough so depending on the size of your egg, you may need two egg whites
Salt and Pepper
Coconut Oil for frying - I used enough to get about a quarter inch in my dutch oven
---
Heat your oil in a dutch oven or deep sided skillet. Cut your fish filet into chunks or sticks, whichever suits your fancy! Season the fish pieces, then dip into the egg white. Transfer to the breadcrumbs and coat each piece well. Place pieces in dutch oven with hot coconut oil. I had mine set over Med-High heat on my electric oven. You will only want to cook a few pieces at a time - overcrowding the pan will drop the oil temperature. Depending on the size of your fish sticks, they need to cook about 5-8 minutes per side.

Remove from cooking oil and place on plate to rest & keep warm while you finish cooking the rest.
Enjoy! I know this kid sure did :)

Disclaimer: Child was not given whole fish stick to naw on :) I still break it into pieces for him - and he chowed!



This post shared over at Weekend Gourmet and Monday Mania

Link Loitering, March 2

Very informative article on understanding GMO's.

One more reason I am happy I made/make all my own food, from scratch, for the little man!

I am on Pinterest if you want to check out my boards! It will take me forever to get a decent Pinterest fob on the side of the blog :)

Yet another good article that reaffirms why I am steering my kid away from food dyes!

On the flip side of this, I think it will be fun to try and dye Easter eggs this year with natural dyes!

Photo Source


Happy Friday Everyone!!

One Moment

This is my Gypsy Girl.

I am sure, if you have read my blog for any period of time, you know of her.

She is a special gal.

And she gave me another heart attack this morning.

Look at her gorgeous, Roman head. You can read a lot about a horse in their facial features.

Something that is a 'worst fear' for me is walking into the barns in the morning and not seeing everyone standing. Occasionally, Romeo sleeps in and I wake him up, but right away, he stretches those front legs with his butt in the air, gets up on all 4 and promptly starts munching his hay.

This morning, I was walking the dogs and Allen headed to the barn. He called out for me and my heart sank...I just knew right away someone wasn't standing. It was odd too, because when I walked out with the dogs, Apollo had his head out his window looking towards me almost as if he was saying "Get in here, Mom".

When I got to the barn, Gypsy was lying down with Allen by her side. Gypsy is usually an early evening/into the night sleeper - not an early morning sleeper. I did take some comfort though in that I noticed she didn't seem distressed - as if she was colicing or anything. So I ran inside with the dogs, grabbed some meds incase she needed them, and ran back out. I comforted her as I tried to assess her. I was checking for gut sounds, any signs of sweating on her, abnormal breathing and looking over her overall demeanor. I then scanned her stall to make sure there were no signs of distress there either - these would be things such as any signs in her sawdust that she was thrashing or pawing and also looking to see that there was ample amount of manure for that time of the morning and that the manure itself was 'normal'.

After I determined all seemed ok, Allen threw her hay and she started nibbling it right away - another ok sign. Then, on her own, she just stood herself right up. I have to admit, after our episode this summer where she went down in the pasture and couldn't get up, I wince every time I watch her get up, holding my breath, until she is standing. Her front left seemed a little shaky and I am thinking her arthritis is getting to her. These drastic weather changes we are having too do not help. They are hard on the horses. Especially her, being older and arthritic.

So, she is hanging out loose in the barn aisle today and I pray when I get home, all is well. The pastures are too muddy to be turned loose in them, but when I get home, she'll be going on a nice long stroll through the orchard.



On being a Mom...

Many people tell you your life will change forever once you have a child. Biggest understatement I have ever heard if I do say so myself. I don't believe anyone can ever explain what 'your life will change forever' truly means until you have experienced it for yourself.

For the past 356 days, my life has changed, drastically, in so many ways. And many of these ways are silent to everyone but myself, and sometimes my husband who gets dealt the brunt of my sporadic emotional fits!

I long for a full nights sleep. But, for as long as I live, I doubt I will experience this again. A restless night doesn't end when my baby stops teething. I envision nights ahead laying awake while my child grows in leaps and bounds. Starting school, catching colds, making friends, turning into a teenager [lord help me], driving [lord help me], going to college, moving out....you catch my drift.

Everything I do today, for the past 356 days, always goes right in line with thinking of my kid. Some things I may have done before, without thought, now creates a moment of pause. Reminding myself I have a child now, who needs me, who depends on me. And I need to make sure my decisions are smart for no other reason than because I need to be here for my child.

They say when you have a baby, you life will change forever. Yes, you will have someone to care for. Diapers to change, bottles to make, teaching to do. But really, it is so much more.

It's like Groundhog Day...

This is what our nights and weekends consist of at the moment.

We'll, 'our' wouldn't be politically correct. More like, 'Allen'!

It's hard for me to get out and help him in this weather since I can't have the baby sitting out there with us!

Every morning he tells me he dreamt about apple trees during the night!



But, the good news [I think] is, he only has about 20 trees left. They are all the monster trees he saved for last! ;)



Seen it all?

I have learned that you really will never see it all!

Though, finding a metal 'caution' triangle in a hay bale, presumably from the tractor that was baling, was certainly baffling...until I put two and two together!

And then hubby opened up this bale to feed and found a dead.baby.skunk inside. Nice. Now I have seen 'a lot' when it comes to surprises in hay bales. This would be like finding a needle in a hay stack!



Real Food: Dinners

Maybe it's just me, but I hear topics about 'real' food and 'whole' foods come up more and more lately. I was in line at the library the other day checking out Heidi Swanson's books (love, by the way) and I noticed the lady in line behind me scoping out what I had. She then just asked me which books they were, showed me she was in line to check out the DVD Knives over Forks, and the conversation went from there, as you can imagine!

Lots of people think I am crazy when I talk about how we eat and what we don't eat, or try not too. Usually, I get more murmurs and looks when it is in regards to feeding my son, more so than myself and my husband, but none the less. I don't police your plate, so don't police mine. Ok, anyways -- before I get off on a soap box!.....

I was talking to a co-worker of mine and this kind of topic came up. He mentioned his family really tries to eat healthy, but it is hard. Fair enough, I can understand that. And it amazes me how mislead marketing has people - sad really. Especially since I make a living in a professional marketing field ;) At the root of our conversation, after discussing how we don't eat cereal (as in Fruit Loops, Coco Puffs....), in which he was floored, he wanted to know "So, what do you eat?" "What do you eat of any sustenance?What do you make for dinner?"

I thought I'd share here, what I told him, in hopes that it will show even one more person it can be easy. Sometimes it takes a few more minutes than a frozen meal, but it is worth the extra few minutes. So, here is an idea of a weeknight run down of dinners for us.

Monday - Pork Chops in Cream Caper Sauce (I wasn't lying when I said we eat this dish at least once every other week!)
Tuesday - Roasted [Whole] Chicken with a veg & rice or mashed potato's
Wednesday - Leftover Chicken turned into eggrolls or chicken salad - depends what is in the cupboard!
Thursday - Pan fried (in coconut oil!) cubed steaks with sweet potato baked fries and sauteed garlic spinach - sounds kinda fancy, but super fast and super easy!
Friday - Salmon baked in foil with steamed broccoli & rice -- lots of butter on the veg & rice!

Seriously, these are all pretty quick and easy meals. Aside for the cook time for the whole roasted chicken, these meals can be on the table in under an hour. And if you aren't a fan of some of the options, let me throw out a few more, off the top of my head, that are super easy in a crock pot! How about: Shredded Beef Tacos or Winter Pot Roast with Parsnips & Carrots!

So, what do you think? Easy enough? What is a 'real' meal you make for your family regularly, on a busy weeknight?