Prep. Ahead Family Meals - Homemade McDonalds!

It seems that each year I *need* to buy a new attachment for the KitchenAid and, after watching Jamie and Jimmy on Friday nights, wanted to try to make my own saltless sausages. I did succeed using the usual food processor, but the blade isn’t overly sharp and it was difficult to break down the fat in the cuts of meat needed for sausages. Therefore, I ordered a food grinder attachment and the fun began! Keep an eye out for a vlog detailing how to use it to make these!

I bought free-range chicken breasts and proceeded to feed them through the grinder. It worked a treat! I added pepper to the mix, and bagged up. This was the only prep. that really needed doing for this meal since I don’t like cutting potatoes up ahead of time in case they go brown. If you don’t have a grinder, you can use the processor, especially for chicken breasts, or leave the breast whole and just flatten it slightly by putting it in a freezer bag and battering with a rolling pin!

On the night I took the chicken mince out and shaped it: chicken nuggets for F and chicken burgers for us, then coated everything in breadcrumbs mixed with lemon zest and pepper. (I didn’t need egg and flour to help the coating stick as minced chicken is very sticky anyway!) These are something you can easily make ahead and keep a store of in the freezer as I do. Stale baguettes work especially well. I put lumps of mine into the coffee grinder then leave out to dry out a bit before popping into a tub and freezing. To get colour on your McDonalds, you’re best frying off slightly on a hot heat first, before putting in the oven at about 180 degrees to complete cooking. The nuggets took 10-15 mins and the burgers 20ish. I cut the seeded burger buns and toasted them slightly too. I chopped potatoes and sweet potatoes on the night and put them with a little olive oil into a hot oven. Once cooked, top the bread with iceberg lettuce and mayo then the burger.

It’s always more fun if you make little bags for the nuggets and chips for the little ones, so I just folded some greaseproof baking paper and used masking tape to tape up the sides.

 

 

 

This meal was a definite hit. F even said “Thank you for making this mum. I really love it!” We healthied ours up a bit with sweet potato chips and salad but since there was no salt at all and mainly oven baked, it was a fun and healthy treat!