Healthy Junk Food

If I had to describe this week in one phrase, it would he "healthy junk food." Jacob and I are junk food lovers at heart. Although we are MUCH healthier now than this time a year ago, we still crave pizza, chicken fingers, french fries and sweets. Our proudest cooking accomplishments are always when we find a clean and healthy way to eat our favorite junk foods.This week was a win in that area! On Sunday night, we ate Spicy Curried Chicken Fingers from Food Network's healthy section.

I know what you're probably thinking... "Curry? GROSS." But there is so little of it in this that it just adds a little spice!

Ingredients:

• cooking spray
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• 1 teaspoon curry
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 cups panko
• 3 chicken breasts cut into 1-inch strips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400. Spray baking sheet with cooking spray (we also put down foil first for easier cleanup)
2. Whisk eggs, mustard, curry and cumin in a shallow bowl. Place the Panko in a seperate bowl.
3. Dip the chicken strips in the egg mixture, letting the extra roll off, the coat with the Panko.
4. Place chicken on baking sheet, coating with cooking spray.
5. Bake for 10 minutes, then turn chicken and respray with cooking spray, then bake 10 more minutes!

Mmm! It was good! Then today, Jacob and I had healthy burgers and fries. Our burgers were MorningStar Farms Spicy Black Bean Burgers, which are my absolute obsession! We eat them on whole wheat sandwich thins with mustard! Our fries were adapted from Skinny Taste's Baked Seasoned Fries. Overall we liked them, but I do have a few pointers from our experience!

Ingredients:

• cooking spray
• 2 medium potatoes, washed and dried
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 1/2 tablepoon dried rosemary
• 1/2 tablespoon thyme
• 1/2 tablespoon marjoram
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1.2 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400. Line baking sheet with foil for easy clean up (always a plus!) Lightly coat with cooking spray.
2. Cut each potato width wise, then into about 1/4 inch slices. Place in large bowl.

3. Add oil and toss well. Then add all spices, ensuring that your fries are all coated.
4. Place in a single layer (This is VERY important) on baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes or until crisp, turning once halfway through.

We kind of ended up piling our fries on the baking sheet, as our potatoes ended up making a lot of fries. So, some were crispy and some were crunchy. Making sure the fries are in a single layer is very important. They had an AWESOME flavor. Another one of our favorite fry substitutes is Smashed Potatoes. They are basically the same idea, but they take quite a bit longer to make!

Hope you enjoy binging on junk food healthily! :)