Hi, all. I was pretty quiet last week—sorry about that. I was catching up on work in order to prepare for this week, when I’m on vacation. A quiet week last week will hopefully mean a chattier week this week since I’ve got the time now to spend more time cooking and eating. Yum!

How Things Are Going
In short: Decently well. I’m not 100% real food, and I’m fairly certain I may never be. I’m striving for about 90%. That would be a huge improvement for me.

For all of you who have reported doing the real-food thing for a while now, how does the ratio of real food to slightly less real food in your diet balance out? Do you think being Totally Real is possible?

In any case, I’m feeling really great, and with the weight that I’m losing on top of my healthier eating, I’ve got energy and a clear head. Love that!

Now for What You Really Want
A few of you asked for my hot cocoa recipe last week. I’m pleased to share it here. To give credit where it’s due, the recipe is actually a concoction created by my husband. He started by using some of the recipes printed on cocoa powder containers and went from there.

Scott’s Spiced-Up Hot Cocoa
Serves 4

3 cups milk (if you’re really going for decadent, adding some half-and-half is divine)
2 heaping TB cocoa powder
2 heaping TB sugar
ground chile pepper of your choice, to taste (we prefer chipotle)
cinnamon stick
dash vanilla extract

Stir together the cocoa, sugar, and pepper in a heavy, medium-sized saucepan. Whisk in the milk and stir until well-blended. Add the cinnamon stick and vanilla and cook on low to medium heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar and cocoa are dissolved. Be careful not to scorch the milk.

Pour it into cups and serve with marshmallows or whipped cream, if you like.

*A note about the chile pepper: We like to use a spice blend from McCormick that is a Cocoa-Chile blend. We often stir a little into stews, too, when we want the depth and richness of cocoa and the zing of chipotle.

A Family-Friendly Recipe
I did some cooking over the weekend. I wanted to give a recipe from the new book Cook This Not That a try. I’ve never explored the “This Not That” series before, and didn’t know what to expect.

Cook This Not That shows you how to make healthier versions of restaurant favorites. It was Saturday night and I needed something for my family, so I went for the Chicken Fingers, which the book offered as a healthier alternative to Chili’s Crispy Honey-Chipotle Crispers.

Here’s the recipe, verbatim from Cook This Not That

CHICKEN FINGERS

Whether shaped like nuggets, stars, crowns, or fingers, deep-fried chicken bites do a major disservice to one of the planet’s best sources of protein. Let the restaurant coat it in one of their special sauces and you could be downing nearly a full day’s worth of calories on a food designed for children. In fact, Chili’s popular Crispers pack in more calories than a dozen Fresco Beef Tacos from Taco Bell and more sodium than 24 small bags of Lay’s potato chips. Make the switch to this oven-fried version once a week and you’ll shed 25 pounds (and cut out 210,080 milligrams of sodium) in a year.

You’ll Need:
1 lb boneless, skinless chicken tenders
Salt and black pepper to taste
3 egg whites, lightly beaten
2 cups panko bread crumbs
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp chipotle pepper puree
1 Tbsp honey

How to Make It:
1. Preheat the oven to 450°F. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Place the egg whites in a shallow bowl. Place the crumbs on a plate and season those, too. Dip the chicken tenders into the egg, then toss in the crumbs, being sure to coat fully.
2. Place the breaded chicken pieces on a baking sheet coated with nonstick cooking spray and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the crumbs have browned and the chicken is firm.
3. Combine the mustard, chipotle, and honey in a large bowl. Toss the cooked chicken tenders in the mixture so they are all evenly coated with the spicy-sweet sauce.

Makes 4 servings / Cost per serving: $2.00
250 calories
1.5 g fat (0 g saturated)
350 mg sodium

NOT THAT!
Chili’s Crispy Honey-Chipotle Crispers
1,930 calories
108 g fat
(17 g saturated)
4,390 mg sodium
Price: $8.99

Our Assessment
In all, this was a hit. My girls ate it up and I knew, for once, that the nugget-like chicken they were eating wasn’t filled with mystery ingredients I wouldn’t be inclined to stock in my pantry. My husband and I liked it a lot, too. The panko bread crumbs were wonderfully crunchy.

Since we found our pantry shockingly lacking in Dijon mustard, we skipped the sauce in the recipe and used a raspberry-chipotle barbecue sauce we had on hand.

My version didn’t come out as gloriously brown and lovely as the picture, but I’m attributing that to two things:
1. I have a brand new oven that I’m still getting the hang of (Yay! It’s here!)
2. The panko pieces were a little large. Next time I’ll crush them into a finer crumb.

Hope all of your real-food pursuits are going well.

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