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Healthy Fast Food:
at home and budget friendly...
If you have children, you know how hard it can be to balance their desire for high fat convenience foods with your desire for healthy foods. Fortunately with a little creativity the foods you give your children can be both convenient and healthy. My children love fish sticks and French fries, and being a mom, I just can't bring myself to serve prepared ones. The commercial fish sticks alone provide an average of 12 g of fat and only 9 g of protein per serving. When I make my own, they have less than 1 g of fat and 25 g protein per serving. This recipe is also nice to have in your tool box because it is very flexible, I have served it to guests in the guise of fish tacos, used leftovers in salads, and made double and triple batches so that I have them in the freezer for busy nights. My children prefer them to store-bought because there is more fish and they don't come out of the oven soggy.
Healthy Fish Sticks
Recipe by Alice Paul, Dietetic Intern
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- 1 pound of mild white fish (I often use cod or tilapia)
- ¾ c fine dry bread crumbs
- 3 egg whites
- 2 teaspoons of water
- 1 teaspoon of lemon pepper seasoning
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Cut the fish into 1-inch strips and set aside. Mix the egg whites and water and beat with a fork until combined. Stir together lemon pepper seasoning and bread crumbs. Dip the fish in the egg white and then toss with bread crumbs to coat (you will probably need to do this in small batches to get the fish well coated). Place the breaded fish on greased cookie sheets in 1 layer and bake in a 425o F oven for 15 minutes or until cooked through.
(To freeze, spread raw fish sticks on a pan in a single layer and move to the freezer. Once frozen, transfer the fish to plastic baggies. Bake at 425o and cook them for about 25 minutes or until cooked through.)
Nutrient Facts per 3 ounce serving: 25 g protein, 1 g fat, and 182 calories. Calculated with USDA nutrient database www.nal.usda.gov.
When just serving this recipe as fish sticks, I often serve carrot sticks and apple wedges on the side, and it's eat-with-your-fingers night. My children like chili sauce, cocktail sauce, and salad dressing for dippers.
If I want to serve fish and chips, I cut potatoes into thin wedges (usually 8 wedges per potato, with the skin on) and toss them with olive oil and start baking them about 20 minutes before I put the fish in the oven.
To dress this up for company, I serve it as fish tacos. I just warm some corn or flour tortillas and serve them with coleslaw mix, some shredded cheese, limes, chipotle mayonnaise or dressing. With a salad and baked fruit it is a good meal for a casual dinner party. You can also use the breading on whole fillets or change the seasonings. Be creative and enjoy!
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