When I was a young Mom, my kids loved all the famous fast food. Chicken nuggets, fish sticks, fried cheese, bagel bites etc. And I served it to them. Not a lot. But often. Well we’re all much smarter now, and you can feed your kids the foods they love and have them be healthy and homemade. Try these over Spring Break and let the kids help make them.

And when you’re done and there’s leftovers, scroll down to see how to turn these chicken nuggets into Chicken ‘n Waffles. The kids will LOVE it.

Homemade Chicken Nuggets (no more drive-throughs)

Makes about 12 nuggets

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, each cut into 3 pieces

1 egg

1 1/2 tsp. garlic salt

fresh cracked pepper

1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs

2 cups Corn Flake Crumbs

1 tsp. salt

Olive oil cooking spray (or melted butter if preferred)

Cookie cutters in various shapes (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place one chicken breast (3 pieces) in the food processor and pulse about 15 times, until roughly chopped. Remove and place into a bowl. Repeat with second chicken breast and place in the bowl. Add 1 egg, garlic salt, pepper and bread crumbs and mix ingredients together by hand. If mixture is too sticky, add more bread crumbs. Set aside. Place Corn Flake Crumbs and salt in a bowl and stir. Push a small amount of chicken mixture into a greased cookie cutter. Remove and dredge completely with corn flake crumb mixture. If not using cookie cutters, simply roll into small nuggets. Place on parchment-lined cookie sheet and spray tops with olive oil cooking spray. Bake for 15 minutes and turn. Spray tops again with olive oil spray and cook another 5 – 7 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with choice of sauces – ketchup, ranch dressing, barbecue sauce or honey mustard sauce. Healthy sides like fruit, apple sauce or fresh veggie slices make this a healthy meal or snack for kids of any age.

PS – if you don’t have a food processor, just buy ground chicken.

Kids Chicken & Waffles (chuck the frozen foods)

Serves 4

4 mini toaster waffles

Homemade Chicken Nuggets

Pancake syrup

Strawberries, sliced

Toast waffles according to package instructions. Place one or two chicken nuggets on top of toasted waffle. Top with a sliced strawberry and warm pancake syrup. Enjoy.