Eating Our Way Through Med School: Family and food :)

It has been a few days since I last posted, but I assure you we of course continued to eat. This past weekend we had the opportunity to spend time with both sets of family. (The above picture is from the table at my mom's house). With Joel's first block of medical school successfully completed we were able to take the time to go see my mom, and were lucky enough it was a weekend when his parents were able to be in town as well.

While we have come to love our apartment, it is always a welcome break to step away for a weekend. Especially since we have both been blessed with incredibly wonderful families who seem to think we aren't so bad either :)

This trip began with a late night of laundry on Wednesday to prepare for our travels. As we waited up into the wee hours of the morning for our clothes to dry, I decided we might need a snack for the 6ish hour car ride home.

This is when...at approximately 1am I decided it would be the best option to make homemade bread so I could make us bruschetta for the car ride. (Again, as usual I understand how crazy this seems.)

Without yeast at home, and with the idea we needed a sturdier bread I decided to make an Irish Soda Baguette of sorts - no this is not a real thing...but at 1am I decided it could be. The result was this loaf:

While much more dense than a real french baguette, it was actually perfect for a road trip bruschetta because it was not so crumbly. The resulting chicken bruschetta made with our last 3 tomatoes I needed to use up was this:

I sprinkled it with sharp cheddar before I put it in the oven as a tasty way to seal down the toppings for the car. I also threw it in the fridge over night so it would be ready to take with when we left.

Now, I do realize chicken bruschetta is not the normal car snack...but eating that and some fruit on the way left us feeling less dumpy than if we had stopped for something quick along the way - and eliminated the need for stopping.

While we were gone we had the opportunity to share some wonderful meals out with our very generous parents, which besides being able to enjoy their company was also a treat for us since we don't eat out much.

I did however cook a little while I was home....and I will share that recipe with you.

For lunch on Saturday we had homemade chicken fingers with sweet potato fries and homemade honey mustard sauce:

Ingredients for the chicken fingers:

Crackers

(I used these from Gorgonzola crackers from Trader Joe's because we were lucky enough to have them around at my mom's house - but with the lack of TJ's at home I usually use wheat thins or flavored bread crumbs.)

Boneless skinnless chicken breasts

(As many as you need/want - I used 2 for all of us to eat)

1 egg

(I got to use a lovely brown egg at my mom's, but any will do - and if you don't have eggs you can also use butter or sour cream to dip the chicken in)

A splash of worcestershire sauce in with egg

(A tsp or less just for some flavor)

A splash of TJ's parmesan ranch in with egg

(Again a tsp or less just for some flavor - you could also add some parmasan with your crackers instead as I have often done with the lack of such a lovely product as this)

Method:

Preheat oven to 425°

Place crackers in ziplock and crush with rolling pin - you could also do this in a food processor, but I prefer the slight variation of crumbs/less clean up that comes from crushing them this way.

For more tender chicken fingers pound thawed chicken breasts with a meat mallet or use a meat tenderizer (I got to use my mom's wonderful meat mallet - at our apartment we have a meat tenderizer that you push into the meat and many small sharp blades break the meat down. I do prefer this meat mallet however...)

Slice pounded chicken breasts into desired length and width. Set aside.

Crack egg into bowl and whip with fork. Stir in worchestshire and ranch sauces.

Set up a chicken dipping station. Have your egg mixture, cracker crumbs, chicken pieces and a lightly greased pan ready. Dipping first in the egg mixture then rolling in the crumbs.

Place prepared chicken in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, or until chicken is no longer pink on the inside.

Chicken fingers will be lightly golden brown, delicately flavored, and ready to dip in your favorite sauce.

I just used frozen sweet potato fries from Trader Joe's...which are awesome.

For the honey mustard:

1/4 c. mayo, 1 tsp stone ground mustard, 1 tsp honey & splash of lime juice. - Adjust quantities for larger amount.

Voila! Homemade honey mustard.

While at my mom's house we were able to enjoy her home cooking..

...including...

...chocolate chip zucchini bread with brown butter cream cheese frosting...

YUM!!!

I do not have the recipe for this...which may be a good thing because in the course of a few days Joel and I managed to devour an entire loaf. Sooooo good.

The following are just a few pictures I took of things around my mom's house that made it seem very much like I was home.