Make your own breadcrumbs- It’s healthier!

Breadcrumbs or panko are a staple in my kitchen. I should point out that the two aren’t exactly the same. Panko is a Japanese style of bread crumbs, made from crustless bread. But I use both panko and regular breadcrumbs for the same purposes, so I’m going to talk about them interchangeably in this post.

How do I use them in my kitchen? Well, tiny breadcrumbs are great as a binding agent for veggie burgers, quinoa burgers, sweet potato burgers, meatballs, and so on. They also work well as a breading for fish or chicken. In the past, I just kept a shelf-stable container in my pantry and would reach for it as needed.

This last October, I participated in an Unprocessed Food Challenge. Since I already eat mostly unprocessed* foods, I initially didn’t believe it would be much of a challenge for me. I went about my daily cooking, without giving the challenge much thought (I know; I was being cocky).

But then one day, I was cooking dinner and decided to peek out of curiosity at the back label on my Progresso Plain Bread Crumbs before using. I figured it couldn’t be that bad…it’s just breadcrumbs…but I had better check just in case, since I was participating in the challenge.

I was shocked!

In my mind, breadcrumbs shouldn’t have over 30 ingredients (many of which I can’t pronounce), including high fructose corn syrup and corn syrup and honey and molasses and sugar. I get that preservatives are used for shelf-life. I understand that we need to have foods that are shelf-stable for a number of serious reasons (like natural disasters). I also realize that some of the “chemical-sounding” words in the ingredient list are actually (synthetic) vitamins that have been added back into the flour to enrich it. But really? That’s the best they could do for breadcrumb ingredients?

Before buying a container of food that logically should contain minimal ingredients, check the back. In most circumstances, fewer ingredients is better, so how many are there? What are they?

Another option is to make your own breadcrumbs. If you have bread that’s going stale, use your food processor to grind the bread up into breadcrumbs (and homemade bread is the best choice in this case, otherwise you run the risk of your breadcrumbs still being full of junk). Just tear up your bread into chunks, toss into the food processor, and pulse for about a minute, until they all have a fine consistency.

These homemade bread crumbs can be frozen in a sealed container. Just reach right in and dig out what you need, when you need it. Making your own breadcrumbs is also a great way to use up stale bread and save some money!

My bread crumb experience was a wakeup call to me, that I hadn’t been eating as well as I’d thought. I do occasionally use a can of soup, gravy mix packet, pre-made pie crust, etc., in my cooking, but when I do so, I know that I’m using processed foods. The shock was realizing that unhealthy foods could be hiding in my kitchen. What do I reach for, thinking it’s a healthy choice for my family, when it’s really not?

This year I challenge you to read those labels more often. Don’t assume something must be healthy. Check and know for sure!

Have you ever been surprised after reading ingredient labels? What foods do you try to make from scratch rather than buy prepackaged and processed?

*When I’m talking about “processed” foods being unhealthy, I don’t include foods like nuts, milk, oats, olive oil, cheese, etc. All of these foods are processed to some extent, but are still healthy, at least in moderate quantities. When I say “processed” foods, I’m generally talking about your prepackaged meals like Hamburger Helper, sugary cereals, hot dogs, pre-formed burgers, french fries, etc. These foods are heavily processed, and the ingredient lists are usually a little scary.

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RedHot Buffalo Chicken Dip #gameday

Confession time- I don’t like team sports. I’d rather go hiking or skiing than play a football game or watch March Madness. But, if there’s going to be food, count me in! Tailgating parties have the best comfort food for me, and hot wings or buffalo chicken dip are at the top of my game day food list.

Frank’s® RedHot® sauce is celebrating its 50th birthday, and I received some RedHot swag because of it as well as two free product coupons. I used one of my coupons to purchase RedHot’s Hot Buffalo Wings sauce. Then I made this delicious, RedHot Buffalo Chicken Dip!

Ingredients:

  • 1 (8 oz.) package Cream Cheese, softened
  • 1/2 cup Blue Cheese or Ranch salad dressing*
  • 1/2 cup any flavor Frank’s RedHot Sauce
  • 1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese or shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 2 cans (12.5 oz each) premium chunk chicken breast in water, drained**

*After spending some summers and winter holidays in Buffalo, NY, I became a huge fan of the traditional buffalo wings and celery dipped in blue cheese. That’s why I chose to use the blue cheese salad dressing and the Hot Buffalo Wings sauce. However, I did use mozzarella instead of blue cheese, because I already had a huge bag in the fridge.

**I couldn’t find any 12.5 oz cans of chicken, but I did find and use 10 oz cans. It was still plenty of chicken.

Steps:

1. Heat oven to 350ºF. Place cream cheese into deep baking dish or casserole dish. Stir until smooth.
2. Mix in salad dressing, Frank’s RedHot sauce and cheese. Stir in chicken. If the chicken chunks are bigger than you like, use a fork to chop them up.
3. Bake 20 minutes or until mixture is heated through; stir. Garnish as desired. I served mine with homemade crackers, carrots, and celery.

Recipe notes:

This dip was super easy to make and so delicious! You can also make this in the microwave or slow cooker. To reduce calories, use neufchatel cheese instead of cream cheese and low-fat salad dressing instead of regular. For more tips, visit FranksRedHot.com.

FLASH Giveaway!

Giveaway starts at 4pm EST 2/19 (today) and ends at 11:59pm EST 2/21 (Friday). US only.

  • Frank’s RedHot Back-pack
  • Frank’s RedHot Drink Coozie
  • Frank’s RedHot Keychain
  • Frank’s RedHot Blinking Hot Lips
  • Frank’s RedHot Magnet
  • Coupon for product

If you agree to the terms and conditions listed directly below, keep scrolling and enter to win!

Terms & Conditions: Sweepstakes open to residents of the continental US. Must be 18 years or older. Void where prohibited by law. Two entrants allowed per household. Odds of winning depend on total number of eligible entries received. Once winner has been selected and emailed, winner will have 24 hours to respond or new winner will be selected. Winner’s name may be posted on this blog and other social media and Web sites. My Life: A Work in Progress is not responsible for prize fulfillment. Sweepstakes not associated with Facebook or any other social media platform. Entrance into the sweepstakes indicates acceptance of these terms and conditions.

Note: I received complimentary coupons for Frank’s RedHot sauce and some other promotional items but was not otherwise compensated for this post or giveaway.
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Using a digital kitchen scale for baking (MIRA review)

Disclosure: I got this product as part of an advertorial.


Did you catch my first post on using a digital kitchen scale? In that post, I focused on using a kitchen scale for portion control. The servings you eat affect your waistline and your wallet. Today I’m writing about using a digital kitchen scale for baking.

Have you ever come across a recipe that used grams or ounces instead of cups and tablespoons? If you have, chances are it was a recipe that originated overseas. Most household kitchens in the US don’t have a scale. I did some web searching to figure out why that’s so. King Arthur Flour has a fascinating (well, it was to me, anyway) section that discusses the history of baking measurements in the States. The site suggests that in the early 1800s, it was easier for Americans- especially those heading west in search of a homestead- to measure items with a “teacup” or “butter the size of an egg” and so on. Early American recipes and old cookbooks contain these types of measurements.

Sometimes recipes geared towards North America still have the weights written in next to the measurements (like the recipe I use below). Why does it matter? Why use a scale?

There’s a reason why measuring is important for recipes, especially when baking. Measuring cups and spoons just aren’t accurate enough. I usually blame my oven when something I bake doesn’t turn out as expected, but after learning more…I wonder if perhaps my measurements are off from the start.

To begin with, not all measuring cups are the same size. I’d never even taken this into consideration before researching. I would bake a cake and use one brand of measuring cups for flour and pull out a different brand to measure my sugar. The proportions are probably going to be off, unless you use the exact same measuring cup for measuring each ingredient.

Second, ingredients themselves can vary in size. A cup of flour in Southern Florida is going to contain more moisture and be fluffier than a cup of flour in dry Arizona (or winter in the North East). So if it’s humid, you’ll probably need to fill up your measuring cup a little more, and if it’s dry outside- the opposite.

The weight of flour, however, is something you can rely on, year round. So use that kitchen scale! It’s the same concept for most foods- dates, prunes, raisins, chopped carrots, sugar, grated cheese, and so on.

How much does a cup of flour weigh? Well, that’s debated. King Arthur Flour recommends 4 1/2 ounces, and that’s what they use in their recipes. TheKitchn.com, a popular home kitchen site, has a list of flours -all purpose, bread, whole wheat, pastry, etc.- and their recommended weights for each.

If the recipe you’re using gives a weight (or perhaps it’s listed in the beginning of a cookbook), always default to that. Other than that, you’ll most likely develop your own preference as you use your scale more.

For more on the accuracy of kitchen scales and why many people like them, read this article from the New York Times.

And I’m not going to waste this opportunity to promote my favorite brown sugar cookie recipe! These are my second favorite kind of cookies ever. They are in no way healthy, but they are SOOOOO TASTY. The recipe is for “Chewy Brown Sugar Cookies” from SeriousEats.com. Keep scrolling to see how I use a digital kitchen scale to measure my dry ingredients.

For this recipe, I used a MIRA Glass Digital Kitchen Scale (in gray). As I mentioned in my previous kitchen scale post, the tare function means you can “zero out” the weight of whatever bowl or plate, etc., you place on the scale.

In the photo below, I’d just added brown sugar. My egg and melted butter were already in the bowl. I pressed the “on/off/tare” button once, and it reset the scale to zero. Then I started scooping in my brown sugar until the scale read 330 grams.

If you don’t want to weigh in grams, just press the “unit” button. This scale also weighs ounces/pounds, millilitres, fluid ounces, and grams. Like the MIRA stainless steel scale, this glass one has an automatic shut off function and can weigh up to 11 pounds.

So after baking my cookies, guess how many dishes I had to wash? Just what you see in the photo below, plus my cookie sheet. Not bad, eh?

By the way, in case you’re wondering which scale I’m going to keep and which scale is going to make it into the kitchen of my sister-in-law-the-avid-home-baker…I’m keeping the stainless steel scale. They both work equally well. The glass scale is a little larger, and it looks classier. But I feel that the stainless steel top would be a little sturdier if I drop anything on it, and I’m a total klutz!

They’re both lovely, and I would recommend checking them out on (affiliate link>) Amazon. There are different colors available for the glass scale, which I think is pretty cool. The orange one is my favorite. 🙂

So what do you think? Did you learn something new about kitchen scales and measuring cups? Would you be willing to use one in your kitchen?

Note: I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

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