Here's a cracking little recipe for healthy homemade chicken nuggets from the Organix website. They have a lovely crunchy coating made with wholemeal breadcrumbs and lemon zest. The boys had great fun making them as you can see in the video.

I love getting the boys busy in the kitchen as much as possible. It's messy - but they are learning skills for life, and they love it as well. I have noticed that the more they get involved in food preparation the better eaters they have become.

Every Saturday we make pancakes as a family and the boys know the recipe off by heart now. They are confident weighing flour, measuring milk and cracking eggs. Joshua, who is now 8, pours batter into the pan (with supervision) and flips pancakes using a spatula.

I made the boys some personalised aprons (using printable transfer paper) which make them feel like proper chefs. I keep a couple of stools in the kitchen so they can reach the counters, and all the utensils (not knives of course!) are in pots for easy access.

I started baking with the boys from when they were very little - simple things such as shortbread and welsh cakes. They learned basic skills such as stirring, cracking eggs, weighing & measuring, shaping dough and using rolling pins and cutters.

Quick recipes which give kids a scope of choice and allow them to be creative work best in my opinion. Pitta pizzas and three ingredient cookies are great as the boys can choose and arrange various flavours and toppings.

Recipes that have a production line like the homemade chicken nuggets in the video, are great fun for kids to make. The boys loved making salmon & sweet potato fish cakes which have a similar process. It was the only way I could get them to eat salmon for a while!

I found this recipe for healthy homemade chicken nuggets on the Organix website which is packed with loads of great recipes for weaning and beyond. They make a nice meal for the whole family. We served them with jacket spuds and sugar snap peas.

They have a breadcrumb coating made with wholemeal bread and lemon zest which is absolutely lovely. I have also made them with some whizzed up rye bread instead of wholemeal bread and dried sage along with the lemon zest which works very well.

These homemade nuggets are also baked instead of fried which makes them even more healthy. You can make a yummy dip to go with them using some Greek yogurt mixed with lemon juice to taste.

Healthy Homemade Chicken Nuggets

Serves: 2 adults & 2 children
Prep time: 15-20 minutes
Cooking time: 25-30 minutes

Ingredients:

3 slices of slightly stale wholemeal bread
A pinch of ground black pepper
Zest of a lemon
4 chicken breasts
4 heaped tbsp plain flour
2 eggs

Pre-heat your oven to 200°C / 180°C fan / gas mark 6
Whizz the bread into breadcrumbs in a food processor then tip onto a plate and add black pepper and lemon zest (if you don't have a food processor you can create breadcrumbs by rubbing each slice through a fine sieve). Whisk together your eggs in a bowl.
Cut the chicken into strips (goujons)
Place the flour on a plate and dip the chicken in the flour, then into the whisked egg, then into the breadcrumbs to coat.
Place the goujons onto a greased baking tray and bake for 25-30 minutes until golden and cooked through. Turn over half way through cooking.