Chicken and Apple Balls

 

I found this recipe in The Healthy Baby Meal Planner and it looked like fun!  These healthy and delicious balls would work well for a variety of ages.  They make a great meal for your baby, and healthy snack for any older children.

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons light olive oil, and extra for frying 
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 large Granny Smith apple, peeled and grated
• 2 chicken breast fillets, cut into chunks
• 1/2 tbsp fresh parsley
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme or sage
• 1 chicken bouillon cube, crumbled (from 1 year)
• 1 cup fresh white breadcrumbs, may substitute 1 cup of oatmeal
• salt and freshly ground pepper (from 1 year)
• all purpose flour for coating

Steps:

1. Cook chicken chunks in skillet on medium high heat until cooked all the way through.
2. Heat 2 tsp of olive oil in a pan and sauté half of the onions
3. Peel and grate the apple, squeeze out excess juice with your hand
4. Combine all ingredients into a food processor, and pulse until well mixed
5. The mixture should be nice and pasty and stick together fairly well.  Roll into golf sized balls.
6. Fill pan with light layer of olive oil and bring to medium-high heat.
7. Lightly coat balls in flour, and pan fry for approximately 5 minutes.
8. Finished product!

Yield: Between 20 and 25 balls.

Timing: If omitting the above mentioned spices, this could be given as early as 9 months.  12 months if using all the spices.  The apple and chicken balls are very soft, and can be easily mashed in your babies teeth.

Misc: Whenever making any type of meatball or loaf that calls for breadcrumbs, I usually substitute it for oatmeal.  It tastes just as good, and it’s a little healthier!

Storage: I have saved half of the apple and chicken balls for the freezer (before coating with flour), where I will keep them up to one month in air tight Tupperware.  The balls that I have already cooked up will stay in the fridge for one week.

Difficulty: I give this a 2 out of 5!  There were a lot of little side steps before you get to the final mixture, but they were easy… even for me.

Epicutie Rating: Not so sure I like it… yet! Little Frances is coming off getting her first set of molars which has made for much pickier eating that usual.  However, I was encouraged by the several bites that she took, and I will try this again tomorrow.