Grind It Up!

What? You don’t grind meat up on a Friday night with your Hubby? Seriously… all the cool kids are doing it!

Guess what Hubby got me for Christmas… I am starting to think that we just got each other gifts that we secretly really wanted. He wasn’t quite sure about the whole meat grinder & how I’d like it. He even told me about it prior to purchasing for Christmas & I’m sure my sour face didn’t convince him I was sold either. Meat grinder? It’s not exactly the most romantic gift…

Oh… what did I know?!

We busted out some mostly frozen chicken (because we read it’s better to grind frozen or super cold meat so it stays nice & tender), hooked up our new meat grinder Kitchen-Aid mixer attachment, and got to work.

Works like a dream!

After we ground up 4 large chicken boneless breasts, we split it up into 2 batches. Hubby wanted to make some patties for burgers, and I wanted to give Lani’s homemade chicken nugget recipe a whirl. Ready…break!

Lani used a food processer for hers…I just shoved the onion & apple through the grinder and mixed it all up in the bowl. Easy peasy!

I just went straight to the oven with my nuggets, versus frying them a little to crunch them up. We weren’t going to eat them right away, and I was making them so we would have them stocked up in the freezer, on hand for a quick fix lunch or dinner for the little dude (or my nugget-lovin’ self). 2 large chicken breasts easily made 4 dozen nuggets…too bad I dumped about 10 of them on the floor when I was pulling them out of the oven. Bonehead move. But they are delicious and oh-so-handy to have in the freezer. I just pop a few in the toaster oven for 5 minutes & they’re hot & crispy.

Hubby added herbs and spices to his half of the grindings and I don’t even know what else to the mixture. We put some parchment paper down on a cookie sheet, put a hunk of meat mixture on it, another piece of parchment, and squished it to make a patty. Then we stuck the cookie sheet & all in the freezer. Once the patties were frozen, we transferred them to freezer safe Ziploc bags. These have been a great quick fix dinner for us. Hubby throws them on the grill & they’re done in no time. I love that they’re a little crispy on the outside. So so good! I told Hubby I felt like I was cheating on one of my favorite meals – a good ol’ fashioned cheeseburger. This totally satisfies my burger craving, but on an obviously healthier note.

The best part of our new little toy is stretching our piddly dollars that extra mile. 4 chicken breasts would usually make us 2 dinners and at least one lunch, maybe two. By grinding our own meat, we made 48 chicken nuggets = 12 lunches for the little dude, and 10 chicken patties = 3 dinners for our whole family. 21 meals out of 4 chicken breasts. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?! Needless to say, I’m keeping my eyes peeled for great deals on chicken, maybe a beef chuck roast, and whatever other meaty goodness I can get my hands on. I think my little meat grinder has already paid for itself!