![\"Junk](\"https:\/\/www.jameswhelanbutchers.com\/info\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/02\/junk_food.jpg\" "\\"Junk")
<\/a>Junk Food<\/p><\/div>\n
But how many adults are also quick to slap a negative connotation on many foods that have, essentially been kidnapped by an industry.\u00a0 I\u2019m talking about burgers, chips, chicken nuggets, pizza, fish fingers, even ice cream, biscuits and sweets!\u00a0 We might all say that these foods are not good for you.\u00a0 However if you are prepared to make them yourself then there\u2019s no need to fear them at all as a threat.<\/p>\n
Children these days intrigue me.\u00a0 Some of them have no real knowledge of how real food is made or where it comes from other than the shop or supermarket, but yet you will find amazing adult words like \u2018carbohydrate\u2019 and \u2018diet\u2019 in a five year old\u2019s vocabulary.\u00a0 Just like the six year old who spoke of junk food I heard an even younger child say, \u201cI\u2019m not allowed to have too many carbohydrates\u201d, as he barely pronounced the word.\u00a0 While it is good to educate our children, maybe we need to look at our approach.\u00a0 Children are literal.\u00a0 Telling a child a \u201cburger is bad\u201d or, as another child declared to me, \u201cbread makes you fat\u201d is a misguided approach in the extreme.<\/p>\n
I love my kids to eat junk food; that is the junk food that I make them myself.\u00a0 We don\u2019t have it every day, but I love providing the treat of mini homemade burgers with lovely real potatoes sliced into thick crunchy chips.\u00a0 The only reason the burgers are \u2018mini\u2019 is to fit in their little hands.\u00a0 Pizza is a big hit and while I sometimes concede to a bought pizza base every now and again the toppings are always fresh.\u00a0 One particularly fun event was lining all the toppings out in little bowls and letting them be their own master chef.\u00a0 It certainly took the sting out of a wet Saturday afternoon.\u00a0 I\u2019ve also created pizza on pitta bread and they have always been a triumph as well.<\/p>\n
Chicken nuggets seem to be a universally loved children\u2019s food.\u00a0 There is nothing at all nutritionally wrong with chicken nuggets if they are made of real chicken.\u00a0 To be honest there is a sensory pleasure in the creation of chicken nuggets.\u00a0 I like to pan fry the breast quickly just to sear it and make it easier to cut into pieces.\u00a0 Then I bathe it in seasoned flour, some egg and finally breadcrumbs; creating a little army of breaded pieces that are always delicious.\u00a0 Of course I can\u2019t leave things alone and so I often experiment with the flour seasoning by adding in a little turmeric spice or cumin; not too hot of course, or other things from time to time.\u00a0 For a more adult nugget, just slice the chicken in lengths and you\u2019ve created the slightly more glamourous chicken goujon.<\/p>\n
I was recently treated to a bowl of homemade ice cream.\u00a0 Despite the fact that it is still winter and possibly not the most obvious time for ice cream it was an experiment in a recently acquired Christmas gift of an ice cream maker.\u00a0 The end result was fantastic.\u00a0 Now it was quite a grown up affair as there was alcohol involved but I\u2019m already looking forward to the possibilities that will no doubt grace my palate from said ice cream maker come the warmer months.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Homemade Ice Cream<\/p><\/div>\n
Let\u2019s reclaim some of this junk food territory and make sure that popular and culturally fun food isn\u2019t completely lost to us just because some people have exploited recipes to the point of removing the real goodness and substituting chemicals in their place.\u00a0 We can enjoy junk food and eat it without guilt as long as we make the junk food ourselves.<\/p>\n
We hope you enjoyed reading this post by Pat Whelan of James Whelan Butchers. Pat is a 5th generation butcher, cook book author and the director of \u00a0James Whelan Butchers with shops in Clonmel, the Avoca Handweavers Rathcoole and Kilmacanogue, Dunnes Stores Cornelscourt, Rathmines and Swords in Dublin.\u00a0Sign up to our newsletter for more updates from James Whelan Butchers<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There is nothing boring about the English language, particularly if you consider how words evolve and grow.\u00a0 Created to mean one thing specifically, words can quickly catch on and take on whole new explanations with different generations.\u00a0 These days technology also informs how we use words and I\u2019m very aware that there is a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[25],"tags":[212,213,48,211,47],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n