Easy Family Healthy Dinner Idea with the Hardest Working Appliance!

My mother in law jokes that we have the hardest working kitchen in the country! She may be right. We cook at home and feed our family of five whole foods everyday. We also love to have house guests and entertain. (YES, you CAN entertain in a small home!) When we are home, we are generally in this kitchen space. So I need my appliances to be 100% practical and useful! I am going to share a super easy family healthy dinner idea all made in the hardest working appliance. I have had to ditch appliances that I only occasionally used. And I am totally thrilled with this new appliance, we had family over while we made the dinner and everyone was pretty impressed with it!

I have learned some things about how to make our kitchen work for our needs that I would like to share:

• Being intentional with the appliances and gadgets we bring into our kitchen.
• Getting creative with both the storage and the way we use those items.

We are really used to living in a smaller space now, but in the beginning it was a hard adjustment. I had to let some things go. I write more about that here. Now, when I am making a purchase for our home (and especially the kitchen),  I always ask myself the following questions:

1. How will this item be used?Is this gadget or appliance a “one-trick pony ?”
2. Will this item create something for me that I am missing? 
3. Can this item help me get rid of other items and make our lives more efficient?

When the folks from Emeril Lagasse reached out and told me about the Power AirFryer 360, I was intrigued. I already own an air fryer and have found it to be such a great way to quickly cook healthy meals for my family. It cooks food by circulating seamless airflow with HIGH temperatures so you get that signature crispy “fried taste,” but with NO OIL (so you have none of the guilt). Many people (myself included) think of AirFryers and think of food you would traditionally eat fried: french fries, nuggets, taquitos, etc. What I particularly liked about this product, though, is that it does so much more than just that. It can actually replace up to nine other kitchen appliances--talk about working hard!  It can bake, broil, roast, toast, dehydrate, slow cook, keep warm and reheat.

I wanted to test the roasting feature right away and I was seriously impressed with these carrots I made! 

The other thing that the AirFryer 360 does is free up time. In the middle of the summer, it can be hard to get motivated to cook healthy meals for the family. It is hot outside and the last thing you want to do is heat up your home by turning on your oven! Summertime is also busy with lots of fun things to do. Time gets away from you, and it can be tempting to reach for less than healthy options. Feeding my family (and myself) healthy, nutrient-rich food is something I am not willing to compromise, so finding more convenient ways to do it is a NO-BRAINER! 

A New Kitchen Staple-

We actually love this little powerhouse so much that we are going to incorporate it into our home addition! Part of that will be a kitchen overhaul and I am adding a plug into the island. Future homeowners can choose to use it for a microwave, but we will be using it for this baby! It is THAT good. Dont worry.. I will share ALL of what we are planning on with that addition as we get closer–We are EXCITED!

You may know that I don’t own a microwave, but I am always asked how we reheat food. Are you ready for the big secret?? We use OUR OVEN to reheat left overs. It is revolutionary. LOL. But truly, it tastes so much better that way. The Emerial Lagasse AirFryer 360 has been so awesome for reheating food for us. Same great taste as the oven, but much quicker!

BBQ Chicken Sandwiches with Sweet Potato Fries

We have loved to use our AirFryer 360 for complete meals. One of those meals has been these delicious BBQ chicken sandwiches with roasted veggies and air fried sweet potato fries.   

This recipe will definitely become a staple for your family. The entire meal was made in the AirFryer 360! 

Rotisserie

We bought this Peruvian BBQ seasoning from Whole Foods and everyone loved it! We rubbed it on the chicken liberally with some honey, olive oil and salt.

Following the instructions for the Rotisserie setting, we tied up the chicken and set it to cook. 

I wish you could smell how amazing it was when we pulled it out of the Fryer. We used a meat thermometer and pulled it out when is was at 165 degrees. A meat thermometer is an important tool when grilling or cooking meat in general. The taste and look of a rotisserie-cooked meat is so unique and you just cant get the same effect baking or grilling. 

If you’d like to know more about the Emeril Lagasse AirFryer 360, or to purchase one for your hard-working kitchen, you can do so here.

Toaster

Ever toasted your bun for a BBQ sandwich or hamburger? If not, you NEED TO TRY IT! While the chicken rested, we used the toasting feature to toast the buns. 

Air Fry

There is just nothing like a sweet potato fry that is crispy on the outside and soft in the middle and this AirFryer made them perfectly! We just used the crinkle cut Sweet Potatoes and also Squash from Whole Foods (in the produce section).

While these “fried,” we shredded the chicken for the sandwiches.  

Quick Healthy Meal-

This type of meal is easy to modify for special diets. I try to eat PALEO the majority of the time, so I just left off the bun and added more salad! To read more about how I eat, see this post. 

If you’d like to know more about the Emeril Lagasse AirFryer 360, or to purchase one for your hard-working kitchen, you can do so here.

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