RECIPE - Paleo Chicken Tenders and Honey Mustard

As I promised, I am posting the recipes i made last week. I am starting with this one as it was by far my husband's favorite! Sometimes I do think he's just being nice about eating the recipes I make, he's definately not on board with Paleo, yet.

I was a little leery about making this recipe when I saw all the coconut, I was not in the mood for coconut chicken. Even as I I was making it I was thinking to myself this is not going to taste very good, or I'll mess it up and it'll be a weird coconut-y mess. To my surprise, it wasn't a mess, wasn't too coconut-y. It was Delicious!! Yay. I was so happy and happier when Ted gave it the highest rating yet (5 flamingos!).

These Paleo Chicken Strips are only easy and delicious, but it's very kid friendly. It looks like  any typical chicken strips kids tend to shovel into their mouths and the honey mustard sauce is reminiscent of McDonald's honey mustard (but far better). If you happen to make this for your kiddos, I suggest pairing it with carrot fries and make some homemade ketchup (I will be making that soon).

Here's the recipe, enjoy!

Ingredients:
1 lb chicken pieces (I used 2 large chicken breasts)
1/4 cup coconut or oil oil (I used coconut oil, it's my oil of choice)
1 cup dried shredded coconut, unsweetened (I found it VERY difficult to find unsweetened shredded coconut)
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper (I used fresh ground pepper, coursely ground)
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp ground mustard seed (I didn't have this, so i used mustard powder instead and it was fine)

Honey Mustard Sauce:
2 tbsp whole grain mustard, no sugar added (I used Annie's brand organic dijon mustard)
4 tbsp agave necter

-baking sheet
-3 large bowls

makes 4 servings

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
2. line a baking sheet with parchment paper tin foil.
(I used parchment paper but I hate how is burns and smells horrible,  I worry I will start a fire, so next time I will use tin foil).

3. Mix all the spices and coconut flour in a (shallow) bowl
4. Pour oil into a second bowl (if using coconut oil, melt it so it's a liquid)
5. Pour shredded coconut into a 3rd bowl
6. Roll each chicken piece in the coconut flour mixture, lightly shake off the excess
7. Next, dip each chicken piece into the oil and shake off excess
8. Lastly, Roll each piece in the coconut shreds and roll until lightly coated
9. Place chicken pieces on baking sheet
10. Bake for 10 minutes
11. Flip chicken pieces over and bake for 10 more minutes
12. Turn the oven to broil (I broiled on high), cook for another 5 minites until the chicken is evenly browned.
13. While the chicken is booking, mix the honey and mustard in a small bowl for sipping

...
This recipe took me about 30 minutes from prep to table and nothing is better than that!

Tips and Variations:
-The coconut in this recipe gives the chicken a nice hint of flavor, not too overpowering at all. I think it would be great sliced up over some cauliflower rice and steamed or stir fried veggies as a nice variation.
-This recipe would also be great with a little kick of cayenne pepper!

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we did. I actually plan on making it again tonight.
-Hilary

What’s the deal with Sugar?

I literally found myself asking that question last Sunday as I prepared to make General Pso’s chicken. It called for Molasses! Eeeek!

I am not an expert on Paleo (as I have said time and time again), nor do I pretend to be. My goal is just to eat to a Paleo standard and search out recipes to make it easier for me to do so (and enable me to easily incorporate my allergy restrictions). I have read articles, studies, books and cookbooks but I still find myself asking what’s the deal with sugar? Is it ok, or not ok to have?? and why is that once aspect of Paleo living so hard to comprehend...so hard to answer?

I pretty much resigned myself to just not adding a sugar or sweetener to recipes, other than fruit or coconut butter. But more and more, I find recipes that call for an added sweetener that I just really want to try. I decided to research some more in hopes of answering my own question, "what's the deal with sugar"?

Well the deal is no added processed or refined sugar.
Sweeteners from nectar and sap (from what I gather) are ok. What is not ok is sugar that is granular, i.e. refined. Meaning it is no longer in its original form.

OK, THAT I can wrap my head around, THAT, I can understand and live with. I was starting to think sticking to it would be harder than expected (no matter how clean eating made the food taste or how good it made me feel in general) and it was! It’s hard when “life gets in the way” and you just want a cookie, or you travel for work and are told the only option is fast food, or you don’t have time to make your husband a fabulous birthday dinner and just want to order pizza because he loves it (but in reality you don’t have to cook because life got in the way and made you too tired). Yes it was hard to say no to the ever comforting sugary goodness being paraded in front of me on a weekly basis (I have no self control. Out of sight, out of mind is the only thing that even comes close to working).

I truly believe that if I can make my own healthy and tasty treats, I will be able to stand my ground and say no to all the treats and stand up for my health. That’s my plan and I feel good about it. But I will keep doing my research, making sure I don’t cross the line and start using products that clearly don’t belong in Paleo.

I will try agave necter, coconut butter, pure maple syrup, and any other necter I can find. And on that same note, should anyone out in the bloggesphere reading this have more insight, or a clearer answer to “what’s the deal with sugar”, please let me know!

Happy Friday and to all the Mother’s out there, have a great Mother’s day weekend!

-Hilary

look who's back

Well maybe I need to call this blog “trying to be a healthy flamingo” as it’s been weeks…nope months, since I lasted posted! I let life get in the way and haven’t done so hot at finding and making the healthiest of meals. I don’t even think I have cooked in the past 2 months except for scrambled eggs. Thankfully my husband cooks or I (we’d) starve!

Yeah, epic fail on my part, I pretty much let my busy work schedule get in the way of my health. Why do I do that?? Why do any of us do that? ...another question for another day I guess. So my new goal will be to prevent that from happening next year at this time. But as of today (well last Friday), I am back to finding the best, healthiest and easy recipes I can and share them here.

Why as of last Friday you ask? Even if you didn’t, here’s why… I worked out! (...is that song in your head now? you know the one, “...I work out...”? No? google it. it’s a fun song and it’s in my head now). I worked out and felt so good I was inspired to cook healthy and not let my workout go to waste by eating crap for dinner and boy did that pay off! I made some really amazing recipes.

I’ve been researching recipes for a while now, building an arsenal of recipes I want to try and ones I know I can modify for Paleo and for my liking. So far I have been successful. I’ve been cooking up a storm ever since and have some new favorites to share.

Thanks for returning, stop back soon for these recipes and more!

• general pso’s chicken
• zucchini noodles with marina sauce
• chicken strips with a tangy sauce
• chicken salad in avocado bowl
• poppyseed mustard vinaigrette
• baked eggs

-Hilary