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

RECIPE - Carrot Fries + Mexi-Meatza Pizza

Happy St. Patrick's Day! Tonight was a very ambitious cooking day indeed, I made 2 recipes.
Each does require a little extra prep time, but so worth it in the end!

-Carrot Fries-

Ingredients
11 medium carrots
4.5 tbsp raw coconut oil
salt and pepper to taste
yup, that's all-you can thank me later!

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450
Line cookie sheet with tin foil
Peel and cut carrots into french fry sized strips
Melt coconut oil, add to carrots and toss to coat
Cook for 35-45 minutes (keep an eye on them, a little browning is good and you want them to be crisp)

Tips and variations:
If they are not quite crisp enough, turn the broiler on low for a minute or 2 and pop them back in the oven.
I have made this recipe numerous times, tonight I finally measured out the oil and carrots to make the best batch EVER! I have found that if you use more oil, they taste way too oily and less gives you more of a carrot flavor. The amount given above is perfect and an ideal substitute for potato french fries. If you add Ketchup (preferably homemade Paleo Ketchup which I have yet to make) you won't even know the difference!
The carrots start off looking like a huge amount, but they do really cook down. They'll serve 4 (unless you gobble them down like I do).

I have given this recipe out to numerous people, all of whom have absolutely loved it! Enjoy, I guarantee you'll never look at a potato the same way again.

...

-Mexi-Meatza Pizza-

Ingredients:

Meat crust:

1 lb ground beef

2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp salt

2 cloves crushed garlic

Topping:

1/2 to 3/4 c salsa (I use jalepeno salsa, it's my favorite and has no added ingredients)

Avocado

Fresh cilantro

Fresh lime

Lettuce

Red onion

Tomato

Green and red peppers

and whatever other veggies you want to add!

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400

Line 2 cookie sheets with tin foil

Mix beef and crust seasoning

Divide meat into 2 equal balls

Press meat into a thin "crust" into each pan

Bake 10-15 minutes until edges are brown

Remove from oven and leave open to cool a little (but don't turn it off...)

Assemble:

Spread 1/4 c salsa on each crust

Arrange veggies

Cook 10-15 minutes

Remove from oven

Add fresh cilantro and avocado slices

Sprinkle with lime juice

enjoy!

Tips and variations:

I added shredded cheese and sour cream to my husband's "pizza" That's what I love about Paleo recipes, it's so easy to make food for everyone and just add on a few extras for those who are not ready to step over from the dark side. 

Make sure and press the meat "crust" as thin as possible otherwise it's more like a huge hamburger.

It would be very easy to make an italian version on this dish, swop out the mexi spices for traditional italian ones and use a homemade marina instead of the salsa. I will be trying that next for sure!

As far as serving sizes go, each one is pretty big. My husband ate the whole meatza pizza, I only ate 1/4 of mine and now I'll have some delicious leftovers for lunches this week. mmmmm, can't wait. 

...
Well, those are today's recipes, now I can move on to finding more yummy recipes to try and share.

Hilary

RECIPE - Thai Beef and Cucumber Salad

Tonight I made a delicious dinner and it was a recipe I made up myself! Well, I originally had a recipe and wrote down the ingredients but not the directions-my bad. So maybe it was only half made up. Whatever the case may be, it was delicious and I had to share it.

I call it Thai Beef and Cucumber Salad, I can't even remember what it was originally supposed to be but I do know the original didn't have steak in it and well, everything is better with steak!

Ingredients:
1 lb steak
4 cucumbers (basically 1 per person, more if you're super hungry)
1 tbsp toasted sunflower seeds
1 tbsp raw coconut aminos
1 tbsp almond butter
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1-2 tbsp water
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 cloves of garlic
1/4 tsp powdered ginger (fresh would be good too, I just didn't have any)
1/2 tbsp coconut oil (optional)
sesame seed to garnish
grapes

makes 4 servings

Directions:
1. Use a julienne peeler to make your cucumber "noodles" and set aside
(this was the first time I tried a julienne peeler and it worked great!! So easy.)
2. In a medium bowl, mix coconut aminos, almond butter, rice wine vinegar, water, pepper flakes and ginger (this will be your sauce), set aside
3. Mince garlic
2. Slice or cube steak and sautee in pan, add garlic and coconut oil
3. Once steak is almost cooked, add sauce and simmer for a five minutes
4. Put cucumber "noodles" in a bowl and pour sauce over them
5. Add grapes (I used 8-10, use as many as you'd like)
6. Aprinkle sunflower seeds and top with sesame seeds (then if you're like me, add the spicy chili sauce!)

Once you add the meat and sauce to the cucumbers it cools off rather quickly for a nice and light tasting summer salad. Enjoy!

...
This recipe in particular was very quick and easy - which I love.

I used my julienne peeler for the first time today and absolutely LOVED it! again, this is a gadget I recommend going out and buying. I think mine was about $8. I used it on the cucumber to make the "noodle" and I couldn't be happier with the results and I look forward to trying it on other vegetables. The cucumber made for a very light tasting base to this dish, it's getting warmer out so it was perfect timing. I probably could have added lettuce, but quite frankly I just didn't want to take the time and besides there were plenty of cucumbers for both my husband and I. During the summer our garden overflows with fresh cucumbers so it's going to be a perfect dish to make and I plan on making it often.

Tips and Variations:
-In Winter, try sauteed cabbage and adding veggies such as carrots or peppers and serve warm.
-I used grapes in my recipe, but Mango or pineapple chunks would be delicious too!
-Try julienned squash noodles or experiment with other favorites


Tomorrow I will be making a crustless "meatza pizza" with carrot fries so stop back for those very tastey recipes! (the carrot fries are my absolute favorite, seriously you'll never go back to white potato fries! ...shhhhh, I live in Idaho so don't tell anyone I said that).

-Hilary

LINKS - Paleo recipes & resources

Tonight there is no recipe to share. For dinner I frankenstien'd various leftovers from other recipes but it was basically spaghetti squash "noodles" with a homemade sauce (my husband makes the best marinara) and plain meatballs. I have to say it was pretty good.

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Last week I found a recipe for spaghetti squash "noodles" I was so excited, and a little nervous to try it. I have never been a fan of squash, but I really wanted to find a good replacement for pasta, something other than sweet potatos-I want to build an arsenal of veggie alternates to pasta. The picture looked yummy so I decided to give it a go (to the utter shagrin of my husband, he hates squash). Well, let me just say it was a fail. Not an utter fail because now I know I like spaghetti squash, but a fail nonetheless. You see this yummy looking recipe took 2 hours!!! I couldn't believe it! Seriously, WHAT?! OK, a little background on me. I am not a great cook-I rely on recipes, I can't just open the cupboard and imagine everything simmering sweetly on a pot atop my stove. That said, why oh why would I even attempt a recipe that takes 2 hours? I pretty much have recipe ADD. After 30 minutes I am restless, 45 minutes and I find myself trying to combine it with other recipes or just give up altogether. But I swear the recipe said it would take 45 minutes. So I am not sharing it. I won't be making it again, and I am sure no one else wants to spend 2 hours making it either. So I will find one that it awesome and post it at a later date.

Not being a foodie, or a naturally good cook, I rely on finding recipes that look simple and easy yet pack a lot of flavor...that's what I plan on sharing on the Healthy Flamingo (although no fish, seafood shellfish etc., recipes-unlike a healthy flamingo, I don't eat any of those. Ever).

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Paleo has become quite the buzz-word lately so it's difficult to know what's real out there and what's just trying to get to the top of the search engine results. And Since there's not a yummy recipe tonight, let me share some of my favorite and trusted Paleo recipe sites and resources.

The Clothes that Make the Girl - awesome site! One of my favorites. All the recipes I've tried from this site have exceeded my expectations and when I get confused about Paleo ingredients, I know I can try this site first to see what she's used and I know it'll be Paleo compliant. Plus, she now has a cookbook. I have not yet bought it, but I will for sure!

PaleOMG - also an awesome site for recipes! I have been seeing more and mmore recipes from this site popping up in the instagram feeds I follow as well as some of the Pinterest Boards. I have already tried a few and loved them and I have so many more to try.

Robb Wolff - a MUST read! He's one of the world's leading experts on Paleo. 'nuff said. You'll want to bookmark this site for sure.


Those are just a few of my favorites, I hope they become a favorite of yours as well.
-Hilary

RECIPE - Paleo Pad Thai Chicken

This evening I made Paleo Pad Thai Chicken. I originally found the recipe on Pinterest (gotta love Pinterest! Check out my Paleo and Whole30 boards...). I clicked on the link and discovered not only a new site full of resources, but what would become my very favorite Paleo recipe! I have modified the recipe slightly, as I do most of the recipes (again, food allergies). Check out the original recipe here.

I took 2 photos tonight, the one on the left is what my husband ate, he had his with rice, the one on the right was mine, no rice and added siracha sauce (I love spicy food!!). I love recipes that are flexible like that and usually have to make modifications for one of us. The whole recipe takes about 25 minutes (which I have found to be the ideal amount of time for a weekday meal).

Ingredients:
2 chicken breast cut up
(I like smaller pieces)
1/4 C Almond Butter
(if you haven't tried almond butter, I say go get some. stop reading and go now! we'll be here when you get back. I'm in the middle of a recipe, but I'll tell you more about the wonders of almond butter in another post...)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c coconut aminos
(these can be hard to find, at least for me living in a small town)
1 lime
1 tsp salt
1-2 tbsp coconut oil
1/3 C cashews (crush 1/2 of them)
cilantro
(I used more than the original recipe called for because I love the flavor it gives. I say chop some up so you have it ready and add how ever much you want)
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Cooking Instructions:
1. Make the Sauce:
2. In a bowl, combine almond butter, coconut aminos, juice from 1/2 lime and salt. Set aside
3. Heat oil coconut in a pan

4. Add chicken to the pan and cook

5. Stir chicken, when it's about half way coooked, add minced garlic, crushed cashews and red pepper flakes. 

6. Once the chicken is done or almost done, add the sauce and stir. 

7. After 2-3 minutes if it seems a little dry add 1/4 C water (The water is a new addition just tonight, I was finding that the sauce was a little thick and would stick too much to the pan. The water helped so much and I liked that it truly was more like a sauce). Mix well, simmer for a couple more minutes.

Add fresh cilantro, cashews and lime juice to each serving.

Tips and variations: I have used both cashews and almonds, both are good. I say use what you have on hand. The almond butter give a really rich flavor, I do recommend adding the 1/4 C water to the sauce as it cooks with the chicken not only to make it saucy, but to cut the richness a little.

The coconut aminos can be hard to find, I tried using red wine vinegar as a substitute when I was out and it was not the same, it was ok as far as flavors go but next time I will just make something else. However another time I only had half the amount I needed, I substituted the other half with rice vinegar and it tasted fine.

Possible additions: Serve with rice for your non-Paleo friends and family (seriously, this recipe is so delicious you'll want to make it for everyone!!), add siracha sauce for an extra kick, serve over veggie noodles (i will try that next) and finally top with grapes, pineapple or mango for variety.

....
I can't tell you how many times I have made this recipe since I first discovered it in January. I've made it many times for dinners with just my husband, twice when we had company over and then when my Dad came to town to visit (he requested the recipe for himself). I love Thai food but haven't really found a fabulous restaurant where we live so I have resorted to finding my own fabulous recipes.

If you decide to make this recipe I do hope you enjoy as much as I have! And if you tips to make it better or discover amazing (or just easy) additions, please share I'd love to hear them.

-Hilary