Chicken tenders, paleo-style

Posted on March 16, 2014 by chatty

Lots of recipes online for a paleo chicken fingers, and what I love about bloggers and the interwebs is with every version of a recipe, other users comment on how to make it better. It leaves you with tons of ways to go about it. Hopefully everyone is civil about it but hey, it is the interwebs…

At Trader Joes in the spice section they have this thing called “Everyday Seasonings“. It’s a bunch of the same spices you always use, in a bottle with its own grinder so you can grind and use as needed. I am a big fan, and used it with the flour in addition to the other spices, as you’ll see below.

Almond-Crusted Chicken
1 lb boneless chicken breast, or a pkg of 2 breasts
2 eggs
Juice of 1 lemon
1-1.5 c almond flour
1 tsp cumin seeds, 1 tsp coriander seeds, ground with the mortar and pestle.
1 tsp TJ’s Everyday Seasoning
Paprika, for the chicken.

Preheat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, and spray that with nonstick cooking spray.
In a bowl beat eggs with lemon.
On a plate combine the flour and seasonings well.
Slice up the chicken into even pieces. Tip 1: one blogging chef suggested sticking the chicken in the freezer for 30 minutes to firm it up and make it easier to slice. Each breast gave me 6 or 7 pieces.
Season the chicken with salt and paprika.
Dredge the chicken in the egg mixture, then roll it into the almond flour, place on the sheet. Dredge, roll, place. Season the crusted pieces before throwing into oven.
Bake for 25 minutes, turning once.
I’m anal when cooking chicken, so I always use a meat thermometer to check for doneness. 180 degrees.

The chicken was good, not great. A tad dry. Might want to brine the chicken next time around.
Other notes: on a few of these I double dipped (dredged and rolled twice before sending to the baking sheet) though I’m not sure I could tell the difference between those and the single dunk ones.
For the non-paleo eaters in the house, I used the microplane and grated parm-reg on a few. I used a paleo BBQ sauce as a dipper. Husband used sweet rays BBQ sauce.
Served on the side, “crunchy” green beans, ( i.e. stir-fried, seasoned with lemon zest, ginger and garlic.)
I also had a garden salad with olive oil and vinegar. Husband and kid had a side of onion rings. Must be nice.

Real food redux

Posted on March 14, 2014 by chatty

The Sound Crossfit Nutrition Challenge is back. We are now on day 5, and the only point I’ve lost so far is not drinking enough water (see previous post. Why is it so hard for me but not others). Background: you get points for avoiding grains, sugar and alcohol and eating more veggies and protein, water.

Soo this was my last fun meal. Looks a lot like my last “whole-30-breakup” meal, right? South Philly slice and Pagliaccio salad, a little wine on the side. I’m pretty sure some chocolate and cookies were also enjoyed that night as well.

And here is the next night’s meal, first day of the challenge. Turkey sliders (no bun of course, but topped with a perfectly ripe avocado), salad with olive oil & vinegar, and mashed cauliflower. The kid was interested in trying zucchini so I broiled thin slices (easy recipe). A little overdone, but she still liked them.

Honestly, this is one of those times where the picture doesn’t do the meal justice. I was pleasantly surprised with how the turkey came out. Both the husband and the kid liked the sliders.

I also see more zucchini in our future. With St Patrick’s Day coming up. I also see some low-points days in my future.

Breakdown on the #Whole30 highway

Posted on February 23, 2014 by chatty

… And 209 hours after I started the Whole30, I had a slice of sausage mushroom pizza from Pagliacci. I wish I could say it was the best tasting pizza ever, but it was a little too hot and eaten too quickly to be enjoyed. The next day I had 2 Manny’s Pale Ales and a dinner of breads hummus, nachos, and you get the gist. But this post isn’t about my downfall. That’s the next one. This one is about the highs before the lows. It’s about winter squash.

Last week the kid and I ventured out to the U-District Farmers Market and came home with squash. One spaghetti, one acorn and one pumpkin, at least I think it was a pumpkin. The pumpkin was something the kid wanted, but didn’t want to eat, and which I found in her room getting mushy and threw out.

The acorn I used to make 4 Ingredient Acorn Squash Candy as a side to this chicken dinner from last Sunday. For the chicken I decided to try to “roast” in the slow cooker (just Bing “slow cooker roast chicken” and you will run into a handful of recipes). Probably won’t do that again, but it was handy because it left the oven free for squash experiments.

The experiment being the acorn squash. I don’t think I like acorn squash. Maybe a lot of butter and sugar make it taste better, but the bacon I added didn’t do the trick (and Paleomg repeatedly said it would taste like candy. It did not.)

This is the plating of the slow-cooker roasted chicken, squash and green beans. The chicken could have used a little more flavoring, or some basting throughout. But uncovering to baste defeats the “let it be” philosophy of the slow cooker, and requires you to add more time in the cooker, which I didn’t have.
The spaghetti squash was used for lunch, and was the best tasting of the different things I made that day. And was easy peasy. Squash + marinara sauce + leftover chicken breast = lunch for a week.

Spaghetti squash, for anyone that doesn’t know, doesn’t taste like spaghetti. It tastes like squash. You know what tastes like spaghetti? Spaghetti does. So keep this in mind when you make yourself this plate and you’ll do just fine.

So. Whole30 is more or less over, though my kitchen is full of paleo ingredients, and there are still more paleo recipes to come on the blog. And a few kinda sorta paleo recipes as well.

My funny #Whole30 valentine

Posted on February 14, 2014 by chatty

whole30-friendly valentine dinner

We don’t really “do” Valentine’s Day. Just not into it these days. But this, this was something super awesome that the Husband did for me. He is great, though sometimes frustrated with these weird diets I venture on every now and again. Bread goes bad because I stop eating it. Edamame uneaten. Milk sour. OK, I don’t think the milk has ever gone sour in this house because I’ve never been a big milk drinker, but you get the gist.. But tonight, he did this, and it was perf. First, T-bone steak (“the best one at the store,” he says). It was smooth and rich like buttah, i tell you. On the side, some mushrooms, slightly spiced shrimp and steamed green beans. A really great Whole30 meal. Made just for me!

Now, I don’t think I can remember the last time a Valentine’s day has ever gone by where I didn’t indulge in some kind of chocolatey treat. Whether it’s Dilettante, or Ghiradelli, or just plain old Metropolitan Market, there was something. Just because I don’t like Valentine’s day doesn’t mean I don’t love sweets, right?

Until TODAY. Today I walked by the chocolates, just gave a cursory glance to the bakery shelf. Today the kiddo and I made a fun treat: Bacon-Wrapped-Dates, stuff with an almonds. Super-simple, even for this girl, who doesn’t know a lick about bacon.

Now, you might be thinking, well that sure sounds more like an appetizer than a dessert. To that I say, have YOU been having raisins and walnuts every night pretending it was dessert? No? Then sit down.

bacon-wrapped dates

Actually, as I slightly burnt the these under the broiler, the dates took on a burnt/caramelized flavor, which I just loved. Chewy, sweet and delicious. I may need to go and get me another one. I’ve already had 4 of ’em. Just because I’m not enjoying chocolate doesn’t mean I won’t overindulge.

Literally, this is how easy it is:

Bacon-Date Candy (ok, it’s technically an appetizer)

8 dates (Medjool, please)
3 slices of bacon
8 almonds

Pit the dates and add in an almond where that pit used to be. Dates are mushy so you can almost reseal the date like the almond was always there.
Wrap the date in some bacon. I’m not a bacon expert, but I trimmed the excess fat, and probably used about 1/3 of the bacon piece to wrap it around.
Place the bacon dates on a baking sheet, and put them under the broiler about 10 minutes. I turned them at the 5 minute mark.

I’m kind of excited to make these again.

Slow cooker diaries: Morrocan Chicken

Posted on February 10, 2014 by chatty

I’ve made this one before, and even made the comment that it wouldn’t take much to Paleo-ize the recipe. And so, here it is:

Morrocan Chicken

chopped red pepper
red onion
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
1 can (more or less) tomato paste
1.5-2 lbs chicken thighs
raisins
Cauliflower florets
1-2 tsp cumin seeds (I mashed them with my mortar and pestle first. How awesome is it that I am using our mortar and pestle)
Pinch of paprika
Almond nut butter

Combine them all but almond butter with chicken on top in your slow cooker. I start with a half the tomato paste, then add the second half later on in the cooking process. I like my sauce/gravy thick. Cooked on high for the first hour, then low for 5 – 6 hours. Instant thermometer read 180 degrees before I decided it was ready. At that point I swirled in a big fat tbsp of almond butter.

Husband served it to little one with delicious, fresh, wonderful Parpadelle noodles that I did without. Mmmm … noodles.

So, this was my dress rehearsal to my Whole30 experiment. I bought myself a “last-supper” piece of chocolate to enjoy as my swan song … which I forgot to eat last night. Grrr.

Recipe adapted from NYMSCC.

Brinner

Posted on January 4, 2014 by chatty

Over Christmas break I was nominated for Mom of the Year when I put a plate of salad in front of the kiddo and told her to pretend she was a bunny. Eat up! Surprisingly she ate the deli turkey and carrots. Not one of my better dinners. In my defense I didn’t expect her to eat much since we had gone to Five Guys earlier that day.
Not going to repeat that anytime soon. Today we stopped at Whole Foods nod picked up a yam, sausages (chicken, mild Italian & ginger/soy/pineapple) and a kid-picked yogurt. Husband had some pancake batter already in the fridge. You know where this is going … BRINNER!!

The ginger soy was interesting, not kid-approved. A curiosity experiment, wasn’t interested in the breakfast sausage option.
Even dessert was breakfast themed. I used the rest of the pumpkin purée to make pumpkin oatmeal muffin. As you might recall I had considered more pumpkin pancakes, but since we already had regular pancake batter ready, that seemed silly. So glad I changed my mind. This recipe, which I halved to account for the amount of purée I had, contains no oil, no butter. Out of the oven they were moist.

Hopefully they are still good tomorrow. If the husband has left us any.

Slow cooker diaries, the last entry of 2013

Posted on December 31, 2013 by chatty

I’ve been itching for some good ol’ fashioned pasta with meat sauce. What was once a weekly staple has become something reserved for a special occasion. Now, when I do pasta for dinner, it’s got to be an event, something like New Year’s Eve!

To start, olives, marinated mushrooms, duck pate and crackers. Classy.

I made a small batch of an Italian red sauce, using ground lamb, onion, carrot & mushrooms. Fresh parpadelle is the only way I roll these days. On the side, oven-roasted broccoli with panko breadcrumbs and parm-reg shavings.

A nice glass of Cabernet-Sauvignon, an enjoyable, quiet meal with the husband and child.

For dessert the family shared a slice of chocolate pie and pumpkin pie. Stylin!

It’s been an indulgent December for me. More bread, grains, sweets and sugar than anyone deserves. Mmmmmm. Come January, back to reality. But it’s been a swell ride.

HNY!

Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, Boxing Day

Posted on December 26, 2013 by chatty

A post in 3 parts …

Hope everyone had a great holiday! This year we spent it home in Seattle. On Christmas Eve day the kid and I found ourselves still shopping. Sheesh. Once that was over there was still so much to do. I made baked eggs for lunch, leftover ham & swiss cheese to flavor. It was good and bad. No worries, just an experiment.

Next it was the dough for our cookies for Santa. In our tour of local store shopping, we purchased a couple of CHristmas books at Ravenna Third Place Books, including Gingerbread Pirates.The child was pretty insistent that we leave Santa some of our own gingerbread pirates overnight. “Make it so!” I said (not really), but indeed we did. I used Eileen’s Spice Gingerbread Men recipe from AllRecipes.com, to a tee (well, replacing the margarine with butter) and they came out really nice.

As the dough chilled, onto the next project, Christmas Eve wontons. Is this a tradition? Not really, but it could be. I wanted to do something for dinner, didn’t want to do the SC. Wanted Chinese food, but didn’t want to order takeout. Wontons is the one recipe I know from scratch, so that was that. Once the wontons were made, we rolled out the gingerbread dough and cutout some cookies. Our skull-and-crossbones cutter acted as the hat to our Gingerbread boy cutout, and voila! A gingerbread pirate. We also had a few candy canes (aka the Christmas J), snowmen, stars and elves.

Cookies cooling, back to wontons! Wow, busy day in the kitchen. I still haven’t figured out the skin – filling ratio, so we had quite a bit of filling left. (Filling: gound pork, turkey and some chopped spinach with a little ginger root and soy sauce). Solution? Some pork/turkey meatballs to add to the protein of this dish.

Kid was the “skin hander-over” (didn’t want to her touching raw meat). An excellent helper, and she tends to eat the stuff she helps with. Sometimes. Maybe I was just lucky as she devoured these. Yay! Maybe just some pre-Christmas excitement.

Dinner complete, we were ready to frost our gingerbread cookies. Rather than making frosting from scratch, this year I let Duncan Hines help me out. Thanks, Duncan!

Arrr! This was the plate we left out for Santa. Lily added a carrot for the reindeer, a small glass of milk and a letter so that it was clear to Santa that he was welcome to these delicious cookies.

Phew! Santa enjoyed the cookies quite a bit. He might have thrown a few away because they were a bit heavy on the frosting, and he’s really not into artificial frosting flavor. Maybe that happened.

Christmas morning! Was a blast. Husband got me a sweet new DSLR. I’ll have to show off its talent in another post, as yesterday’s photos were just for fun, like this one, kiddo singing with her new Singalong Microphone:

Kiddo couldn’t wait to head to her grandparent’s house (translation: more presents!). On the dinner menu: Prime Rib (yum!), Yorkshire Pudding (YUM!), green beans (still delicious) and marionberry pie with french vanilla ice cream (tasty!). Not a great pic, but the lighting conditions were not ideal. This photographer is still learning how to use her camera, too.

A long last few days with a lot of food in the house. For some reason, this morning, I couldn’t help myself, and decided to test out a pumpkin pancake recipe (see this post for my previous history with the pumpkin pancake). This time I used Chef John’s recipe on AR (I used his banana bread recipe earlier. I found it ok, though I probably shouldn’t have tweaked it). One word: Success. Woot! Kiddo ate many of them. Maybe too many of them. I was pleased with the results, too.

Next up, some more baking! It never ends. Well, it will end at the end of the year. Then I’ll be off bread & grains again. For a while. After a month of totally unnecessary treats and sweets, all good things much come to an end.

Hope you enjoyed a fun and delicious holiday.

Sunday Dinner: Quiche

Posted on December 18, 2013 by chatty

Sunday Dinner. Taking a breather from the SC. This was a fun diversion. Feeling good after my decisive win over the pie crust, thought I’d make another go at it. Quiche, with mushroom, spinach and a variety of cheeses. In the fancy cheese section of Met Market sits a little basket of petit fromage. Small pieces, just an ounce or two, of the pricey stuff. Allows you two try a few different cheeses just for the heck of it. Problem is I can’t remember what we tried. Parrano, and something else that begins with P… Or B… Hm…

Quiche was successful, though not as eggy as a store-bought one. What, do they use cream or something? Whole milk?

mushroom spinach quiche

Man, I looove Thanksgiving

Posted on November 28, 2013 by chatty

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone! Yesterday was devoted to baking. Today was about friends and family. It started with what has become the annual “More Pie Please” thanksgiving morning workout. Back at the boathouse, which is looking good these days. After the warm up, there was a 5×5 lifting portion where I did Push-ups and Bulgarian Split Squats. Next was the following:

The “length” was pushing the the prowler sled the length of the boathouse with 50# loaded on it. The prowler, always a part of this thanksgiving workout. The 10-1 means 10-9-8-7 etc. a classic Thanksgiving special, if you ask me.

At home to keep the kiddo busy we practiced a little baseball with the kids bat & ball set she got her dad for his birthday (yes, you read that right). After that, we did some races up and down the block. Let me just say, for a nearly five year old, this kid can run. I hope I did enough exercise to justify the overindulgence I planned to partake in.

Finally… Time to head for the the husband’s fam for the great gorge that never get old, year after year.

Have I ever tried persimmon? Well now I have.

First helping. Of all things, I forgot to take a pic of dessert, and it was plated so nicely, with fresh whipped cream and everything. There’s always a leftovers pic.

I’m not going to lie. A little part of me is grateful to not have to clean up after such a fantastic feast.

This year, I find myself thankful that I’m in a position to have a day like today, spent with friends and family. That I have co-workers that make it bearable on the hard days, and make it a joy on the good days. That my friends and family are healthy, getting healthier, that my daughter has an amazing school that cares for her, that friends, old and new are creating a great support system. My parents and sibling are far in distance but not far from my thoughts. And now the gushy part is done with. Happy.

Chatty Cha

dessert first

Category Archives: dinner