Healthy Battered and Fried Chicken Strips (sugar free • gluten free • low carb • dairy free • gaps)

Who says fried chicken strips can't be healthy?

Cut up boneless Chicken Breasts into strips.  Season with Salt & Pepper.

Scramble up a few eggs.

Mix together 2 parts almond flour with 1 part coconut flour.
Add lots of herbs, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper.

Heat up some coconut oil in a pan.

Dredge your chicken strips in the flour mix, then in the eggs, 
then coat them again with the flour mix.
Fry them up to a crispy golden brown color.

Mmmmmmm.

Serve with homemade honey mustard sauce and some green beans 
(or whatever yummy veggie you would like).

Honey mustard is made with equal parts organic extra virgin olive oil, dijon mustard and raw honey.

The kids go crazy for these.  Enjoy!

This post is part of Real Food Wednesday at Kelly the Kitchen Kop, Pennywise Platter at The Nourishing Gourmet, the Healthy Home Economist's Monday Mania and the Food Renegade's Fight Back Friday.

Chicken Parmesan (sugar free • gluten free • low carb • gaps)

I love a good chicken parmesan.  I haven't had any since I drastically started limiting my grains.  So, I decided to try it out using grated parmesan cheese instead of the bread crumbs.  It was delicious!!  I am not going to give measurements here, because I haven't a clue how much I use of everything and honestly, it doesn't matter.  Just throw it all together to your liking.  It's hard to screw it up!

First mix up some grated good quality parmesan cheese with some salt, pepper and herbs (I usually use a mix of oregano, parsley, rosemary, basil, sage, garlic powder and onion powder).  Mix up enough to coat your chicken and some extra to use as a topping before putting it in the oven.

Pound out your chicken breasts.  I like to place plastic wrap over them to keep the yucky splatter to a minimum.

Melt some REAL butter in a hot pan. You could also use coconut oil, like I do in my healthy fried chicken recipe, but I really wanted to stick to a parmesan chicken flavor without the slight hint of the coconut.  Dredge the chicken in the egg mixture, then the parmesan mixture and fry in the butter until browned on each side.

I originally fried the chicken in olive oil, but I think it tastes better fried in butter (and it's healthier, as a good quality butter has a higher smoke point then olive oil... coconut oil's is even higher). 

Mix together some tomato sauce with some salt, pepper and herbs (Again, I used oregano, parsley, rosemary, basil, sage, garlic powder and onion powder).  I love using the Eden's Organic Crushed Tomatoes.

Use butter (or coconut oil) to grease a glass baking dish.  Line up your chicken breasts.

Top with the tomato sauce mixture.

Then top with the leftover parmesan cheese mixture.

Bake in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes.

Serve with some steamed and buttered broccoli... Yum!!

Chicken Fried (Mock) Rice (sugar free • gluten free • low carb • dairy free)

This is a fairly easy recipe and although it isn't exactly like the stuff you have delivered to your your house from your local "chinese" joint, its reminiscent and pretty darn good.

You can use a food processor to do all your prep. I used my Ninja to do all my dirty work. Chop up some carrots...


Then some onion...


Pulse in the processor your head of cauliflower until it looks somewhat similar to rice. I actually chopped it up a little too small I think.


Steam some broccoli and chop that up too. I definitely chopped mine up too small. It breaks down even more while cooking.


Mince up 3-4 cloves of garlic...


Use pre-cooked chicken. I used some left over from a chicken I had boiled for some stock.


First throw a few Tbs of butter into a big pan and cook your onions, carrots and broccoli...


Then throw in your chicken and cook it until its hot...


Then add your cauliflower rice cook for about 10 minutes, then throw in some soy sauce, garlic, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, black pepper and sea salt.

(I do avoid soy in my diet, but fermented soy, as in soy sauce, miso soup and tempeh are okay on occasion. Organic Soy Sauce insures there are no GMO's, as 90% of all Soy is genetically modified)


Throw in some scrambled eggs. I just mixed it right in, but next I will make a hole in the middle, and scramble up the eggs separately, then mix them in.


Here's the final product.


I was pretty happy with the flavor and thought it was really good. I would have liked it to have been more of the consistency of actual chicken fried rice though. Next time I won't chop up the vegetables near as small and I'll cook the eggs more before I mix them in. Otherwise its a winner!

The munchkin loved it, but this was definitely a very messy meal!

Chicken Fried (Mock) Rice

Ingredients

• 1 lb Pre-cooked Chicken, torn into small pieces
• 1 Head of Cauliflower
  
• 1 C White Onion
• 1 C Carrots
• 1 C Broccoli
• 4 Tb Butter (or coconut oil for dairy free option)
  
• 3-4 Cloves Garlic
• 1/4 C Organic Soy Sauce
• 1 Tb Garlic Powder
• 1 tsp Black Pepper
• 1 tsp Sea Salt
• 1/2 tsp Cayenne Pepper
• 3 Eggs

Directions:

1. Steam Broccoli for 10 minutes.
2. Chop up onion, carrots and cooked broccoli. Don't chop them up too small!
3. Break up and clean cauliflower. Pulse in Food Processor until it looks similar to rice.
4. Mince Garlic.
5. Heat large frying pan on stove and melt butter or coconut oil.
   
6. Saute the onions, carrots and broccoli in butter or oil for about 10 minutes.
7. Add cold, cooked chicken and continue stirring until chicken is hot.
8. Add Cauliflower and cook for about 5 minutes
9. Add Soy Sauce, Garlic, Garlic Powder, Cayenne Pepper, Black Pepper and Sea salt and continue to cook until the cauliflower is tender.
10. Push everything to the sides around the pan, leaving an empty space in the muddle. Pour scrambled eggs into the center and cook most of the way, leaving them a little wet, then mix in with the rest of the ingredients.
11. Serve and Enjoy!
    

Easy Cheesy Chicken Bake (sugar free • gluten free • low carb • gaps)

This recipe comes out moist and flavorful every time. The coconut flour used to bread the chicken adds a great flavor and doesn't dry things out.

First I mix together my coconut flour, freshly grated colby cheese, freshly grated parmesan cheese, garlic powder and onion powder.


In another bowl I melt butter and add in garlic powder, sea salt and black pepper. I pound out my chicken breasts, salt and pepper them, dip them in the butter, and then into my coconut flour mixture. I line them up in a glass baking dish.


I bake them in the oven for 35 minutes.


I top each one with more freshly grated colby cheese and then place back in the oven for another 10 minutes.


They finish up looking toasty around the edges with the cheese all melty and gooey. Lots of things are better with melty gooey cheese on top. Atleast in my opinion.

Easy Cheesy Chicken Bake

Ingredients:

• 4 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts
  
• 3/4 C Coconut Flour
• 1/2 C freshly grated Colby cheese, plus extra for topping at the end (or whatever cheese you want to use really)
  
• 1/4 C freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 Tb Garlic Powder, divided
• 1/2 Tb Onion Powder
  
• Black Pepper, to taste
• Sea Salt, to taste
• 1/4 C Butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Butter up a 9x13 glass baking dish.
3. Mix together, the coconut flour, colby cheese, parmesan cheese, 1/2 Tb of garlic powder and the onion powder in a bowl.
4. In another bowl, combine the melted butter, 1/2 Tb garlic powder, sea salt and black pepper.
5. Trim, rinse, pound out, then salt and pepper chicken breasts.
6. Dip the chicken breasts into the butter mixture and then coat with coconut flour mixture.
7. Place in buttered baking dish and bake uncovered for 35 minutes.
8. Remove from oven and top with grated colby cheese, then return to oven for another 10 minutes.
9. Enjoy!
   

In the pictures, I only made three pieces of chicken, but my recipe amounts are for four.

This is part of Food Renegade's Fight Back Friday and Monday Mania Carnival.

Healthy Fried Chicken and Mashed Cauliflower (sugar free • gluten free • low carb • dairy free • gaps)

This is a meal that we make often Everyone in the family loves it. The mashed cauliflower is one of my daughter's favorites and it was a great food for her to start feeding herself with a spoon and now she's a pro with it. It's very easy to throw together quickly with ingredients that I almost always have on hand. It works great to take for lunch to work the next day too.

You can go HERE to see my recipe for Healthy Fried Fish. This chicken is pretty much made in the exact same way. I first pound out my chicken with a mallot, rinse, pat dry and season with salt and pepper. I then add garlic pepper, onion salt, marjoram, italian seasonings (whatever you want really) to the coconut flour mixture. This recipe is so easy and versatile, it can be used with so many different proteins.

I have seen lots of different recipes floating around online for mashed cauliflower, or "caulitators" as they are sometimes called. My husband thinks that calling them that is deceptive because they have nothing to do with mashed potatoes, which he is a huge fan of. I agree, but mostly because I think they are so yummy, and they don't really need to be compared to mashed potatoes anyway. These don't taste like potatoes, although the texture and look are similar. Over the years, I have come up with a recipe that goes over well with pretty much anyone who tries them. Most people downright love them. I often get requests for it at family gatherings because they are always a huge hit with the kids (even the picky ones that won't eat cauliflower normally)!

For an updated (and better in my opionion) version go HERE.

Mashed Cauliflower
sugar free • gluten free • low carb

Ingredients

• 2 Large Heads of Cauliflower
• 4 oz cream cheese
• 4 Tb butter
• 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder (or more)
  
• 1/2 tsp Onion Powder (or more)
• 1/2 tsp parsley
• 1/2 tsp basil
• 1/2 tsp marjoram
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp mustard
• Fresh Ground Pepper, to taste
  
• Sea Salt, to taste
• 1/2 C Fresh Grated Cheese of Choice for topping (I like extra sharp white cheddar or sometimes mozzarella, anything is good)

The amounts for seasonings are just estimates. I just take everything and dump it in, to be honest, but this should be pretty close and you can play around with what you like)

Directions

1. Steam Cauliflower (either in a steamer or on the stove in a large stock pot with about an inch of simmering water on the bottom of the pot) for about 25-30 minutes until they are VERY soft. You can steam them for less time, they won't be mixed up as smoothly later, which is still yummy, and will retain more nutritional value.
   
2. Preheat oven to 350.
   
3. Drain water in a strainer over the sink, shake to release as much water as you can.
4. Place in large mixing bowl with cream cheese, butter and seasonings and mix until very well combined with a hand mixer. It should resemble mashed potatoes. Taste it and see if you need more seasonings and add accordingly. I use alot of garlic!
5. Place in an 8x8 glass baking dish and top with fresh grated cheese. I mix up the cheese depending on what we have, but I think a strong cheddar is my favorite. Don't add too much or it will cool and be too thick and gooey when its done cooking.
   
6. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes.
7. Serve and Enjoy!
   

This was added to the Pennywise Platter Thursdays and Food Renegade