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.

Coconut Flour Pancakes (sugar free • gluten free • low carb • dairy free)

I have attempted coconut flour pancakes several times without being very successful. They were always good, but they didn't fill the void for good ole' fashioned pancakes. Last night for dinner, I tried them again, using a new recipe that I found here. The pictures on the site looked so appetizing... like yummy super fluffy pancakes! And the ingredients sounded just right. They were delicious! They are also good for you and very very filling. The hubs enjoyed them and then munchkin tore them up!

I pulled out the griddle my grandpa recently gave me, but haven't had a chance to use yet. It worked great. I loaded it up with butter, whipped up my pancake batter and poured them on, about 3" wide and pretty thick.


They cooked up really nicely and looked just like the pancakes I used to know (and missed).

I loaded them up with some yummy pastured butter and they were fantastic! You can top them with honey, coconut oil, maple syrup or some fruit.


I gave them to the munchkin slathered with some butter. She was a happy camper.

I copied the following recipe verbatim from the Nourishing Days website. I didn't change a single thing about them (aside from using kalona whole milk instead of raw and stevia extract powder instead of honey), so I wanted to make sure I didn't get any credit for them. I just wanted to share them with everyone because they are so yummy!

Also, for a tip for bringing eggs to room temperature without having to wait around forever, I put mine in a bowl of luke warm water for 5-10 minutes. Works perfectly!

Fluffy Coconut Flour Pancakes

Ingredients

• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup milk (raw cow’s or coconut both work)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon honey or a pinch of stevia
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• coconut oil or butter for frying

Directions

1. Preheat griddle over medium-low heat. In a small bowl beat eggs until frothy, about two minutes. Mix in milk, vanilla, and honey or stevia.
2. In a medium-sized bowl combine coconut flour, baking soda, and sea salt and whisk together. Stir wet mixture into dry until coconut flour is incorporated.
3. Grease pan with butter or coconut oil. Ladle a few tablespoons of batter into pan for each pancake. Spread out slightly with the back of a spoon. The pancakes should be 2-3 inches in diameter and fairly thick. Cook for a few minutes on each side, until the tops dry out slightly and the bottoms start to brown. Flip and cook an additional 2-3 minutes.
4. Serve hot with butter, coconut oil, honey, syrup, or fruit.

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

Healthy Fried Fish (Low carb and gluten free, GAPS)

Much to my hubby's delight, I have been making fried chicken lately. It's actually healthy and good for you and it's something that we both love and are on bored with. That doesn't usually happen with many things with the word "fried" in it. That is, until I discovered coconut oil. I have been using it for a while now and wish I had discovered this stuff 10 years ago. Not only is it sooo good for you, with a long list of health benefits, it also has a much higher smoking point then most oils on the market that turn into trans fats at a much lower temp then you would think (or want to think). It can also help with weight management, as it actually speeds up your metabolism when you include it in your diet regularly.


This particular article, I have bookmarked and re-read and go over sometimes. It not only discusses coconut oil but saturated fats in general and why they are so good for you and why we NEED them. It also gives lots of great info on what fats to avoid and why. If you can get past all the technical mumbo jumbo and just get the basics from the article, it is a huge eye opener and really expanded upon what I had been learning, and really made me feel good about our family's food choices. It's a long article, but very well worth the read.

Coconut Oil and Its Virtues

For some "lighter" reading, here's a couple of articles about coconut oil that might be interesting to you:
Coconut Oil Burns Fat
Coconut oil can help your thryroid

So backed to the fried chicken. Basically, I started breading the chicken in coconut flour and frying it on the stove top in coconut oil. As Joe put it, "It tastes just like fried chicken!" This is especially exciting for him, as he pretty much grew up on fried chicken and I have never made it for him once until I started using coconut oil.

Over the weekend, I decided to mix it up a little by using some of the fresh tilapia I had picked up at Whole Foods. I changed up the seasonings a little bit and it was delicious. It got everyone's seal of approval. Especially the munchkin's! She couldn't shovel it into her face fast enough. As soon as she took her first bite, she smiled real big and looked at us and said "MMMMMMMM"!

I set up my assembly line. First we have our tilapia filets, rinsed, dried and seasoned with salt and pepper. In the next bowl, I scrambled up a couple of eggs. Then the final bowl, I have my coconut flour seasoned with some garlic powder, tarragon, onion powder and paprika... you can really use whatever you want.

I heat up my pan to just a little above medium and add in a few tablespoons of coconut oil. This stuff is outrageous at the stores locally. I order mine online for a much better price. I get the 54 oz tub and it lasts a LONG time. I use it almost every day for all kinds of things. I use it to grease my cake and muffin pans too. I also order my coconut flour from the same company. One bag goes a long way. I have some delicious baked goods recipes that I use this stuff for. Like these Banana nut muffins. Yummo!!

Salt and pepper the fish.

Dip it in your eggs.

Turn it around all over in your coconut flour mix until evenly coated.

Fry 'em up in your pan! I usually cook them until they are evenly browned all over. It doesn't take too long to cook, usually once it has browned and looks a little crispy its done, maybe about 15 minutes.

I usually have to not only flip them, but rotate them as well so they get brown on both halves, not just the half sitting towards the middle. I also leave out my tub of coconut oil and keep adding more as the fish soak it up and it gets dry in there.


And this is what they look like when they are done. Seriously, they were fantastic! What I love about using the coconut flour/oil combo is that it doesn't impart a strong coconut flavor like you would maybe think, just a hint of it. And it is wonderful.


I was not exaggerating. She was seriously shoveling this into her mouth!



We just picked up some pastured pork chops from a local farmer and we are going to try them out breaded in the coconut flour and fried in the coconut oil too. This recipe is so versatile, it could be used for lots of different proteins, like shrimp and even veggies, tempura style!