Coconut Flour Chicken Bites

I really should learn by now that if I am going to post a food pic on Facebook or Instagram that I should already have the recipe on my blog. 

Trouble is though that I make just a lot of stuff on the fly. I know enough kitchen tricks and have enough skillz that I have a general idea of how something is going to turn out. Sometimes I'll start off with a legit recipe from a book and will often just say get the book, lol. Then over time I'll fiddle with the recipe until I've made it my own. More of this, less of that, kind of thing.

These chicken bites are something that I cobbled together. Normally I used a paleo chicken finger recipe that I adapted off of another blog (get the original here) but I didn't have chicken breast or arrowroot flour.

It seems though some of the best things though just seem to happen. They were GREAT!

Coconut Flour Chicken Bites

8-10 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk (dairy, almond, coconut)
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/4 almond flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
black pepper to taste
1 cup lard

-Cut the chicken breasts into bite size-ish pieces - that's a technical term by the way ;)
-Put the lard into a large high walled frying pan, melt, and bring to temperature
-Beat the eggs and milk together
-Put the chicken pieces into the egg and milk mixture
-In a larger bowl mix together the coconut flour, almond flour, sea salt, and black pepper
-Take the kitchen pieces from the egg mix and into the coconut flour mix and toss them around until evenly coated.
-Put 10 pieces or so of chicken into the hot oil at a time, flipping over, until cooked, usually about 5-8 minutes depending on their size. Repeat until all are fried.

**Note: you can add other spices if you like, sometimes I'll do a 1/2 tsp dried basil or parsley, or 1/4 tsp paprika. Play with it to find what you like.

Honey Drill Drizzle

I am a HUGE honey dill fan, fan of sauces in general, but honey dill is perfect for these. Now the regular honey dill has a lot of nasty things in it so I decided to make my own AND use as a drizzle instead of a dip so I was eating WAY less. Win/Win. It's all about the wins!
2 tbsp honey
1/4 tsp dried dill

Mix the two together. Using a spoon lightly drizzle over your chicken bites.
See? EASY!

Now you may or may not be wondering about the lard. Yes, I do deep fry these, no, I don't have them multiple times a week. I also choose lard versus vegetable oil or canola oil. I personally prefer to use oils that haven't been highly processed and am a fan of natural animal fats. It's what I rock and how I roll. That being said you could use coconut oil (but I'm too chincy to do that).

Let me know if you try them in the comments below!

Lemon Ginger Sauce

The other day I made a super nummy lemon ginger chicken. Paired up with some veggies and basmati rice and it makes a perfectly balanced meal.

Lemon Ginger Sauce 

1/3 cup coconut aminos

1/4 cup water

juice of 1/2 lemon

1 clove garlic finely minced

1/2 thumb size piece of ginger finely minced

1/2 med onion diced or sliced thinly 

2 tsp arrowroot powder

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and let those flavours meld while you fry up some pieces of chicken. When chicken is just about finished pour the sauce in and simmer for about 5-10 minutes, until thickened.

For my veg I like to steam carrots and broccoli until tender crisp and then toss them with the chicken and sauce. If you'd like to do celery you could toss it in with the chicken shortly before the sauce, same with bok choy.

I think I may just have to make this sauce again tonight, perhaps see if I can tweak it into a ginger beef recipe.

Have a Rockin' Sunday night and week ahead.

This Week's Grocery Haul and Basic Meal Plan

Yes it's Tuesday, and I'm a touch late getting the groceries this week and slapping a meal plan together, but I still got it together to get myself back on track. 

To make the meal plan this week I took a look at what was still in our freezer and cupboards and then decided what I wanted to make for supper and what we would need. We still had a few things leftover from previous Costco trips (mostly meat and cupboards staples) so we did have to do quite a big produce stickup. 

I have to admit that I do get a huge thrill out of seeing so much beautiful colour in my grocery cart. The greens, yellows, reds, etc, are so vibrant. Eat the rainbow for sure!!

So I'll break down what I am going to be making this week first. I decided to do it up more menuish than meal plan. Menu sounds nicer, lol, like I'm eating out at a restaurant…but at home ;)

Based off of my menu I bought the following groceries:

PRODUCE

MEAT AND DAIRY

MISCELLANEOUS

As you can hopefully see I make a variety of foods, everything sounds yummy, looks great, and of course tastes delicious. For one fancy night out at a steak house I can buy an entire week's worth of groceries to feed our growing family of five, and man do my growing kids eat A LOT. True we had a few things already at home from those previous Costco trips but they balance out and last a loooong time. 

As you can see there is very little in the way of any processed snacks. Mostly because we don't need them. I am busy, I am active, I need ENERGY. What I don't need are foods that are going to take a lot to fill me up, give me no nutritional advantage, and put yucky things into my body. 

Eating whole, real foods is so important to feeling your best, looking your best, and being able to Rock Your Life!