Sweet and Spicy Paleo Chicken Fingers

This is a little different from the normal paleo chicken fingers I typically make. I've been making the same things a lot lately, so I wanted to find a way to spice up (in this case, literally) my family's favorites. This is a great twist on the normal chicken finger recipe, with a sticky sauce that is seriously addicting! If you like dipping your chicken, I would recommend making extra sauce and using that to dunk the chicken fingers after they're cooled. If you don't do paleo you could also do a yogurt dressing or traditional ranch dressing if you're so inclined.

Ingredients

• 2 ¼ cups almond flour
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• 2 eggs
• ¼ cup tapioca starch
• 1 lb chicken tenders
• ¾ cup honey
• ⅓ cup hot sauce
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 425 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper

2. Place the almond flour, sea salt, and pepper into a bowl and stir it together. Whisk together eggs in a separate bowl. Pour your tapioca starch into a third bowl.

3. Dip the chicken tenders, one at a time, into the tapioca or potato starch, then into the egg then into the almond flour. Lay the chicken tenders on the prepared baking sheet.

4. Bake the chicken for 25 minutes or until it begins to brown.

5. While the chicken is baking, prepare the sauce. In a small frying pan over high heat bring the honey, hot sauce and garlic powder to a boil then set it aside.

6. When the chicken has finished baking remove it from the oven and turn the oven to broil. Dip each of the chicken tenders in the sauce then lay them back on the baking sheet. Save the extra sauce.

7. Put the chicken back in the oven for 2-5 minutes for the glaze to caramelize slightly. Keep an eye on it to make sure it doesn't burn.

8. Baste the chicken with any extra sauce once they come out of the oven.

Slow cooker apple cinnamon pork tenderloin

Seems like most crock pot pork recipes always turn into some kind of mushy pork slop by the time they're done cooking. But I always have good luck with tenderloin, so it's pretty much the only cut of pork that I buy now. I love this recipe in particular because tenderloin is so lean that it can often turn out dry, even in the slow cooker. But the apples infuse the meat with moisture and flavor, and also make the whole house smell absolutely amazing!! I honestly don't venture out of my comfort zone much when it comes to new tenderloin recipes. But this one is always a hit, so I make it fairly often and nobody ever gets tired of it.

Ingredients

2 lb. boneless pork loin roast;

3 medium apples, peeled and sliced;

¼ cup honey; (optional)

1 red onion, halved and sliced;

1 tbsp. ground cinnamon;

1 cup chicken stock;

Cooking fat;

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper;

 

Instructions

1. Season the pork to taste with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.
2. Melt some cooking fat in a large skillet placed over a high heat and brown the roast on all sides.
3. Using a sharp knife, cut 3-inch deep slits into the pork.
4. Insert the apple slices into each pork slit.
5. Place half of the remaining apples in the bottom of a slow cooker.
6. Place the roast over the apples.
7. Drizzle the honey on top of the roast, then add the onion and remaining apples.
8. Add the chicken stock and sprinkle everything with cinnamon.
9. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Turkey stuffed peppers

I originally found this ground turkey mixture on whatiscookingnow.com. It was supposed to be a recipe for turkey zucchini boats, but after testing out the recipe the way it was originally intended I found that it turned out a lot better as a stuffed pepper recipe. I included the pictures of both versions for reference. If you still prefer to do stuffed zucchini boats all you have to do is reduce the cooking time by about ten minutes. These are also amazing with a single slice of Havarti cheese melted on top.
Being 15 weeks pregnant, I still get my cravings, and cheese is usually at the top of the list. It's not paleo, but I figure there could be a lot worse foods to crave, right? During my last pregnancy there were some days where it was literally the only thing I wanted to eat ALL DAY LONG. My cheese cravings aren't as strong this time around, but I still feel the need to add a slice here and there to some of the dishes I make. And I don't hear the rest of the family complaining, since these only lasted a day!
And just a little fun fact: any time you add dairy to a paleo recipe, it's considered "primal" rather than paleo.

Ingredients:
1½ lb lean ground turkey
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup almond flour
¼ cup tomato paste
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
4 bell peppers sliced lengthwise

Directions

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.
• Add ground turkey, onion and garlic to skillet; cook 7 minutes or until turkey is no longer pink, stirring to crumble.
• Transfer turkey mixture to a bowl; mix in almond flour, tomato paste, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper.
• Scoop seeds of the peppers, and discard.  Stuff turkey mixture evenly into bell pepper shells.
• Place on a baking sheet or dish. Bake 35 minutes (25 min for stuffed zucchini) or until the peppers are tender.

Instant Pot Bone Broth

I used to always think that the term "bone broth" was so pretentious. I saw celebrities endorsing their morning bone broth in their super cutesie mugs, and all the wanna-be insta-famous girls quickly followed suit. I mean really, who pays twelve freaking dollars for a 16 oz carton of chicken soup without the chicken?? This is part of the reason why I've put off trying it for so long.
But let me tell you, there IS a difference!
First let me clarify the difference between broth, stock, and bone broth. Like many people, I thought they were all one in the same. They are all related, in that they all involve boiling some form of meat, bones, and seasonings, but they are all created for different purposes.

Traditional broth (not to be confused with bone broth) is mainly water boiled with vegetables, seasonings, and some bones. It is very light and flavorful, and stays liquid when chilled.
Stock is much thicker than broth. It is mainly water boiled with bones, sometimes with meat still attached, along with vegetables and seasonings. The point of stock is to extract the collagen and other nutrients from the bones, giving it a heavy gelatinous consistency. It must be watered down in order to be used for soups or other broth-like purposes.
Bone broth is the happy medium between stock and traditional broth. It is thicker than normal broth, due to the fact that the goal is the same when cooking a stock: to extract the nutrients and collagen from the bones. But bone broth is lighter than stock, making it easier to enjoy on its own, or in place of a traditional store-bought broth. In other words, bone broth is packed with all the nutrition of a stock, but with the convenience of a broth. The perfect hybrid.

Drinking bone broth has a multitude of health benefits. It's great for joints due to the fact that it's chock full of glucosamine, chondroitin sulphates and other joint lubricating compounds. It's also a great source of collagen; which has been known to make skin appear younger, along with strengthening hair and nails, helping them to grow more quickly. Others claim it has immune boosting and anti-inflammatory effects (although there is no scientific evidence to support this).
But honestly, the bottom line is that it tastes great, and what the hell...it can't hurt, right?

My bone broth recipe is less of a recipe, and more of a general guideline. Feel free to play with it. I had a leftover rotisserie chicken in the fridge, so I used that, but you can use whatever kind of bones you have lying around. All I did was pick the meat off, throw the bones in, and top with apple cider vinegar, veggies, herbs, and water before I turned on the instant pot.

Ingredients:
-2-3 lbs of Bones (as much or as little as you like, whatever kind you like, I used chicken bones)
-2-3 Tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar
-Assorted vegetables (whatever you have on hand. I used onion, carrots, and celery)
-1 teaspoon sea salt
-Two bay leaves
-Whatever fresh herbs you have on hand

Instructions:
1. Just place the bones in the instant pot and top with ACV, herbs, veggies, and salt
2. Add water until the pot is about 2/3 full
3. Select the "soup" function and set to low. Manually adjust the cooking time to 120 min.
4. Once it is done cooking, allow the pressure to release on its own.
5. Strain all of the bones and vegetables out of the broth and toss them.