LCHF almond crumbed chicken with blue cheese dressing

My big two kidlets are away with their dad at the moment so I am cooking just for me.  

(if you don't count the bazillion bottles I seem to make)

This is a wondrous thing for a few reasons.

I get to eat what I want!

I can eat when I want.

I never hear negative feedback prior/during or after the meal

Very little washing up.

More for me :)

Don't get me wrong, I do miss them but this is a treat!

This meal was worthy of it's own post it was so amazing

I have been wanting to have a go at crumbing chicken but wasn't sure how it would go without the regular flour/breadcrumb combo. 

I was kinda making it up as I went and hit the jackpot..

If you make it let me know what you think.

INGREDIENTS (serves 2)

Chicken

6 chicken drumsticks (or any pieces you like really)

1/4c buckwheat flour

1 egg whisked with 2 tbs milk

3/4c of almond meal.  (I ground my own almonds but not too fine as I like texture)

Blue Cheese Sauce

1/4c blue cheese

3tbs sour cream

1tbs mayonaisse

1tbs lemon juice

pinch of salt

Coat chicken in flour then the egg mix.  Roll in almond meal and refrigerate for at least 30 min.  

I find this firms it all up and stops the crumb falling off when cooking. 

I oven baked mine but you could fry in coconut oil just as easily.

Pop on lined oven dish and bake at 200c for around 30min or until completely cooked through.

These released just enough juices/fat to help the almonds roast up and become crispy golden and totally delicious.

You could serve with anything you like.  I chose a salad with freshly pod peas, avocado, olives, fetta and greens.

Topped with the blue cheese sauce.

For the sauce pop all ingredients into a blender and blitz until combined, it is that easy.  

Trust me this sauce is amazeballs!

I also had enough for steak the following night.

Please let me know what you think :)

What did Christmas look like at your house??

Everyone talks about how hard it is at christmas time to stay on track with food.  Not to over indulge, eat crap, drink too much etc

I must admit I was in a bit of a quandary of what to do as I was host and knew that not everyone was on board with my food choices.  

I got the children to write a list of what they wanted.  I was surprised as their choices were pretty good:

potato bake (with white potatoes please mum!)

bean and avocado salad

mushrooms

chicken

ham

and cheese in our stockings!

So, I went to work.  The meat and salad side of things were the same as every year pretty much and simple.  All made with good fresh produce (other than tinned 4 bean mix), olive oil and fresh herbs.

I did a cheese plate with cheeses from Ashgrove (and yes the kids did get cheese in their stockings!) along with some naturally leavened sourdough from Apiece Bakery for the bread eaters.

I also got some smoked salmon and whipped up these beauties from Ditch the Carbs!

Salmon and cream cheese egg bites.  They are divine, although next time I will put more salmon in them.

I usually make up small platters for friends and family at christmas time but this year with a newborn in the house I was a little challenged for time and spare hands. 

I did manage to make this pale green christmas that was delicious 

                                                    along with some strawberry truffles.

My boy wanted real trifle (meaning processed cake, sugary jelly and packet custard).   

Um, no.

LOL

He wasn't actually home when I made this and on boxing day I asked him what he thought.  He told me it was amazing and he was so glad I made a 'real' one.  

Imagine his surprise when I told him how I made it!

This 'real trifle' was broken up paleo ginger cake, jelly made with juice, agar agar and passionfruit pulp, fresh berries, fresh mango, quirky's coconut caramel custard and ashgrove cream.

 No added sugars or grains and tasted divine!

Lastly was the request for a raw cheesecake, fast becoming a fave in this household but a treat due to the expense of nuts!

I use the I Quit Sugar recipe for this.  

The texture was quite stiff when making this and I was concerned about it but needn't have been. 

 I made it four days in advance and popped it in the freezer.  

Pulled it out christmas eve and left it in the fridge.  

I swear to god this is heaven in a baking dish!

So, christmas was sugar free, grain free (for me) and successfully low carb high fat.  I didn't feel like I missed out on anything or was deprived and I don't think my kids did either. 

What was your christmas like?

Recipe porn

Who doesn't love a bit of recipe porn!  

All you kind folk out there who purchase through my advertising link can rest in the knowledge that my commission gets well spent!  Not that I get much mind you.

Yup,, I have been stocking up on recipe books that are supportive of my low carb/high fat lifesstyle.

I thought I would list a few good ones. 

 I know that if you can't get your hands on a copy to flick through before purchase it is hard to know whether it is worth buying or not.

And, well I am sure you will agree that some books can be expensive.

I always try to buy from local book stores but sometimes my finances just don't allow that and I do have to look elsewhere.  My usual online go to is fishpond or book depository.

Here is my top ten in no particular order:

I was given this one by a friend for my birthday.  If you only buy one recipe book I would say this is it!   I am loving the healthy recipes. They are not only sugar free and 'paleo' but also easy and taste great.   Our fave recipes are the chicken burgers and the Moroccan Lamb Skewers. 

They also have a paleo sweets ebook which is only a few dollars and also awesome.

Watch this space for more from Luke and Scott as I will be interviewing them and 

offering a fabulous giveaway very soon.

After hearing an interview with Tori on ABC radio I just had to have her book.  It does not disappoint!   Some great healthy grain free recipes. 

Faves from this are the Moroccan Lamb & Chickpea burgers and the Lentil 'meatballs'. 

A good friend put me on to this book a long time ago.  She writes about food so beautifully.  You can hear her passion in her words and I love her stuff.  Not a huge amount of recipes but gorgeous writing and ideas to lessen food waste and to utilise all your veg and meat.

 OMG!  this one is brilliant!!   Pete Evans is obviously a name everyone knows at the moment and this book is his latest.  

Another old fave of mine is the Moosewood.  I have had this for years and it has some wonderful vegetarian (look away paleo fanatics LOL) recipes.   It has an awesome baked bean recipe that I have used many times.

I know so many people who have this book and swear by it.  It has so much info packed into it on nutrition and food for medicine.   THe bone broth recipe is fail proof and it has loads of hearty and nutrition meat based recipes that I love.

A new one to my flock.  My friend Christina from over at Joy of the Home had this and I got to flick through it.  I was so tired of the same old 'tomato, onion, Worcestershire sauce' recipes for the slow cooker.  This is refreshing and has some amazing recipes for soups, main meals and desserts.

Ahhh, Quirky Jo has been known on the interwebs for sometime.  She cooks amazing,healthy meals with her thermomix and the hard copy print book does not disappoint.  Now, I don't have a thermomix but do have a bellini.

I really love her raw sweets and for basics like the nut milks/butters and smoothies she is great.  

My current crush!  This is a bit like a Stephanie Alexander's cooks companion but  simpler in my opinion.   Definitely not paleo but a beautiful range of recipes none the less.

Ahh, who doesn't love Hugh!   My favourite recipe from this book is his pancake one.  Yes, made with flour!!   I buy einkhorn flour from Changing Habits and make these for the kids about once a fortnight.  The recipe NEVER fails and I am pretty crap at making pancakes!

He also does an amazing spinach & bacon frittata and an equally great spicy lamb burger.

 

These are just a few of some of the fabulous recipe books that are out there.  There are loads of online blogs and ebooks too but I will save those for another post.  

What are your fave books??

Leave a comment with your recommendations!

Week one

Round 3 (started loading 11 Oct 2014)
Phase 2   (Started 13 Oct 2014)
Day 7
Blood group A+
Loss to date - 38kg

So week one is done and dusted.   

I have found that I am suffering detox symptoms quite severely this week.  Round two wasn't so bad with them.

I have had headaches, itchy skin and a shocking pain in left ribs.   The latter I had for much of round two  and it is back again.  My chiropractor thinks it is to do with liver detox so I guess I should be grateful my body is working hard at mending but gee it is annoying.

Weights for this week are:

13Oct - 78.1kg (post loading)

14Oct -76.4kg

15Oct- 75.5kg

16Oct 74.8kg

17Oct - 74.5kg

18Oct- 73.8kg

19Oct - 73.6kg

Total loss for week= 4.5kg

Starting measurements10 Oct:

waist    94cm

hip  108cm

thigh  51cm

upper arm   30cm

chest  100cm

calf  36cm

This weeks measurements:

waist    94cm

hip  108cm

thigh  51cm

upper arm   33cm

chest  97cm

calf  35cm

Walked:
Approx 5.5km intentionally

Meals for the week:

Breakfast is generally an apple and a cup of black coffee.

Lunches:

stir fry chicken with broccoli, onion, garlic

egg and zucchini frittata

egg salad with celery, tomato, lettuce, lemon juice

Chicken and Broccoli salad
Curried Chicken and cauliflower soup
Tomato, zucchini and chicken soup

 

Dinner:

Broccoli and spinach soup with shredded chicken

beef broth with zucchini, spinach and beef meatballs

Poached chicken with spinach and cauliflower mash
corned beef (preservative free) and broccoli
Lemon chicken and asparagus with tomato
curried chicken and Cauliflower soup
Calamari and broccoli stir fry

Recipes for the week

Curried Chicken Soup
100gr chicken
1 cup cauliflower
water to cover
S&P
oregano
1tsp curry powder of choice

Simmer until chicken is well cooked through and cauli is soft.  Blend to a creamy texture with food processor/stick blender/bellini/thermomix.

I like to do multiple batches at once and then divide up for future meals.

Calamari & broccoli stir fry
100gr calamari cut into rings
1c broccoli cut very fine
1/2onion cut fine
S&P
cumin
Coriander
Garlic
1/2 lemon
Marinate the calamari for at least 30 minutes in the juice from the lemon and plenty of S&P.  Lightly steam the broccoli while doing this.  Heat your pan to very hot then add a splash of water and fry the onion, add the calamari and garlic and fry until cooked through, toss in the broccoli, cumin and coriander and let the water absorb so you get some colour in the calamari. At the last minute put a tbs of water in and swish around to create a type of sauce.  It will be brown from the previous step so don't stress.
Serve on a bed of lettuce greens.

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