I miss bread... But its getting easier...

So I spent about 98% of my day working on Paleo recipes... Research, shopping, prepping and cooking... So I'm just going to dive in because I'm freaking stoked about how things came out!

Let me predicate by saying I'm no chef, but I love cooking and more importantly eating, and I'm DEFINITELY no baker! But I follow directions pretty well and love to try what I cook... So without further adieu:

I went to find Almond flour as most of the bread and muffin recipes call for it, but its stupid expensive(like $14 for a small package)... So I decided to try my hand at making it, so I bought Publix almonds, 2 cans at 10.5 oz each for a total of around $8.50... I have a food processor at home and all the references I looked at said just to "Blanch" the almonds to get the skin off and just throw them in the food processor... Sounds easy, right? Ha! I can make anything hard. So here's how its supposed to go:

Blanch the almonds, which is as simple as boiling water, pouring the water over the almonds and let let sit for 1 minute, draining them and then rinsing them... and the skin should "Just fall off"... I WISH!... The skin didn't loosen at all for me, so I repeated the process... Worked this time, but I had to pop the skin off of each freakin almond... I'm sure there is an easier/better way, but that was my life today... for an hour... non stop. Anyway, after that I threw them in the oven at the lowest possible temp to dry, threw them in the food processor and BOOM, you have almond flour.

So now I wanted to make what we missed the most... something like bread... So I made blueberry muffins. Recipe below... and the are flippin delicious!

INGREDIENTS

    2 cups almond meal/flour
    1/2 tsp baking soda (soooo... I used baking powder... oops.. but they turned out great!)
    1/2 tsp salt
    2 eggs
    1/4 cup honey
    1/4 cup olive oil (used applesauce instead, great option!)
    2 tsp vanilla
    3/4 cup blueberries

INSTRUCTIONS

    Preheat oven to 350F
    Line a muffin tin with paper liners
    In a medium bowl mix together the almond meal, baking soda, and salt
    In a separate bowl mix together the eggs, honey, vanilla and oil
    Next combine the dry and wet mixtures, then add in your blueberries
    Fill your muffin tin with the batter and bake for 25 minutes

Preparation time: 10 minutes | Cook time: 25 minutes | Number of Servings: 6 muffins

They little freaking pieces of deliciousness came out moist, flavorful and freaking stupid good. They are packed full of protein, low in carbs and packed full of flavor... I do have to warn you tho, because its cooked with almond flour it is around 220 calories per muffin, but almost 170 of those are calories from fat... Which is paleo strong! ... I can't stress enough how good these things were...

Next, we love (by love, I mean I dream about them) these chicken wings from a local pizza chain and I found a recipe for them so we tried them last night... Holy little baby Jesus they were good... I don't want to write the name of the restaurant because our friends and us love going there and I would hate to get in trouble for posting this recipe, but lets just say the name of the place rhymes with Smanthony's Smoal Smire Smizza... Below is the recipe, they are essentially grilled rosemary chicken wings:

Ingredients

• 4 pounds chicken drumettes or wings or both
• ½ cup lemon juice (the juice of 3 large lemons)
• ¾ cup regular olive oil
• 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 4 springs fresh rosemary, stripped and roughly chopped
• ¾ tablespoon coarse Kosher salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper

Instructions

1. Place the chicken drumettes in a gallon freezer zip lock bag.
2. In a large measuring cup, mix together the lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, oregano, rosemary, salt and pepper.
3. Pour the olive oil mixture over the chicken wings.
4. Push as much air out of the zip lock bag and seal.
5. Place the bag flat in a 13 x 9 pan (as a precaution incase it leaks)
6. Place in the refrigerator and marinate for 24 hours turning the bag every so often.
7. The next day, remove the chicken from the refrigerator and allow to sit out for 30 minutes.
8. Meanwhile, place a grill pan on the grill and preheat your grill to as hot as it gets. Mine got to about 450-500.
9. Drain the excess marinade from the chicken.
10. Place the chicken on the grill and cook for about 8 minutes per side or until the skin is crispy.

 I did mine in the oven on a broil pan. 450 degrees for 40 minutes and broil 2-3 minutes (or until brown and crispy) on each side. The restaurant also serves them with caramelized onions, so I made them and served them with the onions as well... I'm all about authenticity...

I got the 4lbs of chicken for Publix for around $6 and it made about 14 drumettes, plenty left over for lunch tomorrow! They are a great dinner and I may try them with chicken breast next time and may also leave them in the marinade for 48 hours next time. Just remember, if you decoded the name of the place and want to try the real thing, this meal is a very paleo friendly dining out option!

There are two great recipes to try! Jill Boo Boo has been a good sport with my cooking attempts and she loved both of these... At least that's what she has told me... I love her for that, and for waking me up every morning at 7am to work out... which is not fun... Next blog will have some more baked goods and more dinner options including Jill Boo Boo's zucchini Noodle spaghetti and meat sauce!