After a stressful morning yesterday, we pulled it off and closed on our new house!! It was a beautiful day to CELEBRATE!!!!! Now it’s on to more packing as we have about two weeks to slowly move to the new place before we close on …
I have a confession to make. I’ve made deviled eggs exactly once in my life. In fact, before these bacon deviled eggs, I hated the very thought of deviled eggs. My mother in law was impressed that I actually made them given my history of being …
Sheesh. This eating a more strict healthy diet for the month of January has me craving some wicked bar food. Or it could be that I don’t exactly get to head out for happy hours anymore since having kids and staying home with them. I occasionally have a bit of nostalgia for my days of working downtown and being able to scoot out for a lunch date or ditching out of work a smidge early for happy hour with friends. Then I remember that I was in a cubicle, and well, that’s just not as great as having a whole house as my office. But I do still long for the occasional happy hour and bar food…. so why not create my own happy hour? Sure thing! Baked Chicken Tenders it is with a yummy honey mustardy bbq mayo sauce to go with them!
First things first, these little guys need a good marinade. Feel free to use buttermilk or if you’re dairy free, use coconut milk kefir or coconut milk with a tablespoon of lemon juice to accomplish the same effect which is moist and tenderlicious chicken. I used coconut milk kefir and added some spices to it. Place the chicken strips in a shallow dish or bowl and cover with the buttermilk/coconut milk kefir and let marinate for at least 4 hours or up to 24.
Next, we crush up a bag of plain pork rinds to use as the coating. I know! Weird, but oh so good!!! So crush ’em up by just smashing them right in their bag until they’re pretty fine. Then dump them into a clean bowl with a hit of spice once again. Take each chicken tender out of their marinade and let the excess drip off. Then dredge them in the pork rinds until they are fully covered and place on a baking sheet. I lined my baking sheet with aluminum foil and placed a cooling rack over top to bake them so the oven air could circulate around the chicken and get them a bit crispier.
So what’s this crazy sounding sauce? It’s a lot like the sauce that Chick-fil-a makes that’s super addictively delicious with chicken. It’s essentially a homemade mayo but with a few added ingredients like honey and barbeque sauce. Now THAT is some seriously good sauce!
The best part of the holidays is the time just after when you can clean up, re-organize, and then most importantly RELAX. This week has been filled with a whole bunch of family time. And that’s mostly a good thing 🙂 My husband took this …
I’m here to convince you that you love squash. No really, you do. Mixed into the right recipes, even self proclaimed squash haters (me) don’t have a choice but to love it. This recipe is a perfect example. Squash and cheddar cheese fondue tastes …
Appetizers for dinner, like these salty sweet jalapeno poppers, are always a great thing, especially when it involves hanging out with awesome friends. That was our agenda this past weekend. Well, actually it was more like, stare out the window with my coffee and ponder the new snow wondering how it went from 70 degrees just three weeks ago to below 20. What happened to fall?!? Then after the caffeine kicks in, head out to shovel, come back in and figure out something spicy-salty-sweet to bring for dinner and finally go over to our friends where we can banish the kids to the upstairs or downstairs leaving the main floor kid-free for us “adults” to enjoy. Appetizers for dinner is really just an excuse not to cook real food. Those of us with kids can then pretend we’re still hip and out to happy hour. The two husbands then also act like they’re out to happy hour and have fun posing with gourds. Weirdos.
While we’re pretending to be hip, I’ll pretend I’m extra hip by making fancy (but WAY easy) salty sweet jalapeno poppers. This is seriously the easiest appetizer you will ever make. Quite possibly the most addicting too since its filling combines a saltly sweet combination of bacon and medjool dates all pureed together and spooned into a jalepeno shell. Top it off with some quinoa flakes (or cheese if you prefer) and bake it up. I promise they won’t stay on the appetizer tray for more than five minutes.
