Category Archives: Poultry

Paleo Chicken Soup

A few months back we moved from New Orleans to Houston. Life has been so different ever since with very little that seems familiar.

During these months I have been homeschooling my 3 kids, growing a 4th, giving birth to that 4th, adjusting to our new home and city, and trying desperately to make friends. Moving is a hard transition and of everything we miss, we miss our friends the most. After friends, we miss good food.

One day when I was largely pregnant and Brandon was out of town, a new and dear friend Tracey invited the kids and I over to play. Tracey has 6 boys that my kids adore and fit right in with. Seriously, they wouldn’t mind at all if I happened to forget them there for a few years. They love playing and I love getting the much needed fellowship time with another mom.

This particular day, seeing as we had nowhere to be, we stayed for dinner and had a warm, comforting, snuggly blanket-in-a-bowl of chicken soup.

Tracey would humbly say it’s no big deal, her mom gave her the recipe, and it’s just something she threw together. I would say it is filling and cozy, rich yet simple, and full of the perfect amount of flavor. The perfect chicken soup.

So perfect, that I helped myself to 3 bowls. I was pregnant! It was not only wonderful to hang out with friends, but to have such delicious food- both things we have been missing dearly.

Tracey has graciously allowed me to share this recipe with all of you and after a couple of tiny tweaks here it is: “Paleo” Chicken Soup.

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Jeremiah’s “Tin Can Chili”

Jeremiah is really starting to like this new found freedom in the kitchen. He’s not liking (go figure) that his little brother and sister want to help him. The life of a chef!

He has been planning this recipe for a while now in his head and now it has finally come to fruition. He opened so many cans while cooking that he broke my can opener and had to run to the neighbor’s to borrow theirs! That’s my boy with his strong muscles. I did a lot of the cutting and he did the opening, measuring and mixing. It was a process that I’m sure will get easier, faster and more creative as we go.

I am planning on making this much easier, so here are some tips:

1. Take an afternoon to cook up a whole lot of chicken, shred it and freeze it. This step would have taken me completely out of the picture and made it a much cleaner and faster prep. (You can always use canned chicken for this which makes it all the more easier, it’s just a bit more pricey and you really need to search out the brands that don’t add extra ingredients in the can. Sam’s brand is a good one.)

2. Dice up a bunch of raw veggies and freeze them in cup servings. This way, either you or your kids can pull the bags out of the freezer and dump them straight into the crockpot or pan without any prep time at all.

Without further adieu: Jeremiah’s “Tin Can Chili”! 

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Jeremiah’s “Crazalad”

Jeremiah is having so much fun in the kitchen lately. Not only is he learning how to cook he’s also learning how to be creative, how math is used in everything, what flavors work well together, why flavors don’t, how to use his reasoning skills, and how to be a great husband who cooks delicious meals for his wife one day.

This is a great starter recipe for your kids in the kitchen. I helped Jeremiah to get all the ingredients prepped and ready so that he could take the reigns in combining and choosing how much of each ingredient to put in. I’ve got to say, I was pretty proud of him. Try a hand at getting your kids in the kitchen. I bet you they will have as great a time as we did.

Today his creative, and somewhat crazy, skills had him making chicken salad which he coined his “Crazalad”. Just think: crazy + salad= crazalad. But no, you cannot say this all sweetly, you need to say it well, like you’re crazy! CRAZALAD!!!! It’s kind of fun to say, isn’t it? It’s even better to eat. 

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Here’s what you need: 

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5 cups cooked chicken, diced or shredded (can used canned chicken to make it even easier)

2 cups apples, diced (1 large apple)

1 1/2 cups grapes, halved

1 cup pecans, chopped

1 cup pickles, diced (or relish)

3/4 cup homemade mayo

1/8 cup of raw honey

sea salt and pepper to taste

Here’s what you do: 

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1. Combine chicken, apples, grapes, pecans, and pickles in bowl. Stir.

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2. Add mayo and honey to bowl. Mix well.

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3. Season with sea salt and pepper. Mix again.

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Makes enough for a hungry family of 5.

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Enjoy in a lettuce wrap, on a cut tomato, with celery, avocado or as Jeremiah likes it: with a spoon. However you enjoy it, ENJOY!

From our Whole Family to yours……. 

Easy Chicken Salad

This is my absolute simplest way to make chicken salad. It can be thrown together in a few minutes and is a great meal to take on the go. This is one of those light meals that I make a bunch of on Sunday and snack on throughout the week. Sometimes I need a bite of something flavorful and this hits the spot. I can throw some in a lettuce wrap, on an avocado, in a tomato, or simply on a spoon. Check it out. 

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Paleo Chicken Wings

For our family viewing of the Olympics we made some fun finger foods including a whole lot of absolutely delicious chicken wings. As always, this recipe is super simple, very healthy and incredibly good! 

This recipe is for one pound although I would highly recommend doubling (if not tripling) this recipe!

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Chicken Fajitas! (minus the fajita)

It almost seems silly for me to be posting this recipe, only because where I come from fajita making is the same as tying your shoe, second nature. It’s something you learn young and perfect as you grow. It’s a staple, a go-to meal, a true comfort food.

When I tell people I grew up in Texas people quickly think southern, country, soul food.

Um, no.

What I think when I say I grew up in Texas is the mercado, mariachis, comida mexicana!

I am very proud to say that us Mexicans and hispanics have some ASOMBROSO (AMAZING) food and although chicken fajitas are a super easy meal to make they absolutely fit into the category of ASOMBROSO. I’m sure you will agree!

 

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Whole30/ Paleo Spicy Chicken Wings

This recipe is so beyond easy I feel silly even calling it a recipe. Then again, it is so good if I didn’t share it with you that would be a crime! So here goes:

 

Ingredients:

Chicken wings

Unsweetened applesauce

Hot sauce (whole30 approved, of course)

sea salt and pepper

And that’s it!

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Put chicken wings on baking sheet and season with salt and pepper.

Bake for 20 minutes.

While the chicken wings are baking mix hot sauce and applesauce together.

When the wings are done remove from oven and lower oven temp to 350 degrees.

Put a few wings at a time in the bowl with sauce and toss.

Put flavored wings back on the baking sheet and repeat until all wings are tossed in mix.

If you have any leftover sauce pour over the wings… you don’t want to waste any of this!

Put the wings back in the oven for 10 more minutes.

And that’s it! Now go eat a whole lot of chicken wings and don’t feel guilty about a single one!

Enjoy!!!

Crockpot Chicken de Provence

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Let me preface this recipe with saying that I have never made okra before. The only okra I’ve ever eaten in my life was cut up and fried.

We went to the Farmer’s Market yesterday and they were selling okra and for some crazy out of this world reason I thought “TRY SOMETHING NEW!”. So I did.

I bought the okra.

Of course, I had no idea what I was going to do with it. Seriously. No idea. I actually figured they would probably go bad before I used them, but hey, at least I tried. This morning as I was getting all my ingredients together to make a recipe my dear friend Ashley told me about that included onions I realized the worst thing that could ever happen in my kitchen happened: I had run out of onions.

This is traumatic because I LOVE onions…and because my lack of onions was about to ruin my “Crockpot Thursday” plan. So I used my creative juices (look mommy, they still work!) and used okra instead. And it worked!

Honestly, I was really scared my kids, and my hubs, were going to hate dinner and I was going to have to shove okra down their throats (which would have been grossly messy). But, OH MY GOODNESS THEY LOVED IT! I’m just as shocked as you are (please tell me you’re shocked)!

So run (don’t walk people), run to your local farmer’s market and get yourself some OKRA!!! Your kids will thank you. And then you can thank me. :) Continue reading →

Whole30/paleo Spi-garlicy Chicken (Yes, I made that up….clever, huh?)

Ingredients:

1 package of chicken thighs (about 10-12)

6 tbsp coconut oil

6 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tsp cayenne pepper

3 tsp garlic powder

1 tbsp hot sauce (add more if you’re feeling brave!)

3 tbsp undsweetened applesauce (add more applesauce if the mix is too hot to lower the heat)

1 tsp onion powder

Sea salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Remove skin from chicken thighs and place in a baking pan.

In a bowl mix all remaining ingredients together.

Spoon mixture evenly over all chicken.

Bake for 1 hour.

It’s that easy! Enjoy!

Whole30/Paleo Curry Chicken

This recipe is super easy and is sooo good! I usually have chicken already made so it makes it even faster to put together.

Ingredients:

approx 6 cups shredded chicken (probably 1 whole chicken)

3 carrots finely chopped

1 onion finely chopped

3 tbsps ginger finely chopped

olive oil

1 can coconut milk

4 tbsps yellow curry paste

1 avocado, sliced

Directions:

Heat a pan (I use a wok) with 2 tbsps olive oil.

Put in ginger and onion and stir for 5 minutes.

Add carrots and cook 5 more minutes.

Add yellow curry paste and 1/2 a can of coconut milk, stir.

Add chicken and the other 1/2 can of coconut milk.

Stir until chicken is heated through.

And you’re done!

Top with a few slices of avocado and enjoy!

Easy Crockpot Chicken

It seems silly that I am even posting this as a “recipe” but I didn’t know how to cook a whole chicken until very lately, so this is for all of you that are like me!

 

Ingredients:

chicken (my crockpot fits 2 side by side)

salt

pepper

rosemary (or any herbs you have available, dried or fresh)

Directions:

Put the chickens in the crockpot with the breasts up. Season with salt, pepper, and herbs. Turn the crockpot on high for 3 1/2 hours. And you’re done! Enjoy your chicken!

I make 2 chickens every week to make chicken salad, curry chicken, lettuce wraps or fajitas with. The possibilities are endless!