Paleo Buffalo Chicken Tenders!

Happy New Year everyone! I know, I'm like a week late on that one- but it's still 2013 right?! And seeing as I haven't posted this year, Happy New Year! I hope you all had fabulous holiday seasons filled with laughter and love and you are thoroughly enjoying this new year! I definitely had a good time over the holidays, probably a little bit too good of a time! Time to get back to reality and detox a bit. Speaking of reality, I am officially full time in our new house in Panama City, FL! Woo hoo! This is the first blog post I have EVER written in my own house. Isn't that crazy?! I started the blog when my hubby was deployed and I was living with my mom, continued it at my friends home in Arkansas, even wrote a post staying with my husband's family in Chicago- but I have never written from my own home! This week has been the first week we have been settled (sort of) in a home of our own since April 2012. Can not tell you how thankful I am for this house! The first morning back from the holidays we didn't have any food in the house but I managed to make some tea & oatmeal for the hubbs & I and fed the dogs, we were all eating breakfast together and it was just so deliciously NORMAL. Mind you, we had no furniture at that particular point and the house was basically empty, but just being in that moment with my little family felt so amazing. I had nearly forgotten what that was like. :)

The entire time we've been here I've been wanting to blog- and I even made 2 new recipes last week (this one being the first), we just have been so crazy busy I didn't have a moment to sit until today. So MY new year's resolution is to get back into blog mode. I have a notebook of all my recipe ideas and my adorable husband is the best guinea pig out there, so watch out world! We are still trying to keep things as paleo as possible- no wheat, no processed foods, just real foods- but I won't lie to you we both still eat a little bit of dairy. I've found that dairy in small amounts really doesn't affect me, but if I sit down and eat a bowl of ice cream I WILL be sick. A tablespoon of heavy cream in my morning coffee, okay- a scoop of sugary milky ice cream? Sick. If you are trying to be strict paleo feel free to cut the dairy out of any given recipe, this one for example makes a fabulous crispy seasoned chicken tender- you don't have to make the buffalo sauce (which contains butter). 

OKAY so buffalo chicken. I love buffalo chicken. I love it when I'm watching football, and I really love it for a weeknight meal because these tenders are EASY. Real easy. They are gluten- free, wheat-free, but not quite dairy free. We use grass-fed butter (KerryGold) feel free to omit the buffalo sauce all together or just use straight up hot sauce if you like spicy! These will DEFINITELY be making an appearance at our Super Bowl party and probably rank pretty high in  our weekly dinner menu rotation- my husband LOVED them. And so did I!

Ingredients:
About 1/2 Cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil (or enough to be about an inch deep in your skillet)
8-12 Chicken Tenderloins, or a couple of chicken breasts cut into strips
2 Eggs, whisked
1 Cup Almond Flour
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. seasoned salt
1 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp. cracked black pepper
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
For the Buffalo Sauce: (This makes a very MILD sauce, if you like it spicier increase hot sauce to 1/2 Cup)
1/4 Cup Unsalted Butter
1/4 Cup Frank's Red Hot Sauce

Step 1: Add olive oil to your frying skillet of choice, I used my cast iron skillet because I feel like it holds even heat the best. Make sure you have enough to be about an inch deep in the skillet. Heat oil to medium- high heat.

 
Step 2: In a pie pan or shallow dish whisk together your eggs. (I doubled this recipe for company when I made it, that's why it looks like more than 2 eggs!)

Step 3: In a 2nd pie pan or shallow dish whisk together the almond flour, garlic powder, onion powder, seasoned salt, chili powder, oregano, black pepper, and cayenne pepper.

Step 4: Set yourself up a little breading station: Egg- almond flour mix- skillet.

Step 5: When oil is hot enough (put a wooden spoon in and it'll bubble around it) start breading your chicken. First dip in the egg, coating both sides and then shaking off the excess:

Then into the almond flour mixture, breading both sides and shaking off excess:

 Then into the skillet:

Step 6: Repeat with remaining tenders, being careful not to over-crowd the skillet.

Step 7: Cook 4-5 minutes per side, or until tenders are golden brown and cooked through. Drain on a paper towel lined plate. If you are making a large batch, like I was, transfer to a cookie sheet and keep warm in a 300 degree oven until you are ready to dip them in the sauce.

Step 8: For the buffalo sauce: Place butter and hot sauce into a microwave safe dish that is big enough to dip the tenders into. Microwave on high for 1 minute or until the butter is melted, stir to combine.

Step 9: Dip cooked chicken tenders into the buffalo sauce, gently (I used tongs) coat both sides with sauce mixture.

ENJOY!