Low Carb Peruvian Creamed Chicken--aji de la gallina (Paleo-mod)

This may just be the best damn thing I've ever made. Even as I type, my boyfriend it literally bowing at my feet and worshiping my kitchen prowess.

A few days ago, my co-worker let me taste an absolutely spectacular Peruvian dish called aji de la gallina. The recipe seemed step-heavy but easy enough. The only problem is that the traditional recipe requires about 1/2 loaf of white bread as a thickener for the creamy base. With my crazy pre-diabetic body, I would probably go into some sort of sugar infused shock if I follow this recipe.

That said, here's my low carb recipe that can easily be Paleo modified with just 1 ingredient. Substitute the Parmesan for nutritional yeast. Admittedly it wasn't as spectacular as the original but PRETTY DAYUM TASTY! If you can handle the real deal then by all means do so. If not, this recipe is pretty banging.

Ingredients (Serving Size 3 Greedy People | 4 Normal People):

• Shredded Boiled Chicken Breast (2 large pieces)
• 1 red Onion
• 3 gloves or Garlic
• 4 tablespoons of Parmesan (or a couple spoons of nutritional yeast)
• 1 can of creamy Coconut milk
• 1/3 cup of Cashews(soaked)
• 2 tablespoons of Paprika
• 2 tablespoons of yellow aji paste(I couldn't find this unfortunately and ended up using grounded red aji peppers--the flavor is not the same...le sigh)

Steps:

1. Fill large pot with about 8 cups of water, 1/2 onion and a dash of salt, bring to a boil. Lower the heat to simmer for 20 minutes. Remove chicken and allow this to cool. Once cool, shred chicken by pealing the fibers away (like Twizzlers!)
2. Heat oil on a skillet then add 1/2 diced red onion. Cook until translucent. Add minced garlic,
3. Blend coconut milk and cachews together until smooth
4. Add coconut milk, cashews, paprika, shredded chicken, Parmesan, aji and salt to taste. Let this simmer for about 10 minutes. The sauce should be thick and creamy.
5. Serve over rice (or cauliflower rice) with a hard boiled egg on top. 

Fried Tapioca Flour Chicken Wings (Paleo/Gluten Free)

There is nothing I hate more that soggy wings. Terrible. Luckily these crispy fried wings pack some serious crunch. And guess what, they're paleo & glutten free!

Ingredients:(Serves 2-3)

• (6) chicken wings split into 2 (makes 12 total)
• 3/4 cup of tapioca flour
• 2 teaspoons Paprika
• 1/3 stick of butter
• Gluten Free buffalo wing sauce

Directions:

1.) Heat oil to 375 degrees F for about 15 minutes. 

2.) Combine paprika and tapioca flour together in a bowl. Pat wings dry then toss them into the bowl,coating it with flour. 

3.) Carefully lower wings into hot oil and fry for 15 minutes

4.) Meanwhile melt butter on medium heat on the stove. Mix with desired amount of buffalo sauce and remove from heat. Higher sauce to butter ratio means less spice

5.) Remove wings from oil and coat them with buffalo/butter sauce

6.) Serve immediately. 

Gluten Free Green Plantain Casserole (Puerto Rican Pastelón HACK)

A particularly complicated recipe for Pastelón has been sitting in my Pinterest board waiting to be hacked for weeks! The original recipe had too many ingredients and required sweet plantains. I decided to try using yellow/greenish plantains because I didn't want this dish to be overly sweet or the plantains to become mush when baked. The results were AMAZING. I can't get enough of this thing. The plantains held up beautifully in the casserole. They have a starchiness about them that reminds me of potatoes but absorbed the flavors of the dish really well. This would be a great alternative to potatoes in an au gratin hack for sure!
Ingredients Needed:

• (4) Yellow/green plantains
• 2 Cups of shredded cheese (I used cheddar)
• 1 cup of coconut milk (half a can)
• 1 egg
• 1 lb ground turkey
• 1/4 lb ground sausage (I used turkey sausage removed from the casing)
• Minced garlic, diced (1) onion
• 1 jar of GF tomato sauce

Directions:

Cook ground turkey and sausage thoroughly. Add diced onion and garlic. Stir in tomato sauce then remove from the heat and set aside. 

Peel and slice plantains vertically into long 1/4 inch slices. Heat oil to high heat on skillet and cook plantains. Preheat oven 375 degrees F. 

Spread a small layer of ground beef onto a round casserole baking dish. Add a layer of fried plantains, followed by a generous layer of ground beef and a layer of shredded cheese. Repeat 2x. 

Whisk an egg into the cup of coconut milk and pour this evenly over the layered casserole. Bake in oven at 375 degrees for 25-30 minutes. The coconut milk/egg mix will solidify and hold everything in place. 

Enjoy!

Raw Vegan "Cheesy" Kale Chips

Cashews blended with nutritional yeast tastes just like cheese. It just does and I'm a little disappointed that, after combining the two together in my food processor, I couldn't just lob the whole cheesy mixture into my mouth.

The Downside:

They're just too damn good! You will probably eat them all before they're finished dehydrating. 

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons of nutritional yeast
• 1.5 cups of soaked cashews
• 1/4 cup water
• 2 tablespoons of coconut oil
• 2-4 large bunches of fresh kale (depending on what your grocer's idea of "large" is this may vary)
• 1 teaspoon salt

Steps:

1. Combine coconut oil, soaked cashews, water, salt, and nutritional yeast in food processor.
2. Gradually pulse and blend until you reach a smooth, slightly lumpy consistency. 
3. Toss the kale and cheesy mixture together in a bowl and be sure to carefully distribute it throughout so it doesn't all clump up on a few leaves. 
4. Spread the cheesy kale out evenly onto your dehydrator trays (1 single layer each tray).
5. Dehydrate at 135 degrees for 1 hour and reduce the temperature to 115 degrees for 8-9 hours.

This makes about 2 gallon Ziploc bags full of crunchy, nutritious goodness. 

Benefits:

• Low carb
• Filling
• Extremely nutritious (Kale is a vitamin packed superfood!)
• Raw! (preserved enzymes)
• Atkins Inductions Safe
• Vegan
• Gluten Free 

Atkins Induction Friendly Turnip Fries Turnup!!!!!

I've been researching low carb, Induction (Atkins) friendly substitutes for french fries for awhile and I've been coming across quite a few turnip fries recipes. 1 large turnip has about 8 net carbs. Compared to 1 medium potato, which has about 35 net carbs, turnips are definitely the better choice.

The Downside:
They don't taste like fries! Okay taste-wise they're okay but they have the consistency of a cooked onion when you bite into them. That said, they were crispy on the outside and they did help to take the edge off of my french fry cravings.

Here's the recipe:
Serving Size: 2

• 1 large turnip
• sea salt
• onion powder
• garlic powder
• paprika

1. Preheat oven 450 degrees
2. Slice the turnip horizontally in to thick steak fries. 
3. Drizzle the slices with oil and rub with salt and seasonings
4. Spread the slices out on 1 layer onto a baking sheet and bake for 30-40 minutes (make sure you flip 'em halfway through). 

Turn up!!!!