Chicken MacNuggets

Get it, MacNuggets? Ok, maybe a tad cheesy, or not cheesy bc this is paleo but a little silly. ok, i'll stop and get on with posting another convenient recipe for a hassle-free week of leftovers.

Ingredients:

(1.5 lbs?) 6 chicken breasts, sliced in half to make them thinner and then sliced again into strips

(2 cups?) enough almond meal to coat the chicken pieces. You my need more or less depending on the thickness of your "breading".

(2?) enough egg to dip your chicken in and have the almond meal stick.

spices: italian seasonings like parsley, thyme, basil, oregano, tarragon, etc.

garlic powder/onion powder

sea salt and pepper

optional variations:

1. hot sauce in the egg goop for a little bit of a kick

2. use homemade mayonnaise instead of plain old eggs for the pre almond dip. very tasty.

Create:

Preheat the oven to 375

Tin foil wrap your cookie sheets for easy clean up (and you may have leftovers and can reuse the tin foil when you freeze these suckers.

Smear coconut oil or olive oil on the tin foiled cookie sheets so that the chicken strip's almond coating won't get pulled off after they are done. The tin foil does need the "breading" you do!

Pat dry your chicken strips so that the egg/almond will stick the best

Mix almond meal with your seasonings

Dip chicken in egg (or now would be the time to dip in mayo if you are going that route) then almond meal (you can put the almond meal in a large ziploc bag and drop a bunch of the egg dipped strips in at one time to minimize on mess).

Line 'em up on the cookie sheets and bake for 12-15 minutes

We made about 8 chicken breasts for our five nieces and nephews over Thanksgiving (actually I had nothing to do with it!) and had to turn them away empty handed when they gobbled them all up! They were a hit and super easy.

**Dipping sauces** are not paleo but we can make them

Really miss ketchup?

Here is another one for mayo...

How about barbeque sauce?

Beware, Honey mustard, in extreme moderation!!

(substitute olive oil or some other oil for corn oil in the recipe link above

Enjoy!

The Challenge...We need all the help we can get

Hopefully at this point a good amount of you have dove head first and accepted this challenge.

Today is DAY 2 and this is what I would suggest:

1. Take and front view and back view Picture of yourself (set the timer, put the camera on a table...no excuses)

2. Start a Food Log (not to get wrapped around the axle but to make sure that you are getting enough food, namely protein)

3. Sleep (try for 8 hours- I know for the 0600ers its really hard to fit it in but keep on reading and you'll see the importance)

4. Prepare (if you haven't already go grocery shopping tonight, pack a lunch, boil some eggs, slow cook a chicken, cut up some broccoli/cucumbers/red peppers etc.-- get some easy food prepped to grab-and go)

5. Get Excited, whatever your reason, motivate yourself and anticipate the success and benefits of 30 days of discipline!!

Ok, so you took the pictures, started a food log... now go get ready for bed ;)


TIP #1 Sleep: Appetite

Briefly, I wanted to touch on the topic of sleep. Starting this Paleo Challenge we will need all the help we can get and that includes not being artifically hungry throughout the day. Adequate sleep will be one of your best resources for keeping that appetite true.

Below, I included some articles that come from sciency-people (one of whom I am definitely not).

We have to "listen to our bodies" but when sleep deprevation registers our homones and appetite get all thrown out of wack (read articles). I'm not going to speak to the science part but I can shed some light on the subject through...

My Personal Experience:

I had a hard week last week...Filthy Fifty, Fran and 12 days of Crossfit...plus two CrossFit Endurance workouts (tabata and 6x400m). Come Jan 02, I was BEAT...and it was supposed to be a double day. I ended up not able to fit in the workouts (due to my better half returning from Thailand and blustering artic-tundra-like winds) so I rested. What? Rest? Yes, I needed it.

Friday, I got something like 9+ hours of sleep (is that a record?)

and then Saturday, I wasn't planning on it but I slept for 10.5 hours

This is absurd for me. Usually I am trying to fit in between 7-8 hours. When I get those 4 hour nights I can turn off the appetite the next day. I could have done no physical activity and I am ravenous, no fair!

I know some of you are rolling your eyes because this is way more sleep than you can fit in your schedules but its important.

So with this sleep behind me, yesterday I showed up at the 0600 and had one of my better workouts yet.

I attribute it to the sleep and rest!

Read the articles and post comments.

GOOD LUCK!!

Lets get this show on the road...

http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20041206/sleep-loss-feeds-appetite

http://www.sleepdex.org/appetite2.htm

http://www.uchospitals.edu/news/2004/20041206-sleep.html

EDIT (10 Jan 10) I recently found this posting on Paleo Diet Online and wanted to retroactively include it on this post. The title is Stress, Cortisol, Sleep and Their Effect on Health.