Grain-Free Chicken Nuggets

Rx: For those on a grain-free diet, or if you are just interested in keeping your food generally nutrient-dense, almond meal is a wonderful replacement for flour! In addition to being anti-inflammatory, almonds are full of monounsaturated fats. These are the good fats, the fat the keeps you from getting fat. Almonds are helpful for nearly every system in the body, from skin and hair to blood pressure. If you do not have a sensitivity to nuts, I highly recommend using more of this wonderful product in your meals.

Servings: 2 (just double recipe for 4)

Ingredients:
1 organic boneless, skinless chicken breast, diced into about 14 pieces
2 C (scant) almond meal
1 tsp garlic sea salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 C olive oil
2 organic, free-range eggs
1/4 C unsweetened almond milk

Directions:

In a medium-sized bowl, combine the 2 eggs and the almond milk. Whisk until it's well mixed. In a separate large bowl, combine your almond meal, garlic sea salt, black and cayenne pepper.

This is a good time to get your skillet ready. You will be pan-frying these and then baking them, so a heavy-bottomed steel or iron skillet works best. Pour your oil into the skillet, and get it heating up on medium heat. Set aside a baking sheet to place the fried nuggets on. You'll be finishing them in the oven. Preheat your oven to 425 F.

  While the oil is warming up, start dredging your chicken. You may need to do it in two batches so that you don't crowd the nuggets while they're cooking. Take about 7 of the pieces and coat them in the almond meal mixture. Dip them quickly into the egg, and then back in the almond meal. Make sure they have a good, sticky coating on them. The double-dredging should ensure that your coating will make it out of the frying pan intact. Take a small bit of the almond mixture and toss it into your pan. If it sizzles, it's ready.

Put your pieces in, 7 at a time. Keep an eye on them. The almond meal browns up more quickly than flour because of the oils in it. Check them for about 2 minutes. If they're golden, flip them over and do the same on the other side. When both sides are gold, transfer them to the baking sheet. Do the second batch the same way. When the nuggets are all fried, put the sheet in your preheated oven. Let them bake for about 15 minutes so that the chicken is cooked through. Since the chicken has already been fried, the meat inside should stay pretty moist. When times up, take them out, and gobble them up. Mmmmmm, you can have chicken nuggets!