Low Carb (virtually no carb) Chicken Fingers!

Let me tell you guys something.....But it's a secret ok?

Ready?

While I LOVE what my diet has done for my figure....

I MISS CARBY FOOD!

There, I said it.

So,  when the craving hits, I have no choice but to figure out a way to make whatever I am craving a Low-Carb craving!

Enter Chicken Fingers....what is it about chicken fingers that makes them so darn delicious?  I have no clue!  If you ever figure it out, please clue me in!

So here it is, Low Carb Chicken Fingers!


Start by cutting up your chicken into long strips, and seasoning them well.  This time I used salt, pepper, garlic powder, and rosemary.  But it changes depending on my mood!

Next, scramble an egg in a bowl, add a touch of water to thin down the egg just a touch.  A tablespoon or so should be about right.  Now, just dump your strips in!

Now...Here comes the low carb alternative!  Rather than breadcrumbs, I use nuts as my crust.  This time I used Almonds and Pecans.  Most of the time I add ground Flax Seeds to the mix, but forgot!  I just grind up the nuts in a coffee grinder until they are bread crumb consistency.  (Note:  if you wanna avoid coffee flavor nuts, simply stuff a slice of bread into your grinder and grind away, shaking the whole time.  The bread sweeps out the grinder and leaves it pretty much clean and ready to go!)  Once you have your breading mixture ready, dump a bit on a plate, keep the rest separate, this way, any leftovers can be put in a ziploc baggie and stored in the freezer til your next craving!  Throw your strips on the plate and coat them well!

Now (yes I forgot to take a pic!) gently place them in a pan with a bit of butter, to cook.  You want to really watch these.  You need to find a medium to medium-high heat level.  Too low and they will get soggy and the breading will fall off, too high and your coating will burn FAR sooner than your chicken is done.  Just watch it and if it's getting too brown, lower the heat, and pull it off the burner for a few seconds to let it cool down a bit.  Now here's the secret.  Turn them GENTLY!  and avoid messing with them too much.  The more you mess with them the more likely the breading will fall off.

YUM!!!

Rob had BBQ chicken on the grill, so I sliced up a yellow squash, rubbed it with a bit of Olive Oil, sprinkled it will salt and pepper and garlic powder and grilled it up.  Very tasty!

But...somethings missing....what's chicken fingers without the dipping sauce!

I have two favorites.  A curry dipping sauce my mom got me hooked on when i was little (it's GREAT with pork chops)  which is simply Curry powder in mayo.  it's mighty good!

the other I had with these:

Mix mayo and Sriracha (I use a ton cause I like it HOT) and YUM!  spicy, creamy, garlicy deliciousness!
I get my Sriracha at Walmart, so I bet you can find it there too!

Hope you guys enjoy my low carb chicken fingers!

{{{HUGS}}}
Christy

CANDIED WALNUTS

I made these to go on top of my CARROT CUPCAKES I made. But these can be made to just put in a bowl and let people snack on too. This is the first time I have ever made these and they were surprisingly easy and good. This didn't take anytime at all to make. You could use any kind of nut you wanted with this too, not just walnuts.


DAWN'S CANDIED WALNUTS

Ingredients

• 1 pound walnut halves
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spread nuts in a single layer over a baking sheet. Roast for approximately 8 to 10 minutes, or until the nuts start to turn brown and the smell of roasting nuts fills the kitchen.
2. Stir together sugar, cinnamon, salt, and milk in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat until the mixture reaches the soft ball stage of 236 degrees F (113 degrees C). Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla immediately. .
3. Add walnuts to sugar syrup, and stir to coat well. Spoon nuts onto waxed paper, and immediately separate nuts with a fork. Cool, and store in airtight containers.

Start the walnuts in the oven and watch them. I set my timer for 10 minutes and it was too long, luckily I caught them before they burned at all. Also, I halved this recipe since I just had a little bag of nuts, so that might explain why it didn't take as long to roast my nuts.


Start cooking the sugar mixture. Get a thermometer for this, no if ands or buts, just get one. They are cheap and easy to find! This didn't take hardly any time at all to reach the required temp. When it does, add your roasted nuts to the pot and stir. I could see that I had more sugar mixture than nuts so I kind of just stirred it in the pot for a few minutes letting the mixture cool and coat more of the sugar on the nuts.



This is where I didn't follow the directions. I dumped all my mix out when it says to spoon the nuts out of the pot and place on wax paper. You really don't want to just dump it because then you have a pool of sugar mixture.


While they are still warm, separate the nuts and let cool.



Ta da! You now have candied nuts made in the span of about 10-12 minutes.

The best part though, you can have lots of fun saying things like, Keep your hands of my nuts or Get off my nuts, or Get my nuts out of your mou......well you get the idea. Believe me I had tons of fun last night with my nuts, see, there I go again . . . lol :)