When cooking with kids, measuring ingredients often goes out the window and I have learned over the years to become much more relaxed in the kitchen. I love to get my kids involved in meal preparation – and a quick tip for the parents out there trying to get their kids to eat Paleo – kids who are allowed to help make the food they are expected to eat are much more likely to eat it!! Praise your kids for their efforts in the kitchen, let them make a mess, don’t worry about exact measurements, and have fun!! Here’s our recipe for “Breaded” Baked Chicken and Curried Cauliflower.
Curried Cauliflower:
Poor a generous amount of olive oil into a large mixing bowl (I use about 1/2 a cup)
Dump in a lot of curry powder (about as much as a 6 year old would deem appropriate), garlic powder, a few shakes of turmeric, a few shakes of chili powder, and a dash of sea salt.
Chop up an entire head of cauliflower and add to the bowl of olive oil mixture. Mix until the cauliflower is coated with the oil, spread evenly into a baking dish or cookie sheet and bake for 40-45 minutes in a 350 degree oven.
Breaded Baked Chicken
2 lbs of chicken thighs (or whatever chicken parts you want to use)
1 cup almond meal
1 cup coconut flour
garlic powder and black pepper to taste
3 eggs
coconut oil
Scramble eggs in one dish and in a separate dish mix almond meal, coconut flour, garlic powder and black pepper. Dip chicken pieces one at a time first in the egg and then cover both sides of the chicken in the breading mixture. Place in a baking dish that has been greased with coconut oil. Bake for 45 min – 1 hour in a 350 degree oven.
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This recipe is fantastic. It ended up being my Christmas Eve dinner… an informal affair with the husband and 16-month-old boy. But it turned out amazing. The chicken was juicy, just like it was fried. I didn’t have the coconut flour, so i substituted for arrowroot… I halved the measurement.
Thanks so much for this recipe.
Oh, and the cauliflower was also wonderful. I salvaged a frost-covered head from my fridge and it still turned out very tasty. Can’t wait to try it on fresh cauliflower 🙂
Thanks again.
This was SO good!
I made this meal for dinner one night while my husband was at crossfit, my daughter was having a rough evening and I was feeling stressed.
I think the meal took me 10 miutes to prepare, I threw it in the oven and forgot about it for 45mins. When the timer went off I couldn’t have been happier. I had a very happy Husband who until this meal would not touch cauliflower! My daughter is 18mths old and going through a non-eating phase but she still ate the chicken!
Delicious, quick and easy!
Thanks so much for what you do!
Made the chicken recipe tonight, but not the cauliflower. I eat it tomorrow for lunch. For the garlic powder, I used three tablespoons and I used three tablespoons of [Emeril’s Essence – not Paleo] and I added a tsp. of cayenne pepper powder. After coating the chicken, I sprayed them with EVOO. Just pulled them out of the oven. It looks and smells good. Mmmm.
Hey Rob, sounds great! Out of curiosity, what is in “Emeril’s Essence”?
Emeril’s Essence is from the Food Network chef, Emeril Lagasee. It’s his own spice blend using non-Paleo salts and other spices.
Just curious – what is EVOO?
Extra Virgin Olive Oil! : )
Emeril’s Essence is a seasoning that you can buy online or at the grocery store. It’s a creation made by Emeril Lagassee from the Food Network. If you go to the Food Network, you can get the recipe for it and make it yourself. I got the idea from here and it includes the ingredients for the Essence: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/honeys-spicy-honey-wings-recipe/index.html
By the way, those chicken thighs were very good. I have co-workers asking for the recipe. they smelled up the office. 🙂
Sarah,
Just an FYI- I think it’s great that you let your kids help out in the kitchen. My folks did that for me and it really instilled a love of cooking in me… hopefully that sticks with your munchkins! 🙂
I’ve said it before, I’ll keep on saying it: your blog makes my Paleo experience. 🙂
My son has nut and egg allergies. Do you have a substitute idea for the egg wash? This is on my meal plan for this week. 🙂
You could always first dunk it in full fat coconut milk! I hope it works! : )
My chicken didn’t turn out very crispy. Now rereading the recipe I should of cut up my chicken into smaller pieces. What I have done is melted a bit of coconut oil in a fry pan and reheat the chicken that way, crisping up the coating. Very tasty leftovers! In fact I think I will do this for dinner and serve them re-fried as chicken strips over a salad! Isn’t amazing how even if the dish doesn’t turn out perfect the first time you can still salvage it and have a wonderful meal! Thanks for the awesome recipes!