Paleo Buffalo Chicken Bites

Note: this was supposed to be published on Friday! So, can we all please mentally rewind and pretend it is Friday as you read this?

Happy Friday! TGIF! It actually doesn't feel like a Friday at all. We have been off of work since 1:00 on Tuesday due to snow and ice! I won't lie, a 2 1/2 day work week was pretty nice! We had some time to sled, cook, watch movies, clean the house, and relax!

It doesn't look like much, but our street was a big sheet of ice and beieve it or not, Ryan, Sadie, and I did a lot of sledding on that hill!

I think the thing that is greatest about a snow day is the fact that you don't know it is coming. So when you get it, it is like being given a gift of extra time. Since I expected to be various places (work, teaching Zumba, church) and they were all suddenly canceled, I found myself with 48 hours of free time with my family.

We also got to do some cooking.

We made snow cream! I got the idea to put out a big bowl BEFORE it started snowing so that we could collect snow for snow cream. This way, we would not have to scrape the snow off of the ground or other dirty things.

Recipe:

• 2 cups of snow
• 1/2 cup of milk
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Mix well and enjoy! Makes 2-3 small servings.

 

I also had time to create these Paleo Buffalo Chicken Bites. I know with the Super Bowl coming up, lots of people are looking for snack ideas. I think these would be a hit, especially if you like spicy chicken wings!

Paleo Buffalo Chicken Bites

Ingredients:

• 3-4 raw boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 egg, beaten
• 3/4 cup of coconut flour
• 2 tsp. garlic powder
• 2 tsp. onion powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 stick butter or ghee
• 1/4 cup Frank's Red Hot Cayenne Pepper Sauce

 

Preparation:

• You will need two shallow bowls. Place the beaten egg in one bowl. In the other, mix the coconut flour, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt.
• Using tongs, dip each chicken "bite" in the beaten egg, and then dredge in the flour mixture. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Repeat until all the bites are coated and ready to bake.
• Bake the bites at 400 degrees for about 5 minutes. While the bites are baking, mix the 1/2 stick of melted butter with the Frank's.
• Remove the bites and brush one side with the Frank's mixture. Bake 5-6 more minutes. Then turn each bite over and brush the other side with the Frank's mixture. Bake 5 more minutes, or until cooked through.
• Add a cup of homemade ranch dressing and start dipping! Add some celery sticks if you like!

Now, settle in and watch some football. Or a new episode of Downton Abbey. ;)

 

Note: the fancy camera was charging, so the iPhone had to step in for photos.

 

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Scenes from the Weekend

Happy Sunday, everyone! I hope all of you had a wonderful and productive weekend. This post will be a little bit of a mashup... I thought I would just share some pictures and details from our weekend.

We started off our weekend with a special ceremony for our little soon-to-be preschool graduate!

 

I still can't believe that she is going to Kindergarten in the fall! (Insert cliche comments about time passing too quickly here.)

The ceremony was very cute and I only took about 200 photos.

 

I will spare you the other 197.

On Saturday, we were all up and around pretty early. I headed up to the Queen City to help lead the warm up for the MS Walk with Queen City DanceOut (the company for which I teach dance fitness classes). We led our warm up song and then quickly headed to another venue where we were guest instructors for a Zumbathon called Pearls for Creative Healing. Pearls is an organization dedicated to helping victims of domestic violence and also raising awareness of this important issue. We were the last instructors of the Zumbathon. The pictures from the event were amazing. Here are a couple that were posted online by Hip Chick Photo.

 

Afterwards, I met up with the hubby and munchkin for lunch:

Salad topped with a turkey burger... And sweet potato fries!

I squeezed in a few bike rides this weekend- nothing too long, but it was nice to be out on my bike in the neighborhood. I like to ride around and check out other people's yards and landscaping.

Meanwhile, Sadie enjoyed the sprinkler in the yard.

And I made this delish smoothie.

In the magic bullet: 4 large strawberries (green tops and all), 1/4 cup canned coconut milk, 1/2 banana, a few ice cubes. SO good! It was actually too thick for this straw. Very sweet and creamy! I am wondering about making strawberry ice cream with coconut milk... I will look into this!

Okay friends, that's about it! Hope you all had a fabulous weekend, too!

 

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Heat Wave!

Well, I think Mother Nature just gave all of us southerners what we wished for. Over the past 4 weeks, everyone I know has been saying, "It's so COOOOLD. WHEN is it going to get WARM?"

Well, that day was today. As a matter of fact, I think we were close to 90 degrees. Hello summer!!!

After work, I headed out to a nearby park for a walk/run.

I am still struggling with the running. But thanks for the suggestions so far on Twitter. I currently use Map My Run, which is great because it tracks your runs and your progress. I am also registered for a race in July, so I will try and get motivated for that. Today was gorgeous and the honeysuckle is blooming, which made everything smell so nice.

I know all you allergy sufferers don't like it, but I love honeysuckle. It just reminds me of spring and summer. I need to teach Sadie how to get the nectar. Do you all remember the nights eating honeysuckle and catching fireflies?

Tonight's dinner was spaghetti squash and meat sauce. And we ate al fresco. Nice.

My meat sauce is sorta homemade. You can view this post with directions for my sauce and also another way to serve spaghetti squash!

Kid approved. :)

Never cooked spaghetti squash? It's so easy. Cut in half lengthwise and roast in the oven (cut side down) at 450 degrees until the skin can be easily pierced with a fork. (About 30 minutes).

Little tip for you... Before roasting my spaghetti squash, I drizzled the cut side and sprinkled it with salt, pepper, and a tiny bit of garlic powder. It REALLY made it more flavorful!

I even made lemonade. (Not for me- avoiding sugary drinks- but for the husband and kiddo.)

Look at how domestic I am. ;)

 

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Mother's Day Weekend

Happy Mother's Day to all you fabulous moms out there! I hope that you all were able to enjoy the day with friends and/or family today! We had an amazing weekend. I have lots of pictures to share with you all.

We started the weekend with some cleaning, because we had family coming to town! On Saturday, Adrienne and Paul, Meredith and David, and my Mom and dad came to town. Everyone had really wanted to see one of Sadie's soccer games, so we decided to make a weekend out of it! We were a little worried about the weather, but the rain held off and we were able to enjoy the game!

After the game, it still was dry, so we decided to hit up a local spot that I haven't been to in years- T. Bones on the Lake! I always forget about T. Bones, but it is so much fun to go there in the war weather months because it is right on the water. If you have a boat, you can even arrive via Lake Wylie! It ended up being super sunny and warm and we all had such a good time sitting out on the deck and chatting.

I decided on grilled fish tacos- which were delicious, by the way! I got mine lightly blackened. Instead of using the soft tacos, I just mixed mine all together into a taco salad. Perfect lake-side eats!

It actually made me really excited for summer and pool time and beach trips!

Adrienne had suggested bowling a while back, so after dinner, we decided to make a quick trip home to let the doggies out and then we headed to the bowling alley!

We had such a good time. I honestly do not think my family has ever bowled together. Sadie loved that the bowling alley had special tools to help her bowl and she is already asking to go back!

Since we had such a fun and busy day on Saturday, we decided on a low key brunch at our house for Mother's Day. The weather was amazing today, so we even were able to sit out on the deck and enjoy it.

 

Monkey bread...

 

Sausage, Sweet Potato, and Bell Pepper Frittatta

 

My plate (splurged on carbs today...oops!)

 

I think this was one of the best weekends at home that we have had this spring. The weather has been so cool and rainy. It was such a nice change to see the sun and be able to enjoy it! We even squeezed in some yard work this afternoon.

Hope you all had a nice weekend also!

 

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