The Secret to my Famous Avocado Toast!

This is my all time favorite meal, whether it be breakfast, lunch or dinner. I'll happily make breakfast for dinner too, which we do frequently in our household. Avocado toast is nothing new, nor is it complicated, but there are some small tweaks that I do to mine to make it exceptionally good. 

The most important part is the egg on top. The way you cook the egg is what makes the toast! My favorite way is the crispy fried egg, or soft boiled, neither of which are shown here unfortunately. The crispy fried egg gives it a little extra crunch that is oh so satisfying.

To do so, heat oil (I use coconut oil or olive oil) in a pan over medium heat until almost smoking. Crack the egg in the pan and turn the heat down to low immediately. The egg will sizzle and cook pretty quickly because of how hot the pan was when you first dropped the egg in. Cook until the yolk is cooked to your liking - do not flip. 

For the soft boiled egg, bring a small pot of water to a boil (the water level should be just enough to cover the egg or eggs). Drop the whole egg in (inside shell - do not crack open) while the water is boiling, and cook for exactly 7 minutes on high. Remove the egg promptly, and rinse with cold water. Peel and cut in half or in pieces and put on top of avocado toast!

The toast and avocado mash is the easiest part! I always go for gluten free bread, because Nick can't have gluten, and it usually tastes just as good if you buy the right kind. A couple of my favorite brands are this and this. I toast the bread in a toaster or in the oven for extra crispiness, and then slather it with coconut oil. Next, you add the avocado and mash it with a fork (or you can mash it before you add it to the toast, depending on how soft your avocado is). Top with whichever egg you chose to cook!

As for additives, I love sprinkling some hemp seeds on top, as you can see from the photos. Gives the toast a little extra superfood kick as well as extra protein. I always season with Himalayan salt and pepper too. 

So that's it! That's how I make my favorite meal. The coconut oil on the bread, hemp seeds, Himalayan salt, and way you cook the egg is what takes the toast up a notch. Let me know how yours turned out - Tag me on Instagram or comment on this post!

Perfect Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies

Raise your hand if you're in favor of chewy cookies vs. crunchy cookies! Good. Because I found the recipe for the PERFECTLY chewy, delicious, sweet yet salty, paleo chocolate chip cookie. And I'm even going to claim that these are better than the original flour, butter, crisco, filled chocolate chip cookies that your grandma made. Yea, they're THAT good.

My pictures aren't all that great because I made these at night and took the photos immediately since I was so excited, but trust me, they taste 100 times better than they look. Plus, I have to add of course, that they're grain free, refined sugar free, gluten free, paleo, and all that jazz. I just cannot get over how good they tasted either - blew me away!

As you can see, it's been a while since I've baked cookies, and I forgot the whole "make sure you leave space between each blob you place on the tray", but even though I pretty much baked one large cookie, they still tasted just as delicious.

And guys, these are simple to make. I promise. You will need to have a good amount of almond butter, paleo flours (I ALWAYS have coconut and almond flours in my pantry) and of course chocolate chips on hand, but those are things you should be keeping in your pantry anyway! I mean, who can live without almond butter and chocolate chips!? I chose this dark chocolate option from my favorite Thrive Market, but you can grab any brand you'd like. I actually get ALL my baking ingredients from Thrive, but I provided some other great alternatives from Amazon below too, especially if you've got that Amazon prime membership like I do.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup almond flour
• 1/4 cup coconut flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp Himalayan pink salt
• 6 tbsp coconut oil or unsalted butter (room temperature). Coconut oil should be a softened butter consistency - not liquid. Throw it in the fridge for a bit if it is. 
• 3/4 cup coconut sugar
• 6 tbsp almond butter (room temperature) 
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 large egg (room temperature) 
• 1 cup (or more) chocolate chips (I use the Thrive Market brand)

Directions:

1. Preheat the over to 350 degrees, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Stir all the dry ingredients (almond flour, coconut flour, baking soda & salt) together in a medium bowl.
3. Using an electric hand mixer in a larger bowl, beat together the coconut oil and coconut sugar for about 1 minute. If you don't have an electric mixer, you could use your hands, but it needs to be mixed very well.
4. Add the almond butter and vanilla extract to the wet ingredients, and mix until well combined. Add the egg and beat for about 1 minute.
5. Stir in the flour mixture until everything is mixed well and forms a dough like texture. Fold in the chocolate chips.
6. Roll the dough into small balls and place on the baking sheet. Press down slightly with your hand. You can also add more chocolate chips to the tops of the balls.
7. Bake for about 12-14 minutes or until the cookies are nicely browned and the surface no longer appears wet.
8. Let cool completely before storing!

Paleo Almond Crusted Chicken Tenders

This is a quickie, because you need only 4 things: chicken tenders, eggs, crushed almonds, and almond meal/flour. Nick originally made these, and they were just delicious. We've made them many times since then, and they're just perfect every time. I love them on top of salads too - they're great for leftover lunches!

One note about this recipe: it doesn't matter whether you use almond meal or almond flour. As for the crushed almonds, I threw whole raw almonds in a food processor and ran it until they we're ground up. You may possibly be able to make these with JUST almond meal, but I like the extra crispiness on the outside of the tenders. Also, the ingredient measurements below are just estimates - I usually set up 3 bowls with the eggs in one, almond flour in another, and ground almonds in the third. Then you have a little assembly line to make your tenders!

Ingredients:

• 1 package of chicken tenders (or chicken breasts cut into thin strips)
• 2-3 eggs
• 1 cup (+ or -) almond meal
• 1 cup (+ or -) finely ground/crushed almonds
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp ground pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika

Directions:

1. Get out 3 medium sized bowls and preheat the over to 450 degrees F.
2. Put the almonds in a food processor and process until they are finely ground. Pour them into 1 of the 3 bowls.
3. Crack the eggs into one of the empty bowls and whisk until they are well blended.
4. Pour the almond flour into the last of the 3 bowls and mix all the spices in with the flour. Now you have a little assembly station to dip the tenders!
5. Rinse the chicken tenders in cold water and pat dry.
6. First, dip them in the almond flour - make sure you cover both sides with a thin layer of flour. Next, submerge the flour covered tender in the egg mixture. Finally, dip into the bowl of crushed almonds. Make sure the tender is coated evenly with the almonds.
7. Do this with all the tenders. If you need to add more eggs or flour to the bowls, do so!
8. Throw the tenders on a greased baking pan, sprinkle a tiny bit more salt and pepper over top of them, and put in the over for about 20 minutes or until golden brown on the outsides and cooked through in the middle.