One of the foods I miss eating is chicken fingers and chicken nuggets. Not like I was ever a fan of fast food chicken nuggets, but as a salad topper, chicken fingers are amazing. Below is a recipe for some delicious paleo, gluten-free, and dairy free chicken nuggets that can be eaten on its own or on top of your salad of choice (I would recommend like a chef's salad though).

For this recipe, I did not use specific measurements (sorry), but they all ended up tasting mighty delicious.

Chicken Nuggets
Ingredients:
Sliced chicken (to your preference, fingers or nuggets)
Gluten free flour (of any kind)
Eggs
Almond meal (not flour, you want some crunch)
Spices to taste (garlic powder, paprika, s and p, basil, dry mustard, Emeril's seasoning or you can use Lowry's salt)

Preheat oven to 350.

Get out your 3 bowls. Below is the order and what to put in each bowl. Once filled, dip your chicken pieces into bowls 1-3.
Bowl 1: Flour- Emeril's seasoning, dry mustard, basil, s and p, and garlic powder.
Bowl 2: Eggs, but make sure to whisk them with a fork.
Bowl 3: Almond meal- garlic, paprika, s and p, basil, dry mustard, Emeril's seasoning

Place your chicken pieces on a rack (like below) so chicken does not stick to pan. Sprinkle some more garlic powder and paprika on top and bake for 30-40 minutes until breading is brown and crispy.

For the honey mustard dip

Ingredients:
Grey Poupon's mustard
Honey

Mix these two beauties in a bowl. If you LOVE honey like I do, add some extra honey to your mix. And enjoy!

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I can't find the exact post, but I remember coming across a similar recipe over at Stone Soup. Although not gluten free, I turned it into my own.

Ingredients:
Gluten free pizza mix
1/2 potato sliced thinly (I used a mandolin)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 (or less) sprig of rosemary
salt and pepper to taste
optional red pepper flakes

Steps:
1. Prepare crust as directed on package
2. Coat your pizza pan with a little bit of olive oil (I used a pan because my gluten free crust was really hard to work with)
3. Place crust on pan
4. In a small bowl, mix together your potato slices and olive oil
5. Place potato slices on top of pizza and sprinkle with s and p and red pepper
6. Place in 370 degree oven and let cook for 10 minutes
7. Take pizza out and put rosemary on top
8. Put pizza back in oven and bake for another 10-15 minutes or until crust is cooked throughout

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I don't understand WHY I keep coming back to these combinations, but it's such an amazing taste, it's hard not to cook with them. Like my recent GF pear, fig, and prosciutto pizza.

I have to be honest though.. I have never eaten prosciutto EVER. But I was walking around Whole Foods the other day and I was like, that sounds like it would be good. So I bought a few slices, because let's face it, at $32 a pound for a meat I've never tasted, would be absolutely absurd! I'll stop rambling and get to the important part...

Ingredients:
GF pizza crust mix
1/2 sweet onion, sliced
1 Asian pear, sliced
1/4 cup dried figs, sliced
a few slices of prosciutto, ripped to pieces
drizzle of olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
optional: vegan or rice mozzarella cheese

Steps:

1. Make your crust as directed on the package and place crust on pizza pan
2. In a saute pan, add your onions and balsamic and let shrink/caramelize
3. After you see a good caramelization happening with your onions, throw in your sliced pears and coat with the balsamic vinegar- cook for about 5-10 minutes
4. If using cheese, put cheese as your first layer
5. Dump the rest of your ingredients on top of the crust
6. Drizzle the top with olive oil
7. Place in oven at 350 degrees and bake until crust is brown (usually 20-25 minutes)

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These quinoa sushi rolls turned out delightful, if I don't say so myself. It was even super filling and I only had one roll! Saved the other for work the next day and people stopped me in the kitchen to ask me if I made them myself. Sure did.

Ingredients:

• Quinoa
• Seaweed sheets
• Sliced cucumber
• Sliced carrots
• Vegetable or chicken broth

Steps:

1.  Before you do anything else, put 1 cup of washed and strained (with those strainers with super small holes) in a pot with 2 cups of broth. I actually had a chicken cube thing that I put in with my water.
2. Bring to a boil and let simmer for about 10-15 minutes or until the quinoa absorbs all the liquid.
3. Take off of heat and let cool until sticky- may take 10-15 minutes (or stick in fridge)
4. Place your seaweed sheet on a sushi roller (or wax paper) and spread your quinoa across the top.
5. Place your vegetables in the middle and roll. 
6. Squeeze with your roller or wax paper until quinoa has stayed in place.
7. Cut into pieces.

Depending on how tight you roll and how sticky your quinoa is, you may get some messy pieces, but guaranteed, it'll taste delicious!
I paired this with some delicious shredded Brussels sprouts salad - recipe coming soon!

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This whole gluten-free, no wheat or dairy products, is really making me explore new ways of eating my favorite foods. As you can see, one of my favorite foods is PIZZA. I could probably eat pizza every day, so I made a compromise and made my own healthy alternative.

Ingredients:
1 butternut squash sliced into medallions (you can also use eggplant)
1 cup of canned pineapple
1 cup (or as desired) dairy free mozerella cheese
1/2-1 cup (or as desired) homemade sauce (recipe below)

Pizza Steps:

1. Put your sliced butternut squash on a baking pan and bake on 350 for about 30-40 minutes
2. Once soft-ish, take out of oven and put sauce on each medallion, put back in over for 5 minutes
3. Lastly, add cheese and pineapple to the top of the sauce and bake for the last 10 minutes

Sauce Ingredients:
1 can of non-spiced tomato paste (if you use one with spice, you probably don't need to add the below spices)
fill can back up with water and add to paste
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp basil
1 tsp parsley
1 tsp Emeril's seasoning (or Lowry salt)
2 tsp agave (or brown sugar)

Sauce Steps:

1. Mix all ingredients in a small bowl
2. Save (freeze) the sauce you don't use for future pizzas

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This recipe was a complete experiment. I have never cooked fish before alone, especially without my mom's supervision. I'm just not a huge fan of the fishy taste, but now that I have cut out gluten AND dairy from my diet recently, I decided to go for making some fish. It turned out great, actually!

Now this is something I threw in spices to my liking, so do the same, here. Especially because almond flour is a little more bland.

Ingredients:

Bowl one:
2 eggs whisked
1/2 lemon squeezed
tiny bit of lemon balsamic vinegar

Bowl two:
1 cup of almond meal
garlic powder
onion powder
lowry's seasoning (or emeril's I love)
basil
cilantro
paprika
dry mustard

Steps:
1. Get your pan ready by adding some butter (or fake butter or olive oil) into your medium heat pan
2. Cut your tilapia filets in half and then drench in bowl owe with your eggs
3. Dip the fish into bowl two of almond meal
4. Put in pan and cook on each side for 5-8 minutes or until side is cooked
5. Before being fully cooked, squeeze some lemon over the top of the fish filets
6. Before taking off your fish, make sure the inside is filly white


Lemon Mayonnaise Sauce
Ingredients:
1 tbsp mayo (or fake mayo)
the rest of your lemon juice squeezed
1/2 tsp lemon zest
garlic powder
basil
dry mustard

Mix in small bowl and use very sparingly on top of your fish filets. Enjoy!

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Maybe not my "first" meal, but my first time cooking an entire Passover seder. The only dish I used a recipe for were the Matzo Balls (not the soup part) which was found on the back of the Matzo Meal container. Go me.

I have to say it is fun to cook without recipes and just experiment. Both of my parents had their favorite dishes: My dad, the soup and my mom surprisingly, the butternut squash "potato" pancakes. My favorite was the horoset, the apple mixture. Perhaps this is something I make other than on Passover.

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I was so excited to make this salad, words cannot explain. I like to go to Whole Foods and get small quantities of ingredients when I make my meals. And have a variety of yummy treats in one.
Ingredients:
1/2 onion
1 tomato
3-4 dried figs, sliced
1/4 cup of candied pecans, chopped
1/4 pound of sliced steak
bowl of romaine
2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup fig balsamic vinegar
drizzle of honey
s and p to taste
basil to taste

First, marinade your steak strips in half of your fig balsamic reserve. Set aside.

Next, cut up your vegetables like shown above. Place on a baking sheet and drizzle with a little honey. Bake at 325 until you're ready to add into your salad.

When getting your salad and figs all situated and sliced and cleaned, turn your stove on to medium heat and then add your steak to your pan. The steak should cook fairly quickly.

While cooking, add the remaining balsamic onto your romaine lettuce.

When steak look medium-rare, add your figs, pecans, and vegetables to the pan and stir to combine all flavors.

Next, top your salad bowl with your pan mixture and stir into salad. Add your garlic, s and p and basil for extra flavoring.

Enjoy!

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