paleo chicken parmesan… hold the parmesan!

so, I LOVE chicken parm. love love love it! BUT, it would seem that I’m kinda sorta allergic to wheat and dairy… well that messes that up…

so last night, (fridays are usually pizza night, but dave was working late, the kids had snacked all afternoon while my dad was watching them, shane had eaten about 7 slices of pizza for lunch that someone’s mom ordered for him and his classmates while they were working on a project at the library, and I can’t eat pizza.) so I was trying to figure out something. I kind of foraged for the kids, and there was a bowl of leftover chicken soup in the fridge that dave heated up. I decided to give something a try, that I’ve heard could work, while I could make it just for myself and not have a big batch of it flop and be rejected by the whole family.

I decided to try and make a paleo chicken parm.

so here’s what I did (this is the recipe, for those of you who don’t catch my subtleties..):

I thawed a few chicken tenderloins I had in the freezer – breasts would work fine too. Then I dipped them in a beaten egg, and then dredged them in almond flour which had some garlic powder and italian seasoning mixed into it. (if you don’t have italian seasoning, just use a few shakes of thyme, oregano, rosemary, marjoram, garlic, onion, basil, and sage… or whatever of that you have on hand and like, because that’s what’s in it.) After coating the chicken, I browned them on the stovetop in olive oil, a few minutes on each side, until they look like this: then, I transferred them to a baking dish and baked them at 375* for about 10 minutes or so, just to finish them off.

meanwhile, I diced and sautéed a quarter of a butternut squash I had in the fridge. I just threw it in some olive oil w/ salt, pepper, and whatever seasonings (mainly from the above list) sounded good. you could also bake a spaghetti squash and use that, or make zucchini noodles, or whatever you like. this is just what I happened to have on hand.

when both were done, I threw it on a plate, and spooned on some marinara sauce I had in the fridge that needed to be used up. you could use whatever kind you like, or make your own, or whatever you want. I don’t even know what kind this is, but it was yummy.

voilà! chicken parm, w/ no wheat, no dairy, and totally delicious! I will totally be making this again. of course, if you don’t have a problem with dairy, you could totally add some grated parm to the dredging flour, or add a slice of mozzerella to the top of the chicken, but, I will say, I didn’t miss the cheese at all! it was completely satisfying!