BUFFALO FRIED CHICKEN HOT TACOS

LOVE TACOS

These are so cheeky and mouthstuffingly gorgeous, a lovely crispy corn taco shell stuffed with crispy shredded fried chicken, crisp lettuce, pickled jalapenos, shredded cheese, hot hot sauce and a lime sour cream drizzle, very naughty!

These were a really quick assemble from leftovers in the fridge, great for a quick meal that eats like you slaved over a stove.  This is the sort of Ta da meals you want to pull out of the fridge when unexpected visitors drop by, keeping your culinary genius status.

Prep time 5-20 minutes (fridge or freshly made) / Cooking time if freshly made 10 minutes

Ingredients

(serves 4 +)

12 corn tacos grilled

4 Southern fried chicken tenders

(want to make your own recipe below)

1/2 ice berg lettuce shredded

1 cup shredded cheese

1 jar pickled jalapenos

1 bottle of hot hot sauce

1 tub sour cream

1 lime juiced

Making your own Fried Chicken Ya!

200ml buttermilk and 2 tbsp hot sauce in a ziplock bag

(If you have time marinate the chicken in the above 30 mins - 2hrs) 

4 chicken fillets

100g plain flour in a bowl

1 egg beaten in a bowl

50g semolina in a bowl

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp celery salt or sea

1/4tsp garlic powder

1 ltr nut oil for frying chicken

Heat your oil to 180 degrees C in a shallow pan, take the chicken from the buttermilk and toss in the semolina, add all the seasonings to the flour and mix well, take each chicken tender and coat in the egg, then the seasoned flour, dust off and fry gently for around 4 minutes until crispy and golden, place on a rack to drain.  That's it...  Mix the lime juice with your sour cream and your ready to assemble and go...

Lay your tacos (3) on each plate and then assemble your layers of ingredients, I do have a specific order, this is so that each bite gets all of the flavours and also keeps the ingredients crisp, I like to layer the lettuce first, then the shredded chicken and drench this in hot hot sauce, top this with the shredded cheeses, sometimes I pop this under the grill for a couple of moments to melt, not always depends on time and mood!  Next has to be a little more hot sauce, then the jalapenos and finished off with the lime sour cream drizzle and if I have fresh coriander to hand a handful of that sprinkled over to finish.

That's it enjoy these gorgeous tacos...

FLAXSEED AND PARMESAN CRACKERS

These are so simple to make...

This is a brilliant super quick and easy gluten free cracker recipe that delivers 100% on the flavour and gives you a crisp snapping texture, great for when you miss having that crispy cracker bite...Those of you on a low carb lifestyle will be in the know of missing the crunch!  Even better is that 4 crackers will give you a abundance of fiber and a whopping help up towards your daily allowance of omega 3.

Prep time 5 minutes / Cooking time 40 minutes

Ingredients

(Makes 20 crackers)

1 cup of milled organic flaxseed

1/4 to 1/3 cup of Parmesan grated

1 tbsp garlic grated

1 tsp Himalayan sea salt

1/3 cup water

Optional grating of Parmesan 

At this point you can add any extra flavour you like, I often add some turmeric and chilli flakes or cumin and if I want to use these crackers for dipping with a lovely fresh bowl of salsa I will add fresh coriander and lime juice to compliment the salsa dip.

Pre heat your oven to 150 degrees C, combine all ingredients in a bowl, lay some baking paper on your work top enough to cover your baking sheet, cut a second sheet the same size, this is going to save clearing up!  Take your ball of flaxseed dough and place in the centre of the baking sheet, place the second sheet on top and press down to flatten the dough out a little.

Take your rolling pin and roll the dough through the paper, hence no floury work top to clean down!  Roll as thin as you dare, cracker thin.  Peel off the top baking paper and using a knife or pizza cutter score the dough in to your crackers, this can be triangles for corn chips style or long and thin for more fancy presentation or just your standard squares.

Slide your baking sheet on to your baking tray and pop in the oven, these crackers will take 40 minutes to bake to perfection, if you feel they are not crisp enough leave for a further five minutes or so.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack and these are best enjoyed on the day, but they will keep for a week in a air tight tin, they just loose a little of their crispy cracker, but the flavour is still there.  Enjoy.

FOOD TO GRAB AND GO

I love the theatrics of food in a jar, it makes me feel kinda special, like some extra effort has been made when in reality it is a really speedy quick lunch grabbed from the fridge whilst heading out the door, being a little bit prepared makes all the difference in keeping a a calm sense about day to day living.

Because I keep my fridge stocked with prepped veggies, cooked spicy chicken amoung many things (see blog post prepped like a pro) this salad only took two minutes to make and was ready to go before I was!  Can also make these jars the day before.

Chopped spicy chipotle chicken, avocado, olive oil mayo salad with asparagus, spinach, watercress, jalapeños and sprouted alfalfa.

For lots of tasty ideas on food on the go check out my fridge prepped like a pro post and you'll get the idea, I will keep adding new recipes and ideas as I eat them!

FRIDGE PREPPED LIKE A PRO DIET SUCCESS

DIABETIC DIET SUCCESS

The key to any successful lifestyle change is not to allow the old easy go to habits to sneak back in, the opportunity for this slip is often meal times that aren't planned, or if you've allowed yourself to get too hungry and then just grab whatever is at hand or even worse order a takeaway!  These set backs are super easy to avoid with a little forward planning, planning that you already do but don't realise, like deciding what meals you fancy this week, the extra bit of planning is just writing them down, now you have a weekly meal plan without even trying!

Stocking The Fridge For Success

1 hour of your time and it does not have to be all at the same time, I like to prep my fridge on Sunday mornings while everyone is getting up slow or my teenager is not getting up! But you can just as easily divide the prep while your preparing dinner one evening just quadruple up some of the preparation, for example if your chopping one onion, chop 3 or 4, it really does not take that much more time, store the extra in jars in your fridge, do the same for garlic, peppers, mushrooms, raw slaw ingredients, chillies and I also like to cut all the broccoli and cauliflower in to florets, cook some asparagus, garlic mushrooms and make a batch of olive oil mayonnaise, you can prepare what ever ingredients you use often and store for up to a week in your fridge.  I also cook up spicy chicken breasts, thighs and drumsticks for a quick go to snack.  A well stocked condiment shelf is a great help too, olives, sun blushed tomatoes, pickled jalapeños, home preserved chipotle vegetables, ratatouille etc...

This makes speedy meal times and food ready to go at a moments notice really handy.  For example the other day we as a family went out for the afternoon and due to my husband dietary requirements I thought I had better pack a lunch.  As he was loading the family in to the car I raided the fridge and in two minutes I had made 3 salads all in ball mason jars.

Super Speedy Salad In Under 2 Minutes 

Chopped spicy chipotle chicken, avocado and olive oil mayonnaise salad with pickled jalapeños, spring onion, coriander, a hint of lime, cooked asparagus, raw spinach and watercress finished off with sprouted alfalfa.  Really fresh and gorgeous to eat.

For my husband I whipped up a layered large ball mason jar with shredded raw slaw of red and white cabbage, shredded carrot and onion, drizzled over some balsamic vinegar and olive oil, layered a bed of black beans, spinach, chopped herbs, cherry tomatoes then topped with spicy tandoori charred chicken and a tablespoon of olive oil mayonnaise.

Speedy Recipe Ideas From Prepped Fridge & Leftovers

Breakfasts

Stuffed omelette with garlic mushrooms, peppers and onions

Stuffed omelette Mediterranean with roasted peppers, onions, garlic, courgette, 

olives, capers and sun blushed tomatos

Smashed hash and eggs, crushed boiled new potatoes pan seared with onion, 

topped with eggs sunny side up

Chopped boiled eggs with avocado, spinach, olive oil and wasabi mayo 

and sprouted alfalfa

Turkey pattie with mushroom ratatouille topped with fried egg 

sunny side up 

Egg and spinach wrap stuffed with coronation chicken

Egg and spinach burrito wrap stuffed with BBQ chicken, green salsa,

 hot sauce, salad and cauliflower rice

Deviled eggs

Lunch Salads

Chopped spiced chicken, avocado, olive oil mayo, spinach, broccoli, 

sprouted alfalfa

Mediterranean sun blushed tomato and olive chipotle chicken with 

watercress and raw slaw

Chicken bashed burger topped with olive oil mayo, jalapeños, 

stuffed in a ice berg leaf

Chinese shredded chicken salad on mixed raw slaw with sesame oil, lime, 

ginger, garlic and red wine vinegar dressing

Apple and kale cabbage salad with olive oil lemon herb dressing

Fajitas Buddha bowl, roasted peppers, onion, shrimp, pick de gallo, gucamole, 

salad dressed with lime and coriander 

Dinners

Gaucho flank steak seared and topped with chimmichurri and steamed 

broccoli and cauliflower

Spatchcock chicken piri piri roasted served with garlic roast 

potatoes and hot sauce dip

Asian spiced chicken meatballs served in a coconut sauce, coriander, lime and 

spinach, steamed vegetables

Lemon chicken with steamed broccoli, asparagus and cauliflower 

Shrimp tacos in lettuce leaves topped with spicy guac, pico de gallo, coriander, 

lime and garlic roasted peppers and onions

EXAMPLE

A prepared fridge for ALL the above recipe ideas is listed below, so you can see how easy it is to do just a little of ahead work and be able to pull these fabulous fresh healthy meals out of the fridge in 2-15 minutes without even noticing that your cooking!  Leftovers can play a great part in supporting your prepped fridge.

Raw Ready To Cook

Boiled eggs

Sliced onions

Chopped garlic

Sliced peppers

Sliced mushrooms

Raw slaw

Cauliflower rice

Sprouted alfalfa

Chopped courgette

Chopped olives 

Chopped sunblushed tomatoes

Boiled new potatoes

Broccoli florets 

Cauliflower florets 

Sauces

Olive oil mayonnaise 

Chimmichurri sauce

Pick de gallo

Guacamole

Hot sauce

Salsa

Pre Cooked or Raw Meats

Cooked meats

Spiced chicken breasts

Spiced drumsticks

Spiced chicken thighs

Meatballs

Meatloaf

Patties

Snacks Bars

Blitzed apricots with flaxseed and chia seed, walnuts, sunflower seed and pumpkin seeds 

Where To Start...

Just create one meal plan for a few days or the week, identify what you need to have to go in the fridge to create these meals, remember a few different ingredients go a long way to making many different meals, you can do prep everyday at meal time while your cooking that evenings dinner for the next day as your basically in the kitchen already!  

DIABETIC FRIENDLY BREAKFAST

REVERSING DIABETES...A MEAL AT A TIME...PROTEIN PACKED BREAKFAST

This is a great plan ahead prepped like a hero fridge raider breakfast, (see fridge prepped like a hero blog) a stack of earlier made turkey minced herby patties grabbed from the fridge, placed on a medium hot skillet to warm though, with some fresh mushrooms, onions, garlic, peppers and chilli, finished off and topped with a egg or two...Ta...da a brilliant low GI/GL protein packed power house breakfast that will keep your blood glucose level low and stable and you engerised until lunch.

Ingredients 

(Serves one)

The Turkey Herby Pattie 

Make lots for fridge stock!

1 kg minced turkey breast or thigh

(Makes 10)

2 tbsp ground flaxseed

1 tsp sea salt (optional)

1/2 tsp white pepper

1 tbsp chives

1 tbsp marjoram

1 tbsp thyme

1 tbsp sage

Mushroom Ratatouille 

1 tsp coconut oil

2 mushrooms sliced

1 small onion finely diced

1clove garlic chopped

1 tomato diced

1/4 red pepper diced

1 red chilli chopped

1 egg

First make the turkey patties, mix all the ingredients together and form into 100g balls and press out flat into ab burger Pattie, layer a disc of grease proof paper between each Pattie and stack in a air tight container in the fridge.

Heat your cast iron skillet medium hot add the coconut oil and sear your turkey burger, when just cooked move to the side and add the rest of the ingredients except the egg and sear for a couple of minutes, place your pattie on your plate top with the mushroom ratatouille, crack the egg into the skillet and fry to your likin, sunny side up or overeasy, mine depends on the day. 

Place the egg on your pattie and enjoy.

SWEET BAKED POTATO CHICK PEA HUMOUS

Oh how I love chick peas, chick peas any way they come, this unexpected recipe came about because my husband really dislikes the texture of sweet potatoe and as a good wife I want him to eat sweet potato for the super goodness it offers but he finds the texture unpleasent...Challange Accepted !!! 

I started to think how could I hide the texture not necessarily the flavour, he does not eat sugar or cakes so a brilliant sweet potato brownie was out and I have tried falafel, twice baked, Jack Daniels sweet potato baked mash, still a texture issue, well I thought hard about the texture and thought if i use a like for like texture maybe that will cancel out the sweet potato texture...

Success this is a brillant and fabulous recipe and can be used as a dip on its own, spoon eaten as I did or mixed with some salmon or chicken and Mediterranean roasted peppers, onion and garlic and served as a great salad topping amoung many more ideas.

Baking potato time 45 minutes / Prep time in the baking time

Ingredients

(Serves 2)

If you want to make your own hummus Ya! 

Recipe below, if not no worries...

200g tub of hummus

1 large sweet potato baked

2 tbsp coriander chopped

Basically just mix all the ingredients together mix well so that the sweet potato fibres are not obvious in the hummus, that's it.

Ingredients To Make Your Own Hummus

First Make The Tahini 
Ingredients
(makes 6 tbsp)
70g sesame seeds
3-4 tbsp grape seed oil
1 pinch of salt

Make The Hummus

1 tsp olive oil

1 tin organic chic peas 

OR

(1 cup dried soaked chic peas over night

then simmered for 1 hr until soft)

3 cloves garlic

1 red chilli

1/2 juice and zest lemon

60-100ml olive oil

1 pinch sea salt

2 tbsp tahini

4 tbsp chopped fresh coriander 

Place all the ingredients except the olive oil in your food blender and blitz and pulse away until you have a smooth consistency then drizzle in half the olive oil and pulse some more, season with salt and taste, at this point your hummus is ready, but you might like a looser consistency and if you do add the rest of the olive oil.

 

CHIPOTLE SMOKED ENCHILADA SAUCE

A new Winning Dinner Done...brilliantly versatile chunky sauce that you can enjoy freshly made and also preserved from the glut in the garden for the rest of the year without any compromise to the flavour or your free time, super flavoursome dinner done in an instant!  I am rather chuffed at this recipe, so simple and bursting full of flavour this chunky sauce is going to be great over pan seared chipotle chicken, grilled fish, stuffed in to a burrito or topped over scrambled eggs, a winner winner dinner sauce...

Prep time 15 minutes / Cooking time 30 minutes / Canning time 20 minutes

Ingredients

(Makes 5 240ml jars)

1/2 aubergine sliced

14 large fresh tomatoes halved

3 bulbs garlic

1 tbsp coconut oil

4 onions sliced

4 dried chipotle peppers

1 dried Arbol pepper

1 guiallio pepper

4 limes juiced (1 zested)

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp white pepper 

1 tbsp chipotle powder

1 cup chopped fresh coriander

If you are planning on canning any left over sauce, which I whole heartedly recommend if it even lasts that long, you will need to have your clean jars ready to hand, a pan of boiling water ready and a pre heated oven at 380 F / 180 C.

Take the dried chipotle peppers and pour over enough boiled water to just cover the chillies  to rehydrate, leave to one side until needed.

Pre heat your oven 380 F /180 C, place your skillet on a medium high heat, add the coconut oil and place the aubergine slices in the skillet to char up a little on both sides, meanwhile while the aubergines are charring cut the tomatoes in half and place in a roasting tin along with the garlic, drizzle with olive oil and place in the oven for 25 minutes to cook.

Remove the aubergines and place in a food processor and leave to one side, next in the skillet throw in the onions and char up a little too, not to much, remove and place in the blender with the aubergine and leave to one side.

Take the tomatoes and garlic from the oven and add to the food processor now add the rehydrated chipotle peppers, sea salt, chipotle powder, coriander and lime juice.  Using the pulse button only, unless you want a purée, hit the button 4 times, just to whiz up the mix.  I like to leave my tomato skins in the mix as they have extra goodness.  Taste your gorgeous sauce and adjust the seasoning if required to our presonal taste with a hint more salt or pepper, lime or chipotle etc...

Take what sauce your are using now and reserve to one side, if you are canning the remainder of the sauce, (if not this sauce willl last for a week or so in an air tight ball mason jar in the fridge).  Place the remainder of the sauce in a saucepan and bring up to a simmer, meanwhile place the jars and lids in the pre heated oven for 5 minutes to sterlize, you will also have your pan of water boiling on the stove at this point too.

Take the jars from the oven, fill with the hot enchilada sauce, pop the lids on and then drop into the pan of boiling water and boil for 10 minutes, remove and leave on the side to cool, this is one of my most favourite sounds the ping ping ping of lids sealing, a very happy sound in my home, organic grown food from the garden for the future.

Enjoy this brilliant chunky chipotle sauce as a dip and topping for lots of your meals.

GARLIC BUTTER SEARED TIGER SHRIMP

SPANISH GAMBAS PIL PIL

Boy Oh Boy these lobster size shrimps / prawns are such a gorgeous mouth filling treat, I don't often see these at the fish market and this morning they had six, they were soooo coming home with me, on the way home I did not need to over think a recipe as these shrimp really want to be the centre piece of the dish, I did consider a pang curry full of fragrant lemongrass and lime but no the traditional Spanish Gambas Pil Pil kept knocking at the door and I was answering!  Mouthwatering thoughts of a rich nutty garlic butter with a hint of white wine vinegar (that's the Pil Pil secret ingredient!) and the tiniest hint of chilli in the back ground had me at hello!

Prep time 5 minutes / Cooking time 5 minutes

Ingredients

(Serves 2-4)

4 Large raw tiger prawns

2 tbsp ghee

4 cloves garlic

1 tsp white wine vinegar

1 Piri piri chilli chopped

First job is to peel and de-vein the giant shrimp aka prawns, these monsters felt more like lobsters!  For this size of shrimp I use a pair of scissors, remove the head and snip down the spine of the prawn all the way to the tail, peel off the shell and scrape out the exposed black vein and discard.  That's it your prawns are ready to cook.

Heat your skillet to a medium heat add the ghee and garlic soften for a couple of minutes then add the prawns, cook for around 3 minutes each side, don't turn the prawns until you can see they are half way cooked where the opaque has turned white half way through the prawn.  Once cooked add the white wine vinegar and piri piri chilli to the pan, spoon the nutty garlicky butter sauce all over the prawns and serve.