-
Buffalo Style Avocado Toast {gluten-free}
I have said it before and I will say it again, you can take the girl out of Buffalo, but you can’t take the Buffalo out of the girl. The feelings of being homesick and missing my family back home in Buffalo, NY have hit new levels after over a year of being separated. Southern California is quite a far distance. This Buffalo Style Avocado Toast is quite possibly my favorite new way to blend together the flavors of my two homes and celebrate the heritages of these two great places.
We just had our 8 year anniversary of living in Southern California and there is so much to love about our home. The weather, the ocean, the people, the fresh, local produce year ‘round, just to name a few. But being so far away from family is definitely the trade-off. So of course, I am always looking for ways to bring the flavors of back home in Buffalo out here to California.
I learned pretty early on that Californians take their love of the avocado quite seriously and even more, a classic avocado toast seems to be a menu staple at restaurants everywhere out here. To ensure you’re enjoying locally grown avocados, be sure to check for California on the label from spring through summer! So let’s give it an update, shall we?
This recipe blends my two homes together in a delicious open-face sandwich that makes my heart so happy. There is a comfort with all of these flavors independently so together it just works for me. I know you will agree.
-
Paleo Buffalo Chicken Salad {Gluten-free, Keto, Dairy-free, Whole30}
All the flavors of classic Buffalo Chicken Wings that I grew up on get packed into this more healthful Paleo Buffalo Chicken Salad. This can easily be made ahead, it’s great for meal prepping for the week and it’s a perfect use for leftover chicken. Served in lettuce cups over a big salad, it’s a simple recipe bursting with flavor.
After a week back home in Buffalo, New York with my family, it felt appropriate to share this recipe with you as I return home to California. My Paleo Buffalo Chicken Salad has become a bit of a staple food around our house. With making a big batch of shredded chicken each week for meal prep, I always save a bunch of the chicken specifically for this flavor-packed chicken salad.
Making a batch of this salad fits into out meal prep plan, because we make a bunch at once to be eaten throughout the week. It’s a great make-ahead recipe, great for batch cooking and the perfect use for leftover chicken.
-
Instant Pot Shredded Chicken {w/ Recipe Ideas & Slow Cooker Option}
Easy Instant Pot Shredded Chicken is a meal prep staple and this simple, no-fail recipe is super versatile, too. Shredded Chicken is an easy, healthy protein that you can add to salads and veggie bowls, burritos, enchiladas, tacos, wraps, sandwiches, omelettes or scrambles. Add your shredded chicken to your favorite soup, stew or stir fry. It’s a great addition to cauliflower fried rice or breakfast egg bites. Serve over rice (or cauli-rice) or pasta (or zoodles), or simply add your favorite mayo and make a quick chicken salad for lunches or quick meals.
Like my shredded beef recipe, this Instant Pot Shredded Chicken is a meal prep and meal planning super-star staple in our house and for so many of my clients. Of course if you don’t have an Instant Pot or pressure cooker, you can also easily make this in the slow cooker, I included those directions below. I personally find the Instant Pot brings the best results, the meat is always moist (yuck, I hate that word) and ready in a jiffy. You can even make your Instant Pot Shredded Chicken from chicken thighs, or a mix of chicken thighs and chicken breasts.
See all my tips and recipe suggestions below, to make this a weekly staple food you can always have on hand. Cook once and eat LOTS – a great way to stay planned out, to feel less overwhelmed at mealtime and ultimately successful with your health goals.
-
Paleo Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken Soup {Keto, Whole30} w/ Stovetop and Slow Cooker Options
Whether it’s for game day or just a random Thursday, this Paleo Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken Soup brings the classic flavors of Buffalo Chicken wings, in a cozy, comforting soup. Ready in no time in the Instant Pot, it can also be made in the slow cooker or on the stove top. It’s also Whole30 and Keto compliant.
You guys know that my Buffalo roots run deep! I don’t mess around when it comes to Buffalo-inspired food, especially not Buffalo Chicken Food. See also: Buffalo Chicken Sweet Potato Sliders, Buffalo Style Loaded Sweet Potato Fries, Grilled Buffalo Wings, Buffalo Chicken Fingers! I told you, this love affair runs deep and I have no plans of ending things! Clearly, even after 5 years in Southern California – you can take the girl out of Buffalo, but you can’t take the Buffalo out of the girl.
-
Buffalo Style Loaded Sweet Potato Fries
The thing about being a mindful eater, about being aware of every single thing that you put into your face, for those of us who take the time to truly learn about food – is that it’s really hard to un-know what you discover as you dig deeper. While I truly believe that knowledge is power, if you allow it, that knowledge it can overpower and it can consume you. Back to that magical word you are probably sick of hearing from me, but here it is again. Balance. Aligning your knowledge and your intuition with the real world, being around other people, holidays and special occasions. It isn’t easy, but it’s totally possible.
As I continue on in school, the Nutritional Therapy Program with the NTA, I learn more and more every day. My eyes are opened and I can, in vulnerable times, find myself being fearful of food in a way that I never have before. Questioning food, where it is sourced from, the foods used in restaurants, etc., these have all been a very integrate part of my life these past 10 years, but now I truly feel like I am interrogating the wait staff at most restaurants. At times, I can see how dietary changes, strict protocols, elimination diets, etc – how they can breed disordered eating, if we aren’t careful. I know all of this will settle as I become more at comfortable with the new bits I am learning, but mostly I know I can always fall back into my old trusted way of knowing… that homemade is always better. When you make it yourself, you can always be certain you know what you are eating and you don’t have to fear the food you consume. When you want to veer off and indulge a little, you can do it without the guilt and without the worry.
This week, as I take on the Super Bowl, I encourage you to think out of the box, literally and make what you can, yourself. Swap in real foods and trust that updating a recipe to be a little bit healthier will likely be well-received by everyone else, if you are smart about it. This week, I am bringing you homemade, healthier, but still a little naughty, snacks, treats and bites. Because after all, a football party is not a football party without some good ‘ol fashioned finger food.
French fries of any and every kind, those are my true weakness. My Achilles heel. My Kryptonite. Take away all the candy, cookies, cakes and breads, I don’t care, but don’t take my fries! We’ve spent a fair amount time in school discussing fats and oils and learning that most restaurants, when frying, are using hydrogenated or worse, trans fat oils. Unless a restaurant makes their fries in a high quality fat, suitable for high heat, these days I just have to pass. It’s not easy, but it’s also not worth it. I make my consessions where I can, but I am no longer willing to do so here.
-
Buffalo Chicken Sweet Potato Sliders
I would be a liar if I said I never craved junk food. The foods from days of yore, before I knew better, before my health declined, before I gained weight. Thankfully logic and common sense (and the threat of a super unhappy gut) keeps me from running out and eating the junkiest junk foods ever created, but this doesn’t mean that now and again I don’t think of it. Every so often I find myself fondly dreaming of those foods I used to indulge in.
The good news is, from these random cravings oftentimes I am inspired to create a healthier version of those old dishes.
Around here I find myself far more inclined to create dishes using seasonal produce. I want to inspire you to get creative, to find ways to introduce more healthy vegetables and fruit, to possibly look to foods you wouldn’t otherwise, inspiring meals you maybe wouldn’t have thought of. Nothing makes me happier. But on the rare occasions I recreate these old foods, I feel like it’s just as important to share these. If I am craving these flavors, surely I am not alone.
I grew up in Buffalo, NY. Special occasions, birthdays, graduations, Christmas eve, even visits to the hospitals, funerals, and the like – these are often celebrated (or not) with pizza and wings. It’s a Buffalo staple. It’s been a long time since I could just bust into the box of sheet pizza and go to town. Buffalo wings, oftentimes are likely gluten-free, but sometimes breaded or coatedthey are also just so loaded with grease, tons of butter (or butter-like flavor) and who knows what else. Beyond that, chicken fingers, which used to be my junk food jam, those are just as bad, if not worse. Oh by the way, speaking of foods I will never, ever, eat again, if you haven’t had a chicken finger sub in Buffalo, you haven’t lived.
