Paleo Buffalo Bites and DIETING IS HARD.

You guys. Dieting is hard. I'm not even doing much at this point other than inputing my daily food intake into an app that tells me how many calories I've consumed for the day--in an effort to, you know, just be AWARE--and I'm already stressing out.

I can't have wine AND Ben and Jerry's? I can't drink five hard ciders? How many carbs are in a slice of toast? IS BACON GOOD OR BAD CAN YOU PLEASE JUST TELL ME?? Gah!

As someone who was always effortlessly skinny, the closer I get to 30 the closer my butt gets to the size of Texas. I've never HAD to adjust my habits (or create totally new ones, ugh, exercise) so now that I'm past my peak years it's rough. Such a "first world problem," I know, and I'm still fairly slender by non-Hollywood standards, but still. It's a pain in the butt to be so painfully aware of my butt.

And then I remember my first favorite blog, and how the brave and wonderful Andie Mitchell lost the equivalent of a PERSON just by making healthier decisions, a bit at a time, and finding the beautiful compromise in her favorite foods.

So I had a stroke of inspiration--why not make a low carb version of my favorite indulgence? I thought back to my favorite Paleo chicken recipe (from the lovely Steph of Stupid Easy Paleo) and adjusted a bunch of things to make them suit my craving for boneless buffalo wings.

These won't get super crispy, but they'll have the texture of a buffalo sauce-soaked boneless wing from your favorite pub.


Paleo Buffalo Bites

• 2 chicken breasts, cut into small strips
• 1/2 cup pickle juice
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp garlic salt
• 1/8 tsp white pepper
• 1/2 cup Frank's Red Hot (I don't know if this is truly Paleo, so sub in what you will)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup almond flour
• 1/8 cup coconut flour
• water

For the Ranch Dip
(adapted from Paleo Grubs)

• 1/4 cup mayo
• 1/8 cup coconut milk (I used coconut almond milk)
• 1 tbsp coconut flour
• 1/4 tsp onion powder
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp garlic salt
• 1/2 tsp parsley
• 1 tsp dill

-Pour the pickle juice over the chicken and let sit while you prepare the rest of the recipe.

-Whisk together all ingredients for ranch dip, chill until chicken is done.

-In a shallow bowl, whisk together the garlic salt, pepper, egg, almond flour, and coconut flour until thick. Add just enough water so that the batter is about as thick as pancake mix--it should be thick but flow and drip off the spoon slowly.

-Remove chicken from juice. Pat dry. Dip into the batter and place on a well-greased or non-stick cookie sheet.

-Cook until the coating is dry and the internal temp of the chicken is 165 degrees--about 15 minutes.

-GENTLY coat with the Frank's Red Hot. I say gently, because the breading will fall off if you're not careful. I poured a bit of sauce into a bowl, placed the chicken on top, then poured a bit more sauce over them and used a fork to roll it around.

-Serve with the ranch dressing.