As you know from Paleo Week, I’ve been experimenting with cooking meat again. My memories of baked chicken are dry, dry, dry. So my goal when baking chicken is to find a way to make it as moist as possible. This Baked Dijon Dill Chicken with Mushrooms is a winner! Not only is the meat moist, but it is full of flavor.

It is delicious with a cup of Butternut Squash and Apple Soup created by a cookbook author that I will be sharing with you soon. But this chicken would be delicious with quinoa, brown rice, or sweet potato sides too.

The rich flavor comes from dijon mustard and mushrooms. You can use any kind of mushrooms you’d like, but the ones that look like they were actually hand-picked always seem to have the best flavor.

Baked Dijon Dill Chicken with Mushrooms

by Heather

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 1/2 c. mushrooms
• 1/2 c. fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 c. fresh dill, chopped
• 2-3 garlic cloves
• 1/4 c. dijon mustard
• 1 T. olive oil
• 1/2 T. paprika
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper

Directions:

1. Clean chicken breasts and place them in a 9×13 glass baking dish.

2. Wash and slice mushrooms and place them in a small bowl.

3. Combine all other ingredients in a food processor. Pulse until combined to make the marinade.

4. Pour marinade into the bowl of mushrooms and toss to coat.

5. Pour mushroom and marinade mixture over the chicken breasts, cover, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

6. Bake uncovered at 350 for 30-45 minutes depending on the thickness of your chicken breasts.

Serves 4-6

Readers, dish!

What’s your secret for moist baked chicken?

This recipe will be shared with:

• Gluten-Free Monday hosted by Heidi of One Creative Mommy
• Fat Tuesday hosted by Jill of Real Food Forager
• Slightly Indulgent Tuesday hosted by Amy of Simply Sugar and Gluten-Free
• Gluten-Free Wednesdays hosted by Linda of The Gluten-Free Homemaker
• Allergy Free Wednesdays hosted by Tessa the Domestic Diva , Amber of The Tasty Alternative, and friends.
• Keep it Real Thursdays hosted by France of Beyond the Peel
• Meal Plan Mondays hosted by Jill at Modern Alternative Kitchen

It’s Paleo Week at Gluten-Free Cat!  This is probably the last thing you expected to find here. But while most of my recipes for the past year have been raw, vegan, or vegetarian, the Husband has been eating Paleo. Plus, I’ve found that my body has been asking for animal protein. I love the idea of being raw vegan, but I’m finding that my energy level and my physical performance is so much better when I incorporate some meat in my diet.

So I thought that I’d share some of the gluten-free, paleo recipes that we’ve been enjoying. Plus, I’ll be ending the week with a Paleo Giveaway. Make sure you stop back on Friday!

How does a non-meat eater begin cooking with meat? She goes back to childhood with good ol’ spaghetti and meatballs.

These meatballs are made from bison and the noodles are actually spiralized zucchini. I believe that this is the way a Paleo Guy and a Raw Foods-Loving Girl can eat together happily.

I love raw zucchini, so these noodles are not warm. But served room temperature with piping hot meatballs drenched in tomato sauce, you won’t even notice that the zucchini isn’t hot.

In fact, I even enjoy the crunch of the zucchini noodles with hot marinara sans meatballs. Delicious.

A spiralizer isn’t required to make raw noodles, but it makes the job so much easier and it’s loads of fun! You can use a vegetable peeler to create fetuccini-like noodles as well.

Paleo Spaghetti with Spicy Meatballs

by Heather

Meatball Ingredients:

• 2 lbs. ground bison
• 1/2 c. almond flour
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 diced onion
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 small red peppers and 1 jalapeno pepper (or 2 jalapenos)
• 2 tsp. dried oregano

Sauce Ingredients:

• 1 c. stock (chicken or veggie)
• 2 15-oz. cans of tomato sauce
• 2 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. onion powder
• 2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
• salt to taste

“Noodle” Ingredients:

• 2 medium zucchini, spiralized

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400.

2. In a large bowl, combine the almond flour, eggs, diced onion, minced garlic, and oregano. Then add the bison and mix by hand until well combined. Form into 10-12  meatballs and place them in a 9×13 casserole dish.

3. Heat all sauce ingredients in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Then pour the sauce over the meatballs.

4. Cover the casserole dish with foil and bake for about 45 minutes.

5. While the meatballs are cooking, spiralize two zucchini. If you don’t have a spiralizer, use a vegetable peeler to create fetuccini-like noodles.

6. Serve meatballs over zucchini noodles and top with additional tomato sauce.

Yields 10-12 meatballs

Enjoy! And don’t forget to stop by on Friday for the Paleo Week Giveaway! (Hint, it’s a cookbook!)

Readers, dish!

• What is your favorite childhood meal?
• Have you ever tried bison?