Paleo Turkey Nuggets

According to Michael Ruhlman, a favored author and food writer of mine, “The world is better when we cook for ourselves.”  In my opinion, this is 100% true unless you are wearing a bathing suit while frying something in coconut oil (which I learned the hard way with this recipe after one or two splatters of hot oil).  For me, cooking serves many purposes, the first and most important of which is
eating healthy food.  Cooking at home enables you to control everything that goes into what you eat, and home-cooked food almost always contains less sodium than foods that are processed and packaged.  

On a similar note, the second involves peace of mind.  There is something so satisfying about knowing exactly what is going into the food you eat down to every last spice, a nearly impossible feat with prepared foods from a grocery store or restaurant.  (Does anyone even know what the “natural flavors” listed on ingredient lists actually are?)  I would much rather eat a real nugget that I make at home than a nugget made with “pink slime” from a fast food establishment.  

The third benefit that I get from cooking is stress relief (which goes hand-in-hand with fun, as well).  When I become overwhelmed, I find that losing myself in the kitchen instantly clears my head and allows me to focus my attention on the food rather than whatever is stressing me out.  I could go on and on about the reasons I love cooking at home, but if I did, this post would turn into a novel (hmmm, there’s an idea).  Hopefully, some of the reasons why I love to cook have inspired you to do the same.

Random thought:  Don’t you just love the sound of the name “Turkey Nuggets?”  It’s so quirky and I feel like it’s much more fun to say than “chicken nuggets.”  Just saying.

Paleo Turkey Nuggets

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground turkey
• 2 eggs
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• ½ cup coconut flour, divided
• ¼ cup almond flour
• ¼ cup flaxseed meal
• additional salt and pepper to season the breading (about ¼ tsp each)
• about ½ cup coconut oil, divided

Directions:

1. For the turkey:  In a medium sized bowl, mix together the turkey, eggs, salt, pepper, garlic and onion powders, and ¼ cup of the coconut flour.  Set aside.
2. For the breading:  In a separate bowl, mix the remaining ¼ cup of coconut flour with the almond flour, flaxseed meal, and remaining slat and pepper.
3. Shape the meat into nuggets (using about 2 Tablespoons of the meat for each).
4. Coat each of the nuggets completely in the breading.
5. Heat a large pan and add a few Tablespoons of the coconut oil.  Fry the nuggets on each side until brown and crispy (about 3-4 minutes per side).  I fried them in 3 batches of 6, and divided the coconut oil among the 3 batches.

Makes about 18 nuggets.