Oven-Fried Onion Rings

This all started with having a craving. I wanted something fried, crunchy, and dippable in ketchup. French fries are high in starch which my body likes to gain weight just looking at. I rarely eat potatoes. I used to miss them like crazy but now I'm all, "Meh" about them so it's not so bad. I love oven-fried zucchini but I didn't want ranch, I wanted ketchup, and while 4ft has no problem dipping everything under the sun in ketchup, I can't. I had half an onion sitting all alone in the fridge looking for love in all the wrong places (that vanilla yogurt isn't interested, leave it alone for goodness sake).

Normally, I'd do onion rings because they'd be prettier and anyone who knows me, knows that food doesn't only have to taste good, it has to look good too. Say it with me, "We eat with our eyes before we ever eat with our mouths." I know some of you are rolling your eyes at me (my best friend hears this a lot when she's trying to tell me how crazy I am -- so I know her eyes are) but it doesn't make it any less true. However, I couldn't do rings because I had half an onion cut the opposite way so I did what I had to do and made peels instead. 

It actually worked out better that way because I made slider burgers to go with them (OMG best slider burgers ever -- recipe is coming) and the peels held more real estate on the burger so I got some onion-y goodness in every bite. They made better scoops for dip (which is totally my thing. I love dipping things) and they were easier to keep the breading on when making them.

4ft ate a couple, but the rest of the family are firm onion haters unless they're cooked in something and can't be seen (as they are with most things delicious), and they were missing out because these onion peels were delicious and tasted like regular onion rings without all the grease. Definitely worth the effort to make them!



Oven-Fried Onion Peels
makes 4 bariatric servings (2 regular servings)

Ingredients
1/2 a yellow onion - sliced 
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 TBS almond flour
1 TBS unflavored protein powder **
3/4 cup panko
1 TBS garlic powder - divided
1 tsp salt - divided
1/2 tsp pepper -divided
              ** You can substitute another tablespoon of almond flour for the protein powder

Directions
1.) Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit
2.) In a shallow dish, combine buttermilk, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, and 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder. Mix well. Add onion slices.
3.) In a gallon ziplock bag, combine almond flour, protein powder, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp pepper, and 1 1/2 tsp garlic powder. Seal the bag and shake to mix. Add onion peels to the bag, making sure to shake off excess fluid (save fluid). Shake the bag, coating the onion slices with the flour mixture.
4.) Add panko to another shallow dish. Dredge the flour-coated onion slices through the seasoned buttermilk, shake excess, and then cover in panko. Place slices on a wire rack on a cookie sheet. Let onions rest at least 5 minutes for the panko to set.
5.) Spray onion slices with olive oil.
6.) Bake for 15 - 20 minutes or until golden brown.
7.) ENJOY!