Tuesday, January 28, 2020

Keto Chicken Strips



Keto Chicken Strips
4 Servings

2 Chicken Breasts (cut in strips or nuggets)
1 cup Carbquick
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
salt to taste
pepper to taste
garlic powder to taste
1 egg
2-3 Tablespoons Oil to fry -- I used vegetable oil, but avocado oil would be more Keto

In one bowl add your egg and beat it with some salt, pepper, and garlic powder.

In a second bowl mix your Carbquick, Parmesan, salt, pepper, and garlic powder -- you could also add some parsley or whatever other spices you'd like depending on how you want to flavor it. **

In a large skillet, heat your oil while you bread your chicken.*** Dip your chicken into the egg mixture and then into the dry mixture. I pressed the dry mixture in really well until it was completely coated. Then place in the pan and let it fry until browned, then turn over to brown on the other side. I let flipped them a couple of times to make sure that the chicken was cooked through.

We served this with homemade ranch and zucchini fries that next time I'll cook in the same method. I will likely try to cook the zucchini fries in our air fryer.

** You could make these Italian and serve with a marinara or really the possibilities are endless.

*** This would also be a great breading on cube steak, veggies, and even fish sticks if you wanted to make those.
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Monday, January 13, 2020

Beef Jerky


Beef Jerky

The idea here is that by making it yourself, you gain 2 things:

1) You know exactly what went into the marinade - for those of us on Keto, it's important to know there is no sugar involved at all.

2) Typically we can make more for cheaper than we could buy the same amount from other trusted brands.

John's favorite jerky that he sometimes buys is from Loves Truck Stops... but a pound of that can be pretty pricey.

5 pounds of Beef Eye Round Roast (we get ours from Costco, and often double the recipe)
1 1/2 cups Soy Sauce (we use low sodium purchased from Costco in a large size)
1 1/2 cups Worcestershire Sauce
2 Tablespoons Onion Powder
2 Tablespoons Garlic Powder
2 teaspoons Red Pepper Flakes (depends on your tastes - the boys eat this so we don't make it hot)
3 teaspoons Black Pepper
4 oz Liquid Smoke (this is a whole bottle) (We use the Mesquite, but any flavor is fine)

John hand slices the roast as thin as possible and removes as much of the fat as he can at the same time. Then we put all of the other ingredients into a large (4 cup) measuring up.


Depending on the amount of meat -- this was 10 lbs in the bowl... we divide the meat into one or two-gallon size freezer bags. We use the freezer ones because they are thicker and less likely to leak, but we also put the bags inside of a large salad or mixing bowl while it's marinating.

Let it marinade overnight - up to 24 hours. Turn and mix your baggies a couple of times during the marination process.


After the marination is done, we pour one bag at a time into a large colander to drain off the excess liquid. We line our large sheet trays (cookie sheets) with several layers of paper towels, and lay the meat in a single layer over the top. When we have the tray completely full, we blot the top of the meat with additional paper towels. Having the meat as dry as possible speeds up the amount of time needed to dehydrate.


At this point, we layer the meat in single layers into our dehydrator. We have a total of 8 trays - so you can also get more than what comes with the base model. It will take 4-5 hours to dehydrate, but depending on how thin you get the meat sliced - drying times can vary.
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Saturday, June 29, 2019

Low Carb Goulash


Low Carb Goulash
Servings: 5

  • 1 Pound Ground Beef 80/20 or Turkey
  • 1 Yellow Onion, medium
  • 2 Teaspoons of Minced Garlic
  • 1, 15 Ounce Tomato Sauce canned
  • 1, 14.5 Ounce Diced Tomatoes canned
  • 2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
  • 2 Tablespoons Dried Oregano
  • 2 Teaspoons Dried Basil
  • 2 Dried Bay Leaves
  • 1 Tablespoon Seasoned Salt
  • 1/2 Teaspoon Black Pepper
  • 10 Ounces Cabbage shredded
  • Cheddar Cheese shredded
  • INSTRUCTIONS
  • In a large skillet or dutch oven, brown the meat over medium heat, breaking up the meat as it cooks into small pieces. Cook until the meat is cooked through and there's no longer any pink.
  • Stir in the onions and garlic. Cook and stir the mixture until the onions are translucent.
  • Stir in tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, soy sauce, oregano, basil, bay leaves, seasoned salt, and black pepper.
  •  Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat.
  • Reduce the heat to low, cover, and simmer 20 minutes.
  • Remove bay leaves. Stir in the cabbage, and let simmer for about 5 minutes (for more crunchy texture) to 10 minutes (for softer texture).
  • As you serve, place as much shredded cheddar on top as you would like. I used about a 1/4 cup per serving.
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Sunday, February 24, 2019

Zucchini & Yellow Squash Au Gratin


Zucchini & Yellow Squash Au Gratin
Serves 6

1 large yellow squash
1 large zucchini
2 shallots, minced
1 teaspoon minced garlic or 1 clove
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon oregano
9 slices Sargento Thin Sliced Provolone
3-4 Tablespoons (4 Tablespoons is 1/4 cup) Fresh Grated Parmesan

I started by using my mandoline to slice the squash 1/4 inch thick. Then I layered them in our baking dish -- 1 row of yellow squash and then a layer of zucchini -- I ended up with 4 rows on the bottom and 4 rows on the top.

In a small skillet or pan, add the butter and shallots and let them saute until translucent. Then add in the garlic and oregano. Let it cook a minute or two. Finally, add in the cream and Parmesan just until bubbly. Pour over the squash.

Cover with the slices of cheese -- I had two rows of 4 slices, and tore the remaining slice into 4 pieces and placed those extras in the corners where I had some squash showing. Bake at 350 for about 20-30 minutes. We enjoy our cheese really brown -- so it was perfect for us, but if you like yours less brown cut the cooking time back by a few minutes and check it.

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Keto Chicken Parm


Keto Chicken Parm
2 servings

1 Chicken Breast - we buy them in bulk and cut them in half down the middle of the breast into more of a cutlet size
6 slices Sargento Thin Sliced Provolone
2 slices Sargento Sliced Mozzarella
Olive Oil
Italian Seasoning
Garlic Powder
Salt & Pepper

Sauce
1 small (8 ounce) can of tomato sauce
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
salt & pepper to taste

Place all of the ingredients for the sauce into a small saucepan, and let them simmer over low heat while the chicken is cooking.

In a baking dish, put about a tablespoon of olive oil down on the pan. Then place the chicken pieces on top, and sprinkle with a bit of - salt, pepper, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning. Turn the chicken over and sprinkle with the same spices. Bake at 375 for about 20 minutes or until it is cooked through - we shoot for 160 degrees.

Once the chicken is done, pull it out of the oven. Spread some of the sauce on the top, generously -- but you won't use all of the sauce. Then place 3 folded slices of provolone and 1 of mozzarella on top. Place it back in the oven - you can either let it bake for a few minutes or you can broil it to get the cheese a bit darker.

I served this with a homemade Caesar salad with no croutons.

For the salad dressing, I use:

1-2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 egg
Juice from 1 lemon
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
4-5 tablespoons of olive oil

Mix everything in a large bowl except for the oil -- whisk it together. Slowly drizzle in the olive oil while whisking the dressing into an emulsion. You can taste along the way to see if you want your dressing a little more tart or if you need more oil. Mix in Romaine lettuce and grated Parmesan - I tend to use freshly grated, but the Kraft version is fine -- you just want slivers of parm and not the powder for this.


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Keto Creme Brulee


Keto Creme Brulee

4 egg yolks
2 cups of heavy cream
1 tablespoon of Swerve granulated sweetener

1-2 teaspoons of Swerve granulated sweetener for the topping of each serving

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. In a bowl; mix the egg yolks, heavy cream, and Swerve together with a whisk.

Divide into containers -- the original recipe said that the mixture made 4 servings... but that seemed a bit much for us. Additionally, I bought a creme brulee set with the torch from Bed Bath and Beyond for $20 -- if you do that though -- make sure you get the butane from them when you buy it because it didn't come with the set. Anyway -- our mixture became 7 servings -- we had the 4 vessels that came with the set -- and 3 from frozen creme brulee that I had gotten previously from H-E-B.

Place your containers in an oven-safe casserole dish with sides. Pour in about 1-2 cups boiling water until it's about 1/2 way up the sides of your creme brulee servings. Bake for 30 minutes or until it's set. Ours were a little jiggly when we pulled them from the oven.

I immediately took them out of the water bath, placed them on a sheet tray, and put them into the refrigerator. When we ate them last night - I wished that they had been able to have more time in the fridge because I love the cold custard underneath the warm sugar.

Before serving - sprinkle the top with 1-2 teaspoons of Swerve and use your torch to brown them OR if needed place your oven rack as close to the top as you can and use the broiler to brown the sugar. If you use your broiler -- watch it the entire time because it can burn really quickly.

I served mine with two sliced strawberries as seen in the picture -- but you could put some whipped cream on it as well.
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Tuesday, January 22, 2019

Keto White Chicken Chili


Keto White Chicken Chili
Servings: 4

  • 1 lb chicken
  • 2 cups chicken stock
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely minced
  • 1 4.5oz can chopped green chiles
  • 1 diced jalapeno
  • 1 diced green pepper
  • 1/4 cup diced onion
  • 4 tbsp butter
  • 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 4 oz cream cheese
  • 2 tsp cumin
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne (optional)
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
I adapted the cooking method on this recipe quite a bit, but here is what I did. In a soup pot, I browned the chicken that I had cut into small pieces - I added salt & pepper, oregano, and the cumin to the chicken before browning. Once the chicken was cooked, I removed it and set it aside. In the same pot, I put in the butter, onion, bell pepper, jalapeno, and green chilies and cooked them for a couple of minutes until they started to become translucent. I added the garlic close to the end of cooking the vegetables and then put the chicken back in the pot. I added in the chicken stock, and let the soup simmer for a few minutes. In a small bowl, add your cream cheese and put it in the microwave for about 30 seconds - you should be able to stir it when it is at the correct temp - then mix in the whipping cream with the cream cheese. Stirring the whole time mix the cream cheese/cream mixture into the soup and let it continue to simmer for another 15 minutes before serving. 

You can top it with any of your favorite keto friendly toppings: pepper jack cheese, cheddar cheese, sour cream, or cilantro.
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