Bobbie's Keto Kitchen

Seasoning mixture                                         2 teaspoons sea salt, 1 teaspoon oregano, 2 teaspoons smoked paprika,            1 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 teaspoon black pepper, 1 teaspoon onion powder,   1 teaspoon cumin, 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper, 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

To Smoke: 2 green peppers, 1 onion, 2 pounds hamburger, 1 pound stew beef

*chop onion and peppers and lay on tray to smoke * cover in seasoning mixture saving some for meat * place meats on top of veggies and cover in remaining seasoning mixture * smoke for 2 hours * remove from smoker

For Chili 2 cans diced tomatoes, 1 4.5 ounce can diced chilies, 2 cups beef broth, 1 pound diced and cooked bacon

* add hamburger and stew beef to pot and cook burger until no longer pink * add veggies, tomatoes, beef broth, chilies and bacon * simmer for 2 hours * add 2 tablespoons tomato paste for thicker chili or more beef broth for thinner chili* you can also add beans if you like those when you add the tomatoes

Can you believe it’s almost Thanksgiving?!? My sister in law always hosts thanksgiving and she does keto also so I’m excited for the day because I know that she’ll have lots of yummies for both of us to eat. Christmas will be here before we know it!

Sunday- Danielle Walker’s French Dip- this comes from Danielle’s Eat What You Love cookbook and is not available on the internet. I’d say any recipe would probably suffice. I’ll make small piles and melt provolone over them and serve with a low carb veggie.

Monday- Jalapeno Popper Chicken- http://twistedfood.co.uk/jalapeno-popper-hasselback-chickeen- we made a similar recipe a few weeks ago but the chicken was dry so we are trying it this way this week. I’m excited. The other had great flavor just was dry.

Tuesday- Cheeseburger Casserole- this one comes from Sam Dillard’s Keto Kids. If you have kids or are a picky eater this is a great one to add to your collection. I’ve never made something from it that hasn’t been awesome.

Wednesday- Malibu Chicken- https://www.lowcarbmaven.com/malibu-chicken this is a favorite in our house- always eaten with no complaint from the kids!

Thursday- Beef Enchilada Soup-https://thepioneerwoman.com/food-and-friends/easy-enchilada-soup/ this one is a repeat too. Last time I said I was going to make sauce from scratch but went ahead and bought some. It came together nicely and we had it with some keto tortilla chips and guacamole and sour cream. Yum!! I’m subbing beef for the chicken and leaving out the beans and corn as those aren’t low carb.

Friday- Calzones/Pizza Rolls Keto Kids has a calzone recipe I’m going to try out and also make pizza rolls (my husbands favorite) by rolling pepperoni and cheese in fathead dough. I found a low carb marinara at Aldi this week. https://www.wholesomeyum.com/recipes/fathead-pizza-crust-low-carb-keto-gluten-free-nut-free/

Saturday- Broccoli Cheese Soup and Breadsticks Breadsticks- the soup recipe is coming from Keto Kids also but the breadstick recipe is on the web. We’ve made it before and it’s always a hit. I definitely recommend doubling it if it’s for more than 2 or 3 people. https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/a22687489/keto-garlic-bread-recipe/

Have a great week!!

What’s cooking in your kitchen this week? Any new recipes? Anything sound fabulous I should try?

We are having some old favorites and trying some things I keep saying we’ll try but haven't yet. I’m excited. I always like to try new recipes, I think it keeps cooking exciting. It’s so easy to fall into the monotony of it all.

Sunday- Chicken Alfredo- For this I just cut up 2 chicken breast and a whole lot of chopped up fresh broccoli. Cook the chicken and broccoli until done (5-7 minutes, add the broccoli for another 3-5) and then cover with alfredo sauce. It was really good and we didn’t even miss the carby noodles! This isn’t the alfredo sauce recipe I used, but it’s pretty close. And don’t be afraid to click on wholesome yum’s recipes because they have a “skip to recipe” button at the top! https://www.wholesomeyum.com/recipes/low-carb-keto-alfredo-sauce-garlic-parmesan-cream-sauce-recipe/

Monday- Pioneer Woman’s Meatball Tortilla Soup- So yummy! My family wasn’t a fan but I really liked it. It had great flavor. Of course I left out the corn and the beans as those aren’t keto, but I didn’t feel like it was missing anything. My family isn’t crazy about soups so it’s no surprise they didn’t care for this one. https://jenniferguerrero.com/2017/11/17/the-pioneer-woman-cooks-come-and-get-it-and-the-most-amazing-recipe-for-meatball-tortilla-soup/

I also made tortilla chips to go with this. https://alldayidreamaboutfood.com/low-carb-tortilla-chips

Tuesday- Crock Pot Garlic Parmesan Chicken- This one is new to us. I’m excited to give it a try and expand our crock pot choices. I’ll be subbing heavy cream for the condensed milk, and using xantham gum to thicken it. https://www.365daysofcrockpot.com/slow-cooker-garlic-parmesan-chicken

Wednesday- Bacon Wrapped Meatballs is what’s on the menu but I’m switching it to Loaded Burger Bowls. I’m taking dinner to a friend and I think those will be easier to double. These are awesome warmed up too so if you are looking for something to make extra of or even freeze these would be great.https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/a28007283/loaded-burger-bowls-recipe/

Thursday- Pizza- We are having some dance friends over between lessons so I’m planning to order from our local place. They will make me a crustless “keto” pizza. It’s still going to be higher in carbs because of the sauce but I’ll either fast all day or make incredibly low carb choices so I can enjoy it. It’s not an indulgence I do often so it won’t kill me to do it every once in  a while.

Friday-Keilbasa and Creamy Zoodles- I already bought all the ingredients so I’m making this one this week if it kills me! 😂 I’ve put it on the menu several times but never actually made it. https://kiolbassa.com/recipe/keto-creamy-tuscan-zucchini-noodles-with-sausage/

Saturday- Our eldest asked for cheeseburgers on the grill so that’s what we’ll be having. I found an awesome “chaffle” recipe so I may make those to have a “bun” which would be a treat because we usually do lettuce wraps. https://www.buttertogetherkitchen.com/white-bread-keto-chaffle

It’s hard to believe it’s been so many days since I last updated here! Keto has definitely made some major changes in how my family does life but unfortunately I still struggle with headaches and migraines, not even close to the amount I used to have but they are there. As the months continue on I need to focus more on what is triggering them! I got a migraine 2 weeks ago and it took about 10 days to really get back to 100%. But here I am! With a menu for you and everything! We are going camping at the end of this week and into next week so there will be some suggestions if you go camper camping for some easy to prepare meal.

Sunday- This past Sunday I returned from our church’s annual women’s retreat so dinner was easy and basically no prep. I pulled out some meatballs I had made over the summer (https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/all-purpose-meatballs-2755372 with some keto substiutions), added some bbq sauce to them while they warmed up and drained green beans from a can in butter with some Chicago Steak Seasoning. It is nice to have a plan for when things are crazy and you need something quick and easy!!

Monday- Loaded Burger Bowls- this has appeared on my menu in the past but I’ve never actually made it- until this week. It was awesome! So flavorful and not dry at all! I’m a ranch freak so I added ranch to mine but Drew had the leftovers with BBQ sauce today and said that was equally delicious. We had steamed broccoli as a side. https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/a28007283/loaded-burger-bowls-recipe/

Tuesday- Chicken Bacon Ranch Casserole with broccoli- We’ve made this one in the past, easy and yummy! Just remember that the chicken needs to be cooked before hand so do it in the crock pot before work so it’s ready to add to the dish after work. Make extra chicken to freeze too for an quick meal in the future! https://www.wholesomeyum.com/recipes/chicken-bacon-ranch-casserole-recipe-easy-low-carb/

Wednesday- Upside Down Chili Con Carne- I’m going to double this one tonight! The last time I made it there were no leftovers and we have company tonight so I’d rather have leftovers than not enough. I think leftovers of this would be amazing too! My kids really enjoy this one, I love meals where there is no fight to eat! http://www.ketovangelistkitchen.com/upside-down-chili-con-carne-pie/

Thursday- Tuscan Zucchini with Kielbasa- This is another one that has appeared on my menu more than once but I’ve never actually made it. We head out tomorrow evening so I’m not sure how much of a mess in the kitchen I’ll want to make before we go but I do think it sounds amazing! https://kiolbassa.com/recipe/keto-creamy-tuscan-zucchini-noodles-with-sausage/

Friday- Cheeseburgers- We will be arriving at our destination on Friday so we are planning to have cheeseburgers and sauteed onion, squash and zucchini. We’ll probably have salad also, we are going to be doing some hiking so I’m sure everyone will be quite hungry. We eat cheeseburgers with mayo and mustard in a lettuce wrap.

Saturday- Crock pot beef tacos- This is another one that has appeared on the blog lots. It’s a favorite in our house. We are going to be adventuring all day so it will be nice to have dinner ready when we come back to the camper in the evening. Our not strict keto kids will have refried beans with theirs and we’ll serve it with guacamole, cheese and sour cream.

Have a great week everyone! I’ll be back in a few days with some more camping meals for you!

Did you all survive last Friday the 13th and FULL MOON?!? I never thought the moon affected people until I worked customer service in health insurance! You always knew when it was a full moon because people were crazy! And then I had kids! And they are even worse!! 😂 

We had a great weekend at our house. The first one in a long time where we’ve not had anything planned! We did some work outside yesterday because the weather was cool. Next weekend we’ll get all our patio furniture put away and do some prep for the winter months- making sure the snowblower is ready to go, putting up some of the kids toys so it is easier to get the snowblower in an out. It will be snowing before we know it- which means no more bugs!!! Oh happy day!

Anyway, here’s what’s cooking in my keto kitchen this week.

Sunday: We decided last minute to run to Menards so we ate at Five Guys. It’s an easy keto choice, you can get your burger in a “tub” with your fixins or wrapped in a lettuce wrap. Just be sure to skip the ketchup and BBQ sauce as they are both full of sugar. And of course, no french fries or pop.

Monday: Malibu Chicken- this is becoming one of my favorites. It’s one my kids eat with minimal fuss and it doesn’t take long or make too big a mess. https://www.lowcarbmaven.com/malibu-chicken

Tuesday: We are experincing a bit of Indian Summer and grilling out sounds yummy so I’m going to have hubs grill Brats and Hot Dogs. We always get the “Better with Cheddar” ones, they are 2 carbs each I think. We’ll have sauteed squash, zucchini and onions- YUM!

Wednesday:  Slow Cooker Flank Steak- I’ve made this one for year. It uses Ranchers Seasoning from Wildtree but I think it would taste good with Weber’s Chicago Steak Seasoning too. I’ll probably switch to that when my Ranchers is all gone. https://wildtree.com/rep/amyfaruga/recipe/3809/slow-cooker-flank-steak

Thursday: Chick Fil A Nuggets and Jicama Fries- I’ve made these in a paleo version a bunch of times but arrowroot is very high in carbs so I’m going to try a new recipe using pork rinds as the crust. We are also going to try jicama fries- its a recipe from Keto Kids by Sam Dillard I’m excited to try. We’ll make homemade ranch dressing (a throwback to our whole30 days when we couldn’t use store bought ranch) and Primal Kitchen’s ketchup because it’s amazing and sugar free. https://ketoinpearls.com/the-best-keto-chicken-nuggets/

Friday: Cheeseburgers on the grill- need I say more?!? Yum!

Saturday: General Tso Chicken- this is another repeat and a huge hit- last time I made it I tripled the recipe and we only had enough for 1 serving left. I will steam some broccoli as a side. I may ask the grocery store if they will grind the chicken for me. My neighbor told me that store bough ground chicken is more dry than fresh, but if I can have them do it while I do my shopping that will save me some serious time! https://howtothisandthat.com/general-tso-chicken/?fbclid=IwAR00RzjagMPtjilR-MyuY_CJfs2vnPjLMVOhhlrRr2QZkBjxVrXY5kCO2E8

I was a total slacker last week and didn’t get our menu up for you guys. We went back to school and 4th grade is kicking my butt! 😂 I had grossly underestimated the amount of time it would take to get through our bookwork this year! So anyway, on to this week’s menu!

White Castle Pie: Drew was craving some white castle pretty bad so I googled this one and we tried it. It was a change to our original menu but it was good, easy and worth the change. I didn’t figure out the carb count on this one, it is probably a little higher than most because of the onions but it was yummy. I’d definitely say it is low carb but you may have to be careful to fit it into your macros if you had a higher carb lunch. https://mariasmixingbowl.com/low-carb-white-castle-pie/

Broccoli, Ham and Cheese Casserole: This one was new to us also. It’s a one pot meal so no need to think about a veggie side. He says in the recipe it would be easy to double and I’d suggest that too because the way the recipe is written it only fed my family one meal with no leftovers. It was also more runny than I expected so the next time I make it I may try to change up the ingredients a bit. But my pickiest eater was done first so I’d say it was a success! https://www.simplefunketo.com/blog/broccolihamcheese

Garlic Steak Bites and Zoodles: This one is sort of becoming a staple in our house. It is one that is loved by all and not too complicated to make. Also, another one where veggies are included so easy to plan and not have to think about a side. https://www.eatwell101.com/garlic-butter-steak-bites-zucchini-noodles-recipe

Crock Pot Crack Chicken: We start back to church this week so Wednesday’s meals will probably always be crock pot meals, its easy and ready when we are ready to sit down. This one is another fan favorite and I add a bag of frozen broccoli about 30 minutes before we are ready to eat and voila! https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/a26845155/keto-crack-chicken-recipe/

Crock pot beef fajitas: I’ve shared this one in the past on my blog. Easy and no arguing with the kiddos to eat! 

Sesame Orange Chicken: This one I’ll have to finagle some to make work with the honey and oj as ingredients but I’m exited to try it. I’ll also use Xantham gum instead of arrowroot to thicken it. https://againstallgrain.com/2017/11/29/instantpot-orange-sesame-chicken-recipe/

Meatball Tortilla Soup: This will be a new for my family recipe too. I’ll sub pork rinds for the bread crumbs in the meatballs and leave out the corn and beans in the soup. I’m excited for this one, I love warm soups! https://www.landolakes.com/recipe/19173/meatball-tortilla-soup/

Hoooowwww is it the last week of August already?? It’s just so hard to believe that summer is over! I ordered my kids books for school this week and we’ll start back to classes on Tuesday next week. My husband and I were able to get away for the weekend for our anniversary and it was such a nice time to reconnect and enjoy just being us. I’m so thankful my mother in law was able to watch our kiddos for us. So, anyway, on to what we are eating this week.

Sunday: My kiddos actually had the spaghetti recipe I posted last week for dinner. My husband and I had a big carb cheat day, it was fun but I’m so glad we don’t eat that way anymore!!

Monday: Garlic Parmesan Kielbasa- I made this last night and it was amazing!! Even my kiddos ate it with next to no complaints. I didn’t put in Brussel sprouts because I don’t like them but maybe next time I will. We’ll definitely be having this one again! https://kiolbassa.com/recipe/keto-garlic-parmesan-sausage-skillet/?fbclid=IwAR3frTAS4YGv-mQJCsiA-LtizDtKYVAAZpSTEVI8R9xzHsiOsMyIy5Qe-l8

Tuesday: Upside Down Chili Con Carne Pie- My kids LOVED this one- no complaints at all. And it was pretty quick and easy to throw together, didn’t make much mess. We’ll be adding this one to the rotation for sure! And the bread on top would be delicious with regular chili too. http://www.ketovangelistkitchen.com/upside-down-chili-con-carne-pie/?fbclid=IwAR1NLG7ivvX0Pa9yZ9EkVAQ0LYnJd8w-U2JngMW6yssB4Wi3aEif3eV9zMo

Wednesday: Breakfast for dinner. This I sort of throw together whatever sounds good. Sausage gravy and biscuits, scrambled eggs, maybe some pancakes. I have lots of recipes for pancakes saved. I mostly make “pan” pancakes as my oldest calls them for actual breakfast, but maybe I’ll do some cream cheese and egg crepe type pancakes. This will be a new recipe for us because my husband didn’t like the one with cream cheese in it, I’ll also leave out the garlic and onion from the biscuits because my family prefers it that way : https://www.mypcoskitchen.com/low-carb-sausage-gravy-biscuits-skillet/?fbclid=IwAR09iBKxWhWmmFjofilC0u82PxFd-7aMKshvXp7IXVv_t2AlwBBGyyfuCpc Pancake recipe: https://www.wholesomeyum.com/recipes/coconut-flour-pancakes-recipe-cream-cheese-pancakes/?fbclid=IwAR3Q7XkP1aAXmrNk4kL4tWN_BUMuJlJk_nceu5pav8jhuZbxKOHDmoJeA1M#pinit

Thursday: Chicken Pot Pie- It’s getting colder here, lows in 50s now at nights, so I want to eat all the hearty meals! Winter is coming and I want to be prepared, lol. This one is new so we’ll see how it goes. https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/a26789923/keto-chicken-potpie-recipe/

Friday: Swedish Meatballs- For this one I’ll be pulling out a bag of the meatballs I made a few weeks ago when I did the BBQ Meatballs and just making the sauce. I’ll sub coconut aminos for the Worcestershire sauce and you can sub crushed pork rinds for the bread crumbs and serve it with one of our usual sides instead of noodles. We haven’t had broccoli yet this week!  😂 It should be a quick meal with little to no clean up. https://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/salisbury-steak-meatballs/

Saturday: Tuscan Chicken- This one is a sheet pan meal so again, shouldn’t be much clean up. Maybe I’ll do some research and see if I can find a keto crusty bread recipe to go with it, warm bread and butter sure does sound good! https://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/italian-chicken-sheet-pan-supper/

My dog wasn’t sad I stayed up late to finish the grocery list for this post. 🥰 I did it a little different and added a notation for the day behind each ingredient so if you didn’t want to make something you could easily ignore those ingredients.

Happy Tuesday! I’m having a rough start to the week this week! I’m assuming it is due to hormones but who knows. I started Keto to combat multiple migraines a week and it has helped so much. I went from 6-8 a month to 1 or 2 a month, which is life changing for me! I also had daily headaches and those are pretty much gone. I’ve got one of those “1-2″ a month right now. It’s not as bad as some, but it defiantly interrupts my quality of life. So, I’m running a little late this week but here are the recipes for you!  My husband and I are traveling at the end of the week this week for our anniversary so this isn’t actually what my family is eating this week but they are all recipes I can’t wait to try!

Sunday- Keto Pizza! This is a solid favorite in our house! It’s not a complicated recipe by any means and doesn’t make a huge mess either. We always top it with a low carb pizza sauce and pepperoni and cheese. You could add basically any topping you wanted. We usually have a side salad with this. https://gimmedelicious.com/2019/01/31/keto-pizza/?fbclid=IwAR3WkE4FjmHcmyVg2_B82KLv8fprwVEq6tXHxSIrcVyE0jflD0yQCPHgi44

Monday- Crockpot Beef Fajitas- this one has been a favorite for my family for the last year or so. It’s super easy in the crock pot, put it in in the morning and ready for dinner. We’d probably serve this with some keto tortilla chips and guacamole and sour cream! I’d also make refried beans for my kids. They aren’t crazy high in carbs and have good fiber. https://sweetcsdesigns.com/easy-keto-tortilla-chips-recipe/?fbclid=IwAR1M7sChRAbCi1TPnpz2lgLSIKgDbS48gJM06rtzP0M3qIRtHJDOh_WjY8g

Tuesday- General Tso Meatballs- I’ve not made this one before but I’m super excited about it! I’ll add broccoli to it for a veggie. https://howtothisandthat.com/general-tso-chicken/?fbclid=IwAR00RzjagMPtjilR-MyuY_CJfs2vnPjLMVOhhlrRr2QZkBjxVrXY5kCO2E8

Wednesday- Tuscan Zucchini and Keilbasa- This one is another new one I’m super excited about! https://kiolbassa.com/recipe/keto-creamy-tuscan-zucchini-noodles-with-sausage/?fbclid=IwAR0ptkuNiN4QktZw6KH2B0iqX9f6z3O-u3jeYG34DhIAsd4NGKsaojq_Mw0

Thursday- Taco Salad- this one is super easy! I just make a pound of hamburger with taco seasoning (I follow Danielle Walker’s recipe), chop up some lettuce and add cheese. We shred all our cheese from blocks at our house because bagged cheese has cellulose in it for anti caking and it just takes away from the flavor so much! It’s totally worth the extra 5 minutes for the increase in flavor.

Friday- Spaghetti- I use a recipe I’ve followed for years- I’m honestly not sure what the carb count is, probably on the higher end though. My kids love spaghetti so it’s a treat for them. They will have regular noodles but it’s absolutely delicious with zucchini noodles.

Saturday- Loaded Burger Bowls- Another new recipe I’m excited to try! https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipe-ideas/a28007283/loaded-burger-bowls-recipe/?fbclid=IwAR2_mxorjcndAQrFqSRcCma06RwBDSznvjIwtPK17WaaVBUoQTWEWqJwgqY

Today is the final day of week 7 of keto for my family! We are rapidly closing in on a solid 2 months! I’ve gone from 6-8 migraines a month to 3 in the last 7 weeks. That’s pretty exciting for me. I also rarely have a headache, which was an every day occurrence before Keto. And super exciting news from this past week- my A1C dropped to an acceptable level and I no longer need to take meds for insulin resistance!!!

Anyway- on to the weeks recipes!

Sunday we planned leftovers. We have so much leftover pork from the party Saturday that it just made sense to take the day off from cooking. 

Monday- Pork Chops- Drew isn’t crazy about pork chops so since he golfs on Mondays that’s what we are having. I’ll probably salt and pepper them and then just fry them but I’m not sure yet. Sort of winging it.

Tuesday- Pepperoni Chicken- I always try to find nitrate free pepperoni- our Meijer carries a hormel one that is and our local grocery carries some that is also. Nitrates aren’t great for us, so we try to avoid them as much as possible. I also use Rao’s pizza sauce because it’s pretty low in carbs. I recommend seasoning the chicken with some italian seasoning to give this dish a bit more flavor. https://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/pepperoni-chicken/

Wednesday- Bacon Wrapped Meatballs- I think I’ve talked about this one before. The kids love it! Drew thought they were a bit dry but we are going to try some BBQ sauce with them this time and see if it is better. https://lowcarbinspirations.com/bacon-wrapped-meatloaf-muffins/

Thursday- My menu says Lemon Pepper Garlic Chicken but since I can’t find the recipe we are going to try some Parmesan crusted chicken thighs 😂

Friday- We are having some friends over and grilling burgers. We’ll add some sauteed veggies on the side. I love grilling out!! It’s also my 16th wedding anniversary! 

Saturday-Chicken Marsala- this is a new recipe so we’ll see how it goes. I love trying new recipes, my kids not so much, lol. https://ketocookingchristian.com/creamy-chicken-marsala-keto-and-low-carb/

Would it be helpful if I made a shopping list to go along with these reciepes? Let me know your thoughts!

Hard to believe another week has gone by! We’ll be headed back to school before you know it! This week we are celebrating my oldest turning 9!! Sometimes it feels like just yesterday we were waiting for her arrival. I’m on the fence about making a keto dessert for her party on Saturday. I’ll make a regular cake for her and the handful of guests we’ll have, we are keeping it small this year. She leaves next Sunday for a week of sleep away camp! We’ve never been apart for that long ever so I’m sure it is going to be hard on this momma’s heart. I’ll probably do lots of keto baking next week! 😂

Anyway, on the menu this week we’ve got a few new recipes to try out!

Broccoli Cheese stuffed Chicken- I’m really excited about this one! I found it fairly recently and wanted to make it the night I found it but already had dinner going so I put it on the menu. Hopefully the girls like it. We’ll have a side salad with this since it already as the broccoli in it. https://everydayshortcuts.com/low-carb-broccoli-cheese-stuffed-chicken/

BBQ Meatballs- I’ve never made this one before either. I love her “comfort meatballs” recipe but this one you use bottled bbq sauce. I think I’ll probably go ahead and make the 5lbs of meatballs while I’m at it just to have some in the freezer for an emergency. We’ve finally used up all of our freezer meat so I’m in the process of restocking the deep freeze. We like G Hughes Smokehouse Sugar Free BBQ sauce so I’ll be using that. I’ll also leave out the brown sugar (it honestly won’t even be missed) and substitute coconut aminos for the  Worcestershire sauce, most of those sauces are made with soy and I try to avoid soy as much as possible- another post for another day. I’ll also substitute either almond or coconut flour for the breadcrumbs in the meatball recipe.  https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/barbecue-meatballs-2755374

Abigail’s birthday!!!! is on Tuesday so we have already planned to dine out at Texas Roadhouse. I’ll probably look at the menu before we go and choose something fairly carb conscious but I’m just going to go and enjoy her day and not stress about staying under 50carbs (I usually stay under 20). I’ve been gluten free for years so while I’m sure the rolls will smell amazing they won’t be a temptation for me. 

Chicken with Bacon Mustard Sauce- this one has been a family favorite for years. I found it during our first #Whole30 back in January of 2017. It’s easy, and filling and always hits the spot! It’s probably one of my most highly recommended recipes to other people. https://juliasalbum.com/chicken-with-bacon-mustard-sauce/

Cheese Stuffed Meatballs- This one I found in a cookbook somewhere along the way and I’m not sure what book it was because I don’t have it anymore. It’s a new one too so I’ll let you know how it goes!

Grilled Chicken- This is another favorite that has been in my recipe box since our first whole30. I was always a “marinade in italian dressing” girl so it was a step out of my comfort zone but it is really yummy. I thought the coconut oil was weird to start with but it turns out so moist and delicious!! I’m sure there are comparable seasonings out there but I’m still using Wildtree seasonings until they are used up. https://wildtree.com/rep/synarab/recipe/3801/garlic-balsamic-chicken

Here’s what’s cookin this week! The husband already messed with my menu! 😂 I had planned to have Ribs Saturday but when he went and picked them up they were frozen, so ribs after church on Sunday it is!  I’ll link below the recipes I’m cooking this week as well as any modifications I might be making to make them Keto/low carb friendly. 

Ribs: This is all the hubs. When he gets home from church he’ll start smoking them in our smoker. We invested in a smoker last spring and have never made something we didn’t love. We are trying a new sugar free BBQ sauce on them, so we’ll see how that goes. I think I’m going to make loaded zucchini fries from Maria Emmerich’s Keto Comfort Foods cookbook. Looks like Google Books has a preview of this one for you to check out! https://books.google.com/books?id=T60oDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA92&lpg=PA92&dq=maria+emmerich+loaded+zucchini+fries&source=bl&ots=NXLSlIP36C&sig=ACfU3U2BF9ANRx1CQ-0OefP18Ys9iZswuA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjYxNnm3dfjAhWkAp0JHXXPDJQQ6AEwB3oECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=maria%20emmerich%20loaded%20zucchini%20fries&f=false

Beef Enchilada Soup: This one I’ve never tried before! I love Pioneer Woman and I’d say she is a huge inspiration in my love of cooking! On a whim I borrowed a cookbook of hers from the library and it spoke to me, lol. I loved how she showed how to cook each recipe picture by picture. For someone with limited cooking experience it was like a lifeline. That was 7 years ago and I’ve never looked back. So, this is from her newest cookbook Come and Get It and luckily its online to share with you all. I’m making homemade enchilada sauce because google tells me that canned sauce is a bit high in carbs. We’ll see what the family thinks! https://thepioneerwoman.com/food-and-friends/easy-enchilada-soup/  This is the sauce I’ll be making- https://www.myketokitchen.com/keto-recipes/low-carb-enchilada-sauce/ I think I’ll go ahead and double the sauce and freeze any extra if I don’t use it all. 

Crock Pot Balsamic Chicken and Zoodles: I’ve made this one before and my kids enjoyed it but I’ve never added zoodles before. I figure I’ll spiral them about an hour before dinner and let them “drain” for 30 minutes and then add them in the last 30 minutes. We’ll see how it goes but it will help add some veggies to the recipe. We’ll probably also have a salad. https://skinnyms.com/slow-cooker-balsamic-chicken/

Beef and Broccoli: This one comes from Danielle Walker’s Eat What you Love cookbook. It doesn’t look like this recipe is listed anywhere on the internet and since it’s copyrighted I can’t post it. Here is where she talks about it so maybe it will be helpful if you want to think about trying this one. I love Danielle Walker’s cookbooks as well. She was a lifeline when I ended up going gluten free a few years ago. https://againstallgrain.com/2019/02/07/danielles-digest-week-of-february-4th/

Buffalo Ranch Chicken: This one is new to our family also. I love love love Buffalo Chicken so I’m excited to try this one out. We’ll have some sort of veggie on the side, probably green beans. https://thatlowcarblife.com/stuffed-buffalo-chicken/?fbclid=IwAR0V1vAOTCT-Fq__JQUhsyXNrpkFgCIyDaeDOsUmPBF-bjrF8XaWqISc2ME

Garlic Steak Bites and Zoodles: I made this one for the first time the week we started Keto and my picky husband loved it! The zoodles take on the garlic flavor of the sauce and are just delicious. Something I’m finding out about zuchinni is that it takes on a lot of different flavors. I ate them with spaghetti sauce at my parents and it was totally fine, I didn’t even miss regular noodles! I’ve tried and tried to get on board with spaghetti squash but it’s just not my jam. Hopefully this link works because it’s from facebook. https://www.facebook.com/DiaryofaFitMommy/photos/a.179373238906987/1157781861066115/?type=3&theater

Menu planning is probably one of the most overwhelming things to me! And I find if I don’t plan ahead then I’m always asking hubby what he wants for dinner to which he always replies “whatever you cook is fine”. So, a long time ago I devised a way to keep track of what all we enjoyed and have a better rotation of food so we don’t get burnt out as easily. As long as I’m keeping up with it it works great! Its when I slack that things fall apart, but I guess that’s true of most things in life! So anyways, I started writing down our favorites on little pieces of paper and keeping them in a Ziploc bag. Then, when deciding what to make I’d just draw one out and that’s what we’d have. So, last week I went through all the recipes I’ve saved, or messaged to Drew or my mother in law and wrote them all down and made a new “bag”, except this time I put them in a mason jar with a lid. There are well over 30 recipes in my jar so hopefully we never get bored!

There are a lot we’ve never tried before so as we try them if we don’t like them we’ll pull them out so we don’t have to have them again. I also don’t just settle on what I pick out for each day, if it doesn’t sound good this time around I set it aside. I try to plan to do chicken every other day and stick beef and pork in on the opposite days. Drew isn’t crazy about pork chops so we don’t have that often. The other thing is my menu plan is very fluid, if something comes up we just switch the plan and either freeze the meat for a different night or shuffle stuff around some. We love to grill and smoke meats in our smoker but I don’t plan to smoke often because weekends are busy so those are usually a last minute thing which alters the menu, no big deal though! I’m going to post this coming weeks menu in a new post but this past week we tried 2 new recipes and they were both a hit with the girls. Drew didn’t care for the bacon wrapped meatballs because he thought they were a little dry but after some discussion we decided to try it with some BBQ next time. There are lots of BBQ sauce options that are low carb, we are trying one tomorrow with ribs he is going to smoke, but we always keep Tessemae’s Matty’s BBQ (https://www.tessemaes.com/products/organic-bbq-sauce?_pos=1&_sid=47f17a3d9&_ss=r) in the fridge. It’s 3 carbs for 1 TBSP but it’s organic and not full of junk. We found it when doing our first #whole30. Drew get’s it from Fresh Thyme but we also have found it at whole foods. 

Week 4 of keto is in the books and we even stayed on track while we were camping! We had a great time grilling out and eating some fresh veggies we picked up at Ravenna’s dog daze before we left. We biked a little over 2 miles one way to the beach up some big hills and didn’t die! 😂 The part of MI we travelled to had some pretty significant flooding and we ran into some trouble with our excursion and ended up coming home a day early so DA Green could troubleshoot the problem. We didn’t let that ruin our fun and took advantage af Drew’s last vacation day with a bike ride this afternoon. As parents we are just do excited to actually *feel* like doing stuff like this with our girls. Keto has been life changing for us and it’s only been 4 weeks! I can’t wait to see what 6 months bring! And then a year!! #bobbiesketokitchen #ketocamping #menuplanning

Pre keto sleep to keto sleep! 🙀 it’s absolutely amazing how much easier it is for my body to rest when it isn’t trying to process and store the excess carbs I consumed during the day. Red is bad, blue is best!

This is fascinating!!: Any carbs not immediately used are stored in the liver and muscles as glycogen. Once the liver and muscles reach storage capacity for glycogen, glucose has to be converted to fat and stored in the fat cells which have an unlimited capacity.

#bobbiesketokitchen #thrivingnotsurviving