Keto Kitchen

Lemon-Rosemary Cream Cheese and Key Lime Low Carb Muffins

This one was requested by my friend Maggie yesterday, and it inspired me to figure out a good low-carb alternative to pizza crust. After some brainstorming and reading a few recipes, this is what I came up with.

Ingredients:

2 cups almonds

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese

1 tsp salt (this is what I used, but I actually recommend using more- it comes out kinda sweet because of the almonds)

3 eggs

sauce and toppings of your choice

Put the almonds, baking soda, parmesan, and salt in a food processor or blender and blend it into a coarse powder, about the consistency of corn meal.

In a bowl, add eggs to the mixture. (Note: there are only 2 eggs here, because I initially only used 1 1/2 cups of almonds, but this wasn't enough. Had to extend the recipe.)

Once this is mixed, form it into a ball and press it into a pizza tray or cookie sheet. I didn't grease the pan, but you might want to lightly grease it. It stuck a little but came off fine with a spatula.

Now comes the fun part. There are endless possibilities at this point.

I will say this: looking for red pizza sauce, I discovered that there's a HUGE difference between marinara/pasta sauce and pizza sauce in terms of carbs. Most of the pasta varieties had an average of 14 carbs per serving thanks to added sugar, but this one below had only 3g net carbs per serving! They taste virtually the same. Just another example of hidden carbs and unnecessary sugar in our food.

Here's what I put on my pizza! Mozzarella cheese, spinach, and Italian sausage :) Let me know if you have found any other good alternatives to carb-heavy foods! I'm always interested to hear how low-carb-ers get creative with their cooking.

I have made other versions of this chicken before to mimick a recipe i came up with before going low-carb, but this was by far the best- even better than its full-carb predecessor. 

I'll start with the chicken.

In a food processor (a blender would work fine, too) grind up almonds, parmesan cheese, and your seasoning of choice. In this case I used Slap Ya Mama seasoning. You'll hear me say that a lot.

Then dip the chicken in some whisked egg (to make the "breading" stick) and then coat it in the almond mixture.

The rest is easy. Just pan fry it in your oil of choice. I use coconut oil for everything, but I'll save my raves on that for another post. It's amazing stuff.

Now for the asparagus.

I pressed 3 cloves of garlic and threw it in a pan with the asparagus, salt, and some oil.

Saute those for a bit, and when it's almost done pour balsamic vinegar over it. Reduce the heat immediately- it will burn very quickly and then you'll have a kitchen full of smoke. Been there. Let it just barely simmer for a bit and it'll thicken up and coat the vegetables, and it's done!

Chicken and Bacon Spaghetti Squash Alfredo

Before starting keto I was DEFINITELY a pasta girl. Of all the alternatives I've tried, spaghetti squash seems to be the easiest and best option for keto pasta-wannabes. 

A Disclaimer: When I cook, I never follow a recipe. I'm going to start trying to record measurements, but in this case I did my usual "throw it together as I feel fit" so these are estimates.

Now on with the cooking.

I started off cutting a small spaghetti squash in half and placing it skin up in a pan, filled about an inch high with water. Let this bake at 450 until soft.

While that cooked, I sauteed about 2 tablespoons of chopped onion and 4 cloves of fresh pressed garlic in some butter.

Once that was a little bit browned I added half a stick of salted butter, half a cup of heavy cream, and half a cup of shredded parmesean cheese. Keep this on low heat and stir to prevent a film from forming.

Next is the bacon. This is easy. Just cook it.

I only used 2 pieces in my food- the third was for my dog :)

Next I pan fried some chicken seasoned with Slap Ya Mama seasoning. My friend turned me onto this stuff and it is great on EVERYTHING. Seriously.

By now the spaghetti squash should be cooked enough to shred up. Just scrape the inside with a fork and it'll come out pretty easily.

And we're done! Put the sauce, crumbled bacon, and chicken on top of the squash and you're good to go. This is really easy to make, took maybe 20 minutes total.