Breadstick Recipe {Keto}

The other day, I was recollecting my diet in college. I can’t believe I survived eating the way I did. I was a vegetarian and most certainly the unhealthiest vegetarian ever. I would go to Burger King and order a Whopper with no meat. I ate monster size fat free muffins from the coffee shop on campus. Looking back, my diet was  full of empty calories, huge amounts of carbohydrates, and completely lacking nutrients. Even with all the negative aspects of that college diet there were foods I thoroughly enjoyed and still look back at fondly. One of those was the breadsticks from Pizza Hut. I decided that I would like to re-create something that was similar and keto. I’ve made these twice and tweaked the recipe to make them better. Here’s how I did it.

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This is a picture of my first attempt. My camera is not currently working for me to take a picture of the new recipe.

Loved In The South’s Keto Spicy Breadsticks

Recipe:

2 T. Melted butter
4 cups of melted cheese
1 1/2 cup mayo
2 beaten eggs
2 T. Jalapeños
2 T. Hot seasoning
2 to 3 cups of almond flour ( slowly add until it’s like a dough and not a batter)
1 tsp. Baking powder
1 tsp. Salt

Preheat oven to 350. Melt the butter in a bowl. Add mayo, beaten egg, almond flour, baking powder, salt, and seasoning. Stir. Add melted cheese.  Incorporate with a bread hook in a mixing bowl or knead on an almond floured surface until well incorporated. Place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Press out until long and flat. Bake until lightly brown. Cut with a pizza cutter. Enjoy as breadsticks or a base for a pizza. The possibilities are endless.

 

 

{Low Carb} Cupcake Recipe

9F47D194-BA90-42EB-AD21-D17F14C6A8ED25AFD926-2D26-4845-880B-4E092F03ECDBThese little treats were pretty easy to throw together. It took me as long to make the batter as it took my oven to preheat.  I put some jam the middle of a couple of them just to make them more appealing to the children. One of the girls made herself a strawberry shortcake as a snack with the cupcake/muffin.  These are very versatile. They could be frosted, filled with a variety of things, used as any kind of shortcake, or the base of almost any kind of muffin you might want.

Low Carb Cupcake/ Muffin Recipe

2 eggs (beaten)

1/2 cup butter or coconut oil (melted)

2 1/2 cup  blanched almond flour

3/4 cup Torani sugar-free brown sugar cinnamon syrup

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

1 Tablespoon cake batter extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, beat the eggs. Add melted oil and syrup. Stir. Add dry ingredients. Finally, add the extract. Put into lined muffin tin. Bake for about 20 minutes or until lightly browned and baked through.

 

Double Chocolate Cake {Keto}

I’m trying to experiment with new recipes at least a few days a week.  I also have a new obsession with avocados. I used to think they were so gross, but now they are among my favorite foods. Now I eat one almost every day.   Avocados are super nutritious and are one of the approved fruits for the keto diet.

 

Anyway, I was trying to make an avocado chocolate pudding the other day. After letting it refrigerate for a couple of hours I tasted it. It was not flavorful. It wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t good either. I decided that I didn’t want to waste it, and would see if I could make a cake with it as part of the batter to add moistness. The cake I made turned out to be delicious, and I am so glad that I didn’t waste that avocado.

Keto Double Chocolate Cake

1 avocado (mashed)

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1 cup Stevia (or sweetener of your choice)

1 egg

1 cup of Torani Sugar-free syrup (I used Belgian Cookie)

1/4 cup of softened butter

2 cups of almond flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. meringue powder

1/2 cup of Lilly’s sugar-free chocolate chips

Directions:

Mash the avocado. Add wet ingredients together. Slowly incorporate the dry ingredients a little bit at a time.  Lastly, gently add the chocolate chips in and stir until combined.

Pour into a greased baking dish or cake pan. Place in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for about 15 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick put in the middle comes out clean.

Let completely cool before trying to cut it.

This would be a lovely cake for a special occasion like VALENTINE’S DAY!

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Caramel Chocolate Cookies {keto}

IMG_3500IMG_3501It’s been awhile since I’ve shared a recipe so I wanted to do that today.

My husband and I were looking for a treat, so I decided to whip up a batch of cookies.

Chocolate Caramel Cookies

1 stick of softened butter

2 cups almond flour

1 1/2 cup stevia

1/4 cup salted almonds (chopped)

1 bar of unsweetened chocolate (chopped)

1 Tablespoon of caramel extract

1 tsp. Salt

1 tsp. Baking soda

Mix all the ingredients together. Place in small spoonfuls on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees until lightly browned (it took mine 7-8 minutes).

Enjoy!!

 

 

 

 

Lemon Blueberry Bread {Low Carb}

I love lemons and blueberries together. For our annual Mother’s Day brunch I decided to bring a low carb lemon-blueberry treat since I knew there would be lots of foods there I shouldn’t eat. I was a little worried about bringing a new recipe without trying it out first, but I was very pleased with the result.

Next time I make it, I will make it a couple of days in advance because it actually gets moister the longer it sits.

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Low Carb Lemon Blueberry Bread

4 cups of almond flour

1 1/2 cups of Splenda (or sweetener of your choice)

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

zest of one lemon

1 tsp. lemon extract

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/4 cup blueberries

6 eggs

1 tsp. cream of tartar

2 tsp. meringue powder

Put all the ingredients into the mixing bowl except for the blueberries. Mix it all until thoroughly mixed. Then gently fold the blueberries into the batter. Pour the batter into a greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes or until a knife pierced through the middle comes out clean. Let cool and remove from the pan. Slice and enjoy!

 

 

 

 

Spicy Tennessee Deviled Eggs {Low Carb}

While waiting for a flight in the Nashville airport, my husband and I stopped in O’Charley’s to grab a quick bite. We were looking for something fast and low carb. They had Tennessee inspired deviled eggs on the menu. We ordered them and quickly decided that this was a flavor we would need to replicate at home.

I had to search around for the ingredients but after I found them all, I was able to copy the flavor almost exactly.

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Here’s my recipe:

2 boiled eggs

2 tsp. mayo

1 Tablespoon Tennessee Chow Chow

drizzle of Historic Lynchburg Habanero Hot Sauce

4 pickle slices

Boil eggs. Let cool. Peel eggs. Cut the eggs in half and take out the yolk. In a bowl combine the mayo, chow chow, and cooked yolks. Mix until mostly smooth. Place pickle slice under each egg. Put the yolk mixture into the egg. Drizzle the hot sauce on the top.

Enjoy!

Low Carb Brownies {Recipe}

I haven’t shared a low carb recipe in awhile. I tried out a few recipes that weren’t share worthy, but finally made one that I just HAVE to share.

I am not the biggest fan of cake but I love cookies and brownies. I feel like a have a good handle on  low carb almond flour cookies but haven’t really been brave enough to try brownies until now.

These brownies truly taste as good as the full sugar, flour version. They are low carb, no sugar, and gluten free. They stayed moist for a full week without having to be tightly wrapped. So, without further ado, here’s the recipe:

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Loved in the South’s Low Carb Brownies

3 cups blanched almond flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 cup olive oil

1 cup sweetener (I used Splenda)

1 cup Torani sugar-free caramel syrup

2 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Mix all the ingredients together until smooth. Pour into a greased pan. Bake 35-40 minutes until a knife inserted in the middle comes out dry. It may have a little bit of soft brownie stuck on it, but it should be cake-like, not runny.

Enjoy!

Vanilla Frappuccino Recipe {Low Carb}

imageMy children are big Starbucks fans. If calories and carbs were of no concern to me, I would love it too! One of the drinks I really enjoyed during my last pregnancy was the Vanilla Bean Frappuccino. It doesn’t have any coffee in it and is caffeine-free. Of course, that was probably a contributor to my big weight gain with my son. Every time we go to Starbucks, I think about how tasty that drink was and how I will probably never get one again. I decided to try my hand at making a low carb version of my favorite Starbucks cold drink.

It’s not a perfect copy, but it is cold, creamy, and has a great vanilla taste.

 

Loved in the South’s Low Carb Vanilla Frappuccino

1 cup of unsweetened coconut milk

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 Tbl.sugar free vanilla syrup

2 sugar substitute packets

ice

Put in all in a blender and blend until smooth. Pour in a glass and enjoy!

If calories were not a concern, I would have added 2 Tbl. of heavy whipping cream and a dollop of whipped cream on top. I believe that those additions would make it even more like that favorite coffee shop.

 

 

Keto Fried Chicken

It will probably come as no surprise to anyone, but fried chicken is my very favorite food. I don’t actually remember my mom making it very often. I just know that it is one of my favorite foods. I like it crunchy and if I can get a little spice in there too, it’s even better. I rarely eat it. I probably went years without it. So sad! Then, my husband said, we can fry foods on keto. Eureka! I may be able to have fried chicken again.

So, one night we got adventurous. We coated the chicken breasts in egg. Then we dipped them in parmesan cheese.  We used the kind that comes in a cylinder on the shelf. Then we dipped it again and coated it again. We then put in into a fryer. We bought a small fryer for about $20 at Christmas time. We actually did all this outside because we tried this once before and it really makes a lot of smoke. Because the breasts we used were so large, (I guess those chickens had really been hitting the free weights hard) it took forever for them to cook. The next time we do this, we decided that we will make them into chicken fingers. That will make them more manageable and make them cook faster.

These are completely allowed on the diet because the have a lot of fat. Now, I still don’t eat them very often. I like them a little too much and go a little overboard. Also, while we can eat these kinds of fried foods on a keto diet,  I still prefer to eat healthier.

If you are like me, and get a hankering for some fried chicken while on a keto diet or even a gluten-free diet, then this is for you!!

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Keto Fried Chicken

2 pounds of chicken breasts or chicken fingers

1 1/2 to 2 containers of shelf stable parmesan cheese

Salt, pepper, any other spices to taste

6 eggs, beaten

In a medium to large bowl, beat the eggs. In a lasagna pan or large Ziploc, put the parmesan cheese and if you desire spices, add them as well. Drop your chicken into the egg, dredge in the parmesan mixture. Do this two times. When your oil is very hot, carefully drop your chicken into the fryer. The outside should turn a lovely brown. Use a meat thermometer to check for doneness. Place on a paper towel covered plate to help pull out any excess oil. This takes time when using a small fryer. You may want to keep them warm in the oven until all of them are done. 

Enjoy!

If you try this, please let me know how you liked it.

“Fried” Squash

 

One of my favorite foods is fried squash. I always looked forward to the days at school when fried squash was a side item. One of our friends who has a farm brought us some squash that he’d grown. Since we stay away from regular flour, I decided to make these with almond flour and bake them.

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Oven Fried Squash

3 medium squash, cut into circles

1/2 to 3/4 cup almond flour

salt to taste 

Spray the squash with cooking spray, coat with almond flour. Place on cookie sheet and then in an oven that’s been preheated to 425 degrees. Bake, turning them halfway through. I baked them for about 15 minutes. 

Enjoy!