Tag: low carb

Bacon Deviled Eggs

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The title says it all. Basically it should be called “Delicious Yummy Goodness.”
I made these last night for movie night and I had, like, 5 halves left. They were a huge hit! nom nom nom

INGREDIENTS

  • 12 large eggs, room temperature (I leave them out overnight)
  • 6 Tbl Mayonnaise (homemade is best!)
  • 5 slices thick cut bacon, cooled and chopped finely
  • 2 Tbl pickle relish (use sugar free if you’re doing low carb/keto). I used a homemade sweet zucchini relish because I had it on hand but it did have a bit of sugar in it.
  • pinch of salt
  • pinch of pepper (optional)
  • sprinkle of paprika

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Hard boil the eggs by putting them in one layer in a pot, cover with water by at least one inch. Bring to a soft boil on the stove. Once boiling, cover, remove from heat and let sit for 13 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to put them into an ice bath (I use a large bowl with lots of ice and fill with water). Let sit for 10 minutes or so, then peel while they are chilled, but still a touch warm (they are easier to peel this way), under a trickle of running water. Dry well. (I let them sit on a paper towel for 10 or so minutes while I’m doing something else)
  2. Cut the eggs in half lengthwise and carefully squeeze the yolks out into a medium mixing bowl; crumple yolks with a fork.
  3. Add mayo into the yolks until it reaches a batter consistency.
  4. Add pickle relish and mix, adding a pinch of salt, to taste. (I put in a bit of pepper too)
  5. Add cooled, crumbled bacon and fold into yolk mixture
  6. Fill the egg halves with yolk mixture
  7. Sprinkle with paprika
  8. Eat and enjoy!!

Roasted Lemon Chicken (low carb)

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I wish I had been more diligent about photos because this recipe was incredible. But I got too excited about how easy it was and even more excited about how TASTY it was. The balance between the tart of the lemon and mustard with the savory of the chicken and broth was like little explosions in my mouth with each bite. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

  • 1.25 cups chicken stock
  • 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 2 tsp lemon zest
  • 1 Tbl olive oil

For the lemon rub:

  • 1 Tbl olive oil
  • 1 Tbl whole grain mustard
  • 1 tsp lemon zest
  • 1.5 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1/2 tsp dried thyme
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
  2. To make the lemon rub, combine all lemon rub ingredients listed above from oil through salt and using your fingers, work the lemon rub onto both sides of the chicken. I put a little bit under the skin, too. There isn’t a ton of this but you only need a little bit per chicken. It packs a delightful punch, so don’t worry if you think you won’t have enough. You will 🙂
  3. In a large bowl, whisk together chicken stock, lemon juice and lemon zest and set aside.
  4. Heat olive oil in a large oven proof skillet (I used a 12″ cast iron and it was almost too small!) over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, add chicken, skin side down and sear both sides until golden brown, 3 minutes per side. Add chicken stock mixture.
  5. Place skillet into oven and roast until completely cooked, through, reaching an internal temp of 175 degrees F, about 30 minutes.
  6. Eat and enjoy! 🙂 If you are doing low carb, this would be great on its own or you can serve over cauliflower rice, quinoa or wild rice.

Nutritional information per thigh and a portion of the sauce:
183 calories, 11g fat, 1 g carb, 20g protein.

Turkey Burger Cauliflower Bacon Casserole (low carb)

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INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 head of organic cauliflower (medium sized is perfect)
  • 1/2 cup gluten free flour (I used brown rice flour because I had it around but you can really use whatever you’d like)
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1   12 oz package of uncured bacon
  • 2 pounds ground turkey
  • 1 Tbl coconut oil (optional)
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp each salt and pepper
  • 8 oz grated cheddar cheese

SAUCE INGREDIENTS

  • 1 Tbl butter
  • 1 Tbl gluten free flour
  • 1.5 cups heavy whipping cream
  • 2 Tbl yellow mustard

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Steam the cauliflower until fork tender.
  2. Place cauliflower into a food processor and pulse until it resembles rice.
  3. Set aside in a bowl to cool then add the flour and salt and mix well.
  4. Cook the bacon in a large skillet until cooked. Remove with a slotted spoon to keep the bacon juice in the skillet.
  5. Transfer bacon to a paper towel lined plate to cool. Once cool, chop into pieces.
  6. Add ground turkey  and 1 Tbl oil (optional, depending on how much bacon grease you have. If you have 2 Tbl or so of grease, pass on adding oil). Cook until browned
  7. Add onion powder, oregano, garlic powder, salt, pepper and mix well.
  8. Remove turkey with a slotted spoon and transfer to a bowl.
  9. preheat oven to 350 degrees F
  10. For the sauce: Add the butter to the same skillet with the leftover grease and turkey juices and stir in the flour over low heat. Cook until the flour has absorbed the butter then add heavy cream and mustard.
  11. Continue to cook on low heat until the sauce thickens.

ASSEMBLY:

  1. Place 1/2 cup of the sauce to the bottom of a 9×13 baking dish.
  2. Spread the cauliflower mixture on the spread as evenly as possible.
  3. Place 4 oz of grated cheddar over the cauliflower.
  4. Spread the ground turkey over the cheddar evenly.
  5. Pour half of the remaining sauce over the turkey.
  6. Places the remaining cheddar over the sauce
  7. Layer the last bit of sauce over the cheddar and top with the chopped up bacon.
  8. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.
  9. Uncover and bake an additional 5 minutes.
  10. Allow to cool out of the oven 20 minutes before slicing and serving.
  11. ENJOY IT (it’s so good)

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION Per serving, serves 15. 304 calories, 21g fat, 8g carbs, 1g fiber, 18g protein

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Kielbasa, Bacon & Cabbage soup

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This. Is. Amazing. End of story.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 6 slices bacon, chopped
  • 16-24 oz of Kielbasa (I used 24oz b/c the Organic pork sausage I bought came in 12oz packages)
  • 1 small head of organic chopped cabbage (about 6 cups)
  • 1/4 cup onion
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • minced garlic cloves (I used about 5)
  • 1 tsp dried thyme or 1 Tbl fresh thyme
  • 6 cups chicken broth (I had leftover turkey stock from last year so I used that!)
  • Freshly grated Parmesan for sprinkling (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. In a stockpot over medium heat, cook bacon until crisp. Use a slotted spoon to remove the bacon onto a paper towel lined plate or, as we do in our house, a paper grocery bag!
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  2. Add sliced kielbasa and saute until nicely browned.
  3. Add onion and cabbage and cook, stirring often, until softened, about 5 minutes.
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  4. Add garlic, thyme, salt and pepper, cooking 1-2 minutes more.
  5. Add broth and bring to a simmer. Cook until cabbage is tender, about 10 minutes. Season to taste (I added another teaspoon of salt)
  6. Serve with a sprinkling of Parmesan (optional)

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NOTE: The bacon I used created A LOT of grease. I poured about half out but don’t be surprised as you do want to keep about 1/4 a cup of bacon grease in  your pan for the rest of the recipe. If your bacon creates more than that, you are not obligated to throw any out, just be aware it will make it more rich (not necessarily a bad thing!) 🙂

NUTRITIONAL STATS for 6 servings, using 1lb sausage

321 cals, 21g fat, 8g carbs, 2.5g fiber, 17g protein

Sausage and Veggie Skillet

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As I officially feel more transferred into Fall, I’m doing more meal planning and seem to be erring to the side of soups and comfort food. This one pan/skillet dish met all my needs. Hot, fresh, delicious.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 3/4 lb green beans, trimmed and cut in half
  • 1 large head of broccoli, cut into florets
  • 2 large bell peppers (I used one orange, one yellow), chopped into thick squares
  • 9 oz (usually 3 sausages) sausage of your choice, sliced. I used Aidells Chicken Basil Roasted Garlic but any sausage would be good in this!
  • 6 Tbl olive oil
  • 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 Tbl each dried oregano and dried parsley
  • seasoned to taste with salt and pepper (I started with 1 tsp each and finished with more salt after cooking)
  • Optional: Grated Parmesan cheese

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper (foil can work, too).
  2. Place all chopped veggies and sausage on your sheet pan. Drizzle the olive oil and spices on top. Toss to evenly coat all the veggies (you can do this ahead of time in a bowl, too, if that’s easier for you).

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  3. Bake 15 minutes, remove from oven and flip all veggies/meat around. Bake for another 10-15 minutes or until veggies are crisp tender and sausage is browned.
  4. OPTIONAL: Sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. (you know I did!)

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NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION:
Serves 6. 278 calories, 20g fat, 16g carbs, 5g fiber, 12g protein

Roasted Bacon Brussel Sprouts

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There are a million and one great recipes for roasted bacon brussel sprouts and while I’m sure mine is not unique, it is still darn delicious.

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 lb brussel sprouts, washed, bottoms trimmed and outer leaves removed
  • 4-5 slices of bacon, chopped
  • salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Farenheit and line a large sheet pan with parchment paper.
  2. Spread sprouts and bacon on baking sheet and season generously with salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika (plus anything else you may like on there!)
  3. Bake for 2530 minutes, stirring sprouts and bacon halfway through
  4. Sprouts are done when fork tender, but not OVER tender (you don’t want to overcook them). If you have smaller sprouts, you may want to cook closer to 20 minutes. Mine were medium so I cooked for 30 minutes and they were perfectly done. Larger ones may require more time.

Eat and enjoy!!

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Roasted bacon sprouts ready for fridge storage!

 

Breakfast Burrito/ Scramble

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My friend made some killer brekkie burritos at my book club weekend last weekend and I thought I’d make my own and see how it went. Yesterday I made it burrito style and today I made it scramble style. Stats included below!

Serves FOUR

INGREDIENTS:

1 can beans of your choice (I used kidney beans b/c I had them around but I’ll use black beans next time), drained & rinsed
1 lb bacon
4 eggs, beaten
1 avocado
1 medium onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
4 tortillas (I used corn, but prefer flour)
1 & 1/3  cup low fat cheddar or Mexican blend cheese

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Cook the bacon on a skillet or in a cast iron skillet or in the oven… however you normally prefer to cook your bacon.

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  2. Saute the onion and red pepper in just a drizzle of olive oil.

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  3. Heat the beans (on stovetop or in microwave). Set aside.
  4. Scramble your egg(s) – (I was cooking just for one person, so I used  1 egg)
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  5. Arrange 1 egg or 1/4 of scrambled egg and 1/4 cup onion mixture on a tortilla with 2 Tbl of avocado, 1/3 cup cheese, 2 slices bacon, 1/4 cup beans. Season and enjoy!!

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Stats for 1 breakfast burrito using 1 Mission super soft, large corn tortilla: 442 calories, 27g carbs, 16g fat, 23g protein

FOR SCRAMBLE:
Turns out, I really don’t prefer corn tortillas, but I don’t buy flour tortillas b/c I haven’t found a brand without hydrogenated oil in it which is a no no for how I prefer to structure my diet. SO… this morning I did a scramble instead.
Essentially I did all steps above EXCEPT… I used 1 egg and 3Tbl egg white and put my 2Tbl avocado on the side vs. cooking it all together

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STATS for the scramble:
367 calories, 14g fat, 19g fat, 31g protein.

P.S. The scramble was SOOOO yummy!!

Stay tuned tomorrow for TACO SALAD… mmmmm good!!

Coconut Spinach Chicken

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I am loving this recipe so much I’m making it every week (and it goes FAST in my house, too!) Very simple, easy and beyond yummy!

Serves 2 (photos shown below are with me doubling the recipe for leftovers!)

INGREDIENTS:
1 large chicken breast, cut into bite sized pieces
3 cups baby spinach
1 large onion
1/2 cup canned coconut milk
1.5 Tbl coconut oil
Handful of almonds or peanuts
Seasonings to taste: Salt, Pepper, garlic powder, tumeric, ginger

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INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Chop almonds or peanuts with a knife. Roast them lightly in a small amount of coconut oil until lightly browned. Set Aside. (I actually prefer them raw, but if you like a little bit of toasted flavor, this is a great way to add that to this recipe)
  2. Heat the rest of the coconut oil in a large pan. Saute onions for a few minutes until they are translucent. Add chicken and cook with onions until done (no pink in the center). Stir frequently. This takes about 7 minutes.
  3. Add the coconut milk and reduce heat to a simmer. Stir in seasonings and mix well. Top with spinach, cover and let steam for 2-3 minutes.

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  4. Serve garnished with the nuts, a sprinkle of salt (if needed) and a drizzle of sriracha!

Come back and tell me how much you enjoyed this recipe!

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Nutrition Facts
Servings 2.0
Amount Per Serving
calories 326
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 23 g 36 %
Saturated Fat 14 g 70 %
Monounsaturated Fat 0 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 35 mg 12 %
Sodium 74 mg 3 %
Potassium 117 mg 3 %
Total Carbohydrate 12 g 4 %
Dietary Fiber 3 g 12 %
Sugars 5 g
Protein 17 g 33 %
Vitamin A 26 %
Vitamin C 20 %
Calcium 5 %
Iron 12 %
* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.

Food find review – Maple Sausages

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I had QUITE a food haul at Costco last week, but since I hadn’t tried most of the foods before, I didn’t want to do a general food haul video, but rather use each product, try them in something and then share my thoughts and how I used it, etc.

So these little beauties are Organic Sugarhouse Maple chicken sausage made by AMYLU. I am a big fan of breakfast sausages but do try to limit my pork intake.

The package comes with 3 separate sealed packs of 14 sausages. I put 1 in the fridge and 2 in the freezer for future use.20160411_171517

Here are the stats and ingredients:

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Serving size is 3 links for 110 calories, 6g fat, 1g carbs and 12g protein!! Great numbers here! And all whole ingredients with only 1g sugar noted. I could not WAIT to try these.

So today for lunch I made some. These are pre-cooked so really you just need to nuke them, but I like them a little browned, so I put my links on the cast iron pan and just browned them on low while I got my omelet ready.

I made my omelet with 1 whole cage free egg, 3 Tbl of all natural egg whites, 1/2 cup spinach and 1 cut up stick of raw mozzarella cheese I picked up at Trader Joes a while back. Essentially, I heated about 1tsp of olive oil in a small pan, put in the spinach, topped with the egg mix and cheese and topped with salt, pepper, garlic powder and paprika. I let that cook for a few minutes and the flipped, omelet style, until the eggs were cooked through.

I dished up and put the sausages on the side (as you can see, I was reading with lunch) 🙂

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My initial take was that the sausages were sweet like Maple, but not overly so. At first I thought maybe I would have liked them a bit sweeter, but as I continued to ravish them, I noticed JUST a touch of heat, too. I’m not sure why… maybe the rosemary in them… but there was just a little bite. I loved the contrast. Flavor was mild and delicious. Next time I think I will cut them up, brown them and then add the veggies and egg and have them be a part of the actual scramble.

Overall I’d rate these an A. Great stats for the amount you get, flavor was mild and perfectly lovely. Definitely worth a try if you find them in your local Costco/ Sam’s club!

What is YOUR favorite costco find lately?

Easy Chicken Parmesan

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This is one of the top 3 favorite things my fiance loves that I’ve made (and I rarely make a recipe twice so trust me, that’s saying a lot). We literally feasted on this for DAYS and then wished we had more!

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

1.5 lbs boneless, skinless, chicken breasts
Sprinkles of salt, pepper, garlic powder
3/4 cup coconut, almond, or garbanzo flour (whatever you have on hand) You can use regular flour too, but we used the garbanzo flour and it was delightful!
2 Tbl olive oil
1.5 cups pasta sauce
6 Tbl grated Parmesan cheese (we actually went crazy and used Pepper Jack!)
2-4 Tbl Fresh chopped oregano or parsley


DIRECTIONS:

Preheat the broiler on high

  1. Trip any tenders off your chicken and set aside. Place the chicken breasts, breasts side up, on your cutting surface and slice through the center, horizontally.
  2. Season both sides of the chicken and cutlets with salt, pepper and garlic powder.Sprinkle flour over the chicken to lightly coat all sides. Shake off excess.

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  3. Heat a large saute pan over medium heat. Add olive oil. When the oil is hot, add chicken, nicer side down first. Allow the breasts pieces, and cutlets, to cook until they are golden. The edges start to get white when they are almost ready to turn. Turn the pieces and cook another minute or two.
  4. When done, place chicken on a foil lined baking sheet in a single layer. Top with sauce and cheese.
  5. Broil briefly until cheese melts.

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  6. Top with fresh herbs and serve.

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I know you will love this!

STATS:
4 servings (really seems to make more, so divide stats in half if you find it serves 8 instead)
356 calories
15g fat
14g carbs
45g protein