Keto Tips and Recipes

Keto Tips and Recipes

NOTE: There are tons of full recipes online you can google but I generally don't follow them exactly, so I'll provide my mini-recipes (recipe-ettes?), which work great for me just like they are.

1. Pork Rind Fried chicken (0 carbs)

I love chicken but after a while grilled just doesn't cut it. This stuff is so good that even my non-keto friends love it.

My Recipe-ette:

1. Crush a bag of pork rinds right in the bag.
• Better: Crush in a ziplock so the original bag doesn't tear while you're crushing.
• Best: use a food processor and it takes 5 seconds to crush.
2. Dip a chicken breasts (or whatever cut) in egg and then coat with the crush pork rinds.
3. Put on baking sheet at 375 for 25-30 mins
4. Switch to broil on high for 5-10 mins or so to get a more browning effect.
• Optional: put a dollop of butter, ghee, coconut oil on top for extra fat and flavor.

Variations:

• Deep fry or fry in a pan
• Cut into nuggets or strips (cooks faster too)
• Experiment mixing red pepper, garlic, parm cheese, almond flower, etc into the pork rinds for different flavors.
• General Tsos or other sauces (google for several variations)

ThinSlim Zero Carb Bread and Bagels (0 net carbs)

Another game-changer for me was having a bread I could eat guilt free.  Now I can make a sandwich or toast for my sunny side up eggs.  I like to cook it texas-toast style in butter.  It doesn't have the soft texture or taste of Wonder bread.  It's a bit drier and more bland.  But if you're like me and that (and the Notes below) don't are worth tolerating for a real sandwich when you're craving it.

Notes/Disclaimers:

• It's expensive (especially with non-amazon shipping)
• Sometimes delivery is slow.
• Quality has been somewhat inconsistent (drier, bigger/smaller, etc)

Get it:

• ThinSlim Zero Carb Bread
• ThinSlim Zero Carb Bagels

2. Low carb chocolate

No, really!  There are lot of recipes if you google "keto fat bombs" with added sweetners .  You don't need that, the manna is sweet enough.  Plus it couldn't be easier to make.

My Recipe-ette:

1. Melt 2 parts coconut manna, 1 part [un-]salted butter*, and X unsweetened chocolate powder (to taste) in the microwave.
2. Pour into molds
3. Put in the fridge (or freezer) until hard

(*) Some fat bomb recipes actually call for sea-salt.  I'm not picky, salted or un-salted butter works for me. If you are picky about salt you will prefer one over the other.

Get it:

• Nutiva-Organic Coconut Manna
• Hershey's unsweetened chocolate
• Emoji silicon mold

3. Bullet-proof-ish Coffee

If you've been hiding under a rock and don't know about Bulletproof coffee, it's a whole religious movement where evil mold and toxins are lurking in your coffee and you have to buy a bunch of branded stuff to do it right.  I'm not into that.  The point for me is to have a delicious froathy cup of coffee that gets you going in the morning, staves off your appetite, and keeps you in ketosis (which milk would not do).

My Recipe-ette:

1. Hot coffee
2. Blend it in a blender with unsalted grass-fed butter

Variations:

• Add coconut oil or MCT oil (branded or unbranded is up to you)
• Add cinnamon

4. Morning Spoonful of Coconut Oil 

There is no end of claimed benefits from the use of coconut oil.  I'll let you google those.  But here's one way I use it.  Eat a spoonful of it in the morning to stave off appetite while staying in (or even potentially promoting) ketosis.  It really slaughters any hunger pangs. I like to swish it around in my mouth before swallowing because I like the taste and, who knows, the claims of mouth and teeth health could be true, who knows. WebMd: coconut oil pulling benefits

5. Crispy Tortilla / Hard Taco Shell

This is my sister's crispy tortilla recipe which I modified because I prefer a formed hardshell taco.  You basically burn cheddar cheese on a non-stick pan until it is crispy. 

1. Preheat a small nonstick pan.

2. Add enough shredded cheddar to cover the the pan.  Not too deep.

3. Let it bubble like crazy until the bottom is between a dark orange light brown color.

4. Flip it over and repeat.

5. Optional: to make it into a taco shape, bend it over a piece of folded cardboard or wooden utensil and let it cool. 

6. Chaffles

My sister got me into Chaffles, which apparently comes from cheese+waffles.  There's a verbose website (Chaffle Recipes) about it but I'll provide my variation for Pizza below.  Having Pizza that doesn't suck while in ketosis seemed out of reach but it isn't.

My Pizza Chaffle Recipe:

(This is for an extra small waffle iron, so you will likely need double it or more)

1. Preheat waffle iron
2. Warm 3-5 tablespoons of cream cheese in a bowl in microwave.
3. Mix in 1-1 1/2 cup of cheese (1/2 chedder 1/2 shreded mozarella works best for pizza)
4. Mix in oregano and/or italian seasoning to taste.
5. Spread on the waffle iron
• Add a little extra mozzarella on the waffle iron before the mix if you want a crisp browned crust.
6. Close waffle iron and let cook until either the light goes off or steam stops rising.
7. Add sliced or diced tomato instead of tomato sauce.
8. Spray PAM on the top burner and heat again (same rule light or steam stops)
9. Optional: Repeat this step with additional toppings under the cheese.
10. Add Mozzarella cheese by hand by squishing the cheese into the hot tomato.  It should be hote enough to melt.  I don't recommend closing the top on the cheese.
1. Optional: top with more oregano and/or italian seasoning and more tomato to taste.

WARNING: These are extremely rich.  You are eating cheese, cheese, and more cheese.  

Those are some of my top tips and recipes.