Anyone’s New Year’s resolution involve dieting? I know at our house it does. Yes, now that the holidays have been put away it’s time to get back to normal eating and perhaps back to a diet.
To my husband that means eating low-carb and even Keto. Whenever he went on one of his strict no carb diets I always ended up making 2 different dinners, no or low carb for him and normal for the grandkids. Well not this year! I decided that low-carb or Keto friendly doesn’t mean that those not on diets can’t enjoy the same foods. Seriously! So I embarked on a journey to find dishes that would meet my husband’s needs and be tasty enough for the whole family! I’ll be sharing recipes as I go!
My first keto friendly dish enjoyed by everyone in the house are these Zucchini Pizza Boats. They are absolutely delicious, even for those who don’t particularly care for zucchini. (That would be the grandson who refused to eat anything “green”! But he loves these Pizza Boats!)
This is such as easy recipe to make and it is seriously yummy! It’s a great way to get the kids to eat their veggies!
They’re a meal on their own, but feel free to serve them with Garlic Bread if you feel the need for carbs. I serve them with a nice crisp salad of mixed greens with Italian dressing. Very nutritious!
The recipe calls for Marinara Sauce, you can use store bought, your favorite homemade sauce, or try some of my yummy homemade Marinara Sauce.
Zucchini Pizza Boats
Ingredients:
3 Large Zucchini
1 Tbs. Olive OIl
1 Lb. Ground Beef
1 Tbs. Garlic Powder
1 Tbs. Italian Seasoning
2 Cups Marinara Sauce
1 Cup Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
1 Cup Shredded Cheddar Jack Cheese
1 Cup Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
Cooking spray
Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350.
Spray 9×13 pan with cooking spray and set aside.
Heat oil in frying pan.
Place ground beef in pan and add garlic powder and Italian seasoning.
Cook until meat is crumbly.
Add marinara sauce and simmer until most of the liquid evaporates, about 10-15 minutes.
Combine 3 cheeses and stir in half of cheese mixture into beef mixture. Set aside.
Cut off zucchini stems and cut each zucchini in half lengthwise.
Using a melon baller scoop out insides of zucchini, save the insides for later uses.
Place Zucchini boats on to baking pan.
Spoon meat mixture into each boat making sure each boat is filled to the brim.
Sprinkle remaining cheese over each boat.
Bake in oven for about 30 minutes or until cheese has melted and started to turn brown.
Pre-heat oven to 350.
Spray 9x13 pan with cooking spray and set aside.
Heat oil in frying pan.
Place ground beef in pan and add garlic powder and Italian seasoning.
Cook until meat is crumbly.
Add marinara sauce and simmer until most of the liquid evaporates, about 10-15 minutes.
Combine 3 cheeses and stir in half of cheese mixture into beef mixture. Set aside.
Cut off zucchini stems and cut each zucchini in half lengthwise.
Using a melon baller scoop out insides of zucchini, save the insides for later uses.
Place Zucchini boats on to baking pan.
Spoon meat mixture into each boat making sure each boat is filled to the brim.
Sprinkle remaining cheese over each boat.
Bake in oven for about 30 minutes or until cheese has melted and started to turn brown.
Serve hot with salad or garlic bread.
We first tried Roasted Cauliflower Steaks as a side dish at La Hiki Kitchen one of the fine restaurants at the Four Seasons Hotel on Oahu. We loved it!
At that time I had no idea how easy it was to make at home. Once I realized how simple it was to make I serve it all the time! We’ve always enjoyed cauliflower, but I usually fry it, add it in Macluba (an Arabic dish that literally means upside-down!), or make deep fried cauliflower fritters called Em Shaat. Of course we serve it riced and mashed as well. Cauliflower is really versatile! And adding these Roasted Cauliflower Steaks makes them even more so.
You may be wondering what are Cauliflower Steaks? They’re thick slabs of cauliflower that’s cut from stem to top. To get them you use the middle portion of the cauliflower, the section that’s the tallest. You can get about 2-3 steaks per cauliflower head.
To make cauliflower steaks I trim off the leaves from the stem of the head. Then I place it stem up on a cutting board and slice down from stem to the florets. I make the slices about 1″ thick and try to get as many slices as I can. I save the smaller pieces to use for something else later or you can roast them along side the steaks. Slicing the steaks is probably the hardest part. It gets way easier after that!
So here’s the recipe for Roasted Cauliflower Steaks. You can adjust the spices to suit your tastes. BTW this dish is Vegan and Keto friendly!
Roasted Cauliflower Steaks
Ingredients:
1 Cauliflower, sliced into 1″ steaks
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
1 Tbs. Minced Garlic
1 Tsp. Crushed Red Pepper (adjust to suit your taste or omit if you don’t like spicy foods)
Salt & Pepper to taste
1/2 Cup Freshly Grated Parmesan Cheese
1 Tbs. Fresh Parsley, chopped
Directions:
Pre-heat Oven to 400 degrees
Line sheet pan with parchment paper
Slice Cauliflower into 1″ thick steaks
Place on pan
Mix garlic and crushed pepper in the olive oil
Brush oil mixture onto both sides of cauliflower steaks
Sprinkle with 1/2 of the cheese
Bake for 15 minutes
Gently flip each steak over and sprinkle with remaining cheese
Return to oven and bake another 20-25 minutes or until it starts to brown on the top
Sprinkle with fresh chopped parsley before serving.
You can change up this recipe by changing the spices you put on the cauliflower steaks. Try mixing cumin, chili powder, or oregano in the oil!
I’m sure today you’ve had your fill of turkey. If you’re like me you don’t want to see another turkey, much less eat it, for months (probably until next Thanksgiving!). But like me you more than likely have lots of leftover turkey. Okay, maybe you’d like to repeat last night’s Thanksgiving dinner just one more time, but I’m sure by the weekend you’ll desperately trying to figure out what to do with the rest of the turkey.
Don’t toss it! Sure you can make turkey sandwiches, and soups, but here’s a way to turn that leftover Thanksgiving turkey into something that doesn’t even remind you of the meal you stuffed yourself with on Thanksgiving. I make this yummy Turkey Enchilada Bake. It’s delicious and keto friendly too, just in case you’ve decided to start that Keto Diet after the holiday. In fact you’ll love it so much you’ll probably make it through out the year without using leftover turkey!
This recipe uses my homemade Enchilada Sauce, so if you don’t already have some in the fridge you can make some now. It’s super easy to make and will take you less than half an hour. Believe me it’s worth it! Click here for my Enchilada Sauce recipe.
Turkey Enchilada Bake
Ingredients:
2 Cups shredded leftover Thanksgiving Turkey or freshly cooked turkey cut into strips
1 Tbs Olive Oil
1 Tbs Minced Garlic
1 Tbs Chili Powder
8 Flour or Low Carb Flour Tortillas (use low carb for keto friendly dish)
Salmon, that pretty pink fish fillet rich in protein and Omega-3 Fatty Acids is not only good for you it’s delicious too!
I love salmon because of it’s mild flavor making one of the easiest fish to prepare in so many different ways. You can make salmon patties, burgers or cakes; grill salmon steaks and kabobs; use it in fish stew; and fry or bake it topped with all sorts of sauces. In short Salmon is like a blank canvas!
One of my favorite Salmon recipes is Seared Salmon with Creamy Lemon Dill Sauce. It’s delicious! I serve it with a side of poor man’s pasta (that’s spaghetti or any type of pasta tossed in butter and garlic then sprinkled with parmesan cheese) or if we’re on diets (which we are almost always on) I serve it with grilled asparagus or sauteed spinach. Anyway you serve it this Salmon dish is wonderful!
Seared Salmon with Creamy Lemon Dill Sauce
Ingredients:
1 large Salmon fillet sliced into 3-4 strips (see picture)
1 Tbs. Olive Oil
2 Tbs. Butter
Pinch of salt & pepper
1 Tsp. Garlic – minced
1/2 Cup Chicken Broth
1 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream
2 Lemons – 1 with juice squeezed out and the other cut in slices for garnish
2 Tbs. Fresh Dill chopped
Directions:
Pat Salmon slices dry with a paper towel and season both sides with salt and pepper.
In a medium to large skillet melt 1 Tbs. butter in the olive oil.
When butter is melted add salmon, cook both sides about 5 minutes per side.
Remove cooked salmon from pan, place on a dish and set aside.
Add garlic to skillet and cook just until it starts to turn brown.
Add chicken broth and lemon juice to skillet and scrape off any salmon pieces and garlic off the bottom. This is called “deglazing”.
Bring liquid to a simmer and add heavy whipping cream.
Simmer for about 3-4 minutes until sauce starts to thicken a bit.
Place salmon back into skillet to warm up.
Add dill to sauce and spoon over salmon.
Place salmon on serving dish. Pour sauce over salmon garnish with lemon slices to serve.
Roasted Cashews are one of my husband’s favorite snacks, specially when he’s on his “keto diet”. Although cashews have some carbs they are also high in fat, so when consumed moderately they can be part of a keto diet as long as you count their carb content as part of your carb consumption for the day.
I’m not really an expert on all things keto so I’ll leave that up to you. But I digress. Recently I purchased a tub of roasted cashews from Costco, the brand we usually buy, and when my husband snacked on it he insisted that the cashews were not roasted nor were they salted. I can’t imagine what happened but after tasting them myself I had to agree. Perhaps this was part of a weird batch, who knows! But I do know that unless I did something with them we’d end up tossing the container away and that’s a waste! So I decided to roast and flavor them myself. I can’t be that hard. Anyway I tossed some in my cast iron skillet and sprinkled a bit of this and a bit of that over them and lo and behold they came out delicious!
Everyone in the family loved my latest creation, this one I’m calling Chipotle Flavored Roasted Cashews! I’ve had to make it several more times since then, it disappears that fast! I’m also thinking of using different seasonings. I’ll let you know how that goes!
But in the mean time here’s my recipe for Chipotle Flavored Roasted Cashews. A quick tip, when roasting cashews or any type of nut be sure you keep stirring the pan because they tend to burn quickly and you do not want burnt cashews!
Anyway make up a batch or two of these Chipotle Flavored Roasted Cashews and see how quickly they disappear! You can serve them hot from the pan, that’s really delish! Left overs can be stored in airtight containers in a cool dry place. But I doubt you’ll be storing them for long. Yes they’re that good!
By the way you can double or triple this recipe. I just prefer to make it in small batches because we really love them warm and in Hawaii the humidity makes it hard to keep them crunchy.
Roasted Cashews are one of my husband’s favorite snacks, specially when he’s on his “keto diet”. Although cashews have some carbs they are also high in fat, so when consumed moderately they can be part of a keto diet as long as you count their carb content as part of your carb consumption for the day.
