Greeting,
I’m getting back in to the swing of things with a couple of dishes cooked in the month of August. These were an attempt at keeping Keto, although not strict Keto, and all quite enjoyable.
Bacon Egg Cups:
I found these really tasty, and they were quick and simple to make. I batch cooked them and put them in the microwave for 30-45 seconds when I was ready to eat them. A little bit of ketchup on the side for dipping, or no added sugar for keto friendly, and they were the perfect morning or midday dish.
*I looked this dish up online and saw the different variations and just kept it as simple as I wanted it for me.
Steak and Veg:
This is a dish I come back to time and time again. Red meat and roasted veg – it’s definitely a favourite to make and very simple.
For the steak it was marinated in my boyfriends “secret marinating recipe”, he changes it each time depending on how the mood takes which I like to say “it’s so secret, it’s never the same twice”. These can be marinated for a few hours or left in the fridge overnight marinating.
The veg is a simple concoction of asparagus, zucchini, and grape tomatoes, on the odd occasion I’ll add in some red onion.
Prepare a lined baking sheet and drizzle some over oil. Line out your asparagus. Cut up the tomatoes in to quarters and slice the zucchini in to rounds then cut in to quarter pieces. If adding red onion, cut in to chunks. Place the cut up veg on the baking sheet over the asparagus. Drizzle with olive oil over top, then sprinkle with salt, pepper, onion salt and garlic powder and then toss to coat.
This is also really good with garlic butter slices of top and let to melt in the oven.
Cook steak to desired taste. Veg can be put in the oven at 425F for approx. 20mins.
*Recipe my own.
Italian Style Broccoli with Salmon:
I intended to make the broccoli from a recipe but when I got to it I done it my own way.
Line a baking sheet with tin foil and drizzle with olive oil.
I then placed the ingredients from the recipe in a bowl and added my broccoli to coat it. I added the ingredients to my broccoli before cooking it instead as I was roasting it instead of boiling it and adding the ingredients later.
For the salmon my usually go to took place and I drizzled a small amount of olive oil over top, and sprinkled some salt and pepper on top with some parsley.
Add the salmon and broccoli to the lined tray and cook until salmon is cooked to taste. Around 20 minutes for me and it gave me broccoli a nice crispiness.
I had tested the above mentioned cooking of the egg cups this day also so I added one to the side for good measure.
Topped with fresh chives once ready to serve.
*Recipe for the broccoli from “The Complete Book of Keto” by Publications International Ltd. With my own adaptions also. Salmon my own.
Chicken and Sausage Supper:
Chicken , Italian Sausage, Red Onion and Broccoli Florets all combined to make a hearty supper dish.
I was a little skeptical at the beginning about this and wasn’t sure if I was going to enjoy it or not but it turned out better than I had expected it to. Evening writing this and thinking about it has me drooling over my keyboard.
This took about 45 mins or so to cook, making sure the chicken and sausage was cooked thoroughly and that the broccoli had a slight brown and crisp to it.
Now I need to figure out when to wiggle this in to my food plan again soon.
*Recipe taken from “The Complete Book of Keto” by Publications International Ltd.
Bacon Smashburger:
I was craving a big, juicy burger really bad this week but I was on keto. Thankfully the recipe book I had had a wonderful sounding recipe for a Keto friendly adaption.
Homemade burger patty, that we added in our own additions to, along with jalepeno cheddar sliced cheese, bacon and an egg. Of course topped with a pickle for good measure.
I wasn’t doing strict Keto and wanted some form of goodness on the side, so instead of regular fries we went with a sweet potato option. This dish did not disappoint and satisfied my burger cravings immensely.
*Recipe taken from “The Complete Book of Keto” by Publications International Ltd.
Rosemary Pork:
I’m not a huge fan of pork. It’s not that I don’t like it, it’s just that I would favor chicken or red meat over it but this dish turned out pretty good. Even with having Brussels Sprouts on the side, which I don’t mind too much once they’re seasoned to how I like them.
The pork was drizzled with oil and seasoned with herbs and spices and allowed to marinate while I prepared the sprouts.
For the sprouts, I simply cut them in haves and placed in a bowl. Drizzle with olive oil and coat in herbs and spices to your taste. For mine I used some salt, pepper, onion salt and garlic powder. I think these four are my go to staples when it comes to cooking, along with olive oil. I cooked both together in the same dish and allowed the pork juices to combine with the veg.
The recipe called for a Garlic Aioli but I didn’t make it to accompany it.
*Recipe taken from “The Complete Book of Keto” by Publications International Ltd.
Creamy Garlic Parmesan Broccoli and Bacon:
I’ll admit this image doesn’t look very “presentable” but I can tell you that it most certainly tasted a lot better than it looks. I’ll need to work on my presentation skills for this one.
For the broccoli and bacon dish it consisted of frying the bacon, cooking an onion, adding in the broccoli and seasoning. Then the cream and combining. Mozzarella for some cheesy goodness and in the oven to cook away. Once cooked, topped with Parsley and some more cheesy tastiness in the form of Parmesan cheese.
For the chicken, I got 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts and sliced then open. I wilted down some spinach and cooked up some mushrooms and placed them inside. Secured them shut with some cocktail sticks. Fried in a pan until they were cooked.
I always love chicken, in many, many forms but this bacon and broccoli side was so good! Perhaps a little too much cheese got added near the end but it turned out much better than I expected it to taste.
*Recipe for the Cream Garlic Parmesan Broccoli and Bacon was found on Instagram by @cafedelites. The chicken portion was simply my own ingredients put together.
Mint Chocolate Bars:
While on Keto I was making some “treats” for the evening times and mint is one of my all time favorite flavors, but it has to be the right mint taste. I had high hopes for these because of that but sadly they didn’t turn out as well as I had expected them to. The base was quite nice but the topping wasn’t as firm as I hoped. They still hit a spot and done the job of keeping my cravings at bay.
I’m aiming to try these again to get the consistency of the top just right to make them what I want them to be.
*Recipe taken from “Keto Fat Bombs, Sweets & Treats” by Urvashi Pitre.
Happy Cooking,
-A
GazingBlueEyes 