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Refreshing Cukes!

Posted on June 23, 2015 by thesweetlifesugarfree

Last week, a friend of mine showed up at my door with a trash bag full of homegrown cucumbers. He had grown them at his office, and thought I could use them since he knows I like to cook. I had never seen so many cucumbers, and I honestly didn’t have a clue what to do with them. My husband LOVES cucumbers, so I knew I needed to find something quickly! I couldn’t let these go to waste! The search began…

Look at these things…I had never seen anything like them before! They were the largest Japanese Cucumbers I had ever seen!

As you can see, these are huge!

I searched around through cookbooks and on the web. I didn’t find anything that shouted out at me, but I combined a few recipes, changed out the sugar, and came up with a winner! They haven’t even finished marinating, and my son said, “These are amazing…Dad is going to love them…This is my new favorite snack.”

So those of you looking for snack ideas, I have a new one!

You will need:

5-6 Cucumbers (I used 4 of these huge ones, so thinking this is the equivalent)

2 1/2 cups White Vinegar

1 Red Onion

1 Cup Xylitol or Sugar Substitute of Choice (See note at bottom)

2 tsp Celtic Salt

1 tsp Celery Seed

1 tsp Dried Dill

Directions:

In a saucepan, combine your vinegar, salt, and sweetener. Over medium heat, (it’s gonna stink), heat your vinegar until your “sugar” and salt dissolves.

Remove from heat, and add your celery seed and dill weed. Allow to cool a little and place in the refrigerator to cool completely.

While your marinade is cooling, slice your cucumbers in a mandoline. I love my De Buyer! If you don’t have a mandoline, what are you waiting for? It makes life so much easier! I bought mine at Williams Sonoma, but you can get yours here too.

I did adjust my mandoline for thicker slices. I had it set from the zucchini last week, but these needed to be a bit thicker.

Also, slice your red onion into thin rings. Place your cucumbers and red onion slices in a bowl.

Once you have everything sliced and your marinade is cold, you can pour your marinade over your cucumber and onion.

Toss everything together until lightly coated. Cover with Saran and place in your refrigerator overnight. At this point you can’t even see the liquid, but just wait!

This is what it looks like in the morning:

Everything is soaking in the juices! Yum!

Let it sit and soak up the deliciousness for 24 to 48 hours! Enjoy as a snack, a salad, or a side dish! I am thinking ahead to the July 4th holiday!!!

A note on Xylitol: You don’t see us using this one very often. The reason I did on this dish was because it was a cold marinade that also had to be heated so I thought it would work best. There are many that love Xylitol, and there is nothing wrong with it from a Keto standpoint. I have two cautions on it though:

1. It is extremely toxic for dogs! Keep it away from animals.

2. It can cause stomach discomfort in a few.

For the quantity of liquid in these in relation to the amount of cucumbers, I did not think it would have much effect since we are not consuming the liquid on it’s own.

If you try different sweeteners or have a different variation on this recipe, we would love to hear about it in the comments section!

Posted in Appetizer, Dinner, Kids, Lunch, recipe, Side Dish, Snacks, Sugar Substitute, tips, Uncategorized, Vegetable tagged with appetizer, Cucumbers, Cukes, kid friendly, kids, lunch, Marinade, Red Onion, Salad, side dish, snack, Xylitol

Macadamia Nuts, Anyone?

Posted on June 16, 2015 by thesweetlifesugarfree

So, I bought some Mahi Mahi last week Hmmmm. It was on sale, so that was great! In fact, it was a fantastic deal! The problem…I detest cooking fish! It makes the house smell, it has bones, and as much as I cook, I always manage to destroy it! My usual downfall is overcooking because I’m afraid of undercooking! I am not sure what possessed me to purchase this beautiful slab out of the ocean, but I did, so I had to come up with something before my whole house smelled like fish!

Surprisingly, this fish dish was super simple, and it turned out delicious. I did get an upturned nose when my ten year old walked in the kitchen and smelled the raw fish I was deboning. At the end of the meal, however, it was all devoured with the kids asking for more. I had to divy up the end of it so everyone could have second helpings. Best of all, the house actually smelled like roasted nuts instead of fish. Double yay!

To make thing even better, I pulled this dish together faster than I can write this post! I looked up several recipes, and most were very sweet either with added sugar or contained very high fructose fruits like mango and pineapple that do a number on my blood sugar levels. All the macadamia nut recipes were mixed with flour or breadcrumbs, so I decided to go for it, and see what I could do on my own. If it hadn’t been 6 pm and a family screaming for dinner, I may have kept scouring the internet, but I’m glad for you and me, that I was short on time because this was simple, delicious, and nutritious.

We always have Macadamia Nuts on hand in the Lutz and Stavros households. If you don’t; run out and get some (or order here). They are one of the best nuts you can have around! They are lower in carbs than most, and much higher in fat than practically all, so they are Keto perfect in my book. In fact, when we were in Hawaii, I practically lived off of these beauties and have never been in deeper Nutritional Ketosis. It was fabulous. When I returned, low and behold, I found this gorgeous purple can of natural wonder in the snack aisle at Costco. Who would have thought? Now, I did have a bit of a panic attack when I couldn’t find them for a while, but no worries, they are back! And…just in case you are wondering, these magnificent nuts contain 24 grams of healthy fat, only 4 grams of carbohydrates, and 1 gram of sugar per quarter cup.

I popped open a can and got to work. All you need for this tasty Keto fish is Mahi Mahi, Macadamia Nuts, Kerrygold, a food processor, and your grandmother’s cast iron skillet! Yes, I really do have my grandmother’s old skillet, and it is a beast of a weapon! If you don’t have your grandmother’s, you can get one here.

Macadamia Nut Crusted Mahi Mahi

1 1/2 Pounds Mahi Mahi Cut into Filets

1 Cup Ground Macadamia Nuts (More if you like – You can find some here.)

1/2 Stick KerryGold Butter

Food Processor

Cast Iron Skillet

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cut your Mahi Mahi into filets. I did different sizes for adults and children, and it cooked just fine.

Debone and remove the skin (I just removed the section of bones with a filet knife from the middle of the filet – the bones are very large given this is a huge fish so they are easy to see and cut out.)

Grind your Macadamia nuts finely in a Food Processor. I used my mini-Cuisinart, but the large one would have been better. Fresh Macadamia Nuts are very hard so you need a powerful unit. This is the newer version of one I have here. Don’t over process or you will get a paste.

I sifted out the fine crumbles and put the larger pieces back in with the next batch.

Start melting your butter in your skillet.

All you have to do, is press your filets of fish into the ground Macadamia Nuts on both sides. After I had both sides nicely coated, I went back and added the rest to the top of the filets. You can never have too many Macadamias!

When your butter is sizzling, add all of your filets gently. I cooked them for 4 minutes on each side, and then moved the whole skillet to a preheated 375 degree oven for 10 minutes and they were perfect! Please use your oven mitts so you keep your hands to eat!

Serve immediately. I served them with left over squash casserole and bacon brussels that brought smiles around the table!

Enjoy!

Posted in Dinner, Main Course, recipe, Uncategorized tagged with cast iron, dinner, Entree, Fish, food processor, kerrygold, Macadamia Nuts, Mahi Mahi, Main Dish

Dinner Party Appetizer

Posted on June 11, 2015 by thesweetlifesugarfree

This is one of Erin’s recipes that I love. She does many of her recipes by feel and look, but I did my best to measure most of these simple ingredients. I literally did these yesterday, and thought, why not make my post on this now?

We had a dinner party last night, for which I was assigned an appetizer. Sometimes, when dining with many, it is hard to please everyone with a Keto dish, which is why I usually sign up for an appetizer or a salad. You can do a lot of Keto appetizers such as guacamole, hot artichoke dip, spinach dip, stuffed mushrooms, different kinds of poppers, etc. There are many!

Yesterday ended up being busier than expected, and I had all of these ingredients on hand, so I went for the mushrooms. They are always devoured in minutes, and really only take a few minutes to make as long as you soften your cream cheese first. After you make them once, you won’t even need the recipe!

Sausage and Cheese Stuffed Mushroom Appetizer

Your portions will change based on the amount of mushrooms you want to stuff. I did one large package of mushrooms from Costco.

Ingredients:

Large package of mushrooms, washed and stems removed

2 8 oz packages of cream cheese

2 packages of ITALIAN sausage (I did one mild and one hot) removed from casings (There were 5 links per package, and I had a ton left over. I used about 2 cups of the crumbled sausage and saved the rest for breakfast in our eggs.) Use as much as you like though.

2 cups sharp cheddar cheese

Kerrygold for baking

That is it folks!

Directions:

Remove casings from your sausage and brown on medium heat for 10 to 15 minutes until crumbled.

Place cream cheese in a medium mixing bowl (hopefully in advance to soften)

Add sausage and combine with cream cheese.

Add Cheddar and mix until evenly distributed.

Take your mushrooms, from which you have removed the stem, washed and dried.

Using a teaspoon, fill the caps of the mushrooms until there is a heaping amount. Place in a 9 x 13 baking dish.

Put a few slices of Kerrygold around the perimeter of the mushrooms as well as the middle. You want it to melt for a nice non-stick surface that gives a wonderful flavor.

Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Plate and serve!

Make sure you serve these with a napkin. They are so delicious, you may find yourself drooling!

Posted in Appetizer, Dinner, recipe, Side Dish, Vegetable tagged with appetizer, cheese, cream cheese, dinner party, mushrooms, sausage, stuffed mushrooms

Restaurant Worthy Side Dish!

Posted on June 11, 2015 by thesweetlifesugarfree

Most of you know by now that I love squash! All squash, but especially summer squash! Lucky for me, it is summer, and all those summer squashes are plentiful. The yellow is my favorite!

About a year ago, we celebrated my dad’s birthday at a great restaurant in San Antonio called Bohanan’s. It is a wonderful special occasion restaurant if you have not tried it! Most of my family would consider themselves foodies, and really enjoy a great meal. I am no exception! You can always count on having a great meal at Bohanan’s. Not only do they have some of the best steaks in Texas (which is saying a lot), but they have great seafood and side dishes as well. One of my favorite side dishes we were served that evening was their Baked Squash. It is melt in your mouth delicious, with just the right amount of savory paired with the sweet. The sugar in ours is, of course, replaced with Swerve or natural sweetener of your choice.

Just a few weeks after my father’s birthday, I found the squash recipe in our local Sunday paper. I just love restaurants that publish their prized recipes! It was so close to being Keto, that I knew I could tweak it to make it healthier for our family without the sugar and flour. I think I have mastered it enough to share:

Sweet Life Baked Squash

Serves 10-12 (Can half, but saves great for leftovers)

3.5 lbs yellow summer squash

1/2 brick of Kerry Gold butter (extra for top)

20 slices of Kraft cheese

4-5 tsp of Swerve granular

1 cup mayonnaise

1/2 tsp Celtic salt

2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

4 eggs

Almond Flour for top

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and gather your ingredients.

Start by washing the squash, trimming off the ends, and cubing it.

Place your squash in a large saucepan and cover with water and a pinch of salt.

Boil for about 10 minutes until tender when pierced with a fork.

Drain in a colander, place back in the pan, and cook over medium heat to release more of the moisture in the squash. Stir for a few minutes, and then remove from heat. Most (not all) of the moisture should be evaporated from the pan at this point.

Stir in your Kerrygold, Kraft cheese, Swerve, mayonnaise, salt, and pepper.

Mix until all the cheese is melted.

Beat the eggs lightly in a small bowl, and temper them by adding a small amount of the squash mixture. Then pour them into the pan, and mix well. It will look super runny, but it will firm up when you bake it.

Pour your mixture into a 9×13 baking dish sprayed with coconut oil.

Top with a sprinkle of Almond Flour and a few dabs of additional Kerrygold.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

This dish goes great with any kind of bar-b-que, hamburger patties, steak, fish – really anything. I was going to serve it with some brisket, but my husband was in the mood for burger patties so that is what you see.

I hope you enjoy this great side dish with your next summer meal! Enjoy!

Posted in Dinner, recipe, Side Dish, Uncategorized, Vegetable tagged with Bohanan's, cheese, dinner, kid friendly, side dish, squash, Summer

Preparing for the Road Trip!

Posted on June 9, 2015 by thesweetlifesugarfree

Yesterday, Erin posted about air travel, and relatives or friends preparing for your visit. Summer also means road trips, and we do quite a few! The Lutz clan just returned from the Texas coast. I knew after a busy school year, that I wanted it to be a relaxing time for the family. As much as I love to cook, I didn’t want to be running upstairs, while the rest of the family played in the pool, just to start dinner. I also know that my kitchen at home is much more stocked than any vacation home on the planet – and I am not one that likes to be without my kitchen tools. It is just so much faster and more efficient to have the right tools! You can find many of the tools we use in our store. The best thing to do is prepare in advance!!!

There are a few staples we always take along with us (coconut oil, a spinner, cream, eggs, and Kerrygold), and several meals that are easy to prepare and freeze for easy travel that have become our “summer road trip meals”. It takes a little planning, but it is totally worth it, to prep some food before you go. I start making a list about a week before we leave, so I can do my grocery runs and start prepping! A few of the things I did before we left were:

1. Spiraled some zucchini for noodles, and packed in a airtight container. Spaghetti is a super easy meal to throw together in a pinch. I took some precooked sausage that I boiled to throw on top with my favorite low-carb pasta sauce. Normally, I would top with shredded mozzarella or parmesan, but I forgot the shredded cheese. We did have string cheese, so for those that wanted cheese atop their spaghetti, I just pulled some strings off the string cheese. Along with a salad, topped with avocado, we had a meal in a flash.

2. I used my Cuisinart to make Cauliflower rice in about 2 minutes. I put it in a Ziplock bag as flat as possible for easy packing, and freeze. This freezes so well, and then all you have to do is defrost, throw on a cookie sheet for about 25 minutes and you have rice ready to go. Serve with fish (you catch) or I used a chicken curry and broccolini that I had in the fridge. Another well-balanced meal!

3. Pack those frozen casseroles you have made when you have extra ingredients. I had a frozen zucchini lasagna made from extra ingredients when I made one recently for dinner. Defrost, throw in the oven, and dinner is ready in 40 minutes – no cooking or dirty dishes!

One trick I use for freezing is to line an 8×8 pyrex with heavy duty foil before I start layering lasagna or any other casserole. I wrap it up and freeze in the dish. Once frozen, I lift the whole thing out of the Pyrex and wrap in Saran very well. Now you have a brick of food that is easy to pack in the ice chest and don’t risk leaving your dish away from home. When you are ready to cook it, remove the plastic wrap and defrost in an 8×8 dish. Almost any condo or vacation home has an 8×8 pyrex or metal pan I have noticed. You can cook it in the foil in which it was wrapped. Check out this link at Southern Living for step by step freezing directions.

4. Another easy meal is precooked Bar-B-Que. I bought a precooked whole brisket which gave us dinner, a few lunches and dinner ready to microwave when we returned home. My trick for this is easy – save your bacon grease from breakfast when you cook on a foil lined cookie sheet. Yes! You can leave it out all day – I promise it will be fine! I plop that slab of meat in the grease, wrap it in extra foil, and you will have the juiciest pre-cooked meat you can imagine. I shredded cabbage before I left home and cooked it with bacon, onion and garlic. Store in an airtight container, and this re-heats better than any other veggie and is so good for you. We will be sharing this recipe soon! It is an excellent accompaniment to Bar-B-Que. This is the shredded cabbage before I cooked it!

5. I made another casserole that I had in the freezer that was similar to Chicken Divan like most of our mothers used to make. It’s the one with chicken, broccoli and cheese in a creamy curry sauce. The original recipe is almost Keto, but I change out the canned soups for more mayo, lemon, broth, and cream. Top with lots of cheese and you have a winner, winner, chicken dinner. I always serve with a side salad. Add the avocado my friends!

6. Generally we have scrambled or poached (yes, I take my poacher) eggs and bacon for breakfast. Check out our amazon store to see my poacher. Sometimes I mix in chorizo with the scrambled eggs to change it up. Last time I made a quiche at home, my kids requested ham and cheese, so I decided to do this ahead since the boys were playing golf early the next morning. It made for a quick breakfast with no clean up. I sprayed a casserole dish with Coconut Oil spray, cubed some ham, topped with cheddar cheese, and mixed 8 eggs with 1 1/2 cups of cream and garlic salt and pepper (go light on the salt for once on this one because the ham and cheese are already salty.) Poor the egg mixture over the ham and cheese and store in the fridge overnight topped with saran. In the morning when everyone is rising, remove the saran and pop it in the oven at 350 degrees for about an hour. This gave us two easy morning meals that were very filling, and the kids gobbled it up!

7. We had tons of left-overs at this point, so we served buffet style one night, and also at lunch if we weren’t making lettuce wraps for the beach.

8. We always eat out one night for some fresh fish. It just happened to be Snapper season, so my husband and I both started with peel ’em and eat ’em shrimp, and ordered the Snapper Special at Seafood and Spaghetti Works that was fantastic. It was blackened in butter and topped with sliced avocado and a crabmeat pico de gallo. It was amazing, and it could not have been more Keto. Once you learn to eat Keto, it really becomes easy to eat out. See our tips in our eating out post.

Isn’t that beautiful? REAL food is just awesome! These are the foods that were designed to fuel our human bodies.

As you can see, I really did no cooking at all for seven nights. It was all reheating, and I had a healthy dinner ready every night with less than 20 minutes of prep time. I literally prepped dinner and set the table while the children were bathing each night!

If you want a relaxing vacation with your family, plan ahead! It is so worth it when you can prepare dinner in a flash while the family is winding down from a fun day in the sun. (Wear your sunscreen!)

We all hope everyone has a safe, fun, relaxing summer filled with memory making vacations!

Posted in Dinner, Eating Out, Groceries, Main Course, Restaurants, Side Dish, tips, Uncategorized tagged with groceries, meal ideas, preparation, tips, trips, vacation

Cheesy Tater Tots!

Posted on June 6, 2015 by thesweetlifesugarfree

Summer has arrived, and so has burger and hot dog season! We all love a good cookout in the more relaxing summer months. Of course, what goes hand in hand with burgers? Some sort of fried potato off limits to us low-carbers! Going Keto means no more fries and tots, right? Wrong! I told my children I was making tater tots, (which they have missed) and they started doing cheers!

I did NOT tell them how I was making them, however, and they could not tell the difference. These suckers were good, and there was nothing left to save after dinner. Bummer!

Keto tater tots take a little preparation and forethought, but overall they are pretty easy – and I don’t even fry – before or during Keto, until now. This was a game changer for our family!

Cheesy Tater Tots

1 large head of Cauliflower

1/3 cup Parmesan Cheese

1/2 cup Mozzarella Cheese, shredded

1 Egg

2 tsp Psyllium Husk Powder

1 tsp garlic salt

1-2 cups Bacon Fat

Salt and Pepper to taste

Shredded Cheddar to melt on top (I used sharp cheddar)

Directions:

Cut your cauliflower into small pieces to steam. Place in your steamer and steam until tender but not too soft.

Place in your food processor, and pulse until it is smooth without any chunks.

This is not enough, above ^.

This is how it should look below:

At this point you can make mashers or tots!:) I’m going for tots!

After you get your cauliflower to this consistency, you are going to want to wring out the excess water – and there is a LOT!!!

This is the time consuming part, and you will want to make sure your cauliflower is cool, or you will burn off your finger tips. Trust me – I didn’t quite burn mine off, but it was close! Make sure you allow time for your cauliflower to cool either right after steaming or after processing.

Once cool, I use a light dish towel to wring out the excess water. You can use a cheese cloth as well. The cauliflower will slip right through a colander.

When you place it on the dish towel, be ready to start wringing. See the water spreading…It will look like this:

After you squeeze and squeeze, and wring and wring, it will look like this:

Doesn’t look verry appetizing, but just wait!

Now, take your cauliflower “paste”, and add your cheeses, egg, and garlic salt. You may have to use a dull knife to scrape the dry cauliflower off the towel.

Mix well. It should be a very thick mixture. If it is too runny to roll, then add your psyllium husk powder a little at a time.

It should look like this:

Take out about a teaspoon of “dough” at a time and roll into your tots! This is fun for the kids too!

Now, get your yummy bacon grease ready (that you have saved from all those batches of bacon, right?) Remember that cast iron skillet that Erin posted about? This is the perfect time to pull that big daddy out as well!

Start heating your fat in your skillet over medium heat! Your grease really needs to be perfect. If it is too hot, they will burn, but if it is not hot enough, the tots will stick to the bottom of the skillet. Keep it on medium, and be patient. The first picture is my mason jar of grease. The second is the grease melting in my cast iron skillet. Yum!!!!

You will also need to set up a plate with either paper towels or a mesh splatter shield to drain your tots after they cook so they start to crisp. I used a splatter shield over a plate, and had it ready to go before frying.

When your grease is hot, gently drop your tots into the grease, and move them around so they don’t stick to the bottom. Continue to rotate until they are golden brown on all sides:

When they are cooked on all sides, remove to your plate.

This was my first batch, before my oil was hot enough so you can see where some stuck. I was not very patient:).

Once you remove them, you can add salt and pepper, if you like, or cover with cheese.

Let them cool slightly and serve! I hope you enjoy these beauties as much as we did!

Happy summer, folks!

Posted in Dinner, Kids, recipe, Side Dish, Uncategorized, Vegetable tagged with Bacon Grease, cauliflower, Cook Out, dinner, Frying, kid friendly, kids, potatoes, Summer, Tater Tots

Dinner in a Snap!

Posted on June 2, 2015 by thesweetlifesugarfree

It seems that everyone I run into lately is running around in a million different directions, and the last thing on their mind is dinner.

I get it! I’m a mom of three busy kids, and it’s the end of school! In fact, I am pretty sure that May and early June compete with December for the busiest months of the year.

A friend told me today that she just needed some simple dinner ideas to throw together before her son’s baseball games. My thought is, that many of you need some easy dinners to throw together this week, so here are a few I have pulled together in a snap on weeknights that I am just too busy to even think about dinner, but still want to feed my family something healthy!

1. Salmon and Veggies (Love broccoli with Salmon)

Make sure your Salmon is wild from a good clean source, and not farm raised. I like the Alaskan Salmon, but any reputable fresh fish retailer will be able to help you pick out a great fillet. I usually get the whole fillet and cut them into portions for my various ages of children and adults in the house. Sprinkle with butter and lemon pepper. Bake it at 400 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes depending on the thickness and serve with a steamed vegetable topped with Kerrygold.

Then we like to top it with this sauce:

2. Beef Shish-kabobs with peppers and onions.

These are super easy to make ahead, but I bought these on a whim at Central Market when I knew I was in a pinch. They were marinated in a lime marinade and were melt-in-your-mouth tender and delicious. I served these with a side of asparagus that I roasted on 425 degrees for about 10 to 15 minutes. Topped with Kerrygold, salt and pepper.

3. Many of us forget just how healthy eggs are for so many cells in our bodies. Eggs are the “perfect” food as we like to say! We always think of eggs for breakfast, but why not serve them for dinner. We do this often when the hubby is out of town because he doesn’t want eggs twice a day, but the kids love it. It is a great nutritious meal anytime of the day! Super simple and super healthy! We call it breakfast for dinner – creative-huh?

Hopefully these are just a few ideas to help you power through the week. Check out your grocerers meat display case. Central Market has great quality prepared meats (like the shish-kabobs) that you can throw on the grill Many other places do as well. Pick up some patties, some sausage or some steaks and serve with a side veggie roasted or steamed and topped with Kerrygold and seasonings. Super simple, super healthy, and super fast!

Hope everyone has a great first week of June!!!

Posted in Dinner, Groceries, Main Course, recipe, Side Dish, Uncategorized tagged with asparagus, Broccoli, dinner, eggs, salmon, shish-kabobs

It’s the Weekend! Let’s Eat Out!

Posted on May 30, 2015 by thesweetlifesugarfree

Another BIG question!

How do you eat out on Keto? Well, it’s not as hard as you would imagine…

When we first started cutting carbs, it was a bit intimidating to go out. I wanted to know the exact source of my food and exactly how it was being prepared. This is much easier to do at home, but I still wanted to socialize with my friends. I wasn’t about to give up my few evenings of “adult time” away from the kitchen because of Keto! I soon learned I didn’t have to give up restaurants and neither do you!

I had always considered myself an easy, low-maintenance restaurant patron. And, if I must be honest, I was a bit embarrassed when someone at the table was the “difficult one”. I really love all food, and am a bit of a foodie. I love trying new things and new preparations, so eating out was always an adventure. It still is an adventure, but I am a little more cautious when ordering.

I may not be quite as low-maintance, but I have found that restaurants are more than willing to answer questions about preparations, and even more willing to oblige on certain dietary restrictions. While once an insult to a chef to change his/her dish, it is now all the more common as consumers have more and more dietary restrictions, whether allergies or eating preferences. Don’t hesitate to ask!

Here are some of my general questions when asking about a dish:

Is there sugar in the sauce?

Is the dish gluten-free?

What is the side accompaniment?

Is it breaded?

May I substitute the starch for another vegetable?

May I have the protein grilled or sautéed instead of fried or breaded?

You will find that breading, sauces, and sides are the main culprits.

Here are the main things you need to do:

1. Ask for sauce on the side – every time (Unless it is a heavy cream sauce made without flour or a lemon butter sauce – if this is the case, the more the better.)

2. Ask for extra veggies with butter instead of potatoes, pasta, rice, or risotto.

3. First thing when you arrive – ask your waiter to hold the bread, but bring the butter (real butter) – you may get a funny look, but they will do it!

4. Order a bottle of wine, a martini, or vodka soda. Stay away from the sugary cocktails.

5. Order your salad without crouton or crisps and stay away from sweet dressings. Blue Cheese, Ranch, and Caesar are generally safe. It gets dicey with the vinaigrettes.

6. Read the menu carefully – learn the code words: crispy or coated usually means fried, seasoned could mean sugar so ask. Crunchy usually means it has something on top, like fried onions, tortilla chips, panko, etc. Sweet, glazed, or brushed are almost always code for the dreaded SUGAR. In short, always read the description, and if you are still unsure, ask!

7. Good things to look for are: grilled, broiled, steamed, seared, baked, and sautéed. Savory is usually good, and seasoned is often good as long as the seasoning does not contain sugar.

8. At the end of the meal, refrain from looking at the dessert menu. Too much temptation. Ask for a decaf with heavy cream if you need a little something while your friends order dessert. They won’t be used to the heavy cream order, but almost any good kitchen has cream, so ask the waiter to check the kitchen.

I promise it is really easy after you get used to ordering Keto. Restaurants are starting to have more gluten free dishes (I just ate at one that had a gluten-free menu – remember though that gluten-free doesn’t mean carb-free), and many are used to patrons ordering low-carb. Most of all, don’t be afraid to ask questions. It is not about weight at this point, it is about your health!

Good places to start are:

Bar-B-Que Restaurants (Have all the meat you want, but watch the sauce and sides)

Steak Restaurants (Steak is great – order with Béarnaise and side salad and veggies – skip the potatoes)

Seafood Restaurants (Shrimp and Fish are great – Add lemon butter and it’s even better)

Here are a few pictures of meals we have ordered out to give you some ideas:

Both dishes below were from Houston Street Bistro. They were wonderful about substituting the pasta that was supposed to be served with each dish with vegetables instead. The shrimp is in a lemon butter sauce with broccoli and carrots. The chicken and mushroom dish is in a flourless cream sauce served with a side of spinach instead of over pasta.

These next three are all from different restaurants.

The first is a high-end restaurant that had calf liver on the specials menu (a top Keto food) and to top it off, it had sauted onion and BACON!

This is a cup of beanless chili from a local delicatessen.

Beef Cheeks from a local restaurant.

This was a fantastic meal from Silo – Lamb with veggies, and they even brought hollandaise on the side.

Hopefully these give you some ideas of how easy it is to order a delicious meal out on the town! Have a great weekend!

Posted in Dinner, Eating Out, Main Course, Side Dish, tips, Uncategorized, Vegetable tagged with Eating Out, restaurant, sauce, side dish, tips

Breakfast, Lunch, or Dinner Quiche

Posted on May 29, 2015 by thesweetlifesugarfree

What else can I make besides scrambled eggs and bacon? This is in the Top 10 list of questions we receive.

Eggs are great! We know that, but we also get tired of the same old thing every day!

A Quiche is a great way to dress up your eggs in a beautiful way that the whole family can enjoy for any meal of the day. It is filled with all the great nutrients that eggs provide, and anything else you wish to add to give it that special touch. It is also a method to hide vegetables if you have picky eaters! And…best of all, it cooks great without a crust. No need to add carbs to something so savory and wonderful already!

These are great with the end of school approaching because you can prepare it a day ahead, and it reheats quickly and perfectly. It is also delicious as a weekend dish straight out of the oven! Fresh quiche just melts in your mouth. Prepare to be creative and enjoy!

Crustless Broccoli Garlic Bacon Quiche

1 cup chopped onion

10 ounces chopped broccoli florets (approx. 3 cups)

5 cloves garlic

4 Tbsp butter

6 large eggs

1 1/2 cups cream

2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese (I didn’t have so I used a Colby/Monterrey Jack)

6 slices of cooked bacon

1/4 tsp cayenne

1 tsp ground mustard

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper

1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

9 1/2 inch deep dish pie plate

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Gather your ingredients, and chop your onion, garlic, and broccoli. This is my favorite garlic chopper!

Sauté your onion and garlic in the butter. Then add your broccoli to soften slightly.

Spray your pie dish with coconut oil spray (you can find it here).

For a Quiche, you want to layer your ingredients. Start with your sautéed vegetables, and then top with bacon. This goes for any type of quiche – veggies on the bottom, then your meat, then cheese, then top with your egg mixture.

Sprinkle the cheese on top of the bacon.

Mix your eggs, cream, nutmeg, ground mustard, cayenne, salt and pepper.

Pour over the cheese.

Place your quiche in your preheated 400 degree oven for 15 minutes. Reduce heat after 15 minutes to 325 degrees and bake for an additional 30 minutes.

It should look puffy and delicious when you remove from the oven:

As it cools, it will sink slightly. Allow to cool for 20 minutes or so if you want to enjoy it right away. If you are preparing ahead, allow to cool completely, cover with saran, and store in the refrigerator until ready to use. This will keep for up to 5 days in the refrigerator. Reheat in the oven or in the microwave for about 30 seconds a slice.

Be creative with your ingredients. My children have requested ham and cheese for the next one. You can do spinach and parmesan, vegetable, bacon and cheese, or any other combination you can imagine. Just remember to layer in the order above and cook accordingly! Enjoy!

Posted in Breakfast, Brunch, Dinner, Lunch, Main Course, recipe, Uncategorized, Vegetable tagged with bacon, breakfast, Broccoli, brunch, cheese, dinner, eggs, lunch, quiche, savory, vegetable

Quick Rule for Vegetable Picking

Posted on May 28, 2015 by thesweetlifesugarfree

One of the very first questions that we get when people start wanting to go low carb is, “What do I eat?!”

The answer can be frustratingly simple because the answer is fat, protein, and vegetables.

The protein is easy enough, the fat raises most eyebrows, but the veggies end up being more difficult than people expect.

Once you start monitoring what you eat, it can be very eye opening the actual carb and sugar count on many foods that you thought were healthier than they are in actuality.

Of course, dark leafy vegetables are the the clear winners when it comes to the best bang for your buck on nutrients and lowest on the carb count. Side note-some of the best dark leafies are ones you have likely never considered, HERBS!

One super herb is Parsley:

% Daily Value for Parsley, dried 1 tbsp (1.6g)

Additional nutritional information on several herbs can be found here.

But after the dark leafies things get a little fuzzy, and that’s why we have employed the rule of thumb: “An above ground veggie is a good veggie.”

While the rule isn’t 100%, it is a great guideline. The high carb veggies tend to be the root vegetables such as carrots, beets, onion, parsnips, yams, turnip, radish, yucca, and of course, potatoes. While onions are on the underground list, the amount of onion people tend to eat in most recipes will not equate to a full serving size-so these can usually slide.

Basically, the general rule means that if it’s above the ground, you are likely okay! The exceptions include the starchy squashes, such as butternut, and of course the veggies that are not really veggies, prime example being corn. Despite being found in the fresh, frozen, and canned sections at grocery stores, corn is a grain, and a highly GMOed one at that, but that is an entire other post.

So next time you are considering what side to make, or what vegetable to pick up, just go with the general above ground rule, and you should be in the clear. Oh, and of course, don’t forget to add some healthy fat!

Posted in Dinner, Side Dish, tips, Vegetable tagged with kerrygold, side dish, vegetable, vitamins

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