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Tag Archive for appetizer

A Dip to Rival Hidden Valley Ranch

Posted on August 20, 2015 by thesweetlifesugarfree

Well, by now, if you have been following us, you know how we feel about artificial sweeteners and those other sneaky names used so you won’t know that sugar is in the ingredient list.

Believe it or not, those sneaky names are in the fine print of many pantry items you never would have imagined. For instance, my family used to love it when I mixed in the little seasoning packet of Hidden Valley Ranch Dip and Dressing mix with sour cream for a yummy dip to serve with vegetables. One of the main ingredients I discovered, as soon as I went Keto and started looking at the back of packages, is Maltodextrin.

A little about Maltodextrin: It is a food additive derived from corn, rice, potatoes, or wheat and therefore a carbohydrate. It ranks higher than table sugar on the glycemic index – 106 to 136 depending on the derived source and is in a TON of packaged foods! This means that it will spike your blood sugar levels so beware and read those labels.

It became a mission of mine and that of a few of our followers to find a better way to make ranch dressing and dip. One of the best parts of Keto is freeing yourself from all of those tasteless, chemical ridden low-fat salad dressings! You actually get to eat the real thing as long as it is real food. The Maltodextrin kind of ruined that for us though. Thanks to one of my friends and fellow ketoers, Kelley, we have found the solution! This may be even better than Hidden Valley Ranch, and it is a seasoning blend that can be used in other sauces or dressings as well. I did some minor tweaking, and we all think it is delicious. We hope you enjoy!

Ranch Dressing Seasoning

1 1/4 tsp Celtic sea salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

1 TBSP Onion Powder

1 tsp garlic powder

1 TBSP dried parsley

1/4 tsp celery seed

1/2 tsp dried dill weed (with a little extra for garnish)

1/2 tsp dried mustard seed

To mix into a dressing or dip, the possibilities are endless.

For a dip, I use the traditional 1 cup mayonnaise and 1 cup sour cream.

If you want to make it into a dressing, you can put all of the above ingredients into a blender and add some half and half or cream to liquify it slightly.

Modifications you can make are to add some fresh parsley instead of the dry, add some cilantro to the dressing, or even spice it up with some jalapeños or your favorite peppers. This is super easy if you use the blender! The possibilities for making this your own are endless, nutritious, and beautifully Ketogenic! Have fun with it, and enjoy!

These are Cindy’s boys! This dip with mini peppers is one of their favorite after school snacks!

Posted in Appetizer, Dip, Holiday Dish, Kids, Lunch, recipe, Sauces and Dressing, Side Dish, Snacks, Uncategorized, Vegetable tagged with appetizer, Artificial, Dip, Dressing, Hidden Valley, kid friendly, kids, Maltodextrin, Ranch, snack, vegetables

A Tasty Snack for All Occasions

Posted on August 17, 2015 by thesweetlifesugarfree

Family gatherings are so fun, and a great way to pick up new recipes. At every family event over at Erin’s house her mother would bring these amazing olives. I finally asked for the recipe and have made them several times now. Her mom gave us permission to use this recipe in our catalog of many. They are a great Keto/Paleo appetizer or snack. Everyone is always looking for snack ideas, and this is a great one you can leave out on the counter after school if you have olive eaters in the house!

Marinated Olives

2 cans medium to large (not jumbo) black, green, or a mixture of olives (Drained)

2 tsp red wine vinegar

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

8 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried

4 bay leaves

Directions:

Mix together your oil and vinegar.

Mince or chop your garlic and thyme. I really prefer the fresh thyme on these.

Add all your spices to your oil mixture and combine well.

Drain and add your cans of olives.

These are beautiful and yummy to serve. The garlic gives them a nice kick. Bring them to room temperature before serving. You can also invert the jar occasionally to let the spices cover all the olives.

We store these in a mason jar for a couple of weeks in the fridge if they last that long.

Posted in Appetizer, Holiday Dish, Kids, recipe, Side Dish, Snacks, Uncategorized tagged with appetizer, Entertaining, garlic, keto, kids, Marinated, Olives, paleo, Party Food, recipe, snack

A Night Out on the Town

Posted on July 16, 2015 by thesweetlifesugarfree

It’s the weekend, and what is better than taking a night off from the kitchen to have a wonderful meal out? For those of you not local to San Antonio, you will have to make the trip down here. We know many of our readers are local though, so we have some great tips you can try for an evening out!

The kids are off to camp this week so we decided to try some new restaurants we had heard about. We ventured out four nights this week which I think is a record! Of the four, two were very much post worthy.

The first one worth mention was Cured, which is located in the Pearl area near downtown San Antonio. I went with Erin and another Keto friend, Kelley, where we decided to get three different dishes and serve them family style.

We ordered a great variety.

The first was the Crabmeat Ravigote:

It is basically lump crabmeat in a mayonnaise base topped with a ton of avocado and salad fixings. I asked them to leave off the beets. It was a delightful summer dish, not to mention beautiful!

The second was the Wagyu Brisket Sandwich:

Of course, without the bun! Another delicious dish. Look at the Herb Creme Fraiche and picked onions! And…the wonderful natural beef fat could only help to make it perfectly KETO!

The third dish was a hands down favorite with all three of us. Pork Cheeks Poutine:

I am still salivating over this one! I had never had pork cheeks or any kind of cheeks for that matter, but I guarantee I will have them again. They are melt in your mouth tender with wonderful flavor. They braise these and then slow cook them for hours. It was topped with gobs of flavorful cheddar cheese, pickled cauliflower, and we chose to add the fried egg. Can you say Keto, Keto, Keto! AMAZING!!! I can’t say it loudly enough!

Over all Cured got 5 Stars from all of us for food, atmosphere, staff, and Keto friendly!

The other restaurant we tried was The Cookhouse! This one is located off of St. Mary’s on Mistletoe in a cute little restored house. Make sure you have a reservation! We went on Tuesday night and the only reservation they had left was 6:00 pm. We probably watched them turn away 7 or 8 parties while we were there. Another advantage of this restaurant is their corking policy. You can bring your favorite wine to enjoy for a $20 corkage fee.

The Cookhouse is a New Orleans style restaurant so we were a little anxious going in because of all the heavy carb dishes usually associated with New Orleans. They could not have been more friendly about substitutions here even though they had a large party that evening. Everything is prepared fresh while you wait, and we were able to have a perfectly Keto Low-Carb meal.

We tried a lot of different dishes, and realized we ordered too much once the entrees arrived. They are massive so go hungry!

We started with the Shrimp Remoulade Salad and Pork Cracklins:

The Pork Cracklins are you guessed it, Pork Rinds served with an incredible cream cheese, sour cream and chive dip. These are a far cry from the pork rinds at the gas station!

Above is the Shrimp Remoulade Salad-A meal in itself but watch out for the fried green tomatoes.

Trout Almandine above

Braised Pork Shoulder with zucchini.

This was in place for the Blackened Drum in the menu, I believe it was a red fish.

When you think of cajun often the first thought after spicy and gumbo is grits. None of the four of us had grits and none of us missed them.

The Cookhouse was super accommodating and the objects on your screen are about three times larger than they appear. 🙂

Posted in Dinner, Eating Out, Main Course, Restaurants tagged with appetizer, dinner, keto, Restaurants, Summer, vegetable

Happy Fourth of July!

Posted on July 4, 2015 by thesweetlifesugarfree

Happy Fourth of July!!! Wave that Red, White, and Blue! Show off your stars and stripes! Enjoy your day, and celebrate with friends and family! We love our Independence Day in the Lutz and Stavros households!

We have been over several recipe ideas to keep your day healthy and low carb! Here are a few ideas from the past and the ones we have posted the last few weeks to help you compile your menu into one concise spot…right here! All of these recipes can be found on this webpage on our blog:

Main Courses:

Brisket (You can even pick up or buy a precooked one to bake to make it easy!)

Ribs – Yum!!!

With our sugar-free sauce…

Bunless Burgers (We love our ABC burger – Avocado, Bacon, and Cheddar)

Bunless Hot Dogs or Sausage Links

Egg Salad

Sides:

Refreshing Cukes

“Potato” Salad”

Cheesy Tater Tots

Broccoli Slaw

Broccoli Salad

Appetizers and Snack Ideas:

Stuffed Mushrooms

Cheese Crisps

Zucchini Chips

Guacamole

Deviled Eggs:

Dessert:

Stars and Stripes Cheesecake with Berries:

Or, if you are a chocolate person, our chocolate pudding.

Drinks:

Refreshing Low-Carb Margarita on the Rocks

Enjoy a wonderful celebratory day filled with healthy food, healthy sun, friends and family.

God Bless America!

Posted in Appetizer, articles, Beverage, Dessert, Dinner, Holiday Dish, Lunch, Main Course, recipe, Salad, Sauces and Dressing, Side Dish, Snacks, tips, Uncategorized, Vegetable tagged with appetizer, Bunless, burger, Celebration, dessert, dinner, Fourth of July, Ideas, July Fourth, lunch, Main Course, Menu, party, Salads, Sides

When Life Tosses you Eggs….

Posted on July 2, 2015 by thesweetlifesugarfree

Well…this was not my intended post for today, but it worked out well!

We have all heard the term, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!”

My theme for today, is “When your eggs won’t peel, make egg salad!”

The intention of the post for today was yummy deviled eggs to finish off the menu for Independence Day! However, I did not plan well enough ahead!

This was a good lesson! Anytime you want pretty peeled eggs, plan ahead! I did not know we were so low on eggs (because I always have several dozen.) When you do boiled eggs, they are much easier to peel when they are not fresh. You want to buy them 5 to 7 days ahead of when you need them. I bought mine yesterday, boiled them, and tried to peel them. This is what happened:

Not so pretty! So…we had a very fast change of plans. Since we have dinner pretty much planned with Bar-B-Que (with sauce), “Potato” Salad, and Refreshing Cukes, I thought why not make egg salad for a Keto lunch! It was simple, and we still got to use those delicious and nutritious eggs.

I did get a few of the eggs to turn out, so I will share how to do both just in case you plan ahead better than I, or if you have some eggs stored in your fridge that you want to use.

First, start by boiling your eggs. I have a gas stove, and have had great success by placing my eggs in a large pot, covering with cold water with a tsp of salt, and bringing it to a rumbling boil. Once it is at a full boil, turn your heat down to a simmer for 1 minute, cover, and turn the heat off completely for 10 to 12 minutes. As soon as the timer goes off, dunk them in a cold water bath. Let them cool, and then place in the refrigerator until you need them.

You can peel your eggs now or later. For deviled eggs you will want to slice your pretty eggs lengthwise, hull out the yolk and place on a flat surface.

I put the yolks in a bowl, and mash with mayo, dijon mustard, a little lemon juice, salt, pepper, and if you have them, some chopped Refreshing Cukes. You can also add some fresh dill or dill pickle if you like savory. If you like sweet, you can add a teeny tiny pinch of Stevia. Mash it all together and stuff your eggs. Refrigerate immediately.

If you get a bunch of eggs that look like they were in a massacre like mine did, just chop them up and no one will be the wiser.

Add to a bowl with:

Egg Salad

12 eggs – boiled, peeled and chopped

1/2 lemon – squeezed

1/2 cup petite diced celery

3/4 cup mayonnaise

2 Tbsp dijon mustard

1/2 cup diced “Refreshing Cukes”

2 tsp juice from above

Salt and pepper to taste

Stir everything together until combined and either put in the fridge for later or serve over lettuce. It was quite a delicious mistake!

We hope that everyone has a safe and delicious Fourth of July!

Remember those that sacrificed for the freedoms that we hold so precious today. We are so fortunate to live in a place that allows us to speak and write what we believe and hold true to our hearts, even if not everyone agrees.

Remember on your holiday to plan ahead, drink plenty of water, take your supplements, and stay healthy! Holidays and parties can be difficult, but with planning you can be strong and live Keto! We know you can!

Have a wonderful long weekend, and enjoy those fireworks!!!

Posted in Appetizer, Brunch, Dinner, Holiday Dish, Kids, Lunch, recipe, Salad, Side Dish, tips, Uncategorized tagged with appetizer, brunch, Deviled Eggs, Egg Salad, eggs, Fourth of July, Holiday Dish, July Fourth, lunch, snack

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

A Snack to Crunch!

Posted on June 18, 2015 by thesweetlifesugarfree

No, not that kind of crunch!

The type of crunch I am talking about is the loud tortilla chip kind of crunch! On Keto, I think it is safe to say, that one of the things we miss the most is that crunch of a chip or cracker. One of my summer-time favorites was corn chips and salsa. Needless to say, the corn is gone forever, but the salsa is here to stay. So what does one do for that crunch, scoop, or dip?

For a long time, I used a ton of celery, and still do for many things. It can scoop, it’s refreshing, full of fiber, and I can have it for all those wonderful Keto dips out there. It is not good for salsa though. Then I discovered the cheese crisps we posted a few weeks ago. Love those, especially for guacamole. The cheese is the perfect accompaniment with avocado.

But, what about the salsa? Well…zucchini was again on sale at Sprouts last week, so I bought a bunch to experiment. Over the weekend I tried three different recipes for zucchini crisps. I will share two of them with you, and you can choose which you prefer.

The first is a simple chip, and when I say simple, all you need is time and a few ingredients:

Crispy Chips

Ingredients:

2 Zucchini Squash

1/2 Cup Coconut Oil

Pink Himalayan Salt

Mandoline

Parchment Paper

Jelly Roll Pans

Directions:

Wash and dry your zucchini. When I say wash, I mean wash with soap and water!

I used a Mandoline to slice my zucchini very thin. This also makes it a fast process. You want them very thin. Mine were probably less than 1/8 inch thick.

Now, I will tell you what I did, and also how you can do it differently.

The first thing I would change is to either slice my zucchini on the diagonal or lengthwise. The reason being, they shrink tremendously when they dehydrate so if the purpose is for dipping, these left very little surface area to do such.

Line your jellyroll pan with parchment paper. I used a slip mat, and it was a huge chore to clean, so go with parchment on these. Just pretend this slip mat is parchment paper.

Pour your coconut oil into a small pyrex or similar bowl. Just something shallow will do.

Dip each “chip” into the oil and place on your parchment. They can be close together. Variation: You can lay all your zucchini out and then brush them with the oil. You just have to flip them half way through baking.

Once you have dipped or placed all your zucchini on your parchment, sprinkle a very scant amount of salt on top. This was a huge mistake of mine. I used a normal amount of salt, but they shrank so much, they were literally coated in salt. A little goes a long way on these!

Place in a 200 degree oven for 2 hours. Yes, two hours. This will dehydrate and crisp them. I flipped my cookie sheet around about half way through so they cook evenly.

This is how much they will shrink, and why I recommend slicing the opposite direction for dipping chips:

Place on a paper towel to absorb the remaining oil. Once dry, seal them in a ziplock bag or they will get soggy.

Method 2:

Cheesy Chips

These were described as tasting just like a “Cheez It”. In other words, a great snack for the kids looking for that healthy crunch without any grain!!!

These are similar to above, except for the cheese. Follow the same directions until you finish with your oil.

Ingredients:

2 Zucchini Squash

2 Cups Parmesan Cheese

1/2 Cup Coconut Oil

Mini-Cuisinart

Mandoline

Parchment Paper

Directions:

Slice your zucchini as described above using a Mandoline.

Place the Parchment paper on your jelly roll pan (make sure it has sides.)

Grind your parmesan cheese in your Mini-Prep Cuisinart (unless you have already dirtied your big one.) The parmesan adheres to the squash much easier when it is a bit finer, but still melts well, unlike the super fine ground you buy off the shelf.

Pour your finely grated cheese into a bowl.

Take your squash one by one and dip into the oil first, and then into the cheese. Place each on a lined cookie sheet.

These will not need salt because your cheese is already salty. You can add pepper if you like for taste. You can always add extra cheese to the top if you have extra left over.

Bake at 425 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes. They should be a little darker than golden brown to ensure they are crisp. Serve immediately with your favorite dip or eat just as they are.

Store in a sealed container or Ziplock in the refrigerator.

Posted in Appetizer, Kids, recipe, Side Dish, Snacks, tips, Uncategorized, Vegetable tagged with appetizer, cheese, chips, Crackers, dips, kid friendly, parmesan, salsa, snack, vegetable, zucchini

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