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Rich and Delicious Creamed Spinach

Posted on May 7, 2015 by thesweetlifesugarfree

I don’t know about you, but when we go to a nice steak restaurant, one of our sides is always creamed spinach. Well, I was determined to duplicate this rich satisfying side dish, and mission accomplished! Behind my fat bombs, this is my second most requested recipe, and is delicious alongside any meal, but it is our favorite with grass-fed beef! This dish is good enough for company!

Ingredients:

Organic Baby Spinach (I used two large containers)

Kerrygold Grass Fed Butter (1/4 to 1/2 stick)

Full Fat Cream Cheese (I package)

Heavy Whipping Cream (1/4 to 1/2 cup)

White Onion (Quartered)

Garlic (4-5 cloves)

Salt and Pepper

Whole Nutmeg

Preparation:

Bring a full pot of water to a boil. Add spinach and cook for 3 to 5 minutes. You want it cooked down, but not completely wilted.

Drain in a colander, and let it sit while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Back in the same pot, melt your butter over medium heat. I used a half of a Kerrygold brick. If you are using a regular stick of butter, you will need 1 whole stick.

Add a quarter to a half of a white onion, finely chopped with 4-5 minced garlic cloves, and sauté until translucent. (We like a bit more onion and garlic which is higher in carbs so take that into account.)

Turn your heat down to low. Add your cream cheese cubed and stir well until incorporated with the butter. It may separate slightly and this is okay. When you add your spinach it will combine well.

Press all the remaining water out of your spinach. Dump it out on a cutting board and chop roughly. Then add it to your butter mixture on the stove.

Next, add your heavy cream. This is up to you. Start with 1/4 cup, and if you want it creamier, add a little at a time. It will thicken slightly after about 5 minutes over low heat.

Now, all you have left is your seasoning! Spinach is amazing with nutmeg, especially freshly grated. I also add freshly ground Himalayan salt and black pepper.

Mix all your seasonings in and let it simmer over low heat for about 5 minutes. Then serve and enjoy! It is just as good left over for lunch too!

Posted in Dinner, recipe, Side Dish, Uncategorized, Vegetable tagged with cream, cream cheese, dinner, garlic, heavy cream, leafy green, nutmeg, onion, recipe, saute, side dish, Spinach

Broccoli on the Barbie

Posted on April 27, 2015 by thesweetlifesugarfree

Grilled broccoli may sound a little strange but don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!

How to grill broccoli. I have this philosophy that if I eat out, and there's a superfood on the menu, that's what I'm ordering. Last night, I made it at home. Something that I had never heard before is the idea of peeling the "bark" off of the stems to make them less chewy. It works! Get a good grade parma cheese. If you are going to have the calories, at least let it be good cheese.

Almost any vegetable can be grilled with fantastic results. Here are a couple ideas and tips to get you going:

Veggies to try: Broccoli, artichokes, asparagus, mushrooms, peppers (any color or type), zucchini, squash, onion, cabbage, Brussels, etc

Consistent size is important, make sure your veggies are all roughly the same size or you may end up with bites more done than others. They do not have to be bite sized-just similar.

Nothing beats summer #zucchini on the grill - like this if you agree and comment with your fav way to prepare.

Season well! Start with high QUALITY salt and pepper then get creative.

Butter or Ghee (Not Olive Oil! Olive oil is great for your cool salad but not great for high temperature cooking/grilling. You can learn more here:http://www.savorylotus.com/5-reasons-to-stop-cooking-with-olive-oil/ )

Foil lined grill basket. This will make clean up a snap and help avoid flare ups from the melting butter goodness. In a pinch you can make a foil tray by simply crunching up the edges on heavy duty foil but be very careful this will be flimsy and hot!

Ready to grill

This is our well loved circle basket with removable handle.

Clean up does not get easier!

Keep an eye on your veggies! You know how “done” you like your veggies. Plus, unlike meat and fish, its easier to tell by sight when veggies are done and you can taste test without worry!

Posted in Dinner, Side Dish, tips, Vegetable tagged with dinner, grill, veggies

Cancer Fighting and Alzheimer’s Preventing Delicious Side Dish

Posted on April 26, 2015 by thesweetlifesugarfree

What do you think when you hear the words “Brussel Sprouts”?

I used to think, “Yuck!”

Now our entire family devours these nutrient dense veggies in just a few seconds.

Believe it or not, Brussel Sprouts are in the cruciferous family and one the healthiest vegetables on the planet.

They are also one of the best vegetables for Cancer and Alzheimer’s prevention containing loads of Vitamin K and Vitamin C.

Check out this link for all the health benefits of Brussel Sprouts:

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=10

So how do I cook these so they are Keto and the kids inhale them? It is super simple!

I always make these on a day that I cook a lot of bacon for breakfast!

Bacon Brussels

2 lbs Brussel Sprouts

1/2 white onion chopped

4-6 cloves garlic

8-10 pieces of bacon with drippings

Salt and Pepper

Cook a foil lined cookie sheet of bacon on 375 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes. I can usually cook 10 to 12 large pieces on a sheet. You can do more batches of bacon to get more drippings if you like. I did two batches for 2 pounds of Brussels. This way you have bacon for breakfast, and the rest left over for dinner!

Remove bacon to a paper towel after it is cooked, and leave all drippings on the cookie sheet.

Rinse and drain your Brussel Sprouts in a colander.

Cut off ends, and throw in the trash. Quarter the sprouts and place in a large mixing bowl. These Brussels were huge so I had to cut some of them into eighths.

Dice your onion and peel and mince your garlic. We like a lot of garlic, but you can adjust to your taste.

Add onion and garlic to your Brussel Sprouts and mix well.

Pour your mixture over your bacon drippings on your cookie sheet and toss to coat.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Place in the oven at 400 degree for about 15 minutes.

Crumble cooked bacon and toss into the Brussel Sprouts. Cook an additional 5 minutes, and serve.

YUM!!!

Posted in Dinner, recipe, Side Dish, Uncategorized, Vegetable tagged with Alzheimer's, Brussel Sprouts, cancer, dinner, easy, nutrient dense, nutritious, recipe, side, side dish, vegetable

Spaghetti and Meatballs?

Posted on April 16, 2015 by thesweetlifesugarfree

Spaghetti was my husband’s favorite meal before we made the low carb lifestyle change. This simple substitution of Zucchini instead of the dreaded wheat pasta is simple and delicious! Just follow these steps:

1. Wash (well), trim and peel your zucchini. I used 8 squash (family of 5) for these pictures so you can get an idea of the final product and how many you will need for your family. I find the fatter shorter zucchini easier to work with in the spiral vegetable slicer. The one pictured was purchased at William’s Sonoma.

2. Start your spiraling one at a time. This is super fast. I let mine drop onto a flexible cutting board and then scrape them every so often into a colander.

3. As you place your “noodles” into the colander, salt them well to help release the moisture from within the vegetable. So..layer, salt, layer salt, etc. until your colander is full. Then place the full colander in the sink to let the moisture drain out. I usually do these in the afternoon before school dismissal, and then let them sit for a few hours so plan ahead. (Note: You do not have to let them sit this long…30 minutes will suffice. I just like to leave them and forget them during the busy time of the day.)

4. You can see how the heaping pile of squash turns into your little pile of noodles! That is the amount of water in the squash! VERY IMPORTANT! RINSE your noodles to remove all that excess salt! I rinse well and then press out all the excess water.
5. When you are ready to serve these, melt some Kerrygold in a sauté pan and cook on medium for about 10 minutes. I do this about 5 minutes before the meatballs come out of the oven. It’s that easy to have pasta once again!

For the Meatballs you will need:

2 lb grass-fed ground beef

2 eggs

1 cup onion (depending on your taste)

1 Tbsp Ground Flax Seed

4 cloves garlic

3/4 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp pink Himalayan salt

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1/2 tsp Hot Sauce

Grated Mozzarella Cheese or Cheese Sticks

1. Lightly sauté the onions and garlic in a tbsp of butter and let cool. Poor in a mixing bowl and mix all of your ingredients together with your hands EXCEPT for the mozzarella cheese.

2. Make about a ball about an inch to inch and a half in diameter and flatten out.

3. Place your mozzarella cheese in the middle and form a ball around the cheese. I used cut up cheese sticks but have used shredding cheese before as well. Place them on a foil lined cookie sheet sprayed with coconut oil.

4. Keep going with the meatballs until you have used all of your meat mixture.

5. Cook in a preheated 375 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes.

6. Serve over your zucchini noodles and favorite low sugar, all natural pasta sauce like this one:

7. Enjoy your yummy deliciousness! This is great leftover too! Annnnnnd…you can even top with more parmesan and mozzarella if you choose to to so.

8. This will soon be a favorite in your house too!

Posted in recipe tagged with dinner, kids, meatballs, spaghetti, spiral slicer, zucchini

Pizza-The Ketogenic Way

Posted on April 12, 2015 by thesweetlifesugarfree

Stavros family Pizza night

This is a game changer for those of use that ABSOLUTELY LOVE PIZZA annnnnnd are following a low carb life style.

We have tried the gamut of various “healthy” pizza crusts and this is by far the best. You may be a little shocked but the base of this is cheese. In reality you will be eating cheese on your cheese. How amazing is that?!

We have tweaked and tweaked and found a few tricks that help the texture.

Ingredients:

Parchment Paper and cookie sheet

Butter roughly 1 tablespoon

3 cups shredded Mozzarella

1 cup almond flour

4 oz cream cheese

2 eggs

Pizza seasonings to taste- I used oregano, thyme, and garlic. This is what I had on hand and eyeballed the amounts.

Preheat your oven to 425

Line your cookie sheet with parchment paper (this is important!) and drop the butter on the sheet to melt. Pop this in the oven to warm while you prepare the dough.

In a microwave safe bowl combine the mozzarella and cream cheese-this works best if the cream cheese is roughly cubed. Microwave these two for a minute, stir, 30 seconds, and stir again. If its really stringy or looks not melty enough you can keep heating in 20 or 30 seconds increments.

Once your cheese mixture resembles dough, add in the egg and almond four. Mix everything together.

At this point the butter should be melted on the parchment paper. Remove the cookie sheet from the oven.

Spread the dough on the cookie sheet using wet hands or even the now melted butter if its not too hot! Try to spread the dough across the entire sheet-it will be fairly thin.

Sprinkle your seasonings on top and dock (poke holes) with a fork all over the dough.

Bake for roughly 8-10 minutes and check for any bubbles that may require additional poking. In about 12-15 minutes your crust will be ready once it begins browning on top.

Once the crust is done go crazy with toppings and combinations. But remember you will only have it back in the oven long enough to heat and melt the cheese. Make sure any meat products are fully cooked prior to adding them to the pie.

Pop your now fully topped pizza back in the oven and give it just a few minutes to melt and meld everything together.

Natural and Nitrate Free. These are delicious and HUGE!

This pizza is so simple, delicious, and has a great texture which is helped by the melted butter. We have mixed up the topping in all sorts of variations including BBQ chicken, meat lovers, and most recently I cut out all the topping to make Rosemary Cheese bread!

Needless to say- I buy my mozzarella in bulk at this point.

Posted in recipe tagged with almond four, dinner, mozzarella, pizza, rosemary