Keto friendly munchies

Le hubster was busily working on New Year's Eve so when he came home, I thought I'd cheer him up with some delicious keto friendly munchies. :) There's sliced avocados, sprinkled with kosher salt, sliced smoked gouda, liverwurst, white cheddar, a small dose of hummus in the right bowl and a small dose of super flavorful whipped cream cheese with garlic and other spices in the left bowl. Needless to say, he was very happy and very full after. :D

Keto friendly Fried Chicken

We recently bought a small deep fryer. One of the things we've been wanting to try is frying our own version of KFC. Hubby decided to just give it a go and attempted a keto-friendly breading using coconut flour as the base. You'll need brined chickens to fry (we had thighs this time around), 1-2 egg whites, 1 cup coconut flour, 1 tbs kosher salt, 1/2 tbs chili powder, 1/2 tbs smoked paprika, ground pepper to season and lots of canoloa oil.

Dip chicken into scrambled egg whites. Set aside.

In a bowl, mix the coconut flour, salt, chili powder, smoked paprika and ground black pepper.

Dredged the chicken into your breading and ensure full coverage.

We saved the yolk to try and deep fry as well.

Breaded yolks.

Pour oil into fryer. Preheat to 375°F. Fry the chicken thighs for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

(We fried the egg yolks for 20-30 seconds. Cool before attempting to eat.)

Our fried chicken was totally amazeballs! Super juicy and super tender with a delicious crunch! Best of all, it is keto-friendly!!

Side note: We might need to look into how to get the breading to adhere better to the chicken. A lot of the breading fell to the bottom of the fryer. :(

One breakfast morning...

Hubby's off-keto weekend breakfast:

Warmed and lightly toasted cinnamon apple scones topped with persimmon butter with a side of chopped banana, homemade whipped cream topped with chopped walnuts. Hubby was a very happy man. :D

Cinnamon buns (like Cinnabon's)

Over thanksgiving, my cousin made these awesomely delicious cinnamon buns. Like, they were to-die-for, homer drooling delicious! I personally prefer not to ask for recipes when it comes to crazy yummy desserts bc I can enjoy tasty desserts so much more when I don't know just how bad it is for you. Le hubby on the other hand could not wait another year for the delicious treats and kindly requested for the recipe. My cousin graciously obliged. And now le hubby can't get enough!

Here's the link to Robbie's Recipe Collection: Cinnamon buns like Cinnabon's.

Mix together 1 1/2 cups sugar and 3 tbs cinnamon; set aside.

Dissolve 0.50 oz of active dry yeast and 1 tsp. sugar in 1 cup of warm water; set aside.

Mix together milk, 2/3 cup sugar, 2/3 cup melted butter, 2 tsp salt, and 2 eggs.

Add yeast mixture and 4 cups of all purpose flour to mixture. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough flour to form a slightly stiff dough.

Turn dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead for 8 minutes.

Place dough into a large greased bowl, cover, and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 - 1 1/2 hours. 

Punch down dough and let rest for 5 minutes. (Should've covered with a damp tea towel).

Roll dough out onto a floured surface into a 15" X 20" rectangle.

Brush 1/2 cup melted butter over dough; sprinkle cinnamon sugar (from first step) evenly over dough; sprinkle nuts evenly over dough, if desired.

Tightly roll up dough and pinch edges together to seal; cut the roll into 12 - 15 slices.

Coat the bottom of a 13" X 9" X 2" baking pan with 1/2 cup melted butter. Place cinnamon roll slices close together in the prepared pan; cover pan and allow to rise in a warm place for 45 minutes.

Bake rolls in a 350 degree oven for 25 - 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Ta-da!!!

Glaze: Stir together powdered sugar, 2/3 cup melted butter, and extracts; stir in hot water, 1 Tbls. at a time, until the glaze reaches desired spreading consistency.

Braised Spare Ribs

Take your spare rib hunk and chop it into "easy-to-handle" pieces.

This set was generously covered in hubby's supposedly secret spice rub, but really, I just don't remember what he mixed in. Let it marinate for at least a 2-3 hours. Overnight is best.

This set was generously covered in Penzey's BBQ 3000 spice rub and kosher salt. Let it marinate for at least 2-3 hours. Overnight is best.

Then, pour in water or a can of light beer until it just reaches the top of the pieces. 

Lightly cover with foil and bake in a preheated oven of 275°F for at least 4 hours. 

It should look something like this.

Mm-mmm delicious! Super juicy and super tender ribs!!

Easy Beef Stew (in a Slowcooker)

The list of stuff you need are:

1-2lbs Beef
Salt and Pepper to Season
2 cups Red wine
8 tsp Beef Bouillon
8 cups Water
3-6 cloves of garlic, smashed
1 Onion, chopped
8 Celery Stalks, chopped
8 Carrots, peeled and chopped

1. Chop up your beef into 1" cubes. Season with salt and pepper. Sear on all sides. Then place them into your slowcooker.
2. Pour in 2 cups of any red wine you like. Cheapo wines work just fine too.
3. Add in 8 tsp of beef bouillon and 8 cups of water. (Or 8 cups of beef broth.)
4. Add in your smashed garlic, chopped onion, celery and carrots.
5. Cook on high for 6 hours and when the beef is tender.
6. Serve with rice or pasta.

Happy to say we got compliments on this easy peasy stew. :D

Easy Beef Empanadas

I've always wanted to make empanadas!!! And I finally bought the Pillsbury dough biscuits to make the empanadas in no time at all.

The filling is made with ground beef, chopped onions, thinly sliced carrots, salt and pepper for taste and frozen peas and pearl onions. (The measurements were all eyeballed.) Once everything was cooked, we added a little bit of flour to get the sauce to thicken so the juices don't run all over the place when it gets baked. If you're one that follows a recipe exactly, here are a couple of recipes to follow:

Easy Beef Empanadas by Pillsbury

Chilean Empanadas from Food.com

Using the Pillsbury's Grands Original Flaky Layers biscuits, we stretched each biscuits into a flat circle of about 5-6 inches in diameter. Then placed in heaping tablespoons of filling on one side of the circle. Fold over the other half of the circle over the filling and close tightly.

Using a toothpick, poke holes on the top so heat can escape during baking. Place it in a preheated oven for the recommended amount of time found on the canister. When the empanadas are nicely browned, pull them out and serve with salad or whathaveyou. 

As you can see, the dough wasn't closed tight enough, but at least we didn't have juices running all over the pan sogging up the biscuits.

They were super delicious!!! 

These empanadas were made with Pillsbury's Grands Junior Golden Layer Flaky Biscuits. It made the empanadas more bite-sized and just as yummy as the previous ones. Definitely a must try. 

I also want to try making mini calzones next!!

Holiday Waffles

To make Holiday Waffles, add persimmon butter to your waffles, sprinkled with chopped walnuts, topped with whipped cream, drizzled with honey and sprinkled lightly with cinnamon powder.

I eat my holiday waffles folded up like a taco to keep all the goodies in one bite. Mm-mmm!

Persimmon Butter

I can't believe I didn't find this Spiced Persimmon Butter recipe earlier. I wasted a bunch of persimmons trying to make jam that resulted in seriously overly sweet firm jam, which I ended up throwing out. :( This persimmon butter is so easy to make if you have a slow cooker and a free day!!!!! AND it's amazing!!!!!!

All you need is 20 persimmons, 1 lemon, 1/4 cup honey or agave syrup, 1 tsp cinnamon powder, 1/2 tsp ground cloves and 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg.

In a slow cooker, add your peeled, cored (seeds removed), chopped persimmons. Juice 1 lemon and pour it over the persimmons. Cover with lid and cook on HIGH for 2 hours.

My persimmons 2 hours later. Mash the persimmons (with a potato masher if you have it) and add in the honey and spices. Give it a good stir. Then continue to cook the persimmons on LOW heat for the next 8 hours, stirring occasionally so the butter doesn't burn. 

An hour later, my persimmon looks like it has the potential to be jam. I don't own a potato masher so obviously I didn't do a great job mashing....

Roughly another 2 hours later, you can tell a lot of the water has evaporated. I then took an immersion blender and blended everything up. Looked like a version of applesauce. So, I knew it needed to be cooked longer.

And finally, 3 hours later, the butter is ready! You can kind of tell it's ready when you stir it up and it stays on your spatula rather than sliding off. 

PS: Mine was ready in about 6 hours instead of 8 hours most likely because I placed mine in a huge slow cooker. This means it had a larger surface area for the water to evaporate.

Sterilized, then filled 2 pint jars and a 6 oz jar. I use this like I would butter or peanut butter. I spread the persimmon butter on toasts, waffles, scones, etc. Occasionally, I just eat a spoonful! :D Mm-mmmm deliciousness!

Ground Pork and Celery

It's been awhile since I've made an asian dish in the house. But there was pretty much nothing else in the fridge. So I just marinated our ground pork with soy sauce and sugar. Heated a saute pan on high heat with oil and minced garlic and a bit of chopped onions. Threw in the ground pork and added chopped celery. Eat with rice. Simple and hearty. :)

Roast Beef n Cheese Rollups

Well, whaddaya know? Adding lettuce to the Roast Beef n Cheese Rollups makes it taste much more like a sandwich. You really don't need the bread! Picture below is iceburg lettuce covered in sliced smoked gouda cheese covered with a deli slice of roast beef slathered with mayo and then topped with freshly cracked black pepper. It's super yumster and a keto friendly version of a sandwich. 

Persimmon Cookies

I made lots of things from persimmons, however, they were just not turning out super delicious (and thus not posted) until I found this persimmon cookie recipe. And man are they Ahh-mazing!

Here's what you need:

3/4 cups sugar 

(my homegrown persimmons are ridiculously sweet so I cut the sugar in half to 3/4 cups)

1/2 cup butter

1 cup persimmon pulp 

(about 2 1/2 regular sized persimmons)

1 egg

2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon clove

(accidentally added an extra 1/4 tsp of clove, but the cookie kinda tasted like a spice cookie, a super delicious spice cookie)

1 cup craisins 

(no raisins in the house, but we did have dried cranberries aka craisins)

1/2 cup walnut and 1/2 cup pecans

powdered sugar

These persimmons were over ripe.

1 cup persimmon pulp from the over ripe persimmons.

Mix 2 cups flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder, 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg and 1/2 tsp ground clove. Set aside.

In my kitchenaid, (it's awesome!) mix the 1/2 cup butter and 3/4 cup sugar.

Mix in the 1 cup persimmon pulp and 1 egg.

Then, add the flour mixture.

Add the 1 cup craisin, 1/2 cup chopped walnuts, 1/2 cup chopped pecans.

Mix until everything is well incorporated.

Spray cookie sheet with Pam and commence cookie droppings. 

Bake in preheated oven of 375°F for 15-18 minutes or until nicely browned.

Then, sugar coat the cookies with powdered sugar. They're super amazing! This will definitely be something I want to make again. Too bad we're running low on persimmons.