Meats n broccoli

Dinner for me n dad

Keto dinner for hubby

Faux brownie Try #1

Remember when I made that batch of fudge brownies for my dad cuz it was his birthday? Well, sadly, my husband to be missed out on that due to his keto diet. I felt kinda sad for him so I thought I'd surprise him with something similar! And out came the keto-friendly faux brownie. I call it faux because it just doesn't quite look like a real brownie and upon tasting, doesn't quite have the texture of a real brownie.

For this batch of brownies, I used 3 eggs, 1/4 tsp sea salt, 1/4 cup unsalted butter, 4 oz cream cheese, 3 tbs splenda, 1-1/2 tbs cocoa powder (hershey's special dark chocolate), 6 tbs coconut flour (packed), and 1/4 cup of water.

I placed the eggs and salt in a food processor (cuz I don't have one of those mixers yet: Cuisinart 5.5-Quart Stand Mixer SM-55 - Brushed Chrome (Google Affiliate Ad)) and mix til the eggs are scrambled. Then I added the butter and cream cheese in chunks and mixed again. Added the splenda and cocoa powder and mixed again. Then added the coconut flour and mix. And lastly added the water and mixed one last time.

I poured the batter in a small pyrex bakeware lined with parchment paper. Then placed in preheated oven of 350 degrees F and left to bake for about 40 minutes or until done.

This makes 6 pieces at no more than 4 grams of net carbs a piece. It was hubby approved since this was the closest he's come to chocolates.

But I still need to perfect this....

Ground Beef dishes

This one is leftover meatloaf with rice n broccoli. A classic yummy oldtime fav... if the meatloaf is done right... (and this one is!)

This one is keto friendly with a slab of ground beef topped with cheddar cheese and a dollop of sour cream and broccoli for sides. Super delish as well! It's kinda like a burger patty~ super savory and juicy! The ground beef was basically treated like a steak with salt and pepper for seasoning and then straight onto a high-heated pan. It was cooked til just well done since it was previously frozen.

This would've been useful to have: Stainless Steel Turner, 3" x 7 1/2" (Google Affiliate Ad)

Sausage w/ Tofu n Shortplate

The sausages were delicious. Super savory and sweet and very juicy! Then we have our stirfried tofu with short plate and chili sauce for a spicy kick. YUM!

Champagne Brunch

Scrambled eggs and sausages... really savory and sweet and yumm-i-ness all over!

And bacon, can't forget the bacon! I did them partly extra crispy and partly soft.

I prefer the softer version but my hubby loves the crunch in the extra crispy ones.

And champagne. This one was pretty good. I believe it was a barefoot champagne.

(Not really keto friendly unless it's the only carbs you get for the rest of the day).

I tried to give my hubby breakfast in bed but it just wasn't working... so we brought them back to the desk... haha

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Meatloaf!

This is a version of Good Eats Meatloaf from Alton Brown.

Everything is pretty much the same with a few substitutions....

1) Instead of 6oz of garlic-flavored croutons, I decided to make a sweet-ish meatloaf and used 6oz of stale kashi cereal (original).

2) In place of 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, I added more of the chili powder.

3) In place of 3 whole cloves of garlic, I used 2 tsp of garlic powder.

4) In place of the ground meats, I used 28oz of ground beef and 4oz of bacon, chopped into bits. (Yes, I know I'm short 2oz of meat....)

5) And since I added bacon, I reduced the salt to 1/2 tsp.

Other than that, just follow the recipe as stated and it will be super delicious and moist. While the flavor was awesome, my meatloaf was crumbly. Next time, I would use a really large egg or two regular ones.

And since only 1/2 a bell pepper and 1/2 an onion was called for the meatloaf, I stirfried the remaining and called them veggies! :) We also bought sausages, but those are for another post.

Nom-nom-nom-nom, that's one hella great yummy eats!

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Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal

I like oatmeal for breakfast, but let's face it, sometimes, it's just plain boring. This morning I spiced up my oatmeal with an apple, cubed, cinnamon and a bit of sugar.

For two servings (my da and I) of oatmeal, I boiled 1-3/4 cups of water, added the cubed apples and let cook for a minute or so. Then I added 1 cup of 1 minute quick oats and let cook for a minute. Then add as much cinnamon as you like and top it off with a bit of sugar for added sweetness.

It was mm-mmm delicious! :D

Deconstructed Burger & Fudge Brownie

It's like an open burger without the buns plus rice for my daddie (he's from hawaii). :)

Also, it's my daddie's bday today so no leftover foods today!

Except for the cheesecake.... but that's like crazy yumminess so it's ok. Plus a freshly baked batch of brownies for my da.... it's also one of his favs.

Brownie recipe:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, 1 to 1-1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips, just under 1 cup of granulated white sugar, 2 eggs, 1tsp vanilla extract, 2/3 cup flour

1. You could either grease your pan or use parchment paper

2. Melt butter and chocolate over low heat in a double boiler OR nuke 30sec in microwave a few times. Careful not to over heat it! You just might burn your chocolate...

3. Once melted, off the heat, stir in the sugar.

4. Stir in the eggs and vanilla

5. And lastly, stir in the flour

Bake in preheated oven of 350F for approx 40 minutes or until done. It's really great to eat once it's pulled out of the oven. But once it's cooled completely and then refrigerated, it's hard as rock because all the chocolate hardened so you wanna plop it in the microwave and warm it up again. Also, it's best to precut the slices you want.

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Leftovers

Not keto friendly: The stuff in the bowl are leftovers from hot pot. It's got some meats, cabbage, imitation crab meat, noodles, fish balls, and eggs. Leftover hot pot is always so very tasty because it's got all these amazing flavors mixed together. Definitely a fav during the winters. 

Keto friendly: The stuff on the plate is stirfried kimchi with chopped tofu and shortplate seasoned with salt and pepper. 

Beef n Cheese Quesadilla

I quickly stirfried ground beef with a bit of kosher salt n pepper and curry for the heck of it. Once everything was cooked, I folded in chopped green onions. Then the tortilla was warmed in a non-stick pan. Sprinkled a layer of cheddar cheese, the ground beef mixture, and another layer of mozzarella cheese. Fold and let cheese melt into yummy gooey-ness. 

Voila.

Hot Pot

Just another picture of one of our hot pot eating days since it's been pretty cold lately.

Ps: the only keto foodies here are the meats, tofu, cabbage and kimchi.

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Cheesecake

This cheesecake is NOT keto-friendly because I used actual granulated sugar.

Essentially, it's the same recipe as the keto version though.

Coconut Crust: 1/2 cup room temp butter, 2 eggs, 1/4 tsp sea salt, 3/4 cup coconut flour. Mix the first three ingredients then add the coconut flour in stages. Once everything is well incorporated, pour it into your pie-ware. (I used a 9in glass pie pan). I pounded the crust down with my fist for a nice good crust. Poke holes with a fork. Place in preheated oven of 400 degrees F for 10 minutes. Then lower the temperature to 325 degrees F for the cheesecake to cook.

Cheesecake filling ingredients: 24oz cream cheese, 4 eggs, 1-1/2 tsp vanilla extract, 1-1/2 tsp lemon juice, 1/2 cup granulated white sugar. 

Cheesecake filling instructions: Beat cream cheese until creamy (I did this by hand for about 2 minutes but it sure would've been handy to have this: Cuisinart Power Advantage 5-Speed Black Hand Mixer - HM50BK (Google Affiliate Ad)). Then add the eggs and beat until well mixed. Add the vanilla extract, the lemon juice and the sugar. Mix well. Then pour into your crust.

Your oven should already be pre-heated to 325 degrees F. Place your uncooked cheesecake mixture and cook for an hour. Check for done-ness via the toothpick method (needs to pull out cleanly from the center).

Eat chilled with a bit of whipped cream equals major kick ass delicious-ness that satisfies the sweet tooth really well.

ps: I did make another keto one for the hubster so he can enjoy this as well. ;)

Beef Short Ribs

We had bulgogi marinaded beef short ribs with rice, broccoli, and a bit of short plate. This dinner was super delish!





Le Creuset Fennel Cast-Iron Skillet, 10" (Google Affiliate Ad)

Fondue!

Our fondue turned out to be a total fail bc we were just winging it. Fondue turned out to be so much more than just nuking cheeses in the microwave... Don't try this at home!

We nuked shredded cheddar and mozzarella cheese in the microwave along with a bit of white wine, crushed garlic and some mustard. It looked good at first, but then ended up lumpy.

Shredded chicken and pork belly pieces (not salted since our fondue was already salted)

broccoli and cheese is a classic and therefore a must-have for fondue

costco meatballs

I'd say the meal looks legit, but in reality, it wasn't the best. If I could change out the cheese for rice, the meal would've been that much more enjoyable.

PS: After our failed attempt at fondue, we did some research and found out that nuked cheese is a major no-no among other wrong/missed things that we did. It's supposed to be melted slowly at a really low temperature. If you're interested, take a look at Alton Brown's vid: www.foodnetwork.com





Fondue Gift Set (Google Affiliate Ad)

Chicken n Roasted Tomatoes

For dinner we had chicken, roasted tomatoes, chinese sausages and stirfried kimchi. All in all, it was another good meal.

Keto-friendly Cheesecake

If you're on a keto diet, you must be really missing out on some sweet stuff. That was my poor fiance until I found a keto friendly cheesecake for him! This was a small batch that I wanted to try out first and it came out wonderfully!

FYI: I made a coconut crust because I didn't have flax or almond meal.

Coconut Crust: 1/4 cup room temp butter, 1 egg, 1/8 tsp sea salt, 1/4+1/8 cup coconut flour. Mix the first three ingredients then add the coconut flour in stages. Once everything is well incorporated, pour it into your pie-ware. I just pounded it down with my fist since cheesecakes don't normally have a side crust. Poke holes with a fork. Place in preheated oven of 400 degrees F for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the filling...

Cheesecake filling ingredients: 8oz cream cheese, 1 egg, 1/4 tsp vanilla extract, 1/2 tsp lemon juice, 2 tbs splenda. 

Cheesecake filling instructions: Beat cream cheese until creamy (I did this by hand for about 2 minutes). Then add the egg and beat until well mixed. Add the vanilla extract or your keto friendly substitute and the lemon juice and the splenda. Mix again. Then pour into your crust.

Once you've pulled out your crust, lower your oven to 325 degrees F. Place your uncooked cheesecake and cook for an hour. Check for done-ness via the toothpick method (needs to pull out cleanly from the center)

Serve with a dollop of whipped cream.

It totally hit the spot for my hubby. Now I need to make a bigger batch for him...

PS: For a no brown top cheesecake, it needs to cook at a lower temperature (300F) but for a longer time (60-120 minutes) I just didn't want to wait that long.

PSS: Since I'm not on the keto diet and I strongly dislike the splenda aftertaste, I'm totally going to make another pie using regular sugar!






Johnson & Johnson JOJ200025 Splenda Sugar Substitute- 1.0g- (Google Affiliate Ad)

Curry Salmon

Curry salmon was made by first stir-frying salmon skin in a non-stick pan with a pat of butter. It was seasoned with kosher salt, ground pepper and curry powder. Remove the salmon to a bowl. With the remains in the pan, pour a lil bit of white wine and heavy cream to make a little bit of sauce. Add more curry powder and stir well. When it thickens, pour over your salmon. And then drizzled on some lemon juice. Serve with sliced avocados and a dollop of cream cheese for a deliciously savory meal.

We used McCormick's curry powder bought from amazon.com, but I'm guessing any curry powder works. FYI: McCormick's curry powder is mild. I'm guessing regular curry powder is spicy.
Frontier Bulk Vindaloo Curry Seasoning ORGANIC 1 lb Foil Bag 5751 (Google Affiliate Ad)

Chicken, Poutines, Guac n Rice

For dinner, we had rice, shredded chicken (costco rotisserie), guacamole and leftover poutines from   Biergarten. This was one super duper great tasting meal!

Potstickers

Sooooooo, I made a crapton of potsticker and freezed them. I'm sure I've said it before but it sure is handy having premade dumplings in the freezer to make when I don't feel like doing full-on cooking. Sadly, it isn't perfected science since they ended up sticking to each other. Had to defrost in the microwave for a bit before I could pry them off.

A plate full of potstickers for daddy. It's another favorite in this household!

(The hubster and I had dinner with a friend at Biergarten)

Eggs n Kimchi

Keto-friendly: Scrambled eggs made with eggs, shredded mozzarella cheese and a bit of heavy whipping cream and kosher salt. Kimchi stirfried with a wee little bit of mushrooms.

Not keto-friendly: Rice topped with furikaki, cabbage with a scallop sauce (XO stuff), tofu and kimchi stirfy, and some scrambled eggs

The eggs were great tasting but everything else was kinda bleh. Not one of our best meals...

Coconut Bread #2

This is a modified recipe of this coconut bread. My fiance and I were trying to make the coconut bread less dense and more bread-like with a soft inside and crunchy outside. I think we've somewhat succeeded:

Using the same ingredients but in a different order with added water, the bread was less dense, more moist and easier to eat overall compared to the original recipe.

Here's what we did:

1) In a food processor, add 6 eggs. Scramble it a bit.

2) Add 1/2 cup ghee (regular unsalted butter works fine too). I use room temp and cube it so it's easier to combine with the other ingredients.

3) Add 1/2 tsp sea salt. Mix until butter is crumbly.

4) Add 3 tsp of splenda. Mix briefly.

5) Add 3/4 cup coconut flour. Mix well.

6) And then I added 1/2 cup water. Mix again.

7) Place in glassware that is lined with parchment paper for easy pull out.

8) Bake in preheated oven of 350F for 40 minutes, then 250F for about 15 minutes or until done. 

If you continue to cook the bread at 350F, it'll start to burn. The reason for the long cooking time is to let the water evaporate so it'll be a pleasant somewhat airy bread. It was pretty moist too if you eat it right out of the oven. Hubby loves it!

Updated 10/22/2013: Please see Perfected Coconut Bread for updated pictures. (Recipe is the same as I've been updating the info as I tweaked along.)

Duck, Sausage, n Salmon

Dad's plate - he's from Hawaii so he's gotta have his rice. In addition to his rice, he's got salmon (on top), duck (on left) and sweet sausage slices (on bottom). While the picture isn't exactly mouth-watering, the meal certainly was.

Hubby's plate (keto-friendly) - duck to your left, salad in the middle, and salmon with a dollop of cream cheese on your right. Mmmmmm.

My plate (also keto-friendly) - I got salmon skin on the left, duck meat on top, followed with leftover broccoli, leftover kimchi, leftover tofu, couple of sweet sausage slices on bottom and leftover shredded chicken with bbq sauce in the middle (ps: the bbq sauce is totally NOT keto-friendly).

Chicken and Kimchitofu

Here, we have our famously delicious baked chicken... okay, it's not that famous, just commonly eaten and I love love love our brined then baked chickens. Served with a side of broccoli, kimchi and tofu. 

Kimchi and tofu goes deliciously well together and totally balance each other out. We got this idea from one of favorite eats, Biergarten. Sooooooo tasty!!

Sirloin Steaks

fo dinna is supa dupa ah-mazin!

one for me, one for my da, and one for my lova :D

1. Rinse, pat dry, season with lawry's or keep it simple with kosher salt and ground pepper on both sides

2. Place in heated cast iron and sear for about 2 minutes.

3. Flip and sear for another 2 minutes.

4. Then place it in a preheated oven of about 450, 475 degrees. Keep check of internal temperature to desired done-ness.

We enjoyed our delicious steaks with some salad and olives and a trio of sauces (though it wasn't really needed) 

Trio of sauces (top to bottom) - ketchup n hot sauce (way better with chicken), mayo n black pepper (surprisingly tasty with the steak), and A1 sauce n a bit of ketchup (always goes well with steak)

ps: even though it looks like we only cooked two steaks, we cooked three and everyone ate their own. Om nom nom nom nom. Super tasty and mouthwatering and looking at the pictures make me want more!

pps: ketchup is not keto friendly, but the steak and salad sure is