Keto friendly munchies & dinner

Today, I made my hubby a small plate of keto friendly munchies! A thick slice of liverwurst, deli sliced havarti cheese, chopped creamy gouda, and some pepperoni slices. Even I enjoyed stealing some to eat myself ! :D

For dinner, we had steak and salad. I love that hubby cuts up my steak for easy chompings. :) Salad is Costco's mixed greens topped with dried cranberries and toasted pumpkin seeds. Mm-mmm good! It's also keto friendly without the berries and seeds. Nom nom nom.

NY Strip Steak

It's been awhile since the hubby and I had a chunk of meat medium rare. We had food poisoning and it wasn't fun. We saw a pretty decent looking meat (a bit too lean, not enough marbling) for a pretty good price and decided to eat some steaks tonight all while in the back of our minds, we're praying not to get food poisoning again. 

We patted our steaks dry with a paper towel. Then seasoned the steaks with salt and pepper.

In a cast iron pan, on high heat, we melted about 2 tbs of butter. Then we placed one steak at a time to cook for a couple of minutes on each side. 

When the steak is flipped, we added just a touch more butter. Once the steak is done to your liking, simply place the steak on a wooden board, cover with foil, and let it rest for 10 minutes before cutting into it.

Serve with salad on the side :D Twas delicious!

Summer Pasta Salad with Baby Greens

I had this recipe bookmarked (about a month ago) bc it just looked absolutely tasty and gorgeous. And since I finally bought baby spinach, I just had to make it!

I doubled the recipe with slight modifications and used the following:
10 oz uncooked pasta, cooked
10 oz shredded chicken
5 oz baby spinach
1 oz baby arugula
1 cup sliced roma tomatoes
4 tsp capers
a generous pinch of kosher salt
4 tbs olive oil
3 tbs balsamic vinegar

First, I cooked the pasta according to its directions. The picture below was the end result.

Then I weighed out the shredded chicken, the spinach (L) and the arugula (R). (The bowl of shredded chicken was from a Costco chicken, which I had shredded earlier in the day. And the arugula was picked from my lil growbox garden.)

Next, I chopped up about 3 roma tomatoes (roughly 1 cup), which were homegrown and given to us by the Shis. I also measured out the olive oil and balsamic vinegar in a small bowl to whisk up later.

Then, in a big pot (didn't have a large enough bowl) mix the pasta, chicken, spinach, arugula and tomatoes together. I drizzled in some extra olive oil to help the mixing process. Don't forget to add in the capers and the kosher salt and pepper if you so desire. It should look something like the below picture: 

And then whisk the little bowl of olive oil and balsamic vinegar and pour however much you like into your pasta salad! It's quite light but still somewhat hearty and definitely full of flavor. Yum!

The pops and I had two bowls each! 

Om nom nom nom nom.

:D

DIY Faux Corn Dogs

First, cook your hot dogs. A pat of butter always makes everything tastier.

While the dogs are cooking, prep your sliced bread (we used wheat) with a slice of American cheese.

When the dogs are cooked to perfection, place one on your prepped bread and roll. The hot dog should melt the cheese and allow the bread to stay into a roll.

Place back into the pan and toast all sides. Add another pat of butter if needed.

It should look like the above. It reminded me of a corn dog but with a wheaty taste and no stick. It had a crunch on the outside and was nice and soft on the inside, just like a corn dog.

Serve with a side of salad.

Don't forget your condiments! Twas delicious =)

Sausage and Salad

Tonight's dinner was too pretty not to post. 

(Keto friendly version is don't eat them raspberries and tomatoes!)

Here's a link to a previous post to make perfect sausages. 

And here's a link to ramsey's delicious scrambled eggs.

The salad is just green leaf lettuce with chopped roma tomatoes and raspberries.

Steak and Salad

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

For father's day, we were gonna treat dad and go to Road to Seoul to stuff our faces with delicious meats and side dishes for lunch. Sadly, it turned out that dad decided to eat with his fellow church people and didn't come home til about 2pm. That meant  the hubster and I had to think of something else. What other meats to eat? Why, a steak of course! And so we set course to our local Pavillions and bought ourselves some steak and our favorite kettle chips!

This was supposed to my pop's Father's Day dinner, but my he was still too full and so this ended up being my hubby's and my dinner:

Mm-mmmmmm

However, pops did find room for dessert that we bought esp. for him:

Danish pie! Twas super yummy. I can't remember the last time we had danishes in the house. It's been awhile, which made it that much more enjoyable.

The next day, pops did get his steak and salad though:

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

Christmas Dinner

Christmas turkey

artichoke dip

nachos n chips, artichokes n crackers, cereal cookies and sugar cookies

swedish meatballs

twice baked mashed potatoes... LOVE

raspberry sorbet ginger ale soda

Stuffed pork loins w/ mash potatoes

Another super duper scrumptious holiday meal that makes me wish we were in Sacramento more often. :D As usual, the foods are to die for!

Chicken Parm.

For the Christmas week, we decided to stay with family in Sacramento. (They really know how to cook up a storm!

Salad with tangerines and special-made vinaigrette.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAY better than Olive Garden. Super fresh and homemade = major deliciousness in my tummy (w/o having to lift a finger... gotta love my cousin n aunt!!)