Strawberry and Goat's Cheese Spinach Salad

This salad is our go-to meal for eating out at a friend's house.  When someone invites us over to dinner, we offer to make them something at their place.  This salad works as a starter or main (after all, when we have it, it's our whole dinner!) and with a few tweaks, it is quite palatable to non-keto people as well.  'The acceptable face of keto' we call it.  Also, it is easy to put together in an unfamiliar kitchen with ingredients that are pretty easy to find.

Ingredients:

40 g baby spinach

25 g avocado

30 g strawberries

100 g Eroski goat's cheese

28 g olive oil

7 g red wine vinegar

2 drops stevia

Note on goat's cheese:  Make sure your goat's cheese is <0.1g per 100.  Besides Eroski's home brand, Capricorn goat's cheese (UK) is good (although you can't find the values on the outside of the package, trust me), and Trader Joe's (US) also carried some.

Cut the avocado, strawberries, and goat's cheese into thin slices and toss over your bed of baby spinach.

For the dressing, combine the olive oil, vinegar, and stevia and pour over your salad.  Adjust the olive oil as needed if you use a cheese with different values.

fat:  63.1 g, protein:  22.7 g, carb:  3 g

ratio:  2.5:1

Variations:

Toasted pecans are another lovely addition to this salad, and allow you to cut out a bit more olive oil or cheese.  Make sure you adjust down your carbs elsewhere, such as by going down to 35 g of spinach.

Blue cheese also works well on this salad if you can't find an appropriate goat's cheese (like in south Texas).  It's too strong for my tastes, but Tristan likes it even better!  Alternatively, we've even used brie on this salad in a pinch, which is much milder.

Bacon!  I tried it on a strawberry salad in Austin and became a believer, so if you need a bit more protein in your diet, sprinkle some on.  Like the pecans, most bacon has carbs, so adjust your spinach (or other carb) down a bit to compensate.

Avocado Egg Salad Lettuce Wrap

Another great summery lunch!  Cool avocado and egg salad wrapped in a crisp iceberg lettuce leaf for a bit of crunch.

Ingredients:

175 g eggs (3 1/2 medium eggs)

50 g mayo (Musa olive oil)

35 g avocado

2 g yellow mustard

2 g lime juice

0.3 g paprika

30 g iceberg lettuce leaf

Hard boil eggs (boil for 6 minutes and immediately run under cool water) and peel.  Chop into bite size cubes.

Chop avocado into bite size cubes and combine with egg.

Mix in mayo, lime juice, mustard, and paprika until well incorporated.

If using freshly boiled eggs, chill for at least 30 minutes to get cold egg salad.

Wrap it all up in a large outer iceberg lettuce leaf and enjoy!

fat:  62.7 g, protein:  23.7 g, carb:  3 g

ratio:  2.3:1

Note:  I recommend making this in a double batch, otherwise you're left with half a boiled egg!

Coconut Fruit Pops

Tristan is meant to have a snack or dessert every day, so it's good to have something easy around.  Frozen treats are also good since its getting quite hot these days!  Pictured here are two flavors of coconut fruit pops, lime and raspberry.  I use frozen raspberries, again for convenience, and the nutritional values are based on those printed on my frozen raspberry bag from Carrefour.


Ingredients:

Coconut Lime Pops

60 g coconut cream (blue dragon)

18 g lime juice

2 g coconut oil

4 drops liquid stevia

Raspberry Coconut Pops

60 g coconut cream (blue dragon)

24 g frozen raspberries

3 drops liquid stevia

In the case of the lime pops, the ingredients only need to be stirred together and poured in popsicle containers which can hold at least 80 mL of liquid.  Be warned, these pops are very lime-y so decrease the lime juice if you don't enjoy sour sweets.

fat:  13.5 g, protein:  2.1 g, carbs:  2.5 g

ratio:  2.9:1

For the raspberry pops, combine ingredients in a blender and pour.  It's better to use slightly bigger pops if you can find them.  The consistency is quite like a very thick smoothie or milkshake, so another alternative way of serving would be as a frozen drink.

fat:  11.8 g, protein:  2.3 g, carbs:  2.5 g

ratio: 2.5:1

Variations:  I've also made a strawberry version, and I'm sure lemon or blackberry would work too (or combinations?) depending on what fruits you like!

Choco Squares Flax Cereal

Cereal for breakfast is a real miracle on the ketogenic diet.  For one, if you are not a morning person, it means getting an extra 30 minutes of sleep when you have morning commitments because it is storable and easy to put together morning-of.  It also means a break from scrambled eggs.  For Tristan, it is a real treat.

My fruity flax loops recipe was a big hit with Tristan and the blog as well (although still a dearth of comments!) based on views, but it was exhausting to make.  This recipe rectifies the labor-intensiveness of the last recipe by making a sheet of squares and utilizes the greatness of double cream to make the perfect breakfast!

Ingredients:

Cereal:

80 g ground flaxseed

30 g egg white

25 g melted butter

5 g Cadbury's cocoa

4 g truvia

50 g water (approximately)

Milk:

75 g Alpro unsweetened almond milk

50 g double cream (50.5% fat)

Combine ground flaxseed, egg white, melted butter, cocoa, truvia, and water in a bowl, mixing until combined.  You may need more or less water based on climate (from my experience).  Use the amount you need for the dough to be fully moistened but still a dough-like consistency.

Spread the dough thinly on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  The easiest and least messy way to do this is to spread it between two layers of parchment paper.  Oh the wonders of parchment paper!

Using a butter knife, score lines into the dough, making squares.

If you want to be done in a hurry, bake at 350 F (175 C) for about 20 minutes.  Be aware that if you want it crunchy, you run the risk of over-toastiness!  The more patient among us should give it a try baking at 150 F (65 C) until crispy which will keep away any chance of burning, but be high enough to fully cook the egg in the dough.

Serve with cream/almond 'milk'.

fat:  81.9 g, protein:  20 g, carb:  3 g

ratio:  3.6:1 (heck yeah!)

Note:  Despite chocolate being a pretty strong flavor, the overwhelming taste here is still flax.  If you can afford more carbs or a lower ratio, you can try adding more cocoa - no promises!  I also tried using cinnamon and vanilla as the flavor instead of cocoa, which Tristan liked equally well (still tasted like flax) so a good alternative for someone who doesn't like chocolate - like me!

Protein Powder Pancakes

My recipe for Cinnamon Crepes is pretty low in protein, so I wondered what would happen if I added protein powder to the batter.  Adding more protein to the recipe meant I would need more fat as well, so I also added some butter to the batter.  What I got seemed a lot like pancake batter.  It cooks up thicker for a heartier version of the breakfast.

Ingredients:

Pancake Batter:

28 g cream cheese

52 g egg (about one)

12 g protein powder

22 g european butter

0.5 g cinnamon

5 g truvia

10 g european butter

50 g heavy whipping cream (40%)

5 g walden farms pancake syrup

Warm up your cream cheese until softened, or use room temperature cream cheese.  Mix well with the egg.  Add the protein powder, melted butter, cinnamon, and truvia.

Heat a skillet over medium low heat and add remaining 10 g butter to the pan.

Pour batter onto pan into three evenly sized pancakes.  Cook until bottoms are starting to brown and are stable enough to be flipped.

Leave pancakes to cool at room temperature or in fridge.

Whip the cream until stiff.

Spread the whipped cream in between the layers of pancakes leaving a dollop on top.  Spoon over 5 g of pancake syrup.

fat:  62.7 g, protein:  19.8 g, carb:  3 g

ratio:  2.8:1

Variation:  If you don't want to your pancakes with whipped cream or quite so much whipped cream, you could always add that cream to a coffee instead and enjoy them with just a modest amount of pancake syrup.

Fruity Flax "Loops"

Cereal is one of Tristan's big 'misses' on the ketogenic diet.  I had seen a few different keto breakfast cereal recipes floating around the internet, but each had their drawbacks.  For instance, a paltry child's handful of brightly colored fruit loops might taste nice, but they would never satisfy as a meal, nor contain enough protein for an active adult man.  Instead, I combined the best of every recipe I found, along with a couple of twists of my own.  The resulting cereal has a very 'healthy' flax taste to it, but according to Tristan, is my most ingenious creation yet!

The other upside to cereal is that it doesn't need to be kept cool, and the hours of advance preparation aside, can be put together very quickly the morning it's eaten.  Good news if you're packing up a campground!

Cereal Ingredients:

28 g european butter

2 g truvia

2 g sugar-free jello powder (strawberry banana)

10 g raw egg white

15 g vanilla soy protein powder

43 g ground flax seed

1/3 C water

'Milk':

50 g heavy cream (40%)

50g unsweetened almond milk

Melt butter and add all other remaining cereal ingredients.  The 1/3 C of water makes the batter easier to work with, but does not need to be precise, whatever works for you and your climate!

Pour batter into a plastic baggie and cut off one of the corners.  Remember, the size you cut from the corner dictates how much comes out when you are piping.  Bigger holes go faster!

If you are going for loops, pipe into loop shape.  However, if you are making a big batch like I was, you will quickly end up saying f*ck loops, you're getting blobs!  I promise that blobs taste just as good as loops, so give your hand a break if you need to!  Stick to about 1/2 inch in size.

Bake at 350 F for about 15 minutes.  Time will depend on size.  They should be crunchy and golden when ready.

Serve with the cream/almond 'milk.'

fat:  63.4 g, protein:  24 g, carb:  3 g

ratio:  2.4:1

Variations:  I chose strawberry banana jello flavor which gives it a nice banana smell when it is baking. In the end, flax is the overwhelming flavor, but if you want to try other jello flavors, go for it!  Our protein powder is all the way from a Holland and Barrett in the UK and the lowest carb option was vanilla soy, but I imagine any protein powder should work, just make sure it is low on the carbs!