My Keto Life!

Trucking along!  I'm about to go back to work (I'm a school librarian) so my daily routines are about to change.  Hoping for positive changes but we'll see!

My last product post was about cooking tools for the kitchen.  This one is going to be about some of my favorite edible products!  Not all of these are keto friendly but they are low carb which is good enough for me.  Everyone of the things below are items I always have on hand and I immediately purchase again when I run out. Low Carb BBQ One of the things I missed a lot when I began this new way of eating was BBQ sauce.  This one still has carbs but they're low.  But because it has carbs, use it sparingly.  The flavor is spot on though!  There are lots of low carb options out there but this one is by far the best I've tried!  Thick and full of flavor! Low Carb Ketchup Tomatoes have carbs.  They are in so many sauces that it's hard to avoid them.  I found this reduced sugar ketchup and found it had reduced carbs.  I don't use it often but it tastes as good as regular ketchup to me so works if ketchup is what I want. Low Carb Pizza Sauce I searched high

I missed spaghetti over pasta but no more!  I found a great homemade pasta recipe which you can see here .  So now I'll be making all my favorite pasta dishes with them and will be happily blogging about each one!  First up is spaghetti!  Is it as good as regular spaghetti?  No, not really.  BUT it's really pretty good!  Definitely fills the void!  I will be making it again.  I made the sauce and two servings of the noodles.  I'll freeze the leftover sauce and make the noodles fresh when I want spaghetti again. Spaghetti over Homemade Pasta Low Carb Spaghetti Makes 4 servings Ingredients: 1 lb Ground Chuck 1 Tbsp Onion 1 tsp Minced garlic 1/2 Cup Rao's Homemade Tomato Basil Sauce 8 servings Egg Noodles 2 Tbsp Grated Parmesan, separated Instructions: Brown ground beef, onion, and garlic until the beef is cooked. Add 1/2 Cup sauce. Serve 1/2 cup spaghetti sauce over 2 servings of noodles. Top each portion with 1/2 Tbsp grated Parmesan. -MACROS- cal

I thought I'd share some of my favorite products!  Most of these were either recommended or I happened upon them on my own but each of them have become important in my new way of eating! Oster Food Processor I procrastinated buying a food processor for a while but finally gave in.  I found this one at Walmart and in spite of the rating on Amazon, I really like it.  It is large enough for larger veggies but has a little bowl you can put in there for smaller portions as well.  But honestly, any food processor will do.  They come in pretty handy for all kinds of things but one of the most useful purposes for me has been for things like cauliflower. Magic Bullet Personal Blender I rarely cook for more than myself so this little gem is perfect for smaller meals!  And clean up is a snap.  I didn't buy this particular brand but found a pretty inexpensive one at Dollar General and it works just fine. Oster Waffle Maker YES!  You can have waffles on a low carb diet BUT

One of the most difficult parts of a low carb diet is some of the things you have to give up.  Bread, potatoes, rice, and pasta.  Nothing can really replace them but sometimes you find something that helps make you miss them a little bit more.  This is one of those things!!  I found a replacement for pasta!  Zucchini noodles work too but these are more like real pasta!  I found this recipe as part of an alfredo recipe but I haven't made the alfredo part of it yet.  I have another alfredo recipe that I really like so I don't know if I'll try this one or not. Based off this recipe Homemade Egg Noodles (Egg Fast) Makes 2 servings Ingredients: 2 large Eggs 1 oz Cream cheese Pinch Salt Pinch Garlic powder 1/8 tsp Black Pepper Instructions: Blend the eggs, cream cheese, salt, garlic powder, and pepper in a magic bullet or blender. Pour onto a silicone mat or greased pan. Bake at 325 for 8 minutes or until just set. Remove and let cool for about 5 minutes.

Okay, obviously the picture below has bread and bread is a big no-no.  So don't use bread.  LOL!  Tonight I ate it just by itself and it was pretty darn good.  Tomorrow I think I may try my hand at making egg noodles and serving this over those noodles.  Regardless how you eat it, it's rather tasty!  I did make some adjustments to my version just to help with the total carbs per serving.  And because it made such a huge batch, I made it for company.  But will be freezing leftovers! Slow Cooker Crack Chicken Slow Cooker Crack Chicken Makes 14 servings, 1/2 cup each Ingredients: 3 lbs Boneless chicken breasts 2 (8oz) blocks Cream Cheese 1 (1oz) packet Dry Ranch Dressing Mix 8 oz Bacon, cooked and crumbled Instructions: Place chicken in slow cooker. Sprinkle ranch dressing over chicken. Place cream cheese on top of chicken and dressing mix. Cook on low 6-8 hours or high for 4 hours - until the chicken shreds easily. When done, shred chicken and mix thoroughly

I've seen this recipe more than once and just hadn't tried it.  I really wanted to stay away from artificial sweeteners as much as possible.  But I was looking for some good egg recipes today (eggs are an amazing food for the keto diet) and found the pancake recipe again.  I knew I had all the ingredients so I figured what the hell... might as well try them. OMG am I glad I did!!  I LOVED them.  Now if you decide to try them, don't be expected big fluffy pancakes.  This is not them.  They're more like crepes because they're pretty thin but I really enjoyed them.  A LOT.  So if you want something sweet or if you just want something quick and easy, try these!  You may just love them! Cream Cheese Pancakes

This weekend we are in New Orleans to celebrate the promotion of my brother to Lt. Col. in the U.S. Army.  We are here for 4 days.  Traveling and staying true to the Keto diet is not easy.  Especially in NOLA.  Seriously.  Home to some of the best restaurants in the south if not the world!  Sure I can make low-carb choices but I'm struggling with not knowing the ingredients in some of the things I'm eating.  Being out of my routine and habits just adds a bit of extra challenge.  It's okay.  I'm gonna make it work.  But it's not easy! Add to that that the hotel I am at has a fitness room but it's under construction (grrr) so I can't work out this whole time.  So... I don't expect to lose much if any this weekend.  I just pray I don't gain.  I had hoped that I would be down to my next goal before returning to work.  Wonder if the school district would consider extending the summer another week or two to give me time to do that!  LOL! So here ar

Some things are just harder than others.  My oldest is having a birthday and she is not on a low-carb or keto diet.  She eats healthy, is fit, and can pretty much eat what she wants.  Tonight I made her a healthy low carb shrimp alfredo over zucchini noodles and she loved it.  But she also loves bread and the occasional sugary snack.  And it was her birthday.  So what does a good mother do?  She indulges her kid. The Menu: Shrimp Alfredo over Zucchini Noodles French Baguette Slathered with Lots of Butter Chocolate Covered Strawberries Chocolate Dipped Rice Krispie Treats Glazed Donuts I tested my iron will tonight.  I buttered the bread myself and didn't not even taste a crumb.  I put all those sweets on the plate and didn't even lick my fingers!  LOL!  I simply ate and enjoyed my Shrimp Alfredo and watched as my three kids devoured everything else.  That was all I needed - to see them enjoy it.  I've come a helluva long way in the last 6 months.

OMG this was SO good!!  To celebrate my daughter's birthday I cooked a special dinner for her tonight.  She loves zucchini noodles (zoodles) as do I so I started searching a few days ago for just the perfect recipe.  What I came up with was a combination of basically three different ones!  So this is a bit labor intensive but you don't have to do it all at once if you don't want to.  I didn't.  I made the sauce and zoodles in the early afternoon then at dinner time, all I had to do was saute the shrimp and heat up the zoodles and sauce.  So easy! I forgot to sprinkle with Parmesan because I couldn't wait to dig in!   So here is my adaptation of all these recipes.  Links to the originals are within these directions. Shrimp Alfredo Makes 4 servings (1 cup zoodles, 1/4 cup sauce, 3 oz shrimp) Ingredients: FOR SAUCE (makes more than you'll need): 6 Tbsp Unsalted butter 1 cup Heavy cream 1/8 tsp Grated nutmeg Pinch Salt 1/2 cup Grated parmesan chees