Stuffed Peppers

While visiting family in VA, I decided to try my hand at making some stuffed peppers Keto style.  I didn't actually follow any recipe on Pinterest for this one, I just came up with it on my own.

Ingredients:

Green peppers (as many as you like, we used 6)

Hamburger meat (you can use 1 or 2 pounds, depending on how meaty you want them)

Cauliflower rice (I bought the frozen version at Walmart that you microwave)

Pizza sauce (look for a low-carb version)

Mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350

2. We cooked our hamburger meat until it was brown.

3. Microwave the cauliflower rice (or cook it until the water is gone depending on what version you have)

4. Mix the meat and rice in a bowl

5. Take the insides of the peppers out (stems and seeds) and wash the peppers.

6. Stuff the peppers with the meat/rice mixture.

7. Top with pizza sauce

8. Place in baking pan.

9. Let bake for 20 minutes (or more or less depending on how you like your peppers to taste)

10.  Remove from oven and add cheese on top of each pepper

11. Put back in oven for a few minutes until cheese has melted.

Voila!

They were very good. I've been experimenting with cauliflower rice for a while now and my family couldn't even tell the difference between it and regular rice with this recipe.

3 Month Keto Diet Anniversary

I've now been on this diet for 3 months.  I hopped on the scale this morning and I'm happy to report that I've lost a total of 42 pounds since I began!  Yay!

My goal was 50 pounds, so just a little more to go.  Yippee!

Keto Cheesecake!

Time for another Keto dessert post.  While visiting with my mom this summer, we decided to try our hand at a few Keto desserts -- and we love nothing more than a nice piece of cheesecake.  I'd noticed on Pinterest that many people were making cheesecakes while on this diet -- some with crust, and some without.  We decided to try a crustless one (plus it has fewer carbs). 

The recipe this time comes from The Low Carb Diet.

Ingredients

3 packages of cream cheese

1 cup of Stevia

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1/3 cup of sour cream

4 eggs

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350. Beat cream cheese until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Combine with sweetener, sour cream and vanilla extract, mixing for about 3 minutes.

2. Gently add eggs one at a time. beating until thick and creamy, about one minute after each egg.

3. Lightly grease the sides of a 9" springform pan and put the springform on a baking sheet. Pour in the filling. Bake for 50-55 minutes or until puffy and lightly brown around the edges.

4. Let cool for about 1-2 hours on wire rack. Cover, chill for at least 4 hours

Now we didn't actually have a springform pan, so we just used a pie pan.  Our results, however, were delicious.

We added sugar free strawberry syrup and a strawberry on top!  Yumm!

Keto Bagels

This morning's trial-and-error from Pinterest comes to us from Wholesome Yum!  The other night my kids and husband decided to have a simple dinner -- bagels and fruit.  We regularly have breakfast for dinner in my house, so this wasn't too surprising -- but the smell of those bagels toasting really got me thinking about carbs..... and so I turned to Pinterest go get inspired.  I also follow a Facebook page about the Keto diet and others had been trying to make Keto bagels and loved them -- so I thought I'd give it a try. 

The recipe is actually very easy and only takes 5 ingredients! 

1.5 cups of almond flour

1tbsp of baking powder

2.5 cups of mozzarella cheese

2 ozs of cream cheese cubed

2 large eggs (beaten)

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 400 and line your baking dish with parchment paper.

2. Put the almond flour and baking powder in a dish, mix it together, set aside.

3. Combine the mozzarella cheese and cream cheese in a bowl - then microwave it for two minutes, stirring it half way through and then at the end to combine it well.

4. Stir the flour mixture and eggs into the cheese mixture -- knead it well with hands until a soft dough appears.

5. Divide the dough into 6 parts.  Form a long log with each of the pieces and then form it into a circle (the bagel shape).

6. Bake for 10-14 minutes.

Voila!

So they turned out well, but they were a bit too salty for me.  I think if I did it again I might add some seasoning.  You could probably add a little cinnamon and stevia to have more of a sweet taste.  I prefer my bagels to be sweet.  Some people online have used this recipe to make these and then have burgers on them (so use them as a bun) or for sandwiches at lunch time. 

This was an easy recipe and I would do it again (but I'd do it a bit differently next time).