Keto Recipe Digest #4
Original Email Sent Friday Oct. 4th, 2019 -
Happy Friday Everyone!
It's October, and the temperature has dropped to single digits in Kincardine today, but I am still planning on getting my fall bulbs into the ground this weekend, finally tackling that clean laundry i have been pretending will magically fold itself if I don't look directly at the basket and maybe do a bit of experimenting in the kitchen.... I'll keep you posted on how it goes. update from the Rosh Hashana table - the Honey cake was a huge success, it definitely lived up to expectations. Other recipes brought to the table were cabbage rolls, a gratin and a caramel apple cheese danish. I'm writing those up for next week, I wasn't really happy with the jicama gratin, although it was tasty.. the jicama texture wasn't what I was looking for, so I want to play with it some more before I commit it to paper.
I've been having so many conversations about Keto recipes lately and a number of people have asked for specific types of recipes so I'‘ve been thinking about some themes for the next few digests to come, in no particular order... If you have a specific theme of recipes you want to see, let me know and I'll work that in.
1. What I'm calling my "sad desk lunch" theme - I always end up eating my lunch at my desk... sometimes I get about 5 minutes to eat it... sometimes I get to take bites throughout the day because I'm fitting food in when I can. I think lots of us end up eating lunch this way... so the recipes slated for this digest themes are those quick and easy lunches- pre-prepped salads, meat and veg hand pies, savory muffins, on the go parfaits and smoothies... that kind of thing
2. Stuff I ate when I was a kid - sometimes you just want something you know is "bad for you", the stuff you ate as kid, or while in university and never thought anything of it.... candy bars, nachos, macaroni and cheese, shamrock shakes, egg McMuffin sandwiches, and cinnamon rolls, etc..... this digest theme will be dedicated to these kinds of foods
3. Foods my Brit likes to eat - It shouldn't come as any surprise but typical "British" fare is NOT so keto-friendly. Rob loves, loves, loves his sausage rolls, scotch eggs, meat and veg pasties, Bakewell tarts, etc. I've spent a fair bit of time experimenting with keto-fying these recipes such that he asks for more (instead of telling me whatever I just gave him was "rubbish!"), so they are good enough to share now.... this digest is for all the other Brits on this list who might be craving these too (you know who you are)
4. Cookies, Cookies, Cookies - Keto baking is so finicky. Maddie and I often bake up a few batches of different kinds of cookies at Christmas time to share with neighbours, friends, family, the postman... This is the digest dedicated to just cookies. Cookies you can eat now, cookies you can eat later, cookies you can pack now and give away later... you get the idea -Cookies.
So on the subject of themes ... this digest also has a theme to it. With the Canadian Thanksgiving weekend coming up next weekend, this week's digest is all about "the dishes you want on your Thanksgiving table, but thought you'd never have again... being Keto".
These are not the recipes to make the perfect turkey, or prime rib because let's face it, you already have your favourite "star of the centre of the table" dish, and it's probably already perfect as a keto protein, just the way you already make it.
Thanksgiving sides are also pretty easy when being keto... creamy cauliflower mash, roasted Brussels sprouts with hazelnuts and bacon, steam asparagus, or green beans ... these are all good keto side dish choices, and pretty easy to put together or modify for your usual standby.
What we're talking about are the buns you want to be slathered in butter to sop up gravy... oh! and gravy of course!... We're talking about stuffing (whether you cook it in the turkey or on the side) and a nice cranberry sauce ...... and We're talking about pie!... pies that just screams "pile some whipped cream on this slice of heaven and forget about that button doing up your pants, you aren't going to need it tonight!!"
So this week's digest includes the following recipes for:
1. Keto Baguettes/ Buns - this is a central ingredient to the Keto stuffing, but if you make two batches you get stuffing and buns for the table, Bonus!
2. Keto stuffing... I'm a sucker for any kind of stuffing, this one has all the right flavours and doesn't hit you with all the carbs.
3. Gravy - whether you are making a bird or a roast... this is the basic recipe you are going to want to use if you want to pour something over your main protein or your mashed cauliflower
4. Cranberry sauce - Remember how you used to have a choice between cranberry jelly out of a can (that still had that can shape when it landed on the dish), or cranberry sauce out of can? well those were the choices I had growing up... when I started making my own thanksgiving meals, this was the first thing that had to go... Making your own is easy and you can spruce it up any way you want to... I like mine a little tart and a bit citrusy.
5. Pumpkin pie - A pumpkin pie at thanksgiving is de rigour! This is Maddie's favourite kind of pie, if she could reasonably convince me she could live on pumpkin pie alone, she would totally try. (This is also the one pie Rob does not like.... so a minimum of two types of pie on my table is always what's happening for the holidays. (Side note - the secret to making sure the filling doesn't crack is treating it like the custard it really is keeping the heat low when baking.)
6. Pecan Pie - This is one of my favourite kinds of pie (who am I kidding, I haven't met a pie I didn' like, but pecan definitely sits up there in the top 5).
Happy Cooking!
Shosh