Keto Recipe Digest # 29
Hello again on another physically distant Friday,
So the other day I was having a zoom chat with some friends who live in the GTA, and we were trading notes on what we're having to deal with being cooped up and just generally sharing how we're all coping with this work from home situation ...
Grocery shopping is an interesting adventure these days. If you are looking for a delivery timeslot, you aren't going to find one any sooner than 2-3 weeks out and if you are heading into the store to shop, forget about bringing a list because they generally don't have exactly what you came in looking for ... the idea of cooking these days feels a bit more like an episode of "Chopped" or one of those "Master Chef Mystery Box Challenges"
We also noticed that seeing as how we have some more time on our hands to cook, we're getting a little experimental occasionally... maybe because it's because we have time to let the dough rise, the kimchee to ferment or the kombucha to bloom and have never tried that before.... or maybe because all they had in the produce aisle was a shed load of cabbages and hey! someone said Kimchee is good for you because of all the probiotics (it is by the way and goes great in an omelet if you're feeling adventurous).. either way, between the weird grocery options, the increased food delivery orders to try and keep the local restaurants going... interesting things are happening with food.
And then there's the snacking... and the craving for snacking foods.... you know, all those things you're not supposed to eat when you're trying to be a good little keto-er.
So for all my snack friends, this installment is all about dealing with those snacking cravings ... chips and candy (and the odd salad and chilli cheese fries recipe because I made them this past week and they are so worth sharing)
Chip Snack Substitutes:
1. keto pepperoni chips - I can't even call these a recipe. it's one ingredient... pepperoni and the stupidestly (can I make this a word?) easy instructions, and frankly you can make these in a microwave so they take almost zero time... and once you're done, you get these crispy, crunchy, dippable, salty snacking things that are a greater chip substitute.
2. cheesy kale chips - sure for most, kale is nutritious but disappointing, but kale chips can get a real nice "crisp" factor to them if done right and they're a veggie so you can feel completely virtuous while you knocking down your manhattan, martini, red wine while binge streaming RuPaul's drag race on CraveTV
3. cheese chips - this is another one of those "I can't call it a recipe" recipe... it's two ingredients and another set of stupidly easy instructions (but not the stupidestly :) )...and again, you end up with a nice satisfying chippy thing to dip with or just get straight to crunching.
4. tortilla chips - okay, this one counts as a proper recipe, and everyone needs ar recipe for a half-decent tortilla substitute (that doesn't necessarily rely on just cutting up and baking low carb tortillas... which is also a totally acceptable go do)
Candy Snack Substitutes:
5. Keto sour gummies - I don't know what it is about gummy candies, but they're fun to eat.
6. Keto Butterscotch - Think of those McIntosh Butterscotch Candy bars you had to smack on the table to break apart so you could crunch or slowly suck on pieces of it until you had so much sugar you thought your teeth would fall out... this recipe is the replacement for that....without the "so much sugar you thought your teeth would fall out" part of the experience. You could even mix this up a bit by adding different extracts (mint butterscotch? or licorice perhaps? ... maybe add some crushed nuts?)
7. peanut butter chocolate bars - okay two reasons why this is an awesome recipe... 1. think of Reese's peanut butter cups and that's the flavour you're going to get with this recipe... and 2. it's no-bake.
Actual Recipes for real Meals:
8. Duck Salad with tangy blueberry mustard dressing - this was amazingly yummy, if you can find some duck somewhere in your grocery adventures I suggest you try it.
9. Cheater's Chili - I call this a cheater's chilli, because unlike your traditional chilli you might want to cook slow and low to get all the flavour you can out of it, this is quick and dirty and is perfect for when "chilli" is a means to an end (like chilli cheese fries perhaps?), not an end to itself. Although I admit, if you're hankering for a bowl of chilli and don't have all day to let your slow cooker do the work, this recipe does do the trick.
10. Chili cheese fries- really this is two recipes in one because you could just refer to it to make the jicama fries all on their own without adding the chilli cheese frills and whistles, the method used here is the best one I've found for dealing with jicama to make fries and they really do come out with a texture that fills the gap when you're looking for a "fry"
Speaking of cravings, I've been really yearning for some good Mexican this week, so keep your eyes open for a Mexican-themed digest next week...
Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and happy snacking!
Shosh