Alternative pizza crust time! Now, don’t get me wrong, I love a yeasted dough, probably more than most things in life. But trying new things isn’t a bad thing and this was certainly worth the adventure! I was looking into alternative crusts and came across the “meatza” which is a ground beef crust… delicious, I’m sure, but also terrifying. Gen suggested a cauliflower crust and after some searching around online I read enough to decide that this was worth doing. The crust honestly doesn’t taste like cauliflower. It tastes almost like a fluffy, soft biscuit. The way I went about making this created a fairly stable crust (though we did have to eat it with a fork), and it crisped up nicely on the edges. It certainly wont replace a yeasted crust in my heart, but it was a good experiment that Gen LOVED, so we will certainly be eating it again.
Category Archives: Keto
Spicy Almonds and Buffalo-style Almonds- awww yes, snacking goodness
These are a great snack when you want something a little spicy, totally convenient, and easy to make! They both whip up in about 20 minutes, and you could cook the two batches together to save time. I tossed the two flavours in a bowl together for a bit more excitement! We only had almonds on hand, but this would work great for mixed nuts, so go wild. The red almonds are the buffalo ones and the other are the general spice mix. I am going to try a few more combos for a future post.
Buffalo-style Almonds
INGREDIENTS
- 2 cups raw almonds
- 1 egg white
- 1 1/2 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp Frank’s Hot Sauce
- 1 to 2 tsp cayenne powder
- 1/3 tsp onion powder
- 1/3 tsp garlic powder
- 1 small pinch of cinnamon (for a little sweetness to add to the spicy)
- 1/2 tsp salt
DIRECTIONS
- Heat oven to 300°F and line a baking sheet with parchment.
- Whisk your egg white in a medium bowl until foamy. Add the almonds and stir to coat, allow to sit while you prepare your spice mixture.
- In a small saucepan, melt your butter. Stir in your spices, salt, and Frank’s.
- Drain your almonds in a colander, return to the medium bowl and coat in the Frank’s mixture. Stir well to evenly coat.
- Spread your almonds in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet and bake 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Raise the oven temperature to 375°F and roast for an addition 8 minutes, or until browned lightly.
- Allow the nuts to cool before storing.
Buffalo wings… wait no, almonds! Tasty.
Spicy Almonds
Recipe adapted slightly from here.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 egg white
- 1 tbsp water
- 2 cups raw almonds
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cayenne
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
DIRECTIONS
- Heat oven to 300°F and line a baking sheet with parchment.
- Whisk your egg white in a medium bowl until foamy. Add the almonds and stir to coat, allow to sit while you prepare your spice mixture.
- In another bowl, whisk together your spices.
- Drain your almonds in a colander, add your almonds to the spice bowl and stir well to evenly coat.
- Spread your almonds in a single layer on the prepared baking sheet and bake 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Raise the oven temperature to 375°F and roast for an addition 8 minutes, or until browned lightly.
- Allow the nuts to cool before storing.
In case you aren’t sure about whisked egg whites…
Eating time!
Fluffy & creamy Cauliflower Mash! May replace potatoes in your stomach’s heart!
Well, potatoes are awesome and mashed potatoes are one of my faves, but this dish could possibly ruin mashed potatoes for me forever. These are sooooooo good. This cauliflower mash is not runny, which can be an issue with these types of mashes. There is no overly skunky cauliflower flavour, just creamy, dreamy goodness. You can mix up the cheese and be sure to add spices you love (nix the garlic, add curry?). I was eating this with a spoon right from the pot, ate it from the plate with my pork, ate it while taking the pictures… notice the finger scoop mark on the right… Even cold, these are amazing.
Cauliflower Mash
Adapted from I Breathe… I’m Hungry’s Cauliflower Puree.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 large head of cauliflower
- 2 tbsp whipping cream
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1/4 cup ricotta
- 1/2 cup jalapeño havarti (it’s what I had on had, use any other sharp cheese, though this was gooooooood), shredded
- salt and pepper to taste
*shred a little extra cheese to top
DIRECTIONS
- Remove leaves and the bottom of the stalk. Roughly chop the cauliflower into medium-sized chunks (evenly sized for even steaming).
- Steam the cauliflower in a large pot until very tender, but not mushy, about 10 minutes. (If you don’t have a steamer, buy one… but also, check out IBIH’s instructions for microwaving)
- Drain the cauliflower and leave in the strainer for 5 minutes to remove as much water as possible.
- Back in your large pot, now dry, combine the rest of the ingredients with the cauliflower, allowing the cheese to melt a bit. Use a handblender, regular blender, or a food processor, to thoroughly puree the mixture. The result should be fluffy, creamy goodness. If you find it a bit wet, pop the pot back on the stove and let it cook over medium-low heat for a 5-10 minutes.
- Serve with a sprinkle of cheese.
Florets, steaming away. It is a smallish large pot and they barely fit!
Ahhh flash! So creamy and dreamy.
Prosciutto-Wrapped Dry-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin
Yikes, this is delicious. The dry rub is powerful and I will be using it many times in the future, on chicken, beef, pork, etc. Like I said use the rub sparingly, you don’t want to overwhelm your meat. I bought a big pack of pork tenderloins at Costco and dry rubbed each of them before freezing them, just a spoon and a half each did the trick.
The prosciutto kept the pork from drying out (Heidi, I do a service to you every time I want to write moist, I work really hard to find other language!) and it added a saltiness that I didn’t want too much of in the rub, to prevent the rub from over-salting a meal that I would rather salt while cooking. I served this with fluffy and creamy mashed cauliflower that I will be posting tomorrow, yes it is good enough for its own post! I also sautéed some baby bok choy with butter and garlic for some greens. Get on this meal!
Prosciutto-Wrapped Dry-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin
INGREDIENTS
- 4 tbsp paprika
- 1 tbsp cayenne pepper
- 2 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
- 3 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp onion powder
- 2 tbsp salt
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tbsp crushed red chili peppers
- 1 tbsp dried thyme
- 1 pork loin (2 1/2 lbs)
- 6-8 slices of prosciutto
DIRECTIONS
- Whisk together your spices and store in an air-tight container. Sprinkle 1-2 tbsps of the rub on your pork tenderloin and rub it in really well. At this point you can let the rub rest on the meat overnight or for an hour, you can also cook it up right away.
- Heat oven to 375°F. Grab a broiling pan, or if you don’t have that, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Lay your prosciutto slices out on the pan you are using, overlapping slightly to ensure a seal of sorts. You want a rectangle, the length of the tenderloin.
- Lay your pork onto the rectangle and pull the prosciutto strips up to wrap the tenderloin. Lay a final piece of prosciutto over the wrapped ends.
- Cook for 35-45 minutes, until the pork is cooked and the prosciutto has crisped up.
This is the least phallic of the photos I took.
Wrapped and ready to roast!
Bacon Frittata Muffins
Inspired by my friend Caelin and her love of Nom Nom Paleo’s Mini Prosciutto-Wrapped Frittata Muffins, I whipped a batch of my own. They are tasty delights and Genesis and I will be making these again and again. I will make twice as many next time so I can report back on their freezablity. In the meantime these treats are totally Keto-friendly (essentially lacking in many carbs) and Paleo. Cook them up, switch up the veg and enjoy! I marked things that are optional, but really all the veg is totally optional, in that you can option in and out any veg you like.
Bacon Frittata Muffins
INGREDIENTS
- 1 package (250g) of bacon
- 1/2 medium onion, finely diced
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 small zucchinis (or one regular one), chopped into 1/4-slices
- 4 mini bok choy heads (or a handful of spinach, swiss chard, kale, etc.)
- 6 pickled artichoke heart quarters (not for everyone, again, go with what you have an what you love), chopped
- 8 eggs
- 1/2 cup ricotta cheese
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper *optional
- 1/4 tsp paprika *optional
DIRECTIONS
- Heat oven to 400°F. Have a muffin tin on hand.
- Cook bacon flat in a pan. Don’t cook until totally crisp, but just cooked and still pliable. They will crisp up a bit more in the oven. Drain and set aside.
- Sauté your onions and garlic in the bacon pan until the onions are translucent. Set aside.
- Dice and chop the rest of your vegetables and set aside. Bite sized and smaller chunks are key, these are not fork and knife treats.
- In a large bowl whisk together your ricotta, eggs, heavy cream, salt and pepper, and other desired spices.
- Whisk in your onions and garlic, veggies and stir until well combined.
- Lay your bacon slices into the muffin cups, one slice to go around the edge and chop a piece to cover the bottom.
- Spoon your egg mixture into your bacon cups, if you have extra, make it into an omelet!
- Bake the muffins until they are no-longer jiggly, about 15-20 minutes.
- Devour.
