Spicy Loaded Chicken Breasts

Spicy Loaded Chicken Breasts = Chicken breast + bacon + cheese topped with banana peppers.

Add your favourite toppings and BOOM you are good to go! 

I love loaded chicken breasts, they are so simple and they leave you feeling so full!

To cut carbs I like to use dry rubs on my chicken breasts for flavour, I then bake them while making the bacon. Once the bacon and chicken breasts are ready I put the oven on broil, place the bacon on the chicken breasts and add shredded cheese to the top. You can garnish the breasts with your favourite toppings, I like to add a little zip with banana peppers but you can also add chopped tomatoes and other toppings to make it your own personalized loaded chicken breast. :) 

Chicken Hugs

My apologies, it has been quite a while. You can catch up on my cross-country move, change in professions, puppy adoption and travels here.

Right now, I've got a creation that was inspired by mean post-workout hunger and very little time. We used 3 chicken breasts, a cup of cheese, 6 slices of ham (you could use any sliced deli meat) and 4 slices of bacon. It made 4 entrees, we each had two and we were very full after!

I'm not sure what to call this; "Chicken Hugs" comes to mind or "Reverse Chicken Cordon-Bleu" (I realise it is a different). Regardless here is what you need to do to make this meaty treat for yourself.

1. Cook yourself up some chicken. I blackened mine a little with some chili pepper spices and hot chipotle salt, but if you want to go a more Italian route you can season with garlic powder and traditional Italian spices.

On a separate ban half cook a piece of bacon for each entree you plan on making. Remove when half cooked.

2. Let your chicken cool after cooking and then rip it up into strips. I was able to use an entire small chicken breast in one of my entrees but it was tiny.

3. Lay out an entire piece of sliced ham on a baking sheet.

4. Lay down a bed of shredded cheese.

5. Lay down a layer of chicken with an inch or so to spare on each side to allow the ham to wrap over top.

6. Sprinkle more cheese on top of the chicken.

7. Wrap the layer of ham over the top of the chicken. As you can see for some of mine I double wrapped using two pieces of ham. Stick a toothpick through all the layers to hold it together.

8. Wrap your half cooked bacon around the ham with the ends coming together at the top.

9. Sprinkle more cheese on top.

10. Place pan in oven and allow to cook until the bacon is crisp and the cheese has melted.

11. Remove from heat and enjoy!

Bam, there you go! My unnamed chicken creation! To simplify the process we stuck out bacon I our George Foreman grill for a quick half cook and used chicken breasts we already had made. We had plenty chicken left over from the 3 breasts to make a salad as well!

My First Bacon Weave

I am so excited!

I made my first bacon weave yesterday for a recipe I was testing out. My recipe is still in the works, I have been in a breakfast coma all weekend after this recipe, it was amazing.

Bacon weaves are definitely a treat, very high in calories but full of taste. This bacon weave uses 5 slices of thick bacon and 5 slices of maple bacon. We love maple bacon but the only brand our new grocer sells is pretty thin and falls apart. I wanted full on maple flavour, so I used half our crappy (but very tasty) maple bacon and half thick cut bacon.

It worked like a charm. I wish I would have taken a photo of the finished product before I continued on with the recipe... next time!

Ingredients:
10 slices of bacon

Procedure:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. I placed the five slices of maple bacon on the pan horizontally and then weaved in the thick bacon horizontally (over one and then under one).
3. Cook in oven for around 28 minutes.
4. Towel off grease.

Bacon Cheddar Cauliflower Fritters

I have a hard time adding cauliflower into the mix in my meals. I am not a huge fan its the taste, but I
love the potential it has for substituting foods like potatoes in my diet.

One potato product I really, really missed was breakfast hash browns. I love them loose and McDonald's style and this recipe is spot on with producing the texture of grated potato hash browns.

Now, this recipe is time consuming. Give yourself a good hour the first time you make it.

It should make twelve fritters.

Ingredients
-5 slices of crispy bacon
-1 medium head of cauliflower
-1 jalapeño
-3 eggs
-1 teaspoon of onion powder
-1 1/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese (I use tex-mex)
-1 tablespoon of shredded parmesan cheese
-3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons of almond flour
-salt and pepper
-coconut oil (for the frying pan)

*serve with salsa and/or sour cream

Procedure
1. Prepare 5 pieces of bacon, make sure it is crispy and easy to break up!
2. Steam cauliflower florets until tender. I did this on a frying pan and it took 7-8 minutes.
3. Rinse cauliflower with cold water and mash it like potatoes. Try to break up all of the big pieces.
4. Place cauliflower in a colander let water drain for 10 minutes.
5. Remove seeds from jalapeño and chop it up into small pieces.
6. Whisk together eggs, jalapeño, parmesan cheese, bacon, 2 tablespoons of almond flour and a dash of both salt and pepper.
7. Drain cauliflower and add to egg mixture. Whisk together.
8. Add cheddar cheese and the rest of the almond flour to the mixture. Whisk together well.
9. Heat coconut oil in a skillet or pan, make sure it is covered well.
10. Add batter in your desired size, I recommend a heaping tablespoon.
11. Press each cake down with a fork and fry until golden brown.
12. Flip.
13. Remove and place on paper towel.

Alternatively, you can fry your batter up in a loose fashion. It does not look as pretty, but it is a great alternative if you like it crisper (or with breakfast). You can add salsa to the mix if you make in the loose fashion.


Nutritional Information (per fritter)*
Calories: 170
Total Fat: 14.1g
Carbohydrates: 3.7g
Fiber: 1.5g
Sugar: 1.1g
Protein 8.5g

*This will vary depending on what type of bacon you use and minor changes on exact amounts of cauliflower used. I used very thick bacon, an easy way to cut calories (etc.) is to use a thinner cut of bacon.

Keto Garlic Fingers

Pie pan keto garlic fingers.

Okay, another not so new recipe. But, a great variation of the low carb pizza recipe I posted previously.

If you are like me and from the east coast of Canada you know pizza is always better with garlic fingers. So I use half of my thick crust pizza recipe to make garlic fingers and half to make pizza. This fits perfectly in two pie pans.

So, whats so different? Well, not much. This actually has fewer carbs than the pizza. Instead of pizza sauce use garlic butter.

You can find garlic butter specifically at some grocery stores or you can make it (to taste) by mixing garlic and butter; then melting it in the microwave. I add Italian Seasoning or oregano as well.

Pie pan low-carb pizza. 

After spreading the butter mixture on the cooled crust add cheese (and bacon if you like) like a pizza.

Just a few changes to the pizza recipe and you have garlic fingers, a great side dish!

Here's the link to the crust recipe. Enjoy!


http://katesketo.blogspot.ca/2013/01/thick-keto-pizza-crust.html

The Glory Of Eggs

"Messy Eggs"

When living a low carb lifestyle, one of your staple foods will be eggs. You can add eggs to many meals or have it has the main part. Eggs are amazing, they have incredible filling powers and can help you feel full for long amounts of time. Every time I have experienced periods of weight loss I have consumed eggs regularly.

One of the first ways I started integrating eggs into my diet further was to ensure I had a breakfast style meal everyday. The picture to the left is what I call 'Messy Eggs'. These eggs are fried, seasoned with cajun spices and chilli peppers and topped off with cheese.

"Chipotle Loaded Chicken Breast"

This meal was consumed as part of supper. I ate fancier sausage with bacon and "Messy Eggs". The seasoning is what helps make the meal versatile and more than just a breakfast style meal. 

Another one of my favourite ways to add eggs to my meal outside of breakfast is to add one to my burgers. Just like bacon, you can use a fried egg as garnish for a burger. Why not add cheesy scrambled eggs as a side too? 

 An egg is the prefect way to add a little something to a meal when you are really hungry but do not want to eat two servings. I recently added a fried egg to one of my favourite entrees, "Chipotle Loaded Chicken Breasts" (right photo).

"Loaded Chicken Breasts" are simple supper entrees. Cook a chicken breast in the oven, season to taste. I stick with Chipotle because I have a great PC 0 Carb sauce (left) and I season with a little Italian seasoning, grated parmesan cheese, chilli pepper and sometimes I throw a little bit of almond flour breading on. When the chicken breast is finished add a slice of bacon to the top and grate cheddar cheese on top. Above, I simply added a fried egg underneath. 

Do you have any secret egg additions you live off of?