My spice collection (best low carb keto flavour additions)

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One of the best things I’ve doing over many years is building up my spice collection. Every recipe I’ve tried has generally meant I needed a particular type of spice. I don’t like spending too much money so I tend to buy different brands and get the most volume for my money. I also like to pick up different spices and herbs when i’m on holiday if I’ve had a recent local meal and want to try and recreate it at home so I ultimately end up with a whole load of ugly; mismatched containers.

As a result I bought a load of glass jars (see link below) and some labels that I think are usually used for making jam. Every time I now buy a new spice I create a new jar.

I also have larger jars with my homemade gravy mix (which I’ll include a recipe for soon) so using the same labels on them keeps my whole collection looking a bit organised.

A tip though if you do this is to make a note of the expiry date of the spices in a little book or an a spreadsheet online. The alternative option and a general rule of thumb is to completely replace and refresh your spices every couple of years if you are worried. This isn’t just for health reasons but really old spices just don’t taste the same.

Spice collection Homemade gravy mixture

If you want some of the types of jars I bought see below:
Nutley’s 8oz Hexagonal Jam Jar with Screw-Top Lid – Gold (Pack of 6)

Homemade Burgers

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This week I finally managed to make the simplest and best burgers I’ve ever made before. Myself and my husband are not into very elaborate and expensive burgers. We have our own burger rankings and like to classify new burgers we try across the world.

Making a burger therefore is an interesting recipe challenge. I’ve tried recipes with chopped up little onions; breadcrumbs, eggs to bind and lots of different seasonings.

And now on keto I needed to adapt and make sure I was making as carb free as possible.

Here is is where I’m at with the more simple and best recipe.

  1. Buy the best beef ground meat you can afford.
  2. If you buy mince you can always grind it down a bit further if it stays chunky with a food processor. I like to do this a little so you get a good mix of textures.
  3. Add salt and pepper.
  4. A fun keto addition is crumbled up pork scratching (rinds)

5. Shape into thin patties. I’d rather have two think burgers than one fat undercooked burger. Press them down with your hands. Try and let them come to room temperature before cooking.

6. Then cut your buns in half (my husband was having the buns) and I like to smear with butter and dry fry on a hot griddle or frying pan to give some crunch but keep the insides soft.

7. Set aside and add slices of your favourite cheese.

8. Put a pan on a high temperature and add the meat patties. If they are thin even they will char and brown quickly but the insides will cook too. Cook on both sides and lay on the buns.

9. I like to serve mine with copycat Mcdonald’s sauce. See my previous blog for

 

Poached Eggs

Poaching a egg in a microwave

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I give full credit to an older article I read recently when searching how to cook eggs quickly from the Independent below:

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/poached-egg-how-to-cook-microwave-make-instructions-a7966351.html

I really adore eggs and often buy them in my work canteen but paying what I would consider a high price per egg didn’t sit well with me. Being really honest I only recently learned how to make a proper poached egg in a pan actually but it does take a little time to get a deep pan to the right temperature and I don’t really have that time before work.

So off I went searching for a recipe. I’ve tried a load of variants for this including shop bought egg poachers and microwave containers but the easiest way that works for me is to simply fill a cup with water and microwave it for 1 minute to get it up to temperature and then crack your egg in. Put back in for another minute and it’s done. There’s lots of advice about adding vinegar and salt but I haven’t really needed it. I did once have a popping noise when the yolk burst but if you put a plate on the top it stops the splashing and ruining of your microwave. It rarely happens to me though and I buy super fresh eggs.

On a side note I do have a blog about cleaning your microwave so feel free to read that if you need to.

https://wordpress.com/post/modernmrsbeeton.blog/1562

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Keto find: Seaweed crisps

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I had to share this little keto friendly find from this week. I’m missing crisps; really badly. Well actually I’m missing all carbohydrates but the crunch of crisps is definitely a texture I’m missing as most foods on keto aren’t particularly dry (if that makes any sense whatsoever).

These little seaweed crisps taste just like the seaweed you get in a Chinese takeaway but are light and crunchy. More importantly they are a super source of iodine but being honest I just like the crunch and lack of carbs!

Life update: Weight loss so far and exercising plan

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I thought you might want a mini update on my weight loss so far. At the end of the first week I’d lost 8lbs. As of week I’ve now lost 9lbs. My best guess is that I lost a load of water weight in the first week and 9lbs over 2 weeks is crazy good.

I haven’t just done keto alone I’ve been exercising as much as I can with a new born baby. My aim at the moment is to walk fir one of baby’s naps which is usually around an hour or so, which isn’t a lot but I am pushing a pram the whole time.

I’m averaging about 3.5 km a day with a rest day so that’s really about 4km a day with a pram.

Keto fried halloumi sticks

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Whilst making my husbands dinner which included mozzarella sticks (and discovering the carb count if each one was 10g) I went in search of the fridge contents to make something similar. As this was on the fly I didn’t have the time or energy to coat cheese in almond or coconut flour and fry them but I did have in a block of halloumi cheese. Simply laying these in a pan with olive oil and frying them like are chips makes super fabulous melting sticks of cheese that rivaled my husband’s mozzarella.

Ingredients:

1 block halloumi cheese

Olive oil

Method:

1. Slice into chunky chip sized chunks

2. Fry in olive oil until lightly browned turning regularly

Tip: Drain off the water so they don’t just steam part way through

Trying hot apple cider vinegar bedtime drink

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I’ve seen many variations of this recipe online so I’ve kept it simple in the hope I can add to it in future. I won’t go into the benefits of apple cider vinegar as there’s so much info out there already. I will say this was lovely, reminiscent of hot Christmas cider and made me feel very calm before bed.

Ingredients:

2-3 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar

1 cup of chamomile tea (nothing added)

Couple of drops of vanilla stevia

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

Method:

1. Add all the ingredients to the cup of camomile tea

New recipe for 15 minute keto pizza

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I’ve previously tried the fathead dough recipe, made with cream cheese on Keto and it’s a bit of a faff. I was therefore pleased to see some people have evolved the recipe to a much simpler one so I tried it and tweaked it to make it my own.

Ingredients:

Pizza base:

200g almond flour

2 -3 tablespoons MCT oil

2 eggs

Salt and pepper

1 teaspoon of oregano

1 teaspoon garlic powder

Baking parchment

Toppings:

Mozzarella cheese grated

Parmesan cheese grated

Skinny ketchup or low carb tinned tomatoes crushed

Toppings of choice. I liked anchovies and onion

Method:

1. Mix all the pizza base ingredients together with a wooden spoon until incorporated

2. Spoon the mixture onto a piece of baking parchment lay on a pizza tray or metal baking sheet

3. Place a second piece of parchment on top and press until you have a 1/2 cm thick base

4. Peel off the top papet

5. Bake at 200 degrees c until the edges just start to colour which for me was about 7 minutes

6. Remove from the oven and add your Keri toppings of choice

7. Bake for around 10 minutes at the same temperature

Trying bullet coffee keto (MCT oil and grass fed butter)

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A few years ago I’m sure the recipe of what people were calling bullet coffee was different but I could have remembered wrong. Anyhow doing a bit of research this is the latest recipe. I know there is debate over the ability of our bodies to breakdown MCT oil but I wanted to try it at least. I also have grass fed butter and next time I think I’ll try ghee.

I used my smoothie blender which I’d highly recommend as mine comes with a lid so you can keep it warm or store it for later (the butter with separate but you can easily heat or reblend.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of instant coffee to 2 cups of hot water

1-2 tablespoons MCT oil

1 tablespoon butter

1 splash of sugar free carb free butterscotch syrup or a splash of liquid syevia

People add vanilla but be careful the one I had had sugar in it so I didn’t use it

Method:

1. Make up the coffee by adding hot water to the coffee first (or make in a coffee machine)

2. Blend everything together

I adore this. I thought it would greasy but it’s really not. This will be my morning breakfast for the next few days. I’m also looking to make it iced. Lovely

Keto strips: testing for ketosis

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This is something I didn’t do the very first time I did a keto diet and wasted a lot of time not really understanding what I was eating.

Keto urine testing strips measure the level of ketones in your urine which indicates how much into ketosis and fat burning you are. The darker the colour the stronger the level.

I’d really recommend these because if you test and the strips go white indicating you have fallen out of ketosis you can then quickly assess what you have eaten incorrectly. It’s such a great guide to make sure you stay on track. Lots of fitness people use these to get stronger and stronger ketosis but for beginning and learning I think it’s a good measuring stick and guide.