Keto White Chicken Chili

I'm a huge fan of the Keto diet. This is not a secret.

I have a very hard time finding Keto food that I like, so I usually make the same thing every day. I do this for ease as well. My family doesn't eat Keto, so I always have to make two meals. (ugh)

WELL...I found a Keto meal that everyone loves. I'm not kidding, this is delicious. I don't have any pictures to share because my whole family ate it very quickly!

I'll share the recipe below with general macros. Please realize that not all products are created equal, and different parts of the chicken will have different amounts of fat. (Also, did you know that Philly Cream Cheese has less carbs than the generic brand?!?)

Keto White Chicken Chili

Makes four servings

1 lb chicken
1.5 cups chicken broth (We use Sam's Choice Organic Vegetable Broth)
2 garlic cloves finely minced
1 4.5 oz can chopped green chiles
1 diced jalapeno
1 diced green pepper
1/4 cup diced onion
4 tbsp butter
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
4 oz cream cheese
1 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp cayenne


Season chicken in a large pot with oregano, cayenne, salt and pepper. Sear both sides over medium heat until golden.

Add broth, cover and cook chicken for 15-20 minutes or until fully cooked.

While the chicken is cooking, melt the butter. Add chiles, diced jalapeño, green pepper and onion to a skillet and saute until veggies soften. Add minced garlic and saute an additional 30 seconds. Turn off heat.

** This step is not necessary, but this gets my veggie hating son to eat veggies* Puree vegetables with a small amount of broth.

Once chicken is cooked, shred and add back to broth. Add sautéed veggies OR pureed veggies and simmer for 10 minutes.

In a medium bowl, soften the cream cheese in a microwave until you can stir it, mix with heavy whipping cream.

Stirring quickly, add cheese to soup.

Simmer and additional 15 minutes.

Top with whatever works for you. The boys did hot sauce and tortillas. I did cheese and avocado. :) I prefer more healthy fats in my food.

Serving size 1 cup
4 net carbs
481 Calories
30 g fat
1 g fiber
39 g protein

Bacon Wrapped Sriracha Chicken

Ok, so the picture for this chicken does not do this justice. Logan has to bring a lunch to school every day, so it makes lunch packing for me tricky...I pack him the same food for the week and then switch it up the next week.

He gets A LOT of shredded meat with tortilla chips. I decided to try something new. Well, not really. I bought a whole chicken and I was going to put it in the crockpot and make it shredded BBQ chicken. (Poor kid)

I woke up Sunday morning with a need to cook. Perhaps it was the blue apron box that got delivered the day before, perhaps it was the fact that I had the weekend off. We'll never know.

What I did was nothing short of amazing, I'm not going to lie.

I took that chicken and boned it like a pro. Then I marinated it in 1 cup canola oil, 4T Sriracha and 4T  lime juice. After that chicken sat in the fridge for about an hour, I cut that chicken in half (between the breasts) and rolled each half up. Then I wrapped the chicken in bacon, using a beautiful criss-cross pattern. I poured more of the Sriracha sauce over the top and then smushed some brown sugar on top.

Then it got baked at 350 degrees for about 40 minutes. At the end I broiled it, and then flipped it and broiled again until that bacon was crispy.

The reason the picture looks so icky is because I wasn't sure if it would be good...but Logan said it was fantastic.

That is a picture of the cold chicken, if you wanted to serve it hot I would pour some of the hot chicken juice over the chicken and top it with a little more Sriracha.

My very picky 13 year old said it was super good after being rewarmed in the microwave, so it has to be delicious!

If you don't know how to bone a chicken, it's not that hard. Google it, for real. You'll find plenty of videos. Just make sure that you don't cut the skin and you'll be AALLLLL GOOOD. :)

Asian Pork Lettuce Cups

I realize it has been a long time since I posted, and I am going to try to be better! There has been a lot more high heels in my life lately...so no time for fun blogging!

I made this awesome recipe a few months ago, and then again the other day. It was still good. :) 

I am sure you know that we raised some pigs. So my freezer is full of delicious, organic, heritage breed pork. You have to get creative when you have that much pork in the freezer. 

I'm not going to lie, I hated the lettuce cups. I have some variations that we have tried. I made fried rice and just stirred the pork into it (add some charred pineapple), and that was good! I also made Ramen noodles and put the pork on top...this was also delicious. 

I have an obsession with vegetables. They're just so delicious. You don't have to add any of the things I have here, it is just how I like to roll. I added pickled radish to the lettuce cups, here I added beans and carrots. 

The recipe isn't that difficult, but it does require some stuff you may not have around the house (sorry, Michelle...). THIS RECIPE DOES CONTAIN PEANUT BUTTER! But it isn't required. I made this half with and half without because Logan can't eat peanut butter. I substituted a dab of honey in his pan. (I also left out the veggies because he has no class.) I don't think I would make the pork without the honey if you wanted to go nut free. The sugar in the honey (and peanut butter) gives the pork a sticky deliciousness.

Oh! This also has a killer dipping sauce. Like if you're cool enough to actually use the lettuce cups. We just pour it over everything. Sidebar: this recipe uses a crap ton of soy sauce. If you have a sodium issue, get the low sodium. If you don't raise your own meat, get the low sodium. This does not need any added salt, and that's saying something. I love salt. 

You will need:

Filling:

2 lb. lean ground pork

1 1/2 cups diced onion

1/2 tsp. coarse ground pepper

2 large garlic cloves, minced

2 tsp. grated fresh ginger root

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 Tbsp. rice vinegar (seasoned is good)

2 Tbsp. sesame oil

2 Tbsp. peanut butter (or a dollop of honey)

2 Tbsp. water

1 tsp. Sriracha or gochujang (We like it spicy! I always add more)

1/2 cup chopped green onion tops

1 (8 oz) can sliced water chestnuts

Dipping Sauce:

1/3 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup rice vinegar

1/4 cup honey

2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard

1 tsp. Sriracha

1 tsp. sesame oil

Random toppings: shredded carrots, bean sprouts, chopped cilantro, chopped parsley, more green onions, radish, pickled radish

(if you want to make lettuce cups, you will need bibb lettuce, washed and dried)

INSTRUCTIONS!!

In a large pan cook the pork, onion and pepper on medium heat until the pork is no longer pink. Stir often to break up the pork. (I like my pork a little crispy so I turn up the heat!)

Add the garlic and ginger, cook for 1 minute. Add soy sauce, vinegar, oil, peanut butter (or honey), water and Sriracha. Stir to combine.

Add GREEN onion and water chestnuts into the pan and cook for 1 to 2 minutes until the onions are soft and the water chestnuts are heated through.

In a small bowl (I use a jar so I can shake it up! It also stores well.), combine sauce ingredients, whisk well.

To serve...do what you want! If you want to do lettuce cups, then rock it! I was thinking about making some wonton taco shells and filling those. Top with whatever you like. Maybe a fried egg? It is good with pineapple as well. 

Try some things and let me know what you think is delicious.

(A special thanks to Salami and Prosciutto...without them this meal would not have been so delicious.)

Maple syrup and cough drops

It is "winter". It is time to tap those maple trees and make some syrup. I can't even begin to tell you how crazy excited I was to try making maple syrup this year. I really, really, really, really want to live off of the land as much a possible, so this just seemed like the natural thing to do.

First of all, Sugar Maple trees are not native to this area. Years ago, someone must have planted them on our property, so we are lucky to have a few trees. As soon as the weather was 'just right' I made Kyle tap those trees. Who knew collecting sap was so easy? We have been emptying these sap jars like crazy! Obviously, the sap flow has a ton to do with weather conditions. It has to be below freezing at night and above freezing during the day. 

Sap, sap, sap. It is so easy. That's where the ease of syrup ends. You literally have to boil the sap ALL DAY LONG. All day. No joke. It is really horrible. I don't even like maple syrup. Our first syrup experience wasn't that great. We had 6 gallons of syrup and got less than a half pint of syrup. I am pretty sure we are doing something wrong. You have to boil all of the water out of the sap, and once it gets to syrup it should boil at 219 degrees. Some people say 220 is the sweet spot. I haven't figured it out. How long are you supposed to boil it? Too short and the syrup is runny. Too short and the syrup has weird sugar crystals in it. And then straining the syrup...oy! How do you strain syrup?!?

I have to say the only thing I have liked about this experience is that it is something Kyle and I do together. Yeah, we stayed up until 2 am both times, but we worked together and it was fun. I totally don't want to make any more syrup, but we tapped the trees and I am going to see this through. I realize they are trees, but I want to respect their "sacrifice". (I am not a hippy.)

I have no pictures of our completed syrup because I am embarrassed by it. One jar has nasty crystals in it and one is like brown water. *sigh*

Because it is winter, it is also the time for colds. My boys are super duper picky about what they use as cold remedies. I am picky, too. I don't want to pump them full of crap. I usually buy the all natural stuff...and then I realized I could probably make this same stuff myself. So I went Pinterest crazy. I found an awesome recipe for cough drops and a Vapor Rub recipe. Cooper LOVES the vapor rub. Find the recipe here. It was so easy and I don't know if it works, but he thinks it does. The cough drops are awesome. And they were so so so so so easy. You boil a cup of honey to 300 degrees and add some lemon and eucalyptus essential oils. (Stir the honey a ton, it can burn.) Then you drop the honey mix on some parchment paper in "drops" and let the stuff cool. That. Is. It! 

Looking back at this post, I really don't know what cough drops and maple syrup have to do with one another...

Pork sliders on scallion pancakes with Sriracha coleslaw

I just made the best dinner ever. Ever. Asian food and I don't have a great relationship, but this was Asian food done my way, so it worked out well.

I am not going to lie, this was a little complicated, give yourself some time to get this done or enlist help. There were several parts to this: the pork sliders, the scallion pancakes, homemade Sriracha aioli, coleslaw.

Let's start with the scallion pancakes. I got the recipe off of pinterest. It was relatively easy, BUT, I refuse to knead stuff. That's what the KitchenAid is for.

You can find the recipe here: Zesty South Indian Kitchen. You'll need flour, water, scallions, oil and a frying pan. Really, that's it. I didn't make the dipping sauce because I wanted coleslaw. Pork needs coleslaw. I think it is a law. Here's the dough before I rolled it up...

Here is my suggestion, let this dough rest while you are doing everything else. Then, when you are ready to cook the sliders, fry the pancakes. You can keep these warm in the oven, they don't get soggy or anything.

For the Sriracha coleslaw, you need to make the aioli and cut up the veggies. We used cabbage, carrots, and red onions. You can use whatever you want, but those worked out pretty well. Slice those up nice and thin, throw them in a bowl, and get ready to make your aioli.

For the aioli (fancy mayo) you can use a blender or food processor. I used a blender. 

2 egg yolks

2 t dijon mustard

2 T lemon juice

2 t cold water

1 c olive oil

salt

Sriracha

(OR YOU COULD JUST ADD SRIRACHA TO MAYO)

Put the first four ingredients in the blender. Pulse to combine. Turn the blender/processor on low and slowly drizzle in the olive oil. Stir until combined. (It will be whitish and fluffy.) Add salt, pulse again. Fold in as much Sriracha as you like. We put in some gochujang for a little extra kick. 

Dump this aioli on the sliced veggies, add a splash of rice wine or white wine vinegar, stir, and you are pretty much done. I put the coleslaw in the fridge to "meld" a little bit. 

OK, the pork sliders. These are easy! Combine ground pork, 3 or 4 cloves of garlic, a little ginger (we added more gochujang...you can use red pepper if you like spice!). Make them into lovely little sliders and Cook. Them. Up.

I had two pans going at the same time, one for the sliders, one for the pancakes. Obviously the sliders took a little more time. Make them small so they cook quick and thoroughly.

**sidebar, I steamed the sliders for a little bit in the oven. I threw some lemongrass in with them and steamed them. I don't know if it made a huge difference.**

Serve how you like...you can make a sandwich. We made an open faced thing. Pancake on the bottom, slider next, topped with coleslaw. 

It seems like a lot of work. It is, but not hard work. Try it once and you will be a rock star in the eyes of your family. Then you can figure out what you can make ahead of time, or whatever for next time.

I think this is going on the menu of my food truck. 

Epic Cheese Fail

You all know that I am experimenting with raw milk. I am totally enthralled with raw milk. You can use every part of it. You can use it when it "spoils". (Note, it doesn't spoil. It sours. How great is nature? Why do we buy milk at the store?)

I decided I would start with something easy. Apparently making cream cheese is like the easiest thing. Well...

I let the milk sit out for a day. It got thick, like yogurt in water. Then I dumped the milk goo into a strainer lined with a towel. I need to buy cheesecloth.

Doesn't that look super appetizing? Here's something interesting...I let this milk just sit on the counter for a day. Then I let this gross looking slop sit on the counter for hours. It didn't smell. Ok, it smelled a little, but more like little boy feet. (Which is a smell I have in my house frequently.)

Here is where I went wrong...

You are supposed to just let this drain. You can hang it and let it drain.

Don't you like my fancy setup? Anyhow, I squeezed all of the liquid out of this. I shouldn't have. To make cream cheese you need some liquid left. Whoops.

I got a lovely, crumbly farmer's cheese. Not cream cheese. I even tried this a second time, with about the same results. I think I need to let it sit out for just a few hours.

Next time I will try the cream cheese again. For now we are just going to munch on the cheese we have sitting in the fridge.

Here is what is even more cool about the raw milk: the whey. You can do about 100 things with whey. We are going to give it to the chickens. I am not quite ready to try lacto-fermentation. I may in the future. You can also use it to make more cheese. Can you believe it? You can use it to make ricotta cheese. You just let it sit out and get all fermenty and then you cook it or something.

I think my adventures in raw milk are over for now. Until I get some more from that adorable Amish lady...or until Kyle buys me a cow.

A tale of two sloppy joes.

Someone messaged me today asking for a recipe or two. Can I tell you, it made my day? I have heard about this love language thing, and my love language is food. No question. I love food, I love cooking, I love eating (if it is good...or if it is mediocre and I don't cook...or anything my Grandma Dahl makes).

Let me tell you something about Kyle. He also loves food. He says he loves good food, but that is debatable. I have seen him eat three of the crappiest prime rib slabs in one sitting. He loves Swiss Steak, and his mom has a recipe, but it has ketchup in it. Ketchup! (Nothing against my MIL, I LOVE HER!) I thought I would make Swiss Steak good. Fresh ingredients, better steak...Kyle hated it. He wanted the ketchup steak. Blah.

I kept my weird husband in mind the other day and made some sloppy joes. I found a good recipe on pinterest and messed with it a bit. I made a pound of gourmet joes and a pound of crappy, regular sloppy joes straight from the store-bought mix. I was totally ready for the man to complain and not eat the good stuff.

 

Here's the kicker...He loved the good stuff.

 

 

Since Picky McGee liked the gourmet joes, I thought I would share the recipe.  *A dear friend of mine mentioned the other day that she doesn't have a lot of the stuff I mention in my recipes. I will offer alternatives. Yeah, you know who you are.*

 

 

This probably took 30 minutes, start to finish using fresh beef, probably a little longer if you use frozen.

 

Here's what you are going to need:

 

2 pounds ground beef

2 T olive oil

1 C diced onion

1/2 C finely diced green pepper (I used Anaheim pepper)

1/2 C shredded carrot (use a small holed shredder if you can)

1/2 C finely minced celery

2 finely minced garlic cloves

1 6-ounce can tomato paste

1/3 C brown suger

1/2 T brown mustard

2 T balsamic vinegar (I used cherry balsamic and it was so good)

***you can substitute Worcestershire sauce, or add some extra**

1 C Campbell's Tomato and Chipotle soup (Or one 14 oz can of pureed tomatoes, I recommend the soup)

2 T smoked paprika (any kind is ok, but I only use Pride of Szeged. Find some)

2 t chili powder

1/2 t oregano

2 t salt

1/4 t smoked black pepper (you can use regular)

 

water

bread for serving

 

Brown the meat! Remove the meat from the heat and drain the liquid and fat. Let the fat rise to the top and save about one tablespoon of the fat and all of the liquid for later use.

 

(I like to use two pans when cooking, you don't have to. You can sauté the veggies while you cook the meat, or use the same pan once you remove the meat.)

 

Over medium heat, add olive oil to a pan and cook the onions, carrots, and celery for four minutes. SALT YOUR VEGGIES! Add garlic and sauté for one more minute. Add tomato paste and cook one more minute.

 

Add remaining ingredients, including cooked beef, reserved liquid and fat. Stir to combine.

 

Cook over medium heat for 10-15 minutes, stirring often. Add more water if necessary.

 

Seriously, though, stir. The sugar content in this recipe is crazy...it will burn and be gross.

 

I am not going to lie, this is a sweet recipe. Kyle added a ton of Texas Pete's to his sandwich, I would recommend the same. But he puts that crap on everything.

 

Do try this. I am really a fan of making everything from scratch. I used all good ingredients...with the exception of the tomato soup. I was about to open a can of tomatoes from last year's garden and I saw that sitting in the pantry and it just called to me. Don't use beef that is too lean, you will have chewy, gross sandwiches.

 

Fall means sloppy joes. You need to make these.