Faux-tato (Cauliflower) Salad - Low Carb, Keto Approved!

There are a few staple items at every summer cookout and potato salad always seems to be one of them, and for good reason. It’s friggen delicious, but those damn potatoes just have so many carbs! Not to worry though because in typical Fatbody fashion we’re switching things up, ditching the carbs and Keto-fying this recipe.

So, I called up my mom and a few of my cousins to get the family potato salad recipe, which turns out we don’t have. I’m still very confused about that by the way. I think they’re holding out on me! Just kidding… love you Mom xoxo

The great thing about making keto recipes is that you have a billion non-keto recipe websites to generate ideas from and with a few ingredients subbed in and out you can totally change the macronutrient profile of the food without altering the taste very much.

If you’ve read any of my other recipe posts I often talk about ingredient quality and this recipe is no different. I’m talking about you mayonnaise.

Mayonnaise, traditionally speaking, is mainly just eggs and olive oil, which would in fact be pretty healthy. As we know, eggs are basically nature's multivitamin and olive oil is a great source of quality healthy fats. Unfortunately, the store bought brands have subbed out the quality for the crap (soybean oil, canola oil, sugars, etc.). This is no good and we really want to avoid this stuff in order to avoid inflammation.

Inflammation is brought on by a number of things, mainly carbs and sugars but also trans fats and processed vegetable oils like canola and soy. As the science progresses we are learning more and more about inflammation and the damaging effects it can have and how it is the precursor to elevated cholesterol.

So, once again be cognizant of the quality of foods that you are buying. Personally, I made this recipe using Chosen Foods brand, which used Avocado Oil and had a very short ingredient list. I have no affiliation with this product, but I just want to tip my cap because they are making foods the right way! Let’s get down to the ingredients…

The Ingredients…

• 1 head Cauliflower
• 1 pound (precooked) Bacon
• ½ large Red Pepper
• 4 stalks Green Onion (Scallion)
• ¼ cup Sour Cream
• ¼ cup Mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon Mustard
• 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
• 1 teaspoon Dill
• 1 teaspoon Rosemary
• 1 teaspoon Black Pepper
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• Garnish with a few sprinkes of Paprika

FYI Yes, there is shredded cheese in this picture but I didn't end up using it but if you love cheese go for it! 

The Steps…

1. Roast your cauliflower. I used a dry pan on medium heat. You’re going to want to salt the cauliflower as this will help draw the water out. You can do this in the oven as well but the pan is quicker
2. Cook you bacon and dice into bite sized pieces
3. Dice red pepper and green onion
4. Mix everything in a big bowl, garnish with paprikaand chill for at least an hour or two (this will allow the flavors to really come together and solidify)

The Macros...

Avocado Salad with Simple Lemon Vinaigrette - Low Carb, Keto Approved

Over the 4th of July weekend I had some guests staying with me. They were visiting from Germany and excited for the 4th of July celebration, so I wanted to make sure they got the full experience. We did a whole American Summer Cookout spread (Keto Style) and to be honest I never intended on making this salad as a “recipe” but when they told me it was the best salad they have ever had, well I knew I needed to share it with you guys!

Call me crazy, but I love a good fresh salad. Vegetables really are such an important part of a healthy diet even if you are a fat adapted eater… it can’t be cheese and bacon for every meal (well maybe). That said I’m always making big salads, which I then load up with some good raw olive oil or some kind of dense fat source. This particular salad has a lot of avocado and olive oil so it is mostly fat calories already.

One additional side note... Make extra, make a double batch! This stuff goes quick and I swear it tastes better the next day. The acidity in the lemon juice keeps the avocado from browning so that won’t be a concern, but it also breaks down the vegetables allowing them to really come together for a dynamite flavor! Let’s get down to business..

The Ingredients...

• 3 medium Avocado (or 2 large)
• Bunch of Basil
• Bunch of Parsley
• 2 Vine Ripe Tomatoes
• 1 Lemon
• ½ cup of Olive Oil
• ½ Red Pepper
• 2-3 Celery Stalks
• ½ Red Onion
• 2-3 Persian Cucumbers (smaller than regular)
• Garlic Powder
• Oregano
• Salt and Pepper

The Steps...

1. Dice your veggies, remove your stems and throw everything into a bowl
2. The Dressing: I did a 2:1 olive oil to lemon juice ratio. 1 lemon yielded about ¼ cup so I used a half cup of olive oil. Add: Salt, Pepper, Oregano and Garlic Powder
3. Mix thoroughly and you're good to go! I prefer to do this first when preparing a meal because I like to give the dressing time to soak into the vegetables and really enhance the flavor

The Macros...

Fatbody MCT Bread- LCHF & Keto with boosted MCTs!!

Ok, can I just start by saying that I am PSYCHED for this recipe. I have been playing around with a few variations and yesterday I made this batch, so I cooked up a cheeseburger with fried onions and an egg. Oh man, it was full on cheeseburger glory. The bread was moist and soft and it soaked up all the burger juices just like a "real" bun, but first a quick keto lesson…

What’s an MCT?

In short, a medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) is a unique fat molecule that gets it’s name from the amount of carbon atoms in the chain. What makes the medium-chain’s unique is that unlike their long and short chain friends, they are able to cross the blood brain barrier and will be absorbed directly through your intestines and blood, this means the energy gets to your brain FASTER, which gives you an immediate surge of brain power, focus and that euphoric energy MCT oil is typically known for. MCTs strains are commonly found in coconuts, which is generally the source of a (good) MCT oil. 

This is why MCT Oil and coconut oil are often referred to as brain fuel…

The strain of MCT plays an important role too, but that’s a topic for another day. MCT supplements usually comes in two forms: oil and powdered. Well, after a bit of experimenting I’ve discovered that the MCT Powder makes a pretty great super ingredient for these rolls… that’s right sandwiches are back on the table and now they’re brain fuel.

It’s Memorial Day Weekend and I just had a delicious all American Cheeseburger on a healthy bun. A bun that didn’t taste like egg, it didn’t taste like a dried out rock… it actually tasted like a roll. I’m so excited to start eating burgers NOT wrapped in lettuce again. This made my weekend!

Overall I’d say this was pretty easy to make. You mix all the dry ingredients with a spoon, then the wet ingredients and then you bake. I am still pretty new to the baking world, but if these rolls were any indication I’d say I’m getting the hang of it. In regards to the ingredients, like I’ve mentioned before, doing as much recipe experimenting as I do I’ve cultivated a pretty wide variety of foods and pantry items, so I had pretty much everything available. But, these ingredients are the new flour, sugar, corn starch, etc. If you plan on doing a lot of high fat low carb recipes, I would highly consider investing in some of these ingredients.

A few ingredient notes:

• Baking Powder (not in recipe) is made from combining cream of tartar and baking soda, so if you don’t have either you can just use baking powder (google proper ratios)
• Psyllium Husk Powder, don’t use whole husks, if you do grind them. Psyllium Husk is a fiber that acts as a binding agent. I’ve seem some recipes say mix it with the wet ingredients but I prefer to mix it THOROUGHLY with the dry ingredients because you want it as evenly distributed as possible.
• Everything Seasoning is obviously optional but it’s awesome.
• Using egg whites as opposed to the whole egg will help the bread to rise and give it less of an eggy flavor. Use the extra egg yokes to make Hollindaise Sauce that you can put on top of eggs benedict with this bread… wowzers.
• MCT Powder, is brand of choice. I am going to test the limits and see how much I can add without losing any flavor, updates to come

The Ingredients…

• 2 cups Almond Flour
• ⅔ cup Coconut Flour
• ½ cup Psyllium Husk Powder
• ¼ cup MCT Powder
• 6 Egg Whites
• 2 Eggs
• 2 teaspoon Cream of Tartar
• 2 tablespoon Butter
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 2 tablespoon Everything Bagel Seasoning
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 2 teaspoon Garlic Powder
• 1 ½ cups boiling water

The Steps…

1. Preheat oven to 375F / boil water
2. In a large mixing bowl add: almond flour, coconut flour, psyllium husk, mct powder, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, garlic powder. Mix thoroughly! This is important, the psyllium husk will create little jellyish clumps if you don’t mix it well.
3. Add eggs and egg whites and mix. Use a hand mixer if possible.
4. Add boiling water and continue mixing. Keep mixing until you have a consistent, somewhat sticky, doughy texture. HOT TIP: Keep your hands WET. This will make rolling the dough much easier.
5. Roll into evenly sized balls. The ones pictured were about 100g/3.5oz per cooked weight and a good burger bun size.
6. Melt butter and brush each roll with melted butter and then sprinkle on Everything Seasoning, or seasoning of choice 
7. Bake the rolls for about 45-50 minutes.
8. Let them cool off and enjoy!

The Macros...

5 Ingredient Keto Stuffed Jalepenos

Warning these are spicy… if you’re a wuss. Just kidding, the jalapenos definitely add a healthy kick nothing unbearable, but I have a high tolerance for heat so I think my scale is a tad skewed.

If you don't like spicy or nightshades try these as stuffed mushrooms! 

Regardless, these were a big hit at the keto Cinco De Mayo Party, which consisted of 5 people and a lot of cheese, meat and oil.  

These were really easy to make and work GREAT as a party appetizer, and nobody will even think twice about it being “keto”. Especially when you tell them it’s meat and cheese, topped with meat and cheese.

The Ingredients...

• Jalepenos
• Chorizo
• Cream Cheese
• Shredded Cheese
• Pork Rinds

The Instructions…

1. Preheat Oven to 425 F

2. In a pan add the chorizo and let it cook down, chorizo is pretty greasy so no oil is needed for the pan. Let it cook at medium heat 5-7 minutes. Stirring regularly so it doesn't dry out and stick to the pan.

3. Once chorizo is fully cooked, reduce heat to low and add cream cheese. Mixing until it creates a thick consistent texture.

4. Cut jalapenos in half, and remove all seeds and core.

5. Fill with chorizo mixture.

6. Top with shredded cheese and crumbled pork rinds

7. Bake for about 15 minutes. Until cheese is gooey and golden!

The Macros…

Loaded Chile Relleno - Keto Taco Tuesday Special

One of the hardest parts for me about maintaining a ketogenic lifestyle has been giving up tacos and burritos and most Mexican food, but thanks to a bit of ingenuity and some google searches I've learned that I really don't have to give up anything.

From bread to cheesecakes to fried foods there is a way to make just about everything keto friendly. I can make an English muffin from scratch in 5 minutes and it tastes like an English muffin...

This diet isn't restrictive when you change your perception and start thinking in terms of what food do I want instead of what foods can I not have, from there you just google it and you have a keto friendly version of pretty much whatever food you'd like. Now does that mean you can go make a fathead pizza everyday and lose weight? Probably not, but if you want to turn Friday's into a pizza night you still can. It requires a bit of effort (honestly, it's pretty easy to make) but fortunately your body is operating off of ketones so you'll have the added energy needed to make a pizza! 

More importantly... back to the Chile Relleno.

I love a good chile relleno, it’s basically just a fried cheese bomb. I was doing a bunch of Keto Cinco de Mayo recipes and a keto Chile Relleno just seemed like a no brainer.

Poblano Peppers are my usual choice but I’ve heard people trying it with other types of peppers like Anaheim or Jalapeno. Also, we didn’t just stuff ours with cheese! We added a blend of chorizo and cream cheese to really flavor it up and it tasted awesome. 

Let’s get moving with the ingredients...

• 2 Poblano Peppers
• ¼ cup Almond Flour
• ¼ cup Pork Rinds
• 3 Eggs
• ½ cup of shredded cheese
• 2 oz Beef Chorizo
• 1 oz Cream Cheese
• 1 teaspoon Salt & Pepper
• ½ teaspoon Paprika
• ½ teaspoon Garlic Powder
• ½ teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
• ½ teaspoon Chili Powder
• ½ teaspoon Cumin

The steps…

1. Start by cutting the tops off of your poblano peppers, try and just cut out the stem so there is still a bit of “roof” left on the top.

2. Mix your eggs in one bowl and your batter in another:

3. To mix batter: add almond flour, pork rinds and all of your seasoning

4. Cook the chorizo in a pan, medium heat - should take about 10 minutes.

5. Add the cream cheese and mix until thick and pasty, add more if you prefer but don’t forget your macros!

6. Stuff the peppers with chorizo mix and shredded cheese. Really load them up. 

7. Stick the top of the pepper back in.

8. Smoother with egg, and then coat the batter as best you can.

9. In a deep pan add enough oil to fry the bottom and some of the sides.

10. Cook (and cover to avoid splatter) for 2-3 minutes on medium heat. Flip and make sure all sides get cooked.

11. Remove from pan, smother with sauce or salsa of choice and enjoy that sucker!

**The picture above used this method but you may have better results baking it. I will be trying this next time. Updates to follow!

The Macros...

Traditional Pesto Sauce - HFLC, Keto Friendly

I'm all about the pesto. I use it in just about every way, from a meat marinade to a zoodle or vegetable sauce. Hell, sometimes I just dip snacks in it, More importantly I love how simple it is to make. If you have 10 minutes and a blender you have a jar of pesto that will impress you're friends big time! 

Pesto Sauce adds huge flavor when tossed in veggies, drizzled over meats, with zoodles or whatever other option floats your boat. It's just so damn good! Pictured above we have pesto zoodles with roasted tomatoes. This was pretty simple, On medium heat I roasted some tomatoes in a frying pan with a bit of olive oil for about 5 minutes, then added the pesto and the zoodles, mixed them up and that was it. 

The best part... it literally takes like 10 minutes to make, start to finish. 

Prep Time: 5 Minutes |Total Time: 10

The Ingredients...

• 2 Cups Basil Leaves
• ½ cup Pine Nuts
• 1 tablespoon Garlic
• ½ cup Parmesan Cheese
• ¾ cup Olive Oil
• ½ teaspoon Salt

The Steps...

1. Heat pan to a medium heat
2. Toast pine nuts and garlic for 5 minutes, or until lightly browned
3. Note: make sure to stir the pine nuts a bit so the brown evenly
4. Toss everything into food processor and blend until you have a smooth but thick sauce
5. EAT 

The Macros...