Aquaponic Cauliflower

Living a ketogenic lifestyle, we use cauliflower in many forms like mashed and riced as well as using it in pizza crust.  This is a great substitute for pastas and grains.  We planted seeds June last year and didn’t realize how long cauliflower takes to mature.  We noticed heads in October and they were a wonderful size in November.  Here is what they looked like.  Great looking and tasting vegetable.

Creamy Cheddar Cabbage & Bacon Casserole

Instead of trying new recipes, I am revisitng some recipes that I have saved and enjoyed. Some are from before I started this blog while others will be from other sources.  Since today is National Cheese Lovers Day and we are still living the ketogenic lifestyle, I felt this Creamy Cheddar Cabbage & Bacon Casserole from http://low-carb-news.blogspot.com/ would be perfect. It is so creamy and tasty. You can use any cheddar cream sauce you like. I made mine with the basic butter, almond flour & Guar Gum then added some cheddar cheese.

 

 

1 lb cabbage, chopped coarsely
1¹/₂ cups shredded carrot
6 slices bacon, cooked crisp
Cheddar cheese sauce
Cheddar cheese to sprinkle on top

 

 

 

 

Preheat the oven to 350°F. In large bowl, combine cabbage, carrot, and bacon. Stir in Cheddar Cheese Sauce. Spread mixture evenly in 2 qt. casserole dish. Sprinkle with Cheddar cheese over the top. Bake 45 minutes.

Sausage with Hot Coleslaw

I was able to use the cabbage out of our aquaponics garden for this great recipe. I really enjoy cabbage whether it is cooked or raw. Give this recipe a try for a nice warm family dinner.

1 lb. Sausage (Polish or smoked)
2 Tbsp. Olive oil
3 green onions, sliced
4 c. cabbage, thinly sliced
2 carrots, thinly sliced
½ tsp. Salt
1 Tbsp. Sugar
3 Tbsp. Vinegar
Chopped parsley for garnish

 

Heat vegetable oil in a heavy skillet. Add green onion, cabbage and carrot. Cook and stir until cabbage is crisp-tender.

Add salt, sugar and vinegar. Cover. Simmer for 5 minutes. Arrange sliced sausage on slaw. Cover. Simmer 10 minutes.

Arrange hot slaw and sausages on platter. Sprinkle with parsley. Serve with mustard if desired.

Chicken Zoodle Soup

A couple of days ago, I roasted a whole chicken. Yesterday I decided to make Chicken Zoodle Soup. I took the chicken carcass, meat & bones, placed them in a pot with water and chicken bouillon. I let this cook for a couple of hours then took the meat off of the bones. To complete the soup, I chopped a red onion, & thinly sliced 2 carrots & 2 stalks of celery. I placed the veggies in the pot with the chicken, added salt and pepper and let the soup cook until the carrots were fork tender. With my spiralizer, I took 2 zucchini and made them into zoodles. Added the zoodles to my soup and let cook about 15 minutes so the zucchini was tender. This was very delicious and great for a cool fall day.

World Egg Day – Friday the 13th

Here is the perfect recipe for this World Egg Day on Friday the 13th: Spicy Southwestern Deviled Eggs.

12 hard-boil eggs
¼ c. plain Greek yogurt
¼ c. mayonnaise
1 Tbsp. Minced shallot
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
1 tsp. White-wine vinegar
¼ tsp. Salt
¼ tsp. Pepper
2 Tbsp. Chopped chipotle peppers in adobo
2 Tbsp. Chopped canned green chilis
24 fresh cilantro leaves

Peel hard-boiled eggs and halve lengthwise. Transfer yolks to a food processor and add remaining ingredients except the cilantro. Process until smooth. Spoon or pipe about 1 tablespoon of the filling into each egg half. Garnish with cilantro leaves.

Fathead Cracker/ Pizza Crust

Keeping with the season – a blast from the past. Give this Halloween Pizza a try. If you are on a ketogenic, low-carb diet, you can substitute the bread dough for a Keto Pizza Crust or this Fathead Cracker recipe.

1 3/4 c. shredded/grated mozzarella
3/4 c. almond meal/flour
2 Tbsp. cream cheese
1 egg
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp. flavorings of your choise

Mix the cheese, almond flour and cream cheese in a microwaveable bowl. Microwave on HIGH for 1 minute. Stir then microwave on HIGH for another 30 seconds. Add the egg, salt and flavoring, mix gently.

Place on a piece of parchment paper and cover with a piece of plastic wrap. Roll thinly.

Remove plastic wrap.

Bake at 425 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes or until browned. then add your favorite pizza toppings.

If you want to make crackers, simply cut the dough into small bite size pieces and bake 5 minutes then flip to bake other side.

End of Oktoberfest

It seems I missed Oktoberfest that happens in Germany every year. However, I believe there are quite a few local festivals happening throughout the month. Has anyone been to a local Oktoberfest? I can’t remember going to one locally. I did make it to the original Oktoberfest when I was in Germany  in the 80’s or 90’s. It was amazing all the food and beer.

Keeping with the season I would like to share another recipe that I posted many years ago: Maggot Stew with Brain Dip. When I originally made this recipe I was not on the ketogenic diet. I believe this could still be keto friendly by changing cauliflower rice for the orzo past.  The stew is tasty and can be a great entree for any Halloween inspired meal. The Brain Dip is a great appetizer. Give them a try this Halloween Season.

Noodle Day

Every cuisine has some sort of noodle. Like spaghetti in Italian cuisine and rice or soba noodles in Asian cuisine. Since being on the  ketogenic diet, we have found ways to have noodles that are not made with flours of any kind.  These noodles include spaghetti squash and zoodles (which are spiral cut zucchini). We purchased this spiral cutter and have found that it works well on squashes but not so much on raw potatoes because it is mainly plastic with a metal blade and as you know potatoes are a little hard until cooked.

No matter if you are eating carbohydrates or not, include a noodle of some kind today like maybe some spaghetti squash.

Worm Burgers

Here is a quick and easy way to make a Halloween dinner by adding bean sprouts to your hamburger. You will also notice that I do have black dishes for the season.  This set has cups and salad plates for a wonderful Halloween meal. So give this burger a try – even if you don’t normally eat worms.  HaHa!  ;-p

 

1 ½ c. bean sprouts
1 lb. Ground beef
1 egg
Salt & pepper to taste
Mayonnaise
Ketchup

 

Wash sprouts (worms) with warm water. Mix one cup of the sprouts, ground beef and egg together in a bowl. Form burgers into 4 patties. Place in frying pan and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook on medium heat until they are well browned underneath. Turn patties and season with salt and pepper. Cook until the second side is well browned.

Place cooked patties on plate, put mayonnaise (pus) and ketchup (blood) on the pattie and serve with the worms sprinkled on top as a garnish.

Taco – Vodka – Kale Day

 

 

Today there are 3 items to celebrate: Tacos, Vodka & Kale. We do love our cheese taco shells. These are very tasty and you can put any of your favorite ingredients like catfish nuggets with tartar sauce.

 

 

 

 

Vodka is one of those alcohols that can be mixed with just about anything. Click this link for Lemon Mint Cocktail recipe.

 

 

 

We have been growing kale in our aquaponics garden. We like kale in salads or sauteed with onions or bacon. I have also tried making kale chips in a skillet with oil. That was dangerous with the spattering grease – ouch! The safest way to make kale chips is to bake them in the oven.