This is a savory yet fresh summer lunch side that goes well as a base for a lunch bowl with protein such as Bolognese sauce, lamb gyros, or air fried shrimp with avocado 🥑🤩
To make this you need:
Your favorite garlic butter, or try this homemade version 🧈
1 large zucchini 🥒
1 large bell pepper 🫑
1-2 stalks or green onion or chopped yellow onion 🧅
Fresh chopped herbs like basil, oregano, chives or parsley 🌿
Salt and pepper 🧂
Garlic powder 🧄
How to:
Heat up the garlic butter in the pan. While that’s melting, finely chop the green onion/onion and add those into the pan. Season with dried oregano, salt and pepper. Let that sauté and finely chop the zucchini and bell pepper! Add those into the pan and sauté until you’ve reached your desired texture. Add in the fresh chopped herbs and season to taste!
Who doesn’t love chicken fingers? I remember breaded chicken breast was always a favorite childhood dinner served with mashed potatoes and green peas 🍽
I can vividly remember that I stole the little scrambled egg that was left over after breading straight from the pan, crispy and full of yummy chicken juices 😍
While traditional chicken fingers are unfortunately full of gluten and other grains, we have modified the recipe and have decided to bread it in almond flour, which tastes super yummy as well and gives the whole thing an extra boost of healthy fat in addition to the egg 💪🏻
Since it’s hard to get chicken right now, we used turkey breast cutlets from US Wellness Meats, but you can of course swap this for chicken breast 🦃
Begin by heating up the cooking fat in a pan, and pt the Turkey cutlets dry. Season with salt and pepper and other seasoning if you choose to do that.
Break and beat the eggs in a shallow bowl, and fill another shallow bowl with almond flour.
Create an assembly line close to the pan with the warm fat. Start by drenching the cutlets in the egg and then transfer into the almond flour, making sure it’s adequately covered from all sides. Press the meat down into the flour and pour more over to ensure an even coating. Repeat this for all cutlets and make sure you have enough fat in the pan for frying.
Next, place into the oil and fry on one side until crispy brown. Usually 5-7 minutes. Then flip over and cook the other side until crispy brown.
At the very end, you can pour the remaining egg into the pan and enjoy a little mini egg cake 😉
A warm bowl of oatmeal with honey and berries used to be the ultimate comfort food for me! I would often eat this before school but quite frankly, it never kept me full for long and I would often grab a pack of crackers and a chocolate milk in the Cafeteria during break! Now with more knowledge, I can reflect back and recognize that I had some serious blood sugar problems that led me to grab the next snack to feel better.
Now since I’ve been following a fat fueled diet, I never feel this way again, but that unfortunately means that I have to skip my beloved oatmeal, or so we thought.
We recently discovered an awesome fat fueled swap based on nuts and coconut which always satisfies the oatmeal craving! When cooked in coconut milk and topped off with butter, grain-free and sugar free granola, chocolate pieces, coconut flakes and cacao syrup, this is the ultimate treat (maybe even better than the real deal 😉)!
The mixture is full of healthy fats, and while the nuts do contain some protein, it’s a plant protein, and therefor not as bio available, so we decided to add in some collagen protein to give our body a complete meal. The collagen also helps thicken it up a little bit, giving it a more authentic mouthfeel!
To make this delicacy you need (2 portions):
One can of coconut milk 🥥
1 cup “Unsweetened Instant Keto Oatmeal” from Pure Traditions
Heat up the coconut milk and oatmeal mixture in a small pot on the stove. Cook until it’s warm and thickened. Add in the spices and sweetener and more coconut milk or nut milk if necessary. We usually add in some almond milk.
Stir in the collagen powder. The mixture may start to bubble, so use a whisk to make sure it does not burn.
When the mixture is ready, drizzle with your favorite nut butter, chocolate syrup, butter, chocolate pieces and granola! Enjoy as a fat fueled breakfast or brunch 👩🏻🍳
If you have a milk protein allergy like me, or struggle with thyroid issues and are avoiding casein (due to gluten cross reactivity), you may be very bummed out that you cannot eat milk, cheese and cream anymore ☹️
Luckily, there are a few swaps out there that can help you out. I must say that we try to use very little of the processed vegan “dairy” products since they are still a processed food but sometimes you just can’t go without, like in this delicious flatbread 😋
Milk 🥛
I’m going to be quite honest: nothing tastes like real milk but these nut milks can be a good substitute for baking and in lattes (like the ones from Marigolds Snacks- use code CURE.EATED for a discount) or shakes 🧋
Unfortunately, most of these store bought mylks contain a lot of fillers, sugars and very little nut and are often times oxidized due to processing 🤢
You also want to make sure that you buy only organic and ideally sprouted nut milks. Sprouting removes anti-nutrients such as lectins and makes the nutrients more bioavailable !
The best thing you can do is to make your own using a blender and a handful of your favorite nut, seed or a combo 🌰🥜 you can even spice it up with some vanilla, cinnamon, sea salt, monk fruit and/or stevia to create the perfect flavor 🙌🏻
A few hours (the longer the better), place your nuts in water and let them soak/sprout!
Then simply add everything into your blender and blend until you have a creamy smooth consistency 😋 use right away or store it in a glass bottle in the refrigerator for a few days!
I’ve also seen online recipes that use a nut butter instead of soaked nuts if you’re in a hurry. Just blend 1-2 tablespoons of nut butter with 8 ounces of water and enjoy 🙃
The second best option is to purchase sugar free nut milks from the store that only contain the nut, water and maybe vanilla or salt. Some good companies include malk (they sprout their nuts 💪🏻) or elmhurst (the hazelnut or walnut flavor are the best)!
Of course, canned coconut milk is also always a good option, just make sure it’s organic and doesn’t contain other ingredients 🥥
I would totally avoid brands that contain any added gums, sugars or vitamins (sometimes nut milks are fortified). These synthetic ingredients hinder the absorbance of the real deal and are toxic to your gut and mitochondria!
Many almond and nut milks contain very little nut and many harmful fillers and gums. Look for products that are organic and contain only nut, water and maybe salt or vanilla extract! Ideally look for sprouted products.
Cheese 🧀:
Like with dairy free milks, vegan cheeses are often a mixture of super processed ingredients so that the product resembles something close to cheese. I would keep my hands off of most vegan cheese products which often times contain weird gums, starches, rice, yeasts and sugars. Especially slices, shreds and blocks are very processed.
Your best bet is to go with cream cheese products but again, keep an eye out for any funky ingredients. We only buy these for occasional treats and only buy certain brands. Sometimes brands have one product that’s clean, but others are not so always check the label!
Kite Hill: almond based cream cheese and ricotta are good options because they contain minimal ingredients. They taste yummy on “bread” and with lox or smoked trout! You can get really high quality smoked trout from Rainbow King Foods using my special code CUREATED and link.
There are also plenty of recipes out there for homemade based cheese sauces but we don’t have much experience with this!
Treeline: Cashew French Style Cheese, we found this at Whole Foods and it’s also very clean! No funky gums or fillers. We like garlic herb or scallion the best!
Yogurt:
Again, many vegan yogurts contain funky fillers. The only brand I really use and trust is a fermented coconut yogurt from Cocoyo! It’s great to eat with grain free granola, or I use it as a base for my fat fueled ice-cream bars and mug cheesecake 😉 (recipe is coming).
What’s really great about this product is that it’s only water, coconut and probiotics, and that it’s fermented which makes it a gut superfood 💪🏻
I really like the plain but it also comes in vanilla and chocolate and they are sweetened with stevia, not sugar which is super 💪🏻
Cream:
The best substitute for whipping cream, either as a creamer or for cooking/baking is heavy coconut cream. It has the same consistency, a mild flavor and is just as creamy 😍
You can even beat it and create coconut whipped cream to top your favorite deserts with!
What to put in coffee:
Coconut cream also works well as a coffee creamer, but sometimes we use a creamer from Califa Farms which is almond based and sugar free (it’s the green bottle)! It’s not ideal because it contains some gums but it’s the cleanest “keto creamer” product we have found and we have to live a little 🙃
The best way to drink your coffee would be with some pure coconut milk, cream, or homemade nut milk with a touch of monk fruit extract !
Alternatively, there are powder based coffee creamers, usually MCT based, such as that from Bulletproof, that also help create a nice coffee or you can add in some liquid brain octane MCT oil (also sold by bulletproof)!
Lastly, these aren’t vegan but milk protein free and they are called coffee bombs from Ladybird Provisions! They are coconut oil and butter based and some flavors like the one below are sugar free! They also taste delicious in Marigolds Collagen Lattes
If you’re a beef lover like us, I’m sure you’ve had many types of roasted beef in your life. Maybe you’ve even tried my moms famous roast tenderloin 👩🏻🍳
Today, I’m sharing another family favorite which is a chuck roast, prepared the German way 🇩🇪
When my parents were growing up, it was not uncommon to have a roast on the weekend, usually pork, but sometimes beef too! This was of course eaten with potatoes (which we are swapping for our favorite mashed cauliflower with butter 🧈) and some sort of vegetable.
Typically, the juices of the roast are thickened with flour to create a gravy, but we find that this is one necessary. The onions, drippings and gelatin powder melt together to create a yummy sauce as well 🤩
I got my grass-fed and regeneratively raised chuck roast from Northstar Bison. You can get yours there too and save 10$ when you use my referral link, or you can check out my complete guide to beef and bison for other great sources!
This roast was boneless but they also sell a bone in version which is a great way to get in extra collagen and eat more nose to tail!
To make this you need:
1 chuck roast, preferably grass fed and finished, usually between 3-5 pounds (bone in options are good too) 🥩
An onion 🧅
Salt and pepper 🧂
Sweet Paprika Powder 🌶
Garlic Powder 🧄
Tallow for searing 🧈
Water or optimally beef bone broth for braising
Gelatin powder and optimally heavy cream for the sauce 🤩
To make:
Heat up tallow in an oven safe pot, and sear the meat on all sides to seal it (this helps maintain moisture)! Preheat the oven to about 400° F.
While the meat is searing, finely chop the onions and add those in! Cook until those become translucent!
Season with garlic, salt, pepper and sweet paprika and let it sear a few minutes.
Pour on your braising liquid, water or beef bone broth, bring to a boil and turn down the heat to let it simmer. Put on the lid and transfer into the oven. Bake for 2.5-3 hours and regularly check to make sure there is enough liquid in the pot. After an hour or so, you can begin to turn the heat down to 300-350° F. A low and slow braise yields in more tender meat.
The roast is done when you can easily pull it apart with a fork.
For the gravy:
Remove the meat from the liquid and strain the juices to remove onion and small pieces of connective tissue!
Transfer liquid into a pot and put on medium low heat.
Add in a few scoops of gelatin powder (this gives it an umami texture and a thicker mouth feel and you’re getting the gut healing benefits too)! Make sure to stir so that it doesn’t clump.
Season to taste with more sweet paprika powder and garlic powder!
If you tolerate dairy, you can add in some heavy cream!
Easter is just around the corner which means supermarket shelves are fulling up with all kinds of Easter themed sweets! Just because we eat a low carb fat fueled life doesn’t mean we don’t miss out 🙃 lucky for us, many components of candies are actually superfoods, namely cacao and coconut 😍
If you’re looking for a white chocolate bark, or our chocolate hazelnut truffles, check out my recipe that I posted for Valentines! It’s high in healthy fats and satisfies our sweet tooth 🤩
As a little girl, I always loved finding the little filled chocolate eggs hidden between books, flowers or in the piano of our living room 💐🐣
Today I will be sharing my attempt to recreate these chocolate coconut treats in a way that they are truly a food and not a candy, which can be enjoyed all the time (not only Easter) 😉
To make this you need:
Your favorite vanilla ghee, nut or coconut butter as a filling 🥥🌰
Coconut flour depending on how sticky your chosen filling is 🥥
Cacao powder, coconut flakes or crushed nuts for coating 🥳
How to:
Start by making the filling. Take your butter of choice and roll it into little balls! Make them as big as you like, I prefer a smaller egg with a thin layer of coating. Depending on the consistency of your filling, you may want to add in a little bit of coconut flour to soak up any moisture.
I chose a mixture of vanilla infused ghee and coconut manna 🧈🥥
Place those into the refrigerator to cool down so that you can easily dip them into the molten white chocolate.
While those are cooling, make the vegan keto white chocolate. Heat up water in a pot and set up a water bath.
Melt the coconut butter and cacao butter, and use a whisk to mix them together. Since there is no emulsifier you have to be really careful. When they’ve formed a homogeneous mixture, stir in the sweetener and the vanilla.
Now it’s time to prepare your coating, if you’re choosing to do that. I don’t do well with nuts so I’m going to pass, but If you want to coat yours with nuts, it’s a good idea to crush them.
You also need to prepare a freezer safe dish on which you can place the finished eggs so that they can harden. I would line a dish with foil or food wrap so that they can be easily removed.
Ready to be dipped
Remove the filling from the refrigerator and using a tooth pick, dip each filling into the molten chocolate. Roll them in your topping of choice and place them onto the prepared dish.
Freeze until they are hard and store in the freezer for a fat fueled treat 🥳
Mine did not turn out as pretty but they sure taste amazing!
The sweet bell pepper is complemented well by the nutty tahini which helps create a creamy texture and well! This is a garlic free version for all the vampires out there🧛♀️
If you can tolerate garlic, we are working on a roasted pepper and garlic dip so stay tuned 🧄
6 tablespoons of Tahini depending on consistency 🤩
Fresh herbs such as parsley, basil or chives 🌿
How to:
Bake the whole bell peppers in the oven at 200°F until you can easily remove the core. This usually takes 1-2 hours.
When that’s ready, remove the core and seeds, and add the pepper, herbs and spices to a food processor. Blend, and add in the tahini until you’ve reached your desired consistency.
Optimally you can use an electric mixture to add more fluff 🙌🏻
Summer is just around the corner, which calls for lighter dishes with lots of seafood and veggies 🦞
Today, I’m sharing our take on a classic: the paella, with our friend cauliflower rice 🍚
This dish incorporates fresh tomatoes, green onions and garlicky herb butter to create a flavorful base for the riced cauliflower and shrimp (any seafood really works)!
I love to get my shrimp or other seafood from Vital Choice Seafood, you can check out my guide to seafood here!
Begin by heating up the butter in a pan. Slice the cherry tomatoes and finely chop the green onions. Add those to the pan and cook slowly.
Next, add in the shrimp and cook until those are cooked. Season with the garlic and umami seasonings. Let simmer. Add more butter and the lemon infused olive oil.
Lastly, add in the riced cauliflower and sauté until you’ve reached your desired texture!
Fun fact: my great cousin is a chocolatier, and every Christmas and Easter we receive a bright yellow package in the mail full of goodies he has made. The box smells like the freshest chocolate, nuts and a little bit of rum (from the rum truffles). Unfortunately, they are also packed with sugar and dairy so we can only enjoy them in memory 😅
In honor of Onkel Franz, we dedicated this weekend to making our own fat fueled treats, that are food not candy 🤩
Onkel Franz always sends us a variety of truffles in white, milk, and dark chocolate. With nougat or other nuts, cocoa dusted almonds and the specialty treat my brother always claims 🤣- the famous Hundertmark Butterkeks (think thin buttery crispy speculoos cookie dipped in Belgian chocolate and imprinted with the family name)! I don’t even dare to come up with a fat fueled version of that, I could never do it justice 🥺
But there’s nothing to say against chocolate (it’s a superfood- read more here) so let’s make some yummy treats 🥳
2 tablespoons sugar free chocolate syrup, we like Criobru 🍫
How to:
The first step is to make the filling via water bath. If you’re choosing to make your own, set up a water bath and heat the cacao butter and coconut butter, and mix with a whisk to form a homogenous mixture. You’ll need to do this carefully as there is no emulsifier. Then add in the cacao powder and allulose. For an easier version, heat melt 100g of your favorite keto chocolate bar.
Next melt in the ghee/butter, nut butter and chocolate spreads, and whisk to form a homogenous mixture. Stir in the chocolate syrup and the stevia and the chopped hazelnuts.
Transfer the mixture to the fridge for about 15 minutes so that it’s hard enough to make little balls. When it’s ready, scoop little teaspoon sized balls and press a hazelnut into each of them. Transfer to the freezer to cool down.
While those are cooling, melt the remaining 200g chocolate for coating. Remove the filling from the freezer, and dip each into the molten chocolate. Sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts and transfer back into the freezer to chill.
Enjoy as a fat fueled snack or dessert 🍮 and store in a cool place!
Jicama is a great prebiotic vegetable since they are a full of gut-healthy inulin and they taste super yummy too 😍
One way I enjoy these are as a crudités with guacamole or olive tapenade, but my favorite way to make these is as a baked “fry” swap 🍟
Jicama are small brownish round vegetables, and the skin can be left on (it crisps up really nice in the oven or air fryer), or can be removed if you want.
To make the fries you need:
Jicama wedges (chop the jicama into a fry shape)
Salt and pepper 🧂
Your favorite spices: Buffalo or bbq work well or you can stick to the classic salt, I love Primal Palate Spice rubs, this time I used the BBQ rub 🤤
Dipping sauces such as Primal Kitchen Foods Primal Ketchup and/or Chosen Foods Keto Mayo 🤩
How to:
Preheat the air fryer or oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper if using an oven 📄
While the oven/air fryer is heating up, prepare the jicama. If you’re keeping the skin on, give it a good scrub, or peel off the skin. Cut the jicama into little wedges/sticks, about 1/3 an inch thick and toss in the fat of your choice. Season with salt, pepper and anything else you like 🧂🌶
Place the jicama onto the sheet and bake for 15 minutes on one side. Flip and bake another 15 minutes until tender but crisp.
Enjoy with Chosen foods MCT Mayo and Primal Kitchen Foods Primal Ketchup 🤩
