Chicken

Fall Cooking

Posted by Lisa Eirene

Sunday I made some keto chili. With some help! Logan wanted to chop things. He has a special knife (a toddler plastic knife that is about as sharp as a plastic knife but it can cut SOME things) and he tried to chop celery (that didn’t really work) and then switched to onions. He did that for awhile and then said “the onions got me”. LOL

So I finished up chopping onions and stuff. Then he helped stir a little:

Then he lost interest. 😉 But we are trying! I made a few substitutions. I didn’t have low carb beer, so I used a splash of red wine instead. I also added celery (one stalk). I also did a combo of ground beef and chunks of stew meat to give it a little variety of texture since I wasn’t adding corn and beans and stuff.

The Best Paleo & Keto Chili

Ingredients

  • 3 cloves garlic ran through a press
  • 1 large onion finely chopped
  • 500 g ground beef
  • 2 cloves
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder *
  • 1-2 teaspoons ground cumin to taste
  • 1-2 teaspoons paprika to taste
  • 1 teaspoon ground oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon chipotle powder optional, to taste
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper optional, to taste
  • 1 400 g can diced tomatoes
  • 240 ml beef broth
  • 120 ml (gluten free or low carb) beer optional**
  • 60 ml strong brewed coffee optional**
  • kosher salt to taste

Instructions

  1. Heat up olive oil in a dutch oven or large pot over medium/high heat. Add garlic and onion, and cook until it just begins to brown (about 8 minutes). 
  2. Lower heat to medium, add ground beef, cloves and a large pinch of salt. Cook until it begins to brown, stirring every so often (5 to 7 minutes). Add in all the spices and cook for a couple more minutes until fragrant. Some peeps enjoy their chili spicier, others strong on cumin, etc… so feel free to adjust the spices slowly as the chili cooks (the fun part!). 
  3. Add tomatoes and continue to cook over medium heat until it begins to simmer. Lower the heat to low and continue to cook for 15 minutes, stirring every so often.
  4. Add in the beef broth, beer (optional) and coffee (optional). Continue to cook for 3 to 8 hours. Adding 1/4 cup water (or broth) at a time, as needed. Remember that the longer you cook it, the more flavor it gets! 
  5. Allow your chili to rest for 10 minutes prior to serving with your favorite toppings.

Recipe Notes

*Chili spices can vary a lot in taste (and preference!). Buying a ready-made chili powder mix is a good place to start. But do feel free to play around with the individual spices to your liking (think chili, oregano, cumin, coriander, paprika, chipotle… you could even add some chili ancho!).

**Adding in some (gluten free, low carb) beer and coffee add a bunch of flavor. But totally optional, and your chili will still be magnificent without them! 

Please note that nutrition facts were estimated per serving (assuming a yield of 6). Nutrition Facts: Calories 251 Fat 17g Saturated Fat 6g Carbohydrates 6g Fiber 2g Sugar 2g Protein 16g

I put everything in the crockpot because I had a lot of stuff to do and would rather do chili in a crockpot all day anyways.

It turned out pretty good but not quite chili. It was more like a beef stew. I topped it with some shredded cheese, chopped red onion, sour cream and some pickled radishes (David Lebovitz’s are my favorite, and if you don’t follow him on Instagram, you should!). The pickled radishes on top were kind of an excellent addition!

Next time I would drain the can of tomatoes so there was a little less liquid.

The other recipe I tried was Lean Green Bean’s Spicy Yogurt Marinated Chicken.

SPICY YOGURT MARINATED CHICKEN

INGREDIENTS

1.5 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs (or breasts)
3/4 cup plain yogurt (regular or greek)
1 tsp paprika
2 tsp cumin
1 Tbsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp dried oregano
4 cloves garlic, minced
juice from one lime
pinch of salt and pepper

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Combine all ingredients in a large Ziploc bag.
  2. Close tightly and use your hands to mix everything around and make sure the chicken is well coated.
  3. Marinate in the fridge at least 2 hours. (24 hours is best!)
  4. Remove the chicken and cook as desired, discarding the remaining marinade. I cooked mine on a sheet pan with green beans at 400 for 15-25 minutes. Time will vary depending on the thickness of your chicken. Check internal temperature until it reaches 165. You may need to remove the green beans before your chicken is done!

NOTES

To cook the sweet potatoes, thinly slice, spray with oil, season as desired and bake at 400 or 425 for 20-25 min flipping once.

I let it marinade for over 24 hours and then we had it for dinner Monday night. I loved having a quick and easy meal nearly ready for a Monday night meal.

This one was definitely a winner! It had some spice, too! Loved the flavors, loved how easy it was.

The only changes I would make: I’d use chicken breasts instead of thighs and I’d put the green beans in the oven half-way through the chicken cooking. The green beans got a little overdone. They still tasted great, but were a little soft.

Will definitely make this one again!

Keto Dinners & Recipes

Posted by Lisa Eirene

The keto diet is still going well. I’m going to share some keto dinners and recipes that we’ve done lately because honestly the rotation of breakfasts and lunches don’t change all that much! But I am trying to try new things with dinners to get some variety.

Apparently the theme for this post is Alfredo!

Recipe #1

We made this and it was really delicious! I had the leftover chicken thigh and some sauce for lunch the next day and it was even better as a leftover. We used chicken thighs instead chicken breasts and raw minced garlic instead of garlic powder.

Creamy Tuscan Garlic Chicken

Ingredients
  • Chicken Breasts
  • 2 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • ½ cup chicken broth
  • 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 teaspoon italian seasoning
  • ½ cup parmesan cheese
  • 1 cup spinach, chopped
  • ½ cup sun dried tomatoes
Instructions
  1. In a large skillet add olive oil and cook the chicken on medium high heat for 3-5 minutes on each side or until brown on each side and cooked until no longer pink in center. Remove chicken and set aside on a plate.
  2. Add the heavy cream, chicken broth, garlic powder, italian seasoning, and parmesan cheese. Whisk over medium high heat until it starts to thicken. Add the spinach and sundried tomatoes and let it simmer until the spinach starts to wilt. Add the chicken back to the pan and serve over pasta if desired.

Recipe #2 

Another chicken recipe. For this one we used boneless, skinless chicken thighs (frozen). The alfredo sauce was REALLY tasty! I liked it a lot. I’ve never made alfredo from scratch before, I’ve always just used a jar. It was so much better than the store bought stuff. I topped it with some fresh parsley. And you totally did not miss not having pasta. The broccoli was great with it. I had the leftover chicken and alfredo sauce the next day for lunch and the sauce flavor was even richer.

Low Carb Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo

Ingredients

  • 1 pound thin sliced chicken breasts
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon ground pepper
  • ½ teaspoon paprika
  • ½ teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1 tablespoon avocado oil
  • 16 ounces broccoli
  • 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1 teaspoon minced garlic
  • 1 cup shredded Parmesan

Instructions

  1. Sprinkle the salt, pepper, paprika, and garlic powder evenly over both sides of the chicken.
  2. Heat a large skillet over medium heat and add the oil.
  3. When oil is hot, add the chicken breasts and cook 5 minutes on each side or until chicken is cooked through.
  4. While chicken is cooking, steam the broccoli on the stove or in the microwave until as tender as you’d like.
  5. Heat a sauce pan over medium heat and add the cream, butter, garlic, salt, and pepper. Whisk constantly until the butter is melted and the mixture comes to a slow simmer.
  6. Remove from the heat and stir in the shredded Parmesan. Whisk until the cheese melts fully and the sauce is smooth.
  7. To serve, divide the broccoli between four plates and top with chicken. Drizzle with sauce.
Nutrition Information:

YIELD: 4  Amount Per Serving: CALORIES: 437 TOTAL FAT: 32g SODIUM: 672mg CARBOHYDRATES: 9g FIBER: 3g SUGAR: 4g PROTEIN: 33g

Recipe #3

Not really a recipe. But still super good and I wanted to share my creation. 🙂 Michael created my vision. Zoodles (three smallish zucchinis) sautéed in oil. Then scallops (frozen from Costco defrosted), seared and seasoned with salt and pepper. Alfredo sauce. This time we used the stuff from the jar because we needed a quick Monday night meal. Definitely not as good as the other two homemade Alfredo sauces but still decent and like I said, good for a quickie meal. Then topped with crumbled bacon! Season with freshly ground pepper. It was really good! And definitely keto.

We were originally going to use shrimp in this recipe but I discovered last minute that we were out of frozen shrimp. So thankfully we had some scallops. I would definitely do this again for a quick workday dinner.