Super Simple Sugar-Free No-Cook Keto Vegan Coconut Chocolate Pudding

Hey, Keto friends. Do you miss desserts? I miss desserts. I miss them so much. I wanna eat a great big bowl of rocky road ice cream on top of a pair of eclairs, topped with some profiteroles and, oh, I dunno... a tub of hot fudge. That sounds like a nice treat.Anywho, to scratch that dessert itch, I've been experimenting with keto-friendly desserts. Here's my attempt at a chocolate pudding. It's super simple, super quick, and requires absolutely no cooking! Let me know what you think!

Super Simple Sugar-Free No-Cook Keto Vegan Coconut Chocolate Pudding

Ingredients

• 1 can of full-fat organic coconut milk
• 3 Tbsp., cocoa powder
• 1 Tbsp., sugar-free maple syrup
• .5 tsp., vanilla extract
• a dash of sea salt to taste
• a sprinkling of cayenne pepper

Instructions

1. Refrigerate your can of coconut milk over night. 
2. Separate the coconut milk solids from the remaining liquid. Set liquid aside.
3. Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer.
4. Beat the mixture until you get a nice, pudding-like consistency. If you find the mixture to be too dry, add a tablespoon or two of the coconut milk liquids to the mixture to loosen it up.
5. Transfer your completed pudding into little jars to refrigerate and eat later! Or, dig right in and enjoy!

Nutritional Info Per Serving

This recipe made about 3 servings for me – each about the size of a typical individual pudding cup. It's very rich, so a small serving is all you need.

• Calories: 250
• Fat: 25g
• Protein: 3g
• Carbs: 8g
• Dietary Fiber: 2g

Some pics of the process!

Before eating, I sprinkled some coconut flakes and cayenne pepper over the pudding for just a little added texture and heat. I think it turned out great, but I'd LOVE to know what you think! Chocolate desserts can be so divisive! Is this recipe sweet enough? Chocolate-y enough? Try it out and let me know!  

Keto Spinach & Cheddar Soufflé

I love meat. I adore it. There is no time of day – sleeping, showering, jury duty – when I couldn't go for a nice grass-fed ribeye. But, I acknowledge that there are folks out there who prefer their eats a little less "moo" and a lot more "imperceptible sound of plant growth." In fact, one of those people has been my boyfriend for the past 17 years. (Life is weird sometimes. I've learned to stop asking questions.)So, for him and several of my similarly meat-averse friends, I've decided to attempt some vegetarian keto cooking. This spinach soufflé was my first experiment. I thought it was damn delicious, frankly. That boyfriend guy liked it, too.

Relatively Simple Spinach & Cheddar Soufflé

Ingredients

The dish itself:

• 3 egg yolks
• 5 egg whites
• 1/2 tsp., cream of tartar
• 3 Tbsp., butter
• 3 Tbsp., almond flour
• 1 cup, heavy cream
• 1 cup, shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 bag, frozen chopped spinach (thawed and wrung out thoroughly)
• salt and pepper to taste

And for prepping the ramekins (I used six individual 6-ounce ramekins, but you can use one great big dish, if you prefer):

• butter 
• grated parmesan cheese

Instructions

Prep:

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease the insides of your ramekins (or large, oven-safe dish) with butter.
3. Dust the greased ramekins (or dish) with grated parmesan cheese and set aside
4. Separate the eggs, placing the whites in the (very clean, super dry) bowl of your stand mixer. Yolks can go in any old bowl.
5. Add cream of tartar to mixing bowl and set aside.

Sauce:

1. In a large pan, melt 3 Tbsp of butter over medium-high heat until it begins to bubble.
2. Add the almond flour to the pan, stirring constantly to develop a smooth roux.
3. Add the cream to the pan and continue to cook the mixture, stirring, stirring, stirring until smooth and thickened.
4. Add the cheddar cheese and continue to stir, until the cheese has melted into the sauce.
5.  Add the spinach to the sauce and stir some more. So much stirring.
6. Season the spinach/cheese sauce mixture with salt and pepper to taste. You can season it pretty strongly at this point, as the final mixture will be diluted somewhat by the addition of eggs.
7. Set aside to work on the eggs.

Eggs:

1. Beat the egg whites in a stand mixer until they form soft peaks. I've heard other folks say that the whites should cling to the bowl as you roll it around in your hands. Still other folks say to whip them to firm peaks. I went somewhere in the middle.
2. Add the yolks to the spinach/cheese sauce mixture and stir.
3. Very gently fold your egg whites into spinach/cheese sauce mixture. I did this in two steps. First, I added about a quarter of the whites to the saucepan and folded gently. Then, I poured the entire mixture into the mixing bowl with the whites and continued to fold.

Bake:

1. Once folded together, pour the completed mixture into your prepped ramekins/dish. You can place the ramekins on a single baking sheet to simplify the baking (and cleaning) process.
2. Bake in your preheated oven for 30-40 minutes, until risen and golden brown. Important: DO NOT open the oven until at least 30 minutes have passed!
3. Remove from oven, allow to cool for a few minutes (the soufflés will deflate slightly) and serve!

Nutritional Info Per Serving

This recipe made about 6.5 servings for me. I baked the remaining .5 in a small oven-safe bowl.

• Calories: 358
• Fat: 28g
• Protein: 17g
• Carbs: 4g
• Dietary Fiber: 0g

And how about some pics from the whole soufflé-making process?

I think it turned out pretty well for a first attempt! I wish they had gotten a puffier. Perhaps I should have used milk instead of cream? Or dried the spinach more thoroughly? Or cleaned the mixing bowl better? Or beaten the whites harder? I will try the recipe again in the future and see how it all shakes out.If you give this recipe a shot, please let me know how it turns out for you and what you may do to alter it! I'd love to know!Hope you're doing super!

Juicey (Lamb) Lucy

I've found it pretty easy to get stuck in a ground-meat rut on this Keto diet – it's cheap and easy and reasonably fatty. So, the other day, I challenged myself to do something a bit more interesting and a lot more photogenic. And, it's still super easy! Here's my ground lamb version of the classic Jucy Lucy on a little arugula salad.

Ingredients

• 4 oz, ground lamb (grass-fed if you can get it!)
• 2 Tbsp., feta cheese
• .5 cup arugula (washed and dried)
• 1 Tbsp., arugula blossoms
• 1 tsp., chia seeds
• 1 tsp., olive oil
• .25 tsb., sherry vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

1. Divide ground lamb into two roughly even patties.
2. Season both sides of each patty with salt and pepper.
3. Create a small divot in one pattie, using your knuckles or a spoon. It doesn't need to be deep. You're just making a little home for your cheese.
4. Drop 1 Tbsp. of feta cheese into the divot.
5. Place remaining pattie over the first and gently pat down edges to seal the patties together. Just tuck that feta in, all snug and comfy.
6. Cook the combined patty in a frying pan over medium heat – roughly four minutes per side. Due to the fattiness of the lamb, you probably won't need to add any oil. But, feel free to add a dash of olive oil if you care to.
7. While your Jucy Lamb Lucy is cooking, combine arugula, arugula blossoms, sherry vinegar, chia seeds, remaining olive oil, and remaining feta cheese in a bowl and toss lightly. Season with salt and pepper to your preference
8. Place the salad onto a dish.
9. Place the Jucy Lamb Lucy over your salad.
10. Enjoy!

Nutritional Information

Lamb Jucy Lucy:

• Calories: 351
• Fat: 26g
• Protein: 24g
• Carbohydrates: 1g
• Dietary Fiber: 0g

Little Arugula Salad:

• Calories: 137
• Fat: 12g
• Protein: 5g
• Carbohydrates: 3g
• Dietary Fiber: 2g

Picture time!

As always, I'd love to know what you think of the recipe! And, I'd love to hear about any keto lamb recipes of your own! Help me! :P

Keto Baking is Hard

Despite all the benefits this keto lifestyle has provided, goddammit do I miss baked goods.So, this weekend, I tried my hand at two different baked goods – one savory, one sweet. The verdict? Maybe keto baking isn't for me. :(Still, I took some pictures and thought I'd share my failure all the same.First up, a savory coconut flour biscuit based loosely off this recipe. Rather than garlic and cheese, I went with sage, hazelnuts, and duck fat – I replaced half the butter called for with an equal amount of duck fat (about 2 Tbsp.) It went a little something like this:

VERDICT: Ehhh...  Everything smelled incredible, but the cookies themselves were dry and gritty. Again, I think I messed up with the amount of flour, so that's on me. Both the cookies and the spread had a noticeable tang of sugar substitute (I used Stevia in the Raw.) Perhaps I'm just too new to keto to appreciate a good sugar substitute (I still remember what real sugar tastes like), or I'm just using the wrong ones.While this weekend's experiments in keto baking were certainly fun and educational, I feel the overwhelming lesson was that keto baking is hard and I suck at it. I have a lot of learning left to do.