Keto Friendly Loaded Cauliflower Casserole

It's not very often I actually do any cooking these days. But I recently found myself in the kitchen testing out a new recipe.  For those that do not know, I work a 12 hour shift in a factory and my husband is retired, so he has taken over the duties in the kitchen.  But,  I actually had two days off in a row; a rare treat!  So I decided  I wanted to find a new side dish.

I opted for Loaded Cauliflower Casserole.

I had searched and found several different versions of this recipe and modified them to make a Keto Friendly version.

Most of the recipes I had found called for a head of fresh cauliflower,  I cheated.  I used Frozen Cauliflower.  The only thing I will do different next time, is I will buy one of the steamable bags.  That would be so much quicker and less clean-up.

You first want to cook your cauliflower.  Just steam it until it's just slightly cooked.  You do not want to over cook it. 

Spread your steamed, diced cauliflower in the bottom of a 9x13 glass dish that's been sprayed with Olive Oil.

Evenly spread a package of shredded cheddar cheese over the cauliflower.

Next, top with a bag of real bacon, bacon bits and just a little frozen, diced onion.  (Not too much as onions do add flavor, but they also add carbs.)

Then dice up 2 tablespoons of butter and evenly distribute it on top.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper and whatever other seasonings you desire, to taste.

Bake uncovered, at 350 for about 30 minutes.

And that's it.  Super simple and oh so yummy!

Keto Friendly Loaded Cauliflower

12 ounce bag of frozen cauliflower

8 ounce package of shredded cheddar cheese

2.5 ounce package of real bacon, bacon bits

1/2 cup of diced onion (fresh or frozen)

2 Tablespoons of butter, diced

salt, pepper, and other seasonings to taste.

Steam the cauliflower then put in the bottom of a casserole dish that has been sprayed with Olive Oil.

Sprinkle with the bag of shredded cheddar cheese, bacon bits, onion, butter and seasonings.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes

Nutrional information:

8 servings   Macros:  5/69/26

189 calories

2.5 carbs

15 fat

12 protein

If desired, you can top it with 2 Tablespoons of Sour Cream, but that adds 1 carb.

Keto Friendly Pizza!

Yesterday I gave Ed a break in the kitchen and made a couple of Keto Friendly Pizzas for our evening meal.   I made two different kinds because I wanted leftovers. 

These pizzas are not your normal pizza, though.  In fact, some of you may wrinkle up your nose and say no way without even giving it a try.  

But these pizzas will probably become a regular in our household.  We liked both of them that well.  I fully expect Ed to take the recipe and run with it.   I imagine he will come up with some of his own pizza creations.

The crust is mostly made of Chicken.  Well, chicken and cheese.  The original recipe called for shredded Parmesan Cheese, but we did not have any on hand so I used shredded Fiesta Blend and it turned out fine.  There is absolutely no flour what-so-ever.  But check this out.  Does it look like a chicken crust?

I turned one chicken crust into a BBQ Chicken Pizza.

Keto BBQ Chicken Pizza

Check out that "Crust"!

I turned the other crust into a Chicken Alfredo Pizza.

   

Chicken Alfredo Pizza - before baked

I only had one pizza pan, so the Chicken Alfredo Pizza ended up being a rectangular pizza - cooked on a Cookie Sheet.  But to be honest, I think I liked that best.  It was much easier to cut and place the leftovers into dishes. 

 Chicken Alfredo Pizza

When I am the one doing the cooking, I don't remember to stop and take a photo of each step.  I sure wish I had gotten a photo of the Baked Chicken Alfredo Pizza before we ate into it and then cut and put the rest of it in the fridge for later.  Maybe next time!

Anyway,  I think the main secret to get the perfect crust, is to cook your chicken well enough that it just shreds.  I cut the boneless, skinless chicken breasts up into chunks and cooked it in the Instant Pot.  But if you don't have an Instant Pot I am sure you could just boil it on top of the stove or cook it on low for several hours in the crock pot.

Anyway!  Let's get on to the recipe!  Remember, to double everything if you want to make two pizzas - leftover pizza reheats so well.  

Chicken Crust 

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts 

4 cubes of Chicken Bullion

Seasonings of your choice

(I used Pink Salt, Garlic Powder and a Mesquite chicken seasoning)

water

Cut the chicken into 2 inch cubes and put them in the bottom of your Instant Pot.  Toss in the Bullion Cubes and sprinkle on your seasonings.  Then cover with water.  

Pressure cook for 40 minutes.  

Release Steam & Drain.

Preheat your oven to 375 at this time.

If you are making 2 crusts, you will want to make them separately. So just use half the chicken at a time. and again, you will need to double the ingredients below.

Put the cooked chicken in mixer bowl and using the flat beater, shred the chicken. Then Add:

1 package of shredded cheese (I used Fiesta Blend)

2 eggs

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp pink salt

1 tsp pepper

1 tsp basil

1 tsp parsley

Mix it all together until it forms a "dough".  Add another egg, if you need to.

Line a pizza pan or cookie sheet with Parchment Paper and spray it with Olive Oil.  Then press the chicken mixture onto the pan to form your Pizza Crust.

Bake at 375 for 30 minutes.

While the first crust is baking, mix up the 2nd one.

BBQ Chicken Pizza

1 Chicken Crust

1 jar Sugar Free BBQ Sauce

1 package Real Bacon Bacon Bits

1 package Shredded Cheddar Cheese

8 oz Mesquite Smoked Chicken Breast

Parsley & Basil

any other seasonings of your choice

Spread the BBQ sauce evenly over the crust, sprinkle with toppings and  bake for 15 minutes, or until cheese is melted.

Chicken Alfredo Pizza

1 Chicken Crust

1 jar low carb Alfredo Sauce

1 package shredded Mozzarella Cheese

1 package real bacon bacon bits

8 oz Mesquite Smoked Chicken Breast

Parsley & Basil

any other seasonings of your choice

Spread the Alfredo Sauce evenly over the crust, then sprinkle with toppings.   Bake for 15 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Keto BBQ Chicken Pizza

Keto Chicken Alfredo Pizza

Keto Snack Attack

For those that don't know, I am currently off work due to hand surgery.  The being off work part has been great, other than the pain associated with recovery.  Oh yes, and the itty bitty short term disabilty paycheck.  

But, I have not been getting hardly any exercise.  For one thing, I am not walking the 25,000 to 30,000 steps six out of seven days a week while at work.  Plus, I am unable to ride my bicycle right now and my bicycle is basically the only form of exercise I get, other than work.  So, yes, I am struggling once again with the scales.  

We just got home from an out of state visit with our son & family and unfortunately, even though I tried to always make wise choices with my eating, I didn't fully succeed.  So now that we are back home, Ed and I are both Full-On Keto again!  

The other day were in a neighboring town, working on a project at our daughter's house.  Foolishly, we didn't pack anything Keto to eat.  I was thinking I would just do OMAD (One Meal A Day)  - and I'd just fast until we got home that night for our evening meal.

Unfortunately, that did not happen.  We both got to feeling like we needed something to eat.  Normally, in this situation, we'd have just dropped everything and gone to grab a bite at one of the local restaurants.  But, we just ate Mexican the day before celebrating our daughter's birthday so we really didn't want that again.  So I decided instead, to just do a Wal-mart run to grab some stuff to satisfy us until dinner.  

I ended up spending about $17 and I bought way more than we needed!  Ed has snacks leftover for when he gets hungry the next time he works over there.

Fully Cooked Bacon (0 carbs)

Beef and Cheese Sticks (less than 2 carbs for both)

Panino (2 carbs per package)

P3 Snacks - this one has Turkey, Ham and Cheddar (2 carbs for package)

Pepper Jack Cheese (2 carbs per serving)

 

We both had about 4 carbs in our snacks - and they were enough to get us to our evening meal.  And, as I said, he has plenty of snacks left over for next time.

A new Twist to Bacon

A few weeks back we found this recipe for twisted bacon strips.  They looked cute but more importantly, they looked rather yummy! We decided to give it a try and I don't believe we have made bacon any other way since!

It is a bit messy twisting the bacon but in my opinion,  the end result is well worth it. (Probably especially since Ed is the one doing the twisting!  🤣)

We have always made them using Center Cut Bacon.

 

Preheat your oven to 400.

Then line a baking sheet with foil and spray it with Olive Oil Cooking Spray.  

Then twist each slice of bacon and lay it in a single layer on the foil lined sheet.

Bake at 400 for 15 minutes. Flip the twists,  then bake another 15 minutes.

You will want to watch them closely those last few minutes because they can burn pretty quickly.   Remove when they are at your preferred doneness. 

Delicious!!!

Folios Cheese Wraps

We picked up a new product a couple of weeks ago and last night we finally got around to trying them.   We had Tacos for supper last night.

OMGosh!  This changes everything.  

The shell turned out very comparable (I think) to a hard-shell taco.  Of course, it could be because it's literally been years since I have had a hard taco shell - if I'd eaten one recently, I might not think it was comparable.  But for me, this is the new taco shell!

The package has a few serving suggestions.  One of which is for making Chips and Salsa. 

Our local Wal-mart carries both the Cheddar and Parmesan Cheese Wraps and we picked up a package of each.  We've yet to try the parmesan wraps but I see doing so in the near future.  

 

I am also anxious to see what other delicious recipes my Keto Chef creates with them.  

OMG.  an even better recipe for Keto Fried Pickles.  

Tonight, Ed modified his Roasted Cauliflower Recipe and came up with an amazing Keto Fried Pickle Recipe.  I watched him make them and have tried to write down about how much he was putting in of everything but I will be honest. He didn't measure anything except for the garlic powder and pink salt.

Ed's Keto Fried Pickles

One 5 oz package of Macs regular pork rinds, ground into crumbs
1/4 cup Italian Seasoning
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp pink salt
1 package shredded Parmesan Cheese, divided
1/4 cup Olive Oil
1 jar of no sugar added pickle slices
1 pkg real bacon, bacon bits

Preheat the oven to 425.

First step is to grind up the pork rinds.  You should end up with about 2 cups of crumbs (depending on how many pork rinds you eat while grinding them!) 😂 Pour the ground up rinds into a gallon ziplock bag. 

Before he bought this electric chopper, he would put the pork rinds into a ziplock bag and grind them using a rolling pin.  That works, too but the electric chopper grinds them up much finer.

Next, he added the Italian Seasoning. He just heavily sprinkled the pork rinds with it, maybe about 1/4 cup.

Add 1/2 tsp of Garlic Powder and 1/2 tsp of Pink Salt. 

Then he added 3 pinches of the shredded Parmesan Cheese, Maybe about half the package.  Save the rest of the cheese for later.

Zip the bag shut and mix the contents until well blended.

Lay your zero sugar pickle chips in a single layer on a cutting board lined with paper towels.  Place more paper towels on top and blot them dry. Then place the pickles in a 2nd gallon sized ziplock bag.

Pour about 1/4 cup of Extra Virgin Olive Oil over the pickles. 

Seal the bag and mix, trying to make sure each of the pickles get coated with the oil.

Once the pickles are well coated with oil, sprinkle the pork rind mixture over the pickles.  

Again, seal the bag and shake to coat the pickles with the pork rinds.

Line a baking sheet with foil and spray the foil with olive oil cooking spray.

Then spread the coated pickles in a single layer on the baking sheet.  

Sprinkle the pickles with the remaining shredded parmesan cheese.

Then top with the real bacon bits.

Bake at 425 for about 30 minutes.

As I said above, this recipe is much better than the recipe I posted the other day.  It does have more ingredients and requires a bit more work but the end result is worth it.