Coconut Curry Shrimp

This is a fun and quick weeknight dinner, super flavorful and colorful. You can use full-fat coconut milk if you’re at your goal weight, or light coconut milk on a weight-loss protein-sparing day. Other kinds of seafood can be substituted for the shrimp, like fish, scallops, clams, or calamari. Enjoy! Serves 2.

Ingredients:

Shrimp:

2 pounds of medium shrimp

1 T coconut oil

dash sea salt

Sauce:

1 can coconut milk, no gums - I like Native Forest

1 T fish sauce

1 T tamari sauce

1 t garlic powder

dash onion powder

2 t minced fresh ginger or 1/2 t ginger powder

1/2 t ceylon cinnamon

1/2 t turmeric, optional

3 T chopped Thai basil, optional

lime slices for serving

Instructions:

Whisk all the sauce ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside. Heat up the coconut oil a large cast-iron/stainless steel/copper pan on high until hot. Add the shrimp and the dash of sea salt, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until the shrimp are pink and cooked through, a couple minutes. Pour in the sauce. Stir until hot and well combined, and remove from heat. Add more fish sauce and/or tamari to taste, for saltiness. Sprinkle herbs on top. Serve immediately with limes on the side.

Perfect Boiled Eggs

I’ve recently fallen in love with boiled eggs. They are perfect for protein-sparing days because they don’t need to be cooked with butter or other fat in the pan like with omelets, scrambed eggs, and fried eggs. All you get is the super-healthy fat in the yolk, which is 4.5 grams/egg. And with 6 grams of super high-quality protein each, they are super filling, delicious, and done in minutes! This recipe is choose-your-own-adventure, depending on whether you prefer your yolks runny, medium, or hard! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Fresh eggs, soy- and corn-free (how many depends on the size of your pan: not more than will fit in one layer in the bottom of your pan, with some space around them)

Instructions:

1. Boil 3 inches of water in a medium sauce pan, being sure it’s not more than half full so there is room for your eggs after the water boils.

2. Lower fresh cold eggs into the rolling boiling water with a large spoon so they don’t crack on the bottom of the pan. Work quickly so that they don’t start cooking much before you get the timer set. Keep heat on high.

3. Set the timer immediately. Runny yolks = 7 minutes. Medium yolks (my fave) = 8 minutes. Hard yolks = 10 minutes.

4. When the water comes back to a roiling boil, lower the heat to medium, making sure that there are still simmer-bubbles in the water.

5. When the timer goes off, immediately pour out most of the hot water and add cold tap water to fill the sauce pan. Dump that water and fill it again with cold tap water to stop the cooking.

6. Peel, season with sea salt and pepper, and eat warm! Leftovers can be stored in the shell in the fridge for up to one week and eaten cold.

image: Photo by Anton Nazaretian on Unsplash

Salmon Greek Salad

This is one of my favorite salads ever. You can really use any kind of meat or fish you want but I love it with grilled or sauteed salmon. Serves 4.

Ingredients:

4 large wild-caught salmon fillets, 6-8 oz. each

1 tablespoon grass-fed butter

8 eggs

4 C zucchini noodles (or thin slice)

1/2 C kalamata olives

1/2 C feta cheese

2 C chopped cucumber

1/8 C super high-quality extra virgin olive oil

1/4 C balsamic vinegar

Sea salt and pepper, to taste

1 t each dried oregano, parsley, and dill

Optional: a few cherry tomatoes, if you tolerate nightshades (not recommended)

Directions:

Salt the salmon fillets and fry them in a hot buttered cast iron pan for a couple minutes on each side, so they are still rare in the middle. For the soft-boiled eggs, start with boiling a few inches of water in a medium pan until there is a roiling boil. Lower the eggs into the boiling water with a large spoon and immediately set a timer to simmer for 8 minutes. After the timer goes off, pour out the simmering water and fill with cold tap water to stop them from cooking. Peal and quarter the eggs. Plate the zucchini, cucumber, salmon, feta, eggs, and olives. Drizzle the dish with o.o. (olive oil), balsamic, herbs, and sea salt. Yum!

Beef Larb Salad

These are fun, easy, and absolutely delicious. Even my kids will eat them - in fact, they gobble them up! Double or triple the recipe for more than one hungry person.

Beef Larb Salad:

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef

1 t sea salt

1 t garlic powder

1 t ginger powder

2 scallions (green onions), sliced, both white and green parts

juice and zest of one large lime

2 T fish sauce

2 T low sodium/ wheat-free tamari OR Braggs liquid aminos

2 T rice vinegar

1/2 Cup chopped fresh cilantro, mint, and basil (thai basil or regular)

For serving: julienned English cucumber (skinny cucumber with thin skin, wrapped in plastic).

Directions:

Brown the beef in a cast-iron pan with the ginger, garlic, and sea salt until cooked through. Turn the heat down and stir in the sliced scallions, tamari, fish sauce, rice vinegar, and lime juice and zest, and warm through. Sprinkle some of the herbs on top to serve, and plate the remaining herbs, and cucumber on the side. Serve the beef larb in bowls, topped with cucumbers and herbs, and enjoy!

Lemon Blueberry Cheesecake Bars

Best. Dessert. Ever. 64 grams of carbs in the whole dish, so split it into 16 pieces and they have only 4 grams each. Amazing!

Crust:

1 12 oz bag unsweetened shredded coconut

1 stick butter (8 tablespoons), melted

2 teaspoons ceylon cinnamon

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

2 T raw honey

Cheesecake:

3 packages (24 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature

4 eggs

3/4 Cup sour cream

zest and juice of two lemons

1 Cup raw honey

2 Cups blueberries

Instructions:

Place all crust ingredients except coconut in a bowl and stir with a whisk. Add the shredded coconut and stir. Press into a 9x13 rectangular glass baking dish. Bake for 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees or until browned and cooked through.

Place all cheesecake ingredients, except blueberries, in a stand mixer or food processor and combine until smooth. Pour over the baked crust. Sprinkle the blueberries on top evenly, lightly pressing them into the cheesecake batter, and bake in the oven 40 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. Chill in the fridge for a couple hours before slicing and serving. YUM!

Chicken Kebabs with Lemon-Yogurt Sauce

I grilled these up for some friends last night, and multiple people told me it was the best meal they’d had in months. The kebabs and yogurt sauce can be made in advance, so all you have to do is grill them up and serve!

Kebabs:

4 pounds boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 40 2-inch chunks

2 sweet potatoes, cut into large slices

4 zucchinis, cut into large chunks

1 pineapple, cut into large chunks

Marinade:

1 Cup sour cream

1 t garlic powder

2 Tablespoons Herb de Provence, dried (or 4 Tablespoons fresh herbs)

zest and juice from 2 lemons

1 Tablespoon sea salt

Yogurt Sauce:

3 Cups Plain Greek yogurt

juice of 1 lemon

1 t garlic powder

salt to taste

1 onion powder

Optional sides:

Mixed Greek olives, pitted

feta cheese, crumbled

Instructions:

Whisk the marinade ingredients in a small bowl and pour 2/3 of it over the chicken to marinade for 30 minutes. Also soak the wooden kebab sticks in water for 30 minutues so they don’t catch fire on the grill.

The other 1/3 of the marinade can be poured over the “veggies” after the kebabs are prepared. I like to position the potato and chicken toward the middle of the kebab since the middle of the grill is often the hottest and these parts need to cook more.

To prepare the yogurt sauce, combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and whisk. Serve the yogurt sauce as a dip for the kebabs, with feta cheese and olives sprinkled on top! Enjoy!

Animal-Based Cake! (Can be made dairy-free)

This basic cake recipe can easily be turned into any number of cake flavors. Just add another ingredient or two to the classic cake recipe below, and the possibilities are endless!

Basic Vanilla Cake Recipe:

Ingredients:

12 eggs (yes, a dozen eggs)

7/8 Cup coconut flour (scant one cup)

1/2 Cup dairy of your choice: milk, heavy cream, coconut milk, etc

1/2 Cup Butter or Coconut Oil

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1 C raw honey + 1 T vanilla OR 100 drops of Nunaturals liquid vanilla stevia

Optional flavors:

Any kind of berry: Add 2 cups of boiled frozen berries and lightly stir into the batter in the pan, making swirls.

Carrot cake: Add 1 cup finely shredded carrot, 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ginger, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, and 1/4 teaspoon cloves. Frost with cream cheese frosting (1 room-temperture package of cream cheese with 3 T raw honey OR 15 drops liquid stevia and enough heavy cream poured in during mixing to be frosting-consistency, about 1/8-1/4 cup)

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in a bowl with a whisk or immersion blender until smooth. Butter the sides of a baking sheet and lay parchment paper in the bottom. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. Frost with homemade whipped cream sweetened with a few drops of liquid vanilla stevia or a little honey and vanilla.

Bobotie (Curry Beef Custard)

This is one of my favorite dishes. Its from South Africa and is quite popular there. It’s a unique combination of flavors, but it’s magical how they all come together. It’s also easy enough for a quite and hearty weeknight dinner. Sometimes it is dressed up for weekends or holidays by cooking it in a hollowed-out pumpkin!

Ingredients:

2 pounds ground beef, preferably grass-fed

1 T beef tallow or butter

2 t sea salt

2 T nightshade-free curry powder (2 t ceylon cinnamon, 2 t turmeric, 2 t ground ginger)

2 t garlic powder

1 t onion powder

8 eggs

1 can coconut milk or 2 C raw milk

1/4 C raisins

1/4 C chopped apricots

2 apples, peeled, cored and chopped

Optional: 5 bay leaves

Preheat oven to 350. Saute ground beef, tallow or butter, and salt, and break it up until well cooked. Add all spices and turn off the heat. It should be a little too salty at this point, as the custard will absorb the saltiness. Combine eggs and milk/coconut milk with an immersion blender or regular blender until well mixed, and pour it into the beef/spice mixture. Stir well, adding the raisins, apricots, and chopped apple. Lay the bay leaves on top in a decorative pattern. Bake (in a cast iron pan, dutch oven, glass baking dish, or hollowed pumpkin!) in the oven for 20 minutes or until a knife comes out clean. Do not overcook. Serve warm.

Taco Meat for Burrito Bowls

Taco Tuesday! Pile on top of shredded lettuce with your toppings of choice: sour cream, shredded cheese, diced avocado, cucumber, olives, and lime juice.

Ingredients

Per pound ground beef: (I like to make 1 pound per person and there will likely be leftovers)

1 teaspoon paprika, if tolerated

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin, if tolerated

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 - 1 teaspoon sea salt

Instructions:

Brown the ground beef in a cast iron skillet with a teaspoon of bacon fat per pound of beef. When it’s cooked halfway through, add the seasonings and stir well, breaking up the beef and salting to taste.

Lemon Zucchini Bread with Lemon-Coconut Glaze

Lemon Poppyseed Zucchini Bread:

10 Large Eggs

1 C softened butter or coconut oil

1 C raw honey + 1 t vanilla OR 100 drops Nunaturals liquid vanilla stevia

Zest and juice of 1 large lemon (or 2 teaspoons lemon extract)

1 C Coconut Flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ceylon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

2 C shredded zucchini, water thoroughly pressed out with paper towels

Lemon-Coconut Glaze:

1/2 C coconut butter

1 Tablespoon lemon juice

1 T raw honey

water to desired consistency

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place all dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl and stir thoroughly. Place eggs, honey and vanilla OR stevia, and butter into a medium bowl and mix thoroughly. Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients, and add the shredded zucchini. Line a loaf pan with parchement paper and grease any unlined sides with butter. Pour the batter into the pan and bake until a knife comes out clean, 45-60 minutes. For the glaze, blend all ingredients, adding water until you get the desired consistency that will drizzle on top of the cooled zucchini bread.

Chimichurri

Next to herb garlic butter, this is my favorite topping for steak. I like to double the raw garlic and cayenne if I feel a cold coming on, but then my kids think it’s too spicy and won’t eat it. Although, that just leaves more for me!

Ingredients:

I large bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, stems removed

1 large bunch fresh cilantro, stems removed

juice of one lime

2 T red wine vinegar

2 T finely chopped oregano

dash cayenne

dash cumin

sea salt and pepper

1/2 C melted butter

Directions:

Place all ingredients except olive oil into a food processor. If you don’t have one, an immersion blender works or you can fine chop the herbs and stir in all other ingredients. While machine is running, drizzle in the melted butter in a thin stream to emulsify. Add more salt and pepper to taste.

Egg Custard

A super easy and delicious dessert. Can also be made into a pie, using an coconut flour crust and topped with whipped cream.

Ingredients:

4 eggs

2 C heavy whipping cream, half and half, OR milk

1/3 C raw honey OR 30 drops Nunaturals liquid vanilla stevia

pinch salt

couple dashes of nutmeg, preferably fresh ground

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients using a whisk or immersion blender. Pour into custard cups placed into a glass baking dish and add warm water to fill the baking dish halfway, this is called a “bain marie” or water bath, and helps the eggs to cook slowly and not scramble. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Panna Cotta with Fresh Berries

Probably my favorite dessert in the whole world. Gelled cream, slightly sweetened with stevia, and topped with fresh berries. Melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

2 C heavy raw milk OR half and half

1 packet unflavored powdered gelatin

4 teaspoons honey and a 1/2 teaspoon vanilla OR 20 drops Nunaturals liquid vanilla stevia

pinch salt

1 C fresh berries, I recommend raspberries or sliced strawberries

Directions:

Pour one cup of the milk or cream into a small saucepan. Sprinkle the gelatin over the top and let it stand for a few minutes to “bloom”. Add the honey and vanilla (or vanilla stevia) and salt and stir over medium heat until it’s very warm but not boiling and the gelatin has dissolved. Take off the heat, add the second cup of cold milk and stir. Pour into custard cups or wine glasses and chill until set, 1-2 hours. Top with the berries and serve. Makes 4 servings.

Keto Sushi Handrolls

This is one of my favorite meals. Adding seafood to our diets is essential, and I highly recommend wild caught seafood whenever possible to minimize toxins and maximize nutrients. Seafood has long-chain fats that cannot be found in any other food, including DHA and EPA, and is also rich in omega-3 fatty acids, vitamins D and B2 (riboflavin), as well as calcium, phosphorus, iron, zinc, iodine, magnesium, and potassium. Seaweed paper (called nori) is also highly nutritous, containing as much protein as some meat, as well as high levels of iodine, an essential mineral.

Keto Salmon Handrolls:

1 lb wild salmon, seasoned with ground ginger and soy sauce, and sauteed in butter until medium rare

a few ounces of salmon roe (fish eggs), optional

1 package nori (seaweed paper)

1 hothouse cucumber, julienned

1 carrot, grated fine, optional

1 red or yellow bell pepper, julienned

2 ripe avocados, julienned or sliced fine

4 scallions, sliced fine

one jar of pickled ginger

wasabi

tamari (gluten-free soy sauce)

Instructions:

Take a nori seaweed wrap and lay a slice of salmon down diagonally, adding your desired julienned vegetables and toppings, and roll up, pinching the bottom and adding roe, tamari, and wasabi to the top. Enjoy, with bites of ginger before and after!

Barbacoa Beef (Instapot)

My family eats this for dinner about once a week, it’s our main staple. I can’t get my kids to eat plain pot roast because they think it’s too boring, but they inhale my Barbacoa Beef on “taco salad night”. Hope your family loves it too! (This recipe can be easily doubled or tripled and makes great leftovers, too.)

Barbacoa Beef (Instapot)

Ingredients:

2 T butter

2 lb beef chuck roast

1 C beef broth

Juice of one lime

1 T apple cider vinegar

1 T tomato paste, optional

1 T chili powder, optional

1/2 t cumin

2 t oregano

1 T sea salt

1 t garlic powder

1 t onion powder

Instructions:

1.     Cut beef into large chunks. Either place on a cookie sheet, salted, under the broiler, flipping once, until brown; or saute in the Instapot with the butter until all sides are browned and then press cancel.

2.     Combine lime juice, vinegar, tomato paste, cumin, oregano, garlic powder, onion powder, and salt in a lidded mason jar and shake.

3.     Add the mixture to the Instapot with the browned beef.

4.     Secure the lid on the Instapot, closing the pressure valve. Press the “manual” button and set the timer to 30 minutes. Afterword, allow the pressure to naturally release for at least 20 minutes, releasing the pressure valve at this time if it hasn’t released on its own yet. Remove the lid, transfer the beef chunks to a bowl, and shred the barbacoa beef with two large forks, stirring in enough of the remaining liquid/fat so that the beef is saturated and moist.

5.     Serve the barbacoa beef in bowls with various toppings of your choice: shredded lettuce, sliced olives, sour cream and cheese, chopped avocado, lime juice, etc.

Buffins! (Bacon Muffins)

These are delicious and have virtually no carbs. The coconut flour can be omitted for those with fiber-intolerance like SIBO and they still turn out well, although more egg-y. You can also omit the baking powder for a strict carnivore muffin. These go like hotcakes at my house, I suggest at least a double batch and freeze the extras, if there are any! The can easily be brought to room temp from frozen, or quickly warmed up in the microwave for 30 seconds. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
12 pastured eggs
4 Tbs butter
1/4 C coconut flour
1 tsp baking powder
16 strips nitrate-free bacon, chopped now or crumbed after cooking, fat pressed out with paper towels while warm
1/2 cup cheddar cheese
Butter (for greasing your muffin tin)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Fry chopped bacon in a skillet until crispy. Set aside.
3. Mix eggs and butter in a mixing bowl.
4. Add coconut flour and baking powder, mix.
5. Stir bacon and cheese into batter.
6. Either grease your muffin tin with butter or line with silicone baking cups.
7. Pour batter into muffin tin and bake for 15 minutes. Can be frozen for up to 6 months! Pop in the microwave for 30 seconds and go!