Fat Head

Keto Grilled Cheese

We eat a lot of Fat Head Pizza. If you aren’t familiar with it go follow the link and make some of your own!

Since we make so much of the pizza we decided we would start making it as bread to use for making grilled cheese, because we missed them so.

As you can see it does a good job of subbing for bread when making a grilled ham and cheese.

For the Grilled Ham and Cheese:

Two slices Fathead Crust (recipe follow)

2 slices cheddar cheese

2 slices ham

 

Fathead Crust (Multipurpose Bread):

1 3/4 cups shredded mozzarella

1/2 cup almond flour

2 TBSP cream cheese

1 egg

Parchment paper and cookie sheet

 

It’s best to have all the ingredients ready because this goes by quickly.

Place mozzarella & cream cheese in a medium size microwaveable bowl.

Microwave cheeses for 1 min, stir and then another 30 sec, stir.

Stir in egg and almond flour.

Wet hands with a little oil and spread “dough” thin on parchment paper.

It should spread evenly with dough-like consistency (if “stringy” then your cheese has hardened too much—just put it back in the microwave for maybe another 20 seconds)

Dock (poke rows of holes) with a fork to avoid bubbling

Put in 425F degree oven.

After about 8 minutes, check it and poke holes where any large bubbles may be.

Cook for a total 12-14 min, or until slightly brown on top.

 

To make the Grilled Cheese:

Preheat skillet over medium heat.

Generously butter one side of a slice of bread.

Place Fathead bread slice butter-side-down onto skillet bottom and add 1 slice of cheese and one slice.

Butter a second slice of Fathead bread on one side and place butter-side-up on top of sandwich.

Grill until cheese starts to melt and  flip over; continue grilling until cheese is fully melted.

Makes one sandwich.

Pickle-Brined Crispy Chicken Tenders

Pickle Brined Chicken Strips (keto Chic-fil-A knock off) 1

I love Chick-Fil-A but it, of course, is not Keto friendly. My husband and I discovered long ago that the secret to making their chicken at home is to soak it in pickle juice overnight. Luckily we love us some pickles and so we have no problem coming up with the pickle juice.

We do have a deep fryer (we own THIS one) and use it all the time. If you do not have a deep fryer and live the low carb/keto lifestyle I highly recommend one. You can certainly make these in a deep pot with oil but the fryer is my favorite method for many reasons.

We enjoy these with Ranch dressing but feel free to use your favorite low carb dipping sauce.

 

Pickle Brined Crispy Chicken Tenders 

2 pounds chicken tenders, fresh or at least defrosted
2 cups pickle juice
2 cups crushed pork rinds (crush, then measure)* (we used Misson)
¾ cup Parmesan cheese, finely grated**
2 large eggs whisked
Place the pickle juice and chicken tenders into a plastic bag. Double bag to avoid leaks (trust me on this).
Let the chicken tenders sit overnight (and then all day) in the fridge to have the flavors really soak in.
Remove from fridge when ready to cook.
If using a deep fryer then heat to 350F. If not heat a pot or deep skillet to 350F using enough oil to go about 2 inches up the side of the pot/skillet.
Mix together the crushed pork rinds and cheese and place in a large bowl. Some prefer to use a shallow plate; it’s really what you prefer.
Place the eggs in a bowl.
Dip the chicken tenders into the egg wash.
Immediately dredge them into the pork rind cheese mixture.
Drop the prepared chicken tenders into the oil.
Fry until they are golden brown and crispy (see photo). If using a fryer, this will be about 3 ½- 4 minutes total. If using a pot/skillet, it will be about 3 minutes on each side.
Remove from oil and place on a plate covered with paper towels. The paper towels will soak up the extra grease.
Serve with ranch or low carb condiment of your choice.

*Best way to crush the pork rinds is in a food processor using pulse.

**We find that freshly grated Parmesan holds the breading on the best.

Nutrition: I will do my best to give nutrition info. Please note that it will be as accurate as I can get BUT we do not count calories only carbs since we do this for health and not for weight loss. If you have huge concerns I suggest that you enter the recipe into something like My Fitness Pal recipe builder.

This one is hard to count for since you end up with pork rind breading left as well as the egg wash left. The chicken tenders we used ran about 1.5 oz each once cooked. We got 14 tenders. We each ate about 3 at a time. 3 cooked chicken tenders at 4.5 oz are 109 calories (and no carbs). The breading mixture we figured 2 TBSP Parmesan (40 calories 0 carbs), 1 oz pork rinds (80 calories and 0 carbs). The pickle juice is trace calories and trace carbs. So total about 230 calories per 3 tenders and no carbs.

Why Keto?

For months and months, I was having horrible acid reflux. The kind that kept me up for hours at night. The kind that had me having to eat most foods standing up. The kinds that often while sleeping would suddenly send bile shooting up my throat causing me to all but throw up.

I had made an appointment to see a specialist. I had to wait months for the appointment and after seeing him, all I was told is that he would run no test or anything until I lost 30 pounds. Ironically, he didn’t even know how much I weighed but somehow 30 pounds was the magic number.

I left quite pissed off because oh, lose weight, why didn’t I think of that? And refusing to help me just because I was overweight? I have a disorder that causes me to be on Prednisone so dropping weight is something that does not come easy. I had to coordinate with my other doctor to taper me down to a low dosage so that losing weight would be possible.

I researched as to what diet I could do that could drop the weight the quickest so that the specialist could help me with my acid reflux. I found the ketogenic diet.

I had planned on just staying on the diet until I lost the weight to get the help from the specialist, I did not plan on it becoming my way of life. But it did. Why?

Within three days of being on the diet, my acid reflux went away. Away. I had not lost 30 pounds and yet, it was gone. I have had two mild cases since and both nights I drank alcohol.

I had night sweats that went away, only to return when I have my period.

I had read about the keto or low carb flu and took all the suggested supplements to ensure that didn’t happen. It didn’t. Within a few days, I was in ketosis. I had energy. An energy I had not felt in years. I was sleeping better, falling asleep quicker and staying asleep.

Oh, and for the first time ever, I lost from my waist first. 8 inches in 3 weeks. I lost weight as well, but I don’t actually weigh myself anymore as I tend to get a little crazy over the numbers. All I know is my pants size gets smaller.

I’m only a few months into it. I’m not sure if this is a honeymoon phase or if I will always feel this way, I’m willing to find out.

As for this blog? It’s simply to post recipes that my husband and I have tried and like and a way for us to keep them all in one place.