Keto Crab Cakes

My husband loves, and I mean LOVES crab cakes. He has been on a keto journey for many years. I do lower carb but not keto. He has missed having crab cakes and has asked if I could make him some keto crab cakes. I haven't eaten many crab cakes in my life time. However, recently I've had them at a couple restaurants and they were good. I enjoyed them. I figured that now that I've tried them and know what I like about them, I could give them a go. So here was my first attempt at keto crab cakes. I didn't look up any other recipes on line. This is my brain child. Such as it is. :) My husband thought they were really good. He does like to praise about his food. He ate it with some tartar sauce, then said they were good without any sauce. So that is also high praise. I used a specific keto bread crumb called "Kiss my keto breadcrumbs". As I searched to post the link for you to add to your shopping list, I found they are no longer made. :( This makes me sad. I'm sure you could possibly substitute different breadcrumbs. I am sad that I won't be able to replenish my own stock once my bag is empty. I guess I use them sparingly enough. 

Keto Crab Cakes

Ingredients:

2 large eggs (blended)

1 cup shredded Italian cheese blend

1/4 cup superfine almond flour

2 Tbsp Kiss my Keto everything breadcrumbs

1-2 Tbsp old bay seasoning

1 stick celery (finely chopped)

1 slice of onion (finely chopped)

8oz jumbo lump crab meat

Directions:

Finely dice (I used my small food processer) onion and celery. In a small bowl mix blended egg with celery/onion, and old bay seasoning. Then add the cheese, breadcrumbs, and almond flour to the egg mixture and stir to incorporate. Add the crab meat to the mixture in the bowl. stir to mix in the crab meat. I blended so there were some chunks and finer pieces. Next, I formed the crab cakes with my hands about the size of my palm. Once the cakes were formed, I placed them on some wax paper until ready to cook. My mixture made (7) 3in crab cakes.  I put a couple pats of butter in my skillet and let melt, then added the formed crab cake about 4 at a time in the melted butter over medium/high heat to let a crust form on the bottom. I then turned down the heat to cook through. Flipped the crab cake over and repeated the process turning up the heat after I flipped it over so I could create a crust on the other side as well.  The butter was a delicious addition to the flavor of the crab cake. 

Enjoy warm. refrigerate all leftovers, use within 2 days or freeze once cooked for 1 month. 

Cottage Cheese Pancakes

Cottage Cheese Pancakes

I have been trying a bunch of low carb or no carb breakfast pancakes, to help me keep a lower blood sugar during this pregnancy. We love, I mean LOVE pancakes for breakfast here at my house. I can't have the regular pancakes because there are too many carbs, plus the sugar from the syrup. Therefore I've been scouring Pinterest for low carb or no carb pancakes and trying each one, to see which one I like the best. I found this recipe on Pinterest, and I halved it, since I was only feeding myself. These are the most "Pancakey" (I'm saying it's a real word) like pancakes. They are fluffy, and don't run when you pour the batter on the griddle. They make a thick batter. However, I thought the consistency was odd. Not bad, just odd. Very spongy. I don't know if I will make these again, but they were definitely interesting to make. I enjoyed the option to make these out of cottage cheese, and eggs. I generally love cottage cheese, and eggs of course. However, if you want pancakes that look like pancakes, but don't really taste like pancakes... These are for you. They will work for me in a pinch in the future.

Ingredients:

3/4 c cottage cheese

3 eggs

a pinch of kosher salt

1/8 tsp baking soda

1/4 c flour

1-2 dash cinnamon

1/4 tsp double strength vanilla

Directions:

Mix the eggs together until light in color. Separately blend cottage cheese until smooth in appearance. (I used an attachment to my submersible blender that acts like a food processor.) Once done, mix together with whisk the egg and cottage cheese, add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Once all those are incorporated together add the vanilla and cinnamon. Heat griddle, spray with non-stick spray, and pour on griddle. Cooking @ 350 for about 1-2 min each side, then flip. Both sides should be browned. 

Serve with fresh fruit topping, or agave nectar.

Clean Eating Egg White Farmers Scramble

2 Egg white Farmers Scramble

Serving Size: 1

2 egg whites

½ a bell pepper (red, green, yellow, or orange) each or any desired combination, diced.

½ large white onion

1 sliced carrot (sliced thin or diced)

1 celery stalk, diced

2 handfuls of spinach, chopped

In a small skillet add 1 tsp coconut oil and heat on med heat. Add all veggies and when onions are translucent, add the egg whites. Mix together until the egg is fully cooked. Remove from heat and enjoy.

Orange Beef and Fried Rice

Tonights dinner started this morning before I left for work. It felt good to come home and be half way done with dinner. It was so easy. You can do this even if your not an experienced chef/cook. Just make sure you have a skillet, a wooden spoon, a slow cooker and the ingredients. That simple, that easy. The best thing about this dinner is most of the ingredients can be kept in the freezer and pulled out when ready to use it. you can even freeze your leftover rice in a ziploc bag for later use if you don't want to use it right away. This is great for those "gotta get dinner quick" nights. In the time it would take to order takeout and have it delivered you could have this done. Easy. Peasy :)

Orange Beef
Ingredients:
1 flank/skirt steak semi-frozen cut in to 4 strips across the grain
1 1/2 cup of Panda Express Orange chicken sauce

Directions:
Add ingredients to the slow cooker on low 6-8 hours. Then shred with forks. Should be fork tender. Then add back into the orange sauce. keep warm til ready to serve.

Fried Rice
Ingredients:
2-3 cups leftover white or brown pre cooked rice
1 bag frozen mixed veggies (mine had corn, peas, carrots, and green beans)
1/4 cup frozen green bell peppers
1/2 cup frozen diced onions
2 eggs
1/4 cup fresh bacon bits
sesame oil
soy sauce
oyster sauce

Directions:
Open frozen veggie bags, measure out the bell peppers, and onions. set aside. In a small bowl whisk the eggs (just like for scrambled eggs) set aside. If using raw bacon for bacon bits, brown the bacon in the bottom of the skillet, once the bacon is cooked, remove cool and crush bacon. In the hot bacon grease with the skillet still on scramble the eggs. remove from pan and set aside. In the same pan add all the frozen veggies with about 2 tbsp sesame oil. toss to coat and cook. about 3-4 min (the onions will start turning translucent). Remember you want crisp veggies so don't over cook.  Once the veggies are cooked if any residual liquid is in the pan, remove with paper towel. Then add the rice, eggs and bacon to the veggie mixture. gently toss. drizzle in about 2 tbsp sesame oil, soy sauce and 1 -2 tsp of oyster sauce and toss to coat. Keep tossing until the rice and eggs are heated through then serve approx 1-3 minutes. (depending on pan). All of this is done in a HOT pan. I used my WOK. you can use that too but a 10' skillet is perfect too.

This rice is SO yummy! My family just loved it with the orange beef. It was a fun "chinese eat in" night instead of takeout/delivery. All were fed before they had to rush off to their many activities tonight. They all ate all of the veggies and that is an accomplishment! I hope you enjoy this as much as we did. :)

Eggs in a Nest

This morning, I was craving eggs and buttered toast, but also maple syrup... Doesn't that just sound delicious? I thought so this morning. So, I of course put my own spin on it... It was SOOO good... I had to share, and not only that but my middle son Braeden, reminded me to take a picture,.. he thought it was YUMMY! He said "Hey, mom, Take a picture.. this is homemade and yummy... even the bread... " I of course made this for him before I made mine, and his was all gone... So, I made myself this and Oh boy.... yummy!

Ingredients (makes two)

2 slices of bread (preferably homemade)

2 eggs

butter

salt and pepper to taste

toaster

skillet

Directions:

Place thick slices of bread in the toaster, in a skillet melt at least 2 tbsp butter. Once the toast is toasted in the toaster, place in melted butter in skillet. Turn over quickly to butter both sides with melted butter. Then cut a criss cross pattern on the inside of the bread between crusts, then crack one egg onto each piece of toast. and cook one side till brown, then flip and cook till browned. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Then remove and drizzle maple syrup on top... if you don't like runny eggs, cook longer over lower heat.. to cook till done to likeness. I however, LOVE runny eggs.

Verdict...

Heaven for breakfast... sweet, salty, eggy, buttery, toasty, mapley... what could be better, Not much. It's late and I'm getting hungry for some for a late night snack... mmmmm yummy

Easy Breakfast Burritos

Breakfast burritos are a favorite at my house for breakfast. I like to serve them to my family because they get a nice little package with protein and they can run out the door with it in one hand. I used to serve breakfast burritos on cool flour tortillas, then I had a friend who added a different step to hers, which made them even better. She fried hers in butter/margarine. I know I know, fattening. but oh so yummy... I believe it gives a plain burrito a step up on the delish factor O'Meter... And oh yea it does. So ever since my dear friend (Helen) - you know who you are... got me hooked on it. I thought I'd share it with you. I do sometimes still serve breakfast burritos on non fried tortillas... but they definitely are heated... in the microwave wrapped in wet paper towels... to help them get flimsy and get yummier... (microwave 3-4 tortillas for 30 seconds wrapped in a paper towel).

This recipe will be one for a family of 5. But can easily be reduced to a single or multiplied higher.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground sausage, browned and drained

8 eggs - scrambled

1 1/2 cup shredded cheese

2 tsp salsa per tortilla

5-10 flour tortillas depending on size

salt and pepper

Brown the sausage, leave in pan add the scrambled egg mixture to the sausage, stirring over high-medium heat. sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Once the scrambled eggs are done, remove from pan, in the same pan, melt some butter/margarine.

Assemble the burrito add about 1/2 a cup of sausage/egg mixture to the center of the tortilla, add cheese and salsa to each tortilla.

Fold the tortilla edges to meet in the middle around the meat mixture, then turn sideways and repeat. you should have a nice box looking tortilla. (getting the proper egg mixture to folding ratio will take a few tries.)

Once the butter is melted, add the folded burrito seam side down in the butter, over medium heat. brown on both sides, remove and enjoy. This is a delicious addition to your quick out the door breakfast, these can also be made ahead of time, placed in a ziploc bag and heated at work. So a great make ahead meal, for pennies on the dollar. Who needs to stop by McDonalds when you can enjoy this great breakfast?

Another good addition is to cut up some bell peppers and onions and cook along with the sausage, and eggs. I have even done lunchmeat and bacon instead of the sausage. A Must Try! :)

Verdict,

DELISH! So tasty and crispy... mmmm so good.

The BEST French Toast

Ok, So this morning I got very domesticated as the kids are out of school, and I got to sleep in a little. Amazing I know. Well, I decided I would make some French Toast. My husband mentioned last night that he hadn't had it in a while and thought it would be a good breakfast today. So, I took the challenge. It turned out fantastic!

Ingredients:

12-15 eggs

1 -1 1/2 loaf of bread

2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/4 to 1/2 cup milk

Ok, this might sound a little different than your mom's french toast. But let me tell you... IT's amazing. whip the eggs, vanilla, milk, and spices together in a bowl. I used a fork, till creamy and the eggs are thoroughly incorporated. Not all of the spices will incorporate into the eggs. That is fine. Place one slice of bread in mixture and coat both sides well with egg. Let excess drip off, then place on a hot griddle. Brown on both sides, eat with maple syrup, or plain. So yummy. these are good cut into strips and dunked, or drenched in syrup and cut with a fork.. these are very filling. My kids only could eat two each. I could only eat three. But we have extra's for later. MMMM Yummy

Enjoy :)

Overnight egg casserole

Overnight Egg Casserole

I wanted to make something for breakfast, but we usually make quick easy pancakes. so I wanted to try something different. I created this casserole with items we had in the house. I looked online for other egg casseroles, and so I took some of their ideas, and incorporated some in to here.

Ingredients:

1 lb breakfast bulk sausage (browned)

10 eggs

1 bag potatoes o brien

1 cup sour cream

1 can cream of chicken with herbs soup

1 tbsp prepared mustard

1 1/2 cup shredded cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Brown sausage and drain. set aside. in a separate bowl beat eggs with salt and pepper til mixed well. Add sour cream, soup, prepared mustard, and ricotta cheese. Once mixed in with the egg stir in the cheese, sausage and potatoes. Pour mixture into lightly greased 13x9x2 pan. Refrigerate overnight covered.

Remove from refrigerator 30 min before baking. Bake uncovered, 350F for 50-60 min or until set. Let stand 5 min before cutting.

I will let you know how this turns out. It looked good before I put it in the fridge. I like easy weekend breakfasts. It makes the weekend get off on a great start. :)

Verdict:

This was very tasty, It took longer than 60 min. more like 1 1/2 hrs to cook. I topped mine with some salsa and sour cream. It was good. I think next time I will sprinkle some extra cheese on the top. But not sure yet. The kids got into other things before this was done, and even before I woke this morning, so they didn't get any (but the leftovers will be used in Breakfast burritos). Bill said it was good, but we were in a hurry at that point to make our appointments. So he had half of his serving. He did say it was good, too. so he won't mind if I use it in Breakfast burritos either. :) Stay tuned for that.