Keto enchiladas and tacos

Keto Enchiladas and Tacos

It all starts with the "tortilla shell" or in this case cheese. Yes, I did say cheese. I used a mixture of freshly shredded cheddar and Colby Jack cheese. Placed on my silpat covered jellyroll pans. Placed on the oven at 350F for approximately 7 min. Until the edges were Brown and the cheese melty.

Make sure to give enough room for spreading. About 1/4 of a cup or so. I eye balled it. 

I made a keto friendly taco meat mixture for the enchiladas and used the same meat in the tacos. Both were delicious. I used a low sugar taco mix (you can make your own). Diced tomatoes and ground beef with onion cooked in avacado oil. I added beans after I took out the portion for the keto enchiladas and tacos to add extra fiber for my kids enchiladas (made out of flour tortillas. I used regular red enchilada sauce for the enchiladas. About 1 medium can. About, 8oz I think.

 Meat for my kids enchiladas

 My keto pan for enchiladas was lightly spread with enchilada sauce in the bottom to keep the cheese "tortillas" from sticking to the pan.

 My separate meat mixture for the enchiladas taco and enchiladas. (No beans)

 I placed the meat mixture in the cheese and rolled them up then placed them in the prepared pan.

 Topped with more shredded colby Jack cheese. Then baked for 10min to heat through. My "tortillas" kept their shape and had a great texture for the enchiladas.

For my Taco shells, I took the cheese about 1 min after taken out of the oven. I draped them over wooden spoon handles to create the "tortilla" shells. Ate cold or cool with meat and it was hearty. I couldn't eat more than one it was so filling and delicious. Enjoy!

Keto Shrimp Scampi with Instant Pot Spaghetti Squash

Ingredients:
1 lb shrimp: raw, deveined, shell and tail off
1 lemon
1 cup cooking white wine (zero carbs)
2 TBSP minced garlic
1/2 stick of butter
 1 Spaghetti Squash: cut in half, seeds scooped out.
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
Avocado or olive oil
S&P to taste
Parsley for sprinkling

Directions spaghetti squash:
Place 1 cup of water in Instant Pot. Place trivet in instant pot. Lightly oil the inside of the spaghetti squash with avocado oil and S&P. Place into Instant Pot. Close lid, (make sure your ring is in place). Set on Manual/Pressure to high, set time for 10 min. Let cook.

While spaghetti squash is going, time to make the scampi.

Shrimp Scampi directions:
Add 1/2 of the butter and some avocado oil to non-stick pan. Let melt and get bubbly. Add in the garlic and stir. Once garlic is aromatic and slightly browned add white wine and reduce a little, once reduced add lemon juice and shrimp. Cook shrimp until pink. Stirring to incorporate the sauce and shrimp. (About 5 min, at most). Shrimp cooks very quickly. Add in parmesan cheese and stir to incorporate. It helps thicken the sauce. Remove from heat. Set aside.

Once the spaghetti squash is done cooking remove from the Instant Pot with silicone mits or coverings, caution will be HOT! Take two forks and dish up on plates, one half of the spaghetti squash can feed about 4 people. Add butter and S&P to squash on plates, top with shrimp scampi sprinkle with parsley, enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Apple Strawberry Snack Bars

This recipe uses a lot of food storage items. Freeze dried strawberries, dehydrated apple slices/pieces, Whole wheat, sweetened coconut flakes, oats and granola. These are all items I try to keep in my food storage, as my children love the dried fruits. I had the kids help me add ingredients and asked them if they like the items I put in it. They all said "yes". So I'm hoping that there will be more kids eating these than just me. Last time I made snack bars the boys had one bite and then didn't really want anymore. This time I added more chocolate and chocolate chips to hopefully have them eat them.

Preheat oven 350F

First add Dry Ingredients:
4 cups oats
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups apple slices/dices
2 cups wheat germ
2 cups freeze dried strawberries
1 cup cocoa powder
2 cups sweetened coconut flakes
1 bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

Stir to incorporate all dry ingredients. Then add all wet ingredients:

Wet Ingredients:
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 pint apple sauce (homemade)
1 cup honey
3 eggs
6 tsp vanilla

Stir to mix all wet ingredients with the dry ingredients.

Spoon or dump all mixture on to a large jelly roll pan. Flatten out and evenly distribute. This should fill the whole pan with mixture all the way to the top of the sides of the jelly roll pan.

Bake 30-35 minutes at 350F and edges are golden brown. Remove from oven let cool slightly and cut in the pan. Makes anywhere from 42-84 snack bars depending on how you slice it.

I loved the last snack bars I made. I'm hoping the kids love these.

Cran-raisin, Strawberry, Oat Chocolate Snack Bars

As part of our Cub Scout Pack meeting tonight, we were asked to bring a healthy snack to share with the cub scouts and their families. I know the typical carrots, apples, celery and all that... but I wanted to do something a little different. I wanted a healthy snack bar. I am not purchasing any as I have all the ingredients to make a yummy one at home. I googled a healthy homemade snack bar online and I found this one. It was a great starting point, as I have never made one before in my whole life. I was grateful for the basic needs of a snack bar. This one is packed with loads of stuff, I guess my only hope is that it tastes good and my kids will eat it. I will bring some to the church and some will stay home. This makes a LARGE batch, a jelly roll pan full.  The original batch called for a 13X9 pan.

Ingredients:
Combine...
4 cups of oats
2 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups brown sugar (that’s the only bad part)
1 cup raisins
1 cup craisins (dried cranberries)
1 cup wheat germ or ground flax seed (we did the flax)
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
2 cups freeze dried strawberries
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 cup sweetened coconut shredded
2 cups cinnamon almond granola



Stir in...
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 pint apple sauce (homemade, unsweetened)
1 cup honey
3 eggs
6 tsp vanilla

Blend well, incorporating all aspects of the mix. Spray a large jelly roll pan and pat mixture with a spatula. 

Bake for 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees until the edges are golden brown.

Snack bars cut

Pan of 42 snack bars

 close up of the snack bar

Verdict - 

Delicious, filling, and nutritious. Not too sweet, but sweet enough. I am not a big fan of raisins, but this is very delicious. I will be cutting some of the snack bars in half and bringing those to the Cub Scout Pack meeting, the other's are staying here, and if the kids don't eat them, I'm going to, because they are very good! Enjoy