🤯 Zero carb, breaded, air fried chicken strips! 😍

Marinate chicken strips in Italian dressing, lemon juice, and salt for about an hour (or whatever seasoning you like).

Crack an egg in a wide bowl and add a few dashes of hot sauce and beat the egg.

Add pork dust to another wide bowl.  Pork dust is just finely ground up pork rinds. You can buy it or grind up your own pork rinds in a food processor.  Add Italian seasoning, garlic powder, and onion powder and mix.

Dip marinated chicken in egg wash, let drain, and then press into the pork dust to coat well.

Airfry in a single layer at 350° for 5 minutes, flip, then cook another 5 minutes until crispy and internal temp is 165°.

I'm pretty certain no one in a million years would know the breading is pork rinds!  🤫

Lunch made by Samuel

When your 11 yo T1 makes his own lunch...

* 3 chicken sausage links
* 3 pieces of cheese (stacked & cooked together on parchment in microwave)
* bread w/ xylitol honey
* cranberry jello salad
* carrots w/ranch

All low carb, sugar & grain free. 💜💪🏻

Low Carb Double-Decker Taco

HoLy MoLy!  A low carb double-decker taco (ala Taco Bell) ~ a soft & hard taco in one. 

This is SO good (if I do say so myself 🤣)! 

Crisp up a piece of provolone cheese in the microwave on a piece of parchment (about 50 seconds) and then break it in half.  Load up all of your goodies on the soft shell (I use Southwest Egglife wraps), tuck in your provolone halves, fold, and enjoy.

Taco Bell Protein Bowls

We don't love fast food, but there are certainly times it's handy. I heard about these protein bowls from Taco Bell so we decided to give them a try leaving off the high-carb ingredients. Samuel had this for the first time yesterday and his BG spiked really badly. Another low-carb mom suggested that we leave off the avocado ranch sauce, so we gave it another try today and it worked beautifully!

Here was our order:

 

Chicken Protein Bowl: no beans, no rice, no avocado ranch: extra chicken and sour cream. I ordered 1 crunchy taco and dumped the insides into his Protein Bowl and tossed the shell. 

 

Mexican Pizza

 🇲🇽🍕 Delicious low carb, grain-free Mexican pizza 🇲🇽🍕

Start with a low carb, grain-free pizza crust. Top with salsa, cheese (I use a mix of mozzarella and sharp cheddar), and top with browned taco meat. Broil for about 8 minutes until cheese is browned. Let cool a bit, cut, and top with sour cream and whatever else you like.  

Super easy and so freakin' delicious! 😋

Beef Enchiladas!

Super easy and mostly all protein.  

Make some seasoned taco meat and set aside to cool a bit.  Lay out turkey lunch meat (2 pieces together if it's thin). Add half a piece of cheese (I use American) and a scoop of the taco meat. Roll up and put on a parchment lined baking sheet. Top them all with salsa and shredded cheddar. 

BakeaBake 350°F for 20 minutes.

I serve with guacamole, sour cream, and more salsa on the table.

Steps...

Low Carb Tomato Soup

My daughter asked for tomato soup so I Googled "low carb homemade tomato soup" and several came up. The problem was that they all started with whole tomatoes which I didn't have time for. I threw this together as I went and thought it was really, really good.

In a medium saucepan add:

✅ 1 can (15 oz) tomato sauce (lowest carb you can find. I use Hunts with 4g total/2g net carbs)
✅ 1 can (15 oz) unsalted chicken broth
✅ 2 tsp dried basil
✅ ¼ tsp onion powder
✅ ¼ tsp of salt, or to taste
✅ pepper to taste

Simmer on stove stirring occasionally until it thickens - about 10 minutes. Turn off heat and add:
✅ 1 Tbsp heavy cream

Mine made about 20 oz when done. I'm cautious with cooked tomatoes for Samuel, so we had small 4 oz servings ~ just enough to dip our grilled turkey & cheese sandwiches in. So that made our servings about 3 net carbs each. 😋

BBQ Beef Cups

These are a variation of the sausage muffins I make using my "corn" dog batter. 

Brown 1 1/2 lbs of ground beef and season with your favorite low carb BBQ spices.  Cook until just cooked through because it will bake in the oven also.

While the beef is browning, I make a double batch of my "corn" dog recipe. This will make about 30 BBQ cups.

When the ground beef is done, turn off the heat and add your favorite low carb BBQ sauce. I use a mix of Walden Farms and G. Hughes.

Line muffin tins with paper liners (parchment is my favorite) and fill each about 1/3 of the way with batter.  Then top with the BBQ ground beef.  Push the meat down into the cup.

Bake in a 400° preheated oven for about 22 minutes.  Let cool a bit (the liner will come off better).  I drizzle a little more G. Hughes BBQ sauce on top. Store leftovers in the fridge.

Grilled Lunch & Dessert

It's raining today, but we found a brief window to do some fast grilling.  My husband took care of grilling burgers and chicken, while I prepped the sides.  We let the kids mix and match protein and veggies.

Evie picked burgers and parmesan roasted green beans.

Samuel picked grilled chicken, cinnamon cauliflower rice, and a small amount of peas.

For dessert they had Chewy Walnut Flour Chocolate Chip cookies.  I had to make some modifications...

1) sub butter to make dairy-free
2) Lakanto spikes Samuel so I used Swerve brown sugar. (I think this gave it an "off" taste. Next time I'll just use more granular Swerve or birch xylitol.)
3) I omitted the monk fruit extract completely. It was plenty sweet without for us.

https://www.carolinesketokitchen.com/2018/12/chewy-walnut-flour-chocolate-chip

SmartBun Deli Sandwiches

Just a reminder that dinner doesn't have to be complicated. I keep SmartBuns in my freezer at all times for quick meals. I defrost the buns in the microwave for about 20 seconds, and then toast on a griddle on the stovetop with a little bacon grease. 😍

Add deli toppings of your choice. Make a quick salad and dinner is done!

About 6g net carbs and 35g+ protein.

www.smartbakingco.com

Easy Sausage Muffins

These muffins were super fast and easy.  I browned 2 lbs of breakfast sausage.  While that was browning, I mixed up 2 batches of my "corn"dog batter recipe.  After the sausage was browned, I added it to the batter, and mixed to combine.

Fill lined muffins tins - I got 30 muffins.  Bake in a 375° preheated muffin for 20 minutes.

I served with some sugar-free pancake syrup for dipping and a salad.

And now we have leftovers for lunch and dinner.  These would be great for fast breakfasts or packed in kids lunches.

0 Carb Homemade Sno-Cones

We sometimes go out for Sno-Cones... I just order plain shaved ice and add our own syrup (Jordan's sugar-free syrup that I carry in a recycled ketchup squirt bottle).

But we were at home and the kids wanted Sno-Cones.  I added a few handfuls of ice to my Blendtec and used the "ice crush" setting. It made PERFECTLY FLUFFY shaved ice.  I was totally shocked.  I honestly don't know if this would turn out as well in a blender that wasn't a Blendtec or a Vitamix, but it'd be worth a try!

We just topped with our Jordan's syrup like usual.

Grilled Chicken Strips & Honey Mustard Dip

I marinated about 8 large chicken breasts for a few hours. Cut into strips, season with your favorite sugar-free seasoning, and then grill.  Be sure to make enough for leftovers!

G. Hughes sugar-free Honey Mustard dipping sauce is an easy dipping sauce for a week night. (No actual honey in it.  2 Tbsp/30g is 1 carb.)

We made a simple salad and added some green beans for an easy dinner.

Sausage & Egg Ham Cups

I've posted smaller versions of these before, but I made these much larger using a hamburger bun pan.

I lined the pan with 3-4 thinly sliced pieces of ham. Then filled that with browned sausage.  Then I beat 7 eggs with salt & seasonings, and topped each of the ham cups. If you're not dairy-free you could top with cheese too.

Bake at 400° for about 25 minutes or until the eggs are set.

After cooked, each one of these weighed about 5.5 oz. This is perfect for us at dinner. Dinner is Samuel's lightest protein meal to avoid protein highs over night.

These were a really substantial meal and very satisfying. My husband thought they'd be great for camping or hiking wrapped in foil.  The kids also split one for a snack the next day.

Sausage & Guacamole Ham Cup

This is kind of unique, so bear with me.  The idea came to me in the middle of the night.  I only made a few to see how they would turn out and we thought they were really good. These would also be GREAT for Green Eggs & Ham for Dr. Seuss' birthday!

I lined a muffin tin with paper muffin liners.  Then line that with 2-3 very thinly sliced ham.  In a bowl, mix 2 eggs, salt, pepper, a small 2 oz container of guacamole, and about 3-4 oz of browned, crumbled sausage. Mix all together.

I was going to only make 3 cups, but the above mix was enough for 4 so I added another.  I didn't want it to be very eggy... I just wanted the egg to bind it all together. It admittedly looks a little gross.  😂

Bake at 400° for 20-25, just until the middle is set and stops jiggling.  Let cool just a bit and remove the muffin liner.

After baking they're still a bit strange looking, but they were really good.  The sausage gave it texture and the guacamole/egg mixture was really creamy.  This is one of those "I didn't prep anything for dinner" fast meals. These could even be great snacks throughout the week!

Waffle Sandwiches

Saturday morning is "waffle day" at our house.  We make enough to have lots of leftovers.  I grabbed two of our leftovers and used it to make salami & turkey sandwiches for lunch.  I threw on some dill pickles and whatever leftover veggie each person wanted.

Lunch was done in 10 minutes and about 6 net carbs. 

Use the search feature on the blog to find my "waffle" recipe.

Bacon Muff'wich

I made a bunch of these bacon muffins for a baby shower brunch and decided to use my leftovers for sandwiches for dinner.

(Use the search feature for "Muffins"... all I changed was to reduce the sweetener a bit and then folded in a 12oz package of crumbled bacon I cooked really crispy.)

Slice in half and load up with sandwich toppings of your choice.  These were REALLY delicious!  😋

Chicken Nuggets (or Turkey)

Mix together:
1 lb ground chicken or turkey
1 oz parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp. ranch dressing
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp Old Bay seasoning
A few dashes hot sauce
1 egg
2 Tbsp coconut flour

Mix until well combined. Roll into balls and shape into nuggets. I get 25 nuggets.

Breading:
1/4 cup almond flour
1/8 cup parmesan cheese
1/8 cup walnut meal
1/4 tsp Old Bay seasoning
1/4 tsp sweet paprika

Mix seasonings and roll nuggets to coat. Deep fry for 5-6 minutes.

0.3 carbs per nugget (depending on ingredients).

Dairy-Free Pizza

Since going dairy-free, I haven't taken a stab at pizza.  What I don't want to do is replace cheese with a soy-based cheese-like product, so I'm really limited.  Then I wondered......what would pizza taste like without cheese?  🤔

So I found a dairy-free low carb crust recipe online.  Added our usual sauce and pepperoni.  I honestly didn't think this was going to fly with the kids or hubby.  The kids took a couple of bites and declared it "really good" and then asked what made it dairy-free (they're still learning on this topic). When I pointed out there is no cheese on it, they said "......oh yeah!". LOL

My husband took a bite and looked at me as he chewed (I was thinking "ut oh!"). His comment was that it was surprisingly good with no cheese.  Whew!

It's different, for sure, but good.  And different isn't necessarily a bad thing, right?

This crust gets really crispy and firm (sort of like a thick cracker) so you can load it up... next time I'll add more meat and maybe some veggies.  Another thing to keep in mind is just a quarter of this pizza crust is a 1/2 cup of almond flour so keep that in mind if you're T1 and bolusing insulin!

Link to the crust I used:

https://www.wholesomeyum.com/recipes/paleo-pizza-crust/

Sandwich Kick

We've been on a low carb sandwich kick lately - they're fast, easy, and delicious. 

My workload at work ebbs and flows - sometimes it's really light and other times, like now, I can work 60+ hours a week and still be behind.  Sometimes I need easy, consistent meals out of necessity and sandwiches fit the bill.  When I have more time, they'll get snazzier meals.

I've been making a new bread for the kids that is dairy-free for Samuel's Hashimoto's, so they eat their sandwiches in that.  Sides are usually easy things like raw veggies or sauteed "apples" or sweet & salty brussel sprouts that I make in big batches. (Note: Samuel can only do a small amount of peas at lunch; they don't work at dinner.)

The half sandwiches pictured are my meals on half a Smartbun - quite a bit smaller than the kids (because I'm less active and obviously not growing).