Keto Hummus with black soy beans

I wish this looked tastier but trust me, it’s delicious.

• 2 cans soy black beans (15 oz ea/425 g – 5 net carbs per ½ cup)
• 2 tsp onion powder
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp paprika
• ¼ tsp fenugreek powder- optional
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• 1 tsp dried or fresh mint
• ¼ tsp cardamom
• 1 tsp lemongrass turmeric paste – optional
• 1 dessert spoon tahini
• ⅓ cup olive oil
• ½ juice of a lemon and zest too
• 3 tblspn sour cream
• Few saffron threads – optional

• 1 tsp Himalayan sea salt

Blend all together and dust with mint, lemon zest, paprika and a drizzle of olive oil.

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Delicious Cheesy Keto “Corn” Bread

In this keto “corn bread” we’ll sub the corn kernels with chopped yellow peppers and add an optional tsp of pure corn extract if you have – it’s pricey but worth it and lasts a long time! The almond flour gives a lovely corn meal texture. This is a moist cheesy bread and really delicious. You could also bake these in a muffin pan and cut the baking time.

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Fudgy Keto Brownies

This keto recipe is based on Alton Browns twice baked method and makes 48 sizeable brownies (I used a 40x20cm lined pan) and the recipe can be halved. What magic is this twice baked method that they turn out so moist? It’s a mystery! I also prefer a process of melting sugar into the butter as keto sugar can be very gritty, and this fixes that problem. Just be sure not to let the butter get too hot when dissolving the sugar in the butter.

These Brownies are fudgy goodness; so much so that you might end up cutting them into smaller squares. They are concentrated chocolate bombs, almost like a chocolate fudge dessert. You have been warned!

Summary: melt butter and sugar, mix in dry ingredients and then eggs; bake for 15 min, cool for 15, bake for 35 – 40 min

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Keto Chile Rellenos

This was quite an adventure to make. My partner was kindly given some peppers at the community garden by a fellow gardener. My sister gave me a fab Mexican cookbook some time ago that I love and I watched a video of an amazing woman cooking chile rellenos on a wood stove in Mexico. Both inspired me. I hope you’re inspired too!

Recipe at the bottom!

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Spiced Keto Muffins with orange zest

I’m beginning to think this is the only muffin recipe I’ll be using for a long while, just varying the flavours and types of nut flour I use. These are fresh out the oven to break an 8/16 fast since late lunch yesterday. Delicious slathered in butter. Just butter! I’m also convinced my favourite keto sugar is the brown version in the image below. Absolutely NO aftertaste, coolness and really tastes good. I’m not sure how I’ll bake keto sponge cakes in future, but honestly, it’s 100% the best flavour.

What we’ll be doing here – melting the butter/sugar mix gently on the stove; mix all the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and in another bowl mix cream/nut milk/buttermilk with eggs and orange zest. Make sure to check you have some spices handy, I used a few or you can just stick with cinnamon. There are some optional things you can leave out, it will absolutely work without the optional add in’s. Makes 1 dozen muffins. Here we go:

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Keto Empanadas

Worth the time and these are delicious. I think a Keto version is such a win, as it’s meat wrapped in a cheese dough. I mean, how can that not be good?!

If you have leftover savoury ground beef these would be the perfect leftover plan. Also, I would suggest making the ground beef filling ahead and let it cool off completely as it’s easier to work with in the dough. Hot filling in a cheese dough is not fun to work with – I found that out as this was one of those spur of the moment “I need empanadas – after 3 years of none – in my life” now! Also let your dough chill in the fridge at least 30 minutes. It’s possible to make these in one go but you’ll see how hard it was to work with fresh warm dough and filling in my pics below.

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Quick Microwave Keto Bread and other Snippets

Yesterday I tried four different versions of quick microwave bread. I used little flat ramekins for each bread and then cut them like a pie slice to show the texture. They are easy to pop out, slice through the middle and toast, if that’s what you’re looking for. The secret I found to a perfect mix was 90% almond flour and 10% coconut flour. The coconut flour binds it nicely! I discovered this in the last of the 4 mixes I tried. The pure coconut flour was the one I liked the least – it was still good – just too heavy for my taste.

My favourite were the last two I made. One was a mix where I added a 1/4 cup of strong white cheddar cheese, the other was spiced and sweet. Another secret is to melt a tsp of butter into the dish you are going to use.

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Battered Fried Eggplant and more snippets…

This dish was half way prepped and my partner asked … are you blogging this recipe? I paused. He was right the last time about posting something, so I scrambled to take a few photos at the start of making this dish and he took a few too. My Mum regularly made deep fried battered eggplant/brinjal/aubergines as a veg side dish for dinner growing up and she still does!

My parents ran a successful produce market agency. They sourced vegetables and fruits directly from farmers and sold to grocers, food vendors, restaurants and the public. There were other agencies like this at the municipal market place, probably around a half dozen or less. We were fortunate that fresh vegetables and fruit were in abundance in our home. Farm to table fresh! Looking back, despite the many bags of peas and beans my sister and I had to shell or string in peak freezing season, we were truly lucky and blessed with these bounties. (Sometimes this would extend to sheep and game too, but that is a blog post for another time!) Dad sourced produce requested by restaurants from Greek to Indian, Italian and Chinese. He had an uncanny eye for exotic delicacies. So eggplants were a standard in our home long before they were commonly found on grocery shelves. Some of my friends found eating at our home either peculiar…or delicious. I was very young, but I remember Dad inviting friends to our home to show him how to make Paella and other international dishes, or going to his friends in Malabar for delicious curry, unlike anything I’ll savour again. I’m talking late 1960’s and through the 70’s here friends! Continue reading

Roasted Butternut Soup, Squash with figs…and other snippets

Spring is almost here. Almost! We have had a glorious week of sunshine and by tonight the rain is back, but I never begrudge the blessing of rain. We’re lucky to live in a place where water is not a challenge and I never take this for granted. My heart hurts when I hear of the escalating devastation of droughts around the world.

On a lighter note we were gifted the lovely company of two very dear friends recently. The beautiful spring daffodils and tussie-mussie they each gave us are here to share with you. Outside, the birds are busy; leaf buds are sprouting and blossoms are on the plum trees.

Two quick recipes to post and then I bid you adieu until next time!

The first recipe is one for when you have inventive ingredients to hand, or just to post for fun. Try your own version!

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