lchf – Keto Vegetarian Girl

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Because sometimes you just need something creamy and cheesy….

This can be made stove top or in a slow cooker. For stove top just keep everything at a very low simmer.

Ingredients:

2lb broccoli (I used frozen)
5 cloves garlic
4 cups veggie broth
1 cup heavy cream
1 brick (8oz) cream cheese
3 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1-2 tsp thyme
2 cups pre-shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 tsp xantham gum (optional):

Instructions:

Mix the broth, cream, cream cheese, butter, and seasoning in the slow cooker and set to high.
I used frozen broccoli, so to speed things up I roasted it before adding to the soup. I dumped a bag of frozen broccoli and the garlic on a sheet pan, sprayed with olive oil, and roasted at 400F for 18 minutes. If you use fresh you can skip this step, or you can just put frozen broccoli in the slow cooker and cook for longer.
Add the broccoli and garlic to the slow cooker. Cook about 45 minutes, until hot and melty throughout.
Add the cheese and cook about 15 minutes more, until cheese is melted.
(Optional) add the xantham gum to thicken everything up a bit
(Optional) use a stick blender to lightly puree the soup and give it a more uniform consistency. Don’t pulverize it though!

Makes 9, 1-cup servings:

Makes 9x 1 cup servings, 337 calories / 7 net carb (6 if you omit garlic) / 30 fat / 11 protein each.

New Meal Plan!

Hey guys, just a quick announcement…

I’ve just linked a way more updated and super fancy meal plan for you to use! I hope this one is much more user friendly.

It also has options for vegan, dairy free, egg free, soy free, nut free… Etc.

I’ve been working on it for a while and tried to error proof as much as possible, but you know how it is when you’re too close to things… So if you spot an error please let me know!

>>Here It Is!<<

Fathead Flatbread

This flatbread looks super fancy, but really it’s a great weeknight dinner that’s ready in under 10 minutes if you meal prep the fathead bread part first.

It’s just a flatbread with Boursin garlic cheese spread, arugula, 2 fried eggs topped with melted muenster, and pickled onions. Pickled onions are also super easy to make for yourself, and last in the fridge for 3-4 weeks.

Fathead Flatbread Recipe

Ingredients:

3 cups pre-shredded, low-moisture mozzarella (trust me, you don’t want to use the authentic wet stuff here)
2 oz (4 tbsp) cream cheese
1.5 cups almond flour
2 tsp xantham gum (optional, but gives it that authentic chewy texture)
2 eggs

Recipe:

Preheat the oven to 375F.

Combine dry ingredients, then add the 2 eggs and combine further until you have an even paste.

Melt the mozzarella and cream cheese together – you can use the microwave or do it stove top. You want the mozzarella very melty, so usually I err on the side of over melted and then let it cool just until I can touch it without burning myself.

Knead together the almond flour and mozzarella mixtures. This takes a LOT of elbow grease and you have to work quickly because the mozzarella gets harder to work with as it cools. Your goal should be to eliminate almost all of the marbling appearance so you have a homogenous mixture, but don’t worry if you can’t get it 100%.

Roll out the dough to “pizza crust” thickness (a little under 1/4″, and a bit smaller than a large cookie sheet) between two sheets of parchment paper. Transfer the dough, still on a parchment paper, to a cookie sheet.

Bake until browned on top, about 15 minutes.

Allow to cool, and then slice into 8 squares.

You can store these in the fridge for a few days, but they also freeze incredibly well. Just broil on low to reheat.

Macros:

Makes 8 flatbreads. Each is 300 cal / 3 net carb (8 total) / 25 fat / 15 protein

Fun modifications:

You can replace 1 cup of the mozzarella for another cheese, maybe cheddar or asiago?
This dough makes a great pizza dough, just add toppings before cooking instead of after.
Make bagels instead!

Cauliflower Baked Mac & Cheese

Another pre-keto household favorite was Alton Brown’s baked cheddar Mac and Cheese. That stuff is gold. So obviously I had to figure out how to ketofy it.

Ingredients:
3 pounds (about 12 cups) frozen cauliflower (or broccoli, or Brussels sprouts, or really any other low carb veggies)
4 tbsp butter
4 oz (8 tbsp) cream cheese
1 cup heavy cream
2 tsp mustard
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
16oz (1lb) shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/2 cup grated vegetarian parmesan

Recipe:
Preheat oven to 400F.
Put frozen broccoli on a 9×13 casserole pan (or cookie sheet if you have a ceramic casserole pan like me) and spray with olive oil spray.
Bake for 17 minutes, until the edges turn golden brown.

Meanwhile, heat butter, cream cheese, and heavy cream over medium low heat until melted but not boiling.
Add in all the spices.
Add the cheese and stir with a whisk until melted and clumps disappear.

Lower the heat to 350F.
Pour cheese sauce over cauliflower in casserole pan. Sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese.
Bake for 30 minutes, until bubbling.

If you didn’t mistakenly grab shredded parm at the grocery store like me, you’ll end up with a lovely grated Parmesan crust if you broil for a second at the end!

This is a pretty easy recipe to tweak to fit your macros. I went with a “generous” ratio of cheese to veggies, but you can easily go up to 12 cups of veggies in this. Or, leave off the parmesan for less calories, or pile more on for a high protein boost.

Macros: makes 8 servings

435 cal / 5 net carbs / 38 fat / 17 protein.

Baked Zoodles

This is one of our go-to easy week night meals, ready in well under 30 minutes. My husband’s favorite meal before keto was baked ziti, so this is my attempt to recreate it. It’s also great reheated from the fridge, although ricotta isn’t always amazing from frozen.

This is also a great dish for mixed veggie and non-veggie households. I make a “meat” sauce while my husband makes a Meat sauce, and we’re both happy. Plus, ricotta is a great source of protein even if you leave out the “meat” crumbles at 7g protein per 1/4 cup.

Ingredients (makes 1 serving, multiply by desired # servings):

1 zucchini, spiralized, about 130g*
1/4 cup no-sugar-added sauce
1/2 cup “meat” crumbles (I use Beyond Meat beef crumbles because it’s soy free) (optional)
1/4 cup whole milk ricotta (some brands are higher carb so check the label, the one I use is 2g carbs in the 1/4 cup)
2 tbsp grated parmesan
1 oz (1/4 cup) mozzarella, divided
Plenty of Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper

*A note on zoodles: you can find these in the fridge or freezer section if almost every grocery store these days, but a spiralized turned out to be an awesome investment for us because I think the texture is fresher, its cheaper, and takes only a minute to do. You can also totally use sliced zucchini, or sub in any other veggie like brussels sprouts, broccoli, green beans, spaghetti squash, or eggplant.

Instructions:

Cook the zoodles and beefy crumbles in an oiled pan over medium heat until tender (we keep the meat and zucchini separate since my husband uses real meat).

In the mean time, combine ricotta, parmesan, half the mozzarella, and the seasoning in a bowl.

Once the zoodles are cooked you might fine a bit of water in the bottom of the pan, I drain that off. Add your sauce to the zoodles, and then spoon on the ricotta mixture.

Top with the remaining half of the mozzarella.

Broil on low until bubbling and golden.

Macros (with Beyond Meat crumbles):

500 cal / 8 net carb / 35 fat / 35 protein

Macros (WITHOUT meat crumbles):

420 cal / 8 net carb / 32 fat / 22 protein

Fathead Bagels

These bagels are definitely “As Good As The Real Thing Certified”… In fact, when we went off keto for vacation a few months back we had some regular bagels and were super depressed that they weren’t nearly as flavorful as our fathead bagels, for 10000x the carbs.

I can’t take credit for this recipe, there’s a million versions of it floating around the internet and I think the original recipe actually appeared on Reddit. But, I can add in my little tips and tricks to make sure it comes out as good as promised.

Ingredients:

3 cups pre-shredded, low-moisture, part-skim mozzarella (trust me, you don’t want to use the authentic wet stuff here)
2 oz (4 tbsp) cream cheese
1.5 cups almond flour
2 tsp xantham gum (optional, but gives it that authentic chewy texture)
Pinch salt
2 eggs
Optional toppings: I like Trader Joe’s “everything but the bagel” seasoning, but you can use any traditional bagel flavoring

Recipe:

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Combine dry ingredients, then add the 2 eggs and combine further until you have an even paste.

Divide the dough into 6, roll into logs and then pinch the ends to form a bagel shape. It’s worth mentioning at this moment that this dough also makes incredible pizza dough.

Place on a parchment lined cookie sheet and press any toppings onto the top and bottom of the bagels.

Bake for 18 minutes, rotating front to back halfway through. If you have a convection oven, bake at 375 for 15 minutes.

You can store these in the fridge for a few days, but they also freeze incredibly well. I make a double or triple batch and freeze for easy dinners. Just microwave until soft enough to slice, and then broil on low to toast.

Macros:

Makes 6 bagels. With whole milk mozzarella, each bagel is 400 cal / 4.5 net carb (8 total) / 33 fat / 21 protein

Fun modifications:

You can replace 1 cup of the mozzarella for another cheese, maybe cheddar or asiago?
They don’t have to be bagel shaped, you can use this to make a delicious pizza or calzone crust, garlic knots, etc
I love to use these to make veggie sandwiches. The one pictured has melted Kerrygold garlic herb butter, sharp cheddar cheese, peppers, pickled onions, radish, tomato, cucumber, avocado, and sprouts

Bananaless Muffins

Continuing the theme of “keto __-less hacks” here are some banana muffins that contain… No actual banana! I was really suspicious of this banana extract (found next to the vanilla) based on the smell, but I found the pumpkin really helped balance it out and give it a delicious authentic texture!

This is another modification of my pumpkin spice muffins. The texture of them is perfect, so I figured we shouldn’t mess with success. Note that if you’re not keto, you can 100% replace the pumpkin with mashed banana for a delicious sweetener free, gluten free, or even vegan treat.

Ingredients:

For the muffins:

1 cup pumpkin puree (unsweetened)
5 tbsp melted butter
- (Vegan/DF: canned coconut cream)
2 tbsp sour cream (optional)
2 eggs
- (Vegan/DF: 2tbsp psyllium husk mixed with 4tbsp hot water)
1 tsp banana extract

2 cups almond flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
2 tbsp flax meal
1 tbsp ground psyllium husk (optional but reduces crumbliness)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

Optional Ingredients:

1/2 cup chopped pecans
24 Guittard bittersweet chocolate wafers, chopped (adds 15 cal / 1.5 net carb / 1 fat per muffin) – or sugar free chocolate chips
Stevia or pure monk fruit sweetener (but I promise, you don’t need it)

For the frosting:

8oz cream cheese, softened
1 stick butter, softened
1/4 cup heavy cream
generous splash of vanilla
Vegan/DF: Whip 1 14oz can coconut cream (best if refrigerated overnight) with 2 tsp vanilla until it resembles whipped cream.

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350F and grease a 12-muffin tin. Take out your cream cheese and butter (for the frosting) to soften.

Sift together dry ingredients in one bowl. In a separate bowl melt the butter, then stir in the pumpkin. Finally, add eggs and banana and stir. Combine wet and dry ingredients. Then stir in any extras.

Spoon into the muffin tins, and flatten tops since this batter does not rise. Bake for 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the frosting. Beat together all ingredients with a hand mixer until frosting consistency.

You can store these in the fridge for a week, but I recommend keeping the frosting separate and topping just as you are ready to eat.

Macros (recipe makes 12 servings):

Sugarless Cookies

I’ve spent the weekend testing Christmas Cookies and can’t wait to share the best ones with you!

First up are these completely sweetener free and ultra easy “sugar” cookies! I kept adding things to these because I couldn’t believe the answer was so simple, but when I got back to basics magic happened. Obviously they aren’t exactly sweet, but they make up for that in buttery goodness and completely satisfy my crunch craving.

Ingredients:

2.5 cups hazelnut meal
- You can also use almond meal
3/4 cup butter, softened
- Vegan/DF: substitute unflavored coconut oil (I like Carrington Farms organic coconut cooking oil, unflavored)
2 eggs
- Vegan: actually, the eggs are only here to cut down on crumbliness. You can leave them out entirely, or add 2tbsp psyllium husk
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
- Optional, but gives it a chewier texture
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt (omit if using salted butter)
1 -2 tsp flavoring of your choosing:
- Vanilla Extract
- Orange Extract or Orange Peel
- Lemon Peel or Lemon Juice
- Instant coffee
- Bourbon
- Powdered / Freeze Dried Raspberries

Recipe:

Make sure the butter is very soft, it may need a few seconds in the microwave. Its best if its not completely melted though.
Beat together all ingredients.
Wrap with wax paper or plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least an hour.
Roll out on wax paper or parchment paper to desired cookie thickness.
Cut out into fun shapes using cookie cutters and place on a parchment lined cookie tray. (Tip: Lift up using a spatula, these are extra fragile before cooking)
Bake at 315-325F (depending on cookie size – I used 325 for 3″ cookies and 315 for 6″) for about 15 minutes. They are done when the edges are browned and the centers are firm to the touch.
Allow to cool still on the cookie sheet.

The macros for this one are tough since cookie sizes vary but…
Assuming you get 24 cookies, each would be: 123 Cal / 1 Net Carb (2 total) / 13 Fat / 2 Protein
For the entire recipe: 3176 Cal / 22 Net Carbs (53 total) / 317 Fat / 53 Protein

Buttery Roasted Green Beans

The most important Thanksgiving and Christmas tradition in our family is Grandma’s chestnut stuffing. Obviously, stuffing is not at all keto-friendly, so I had to find a creative way to keep the tradition going this year.

These green beans turned out super fantastic and retained all the savory deliciousness I loved about the stuffing recipe!

Note that for the Thanksgiving meal pictured, I did use chestnuts because roasting them the night before is such an important part of our tradition. But for everyday keto use, they’re too high in carbs, so on regular nights I’ve been using pecans in their place.

Thanksgiving Dinner: green beans, keto rolls, and Brussels sprouts gratin.

Ingredients

1 stick butter (1/2 cup) (dairy free: use 1/4 cup oil)
1 shallot
3/4 cup chopped celery leaves (which is about the amount you can get out of one bundle of celery – if you can’t get celery with the leaves still on it, just chop up a few celery stalks)
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp pepper
1 tbsp poultry seasoning
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
2 pounds green beans, ends removed (I prefer the slender french ones)

Recipe:
Preheat oven to 400F.
Melt the butter in a large skillet. Add in the shallot and celery leaves, cooking until the shallots are translucent.
Add in all the seasonings and pecans and cook a few minutes more.
Toss the green beans in the butter mixture until thoroughly coated, then spread over 2 large tinfoil-lined baking sheets (so that they are a single layer).
Bake about 15 minutes, until tender and slightly browned.

Feel free to adjust the serving size to better fit your macros for the day. But this easily makes 8 generous portions:

Makes 8 servings: 235 calories / 5.5 net carbs (10 total) / 22 fat / 4 protein each

Noatmeal

This might be the single healthiest keto meal of all time. It tastes just as yummy as carb heavy oatmeal, but contains:

4.5g Omega 3s (415% DV)
14.5g Protein (17% of my personal needs)
9g Fiber (37% DV)
7.2mg Vitamin K (80% DV)
1.8mg Manganese (100% DV)
4.3mg iron (24% DV)

…all for only 4.5 net carbs!

Ingredients:

2 tbsp hemp seeds
2 tbsp almond flour
2 tbsp hazelnut meal
1 tbsp chia seeds
1 tbsp flax meal
1/2 cup water

Instructions:

Combine all dry ingredients and water over low heat. Cook about 5 minutes, just as you would regular oatmeal. You can also cook it in the microwave for about 45 seconds, but watch carefully because it likes to boil over!

I portion these out ahead of time and bring them to work in a pyrex, which is perfect for the microwave method. Just remember that flax and hemp should be refrigerated after opening.

Topping ideas:

Pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon
Cocoa powder
Vanilla or maple extract
Heavy whipping cream or coconut cream
Frozen raspberries (add them before cooking so they get juicy) and a spoon of nut butter
1 tbsp cocoa nibs and 1 tbsp peanut butter
Butter and cheese for grits style
Swap out the hazelnut meal for shredded coconut, or any other ground nut.
??? The possibilities are endless!

This recipe is highly flexible so feel free to substitute basically whatever you want in here (although hemp seeds are a major source of those nutritional benefits).

Macros: 360 cal | 4.5 net carb (10.5 total) | 30 fat | 14.5 protein