Korean Style Ground Beef Stir Fry

I wanted to have more Asian style meals that I could eat with my current dietary restrictions and I had all the ingredients so I gave it a try.

Notes:

• If you're not following a ketogenic diet you can use regular brown sugar and serve it with regular rice of your choice.
• I love serving this with some kimchi on top, and if I'm feeling especially hungry and fancy, a fried egg.
• I have also made this with ground pork and it was good, but I think I prefer the beef version.

Verdict: I love this and have made it several times since the initial try. Great mix of sweet, salty umami. A go-to meal if I have ground beef.

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RECIPE:

Korean Beef
from Ioana Borcea (Low Carb Spark)
serves 3-4

1 pound lean ground beef
1/4 cup brown sugar replacement
3 cloves garlic minced
1/4 cup soy sauce reduced-sodium
1 tbsp sesame oil
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes or more to taste
1/4 tsp ground ginger
To garnish: sliced green onions and sesame seeds

Place a large skillet over medium heat and cook the ground beef until no longer pink. Add minced garlic and continue cooking for one more minute. Combine brown sugar substitute, soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, red pepper flakes in a small bowl. Pour the soy sauce mixture over the ground beef and cook until browned for about 5 minutes. Stir constantly. Serve over cauliflower rice, top with green onions and sesame seeds.

Peanut Butter Dirt Cake

It's that time of year again to make my husband a homemade birthday treat! He normally wants dirt cake but this time he requested something with peanut butter, and suggested maybe a peanut butter dirt cake. I had not made one before but I was sure other people had had this idea before, so I went looking for recipes to try and decided on this one because it sounded pretty straightforward and made a reasonable amount.

Notes:

• Used a combination of Oreos and Nutter Butter cookie crumbs rather than just Oreos.
• Added some extra peanut butter (3-4 tbsp) to the fluff mixture because my husband wanted to taste more peanut butter and less cream cheese.
  
• Made a sugar free version for myself by using powdered Swerve (finely ground erythritol granules that are used as a powdered sugar substitute) and natural style peanut butter without any added sugar in equal amounts as the original recipe.
• I had planned to try this recipe from Sugar Free Londoner to make sugar free chocolate cookie crumbs but didn't actually get that far because I was too busy devouring the peanut butter fluff part lol.
  

Verdict: I only had a small bite of the regular one but many who tried it really loved it, including my husband who requested it for his birthday so I'd definitely make it again. I LOVED the sugar free version -- most of the ingredients are keto friendly to begin with so it seemed like it would convert well, and I'm glad it did. I immediately made more once it was gone because I still wanted more and all the ingredients were there.

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RECIPE: Peanut Butter Dirt Pudding (Cooking with Carlee)

Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies

This was one of the treat recipes I wanted to make for my birthday, and I ended up making them a little later for a tea with a visiting band!

Notes:

• The brown sugar substitute was indeed nice flavor wise but had the same sort of acid-burn after-mouthfeel that the allulose did.
   

Verdict: The texture was different from normal cookies for sure but the flavors were spot on. I would make them again if I felt like having chocolate chip cookies.

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RECIPE: Keto Chocolate Chip Cookies (All Day I Dream About Food)

Keto Fudgy Brownies

A big reason I haven't posted new recipe results in a while is because I have had to implement major diet changes this year for medical reasons, which involved cutting out all sugar, grain, and starchy foods (essentially a medically supervised ketogenic diet) and it took some time to figure out what I can still make and eat that fits within my new guidelines and adjust to my new eating habits. Thankfully all my experience with cooking has made it fairly easy to identify foods that will work for me. It has been going well and I am feeling a lot better already.

With my birthday coming up I was determined to find a recipe for a sweet but not sugary treat. I hadn't really been able to have a proper dessert since April and was missing it a lot. These seemed fairly straightforward to make and had ingredients in them that I could find at nearby grocery stores, and unlike a lot of "keto friendly" store bought treats with weirdly calculated portion sizes or online recipes these fit well within the carbohydrate budget I am supposed to stick to (no "net carb" bullshit here).

Notes:

• I bought several kinds of sugar free chocolate chips to try and I found I prefer the kind with some sweetener in them (Lily's dark chocolate were my favorite), though I'll admit the Lindt 100% cacao bar has a really wonderful texture and tastes great for having no sweeteners whatsoever. I will not be buying Pascha chips again.
• This was my first experience baking with allulose and while it generally acts like sugar, it has this aftereffect sort of like a mild acid burn, like when you eat a lot of sour candy, but even after only eating small amounts. I guess in a way it's good because it will prevent me from overeating it because I don't like that sensation haha.
  
• I found it hard to tell whether they were properly done. By the time the testing skewer definitively comes out clean they are likely overdone because they'll keep cooking in the pan a bit, so the second time I made them I removed them from the oven when the skewer was mostly clean.
  

Verdict: They were really good! Of course the texture is slightly different from a regular brownie. You can tell they are not the same. But for what it is it's very good. I'm glad I was able to make myself a satisfying chocolate birthday treat. I have made these again since the initial attempt and still really liked them so I am definitely planning to keep this as a go-to.

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RECIPE: Best Fudgy Keto Brownies (Arman Liew, The Big Man's World)

Updating to include weights of ingredients because it was a lot easier to make that way.

3/4 cup (6 oz, 170 g) butter
1/2 cup (3 oz, 85 g) keto chocolate chips divided
1/2 cup (60 g) almond flour
1/4 cup (20 g) cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 cup (115 g) allulose
3 large eggs

Burnt Leeks and Beans

I was reading about butter beans (yes I know they're blowing up right now) and saw an Instagram recipe that I thought would be really good. I could not make it as written but wanted to put my own spin on it.

Notes:

• I was concerned about having dirt in my leeks if prepared the way the author shows in their video, so I sliced my leeks in half lengthwise before cooking them, rubbed a bit of olive oil on them, then baked them in the air fryer for about 20 minutes to get some charred bits.
  
• The recipe is designed to be vegan but since I'm not vegan and didn't want to go to the store specifically for vegan ingredients I used standard dairy butter and milk.
• I scaled it down to fit the amount of ingredients I had, especially since it made a lot and I knew I'd be the only one eating it.
• I didn't bake it after mixing everything together because I was short on time.
  
• I ate it on top of toasted bread.
  

Verdict: It was fairly easy to make which was nice. I burned my mouth trying to eat it before it was cool enough to eat it and it still tasted good. White wine adds such a nice flavor. I would love to have it again.

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RECIPE:

Burnt Leeks and Beans
adapted from Burnt Leeks and Beans (Georgie Eats)
Serves 2-3

2 large leeks or 3-4 small (about 500 g)
2 tsp olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp (30 g) butter
1 tbsp (8 g) all purpose flour
2 large garlic cloves, minced (if using prepared garlic, about 2 tsp)
2/3 cup (150 ml) half and half or milk of your choice
Scant 1/4 cup (50 ml) dry white wine (I like chardonnay)
1 whole sprig fresh rosemary, or 1/2 tsp dried and crumbled
1/2 tbsp (about 4 g) nutritional yeast
16 oz can (about 450 g) butter beans or white cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
Crusty bread, for serving

Preheat the oven to 425 F (or 400 F for air fryer/convection oven). Trim the root ends and tops from the leeks at the point they start to flare (where it starts to turn a darker green). Reserve tops for another use or discard. Cut in half lengthwise, rinse thoroughly (separate the layers a little while rinsing to get between them). Dry thoroughly. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle generously with salt and black pepper. Place on an aluminum foil lined baking tray and roast for 30 minutes, or until significantly browned/charred on the outside.

While the leeks are roasting, melt butter in a saute pan over medium heat. When fully melted and foaming, whisk in flour and garlic vigorously to form a paste (roux). Cook while whisking for several more minutes to fully cook the flour. Gradually add milk a little at a time, whisking continuously, to make a smooth sauce. Add the white wine and rosemary, then heat the sauce to a gentle simmer and cook for 5-6 minutes, stirring frequently, until thickened and glossy and alcohol has been evaporated. Remove the rosemary sprig from the sauce (if using fresh; if using dried omit this step), then add nutritional yeast and stir to combine. Add salt and black pepper to taste.

Transfer roasted leeks to a cutting board and chop roughly (into about 2 in/5 cm length pieces). Add these to the pan with the sauce. Add beans to the pan. Stir to coat the leeks and beans thoroughly with the sauce. If you like, you can transfer this to an oven-proof dish and bake at 400 F for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown on top, but can also be eaten as is at this point. Top with freshly ground black pepper to taste, and serve with crusty bread.

Yaki Udon (Udon Noodle Stir Fry)

I bought a package of dried udon noodles at a Japanese grocery store and was looking for new things to do with them, and came across this recipe. I like yakisoba (which is basically the same thing but with a different type of noodle) so I thought this would be good too.

Notes:

• I used shredded rotisserie chicken for the protein rather than ground meat.
• You can make it vegetarian by using a vegetarian friendly protein like tofu or eggs, and a vegetarian friendly oyster sauce.
  
• For vegetables I used chopped green cabbage and matchstick cut carrots, but you can use whatever vegetables you like that taste good cooked. I recommend at least one leafy vegetable.
  
• I used par-cooked (mostly but not fully cooked) dried udon noodles because it's what I had on hand. While frozen ones would probably be more convenient, I like that the dried noodles are not as thick.
  

Verdict: I have made this twice now and I really like it. I would gladly have it again.

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RECIPE: Yaki Udon (Drive Me Hungry)

Roasted Cabbage with Walnuts and Parmesan

I *finally* located some Savoy cabbage to be able to make this and I was very excited to try it.

Verdict: It was all right, but I'm not sure I'd go out of my way to make it again, especially because my partner wasn't a big fan of it.

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RECIPE: Roasted Cabbage with Walnuts and Parmesan (Deb Perelman, Smitten Kitchen)

Korean Beef Bowl

Looking for a new dinner idea and had ground beef and a container of kimchi on hand, so I decided to make this.

Notes:

• I served it with kimchi on the side.

Verdict: It was quick and tasty! Partner loved it too. I would definitely have it again.

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RECIPE: Korean Beef Bowl (Chungah Rhee, Damn Delicious)

Matcha Latte Cookies

As a huge fan of matcha and matcha lattes (the flavor of matcha just works so well with dairy) I HAD to try these.

Notes:

• I found it unusual that the matcha is mixed with the vanilla extract rather than sifted into the dry ingredients, but the recipe author says it's to "bloom" the matcha flavor with alcohol. I do think it made a difference (the matcha tasted less bitter), but I'm used to the mild bitterness of the matcha so I don't know that I'd do it this way if I made it again. I personally found it kind of messy.
• There's a LOT of vanilla extract for one batch of cookies (1.5 TABLEspoons)and I found that combined with the above it almost felt like too much, like it overpowered the matcha a bit.
• I could also taste the peanut butter in the final product and I'm not sure I liked that. I might try a more neutral/complementary flavor nut butter next time, like almond butter.
• The ermine frosting was really interesting in a good way (milk flavored frosting sounded good) and I'm glad I got to try it with this recipe.
  

Verdict: They were pretty good but quite sweet. I prefer the taste without frosting, though the mix of textures of the cookie and frosting is really nice. While they were good, I think I like these matcha cookies better. But that's a personal opinion. I would make these again with the changes I listed above to see if I like them any better.

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RECIPE: Matcha Latte Cookies (Eric Joonho Kim, NYT Cooking)

(Video version)