Iced Matcha Latte

This is the first at-home matcha latte I've ever made that I really liked. And I have tried quite a few times. I love that this one doesn't need any special equipment.

Notes:

• I make this keto friendly by using unsweetened almond milk and a sugar-free sweetener (Truvia, or sugar-free flavored syrup like lavender, vanilla, or almond is especially lovely. I also want to try rose flavor sometime.)
• Spend a little more money and get a nicer matcha for drinking. Rishi sells a decent one, and I have recently ordered matcha from Blue Bottle but haven't tasted it yet. I am curious about Costco matcha but haven't taken the plunge yet.
  

Verdict: Easy to make and tastes really good. I make them several times a week.

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RECIPE: Matcha Latte (1899 Matcha Cafe)

Almond Flour Biscuits

I can't remember what prompted me to make these, maybe because I was craving bread. But I wanted to give them a try. I made them exactly as written. Shown served with cream cheese and cured salmon.

Verdict: The crumbly texture that almond flour tends to give things works really well for biscuits. I liked these and would make them again.

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RECIPE: Keto Almond Flour Biscuits (Arman Liew, The Big Man's World)

Keto Chocolate Heaven

Verdict: I liked the flavor but was a little bit hard to cut and eat because the layers would sometimes separate. I am still glad I tried it though and it was a nice intense chocolate dessert. I would consider making it again.

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RECIPE: Keto Chocolate Heaven (Forget Sugar Friday)

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 (crispy) 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
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