James Hicks

Keto Creamed Spinach

Super simple, super Keto Creamed spinach. If you like creamed spinach, then you will want to try this one. It was cooked in less than 15 minutes. 1 serving is only 4 net carbs. You can’t go wrong. Here, we paired it with our crispy air fried spicy chicken tenders (can be found on it’s own recipe).

Creamed Spinach Ingredients:

3 oz. cream cheese; 3 tbs grass fed salted butter; 16 cups baby spinach (seems like a bunch but it’s not); 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream; 4 tbs grated parmesan (to top); 3 garlic cloves or garlic powder; salt, pepper to taste

Instructions:

On the stove-top, melt the butter with your garlic cloves or powder and add your 16 cups of spinach. You may need to cook some of it down and keep adding until you’ve added all 16 cups. Don’t worry, it will all fit. Once your spinach has been sweat down, add your heavy cream, cream cheese, and all of your seasonings. Keep slowly stirring until the cream cheese is melted and reduce to low heat and allow to simmer and thicken. If your creamed spinach is still too runny, you can add a little more cream cheese or more spinach to help thicken it up. This recipe should make about 4 servings.

Nutrition facts per 1 serving:

4 net carbs; 28 g of fat; 8 g of protein; 298 calories

Keto Baked Potato (Fake Potato)

Do you miss having a baked potato? I did, all of the time. Well, not anymore. This Keto Fake-Potato will meet any need you have and tastes just like you’re eating a baked potato. You can simply add whatever Keto ingredients you want to dress your fake-potato. Tonight, we re-purposed our Keto coconut air fried shrimp from 2 nights ago. Did I mention that this is low calorie as well? What you see on my plate is 565 calories!!

As pictured ingredients:

Cauliflower pearls or florets – 1 cup; 2 tbs grass fed butter; 2 tbs Daisy sour cream; 2 tbs bacon crumbles; 2 tbs Tillamook natural shredded cheese; 8 Keto coconut air fried shrimp (see previous post on Keto Coconut Air Fried Shrimp)

Instructions:

Boil/steam your cauliflower. If you use whole florets, I like to use the microwave for 8 minutes, in a bowl, covered in saran wrap. Perfectly tender every time. In this instance, we used the pearls and cooked them stove-top. Once tender, drain any water and plate. Add the amount of butter you want to use, bacon crumbles, sour cream, shredded cheese, and shrimp (or any protein, or no protein). Add some salt and pepper and enjoy!

Keto Guru Coconut Air Fried Shrimp

Well, here you go, another winner. If you love fried shrimp, this Keto version leaves you missing nothing. Honestly, I couldn’t tell a difference in taste. It was on point. Adding the unsweetened coconut flakes was a win as well. I love coconut fried shrimp and this totally fit that need. Shrimp is great because you can eat quite a bit and stay low on calories. 10 shrimp, as pictured on my salad, is only about 60 calories. Win right? I know. Hope you enjoy them as much as we did.

Ingredients:

1 lb fresh large shrimp, peeled and de-veined; Kroger spicy chicharrones 1/2 bag; Unsweetened coconut flakes 1 1/2 cups; 4 tbs almond flour; 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated

Instructions:

In your blender, blend your chicharrones for 3-5 seconds. Add in your parmesan, coconut, and your almond flour. Blend again until you have a powder-like consistency.

In a separate bowl, beat an egg. Add in hot sauce (if desired). Dip your shrimp into the egg mixture and then coat in your breading mixture. Place directly into your pre-heated air fryer. Once filled, air fry for 10 minutes, flipping halfway. Remove and enjoy. Super simple right?

You can also use the non-spicy chicharrones, add more seasoning, remove the coconut.. customize how you like. You won’t be disappointed with the texture nor the taste.

Guru Crunchy Parmesan Chicken

There’s so much to love about this dish. Heck, there’s so much in this dish. When you want parmesan chicken, zoodles, garlic bread, and alfredo sauce, you just stack it all up. I have finally found the winning breading for the best tasting, crispiest chicken crust. Honestly, you can have this chicken on anything. It is going to be great on a salad, a chaffle sandwich, by itself to dip.. really, anyway you want it! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. Below will be the recipe for the chicken only as you can search for the alfredo sauce and white bread chaffle in a separate post. The only thing we done differently on the chaffle is adding in garlic powder to give it a garlic bread taste!

Ingredients:

Batter

1 big bag of Kroger pork rinds (plain or spicy); 1 cup parmesan; 4 tbs almond flour; 2 eggs; seasonings of choice

Pack of chicken tenders (11 each)

Instructions:

Put an entire bag of pork rinds into your blender/processor. Add 4 tbs almond flour and 1 cup of parmesan cheese to the pork rinds. Blend until your pork rinds are in an almost powder state. Remove from blender and put into a large bowl. In a separate bowl, crack your 2 eggs and beat them. Add your seasonings directly to your egg.

Dip your chicken into the egg and then directly into your pork rind mixture, coating both sides generously. Place into air fryer and season the outside this time. Air fry for 12 minutes, flipping halfway.

Pull out once cooked and place on a wire rack. This helps them crisp up more. Plate with your favorite side or sides and enjoy.

Keto Guru Chicken and Chaffles

Your eyes don’t deceive you. One of the favorites, chicken and waffles, has been converted to Chicken and Chaffles! This meal was incredibly good and even surprised me. It all starts with a white bread chaffle, pecan crusted air fried chicken, Keto syrup, and some Keto confectioners sugar. Get ready for a flavor explosion, and it’s only 2 net carbs. Yeah, I said 2!!!!

Ingredients (2 chaffles, 2 chicken)

Chaffle:

1 egg; 3 tbs almond flour; 1 tbs sour cream; 1 tsp water; 1/4 tsp baking powder; cinnamon

Pecan crusted chicken:

2 Chicken tenders; egg wash; chopped pecans; seasonings of choice

Topped with:

2 tbs of butter; 3 tbs Lankanto Keto maple syrup; 1 tbs Swerve confectioners sugar

Instructions:

Chaffle:

In a bowl, beat your egg 1st. Then add your sour cream, water, baking powder, and cinnamon. Mix well before finally adding your almond flour. In your pre-heated waffle maker, add batter and cook until it stops steaming.

Pecan crusted chicken:

Beat an egg in a bowl for your egg wash. Crush your pecans using a chopper. I tried 1/2 in my mixer but it made the pecans like a butter. The using the chopper was way better. Dip your chicken tender in the egg and coat both sides in the crushed pecans and then season well. Fill your pre-heated air fryer with your chicken and air fry at 400 for 12 minutes, flipping halfway.

Plate your chaffle, add your butter. Put your tenders on top and then add your Keto syrup. Sprinkle the top with your confectioners sugar and enjoy!

Guru Keto Pizza

Missing pizza? Well, you shall miss no more. This is probably one of the easiest pizza recipes I’ve found. It’s super simple and taste so good. The best part of it, you can customize it however you like. Personally, my favorite has been a chicken bacon ranch where I use my homemade alfredo sauce, bacon crumbles, ranch seasoning, chicken, and cheese. But like I said, the possibilities are endless. Now for the pro tip, get a pizza stone. It makes the crust so much more crispy than a typical pizza oven pan. And parchment paper is needed. The dough will not stick to the parchment paper, at all. Try to find a good low carb pizza sauce. We happen to make our own but Rao’s sauce (we find at Kroger and Costco) is great and the lowest carb I’ve found. The other great thing about this dough is that you can use as a bread stick as well. Add some cheese and make cheesy bread!!! This is a highly caloric meal. We try to limit eating pizza to once every few weeks but it is Keto friendly.

Ingredients:

2 cups of low moisture shredded mozzerella cheese

1/2 cup almond flour

Italian seasonings

Toppings of your choice

Instructions:

In a microwave safe bowl, heat the mozzarella cheese on high for 1 minute, 30 seconds. Remove from microwave and stir in your Italian seasoning (or whatever you like to season with). While still hot, put 1/2 of your almond flour in and mix well. Then add in the other half of your almond flour (total of 1/2 cups). Stir this really well and make sure all of the almond flour is blended with the cheese (see picture). On parchment paper, roll out the dough until it’s even and about 1/8″ thick. Poke holes with a fork on the rolled out dough to prevent it from bubbling up in the oven. Place on pre-heated pizza stone (leave it on the parchment paper) and cook in the oven for 8-10 minutes at 375 until golden brown. I bought this pizza stone on Amazon here: https://amzn.to/3gQyqle Remove and dress with your toppings. Place back into oven for another 10 minutes. Remove and enjoy!

Nutrition facts:

These facts are for the dough only. What you top your pizza with will dictate your net carbs/calories.

Pizza cut into 8 slices

1 piece 110 calories; 2 g net carbs; 6 g fat; 8 g protein;

Air Fried Chicken Cheese sticks

Who doesn’t love fried cheese sticks? How about a fried chicken cheese stick? Let’s take that to another level and bacon wrap that fried cheese stick. Yes, you heard me. This is actually one of my favorites. It’s really simple to make and is one of the best tasting. The most important thing to remember on this recipe is to freeze your cheese sticks. If you don’t, by the time your chicken is cooked, your cheese will all ooze out. We keep them stored in the freezer all of the time so there’s no doubt they are plenty frozen.

Ingredients

1 pack chicken tenders (about 10 tenders)

1 pack of cheese sticks (your choice, however we use Frigo mozzarella sticks)

10 slices of bacon

Seasonings of choice

Instructions

Season your chicken generously. Remove your cheese sticks from the freezer (keep them in there until the last minute). Lay the cheese stick on the chicken and wrap tightly around the chicken and the cheese stick. Place into pre-heated air fryer and air fry for 12-14 minutes, flipping at the halfway point. My suggestion is on the 1st 7 minutes, face the cheese stick down. That way, on the second half of the cook, it doesn’t ooze out too much. After your chicken is cooked and the bacon has the crisp you want, place on a wire rack and allow the bacon to crisp up. Pair with your favorite dippin’ sauce and healthy vegetable and enjoy!

Nutrition facts

1 tender: 214 calories; 1 net carb; 12 g fat; 24 g protein

Air Fried Bacon Wrapped Cheese Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Simple and easy bacon wrapped chicken breast with a Babybel cheese inside! You can bacon wrap and stuff anything and take it to another level. The hardest thing is being patient and letting that air fryer cook the bacon long enough. Had to use the oven tonight to cook the brussel sprouts because the air fryer was a tad occupied. The greatest part of air frying? You have time to clean your kitchen while the food is cooking. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

3 medium/large whole boneless skinless chicken breasts; 6 individually wrapped Babybel cheese (any flavor you choose will work); 12 pieces of bacon; Seasonings of choice

Instructions:

Cut the whole breast in half and gently insert a knife to make a nice little pocket. Insert your Babybel cheese into your opening. It’s ok if the cheese is a little exposed. This is why we are going to wrap it in bacon. After stuffing all of your breasts, generously season your breast on both sides. Wrap each 1/2 breast with 2 pieces of bacon, ensuring you cover the opening so your cheese doesn’t ooze out. Place directly into your pre-heated air fryer. Air fry for 20 minutes (more if needed to crisp the bacon), flipping 1/2 way through. Remove from air fryer and place on a cookie rack for a few minutes allowing the meat to rest and the bacon to crisp.

Air Fried Keto Parm Shrimp

This was fun. If you like fried shrimp, then you will love this one. I did something a little different this time. Instead of using an egg wash for the batter, I used mayo. Sound nasty? Well it’s not. Actually, for shrimp, the mayo was a better binder for the Parmesan than the egg wash. Topped with our homemade spinach Alfredo sauce on top of a white bread chaffle, there is nothing bad about this! And do yourself a favor, don’t buy junk frozen shrimp. Buy you some good fresh caught Gulf shrimp. Farm raised and imported shrimp does taste different.

Ingredients:

Shrimp: 1 lb large/jumbo gulf shrimp; 2 cups mayo; Seasonings of choice; 6 oz. shredded Parmesan cheese

Alfredo sauce: 1 cup heavy whipping cream; 6 oz. shredded Parmesan cheese; 2 tbs grass-fed butter; 3 cups of baby spinach; salt and pepper

White bread chaffle: 1 egg; 3 tbs. almond flour; 1 tbs. sour cream; 1/4 tsp baking powder; 1 tsp water (I actually double this because the above ingredients yield 2 chaffles; I have a quad waffle maker)

Instructions:

Peel and de-vein your shrimp and set to the side. In a bowl, add your mayo and seasonings and mix well. On a plate, place the shredded Parmesan. Dip your shrimp into the mayo and ensure it’s coated well. Place coated shrimp on the parmesan, coat both sides and immediately place into the air fryer. Repeat until you fill up your air fryer. Mine is huge and can hold the entire lb of shrimp, but be careful that you don’t overload yours as they won’t cook even. Once full, set air fryer to 400 and cook for 15 minutes. Stop at 7 minutes and flip (yes some of the parmesan on the bottom will come off, just sprinkle a little more on top when you’re done flipping). Finish cooking until you hit the 15 minutes or your shrimp is cooked.

In a pot, melt your butter then add your cup of HWC. Stir until the butter is melted. Add in your bag of parmesan, 3 cups of spinach, salt and pepper, and stir until nice and smooth. Remove from heat.

For the chaffle, add the egg to a bowl and beat. Add in your sour cream, water and baking powder before you put in the almond flour (it seems to mix better). Once the almond flour has been added, mix until it’s nice and smooth. It should look like pancake batter. Put into your pre-heated waffle maker and cook until it stops steaming.

Plate your cooked chaffle, add your shrimp, and top with the spinach alfredo sauce and enjoy. And remember, this is just how I make them. You can tweak and add ingredients or remove ingredients as you see fit.

Keto Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

Very low carb and low on calories. You can’t go wrong here. The idea here is to get large enough cabbage leafs so you can make a decent size roll and get stuffing inside. And the possibilities are endless. You can stuff with whatever you like.

Ingredients: Large leaf cabbage (8); 1 lb ground chicken; riced cauliflower (8 oz.); mozzarella cheese (2 cups); grated Parmesan (1/2 cup); tomato sauce (1 cup); seasonings of choice

Instructions: Boil your cabbage head 5 to 8 minutes. As you are boiling, slowly pull the leafs off from the outside. Be careful, you want a get a good roll out of it. In a separate skillet, brown the riced cauliflower and mix in the ground chicken and cook until done. Open cabbage leafs and stuff cauliflower/chicken/seasoning mixture inside. Roll up and place in baking dish. Lightly coat the outside of the cabbage roll with tomato sauce. Sprinkle on the mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Cover with foil and bake at 375 for 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake another 20 minutes until cabbage has browned. If needed, use your broiler at the end to get that browned. Remove and dress as you like. I used 2 tbs of sour cream on top! Enjoy!!!

Nutrition facts per 1 roll with sour cream: 188 calories; 4 net carbs; 12 g of fat; 15 g of protein