How to spatchcock a chicken or turkey!

Finishing some of Cheryl's drafts...

Keeping spatchcocking simple. Using a VERY sharp cleaver or kitchen shears -- not scissors, carefully cut down both sides of the backbone as shown. Be slow and steady and take your time. This is the MOST difficult part. Period. Once the backbone is removed I recommend that you save it for stock.

Sorry for the blurry photo but this is suppose to show scoring or cutting through of the sternum. On a chicken this may not be necessary as normally applying firm pressure on the breast is enough to get it to crack and break. When the bird is flipped over you want it to be pressed as flat as possible.

Bird is now "flattened" with the cracked, pressed sternum and is ready for seasoning

At this point you could marinate over night in your favorite or season now, liberally on both sides. Give it 20 in the fridge and then grill or smoke.

WHY bother? This method encourages faster and more even cooking. If you are smoking, this improves the distribution of the smoky flavors as well. This opens the door to many different ways to prepare your birds of all sizes and shapes. We've done this on cornish hens up to turkeys. I wouldn't recommend for a fatty bird (duck/geese). 

Buen provecho and thank you for keeping Cheryl's memories alive.

Blueberry Orange Bread

I had some Blueberries to get rid of and a lonely Orange in my fridge.  I decided to make bread, which I enjoy more than the exact same thing in muffin form.  I think it is easier to manage.

It turned out beautifully and is relatively low in sugar and extra low in fat, only 2 Tablespoons of butter in the entire loaf.  I used Coconut Sugar because it has a lower glycemic load.  I also topped the loaf with one individual sized package of Sugar in The Raw or Turbinado Sugar, I find it gives anything baked a nice crunchy top.

Remember to zest your orange before you juice it.

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar (I used Coconut Sugar)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup orange juice
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 tablespoons grated orange peel
3/4 cup fresh or frozen blueberries

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, combine the first five ingredients. In another bowl, combine egg, orange juice, water, butter and orange peel. Add to dry ingredients just until combined. Fold in the blueberries. Pour into a greased and floured 8x4-in. loaf pan.

2. Bake at 350° for 65-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes; remove from pan to a wire rack.

**I cook my baked goods about 15 degrees less than most recipes calls for, an old Jewish Woman I met told me to always cook at a cooler temperate for more time and your breads will come out much better. I agree with her.        I cooked this at 325 for about an hour, checking every 15 minutes.

Smoked Chile Scalloped Sweet Potatoes

I remember making this a few years ago, I though I had blogged about it but I guess not!

I decided to add it to our Thanksgiving meal rather than mashed potatoes and gravy.  It is a Bobby Flay recipe but I added Maple Syrup for a little sweet and spicy element.  If you really want to go over the top add chopped pecans!

Ingredients:

2 cups heavy cream
1 heaping tablespoon chipotle pepper puree (I tripled this)
3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced 1/8-inch thick
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 to 1/2 cup of real maple syrup

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Whisk together cream, maple syrup and chipotle puree until smooth. 

In a buttered 9 by 9-inch casserole dish, arrange the potatoes in even layers. Drizzle with the cream mixture and season with salt and pepper. Repeat with the remaining potatoes, cream, and salt and pepper till you run out of potatoes.  I had a little cream mixture left over.  You don't it swimming in cream but well covered.

Cover and bake for 30 minutes, remove cover and continue baking for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until the cream has been absorbed and the potatoes are cooked through and the top is browned.

Fruit Dump Cake

I found a bag of frozen organic fruit in the Freezer, it has been there awhile a long while.  I decided to create a cake, a dump cake plus essentially.  It turned out very delicious and I shared with my Husbands work peeps, they loved it.

Ingredients:

Bag of frozen fruit or fresh fruit (enough to cover a 9X13 pan about 3/4 full
2 tbl cornstarch
1/4 cup of sugar or your sweetener of choice, I used Swerve
1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup of toasted nuts of your choice, chopped (I used walnuts)
1 box of cake mix (I used yellow cake mix)
2 cubes of butter melted
1/8 cup of unsweetened coconut
1 package of cream cheese

Mix the fruit, sweetener, cinnamon, coconut and cornstarch in a bowl

Place the fruit mixture into a 9X13 greased pan

Cut the cream cheese into 1x1 inch pieces and drop all over the mixture

Sprinkle the cake mix all over the fruit mixture, I used about half of a box

Pour the melted butter evenly as possible over the cake mixture, feel free to add pats of butter also

Sprinkle the chopped toasted nuts onto the cake next

Cook at 325 for about an hour, checking at 40 minutes for doneness

Key Lime and Coconut Cheesecake - Keto Friendly

I am not a big dessert person in the first place and I am still struggling to get used to the amount of fat you must eat on a Keto diet.  I inadvertently bought a bag of key limes and had no idea what to do with them.

I spent a long hour cutting the tiny little things in half and squeezing the juice out.  I then decided to attempt to make a cheesecake type of dessert.  I have to say it turned out amazingly delicious.

Ingredients:

2 cream cheese bricks
zest of 1 lime
juice of 2 limes
**I inadvertently bought a bag of key limes so I spent an hour squeezing the juice out of them***
3/4 cup of swerve or monkfriut sweetener
2 eggs
1/ 4 cup of unsweetened coconut

Mix well and pour into your vessel of choice, I used  used a mini muffin tin with no crust, sprayed with coconut spray and I made one bigger in a ramekin

300 degrees for 20 to 45 minutes, checking on it occasionally may take longer

Caulitatos, Keto, NSNG

I am not a huge fan of potatoes any longer, I rarely ate them before going low carb, but on occasion I want some mashed potatoes with gravy to go with my Roasted Chicken.

I find that Cauliflower is a great substitute for potato's in many dishes.  I finally perfected the process to make them look and taste like potato's.  If you did not know, I don't think you could tell the difference.

Ingredients:

1 large head of Cauliflower
3 tbl buttermilk or heavy whipping cream
3 tbl Alouette Garlic & Herb Soft Spreadable Cheese (you can use garlic and herb cream cheese or Boursin as well)
2 tbl butter
Chives fresh or dried
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 tsp onion powder
3 heads of garlic, peeled and whole

Directions:

Wash and cut up your cauliflower into small florets

You will need to steam the Cauliflower, I use a metal steamer basket in a very large pot.  Add the cauliflower and the whole garlic to the steamer of choice.

Steam until the Cauliflower is fork tender, approximately 6 to 10 minutes.

Drain the water out, remove the strainer, and put the cauliflower/garlic back into the pan on medium and cook it briefly to remove the remaining water.

Remove from heat and add the buttermilk, cheese, chives, onion powder, salt/pepper and butter then use a stick blender or place into a blender and blend till it is nice and smooth.

Low Carb/Keto Wrap with Chicken Salad and Spinach

I don't miss bread much, but I do like a wrap on occasion.  I had leftover roasted chicken and decided to make chicken salad.  I added some spinach for flavor and texture and sprinkled chopped nuts on top.  It was very delicious and filling.  I got the recipe at Keto Connect!

I used the remaining wraps for Fajita's, they are so versatile.  You can add various different spices to make them more towards Mexican or Italian, etc.

Ingredients:  

8 large Egg Whites, which is 3/4 cup times two  (get the egg whites in a carton for less waste)
1/3 cup Coconut flour
10 tbsp Water
1/4 tsp Baking powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp Onion powder
1/4 tsp chili powder


Instructions:

1. Add egg whites, coconut flour, baking powder and water in a bowl. Combine well (should be a uniform, watery mixture).

2. Optional: add seasonings and mix.

3. Heat a skillet (any size you want your tortillas to be) to low heat. Wait until the pan is hot, spray with cooking spray, and drop some of the mixture into the center (i like to use a 1/4 measuring cup).

4. As quickly as possible tilt the skillet on all edge to spread the batter as thin as possible. You can always add more in the areas not covered.

5. Allow it to cook for a couple minutes until it starts to rise/bubble or you lift it up and the other side has browned.

Flip and cook for 1 additional minute.

For the chicken salad, I boned a chicken, chopped the meat, added mayonnaise, 2 stalks of celery, chopped, small amount of onion, half an apple peeled and chopped, salt and pepper to taste. You can also add red curry powder.  You can add nuts right before serving.

Blueberry Lemon Bread - Keto Style

We are getting pretty good at this Keto, Low Carb lifestyle and I decided to try my hand at making something sweet.  I have been making bread and bagels, but that's it.  I had some blueberries to use up and took a peek around Pinterest.  I happened upon this recipe https://kaseytrenum.com/homemade-blueberry-bread-keto-low-carb/

I had to fiddle with it to make it my own as well as I wanted to add lemon.  It turned out really tasty!

Ingredients

6 eggs
1 stick butter, melted
3/4 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons sour cream
2/3 cup granulated Swerve can reduce to make the bread less sweet if desired
1½ tsp vanilla
2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream (I used Buttermilk)
½ cup + 2 tablespoons coconut flour
½ tsp salt
1½ tsp baking powder
4 tbl unsweetened coconut
4 tbl Psyllium powder
zest of 1 lemon

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt butter.

Beat eggs, swerve, sour cream, heavy whipping cream, vanilla, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon, lemon zest until combined.  Add coconut and psyllium powder (optional)

Add the melted butter to the mixture and beat again until combined.

Add 1/2 cup of the flour until thoroughly combined.

In a separate bowl add the blueberries and 2 tablespoons of the coconut flour. Stir, until blueberries are lightly coated.

Add blueberries with the rest of the flour to the batter. Stir with a spatula until all ingredients are mixed well.

Pour batter into a greased loaf pan or cover loaf pan with parchment paper. I lined mine with parchment paper because coconut flour tends to stick to the pan.

Bake for 65-75 minutes or until knife inserted in center of bread comes out clean.

Next time I will add nuts!

Keto Friendly Tom Ka Soup (Tom Kha Gai)

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Eating Keto style can be boring, and I don't like boring food, so I decided to try to make my favorite soup, Tom Kha Keto Style and although it was a little work, it was so worth it.  You can certainly use grocery store stock/broth and rotisserie chicken, etc, but I really enjoy the process of making my own broth.

I had leftover whole chicken from Sunday so I boned it, roasted the skin, fat and bones for about 10 minutes on convection roast, you could broil as well, I like the additional flavor it adds.

I then put everything into my Instant Pot, you could also use a slow cooker or crock pot.

I added the following to the pot:

Fresh Lemongrass, 2 stalks peeled and crushed a little to give flavor

Hand of Ginger, peeled and chopped into 1 inch pieces

3 or 4 Thai chili's, green tops removed

6 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed

1/2 white onion

1 whole jalapeno, sliced

Salt

We ran it thru the instant pot twice,  for a total pressure cook time of 2 hours and 5 minutes and used natural release.

Strain broth and let sit overnight, skim fat off the next day if you wish (I did not)

You will need:

1 can full fat coconut milk

1 small can red curry paste (4 oz)

Broth (I think I ended up with about 4.5 quarts)

1 red bell pepper, sliced thinly

1 bunch of green onions, sliced

Mushrooms, I like Baby Bellas but you can use what you wish, sliced (2 cups or more)

1 block extra firm tofu, patted dry and cut into cubes

I used the leftover chicken (1/2 cup) and added a chicken breast diced for more protein (I baked it then diced it)

2 tbsp fish sauce

2 equal packets

Cilantro (optional)

2 whole limes

1 Jalapeno sliced (seeds in optional) I did.

1/8 cup chicken base

To make the soup:

Bring your broth to a simmer (works best if everything is prepped)

Add your curry paste, red pepper, chicken base, green onions, mushrooms, tofu, fish sauce, jalapeno, equal packets, bring to a boil, turn down and simmer for about 10 minutes.  Taste and adjust salt if needed.

Turn to low, add the can of coconut milk, and stir (clockwise), then add the chicken, juice of the limes, stir till it is warm enough to eat.  You don't want to boil it with the coconut milk.

I dislike Cilantro but my Hubby loves it, so he added it to his bowl.

**Next time I will also add onion slices to the soup** and use Galangal and Kaffir Lime Leaves in the broth.  

Skillet Roasted Lemon Chicken/Keto/NSNG

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
1 teaspoon whole fennel seeds
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup good olive oil
1 lemon, halved and sliced 1/4 inch thick
1 yellow onion, halved and sliced 1/4 inch thick
2 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 (4-pound) chicken, backbone removed and butterflied
1/2 cup dry white wine, such as Pinot Grigio
Juice of 1 lemon

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Place the thyme, fennel seeds, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper in a mini food processor and process until ground. Pour the olive oil into a small glass measuring cup, stir in the herb mixture, and set aside.

Distribute the lemon slices in a 12-inch cast iron skillet and distribute the onion and garlic on top. Place the chicken, skin side down, on top of the onion and brush with about half the oil and herb mixture. Turn the chicken skin side up, pat it dry with paper towels (very important!), and brush it all over with the rest of the oil and herb mixture.

Roast the chicken for 30 minutes. Pour the wine into the pan (not on the chicken!) and roast for another 10 to15 minutes, until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the breast registers 155 to 160 degrees.

Remove the chicken from the oven, sprinkle it with the lemon juice, cover the skillet tightly with aluminum foil, and allow to rest for 10 to 15 minutes. Cut the chicken in quarters or eighths, sprinkle with salt, and serve hot with the pan juices, cooked lemon, and onion.

Low Carb, Keto Zucchini Fritters

My Husband and I have graduated from "Clean" eating to Keto, we both have lost about 35 pounds so far and feel fantastic.  Less than 20 carbs a day, yes indeed.  We both keep coming up with amazing recipes to still include foods we enjoy.  I don't eat potato's anymore but these make me feel like I am.

You can add any herbs or spices you like, we are both super tasters so we like lots of flavor.  The recipes I have seen are all too bland for me, so I made my own up and I must say they are fantastic!

4 large zucchini or summer squash, grated, leave skins on
2 large eggs, beaten
2 scallions minced
1/2 onion grated
2 small jalapeno peppers grated
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup almond flour, start with 1/4 and add more if needed
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp pepper
1 1/2 cup of fresh Mozzarella cheese, grated, you can of course use regular Mozzarella is you have it.

Instructions

Grate the zucchini on a box grater or in a food processor, do the same with the onion and jalapeno's.

Put the zucchini/onion/jalepeno in a colander and sprinkle with the teaspoon of salt. Mix the zucchini gently to distribute the salt and let it sit for about 5 hours and move it around, you will be surprised how much liquid it drains.

Squeeze the zucchini out with your hands and place into a medium sized mixing bowl.

Add the eggs and scallion to the zucchini/onion/jalapeno mixture e and stir, add the rest of the dry ingredients and stir, if the mixture is too watery add more almond flour.
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Heat a medium to large pan over medium - high heat. Pour in enough oil to completely cover the bottom surface of the pan. When it looks hot, stick the end of a wooden spoon into the oil and check for bubbles. If the bubbles are moving quickly, then the oil is hot enough.

Stir the zucchini mixture one more time and dip a 1/4 cup measuring cup into the batter, level off. Dump the batter into the pan and gently push it into a flat pancake shape with the back of a metal spatula/flipper.

Cook for three minutes adjusting the heat up or down as needed, then flip, cooking for another three minutes. Add more oil to the pan as needed to prevent sticking.

Drain the zucchini fritters on a paper towel before serving.

****Note:  The fritters I made were pretty fat so I ended cooking them in the oven to finish.

****Note:  Serve with sour cream, they are amazing.