This little treat has rescued me as I struggle with the fat goals for Keto. It’s also a nice break from the very savory diet.
Keto Strawberry Cheesecake Fatbombs Ingredients
1.50 cup, halves, Strawberry
0.25 cup(s), Sweetener
8 oz, Cream Cheese, softened
1 tbsp(s), Vanilla extract
8 tbsp(s), Butter, softened
Directions to make Keto Strawberry Cheesecake Fatbombs
Pull out the cream cheese and butter to let them soften- about 2 hours.
Core and dice strawberries. (Or you can totally use frozen strawberries. If you do, blend them first.)
Add cream cheese, butter, vanilla and sweetener to blender and blend thoroughly. Then add Strawberries and blend until just combined. If you aren’t a fan of artificial sweeteners, you can go without if your strawberries are sweet. Or if you like a bit more tang. I typically use about half the sweetener.
Scoop out into a mold that you can freeze. I have been using my muffin tins which is perfect, but I’ve considered using a silicon cake pop mold I have as well. I am looking for reusable lolipop type sticks. You could also use a homemade fruit bar mold. I have one that makes six and I might try doing half in that next time I make these.
Stick in freezer for a couple of hours then remove from molds and store in a more space friendly container. I have tried them in Tupperware and that works nicely, but honestly a freezer bag works just as well. These typically don’t stick around long enough to get freezer burn.
I have found that adapting family favorites to make them keto-friendly is the key to a happy life of balance in the Angell household. One of my food prep staples from even before keto was homemade meatballs. They are so versatile. You can use them for spaghetti, alfredo, make meatball sandwiches, add it to soups, or just heat up 3-5 for a quick protein pick me up right after a weight training session. My low-fat meatball recipe was a family favorite but is not so keto-friendly.
So I went and created a keto-friendly recipe pulling from my previous recipe while also trying to maintain a healthy balance for my non-keto loved ones.
They actually said they couldn’t tell the difference so that’s a win on my part.
An Angell’s Life of Keto Homemade Meatballs
Now if I did this right, you should be able to click this link and add my recipe for An Angell’s Life of Keto Homemade Meatballs to your Myfitnesspal.
Let me know if that works and I will go through and update all the recipes to make it easy for you to add them too!
Directions for Homemade Meatballs
Line a baking sheet (or two, I always rotate two out.) with parchment paper. This will make clean up SO MUCH EASIER.
Smash the pork rinds to get 1/2 cup of powdered rinds. This is a substitute for bread crumbs and it was about 10 oz of whole rinds.
Turn oven on to 375° (350 if you are doing larger meatballs or cooking in a high altitude environment.)
Add all the ingredients except the olive oil to a mixing bowl.
Stir the ingredients thoroughly.
Create the meatballs by adding a scoop to your hand and forming into a ball then coating with Olive Oil. I aim for about 2 tbs worth of meat so I can have 3-5 be a serving. My husband likes making them the size of his fist when we plan to do open-faced sandwiches. Just know that however many you make, divided by 24 is a serving size. This is especially important if you are counting calories because they can add up fast.
After you fill up 1 tray, put them in the oven for 15 minutes.
While they’re cooking, fill up the next tray.
Pull them out to rotate and then put them back in for 15 more minutes.
Serve hot or freeze for future use.
Why make Homemade Keto Meatballs?
As the recipe says, this makes 24 servings. I can usually make these once a month and it generally takes me about an hour and a half. That is 6 meals and several snacks worth of food.
The great thing about this base recipe is that it is super versatile. If you don’t have fresh parsley, you can use Italian seasoning. My husband really enjoys when I make it with a dollop of tomato paste when we know we’ll be using it for pesto or Spaghetti. It doesn’t really work in Alfredo for some reason. You can change up the cheese you use on the inside. We’ve made cheddar meatballs before and they were amazing!
But last night while I was prepping these I thought, “I bet using the BBQ pork rinds would create a unique fun flavor for snackable meatballs.” So I will totally be trying that next time I make meatballs.
My husband proposed today maybe getting some lamb and doing 1/3 of each meat to play with the recipe as well. You don’t get that kind of versatility with store-bought.
Have you tried my homemade meatball recipe? Let me know what you thought in the comments below. Was there a variation you tried that you really enjoyed? Tell us what you added!
As some of you may have seen on social media, about 3 weeks into the keto diet I started having issues with drinking my keto coffee. Nausea, upset stomach, headaches… it was no fun at all. I read that too much MCT oil can cause that so I cut back on the MCT oil. The nausea got a little better but then I was getting bad stomach cramps. The headaches didn’t improve. I tried removing the butter, using heavy whipping cream instead, and several other variations but it didn’t get better. I finally decided to just give up on coffee. I’m really not that invested in coffee. My mom was thrilled and suggested I try a keto breakfast shake. She lives by them!
But I still struggle eating anything of substance within the first 3 hours or so of being awake. Premiere protein shakes only have 160 cal and I needed a minimum of 200 cal to kick my metabolism into gear. I initially tried intermittent fasting but after just a few days I stopped waking up hungry and it has taken me FOREVER to get that hungry feeling back so I was not going to wreck my metabolism.
Hence my new breakfast of choice: A Keto breakfast shake.
Keto Breakfast Shake
This is a simple 3 element recipe:
2 tbs heavy whipping cream
4 oz unsweetened almond milk
1 scoop Gold Standard Whey protein
And you can add 1/2 cup of spinach which only adds 15 calories and 2 carbs. or 1/4 cup of strawberries which adds 10 cal and about 2 carbs, half a lemon gives you 9 cal and 2.5 carbs and lemon and vanilla are so refreshing in the morning! A 1/4 cup of raspberries is 13 calories and 2.9 carbs, 1/4 of a peach is only 12 cal and 3 carbs. It is so versatile and has really hit my fruit cravings in just the right spot. Then blend thoroughly.
And while I use this as a breakfast shake, you could do it at any time of the day. Add a few ice cubes and thicken it up to be more like a milkshake if you miss milkshakes. You could even add some dark unsweetened chocolate and a little bit artificial sweetener to get a real dessert vibe going.
Have you tried a keto milkshake? Let us know in the comments.
What are your favorite ingredients to add to your keto breakfast shake?
So I am going to share a staple in my kitchen. The perfect boiled egg.
It’s only been in the last year or so when we’ve been very focused on getting enough good protein that boiled eggs have become a regular in our fridge. But they are so quick and easy for a pick me up, snack on the way out the door to practice, and are phenomenal for growing muscle which is something all three Angell’s have been focused on.
Yet time and again, I would end up with a huge mess trying to peel the eggs. I remember calling my mom and lamenting that I didn’t remember eggs being this difficult when I was a child and helped prep deviled eggs at Thanksgiving.
It must be the water in SLC.
But I also was not game to spend $6 on four eggs at Wal-mart.
Then I got the thing that makes my woes with boiled eggs a thing of the past. This is the best Christmas present I’ve ever gotten, and once I got $600 in bookstore gift cards. That’s how serious I am about how amazing this thing is.
And the handy accessories.
So let’s get to the easiest boiled eggs recipe ever.
Instant Pot Boiled Eggs Recipe
7-14 eggs at least one week old.
1 cup water
instant pot
metal bowl
2-3 cups ice.
Well, I do 14 eggs for three people about once a week. You might only do 3-5 if you’re just prepping for yourself. Completely up to you. Arrange your eggs on the little egg holder. This keeps them from knocking about and getting broken and leaking everywhere as they boil. The worst mess of doing eggs in the pot. Hated that.
If you are using large eggs, you might want to set them on their side. But how cute is that handy stacker?
Then you close the instant pot, turn the spout to the left to keep it from venting, select pressure cook and set it for 5 minutes.
Leave it to heat up. Once it reaches internal pressure it will beep and start the 5 minute countdown. At the end of the 5 minutes at pressure (this typically takes about 12-15 minutes for me.) it will beep again. I turn the pressure cooker off and set a timer on Alexa for 5 minutes.
As I get close to the 5 minute mark for the second time, I pull out my metal dish and fill it with 2-3 cups of ice and then add cold water for the ice bath to stop the eggs cooking. When the timer goes of I turn the vent spout to the right (carefully, pointing away from my cupboards and my face. That is a steam vent, after all!)
Once the pressure is released, I open the instant pot and use the cute little silicon gloves that came with the accessories to lift each egg out and put it in the ice bath. I have very heat sensitive hands but these gloves are perfect to protect them from the heat!
Then I let my eggs sit in the ice bath for 5 minutes before I settle in to gently crack and peel. The whole process usually only takes me about an hour from setting up the instant pot to cleaning up when I’m done. To get the same from Wal-mart would cost me $21. Worth it.
Why Boiled Eggs?
It is, as I mentioned a quick and easy pick me up. I am notorious for forgetting to eat. (Literally, I have to set timers to remind myself.) and when working with a nutritionist, she noted that my metabolism was completely tanked which is why I never get that hungry feeling. It also could contribute heavily to why I struggle with my weight. To re-start my metabolism I had to eat almost double what I’d previously been consuming. It has taken me a year to get to the point where I am eating a small balanced snack of protein and Fruit/veg every three hours. But it has been worth it. After about 7 months of this eating habit, I find myself getting hungry first thing in the morning. I haven’t felt that in years.
But eating every three hours gets super annoying, especially if you don’t have things prepped. And if I don’t stay on top of eating every few hours, that hungry feeling goes away pretty quickly. So one of my daily staples has been a boiled egg with a piece of fruit or veg. Easy to take to work, or store in the fridge at home.
If you’re not a fan of plain boiled eggs, there are a lot of options to add them into your diet and get the benefits. Neither of the Angell men like boiled eggs eaten whole.
One of my diet staples has always been the ever reliable chicken salad.
Just as the Quick and Easy Keto Breakfast Base is the key to my breakfast success, my chicken salad is the key to my lunch success. It is a busy health-conscious professional’s essential prep move.
I purchase romaine hearts from Costco and either cook up frozen chicken breasts in cubes, or in a pinch I can use canned chicken. I slice up enough romaine to last me about 3 days (it never seems to keep longer than that.) and put down my 2 cup bed of lettuce and add 2 oz of chicken on top.
Then I mix and match whatever goodness I want, based on my meal planning. Say one day is light on veggies for dinner and I have spare carbs, I will add tomatos, a couple slices of carrots, some cabbage, black and green olives, kalamata olives, maybe even some mushrooms.
If I’m low on fat and can spare the protein, I can add in ham, bacon, a diced perfectly boiled egg. If I need to go easy on the protein, I can smother it in cheeses from gouda to cheddar, parmesian, or whatever strikes my fancy.
I can have chicken salad every day for a month and only have the same combination if I really want to. Talk about beautiful bliss!
Do you love or hate salad? Let us know in the comments below!
I am here to share with you a household favorite. This gets served at every holiday function and is often just kept in the fridge as a quick snack. It is the most amazing deviled egg recipe ever!
Heidi’s Heavenly Deviled Egg Recipe
6 Boiled eggs
2 Tbs Mayo
2 tsp mustard
Seasoning to preference- Paprika, chili powder, Italian seasoning, or dill.
Divide each of your eggs in half longwise with a butter knife. Gently use the knife to scrape the yolk into a bowl. Set the white bit aside on a plate.
After removing all the yolks, add the mayo and mustard to the bowl of yolks and with a fork blend thoroughly until achieving a fluffy texture. You will notice in the pic that we used a Dill Mustard, which is a fantastic flavor. Yellow mustard is common, but we’ve even tried them with grey poupon. Each one creates a delightfully different flavor so we never get bored with our deviled eggs.
After blending the mixture, carefully add a dollop back into each of the egg boats. Plan to overfill.
After filling, dust with your preferred seasoning. While paprika is the common garnish, we’ve experimented. My crew love spice and a dash of chili powder is always fun and gives a little extra kick to the cream. We’ve also used a sprig of dill, or in this case a small dash of Italian seasoning. We’ve even had
Do you love devilled eggs? What’s your favorite garnish?
As I mentioned in my post about the perfect boiled eggs, my crew are not a fan of basic boiled eggs. But eggs are such an important part of our health needs so I have gotten creative on how to incorporate them.
My guys absolutely LOVE pickled eggs. I don’t get it, but it was such a common request when I would ask what they’d like me to do with my boiled eggs for them for the week. Unfortunately the lazy method of just sticking the eggs in the empty pickle jar only works a few times before the water is gross (at best) and probably not super sanitary, am I right?
And none of us love pickles nearly as much as they love pickled eggs. So I was left with trying out various pickling recipes. I bought the pickling spices and all the different types of vinegars at varying strengths and stunk my house up and it never quite came out right.
Then I discovered the perfect recipe. It is a blending of both worlds that makes great pickled eggs without having to reuse pickle water too many times and risk some sort of horrific disease.
Simple Pickled Eggs Recipe
What you’ll need:
Freshly boiled eggs, enough to fill your container
Dill pickle juice
pickling spices
apple cider vinegar
All in one pickling vinegar
a freshly cleaned jar for pickling your eggs.
a pot to cook your pickling spices and vinegar in.
I am going to give this to you in portions and it will take you a bit of a handle to get the right amount to fit in your container, but as long as you have the proportions right it will taste just fine!
I start with 2 tbs of pickling spices, 1/2 a cup of Apple Cider Vinegar and half a cup of pickling vinegar. I put all of this into my pot to “bloom” heating it up to a gentle boil.
As it is heating, I pack my eggs into my jar. You don’t want them so tight that you can’t easily get one out, but if your crew loves them as much as mine do, you want to put in as many as you can.
After it has reached a rolling boil, I will turn the vinegar mixture off and swirl it around to keep the good bits from sticking to the bottom. Then pour the mixture into the jar filling it 3/4 full. I always get a little bit of the leftover pickling spices clinging to the pan so then I will add 1.4 cup of the pickle juice and swirl it around to get the last of it, then add it to the top of the jar. Put the lid on, gently shake to swirl it all together and then refrigerate.
According to little man, these are fine and pickled at 3 days, but bother prefer them after 5 days and assure me that they get better the longer they keep. But we’ve never had them last more than 2 months.
Bonus Tips
I can usually get two rounds of pickling in this juice before needing to replace it.
Again, as this is not properly pickled, I would strongly recommend not using it after 3-6 months or two rounds of pickling, whicever comes first.
You can play with adding different and unique flavors by adding in onions, beets, garlic cloves (a house favorite) carrots, sprigs of bay leaves and more.
20 minutes of prep in the kitchen (or an hour 20, if making eggs from scratch) and then a week of waiting sounds pretty simple to me!
I also have two different containers, so I will make one batch one weekend and then a week or two later I will make a second batch so that one batch is pickling while they are eating the other. Pretty easy, right?
Do you like pickled eggs? Do you have a favorite pickling recipe? Let us know in the comments.
This easy keto breakfast base is perfect for an omelet, a scramble, as is, or to add to. It is a staple in my keto life.
Keto Breakfast Base
2 Eggs
1 tbs Olive Oil
1 oz Cheese
Spread the olive oil around on your pan (it is way more than is needed for a regular coating, but it helps get your fat count up.) Add the eggs and cheese in the form that you prefer, omelet, scramble, sunnyside up with cheese on the side. It is totally up to you.
This keto breakfast base is amazing because it starts your day out right on the Keto diet, giving you very few carbs, a ton of fat, and a reasonable amount of protein and calories. (I know, most people don’t have to count their calories on this diet. I will admit that it is easier on this diet to hit my calorie goals than on my previous macros plan, but I never get hungry on this diet and there were several days in the first week where I ended up having to stuff myself with 1,000 calories from dinner until bed. That sucks so much!)
Adaptations
My favorite is to put down the olive oil, break up one of my Kirkland sausages, add 1/4 cup of Diced Haas Avocados (frozen) the eggs, cheese, and a dash of pepper. So good. It is totally worth the 6 carbs, 59 grams of fat, 32 grams of protein, and 678 calories.
James uses this base for his omelets. You can add a sprinkle of black olives (high in carbs, but a sprinkle is harmless. We cut up 1 serving, 5 olives, and divide between two of us) tomato (same, but 2 grams is more than enough for this omelet.) 1 oz parmasian, and a quarter cup ground sausage. Only 3 carbs, 64 grams of fat, 42 grams of protein, and 761 calories.
Just ignore those cinnamon buns. They are definitely not keto-friendly. They are not any diet-friendly. Well, maybe the see-food diet!
So while you are eating the same base day after day, for those who crave diversity in their food. (I’m looking at Foodie James) you can still have that too.
For the Non-Keto Crew
In the Angell house, Little man is on a completely different diet than Heidi, and James hasn’t really committed to a diet. That is ok because this works for everyone.
Little Man needs a lot of protein to build muscles for sports, and a ton of carbs (especially during two-sport season.) This along with a serving of fruit and a bowl of oatmeal are a great pre-practice breakfast.
James will add hashbrowns, or as you saw in the pic, whip up some cinnamon rolls to go with it sometimes. While those are heavy for pre-practice days, they are perfect for lazy brunch days.
Have someone in the house who is focusing on low calories? You can do egg white only, a low-fat cheese, and use way less olive oil. Add more veg and use low-fat meat to make it more filling without killing their calorie count.
What would you add to this base? Share in the comments below and let’s help one another on this keto journey!
Welcome to the fun of cooking and specifically, cooking for keto. We have a fantastic new take on Keto Coffee!
Now, I hate food bloggers who write out this whole long beautiful story and then wait to share the recipe at the very end. I mean, it is cool to read the first time, but when I bookmark that recipe and have to scroll ALL. THE. WAY. down through the cute story and the pretty pictures (and all the ads, I know, they do it for a reason. I’m just not playing that game.)
So here is the recipe
An Angells’ Life Keto Coffee
1 tsp MCT oil- You can do up to 1 tbs based on your own tolerance. We use Now Sports Pure MCT Oil. It came highly recommended from GNC.
1 tbs grass-fed butter– Just as with Bulletproof coffee, you can do 2 tbs, if you prefer. We use Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter cream from Costco
1 scoop Whey Protein– You can do 2 scoops if you like your coffee sweeter. We use Gold Standard Whey Protein because it is the least chalky we’ve used. But all the ones we’ve tried are sweet.
8-16 oz of coffee– Any coffee of your choice. I have tried it with Death Wish and with Kirkland’s Colombian Brew. So good. If you are not a fan of coffee but need to up your fats and proteins, try this with almond milk and half and half.
When I make it I stick to the low end of the ingredients in the recipe because I blend it all up in my ninja cup, which has a 16 oz fill capacity. I blend it for 15 seconds or so and it makes the absolutely most amazing frothy happy goodness! One thing we are going to try next is to only fill the cup half full for blending and then add more in my coffee cup because the last two days it keeps exploding when I open it. Then I will add the blended bit to the top of my cup (Kind of like Dalgono coffee) and stir to happy perfection.
Nutrition facts, based on the smaller serving.
You guys, no joke. This is the frothiest, creamiest most delightful drink ever made. It is like a perfect blending of bulletproof coffee, Dalgona coffee, and Keto coffee. I mean, look at that foam!?
So, for those who don’t know, I am new to Keto. I have spent the last year working really hard to lose weight through traditional methods being taught by Weigh to Health, a local progam offered at Intermountain Health. I have loved this 1-year program, I truly have. The dietitian we work with has been absolutely amazing, kind, supportive, understanding, and proactive. However, from September to February, I only lost 25 lbs (which honestly, I really was fine with, despite my sister and mom losing 50 ish lbs each in the same time period doing Keto.) I was focusing on other measurements, not just the scale and I was happy. My body shape was better, my skin was better, my workouts gave me more energy and I felt good.
Then Covid-19 Hit
Like everyone, our lives were disrupted. We were luckier than most in that James was able to continue working, just doing it from home. We scrambled a bit with fear, uncertainty, there was some comfort eating that happened. Our workout routine was completely dropped for a few weeks.
But thanks to Weigh to Health and our amazing dietitian offering weekly support meetings via Webex, I was able to get back on the wagon. I started walking and doing HIIT to replace going to the gym. While we were doing a lot more baking and got an ice cream machine, I was carefully to track my calories and added in little quick walks every hour or so and got back up to 8-10K steps a day. I added self-care to my daily routine to help with the stress because I tend to eat less when I am stressed. I’m weird compared to most obese people, I am prone to undereating in general and that has caused my metabolism to completely tank.
But I Digress
So yeah, got back on track, mostly. There are struggles. I hurt so much because I’m not swimming three days a week. My arthritis hates walking. My knees and back hate HIIT. But I fight through the pain because I am committed to being healthier and happier.
Yet each week I watched the scale creep up.
For all of May I was talking about wanting to try the Keto diet. I only have 4 months left of this Weigh 2 Health program and then I am back in my doctor’s office. The doctor who said that my choices to deal with my constant physical pain are A) Lose Weight B) Have surgeries.
I am so done with surgeries. But we’d done our Monthly Costco trip so we were going to wait and start together once we ate up most of those meals.
As of Sunday, I weighed in at 363.2. That is a weight gain of 6 lbs the week in my cycle that I am usually the lightest! I cannot keep doing this. I started Keto that day.
Monday I tried to make Coffee with Stevia and I couldn’t even finish my coffee. It was awful! Why did no one warn me away from Stevia? I had been talking with people online and IRL about starting the diet, people who had done the diet and had success, no one warned me.
But that’s ok. I was willing to give up coffee rather than quit Keto. (Because I am very particular about coffee. If it is not sweet enough or creamy enough, I just won’t bother. My mom joked that I don’t like coffee, I like coffee flavored sweet milk. She isn’t wrong.) I have seen way too many people have excellent success with it. Despite vowing never to do another fad diet, my dietitian said it is a science-based diet and actually the diet I would do if I had lap band surgery (one of the possible surgeries my doctor was encouraging me to consider.)
Why This Recipe
My family have had a ton of success doing dirty keto, something closer to Atkins than what I am doing. It has worked great for them. But I did Atkins when I was a teenager and I lost 15 lbs in the first month and then nothing else, despite faithfully doing the diet for over a year.
But one of the most compelling things I have seen about Keto is that it isn’t just lowering your carb count, it is very much focusing on increasing your fats. My whole life I have been on low fat. I grew up drinking skim milk, eating margarine, and diet-everything. While I changed that in my late 20st when I was diagnosed with fatty liver disease (going to a “clean” diet, eating foods that are natural. No more margarine, no more “diet” type low fat, no more foods with a huge list of ingredients that show it is chemically altered.) I still consume very little fats and oils.
My hope is that this is the secret that will change my weight loss struggles.
My tongue is… not like other people’s tongues. Most people crave fat. They like it. Not mine. I really struggle to get enough fat on a “normal” diet. Trying to get the 190 grams of fat that my keto plan is saying I need based on my height, weight, and BMI?
KILLING ME
But all that butter and MCT oil helps me start the day pushing those fats that I need. I have yet to hit my goal, but compared to pre-keto when I was consuming 30-40, I’m now getting between 165-180. I’m hoping in a week or two, I can up the butter and MCT oil and be ok.
I also add the scoop of whey protein for a similar reason. Pre-Keto I was struggling with hitting my protein goals to build the muscle I was creating and my dietitian advised that going to the gym on an empty stomach in the morning was not good. I struggle to consume food in the first two hours so I have been having a “breakfast” of protein shake and coffee to get 500 cal in the first 2 hours of waking up. Still trying to achieve that early morning breakfast on Keto because I know that routine is the reason that I actually feel hunger pangs for the first time in…. too many years to remember. Honestly.
So that is the reason for this recipe. I think it is better than Keto Coffee. What do you think? I hope you give it a try. If you do, I would love to see a pic! Feel free to tag me, or #anangellslifeofcooking so I can see and hear from you how it works for you.
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