Loaded Portobello Mushrooms

Since I moved out of my mum's house and my SO and I moved into our own place, my mum and I have gone grocery shopping every Sunday (except in special circumstances). We consider it quality mother-daughter time. We get to catch up about our previous week, gossip a little bit, and discuss food - something we both love! Last Sunday while driving around we spent a considerable amount of time figuring out what we would have for our respective dinners, since neither of us had bothered to plan anything.

After inviting myself and the SO over to my mum's for dinner, I wandered around the grocery store for a bit. As I picked up green peppers I thought to myself "what am I going to do with these? I really should have planned ahead... Oh! Stuffed peppers! I haven't had those in forever." Of course, I had invited myself to my mum's so I suggested stuffed peppers. She agreed. Then I saw portobello mushroom caps! Remembering pictures of recipes I've never tried, I asked my mum if she would make some so I would know if I liked them. Neither my mother or I particularly enjoy mushrooms, however, so at least if I didn't like them, both my step-father and my brother do. However, given that neither of us typically cook with mushrooms, we had no idea what to do with them. All I could think was cheese and bacon, because when is cheese and bacon not a good idea? That's how I got the idea of loaded portobello mushrooms (like loaded baked potatoes... without the potatoes!).

I KNOW. What a glorious idea. Put the cheese and bacon in the mushroom. Delicious. So, of course, after tasting the delicious creation at my mum's place I had to make it myself at home. Fortunately for me, this is one meal the SO refuses to try (I push him pretty far with all the veggies), so more for me!

This is a super simple, super quick, super delicious recipe. I found the mushroom to be incredibly flavourful, so with all the cheese, bacon, etc, I didn't feel it was necessary to spice this up.

Ingredients

I only cooked 2 caps this time, but I'm going to include ingredients for 4 servings.

• 4 portobello mushroom caps
• 6 slices of bacon
• 120g choice cheese (I used marble), shredded
• 1/4 c green onion, chopped
• 1/2 c sour cream (I used 14%)

Nutritional information, per serving (4): 371 cals, 4g net carbs (5g carbs, 1g fiber), 35g fat, 15g protein

Nutritional information, whole batch: 1484 cals, 17g net carbs (21g carbs, 4g fiber), 138g fat, 61g protein

Ingredients	Calories	Net Carbs (g)	Carbs (g)	Fiber (g)	Fat (g)	Protein (g)
4 portobello caps (~50g each)	44	5	8	3	8	4
6 slices of thick cut bacon	750	3	3	0	72	24
120g marble cheese	480	0	0	0	40	28
1/4 c green onion	10	1	2	1	0	1
1/2 c 14% sour cream	200	8	8	0	18	4

If there are other ingredients you're going to put in your loaded potato portobello mushrooms, let me know!

Directions

First, preheat your oven to 400F. Make bacon bits however you normally make them. Chop green onion until you have about 1/4 cup. Shred whatever type of cheese you plan on using and measure out 120g. 

Remove the stem and gills from the mushroom caps, and even scoop out a little of the flesh if you desire. We're making room for cheese and bacon, after all. My caps ended up being about 50g each after this process.

Put about 30g of cheese in each cap. Top with bacon bits (I used about 1.5 slices per cap) and ~1 tbsp of green onion. 

Place your caps on a baking sheet and pop them in the oven for about 10 minutes or until all the cheese is deliciously gooey. Remove, top each with 2 tbsp of sour cream, and stuff them in your face!

This is the delicious meal I had at my mum's! Check out all that cheese. LOOK AT IT.
Stuff all the food!

What do you do with your mushrooms?

xo, Jennifer

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Almond PIZZA Crust and the Ultimate Low-Carb Pizza List

HELLO PIZZA LOVERS. I am excited to share this super simple pizza crust recipe with you guys. Okay? I am 100% sure that you've all already got your FAVOURITE low-carb pizza go-to (mine happens to actually be pizza bowls). But maybe you should try something new for once? Maybe? I mean, it is still pizza so it won't be that new.

Before we get started can we just stop to take a look at the keto pizza options? I mean for real. LOOK.

THE LIST

Who says this is the ultimate list? Well, I do. Obviously. I grabbed links off the first page of Google did hours of extensive research in order to find you all a plethora of keto pizza recipes to try. Ordered alphabetically, I've bolded the ones I've tried.

All Day I Dream About Food - Almond Flour Pizza Crust
Caveman Keto - Low-Carb Pita Pizza
Caveman Keto - Meatza
Caveman Keto - Pounded Chicken Pizza
Cooky's Creations - Low-Carb Pizza Crust
Eat Fat Lose Fat - Holy Grail Pizza
Eat Keto - Chicago Style Stuffed Pizza
Fat Cat Cuisine - Pizza Bowls
Fat Cat Cuisine - Almond Crust Pizza (hehe. this post!)
Healthy Keto - No Dough Low-Carb Pizza Crust
Ruled Me - Portobello Personal Pizzas
Screwed on Straight - Keto Pizza Crust
Stuff I Make My Husband - The Great Pizza Experiment
Your Lighter Side - Low-Carb Deep Dish Pan Pizza

Note: this is certainly not an exhaustive list of all the low-carb pizza recipes out there, but this should get you started on a great and tasty adventure. If your favourite isn't listed, be sure to comment with a link and I'll get it up ASAP.

bacon and meatballs. yeah.

So if there are so many other recipes, why am I putting this up? Well, for one, why not add to the incredibly delicious list of pizza options? Two, because my recipe uses three simple ingredients, and not a lot of them. I was making a whipped jell-o pie the other day and thought, why haven't I tried using this crust for pizza? It holds up so well with pie, especially after resting for a few hours. So, I tried the same crust recipe and came up with this: 

Which, really, was quite delicious. But as you can see, the crust definitely didn't turn out. With the almond pie crust, it is best to let it chill if you're not baking it, or bake it and then let it chill, and then let it plus the pie filling chill, in order for it to hold together properly. 

To use the crust almost immediately, I'd need a better binding agent. Obviously, I didn't want to weigh this baby down with too many other ingredients, so cheese was out (besides, there are so many existing cheese recipes). I decided to try one egg. Woohoo! It turned out great.

This crust is ideal for thin crust lovers, though it doesn't get as crispy as that "real" hand-tossed, thin-crust pizza. I've had success making a ~8 inch pizza, and ~10 or so inch pizza with this crust, the smaller being a little thicker than the larger of course. 

Warning: If you're not a fan of almond flour, well, sorry (not sorry).

Ingredients

• 1 c almond flour/ground almonds
• 1/4 c butter, salted (or unsalted, then add salt to taste)
• 1 large egg, whole

*Note: "Nutritional information" does not include any toppings. 
Nutritional information, per serving (#): 128 cals, 2g net carbs (3g carbs, 1g fiber), 12g fat, 3g protein

Nutritional information, whole batch: 1026 cals, 9g net carbs (20g carbs, 11g fiber), 99g fat, 26g protein

Ingredients	Calories	Net Carbs (g)	Carbs (g)	Fiber (g)	Fat (g)	Protein (g)
1 c almond flour	549	8	19	11	48	20
1/4 butter	407	0	0	0	46	0
1 large egg	70	1	1	0	5	6

Directions

Preheat your oven to 350F and prep a baking pan with parchment paper. You won't need to grease your pan. I used a springform base for my smaller pizza, and then just a large round cookie sheet for the larger one.

Melt 1/4 c butter (salted or unsalted). Add the butter to 1 c almond flour, a pinch or so of salt (if you used unsalted butter), and one large egg. Mix them all together with a fork until you get a disgusting looking mess in a bowl. Your batter should be awfully sticky/gooey, etc.

Drop all your batter on your pan lined with parchment paper and spread it out. Because it is so sticky, you can dampen your hands so the batter doesn't stick to you as much. Just don't add cups of water to the batter. 

Once you've got your batter spread to a desirable size, pop it in the oven for about 10 minutes, or until the crust has dried and the edges are browning. 

Add your desired toppings. 

1/4 c pizza sauce, 6 slices of bacon (chopped), 30g goat cheese, 1/2 c pizza mozzarella, 1/4c nacho cheese, 1 tbsp hot sauce

Bake your pizza on 350F for about 15 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Slice your pizza in 8-12 slices or whatever you want. Put it in your mouth and enjoy it.

Don't forget to let me know what your favourite low-carb pizza is, crust or no crust!
xo, Jennifer

Simple Sloppy Joe Meat

I really love me some saucy, sloppy meat. For a while when you start doing low-carb you think you'll never get to have recipes like chili, spaghetti, and sloppy Joes again. After all, these things are typically loaded with brown beans, kidney beans, onions, tomatoes, etc.  After a while of cooking for this way of eating the reality becomes clear. You can still have these things, and easily make them low carb! Unlike low-carb baked goods, you don't even have to break the bank buying super specialty items like almond and coconut flour. Plus low-carb dinners are often less complicated/ingredient heavy than their full-carb counterparts. Even if you can't replicate mom's cooking, you can still have some staple keto recipes.

Earlier I posted my cheesy sloppy Joe chicken (which I'll be making again... soon), so today I'm making a dedicated post just for the sloppy meat.

As mentioned, I use this simple low-carb mix with these egg buns, but I've recently used it with a modified version of this stromboli dough. I even considered making extra batches and freezing them for later, or putting some in the fridge for lunches. I'd like to try this recipe in my crustless quiche, as well as using it for meat pie. Who doesn't love meat pie?

this is a stromboli dough pocket stuffed with sloppy meat :)

---

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground beef, lean or medium (I am using lean. It was on sale! Use medium if you want a higher fat content)
• 1/4 cup sugar free ketchup (I used this)
• 1/4 cup tomato sauce (I went with Classico Tomato & Basil, but you can use any kind you have, from pasta sauces to pizza sauces, or even just use tomato paste)
• 1 tbsp hot sauce (Frank's RedHot Buffalo Sauce is my choice)
• 1/2 tbsp garlic powder

The tiny Club House jar contains Frank's RedHot Buffalo sauce and
spices which I mixed and had leftover from chicken wing night!

*Note: "Nutritional Info" does not include optional ingredients. See "Optional Filler Ingredients" below.
Nutritional Info, per serving (6): 172 cals, 3g net carbs (3g carbs, 0g fiber), 12g fat, 16g protein
Nutritional Info, whole batch: 1029 cals, 13g net carbs (15g carbs, 2g fiber), 69g fat, 93g protein

Sloppy Joe Meat Ingredients	Calories	Net Carbs (g)	Carbs (g)	Fiber (g)	Fat (g)	Protein (g)
1lb lean ground beef	951	0	0	0	68	91
1/4c sugar-free ketchup	20	4	4	0	0	0
1/4c tomato sauce	25	4	5	1	1	1
1 tbsp hot sauce	5	0	0	0	0	0
1/2 tbsp garlic powder	28	5	6	1	0	1

Optional Filler Ingredients	Calories	Net Carbs (g)	Carbs (g)	Fiber (g)	Fat (g)	Protein (g)
1/2c white mushroom pieces	8	1	1	0	0	1
1/2c canned wax beans	15	2	3	1	0	1
1/2c chopped zucchini	10	1	2	1	0	1
1/2c chopped cauliflower	13	2	3	1	0	1

While this post is my "Simple Sloppy Joe Meat" recipe, you can include a filler or two to amp up the flavour and add variety to each bite! I've included four possibilities to get you started (above). For every 1/2 cup of filler you include, be sure to include 1tbsp each of ketchup and/or tomato sauce, rather than just adding more water (we don't want to dilute the flavour of the sauce!).

A word about ketchup: if you don't have or cannot find sugar-free ketchup, you can use regular ketchup. Regular ketchup definitely has more carbs, so make sure you keep track of how much you use. I prefer the sugar-free ketchup in this recipe because it has more of a tangy vinegary flavour that I associate with sloppy joe sauces from my childhood. Alternatively, you could omit the ketchup and just use more tomato sauce, or a low-carb BBQ sauce if you have it. Play with the flavour and see what you like best!

---

Directions

Start out by putting your ground beef in a 3 quart sauce pan. Add 1/2 cup of water and cook on medium-low until most of the meat has browned.

Some meat is still pink. No problem, we'll be cooking it some more later

Using a collander, strain your beef. If you're adding any fillers, let the beef rest in the strainer while you cook them. Toss your choice of filler in the sauce pan and cook until soft. If you're using a hard veggie, such as cauliflower, you may want to steam or boil it first.

Once your filler is at the desired doneness, add back your meat and mix them together on low heat.

Add your sauces (1/4c sugar free ketchup, 1/4c tomato sauce, 1 tbsp hot sauce) and 1/2 tbsp of garlic powder to the pan. If you prefer spicy foods, don't be afraid to add as much hot sauce as you desire. 

Add back 1 tbsp of hot water at a time if you want a saucier texture. Be careful of adding too much, as we are using a small amount of sauce to begin with so it will be easy to dilute. If you find you have diluted the sauce, just add back a tbsp at a time of ketchup or tomato sauce.  

Once everything is mixed thoroughly and cooked (5-10 minutes), add your sloppy joe meat to whatever other food you're using. Eggs? Tasty! Low-carb wraps? Convenient! Keto buns? Filling! Stromboli? Delicious, obviously.  

I added the meat to some rolled out stromboli dough and made "hot pockets" out of them. Yum!

As always, please enjoy.
xo, Jennifer

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Cheesy Sloppy Joe Chicken

I miss the meals my mum makes, especially my favourite comfort foods like chili, brownies, loaded garlic toast, and sloppy joes. She'd buy plain hamburger buns, make a super saucy meat and bean mixture, line some buns with cheese, and load up my plate. Mmmm. I could eat leftover sloppy joe meat for days. I've made sloppy joes before doing keto, using a similar recipe to what I will be posting here, and slapping the meat on these egg buns. It tastes close to what my mum used to make, minus all the beans.

I love chicken but I want to mix things up now and then so we don't get bored of it, and I was thinking, what should I stuff these breasts with? Ham and cheese? Nah, been there, done that. Pizza? Again, need something newish... Ground beef? That could be awesome. Plain ground beef? Bleh... boring! Taco meat? Spaghetti style sauce? Chili? Sloppy Joe meat?! YES. Sloppy Joe meat! So, I bring you, chicken breasts stuffed with sloppy ground beef and cheese, crusted with more cheese. Please enjoy.

If these weren't so freakin' hot I would have eaten it like a burger!

SERIOUSLY STUFFED!

Servings: 4
Nutritional Info (I didn't weigh the meat so these values are estimates at best):

Total:	1,128 cals	11g carbs	1g fiber	58g fat	129g protein
Per Serving:	282 cals	3g carbs	0g fiber	15g fat	32g protein

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Your Ingredients:

• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1/2 lb ground beef (I used lean this time because it was on sale. For higher fat content, use medium)
• 80g (~1/4c) shredded cheese (I used mozza)
• 2 tbsp sugar free ketchup (I used this)
• 2 tbsp tomato sauce (I went with Classico Tomato & Basil)
• 1/2 tbsp hot sauce (Frank's Red Hot Sauce is my choice)
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 c grated parmesan cheese (optional)
• 1-2 tsp garlic salt (optional)

Your Tools:

• a 1.5 quart or 3 quart sauce pan
• a baking dish
• a colander

The Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375-400F. Put your ground beef with about 1/4 cup-1/2 cup of water in your sauce pan and cook on medium-low. 

this has already been cooking for a few minutes... duh!

While your beef cooks, butterfly your chicken breasts. That is, slice your chicken breasts almost completely in half so they open like a book and look like messy hearts! Also press the meat out so your breasts are of even thickness. I actually used a meat tenderizer for funsies. If you're not sure how to do that, this video is pretty handy. 

these are particularly ugly :( the other two looked like adorable hearts but the SO was taking the pictures... *cough* 

Sprinkle some shredded cheese on all 4 chicken breasts. Save a bit for garnish.

p.s. I got this kickass cutting board at Costco. The silicone strips keep the board from sliding!

Now let's finish the sloppy joe meat. Strain the meat and put it back in the sauce pan on low heat. Add ketchup, tomato sauce, hot sauce, and 1 tsp garlic. Stir until mixed thoroughly. Add back a tbsp at a time of hot water if you'd like a saucier texture. 

Divide the beef mixture among your cheesy chicken tits. Spread the meat around or just smack it in the middle.  

Fold your chicken tits closed. Be careful not to make a mess. Sprinkle the remaining mozza cheese on the chicken breasts, as well as one tbsp of parmesan cheese and some garlic salt if desired. Spray with a cooking oil (I used olive oil) or carefully brush with melted butter. The video I linked above suggests tying the breasts closed. I don't think that is entirely necessary, but go ahead if you want to feel fancy!

Pop the cheesy sloppy joe chicken breasts in the oven and bake for 30-45 minutes! I cooked mine at 400F for 40 minutes. I checked them at 30 minutes and they were still slightly pink.

Enjoy!

xo,
Jennifer

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Breadless Breaded Pork Chops

Hi everyone! Sorry for the delay in recipes for the last week. Things got hectic at the university. We hosted a huge sociological conference for the first time. I was heavily involved in that, as I worked as the student advisor and I was able to present one of my papers (I'm an undergraduate so that's pretty awesome!).

Now I finally have a little bit of down time, but not for long. So here is a quick recipe that we seriously enjoy in this household. We used to love all those shake-n-bake recipes, and chicken fingers and whatnot. Of course, I had to come up with something a little healthier. Breadless breaded pork chops :). This recipe is not particularly unique, and rather quite simple. There are countless low-carb breaded meat recipes out there but this is what I make in my kitchen.

Servings: 4

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 30-45 minutes

Your Ingredients:

• 8 small pork chops, cut of your choice (I am using boneless loin chops)
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, finely grated (I used pre-grated Kraft)
• 1/4 cup unsweetened coconut, finely shredded
• 1/4 cup ground almonds
• 2-3 eggs
• choice spices

Your Tools:

• Two mixing bowls & whisks/forks
• One large baking sheet or pan 

The Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350F. Mix all your dry ingredients in one bowl. Beat eggs in a separate bowl. Note: You may need more mix and/or eggs depending on how much you use. Sometimes I use it all quickly, sometimes I don't use it all. 

Dip a chop in the beaten eggs and allow any excess to drip off. Dip, roll, or pat your chops in the dry mixture. I find dropping them in, patting, flipping, and patting again works best. Repeat these two steps for all the chops. 

Repeat the above steps again, for all the chops, until you are out of mixture or they are thoroughly coated. I suggest doing it like this, with only one round per chop until each has the same number of dipping and coating, so that you don't run out of supplies too soon.

Prep your baking dish however you like. I used foil very lightly oiled in this picture, but sometimes I don't bother with that.

Bake at 350F for 30-45 minutes, depending on how well done you like your chops and how brown you want the coating. I prefer to cook my chops for 45 minutes or longer, especially when breaded.

Enjoy!

xo,
Jennifer

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[CopyCat] Stromboli

One of the things that excites me about eating low-carb is the necessity to cook. I could spend an exorbitant amount of money on pre-made salads and other dishes that I have requested to be made low-carb, but that is not as satisfying as buying my groceries for decent prices and preparing dishes I love. Better yet, let's experiment in the kitchen. Where's the fun in eating the same old thing day after day? Bring some love to your plates, folks!

Speaking of love, tell me you have tried and loved Elizabeth Nimphius's low-carb stromboli! If you haven't, you better buckle in because this is going to be a crazy ride. The dough she has created is mind-blowingly realistic and delicious. And by realistic, I mean that shit is bread. Trust me, check out her recipe. Plus I have proof!

This is the first stromboli I made using Elizabeth's recipe.

I used bacon because I ran out of pepperoni. Oh well, I guess??!

I'd like to take a quick moment to thank Elizabeth for being supportive of my experiments and questions though she barely knows me! She has been very sweet and has given me advice about the blog, and even gave me permission to steal her "copy cat" idea for my features. Thanks Elizabeth, you're a pretty awesome person!

Okay, before we get our hands dirty I'd like to also talk a bit more about this fanfreakintastic dough.

Pros:

• Relatively quick to make, once you get the hang of it
• Fantastic texture and taste, easy to adjust to your preferences
• Incredibly versatile. Seriously, get creative with this dough. So far I've made the stromboli (with and without pizza sauce), pigs-in-blankets (pictured in this post), and two types of dessert rolls
• Basically guilt-free unless you feel bad about eating cheese?????
• Totally low-carb
• Also gluten free

Cons:

• The first couple times making it is frustrating
• Easy to mess up if you're not careful (more on that below)
• Not enough cons to create a balanced list

This recipe is so freaking good that my SO requested I make two next time so he can  have a whole one to himself. Seriously! 

pigs I mentioned earlier. Same recipe! Yum, right?

Are we ready to get started? I'm ready. I'm excited. You should be excited, too.

- - -

Servings: 4 or 5 pieces
Nutritional Information: I will update this with nutritional information later, for now please visit Elizabeth's blog.

Prep Time: ~10 minutes
Cooking Time: ~15-20 minutes

Your Ingredients: 

Dough

• 1/4 cup (4 tbsp) almond flour
• 3 tbsp coconut flour
• 2-4 tbsp butter, melted* 
• 1 1/4 mozzarella cheese** 
• choice seasoning*** 
• 1 whole egg

* Elizabeth lists 4 tbsp of butter, which adds lots of flavour. I've used 2 tbsp and I find less gives the dough a slightly puffier texture, but choose based on preference. Also I would recommend unsalted butter, again that is preference.
** Elizabeth uses pre-shredded. I have used pre-shredded and block cheese, both work. Also, Elizabeth's note from her blog: "Use 4 tbsp coconut flour OR omit the butter if you are using a higher fat cheese."
*** I use garlic powder and oregano, Elizabeth uses garlic powder, fennel seed, and red pepper flakes.

Filling

• 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese
• Pepperoni
• other favourite fillings (i.e. anything you like)

Your Tools:

• A microwavable mixing bowl and something to mix with*
• A rolling pin and parchment paper/silicone baking mats
• A cookie sheet

* A fork and your hands will suffice. 

The Directions:

Step 1 -

Preheat your oven to 400F. Pop your butter in the microwave for about 30 seconds and set aside (longer if the butter is really f-ing cold) 

Step 2 -

How you proceed here is important. Combine all your spices with the cheese in a microwavable bowl (obviously) and microwave for 2 minutes at 30% power. If you don't know how to change the power on your microwave you better figure it out! My microwave has a "power" button which I press after the cooking time, and then I press "3" (for 30).

Ok. Why is this important? I learned the hard way that if you cook at 100% power you overcook the cheese, making it incredibly difficult to work with later. Observe:

Left: 30% power, Right: 100% power
Hopefully it is obvious how much more difficult it was for me to work with the one on the right.

It is all broken and sad looking in comparison.
Not obvious? Let me tell you, then. Really annoying. I got so frustrated I almost tossed it.

Step 3 -

After pulling the cheese from the microwave, mix it around with your fork and get it all sticky and perfect. Add your flours, butter, and egg. Continue to combine. I personally like working with my hands for this part because I find it mixes better by squeezing than by stirring/folding. 

Initial mixing with a fork. My cheese cooled down quickly :(

 As pointed out by Elizabeth you will probably have to microwave your cheese again to make sure everything gets incorporated nicely. I have found that 5-10 seconds is not enough so I usually do 30 seconds at 30% power. After melting a second time I typically break out a dough balling technique I learned while working at a pizza place. You can see the technique in this video. However, I wouldn't recommend being as aggressive with your cheese dough as the dude in the video is with his pizza dough.

Your dough should look similar to this before you roll it out.
(I actually mixed it a bit more after I took this shot)

Step 4 -

If your dough has cooled considerably,  make sure to microwave it for a short time again before you roll it out. Get two pieces of parchment paper (one for under and one on top of the dough) and form a rectangular shape out of your dough. Grab your rolling pin and roll it out! I didn't measure the thickness after rolling, but you should be able to make it thin but not so much it breaks as soon as you pick up a piece of it. 

This is dough I rolled out for my dessert rolls.

Once your dough is rolled out, you can trim up the sides using a pizza cutter, so you have straight edges. Just add the excess dough on top or something (you could just bake the excess dough and eat it!). Finally for this stage, cut diagonal ribbons into the long sides of the dough (Unfortunately, I don't have a picture), about a third of the way on either side so that there is room for your favourite fillings.

Step 5 -

In the center, plop down whatever you want. More cheese is really fantastic, especially for dipping. I have used pizza sauce, different cheese, bacon, pepperoni, olives, etc. You get the idea. Put some fillings in there and fold over the ribbons you cut earlier, alternating sides in a sort of braiding maneuver.

Step 6 -

Transfer your goodies to a cookie sheet and bake for about 15 minutes. Serve with or without a dipping sauce. Enjoy! 

Ignore the messy parchment paper.
I ended up moving them around a lot so there was grease and cheese everywhere.

xo,
Jennifer

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Pizza Bowls

Last weekend was so hectic, I never got around to posting anything unfortunately. I did have something planned, too! Last weekend's would-be post will happen this weekend, and it will be a feature post. I always enjoy trying other people's recipes, and if I actually like them, why not tell my viewers? It is something I wanted to do with the old blog but just never got around to. So I am excited to do that.

Honestly, I have quite the extensive to-do list for this blog, from graphics to recipes to regular types of posts I want to be making. I keep thinking of more and more things to add to the list, too. I'd like to say, "one thing at a time!" but I don't have time for one thing at a time. Plus, I want to do everything. I want to be literally writing a recipe post, a thoughtful blog post, and a research paper simultaneously because I cannot just pick one thing to do.

For now, though, I bring you pizza bowls.

What's a pizza bowl, you ask? Well, let's talk about what it isn't.

It is not a doughy puffy pizza. It is not a bowl fashioned out of pizza dough. It is not a pizza folded in half.

Ok, so what it is? Pizza in a bowl. 

Everyone should be doing this because it is delicious. I don't think you can go wrong with this recipe. Think of it like scraping all the toppings off a pizza you bought and cooked and shoving them in a bowl. Then into your face. Sounds good, right? So let's make some!

tssszzzz check out those bubbles

This recipe is a gooey, melty mess of goodness. It is both quick and easy to make, and very versatile. Whatever you like on your pizza belongs in this recipe. Olives? Yes! Goat cheese? Uh, duh! More meat??! Obviously! Keto on, friends, and do it your way. I will provide some examples along the way but there is no hand-holding here. 

Servings: 4 servings (depending on how much you add on top of my suggested ingredients)
Nutritional Information: I'm not including any solid numbers because it will depend entirely on you. However, with these ingredients you're looking at ~250 cals and ~4g net carbs per serving. Enter your variations into any recipe calculator to get an idea of your ingredients. 

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: ~20 minutes

Your Ingredients:

• 2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese (e.g. marble, swiss, tex mex, or anything that is your favourite)
• 4 tbsp of a soft cheese (e.g. cream cheese, feta cheese, goat cheese, etc)
• about 30-40 slices of pepperoni (or more, or less, etc)
• smoked sausage and/or other meats (e.g. bacon, bacon, chicken, bacon, ground beef, bacon)
• 1/2 cup of pizza sauce/tomato paste/red pasta sauce (or not)

Your Tools:

• Cheese grater/food processor
• Bakeware (1 casserole dish or 4 ramekins)
• knife, can opener, etc
• also an oven...

The Directions:

Step 1-completion

This is super simple stuff. Preheat your oven to 400F. Prepare all your ingredients (chop, slice, grate, shred, and so on). Occasionally I mix the pizza sauce and cheese together, like so:

 So once you have all your ingredients prepped, start making layers until you run out of stuff. I suggest starting with something other than cheese on the bottom.

Sauce and pepperoni for the first layer

Shredded cheese as well as cream cheese

Sausage as the next-to-last layer, topped with more cheese

Sometimes I use these adorable dishes.
This is the second layer, with pepperoni underneath.

More layers. You can see I've put some chicken in here.
I think I may have moved the cheese for this picture but... that was a long time ago.

Okay, now that we have all our layers, pop the food into the oven for 15 minutes. Use a cookie sheet to hold the ramekins if you use those. After 15 minutes, broil for 3-5 minutes. Let sit for 5-10 minutes and serve while it is hot and melty!

Well, goodnight! See you on the weekend.

xo,
Jennifer

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