Our Keto Journey - Day 48

Day 48 – 

I grabbed some coffee and packed a small container of pecans for work this morning. I only worked a half-day so the pecans were enough to get me through until lunch. 

When I got home I made myself a salad with some cucumber, and then I decided to try a new Keto recipe.

I was really excited when we went to Costco a few days ago because they had almond flour, which is essentially just ground up almonds, but it makes a good flour substitute in Keto recipes. 

We also got some cacao powder, again basically just unsweetened chocolate that is used in many keto recipes.

I felt like these would give us more variety in our options of what to cook. 

The one thing I miss the most is the crunch of crackers or chips so I decided to make some low carb cheese crackers (see recipe below).  

I used one cup of Parmesan and one cup of cheddar for my cheese choices.  The recipe was fairly simple to follow.

Low Carb Cheese Crackers Recipe 

• 2 Cups Cheese of your choice (I used a Parmesan-Romano mix along with some swiss and cheddar)
• 1 cup Almond Flour
• 2 oz Cream Cheese
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 teaspoon Rosemary (or a seasoning of your choice such as basil, chives, garlic, dill weed, spicy chili, thyme, oregano etc…) 

Mix all the cheeses (including the cream cheese) along with the almond flour in a microwave safe bowl and cook it for exactly one minute.  (UPDATE:  There are some people that prefer not to use a microwave and I certainly understand that.  You can heat these ingredients up on the stovetop too.  You are going to heat them up just enough for the cheese to my melted enough for you to roll out the dough.  Continue stirring it while heating it up on the stovetop.)

Immediately stir the ingredients until the almond flour and cheeses have combined fully.  You want the cheese to be partially melted .

Allow this to cool for a few minutes because if you put the egg in these ingredients too soon it will cook the egg.

Now add the egg, sea salt, and seasoning of your choice.  I decided to cut up some fresh rosemary I had on hand.  You want to add about a teaspoon of your favorite seasoning unless it’s a spicy mix.  I would add only about a 1/2 teaspoon for spicy seasonings.

Mix it together until all the ingredients are fully combined.  If your cheese has gotten too hard or it’s too hard to mix, you can microwave your cheese for another 20 seconds to get it soft again.

Now you will place the ball of dough on a large sheet of parchment paper.  Then place another sheet of parchment paper of equal size on top of the ball of dough.

You can use your hands or a rolling pin to spread the dough out into a thin layer.  It spread so easily that I used my hands to have more control and keep the dough inside the square piece of parchment paper.  Make sure the parchment paper is the same size as your baking sheet.

Next, use a pizza cutter to cut the crackers into small squares as seen in the photos.

Bake these crackers on each side at 450 degrees for about 5 or 6 minutes on each side.  If the crackers are thin, you will cook them about 5 minutes on each side but if the dough is thick, it may take 7 to 9 minutes to get the crispy cracker texture you are looking for.  When you keep the dough on the parchment paper it’s really easy to flip it over while it’s hot after cooking it on the first side.  I ended up using the pizza cutter again to define the lines on the flip side too.  Feel free to leave the crackers in the oven longer (but watch them closely) if you love a very crispy texture.  The crispier the better for me!

Allow the crackers to cool for about 5 minutes and they are ready to eat!

I thought they came out great, especially the slightly burnt ones on the edge. I think my dough was a bit too thick in some places because some of the ones in the middle were not quite crispy, but they still tasted great. 

It was really fun to try a new recipe. 

Peter didn’t get home until later – so I headed over to the YMCA without him. I did 40 minutes on the treadmill.   As long as I keep my speed at about 2.5 my ankle seems to do okay, but I do wonder if I will ever be able to do the running and hiking I used to do. I am hoping that once I lose a bunch of this extra weight I might be able to do more. 

I jumped in the pool when I got home and then had some fun making dinner. I took some leftover chicken and cut it up into small pieces. I threw the chicken in a pan with a bunch of Penzies chicken taco spice and then added a small can of green chili enchilada sauce. As it got warm I added just a bit of cream cheese and some sour cream. The sauce was so rich and creamy. Next I made the cheese enchilada shells in the oven (4 small circles of cheddar cheese on parchment paper, cooked at 350 degrees for seven minutes). I am getting pretty good at rolling the cheese shells and it was delicious. I made some for Peter when he got home too.  I have to admit it was so good I did not limit my portions tonight. 

I looked at a calendar today, and our 100 days will end in October.  That’s great because I have travel plans to go on an amazing trip in October. My friend and I are going to Thailand. That was actually a big factor in wanting to do this diet. I wanted to lose weight and get in shape before our trip. 

We have almost finished halfway to our 100 days. I don’t plan to simply return to our old lifestyle after the 100 days are over, we will continue to watch our carbs, avoid processed foods – especially sugar and white flour, and we will continue to make healthy choices with exercise, portion sizes and everything else we have learned from doing this diet.