Sugar Free, Low Carb Berries & Cream - Red White and Blue Trifle (Keto, LCHF)

For all of my American readers, the 4th of July is about many things... freedom, independence, burgers and hot dogs, that awesome speech from the movie Independence Day (shout out if you know what I'm talking about) and of course the Red, the White and the almighty Blue! And for as long as I can remember we've celebrated with tasty treats like red white and blue cookies and cakes and sweets on sweets on sweets... 

Well it seems as though that sugary celebration has done a lot more harm than good. But, that's no worries. We can still have fun, we can still enjoy our tasty red, white and blue treats. We just need to change up the ingredients a bit, because that's what The Fatbody is all about... ditching the sugar without giving up the foods we love. 

This one simple change in our diets could be dramatically beneficial to our overall health, but that's a battle for another day because we've got sugar free/grain free trifle to eat!

This year I decided to do a whole 4th of July Cookout spread... KETOFIED! 

The Hot Dogs in a bun... WITHOUT the Carbs! (PS they were grass fed all beef hot dogs)
The Cheeseburgers in a bun... WITHOUT the Carbs!
Fauxtato Salad (cauliflower)... WITHOUT the Carbs!
BBQ Chicken... WITHOUT the Carbs!

and of course we had the granddaddy dessert...

The Berries & Cream Red, White and Blue Trifle... WITHOUT the Carbs, the Grains, the Flour, the Sugar. 

I had some guests staying with me this week and while everyone loved the food I could tell... all eyes were on the trifle from the second I pulled it out of the fridge. It was just a mountain of red white and blue goodness. I probably could have done it in a nicer dish, but I'm a single guy in his 20s... I don't have a nicer dish. Woops

So let's get down to the ingredient list... 

The Pound Cake

• 2 cups Almond Flour 
• ½ cup Coconut Flour 
• 1 cup Erythritol  
• 6 whole Eggs 
• ½ cup Heavy Whipping Cream 
• ¼ cup Butter 
• 2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract 
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder 
• 1 teaspoon Salt 

Cheesecake Filling 

• 1 cup Heavy Cream 
• 8 ounces Whipped Cream Cheese 
• ½ cup Erythritol (Confectionery) 
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla 

Note: notice the stiffness of the "peaks" and how the cream sticks to the handmixer. This is because we have a thick consistency which is important! 

Raspberry Lemon Glaze

• 12 ounces Frozen Raspberries
• ¼ cup Erythritol 
• ½ medium Lemon Juice 

Remaining Ingredients

• 8 medium Fresh Strawberries 
• ½ cup Fresh Blue Berries 

The Steps...

1. The first step is to make the pound cake: 
   1. Preheat Oven to 350F 
   2. Mix all dry ingredients: Almond Flour, Coconut Flour, Erythritol, Baking Powder, Salt 
   3. Mix in the wet ingredients using a hand mixer (or a spoon):  Eggs, Heavy Whipping Cream, Butter, Vanilla Extract. 
   4. Mix the batter with a spoon or hand mixer until no clumps or dry flour are left in the bowl and pour into an oven safe dish. I used a 9x5 pan. 
   5. Bake for about 60-75 minutes.
   6. FULL DISCLOSURE NOTE: In the pictures below I messed up a bit... I took the cake out too early and it was still mushy in the middle. This is why the toothpick test is so essential! I forgot to do the toothpick test. So upon realizing the cake was still mushy in the middle I put it back in the oven for an additional 15-20 minutes, which was too long for the outside of the cake but necessary for the inside to get hot enough to cook. Moral of the story is to always check the center! The outside was a bit dark, not burnt or ruined, but not the golden brown that I would have liked. We'll get 'em next time! 
   7. Remove from the pan and allow it to cool to room temperature.  Cut into cubes 
2. Next let's make the raspberry lemon filling! This is a sweet dish, so the sweet and sour of the raspberry lemon really cuts through the sweetness and provides an AWESOME variety of flavors as you're eating your way through a big old piece of this goodness
   1. In a sauce pan: add frozen raspberries, lemon juice and erythritol and let it simmer on medium-low (3 out of 10) for about 30-40 minutes. 
   2. I usually like to start this right after the cake goes in the oven and let it simmer on the lowest setting until everything else is ready. This will really help thicken up the sauce. 
3. While the Cake is cooling let's make the the cream cheese filling! 
   1. In a large bowl we're going to make some sugar free whipped cream. Now this can be done by hand but it's far easier with a mixer. The particular mixer I have cost about 12 dollars on Amazon. 
   2. Add in 1/2 cup of powdered/confectioners erythritol and begin mixing. This will take about a minute with the mixer and about 5-6 by hand depending on your intensity. FYI you can also buy sugar free whipped cream, but it's always better to make your own!! 
   3. Once the Whipped Cream has stiff but fluffy peaks add in the whipped cream cheese and continue mixing until everything is thick and evenly mixed. We use whipped cream cheese because it helps for a very light texture that won't be too heavy on the stomach. 
4. Now it's time to craft this beast! As previously stated they do make nice trifle dishes, but whatever I used a clear bowl and it still tasted great. This isn't the Food Network we don't need to be fancy, we just want it to taste good! 
   1. Prep Work: Dice the cake into squares (roughly a 1x1) cube and slice your strawberries into thin flat pieces (so they can rest against the side of the dish) 
   2. Start Stacking!
      1. Layer 1: Cake > Raspberry > ring of strawberries > cream cheese whip 
      2. Layer 2: Cake > Raspberry > ring of blueberries > cream cheese whip 
      3. Layer 3: Cake > Raspberry > ring of strawberries > cream cheese whip
      4. Layer 4: Design the top! In honor of the 4h of July I made an American Flag using 
5. Let it chill! Once constructed you'll want to give it time to rest and set in place. At least an hour in the refrigerator is necessary, but 2-3 are optimal. 

Building the Beast...

The Macros...

Pound Cake Macros

Fatbody MCT Bread- LCHF & Keto with boosted MCTs!!

Ok, can I just start by saying that I am PSYCHED for this recipe. I have been playing around with a few variations and yesterday I made this batch, so I cooked up a cheeseburger with fried onions and an egg. Oh man, it was full on cheeseburger glory. The bread was moist and soft and it soaked up all the burger juices just like a "real" bun, but first a quick keto lesson…

What’s an MCT?

In short, a medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) is a unique fat molecule that gets it’s name from the amount of carbon atoms in the chain. What makes the medium-chain’s unique is that unlike their long and short chain friends, they are able to cross the blood brain barrier and will be absorbed directly through your intestines and blood, this means the energy gets to your brain FASTER, which gives you an immediate surge of brain power, focus and that euphoric energy MCT oil is typically known for. MCTs strains are commonly found in coconuts, which is generally the source of a (good) MCT oil. 

This is why MCT Oil and coconut oil are often referred to as brain fuel…

The strain of MCT plays an important role too, but that’s a topic for another day. MCT supplements usually comes in two forms: oil and powdered. Well, after a bit of experimenting I’ve discovered that the MCT Powder makes a pretty great super ingredient for these rolls… that’s right sandwiches are back on the table and now they’re brain fuel.

It’s Memorial Day Weekend and I just had a delicious all American Cheeseburger on a healthy bun. A bun that didn’t taste like egg, it didn’t taste like a dried out rock… it actually tasted like a roll. I’m so excited to start eating burgers NOT wrapped in lettuce again. This made my weekend!

Overall I’d say this was pretty easy to make. You mix all the dry ingredients with a spoon, then the wet ingredients and then you bake. I am still pretty new to the baking world, but if these rolls were any indication I’d say I’m getting the hang of it. In regards to the ingredients, like I’ve mentioned before, doing as much recipe experimenting as I do I’ve cultivated a pretty wide variety of foods and pantry items, so I had pretty much everything available. But, these ingredients are the new flour, sugar, corn starch, etc. If you plan on doing a lot of high fat low carb recipes, I would highly consider investing in some of these ingredients.

A few ingredient notes:

• Baking Powder (not in recipe) is made from combining cream of tartar and baking soda, so if you don’t have either you can just use baking powder (google proper ratios)
• Psyllium Husk Powder, don’t use whole husks, if you do grind them. Psyllium Husk is a fiber that acts as a binding agent. I’ve seem some recipes say mix it with the wet ingredients but I prefer to mix it THOROUGHLY with the dry ingredients because you want it as evenly distributed as possible.
• Everything Seasoning is obviously optional but it’s awesome.
• Using egg whites as opposed to the whole egg will help the bread to rise and give it less of an eggy flavor. Use the extra egg yokes to make Hollindaise Sauce that you can put on top of eggs benedict with this bread… wowzers.
• MCT Powder, is brand of choice. I am going to test the limits and see how much I can add without losing any flavor, updates to come

The Ingredients…

• 2 cups Almond Flour
• ⅔ cup Coconut Flour
• ½ cup Psyllium Husk Powder
• ¼ cup MCT Powder
• 6 Egg Whites
• 2 Eggs
• 2 teaspoon Cream of Tartar
• 2 tablespoon Butter
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 2 tablespoon Everything Bagel Seasoning
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 2 teaspoon Garlic Powder
• 1 ½ cups boiling water

The Steps…

1. Preheat oven to 375F / boil water
2. In a large mixing bowl add: almond flour, coconut flour, psyllium husk, mct powder, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, garlic powder. Mix thoroughly! This is important, the psyllium husk will create little jellyish clumps if you don’t mix it well.
3. Add eggs and egg whites and mix. Use a hand mixer if possible.
4. Add boiling water and continue mixing. Keep mixing until you have a consistent, somewhat sticky, doughy texture. HOT TIP: Keep your hands WET. This will make rolling the dough much easier.
5. Roll into evenly sized balls. The ones pictured were about 100g/3.5oz per cooked weight and a good burger bun size.
6. Melt butter and brush each roll with melted butter and then sprinkle on Everything Seasoning, or seasoning of choice 
7. Bake the rolls for about 45-50 minutes.
8. Let them cool off and enjoy!

The Macros...

Low Carb High Fat Tortillas

One of the absolute hardest parts about being on a keto diet in Los Angeles is that tacos are everywhere. Tortillas as far as the eye can see, well I won’t stand for it, not any longer…

I have been testing a few different recipe variations this one is my favorite so far! This recipe was a mix mash of a bunch of different ingredients, but it came together as a great tasting tortilla with a good texture and consistency. The cook fast and store easily.

I used them for tacos, and they were awesome. Then I used them for quesadillas and they were awesomer!!

I used a few extra tools, they aren’t required, but they definitely make the job easier:

• Food Processor. Or a blender or something, you are going to want to make sure these ingredients are WELL mixed.

• Parchment Paper is key. These are very sticky before you cook them, so the parchment paper mitigates that problem. I ran out halfway through on one batch, and let's just say I won’t make that mistake again

• Rolling Pin is another tool quickly becoming a kitchen favorite. I put parchment paper underneath and on top of a ball of tortilla dough and let the rolling pin do the rest. It helps to make them evenly flat, which I seem to have trouble doing by hand.

• A Big Turner. I had to google what this was actually called… it’s the egg flipper, spatula thing. You know the one cooking tool college guys own, that and a frying pan.

• Multiple Pans. I was making a lot of these and doing them one at a time in the pan can take a while, so I had 3 pans running at once. This saved a lot of time.

  • You can probably do these in the oven too, but I have yet to try that method.

Let’s start with the ingredients…

• 1/4 cup flaxseed meal (process if you have whole seeds)
• 1/2 cup coconut flour
• 1/2 cup almond flour
• 1/2 cup hot water
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup psyllium husk
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder

Cooking Instructions... 

1. Start with the flaxseeds. I have whole seeds, so I wanted to grind them up in the food processor first.

2. Next add all of your dry ingredients: coconut flour, almond flour, psyllium husk, baking powder, salt, cumin, garlic powder, chili powder

3. Process or blend up so the dry ingredients are evenly mixed. Psyllium husk is a great source of fiber, but it is also very sticky the second it gets wet. If you do not have the psyllium evenly mixed it will create jelly like clumps. I made this mistake the  first time I made them. It was a little weird.

4. Next add the wet ingredients: Start with an egg and half of the water and then blend. Next add the oil and then blend. Finally add the other egg and the rest of the water and blend until it is a nice doughy consistency.*

5. With a food scale or best guess, split the dough into 8 balls to make your 8 tortillas.

6. On a cutting board or a flat surface lay down some parchment paper with a sheet below and above the ball of dough. Use a rolling pin to flatten the ball and shape the tortilla. Get it as round as you can, some people use a pan cover… I just make ugly tortillas. Woops

7. On a medium heat put the flattened tortilla on a frying pan. It’s going to be oily enough that you do not need to grease the pan.

8. Flip after about 5 minutes, if it feels like it’s burning it probably is… adjust your heat or take it off the pan. These can go from golden brown to burnt really quickly, so be careful!

9. Once each side has browned load it up with some taco fillings and enjoy!

10. Put tortilla on the pan and add cheese, meat, seasoning, veggies and whatever other quesadilla fixings float your boat. Top it with some more cheese and put another tortilla on top. Or fold over depending on how big or small you decide to make them. Let the cheese melt, flip, repeat, enjoy, take a nap.**

*This can be done in any order. The point is to add the wet ingredients in batches. It helps make sure all the dry ingredients get an equal amount of moisture, which makes for a good consistent flavor.

**Just kidding you'll prob want to go for a run because you won’t experience the energy crash that carbs give you**

The Macros...

The Ultimate Fathead Pizza Crust

In the battle of fathead vs cauliflower crust I have to give it to fathead. The cauliflower is without a doubt healthier but if you are going for pure taste. Fathead every time.  It was pretty simple to make. Here are how the slices breakdown by calorie:

Calories Per Slice:

Cauliflower Crust  64

Fathead Crust       144

“I always treat myself to one meal on Sundays when I can have whatever I want. Usually it’s pizza”

— Beyonce

Ditto Beyonce,,, so ditto. 

Prep Time: 10 Minutes | Cook Time: 12-15

Cooking instructions...

1. Preheat oven at 425°

2. In a microwave safe bowl mix mozzarella cheese and almond flower and microwave for a minute, add cream cheese and microwave for 30 more seconds

3. Mix thoroughly. A hand mixer makes this task much easier. 

4.  Add the egg and all spices. Mix thoroughly.... and again hand mixer is pretty clutch. 

5. Place the ball of dough on a sheet of parchment paper with another sheet over it. Roll out the dough to preferred size. Note: this dough doesn't need to be super thin to work well.

6. Once rolled out shape the dough and flip up the edges a bit to mold a crust.

7. Slide parchment and dough onto baking sheet and let cook for 12-15 minutes.

8. Once it's done let it cool and add your topping.

Dressing the Pizza...

1. Spread ⅓ cup of pizza sauce evenly leaving a little bit of room around the edges.

2. Spread 2 cups mozzarella cheese over the pizza sauce

3. fresh sliced basil and Parmesan garnished on top

4. put back in oven for 7-10 depending on preference

5. Cut into 8 even slices

Ingredients...

• 1½ cup mozzarella cheese
• 1 tablespoon cream cheese
• 1 egg
• ⅔ cup of almond flower
• ½ teaspoon oregano
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ½ teaspoon salt

Pizza Toppings..

• ⅓ cup of pizza sauce
• 2 cups Mozzarella Cheese
• Garnish with Basil
• Parmesan cheese

Kitchen Supplies I use...

• Rolling Pin (optional)
• Parchment Paper
• Baking Sheet
• Spatula
• Mixing Bowl
• Hand Mixer

The Macros...

2 Minute English Muffins! Blueberry Vanilla & Maple McGriddle Keto Approved

Blueberry Vanilla English Muffin

I've been playing around with recipes and this seems to be the best variation so far, but that’s subject to change because well I like testing and playing with my food. However, it may be awhile before I find one as simple and delicious as this...

If you are on a ketogenic diet these ingredients should not be strangers to your kitchen. If they are strangers, well then you need to get them aquinted ASAP because you are missing out! It literally takes 2 minutes of cook time… plus maybe an extra 5 if you want to toast it, I know, I know so much extra time, but I promise it’s worth it.

These are pretty fat dense so they come in at about 300 calories per muffin, but like I said they are dense and they are filling. Best of all only 3 net carbs, so go ahead make two sandwiches.. and so perfect for a bacon egg and cheese sandwich. Or in this case of the sandwich below... carnitas, egg and pepperjack cheese sandwich…

And the blueberry vanilla version does quite nicely spread with some cream cheese…

Let’s start with the basic ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 3 tablespoons of almond flour
• 1 tablespoon of coconut flour *
• ½ teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 egg
• Pinch of salt

*Coconut flour this makes it less eggy, use a ½ tablespoon for more moisture but a full tablespoon for a more bread like texture.

Cheddar Rosemary Buscuit 

The Ingredients...

For Cheddar Rosemary Buiscut 

• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 3 tablespoons of almond flour
• 1 tablespoon of coconut flour *
• ½ teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 egg
• Pinch of salt
• ½ teaspoon rosemary
• ½ teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon densely packed cheddar

For Blueberry Vanilla:

• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 3 tablespoons of almond flour
• 1 tablespoon of coconut flour
• ½ teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 egg
• Pinch of salt
• 8 blueberries
• ¼ teaspoon of vanilla extract
• ⅛ teaspoon of stevia

For Maple McGriddle:

• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 3 tablespoons of almond flour
• 1 tablespoon of coconut flour
• ½ teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 egg
• Pinch of salt
• ¼ teaspoon of cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon of maple extract
• ⅛ teaspoon of stevia

Cooking Instructions:

1. Get a bowl with a good shape! I like mine to be wide and thin… so I use a bowl with a wider base, remember the muffin will form to shape of the bowl so keep that in mind. If you want a thicker muffin use a deeper bowl.

2. In the cooking bowl, melt butter for about 30 seconds in the microwave, until liquid.

3. Add your dry ingredients: Almond flour, coconut flour, baking powder, salt, rosemary, oregano. And mix.

4. Add egg and mix thoroughly. It should be a smooth consistency just like any other batter.

5. Microwave for 90 seconds.

6. Flip the bowl and put muffin on a plate. Be careful, it will be hot! Slice the muffin in half, just like you would a regular english muffin.

7. Grill on a stovetop. A frying pan will work, add a little extra butter if you prefer, but greasing the pan isn’t necessary. Toast until desired.

8. Add cream cheese or butter or peanut butter or whatever and ENJOY!!!

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**For Blueberry Vanilla recipe, add the berries last with the egg (assuming they are chilled). I like to mash the berries so they are deeply mixed, or keep them whole and have little berry bombs in each bite. You’re the captain now… go for it!!

And the macros...