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

Sugar Free Low Carb Cheesecake - Keto Diet Game Changer

You know, I was never really a big cheesecake guy… until I learned how to make it. Now, it’s pretty much my favorite.  Greg was more the cheesecake guy and he’s been dying to do a keto cheesecake forever, suffice it to say he was not disappointed.

In fact, we’ve been talking to Rocco from Rocco’s Cheesecake  in Santa Monica about low carb sugar free cheesecake varieties and he was very much intrigued.

We brought a slice in for Rocco to try and he gave it the thumbs up! So, if you’re in the Los Angeles area make your way over to Rocco’s and just maybe he will have a keto friendly cheesecake ready to go! Otherwise definitely swing by and grab a slice for your cheat meal. We do pretty much every week.  

In regards to keto-fication of foods this was a pretty simple one. Using confectionary erythritol instead of sugar was not much different from a standard cheesecake recipe.  I would suggest using the confectionary over the granulated unless you want the granularity in your cheesecake, FYI nobody wants that! The crust was mainly almond flour rather than standard carb based crust and that’s pretty much it. It’s primarily cream cheese.

This required a spring form, which you can get at most home goods stores or amazon of course!

The Crust Ingredients…

• 2 cups Almond Flour
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 3 tablespoons Erythritol (for crust)
• 6 tablespoons butter

The Filling Ingredients…

• 32 oz. of Cream Cheese (4 blocks)
• 1 ¼ cup Confectionary Erythritol
• 3 Eggs
• 1 tablespoon Lemon Juice
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract

The Topping…

• 2 cups Blackberries
• 2 tablespoons Lemon Juice
• 1 cup of water
• ½ cup Granulated Erythritol

The Steps…

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Making the Crust. In a large bowl mix together almond flour, melted butter, erythritol and vanilla extract until well combined. The dough will be a bit on the crumbly side.
3. In a greased pan (use butter) press the dough into the bottom of the prepared pan.
4. Bake for 10-12 minutes and then allow at least 10 minutes to cool.
5. While the crust is baking, we’re going to make the filling!
6. Beat the cream cheese and powdered erythritol until it’s rich and fluffy.
7. Next, beat in the eggs one at a time. *
8. Finally, beat in the vanilla extract and lemon juice
9. Bake for about 50 minutes, at 350 until the center is almost set and jiggly. It will still be a bit “liquid” in the center because the cream cheese is melty. So, if you poke it, it will definitely not be dry coming out.
10. Cool in the spring form pan until room temperature.
11. Refrigerate until completely chilled and set. Give it at minimum 4 hours, preferably overnight.  

Making the Topping…

You can pretty much sub this recipe with any combination of berries. Raspberry or blueberry would be equally as tasty.

1. In a pan mix all ingredients cook on low heat, covered.
2. Mash the berries and mix everything together. Uncovering to mix every few minutes.
3. Allow the water to evaporate leaving you with a rich and thick blackberry glaze.
4. The slower you do this the better. You want to evaporate most of the water but you don’t want to boil it on a high high heat because this will burn the berries taking away from the natural flavor

Once done, top the cheesecake and enjoy!

*You want to let the eggs emulsify with the fats and adding them all at once prevents the eggs from doing that. This is why with most wet ingredients you want to mix in gradually.

The Macros...

These are pretty big slices FYI...

4 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cup Fat Bombs

Ok, I have a confession to make… I made a batch of these on Saturday and I ate them all by Sunday, which is way, way too many calories. Don’t do what I did. More importantly these were so good and so easy to make that I just couldn’t help myself, but don’t worry I made another batch and this time didn’t eat them all in one sitting.

I also forgot to take many pictures. So this is the only one I have, until the next batch!

 Pictured above is at step 3. As you can see we filled the chocolate up about a third of  the way and froze. The bottom layer is nice and firm so we can scoop in our peanut butter. 

The ingredients…

• Coconut Oil
• Organic Peanut Butter (No Sugar)
• Erythritol (or sweetener of choice)
• Cacao Powder (Hershey’s Original)

The Steps…

1. Mix (melted) coconut oil, erythritol and cacao powder to a smooth consistency

2. Add the  first layer of chocolate, about ⅓ the way full and freeze

3. Add peanut butter, teaspoon each and freeze.

4. Add the final layer and freeze

5. Each freezing step should only take about 20 minutes. Test to make sure it’s solid by putting a toothpick in it. If you can’t get it through, you’re good!

6. Store in a cool place. The Refridgerator works and don’t eat them all at one!!

Cinnamon & Sea Salt Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

You know that one snack that you always eat way too much of... This one is it for me. Hands down my favorite snack, in fact I'm eating them as I write this post. 

Pumpkin seeds have a great macro profile for keto diets as well. They are ~76% fat with 1 net carb per serving (1 ounce) making them super keto friendly. Add in the coconut oil and now you're really cooking with gas. Pumpkin seeds also have a ton of nutritional value and health benefits including: 

• Great source of Magnesium and Zinc
• Anti-Inflammatory 
• Rich in Omega 3 fatty acid 
• Good for your heart and liver 
• Immunity Support 
• Improved Prostate and Bladder Health 
• Lowering Blood Sugar
• Improves Sleep

Difficulty: Easy | Prep Time: 5 Minutes | Total Time: 20

Cooking instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400°
2. Heat coconut oil until it's liquid. 
3. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl and stir until everything is evenly coated. 
4. Mix in the melted oil and vanilla extract and stir until evenly coated.**
5. Spread evenly across a baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes or until brown. I do mine at 17 minutes on the dot, but BE CAREFUL they can burn quickly if you don't pay attention and every oven is a bit different. 
6. Let cool and enjoy. It's as easy as that. 

*Mixing the dry ingredients BEFORE the liquid ingredients helps prevent any clumping and forming balls of cinnamon.

Ingredients...

• 1 lb raw pumpkin seeds (Raw, hulled) 
• 1/4 cup of coconut oil 
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon nutmeg 
• 1 teaspoon stevia to liking (need measurement) 
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract 
• 1 teaspoon pink Himalayan sea salt 

Macros...