Chocolate Keto Crunch Bars

08.15.2018 by awellpacedlife // Leave a Comment

I love-making healthier dessert options for our family, because I’ll be completely honest that I have a sweet tooth!!! It’s in my genes… and…It will always be there lurking….no matter how clean I eat.haha These Chocolate keto crunch bars COMPLETELY satisfied my sweet tooth, however! WOW THESE ARE DELICIOUS!

Chocolate Keto Crunch Bars

I used an 8×8 Pyrex glass dish and lined it with parchment paper, to make it easier to remove from the dish. There’s also a variety of things that you can put in them, from sliced almonds, raisins, hazelnuts, cashews, sunflower seeds, chia seeds, pecans or walnuts. I put pecan pieces and sliced almonds in mine and the texture and crunch was the BOMB!!! Putting raisins in there would taste similar to chocolate covered raisins(which when I was a child, I would eat ALL THE TIME). However, if you are trying to stay low-sugar, I would choose something else to put in them!

As usual, my kid’s love getting involved when I make any protein/energy bites or things like this, so I had quite a bit of help on this recipe. I love that they LOVE…..to help, because it teaches them so much about cooking, and it’s a great way for kids to learn math with all of the measurements! This was a quick and easy dessert that they could basically do on their own!

I didn’t use the stevia sweetened chocolate chips, so I just used dark chocolate chips in mine. I chalked it up to getting healthy antioxidants.

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips of choice I used dark chocolate chips
1 cup almond butter Can sub for any nut or seed butter of choice
1/2 cup sticky sweetener of choice * See notes
1/4 cup coconut oil
3 cups nuts and seeds of choice almonds, cashews, pepitas etc

Instructions

Line an 8 x 8-inch baking dish with parchment paper and set aside.
In a microwave-safe bowl or stove top, combine your chocolate chips of choice, almond butter, sticky sweetener and coconut oil and melt until combined.
Add your nuts/seeds of choice and mix until fully combined. Pour the keto crunch bar mixture into the lined baking dish and spread out using a spatula. Refrigerate or freeze until firm.

Recipe Notes

* See notes for tested options- The best sticky sweeteners are pure maple syrup or agave nectar. For a 100% keto friendly sticky sweetener, use a monk fruit or swerve sweetened syrup.

Chocolate Keto Crunch Bars (Paleo, Vegan, Low Carb) should be kept refrigerated. If made using homemade chocolate, these should be kept frozen.

Nutrition Facts

Homemade Keto Chocolate Crunch Bars (Paleo, Vegan, Low Carb)

***Sugar and Carbs will vary depending on the chocolate chips you use

Amount Per Serving (1 Bar)

Calories 155Calories from Fat 108

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 12g 18%

Total Carbohydrates 4g 1%

Dietary Fiber 2g 8%

Protein 7g 14%

Vitamin A3%

Vitamin C2%

Calcium1%

Iron4%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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Low Carb Cabbage Lasagna

08.01.2018 by awellpacedlife // Leave a Comment

Low Carb Cabbage Lasagna

I was so excited to make this recipe! For the most part, we eat either Keto or a Low Carb dinners around our house. It really is hit or miss on whether or not the kid’s will eat what we eat(I’m not going to lie). Sometimes they’ll eat what we do, and sometimes not. I think that is across the board at everyone’s house, am I right? Its a constant struggle. All we can do is emulate a healthy lifestyle and eating habits and hope they follow. My husband and I found this recipe DELICIOUS! There were plenty of leftovers for the next night, which is always nice not to have to cook, but it had set up from being in the fridge and was quite a bit easier to cut, and it all stayed together better vs fresh out of the oven.

Make it with Ground Chicken or Ground Turkey

There are pretty easy steps to follow, and not a ton of ingredients. If you want to tweak it with ground chicken or turkey, that would also be delicious! Two things I might change in this recipe is adding in either a little pasta sauce or tomato sauce(at least 1/2 cup or more) and I would steam the cabbage leaves before(to soften them up more). I prefer steaming instead of boiling, because I always want to make sure I keep the most nutrients in vegetables as I can. I have heard by boiling, that some nutrients are leached out into the water. The leaves didn’t turn out as soft as I would have hoped and I think if they were surrounded by tomato sauce, that would really help also! Another popular twist on low carb lasagna is to make it with zucchini noodles, to keep it low carb, as well.

Fresh is Best!

I didn’t have fresh basil on hand and it would have made such a huge difference in flavor! I used our dried spices that we had, and while it still tasted delicious, fresh is always best!!!! Same with garden fresh tomatoes, would have been amazing in this recipe.

Low Carb Cabbage Lasagna

Yield: 8 Servings Prep Time: 25 Minutes Total Time: 1 Hour and 10 Mins

INGREDIENTS

1 large head cabbage, leaves separated

2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for baking dish

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 lb. ground beef

1 (28-oz.) can crushed tomatoes

1 tbsp. balsamic vinegar

1/4 c. torn basil leaves

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

3 c. ricotta

2 eggs, beaten

1/4 c. grated Parmesan, plus more for serving

3 c. shredded mozzarella

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350°. In a large skillet over medium heat, heat oil. Add onion and cook until onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and ground beef, breaking up meat with a wooden spoon. Cook until beef is no longer pink, about 6 minutes; drain excess fat. Add crushed tomatoes and balsamic vinegar. Bring mixture to boil then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper then stir in basil.
In a medium bowl, combine ricotta, eggs, and Parmesan.
Grease a large baking dish with olive oil. Spoon a thin layer of sauce into bottom of baking dish. Add a layer of cabbage leaves, then top with more sauce, ricotta mixture, and mozzarella. Repeat layering twice more.
Bake until cabbage is tender and mozzarella is bubbly, about 25 minutes. Garnish with more basil.

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Fudge Fat Bombs

03.13.2018 by awellpacedlife // 4 Comments

One thing I love to make on a regular basis is protein bites and fat bombs! They make for a great grab n go healthy snack or a great way to satiate your desire to grab for unhealthy/sugary sweets. Fat bombs are, just that….a bunch of healthy fats, all in one small portion! This week I made fudge fat bombs and they were ……wait for it……”the bomb”. Too much? Eghh whatever, I laughed at myself! These fudge fat bombs are a great Keto desert as well!

My kid’s love helping me make these kinds of things, because, of course, they think its desert! But still, its something so crazy easy to make that you can bring in their assistance, as long as you don’t mind their little fingers dipping in there for a taste or two. Plus, with my dad being type 1 diabetic, I love discovering low carb/low sugar treats that he can try as well. I have an entire board dedicated to protein bites & fat bombs that you can find here!

I did sub out a couple of ingredients, simply because I was too lazy to get out in the cold and head to the grocery store for only a couple of items, so I made do with what I had and they still turned out great. I didn’t have Almond Butter, so I used creamy peanut butter. I did not have the Himalayan pink salt, but I did have sea salt in the pantry, and I also didn’t have powdered Stevia, but I did have confectioners swerve(which is very similar). I like using an ice-cube tray as my form. It’s the perfect size, and so easy to pop them into the freezer and when they are done, pop them out and put them in a ziplock baggie.

Check out the recipe below:

I discovered this recipe from Sara Nelson from realbalanced.com

INGREDIENTS

1 cup almond butter
1 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup coconut flour
1/4 tsp powdered stevia (see note below) OR 1-2 tbsp monk fruit sweetener, depending on sweetness preference
1/16 tsp pink Himalayan salt

Optional Materials

Ice Cube Tray

Silicone mold

Please See the full recipe instructions at realbalanced.com

I recommend doing a taste test before pouring into the mold. Some people have a sweeter preference than others! Store fat bombs in airtight container in the freezer.

Nutritional Info: (Going off the original recipe above and not swapping out for the swerve, peanut butter or salt)

Serves 30

Serving Size: 1 Fat Bomb

Calories Per Serving: 144