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Author: ketostaruk
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Keto Week 4 – Review
I was much more experimental this week, trying out a few new things but also dealing with a much lower appetite. I wonder if I’m naturally heading towards One Meal A Day (OMAD), as I certainly seem to be less hungry in the evening than I used to be. I might start stretching some of my fasts out for a bit longer.
Recipes that aren’t already online will be added over the course of this week!
Start Weight: 77.9kg
Weight after Week 4: 71.3kg
Total Loss: -6.6 kg
Observations:
- Although I’m hungry by lunchtime, I’m less hungry in the evenings now, so dinners are usually much smaller
| DAY | LUNCH | DINNER |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Taco Beef Salad | Taco Beef Salad [Leftover] |
| Tuesday | Taco Beef Salad [Leftover] | Hot Dogs, Fried Halloumi Chips & Sauerkraut |
| Wednesday | Taco Beef Salad [Leftover] | Chinese Steamed Egg & Pork |
| Thursday | Tuna May & Cheese Salad [Work Lunch] | Greek Yogurt, Pecans & Sugar-free Maple Syrup |
| Friday | Chinese Steamed Egg & Pork [Leftover] | Greek Yogurt, Raspberries, Pecans & Sugar-free Syrup |
| Saturday | Fathead ‘Sausage Rolls’ & Sauerkraut | Shrimp Shirataki Noodle Laksa |
| Sunday | Chorizo, Mushroom, Spinach & Egg Hash with Fried Egg | Roast Lamb, Cumin & Turmeric Cauliflower, & Garlic Buttered Green Beans |
Smoked Salmon Lemon Alfredo
I think it’s a bit obvious that I’m a fan of Shirataki noodles, but as so far I always do them Asian style, I wanted to see how well they’d hold up in something a little more ‘Western’.
This was a quick, comforting dinner and definitely one I’ll do again as it was amazing!
ingredients
- 170 g Shirataki Noodles
- 60 g Smoked Salmon (cut into strips)
- 40 g Grated Parmesan
- 100 ml Creme Fraiche
- 1 medium Egg
- 0.5 clove Garlic (minced)
- 1 tbsp Butter
- Zest of 0.5 Lemon
- Fresh lemon & Parsley to serve
Servings: 1
6 g carbs/serving *
* always remember to calculate based on your own values / ingredient brands where possible!
35 g protein/serving *
instructions
- Open your noodles, drain in a sieve and rinse well in cold water.
- Tip the rinsed noodles into a saucepan of salted water, bring to the boil for 2-3 minutes, drain and rinse again in cold water. Set to one side in the sieve.
- Beat the egg and mix together with the Parmesan.
- In the same saucepan you used for the noodles, fry the garlic in the butter.
- Add the noodles and cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Stir through the creme fraiche and egg mixture until well mixed. Continue to cook on a gentle heat for 3-4 minutes. The egg will thicken the sauce, but be careful not to use too high a heat or the egg will scramble!
- Stir the salmon and lemon zest through the pasta before turning into a serving bowl.
- Finish with a little lemon juice and some fresh parsley or chives.
Cheeseburger & Egg Salad
This is another ‘recipe’ that really comes under the Meal Ideas category, because there’s just so many ways you can play with it to customise to your preferences/macros and whatever you have in the cupboard to chuck in with it.
I’d bought some lovely burgers from the supermarket, but as I’ve never really been a fan of having them served in a bun or similar, I thought I’d just add the components of a burger to a salad bowl. Again, another really simple idea that takes literally 10-15 minutes to prepare!
I chucked my burgers onto the George Foreman grill (of course you can fry, grill or BBQ yours) and whilst they were cooking, I layered up a bowl with lettuce, sauerkraut (in the absence of cucumber pickles), olives, mustard and sugar-free ketchup.
When the burgers were just about done, I broke them into bite-sized pices in an ovenproof dish, topped with cheddar and stuck under the grill until the cheese had melted, whilst also quickly frying an egg to go on top.
After sticking the burger, cheese and egg on top of the leaves, just finish with salt and pepper, and you’re done!
Aubergine & Feta, Cauliflower Pilaf
I tend to eat a fair few vegetarian meals, and previously I’d have made something like this pilaf, with a bunch of lentils or chickpeas and rice. The lentils will have to wait until I can switch over to maintenance keto with a slightly higher carb limit, but for now, this version is a really good alternative, packed with pine nuts and spinach, and works just as well cold for lunch the next day. It could also be easily paired with lamb or fish for a non-veggie eater (like my husband!).
ingredients
- 200 g Aubergine (cut into chunks)
- 25 g White Onion (diced)
- 160 g Baby Spinach
- 80 g Pine Nuts
- 300 g Cauliflower Rice
- 1 Vegetable Stock Cube
- 1 clove Garlic (minced)
- 1 tsp Zahtar Spice mix
- 1 tsp Ras-el-Hanout Spice mix
- 4 tbsp Olive Oil
- 90 g Feta Cheese
- Greek Yogurt (optional – remember to add carb count if used!)
- Lemon and Coriander to serve
Servings: 3
9 g carbs/serving *
* always remember to calculate based on your own values / ingredient brands where possible!
13 g protein/serving *
instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180 degrees.
- Mix the aubergine in 2 tbsp of Olive oil and roast for 15 minutes.
- Microwave the cauliflower rice until just cooked – 3-4 minutes, and set to one side.
- In a large frying pan or wok, gently cook the pine nuts over a medium heat until toasted and golden. Set to one side.
- Add the remaining olive oil to the pan and fry the onion until soft and golden. Add the spice mixes, garlic and cauliflower rice, stirring well to combine.
- Crumble the stock cube into the pan, adding enough water to dissolve it.
- Add the spinach a handful at a time, stirring through until just wilted.
- Add the pine nuts and stir them through with salt and pepper to taste.
- Serve into bowls, crumbling the feta cheese on top.
- Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and a little fresh lemon, and serve with a spoonful of Greek Yogurt (optional).
Mushroom Stroganoff & ‘Egg’ Noodles
Not going to lie, I got through a couple of eggs before getting the noodles right and it was a perfect example of a time when I should really have looked up a recipe instead of winging it and being lazy by trying to do dinner in a single frying pan!
I was so frustrated by the time I came to eat and was fully expecting the noodles to have been a complete waste of time, but to my surprise, they’re actually taste REALLY good and have a beautiful stretchy texture, so I’ve spent a bit more time refining them. Requires a little more washing up but they’re worth it and you could easily make extra and freeze them for a later date (which I will likely do at some point during the weekend).
Stroganoff; I like mine simple. Whilst I’m equally a fan of a beef and mushroom version (and might add beef to this in the future), for a quick dinner when you need to manage your protein (I’d had a rather meaty fry up for lunch), straight mushrooms work well. I use mini Portabello mushrooms, but chestnut or white ones would work as well. With a leeetle bit of finely chopped onion for the flavour, beef stock cube, soured cream, salt and pepper, they’re lovely over the noodles and can also double up as a great sauce for steak or burgers!
‘Egg Noodles’
ingredients
- 4 Eggs
- 50g Cream Cheese
- 2 tbsp Psyllium Husks
Servings: 2
6 g carbs/serving *
* always remember to calculate based on your own values / ingredient brands where possible!
13 g protein/serving *
instructions
- Preheat your oven to 160 degrees and line a large baking sheet with baking parchment.
- Whisk the eggs, cream cheese and a good pinch of salt and pepper together in a bowl.
- GRADUALLY sprinkle over the psyllium husks and wisk in a little at a time (don’t do what I did and add it all together and make a big blobby mess).
- Pour enough mixture onto the baking sheet to cover the paper and spread until even and at desired thickness. Use a second baking tray if necessary (or just repeat steps 4 and 5 as required).
- Bake for 10-12 minutes in the middle of the oven until fully set. Allow to cool and carefully remove the paper.
- When cool, stack your egg sheets on top of each other and roll them up into a long sausage shape. Using a sharp knife, cut the roll into your desired widths.
- When you’re ready to serve, either give them a quick stir fry in a frying pan with a little butter or about 30s in the microwave.
Mushroom Stroganoff
ingredients
- 250g Mushrooms (Sliced)
- 30g Onion (Finely diced)
- 100ml Soured Cream
- 30g Butter
- 1 Beef Stock Cube
Servings: 4
6g carbs/serving *
* always remember to calculate based on your own values / ingredient brands where possible!
5g protein/serving *
instructions
- Melt the butter in a frying pan and fry the onions until soft. Add the mushrooms and fry until they just start to go brown.
- Crumble over the stock cube and add a couple of tablespoons of water. Stir to dissolve the stock.
- Add the soured cream, stirring through to combine thoroughly and bring to a simmer. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Keto Week 3 – Review
Between some rather erratic meals due to work and the heat, I didn’t photograph everything, but these were the highlights! 😀
Recipes that aren’t already online will be added over the course of this week!
Start Weight: 77.9kg
Weight after Week 3: 72.1kg
Observations:
- Settling far more into a routine and some days I’m getting to 1pm and I’m still not hungry!
- Assuming I’ve had enough sleep, I’m generally feeling much more alert.
- NSV: I can now fit back into my size 14 jeans from 5 years ago!
| DAY | LUNCH | DINNER |
|---|---|---|
| Monday | Aubergine parmigiana | Mushroom Stroganoff & Egg ‘Noodles’ |
| Tuesday | Fry Up [Work Lunch Out] | Feta & Aubergine, Cauliflower Pilaf |
| Wednesday | Watercress, spinach & courgette soup | Smoked Salmon & Lemon ‘Shirataki’ Alfredo |
| Thursday | Feta & Aubergine, Cauliflower Pilaf | Cheeseburger & Egg Salad |
| Friday | Cheeseburger & Egg Salad | Chinese Pork Belly |
| Saturday | Chinese Pork Belly, Broccoli & Herb Eggs | Beef Noodles in Black Bean Sauce |
| Sunday | Bacon, Cheesy Scrambled Eggs & Mushrooms | Greek Yoghurt, Raspberries & Sugar-free Maple Syrup |
Simple Salmon and Scrambled Eggs
I’m hesitant to put this down as a ‘recipe’, because I feel it’s more of a meal assembly, so I’ve created a new category of posts for ‘Meal Ideas’, which for my lifestyle, tend to be meals I can throw together relatively quickly and/or with minimal cooking of convenience ingredients.
Salmon and scrambled eggs comes under that category; there’s so many variations, combinations and permutations that you can come up with that one single set of instructions can’t cover it. Suffice to say that they are an awesome combination – scramble your eggs with a ton of butter, serve with a good helping of smoked salmon and whatever sides you want. Personally I love raw watercress and spinach but go with what you feel!
I’ve included a couple of examples in this post – the first is topped with sunflower seeds, capers, olive oil and lemon juice.
The second is with a quick sauce made from full-fat creme fraiche, lemon juice, salt and black pepper.
Remember to weigh and track your ingredients to check the carb content, but overall this should be a pretty low count meal – mine will generally come in at around 5-6g.
Pan-fried Duck Breast with 5 Spice, Honey & Soy Sauce
Stop the press! This one’s got REAL honey in it! 5 whole metric grams per person!
Of course you can reduce the carb content yourself by substituting any number of sugar-free syrups or stevia drops, but personally I choose to plan my day around this meal and by making just a good spoonful of really rich, flavourful, caramelised sauce instead of a full glaze, I find it’s not too bad at about 6g carbs per person. I pair with my Yaki Shirataki noodles and extra stir-fried Chinese veg on the side according to your carb allowance. 😀
ingredients
- 150g Duck Breast x2
- 10g Runny Honey
- 0.5 tsp Chinese 5-Spice
- 2 tbsp Tamari Soy Sauce
- 1 tsp Coconut Oil
Servings: 2
6g carbs/serving *
* always remember to calculate based on your own values / ingredient brands where possible!
20g protein/serving *
instructions
- Preheat your oven to 180 degrees.
- Rub the 5-spice powder into the duck breasts so evenly coated.
- In a frying pan, fry the duck breasts, skin side-down in the coconut oil over medium heat until crispy and golden.
- Turn to cook the underneath and sides for a further 3-4 minutes until the meat is fully sealed.
- Transfer to an oven-safe dish and cook in the middle of the oven for 12 minutes (more if you’re not a fan of pink meat).
- Remove, cover lightly and allow to rest for 10 minutes before slicing into bite-sized pieces.
- In the same pan you used before, add the soy sauce, honey and any juices from the sliced duck. Simmer until bubbling and the sauce has slightly thickened.
- Plate up the duck with your choice of sides, and spoon half the sauce over the top before serving.
Keto*Star 