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Keto Green Bean & Mushroom Casserole

Thanksgiving is quickly approaching and in my family, the traditional side dishes are green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, stuffing, and mashed potatoes. In other words, nothing Keto friendly. I want to be able to have a big Thanksgiving dinner that is Keto friendly, but that others will also enjoy so I browsed through recipe after recipe until I found something that sounded like it would fit the bill – and this green bean and mushroom casserole certainly does.

It’s a pretty simple recipe and I usually have just about everything on hand.

Start by steaming your green beans. Use a Vegetable Steamer Basket set over 1 inch of water in a large saucepan.  Steam about 10 minutes or until tender.

When beans are done, transfer to buttered 8-Inch Casserole Dish.

Start melting butter in a 12 inch frying pan. Once melted, add in mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Cook until mushrooms begin to brown.

Remove from heat and put on top of green beans. In a Glass Mixing Bowl , beat cream cheese with Hand Mixer. Add in vinegar, garlic, and onion powder, mixing well. Slowly add 1/2 cup stock, mixing as you add. It will get runny, so be cautious or you’ll be covered in it. Once mixed, stir in 1/2 of the parmesan cheese.

Pour mixture over green beans and mushrooms, then top with remainder of cheese.

Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes, until bubbly and browned.
Casserole out of the oven

These cheesy green beans are so filling and so good!!

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Keto Green Bean and Mushroom Casserole

1 lb cut green beans, frozen
2 tbsp butter (use more if necessary)
8 – 12 oz sliced fresh mushrooms
8 oz softened cream cheese
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 cloves crushed garlic or 1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 cup grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 350.

Start by steaming your green beans. Use a Vegetable Steamer Basket set over 1 inch of water in a large saucepan. Steam about 10 minutes or until tender.

When beans are done, transfer to buttered 8-Inch Casserole Dish.

Start melting butter in a 12 inch frying pan. Once melted, add in mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Cook until mushrooms begin to brown.

Remove from heat and put on top of green beans. In a Glass Mixing Bowl , beat cream cheese with Hand Mixer. Add in vinegar, garlic, and onion powder, mixing well. Slowly add 1/2 cup stock, mixing as you add. It will get runny, so be cautious or you’ll be covered in it. Once mixed, stir in 1/2 of the parmesan cheese.

Pour mixture over green beans and mushrooms, then top with remainder of cheese.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, until bubbly and browned.

 

Nutrition green bean casserole.jpg


*Disclaimer: I am NOT a certified nutritionist and your nutritional information may vary depending on exact ingredients you use. I highly recommend you calculate your own and just use this as a guideline. The links for products are affiliate links so I may earn a very small commission if you purchase through them – but it doesn’t cost you anything additional!

Keto Butter Chicken Dinner

I don’t know about everyone else, but I get tired of eating the same things over and over again. I like to mix it up a little. So putting a spin on an Indian dish fit that bill. AND it’s Keto friendly. If you ask me, that’s a win-win!

This recipe is heavy on the spices, so if you don’t care for a lot, you may want to take it back a little.

For this recipe, you’ll need a Deep Frying Pan to cook in the meal in.

To start, heat up 2 tbsp butter in the frying pan on medium heat. Season your chicken thighs with salt and pepper, then add into the butter. Fry on both sides until browned.  Remove the chicken. Add in the onion and all the spices, garlic, and ginger. Cook for about 3-4 minutes.

Add in tomatoes, butter, chicken stock, and coconut milk. Mix well, then add chicken back to pot. Cover and simmer for about 10-15 minutes, or until chicken is cooked.

Add  in the hearts of palm and continue cooking until noodles are warmed.

Serve and enjoy!

Butter chicken nutrition

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Butter Chicken

2 lbs chicken thighs with bone and skin
1 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp turmeric
4-5 tbsp butter
1/2 onion, diced
3 tsp Garam Masala
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp grated ginger
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup crushed tomatoes
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup coconut milk
1 package Natural Heaven Pasta  (hearts of palm)

Heat up 2 tbsp butter in a Deep Frying Panon medium heat. Season your chicken thighs with salt and pepper, then add into the butter. Fry on both sides until browned.  Remove the chicken. Add in the onion and all the spices, garlic, and ginger. Cook for about 3-4 minutes.

Add in tomatoes, butter, chicken stock, and coconut milk. Mix well, then add chicken back to pot. Cover and simmer for about 10-15 minutes, or until chicken is cooked.

Add  in the hearts of palm and continue cooking until noodles are warmed.

Serve and enjoy!


*Disclaimer: I am NOT a certified nutritionist and your nutritional information may vary depending on exact ingredients you use. I highly recommend you calculate your own and just use this as a guideline. The links for products are affiliate links so I may earn a very small commission if you purchase through them – but it doesn’t cost you anything additional!

Week 5 Check In

Well, I survived a girls night out and still made progress this week! I didn’t get my weekly check in up on Sunday like I normally do since I wasn’t home, but here it is now!!

This week flew by as they all seem to do and I was a little nervous about going out to dinner and a movie with a friend and then having a vendor event all day the next day. One thing that really helped is I prepared ahead of time. I knew where we were going to go to eat, so I looked up the menu online to figure out what my Keto friendly options were so it made it easier to pick something to eat that night.

For the vendor event, I again prepared ahead of time and took some keto friendly snacks with me from my Keto Krate. Being prepared saved me from a lot of temptations (like the double chocolate brownies) at the event. Instead, to curb a sweet tooth, I ate some sugar free Hemp Brittle from Curly Girlz Candy. You’d never know it’s sugar free!

So after all that, here was my results:

Starting Weight: 308.8 lbs
Last week check-in: 292.8 lbs
This week check-in: 291.0 lbs
Loss for the week: 1.8 lbs
Overall loss since 9/21: 17.8 lbs

Starting overall inches: 489.7 inches
Last week check-in: 468.7 inches
This week check in: 466.4 inches
Loss for the week: 2.3 inches
Overall loss since 9/21: 23.3 inches

That’s pretty impressive for only 5 weeks!! I wouldn’t be able to do it without the help of truVISION. It’s such a simple program. Just two pills, twice a day! Can’t wait to see what next week brings! The 280’s are so close I can almost taste it!

 

Keto Krate – October 2018

I’ve signed up for so many subscription boxes over the years. Some for clothes, some for kids toys, some different food items – some were good, some were bad. So when I heard of Keto Krate I was a bit hesitant to give it a try. I haven’t had the best of luck with previous subscription boxes so I was a bit skeptical this would be much better. Especially with how some Keto foods are – not exactly ‘great’ by any means.

But wow. Was I PLEASANTLY surprised!!

The stuff tasted amazing AND it was KETO friendly!!! Do you know how hard that can be to find? Very!

So I bet you are dying to know what was inside, aren’t you??

Here’s the breakdown of what was in the Keto Krate, how many net carbs it has, and a quick review of it.

Bhu Fit bar – Salted Caramel Pecan flavor: This tasty bar only has 1 net carb and is full of nutty goodness. It’s slight sweet, slightly salty and is almost like a KETO version of a candy bar. Get your own box of these BHU Fit Salted Caramel Pecan bars here.

Pywiack Krackers – Savory Parmesan: Crackers are one thing I have been missing. I love to have a slice of cheese and piece of summer sausage on a cracker. It’s just not the same eating it without. So when I saw crackers, I immediately had to try them. They are great on their own and so good with meat and cheese! They almost taste like a rye cracker but are made with almonds, flax seed, chia seeds, and seasonings. You can get some of those direct from their website here. At only 2 net carbs per serving, I’m back to having crackers with my meat and cheese!

Curly Girlz Candy – Sugar Free Hemp Brittle: Oh my god. This is by FAR my favorite item from this box. The name was a little off-putting. I mean who EATS hemp? Certainly not something I’d ever done and didn’t think I ever would. I find it so hard to believe that this is sugar free. It’s amazingly delicious and I want to know what else Curly Girlz Candy makes and buy ALL OF IT. There are ZERO net carbs in this candy! It’s as close to toffee as you’ll probably get and I could eat the entire pouch in less than 5 minutes. There is no after taste. Seriously, go to Curly Girlz Candy website. NOW. Their candy is hand crafted and made with locally sourced ingredients in Owatonna, Minnesota. Best part? They have KETO candy AND traditional candy for the non-KETO’er in your family.

Macalat Chocolate Wizardry Organic Sugar-Free Dark Chocolate: Ok – this is CHOCOLATE. Do I really need to say more? Oh yeah. It’s organic. It’s sugar free. And it’s only 3 net carbs per serving. Now – this is why it’s important to read your labels. This bar is not very big and there are 4 servings in it. So if you eat the entire bar, you just set yourself back 12 carbs. Granted that is much better than a sugar loaded Hersey’s bar, but you still wouldn’t want to do that. If you are a choc-o-holic like me and want to get some bars to keep on hand, get a box of the Macalat Chocolate Wizardry.

Gorilly Goods – Hillside Pumpkin Seed and Kale: So I call this the KETO trail mix. It’s got pumpkin seeds, kale, and seasonings. Perfect savory snack. It’s only got 3 net carbs in the whole packet and it’s got 17 g of fat and 12 g of protein. Perfect to help fill your macros!! You can get a box of GORILLY GOODS, HILLSIDE or try the Gorilly Goods Variety Pack.

Burn Butter – Hazelnut (Grass Fed Butter with MCT and Avocado Oils): Oh my. I love Hazelnut ANYTHING. And this can be used 2 ways. You can refrigerate it and use it as a butter, or leave it at room temp and use as an oil. One thing a lot of KETO’ers use is bullet proof coffee. This is perfect to put in it and give it that nutty flavor! Best part – ZERO net carbs! Or put it in the fridge and top some toasted 90 second microwave bread with it. Either way, it’s delicious! Get your Burn Butter Hazelnut or try a Burn Butter Sampler .

Landcrafted Food – Original Smoked Beef Stick: Well, you can’t really go wrong with a good ole’ beef stick when you are on KETO. These have 1 g of carbs, but not sure if that is net carbs since it does not say if there is any fiber. These are made from 100% grassfed beef and a perfect snack! Grab a pack of Landcrafted Food 100% Grass-Fed Beef Sticks (Original Smoked) and keep them on hand for when hunger strikes! These are so easy to grab and go.

Mission Meats – Graze Beef Bites: Similarly to the original smoked beef stick, you can’t go wrong with these! These ones are not smoked, but are perfect poppable bites. They come in a resealable bag, which is perfect  so you can grab a few when you need a quick snack! Unfortunately, there is no nutritional information on these ones. According to Amazon, there is 1 net carb per oz, so 4 for the entire pouch. Get your own Keto Sugar Free Grass-Fed Beef Snacks to much on 🙂

Intakt Cheese Lover Original: This is probably my second favorite item in this box. It’s basically a KETO’ers popcorn and has 1 ingredient – CHEESE! In the entire pack, there are only 2g net carbs. Cheesy and crunchy, this is an awesome replacement to cheese popcorn! Make sure you grab a few bags of Intakt Snacks Low Carb Crunchy Cheese Bites for your next movie night!

Natural Heaven – Veggie Pasta Noodles, Spaghetti Shape: These are probably the most impressive item contained in the box. These are noodles made from Hearts of Palm. That’s it, just that one ingredient! And at only 2 g net carbs per serving, you can have your favorite pasta dish again!! AND these require virtually NO cooking. Just heat with your favorite sauce, and eat!! It’s amazing to be able to eat ‘pasta’ again!! Be sure to grab some Natural Heaven Pasta Spaghetti so you’ll be prepared for Italian night and NOT have to skip the noodles anymore!!

This is seriously the best thing I have ever ordered in regards to my KETO diet. Keto Krate really knocks it out of the park. I can’t wait for next months! I don’t usually snack much since changing to a KETO diet, but it’s so awesome to have food you CAN snack on (or make a meal out of!) Thank you Keto Krate!!!

So seriously – what are you waiting for?! Go order your Keto Krate now!


Keto Krate contents

KETO Fudgey Brownies

Fudge. Brownies. Put them together and it’s blissful heaven. One common misconception about the KETO diet is that you can’t have sweets. WRONG! You can have them, you just have to know how to make them. No using regular white/wheat flour, sugar, honey, maple syrup. Once you learn what you can and can’t have, it gets a lot easier.

Well, my KETO diet buddy decided he was hungry for some nice chocolately brownies, so like I normally do, I scoured the internet trying to find some KETO friendly recipes that sounded good (I’m not a HUGE almond flour fan, so I tend to shy away from recipes that call for a lot of it – not that I WON’T make recipes with it). I found one that was semi-KETO, then modified it to make it KETO friendly.

The end results was a super fudgey, not overly sweet decadent dessert. This recipe will make a full 9 x 13-Inch Pan or you can divide it into two 8 x 8 in pans.

For starters, get all your ingredients together:
Ingredients for brownies.jpg

First think you need to do is get the avocado out and put it in a food processor. I HIGHLY recommend the Ninja Kitchen system if you don’t already have a food processor. I’ve had mine for YEARS and it’s never let me down. It comes with the food processor, blender, and single serve blender cup (2). It’s a great multi-use gadget that is worth every penny.

If you’ve never used avocado before, you have to cut it lengthwise, cutting around the pit. Twist the halves apart. If you ‘chop’ into the pit, you can twist the knife and it’ll pull right out – don’t throw it away though, there are lots of uses for the pit which I’ll get in to in a future blog. Use a spoon to scoop the meat of the avocado out of the shell into the food processor.

Now that you’ve got the avocado in, process until it’s as smooth as you can get it.

In a microwave safe bowl, put the chocolate broken into smaller pieces and the coconut oil. Microwave until melted.

Add the chocolate and oil mixture into the avocado and blend again. Then add the water, eggs and vanilla, blending until mixed.

Once that’s done, get another bowl and mix the dry ingredients.

Add the dry ingredients to the food processor, half at a time and blend. Once all dry ingredients are incorporated, either put mixture into 9 x 13-Inch Pan or divide amongst two 8 x 8 in pans. The batter is VERY thick. Try not to curse at it when you are spreading it in the pan. It has a mind of it’s own and needs to be tamed like a wild child.

Bake at 350 for 30 mins (may take a few minutes longer if using a 9 x 13-Inch Pan or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

They don’t rise much, they stay very thick, fudge, and creamy. I figured out the nutrition for twelve servings from this batch to give you a decent size brownie. If you don’t like it that big, your dessert is even less carbs 🙂

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Ingredients:

6 oz 100% Cacao Unsweetened Chocolate
3 tbsp Coconut Oil
3 avocados, peeled and pitted
3 eggs
1/2 cup Powdered Lakanto sweetener
1/4 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 tbsp Coconut Flour
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp water

Preheat oven to 350.
Put avocados in food processor and process until smooth.
Put chocolate and coconut oil in microwave safe bowl and microwave on low for approx 1 minute, stirring ever 15 seconds – or until fully melted. Pour on top of avocado and blend.
Add in eggs, vanilla, and water to food processor and blend until mixed.
Put dry ingredients in separate bowl and whisk until mixed.
Add dry ingredients, half at a time, to avocado mixture, mixing well between each addition. Once mixed, put batter into a 9 x 13-Inch Pan or divide between two 8 x 8 in pans. Bake approx 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool, top with whipped cream and enjoy!

I highly recommend dividing up and freezing these so you don’t eat the whole pan in one sitting! These Meal Prep Containers are my absolute favorite. I use these for just about everything. They are microwave, freezer, and dishwasher safe.

storage

nutrition

Comment below if you make them! Feel free to adjust sweetener as desired!


*Disclaimer: I am NOT a certified nutritionist and your nutritional information may vary depending on exact ingredients you use. I highly recommend you calculate your own and just use this as a guideline. The links for products are affiliate links so I may earn a very small commission if you purchase through them – but it doesn’t cost you anything additional!

Quick & Filling 3 Carb Dinner

There are some days when I just don’t know what to eat. Those are the days that I stand in front of the refrigerator with the door open, browsing through what’s in there. Be it cheese that got shoved into the back of the drawer and was now starting to mold, my husbands Hamburger Helper leftovers that I can’t eat anyways, or a multitude of other things that I just don’t know what to do with and have of which I can’t even have.

So what do I do? Find some low carb foods and put them together! When it happened this weekend, this is what I ended up with:
burger.jpg

We will just call it the Breakfast Bacon Avocado Cheeseburger (BBAC for short – because that name is a bigger mouthful than the burger was). Compliments of my fridge and freezer and only 3 net carbs! Plus, it was SO filling, I could only eat 3/4 of it. Sometimes the mish-mash of things you throw together end up being the best and this was no exception.

So here’s what I used for my BBAC –

  • Frozen Ballpark burger
  • Crystal Farms sliced cheddar cheese
  • Hormel Microwave bacon
  • One Fried Egg (Runny yolk of course)
  • Heinz mustard
  • Hellmans Mayo
  • Sliced Avocado
  • Salt and pepper

Not bad considering I stood in front of the fridge for 10 minutes mentally going through every item to see what I can/can’t have and how to make a meal out of it.

Here was my nutrition for this:
burger nutrition

As good as this was, it’s so much easier when I have my meals all planned out! This week I’m hoping to make sausage, peppers, and onion in the crockpot as well as butter chicken and green beans w/ mushrooms, plus avocado brownies for dessert. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!

What are you meal plans for this week??

Sunday Family & Crafting

I love being off on the weekend and having family come visit. I live about an hour from my family, and while that isn’t terribly far, it can still be difficult to see them as often as I’d like. So when I get a call that they are coming to visit, the kids and I get very excited!

We were surprised yesterday with a visit from my brother, his wife, and their 1 year old daughter. We spent the day playing , catching up, and crafting. I LOVE crafting. I get that from my mom. She was a kick ass crafter. She painted. She sewed. She crotched. She could do just about anything. She passed away over 7 years ago already and all of us kids have things she made to remember her. These are things we will pass down to our children so they can have a piece of their wonderful Grandma.

Since Halloween is coming up, take a look at this haunted house she painted:
Mom halloween house.jpg

She was AMAZINGLY talented. I wish I had have the talent she had. I must have gotten at least some of my crafting bug from her though. I love to crochet, embroider, cross stitch, etc – and she taught me all of that. One thing we never got a chance to do together was work with vinyl. Cricuts were around when she was still alive, but we never understood everything that can be done with them so we had never seen the value in getting one (knowing what I know now, that was a silly notion).

Now they are even better though. You can design it all on your phone/tablet/computer and upload designs, etc. No need for cartridges anymore, although the machines still accept them.

If you’re thinking about getting one, I recommend getting the bundle. It’s got a little bit of everything to get you started. This one on Amazon is awesome –

If you just want to start out with the machine and not the entire bundle, you can just get that as well. Machine only: Cricut Explore Air 2 Mint

There are a few other things you’ll want to make sure you get if you only get the machine:

Cricut Tools Basic Set and 2 Pack Cutting Mats 12”x12” Bundle

HTV Easyweed Heat Transfer Vinyl Bundle | 20 Sheets Starter Variety Pack

Adhesive Vinyl Sheets – Variety Pack

That’s everything you need to get started.

Now, onto the projects we made this weekend. Some were for me, some for my brother. And then he left me with a list of about 15 more shirts he wants haha. Good thing I enjoy it!

color streetoutkast 1Pumpkin spice 1Pumpkin spice 2shut the fucupcakeswee bit wicked 2

a wee bit wicked 1

I think they all turned about pretty good. What do you think?

I take custom requests and try to keep my costs affordable. YAB Boutique Custom Designs (1) (1)

You can check out everything I’ve made by going here:You Are Beautiful Boutique

 

Week 4 Check In

It’s now been 4 weeks since I returned to Keto and started on truVISION and I’m feeling great! I’ve still got a long ways to go, but I feel I’m off to a good start.

With being on a ‘special diet’ you can get burned out on what you’re eating sometimes, or just want to grab something ‘easy’ to eat – but of course that doesn’t fit in the plan and can actually set you back. This week, my only struggle was that I ate corn for dinner one night. Yep, corn. Normally that doesn’t sound like a bad thing, but when you are on Keto, the carbs in corn are NOT a good thing. I think I would have lost more weight this week if I had just skipped that one, but I thought a little wouldn’t hurt – next time, I’ll pick another vegetable!

So that being said, I did still lose this week, just not as much weight as I hoped – but the inches – WOW. I remeasured some areas 4 times because I didn’t believe it. This is why I tell people they should measure as well! I was disappointed with the scale not going down more, but something was still happening, because the inches are falling off!

Here’s the breakdown:

Starting Weight: 308.8 lbs
Last Weeks Weight: 293.8 lbs
Current Weight: 292.8 lbs
Total lost: 16 lbs!

Starting Inches: 489.7 inches
Last Weeks Inches: 478.5 inches
Current Inches: 468.7 inches
Total lost: 21 inches!

I wanted to do my update pictures in the same shirt, but of course I couldn’t find it today, so I had to use another one. I’ll update this post if I can find the shirt soon 🙂

I know I couldn’t do this on my own. truVISION has helped immensely. It doesn’t give me as much energy as it does to others, but it has helped a ton with my cravings and appetite. I haven’t had pop in weeks. I don’t crave snacks like I used to and I’m full after eating one small portion of food instead of taking a large portion and then having seconds! With truVISION and an amazing support group on my side, I know I can do it this time! I’d love to help others achieve their goals as well, so contact me today if you are interested in joining me.

 

Local Restaurant Review: Slim’s, Warren, IL

There are many perks, but also many downfalls to living in a small town. For example, options for eating out – well, they are pretty limited when the town has 1,500 residents or less. The GOOD part about that though, is that these are not big chain restaurants run by employees who were hired to run them, but couldn’t care less about it. These restaurants are family owned. The people that own them are there, working day in and day out. It is there livelihood. It’s not just a ‘job’ to them.

One other thing you might notice at family owned restaurants is that you get generous size portions for the price you pay. Well, think about it – you aren’t padding some CEO’s wallet.

Lastly, and most importantly – I’ve the QUALITY of food and the customer service is exceptional. I’m going to use my favorite local restaurant, Slim’s Eats and Treats for example.

Here is there menu:

It’s got a little bit of everything and it’s simple and delicious. And MADE. FROM. SCRATCH. In house smoked meats. Hand breaded chicken strips that are tender and juicy served along homemade fries and their special Slim sauce. It’s by far my families favorite item on the menu, but I have yet to have something we DIDN’T like. (And I can’t forget the homemade ranch and the strawberry jalapeno sauce – to die for!)

But seriously? Homemade fries? NO ONE does that anymore. Most stuff comes frozen on a truck and they are basically heating it and throwing it together. Nope, not at Slim’s.

And if this menu didn’t have enough deliciousness on it, they have a different daily special every day. Like the alligator nuggets, crab rangoon burger, country style loaded fries, and SO MUCH MORE! No matter what the special is, it’s certain to not disappoint.  Just take a look at their past specials on their Facebook page. They post their specials there every day so you always know what they’ve got in addition to their regular menu. They recently added a salad bar too. They’ve got food for everyone, no matter what your diet is – even a KETO girl like me 😉

If you aren’t full after enjoying your delicious food, they’ve got plenty of ice cream to finish off your meal. Make sure you try the lemon bar – it’s to die for!

So if you happen to be in the area or are just passing through, make sure to stop at Slim’s Eats and Treats for a bite. They get 5 stars from me and I bet they will from you too 🙂

KETO Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole with Cajun Onion Rings and Spicy Dipping Sauce

Wow. That is a mouthful to say. And all through dinner, I had a mouthful of it! It was a perfect bacon cheeseburger sans bun. What makes this even better is the whole family will eat it!

I absolutely LOVE recipes where I don’t have to go out and buy 5,001 odd ingredients that I’m going to use for this recipe and this recipe alone. This is not one of those recipes. Everything on this list I have on hand 24/7. It’s stuff I use all the time. It’s my kinda recipe.

This may seem a little daunting because there are 3 components to it, but it’s really actually very simple. Get the sauce made and in the fridge. Put together casserole. Do onion rings while casserole is baking. Eat and enjoy. So simple.

For the dipping sauce, just put all the ingredients in a bowl and stir until mixed. Can’t get much easier than that! You’ll want to set it in the fridge while you prepare everything else so the flavors can really come out.

Then get started on the casserole. You can fry up bacon, use precooked microwave bacon, or use real bacon pieces. Whatever you’ve got will work. You just want some nice crispy bacon. I have a huge bag of bacon pieces I got at Sam’s Club so I threw some of those in a frying pan to get nice and crispy. Once they were done, take them out and put on paper towel to absorb and excess grease. Don’t forget to get your oven preheating to 350 while you’re cooking the meat. If you oven is like mine, you could start it 20 minutes BEFORE you start anything else and maybe it’ll be ready by the time you are.

frying bacon

Put the hamburger in the frying pan and cook until browned. Drain off any excess fat, then add the onion and garlic. Cook until onions are soft and almost translucent, roughly 5 minutes.

Once that’s done, add in pickles, cream cheese, ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire, and seasoned salt. Stir. Once all mixed and cream cheese melts, transfer to greased 8×8 casserole dish. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs and the whipping cream together, then add in the hot sauce and cayenne pepper. Pour over the beef then sprinkle on the bacon. Top with a full 8 oz of cheese. That’s right, you heard me. ALL 8 OZ. These is cheese heaven on top.

Bake it for 30 minutes and then cool before eating. You could leave this thing sit for an hour and it’ll still be hot. That yummy cheesy layer holds in all that heat. So just be careful when you dive in for a bite.

While the casserole is baking, get to work on the onion rings. If you are uber talented at cutting perfectly equal size onion rings, go for it. I, on the other hand, prefer a little assistance from a good ole’ mandolin. It just makes them so much more even and I can get them thinner so I don’t have to burn the coating while I’m trying to cook the onion.

Once you’ve got your onions ready to go. Mix up the coating. Once you’ve got it mixed, put about half of it in another bowl and set it to the side. As your dipping bowl gets low, add more to it. If you put it all in at once, it’s going to clump up. Beat 2 eggs in another bowl.

Now you’ve got a couple options for cooking. You can either bake them or fry them in oil. Dip your ring in the eye and then in your dry mixture. If you want to bake them, I recommending lining your cookie sheets with parchment paper or using a silicone mat. My preference is the mat, mainly because you can wash and reuse them. Parchment paper can get pricey if you have to use it often. You’ll cook them at 425 for about 8-10 minutes on each side. If you want to fry them, heat your oil over medium heat – I prefer to fry them using a cast iron skillet. These fry up very quickly, so keep an eye on them! Drain on paper towel when done.

So it sounds like a lot, but it’s actually very simple! And it was SO filling. Now while the onion rings are low carb, you still want to watch how many you enjoy – onions naturally have more carbs than some other vegetables. I had less than half a dozen of these with the casserole and it was more than enough. If you cut a whole onion, it makes a LOT of onion rings. If you don’t think you’ll need that many, half the recipe.

*These are my calculations using the KetoDiet app. Since items can vary from brand to brand, you should make sure to check your own calculations. You can adjust quantities, spices, etc on recipe to your liking.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Dipping Sauce

1/2 c mayo
1 tbsp reduced sugar ketchup
1 tbsp horseradish
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp sea salt

Stir all ingredients until thoroughly mixed. Refrigerate for at least 1/2 an hour.

Bacon Cheeseburger Casserole

1/2 lb bacon
1 lb ground beef
1/2 sweet onion
1 clove garlic
4 tbsp cream cheese
1/3 c diced dill pickle
2 tbsp reduced sugar ketchup
1 tbsp yellow mustard
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp seasoned salt
4 large eggs
1/4 c heavy cream
1 tsp ground pepper
1 tsp hot sauce
8 oz grated cheddar

Preheat oven to 350

If you start with raw bacon, dice and cook in a large skillet over medium heat until crispy. Remove from pan and drain bacon grease. Alternatively, you can use precooked bacon, heat in microwave and crumble or fry up some bacon pieces until crispy.

Add the ground beef to the skillet and cook until browned. Once done, add in the onion and garlic and cook about 5 min or until soft. Add in cream cheese, pickles, ketchup, mustard, sauce, and salt. Stir until mixed and transfer to greased 8 in casserole dish.

Beat eggs and whipping cream together, then add ground pepper and hot sauce. Pour over hamburger. Top with bacon, then with cheese.

Bake for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

Spicy Onion Rings

1 large onion
2 large eggs
1/2 c almond flour
1 tbsp paprika
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp dry oregano
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Slice onions into rings. Put all dry ingredients in bowl and mix, then put half in a second bowl. In another bowl, beat 2 eggs.

You can either bake them or fry them in oil. Dip your ring in the eye and then in your dry mixture. If you want to bake them, I recommending lining your cookie sheets with parchment paper or using a silicone mat. My preference is the mat, mainly because you can wash and reuse them. Parchment paper can get pricey if you have to use it often. You’ll cook them at 425 for about 8-10 minutes on each side. If you want to fry them, heat your oil over medium heat – I prefer to fry them using a cast iron skillet. These fry up very quickly, so keep an eye on them! Drain on paper towel when done.

Comment below with your thoughts!


*Disclaimer: I am NOT a certified nutritionist and your nutritional information may vary depending on exact ingredients you use. I highly recommend you calculate your own and just use this as a guideline. The links for products are affiliate links so I may earn a very small commission if you purchase through them – but it doesn’t cost you anything additional!