Menus and Recipes for Week 1 of Keto Kickstarter
The recipe list was compiled from the freshest ingredients available each day. Water and black coffee were consumed every day. Coffee is only on this list if it is part of the menu for the meal. Snacks were available throughout the week if needed but are not on the list. Using this week’s ingredients, these snacks were variations around chocolate, nuts, fruit cucumber, and cheese.
Most of the recipes are very simple, with minimal preparation or need for utensils. A frying pan, roasting tin, a steamer ( or microwave), and a small saucepan were all that was needed. Plus, a hand blender for the soup and cauliflower. But this is not required if you don’t need smooth soup.
Day One
2 Egg Omelette with Cheese and Mayo 2 eggs, a small dollop of double cream, some black pepper. Beat with a fork. Add to a frying pan where you have heated olive oil. Let it spread out a bit and get ready to turn down the heat. As soon as the top has set, it’s ready to go! You might grate on some cheddar and add a bit of mayonnaise.
Roast Chicken with Cauliflower with Black Pepper and Mayonnaise Sauce. Roast the chicken, steam the cauliflower, serve with mayo, or black pepper if desired. The chicken gravy can be used straight from the roasting tin if needed. The rest will make soup.
Nutty Chocolate Snack. Break the chocolate into small pieces and place in a glass bowl resting on a saucepan of boiling water, but don’t let the water touch the bottom of the pan. I think this arrangement is called a Double Boiler, but if you have a microwave, you can use this to melt the chocolate. When the chocolate has melted, add in the coconut oil. When that has melted, empty the 200g bag of chopped nuts into the mix. You might want to liven up the nuts by giving them a good grilling; it adds a pleasant deep taste. I have known people to sprinkle a bit of erythritol sweetener on them to sweeten up the mix before roasting them in the oven. Once it is all mixed up, spoon it onto a small baking tray covered with baking paper and leave to cool. At this point, score the top with a knife into as many pieces as you like. If you cut it into 20 pieces, it comes out at around 2g carbs per portion. Put in the fridge, and then when they have set, break up the pieces and enjoy as a treat. Great with a coffee.
Fresh Strawberry Wash and Eat!
Day Two
Greek Yogurt with 4 Pecan Halves and some shavings from a Nutty Chocolate Snack
Chicken Curry, Raita, and Cauliflower Rice 400g chicken, half an onion lightly fried, one packet of the spice mix. Add together, stir, cook 20 mins at 200. While that is cooking, take a quarter of a cauliflower, blitzed, or grated. Fry in about a dessert spoon of coconut oil or olive oil if you want. When cooked, add black pepper and serve. The rather grandly named raita is a piece of cucumber finely cut, a heaped teaspoon of yogurt, and a few drops of lemon juice.
Black Coffee and a Nutty Chocolate Snack. Drink the coffee and eat the snack!
Snacks. Some ideas to get you through the week.
Day Three
Cheese Omelette 2 eggs, a small dollop of double cream, some black pepper. Beat with a fork. Add to a frying pan where you have heated olive oil. Let it spread out a bit and get ready to turn down the heat. As soon as the top has set, it’s ready to go! You might grated some cheddar on and add a bit of mayonnaise.
Chicken and Mushroom soup. (Prepared on Day 3). Remove the meat from the bones. Most of the meat went with the first two meals, but there were pieces here and there. These went into a large saucepan with the remainder of the chicken curry, and then the chicken bones went in. Add a chopped up rest of the onion, some salt, and pepper and cover with cold water just enough to cover the bones. Simmer for about a couple of hours. You want all of the goodness to come out of the bones. Some people buy bones, especially to make bone broth. If you get something like a beef bone, it’s a 24-hour process. I reckon 2 hours is enough for a chicken.
When it has all cooled, recover the bones. Add a few of the mushrooms having lightly fried them in olive oil. Then a small pour of double cream and either blend with a hand blender or just eat as is.
Broccoli and Cauliflower Cheese Bake, A quarter of the monster cauliflower, half of the normal-sized broccoli, cut them into florets and steamed them for 10-15 mins until lightly crunchy. ‘Arrange’ on a plate, or just empty the contents of the pan onto the plate. That will do. Grate some cheese, add some mayo if you want, and crush some black pepper to season: a light and delicious meal.
Strawberry Fool A single larger strawberry blitzed with 50:50 Greek yogurt and double cream. Or mashed with a fork and whisked. You can add some crumbs from the chocolate and nut snacks.
Day Four
Cheese Omelette with Cucumber 2 eggs, cream, pepper. Whisk with a fork, pour into a frying pan with oil (olive or coconut. Butter can be good too). After less than a minute, add some grated cheese. Put the lid on and turn down the heat. Or if your frying pan is heavy, turn off the heat. Covering the omelette makes it go very fluffy. Of course, this collapses as soon as the lid comes off the pan. But you do feel a bit like a ‘chef’ at this moment. Fold in half. Perhaps it keeps the heat in a bit? Cut up some cucumber and served it like that.
A large bowl of Chicken Broccoli, Cauliflower and Mushroom Soup Remove the meat from the bones. Most of the meat went with the first two meals, but there were pieces here and there. These went into a large saucepan with the remainder of the chicken curry, and then the chicken bones went in. Add a chopped up rest of the onion, some salt, and pepper and cover with cold water just enough to cover the bones. Simmer for about a couple of hours. You want all of the goodness to come out of the bones. Some people buy bones, especially to make bone broth. If you get something like a beef bone, it’s a 24-hour process. I reckon 2 hours is enough for a chicken. When it has all cooled, recover the bones. Add a few of the mushrooms having lightly fried them in olive oil. Then a small pour of double cream and either blend with a hand blender or just eat as it is. Add in any leftover broccoli, cauliflower, and cheese bake from the previous day’s menu.
Diced Cucumber and Cheese As in the description. Dice some cucumber and cheese. Arrange on a plate. You can add some olive oil or mayo. Plus, black pepper if desired.
Fresh Strawberry wash, eat!
Day Five
A Mug of Chicken, Broccoli, Cauliflower and Mushroom Soup
Strawberry with Double Cream One or two strawberries, sliced. Add double cream
Cod with Mediterranean Vegetables. Cut the pepper into small pieces. Ditto the courgette. Mix and glug on a generous amount of olive oil and some black pepper. Fry in oil until they have a slightly browned appearance on the edges. Wrap the cod in foil and add a tiny amount of olive oil. Bake in a lowish oven 170° C for around 15 minutes. Fish is tricky. It turns from succulent to dry and tough in minutes. Just-cooked is best. Keep an eye on it.
Strawberry Ice Cream Combine and blend equal amounts of double cream and Greek yogurt, with the last two strawberries. Remove from the freezer half an hour before eating so that it is softening. If you can find some wild strawberries in a hedgerow, add these as a topping.
Day Six
Salad of Egg, Cucumber, Mayo, and Pecans 2 boiled eggs chopped when cold and added to the other ingredients. 3 or 4 pecans. Some grated cheese if desired.
Cauliflower and Broccoli with a Cheese and Egg Sauce. Made of half of the remaining cheese (about 50g), one whisked egg, and some double cream. Baked in the oven until the sauce has browned
Yogurt with Crushed Pecan Nut and a Square of Grated 85% Chocolate. Yogurt, half a square of chocolate(finely grated), two pecan nuts.
Black Coffee
Day Seven
A Mug of Chicken, Broccoli, Cauliflower and Mushroom Soup. From the freezer.
Naked Quiche with Mushrooms in a Bell Pepper Crust. Take the pepper. Cut off the top, remove the seeds. Stand upright in a baking dish that will support it. If you don’t have one, lean it on the side of the roasting tin. Slice the mushrooms and fry in a generous amount of oil. Put enough in the pepper to fill it to half. Keep the rest as a side dish. Beat up two eggs with a fork, add cream if there is any left, season with black pepper. Pour into the pepper case until full. Put the pepper top back on. Pour any remaining egg into the dish and top with mushrooms. Cook in the oven on a high (200°C) temperature for 25 minutes. It might be necessary to slice the pepper in half if the mixture is still uncooked. It speeds up the process. Add mayo if you want. Enjoy.
Strawberry Ice Cream. Remove from the freezer. Eat! Sometimes allowing it to warm up for half an hour helps the texture.
Warm Drink with a Square of 85% Cocoa Dark Chocolate.