Ketogenic Diet Chocolate Birthday Cake

Please ignore the messy frosting job, Owen wanted a star shaped cake and it seems that I am incapable of frosting one of those.

Owen turned 6 yesterday! Cameron is 15 today! I can't believe how big they've gotten. Someone asked me what we do for Owen as far as birthday cakes go since he can't eat a traditional cake, so I figured this was a good time to post his Ketogenic Chocolate Cake.

As always, please remember that the Ketogenic diet is a carefully controlled medical diet and should only be used under a trained medical team's supervision. If you are on the diet, have your dietician approve any recipe before you use it.

Chocolate Cake 3.5:1 ratio 318 calories

                                                 26g   36% cream

                                                 7.5g   coconut flour (Bob's Red Mill organic hi fiber)

                                                 4g    Truvia

                                                 3g    Hershey's unsweetened cocoa powder

                                                 7g    Davinci sugar free chocolate syrup

                                                 21g  egg, raw mixed well

                                                 16g  butter, melted

                                                 6g    Spectrum Organic Coconut oil, melted

                                                 1g   baking soda

                            

 Preheat oven to 325F. Weigh out all ingredients. Set aside the cream, 2g of the Truvia, and .5g of the Hershey's unsweetened cocoa. Mix all other ingredients together well. Spray a silicone baking mold with a keto approved non stick cooking spray. Pour in cake mix and bake for about 15-20 minutes until the center of cake springs back when touched. While the cakes are cooling, whip the cream and add the remaining 2g of Truvia and the .5g of unsweetened cocoa powder. Once the cakes are cooled, frost and enjoy!
(I found that it actually works better if you whip the cream first and weigh out the 26g , then add the Truvia and cocoa powder. That way you don't have to scrape every last bit off the beaters)

Testing, Testing...

I recently received a free bottle of Hellmann's real mayonnaise to test from Influenster.

Now you probably won't understand why I was so excited about getting free mayonnaise to test. I mean some people get cameras and fabric and stuff. But, those people probably don't have a child on the Ketogenic Diet for Epilepsy. This is the brand of mayo that we always use for Owen's recipes!

Rod and I have had a long going argument about which is better... the jar or the squeeze bottle. Rod prefers the squeeze bottle because he says it's easier and less messy to get the exact amount with the squeeze bottle. Remember, we have to weigh out all ingredients to the nearest tenth of a gram (plus or minus 2 tenths). I have always preferred the jar and a mini spatula because the squeeze bottles have a tendency to sputter and send little bits of mayo flying around and because there is always so much left in the bottle at the end that just goes to waste. Well, the new Hellmann's squeeze bottle takes care of my problems!

There is a precision valve tip that keeps globs from coming out at the end and the shape of the bottle lets you get almost all of the mayo out of the bottle (there was a little bit left over that was stuck in the cap, but not more than about 2 grams). Now we are both happy with one product! We loved it so much that we've already bought not one, but TWO new bottles! The only problem I had was that the first squeeze comes out fast, so we have to be careful if we don't get exactly the right amount in the first squeeze. It's hard to get less than 2 grams in one squeeze which, of course, wouldn't be a problem to anyone who isn't on the Ketogenic Diet. It was so easy to control though that we got 5 out of 8 of our batches exactly right on the first try the very first time we used the new bottle and 8 out of 9 exactly spot on the second time I made his food with it.

It's always nice when someone comes out with a product that makes my life easier and this one really does. I feel really weird being so excited about mayonnaise, but seriously it takes us about 2 hours to make a weeks worth of cheese sandwiches for Owen so a 10 minute time savings is a big deal.

Owen's Cheese Sandwich   282 calories  3.5:1 ratio

8g   Egg (raw, mixed well)
8g   Hellmann's/Best Foods mayonnaise
22g Ketocuisine baking mix
14g Tillamook cheddar cheese

Mix  first 3 ingredients together with about 10MLs of water. Add another 5MLs of water, mix again and pour into a silicone mold sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Bake at 350F for about 10-15 minutes. Watch carefully because it goes from done to burnt really quickly. Let cool and take out of molds. Put cheese in between "bread" pieces.

We wrap the finished sandwiches in plastic wrap and store them in the freezer for up to a month or 3-4 days in the refrigerator. Owen like them microwaved until the cheese melts. We've also reheated them in a non-stick pan on the stove or a camp stove.

Disclaimer: The Ketogenic diet is a special medical diet and should never be used without Doctor's supervision.
Disclaimer #2: I was given a free bottle of Mayonnaise for testing purposes through Influnster

Hazelnut Muffins {Ketogenic Diet Recipe}

Owen's magnesium levels have dropped to the point where the dietician wants to add a magnesium supplement. They had always been really good until the change to the 4:1 ratio. I don't really want to add another supplement to our regimen if I can control his levels through dietary changes. He is currently taking 23 pills/capsules, a vitamin D drop, two spoonfuls of calcium powder, 2 syringes of Carnitor, and 1/2 t of potassium salt along with a scoop of laxative every day. I really don't want to add anymore to that. Nuts are a good source of magnesium, but since we changed ratios he hasn't been eating them as well, so I came up with a new recipe. We are making sure that he eats at least one nut based meal a day and I should find out this week if his magnesium levels have come back up yet.

Hazelnut Muffins 

4.2:1 ratio 270 calories

baking powder (calumet) .1 g

Truvia sweetner 3 g

egg white- raw 23g

butter 3g

mayonnaise(Best Foods)9g

hazelnut meal (Bob's Red Mill) 16g

coconut oil (Spectrum Organic) 8g

Mix all of the items together, pour into a silicone mold and bake at 350F for about 15-20 minutes.

I made 8 batches of these on Saturday. It took about an hour and a half to measure and mix everything, then 15-20 minutes baking time depending on which molds I used. 

First I have to tare out the container weight.

Then I weigh out the ingredients one at a time X8. I usually start with the egg since it is the hardest for me to get the exact measurement on.

Then I zero out the scale again and add the next ingredient.

And repeat until all the ingredients are added. My scale doesn't like to weigh out the .1g of baking powder, so I just add that to the previous ingredient. My scale does pretty well going from 3 grams to 3.1 grams, it just doesn't like to register the .1 alone.

Once I have all of the listed ingredients weighed out, I add in some of our vitamin/mineral supplements. I added a pinch of potassium salt and some calcium powder to these muffins.

This amount of salt was added to 4 batches

calcium supplement, this is about 1/4 of what Owen gets in a day

We have a .2 gram leeway in our measurements. Meaning if I'm supposed to use 3 grams of butter I can actually use anywhere from 2.8 grams to 3.2 grams. I try to go over rather than under on fatty items and under rather than over on carbs though. Because our measurements have to be so accurate, We have to scrape as much of the recipe as possible out of the container.

finished mix

I try to get the containers at least this clean

One batch of this recipe make 3 of these little gingerbread men or 6 squares.

Then we bake everything for about 15-20 minutes. I have to be careful to watch them close when baking since all the fat tends to make them cook pretty fast.

As they cool, all the oil reabsorbs into the muffins. Then we package them up and put them in the freezer. Muffins aren't Owen's favorite meal, but he still eats them pretty well. They are one of my favorite meals because I don't have to add anything to them at serving time. That makes them the easiest things to pack if we are leaving the house . Every bite is also the same ratio so they are great to have on hand for sick days when he might not be able to finish a whole meal. If he only ate half of them it would lower his calories for the day, but wouldn't mess up his ratio like it would if he ate all of his fruit, but didn't finish his cream.

Ice Cream for Dinner { Ketogenic Diet Recipe}

Last week we celebrated Ice Cream for Dinner Day! The kids loved it! Brenna mostly ate bananas and whipped cream. The other kids tried to see how many toppings they could get in one serving.

Some of those toppings came all the way from New Zealand, thanks to Jason and his big box of junk food.  Don't worry, we also had leftovers for dessert for everyone who still had room for dessert.

I wanted to include Owen so I even came up with a Ketogenic Diet Banana Split. Owen was so excited about eating bananas that he refused to let me mix everything together and ate all the components separately though.

Banana Split  4.04:1 ratio 284 calories

60g 36% cream, whipped

10g Davinci sugar free chocolate syrup (mix with the whipped cream)

13g fresh banana

8g macadamia nuts (Mauna Loa brand)

[Disclaimer: the Ketogenic Diet is a highly specialized medical diet and should be used only under medical supervision. Do not use this recipe without dietician approval.]

Owen's Hamburger Recipe {Ketogenic Diet}

We've recently increased Owen's Ketogenic Diet ratio from 3.5:1 to 4:1. That means he's getting even more fat now. We've also increased his calories from 265 per meal to 280 per meal since he lost 1 1/2 pounds over the last two months. This means that I've been busy re doing all of his recipes and testing the meals to see if they work. Adding in the extra oil has been difficult with many of the recipes. Owen has refused to eat dip or take oil from a syringe and he's had trouble with choking when he drinks cream. Due to his prior feeding issues, he's still at risk of aspiration even though he passed his last swallow study. But with this change he finally decided that he'd rather take the oil out of the syringe and still get to eat some of favorites foods than have to give them up. We've also discovered that he drinks the cream "milk" better out of a straw. Rod and I got a new barbeque for our Birthday/Father's Day present and Owen really wanted a hamburger. So, I came up with this recipe.

Hamburger and Milk

4.01:1 ratio  284 calories

54g 36% cream

19g 70% lean ground beef cooked

5g mayonnaise, Best Foods

2g flaxseed oil

Dilute cream with water and add one or two drops of liquid stevia, serve with a straw. 

Cook hamburger and then weigh out 19g. Serve mayo on top of hamburger and oil on the side.

Hot Buttered Popcorn! {Ketogenic Diet Recipe}

How much butter do you like on your popcorn? Do you always ask for extra butter? Check out how much Owen gets!

If you look closely at the above picture, you can see the butter pooled in the bottom of the bowl.

Ketogenic Popcorn 3.5:1 ratio 269 calories

 13g popcorn (pop 1/2 cup of kernels in 2T oil, then weigh popped)
 28.2 g butter (melted)

That's it! Super easy and Owen loves it. Just don't forget your spatula, since you'll need it to scoop up every last drop of butter.

Owen's Doughnuts {Ketogenic Diet}

I used THIS recipe to make doughnuts for Owen. The first ones I made he didn't really like, so I added sweetener and some cinnamon and now he really enjoys them. I didn't really make many changes to the original recipe, but I though I'd post it here anyway. That way you can see how a little tiny change can make a big difference.


Macadamia Nut Doughnuts   268 calories at a 3.11:1 ratio

41g   Egg (raw, mixed well)
18g   macadamia nuts, dry rstd w/ss Mauna Loa Kirklandsig
7g   coconut oil-refined
.1g   baking powder- Calumet (Kraft)
.5g   cinnamon, ground
3.5g   Truvia natural sweetener
3 drops Bickford vanilla extract (not calculated, part of the 15 "free" drops)

Grind nuts into butter. Melt coconut oil and mix all ingredients well.
Bake in mini doughnut maker. I don't follow the indicator lights when cooking these. I cook them for a few extra minutes after the light tells me they are ready.

You can see that I followed the original recipe pretty closely. Owen needed a few less calories and a little lower ratio so, I started by reducing the coconut oil. Then I added in the sweetener and cinnamon since I wanted more than just a pinch.

Taco Soup

Taco soup is probably my most requested recipe. It's so incredibly easy I have trouble even calling it a recipe. It is infinitely adaptable for any number of people and it is perfect for both the crock pot and the freezer, although I hardly ever bother with either since it is so easy to put together.

 Start by browning a pound of ground beef (or turkey). I usually buy large packets of hamburger at Costco and brown it all at once. Then I put about 2 cups into quart size freezer bags for future soups and casseroles including this recipe.
 Next open one can of corn, drain and put in the pot with the ground beef. You don't really have to drain the corn, but I don't like the taste of the broth on commercial canned corn. Yes, you can use home canned and even frozen, they both work great.
 Then add one or two cans of diced tomatoes. I usually add one big can, but I didn't have any this time, so I used two little ones. DO NOT drain the tomatoes, you want the tomato liquid.

 Now, start opening cans of different types of beans. I try to use at least 3 different types, but really you can add anything you wish. Five cans is about perfect for my family, but it's easy to add more if we have guests. If you add more than about 8 cans of beans, you might want to add more tomatoes and corn. Then dump in the cans of beans, broth and all. DON'T drain the beans. You want the bean broth ( although the kids did drain the beans once and we just added water and bit more seasoning then usual. It was still pretty good, but not AS good).

 Finally add taco seasoning to taste. I'm guessing one packet would be good if you buy packets. I buy my seasoning bulk and have never actually measured, so you'll just have to guess. Mix everything up and heat until just boiling.

We usually serve shredded cheese on top and tortilla chips on the side. Cornbread is really good with it too, but Taco Soup is usually what we make here on busy days when I haven't planned anything for dinner, so we usually don't get cornbread made. This is such a perfect thing to make for days that don't go exactly according to plan. It's great for unexpected guests too. So quick and easy and, like I already said, everyone loves it.

Owen's Yogurt {Ketogenic Diet}

For several years now Owen has had a yogurt snack before bed. When we started the Ketogenic Diet, I knew we'd need to come up with a substitute for his yogurt, especially since it was the only way we could get some of his medications into him. He was used to eating Greek Gods strawberry yogurt  and only Greek Gods strawberry yogurt. Greek gods is the fattiest yogurt we had been able to find which was great, but the strawberry flavor had way too many carbs. Now, if you've never had a child with feeding issues, you won't understand how difficult it can be to add or change a favorite food. Other kids might just eat a new yogurt. Or they might complain a little and get used to it in a few days. Not Owen. It took us about 3 months to find a yogurt recipe that would be keto friendly that Owen would also eat.
We started with the plain Greek Gods yogurt and tried adding keto approved flavorings and sweeteners without much success. Then I found THIS recipe and it worked! Once Owen was officially on the diet we had to make adjustments for his calorie and ratio needs with the help of our wonderful dietician. We've tried several brands of yogurt, but I highly recommend Greek Gods. It already has such a high fat content that the consistency stays nice even with the added cream and oil. We used another brand at the hospital (they couldn't find Greek Gods)and it didn't work out nearly as well.

This makes a 125 calorie snack at a 3:1 ratio

7g  36% cream
12g   raw strawberries (pureed)
37g  Greek Gods plain yogurt
3g  olive oil
3g  grapeseed oil

Mix well with a fork, and chill before serving. This keeps well for several days in the refrigerator as long as the cream is fresh. I like to make a weeks worth all at once, so sometimes I leave out the strawberries until just before serving so they don't go bad.

Tip: puree up a large batch of strawberries and weigh out the 12g into silicone ice cube molds and store in the freezer. That way you can just thaw a cube of berries and add to the yogurt without weighing again.

Disclaimer: The ketogenic diet is a strictly controlled medical treatment and should only be done under close medical supervision. Do not use this recipe without consulting your physician or dietician.

Ketogenic Cheese Sandwich

Owen's staple lunch right now is cheese sandwich. Bread is a pretty tough thing to make on the Ketogenic Diet since carbs are so restricted. I tried several recipes using things like flax seed meal, and coconut flour and came up with a few acceptable breads. The problem was that adding anything other than fat (butter, mayonnaise) to the bread made the ratio unacceptable. Owen was very specific about his cheese sandwich. A cheese sandwich according to Owen must consist of bread on the bottom, cheese in the middle, and bread on top. A piece of bread with a tiny bit of cheese melted on top did NOT qualify as a sandwich. Ketocuisine to the rescue. Ketocuisine is a powdered fat baking mix designed especially for the Ketogenic diet. Owen was also quite insistent that his bread be bread shaped. I spent months trying to pour out the bread dough and shape it into a rectangle I could cut in half to make bread until my In-laws gave us this wonderful rectangle silicone mold. Now, I just make the recipe a little thinner and pour it into the mold.

Disclaimer: Do not use this recipe as is unless your calorie and ratio requirements are exactly the same as Owen's. Click HERE to see how I rework recipes to suit Owen.

Keto Cheese Sandwich
3.06:1 ratio, 265 calories

8g  Egg (raw, mixed well) 
17g  Cheese, Tillamook Cheddar 
6g  Mayonnaise, Hellman's/Best Foods
20g Ketocuisine 5:1 ratio baking mix

I also add a pinch of Morton's lite salt as a potassium supplement, a pinch of baking soda to combat acidosis, and a crushed K Phos neutral tablet (all prescribed by our keto team)

First I weigh out the egg since it is the most difficult to get to the nearest gram, then weigh out and add the other ingredients except for the cheese. Mix well adding water to get to the right consistency(doughy if you are spreading it or just pourable if using molds).  Sorry, but I've never measured out the water. It's so nice to have something that doesn't have to be weighed that I've never done it. Then spread out the dough into two pieces or pour into molds (the molds I use make 4 pieces of bread) and bake at 350F for about 15 min. Watch it closely since fatty keto foods tend to cook quickly ( I ruined 2 batches of spinach bites this weekend, not watching them closely enough). Once they have cooled enough to handle put the cheese between two pieces of bread and serve or wrap up and store in the fridge for another day.

Note to those not on the Ketogenic diet, It is very important to use only the brands listed in the recipe. If I use a different mayonnaise, I have to redo the whole recipe. I also did not receive any compensation from Solace Nutrition for naming their product although if they wanted to send me some I'd gladly take it. It is just a product we use that makes our lives much easier!

Homemade Potato Chips

We had some friends over around the holidays and someone asked for potato chips. The problem was that I didn't have any potato chips and I didn't feel like going to the store (with several extra children just before Christmas) to get any. I did have potatoes though. So we made homemade chips. These are so incredibly easy and so good, I can't figure out why I don't make them more often.

How do you make them? First start heating oil to about 180F. Then, use a potato peeler to slice thin pieces of potato. Drop them into a big bowl of salted water (No, I don't know how much salt I used). I only used two potatoes for a whole crowd of kids (making store bought chips feel like even more of a rip off). When the oil is heated up, drain the potatoes and start dropping them into the hot oil. Leave enough room to stir them well so they don't stick to the sides of the pot. Cook until they are as done as you like and start another batch. Drain on paper towels and salt if you choose.

See, easy!

Dinner Rolls

 I've been trying to find the perfect dinner roll recipe for years now and I think I've finally got it. The base recipe is from Bolivia and has measurements like spoonful and scoop, instead of Teaspoon, Tablespoon and Cup like modern recipes. I decided it's time to write it down how I actually make the recipe and in English, so I thought I'd post it here too.

Sponge ingredients
2T yeast
1/4 C lukewarm water
2 T sugar
Mix these 3 ingredients in a large bowl and let soak for 5 min. Then add
2 C lukewarm water
2 C flour
Mix well, cover with a clean dish towel and let rest in a warm place until doubled.

2 C milk
1 1/2 C butter
While waiting for the sponge to double, scald(bring to just below a boil) the milk in a small saucepan.  Then add the butter and stir until melted. Let this mixture sit and cool to lukewarm temp.

Once the sponge is doubled add
1 1/2 C sugar
2 t. salt
6 eggs, slightly beaten
1 t. vanilla extract
and the cooled milk/ butter mixture.
Then start adding flour mixing well until a very soft, but workable dough is reached. The original recipe calls for 10 cups of flour, but I always end up adding quite a bit more. I honestly don't measure after the initial 10 cups, but probably about 14 total. The dough should be just barely workable. On a well floured board, knead until bubbles burst.  Place dough back into the bowl, cover with the towel and let double in a warm spot again. 
 Once the dough has doubled, divide into rolls and place in a well greased pan. Let rise again and bake at 300F for 45 min to 1 hour depending on the size of your rolls.

 This dough is also wonderful for making cinnamon rolls or cinnamon swirl bread (made just like cinnamon rolls, only place the rolled up log into a bread pan instead of cutting it into rolls). It makes a nice braided Challah type bread too.

 Brenna really enjoyed the cinnamon swirl bread!

 {Devon has actually asked me not to post recipes on the blog. She thinks no one will come to our house anymore if they can make the same food for themselves. I guess people only come here for the food.}