Good Morning!  I know some of you saw the photos on my instagram (rptrainer425) of this delicious chicken soup.  So here is the recipes for both my homemade soup, and a recipe I tried for Cheesy Garlic Biscuits to serve with the soup!

The Keto Chicken Soup is my recipe.  I went to the grocery store for our meal prep shopping on Friday and thought… “What can we have in chicken soup that won’t knock us out of ketosis?”  It has been rather dreary the last couple of days here… We are having rainy, snowy, cloudy days most of this week, so I was thinking comfort food.  With this weather honestly, Panera Chicken Noodle with a huge hunk of baguette, is a weakness of mine.  Haha.  So to avoid ordering Panera on my way home from work, I opted to make some soup.

Ingredients:

10 Cups of Low Sodium Chicken Broth

2lbs. of Boneless Skinless Chicken Breast (This is my preference, you could also use a different type of chicken meat, or even tofu if you wanted.)

3 Celery Sticks Chopped

1 Small Onion Chopped

1 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 Tbsp Butter

1 Tbsp Minced Garlic

1 Bunch of Kale Chopped (my bunch worked out to be about 2 cups of Kale)

Directions:

Step One: Cook your damn chicken!  – I did mine in a crock pot.  I prefer the chicken to be sort of shredded like a pulled chicken.  It’s easy and moist, and compliments the soup well.  But you can bake your chicken or even boil it if you prefer.  I clean up my chicken- removing any tough spots, fatty pieces, tendons, etc.  and toss into the crock pot with a little oil and seasoning of my choice.  I personally like BBQ rub or rotisserie seasoning because it gives it a nice flavor, but will be mild enough (because I am cooking it in the crock pot) that it won’t take away from all of the other flavors in my chicken soup.

Step Two:  While my chicken is cooking,  I set up a large pot on the stove with the butter and minced garlic.  I turn it on medium heat and let the butter melt and the garlic get frangrant before I add the 10 cups of chicken broth.

Step three:  Wash your veggies and chop ’em up!  I cut up the kale, onion and celery and add to the chicken broth.  (Note:  I keep the largest onion skin pieces and toss them in the soup while it cooks.  This adds flavor and color to the soup.

Step Four:  Bring the soup to a boil then add seasoning of your choice and simmer.  For seasoning I added a little garlic and onion powder, black pepper, a little oregano, and a bay leaf.

Step Five:  I let the chicken soup simmer, until the pulled chicken is done.  I drain the crock pot and shred my chicken (not too fine, but rather fairly large shreds).

Step Six: Slowly add the pulled chicken and stir into the soup.  Let it simmer another 10-15 minutes.

Step Seven:  Remove the onion skin and bay leaf from the soup.  Package or serve and enjoy!

Makes 6 Servings:  Macros: Roughly Per Serving: 212 Calories, 5.7g Carbs, 1.2g Fiber, (4.5g net carbs) 9.2g Fat, 27.4g Protein.

Cheesy Garlic Biscuits Recipe was served with these (shown in photo).  This recipe is delicious and pair well with the soup!  Here is the link…

Link: https://www.isavea2z.com/low-carb-biscuits-recipe-keto-friendly/

One of the advantages to being a baker and a macro counting fitness fanatic is that I often find ways to make the sweet treats we love into something that fits our diets.  This morning I was starting our meal prep, and realized I had a cup of pumpkin in the fridge from a few days ago.  Pumpkin doesn’t really last long once you open the can.  So I was trying to think, how could I use this?  And this was the result…  Mini Pumpkin Keto Cakes!

Ingredients:

1 Cup Pumpkin

1/2 Cup Coconut Oil

1/4 Cup Coconut Flour

4 Large Eggs

1 Tsp Cinnamon

1/8 Tsp Nutmeg

1/2 Tsp Pumpkin Pie Spice

1 Tsp Baking Powder

1/4 Tsp Salt

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

1/4 Cup Swerve Sweetener

1 Scoop of Gold Standard Vanilla Whey Protein

Pre-heat oven to 350, and spray a 9×9 or 9×13 baking pan.  Combine dry ingredients in one bowl, and wet ingredients in another.  (If Coconut oil is solid, melt it to a liquid state.)  Add the wet ingredients into the dry.  Mix thoroughly.  Transfer the batter into your greased baking pan.  Place in oven for 30-40min.  Toothpick to test!

Remove from oven and let cool.  Cut the cake into squares and enjoy! (Optional Frosting Below)

Makes 12 servings: Macros without frosting: 133 Calories per Serving, 11.4g Fat, 4.5g Carbs, 2.3g Fiber, 2.2g Net Carbs, 4.4g Protein

Optional Frosting for Keto Cakes: Now depending on the caloric intake, some keto-dieters may opt for no frosting.  The cake is delicious both ways!  Here is the optional frosting recipe:

3 Tbsp of Butter

1 Tbsp Heavy Cream

1/4 Cup Swerve Confectioners

Combine ingredients for the icing in a bowl and mix with a mixer until well combined.  If the icing is too soft add an additional Tbsp of swerve to thicken.  (Other thickening agents can be used as well – if you prefer)

Frost the Keto Cakes and sprinkle with a little cinnamon and stevia.  Enjoy!

Macros for Frosting: 12 Servings:

My Personal Review of my cake recipe:  The cake is good.  Not too sweet, was moist and flavorful.  The frosting I wasn’t crazy about.  I used swerve for the first time, and don’t love the product.  I wanted to give it a try as an alternative for baking fit friendly snacks.  If I were to make the recipe again, I may opt for a cream cheese frosting instead so I could use less swerve confectioner sugar.  🙂

Also, please note this recipe is keto because that is the diet I currently follow.  You can easily alter the recipe and substitute the coconut oil and the eggs out, to have this fit a lower fat diet.

Hope you guys enjoy this recipe!  Stay tuned for more!

I know you guys have been patiently waiting for this!  Here is the recipe for my Vanilla Protein Cupcakes 🙂

These Blueberry Banana Fit Muffins are fairly Low Carb, High Fiber, and High Protein providing you with a high energy breakfast to kick start your day!

½ Cup Plain Greek Yogurt (I used whole milk fat)

2 Large Eggs

¾ Cup Almond Flour

¼ Cup Coconut Flour

1 Tbsp Vanilla Extract

1 Banana (sliced into small pieces – I cut it into slices then each wheel slice into 4 pieces)

½ Cup Frozen Blueberries

½ Cup Oil of choice (Coconut Oil Melted, Avocado Oil, Vegetable/Canola Oil, Saflower Oil- I don’t recommend olive oil or peanut oil because they really aren’t the best for baking and alter the flavor of the muffins)

1 Heaping Scoop of Vanilla Whey Protein of Choice (I used Gold Standard Vanilla Ice Cream)

1 Tbsp of Baking Soda

½ Tsp Salt

Old Fashioned Oats to sprinkle on top (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Spray or line muffin pan of choice (I used a 6 count large for the picture shown- but you can use a standard 12 count muffin pan as well or mini muffins)

Combine your dry ingredients – Almond & Coconut Flour, baking Soda, Salt, Protein Powder in a mixing bowl.

In a second mixing bowl, combine your wet ingredients- Greek Yogurt, 2 eggs, Vanilla Extract, and Oil.

Chop up the Banana into wheel shaped slices, they cut each slice into 4 pieces like a pizza! 🙂 Set the Banana aside with the blueberries

Combine your dry ingredients in with the wet ingredients and mix thoroughly until no clumps of the dry mixture remains.

Using a large spoon or rubber spatula, slowly fold in the blueberries and sliced banana. Over mixing the blueberries will turn your muffins blue! That’s why I suggest mixing this way. Walnuts are another options mix in item at this point.

Now scoop the muffin mixture into the prepared pan, and sprinkle with a few oats if you would like as shown in my picture! Bake on center rack. Depending on the muffin pan size you use, and the efficiency of your oven – this could take between 10-20 minutes to bake. I recommend checking after about 10 minutes and poke ’em with a tooth pick for firmness at the center. Muffins will turn slightly brown (also as shown in the picture).

Once fully cooked, remove from pan, and onto a cooling rack until cool enough to eat without burning your mouth, but still warm enough to enjoy the delicious taste of a fresh baked muffin… Without the guilt! I store these on the counter, in the fridge and also in the freezer in a ziplock bag! 🙂

Don’t forget to turn off the oven and wash all the dishes once you’re done! Thanks for checking out my page and stay tuned for more great recipes by RPTrainer! 🙂

Truth be told… I love to snack! Who doesn’t, right? Lol 😉 Well, A few years ago, I decided to ditch the over processed boxed granola bars and start making my own! 🙂 Not only can I control how much sugar is being put into the bars, but I can also add things like protein powder, flax seed, etc. They taste great, I know what I am eating, and they freeze well! 🙂

Here are some great recipes that I have tried:

Granola Bars:

Chewy Granola Bars

The basis for most of the granola bars I make starts here! I use this recipe, but often alter it, changing up the almond butter, maple syrup, and brown sugar- substituting other things like cookie butter, peanut butter, honey, etc. I find that the original recipe is pretty sweet, so I personally reduce the brown sugar and maple syrup. I also often switch up the fruit and nuts I add. Sometimes we make chocolate peanut butter, sometimes we do a white chocolate cranberry almond, etc. But yeah, so this recipe is simple, and quick and you can change it up. Have fun with it! 🙂

http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipe/chewy-granola-bars/

Alton Brown’s Granola Bars:

This is another great recipe that you can use for a base starting point and alter to make a variety of different granola bars.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/granola-bars-recipe.html

EatingWell Energy Bars:

These don’t stay together that well, but they are sooo tasty! A perfect combination of salty with just enough sweet from the dried fruit! They are often crumbly, but still tastes great! Try saving the broken ones and adding them to your yogurt or oatmeal to switch things up!

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/eatingwell_energy_bar.html