Homemade Keto Mozzarella Sticks and Breaded, Fried Shrimp

When I was looking through previous posts on my site, I saw this one listed and thought for sure it was posted last year (2020) - perhaps even in the Fall.  When I looked at the date, I couldn't believe it.  I posted this in July of 2019!  That is almost TWO YEARS AGO.

I suppose it's just another 2020 thing... the year that messed up all sense of time.  But either way, I'm posting again because they are THAT good and it deserves to be reposted.

I've posted the recipe for mozzarella sticks before but the reason I'm posting again is two-fold.  The first, because I've mentioned in the past that it's awesome to make a double batch so you can put on in the freezer for later and second, that you could use the breading for other items like chicken or shrimp.  I buy the peeled with tail on style personally.   Just make them the same way you make the mozzarella sticks.  Serve with your favorite sugar free condiments or as low sugar (like 1 gram) as you can find or make yourself.


Low Carb Mozzarella Sticks


2 eggs, beaten
1 c almond flour
scant 1 c powdered Parmesan cheese

optional:  1/2 c wheat resistant starch 75
optional:  1/2 c ground pork rinds

(If you don't use the wheat resistant starch 75 or pork rinds just use more Parmesan or almond flour)
Approximately 20 sticks string cheese
2-3 T Italian Seasoning
1 t garlic salt

Cut the string cheese in half.
Lightly beat the eggs and pour into a small shallow dish.
Mix the dry ingredients in a large Ziploc baggy.
Roll the cheese stick halves in the egg and dip in the dry mix. Press lightly to help it adhere.
Place the breaded cheese sticks on a baking sheet and freeze at least 2 hours or up to 3 months.
When you want to make them, heat about 2 inches of oil in a pan and fry the sticks for 1-2 minutes. Do not crowd the pan.  Remove them with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.  You can salt them if you wish for more salt.  Serve hot with low or no sugar marinara sauce or ketchup. 



The shrimp I breaded last month and put into the deep freeze for 'another day'.  Here they are right out of the freezer and waiting to jump into the pan of hot grease.

Made a double batch of mozzarella sticks last month and popped them into the freezer.  Here they are still frozen.

 Mmmm my dinner is waiting for me.... but I remembered to take a picture this time.

Snapped a photo quickly on my cellphone so I could hurry and EAT them while they were hot.  Oh so good.

Flashback Post from 2017 - HOMEMADE STRAWBERRY AND RHUBARB PIE

I have been craving rhubarb... rhubarb pie, rhubarb bars, rhubarb crisp... anything.  I just want rhubarb!  The thing is, it doesn't grow well where we currently live so it's not easily found.  I haven't seen or found rhubarb in any form since we moved here a few years ago.

This morning I was looking over my photo files of An American Housewife and saw this one - Strawberry & Rhubarb Pie.   

Wait... what!?  I don't remember making that!?  When did I post this!?  And more importantly, WHERE and WHEN did I find rhubarb?  And if I found frozen rhubarb at some point since moving here, why haven't I been able to find it in years?  I had to click on the 'old' post to see if I happened to mention WHERE I found this elusive rhubarb because I literally would go to that store THIS MORNING if I happened to say in the post where I got it....

So I found my old post - which was from November of 2017.  That made me even more curious as to where I found rhubarb as it wasn't all that long ago.  

Link to the original post:  Strawberry and Rhubarb Pie - 2017 post

Ahhh. Mystery solved.

I made this pie (and the post) from another state.  I was staying with a family member while I helped them out with emergency childcare and I had made the pie for dessert that evening.  You can buy rhubarb where they live so she had a couple packages of it in her freezer.  Mystery solved.

In honor of my rhubarb pie craving....  I'm reposting this yummy strawberry and rhubarb pie.

Strawberry & Rhubarb Pie

3 c frozen rhubarb pieces
3 c frozen strawberries, whole
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c white sugar
1/4 c cornstarch
1/4 c flour (I used this in addition to the corn starch since it was frozen fruit)
3/4 t cinnamon
1/4 t salt
1/2 t lemon juice
1/2 t vanilla
egg white
sugar

Mix all but the egg white and extra sugar into a bowl.  Stir and blend well.  Pour into a prepared deep dish pie crust.  You can choose to prick it ahead of time and brush with a beaten egg white or not.  Totally up to you.  Fill the pie crust and use an additional bit of pie crust dough or a second frozen pie crust to roll out on a lightly floured surface.

Cut strips about 3/4 of an inch wide.  Use these to make a lattice top on your pie OR use the 2nd crust to cover the fruit filling without bothering with a lattice.  Seal the edges in your favorite way (finger seal or fork). Place the pie on a baking sheet (foil lined baking sheet if you hate scrubbing pans like I do!)  Beat the egg white with about a teaspoon of water and brush it on the top and sides of your pie and then sprinkle with a bit of sugar and sprinkle with cinnamon.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, reduce heat to 350 and bake an additional 1 1/2 hours.  Turn off oven and let it sit in the hot oven for another 15 minutes if you feel it needs a bit more time.  Remove and cool completely before slicing.


The fruit, sugars and spices all mixed in a bowl

I pricked and brushed the bottom crust but it's totally optional

After filling the pie dish, either top with a second crust or cut strips to make a lattice crust

Trim if you have excess on the edges

Seal either with fingers or fork.  I had extra dough so I laid a small rope around the entire edge and pressed it down and then sealed.

Brush the top with beaten egg white and sprinkle with additional cinnamon and sugar

Cool completely before slicing so it's allowed to 'set up' - you can also chill it or just let it set out on the counter until the next day before slicing so it will set up nice.  When  a fruit pie is sliced too soon or when warm, it's quite liquidy.  Not a bad thing at all - especially if you serve the pie with ice cream!

Flashback Recipe: My favorite Greek Style Pizza (Spinach, feta, kalamata olives... and made low carb by using my 'fathead' keto dough)

I like to go 'back' to my post history and see what I was posting on a certain day in any given year.  This morning I was looking at May 2011 and saw one I've posted many, many times....  it's one of my favorite kinds of pizzas.

I'm thinking I may make it tonight but will use a keto 'fathead' dough instead of the regular crust, to keep the carbs down. 

Greek Style Pizza

Prepare basic pizza dough or a keto version if you are low carb. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

1/2 c mayonnaise
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 c crumbled feta cheese
1 12 inch pre baked crust
1/2 c oil packed sun dried tomatoes, coarsely chopped plus 1 T of the oil
1/4 c pitted Kalamata Olives, chopped
1 t dried oregano
2 c baby spinach leaves
1/2 small red onion, halved and thinly sliced

Preheat oven to 450. Mix mayonnaise, garlic and 1/2 c feta in bowl. Place pizza crust on cookie sheet and spread the mayonnaise mixture over. Top with tomatoes, olives and oregano. Bake 10 minutes. Toss spinach and onion with 1 T tomato oil. Top the hot pizza with this mixture and the remaining feta. Return to oven, bake 2-3 minutes longer. Cut and serve.

(I don't like sun dried tomatoes so unless I know others are here for dinner who like them, I leave those off!  I also just put all the toppings on at once - even the spinach and onion - and bake it all at the same time.)

Homemade Fondant - quick and easy (no, really! QUICK AND EASY and it tastes good too!)

 

Although I know I posted a recipe for homemade fondant back around 2008 (?) or 2009 (?), I also posted in 2011 and 2012... but I need to repost because it was so long ago, even I forgot I posted it.  My son plans to make the Monster's Inc cake (or one similar) that I made last weekend and I want to make sure he can see the fondant recipe quickly - so... reposting!

Originally I greased the bowl I was melting the marshmallows in (link to 2012 post) but the last 5 batches I made were in a plastic mixing bowl, I was in a hurry and skipped the greasing of the bowl.  I'd say the fondant/marshmallow mixture that stuck to the sides was probably about a tablespoon or so - so if you are ok with that, you can skip the greasing of the bowl.  If every bit of fondant counts, then grease it.

I also posted a recipe for faux fondant made with melted candy wafers in 2011 - which I noted at the time, I had never personally tried.  I still haven't.  The only kind I've ever made is with mini marshmallows.  But it's here for those interested - http://www.housewifebarbie.com/2011/01/faux-fondant.html

Lastly - a link to my Grandmothers fondant covered cake (original post was when I made it in 2008 - so, 13 years ago!!)  because the photos show how easy it was to work with.  I think I had only made fondant cake once before that - in December of 2007.  Here is the 2008 FLASHBACK I posted in 2019 with photos:   http://www.housewifebarbie.com/2019/06/photos-how-i-made-fondant-covered-white.html 

I don't actually measure anything, but here are the measurements you are going for.

HOMEMADE FONDANT

8 oz. (about) mini marshmallows
2 T water
4 c powdered sugar
extract or flavoring if  you wish
food coloring if you wish

In a microwaveable bowl, pour in about 3/4 of a package of 10 oz. of mini marshmallows.  Add about 2 tablespoons water.  If you wish you can grease or spray the bowl first or the mixture will stick as you mix it.  About a tablespoon worth of fondant may stick to the bowl if you don't grease/spray it first.  Your call.  Heat the marshmallows in the microwave for a minute or two (depending on your microwave) until they are tall and puffy.  Take it out, stir in the extract/flavor if you are using any - and start to add the powdered sugar, about a cup at a time. 

As it gets stiff and you can't really stir anymore, dump it out onto a lightly dusted powdered sugar surface and start to knead it like bread dough.  Sprinkle more powdered sugar as you go to keep it from sticking to the surface or your hands.  When it's pliable, soft and not sticky, it's ready to use.  

At this point you can color it.  Rip off a bit of fondant and mix in the food colors you wish.  Now take that small sized colored fondant and start to knead and twist it into the larger fondant.  For best results on mixing it in, I like to roll 'ropes' or 'snakes' and twist and knead.  When there are no more color streaks left, roll out your fondant to use on your cake or cake decorations as you wish.

A peek into my kitchen this week: My Monster's Inc. 3 tiered cake - Mike Wazowski, Sulley and a base of Boo's door

A peek into my world this week....

 

Honestly I've been cooking and baking as usual - every meal (since 'home' is our favorite restaurant - we almost never, ever eat out and never have) but I've been uninspired to post anything for quite a while.  Hopefully I'll get my motivation for posting back but until then, there are about 2600 recipes in my files since 2006 or whenever it was I started this blog!  Ha ha.

 

In the meantime here is a sneak peek into my kitchen this week.   I think you can tell what I've been working on!

The Sulley cake - furry blue/tealish and purple/pinkish cake yumminess!)

Mike Wazowski and Sulley look over my work and cheer me on....

This was some swirled cake batter

Fondant.  Lots and lots of fondant and buttercreme frosting was made this week

Playing around with door ideas

Boo's door... (with a shadow on it - it doesn't really have a blue cast in the corner - that's my hand!)

Designing some eyes for Mike Wazowski - from fondant

Getting ideas for Mike Wazowski eyes... I made a ton of them hoping I'd be happy with at least one!

 

From my Instagram: The Keto General Tso's Chicken - which we like to make as a "General Tso meets Orange" Chicken....

If you only saw the Keto Orange Chicken/General Tso's Chicken on my Instagram this week - I had posted the recipe back in January, which you can find in the search engine or here is the link;   http://www.housewifebarbie.com/2021/01/low-carbsugarfree-orange-chicken-with.html

This was a quick photo of last nights dinner as I made it and snapped a picture on my cellphone.

 

Note:  the one ingredient you might not have on hand for this and you'll want to check your cupboard for is the orange oil/extract or emulsion. I have to order mine online as I've yet to find it locally but Amazon always carries it and often times, Netrition has it as well. Walmart usually has it although it's through 3rd party sellers and they often jack the prices up.  

 

Keto Orange Chicken
(sugarfree and low carb)

1 T oil
1 T ginger powder
1 T minced garlic
2 T rice vinegar
1 T sesame oil
2/3 c (scant) white vinegar
3 T liquid aminos (soy sauce alternative)
1 t xanthan gum (thickener)
1 c granular sweetener mixture of your choice
1/2 t red pepper flakes
1 1/2 t dried orange zest
1 t orange extract

Heat the oil in a pan, add the rest of the ingredients as you whisk, bring to a boil and turn down the heat to simmer.  Simmer until it reduces a bit and thickens to a nice sauce.

Use over prepared chicken chunks, and serve with a side of riced cauliflower and you can add broccoli.

Notes: This is the perfect recipe to make the day after you make homemade 'chicken nuggets' or chicken chunks.  Make double, save half for this meal the next day.  Also, I keep SunBird fried rice mixture packets on hand in the cupboard.  When I make this dish, I serve it with plain 'rice' (riced cauliflower) directly with the orange chicken and then make up a side of stir fried 'rice' using the SunBird packet.  I also added about a cup of fresh broccoli pieces to the orange chicken along with chopped green onion tops.

For the Chicken Chunks:

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
egg whites
oil
Breading:  depending on your level of acceptable carbs use 3-4 cups crushed rice crispies, panko crumbs, crushed pork rinds or  a mixture of crushed pork rinds with almond flour, or keto bread crumbs
2-3 t paprika
2-3 t onion powder

Cut the chicken into chunks.  Mix 3 or 4 egg whites (depending on bit your chicken breasts are) with about 3 t oil of your choice in a bowl.  Put the breading of choice and spices in a second large bowl or a Ziploc baggy.  Now dredge the chicken into the egg white oil mixture and then breading, place on a heavily oiled pan (I line mine with foil for easy clean up).  

Spray with Pam or drizzle with more oil of choice and bake at 450 until the chunks are done, starting to get brown on the tops and crisp.  Remove from the oven (about 25-30 minutes depending on the size of the chunks you cut).   

I brush the chicken with a light sauce made from:

6 T melted butter
5 T tapatio' sauce

This makes our orange chicken spicy like General Tso's but with a heavy orange flavor too.  You don't have to brush the chicken chunks with anything though if you like your orange chicken sweet but not at all spicy.

 

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Keto Tuna Pot Pie - Adapting my normal recipe to a low carb version using keto flour

 

This isn't a staged photo, although it IS kind of pretty. I used my cellphone to take a picture literally right before I ate it because I realized I better take a photo for my blog.

When I was craving (CRAVING) Tuna Pot Pie but had to keep to low carb.....  I adapted my original Tuna Pot Pie recipe. 

 

Cream Base for Keto Tuna Pot Pie

2 T butter
1 t onion powder
1/2 t garlic powder
1-2 c celery, chopped
1/2 t celery salt
1/4 t Old Bay Seasoning
1 1/2 t xanthan
1 1/2 c water
1/2 c cream
1/2 t lemon juice
pepper to taste

In saucepan, melt butter.  Add the onion, garlic, xanthan and celery salt.  Whisk quickly.  Slowly add the 1 1/2 cups water - whisk faster and quick until smooth.  Add the celery, bring to brief boil and reduce to simmer.  Simmer about 20 minutes.  

Either quickly strain the mixture through a wire sieve and press it with the back of a spoon to get all the yummy celery flavor out that you can, (into another saucepan on the stove) or if you have time, pulse the mixture in a blender or with a stick blender to puree.

Add the cream and lemon juice, pepper to taste (white or black). 
Add:

2 cans drained tuna
1/3 c frozen peas

If it's too thick or too strong flavored, add 1/2 cup more cream to thin.  Pour into a greased casserole dish of choice.  Make the topping.

Biscuit Topping:

2 c King Arthur Keto Flour
1 T baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 T sweetener of choice (like Lakanto classic)
1/4 c (half a stick) of cold butter
3/4 heavy cream plus more if needed (up to another 1/4 c)

Mix the dry.  Cut in the butter until crumbly.  Stir in the cream.  When it comes together to form a dough, remove and pat out to the shape of your pot pie dish you'll be using.  Score into about 10 pieces, and transfer the biscuit dough to the casserole, topping the tuna filling.  (Or scoop or cut into 6-10 biscuits and lay them on top to fill the top.)

Bake at 425 for 25 minutes.  Remove and let cool about 5 minutes to set up a bit before serving.

*Little side note*   I only used 1/3 c peas total for the whole recipe because of the carbs and sugar.  If you use 1/2 cup frozen peas, it will be about 11 carbs and 3.7 g sugar for the whole recipe;  now divide that by the number of servings - which depends on how you divide it.  It could be 6, it could be 10.  So on average, the peas in this recipe are going to be 1 carb and almost zero sugar as you are only eating a few little peas per serving.  But leaving the peas out completely isn't an option because, hello?  Tuna Pot Pie must have peas!  Ha ha.

 

 

Opening my Canned Butter! TASTE TEST of my home-canned butter at the 6 month mark....... (and 18 month mark update)

 

Something a million other women and men have done but I had not, was canning butter.

I didn't know if it was going to work out or not, but I wanted to try and thanks to good sale at our local membership warehouse, my freezer food storage had some 'extra' butter I could do a trial run with and not be too upset if it didn't turn out.

You can find many tutorials online and at youtube for canning butter. That's not my post.

My post today is the 'AFTER' of pressure canning butter. 

My butter was canned in October 2020.   I wanted to wait to do the first taste test and seal test at about 6 months.

I had to work hard to get that seal off.  That was the first good sign.
When I opened it, it smelled like... butter.   There wasn't much of a scent at all - which is good.
 
It was just... butter.  That sounds almost too simple but there you go.  It was just... spreadable, creamy, real butter.

It had good, even color.  It had a light, fresh, 'buttery' smell.  

I really wanted to smear it on some homemade bread - that would have been heavenly!  But because we are primarily low carb and sugar free, I don't have homemade bread on hand so I used it on what I did have at that moment - which was some fresh asparagus I had made.

 

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(Tiny update the next day...  I made another 18 jars yesterday.  Finished the 'shaking' during solidifying process last night around 9:15 pm.  What a great feeling to see the fruits of your labor!)

2022 UPDATE

Yesterday I grabbed a can of butter out of the 'longer term' storage and decided to test it.  Canned in October, 2020, it's now February of 2022.  The color was still a beautiful 'butter yellow' and the seal tight.  I opened it and found it to be no different at all from the 6 month mark.

I tasted it straight from the can and yum.  It was a nice sweet butter taste and I promptly used a bunch in the sauce I was making for dinner.  I'm thrilled with it.  Simply thrilled!  

 

 

 

From my Instagram: 3rd in the series of Homemade Keto Cereals: Crunchberry Cereal - low carb and sugarfree

I've done this cereal in a couple different flavors - the strawberry version is a favorite and it's similar to Crunch Berry cereal but I plan to continue to try all different flavors.  I ALWAYS play with recipes - usually four or five of any one similar item and then just kind of use whatever I have on hand or what amounts I think 'might' be better for me or our family.  ALWAYS PLAY WITH YOUR FOOD.  Ha ha.

So here are some *NOTES* to this recipe....

• I hate (hate hate hate) anything cherry extract flavored.  But I HAVE cherry extract oils on hand and wanted a chance to use some of them up so I've made this recipe with them.  Other family members love it - and I admit it was good but hating the smell/taste of cherry extract flavored things (*frosting, candies, kool-aid, etc.) I didn't enjoy it like they did.  But if you like cherry frosting, kool-aid, etc. then you will probably like this cereal with cherry as well.
• Another option on my list to try is a peanut butter/chocolate version for my husband (I'm not a fan of chocolate) but we have peanut powder and cocoa on hand at all times and KNOW that will be a hit.   
• Flavor possibility trials are endless... raspberry, chocolate, peanut butter, fruit loops, angel food cake, cherry, strawberry, blueberry, lemon, cinnamon sugar, etc. etc. if you have the extract/oil/powder flavorings... give it a try!
  

  

  

 

Keto Cereal

1 c almond flour (fine quality)
2/3 c sweetener(s) - I like to keep a mixture on hand of 2-3 flavors for best taste in all my goods
1/2 c egg white protein powder
1/2 c zero carb, sugar free whey protein powder (Angel Food by Devotion or Vanilla by Isopure)
1/2 c butter
2 T water
1/2 t strawberry emulsion or extract (play with whatever flavors you like)
A few drops of food color to correspond with your flavor, if you wish

Combine ingredients in a food processor and pulse a few times to combine it all to a crumbly mixture.  Spread out on a foil lined baking pan.  Bake at 300 for about 12 minutes and then stir/flip gently to move some of the outside to the inside and the inside to the outside for even baking.  Continue to bake about 5-8 minutes more - just until it starts to turn golden brown.  Remove and stir a little bit, but then leave it alone to cool completely on the baking pan.  It will get crisp when it cools.  Break apart and either eat now or keep in a mason jar - or vacuum food seal it if that's your thing. 

I have mine as a cereal with ice cold unsweetened vanilla almond milk, but you can snack on it straight from your container like you might with regular cereal.  (Or crumble it on vanilla yogurt if you like to eat that as well...)

 

From my Instagram: 2nd of 3! Keto Strawberry Granola Cereal - low carb and sugar free

 

I've made a couple different batches of this strawberry version - some after I bought strawberry extract (LorAnn Strawberry Bakery Emulsion).  I had to make due with what I had in the cupboard the first batch - which is was good - but the extract or emulsion is more affordable, and gives a better, cleaner? cereal taste.   But basically, whatever strawberry flavor you have on hand is good - play with your recipe!

I used a couple Flex Flavors packets - which I have had on hand forever but they were part of a pack of random flavors and there are some I've just never used.  This was a great way to 'use them up' as they've literally been in my cupboard for at least a year or two?

 

 

 

 

 

Strawberry Granola Cereal

 

2/3 chopped nuts (almonds, pecans, walnuts - mixture of all or whatever you like)
1/3 c sweeteners (mix 2 or 3 for best flavor)

1/4 c almond flour

1/4 c egg white protein powder

1/4 c Devotion Angel Food Cake whey protein powder (you can use other brands of vanilla/unflavored)

1/4 c butter (half a stick)

1 1/2 t strawberry extract or emulsion or 3-4 packets of Flex Flavors

 

Combine the ingredients and cut in the butter (I use my fingers) until it forms crumbs.  Bake at 300 degrees on a baking sheet covered with foil or parchment for about 12 minutes, and then check it and stir a bit to bring the outside edges to the inside, and inside to outside.  Let it bake another 3-8 minutes until it just starts to turn golden.  Remove, stir and let it cool completely.  It will get crisp as it cools.  Break apart and either eat or put into a mason jar or vacuum food seal for later.