Keto-Friendly Guaca-FAUX-le Dip!

Okay, so, I love homemade guacamole, and avocados are absolutely wonderful in the fats they provide, but let’s be honest here: Those fats come at a HIGH price. Along with the great fats come a boatload of excess carbs us ketogenic dieters simply don’t want or need.

You can Google for “low-carb guacamole” all you want, but the fact is, avocados, tomatoes and most of the other fixin’s for it aren’t low-carb. So when my love and I made some a couple of weeks ago, we adored it on our keto-friendly cheese-chips, but we couldn’t eat a lot of it.

This got me to thinking…what can I do about it?

So, on a whim, I decided to come up with a keto-friendly dip I could use with my beloved cheese-chips, and what I hit on accidentally tasted like guacamole to me. I was so excited, I ran into our bedroom and woke my wife to tell her about it. Now, I’ll share it with you, because I don’t want to lose the recipe and because I don’t want to forget it. Since hardly anyone reads this blog, I guess those will suffice as reasons to post it.

What you need are:

• 4oz cream cheese (softened, if possible)
• ROUGHLY 1/4 cup minced cilantro
• 1/4 medium tomato, diced
• ROUGHLY 2 tbsp lime or lemon juice (I used lime)
• 2 scallions, chopped
• 1 clove garlic (optional)
• 5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Combine all the chopped ingredients with the softened cream cheese in a mixing bowl, and mix well, but don’t smash the tomatoes. Add the lime juice last.

And that’s it! Dip your LOVELY cheddar or Mexican or Taco blend cheese-chips in it and enjoy!

Delicious, and to me, it tasted JUST like guacamole. Your mileage may vary, of course, but give it a try!

Chicken Chili

Sort of like chili. 

I was experimenting again!  I had some leftover chicken from my Roast Chicken* and was trying to think of something to do with it, that was also low-carb / Atkins friendly. 

Scrounging around in the fridge, I found:

Most of a jar of green taco sauce;
Some sandwich peppers left in the jar, that my husband won’t be eating since he doesn’t take sandwiches in his lunch anymore;
A  bag of frozen mixed vegetables;
A partial bag of frozen yellow squash.

I threw it all together in a skillet, but realized it still needed something.  After my husband got home, we figured that some tomatoes would help.  So I bagged up dinner, stuck it in the fridge and a couple of days later we made it to the store.

I grabbed:

A large can of diced tomatoes;
A medium can of tomato paste;
A package of pre-sliced mushrooms;
A bunch of cilantro.

I tossed everything in my crock pot, and let it simmer overnight.  It actually turned out pretty good!  We had it on low-carb tortillas, but I put it over rice for the kids.  I think it would also go really well over any kind of noodle – spaghetti, macaroni, etc.  I also topped it with some shredded Monterey Jack/Cheddar cheese combo we found at the store. 

So, no beans and no chili sauce or powder, but it still had a chili sort of flavor.  According to my husband.     I got a few leftovers cleared out of the fridge in the process too. 

*Actually, you can use any leftover chicken, or fresh chicken cooked, and cut into small pieces.  Just be sure to remove any remaining skin.