Max Lavoie

02/22/21

Keto Challenges Week 2 - Thursday to Sunday

THURSDAY

Morning : we fast or we redo the recipe for Monday's lunch.

Lunch : we opt for a good little wrap! We take the leftover meatballs from yesterday and wrap them in a lettuce leaf or cheese.

Evening : We cook slices of beef brisket and a “chimichurri” salad! (For more information on how to select and prepare your brisket, I recommend you read this article .)

For this recipe, you need brisket slices that are about 1 cm thick or less. I usually buy a whole brisket and slice it myself to the right thickness to make several pieces.

1. Once we have our brisket slices, we insert them into resealable plastic bags or vacuum bags, put them in the freezer and let the meats freeze for at least 12 hours. Be careful! The meats defrost very quickly if we place them well spread out and lengthwise in the bag and do not place them one on top of the other. It is therefore important to "pack" them in this way for freezing that allows for efficient use later.

2. Once the 12 hours have passed, light the BBQ at medium-high intensity (which ideally gives a temperature of around 400°F) for direct cooking.

3. We take our slices of brisket, season them with Argentina BBQ Québec spices on each side and place them on the grill.

4. Let them cook for a total of about 2 minutes on each side, making sure to turn them 3 times (so grill them twice on each side).

5. Then, let them cook in indirect cooking for 3 to 5 minutes. You can let them cook longer; up to 10 minutes, depending on the amount of fat in the brisket slices and the taste you are looking for.

As an accompaniment, we go with a “chimichurri” style salad.

Ingredients :

• 200 ml olive oil

• ⅓ cup fresh parsley, chopped

• ½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped

• ⅓ cup fresh basil, chopped

• 1 to 2 tbsp red wine vinegar (not too sweet)

• Juice of ½ lemon

• Tex-Max BBQ Quebec spices , to taste

• 1 avocado

Preparation :

1. First, place the chopped basil in a perforated basket.

2. Then, place the basket on the BBQ grill and cook the basil for ideally 3 to 4 minutes, making sure to stir the basket.

3. Add the whole avocado to the grill and turn it from time to time so that it is grilled evenly.

4. Once the basil is nicely roasted, place it in a bowl and take care of the other ingredients.

5. We take the avocado, cut it in 2, remove its stone, then without removing the peel from its two halves, we cut small openings in its flesh.

6. Sprinkle both halves with Tex-Max dry marinade, then place the two pieces of avocado on the BBQ grill, flesh side up.

7. Let them grill for 2 minutes, turn them skin side up, then let them grill again for 2 minutes.

8. Then remove the peel from the avocado pieces and add their flesh to the bowl with the basil.

9. Add all the other ingredients to the bowl, mix everything together and serve on the brisket slices.

Friday

Morning : we fast or we redo the recipe for Monday's lunch.

Noon : we're remaking last week's "God's Eggs" recipe .

Evening : we enjoy a keto poke bowl.

For this recipe, you need cold smoked salmon. This video explains how to cold smoke your salmon, but unfortunately, the salmon is only ready after 3 days (it's only 3 x 5 minutes of work to do, but still, you have to do it over 3 days).

If you don't plan on smoking your salmon in advance and want to eat this meal tonight, know that with grilled salmon, hot smoked salmon or tuna or salmon "tartare", the result will taste good too... but ultimately, cold smoked salmon is the best choice (and that's what I use in the recipe). This reminds me that we should always have cold smoked salmon in our freezer... When it's vacuum sealed, it defrosts super quickly too! (Don't forget, you should always defrost food in the refrigerator and you should open the bag it's in to eliminate potential bacteria.)

So for the recipe, you need:

• 200 to 250 g cold smoked salmon (homemade or from the market)

• 1 ripe avocado

• ½ cucumber with peel

• 1 stalk celery, about 7 ½ to 8 inches long

• 1 tbsp (15 ml) traditional avocado mayonnaise

• 1 to 3 tbsp avocado (or olive) oil

• 15 ml gluten-free soy sauce

• 1 tbsp capers

• 1 tsp L'aube BBQ Québec X La ferme Monette or Tex-Max BBQ Québec spices

This dish is best served cold and personally, I want to "respect" cold smoked salmon 100% by not adding anything hot to it... okay, except bacon. If you want to add hot and crispy bacon to the recipe, go for it!

Preparation is quick:

1. In a bowl, mix the mayonnaise, avocado oil and spices.

2. On another work surface, chop the capers, then cut the salmon, avocado, cucumber and celery into 1.5 to 2 cm long cubes.

3. Once that's done, place the vegetables and salmon in a bowl (these ingredients can be mixed; it's up to you) and add the mayonnaise mixture on top.

4. We can then enjoy everything by dipping our bites in soy sauce or by pouring the soy sauce directly onto the dish.

Bon appetit (said with an English accent)!

SATURDAY

Morning : we fast or we redo the recipe for Monday's lunch.

Lunch : we prepare the ultimate grilled cheese (melted cheese sandwich)! With, among other things, bacon, salmon and avocado, this grilled cheese is far from resembling the one you have by making the classic recipe.

Indeed, here, when we talk about "grilled cheese" well, it is grilled for real! That's right, we replace the bread with halloumi or nabulsi cheese. What's also good is that this recipe is very simple and can be adjusted according to your tastes.

Ingredients :

• 2 slices of halloumi or nabulsi

• Avocado oil

• Argentina BBQ Spices Quebec

• Spices Dawn BBQ Quebec X Monette Farm

• California BBQ Spices Quebec

• BBQ Explorer Spices Quebec

• Toppings of your choice (bacon, lettuce, salmon, etc.)

Preparation :

1. Cut 2 nice slices of cheese and brush them with avocado oil.

2. Then we season the cheese slices with a combination of spices: either Argentina and L'aube or California and Explorateur.

3. Once the cheese slices are ready, place them on the BBQ grill in direct cooking at 350°F and let them grill for 2 to 3 minutes on each side.

4. Then you fill one of the slices of cheese with whatever you want: bacon slices, lettuce, a slice of grilled avocado, a burger patty, salmon, capers... (everything will taste excellent!) and close the sandwich by adding the other slice of cheese on top.

5. We taste it all!

Evening : Enjoy homemade sausage-stuffed pizza pockets! This simple and effective recipe pleases everyone, especially children. They will be happy and you will have had time to play outside with them in the afternoon or relax; everyone is a winner! (This recipe makes a total of about 8 pizza pockets.)

Ingredients :

For the “stuffing”:

• 4 sausages (1 for 2 pocket pizzas)

• 2 tomatoes

• 1 avocado

• 1 small onion

• 1 portobello mushroom

• Olive oil

• California BBQ Spices Quebec

• Creamy labneh-style cheese (optional)

For the dough:

• 200 g mozzarella cheese, grated

• 100 g almond flour

• 1 tbsp psyllium

• 1 tsp baking powder

• 2 large eggs

Preparation :

1. Preheat the BBQ for indirect cooking at 350°F.

2. Meanwhile, place the tomatoes, avocado, onion and portobello mushroom on the BBQ Québec vegetable rack . Pour olive oil over everything, then season with California spices.

3. When the BBQ is ready, place the vegetable rack in the BBQ (ideally on the top grill or in the “hot indirect” cooking zone) and the sausages in the indirect cooking zone on the grill.

4. While the ingredients are cooking on the BBQ, mix the ingredients for the dough in a bowl. Then let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes so that the "liquid" from the eggs is well absorbed.

5. While waiting, turn the sausages for 3 to 5 minutes, then place them in the direct cooking zone and grill them for 1 to 2 minutes on each side. We also take the opportunity to place the BBQ Québec pizza stone on the grill (the temperature should not be too hot, we simply want to warm the stone).

6. Remove the vegetable rack from the BBQ, cut all the fruits and vegetables that were on it into small cubes and put them in a bowl.

7. Remove the sausages from the grill, cut them into small cubes, add them to the bowl containing the fruit and vegetables and mix everything together.

8. Add the cheese to the bowl with the other ingredients of the "stuffing" and mix once more. (This step is optional because the dough of the pocket pizzas already contains cheese.)

9. With the dough, we form small “cakes”, place the “stuffing” in their center, then close them on themselves to form the pocket pizzas.

10. Brush the pizza stone with a little butter and place your pocket pizzas on it. Close the lid of the BBQ and let everything cook. (The pocket pizzas should cook evenly, but if their bottoms cook faster, just turn the pocket pizzas over after 7 to 10 minutes of cooking so that their other side is cooked as well.)

11. We serve the pocket pizzas with a little homemade dip (a mixture of mayonnaise, olive oil, Argentina spices and pieces of broccoli, celery and cucumber is perfect) and we enjoy the moment!

Sunday

Morning: we fast or we redo the recipe for Monday's lunch.

Lunch: Treat yourself to the IronMax “Steak & Eggs”! Sunday is the first day of the week when you want to start off with a bang! The classic meal of 2 eggs and a steak, as you know, is: 1) so good; and 2) incredibly “solid” as a lunch and to start off a hell of a week!

IronMax Steak & Eggs is the ultimate “steak & eggs”! In fact, the concept is to replace the usual “minute” steak with the most nutritious cut of meat known to man: BEEF LIVER!

To make this delight, you need:

• 2 large eggs (100 g)

• 4 oz (112 g) 100% grass-fed beef liver

• 1 stalk celery (40 g) measuring about 7 ½ to 8 inches, sliced

• 130 g portobello mushroom

• 1 oz (28.3 g) creamy goat cheese

• 1 handful spinach, chopped

• Tex-Max BBQ Quebec spices , to taste

• Texas BBQ Quebec spices , to taste

• Argentina BBQ Quebec spices , to taste

• Cayenne sauce DAMN!, to taste (optional)

Preparation :

1. Preheat the cast iron pan for 5 minutes.

2. While the pan is heating, sprinkle the mushrooms and celery pieces with Tex-Max dry marinade and both sides of the beef liver with Texas spices.

3. Once the 5 minutes have passed, add the butter, celery and mushrooms to the pan.

4. Let it cook for a few minutes and move the vegetables away from the center of the pan.

5. Add more butter to the pan and brown the beef liver for 2 minutes.

6. We turn it over, then lower the heat.

7. Crack the 2 eggs into the pan, season them with Argentina spices and when their underside is almost cooked, place the vegetables on top of the eggs (you don't need to turn the eggs, the heat of the vegetables is enough to cook their tops.)

8. Add the spinach and cheese to the eggs and beef so that everything is hot and the cheese melts.

9. For an even more “wow” effect, add a little cayenne sauce and you have the best meal to start the week!

Dinner (enough meal for 2 adults and 2 children and 1 lunch): we prepare a classic of Quebec cuisine, but with a twist, a keto "shepherd's pie"! My children love cauliflower when I use it to replace rice, so I might as well integrate the concept into a "shepherd's pie"!

Ingredients :

• 2 cups cauliflower

• ¼ cup mushrooms

• 2 lbs ground beef

• 2 stalks celery, chopped

• 1 cup beef bone broth

• ½ red onion, chopped

• 5 tbsp butter

• Yukon BBQ Spices Quebec X La ferme Monette

• Argentina BBQ Spices Quebec

• Texas BBQ Spices Quebec

• 2 tomatoes, cut into 1 cm long cubes

• 120g halloumi, grated

• 1 tbsp olive oil

Preparation:

1. We start the recipe by chopping the cauliflower and mushrooms separately by hand or in a food processor as finely as possible.

2. Once that's done, pour the olive oil into a cast iron pan and add the mushroom pieces.

3. Sprinkle them with Texas spices and let them cook for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4. When the mushrooms are golden, add a little butter and place the chopped cauliflower in the pan.

5. Season everything with Yukon spices and let it cook, stirring from time to time, until the cauliflower is soft enough to be mashed.

6. When the cauliflower has reached the right consistency, add 2 tablespoons of butter back into the pan and mash everything with a potato masher.

7. Add a little beef bone broth (don't add too much; you want the cauliflower to have a potato texture) and continue to mash/mix the vegetables.

8. Pour the contents of the pan into a bowl and set aside so that the vegetables absorb the liquid well.

9. Put the rest of the butter in the pan, add the pieces of onion and celery and let them cook for 2 minutes.

10. Once done, you can move the vegetables away from the center of the pan or remove them completely and transfer them to a bowl.

11. Place the ground beef in the pan and let it sear for 1 to 2 minutes before stirring.

12. We make sure it is cooked through, then we lower the heat.

13. Add the rest of the bone broth (and the pieces of onion and celery if you removed them) and mix everything together, letting the liquid reduce so that it becomes more flavorful and penetrates the meat.

14. Meanwhile, we take the opportunity to preheat the oven to “broil”.

15. When the meat is well soaked in broth, spread it in a large glass Pyrex dish, then add, in order and in layers, the diced tomatoes, the cauliflower mixture and the grated halloumi.

16. We put the dish in the oven for a few minutes and watch the cheese grill and the tomatoes mix with the meat.

17. When it's ready, let the dish cool a little, serve and enjoy!

That's it for this week! Bon appetit and have a good BBQ! (We're not giving up, there's only one week left in the challenge!)