I just made the most\u00a0delicious\u00a0focaccia bread today in Sayulita, and guess what? There was not a single\u00a0carbohydrate in the flour (which I made myself)!\u00a0This is part of my new research making very low carb foods and is called the Ketogenic Lifestyle.<\/p>\n
In very simple layman\u2019s language, our body needs fuel for energy and when one eats carbohydrates the\u00a0body burns the carbs for energy and stores any associated fat.\u00a0Following a Ketogenic Lifestyle, our body burns the fat for energy!\u00a0So, you can eat a lot of butter, cheese, whipping cream, nuts and olive oil etc. As a matter of fact, you\u00a0need to have the fats so that your body has something to burn for energy! And as a bonus if you have\u00a0excess weight that you want to lose, this way of eating also helps that happen.\u00a0Of course it is necessary to eat lots of vegetables; no matter what your food lifestyle is!<\/p>\n
My husband and I have decided to try a Ketogenic Lifestyle, and living in Sayulita has made finding some of the necessary ingredients to make ketogenic food a challenge. However, you can find\u00a0carbohydrate free flours here at our local Sayulita organic health store, Terrenel. I bought their coconut flour to make\u00a0coconut cream pie, but I decided to make my\u00a0own almond flour, and I’m going to share the recipe with you!<\/p>\n
Homemade Almond Flour<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n All you need are almonds, a baking sheet and a food processor. Also a powerful blender works well. My\u00a0blender is just a regular Oster and it didn\u2019t pulverize the nuts as well as my food processor.<\/p>\n -Boil raw skin-on almonds for 45 seconds.<\/p>\n -Immediately remove from the heat and pour into a colander or sieve.<\/p>\n -Run cold water through them until they are cool enough to handle.<\/p>\n -Pop the skins off and place them on a rimmed baking sheet. This is so fun. I had almonds popping all around my kitchen until I got the method perfected. This is a very easy step as the skins pop off very\u00a0easily.<\/p>\n -Bake @250 degrees for 20-30 minutes or until nuts are very dry.<\/p>\n -Cool completely and then taste to be certain that they are dry enough. If not return to oven and bake\u00a0longer. My oven took 30 minutes. Cool again.<\/p>\n – Pulverize in your blender or food processor.<\/p>\n -MIRA! Almond flour!<\/p>\n After\u00a0I made the almond flour, I made my own focaccia bread. It was absolutely fantastic. Tomorrow I am going to make a pizza.\u00a0All of my favorite bready things that I have been missing I can now make! I have to be honest and say that\u00a0not everything that I have attempted comes out great, so I will in the next few weeks share with you\u00a0some of my successes.\u00a0See the above photos of some of my most successful undertakings. (Hit the little dots under the photo to\u00a0see all the pictures.)<\/p>\n For my next column I will begin to share some of my favorite ketogenic recipes.\u00a0As an aside for dinner tonight, we are having focaccia bread with a delicious dipping oil, barbecued steak\u00a0with a blue cheese garlic compound butter, an organic salad from greens bought at our Friday Mercado del Pueblo<\/a><\/span> in Sayulita, and\u00a0chocolate mousse for dessert. My mouth is watering just describing my dinner to you!\u00a0And everything is keto friendly!<\/p>\n