Last week, we did an inventory of our freezers, because they were both getting full and a lot of the stuff had been in there for way too long. So after cleaning out a bunch of old stuff, I was able to make a list of things that we had in there that I needed to use. One of them was a tube of Italian sausage that I bought a while ago and then didn’t end up using, for whatever reason. So for my lunches this week, since the weather has sadly cooled off, I decided to use it to make soup.
This one is a stovetop soup rather than an Instant Pot or slow cooker soup, and it’s fairly quick to make, all things considered. Start with two medium green peppers and one medium onion. Cut the green peppers into strips and the onion into slivers. If the pepper strips are too long to fit on a soup spoon, cut them in half crosswise. You’ll end up with about a cup and a half of pepper strips and 3/4 of a cup of onion slivers.
3.5-inch knife for scale.
Throw those into a Dutch oven with a pound of loose Italian sausage over medium-high heat. No need to add any seasoning yet. You’ll want to season this closer to the end, once you add all the ingredients, otherwise you might end up with too much salt. There are a lot of salty ingredients in this soup. I ended up not having to add anything at all. Cook the veggies and sausage together until the sausage is browned.
The sausage is about halfway finished browning here.
Once the sausage is browned, add a 14.5-ounce can of diced tomatoes, undrained, and 3 cups of chicken broth, turn the heat down to medium, and let it simmer for about ten minutes, until the peppers and onions have softened.
The simmering soup before adding all the stuff that makes it creamy.
After those ten minutes have passed, add an entire 8-ounce package of cream cheese, cut into chunks. Whisk those in until they melt into the liquid, then pour in 1/2 cup of heavy cream. Finally, add 3 ounces of parmesan cheese, one ounce at a time, whisking until it melts before adding the next batch.
The finished pot of soup.
At this point, taste it for seasoning. As I mentioned earlier, mine didn’t need anything other than some black pepper, but you may want to add salt or garlic powder, depending on how flavorful your Italian sausage is. Once you’ve gotten it seasoned to your liking, turn the heat off and serve it, or put it into meal prep containers. I managed to time mine perfectly and used the 6th serving as my Sunday lunch, just in time for the early NFL games to kick off. My Bills may have lost, but at least the soup was good.
Creamy Italian Sausage and Pepper Soup
30 minutes from start to finish, this low carb Italian sausage soup is great for a fall Sunday.
Cut the green peppers into strips and the onion into slivers.
Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the sausage, peppers, and onions, and cook until the sausage is browned, breaking it into crumbles as it cooks.
Add the tomatoes and chicken broth, turn the heat down to medium, and simmer for 10 minutes, until the peppers and onions are soft.
Add the cream cheese cubes and whisk until they melt into the liquid. Pour in the heavy cream, then add the parmesan cheese, one ounce at a time, stirring until it's melted before adding the next batch.
Taste for seasoning, add salt and pepper if needed, then remove from the heat and serve.
Macros per serving: 503 calories, 5 grams net carbs, 25 grams protein, 44 grams fat.
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I love cooking sous vide. It’s a really cool concept. You basically vacuum seal something (usually meat) and put it in a water bath that’s kept at a constant temperature. Eventually the meat is the same temperature all the way through, at which point you take it out of the bath and give it a quick sear on the outside to get that nice delicious browning. It makes the meat perfectly cooked without any guesswork.
For this recipe, I started by wanting to make a Cuban sandwich, so I needed some roast pork for the base. I’ll post the recipe for the sandwich next, of course, because it turned out awesome. I did the whole thing under a bit of a time crunch, so I didn’t have time to fully marinate the meat. Thankfully, I came up with a great alternative option, which was to make a paste out of the spices and liquid, so a little bit of the flavor of what would have been in the marinade got into the meat as it cooked. It worked beautifully!
First of all, you’ll need a vacuum sealer and a sous vide device of some sort. The gold standard of food sealers is the FoodSaver. Don’t get the cheapest one, as it has terrible reviews. This one is the best-reviewed of the bunch, but if the price tag freaks you out a bit, there’s always a decent one on sale at Costco if you have a membership. You’ll also need a sous vide cooker. I have the Sous Vide Supreme Demi, which I got as a gift, but I have friends who swear by the Anova, and you can’t argue with that price tag.
Start out by setting your sous vide to 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 Celsius). I used two small pork tenderloins, which turned out to be just shy of two pounds total of meat. Throw those into a vacuum seal bag. In a small bowl, mix together two tablespoons of cumin, a tablespoon of oregano, two teaspoons of salt, and a teaspoon each of garlic powder and onion powder. Also add however much black pepper you want. When you have all that mixed together, whisk in two tablespoons of orange juice and one tablespoon of lime juice. You should end up with a paste. Put it in the bag with the pork and massage it around to make sure it coats them evenly, then seal the bag using the “Moist” setting so the liquid all stays in the bag. Submerge them in the sous vide and let them stay in there for four hours.
When you remove them from the bag, pat them dry and discard any remaining juices. Heat two tablespoons of avocado oil over high heat in an enameled cast iron skillet, and sear the pork for about two minutes per side. To serve, slice it thinly.
While I used this in a sandwich, it would also be great over mashed cauliflower with a veggie side. This is a great meal for your non-keto family to eat as well, as it’s fairly lean and would be great with some quick beans and rice and pineapple.
Sous Vide Cuban Pork Tenderloin
A perfectly cooked pork tenderloin with Cuban spices.
Preheat your sous vide to 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 celsius).
Add the pork to a vacuum sealer bag, leaving it open.
Mix together the cumin, oregano, salt, onion powder, garlic powder, and black pepper in a small bowl. Add the orange and lime juices and whisk until it makes a paste. Pour the paste into the bag with the pork and massage it around so that the pork is covered. Seal the bag using the moist food setting and put it in the sous vide for 4 hours.
Remove the bag, open it with scissors, and drain the liquids. Pat each piece of pork dry with paper towels. Heat the oil in a large enameled cast-iron skillet over high heat, then sear the pork for two minutes per side. Slice thinly to serve.
For the macros, since only a negligible amount of the paste actually ends up on the finished product, I'm only calculating the pork itself. Per serving, it's 130 calories, 0 grams of carbs, 23 grams of protein, and 4 grams of fat.
Keyword Cuban, low carb, low-calorie, pork, sous vide
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I can’t remember the first time I had picadillo, but it was instant love. Spiced beef mixed with capers and olives, raisins and potatoes. Well, I can’t have those last two anymore, but the good news is that it’s actually even better without them. I’m not big on sweet and savory, even though it actually works for this particular dish. And the potatoes are mainly just unnecessary carbs. So instead I’m just eating savory and salty, and it works out well. This is also a great recipe for meal prep, because it’s quick and to make and both freezes and reheats well.
By quick and easy, I mean that this might be the shortest recipe post I’ve ever made. Start out with 2 pounds of ground beef. I used 93% lean because that was what was on sale, but normally I’d use 85%. My macros count 93% lean, so make sure you adjust for that if you use something different. Chop up a small onion (I ended up with about 2/3 cup) and half a green pepper. Throw all of this into a large Dutch oven or deep non-stick skillet, add two tablespoons of cumin, a tablespoon of oregano, a tablespoon of garlic, a teaspoon of salt, and several grinds of black pepper. Brown the beef over medium-high heat, breaking it up as it cooks. Once the beef is browned, add a can (about 1.75 cups) of tomato sauce and two tablespoons of capers. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for ten minutes or so, until the onions and pepper are soft, then add 12 halved jumbo pimiento-stuffed green olives. Serve it by itself or over cauliflower rice. See? Literally one paragraph of description. The recipe will almost be redundant.
Keto Cuban Picadillo
Salty and savory, this Cuban recipe is great for meal-prep.
Add the ground beef, peppers, onions, garlic, cumin, oregano, salt, and pepper to a Dutch oven or deep non-stick skillet over medium high heat. Cook, stirring the beef to crumble it, until the beef is browned.
Add the tomato sauce and capers and simmer until the peppers and onions are soft, about 10 minutes. Add the olives and remove from heat. Serve alone or with cauliflower rice.
Macros per serving, using 93% lean beef: 286 calories, 7 net carbs, 32 grams protein, 13 grams fat.
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All the flavors of a Reuben sandwich from your favorite deli, in breakfast form! This make-ahead reuben frittata is a great low-calorie breakfast treat.
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