Keto Recipes: Pork Belly Burgers & Browned Butter Shortbread

Well, almost three weeks ago I promised to give you the recipes for my latest Keto creations and then I never posted them! I do apologize; I joined a new weight loss group and have been fasting for extended periods and writing about food was just more than I could handle. The kids' track and soccer seasons are also underway and that doesn't leave me with much time for writing about anything! 

But back to the recipes... a couple weeks ago our son was home for Spring Break and I made him a special meal every night. Since he has Type 1 Diabetes it's hard for him to find foods in the cafeteria he can eat and he's stuck with little diversity in his diet. I try to make sure he gets a lot of variety when he comes home. This time I introduced my Pork Belly Burgers, shown above. These are pretty easy to make. You can buy pre-made raw hamburger patties to save time and make it even easier.

Pork Belly Burgers
Serves 4

Burgers:
8 Pre-Made Hamburger Patties or
2 lb Ground Beef
1/4 Cup Dijon Mustard
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/4 Tsp Black Pepper

Pork Belly:
1 lb Pork Belly
1/8 Cup Lakanto Maple-Flavored Syrup
1/8 Cup Bragg's Liquid Aminos
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/4 Tsp Black Pepper
1/2 Tsp Asian Five Spice Powder

Chipotle Ranch Salad Dressing, for drizzling.

To prepare the pork belly, lay out the slabs of belly in a 13x9 inch pan. Sprinkle each side with the salt, pepper, and Asian spices. Cover with the Lakanto syrup and Liquid Aminos and turn to coat completely. Cover and marinate in the refrigerator at least 2 hours or overnight. After marination, remove the cover and transfer the pan to an oven heated to 350 degrees. Cook 1 hour or until meltingly tender but still holding together enough to pick up with a fork or chopsticks (see second photo above). Remove from the pan, reserving the drippings for later use. Cut into bite-sized pieces.

At this point, cook the burger patties as instructed on the label or mix all ingredients, form into 8 patties, and fry, grill, or bake as desired (if baking I cook at 350 degrees about 8 minutes per side or until fully-cooked). While the burgers are cooking pour the pan drippings into a frying pan. I prefer cast iron. Heat the grease over medium-high heat until a drop of water will sizzle when you flick it into the grease. Add the pork belly to the grease and fry 4-7 minutes per side or until a crispy crust forms on each piece. Remove to a bowl lined with paper towels and keep warm. 

When the burgers and pork belly are done plate the burgers, top with pork belly, and drizzle with the Chipotle Ranch dressing. 

This easy recipe is sweet, salty, and mildly spicy all at once! We prefer the Lakanto maple-flavored monkfruit syrup and the Walden Farms Chipotle Ranch Calorie Free dressing. The Braggs Liquid Aminos are a traditionally-prepared soy sauce free of the artificial chemicals and commercial sodium added to most bottled soy sauce.

Browned Butter Shortbread Cookies
Makes 1 Dozen Cookies

2 Cups Almond Flour
6-8 Tablespoons Browned Butter (see recipe to prepare)
1/2 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
6 TBSP Golden Monkfruit Sweetener (We prefer Lakanto)
1/4 Cup Unsweetened Dried Cranberries (optional)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Begin by browning the butter. Add butter to a saucepan and melt. Simmer over medium-low heat until the edges of the pan begin to collect tiny brown flecks and the butter fragrance intensifies. Watch carefully to make sure you don't burn the butter!  Set aside.

Blend all ingredients except the butter and cranberries in a mixer or mixing bowl. Gradually add butter until the mixture is the texture of play dough and you can easily squeeze or roll it into a ball. Add cranberries if desired. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes. Roll the dough into balls about the size of a chestnut. Place on a parchment paper-lined baking pan. Press each ball flat with your fingers or the back of a spoon. Bake 15 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Allow to cool almost completely on the pan. Then lift the entire sheet of paper with the cookies on it and place on a wire rack to cool completely. These are very fragile before they are cooled. 

These crumbly, buttery cookies really hit the spot! I adapted a recipe from @ketochix on Instagram to get them as close to the shortbread I remembered from my youth. Browning the butter adds the depth of flavor that provides the richness I wanted. I prefer these without the fruit but everyone else in the family likes them with the cranberries.

I know you're probably curious about my new weight loss group and the extended fasting. As you know, since September of 2017 we've switched to the ketogenic diet and I started testing with keto sticks to see how various foods affect my blood sugar. This works a lot better for me than counting carbs because it turns out strange things knock me out of ketosis. For instance, I can eat a sushi roll and stay in ketosis but a sugar-free Propel water will take me out! Keto worked fairly well for me. I lost about 15 pounds pretty quickly and then stalled out, with my weight just going up and back down within a 5 pound range for several months. Around July of 2018 I added intermittent fasting after reading Dr. Fung's books, The Obesity Code and The Complete Guide to Fasting. I joined Dr. Fung's approved Facebook fasting support group. A moderator runs this group; Dr. Fung is not personally involved. I lost another 5-10 more pounds with the fasting but got stuck again. I will say, ketogenic weight loss is not like weight loss I've experienced in the past. My body composition has definitely changed and I look as if I've lost a lot more than I have. My clothing size went from a tight 2X to a Large and even a Medium in some brands. I can wear clothes that haven't fit in years. Still, I want and need to lose a lot more. I was thrilled to see Dr. Wade Baskin formed a fasting group. Dr. Wade runs this group himself and teaches the techniques that helped him lose a significant amount of weight at age 50. You can find him on Instagram as @drwade_physio.

Basically the program is this: extended fasting plus a carnivore diet. Dr. Wade recommends you start with a 72 hour fast, then re-feed with 500-1000 calories of red meat if possible, although other meats and eggs are permitted. Then fast for 48 hours, and keep repeating this pattern until you are at your goal weight, at which time you can move to OMAD, or one meal per day, mainly eating meat. I've been on Dr. Wade's program for a week and a half and I've already lost 12 pounds! I'm extremely happy to have broken through my plateau. Dr. Wade broadcasts live once a week to give advice and the other group members are very helpful. During these fasts I drink an electrolyte solution of 4 tsp baking soda and 4 tsp No-Salt (potassium chloride) dissolved in 1 gallon of water. If necessary I also drink coffee with a small amount of heavy cream added and bone broth. I try to avoid the coffee and broth but I tend to get headaches and/or dizziness when fasting and if I do that's a sign I need to drink some coffee and broth. Exercise is not required on this plan although slow walking, preferably outdoors, or swimming or weight lifting may be added but you should take care not to over-exert yourself as this can lead to a rise in cortisol and stall out your weight loss.

For me, personally, trying to start fasting, Keto, and exercise all at once is a recipe for disaster. I tried it in early 2017 and it was just too much and I ended up quitting. If you want to get started I recommend first eating a ketogenic diet for a few months, using the keto sticks to make sure you'e staying in ketosis and that you understand which foods take you out. In general, to stay in ketosis you will need to avoid carbohydrates like sugar, grains, and starches as well as artificial flavors and sweeteners but you will need to test yourself to see what you can tolerate. After a few months you will find you are less and less hungry. Then you can add fasting to your regimen. At first I just made sure to have at least 12 hours between eating or drinking anything caloric at night and breakfast in the morning and I worked up from there. At this point I am able to fast at least 72 hours (3 days) without much trouble. The first extended fasts were really hard for me. Autophagy, the process through which your body removes and replaces damaged cells and toxins trapped within your fat cells (one purpose of your fat cells is to trap toxic substances and insulate them from the rest of your body), kicked in hard and I experienced bad GI issues as well as insomnia and weird skin sores. As I eliminated fat cells they released the toxins they had stored into my body, which quickly pushed them out in every way possible, including right through the skin. The more processed junk and chemicals you've been ingesting, the more you'll experience this as you fast, so you'll want to clean up your diet as much as possible before beginning the extended fasts. If you experience these symptoms, just break your fast and try again later. I had to try several times to get past 50 hours of fasting but I finally accomplished it, and now I'm to the point I can write about food and look at recipes without really craving food. It's Thursday evening and I've been fasting since Monday and I'm not hungry right now or even thinking about food at all. You can follow me on Instagram to see me progress.

As always, please remember I'm not a medical professional of any kind. I'm just recording my journey. Always talk to your doctor before embarking on any health or weight loss plan. If you are already lean, and especially if you have 4% body fat or less, you do not need to be fasting for extended periods.