bacon | Annie's Kitchen Therapy

We needed a quick low carb dinner after a long day, followed by a walk to the beach to see a gorgeous sunset. We wound up making zucchini fritters and BLTs on lettuce wraps. Delicious and low carb.

I never made the zucchini fritters before. What I did was grate up two zucchinis using my food processor (you could also use a box grater). I set the grated zucchini in a bowl, salted in and let it sit for an hour (the salt draws out the water). I then squeezed handfuls of the zucchini to get any residual water out and placed back in a dry bowl. I added seasoning (salt, pepper, minced garlic and 1/2 packet of Sazon – I’d love to add some parmesan to this, but the husband…), one egg and enough almond flour to bind the mixture. I pan fried the fritters, but you could also bake in the oven. They came out great. You can serve with a little tzatziki or even ranch dip on the side.

What to cook on a cold night with only a few ingredients? Shrimp! Super versatile, quick and yummy. Tonight I simply sauteed these jumbo babies in a little EVOO and butter with whatever fresh herbs I had on hand (today it was fresh sage) a little diced onion and of course minced garlic (to taste).

I also prepared a creamy polenta garnished with fresh chopped basil and mint. Pro-tip: use a chicken stock base to make the polenta, it adds a deeper flavor. You can also add either a drop of heavy cream or mascarpone to enhance the flavor.

As a starter I prepared a creamed cauliflower soup. In boiling water add a cut up head of cauliflower (core removed), cook until soft (about 10 minutes). Drain. Warm up about four cups of chicken stock, add cooked cauliflower, salt, pepper. Using an emulsifying blender, blend until soup is creamy smooth. Now add either 2 tablespoons of mascarpone or 1/4 cup of heavy cream. You can add more broth to thin or more mascarpone or cream to thicken. I topped with a handful of cooked, diced bacon. This was a winner! Pro-tip: you can make a soup like this with almost any vegetable. We often make zucchini soup, mushroom soup, butternut squash…etc.