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A bonus post!  With not great pictures!  Clearly a food photographer I am not.  I switched up my posting schedule this week because I wanted to share a food/diet related post.  

Back in May (May 22nd, to be exact) I decided that I was tired of feeling fat and sluggish all the time.  I tend not to ease into things when I want or need a change.  Like when I gave up Diet Coke which is, honestly, harder than crack cocaine to give up (I'm guessing….).  I just quit my six-pack a day habit cold turkey.  Well in May I decided to quit my bread habit.  

I went Keto.  This isn't going to be a how to post on the ketogenic way of eating but I wanted to give some background on how I lost 40 lbs.  Keto, for anyone that doesn't know, is essentially a low carb, high fat diet.  It's reminiscent of the Atkins diet but with more restraint – no eating bacon and steak all the live long day.  I keep my carbs under 20 grams a day and my fat and protein intake almost equal (81 grams of protein and 101 grams of fat is my daily goal).  I get my fats from avocados and avocado oil mostly with the occasional pat of butter thrown in when cooking.  Some would say my fat to protein ratio isn't high enough but since I have fat to lose I want to get the rest from my ample stores.  So far it is working for me and I have been steadily losing weight at a healthy rate.  

Anyway – blah blah blah…bottom line is I found this way of eating incredibly easy to adapt to.  I may have had a week or two at the beginning where my body was a bit mystified that it wasn't getting two slices of buttered cinnamon toast every morning but other than that I haven't felt deprived.  I also find it very easy to eat out – just order a salad with some grilled chicken and you are good to go.

So on to the recipe – I call this a deconstructed egg roll.  There are a number of versions out there generally referred to as Crack Slaw (two references to crack in one post – I'm going to attract a different kind of demographic here) and this is my take on it.  I don't eat pork, which is the standard protein in this dish, so my version is made with ground chicken or ground turkey.

This is seriously good whether you are eating low carb or not.  Rick loves it as much as I do.  It is a great weeknight meal because it doesn't take very long to throw it together.  We have it at least once a week.

Deconstructed Egg Roll

• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1 lb ground chicken or turkey
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder (or two cloves fresh garlic, minced)
• 2 tbsp minced ginger (or 1/2 tsp. ground ginger)
• 1 tbsp garlic chili sauce 
• 1 14 oz. bag coleslaw
• 3 tbsp tamari or soy sauce
• 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 2 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
• 2 green onions, sliced (white and green parts)
• Salt and pepper to taste

In a large skillet heat sesame oil over medium-high heat and cook the diced onion until translucent. 

If using fresh garlic, add to pan and cook for another minute or two. 

Push to the outside and add ground chicken or turkey, garlic chili sauce, ginger and dried garlic powder, if you are using it instead of fresh, to pan and cook until chicken or turkey is cooked through. 

Add coleslaw, tamari (or soy sauce), rice wine vinegar and chicken broth and saute until coleslaw is tender.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  I like to wait until I've added all the other ingredients since the tamari (or soy sauce) and chicken broth are both salty and I don't want to over do it.

Garnish with sliced green onions and toasted sesame seeds.  

You can add fried wonton strips (found with croutons at the store) for anyone that is not worried about the carbs.  

One last tip before I end this post – I found lightly dried ginger in the produce section of our grocery store and it is fabulous.  All the flavor of fresh but without the hassle of mincing it.  I use 1 tbsp. of the lightly dried in place of 2 tbsp. of fresh ginger.

I hope you'll give this recipe a try.