by Leanne Vogel
Think about it for a second: Would you drink pig milk? What about pigeon? How about cockroach? For serious. These animals do in fact make milk for their young.
My Fat Fueled Protocol, as outlined in my Fat Fueled Program (healthfulpursuit.com/fatfueled), my Happy Keto Body Program (happyketobody.com), and my previous book, The Keto Diet (ketodietbook.com), doesn’t include dairy for these reasons. However, many of you told me that you wanted dairy options in my next book, so I’ve intertwined dairy and dairy-free options throughout this book so that the recipes meet you where you are, right at this moment. Dairy does work for some people, and for those people, being able to include dairy on keto can make all the difference. It provides a touch of flavor in recipes, and it can help you add variety to your diet and help you hit your fat macro that much more easily.
Dairy-free options trump dairy options throughout this book, meaning that all the recipes are dairy-free but can be made with dairy if you so choose.
DAIRY-FREE OR REGULAR CHEESE (shredded): If a recipe is better with a touch of shredded cheese, I called for either dairy-free or regular cheese.
Dairy-free cheese isn’t a real food and should be viewed as a treat. If I can make my own cheese, like Walnut “Cheese” (here) or Melty “Cheese” (here), I do. But it’s also important to show you how to use store-bought dairy-free options if convenience is important to you. My favorite dairy-free cheese brand is So Delicious.
By law, conventional American cheese has to be 51 percent cheese; the rest can be vegetable oil and fillers. It’s important to look for cheese that’s sourced from humanely raised cows, is Non-GMO Project Verified, and is made from pure, simple ingredients—never artificial. Artificial, you ask? Yes. Food coloring is often used in the making of cheese to give it its orange color. If you’re looking for a reputable brand, Applegate Naturals is one of my favorites and is readily available.
Note that for ease of preparation, to save a bit of money, and because dairy-free cheese doesn’t look as appetizing as the real thing, the recipe photos throughout this book picture real dairy cheese.
BUTTER (contains dairy): Butter is not called for in any of the recipes, but you’re free to use butter anywhere I call for coconut oil or ghee. If food quality is important to you, opt for butter sourced from grass-fed and grass-finished cattle. My favorite brand is Vital Farms.
GHEE (contains dairy): Ghee is butter that’s been cooked over low heat until the milk solids have started to brown lightly, creating a slightly nutty, caramelized flavor. It is shelf-stable, with a high smoke point and a deeply nutty flavor. Wherever ghee is a good option in a recipe, I’ve listed it. My favorite brand is Fourth and Heart.
NUTRITIONAL YEAST (dairy-free): Where a cheesy flavor is needed, nutritional yeast is a great option. It doesn’t melt like cheese, but when combined with garlic powder, onion powder, and a little mustard, it has a similar taste! My favorite is made by Bob’s Red Mill and is easy to find just about anywhere.
COCONUT CREAM (dairy-free): An alternative to heavy cream. It is thick like whipped cream directly from the can without needing to be chilled. It can be purchased in cans or Tetra Paks, although the canned versions are much easier to find. My favorite brands are Thai Kitchen and Native Forest. If you are following a low-FODMAP protocol, 1/3 cup (85 g) or less is safe. Any more than that and coconut cream becomes too high in FODMAPs.
COCONUT MILK (dairy-free): There are many ways to incorporate coconut milk into your keto diet. I’ve compared coconut milk to various forms of dairy so that you understand how they perform when being cooked with.
If you are following a low-FODMAP protocol, 1/3 cup (80 ml) or less is safe. Any more than that and coconut milk of any kind becomes too high in FODMAPs.
Full-fat coconut milk is an alternative to homogenized milk or heavy cream. It is very dense directly from the can. When chilled, the cream will separate from the water, and you’ll have thick coconut cream at the top of the can when you open it. My favorite brands are Thai Kitchen, Native Forest, and Thrive Market.
If you do not wish to use full-fat coconut milk, it can be replaced with an equal amount of full-fat dairy milk or heavy cream.
Lite coconut milk is an alternative to 1% or 2% milk. This type of coconut milk comes in cartons and is probably the more readily available option. You’ll find it at the supermarket labeled as coconut milk. There are various options to choose from, many of them sweetened, so look for the unsweetened variety. Also, if you have gut issues, you may want to opt for a carrageenan-free coconut milk. My favorite brand is So Delicious.
If you do not wish to use lite coconut milk, you can use another nondairy milk or 1% or 2% dairy milk.
Coconut cream is the high-fat portion of full-fat coconut milk and is a great alternative to heavy whipping cream. You can purchase coconut cream on its own or chill a can of full-fat coconut milk and skim the fat from the top of the can once it’s chilled.
MILK (dairy-free or regular): Whenever a recipe calls for just “milk,” without specifying a particular type, I have used lite coconut milk, as outlined above. But you can use any type of milk you wish, from 1% dairy milk to cashew milk to hemp milk and beyond. As long as your choice is unsweetened, you’re good to go!
OTHER NONDAIRY MILKS: There are dairy-free milk recipes on pages 342 to 347 if you would like to make your own. Alternatively, you can purchase all sorts of keto-friendly dairy-free milks at the supermarket, including almond milk, cashew milk, macadamia nut milk, and pea milk. Watch for carrageenan if you have a sensitive gut, and opt for the unsweetened variety.
If you’re following an AIP protocol, your best option is coconut milk. If you’re following a low-FODMAP protocol, your best options are almond, hemp, and macadamia nut milk.
Amp up the protein in your favorite nondairy milk by adding a scoop of collagen!
Homemade Versus Store-Bought Dressings and Sauces
I love dressings and marinades. They can mean the difference between getting excited for a home-cooked meal and opting for takeout. There’s something so fun about dressing up a familiar dish with something new, learning how to prepare your own sauces, and saving money, too!
There’s no shortage of store-bought keto-friendly dressings and sauces on the market today. Really, you’re looking for options that are high-fat and unsweetened. You can find many of these at your local supermarket for a good price. If ingredient quality is important to you, one of my favorite brands for ketchup, dressings, marinades, and mayonnaise, all made with avocado oil, is Primal Kitchen.
Any recipe that calls for a dressing, marinade, or mayonnaise calls for the store-bought version of the ingredient. I did this because 75 percent of the Healthful Pursuit community asked for it. If you’re among the 25 percent who would prefer to make your own high-fat/unsweetened keto versions at home, there are 18 recipes in this book to help you do just that! Each recipe that calls for a store-bought sauce of some sort has a feature labeled “Make It at Home,” which shows you how to make that same sauce yourself, adjusting the ingredients to suit your needs.
Where applicable, I’ve outlined which homemade dressings and sauces are used in which recipes so that when you have a batch of, say, Green Speckled Dressing (here) primed and ready to go in the refrigerator, you know which recipes in the book use that dressing. No more waste! You can find this feature on each of the applicable dressing recipes in the “Use in These Recipes” box.
Fat and Oil Options
It’s easy to go overboard on buying oils, but it doesn’t need to be this way. All you really need is one oil that’s safe for cooking and one that’s best for cold uses, like salad dressings.
In the recipes, I sometimes list various options for fats. You’ll see ingredient listings like:
3 tablespoons avocado oil, coconut oil, or ghee
None of them is the best option. Use whichever one you’d like.
In addition to butter and ghee, as outlined in the “Dairy/Nondairy Options” section on pages 54 to 56, there are a few
fats that I use throughout the book that you may find helpful to have in your pantry. My favorites, listed from most readily available and versatile to least, are:
COCONUT OIL (for cooking and baking): Coconut oil is readily available, which is why it’s my number-one recommended oil. You shouldn’t have a problem finding it. You could use lard, tallow, butter, ghee, or cacao butter in its place.
BUTTER-FLAVORED COCONUT OIL (for cooking and baking): If you can’t do butter but want the butter flavor, there are many coconut oils that are flavored with plant extracts to produce a buttery taste without the dairy. Anywhere where ghee or coconut oil is called for, you could use this butter-flavored coconut oil in its place. It’s a fairly common item at supermarkets, and doesn’t have the unhealthy processed oils like many of the butter substitutes on the market today. My favorite brand is Nutiva.
AVOCADO OIL (for cold uses, cooking, and baking): Avocado oil is the most versatile oil of all. It’s awesome on salads and great for cooking because of its high smoke point. There are refined and nonrefined options. I prefer refined because it doesn’t contribute an avocado flavor to recipes. My favorite brand is Chosen Foods. You could use olive oil in its place for the cold recipes only.
OLIVE OIL (for cold uses): Great for making your own mayonnaise and for adding to dressings, this oil is best used for recipes that are not cooked. I opt for extra-virgin olive oil, preferably organic. If I’m making mayonnaise, I like using a light olive oil with a minimal flavor. My favorite olive oil is the Kirkland brand from Costco.
CACAO BUTTER (for baking): Cacao butter, which is the fat from chocolate, is a little harder to find than the previous fats, and it’s a bit more expensive than the other options. I purchase mine on Amazon. You’re looking for a raw, unrefined, food-grade variety. You could use lard, tallow, ghee, coconut oil, or butter in its place.
MCT OIL POWDER (for cooking, baking, and drinks): MCT oil powder is made from spraying MCT oil on acacia fiber, a highly soluble fiber that’s sourced from the sap of the acacia tree. It’s different from MCT oil in that it fully incorporates into recipes without leaving a pool of fat behind. I don’t particularly like MCT oil for this reason, and because it causes digestive distress in many people. But MCT oil powder doesn’t have this effect. Considered more of a supplement, it’s a great way to add fat to recipes, including baked goods and drinks; however, it’s not essential to a keto diet.
See how unflavored MCT oil powder is used in these recipes:
Rocket Fuel Hot Chocolate
Coffee Shake
Haystack Cookies
Superpower Fat Bombs
Chocolate Soft-Serve Ice Cream
Coconut Milk
LARD (for cooking and baking): A suggested replacement item for coconut oil, ghee, or avocado oil in cooking, lard is best used in savory dishes or when baking cookies, muffins, or cakes. It’s highly saturated, offering richness to the dish it’s added to. Lard is easy to find online, or you can make your own by asking your butcher for unrendered fat, placing the fat pieces in your slow cooker, and cooking on high for 3 to 4 hours. Bits of protein will need to be strained afterward. The rendered fat will keep in the fridge for months and is quite cost-effective, too!
GARLIC-INFUSED OIL (for cold uses): Garlic-infused oil is just that—oil that’s been infused with garlic, usually made with olive oil. If you’re sensitive to garlic, as is the case for someone on a low-FODMAP diet, garlic-infused oil can add garlic flavor to a dish without causing digestive distress.
Sweeteners
There are many keto-friendly sweeteners to choose from, but I have opted to use the most common ones to keep you from running all over the city. My favorite sweeteners are:
ERYTHRITOL: This is my all-time favorite sweetener because of its versatility, ease of use (it replaces sugar one to one), and availability worldwide. My favorite brand is Swerve, which is a blend of erythritol, oligosaccharides, and natural flavors. Alternatively, you could use an equal amount of xylitol, monk fruit, or allulose; grind it finely in your blender or food processor if you need the powdered form. If you’re following an AIP protocol, however, erythritol is not safe. Use stevia in its place, or enjoy dishes unsweetened.
Confectioners’-style erythritol (aka powdered erythritol) is the type I like to use because it becomes smooth in recipes without needing to be heated extensively. It’s especially great when added to fat bombs, frostings, and drinks.
Granulated erythritol has a grainier texture and can be used in all recipes that call for granulated sugar.
In recipes where I simply call for erythritol, you can use either type. When I specify confectioners’-style or granulated, the type does matter to the end result of the recipe.
STEVIA (liquid): There are a bunch of liquid stevia brands on the market today that taste awful and have a horrible aftertaste. The only type of stevia I use is Now Foods stevia glycerite because it doesn’t have that metallic aftertaste that many of us on keto have come to hate. Alternatively, you could use monk fruit drops.
Protein
There are ample ways to hit your protein requirements on keto, and a lot of them are pretty straightforward—muscle meats, organ meats, seafood, eggs, and dairy (if you tolerate it). But I have used some other proteins in the recipes that may be unfamiliar to you, so it’s worth a little introduction.
COLLAGEN PEPTIDES AND/OR PROTEIN POWDER: These two ingredients can be used interchangeably throughout the book. With either option, be cognizant of choosing unsweetened, unflavored varieties. If you use a flavored and/or sweetened variety, it will affect the end result of the recipe.
I use unsweetened, unflavored collagen peptides because they have no taste, incorporate seamlessly into recipes, and benefit the gut. Collagen peptides are widely accessible in many supermarkets, health food stores, and online. My favorite brands are Equip and Thrive Market.
See how collagen is used in these recipes:
Hey Girl
Haystack Cookies
Superpower Fat Bombs
The Ultra Green
Chilled Chai
Vanilla Shake
Protein powder, on the other hand, can be a bit tricky. How well a protein powder integrates with other ingredients will rely on the type of protein it contains. Pea protein is notoriously more challenging to work with than something like egg white, beef, or whey protein due to its fiber content.
GELATIN: Think of gelatin as a sister to collagen. When collagen is added to hot or cold liquid, it integrates fully and does not alter the consistency, but when gelatin is mixed into something hot, it turns gelatinous as it cools, like a gummy.
CRUSHED PORK RINDS: A great replacement for panko breadcrumbs. You can make your own by purchasing pork rinds, placing them in a resealable bag, and crushing them on the counter, or you can purchase them already crushed. My favorite brand is Bacon’s Heir.
BONE BROTH: There truly is a difference between cooking with stock and broth. While not necessary, because of its richness, broth sure does make meals taste better! You can make your own broth or purchase it from a store. My two favorite brands are Kettle & Fire and Bonafide Provisions.
BACON: There are all sorts of bacon choices out there, some better than others. If your budget allows, opt for uncured and nitrate-free bacon. My favorite brand is Pederson’s Natural Farms.
A little tip: To make perfect crispy bacon, cook it in the microwave!
Pantry Goods and Refrigerated Items
HIMALAYAN SALT AND SEA SALT: Everywhere sea salt is called for, you can use Himalayan salt instead, but not the other way around. You’ll notice that I use Himalayan salt in drinks, because drinking seawater is never a good time, no matter how much you love the ocean. But for real, sea salt in drinks tastes a little off to me, which is why you’ll find two types of salt used in this book.
BLACK PEPPER: I love cooking with black pepper, but if you’re following an AIP protocol, you probably know that black pepper is off-limits in some of the phases. This is why m
any of the recipes in this book include a warning about black pepper.
ALMOND BUTTER: I enjoy smooth unsweetened almond butter because it has fewer carbs than almond butter made with almonds with the skins still on, and it’s more versatile for baking. The key is to find an almond butter without added sugar or processed oils.
COCONUT BUTTER (coconut manna): Coconut butter is to coconuts as peanut butter is to peanuts. Basically, coconut butter is ground coconut. My favorite brand of coconut butter is Artisana, and for coconut butter treats, I like Synchro.
SEED BUTTER: An awesome replacement for coconut butter or any nut butter, seed butter could be made from sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, or pumpkin seeds. I also call for tahini (ground sesame seeds) in a couple of the recipes.
CACAO, COCOA, AND CAROB POWDER: I bake exclusively with cacao powder. It tastes better, is better for you, and usually comes from more ethical sources. I call for cocoa powder in the recipes because it is more readily available and less costly, and the recipes will turn out fine if you use it. But if you can swing it, upgrade to cacao powder. You’ll never go back to the other stuff.
Additionally, if you’re AIP, cacao and cocoa are off-limits, but you can get away with eating a bit of carob. Carob is less bitter than chocolate and has a roasted, naturally sweet flavor. Just be mindful of the ingredients in carob products, as many of them come sweetened and use grain-based sweeteners like barley syrup. Your best bet is to use pure carob powder.