Megha Barot - Keto Made Easy

From Matt:

To my parents, Margaret and Richard, and my friends, Tarik, Adam, and LouYou're the average of the five people you spend the most time with.

From Megha:

To my dad, Ashok, and my best friend, KelseyYou have helped me realize that we never have life figured out, and that's okay. Eat good food, and be happy.

First Published in 2018 by Victory Belt Publishing Inc.

Copyright 2018 by Megha Barot and Matt Gaedke

All rights reserved

No part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written permission from the publisher.

ISBN-13: 978-1-628602-88-3

The authors are not licensed practitioners, physicians, or medical professionals and offer no medical diagnoses, treatments, suggestions, or counseling. The information presented herein has not been evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and it is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Full medical clearance from a licensed physician should be obtained before beginning or modifying any diet, exercise, or lifestyle program, and physicians should be informed of all nutritional changes.

The authors/owners claim no responsibility to any person or entity for any liability, loss, or damage caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly as a result of the use, application, or interpretation of the information presented herein.

Front and Back Cover Photography by Kala Snow

Cover Design by Justin-Aaron Velasco

Interior Design by Yordan Terziev and Boryana Yordanova

Printed in Canada

TC 0118

If you are holding this book and reading this preface, we want to say thank you. We hope you are excited to enter into this world of recipes that we have created for you in which you can indulge, guilt-free! We are Matt and Megha, and we make up KetoConnect. We run a food blog specific to a low-carb, ketogenic diet. We also have a YouTube channel that gives a glimpse into our lives with our pets, Miley and Julius, but, more importantly, shows you exactly how to make our recipes step by step, how to be prepared and successful in your keto lifestyle, and how to adapt as your body does.

Before we even met, we always had a passion for food, both for cooking it and for eating it. In particular, we loved Asian takeout and desserts, but we also highly valued our health. So we met at the crossroads of enjoying sweets and other comfort foods regularly and staying strict and doing what we knewor, should we say, thoughtwas good for us. But why not have both?

Shortly after meeting one another in San Francisco, we discovered the ketogenic diet and decided to give it a go together. We quit carbs cold turkey and got hit with the keto flubad! But a short time later, we noticed the exact opposite, with heightened energy and focus being two of the main benefits of our newfound lifestyle. (And since then, weve learned that the keto flu can be avoided or lessened through supplementation with the three major electrolytessodium, magnesium, and potassiumor by tapering down carb consumption as opposed to going cold turkey like we did.)

Once we started to cook with new ingredients and think a little differently about the food we put into our bodies, everything else in our lives changed as well. We ate out less and were more careful about what we consumed, but we still indulged in delicious homemade meals and desserts. Our love for eating higher-quality food and living a healthier lifestyle turned into more than just our bonding time; it became our business, too. We thought, Hey, whats stopping us from cooking, taking pictures, and posting it all on the internet for others to benefit?

Well, at the time, a lot. We had no means of making this happen. However, when Matt took the initial step of buying our first camera and the second step of buying the domain name KetoConnect.net , things started to become a little clearer.

Although nothing happened overnight, we continued to research the diet, fight about recipes (Megha preferred simple recipes, while Matt liked to overdo it with spices and other ingredients), burn all the desserts we made, and put in countless hours after coming home from our full-time jobs. Sure enough, we started to make a little progress. Everything wonderful in life takes time, and we are big advocates of enjoying the entire journey. If we hadnt put our heads down, focused, and kept working toward our goal of building KetoConnect, you wouldnt be holding this cookbook today.

With this book, we want to let you in on the idea that you can have it both ways: you can value your health and indulge in delicious foods, too. That is why we made sure to include all the foods we miss from our high-carb days, as well as the recipes that help us stay on track and on budget. The recipes in this book are designed to make the entire process a little easier, which is why we named the book Keto Made Easy.

Our goal is to provide you with a foundation of recipes from all categories, ranging from takeout favorites to desserts. We have found cooking to be an intimate and relaxing experience, and we want to give you those same feelings. No matter how busy our days areand sometimes we are working nonstopwe like to take at least ten minutes to make a meal worth eating or drinking! We know many of you are busy, too, or always on the go, so we have made it a point to include several quick-to-make recipes and recipes that you can meal prep for the week. However, we also know that many of you have families and have found cooking to be an enjoyable part of your keto journey, so we also give you the option to make more involved recipes, sure to satisfy even the pickiest kids! Most of our recipes are a great starting point for adding your own twists, and we always encourage a little experimentation. Thats where the magic happens!

A lot of our motivation has come from our viewers and supporters. Weve grown not only as individuals and as a business, but also in our ability to learn from you and then apply that knowledge as we develop new recipes that you can easily re-create and enjoy. We want cooking to be fun, lighthearted, and approachable. We want to inspire the chef within you to make our Southern Baked Chicken (), because you can live your healthiest life and indulge a little, too!

More and more people are cutting out carbs in hopes of losing weight, increasing energy, and performing better mentally and physically. Just about everyone has tried it at some point, but it can be hard to stick to for the long haul. Theres always a holiday or some other special occasion around the corner, and you know what that means: Moms fried chicken, your aunts homemade dinner rolls, or Grandmas rhubarb crisp. For every occasion there is a special food that you just cant pass up; its tradition.

Thats where this book comes in. Its loaded with keto-friendly versions of your favorite foods and should be used to supplement your keto diet in a way that makes it more sustainable. Rather than stopping to pick up a pint of ice cream on your way home from work, make one of the delicious desserts in this book. This book is jammed full of better choices!