Pantry staples

I am an advocate of a well-stocked pantry and being able to try new things without a specific trip to the grocery store. Here are the basic ingredients I keep in my pantry to afford myself as much flexibility as I can in experimenting with new recipes. Note that my son has a peanut and tree nut allergy so I don't have any nut flours or related ingredients to recommend.

Flour substitutes: KetoCuisine and coconut flour. KetoCuisine is a soy- and dairy-based powder that is by itself a 5:1 ratio. It's not a one-for-one replacement for other types of flour, but it is a really useful baking ingredient and there are a lot of recipes out there - including some published by the manufacturer - that make great use of it for things like pancakes, cookies, pizza dough, crackers, and other goodies. Coconut flour is the only alternative "natural" flour M can tolerate due to his nut allergy, so we use it when we can. It's great for things like Fathead Dough (a keto dough for things like bagels and pizza crusts), but it is very absorbent and so has a really different texture than other flours - it doesn't work perfectly in everything, but it does broaden our recipe horizons a bit.

Plant-based fats: since nuts are off the table, I use various types of seeds. These can be used to make fat bombs, "porridge", and other goodies. The fat content is pretty good in hemp seeds, chia seeds, and flax seeds, though the latter need to either be cooked, soaked, or ground if you don't want them passing straight through kiddo's digestive tract. (The easy way out, which I also do, is to just buy pre-ground flaxseed meal. It doesn't have as long a shelf life as whole flax seeds, but I can't be bothered to grind flax seeds every time I want to use them) I also have unsweetened shredded coconut, which is similarly versatile. I'm going to count cocoa butter as also being a plant-based fat though its form is very different. I haven't yet found the killer use for this for M - the things I've tried so far have been markedly unsuccessful - but I have faith that the day will come that he appreciates my cooking attempts with it. (In the meantime, I can soften it and use it as keto-friendly moisturizer on him, and then my kid smells like chocolate, and that's awesome)

Flavorings: because little kids can get really damn sick of cream in its various forms. Unsweetened cacao powder, with a bit of artificial sweetener (below), combines with cream for decent hot chocolate, and there are tons of fat bomb recipes out there which leverage chocolate. This Baker's imitation vanilla extract is a keto-friendly flavoring that was given to us by our dietician, and I use it a lot. And finally, Bickford's carb-free water-based flavorings are a treasure trove of every possible flavor you can imagine, and as summer approaches I'm looking forward to trying out different keto ice cream flavors on M, including my best attempt at his sister's beloved cotton candy ice cream. (Amazon carries some of their flavor sets, but their amazing full catalog is here.)

Sweeteners: these can be controversial since artificial sweeteners really have a bad rap, and even the Charlie Foundation no longer recommends a bunch of them, but these were both okayed by M's team so I use them without worry. Liquid Sweet 'n' Low for everyday use and powdered Truvia for baking.