Fried "Apples" Whodathunkit

 The keto diet is a weird thing and has many foods that you normally associate with a healthy diet totally verboten.  Like carrots, beans,  peas, and just about any fruit besides berries, but it is seriously in favor of most vegetables so I try to eat a lot of vegetables.  In fact, most days that is all I eat for lunch and  try to have salad or slaw with every night.  Even if I have something most people call potatoes for dinner, it is actually transformed cauliflower.

Thursday night we had a planned "breakfast" dinner. TheHub has been wanting pancakes, but he is going into the office 7 mornings a week leaving the house right at 6. I never make breakfast for him on weekdays. I mean, he can pour that cereal into a bowl just as easily as I can and I don't  get up at 5 to cook for anyone.  But I do  try to fix it at least one weekend morning, cause I am just nice that way.😏

Which leads to my Thursday night quandary . How was I going to make a pancake supper while incorporating vegetables into my meal?  I mean, who eats pancakes with a side of broccoli? A little internet browsing and I found a solution. Then a little tweaking and reimagining led me to this.

 Keto Fried "Apples"

1 medium zucchini, peeled and cut into small cubes

1 teaspoon butter

1 teaspoon neutral oil (I used grape-seed)

2 teaspoons lemon juice

cinnamon

apple pie spice blend

dash of ginger

1  1/2 tablespoon sugar substitute (I used half regular Swerve and half brown sugar Swerve)

In a non-stick pan melt the butter and oil. Add the zucchini pieces and cook until they are crisp tender, then add the lemon juice, stirring constantly until the zucchini is soft (but not mushy) Add the spices and the sweetener stirring well to coat and cook for about another minute or two. Serve immediately. 

This tasted remarkably similar to traditional fried apples. I cut my zucchini is different size cubes to see whether the size of the cubes mattered and it does. They need to be smaller so the flavor permeates the squash. The larger pieces tasted very good until you bit in he middle of them, an then it just tasted like zucchini. Since zucchini really does not have a terribly distinct flavor it was not unpleasant, but the smaller cubes tasted delicious throughout. 

Obviously there is a texture difference so cooking it just to the point of softness is critical for it to maintain its shape and not become mushy.

This is something I will definitely do again. I had three zucchinis and am very tempted to go ahead and do this with the other two and freeze them in individual servings. I think they would make a good addition to keto muffins, a crumble or some weird keto apple pie.