About WickedStuffed

by Amanda C. Hughes

WickedStuffed was founded a decade ago, as a way for me to document the recipes I was creating for myself and friends eating a ketogenic diet. At that time, “keto” wasn’t a big thing, and a paleo approach to the ketogenic diet wasn’t even heard of. Most of the recipes you could find online were, frankly, pretty unhealthy. I wanted the marry the principles of paleo with keto for myself and others. Since then, I have published four cookbooks, developed recipes for top nutrition coaches, and even top subscription meal boxes. Creating food that makes people healthy and happy at the same time makes my heart smile. I’m a creative, and you could say food is my kind of art.

Why keto? For most people, ice cream is the cure-all that can mend a bad day, a broken heart, and a sunburn. While chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream has been there for me through thick and thin, it’s been the ketogenic diet that saved me from bigger issues, like being seriously overweight, chronic vertigo, and the resulting anxiety you get when it always feels like the room is spinning.

But unlike most people, I didn’t start the ketogenic diet to lose weight, I joined after learning about how it could reduce anxiety, and shrink tumors in people who have cancer. I was dealing with tremendous anxiety due to a cruise gone wrong, which resulted in chronic vertigo since I was 25. Additionally, my family is riddled with cancer, and it’s haunted me since I was 8 years old when the first person in my family died of cancer, my cousin Cameron when he was just 10 years old. From there, aunts, uncles and grandparents. So for me, the ketogenic diet is about a lot more than just getting “skinny,” which I am not. It’s about being healthy.

Although I have been following the ketogenic diet for a very long time, it’s not always consecutively and sometimes fall into “lazy keto” which is still so much better than no keto. When I started the ketogenic diet, I was new to dieting. Not because I wasn’t desperately in need of a healthier lifestyle, but it was and still is the only “diet” I’ve been on. I like to think of it as more of a lifestyle change because it truly does touch all parts of your life and changes the way you live.

As someone who’s happiest in the kitchen developing recipes, this blog is the result of all my years developing a whole foods-focused approach to the ketogenic diet for myself, and sharing them with you.

It’s for this reason you’ll find that my recipes are less likely to use “low-carb” products, even sweeteners like erythritol and stevia, unless necessary, and why I often recommend organic vegetables and grass-fed beef. By all means substitute your regular meat to stay within your budget, but when you have the option, go for the organic veggies that don’t use pesticides, and grass-fed beef, which is abundant in healthy, anti-inflammatory omega-3s. Organic isn’t a marketing word, it distinguishes high-quality ingredients. (All-natural and artisan, on the other hand, aren’t regulated and are purely marketing terms.)

My recipes are usually simple and include pantry staples, but I also frequently include some of my favorite keto ingredients, like ghee (I love ghee – I think it’s the best tasting cooking oil out there)!

I hope you enjoy these recipes as much as I do!

Amanda