The best recipe you'll make this year: keto cheese scone

If there’s one recipe I make over and over again it’s this. And it is delicious. (Thanks to my mother for discovering it. What a queen). She uncovered it when she had a pre-diabetes diagnosis and was looking for delicious recipe ideas that would be a solid replacement for bread at lunchtime.

And this is it. Perfect if you're following a low-carb or keto diet, trying to manage your blood sugar or looking for ways to lose weight without giving up all the foods you love. Also solid if you fancy a soup-y lunch and want to up the protein in that meal.

As a menopause nutritionist, I've spent over 10 years helping women navigate the frustrations of midlife weight gain. And one thing I've learned is that most women have already tried just about everything to shift those extra pounds. Cutting carbs, counting calories, fasting, keto. You name it.

The good news is that you don't have to follow a strict diet to lose weight in midlife. Sometimes it's the simple changes that make the biggest difference.

And these cheese scones are a cracking example.

I recommend them to clients all the time, particularly as an alternative to bread alongside a bowl of soup. I genuinely don't think I've met a client who hasn't loved them. (My children are another story. Apparently they're not 'proper' cheese scones. Their loss.) I’ve also eaten these with a cup of tea in the garden with the aforementioned mother. Nice afternoon treat that doesn’t muck up your blood sugar levels. I'm also a fan of the scone with Marmite. Or smoked salmon and cream cheese. I've not tried them with jam - I mean, cheese and jam, kinda goes or else it clashes, but I'll let you be the judge if this is your thing.

'd love to know your thoughts - leave me a message in the comments? So here we go…keto cheese scone recipe coming up. Hold onto your trousers.

Keto / low carb cheese scone

INGREDIENTS Makes 12 360g ground almonds 240g cheddar cheese, grated 1 tbsp baking powder ½ tsp cayenne (optional but adds a teeny, tiny kick) 4 eggs, beaten 50g butter melted A pinch or so of ground sea salt

METHOD Pre-heat the oven to 180C fan and line a baking sheet with baking parchment. In a bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients ground almonds, cheese and baking powder. Add as much cayenne as you like (personally, I like a decent pinch), and a little ground salt. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and the melted butter together, making sure you don’t scramble the eggs. (If I’m being lazy, which is often, I just chuck these two ingredients into the dry mix). Then mix the egg mixture into the dry mixture. Use your hands to form the mixture into loose balls and place on the baking parchment. Place in the centre of the oven and bake for 15 – 20 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 140C but bake for a further 5 minutes until golden brown and cooked through.

These freeze brilliantly once cool and you can take out of the freezer, defrost pop one in the oven to warm when you want. And, if you're anything like me and are a bit last-minute, you can even warm from frozen on a low-ish heat (about that 140C) for 10 mins. I dare say the microwave would also work but I have no guidance for you since I have only just got one. (Long story, who am I even?)

Let me know how you're eating yours - tag me in your recipes on Instagram here - https://www.instagram.com/foodfabulousnutrition/ (and might consider giving me a little follow while you're there).

Love these scones? Let's talk about weight loss in midlife

If you've been trying to lose weight, there's a good chance you've experimented with cutting carbs, fasting or perhaps even going full keto.

And there's a reason these approaches are popular. They can work for some people.

But sticking to a strict ketogenic diet can be pretty hard going. And the good news is that you don't have to be in ketosis to lose weight, improve your blood sugar balance or feel healthier.

I'm a big fan of making simple changes to the way we eat. These cheese scones are a perfect example. They're delicious, satisfying and a brilliant alternative to bread when you fancy something different with your lunch. But there's a lot more to successful midlife weight management than cutting carbs.

As a menopause nutritionist, I've spent over 10 years helping women make sense of what's happening to their bodies, why their usual approaches to weight loss seem to stop working and what they can do about it.

In fact, I wrote a whole book about it.

Everything They Told You About Menopause Weight Loss Is Wrong looks at why so much conventional weight loss advice lets women down in midlife, and what actually makes a difference.

If you're fed up with doing all the things you're told should work, only to find yourself getting nowhere, this book could completely change the way you think about weight loss in midlife.

And more importantly, what you do about it.

BUY IT HERE

Want to make more sense of what you're eating?

While we're talking about food and weight loss, let's talk about breakfast.

Because what you eat in the morning, or whether you eat anything at all, can make a real difference to your energy, hunger and how you feel for the rest of the day.

I've created a free Menopause Breakfast Fix to help women over 40 understand how breakfast fits into the bigger picture of metabolism, blood sugar and weight management.

It's packed with practical advice (and recipes) you can start using straight away. It's not one of those 'I bet it's not that good since it's free things'. It might change your life FOREVER (bold claim, also true - so many of my 1:1 clients are still eating breakfasts they discovered in this small but mighty programme).

GET YOUR BREAKFAST FIX