Low Carb/Paleo Tortilla Chips

Yes, you read the title right.  One thing that always hangs me up on low-carb, is my love for chips and ANY kind of dip (but preferable salsa).  So I stumbled across this recipe and thought, I have all the ingredients why not try it out!  I got this from Paleo Grubs and tried it out today.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees

Ingredients

1 cup almond flour

1 egg white

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp onion powder  ( I didn't have any of this so withheld)

1/4 tsp paprika

 

 

Throw all the ingredients in a bowl and mix together until they form a doughy ball

 

Place a piece of parchment paper on the bottom of your cookie sheet, as well as a place on top of the dough and roll out as thin as you can get it.  Then I used a pizza cutter to make triangle shapes out of the dough (fun, as I never liked geometry...how many triangles in a squarish circleish shape??)

 

Pop in the oven for 11-13 minutes (I probably let mine sit in there 15 to insure crunch) or until they are golden brown.

 

Let sit for five minutes, then pop off the tray with a spatula!

 

 

I put a chicken/bell pepper/cheese mix on mine for dinner and they were delicious.  My son, who is always super picky, even liked them!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Make Ahead Freezer Meals

The school year is winding down, and this is the time of year that seems to be the busiest for me.  Between work obligations, Hunter's sports, and taking care of a house I find myself stretched thin.  So I find that meal planning and make ahead meals take the stress of feeding my family off of my mind.

My kids love tacos (where do they get that from?!) So an easy make ahead is browning several servings of taco meat, dividing them up into freezer bags, and throwing them into freezer.  Usually the day I'm going to use a bag I will throw it in the refrigerator in the morning.  Works perfectly!   I found this blog, Fun With Sharps, and she shared several recipes.  I ended up making the Italian Chicken and my own version of Honey Pineapple Chicken (see recipe below).  I cut her recipes in half, as the kids and I won't eat as much so I ended up getting three meals out of it.

Pineapple Chicken

1 lb chicken breasts (frozen is fine)
Small can of pineapple chunks and juice
1/3 cup soy sauce

Freeze

When ready to eat put in crock pot for 6-8 hours on low. I prefer oven method and let meal thaw in refrigerator during the day, put in oven at 350 for 30-40 minutes.

Serve over rice.  Kids love it!

Cauliflower Pizza Crust-Low Carb and Gluten Free

Ah pizza....one of my favorites!  So when I came across the cauliflower crust recipe on Pinterest I gave it a try.

Go to the link to get the recipe, the only modification I made was I made three mini crusts. Once cooled I wrapped in cling wrap and foil and froze them. To use just thaw out, put on favorite toppings and bake at 350 for about 10 minutes.

Bacon, Cheddar, and jalapeno dip

From one of my favorite recipe sources DJ Foodie I present this delectable, HOT dip!  It's oh so good!  I had to make a few changes due to what I had on hand so original recipe is at link.

2 tbsp olive oil (or fat of your choosing)
2 green onion stalks
5 jalepeno (from whole jalepeno can, not fresh...gasp! )
2 garlic cloves
8 ounces cream cheese
1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese
3 pieces of bacon


Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
 In a medium saucepan heat olive oil, green onions, and chopped jalapeno until tender.  Soften the cream cheese in microwave, crumble bacon over cream cheese and add vegetable mix with cheese. Stir together

Put in pie pan dish and pat down

Bake at 400 for 15 minutes.

Mock Mac and Cheese

My husband makes fun of me all of the time because I don't care for mac and cheese.  Apparently that is "un-American" of me.  One thing I do enjoy is homemade macaroni and cheese, like my friend Donna Himebauch makes for family dinners.

Because my husband loves the good ole' American treat, I decided to try and make a low carb version. I found this recipe on Pinterest and altered it by a smidgen. It doesn't taste like the boxed stuff, so if that's what your looking for move on. However it does have the warm cheesy goodness of the homemade version I love.

1 bag of frozen cauliflower
8oz. Cream cheese
1 cup cheddar cheese
4 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
2 tbs. Dijon mustard
sprinkle of  garlic powder (if that's your thing)

Preheat oven to 350

Place the cauliflower in a microwaveable dish for 5 minutes. Remove and stir. If needed place back in microwave for an additional 1-2 minutes.

Chop up cream cheese and place into a saucepan. Begin to melt and add garlic powder.    Once melted whisk in whipping cream, mustard, and 1/2 the cheese. Stir until melted and blended together.

Chop up cauliflower if desired. Pour into small baking dish. Stir in cheese mixture until well blended. Top with rest of cheese.

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

Gift Wrap Organizer

So as I stated last week, while telling you about my DIY workstation, I am organizing.  My pantry isn't quite there yet, but I made some headway this weekend when I organized my gift wrap and gift bags (I was truly shocked at how much I have, I may never have to buy a gift bag again!)  This tutorial on Pinterest gave me the idea to use an over-door shoe organizer to contain my supply. 

I got one for about 8 bucks at Walmart last week.  I didn't sew the pouch that the original poster did (my sewing machine doesn't see much action between August-May).  I rolled up my gift bags and put them into the pouches(my organizer wasn't made like the original poster, so I couldn't make two slots into one).  My tissue paper also got stuffed into a couple pouches (please ignore the messy tissue paper, I didn't take the time to straighten it all out).  The wrapping paper on the bottom was a bit of a problem though.  Only putting it into the bottom slot didn't allow the paper enough support to hold it without it falling out.  So I cut the bottom of the slots right above so the wrapping paper could slide right through it. 

I'm happy with how it turned out, and really impressed at how much I had accumulated. 

Low Carb Chicken Enchilada's

I made this recipe a few weeks ago and it was awesome!  If you know me, you know that I LOVE Mexican food.  This White Chicken Enchilada recipe is one of the first Pinterest recipes I tried years ago, if you haven't tried that recipe yet, I strongly encourage you to, it's so good!  However, it didn't fit the bill for my lower carb ways so I began my search for alternatives.  I struck gold with this one from Food.com.  I added more chicken and less than a pint of heavy whipping cream.  Warning...this dish is RICH! 

5 chicken breasts, cooked and cut into pieces or 3 chicken breasts, shredded

1 (4 ounce) can green chilies, chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1 (1 ounce) package cream cheese
2 cups grated cheddar cheese (Monterey Jack, Pepper Jack, etc.) or 2 cups your favorite
cheddar cheese, mix (Monterey Jack, Pepper Jack, etc.)
1/2 pint heavy whipping cream

1 bit butter

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

 

Cut up onion.  Melt butter in a saucepan.  Once butter is melted, cook onions until they become transparent.  Put chicken and green chilies in and mix with the onion mixture.  Chop cream cheese into small squares and stir into chicken mixture until cheese is melted. 

 

Spread mixture into a casserole dish (13x9).  Top with 1 cup of cheese.  Then pour the heavy whipping cream over the mix and top with rest of cheese mix. 

 

Bake on 350 for 30-35 minutes.