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.

 

 

Artichoke Dip Stuffed Peppers

I love experimenting with recipes and modifying ones I see on Pinterest. So last night I decided to use some ingredients that I had laying around to make a delicious new appetizer. I took these two recipes, artichoke dip and the stuffed peppers did some tweaking, and had a warm, healthy treat.

12-18 sweet mini peppers (halved and seeded)
1 head of garlic
1 can of artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
4 oz of cream cheese
1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/2 tsp cracked pepper
1 1/2 cups shredded Italian cheese mix

 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Halve and seed the peppers.

 

Mix the garlic, artichoke hearts, cream cheese, yogurt**, mayonnaise, pepper, and 1/2 the cheese together. 

 

Spoon the mixture into each of the pepper.  Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

 

**Mixture was a bit runnier than I would like, and I also think the flavor might have been better without the yogurt.  Next time, I think I will omit the yogurt and add some more cream cheese.

 

 

Low Carb Fudge

I recently discovered coconut oil. I enjoy baking with coconut oil as well as making my version of this primal fudge recipe. I took the honey out to help lower the carb count but have had it both ways. With honey is delicious, without isn't too bad (it will satisfy the sweet tooth)  I have also put some peppermint extract in since mint is my favorite flavor!  These store in the refrigerator and can be whipped up in minutes.

1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
1/2 cup peanut butter or almond butter
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (watch carb counts if low carb important to you).
2 tsp vanilla extract


Put all ingredients into blender. Make sure coconut oil fully melted. Blend ingredients well and pour into an ice cube tray. Freeze for thirty minutes, pop out and store in refrigerator.

Low Carb Taco Casserole

1 medium size spaghetti squash
2 lbs. of ground beef
8 oz. of salsa (whichever kind you like, but watch carb count)
2 cups of sour cream
1 1/2 cups of cheddar cheese
2 packets of taco seasoning

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

Cut your spaghetti squash in half, scrapping out all of in the seeds.  Line a cookie sheet with foil and place each piece face down.  Bake for 35-40 minutes.  When finished set oven to 350 degrees

While that is baking, brown 2 lbs. of ground beef.  Season with two packets of taco seasoning, according to directions on packet (again watch carb count on these too).  Stir in salsa.

Once, squash has come out of the oven and cooled, scrape the insides out into a casserole dish.  Squash should have consistency of spaghetti noodles.  Spread squash out so it covers the bottom of the dish.  Spread the meat mixture over the layer of "noodles".  Spoon sour cream onto the mixture and stir into the meat (try to leave the squash on the bottom).  Once well mixed, spread the cheese onto the top of the dish.

Bake dish at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.  Delicious taco-y goodness!

Low-Carb Cream Cheese Pancakes

Pancakes...my favorite breakfast to make on those lazy Saturday mornings.  My kids and I love pancakes, but when I decided low-carb is the way to go, pancakes were out the window.  Until I stumbled along this gem.  I got this from Ashley over at Just a Pinch Recipes.  I only modified a bit (added 3 oz. of cream cheese instead of 2 to try and stretch it a bit.)  The kids devoured it, and I was pleasantly surprised that I felt as though I was indulging!! 

3 oz. cream cheese (softened in microwave for about 20 seconds)
2 eggs
1 packet of stevia
1/2 tsp. of cinnamon


Put all ingredients into the blender, mix well.  Pour a small amount onto a greased skillet (will be a bit runny so a small amount will go a long way). 

I used sugar free syrup and had mine with some bacon!  Added strawberries for the kids!   Enjoy!!

DIY Workstation

As of this October, we have been in our home for seven years!   Seven years and two kids later, we have accumulated alot of stuff.  I decided that we needed to have a garage sale, and that I was going to get the house in order.  I started with the office, and due to the fact that we have a couple of businesses and our own finances to take care of, I needed filing space.  I also wanted another desk for my sewing station, because whenever I start a sewing project on the breakfast table I have to put it all away daily, and honestly can't stand looking at the clutter in my breakfast room. 

So I scoured Pinterest, and found this tutorial on An Inviting Home, I already had one filing cabinet, so all I needed to do was to buy a Linnmon table top from IKEA and an additional filing cabinet.  The tutorial suggested heavy duty double sided tape to help anchor the table down on the cabinets. 

Well I'm not the most mechanically inclined person, and have no concept of inches and feet.  The table length was PERFECT, width...not so much.  Of course my husband, who will fix anything, took it upon himself to run to Lowe's and buy some brackets.  So now I have a much larger workspace than originally planned braced against the wall.  The kids love it, as they are also using it as a fort! 

I am really happy with it though, even though it didn't turn out quite like I expected.  We can't all be Pinterest Perfect :)

Egg Muffins-Low Carb Easy Breakfast

So when I started out on my low-carb journey, breakfast was my most challenging meal of the day.  A bowl of cereal was much easier to prepare in the rush of the morning then eggs, sausage, and bacon.

An idea occurred to me after scanning the good ole' Pinterest boards.  Cut up all the veggies I love in my omelet, mix with eggs and bake!  That's where my version of the "Egg Muffin" was born!

It's an easy recipe that I prepare every Sunday for six days worth of breakfasts.  You can refrigerate them for up to six days or even freeze them. (Warning, after freezing they are a bit watery when reheated)

You can eat them plain, with melted cheese, or chopped up and wrapped in a low carb tortilla, after you reheat them.  Usually I do a 35 second round, chop and place in a tortilla covered with cheese, and heat for an additional 35 seconds. 

You can add whatever veggies you prefer, the following is my preference.

10 Eggs, scrambled
2 green onion stalks
5-8 mushrooms
2 Roma tomatoes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Chop all vegetables and scramble eggs.  Combine ingredients

Place EMPTY silicone muffin pan on a cookie sheet for support. Spray silicone muffin pan (silicone works best, in fact, it's the only way I've ever made these eggs) and pour egg mixture into each cup, filling to top is fine.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, depending on oven. 

Let muffins cool before removing. Store in plastic bags in refrigerator or freezer.

                Picture of eggs before going in the oven

Doing Pinterest

If you're like me, many times when you get an opportunity to take a break you find yourself on Pinterest, pinning away.

Rarely do I go back and look at my pins, much less bake and create!

I love to sew, cook, bake, and craft.  I'm also a mother, a wife, and a teacher.  Most of my recipes are low-carb, paleo, or primal, however I will occasionally splurge on other meals and desserts (Friday is a special occasion, right?!)

So if you are wondering how those recipes you pin taste, hopefully I can test them out for you. 

Follow along, as I do Pinterest!