Community Cookbook: Want to help?

I just wanted to let you all know I am teaming up with Jamie from YourLighterSide.com and our goal is to create a shared community cookbook, like you used to see in the 50's/60's which contain favorite recipes! Would you like to submit your recipe?  We think it would be nice to include everyone in our little low carb/gluten free blog world here.  That way there would be so much diversity!  So what do you think?  What do you like to eat? What favorite recipe of yours always turns out and you love to share?  What yummy dish do you have over there that I have never tried?

If you don't know Jamie, you should! She writes yummy recipes, is always very funny, and is currently in the #1 position of Babble's Top 100 Food Mom Blogs of 2011.  If you haven't voted for her yet, please do, here! I'm also on there, um, much lower (#795?  Please vote for my self esteem here).

Here is the gist (from Jamie):

1. Send your original recipe(s) to yourlighterside@gmail.com by April 1. (Optional: if you want to send photos of completed dishes and they’re included, we’ll definitely credit you).

2. Don’t worry about nutritional information; we’ll run the numbers.

3. Please include your name, city, and website with recipes in your email; this information will be published with each, original recipe that appears in the book. Shy? No worries. You can use Mrs. Daniels or Mr. Smith. No I.P Freely or Iona Condom. Yes, that means you. And me. I’d do that kind of thing.

4. Please no: gluten, rice, corn or sugar as ingredients. We want to keep things as low glycemic as possible for low carbers and diabetics.

5. Please no funky ingredients no one can find or afford (specialized products, sold by distributors, etc.). It’s best to have mostly locally bought ingredients (with a few from amazon or other reputable online sellers when absolutely necessary). If you use low carb catsup, awesome. If you use a truffles-based sauce harvested at their peak from a South American rainforest by the limpopo monkey and sold only by a distributor, notsomuch. These recipes should stand the test of time, whether or not companies continue to exist.

6. There are some standard recipes out there, like mashed cauliflower. Do you have an inventive twist on an old standby? Those are great!

7. We’re looking for everything: appetizers, breakfasts, drinks, main dishes, side dishes, soups, crock pot, desserts of all kinds. We also love tips and tricks from your kitchen, especially for newer cooks.

Books will be released in print form (and likely electronic) this year, up to my ridiculously, ridiculously high standards (trust me; they’re high). I am working to keep costs low, so I’m not yet sure how many images will be included in the book at this point. There will be nutritional information for each recipe. I’ll keep you posted on the progress, naturally.

Comments? Questions? Want to shoot us your favorite family recipe(s)? Please email Jamie at yourlighterside@gmail.com.

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Pie

*****DISCLAIMER: Um, I just did the carb counts and they are HIGH. All this time I thought this was a low-carb pie but it clearly isn't! Sorry!  Make at your own discretion!  Since it's Monday, I guess this will be the first McCheaty Mondays post!  I'll start looking for a way to make it low carb. It is seriously rich so 1/16 slice is heavy but I had no idea it was so carb laden. :(

Here it is... I have had this recipe for a long time and was saving it for a cookbook but now I just don't know if I will ever have the time to do a cookbook! So I am going to start posting all my recipes here. When I have the time to write one, I will just make all new ones!
Peanut Butter Pie is my favorite, and my husband's favorite.  If you are GAPS or peanut-allergic, then try cashew butter in this recipe, and post and let me know how it turns out!
There are two ways to eat PB pie- with a graham cracker crust and no chocolate or all chocolate-ed up with chocolate crust and chocolate on top.  I kind of like the chocolate.  But you choose- either a graham cracker (almond/peanut flour in this case) crust, or chocolate cookie crust and with or without the chocolate topping.  I make them all ways.  The one pictured is chocolate crust with just a smidgen of chocolate on top.
Here are the two crusts I usually use.  If you want an egg-less chocolate crust, go here.

CARB COUNTS: This is complicated. Entire pie counts: "graham cracker crust": with peanut flour: 18.7 ECC  , with ground peanuts: 22.7 ECC .  Chocolate crust: with peanut flour: 20.4 ECC  , with ground peanuts: 36.4 ECC .   Filling (w/erythritol): 55.9   .   Topping for entire bar:  16.2 without honey.
The one I made (cookie crust with peanuts + filling + 1/4 chocolate topping): 96.3 ECC divided by 16: 20g ECC - wait, WHAT?  OK I added the disclaimer.  Sorry to get your hopes up.

Low Carb Gluten-Free Peanut Butter Pie

Graham Cracker Crust:

¼ cup ground peanuts or peanut flour

¾ cup Almond meal/flour – any brand or make your own

1/8 scant teaspoon Stevia Powder (1/4 teaspoon NuNaturals brand)

1/16 scant teaspoon cinnamon

Pinch sea salt

1 teaspoon raw organic honey

4 Tablespoons butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix dry ingredients. Melt butter and honey, and mix. Spread by patting the bottom of a 9 – 10” springform pan, or pie pan with a fork, and patting with fingers, making as thin as possible.  If using a regular pie pan, spread lightly up the sides as much as you can. Bake 5 minutes and remove from oven, pricking bottom all over with a fork.  Bake 4 – 6 more minutes until lightly browned. Cool completely.

Chocolate Cookie Crust:

This crust sometimes makes enough for one 8” and one 5.5” crust, so you might have some crust leftover to use for something else.

1 cup carefully ground peanuts (don’t make peanut butter!) or peanut flour

¼ cup cocoa powder

¼ cup melted butter

¼ teaspoon NuNaturals powdered Stevia or 1/8 teaspoon another brand

1 egg

Silicone spatula

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Mix by hand the dry ingredients first, then add butter and egg. Using a silicone spatula, spread mixture on the bottom of pie pan as smoothly as possible. You can spread it up the sides of the pan as well, if you wish, or make it a bottom only crust.  Bake 6-8 minutes.  It will be bubbly and buttery looking.  Cool completely.

Filling:

6 oz. cream cheese, softened

¼ cup organic whole milk

1 cup smooth natural Peanut Butter

1 cup heavy cream, whipped

½  teaspoon Nu Naturals stevia or ¼ teaspoon another brand

½ cup erythritol or coco sugar

Cream together cream cheese, stevia, and erythritol. Add milk and peanut butter and mix. Fold into whipped cream.  Fill crust, cover, and refrigerate until set, an hour or two.

Topping:

This topping is to cover the entire pie. You can make less if you want to just put a little chocolate on top.

3.5 oz 71% - 85% cocoa chocolate bar, I like Green & Blacks organic

1 Tablespoon butter

3 Tablespoons cream

½ teaspoon honey, optional, if using 85% bar

After pie is set, melt ingredients slowly over low heat in a heavy saucepan.  Cool slightly and pour over cool pie crust. Return to refrigerator for another hour. 

Pork Belly & Smoked Sea Salt

A few people have asked me how we cook our pork belly... here it is, simple and delicious.  Buy some from a local pastured organic farm today!!!  And, join the discussion on Facebook, or leave a comment below.

If you haven't cooked pork belly before, know that it is a low carber's dream - bacon on top, meat at the bottom, and a thick slab of fat in the middle.  So, it is RICH!  Definitely serve with a green salad and some veggies.  I think you'll love it though, like we do.


Pork Belly & Smoked Sea Salt

1 pork belly – pastured and organic from a farm is best!  (We've cooked all sizes this same way)

coarse sea salt, we use a delicious black smoked sea salt – Himalayan salt would be good too

fresh ground pepper

2 onions, or more

Sliced vegetables – your choice (optional) We used celery, carrot, bell peppers

Scoring a 4 lb-er after broiling

Scored and broiled with sea salt & veggies added

Slice your onions and vegetables - but not too small or they will cook down to nothing.  The bigger your pork belly is, the longer it takes to cook. So, make sure for a bigger cut of meat you make really big slices.  I like to cut the onions in rounds, that is easier and more fun to eat!
Put pork belly in a pan alone, fat side up under the broiler.  Broil until the fat turns crispy, about 15 minutes.  Remove from oven, and use a serrated knife to score the layer of fat from one side to the other on top about ¼” – ½” deep.  You can do it the other way as well, to make it crisscross, if your knife is sharp enough.  Sprinkle salt on top and use a fork and knife to make sure it gets into the scores.  Remove meat from pan, and place vegetables in the pork grease on bottom and place meat back on top, still fat side up.  Alternatively, you can carefully lift the belly and shove the veggies underneath, just be careful that someone holds the pan so it doesn't slide off the counter.  Sprinkle with pepper. Turn oven on bake at 425˚ F and let it cook 30 – 45 minutes for a 2 lb cut, until juices run clear and it is done to your liking.  Our 4 lb belly took over an hour.  Make sure you stir your vegetables in the fat after 20 minutes so they are well coated.  We cook ours to about medium since our meat is pastured... pastured from a farm whose practices you know = safe meat!

We used our leftover onions in a baked chicken dish the next night- DELICIOUS!

Coconut Sugar is NOT Bad For Trees After All!

HALLELUJAH!  According to this article, the making of coconut sugar does NOT harm coconut trees or their production. !!! YAY!
Ok, more posts soon.. sorry, life with a crawling 8 month old leaves little time for recipes!

http://www.coconutsecret.com/sap%20vs.oil%20production.html

Simple Lemon Cookies for Santa! Low-Carb & made with coconut flour.

I have been wanting to try some coconut flour cookies for a while.. and these turned out pretty good!  These Lemon Cookies are adapted from a recipe in Bruce Fife's Cooking with Coconut Flour, one of my favorite cookbooks.
I did like them much better after they cooled. This recipe is easy to half, as well, if you just want to make a few. I hope you enjoy these!  I am looking forward to getting more creative with some coconut flour cookie recipes in the future, but thought these simple little treats would be just right for your low-carb Santa!  I hope you all have a great holiday.

Low-Carb Gluten-Free Simple Coconut Flour Lemon Cookies
Makes about 2 dozen. Carbs: 0.9 (effective) each, 22.2 ECC whole batch.

4 eggs
1/2 cup erythritol
1/4 teaspoon of powdered Stevia, or 1/2 teaspoon of NuNaturals Brand
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon extract
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup melted butter or coconut oil
3/4 cup sifted coconut flour
parchment paper

Preheat oven to 375˚F (190˚C).  Combine erythritol, stevia powder, lemon extract, salt, and butter, and mix well.  Add eggs one at a time, and beat after each addition.  Stir in sifted coconut flour.  Let batter rest about 5 minutes to thicken it slightly.  Drop batter in spoon sized mounds 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Smash with fingers a bit to flatten each one.  Bake for 15 minutes.

Chuck Roast, slow-cooked, grass-fed, low-carb & gluten-free!

 

Chuck Roast, slow-cooked, grass-fed, low-carb & gluten-free!  What more could you ask for? Oh, don't worry, it's also easy.  Recently, we bought a 1/4 of a cow from a local grass-fed farm.  It filled our freezer promisingly... but we made quick work of it.  Some of the cuts I had no idea what to do with.  The Chuck Roast was one of them.  Cooking grass-fed beef is a bit more of a challenge since grass-fed beef is leaner than the corn-fed beef that we Americans are used to.  So, when you look for a recipe for grass-fed meat, you do have to keep that in mind.  Slow cooking grass-fed beef is the best option, because it can get tough with all that lack of fat.  This recipe makes almost a soup. You can strain the meat and veggies out of it with a slatted spoon and serve with just a little broth on top, or serve it like a soup.

This recipe is based on this one on myrecipes.com, but with my own low-carb and delicious additions.  I hope you enjoy it!  It's fairly simple, the only time you'll really spend is cutting veggies.  I managed to get this done with a sick baby and husband.

A few notes:  If you don't have beef broth, but you have a beef bone, you can put a cup and a half of water and your bone in the slow cooker and turn it on high while you do the chopping, etc.  Then, turn it down and just leave it in there a while longer after you throw everything else in.  If you buy your beef broth, check and make sure it is gluten free!!

If you are just appalled by my use of carrots- I only use two! You can leave them out.  I figured it was still pretty low-carb with only 2... it adds 4 net carbs to the whole pot.

Start this VERY early for dinner or just start it any time and eat it tomorrow - that's usually what happens at my house!  Safer that way, sometimes it does take more than 12 hours.  I usually start a slow cooking recipe Saturday afternoon and eat it for Sunday lunch or dinner.

PS I have no idea what size my chuck roast was, please forgive me.  It was BIG! So don't worry if your roast is a little bigger or smaller.

Chuck Roast, slow-cooked, grass-fed, low-carb & gluten-free! 
makes 4 - 6 servings 

 1 (3 - 4 lb) chuck roast, grass-fed is best!
sea salt & fresh ground pepper
2 Tablespoons coconut oil, palm oil, or lard (for high heat)
1 - 2 large carrots, thickly chopped (optional)
1 cup of gluten-free beef broth or 1.5 cups water and a beef bone

1/2 cup red wine
14.5 oz can of organic diced tomatoes (or half of the big can)- Muir Glen Organic is best, they do not use BPA in the can lining. 
1 cup chopped celery
2 large garlic cloves or 4 small, sliced thin-ish
8 ounces pearl onions, peeled or 1 large onion, chopped
8 ounces button or small mushrooms, cleaned and sliced in 1/2 or 1/3rds, depending on size
1 handful of broccoli florets (I used the head of one large stalk)
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram

If you are using water + beef bone, put that in your cooker on high right now.

Wash and pat dry your roast.  Determine if it fits in your slow cooker.  If not, cut it in half.  In a small dish, mix salt and pepper - start with about 2 teaspoons of each if you are not sure how much to use.  Rub the roast(s) all over with the mixture.

In a large cast iron skillet, melt and heat the oil.  Make sure there is enough oil to cover entire skillet.  When it is hot, but not smoking, add roast(s) and turn heat up.  Brown each side, including the sides, not just top and bottom.  How?  Let sit a few minutes, then turn with tongs or spatula(s).

If you are not already making stock with a bone in that cooker, pour your pre-made broth in.  Add wine and tomatoes.  Place your roast(s) in - side by side if 2 - and then add everything but the broccoli and mushrooms.

Cook on low, until the meat is tender.  I had to cook mine for 14 hours, but most likely yours will be done in 12. Add mushrooms and broccoli at about 10-12 hours in, so they won't cook down to nothing.  When meat is tender, shred the meat by taking it out and shredding it with 2 forks.  Add back to the pot, and serve.

Two ways to serve: You can take all the meat and vegetables out with a slotted spoon, then pour just a little of the broth on top like a thin gravy OR serve like a soup.  The broth mixture is divine.







salt- celery 
 

Take the xylitol poll

Hi Folks! I want to hear from you.. come over to Facebook and take the poll on whether or not you are still interested in recipes that have xylitol in them, after reading this blog post by Crunchy Betty.  If you don't do Facebook, then please comment here.

UPDATE: Seems to be a BIG difference on brands.  Now I think I know why some people report stomach problems with just a tiny bit of xylitol.  Turns out, cheap brands can do that.  Dragon Herbs Xylitol and The Ultimate Life Sweetener Xylitol are both reported to be high quality birch sugar brands.  Yay!

Gluten Free Lower Carb Vanilla One Layer Cake with Chocolate Frosting

This is a little cake I made yesterday for my honey and our 7 year anniversary.  I made the cake low-carb and used lower g.i. coconut sugar for a real tasting frosting.  You can grind the sugar in the coffee grinder.  I didn't clean it out perfectly first- a little mocha flavor was a plus!  So - yes, this is a quick and dirty cake.  You can use coconut sugar in place of the erythritol as well- or even do half and half.  I've done all versions of this vanilla cake myself.  You could use erythritol for the icing and grind it the same way but I think it will taste weirdly cool, so it's your call. 

I used an 8 inch heart shaped pan- didn't get a pic of the whole cake but I think you could use any shaped pan sized 7" - 9".  Also, you can make this dairy free.  I used a high quality expeller pressed coconut oil for the frosting since I ran out of butter, and it was fantastic.  Why do I use expeller pressed? Because it has no coconut taste so it doesn't change your recipe.  Also, it's a bit cheaper than the virgin coconut oil. I buy mine from Tropical Traditions, where they use the old fashioned method for extracting the oil.  No chemicals. If you don't yet know the benefits of coconut oils, please go google-crazy on that topic and educate yourself.  It's the only oil I use besides grass-fed butter and lard from pastured animals.
I put effective carb counts for 10 servings, but we really got a lot more than that out of this cake.

Side note: I found that Icelandic brand Smjör butter is entirely grass-fed and a little cheaper than Kerrygold. Go get you some! Score!

TIP: Coconut cakes are more moist the second day and must be kept in the refrigerator or they will get so moist, they will mildew.

GF Low Carb Vanilla Cake, one-layer

18.9 ECC entire cake made with erythritol & milk, 1.9 carbs for 1/10 slice, 8.9 ECC with frosting (coco sugar)

6 TBLS Butter, melted and slightly cooled or or High Quality Expeller Pressed Coconut Oil, semi melted or melted

6 eggs, separated

2 TBLS whole milk, half and half or coconut milk

½ cup erythritol or 1/2 cup coconut palm sugar or mix of two

½ teaspoon NuNaturals stevia or  ¼ teaspoon of another brand

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon sea salt

½ cup coconut flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

sifter

parchment paper

Line your 7"- 9" cake pan with oiled or buttered parchment paper (oil both sides).  You can use a pen to mark where it touches the sides then cut it out to make it fit perfectly.   Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F (205 C).

Whip egg whites in a clean and dry bowl until soft peaks form, set aside.  In a separate bowl, whip butter or oil.  Then add the egg yolks, milk, erythritol or coco sugar, stevia, salt, and vanilla and blend.  

In a [gf] flour sifter, combine coconut flour and baking soda and sift into ingredients. Mix well to ensure no lumps. Beat in a 1/3rd of egg whites to soften the batter, then fold in rest.  Pour batter into a well greased muffin pan or well greased paper liners and bake for 12 - 25 minutes, depending on the size of your pan, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Cool.

Chocolate Frosting with coconut sugar

makes enough to cover this cake. carbs with half & half =  7 g carbs per slice (1/10 cake) but lower g.i. than sugar.

 

3 Tablespoons [grass-fed] butter, or expeller pressed coconut oil, soft

1/4 cup cocoa

1/3 cup coconut palm sugar

2 Tablespoons whole milk, half and half or coconut milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

coffee grinder or nut grinder

Wipe out inside of grinder (a little coffee will taste good in the frosting, if you wish).  Pour 1/3 cup coco sugar and grind until powdered consistency.  Set aside.

Whip butter or oil until fluffy (might not happen with the oil, but give it a try).  Add rest of ingredients including powdered sugar and blend well.  Add more milk if it's too thick.  Spread on cooled cake. Store cake in refrigerator.

Gluten Free Sugar Free Banana Cream Pie (so easy!)

This is not a traditional banana cream pie.  There is no custard or long period of stove cooking.  It's quick, light, and easy.  It has an amazing mouth feel.  Sometimes you just have to have bananas.  I know they are not low-carb, but I do believe they are nutritious and nice for a once in a while treat.

This pie has no sugar at all and is only made with stevia.  If you think you dislike stevia, I ask you to try it again.  It really is the best choice for sweeteners.  If you can handle a little corn (maltodextrin), NuNaturals is completely free of any bitter taste, although less sweet, so you'd need to use twice as much (1/2 teaspoon for 1/2 cup sugar).  Pies are the easiest desserts to make with stevia since they don't rise, like cake.   I am going to start researching some other stevia brands that don't contain any corn, I think Sweetleaf has some.. I used to use their stevia, it is also less bitter.  I'm trying to cut corn completely out of my diet and this is really the last place it lies.. so I will keep you up to date on that.  In fact, for lots of up to date news - please subscribe to my FACEBOOK PAGE, it's loads of fun (for me anyway! ha!) and I link to relevant news articles and other great blogger's recipes as well.  Also, I take reader's suggestions and ideas.  Of course, with a little one at home, I don't get to bake as much as I used to, but he's starting to take longer naps so I am hoping all that will change very soon!  Anyway, here's a banana cream pie that you can give your children and feel good about... use ripe bananas- with little brown dots on the skin- they have a lot less starch, and they taste and digest better. Please comment and let me know what you think!  I love comments on this page, too!
A big thank you to all my readers, I am so glad you like my recipes and we can all journey into better health together!!!
Rachel


Gluten Free Sugar Free Banana Cream Pie (so easy!)

crust: chocolate pie crust link, regular pie crust link (I like chocolate, but you may not...) 

filling:
16 ounces (2 bricks) organic cream cheese (or even better, cultured raw cream cheese from a local farmer), softened
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 - 4 ripe bananas: 2 mashed, the rest sliced
 1/2 teaspoon NuNaturals Stevia or start with 1/4 teaspoon of another brand and work up to taste

Make one of the pie crusts that I link to above.  When crust is cooled, place one layer of sliced bananas on the bottom.

In a medium sized bowl, whip cream to soft peaks.  Add stevia and vanilla, mix well,  and set aside in fridge.  In another bowl, whip cream cheese and mashed bananas.  Fold in the whipped cream mixture. Pour into cooled pie crust lined with banana slices and chill for about 30 minutes to an hour.  You can garnish with banana slices, chocolate curls or chocolate cookie crumbs.

Gluten Free and low carb Raspberry and Cream Pie

This is my favorite pie.  It always gets rave reviews.  And it's very simple!  I used almost 2 pints of raspberries for the pie picture, because they were so big, but actually it was too many. So I recommend sticking to one pint.  If you cut this pie into 8ths, it will be 5.5 effective carb count for each slice, and for 16 slices, it will be 2.75 ECC per slice. By using just stevia, it becomes completely corn free (use Sweetleaf Stevia), and it is egg-free too, for those with sensitivities to eggs.


Raspberry and Cream Pie
8 servings = 5.5 ECC per slice; 16 servings = 2.75 ECC

Crust: chocolate crust is found here.  This is what I used.
regular crust found here.

Filling:
1 (8 oz) package organic cream cheese
1/2 teaspoon NuNaturals brand stevia powder or 1/4 teaspoon Sweetleaf Stevia Powder
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup organic heavy whipping cream, whipped
1 pint organic raspberries, small- medium sized

Topping:
1/2 2.5 oz bar of Green & Black's 85% chocolate bar
1 Tablespoon high quality coconut oil or butter (I recommend coco oil)

Make the crust as instructed on bottom of a tart pan and cool completely - can refridgerate.
In a large bowl, beat cream cheese and stevia until fluffy.  Add almond extract and blend well.  Fold in whipped cream.  Spoon into cooled tart pan with crust.  Arrange raspberries stem side down. Refrigerate.

In a small saucepan over low heat, melt chocolate and oil/butter, stirring constantly until smooth.  Drizzle over raspberries and filling.  Put back in refrigerator. Serve after pie has set, about 30 minutes.

Strawberries and Cream GF/LC Pancakes

In my constant search for a topping for pancakes, I tried this.  Pretty yummy!  
This is just a simple whip cream and strawberry yogurt topping.  I think you'll like it!
For a pancake recipe, I have posted an almond flour one a while back: PANCAKE LINK.  The pancakes pictured are my ongoing trial for the perfect coconut flour pancakes.  They didn't make the cut!  But I loved the topping!  It's not very sweet, so bump up the sweet factor if you need to.

Strawberries and Cream Pancake Topping
serves two

1/2 cup whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon NuNaturals Stevia or 1/8 teaspoon of another brand
5 medium fresh strawberries
1 Tablespoon Full Fat Greek Yogurt
hand mixer
mini-chopper

Whip the cream and stevia together in a bowl with a mixer on high speed until it starts to thicken.  Add vanilla, then whip again until soft peaks form--> meaning when you turn off the mixer and lift it up.  Underneath the mixers you will have little whip cream peaks whose tops slightly turn down.  Set aside.  In a mini-chopper, blend strawberries and yogurt until well blended.  Serve

Gluten-Free Dairy-Free Oatmeal Kitchen Sink Cookies with Coconut Flour and Steel Cut Oats

Sometimes you just have to fill a craving!  I know oatmeal isn't exactly low-
carb but I wanted to make some oatmeal cookies with cherries and macadamia nuts (and chocolate) and I couldn't find a single easy gluten-free recipe online.  I have to tell you- for me, cooking with all those GF flours is a pain.  They take up too much room in the fridge and every time I find a recipe I want, I need yet another flour.  Plus they are crazy high in carbs.  So, this is a lower carb version... I should just say this is a healthier version. Because these cookies taste better when they have firmed up, I didn't want to make a recipe that requires them to be warm.  When I use sugar-alcohol like erythritol in a cookie recipe, they taste better warm, otherwise you get that cooling effect.  So, I used coconut sugar.  I am not even going to post the carbs.  This is a treat.  I made these dairy free so they'd be great for a GFCF child you might have in your family, or yourself if you are gluten and dairy free.  I was out of coconut so mine didn't have coconut flakes but I will add it to the recipe as an optional ingredient.  I used Extra Virgin Coconut Oil so mine had a great coconut taste.
To make the chocolate chips low-carb, you can use an 85% chocolate bar and chop it up like this (yes that is a link to my very first post).
So I am calling these Kitchen Sink Cookies because they have everything in them except for the kitchen sink.  Substitute all you want but I have to tell you it's FANTASTIC with macadamia nuts and cherries (I had some left over from the chocolate cookies).
These might have more carbs than my other recipes but coconut sugar is low g.i.  So, you know, there's that. ;) These came out A-M-A-Z-I-N-G.  The steel cut oats make a crunchiness to the cookie.  The fridge time is important, definitely heed that.  Also, you all know your oats MUST be labelled "gluten-free" (and cost more than you would like to spend) or they will make your stomach hurt (if you are gluten-intolerant)!  There is some refrigerator time so better start early if you have a craving.
Update: these cookies do not need parchment paper.
You could sub 1/4 cup + 1 TBLS agave for the sugar, although I haven't tried it.  Post if you do.  They may make the cookie more soft.

GFCF Oatmeal Kitchen Sink Cookies
makes about 2 dozen. Make these to share, I don't know how to calculate carbs with low g.i. ingredients.  It will sound like too many. ;)

1 1/2 cups high quality almond flour, like Honeyville (not Bob's RM)
3/4 cup GLUTEN-FREE steel cut oats (I used Arrowhead Mills )
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup dried cherries, or other dried fruit
1/4 cup macadamia nuts, or other nuts
1/4 cup dairy-free chocolate chips or chopped 85% chocolate bar
2 Tablespoons sugar-free coconut flakes (optional)
5 Tablespoons high quality EV Coconut Oil
1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons coconut palm sugar - I like SweetTree
1 pastured egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 medium bowls

Preheat the oven to 375˚F.  Mix dry ingredients except for nuts, fruit, coconut flakes, and chocolate; and set aside.  In a separate bowl, blend coconut oil and sugar together until blended.  Add egg and vanilla and mix again.  Add the dry ingredients a little at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Add, nuts, fruit, coconut, and chocolate chips and mix.  Cover and refrigerate at least an hour.  Place tablespoons of dough on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake 8 - 10 minutes until edges are brown.  Cool on cookie sheet.  Enjoy!!!

GF Low Carb Mini Chocolate Cherry Macadamia Cookies!!!

Yes, that's right.  I put everything I was craving into one cookie! Mmmmm, true decadence.  These bake better when you make them small.  I definitely recommend using the same brands I did- High quality almond flour and NuNaturals Stevia do make the difference, in my opinion. (That is truly my opinion, but if you happen to work for either of those companies, please feel free to contact me to put an ad on my site! :D  That would help me pay for these ingredients!) If you are short on cash, remember you can always hit the bulk section of your natural grocer and get just a small handful of cherries and macadamias, it's only 1/4 cup of each.

You can chop your macadamias, leave them whole, or chop them in half.  I tried to chop mine in half, which was marginally successful.  I like the taste of having huge nuts in this, even if there are less.

I hope you enjoy these! Two posts in one week to make up for my long absence (especially for you Kindle subscribers!).


GF Low-Carb Mini Chocolate Cherry Macadamia Cookies
makes about 40 mini-cookies, 1.5 ECC per mini-cookie, 6 g for 4 mini-cookies

2 ½ cups Honeywells Almond Flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
½ teaspoon sea salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ cup + 2 Tablespoons erythritol (could sub: 1/4 cup of coconut sugar)
¾ teaspoon NuNaturals Stevia powder (½ as much of another brand)
2 organic pastured eggs
6 Tablespoons soft or melted organic or pastured butter like Kerrygold (can sub coco oil for gfcf)
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup chopped dried cherries
1/4 cup macadamia nuts
parchment paper

Preheat oven to 350˚F.  Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl: almond flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, erythritol, and stevia.  Make sure the stevia is well mixed in.  Add in eggs, melted butter, and vanilla and mix well.  Stir in nuts and cherries.

 Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll dough into small balls, and put on parchment paper.  Make a small indention with two of your fingers to make it flat on top, but don’t smush all the way down.  You want them to still have height, just not be round. They will not spread so you can leave just a little room between each cookie. Bake at 350˚F for 10 - 13 minutes until golden brown. These are better warm, so you might want to warm up any that you eat the next day.. or save half the batter for next time.

Quick Gluten-Free Sugar-Free Blueberry Pie

Hi Everyone!  I'm finally posting again.. thanks for hanging in there with me!  My Mom picked tons of beautiful blueberries when she was visiting her sister in NC and I have been cooking with them!  This is a quick recipe.. in retrospect, I should not have used such a big tart pan (10").  So, my picture is of this recipe stretched to a 10" pie pan, but I have written the recipe for an 8" pie pan.  This could also be made in a square, for Blueberry Bars.  This is my shortbread crust with a twist.
This can be made gluten and casein free by using coconut oil instead of butter.
According to this site, fresh blueberries have 16 effective carbs (ECC), and frozen has 14.  I did these Effective Carb Counts for fresh blueberries.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Quick Gluten-Free Sugar-Free Blueberry Pie
serves 8, carbs per servingwith fresh blueberries = 8.8 ECC

shortbread crust:

1 1/2 cups almond flour, I used Honeyville
1/4 teaspoon NuNaturals Stevia powder (or 1/8 teaspoon Sweetleaf or other brand)
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
6 Tablespoons organic butter, melted (or expeller-pressed coconut oil)
1/16 scant teaspoon cinnamon

Edges of crust slightly browned

Preheat oven to 350˚F. Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl with a fork.  Press into a 8" pan and bake 10 - 15 minutes until the edges are slightly brown. (Like this pic--->).While baking, you can make the filling.

filling:

3 cups blueberries, frozen or fresh
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon NuNaturals Stevia or 1/8 teaspoon Sweetleaf or other brand
1/4 cup Erythritol
4 Tablespoons melted butter or coconut oil
2 Tablespoons Arrowroot Starch
1 Tablespoon Coconut Flour

Mix well cinnamon, stevia, erythritol, butter, arrowroot, and coconut flour together.  Add blueberries.  If your blueberries are frozen or your mixture clumps, put in a saucepan over low heat and mix gently until it is liquid (except the blueberries) and mixed well.  Pour into pie crust and return to oven for 10- 20 minutes or until set.
Serve warm with or without low carb ice cream.

Regular Posting Will Be Back Very Soon!

As you all know, I had a sweet baby boy in May.. then moved over 2,000 miles in July... JUST got all the boxes from my old place today!  When I am unpacked, you can expect lots of posting from me again.  I have lots of ideas for you! Thanks for hanging in there with me!!!
:) Rachel

Our bundle of joy

Our sweet Robert was born 5/11.  New posts as soon as recovered.  Also a big state move soon... but even while recovering, recipes are brewing in the back of my mind for you...

Stevia Lemon-Lime Jell-O!

I've been wanting Jell-O, but didn't want the carbs or artificial sweetener.  So I thought I'd make my own low carb version.  This is a tart & sweet lemon-lime flavor that I use often to make lemonade.  This entire recipe is about 17 ECC (19 carbs without subtracting fiber) and probably serves about 6.  So that's about 2.8 ECC a serving, pretty good!  It's very refreshing.

Gelatin has been used since the time of ancient Eygpt, over 3000 years.  Pretty cool, huh?

Stevia Lemon-Lime Jell-O
6 servings, 2.83 ecc per serving

1 ounce unflavored gelatin (I used 4 packets/1 box of Knox)
1/2 cup fresh squeezed organic lime juice, chilled
1/2 cup fresh squeezed organic lemon juice, chilled
3 cups hot water
1 & 1/4 teaspoons NuNaturals powdered Stevia (or half as much of another brand- to taste)

Sprinkle gelatin over chilled lemon and lime juice in a bowl, let sit for one minute (you don't need to stir).  Add hot water and stir for a full 5 minutes, to make sure gelatin is completely dissolved.  Add stevia and stir well.  Pour into a 13 x 9 x 2" pan and refrigerate for 3 hours until firm.  Cut into cubes or serve!  Keep in fridge.

Low Carb Gluten-Free Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Spring is here!!! Lemon poppy seed muffins are my favorite... so I made these with coconut flour.. very good!  I hope you enjoy them.

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
makes 6, 1.7 net carbs each

3 eggs, separated
3 Tablespoons melted organic butter or high quality coconut oil
½ teaspoon NuNaturals stevia powder (or ¼ teaspoon SweetLeaf or any other brand)
2 Tablespoons Erythritol
2 Tablespoons fresh squeezed organic lemon juice

1 Tablespoon fresh organic lemon zest
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon sea salt
¼ cup coconut flour

1 Tablespoon poppy seeds
flour sifter
muffin tin

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cut out parchment paper circles to fit in bottom of muffin tins.  Grease muffin tins & papers well with either coconut oil or butter and set aside.
Separate eggs. Whip the egg whites in a clean dry bowl until soft peaks form and put aside.
In another bowl, mix together egg yolks, melted butter, stevia, erythritol, salt, lemon juice, vanilla and lemon zest. Combine coconut flour, baking soda, and baking powder in the sifter and sift into batter, mixing well. Stir in poppy seeds. Fold egg whites into batter.  Immediately spoon batter into muffin tin, filling to the top. They won't rise much.  Bake for 13 - 16 minutes.

Yummy Low Carb Snack with Celery and Bleu Cheese

I love low-carb snacks made with celery... they are crunchy, salty, and satisfying.  We bought some Raw Bleu D'Auvergne Cheese the other day, and found it really stinky, strong, and delicious.... but a little too strong, so we've been whipping it into dishes all week in ways we can handle its strong flavor.  If you use a regular blue cheese when you make this, you might want to pump up the flavor by using more blue cheese and less cream cheese.  That will also lower the carbs.

This is a perfect side dish with a packed lunch. This is for 2 servings.  It is easily halved, doubled, tripled, etc.  For your calculations, 1 ounce creamy cheese = 2 Tablespoons creamy cheese.

Also I have to tell you that the bulk of the carbs in this recipe are from cream cheese, which I have found conflicting reports of carb info.. ranging from zero carbs to 2 carbs per ounce.  I used the 2 carbs per ounce calculation.


Celery with Blue Cheese Spread
makes 2 servings, 6.5 ECC per serving

2 Tablespoons/1 ounce strong blue cheese, we used a raw Bleu D'Auvergne
4 ounces organic cream cheese
2 Tablespoons coarsely ground walnuts
1- 2 teaspoons pastured organic milk
4 medium sized stalks of organic celery, cleaned and both ends trimmed.

Place cheese, walnuts, and 1 teaspoon of milk in a food processor or mini-chopper (use food processor if doubling or tripling recipe).  Combine until well mixed.  Add more milk if mixture is too thick to combine.  When well mixed, spread on celery sticks and serve.