Erik's Garlic Knots

For Christmas, "Santa" brought Erik an awesome cookbook that is set up to make cooking with kids super easy for everyone. He is loving making all kinds of yummy new things, and for dinner tonight he chose to make Garlic Knots and Homemade Mac 'n' Cheese. It was a huge hit with everyone! If a seven year old can make these than you can too!
If you like cooking with your kids (*or aspire to like it*), you really ought to check out this book. So far every recipe we've tried has been a smashing success, and the pizza crust was easily the BEST home made pizza crust we've ever eaten.

What You Need:
1 (14 oz) container refrigerated pizza dough OR 1 ball (1 pizza's worth) of pizza dough
3 TBS melted butter
1 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp parsely


What To Do:
*I have rewritten these instructions to be more like a traditional recipe, but the directions in the book are designed for a child to be able to follow them with as little adult help as possible and they are amazing!

Preheat oven to 400*. Grease a large baking sheet.

Roll the dough out to about a 1/2 inch thick. Cut into 8 long strips, then cut each of those in half to make 16 pieces. Take each strip of dough and twist it a lengthwise, then tie it in a knot. Place on the greased baking sheet.

Mix the garlic salt and parsley together in a small bowl. Brush the knots with the melted butter, and sprinkle the garlic/parsley mix on top.
Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown. (Ours in the picture above might have benefited from another minute or two, but we got impatient.)

Cheesy Tacos, Two Ways

I'm always on the look-out for great LC substitutes for our favorite foods. With our love of Mexican food (specifically NEW Mexican food, but we'll take what we can get) I've been searching for ways to replace the tortillas that are nearly indispensable for this style of cooking. We have discovered some alternatives for tacos that have us feeling pretty excited, so I thought I'd share them here.

Method #1
What you'll need:
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
Taco meat (prepared however you normally make it) *The recipe says to use 1 cup, but I think I used about 3/4 of a pound.
Toppings of choice (avocado, tomato, green onion, etc)

What to do:
Preheat oven to 400*. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper, leaving enough on the sides that you will be able to lift the cheese from the pan.
Sprinkle cheese to cover the baking sheet with one layer (you may need more cheese). Bake for about 15 minutes, or until it bubbles and browns on top.
Remove from the oven and see if you can slide a spatula under all the edges. If you can you're ready to go on, if not put it back in the oven for another minute or two.
Spread taco meat and any other toppings over the cheese in a thin layer.
Remove from pan by lifting edges of parchment paper. Roll the cheese up like you would cinnamon roll dough. Slice into desired sized portions (the original recipe says to only make 3-4 slices, but we cut ours into small pinwheels and I think it would be easier to eat this way), top with sour cream, and serve.

Method #2
We discovered this method of making taco shells via Pinterest. The original site is here. These are more of your traditional taco shell.

What You Need:
Shredded Cheese
Your preferred taco fillings

What To Do:
Make a small circle of cheese on a glass plate (ceramic didn't work so well for us). Microwave for 40-60 seconds until the cheese is all melted and starting to brown.
Lift them carefully from the plate and hang them over the edge of a bowl or pan until they have cooled and hardened.
Fill with your favorite taco stuff and enjoy!

***For non-microwave directions check out this site.

Creamy Low-Carb Ham and Cauliflower Soup

After eating on our Christmas ham for a couple of days, I was in need of a way to use up the leftover meat. I turned to my Lazy Keto app and searched through their recipes and found this one that looked like it was worth a try. Ethan AND two of our three kids all liked it, which is close enough to perfection for me! This being the week after Christmas we were eating out of paper dishes and putting forth minimal effort in general, so I don't have a good picture for you. Sorry!
I tweaked the recipe a bit, so I thought I'd share our version of the recipe for anyone else who wants to give it a try.