Low Carb Egg Latte

When I wrote about how our family does Low-Carb I promised to post follow-up recipes ASAP. Well, here we are four months later and I'm finally getting one of them up here! Yeah me! :) 

These Egg Lattes are my go-to breakfast, especially since I discovered Jordan's Skinny Syrups at Tuesday Morning here in Carson City. They are WAY cheaper than the Toriani ones you find in the other stores around town and come in so many fun flavors!

I adapted this recipe from this one at DietDoctor, which is dairy-free. Just in case anyone's interested in seeing the original.

Brownie Baked Oatmeal

3 cups oatmeal (quick or rolled oats)
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup brown sugar - make it a scant 1/3 cup
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup applesauce
1 cup milk
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. In another bowl, whisk together wet ingredients. Mix together. Pour batter into a well greased 9x13-inch baking pan. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean. Serve with milk.

I like to serve it with sliced bananas and soft whipping cream. Garnish with toasted coconut.
Truly, it is yummy!

I first saw this recipe on Pinterest - the link took me to Rachel's recipe at thrivinghomeblog.com and I adjusted it from there. Thanks Rachel! I'm sure you all are going to enjoy it - Kathleen

(many thanks to Marquette for the pretty pics.)

Fun Santa Pancakes

These were so simple to make and cute! Just use regular Bisquick pancakes, spread some raspberry jam across the top part to resemble a Santa hat and squirt the pressurized whipped cream for the fur around the hat and Santa's beard. A maraschino cherry makes the nose. We didn't do eyes, but I imagine a couple of chocolate chips would work. I was happy with the way these turned out and they were tasty besides! An easy Christmas win!

Totally Awesome Biscuits

I'm going to break the rules and not post a picture. Just imagine a biscuit and there you have it. 

Totally Awesome Biscuits

2 cups flour
1 ½ tsp. salt
1 T. baking powder
4 T. shortening
1 c. milk
2 T. butter (do not add into dough mixture)

1.    Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and mix.

2.    Cut in shortening.

3.    Stir in milk. The dough will still be sticky at this point, that's normal. 

4.    Dump about 1/4-1/2 cup of flour on the counter and spread it around (about a 1 to 1 1/2 foot circle is plenty) to prepare your floured surface. 

5.  Place dough on the floured surface and sprinkle a light layer of flour over the top. 

6.  Knead the dough (by folding it in half) 7-10 times. Do not over-knead.

5.    Flatten (either by hand or with a rolling pin...I just flatten it with my hands) to about an inch thick and cut with a biscuit cutter/cookie cutter/tin can. Recombine edge pieces, flatten and cut again (mixing the dough as little as possible). 

7.    Melt 2 T. butter in 8x8 baking pan.

8.    Place each cut biscuit dough in the pan of butter, turning it over so that both the top and bottom are coated. 

9.  Bake at 425 degrees for 12 minutes or until golden brown. You don't want to wait until these are brown to pull them out of the oven as they will be overcooked and hard at that point. To test if they are done, lightly try pulling the top of one biscuit. It should pull up easily and the inside should look flaky. 

10. Store cooled leftover biscuits in an airtight container (plastic baggies work) in a cool place. Can be reheated in the microwave (you only need about 10-15 seconds). 

Flourless Crepes

Crepes Ingredients:
3 eggs
3 TBS milk, half and half, or heavy cream
3 tsp olive oil
1 tsp sugar (or 1/4 tsp sugar substitute)
1/2 tsp vanilla

Filling Ingredients:
2 oz cream cheese
1-2 tsp milk, half and half or heavy cream
1 tsp sugar (or 1/4 tsp sugar substitute)
1/4 tsp vanilla
Jam
(that's at least what we used...you can fill these with just about anything sweet or savory)

Directions
1. Make the filling first. Mix the cream cheese, milk, sugar and vanilla together until blended (I just used a fork).
2. In a bowl (I used a large pourable measuring cup), mix all crepes ingredients together and beat.
3. Heat a pan to medium, medium high heat and spray with non-stick cooking spray.
4. Pour a small amount (about 1/8 c.) of batter into the middle of the pan and tip/swirl the pan to spread the batter out evenly. You're supposed to get a circle...I got oblong shapes with holes...but it still worked fine.
5. Cook for about 30 sec. to 1 min. Flip and cook the other side until done (slightly browned).
6. Remove from pan, fill, and eat! These get cold fast, so if you want to eat them warm you'll have to eat them as they come off the pan. For these today I put a little dollop of the cream cheese filling and a little dollop of raspberry jam and spread it in the crepe before I rolled it up. Mmmmmm.

This will make 9-10 crepes. I know, it won't look like you've made that much batter when you mix it up. I was skeptical at first, but I think we got 9 decent sized crepes out of this.

Prickly Pear Raspberry Smoothie

2 years ago we posted Cameron's Prickly Pear Slush...but I wasn't a huge fan. It just had a funny aftertaste; he loved it though. Today I played around until I had a Prickly Pear Raspberry Smoothie that I LOVE. 

I just can't get over the color of the prickly pear fruit. It really is so vibrant and awesome.

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. frozen unsweetened raspberries
• 1/2 c. prickly pear fruit puree 
• 1 c. plain yogurt 
• About 2-3 TBS of water
• About 1-2 tsp. olive oil (I know...seems weird, but your body needs good oils in it and olive oil's not bad...if you have sunflower oil that works great too)
• Sweetener (sugar, truvia, jam, whatever you want to use)
• And then I added a tiny squirt of Berry Pomegranate MiO to help cancel out the prickly pear aftertaste (I love the initial prickly pear taste...it's the aftertaste that's a little odd)
• If you have prickly pear juice and not the puree, then omit the water in this recipe

Combine all ingredients in the blender and blend till smooth. I accidentally added too much water so I had to add a small handful more of frozen raspberries to give it the right consistency. 

Healthy Fruit Dip

So I've been wanting to eat more fruit...but I'm not one to just pick up an apple and munch away. So I read a few recipes online and made a healthy fruit dip to help entice me to eat more fruit. It's working like a charm. I love this stuff.

Ingredients:
8oz. fat free sugar free (or reduced...or regular) plain yogurt
8 oz. fat free cream cheese
Sugar (I used truvia instead). I didn't measure...I just added a little bit at the time until the taste was about right. I probably used about 2-3 teaspoons of truvia (which is sweeter than sugar, so you'd have to add more sugar than that)

Just mix them all together with a hand mixer until it's light and fluffy. Mine's almost looks like marshmallow creme.

Baby Finger Foods: Tofu Two Ways

I know this isn't quite the stuff we normally post on here, but I figured it was useful for me and might come in handy for someone else too. I actually have plans to do several more posts like this one as I get more ideas.  

Erik has decided that the only food he wants to eat is stuff he can put in his own mouth. He is done being spoon fed, which means I've had to get really creative. Finding things that he can chew with no teeth, but that will still fill him up and give him the nutrition he needs has been challenging. I started to look around online for ideas, and that's when I discovered tofu. Tofu is packed with protein and nutrients, but is very soft, so it can be easily mashed between a baby's gums. It has almost no flavor of it's own, but will take on the flavors of other things very easily. This makes it the perfect baby food, that you can use for any meal.

For breakfast: Cold Cereal Tofu 

What you need:

Firm tofu, cut into bite size pieces

A handful of baby's favorite cold cereal, we used whole grain Cheerios, crushed in a small re-seal-able bag.

What to do:

Toss the tofu in the bag of crumbs, give it a good shake, and then you're ready to go. You now have cheerio flavored tofu bites. Slightly crunchy on the outside, but smooth and creamy on the inside. Add some diced fruit (in this case strawberries and blueberries) and you've got a perfect way to start the day!  

 Now for tofu dinner: Crunchy Tofu Nuggets

You will need:
firm tofu, cut into bite size pieces
flour (about 2-3 TBS maybe more, depending on how much tofu you've got)
salt, pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, or anything else you want to use to season the flour
Your baby's favorite crackers, I used gold fish, crushed up
milk (maybe 2 TBS?)
What you do:
Mix whatever seasonings you've chosen into your flour. Roll the tofu bites into the flour to coat.
Dip the bites into the milk, just long enough to moisten them, not long enough to soak the flour off.
Roll in the cracker crumbs, and place on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes, or until nice and crunchy on the outside. Add some veggies and you've got a meal.


You don't think this sounds yummy? Well, let's see what the baby thinks...

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Haha! (written with a french pirate accent). 
I get post #100. 


Wow, we're already at 100 posts on here, that's so awesome!

Anyway, enough with the French Pirate. Here's an awesome recipe for...

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

These are so moist and yummy! I made them before church and we forgot to cover them before we left and they were still just moist and yummy when we got home. So so so so so good. 

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 TBS poppy seeds
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup lemon flavored yogurt (that's just under 3 of the small individual sized yogurt cups...about 16 oz. total)
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon zest
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• 3 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 TBS lemon extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (205 degrees C). Lightly grease a muffin tin.
2. Combine the flour, 3/4 cup white sugar, poppy seeds, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In a separate bowl mix the eggs, yogurt, vegetable oil and lemon zest. Blend well and pour over the flour mixture. Mix until just combined. Do no overmix!
4. Spoon batter evenly between the prepared muffin cups. Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 20 minutes.
5. Combine the lemon juice, lemon extract and the remaining 3 tablespoons white sugar. Stir until sugar dissolves.
6. Once the muffins are baked pierce the tops several times with a toothpick. Slowly pour about 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice and sugar mixture over the tops of each muffin. Let muffins cool in pans for 10 minutes before removing them from the tin.

You'll love these. Cameron does, see? 

Smoothie

Jamba Juice like Smoothie

(Caribbean Passion)

Another something my cousin Diana whipped up for me while I visited her.

It's so good!

What You Need:

* 2 Cups of Frozen Strawberries

* 1 Cup of Frozen Peaches, chopped

* 2 Cups of Orange Sherbet

* 1 Cup of Ice, crushed

* 12 ounces of Passion Mango Juice

* Cup

* Straw

What You Do:

- First things first, gather all of your materials to meet the recipe. It is crucial that you have the exact proportions for each ingredient. Now that you have everything you need in a nice blending space, you are ready to make the Caribbean Passion.

- Add 12 Ounces of Passion Mango Juice to the blender. (i use pineapple concentrate with 12 oz water)

-Next, add the 2 cups of Orange Sherbet. At Jamba Juice, they use a standard size ice cream scoop and just do 2 scoops of Orange Sherbet to make the Caribbean Passion, so measuring out 2 cups isn't crucial, just make sure you have about 2 scoops worth of Sherbet to add.

- Once the Juice and Sherbet are in the blender, you will add the fruit! So, go ahead and add the 2 Cups of Frozen Strawberries and 1 Cup of frozen, chopped Peaches. It's okay if the fruit isn't frozen, but having the fruit frozen will make the smoothie thicker and colder.

- Finally, add the 1 Cup of Chopped Ice to the blender... Now you're ready to blend!

- Set the blender up correctly, then, once ready to blend your Caribbean Passion, blend your ingredients for about 20 seconds on a medium intensity, then 10 seconds on a high intensity. Your goal is to blend the smoothie until it swirls around in the blender without any chunks.

- One your smoothie appears "smooth", it's time to enjoy your homemade Jamba Juice. Poor the smoothie into your cup, stick your straw in the cup, and drink your refreshing Caribbean Passion!

*This recipe makes about 24 ounces of smoothie, or a Jamba Juice Original size. Make sure your cup can hold 24 ounces.