Almond Meal Pancakes and Waffles

This is one of those recipe where almond meal is just the perfect replacement for wheat flour. This recipe is good for both pancakes and waffles. You will need to beat the eggs and use sparkling water to make them fluffier. I recommend you to try this with peach or raspberry jelly (sugar free of course!!).

Ingredients:
1 1/2 Cups Almond Meal
1/4 Cup Sparkling water
3 Eggs
1/2 Tbsp Vanilla
1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
A pinch of salt
Stevia/Splenda to your likenesses

Preparation:


Beat eggs with an electric mixer, until foamy. Add rest of ingredients and mix well.

After that, make them as you would regular pancakes or waffles.

You can add fresh blueberries, sugar free chocolate chips and/or walnuts to get different flavor (and still low-carb) pancakes and waffles.

Low Carb Cheddar Cheese & Spinach Soufflé

Soufflés are very versatile dishes - for example, they can be side dishes or even desserts! They are also quite easy to make and look beautiful once ready. Soufflés require flour and eggs in order to grow and expand, so this recipe will substitute wheat flour with soy flour to make it lower in carbs.

Ingredients:


1 Cup hot milk or chicken stock
3 Tblsp Soy flour
1/4 Tsp. ground Nutmeg
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
4 Egg Yolks at room temperature
1/2 Cup grated cheddar cheese
1 Package defrosted and squeeze-dried spinach
1/4 Cup Grated Parmesan Cheese and a bit extra to dust dish
5 Egg whites at room temperature
1/2 Tsp Cream of Tartar
Salt and black pepper
Pinch cayenne pepper or paprika

Preparation:


Preheat oven at 325 F

Over low heat in a pot, melt butter. Add soy flour and stir with a wooden spoon and cook for a minute. Remove from heat and add hot milk or hot stock, salt, pepper, nutmeg, cayenne pepper or paprika. Wisk and cook for a minute. Remove again from heat and add egg yolks, the cheeses and squeezed spinach. Mix well and pour the batter into a bowl.


Beat egg whites and cream of tartar with an electric hand mixer. Mix egg whites until they form firm peaks. Fold some of the egg whites into the batter, and then slowly fold the rest.

Butter the sides soufflé dish or dishes and dust with shredded Parmesan cheese.


Pour batter and bake for 35 minutes.


Be sure to watch the soufflé as they will turn color quickly and are apt to burn if not taken out on time.


Spinach soufflés are an excellent side dish to accompany any meal, be it chicken, beef or fish. The below dish is crab-stuffed sole with some Julienne vegetables.

Green Beans with Walnuts and Shallots

I'm sure Mom always told you to eat your vegetables, well, with this recipe that is exactly what you'll want to do.  This is a super easy recipe that combines green beans, walnuts and shallots to make a delicious side dish for any meal.

Ingredients:
1 lb fresh green beans
1 Shallot
1/4 Cup chopped walnuts
3 Tblsp olive oil
salt and pepper

Preparation:


Fill a pot with cold water. Add some salt and bring to a boil. Trim both ends of the green beans or just remove the stems. Boil the green beans for 2-3 minutes. Drain and shock the beans in an ice bath, to stop the cooking process.

Mince shallot and sauté it in olive oil over medium heat in a skillet. Cook until translucent. Add chopped walnuts and cook for 4 minutes. Add green beans, salt and black pepper. Mix everything together.

Serve and enjoy!

Mashed Cauliflower

This low carb side dish is just perfect for Thanksgiving dinner. This is an amazing replacement for mashed potatoes. What makes it so delicious is the roasted garlic; this I would say, is the key ingredient. The consistency of mashed cauliflower is pretty much the same as mashed potatoes, and when you try it, you won't believe it is actually cauliflower!

Ingredients:

1 medium sized Cauliflower
1Tblsp Butter
3 Garlic cloves
Olive oil
Salt

Preparation:


In a piece of aluminum foil, put the 3 garlic cloves and drizzle with olive oil. Fold it and bake at 375 F for 20 minutes.



In a medium pot, bring cold water to a boil. Cut cauliflower into small pieces and cook until tender, soft. Drain cauliflower.



In food processor put the hot cauliflower, garlic, butter and salt and puree until smooth.



The mashed cauliflower should be served hot, but if you have some left over it will keep well in the fridge.

Ceviche

If you like seafood as much as I do, then you'll love this recipe. This is one of my favorite low carb recipes. It  is not only low in carbohydrates, but it is low in calories and fat as well!! As many of you know, ceviche is raw seafood and fish that is "cooked" in lemon juice. If you are concerned about eating raw seafood, I would recommend  to cook the seafood in boiling water. Just boil it for a couple of minutes and then put it in an ice bath to stop the cooking process. Also, I would like to mention that the original ceviche recipe calls for green bell pepper, but I use jalapeños instead to give it an extra kick. Just make sure to deseed and devein the jalapeños.

Ingredients:
1/2 lb Cleaned and deveined raw shrimp
1 lb chopped fresh clams
1/2 lb Raw bay scallops
2 lb Fresh Tilapia or Snapper
1 1/2 Cups of Small diced Red, Yellow, Orange, Green Bell peppers (or jalapeños)
1/2 cup diced red onion
1 Avocado
1 Tblsp Chopped Cilantro
16-18 Lemons
3 Tblsp Olive oil
Sea Salt

Preparation:

Squeeze lemons and collect juice. Make sure to remove all the seeds from juice. Julienne the peppers and then cut them in small squares. Dice red onion as well. Mix peppers, red onion and lemon juice.


Cut shrimp and fish into small pieces. If using tilapia, remove the dark meat in the middle of the fillet.


Add Shrimp and Scallops. Cover and refrigarate for at least 2 hours.


Add chopped fish and clams. Add olive oil, salt, chopped avocado and cilantro. Garnish with tomatoes on top.


The dish is ready to serve, though if you did use uncooked fish, you have the option here to leave the fish marinating in the lime juice for up to 30 minutes, which will "cook" it and make it a bit more firm. 


Once you are ready, ceviche is a great presentation dish, so give it a try and experiment with different things (we sometimes user ice cream bowls as well as martini glasses).


Remember, be very selective and use only fresh fish and seafood.

Almond Meal Bread

When I started with a low carb diet, one of the hardest things to give up was bread, so it was imperative to find a good replacement that I could use as toast and to make sandwiches. Almond meal is a great low carb flour (and delicious!) that can be used to make loafs at home, which can be cut into slices and used in all kinds of ways.


Ingredients:
2 Cups Almond Meal
5 Egg whites (5 whole eggs optional) at room temperature
4 oz Farmer Cheese (½ package)
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp. Baking Soda

Method:
Preheat oven at 350 F


With an electric mixer, beat egg whites to firm peaks or whole eggs until they are very foamy and light in color.


Mix in Farmer Cheese.


Add almond meal and mix it with a spatula. Add baking powder and baking soda.




If the mixture appears too dry and the almond meal is not mixing entirely, add a small amount of water until everything is well mixed.

Spray a medium size loaf pan with baking spray and pour batter in to it. 

Bake for 30 minutes or until done (use a toothpick to check - once it comes out dry, the bread will be done).


Remove from oven and let cool.


Once cool, invert pan and pat bottom until bread comes out.



Keep in mind that unlike wheat, the bread made with almond meal will not rise as much, so the key in making slices is how you cut it.



I cut the loaf in half and then make horizontal slices.












The bread itself will be somewhat brittle so if making sandwiches, I would recommend toasting the slices first to get them a bit more firm.




I typically use only egg whites for the benefit of lower cholesterol, lower fat and lower calories. The recipe, however, can be made with whole eggs, though I can't distinguish much of a difference other that yielding a darker colored bread.

There is no need to add salt to the recipe as almond meal is naturally salty and farmer cheese also contains salt.

These slices make great toast for breakfast, or my as my husband and I do, can be used to make simple and delicious sandwiches (turkey, avocado, lettuce and tomato pictured below).

Turkey Breakfast Sausages

One of the best parts of my weekends are the delicious breakfasts that my husband and I prepare. Nothing gets the day started better than a good meal, and this includes a plate with some low carb, low fat, home made Turkey Breakfast Sausages.

Ingredients:
1 lb Ground Turkey
2 Tsp Ground Sage
1 Tsp Cayenne Pepper
1 Tsp Cummin
2 Tblsp Sugar Free Syrup
5 Tblsp Minced Shallots
2 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp Paprika
1 Tsp Garlic Powder


Preparation:

Mix everything together in a bowl (use your hands). Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.


To form the sausages, I use an icing bag without any of the tips. I place the turkey sausage mixture into a 1 gallon plastic bag and shape it so that the very tip comes out the bottom.

Cut the tip and start squeezing to form long strands of sausages that can then be cut to your liking.


Once the sausages have been cut, I use an electric griddle to cook them. Preheat to 325 F and cook sausages on both sides.

I like them a little crispy so this is about 4 to 5 minutes on each side.


You will notice the color as you turn them over.



This recipe can be made even lower in fat by using ground turkey breast rather than plain ground turkey. Also, adjust the amount of cayenne pepper to your liking depending on how spicy you want them. These sausages go great with in a dish with over easy eggs and fresh fruits. Our plates usually include slices of avocado and/or fresh tomato.

Coconut Flour Cake (Coconut Flour Genoise)

Coconut flour is one of the best low carb flours for baking. It is made from fresh coconut meat. The meat is dried and ground into a very fine powder. Its nutritional value is by far better than wheat flour. It is high in fiber, protein, low in carbs and gluten free!!! Coconut flour can be quite expensive, but it yields more than wheat flour. I use Bob's Red Mill Coconut Flour for my baking ($6-$7 for 1 lb).  Not only is it great for baking,  but it can also be used as thickening agent for soups, sauces and gravies as well!!! Keep in mind that coconut flour absorbs more liquid than wheat flour, so when adjusting recipes that call for wheat flour, you'll have to increase the amount of water, oil, or eggs.

10 Eggs at room temperature
8 oz Splenda or Stevia
3oz Vegetable oil
1/2 Cup Sifted Coconut Flour
1/8 Tsp Baking Soda

Preheat oven at 365 F

Mix sweetener with eggs over double boiler (Bain Marie or Water bath) to 110 F . Use a cooking thermometer to measure temperature.

Whip eggs and sweetener with an electric mixer on high speed. The eggs have to become very foamy, thick and triple in volume. They will become very light in color too.

Sift coconut flour with baking soda together. Add the flour little by little and fold into eggs slowly using your hand or a spatula. Add oil. Pour batter into an oiled cake pan. Bake for 20- 30 minutes or until done.

The above is the recipe for the cake alone, without any filling or icing. What you put into and above it is your choice, but I typically like to fill it with Chocolate Ganache and top it with Chantilly Cream and fresh strawberries, sprinkled with some unsweetened shredded chocolate.

Depending on the size of the cake, you can cut it in one or two layers using a serrated knife. To moisten and give more flavor to the cake you can add to some dark rum and/or coffee liquor mixed with vanilla extract. If using canned fruits such as pineapples or peaches, you can use the syrup that comes with the fruit to moisten and flavor the layers as well.

Chantilly Cream for Icing

Chantilly Cream is a great multi-purpose icing for cakes, pies and other pastries. It is extremely easy to prepare and extremely tasty too!

8 oz Chilled Heavy Cream
1 or 2 oz Splenda or Stevia
1/2 Tsp. Vanilla Extract

Make sure the mixing bowl and the mixer paddles you are using are chilled too.

With an electric mixer, whip on medium speed for 20 seconds, then whip on high speed until soft peaks form. Don't over whip, it will turn into butter. Add sweetener and vanilla extract to your liking.

Chocolate Ganache Filling

While it may be difficult to imagine, it is quite easy to make a low-carb chocolate filling and/or icing for cakes and other pastries.

4 oz Baker's Dark (100% Cacao) Unsweetened chocolate, chopped
6 oz Heavy Cream
Splenda or Stevia to your liking

Place chopped chocolate into a bowl.

Mix sweetener with heavy cream in a medium pot. Give it a good stir. Bring heavy cream to a boil. Add to chopped chocolate in the bowl. Mix well using a hand whip. Make sure to dissolve all lumps, until completely smooth.Cover and cool down in refrigerator (has to become very thick, almost solid to use as filling).

Low Carb Pumpkin Pie

Besides Halloween, October is one of my favorite months because of all the great desserts that one can make. The below pie recipe will blow your mind (at least it does mine)!! I should say that this is not a low low carb recipe as pumpkins themselves are relatively high in carbs, but by not using sugar and wheat, we are definitely reducing the total carbs. Best of all, you won't even notice that is sugar and wheat free because it is as delicious as the "real thing".

The crust is made with almond meal, which Trader Joe's carries for just $3.99 for a 16 oz bag. I certainly recommend getting it there because it is the cheapest I've been able to find it anywhere.

Crust:
1 1/2 Cups Almond Meal
3 Tbsp Melted unsalted butter
3 Tbsp. Splenda or Stevia
1/2 Tsp. Vanilla extract

Preheat oven at 350F

Mix Almond meal with powdered sweetener using your hands. Add melted butter and Vanilla
Then use your fingertips to press it into a pie pan. Bake for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.


Filling:

1 Can (15 oz) Pumpkin puree
4 eggs
1 1/4 Cups Heavy cream
1/4 Tsp. Nutmeg
14/ Tsp. Ground Cloves
1 Tsp. Cinnamon
1 Tsp Vanilla extract

Increase oven temp to 400F

Mix filling ingredients together using an electric mixer or a hand whip. Pour batter into the almond crust. Bake for 10 minutes, then lower temperature to 350 F and bake for 50- 55 minutes or until done (poke with a toothpick until it comes out dry).

You can adjust the recipe to you liking by adding Ground Ginger and/or using Evaporated Milk instead of Heavy cream.


I like to serve the pie at room temperature, though this too is to your liking.