Amazing Zucchini Alfredo Pasta (+Miracle Peeler Product Review)

Alex and I were shopping in TJ Maxx today and saw an as seen on TV product called the Miracle Peeler and I decided to buy it. I was only $7, so why not? We picked up some zucchini and other ingredients at the store to test it out. The peeler peels very thin slices, and the julienne side works well too, but you have to apply a good amount of pressure. It sliced my zucchini into nice thin pasta-like pieces that cooked wonderfully. The Miracle Peeler has two two-way blades. One side peels and one side juliennes. You're supposed to be able to go back and forth on a carrot or such and half your peeling time. I haven't tried that out yet. It also comes with a small mandolin- type device that snaps onto the peeler to make it faster to peel your chosen veggie. I will put the commercial at the bottom of this entry.

Zucchini Alfredo Pasta

2 medium zucchini
4 oz. pancetta, diced
2 oz. sundried tomatoes
6 oz. heavy cream
2/3 c. grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp. minced garlic
sprinkle of dried basil, oregano, & parsley
pinch of salt
pinch of black pepper
sprinkle of onion powder

1. Chop off each end of the zucchini. Peel the zucchini so that none of the dark green is left. Julienne both zucchinis. 
2. In a skillet, heat some butter or non EV olive oil. Chop up your tomatoes to desired size.
3. Saute the garlic, tomatoes and pancetta until hot. 
4. Add the zucchini and saute until hot.
5. Add in the parmesan cheese and herbs/salt/pepper.
6. Pour in the heavy cream and mix well. Turn down the heat to a simmer and let the sauce thicken.

Pumpkin Pie Bake

Every stage of making this pie, I tasted the batter. It was amazing. If you want a cold custard-like dessert, beat the cream cheese, pudding mix, cream, spices, and pumpkin together and eat it just like that. The cream cheese, pudding mix, and cream can be used for other recipes. Try a chocolate pudding mix or even a different flavor, see what happens.

Pumpkin Pie Bake

Ingredients:

1. 1.7 oz. pkg sugar free vanilla pudding mix
2. 8 oz. cream cheese
3. 3/4 c. heavy cream
4. 1 can pumpkin puree (100% pumpkin with nothing added)
5. 2 eggs
6. 1 tsp. vanilla extract
7. 2 tsp. cinnamon
8. 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
9. 1/2 tsp. ground cloves

Directions:

Beat cream cheese, pudding mix, and heavy cream in a blender. Add in pumpkin and mix again. Add in both eggs, vanilla, and spices. Bake at 350 F for 25 minutes. Serve warm with whipped cream in a bowl or chill and make it more pie-shaped.

Appetizer: Italian Cream Cheese Balls

An updated version of my previous cheese balls, these are much more flavorful. Everyone loved them. I'd say the serving size is 2-3 per person. They're very rich.

Italian Cream Cheese Balls

Ingredients:

1. 8 oz. cream cheese
2. 2 Tbsp. basil pesto
3. 2 Tbsp. pasta sauce
4. 6 oz. shredded cheese (any kind really)
5. 3/4 c. grated parmesan romano cheese

Microwave cream cheese until soft and stirable. Add in next 3 ingredients. Cover and chill until more firm. Remove from fridge/freezer and roll into tsp. sized balls. Coat with parmesan romano. Chill on a baking sheet in a freezer or fridge until firm.

Gordita Casserole/Dip/Soup Thing...

I attempted to make the gordita soup for Alex a few weeks ago....aaaand I burnt it... cause I didn't pay attention. Anyway, I felt bad cause he had so been looking forward to it, so I decided to make him a gordita casserole tonight (Thurs). It came out a little liquidy, so more like soup, but whatever, it was so good he wanted to go back for 3rds so I think I nailed it. So here's my lazy recipe!

Gordita Casserole/Dip/Soup

1 lb. ground beef

1 low carb tortilla (you can use more if you want, or not use it at all)

1 jar salsa con queso (can also just use the creamy cheese dip, since we're adding salsa)

1/2 c. salsa (mine was very fresh and thus very watery)

1 small jar green chilies, not drained

4 oz. by weight shredded cheddar/whatever

1 packet Taco seasoning (made my own)

1/3 c. water

Brown the ground beef, break it up, add the taco seasoning and the water. Let simmer a bit until most of the water has evaporated. Grease a casserole dish and mix the seasoned, browned ground beef, the queso, the salsa, and the chilies together. Cut the tortilla(s) into strips and lay across the dish. Top with shredded cheese. Bake at 350 F for 20-25 minutes, or until cheese is golden and bubbly.

For a thicker casserole, drain the chiles, don't add the water to the beef, and use less salsa or sub fresh tomatoes and onions.

You can even serve this as a dip with toasted low carb tortillas for dipping.

Baked Cajun Walleye with Crab Sauce and Creamy Broccoli

Walleye is a meaty, white-fleshed fish that lives in the lakes of the northeast U.S. It is not sold commercially, so getting to try it was quite a treat. When Alex and I went up to NY, his uncle served us some walleye he'd caught himself. It was delicious, and he sent us home with some. I cajun'ed it up and it was delicious. The sauce is a simplification of a Pontchartrain Sauce.

Baked Cajun Walleye

4 walleye (or other white fish)
Cajun seasoning (I used McCormick)
bit of oil

Oil a pan and place fillets equally spaced apart. Rub the fish with some rub. Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes, or until ends curl a bit.

Crab Sauce

6 Tbsp. butter
1 1/2 tsp. cajun seasoning
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
2 tsp. dehydrated minced garlic or 1 tsp. garlic powder or 2 cloves fresh minced
1/2 tsp. celery seed
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. mustard powder
2 tsp. dried parsley
1/2 c. dry white wine
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 6 oz. can crab, not drained

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan and simmer until thick. Stir occasionally. You can add a little xanthan/guar gum if needed.

Broccoli with Alouette

Garnish/Snack: Cheese Crisps

These cheese crisps look super fancy, but are quite easy to make.

1. Line a flat pan with parchment paper cut to size.
2. Preheat oven to 400 F.
3. Choose a medium hard cheese, like a cheddar, pepper jack, colby, monterey, swiss, Jarlsberg, etc.
4. Slice into roughly 1 in by 1 inch slices, being 1/4-1/8 inch thick.
5. Lay cheese slices on parchment paper evenly apart and bake for 5-6 minutes. Be careful, don't let them burn.
6. Remove from oven and let cool. Peel off from paper and slice into whatever shapes you'd like.

Pizza Mega Post!

I have 3 or 4 posts about pizza, so I thought I'd combine them all together to make all of my pizza recipes easy to find! :)

Crust Recipe 

1 8 oz. package cream cheese (remember to use full fat)

2 eggs
1/4 c. Parmesan (Parm-Romano is fine too) cheese from the canister
couple of twists of freshly ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
Bit of rosemary or basil optional

Directions:
Soften cream cheese in the microwave, about 30-45 seconds. Beat cheese, eggs, and parmesan in a mixer until creamy. Add spices. Line a lipped baking sheet with parchment paper and let the paper hang over the edges just a bit. Pour mixture into baking sheet and bake at 350 F for 25-30 minutes. Add your sauce, cheese, and toppings and bake 5-10 minutes more, or until cheese is melted.

Toppings

Chicken Pesto Alfredo Pizza

Alfredo Sauce

Ingredients:
1 stick of butter
1 c. heavy whipping cream
2 c. parmesan
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/4 tsp. Cayenne pepper if desired
Directions:
In a medium sauce pan, melt butter and mix in parmesan cheese. Add in cream and pepper(s). Stir until well combined.

Other Toppings:

1. Fresh Basil leaves, washed
2. Strips of grilled chicken
3. Pesto: You can spoon some into a ziplock bag cut a small hole in the corner, and drizzle over the pizza.
4. Oregano
5. Fresh grated parmesan reggiano
6. Optional: fried and crumbled pancetta or prosciutto

Buffalo Chicken Ranch with Bacon

1. Low sugar tomato/pizza/pasta sauce (I like Rao's)

2. Grilled chicken strips

3. Strips of bacon

4. drizzle of buffalo sauce or Frank's Red Hot for a little kick

5. drizzle of buttermilk ranch

Traditional Pepperoni and Veggies

1. pepperoni
2. mined red onion
3. spinach
4. basil
5. diced bell pepper
6. mushrooms
7. olives
8. banana peppers
9. minced garlic
10. low sugar pizza/pasta sauce

I ended up doing a double layer of cheese, one before toppings (just mozzarella), and a lighter layer on top of the toppings (mix of shredded romano, parmesan, and mozzarella).

Slow Cooked Venison in Garlic Chili Sauce with Creamy Sauteed Broccoli

When Alex and I went to upstate New York, his uncle gave us some different cuts and venison and walleye (fish) to take home. Today I decided to cook the loin (I think it was sirloin). Venison is gamey tasting and very, very lean. Even when it was raw, I found no fat in it whatsoever. Keeping it moist while cooking is important, so I decided to slow cook it in a strong sauce to cover the gamey flavor. I found this recipe and tried it out. Very yummy and low carb! I also added a few things.

Slow Cooked Venison in Garlic Chili Sauce

2 lb. venison roast/loin (you can do this with a lean cut of beef too)
1 c. low sugar ketchup
1/2 c. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 c. soy sauce (I used Bragg's Liquid Aminos)
1/2 c. chili garlic sauce (I used Wegmans' Tom Tom sauce)
2/3 c. water or beef broth
2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
4 tsp. minced garlic (I used the jarred garlic)

Option 1:
Saute 1 diced onion and strips of red bell pepper in 2 tbsp. of butter and add to slow cooker.

Option 2:
Add 2 tsp. onion powder and some strips/diced red bell pepper to slow cooker.

Directions:
Mix all ingredients together (except roast) in the slow cooker. Choose option 1 or option 2 (you can leave out the red bell pepper all together if you want). You can either chop your roast into 1-2 inch chunks and cook that way (it's faster), or you can leave it whole. I cut it into chunks to increase the surface area and decrease the cooking time. I put mine in at 12:45 and it was done at 3:30... I set the slow cooker to 8 hours... so maybe try 10 and expect it to be done in 4 hours haha. If you leave it whole, set to 6 hours or so and it will probably be done in 5-6 hours. Don't overcook it. Check on it once and hour or so. Also feel free to add some fresh herbs to your cooker.

Everyone liked it, and my mom said the strong marinade really masked a lot of the gamey taste, and I agree. I could have taken mine off the heat a little earlier, it was definitely well-done.

Creamy Sauteed Broccoli

I wanted a veggie to go with my roast, and I spotted my Alouette in the fridge (original garlic and herb). It turned out delicious. You can't go wrong with creamy, cheesy broccoli really. It's quite impossible. :)

2 crowns of broccoli, chopped into large florets
1/2 c. Alouette original garlic and herb spreadable cheese
1 tbsp. butter

Melt butter in pan, saute broccoli until slightly soft, add cheese and mix until the broccoli is coated. Serve immediately.

I'll definitely be making the broccoli recipe again; maybe I'll try different flavors of Alouette.