Starting off the New Year Right! (These are a few of my favorite drinks!)

Welcome to anyone who's new to my blog! Many people have made a new year's resolution to eat healthier, and if low-carb is your chosen way, allow me to make it stupid easy for you. I've had this blog now for 2 years, and while there's definitely not 2 years' worth of content on it due to school and work, I'm quite proud of it. I hope everyone had a safe and happy New Years and Christmas!

I know a lot of people give up sugar sweetened beverages or even soda for a resolution, and I decided to put together a list of my favorite non-caloric, non-carbonated beverages.

Water Enhancers

These are highly concentrated flavor enhancers that are added to regular water to sweeten and flavor it. They also work wonderfully when added to plain greek yogurt or even ice cream! Get creative and make your own cocktails with them!

1. MiO: 10 original flavors, 6 "Energy" flavors, 2 coffee flavors, 5 vitamin enhanced flavors, and 4 with electrolytes.
2. Dasani Drops: 6 flavors

Waters

1. Hint: this no-sweetener beverage comes in many different delicious flavors that eliminate cravings for sugar.

2. Dasani Flavors: Lemon or Strawberry (more flavors available in the Coke remix machine)

3. Wegmans Wonder Water: unsweetened water in Cucumber, Lemon, Lime, Passionfruit, Blackberry, Pineapple, Blueberry, & Tangerine. (Wegmans is an northern-mid east coast chain)

4. Wegmans AquaZero (their version of vitamin water zero) 5 flavors

5. Vitamin Water Zero: usually fairly easy to find in mini marts and gas stations.

Juices

1. Bai (antioxidant infusion water) made using coffee fruit, it is sweetened with erythritol and stevia. Comes in many different amazing flavors.

2. Ocean Spray Diet Juices - 2g carbs per 8 oz. serving. Uses a base of cranberry juice, sweetened with Splenda, and other fruit flavors are added. My favorites are cran-pomegranate and cran-cherry.

Minnesota-Style Hot Dish (aka the Ultimate Comfort Food)

I had seen an article about the midwestern staple "hot dish" on Tasty. The author was trying to capture the essence of what exactly a hot dish was. A hot dish is a one dish dinner casserole. It commonly includes a protein, like chicken, sausage, or ground beef, coupled with some veggies, and paired with a carb (potatoes, rice, or corn) in some sort of sauce. I wanted to try my hand at a hot dish to combat the cold, dreary February weather. Feel free to change or substitute things in this recipe to your heart's desire.

Midwestern Style Hotdish

2 bags Green Giant cauliflower tots, defrosted in the oven
1 lb. ground beef, sausage, or chicken
1 family sized can Campbell's Cream of Chicken soup (22.6 oz)
32 oz. frozen mixed veggies (a blend of broccoli, cauliflower, green beans, carrots, and mushrooms is a great one)
a garlic and herb seasoning mix

Cook ground meat sprinkled with seasoning mix until no pink remains. Steam veggies in the microwave until defrosted/warm. Mix soup, ground meat, and veggies in a casserole pan. Smooth mixture. Arrange cauliflower tots in an even layer over the casserole. Spray lightly with oil and sprinkle with an herb mixture. Bake at 350F until tots are golden brown. Serve with a garden salad with an italian or greek vinaigrette.

Super Easy Enchiladas

Frozen pre-cooked chicken breast slices and rotel tomatoes make this recipe stupidly easy.

Lazy Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients:

Mission Low Carb Whole Wheat Burrito sized tortillas

for the filling:
1/2 can original rotel tomatoes
grilled  chicken strips, defrosted and diced
1 c. shredded mexican blend, cheddar, or colby/monterey jack blend
1/4 c. heavy cream
1/3 packet taco seasoning

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Lay out a tortilla and place about 2/3 c. filling on one end. Roll up and place in greased casserole pan. Repeat until all filling is used up.

for the topping
1 c. shredded cheese
1/2 can rotel
1/3 c. heavy cream

Combine cream and rotel. Pour evenly over the enchiladas. Sprinkle cheese over enchiladas. Cover with foil and bake at 350 F for about 25 minutes. Uncover and bake more until cheese is bubbly and golden. Serve with Romaine salad with avocado ranch dressing.

Ham and Split Pea Soup

Ham and Split Pea Soup

A Comfort Food Favorite

After Christmas I had the leftovers of a honey baked ham bone with a bit of meat still on it. I used the ham bone to flavor the soup.

Ingredients:

leftover thick slices of ham, diced

32 oz. bag dried split green peas

32 oz. chicken or veggie broth

Honey Baked Ham bone

2 white or sweet onions, quartered

A sprig of Thyme

2 veggie bullion cubes

Place the ham bone in a large soup or stock pot. Dump in containers of broth, and fill the rest of the way with water until ham bone is submerged. Bring to a low boil. Add bullion, peas, and onions. Cover and allow to boil until peas are hydrated and soft and total liquid volume is reduced by 1/4. Add Thyme. Remove ham bone and add in diced ham. Add in any bits of ham off the bone. Discard bone. Stir/cook until peas sort of break down and soup is thick.

Note: croutons are a topping option for non low-carb family/friends. The peas may be a bit high in carbs, so eat about 12 oz. max at a time. 

Bready Pizza Crust Recipe

Hi folks,
It's been over a year since I've last posted. I fell off the low carb wagon for nearly a year and gained about 20 lbs. Not pretty, but I've managed to get back on and continue cooking. Because I worked full time during the summer, and work upwards of 25-35 hours a week now, I have less time and less energy than I used to. Thank to you all that kept checking back for new posts, I'm going to make an effort to post more.
-Caroline :)

Bready Pizza Crust

This is a modified version of my original pizza crust, the addition of the almond flour makes it more bread- like and sturdier.

For a small pizza (feeds 2ish people):
1 c. blanched almond flour
8 oz. cream cheese
1 egg
1/4 c. parmesan cheese
4 tsp. of a Garlic & Herb seasoning grinder ( or a pinch of garlic powder, a tsp of dried parsley, tsp of oregano, a tsp of black pepper, and a tsp of onion powder)

Preheat oven to 350F.
In a medium bowl, combine all ingredients. Mix with hand blender (or by hand). Spread a sheet of parchment out on the counter. Spread the dough onto the parchment about 1/4 in. thick. You can also place another sheet of parchment on top and use a rolling pin or wine bottle to even the dough out. Square (or round) off the edges and bake until golden brown. Top with sauce, cheese, and desired toppings and bake again until cheese is bubbly. Or top with asiago, parmesan, and mozzarella with extra herbs and bake for cheesy bread.

Almond Cranberry Cauliflower Rice

Almond Cranberry Cauliflower Rice

This light dish is sure to delight family and friends during Thanksgiving and Christmas!

1 lb. cauliflower rice

2 Tbsp. Basting Oil (or other herbed oil)

2 Tbsp. Shallot Thyme Finishing Butter

1 handful of sliced almonds

1 handful low sugar dried cranberries

salt and pepper to taste

In a skillet on high heat, warm oil up. Add cauliflower rice and salt/pepper and stir constantly until nearly soft. Add in butter, almonds, and cranberries. Reduce heat and allow butter to melt. It's done when the "rice" is soft and has absorbed most of the oil/butter.

Original Recipe courtesy of Wegmans

Super Light and Fluffy Cauliflower Mash

Because I just had my wisdom teeth taken out, I'm on a strict soft foods diet for a few days. I needed my cauli mash to be super soft, so I decided to boil the florets before putting them into the food processor/Ninja. It came out light and fluffy and smooth and amazing! I might just do this from now on! Here is the base recipe, add a combo of ingredients for different flavors.

Base recipe for Cauli Mash

1 head of cauliflower, chopped into roughly equal sized florets
4 to 5 oz. cream cheese
1 cup of chicken broth, bone broth, or veggie broth (add more if desired)
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp ground black pepper

Boil the florets in salted water. I used a metal frying/boiling basket for quick and easy removal. When you can easily stick a fork through them, drain and put into the food processor. Add cream cheese, broth, and salt and pepper. Whir until completely smooth.

What can I add?
-Garlic Parsley Mash: 1 tsp. garlic powder (or 1 Tbsp. minced garlic) and 1 Tbsp. parsley
-Mexi-mash: dash of cayenne pepper, 1 tsp. chili powder, 1 tsp. garlic powder, 1/2 c. cheddar, monterey jack, colby(jack), or pepper jack cheese, shredded, 1 finely diced jalapeno, 1 chipotle chile (if you like them), and 1/4 c. fresh cilantro (if you like it), squeeze of lime juice
-Loaded Mash: 1/2 c. bacon crumbles, 1/2 c. cheddar cheese, 1 tsp. garlic, 2 Tbsp. fresh chives

Whatever else you like!