Coconut flour fudge-like brownies

A thing of beauty!

My oldest daughters birthday is coming up next month and of course she wants flourless chocolate cake. I make her birthday cake with regular sugar so I wanted to make an alternate recipe without sugar. I made a test recipe of brownies today, these are perfect! I used this brownie recipe in a group of coconut flour recipes as a guide with a few changes.

Coconut flour fudge-like brownies

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup erythritol powdered in coffee grinder
few drops of liquid stevia
1 teaspoon molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla
6 beaten eggs
scant 1/2 cup sifted coconut flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
3/4 cup nuts toasted and chopped walnuts or almonds (are my favorites)
handful of chopped 85% chocolate

Microwave unsweetened chocolate and butter in 20 second intervals stirring occasionally, until melted. Mix in erythritol, stevia, eggs, and vanilla. Sift and stir in remaining ingredients. Spread in 8 inch square pan with parchment paper. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes in a water bath. Be really careful not to overcook, check at 20 minutes if the top and edge is firm remove from oven. Cool in freezer for 1 hour then store in fridge. It's very fudgy at room temperature.

My youngest daughter wasted no time enjoying these brownies for a snack.

No one will ever know these are sugar free. My son who is the pickiest about sugar substitutes says they taste like regular brownies.

Dutch baby

I got to thinking after making the blueberry clafouti the other night, that the batter might work for a dutch baby which is a fancy name for an oven pancake so I tried it, it was delicious! A dutch baby is traditionally served with sauteed apples. I would saute thin sliced chayote in butter adding a few sprinkles of a sf apple drink mix at the end for apple flavor, some cinnamon, and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. I had it with sf syrup today but I want to try it with the faux sauteed apples too.

Here it is with butter and sf syrup it got half turned over when I turned it out of the pan but I think it looks cute.


Low Carb Dutch baby

2 eggs
2 oz cream cheese softened
1/4 cup cream
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon of torani vanilla syrup
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 400, then put a 10-12 inch oven proof skillet in to preheat, meanwhile mix softened cream cheese with eggs one at a time, slowly add the rest of the ingredients and beat smooth. Put a pat of butter in the pan to melt swirling around to cover the pan, pour in the batter bake for 20-25 minutes till puffed, slightly brown, and dry on the outside. Turn out on a plate serve with lots of butter, powdered erythritol, sf syrup or the faux sauteed apples.

Our garden

I wanted to share our garden in pictures. The first sunflower to open this season!

A row of sunflowers just about to bloom!

Tomatoes!

Our first basket of cherry tomatoes!

Corn! I know it's a grain but I will have half or quarter of an ear from our garden at it's peak. I do love it so.

Radishes, carrots, and peppers!

Squash!

More peppers!


My herbs so far I want to get many more!

Clafouti

It kinda tastes like a cross between french toast and fruit pie.

You have to make this! It's a french dessert usually made with cherries, an egg custard and baked in a casserole dish. But you know cherries are high in carbs so I used blueberries instead. When you use other fruits it's called a Flaugnarde.

Right out of the oven I thought it was a little light in color so next time I will put it under the broiler for a minute.

I reworked the recipe here to make it low carb.

Blueberry Clafouti (I mean Flaugnarde)

1-2 cups blueberries
2 tablespoons of slivered almonds
3 eggs
1/4 cup of erythritol
1 teaspoon molasses
pinch of salt
1/2 cup cream
1/2 cup water
4 oz cream cheese softened
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
powdered erythritol for the sprinkling on top

Butter a baking dish 9 by 13 or equivalent, sprinkle in blueberries and slivered almonds. With a hand mixer beat softened cream cheese adding eggs one at a time. Then the rest of the ingredients except powdered erythritol. Pour over the berries. Bake on 350 for 45 to 50 minutes till a knife inserted comes out clean. Serve warm or cool with a dusting of powdered erythritol.

Can you believe this is low carb! It has a cheesecake quality cold from the fridge. I know what I'm having for breakfast!

Giant cheese shell taco

This was my lunch today, it was so good and so easy to make.

I layered 2oz of cheese in a nonstick skillet and let it cook over medium heat till browned, carefully turning over to brown the other side removing and hanging over a wooden spoon to cool in a taco shape.

I made ground turkey filling with onion, garlic, ground cumin, pappy's 50% less salt seasoning, and a tablespoon of sf ketchup. I layered on shredded jack cheese, green and red shredded cabbage, shredded radish, mashed avocado, yogurt, and fresh cut salsa. Just look at that cheese shell it stayed good and crunchy.

Back to back weekend camping trips, I'm tired!

The weather has been so nice we went to the river for the weekend.

We did more activities this trip so we didn't have elaborate meals.

Saturday morning I made over easy eggs, oopsie pancakes, sausage patties, cauliflower home fries, and don't forget the coffee over the campfire.

Yes, you can make oopsie pancakes camping! Here's the recipe I used from Jamie at Your Lighter Side... I did it all by hand it's pretty easy.

A precious oopsie pancake over the campfire.

I prepared cauliflower home fries over the campfire too. Barely a recipe, here's what I did.
Cauliflower home fries

half a head of cauliflower cut up
1/4 onion chopped
pinch of salt
some fat for frying I used light olive oil

Fry over medium high heat till nicely browned, add onion toward the end so it doesn't burn I browned up a whole jalapeno with it, if you leave it whole those who want some heat can take a piece it doesn't make the whole dish hot. This is enough for 3 servings but I'm warning you, everyone especially high carbers will love this dish so make plenty!

Here is my breakfast plate minus 4 pancakes that I ate while I was cooking.

We had a great time on the river.

Then headed back for a cold cut lunch. I wrapped up pastrami with muenster and dijon nestled it in lettuce leaves and added peperoncini, diced tomatoes, and dill pickle chips for the best lettuce wraps! Instead of chips I had radishes and celery sticks with blue cheese dressing a quite satisfying lunch.

Everyone was ready to go home on Sunday, one of our pups made sure he wasn't left behind while we were packing up. Can you see him in there?

Update... more excitement in the neighborhood

We have our new sidewalk!

I had a craving for enchiladas...

Low carb style of course! These are better than traditional enchiladas.


I found this recipe at Linda's low carb recipes and menus here

I made a few changes, I used poached chicken for the ground beef as well as making my sauce from scratch and used half jarlsburg and extra sharp cheddar. I slipped a sheet of parchment paper in the pan for easy clean up.

Enchilada sauce

3 tablespoons chili powder I grind it fresh in a coffee grinder
1 tablespoons potato starch
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
pinch of salt
3-4 sprigs fresh oregano
3 cups broth from poached chicken
1 8 oz can tomato sauce

In a sauce pan mix dry ingredients with a whisk then add a little cooled poaching liquid to make a paste gradually adding more liquid till it's all combined add the tomato sauce cook whisking on medium for 15 minutes, if it seems thick add a bit more liquid. You could add cream or sour cream to make a creamy sauce for the casserole too.

Update...just hatched

The baby bird chicks in our tree have grown up and flown away. One did hang around for a couple extra days testing it's wings in our tomato garden, the parents still came to feed it until it was ready to leave. Can you see the baby in there?

First camping trip of the season

Had a blast! Went to the river, actually the fork of two rivers. I had some trouble with my camera so I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted too. Dinner the first night, grass fed burgers and asparagus with orange peppers and sweet onion. There's olive oil in the picture but I used butter for the veggies. No recipes, just good food!

Burgers with jalapenos over mesquite charcoal.

Avocado was on the menu but I neglected a picture, sometimes I'm so hungry I forget. It was a great easy camp style dinner. The weather was perfect not to hot, not to cold. I had planned our meals pretty well although I hadn't been camping in a while. I had forgotten the silverware also a can opener thank goodness I had brought plastic silverware and we were able to borrow a can opener for a tuna lunch.

Breakfast was fun to make, bacon, almond flour waffles and of course coffee from my new camp percolator. I purchased a new one because my old one was worn out.

Almond flour waffles (or pancakes)
1/2 cup almond flour
2 tablespoons ground flax seeds
2 tablespoons chia seeds
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons yogurt, sour cream, or buttermilk
2 tablespoons cream
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon sf torani syrup
2 eggs

I measure the dry ingredients into a baggie to save time for camp cooking. Mix ingredients in a bowl, if it seems thick add a bit more water, cook on stove top waffle iron or regular waffle maker or make pancakes on a griddle.

This Coleman camp stove is 25+ years old and still going strong with my new percolator.

Low carb cooking can be done even camping with minimal preparation and taste delicious! I'm so pleased our trip went so well and I was able the prepare low carb meals without effort. I'm not happy about missing out on some pictures because of my camera. There will be more trips! Happy camping all!

Homemade low carb yogurt...

Is easier to make than you might think.

I put a mixture of cream, milk, and a couple of tablespoons of store bought yogurt in a warm oven overnight and in the morning I had the most delicious homemade low carb yogurt.

Here's what I did:

I added to a sauce pan

3 cups cream
3 cups whole milk

then brought it to 180 degrees using a probe thermometer then cooling it to 110 degrees adding 2-3 tablespoons live culture store bought yogurt. I like it both sweetened and unsweetened so I fill one jar with the plain mixture and sweeten the rest with erythritol, stevia and vanilla to taste. I thicken even further the remaining mixture with a packet of softened gelatin.


I turn the oven on for a couple minutes then turning it off tucking the yogurt under a towel sticking the probe in the middle keeping the temperature close to 110 degrees turning on the oven for a minute if needed, leaving the oven light on the temperature will be fine overnight for yogurt development. The yogurt can develop in 3 1/2 hours you can leave it up to 12-14 hours depending how tart you like it. I don't like it so tart so I cure it for 3 1/2 hours up to 10 hours. I used Fage total which makes a mild flavored yogurt.

I put it in the freezer for an hour in the morning then in the fridge.


Here is some plain yogurt with strawberry chia gel

Here is the gelatin thickened vanilla yogurt

This yogurt is so good, so worth making once or twice a week. I have made different flavors like green tea and jamaica flowers.

A lovely lunch

Country style pork ribs with grape tomato avocado salsa and sauteed baby squash. A pretty, easy meal.

Pork ribs

3 pounds country style pork ribs
1 T pappy's 50% less salt seasoning
2 T soy sauce
2 T vinegar
4 cloves garlic crushed
1 t liquid smoke
black pepper to taste

Sprinkle everything over ribs and marinate for 4 hours to overnight in the fridge. Grill on low till done to your liking.

I love to grill. It doesn't heat up the house in the summer and is minimal clean up not to mention tastes wonderful!

Sauteed baby squash

assorted baby squash
butter
sea salt

Wash and trim cutting in pieces for even cooking. Heat a 10 or 12 inch skillet add a couple tablespoons butter then squash and salt. Saute till tender and slightly browned.

Grape tomato avocado salsa

1 tub grape tomatoes sliced in half
1 avocado diced
small sweet or red onion diced
1 jalapeno diced
couple grinds of sea salt
splash of fresh lime juice
cilantro chopped if you don't love it leave it out

A great side for meats or with sliced jicama or cucumber dippers.

More excitment in the neighborhood

The city is replacing our sidewalk because the tree has been pushing it up little by little.

Just hatched, like this blog!

A new beginning, baby chicks in our tree. This is so exciting! I know you can't see them but I had to share.