Chia Strawberry Jam

Low Carb Chia Strawberry Jam

This combination of Chia seeds and Strawberries is absolutely delightful. I stumbled across this because my daughter bought us a huge bag of Chia seeds. I didn't really know what to do with them so I tried adding it to strawberry syrup and viola! It became Strawberry Jam! I thought I would share.

I cooked strawberries in a sauce pan until the strawberries were soft then added the Chia seeds. Let that simmer for about five minutes. Then transfer this into a blender so make the syrup. If you want to use this as a syrup at this point, that works very well. You can add the stevia at any time. I didn't because the sweetness from the Strawberries works just fine for me.

1 Cup Strawberries

1/4 Cup Chia seeds

Add Stevia to taste

Carb Count

Strawberries - 10 grams ( 13 carbs subtract 3 grams fiber)

Chia seeds - 2 grams (16 grams carbs subtract 2 grams fiber)

Pepper Jack Crackers w/ Almond Flour and Flax Meal

So... I haven't blogged for a long time. I unwisely took a bit of a break from my low carb lifestyle. Lots of things were going on, weddings, reunions, thanksgiving and Christmas. Anyway, for my new year resolution it is to get back on track with watching my car intake. Trying to stay between 20 to 50 carbs a day. I want to do a mini triathlon in May and then another child is getting married... In France. So Yikes! I need to look good and feel good. 

I tried out a new recipe and I love it. My fifteen year old son thinks they taste like wheat thins. I used a combination of flax meal and almond flour along with the pepper jack cheese. That is a great combination.

Low Carb Pepper Jack Crackers

 1 cup flax meal

1 1/2 cup almond flour

2 eggs

3 T olive oil

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 baking soda

4 ounces pepper jack cheese, shredded

Warm up the flax and the almond flour in the microwave. Shred the pepper jack cheese and mix these together. Add the salt and baking soda. Mix again. Add the two eggs and the oil. Mix this up with a fork until all incorporated. Knead the dough until it make a big lump.

Roll out half the dough at a time. I cut them up in squares and put them onto a pizza pan that has holes in it and baked them for twenty minutes at 350 degrees. Before baking, sprinkle them with a little extra salt and some Parmesan cheese. Set them onto paper towel after they are done, they might be a bit on the oily side.

Let them cool. They taste better after they are completely cooled. Seriously I love these.

There are very few carbs per cracker. The flax meal is only two carbs per cup and the almond flour is  also 2 carbs per cup. So I say, eat to your hearts delight.

Breakfast!

This breakfast was deliciously low carb. Sometimes, on Saturday, we have a slow, lazy, nothing to do sort of morning. This morning was just one of those. So we did brunch! The boys wanted waffles and scrambled eggs. No problem. 

I made them regular waffles but I made some almond flour waffles for me.

Almond waffle recipe:

2 eggs

1/4 C. Heavy Cream

1/4 almond flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

A pinch of salt

1 T. Olive oil

I don't put sugar substitute in because I really don't like things sweet anymore. (Yippee)

Spray the waffle iron and waffle away!

So, what's on the plate? Eggs and bacon...no problem, no carbs there. Waffles....about three carbs for the whole thing. Half a grapefruit....maybe six carbs. What, you might ask am I drinking? Hot cocoa, low carb style.

Low carb cocoa

2 cups very warm water

1/2 tsp. cocoa powder

1/4 cup heavy cream

That's it. I used to add stevia, but again, I don't need the sweetness anymore.

There you go. A lovely Saturday morning brunch.

Cheesy Almond Crackers!

I found this recipe on Pinterest and these turned out way better than I expected. This was from Kalyn's kitchen. I made them yesterday and put them in plastic bags and popped them in the freezer. Today the boys wanted nachos. Usually I don't have any because.....well they are not good without corn chips. So I tried these. I piped the rackets in the cheese sauce instead of smothering chips in the sauce. Fantastic! These crackers held up nicely under the cheese sauce weight. Can you tell that I am excited about nachos again?!?

Please remember a few things before you get started, use room temperature cheddar cheese that is in a block. Do not use the already shredded variety, those just don't weld everything together. Make sure the almond flour is also at room temperature.

2 1/2 C almond flour

4 oz. cheddar cheese, grated

2 eggs

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

3 Tbl oil. (I used olive oil)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the dry ingredients together, add the oil and eggs that have been whisked together, then add the cheese. Mix this up and then when it is all incorporated go ahead and knead it in the bowl with your hands.

Next use two pieces of parchment paper or waxed paper and put half the dough in between. Get out the roller and roll it thin. It should cover the bottom of a large cookie sheet. If you are using parchment paper I think it is okay to bake on the paper. Just take off the top piece. I used waxed paper so I oiled the cookie sheet and put the rolled dough directly on the pan. Sprinkle the dough with salt and cut it into squares. These taste a lot like cheezits so if you would like to make hem the same size, that's a great idea.

Bake for 15 minutes.

Let them cool right there I the pan if you used parchment paper, if you oiled the pan...you need to get them out of the pan or at least loosened right away.

No Carb Cheetos!

If you are like me sometimes the low carb lifestyle leaves me longing for crunchy foods! I got this recipe from 'mariamindbodyhealth'. These golden crunchy puffs are delicious and satisfied my craving for Cheetos. I don't know how long it has been since I have had real Cheetos. There are some things that I would change with this recipe. Maybe adding some cheese flavored popcorn salt would do the trick about halfway through the baking process.

3 egg whites beaten until very stiff

1/8 tsp. cream of tarter (add this to the egg whites before beating)

1/2 cup frozen cheddar cheese that has been pulsed in the food processor or blender until it is in tiny bits.

Add the cheese bits gently to the egg whites. Be sure you don't let all,the air out of the egg whites. Put the cheese and egg white mixture in a plastic bag nd cut a hole in the corner and squeeze out Cheetos size shapes onto a greased cookie sheet. I used olive oil but you could also use parchment paper.

Bake this in a preheated oven at 300 degrees for about 25 minutes. If you want you can sprinkle them wi Parmesan cheese or dust them with cheese flavored popcorn salt.

Low Carb Strawberry Cream Cheese Muffins

I created this recipe from a 'regular' one. My husband calls it 'low carbing' them. These don't always work out very well but this one turned out fantastic! I figure there are about 4 carbs per muffin when all is said and done. I ate one warm from the oven and they are really good but if you wait until the next day, they are even better! I think it gives the almond flour time to meld with the cream cheese.

Batter:

2 C Almond flour

12 packets of Stevia or the equivalent of 1/2 C sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Mix these together in a bowl then add:

2 eggs, beaten - less 2 Tbl beaten egg to be used in the cream filling

1/4 C olive oil

1/2 C cream

1 tsp. vanilla

Cream cheese filling:

6 oz. cream cheese 

8 packets stevia or 1/3 C sugar equivalent

2 Tbl beaten egg

1 tsp. Vanilla

Cinnamon streusel:

1/4 C almond flour - next time I might just used regular flour since I didn't really like the way this part turned out.

6 packets of stevia or 1/4 C sugar equivalent

1 tsp. cinnamon

2 Tbl cold butter

Strawberries cut into small chunks.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Layer the ingredients into the muffins cups. This will make about 12 muffins. First add about a tablespoon dollop of batter. Next put about a teaspoon of cream cheese filling. Then top with a few strawberry chunks and a bit of streusel. Repeat one more time and pop in the oven for 20-25 minutes.

I think there are about 5 grams of carbohydrates per muffin.

Low Carb Chocolate Kisses

I found this recipe on Pinterest but decided that what they had wasn't chocolatey enough for my taste and not quite sweet enough. I want them to taste like a chocolate kiss and look more like one also. So I added more cocoa powder to the mix and also some stevia. Here is my recipe:

Whip and set aside

 1 C Heavy Whipping Cream

Then cream

6 oz cream cheese

Add

1/8 C Heavy Whipping Cream

1/8 C Water

Combine 

1 tsp. Cocoa Powder

1/2 packet of Stevia (enough to be the equivalent of 1tsp. Sugar)

1 pkg of sugar free chocolate pudding

Add this to the cream cheese mixture and mix well.

Fold the now chocolate mixture into the whipped cream.

After that I put it all in a gallon plastic bag and cut off the corner and squeezed out little chocolate kisses onto parchment paper. Experts can use their pastry bags, I have also seen them made into stars. I'm all about getting this done easy and quick. Pop them into the freezer and wait until they are frozen solid. Transfer them into an airtight container and whenever you are feeling like you need chocolate, pop one of these into your mouth and enjoy!

I was going for the chocolate kiss look but they may look,like something else instead.;)

This probably has .2 carbs per kiss.