Low Carb Pizza Crust

This I must say was really good and gets top rating.

Low Carb Thin Pizza Crust

(Pic shows unbaked pizza crust)

Ingredients:

1 whole egg

3 egg whites, or 1/3 cup carton egg whites

2 cups shredded part skim Mozzarella cheese

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese

1/4 cup Parmasen Cheese, optional

Salt, to taste

Italian seasonings, to taste

Onion powder, to taste

Garlic powder, to taste

2 Tbsp each flax meal and coconut flour or almond flour, optional

1. In a bowl, mix egg with egg whites, or carton egg whites.
2. Add shredded part skim mozzarella cheese, shredded cheddar cheese and parmesan cheese.
3. Add desired amounts of salt, Italian seasonings, onion powder and garlic powder.
4. Add flax meal and coconut flour or almond flour and mix all ingredients well.
5. Spread mixture on greased parchment lined pizza pan or cookie sheet. Press mixture evenly from center to edges. (Very important to grease parchment paper or crust will stick to pan).
6. Bake at 450 for 20 minutes (crust can be turned after 15 minutes for extra crispy crust.)

Once crust has cooled, top with pizza sauce and desired toppings. Heat in 350 degree oven until toppings are heated through, 10 - 15 minutes.

Makes one large size pizza.

Serving size: 1/8 of pizza 

Notes:

> Almond flour can be used instead of coconut flour. 

> Flax meal and flours can be left out, but helps with binding

> I sprinkled about 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese in mixture.

> Check after 15 minutes of baking. I think 20 minutes is a little too long and my crust was rather dark on the bottom which made it a little too crispy.

> Crust held the weight of toppings amazingly well.

Nutrition per slice (Crust Only): Calories 173, Fat 11gm, Carb 3 gm,  Fiber 1.4 gm, 

Protein 13.5 gm.

Note:

Important to check sauce label...Ragu and Prego pizza sauces have added sugar and carbs are 9 -11 grams per serving. Kroger brand, pizza parlor style sauce, has no added sugar and carbs are 4 grams per serving. Read those labels!

This recipe was adapted from THM and LowCarbFriends.com 

Mashed Cauliflower "Potatoes"

 

I really liked these, but my DH did not! He's not a cauliflower fan and saw me making this so the recipe had strikes against it from the start! I served them with baked cube steak and really liked the combined taste. Try them...but you may need to make them in secret if you family has an aversion to cauliflower.

 

Mashed Cauliflower "Potatoes"

 

 

1 small to medium cauliflower

1 to 2 Tablespoons of water

1 to 2 Tablespoons of butter or taste

1/4 cup heavy cream, or less depending on desired consistency

Salt and pepper to taste

 

Chop or pull apart cauliflower into small pieces. Place in microwaveable covered casserole. Add water and microwave covered on High for 5 minutes, stir and cook for another 3 to 5 minutes on high or until cauliflower is tender. Drain well and let sit for about 5 minutes. Place cooked cauliflower in blender, food processor or use and immersion blender. Add butter and heavy cream and process until smooth. Salt and pepper to taste.

 

Makes about 2 1/2 cups.

 

Try these Add-ins for different flavors:

• minced garlic
• parmesan cheese
• cooked bacon pieces
• sour cream instead of heavy cream
• chives
• cheddar cheese



 

 



Baked Eggs

Want your eggs and bacon together? 

Baked Eggs

Ingredients:

Spray oil

6 each of:

    strips of bacon

    basil leaves

    eggs

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat the cups of a 6-cup muffin pan with spray oil. Line each cup with one strip of bacon and place a basil leaf on top of the bacon. Crack an egg into each cup. Salt and pepper to taste. Spray each egg with a couple sprays of the oil to keep top of egg from getting tough.  Bake 15 minutes for soft center egg and 20 - 25 minutes for hard centered egg. 

Serves 3

Mardi Gras King Cake

Mardi Gras King Cake Recipe

Ingredients: (makes two cakes)

Pastry:
1 cup milk
1/4 cup butter
2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
2/3 cup warm water (110 degrees F)
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
5 1/2 cups All Purpose flour

Filling:
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
2/3 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup All Purpose flour
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup melted butter

Frosting:
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1 tablespoon water
Green, yellow, purple food coloring

Directions:
Scald milk and remove from heat. Stir in 1/4 cup butter. Allow mixture to cool to room temperature. In a large bowl dissolve yeast in the warm water with 1 tablespoon of the white sugar. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

When yeast mixture is bubbling, add the cooled milk mixture, whisk in the eggs, stir in remaining white sugar, salt, and nutmeg. Beat the flour into the milk/egg mixture 1 cup at a time. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and kneed until smooth and elastic, about 8 - 10 minutes.

Lightly oil a large bowl and place the dough in the bowl turning to coat dough with oil. Cover with a damp cloth or plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 2 hours. Punch down and divide dough in half.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease 2 cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.

Filling: 
Combine brown sugar, ground cinnamon, chopped pecans, 1/2 cup flour and 1/2 cup raisins. Pour 1/2 cup melted butter over the cinnamon mixture and mix until crumbly.

(Cream cheese and/or fruit pie filling with the pecans, cinnamon and brown sugar also makes an excellent filling and is very popular in the New Orleans area)

Putting it all together:
Roll dough halves out into large rectangles approximately 10 x 16 inches. Sprinkle (or smear in the case of cream cheese) filling evenly over the dough and roll up each half tightly like a jelly roll, beginning at the wide side. Bring the ends of each roll together to form 2 oval shaped rings. Place each ring on a the prepared cookie sheet. With scissors make cuts 1/3 of the way through the rings at 1 inch intervals. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.

Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Frost while warm with the confectioner's sugar blended with 1 to 2 tablespoons of water and food dye. Also can be sprinkled with colored sugar if desired.

Enjoy!

If you want to know more about the history of the King Cake, click here to read this short article.

Thanks for stopping by and I love to read your comments!

Chicken and Potatoes

Chicken and Potatoes

1 lb. chicken breast tenders
3 medium to large potatoes, peeled and sliced
4 to 6oz of frozen onion and 3 pepper blend
1 small to medium onion, peeled and sliced
1 tbsp. olive oil
red pepper flakes to taste
salt to taste
1/4 cup water

Salt and pepper chicken to taste. Sauté chicken breasts in non-stick skillet in hot oil about 4 minutes per side until lightly browned. Place sliced potatoes evenly on top, salt and pepper to taste. Place frozen onion and three pepper blend on potatoes then top with sliced onions. Add about 1/4 cup water to promote steaming. Cover with lid and cook on medium-low 30 minutes or until chicken is cooked  and potatoes are tender.

 

Serve with favorite green vegetable. Serves 4.

Calzones

Calzones are so easy to make. This was the first time I made them and if I can do it then anyone can...believe me.

Calzones

Package Pizza dough mix - I used Martha White
1/2 pound ground chicken or ground beef
4 oz or so of frozen onion and sweet pepper blend (green, red, yellow)
fresh mushrooms or 1 small can sliced mushrooms
1 tsp dry Italian seasonings or to taste
Garlic powder or minced garlic to taste
1 jar favorite spaghetti sauce
12 slices pepperoni
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 beaten egg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Prepare pizza dough according to package directions. Set aside. Saute meat, frozen pepper blend and mushrooms until meat is fully cooked and veggies are tender. Drain in strainer. Mix in Italian seasonings and garlic. Set aside.

Divide pizza dough into two equal portions. On floured surface roll out each dough portion into an 8 to 10 inch circle. Spoon a generous amount of spaghetti sauce on one half of each dough circle about 1/2 inch from edge of dough. Evenly place 6 slices of pepperoni onto sauce of each dough.  Divide meat and veggie mixture and place evenly on top of pepperoni. Sprinkle 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese on top of meat mixture of each dough circle. Fold the other half of dough circle over onto the meat mixture and seal the dough ends by crimping or folding the ends over each other. Do the same with the second dough circle. Using two spatulas carefully place each calzone on a baking pan or large pizza pan. Cut 4 slits on calzone top and brush entire calzone with beaten egg.  Sprinkle with dry Italian seasonings. Bake for 30 - 40 minutes until golden brown and bubbly. Serve with remaining spaghetti sauce that has been warmed.

Serves 2

Banana Nut Bread (using oven or bread machine)

Banana Nut Bread

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup margarine or butter, softened
2 eggs
1 cup (2 medium) mashed ripe bananas
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup chopped nuts, if desired
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom only of 9 x 5  loaf pan. In large bowl, combine sugar and margarine; beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs; beat well. Add bananas, milk and vanilla; blend well.

2.  In small bowl, combine flour, nuts, baking soda and salt; mix well. Add to banana mixture; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. Pour into greased loaf pan.

3.  Bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 5 minutes; remove from pan. Cool 1 hour or until completely cooled. Wrap tightly and store in refrigerator. 

Yield 1 (16-slice) loaf

I actually made this bread in my bread machine. One...my bread machine has a batter bread setting, and two...the baking temp is perfect. Oh I can't forget about three...no added bowls and mixing utensils  to clean. I added all wet ingredients first to the bread machine pan, along with the mashed bananas.  I just cracked the eggs right into the pan without beating them.  Then I added all the dry ingredients beginning with the flour and topped it off with the nuts. Set the bread machine for Batter Bread with the crust set to dark (gets a little longer baking time which is needed). When done I let it sit in the pan for 5 minutes then popped it out. The bread baked to a nice golden brown and it was so very moist. My bread machine is like my adult Easy Bake Oven that mixes, kneads and bakes. I just love it!

Irish Coffee

Irish Coffee

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons sugar, or to taste
• 2/3 cup hot brewed coffee (decaf can be used)
• 2 tablespoons Irish whiskey (or Irish cream Liqueur)
• whipped cream

Preparation:

Combine first 3 ingredients; top with a generous dollop of whipped cream. Sprinkle with nutmeg if desired. Makes 1 serving.

Pumpkin Muffins

1. Boxed Spice Cake mix, 1 box 

2. Canned pumpkin, 15 oz. (not pie filling)

3. Nuts, seeds, raisins, dates of your choosing if desired

Combine dry cake mix and pumpkin...stir, stir, stir. Batter will be thick. Set aside for about 10 minutes, if desired, to rest batter and let dry mix incorporate into pumpkin, then stir, stir, stir again until well incorporated..batter will still be thick. Stir in nuts, seeds, raisins and/or dates if desired. Spray a muffin pan with spray oil and plop thick batter into muffin tins filling each about two-thirds full. (Don't forget to taste the batter...it's awesome. I was looking for something to spread it on).

Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 12 - 15 minutes until golden brown. Makes 16 - 18 muffins.

I've also used lemon cake mix and vanilla cake mix but I think the spice cake mix is the best due to the added spices. The moisture is perfect so don't add any liquid. My sister added applesauce one time and water another time and the muffin tops were tacky after cooled. 

Crawfish (Shrimp) Etouffee

Crawfish (Shrimp) Etouffee

é·touf·fée

noun, plural é·touf·fées

New Orleans Cookery. a stew of crayfish, vegetables, and seasonings, served over white rice.

Origin: 

 Louisiana French; French (à l')étouffée  cooked in a closed vessel with little liquid, braised; literally, to smother, suffocate.

Ingredients:

1/4 pound of butter
2 large onions, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium bell pepper, chopped
Salt, red and black pepper to taste
Tabasco sauce to taste
1 - 2 pounds crawfish tails or deveined shrimp
4 tablespoons flour
2 cups water
4 chicken bouillon cubes
Green onion tops to taste (optional)
Parsley to taste (optional)
Cooked rice

Melt butter in heavy skillet; saute onions, celery, garlic and bell pepper in butter over low heat until tender. Season to taste. Add crawfish or shrimp. Saute 1 minute; add flour. Continue cooking about 3 more minutes. Add water, bouillon cubes, green onions and parsley; Simmer for 10 -15 minutes. Serve over cooked rice. Serves 4 - 6.

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