Creamy Cauliflower Mashed "Potatoes"

This is one of my favorite low carb sides.  It is not new but I love this swap for mashed potatoes.  I could honestly have them for the rest of my life and never miss the potatoes. (and I am not a huge fan of raw cauliflower by itself). 

Mashed cauliflower with a pre-made rotisserie chicken for dinner is a super simple and fast dinner for my family. (so no... I did not make that beautiful looking chicken pictured above, but my hubby did cut it up.....but the mashed cauli is all mine)

You need:
1 head cauliflower - chopped
1 T of minced garlic (I buy already chopped in olive oil)
3 oz. cream cheese
1 T parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste
a couple sprigs of parsley

Cut up the cauliflower

Boil in water for about 10 minutes or until fork tender

I like to add all of the cheese and garlic to the bottom of the food processor so the hot cauliflower will melt it.

I use a slated spoon to pull out the boiled cauliflower into a bowl lined with a paper towel to absorb the water.  You want to absorb as much water as possible.

Blend together the cheeses, garlic, and cauliflower.  At the end throw in the salt, pepper, and parsley.

Kid tested and a big win!! Also Mommy approved for being yummy and MM neutral!

Breakfast for Dinner ~ Low Carb Coconut Flour Pancakes (gluten free, grain free)

Breakfast for breakfast is fine, but why not switch it up and have breakfast for dinner every once in a while?  My family does this alot because it is simple, on the cheaper side, and the kids think it is so fun!

One of the challenges with eating low carb is when you miss things like pancakes.  When I first was searching for low carb recipes I found this one, which I love.  It makes thin little pancakes that kind of taste like French toast.  Simple and tasty.

Now, I know I have said before that I am not creative in the kitchen, but after making a good amount of low carb and paleo baking recipes I thought I could try my hand at some alterations.  I love the pancakes I mentioned, but they are very thin and I wanted to try to add some fluffiness.  I have not been a fan of the pancakes made with almond flour b/c they are too dry and gritty for my liking but then I was introduced to coconut flour and it changed my world.

So here is my altered recipe that is pictured above:

Coconut Flour Pancakes
2 eggs
2 oz. cream cheese
5 drops vanilla stevia (or 1 packet splenda or other sweetner)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 c coconut flour
1/4 c water
1 Tablespoon nut butter - I used my pecan butter but almond would work (peanut butter probably too but it might taste like it a little)
Mix-ins optional - I sometimes add mini chocolate chips for the kiddos or fruit for a MM step 2 option or chopped up nuts

I mix the batter in a magic bullet or any small blender to make sure it is good and combined.  If you want a thinner batter just add more water until you get the desired consistency.  I pour about 1/4 cup per pancake on a griddle for about 2 minutes on each side (you really can't over cook them but thy can be under cooked in the middle so be sure to do what works for your heat level).

You can see that they are pretty fluffy and moist on the inside :)

I may try and substitute the cream cheese/water for some coconut milk next time to make it paleo friendly.......but the hubby does not really dig panckes anyway so my efforts may be wasted.

I added blueberries to half the batch which was amazing!!  I asked Tyce if he liked the chocolate chips or the blueberries better and he said blueberries!!  That's my boy! And these were fresh blueberries so no fake stuff you find in the eggo waffles and such!

If you use 1/4 c blueberries or less this can be your 5 g counter for those on MM.

I hope you like these!  If you try them let me know what you think or any tweaks you have made!!

Low Carb Tortilla Chips and Guacamole

Happy Cinco de Mayo!!

Here is a simple little snack that I love.  Eating low carb makes it really hard to eat Mexican food in the traditional sense.  But with a little creativity you can overcome anything.

For the tortilla chips I use a low carb tortilla (mine has 3g net carbs per tortilla).  I usually fix 2 tortillas and my kids will eat enough where I will be under the 5g net carb amount.

I cut up the tortillas into triangle shaped chips using a pizza cutter.

 I add a little bit of olive oil to each chip with a basting brush. 

Bake at 400 degrees for 7-10 minutes or until crispy.

Yummy and done!

The guacamole is just simply avocado, tomatoes, onion, salt, pepper, and garlic in whatever combo you find tasty.  mash all together and serve with chips.

The chips would be a MM 5 g counter and the guacamole is MM neutral.

  You could also serve the chips with 1/2 cup salsa if you are not a fan of guac!

Yummy Banana Chocolate Chip Spice Muffins (possibly paleo ~ definitely gluten free and low carb)

So what you will soon learn about me is that I am not very creative in the kitchen.  I can follow a recipe like nobodies business (hello....I am a scientist) but when it comes to just winging it......total fail on my part.  In other words if you ever see a recipe on my blog I will probably have a link to the original author's post just like this one I am about to tell you about.

Side note:  I am not really sure on the etiquette of referencing another blog so I am hoping putting the link to give credit is the way to go.

Anywhoooooo.....I will talk in much more detail in other posts about our families eating habits but this recipe was one I came across when looking for a paleo breakfast item.  A couple of the ways I am trying to live a simpler life are incorporated here such as eating simple whole foods and eating on a budget by buying on sale and freezing meals/snacks.

So you can find the recipe on the link I posted above, the only modification is at the last minute I decided to add some mini dark chocolate chips (gluten free) to half of the batter for the kiddos (and maybe me).  This is the part that may or may not be paleo - up to your personal paleo eating style.

all of the ingredients ~ homemade almond butter in the Ball jar on the left and that cute little flower jar on the right was made by my soon to be sister-in-law and is homemade vanilla just using vanilla bean and vodka (genius)

I used my Ninja for this ~ if you are not familiar with it think of a cross between a blender and a food processor ~ we love it in my house

combine all of the wet ingredients - eggs, bananas, almond butter, cocnut oil, vanilla and blend until completely mixed

combine all of the dry ingredients ~ coconut flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, salt ~ add to wet ingredients and bland until smooth

should look something like this



this is me deciding last minute to spruce it up with some chocolate chips ~ I didn't measure this out just kinda threw them in there ~ it is not very many chips per muffin

I love using my ice cream scoop to equally measure out muffins into the pan so theoretically they bake the same

I filled mine almost 3/4 full and got 12 muffins out of the whole batter ( I think you were supposed to get 24 ~ oops)

About 15 minutes later on 350 and finished!!



These were seriously yummy and super moist (which is not very characteristic of gluten free baking so I was super excited).  Most of the sugar/carbs come from the bananas so I feel pretty good about it.  The net carb count without the chocolate chips is around 11 g per muffin if you make 12.  Adding the chocolate chips is probably another carb or 2 (like I said ~ I didn't measure them out like a good scientist).

If anyone out there ever reads this and tries them, let me know what you think or any alterations you think would be good!!  I am going to try and put a few of these in the freezer to save for later before all of my boys get their hands on them :)