All posts by Rene Averett

Desserts, Recipes

Light and Fluffy Gelatin Dessert

 

This is a recipe I recall fondly from my childhood. We used to have it often. Gelatin-based recipes are inexpensive, refreshing, and fruit-flavored. But they don’t have to be served without enhancements. By combining the gelatin with whipped topping, you have a lighter, tastier treat. Add in cream cheese and you elevate it to a whole new level. Lime gelatin with Thompson seedless green grapes is one of my favorite combinations, but you can vary it with a bunch of different gelatin options and fruits. See the notes below for other great combinations.

With sugar-free gelatin and reasonably low-sugar fruit, you can make a delicious dessert that won’t hurt your diet.

Photo: Lime Fluff

Lime Gelatin Fluff with Grapes

1 package (8 servings) Sugar-Free Lime Gelatin
1 cup Boiling Water
1 cup Cold Water
8 oz. Cream Cheese, softened
1 cup Whipped topping
2 cups Seedless Green Grapes

In a medium-sized bowl, add the lime gelatin mix and 1 cup of boiling water. Stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved. Add 1 cup of cold water and stir to mix. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to chill for about 90 minutes. It should be very thick or partially set before you continue.

Cut grapes in half if you wish or leave whole.

In a large, deep bowl, add the cream cheese, breaking it into 8 pieces, then use a hand mixer to beat it until it is creamy and smooth. Add the gelatin and continue to beat to mix the cream cheese into the gelatin. It will be in little pieces through it. Add the whipped topping and beat to mix it in. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill it in the refrigerator for at least two hours.

Makes 8 servings.

Notes: Want to cut the carbs a little? Use only one cup of grapes.

This recipe can be combined with any sugar-free gelatin flavor and most fruits to make other combinations. Fruits that don’t work include figs, fresh pineapple, and grapefruit. A list of the fruits that prevent the gelatin from setting up is listed on the box.

Try strawberry or strawberry banana gelatin with fresh strawberries. Cut the strawberries in halves or quarters to distribute them better.

Try a can of drained mandarin oranges with orange gelatin to make a cream-tasting dessert reminiscent of Dreamsicles.

Try 1 cup of pineapples tidbits, liquid drained, with lime or lemon gelatin.

Try 2 cups of raspberries with raspberry or strawberry gelatin.

Try sugar-free cranberries with Cranberry or raspberry gelatin. Cook 2 cups of fresh cranberries with sugar substitute until they set up. Let them cool in the refrigerator, then mix into the gelatin, cream cheese, and whipping cream mixture.

Nutrition Info; Lime Gelatin Fluff

Nutrition Information: Other Gelatin Fluffs

Main Dish, Mexican/Spanish Recipes, Recipes, Seafood, Vegetables & Salads

Try fish for your Cinco de Mayo celebration!

Photo: Mexican-style Tilapia

For a long time, I haven’t included fish in my Mexican or Tex-Mex eating. Truth is, I am not a big fish fan, although shellfish is a whole different story. But I do like white fish, such as tilapia, cod, and halibut along with salmon. I never considered using them in Mexican food, but I decided it was time to try it out. I started with this delicious dish.

Mostly, I’m relying on seasoning to bring the flavor to the fish. I used Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle seasoning, but you can use your own favorite. This dish easy to make. Add about 1/4 cup of black beans or frijole beans as a side dish along with the riced turnips with chile I posted a few days ago or with the amazingly good riced golden beets I’m adding the recipe for below. I usually use them as a couscous substitute, but they work well with this fish.

Mexican-style White Fish

2 tilapia fish fillets (4 oz. each) or other white fish
1 cloves garlic minced
1/2 lime juiced
1 tablespoon Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle seasoning
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon olive oil

In a shallow pan or bowl, add garlic, seasoning, salt, and lime juice and mix. Rub the mixture over the fish fillets, making sure to cover them on both sides.

Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat and add the oil. When the oil is hot, place the fillets in the pan and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, then turn and cook the reverse side the same amount of time. Turn off heat, flip the fish back over, and let it sit another minute.

Serve with a salad, beans, riced beets, or cauliflower rice along with guacamole, sour cream, sliced onions, and tomato as preferred.

Makes two servings.

Photo: Riced golden beets

Riced Golden Beets

1 medium golden beet, peeled
1/4 cup Hot Water
1/2 teaspoon Better Than Bullion Chicken
1 tablespoon Butter
1/2 cup Diced Onions (optional)
Salt to taste

Cut beet into cubes and use a food processor to chop until the pieces are rice-sized.

Heat a small skillet over medium heat and add butter. Add onions and sauté for two minutes.

Add one cup of the riced beets and stir into the butter and onions for a couple of minutes. Heat water to boiling, then add chicken bullion. When melted add to the skillet, add salt, and stir in. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes. Check a couple of times to make sure the rice doesn’t dry out. Add water as needed. Check to be sure beets are tender.

Makes two 1/2 cup servings.

Image: Nutrition Info Mexican whitefishImage: Nutrition Info - Riced Golden Beets

Main Dish, Poultry, Recipes, Vegetables & Salads

Delicious Stuffed Mexican-style Chicken Breasts

Photo: Stuffed Mexican Chicken breast and riced turnips with chile

As May starts, we’re only a few days away from Cinco de Mayo, which is a great time to celebrate Mexico and anything Mexican. The cuisine is spicy, bursting with flavor, and a favorite around the world. Just because you can’t go out to your favorite restaurant right now doesn’t mean you can’t have a great celebration at home. Even better, you can make low carb versions so you don’t have to worry about gaining back any hard-lost pounds.

I’m tossing out a shameless plug for my little cookbook that features over fifteen adapted Mexican food recipes. I tried  out and adapted every one of the dishes in the booklet to be under 10 net carbs. It includes my grandmother’s TexMex Spanish rice that I grew up with but adjusted to use cauliflower in place of the rice.  Delicious and flavorful, yet different from the Mexican restaurant version.

You can purchase a copy for only 99-cents from your favorite e-book seller by going to this one link:

https://books2read.com/u/mqzMyO

New Recipes

Now, on to the new recipes. I wanted to make a stuffed chicken breast that would celebrate the flavors of Mexico, so I came up with this delicious filling that gives enough spice to taste it, but not overwhelm the chicken. It’s easy to make and cooks in about thirty minutes, so less than an hour to prepare and have dinner on the table.

To compliment the dish, you can serve cauliflower rice or try the amazingly tasty recipe that follows the chicken dish  for riced turnips with green chiles. It’s so good, you won’t believe you’re eating turnips. They absorb the flavors of the dish and are a great substitute for rice.

Image: Stuffed Mexican Chicken breast

Stuffed Mexican Chicken Breast

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 ounces Cream Cheese, softened
2 teaspoons Taco Seasoning
1 tablespoons Chopped Green Chiles
1/2 tablespoon Dried Minced Onion
1/3 cup Cheddar Jack Cheese, shredded
1/2 teaspoon Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle
2 tablespoons Southwest Style Salsa

In a small bowl, mix together the cream cheese, taco seasoning, chiles, and dried onions until blended and smooth. Add the cheddar jack cheese and mix it well.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees (F.)

Cut the chicken breasts in the thickest part almost the full length and close to the opposite side to make a pocket. Stuff one-half of the cream cheese mixture into each pocket. Use tooth picks to hold the pockets closed.

Put the chicken in an oven-proof skillet or in a baking dish. Sprinkle the southwest chipotle seasoning on top and rub it in. If you’d like it spicier, add additional. Spray the top with a bit of oil or cooking spray.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until the chicken is done. If you poke the thickest part with a fork and the liquid coming out is clear, the chicken is done.

Add a tablespoon of salsa over the top of each breast and serve.

Makes 2 servings.

Photo: Riced Turnips with chile

Riced Turnips with Chile

1 large Turnip, peeled and cut into cubes
1 tablespoon Butter
1 tablespoon Green Chiles, diced
1/4 cup hot Water
1/2 teaspoon Better than Chicken Bullion
1/4 cup Onions, chopped
1/2 teaspoon Mrs. Dash Chipotle Seasoning
1/4 teaspoon Salt

Boil water, pour into a 1/4 cup measure and add the bullion, stirring to dissolve.

Put turnip cubes into a food processor and pulse until it is chopped to the size of rice. In a medium-sized skillet over medium high heat, melt the butter, then add the riced turnips and onions. Sauté for about five minutes, then add the bullion water and stir it in. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes. Add chiles, salt and seasoning, stir and cook for another 10 minutes until the turnips are tender.

If the water cooks out, add more water. It should be about the same texture as cooked rice. Fluff up the turnips before serving.

Makes two 1/2-cup servings.

Image: Nutrition Stuffed Mexican Chicken Breast

 

Image: Nutrition Riced Turnips with Chile

Desserts, Recipes

Depression Cake made low carb…

Depression Cake, also called Crazy Cake or Three Hole Cake

Yesterday, I saw a recipe for a Depression Cake on Facebook. Since it is a egg free cake that is easy to make, I thought I’d give it a whirl with some low carb substitutions. Heaven knows, chocolate cake is an automatic anti-depressant, isn’t it? Anyone, I swapped out one cup of flour for Bakesquick from DCC  and the other 1/4 cup for almond flour. You can probably substitute in other low carb flours for either of these.

The 35-minute cook time is a little too long for either the flour or the cast iron skillet I used as it got a little over-done. So, I adjusted the recipe to 25 to 30 minutes, check to make sure it is springy and don’t over cook. My cake is a tad bit dry, but I think that will solve the problem.  The cake has a really good flavor with a bit of tang to it that probably comes from the apple cider vinegar I used.

You can dress it up however you like. I just sprinkled sugar-free powdered sugar over the top and served it with whipped cream. You can make an icing for it if you wish.

Depression Cake

Low Carb Adjusted by Rene Averett

1 cups Low Carb Flour
1/2 cup Almond Flour
1 cup Sugar Substitute
1/4 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 teaspoon Salt
1 tablespoon White or Apple Cider Vinegar
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
6 tablespoons Vegetable Oil
1 cup Coffee, cooled (or water)

Make the cup of coffee and let it cool.

Preheat oven to 375°F.  Grease an 8-inch round or square pan or cut parchment paper for the bottom and spray with cooking spray. I used an 8″ cast ion skillet with parchment on the bottom.

In a mixing bowl, add the flour, almond flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and sugar. Poke three holes into the mix. Pour the vanilla, vinegar, and oil into each hole.

Add the coffee and stir the ingredients until well blended. Be sure to get the bottom flour mixed into the liquid. Spoon into the baking pan or skillet and smooth.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the top is set but springy. Allow the cake to cool in the pan. Use a knife to loosen the edges and transfer to a plate by placing the plate over the top and flipping the pan. If you’ve used parchment, the cake should flip out easily, then remove the paper.

Ice with a sugar-free powdered sugar drizzle or sprinkle sugar-free powered sugar over the top, or just serve with whipped cream topping. Low carb ice cream is also yummy with it.

Makes 8 servings.

Recipe Note: The recipe says “Poke three holes into the mix. ” I have no idea why this is important, and it wasn’t clear if you should mix the three liquid ingredients together and divide it into each hole. I put vanilla in one, apple cider vinegar in one, and vegetable oil in the third, which overflowed and went into the other holes anyway. Then you add the coffee and mix it all together, so I don’t quite see the purpose in this division.  

Nutrition Information: Depression Cake

Breakfast & Brunch, Desserts, Recipes

Delightful Apple Cranberry Skillet Cake

Photo: Slice of apple cranberry skillet cake.

One of the really lovely things about the last five decades or so has been the availability almost year-round of most fruits and vegetables. If we don’t have them fresh, we might be able to get them frozen. As we move through the next few months, it will be interesting… and possibly a little alarming… to see if that ready access continues while we are still fighting COVID-19.

Apples have been readily available at the market, so I’ve been making a few apple recipes. I’m sharing one I made recently that is similar to the Cranberry Skillet Cake I made a few weeks ago. This one adds in Swerve Brown Sugar to add a nice caramel flavor to the it. So easy to put together, the cake is moist, loaded with flavor, and can be either a dessert or a nice breakfast treat.

I used DCC’s All Purpose Flour and Bob’s Red Mill Almond Flour in my recipe. But you can substitute other flour, such as soy , hazelnut , or coconut in for the all purpose flour. If you use coconut , I’ve duplicated the recipe and made the adjustments for the coconut flour. As I’ve mentioned before, it absorbs a lot of moisture and expands a lot so it isn’t a “substitute the flour for the same amount of coconut flour” item. You use at least 50% less coconut flour plus additional egg and possibly water.

I also baked this in an 8″ cast iron skillet, which is perfect for this type of cake. If you don’t have one, use an 8″ round deep-sided cake pan. The nutrition information for both recipes is at the bottom of the page.

Enjoy the recipe, eat well, and stay in, stay healthy.

Apple Cranberry Skillet Cake

1 large Apple, cored and chopped
1/8 cup Craisins or 1/4 cup Cranberries
3 tablespoons Swerve Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
1/4 cup granulated Sugar Substitute
1/3 cup Butter, melted
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1/2 tablespoon Ground Cinnamon
1 tbsp Brandy or Irish Whiskey
2/3 cup Low Carb Flour
1/3 cup Almond Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/3 cup Pecan or Walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F.) Cut parchment paper to fit the bottom of a 8″ cast iron skillet or an 8″ cake pan. Spray the paper and the sides with cooking spray.

Combine the eggs and sugar substitute in a bowl and whisk together until creamy. Add in the brown sugar, vanilla, brandy (or whiskey), and cinnamon and whisk to combine.

In a medium bowl, add the flour, almond flour, and baking powder. Whisk or mix with a spoon to combine. Add the egg mixture and stir it together to mix all the flour in. Add the butter, apples, and nuts and stir until they are mixed in.

Spoon the batter into the cast iron skillet (or cake pan) and smooth the top.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until the cake is done. Insert a toothpick and if it is clean when removed, the cake is done. Set aside to cool.

Serve with whipped topping or low carb ice cream for dessert. Or spread butter over the top and sprinkle with a little sugar Substitute for a breakfast cake.

Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Photo: Apple cranberry skillet cake

Almond and Coconut Flour Version

1 large Apple, cored and chopped
1/8 cup Craisins or 1/4 cup Cranberries
3 tablespoons Swerve Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
1 Egg White
1/4 cup granulated Sugar Substitute
1/3 cup Butter, melted
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1/2 tablespoon ground Cinnamon
1 tbsp Brandy or Irish Whiskey
3 tablespoons Coconut Flour
1/3 cup Almond Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/3 cup Pecans or Walnuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F.) Cut parchment paper to fit the bottom of an 8″ cast iron skillet or an 8″ cake pan. Spray the paper and the sides with cooking spray.

Combine the eggs, egg white, and sugar substitute in a bowl and whisk together until creamy. Add in the brown sugar, vanilla, brandy (or whiskey), and cinnamon and whisk to combine.

In a medium bowl, add the coconut flour, almond flour, and baking powder. Whisk or mix with a spoon to combine. Add the egg mixture and stir it together to mix all the flour in. If the batter is too dry, add a little water, 1 tablespoon at a time. Add the butter, apples, and nuts and stir until they are mixed in.

Spoon the batter into the cast iron skillet (or cake pan) and smooth the top.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until the cake is done. Insert a toothpick and if it is clean when removed, the cake is done. Set aside to cool.

Serve with whipped topping or low carb ice cream for dessert. Or spread butter over the top and sprinkle with a little sugar substitute for a breakfast cake.

Nutrition Info for Apple Cranberry Skillet Cakes