Need a quick and delicious side dish to go with a pork chop, salmon, or chicken? To be honest, this one goes with just about any protein dish or stands on its own. In place of rice, I used Natural Heaven Hearts of Palm rice, but you can use any palm rice or cauliflower rice. If you don’t care about the carbs, you can also use cooked rice.
Even though it’s called a risotto, it isn’t cooked in the same way, so it becomes a quick side dish instead of one that takes quite a lot longer and uses a lot more liquid.
Asparagus and Riced Palm Risotto
2 tablespoons Butter, melted
3 tablespoons Onion Flakes or minced Onion
1 tablespoon Garlic, minced
1 bunch Asparagus, washed, trimmed, & cut into 1″ pieces
1 package Natural Heaven Hearts of Palm rice or Cauliflower rice
1 teaspoon Chicken Better Than Bullion
1/4 cup boiling Water
1/4 cup Heavy Cream
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese, shredded
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/8 teaspoon Pepper
1/8 teaspoon Nutmeg, ground
2 pieces Bacon , cooked & crumbled
Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and cook until starting to brown. Add asparagus and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, then add riced palm and stir together.
Combine hot water with bullion and stir until mixed, then add to skillet. And stir.
Add cream, seasoning, and Parmesan cheese. Stir together and cook over medium low heat until the asparagus is tender. About 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in bacon pieces and cook 1 minute.
Makes 4 creamy and delicious servings.
Disclaimer: All nutrition information is calculated on my measurements and ingredients so may differ from what you use when cooking. They will be probably be close to these unless you vary drastically.
I hope your winter holidays have been fabulous this year and have lifted any lagging spirits. We’re coming down to the end of 2022, and many of us are glad to bid adieu to it. Like many of you, I am hoping 2023 will be a much improved year. May it bring peace to parts of the world in unrest, and may we find a way to respect and tolerate one another.
To end the year, I have a pair of delicious treats to offer. One is a low carb variation of the chocolate rum ball, which is usually made with vanilla wafers. This version is made from an almond flour based shortbread cookie. Instead of rum, I used Peppermint Syrup. If you want the spirit version, you can replace the peppermint syrup with peppermint Schnapps.
The second recipe is a simple nog to celebrate the new year. I plan to toast 2023 with it. Again, it can be made with or without alcohol. The flavor is like gingerbread, and I used sugar-free Gingerbread Syrup. You can also make ginger syrup and use it instead; just add a little extra cinnamon and nutmeg.
Chocolate Peppermint Balls
Shortbread Cookies:
2 cups almond flour
½ cup low carb powdered sweetener
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup oil
¼ cup butter unsalted and melted
1 teaspoon baking powder
Peppermint Balls
1 cup pecans finely chopped
½ cup low carb powdered sweetener
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon Peppermint extract
4 tablespoons sugar-free honey
1/4 cup Sugar-free Peppermint Syrup or Peppermint Schnapps
1/4 cup Low-carb Powdered Sugar
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (F.). Prepare a baking pan with a sheet of parchment paper or a silicone mat.
In a medium bowl, combine all the ingredients for the shortbread cookies and using a mixer, beat until they are well combined and pull together. The dough will be a little loose.
Form the dough into small balls about the size of a walnut, place on the prepared baking pan, and press the top down to flatten. Bake for about 8 to 10 minutes until the cookies are browned around the edges and are lightly brown.
Let cool before continuing.
This will make about 15 cookies.
To make the balls, crumble the cookies into a mixing bowl. This should be a rough crumble about the size of bread crumbs.
Add the pecans, powdered sweetener, cocoa powder, peppermint extract, sugar-free honey, and peppermint syrup.
Mix together until the cookies are moist and the chocolate is evenly distributed. The cookies should be moist, not dry, so if you need to add a little more syrup, add another tablespoon until the ball holds together. Form the dough into 40 evenly-sized balls about one inch in diameter.
Place the balls onto your baking sheet and place them in the freezer for an hour to set.
Roll them into confectioners sugar substitute before serving if you’d like a light dusting. Mine mostly absorbed the powder.
Makes about 40 peppermint balls.
If you like the traditional rum or bourbon ball, use this same recipe and substitute vanilla extract for the peppermint extract and the alcohol of choice for the peppermint syrup.
Simple Ginger Nog
1-1/3 cups Unsweetened Almond Milk
1/3 cup Heavy Cream
1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon, ground
1/8 teaspoon Nutmeg, ground
1/4 teaspoon Ginger, ground
1 ounce Sugar-free Gingerbread Syrup
1 ounce Whiskey or Rum (or Rum extract)
In a small saucepan, heat almond milk and heavy cream over medium heat to almost a boil. Add cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger and stir until mixed well. Remove from heat and add syrup and whiskey or rum.
Heat serving glasses with hot water from the faucet so they are warm before pouring the hot mixture into them. Divide the mixture into two glasses, sprinkle a little nutmeg over the top, and serve. Makes two servings.
To make your own Ginger Syrup:
1/2 cup Ginger root, peeled and thinly sliced
2 cups Water
1/3 cup Granulated Sugar Substitute
In a small saucepan, combine the ingredients and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 10 minutes.
Cool for an hour, then strain and store it in a clean jar in the refrigerator. This will keep for up to two weeks.
Not crazy about ginger? Try one of these delicious drinks:
It’s been a while since I posted a new recipe on here. Last month was really busy with writing since I participated in NaNoWriMo again. I almost have two complete novel drafts, but not quite. I’d hoped to work on them this month. Who was I kidding?!
So far as new recipes go, I have to say I haven’t been creating many new ones, mostly making some of my fall favorites. But this weekend, I made a simple and simply delicious dessert made with cream cheese, cranberries, and apples. To be honest, I’m not overjoyed with the bottom cake on this recipe, but I deviated from the recipe a bit and it might be my own fault. In brief, the sponge cake wasn’t very spongy. But the rest of the dessert was wonderful.
This would make a light and very scrumptious ending to your holiday dinner. Since it’s not a baked cheesecake, it’s lighter and fluffier. I’ve included some options for an alternate base other than the cake.
Cranberry Apple Cream Cheese Pie
Cut a 3 inch pie in half to make two servings. This shows the layers a little bit but the cream cheese mixture smears when it’s cut.
FILLING
½ cup Cream Cheese softened
½ cup Heavy Cream
2 tablespoons Powdered Sugar Substitute
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
TOPPING
1 cup Cranberries, fresh
1/4 cup Water
1/4 cup Sugar Substitute
1/2 large Apple, cored and peeled
1/2 teaspoon Lemon Juice
1/2 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground Cloves, optional
Make the Topping:
In a medium-sized pot, add two cups of fresh cranberries, 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup of sugar substitute. Stir together, then bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium high and cook until all the cranberries have popped.
While the berries are cooking, core and peel the apple. Cut 1/2 in half, then cut into bite-sized pieces. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Microwave for one minute, then set aside.
Let the cranberries cook for about five minutes after they’ve popped. Remove from heat, add apples, cinnamon, and cloves (if using). Stir together and set aside.
Make the sponge cake:
In a small bowl, mix all the cake ingredients together. Divide the batter into 2 three-inch in diameter microwaveable bowls. Cook in microwave for 2 minutes. Allow to cool, turn out and cut each small cake into two horizontally so you have four discs. Or, you can leave in the bowls and make 2 three-inch cakes and cut the completed cakes in half before serving versus 4 smaller cakes.
Make the filling:
Put the cream cheese, cut into pieces, and the heavy cream in a small mixing bowl. Beat with an egg beater until smooth. Add the powdered sugar substitute and vanilla and beat until the filling is fluffy.
Assembly:
Place a cake disc on the bottom of the serving bowl or glass, spread a layer of cream cheese mixture over the top (about two tablespoons), spoon a layer of cranberry and apple mix over the cream cheese. Add another layer of cream cheese and top with the rest of the cranberries.
Chill in the refrigerator for about an hour before serving. Serve with a dollop of whipped cream if you wish.
Makes 4 servings.
TIP: If you want to make this all as one cake, it should fit into a 5″ cheesecake pan. Make the cake in the pan and bake it at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes. Test to make sure it is done. Let cool, then assemble the pie as described above, splitting the cream cheese and cranberry filling into two portions, one for the bottom, and one for the top layers.
Alternate bottom layers: Use a pecan/almond/flour and butter crust for the bottom layer. Mix 1/4 cup chopped pecans with 1/4 cup almond flour, 2 tablespoons butter, and 2 tablespoons sugar substitute. Pat the crust into the bottom of the oven-worthy serving dishes. Bake at 350 degrees for about 5 minutes until the edges are lightly browned. Let cool, then assemble pie.
Pie crust bottom: Use your favorite low carb pie crust recipe and quarter the amounts.
Almond flour sugar cookie crust: Use a low carb sugar cookie recipe. Pat into your bowls to form a 1/4 inch crust and bake any leftovers into cookies. Bake and let cool, then assemble pie.
If you don’t want any crust, just assemble in your serving dishes.
You can use this same recipe to make a strawberry cream cheese pie, or a blueberry, mixed berry, peach or any other type fruit pie you’d like. They’re all delicious.
This is loosely based on Angela Coleby’s Tiramisu Mug Cake (that will be another post).
Nutrition information calculated at www.nutritionvalue.org. Values may vary based on ingredients and brands that you use, but should be close to the ones I calculated.
Hope you try this. Let me know if you do and if you like it.
My life seems jam-packed the past couple of months and time is fleeting. Here we are, well into Fall in the northern hemisphere, and the temperatures are dropping. We’re expecting freezing lows in the Reno, Nevada area tonight and tomorrow. I could use a little more fall.
I haven’t done too much cooking, especially of any new dishes, but the one I’m offering today is a really good one. I’ll also throw in a couple of links to some seasonal recipes from this site.
This is a simple recipe to turn chicken thighs into a delightful and spicy dish. I love many of Chef John’s recipes and this one is high on my list of make often. It is very low-carb’d and totally satisfying.
I only made a few little changes to the chef’s recipe to make it lower carb’d. I served it with Natural Heaven Hearts of Palm Brown Rice. If you haven’t tried Hearts of Palm rice or pasta, it is a very good low carb alternative to rice. They also make a delicious mashed potato substitute.
Recipe adapted from Chef John’s Thai Basil Chicken.
Thai Basil Chicken
1/3 cup Chicken Broth 1 tablespoon Oyster Sauce 1 tablespoon Soy Sauce 2 teaspoons Fish Sauce 1 teaspoon White Sugar Substitute 1 teaspoon Swerve Brown Sugar Substitute 2 tablespoons Vegetable Oil 1 pound skinless, Boneless Chicken Thighs, coarsely chopped ¼ cup sliced Shallots or Green Onions 4 cloves Garlic, minced 2 tablespoons minced Thai Chilies, Serrano, or other hot pepper 1/2 cup very thinly sliced fresh Basil Leaves 2 cups hot cooked rice substitute (Cauliflower or Hearts of Palm)
In a small bowl, whisk together chicken broth, oyster sauce, soy sauce, fish sauce, white sugar substitute, and brown sugar substitute until it is blended together.
Heat a large deep skillet over high heat or use a wok. Drizzle in oil and spread around. Add chicken and stir fry until it no longer looks raw, about 2 to 3 minutes. And shallots, garlic, and sliced chilies and stir and cook on high heat until you see the juices start to caramelize in the bottom of the pan, about 3 to 5 more minutes. Add a tablespoon of the sauce mixture to the skillet; cook and stir until sauce begins to caramelize, about 1 to 3 minutes.
Add the rest of the sauce. Cook and stir until sauce has deglazed the bottom of the pan. Continue to cook until sauce glazes onto the meat, 1 or 2 more minutes. Remove from heat.
Stir in basil. Stir until basil is wilted, about 20 seconds. Serve with cauliflower rice or riced Hearts of Palm.
Makes 4 servings.
I love pumpkin and don’t really need the excuse of Halloween or Thanksgiving to cook with it. Here’s a few recipes for you to try:
Happy September, y’all. (That’s my Texas roots showing.) We’re entering the last third of the year. Can you believe it? It seems like the time flew by although the summer heat in the northern hemisphere was something I’d rather avoid. But cooler temps are coming in over the next few days and it’s time to think about fall flavors.
I ran across this quick and easy scone recipe on AllRecipes.com and decided to adjust it to a low carb version. With the change in flour and other adjustments, it doesn’t resemble the base recipe much. One big change was using pecan flour in it.
I bought a bag of Fisher Nuts product and was delighted to see it is a zero-carb flour. Now, it isn’t great for everything you want to bake and it does have a nut grittiness to it. But for scones and some bread, it is a nice addition to the recipe. In this recipe, I used it for the larger flour amount and used almond flour for the rest.
The recipe has a variation on it using NuTrail Keto Granola in Cinnamon Pecan. More about that after the recipe. Also, both the craisins and pecans in this scone are optional. If you want to lower the net carb count, leave out the craisins or both. The pecans add very little to the count, but if you don’t like them, leave them out. If you can’t eat nuts, this recipe can be made with any low carb flour, such as Carbquik or DCC All Purpose Flour, that is not nut based.
Applesauce Scones with Pecans and Craisins
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons Carbquik or other low carb baking mix
1/2 cup Almond Flour
2/3 cup Pecan Flour
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
1 tablespoon Butter
1/4 cup Sugar Substitute
1 3.5-ounce container Unsweetened Applesauce
1 Egg, beaten
1 tablespoon Heavy Cream
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/3 cup Pecans, broken into pieces
1/3 cup Sugar-reduced Craisins
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees (F.) Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, mix the almond flour, pecan flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Slice butter into pieces and cut it into the dry ingredients until you have a crumbly mixture. Add the sugar substitute, applesauce, egg, cinnamon, and cream. Stir to mix the ingredients until all are incorporated. Do not over mix. Fold in craisins and pecans.
Scoop dough into 8 balls, place on prepared baking sheet, and press down gently. Pat the outer edges smooth. If desired, brush tops with additional heavy cream and sprinkle granulated sugar substitute over the top. Let sit on the counter for 30 minutes before baking.
Bake on the middle rack for 12-15 minutes. Serve warm with butter or clotted cream.
Makes 8 scones.
Note: Substituting pumpkin puree is 6.4 net carbs versus 6.6 net carbs for the applesauce.
The variation is almost the same. But in place of pecans, you use 1/4 cup of the Keto Granola Mix. (I purchased this at Sam’s Club. It also makes a very nice cereal for breakfast.) I used fewer craisins in this version, reducing the carbs a little. The Keto mix includes sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, coconut chips, almonds, pecans, butter, cinnamon, and is sweetened with a monk fruit and erythritol blend, so I didn’t add any pecans. Again, you can eliminate the craisins and go with the granola.
The other variation is I used less of the pecan flour and used a low carb baking mix for the bulk of the flour.
Keto Granola Scones with Applesauce & Craisins
1 cup Carbquik or other low carb baking mix
1/2 cup Almond Flour
1/2 cup Pecan Flour
1/4 Keto Granola Mix (Sam’s Club)
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
2 tablespoon Butter
1/4 cup Sugar Substitute
1 3.5-ounce container Unsweetened Applesauce
1 Egg, beaten
1 tablespoon Unsweetened Coconut Milk
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 cup Sugar-reduced Craisins
Heat oven to 425 degrees (F.) Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Mix the low carb flour, almond flour, pecan flour, baking powder and baking soda in a bowl and add butter, broken into pieces. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients until you have a crumbly mixture. Add the sugar substitute, applesauce, egg, cinnamon, and cream. Stir to mix the ingredients until all are incorporated. Do not over mix. Fold in craisins and granola.
Scoop dough into 8 balls, place on prepared baking sheet, and press down gently. Smooth the outer edges with wet fingers. If desired, brush tops with additional heavy cream and sprinkle granulated sugar substitute over the top. Let rest on the counter for 30 minutes to allow the baking soda to work and the dough to relax.
Bake on the middle rack for 12-15 minutes. Serve warm with butter or clotted cream.
Scoop dough into 8 balls, place on prepared baking sheet, and press down gently. Smooth the outer edges with wet fingers. If desired, brush tops with additional heavy cream and sprinkle granulated sugar substitute over the top. Let rest on the counter for 30 minutes to allow the baking soda to work and the dough to relax.
