When it comes to a festive-looking, easy to make, no-bake cheesecake, this Pistachio cheesecake is great. It’s a twist on the pudding cheesecake that is delectably delicious and low carb.
No Bake Pistachio Cheesecake
16 oz Cream Cheese
1 pkt unflavored Gelatin Mix
1/2 cup Sugar Substitute
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 oz. Sugar-free Hazelnut Syrup (optional)
1/2 pkg Sugar Free Pistachio Pudding Mix
3/4 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1/4 cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk
Crust
1/2 cup Almond Flour
1/4 cup Baking Mix or LC Flour
2 tablespoons Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground Ginger
Make the Crust:
In a small bowl, mix all crust ingredients, cutting butter through with a fork. The dough will be soft and sticky. Spray an 8×8″ cake pan with cooking spray and spread the dough over the bottom of the pan. Wet your finger tips or the back of a spoon to make spreading it easier. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove and let cool while you mix the filling.
Make the Filling:
In a small bowl, add sugar substitute and boiling water. Sprinkle the gelatin over the top and let it sit a few minutes to soften, then stir it in. Continue to stir until the gelatin completely melts, about five minutes.
In a large bowl, put the softened cream cheese and vanilla extract and mix on low speed blended. Gradually add the gelatin mixture and hazelnut syrup, if using, and continue to beat until the filling is smooth and creamy.
Mix 1/2 box of the Pistachio pudding mix with whipping cream and almond milk. Us a mixer to beat the ingredients together. Let stand for about five minutes until the pudding begins to set. Add 1/2 cup of the cream cheese mixture to the pudding and stir together with a spoon.
Pour the remaining cream cheese mixture onto the top of the baked crust and smooth it out evenly. Pour the pistachio pudding over the top and smooth without mixing it into the lower layer. Loosely cover the pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours.
Cut into 12 servings, 4 slices one direction by three across the other way.
Serve with a tablespoon of whipped cream and a few chopped pistachio nuts, if desired.
Nutrition info per serving Calories:246.7 Fat: 24.2 g Net Carbs: 3.6 g Protein: 4.5 g
A soup that can warm you up from the inside out on these cold nights is the Chinese Hot and Sour Soup. You don’t need to go out for it because it’s easy to make at home. If you have rice wine vinegar and soy sauce at home, then you have a good start toward the soup. I made it with what I had in the house — chicken bullion instead of broth, turnips instead of mushrooms, and celery added for a bit of crunch. Instead of scallions, I added dried minced onions and chives and I also added some mixed, chopped greens. The original recipe called for shitake mushrooms, but I’ve substituted regular mushrooms for a lower carb dish. This is a delicious soup with or without other Chinese food on the menu.
Hot and Sour Soup
4 cups Chicken Broth
2 tablespoons Soy Sauce
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed Red Pepper
1 cup fresh Mushrooms, thinly sliced
4 tablespoons Rice Vinegar
1 tablespoon Cornstarch
1 large Egg, lightly beaten
1 deli Smoked Pork Chop, diced
1 stalk Celery, finely diced
1/2 teaspoon Ground Ginger
3 Scallions, thinly sliced
1 cup mixed greens, torn or chopped
Prep all vegetables before starting as this will cook quickly.
In a large pot, combine broth, soy sauce, crushed red pepper, ginger and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil over medium hea, then add celery, pork and mushrooms.
Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until tender, about 10 minutes.
Whisk together 3 tablespoons vinegar and cornstarch. Add to pot; simmer, stirring, until soup is thickened, about 1 minute.
Drizzle egg into the soup and stir to form ribbons. Remove from heat; let stand, covered, 1 minute. Taste; add additional vinegar, if desired.
Makes 6 servings
Nutrition Info: per serving
Calories: 57 Fat: 1.9 g Net Carbs: 4.3 g Protein: 5.6 g
The Thanksgiving holiday just isn’t complete at my house without pumpkin pie. The best recipe I’ve found for it is the one on Libby’s pumpkin can, but it does need adjustments to be low carb. But this year I decided to enhance my low carb recipe to a Maple Pumpkin Pie with Pecans.
The first change is the pie crust. I made the crust with hazelnut flour mixed with a low carb flour. You can use all almond flour as a substitute for both flours. The crust will not be like a regular crust, but more like a crumble crust on the bottom. Look for almond flour or hazelnut flour in the health food section of the grocery store or at health food stores. You can also find Bob’s Red Mill low carb flour in these places also. Bob’s is not the lowest low carb flour, but it will only add about 1/2 a carb to the serving over the CarbQuick flour. The other change is using sugar substitute for the sugar and heavy whipping cream for evaporated milk.
If you use Splenda, the filler that carries the sweetener has up to .9 carb per teaspoon. I don’t know the exact amount as they only show <1 carb. Xylitol and liquid sucralose have no carbs. That saves up to 36 carbs by making the switch. For those that like it, liquid Stevia also works.
For those who are phase 1 of Atkins or just don’t want a crust on your pie, you can make this without the crust. Just spray the pie pan with baking spray and pour the filling into the pan. Everything else is the same. If you want to make them in muffin pans or custard cups, go the instructions at the bottom of the page.
For more recipes for your Thanksgiving or Christmas holiday to stay on a low carb lifestyle, go toA Low Carb Winter Holiday
Hazelnut and low carb flour pie shell.
Pie Crust:
1/4 tsp Salt
3 Tbsp Cold Water
1/3 cup Shortening or Butter (cold)
1/3 cup LOW CARB BAKING MIX (CarbQuick, Bob’s Red Mill, LC Foods or Atkins)
1/3 cup hazelnut flour or almond flour
Heat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly spray an 8″ or 9″ deep dish pie pan with cooking spray.
In a mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients ( Low Carb Baking Mix and salt). Cut in shortening until pea sized balls are formed. Sprinkle water one tablespoon at a time and mix in lightly with a fork. If the dough is very moist, then only use as much water as necessary for it to form a ball. Let rest a few minutes.
Divide the dough into quarters and place in each section of a deep dish pie tin. Use your fingers to spread the crust around the bottom of the pan and work it up the edge of the pie pan about half way. Use a fork, to pierce the bottom of the crust a few times.
Bake the crust for 10-12 minutes at 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
Crust Nutrition Info: Calories: 72.3 g Net Carbs: .4 g Protein: 1.1 g
(I’m giving you crust only information in case you want to use it for another pie. Whether you use Almond flour, Hazelnut flour or all Baking Mix, the crust will be about the same number of carbs.)
1/12 slice of Maple Pumpkin Pie.
Pie Filling
3/4 cup Sugar substitute
1/4 cup Brown Sugar Substitute**
1/4 cup sugar-free Maple Syrup
1 tablespoon ground Cinnamon *
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon ground Ginger *
1/4 teaspoon ground Cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground Nutmeg *
3 large eggs
1 can (15 oz.) Pumpkin Puree
1/2 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1/4 cup unsweetened Almond or Coconut Milk
1 cup Pecan halves (optional)
Whipped cream (optional)
• You can use 2 tablespoons Pumpkin Pie Spice for the cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Still add the clove .
** You can use white sugar substitute for the brown sugar if you can’t find any sugar free Brown Sugar. Do NOT use the Splenda Brown Sugar mix for this. It uses real brown sugar, so the carbs are quite a bit higher.
Mix sugar, salt, and spices in a small bowl. Beat eggs in large bowl., then stir pumpkin, maple syrup and sugar-spice mixture. Combine milks and stir together. Gradually add to mixture as you stir it in.
POUR into prepared pie shell. Arrange the pecans over the top of the pie.
BAKE in preheated 425° F oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350° F; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. After it cools down enough, about 30 minutes, I cover the pie with plastic wrap.
Serve or refrigerate. Top with whipped cream before serving.
To make a thicker pie, use 4 eggs, 3 cups of pumpkin puree and 1 cup of heavy whipping cream. This will add about 1 net carb to the count.
Makes 10 average servings or 12 small servings.
Nutrition Info per serving: 10 servings
Calories: 237 Fat: 22g Net Carbs: 4.1 g Protein: 4.4 g
Nutrition Info per serving: 12 servings
Calories: 198 Fat: 18.4 g Net Carbs: 3.4 g Protein: 3.7 g
Crustless Pumpkin Pie (Custard)
You can make these in 8 to 10 muffin pans instead of putting into a pie shell. If you’re on phase I of Atkins, the crust is definitely not a part of the plan.
To make: Simply use the recipe for the pie filling and mix it up according to the directions above, omitting the optional pecans.
Preheat the oven to 365 degrees (F.). Spray 1/2 capacity cup muffin cups or custard cups with cooking spray. Use a 1/2 cup measure to dip into the batter and fill cups to about 2/3 full.
Put muffin cups on a baking sheet and bake for about 25 to 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Let cool, then cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Remove from the mold. Add a dollop of whipped cream and serve. Makes 8 to 10 servings.
Nutrition Info: 8 servings per serving
Calories: 131 Fat: 10.5 g Net Carbs: 4.3 g Protein: 3.6 g
L to R: Turnips and Cauliflower au Gratin Casserole, Irish Style Kohlrabi, Classic Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars
Thanksgiving, then all the other winter holidays are coming up quickly. To help find those recipes that I’ve posted over the past few years for holiday meals, I’m putting many of them on this one page. At the beginning of December, I’ll do a similar page with Holiday Sweet Treats that will cover the cookies, candies and cakes for the holiday season.
Main Course:
Turkey – I don’t actually have a recipe for roasting turkey. Almost anyone you might find will likely be low carb. What adds the carbs is the dressing. See below. But here’s a Roast Turkey recipe from AllRecipes.com that is beautifully seasoned and not stuffed.Rosemary Roasted Turkey
Low Carb Stuffing Bread
Low Carb Stuffing – This is an easy-to-make stuffing bread that will work well with any of your usual vegetables and/or fruits and sausage to make a delicious stuffing you can bake in your turkey or in a side casserole dish. Add some of the turkey juices to the mix to bring in the flavor of the turkey.
Side Dishes:
We need good side dishes that are still low carb. Potatoes just don’t cut it on a low carb lifestyle, no matter how much we want them to be a part of the meal. Here are a few options for potato replacements that are very tasty and may make you forget all about that other root vegetable.
Loaded Cauliflower Soup without the optional ingredients. First night, it was more soupy than when I reheated it and added the optional ingredients.
This recipe cmae out of a brief discussion of what warming soup to make for the weekend. Someone mentioned Loaded Potato Soup and I countered with a cauliflower soup. But the loaded potato sounded so good that I went to look for the recipe. What resulted is the Loaded Cauliflower Soup. I admit it, cauliflower will never taste like potato, but it is still a scrumptious and filling cold winter’s night soup. It’s definitely on my do again and again list.
I started with Guy Fieri’s Fully Loaded Baked Potato Souprecipe at Food Network and made adjustments to make it low carb’d. The result is considerably different and you can make it with or without the additions of turnips and Daikon radish.
When I added Daikon and turnips at the reheat, the soup became more like a stew. You could add a little water or more unsweetened almond milk to thin it a little, but this was like eating a loaded baked potato.
Loaded Cauliflower Soup
Adapted from a recipe by Guy Fieri
4 cups of Cauliflower, chopped
1 medium turnip, peeled and diced (optional)
1 cup daikon radish, peeled and diced (optional)
6 slices thick-cut Applewood Smoked Bacon
1/4 cup Onions, chopped
1 tablespoon Cornstarch
1 teaspoon Chicken Bullion or Better than Bullion or 1 cup Chicken Broth
1/4 Red or Green Bell Pepper, diced
1/2 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1 cup Water
3 cups Unsweetened Almond Milk (not flavored)
2 cups sharp Cheddar, grated or shredded
Kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground Black Pepper
1/2 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
4 tablespoons Sour Cream
3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh Chives
Preheat the oven to 385 degrees F.
Place the bacon on a cookie rack and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes until it is crisp. Let cool. Pour 2 tablespoons of the bacon fat into the bottom of a large soup pot. Add 1/4 cup onions and cook until onions are translucent.
Mix 1/4 cup of the water with the cornstarch, then add to the rest of the water, cream and almond milk. Pour into the soup pot and stir. Add the cauliflower to the pot, turn to a simmer and cook for about 30 minutes until the cauliflower is fork tender.
Crumble the bacon, set aside 2 tablespoons, and add the rest to the pot. Reserve 1/2 cup of the cheese then add the rest to the pot and stir. Cook until the cheese is melted and the soup thickens.
Ladle the soup into bowls, put a dollop of sour cream on top, and sprinkle with remaining bacon bits, grated cheese and chives.
Makes 4 to 6 servings
Nutrition Info per serving: (4 servings) without optional ingredients
Calories: 436 Fat: 34 g Net Carbs: 7.6 g Protein: 23.3 g
Nutritional Info per serving: (6 servings) with optional ingredients
Calories: 341 Fat: 27.3 g Net Carbs: 8 g Protein: 14.2 g
Tip: Leftovers can be easily reheated. Store in the refrigerator up to three days. Just don’t add the sour cream and bacon and cheese extras until after it’s reheated.
For Vegetarians, omit the bacon. If you don’t use any animal products, then omit the cheese, sour cream and cream and add more almond or coconut milk. I’d also add some seasonings, such as rosemary, sage and thyme.
