Almond Amaretto Coffee

It is cold here! The former carby boy and I were out putting up Christmas lights this evening. I was glad there was a bit of leftover coffee from this morning. I have been researching how to make my own home made flavored creamers and or individual coffee packets for my coffee press--more on that later. I will get it perfected soon.

But in the mean time, I found this flavoring online. Then, I actually managed to find it at my local Food Pyramid store. Flavour Creations makes tablets which will go into any cup of coffee. They are only slightly sweetened, so you can add your sweetener of choice. They do have a tiny bit of bulking material to make up the tablet, but they are still listed as 0 calorie, 0 fat, less than 1 gram of carb per serving. I can do that.

Gotta tell ya, if you like Amaretto Cappuccinos, you will like this! I added one tablet and some real cream. I am in dessert coffee heaven, even though the coffee was from earlier today. It totally took away any interest I had in cooking dinner. Yes, I am doing that anyway.

One package has 48 tablets, using one per cup of coffee. The container is great to go into a purse, lunch bag or briefcase. One of these would make a cup of office joe taste like a coffeehouse treat! My store sold the tablets for $3.59. Pretty good deal. The flavors were limited there--besides the Amaretto, they had French Vanilla and Hazelnut. The company lists Dutch Chocolate, Caramel, Irish Cream and White Chocolate Raspberry as well. I was really hoping for their Cinnamon Pecan flavor, but couldn't find it. These can be ordered online through Amazon, but my first glance through looked like I would have to order 6 packages.

I am thinking these might be useful to flavor protein shakes and smoothies too. Maybe even some low carb ice cream or puddings. I may have to try that and get back to you!

Now back to dinner--Turkey Red Sauce over steamed cauliflower, topped with lots of cheese! Coffee cup is empty and that is sounding good again!

Walnut Thumbprints

These cookies are not new, nor are they for cookie divas. Thumbprint cookies have been around for years and years. This low carb version is simple and flavorful. Best yet, it doesn't require specialty ingredients, and it is super quick. I used my Ninja machine to do everything from making the walnut butter to mixing the cookie dough. One bowl clean up! Granted there is a trade off. Being quick, being yummy, being healthy, they somehow lack in the "thing of beauty" category. So do what I did, put them on a pretty plate and they will magically seem more attractive!

Walnut Thumbprints
1 1/2 cup walnuts
2 Tablespoons coconut oil
1 egg
1/2 cup dried unsweetened coconut
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
sweetener equivalent to 1/2 cup of sugar
spreadable fruit jam, or sugar free jam, any flavor

In a food processor, combine walnuts and coconut oil. Process until it becomes walnut butter. You may need to stop and scrape down the sides once or twice. When that mixture is the consistency of a chunky nut butter, add the egg, coconut, soda and sweetener. Blend it until incorporated. Chill for 30 minutes.

Roll dough into balls or use a small scoop. Lay out 24 balls onto a cookie sheet. Use your thumb to make an indentation in the center of each ball as you press down. Fill this cavity with a small amount of jam. Bake for about 15 minutes at 325. Let cool on cookie sheet.

I didn't chill my dough on this batch, and some oil/egg leaked out from the dough. That didn't seem to affect the cookies at all. Chilling longer may help. Using a scoop, these stay looking a little more like nests. Rolling by hand will make a flatter cookie. I baked them on my knock -off Silpat mat, so you may need to prepare a sheet with parchment or a baking liner.

The flavor combo of walnuts and coconut, topped with strawberry jam is delightful. In a season for showy cookies, this cookie may not be a star but it sure tastes good. I assume it is like what they say about cruise ship food--that it looks incredible, but tastes--well, that is another story. Give me the simple Diner food anyday!

Red Wine Sausage and Peppers

We love sausage. It can be hard to find a good low carb sausage though, which isn't packed with carby fillers. Even some all natural brands are filled with sugar. Usually, finding a good sausage means handing over some serious cash. A while back though, John and I found these sausages by Colosimo's, "the sausage people." Pretty much all natural. A few of the flavors have some msg, and a touch of dextrose. But at one carb a generous link, it is a great deal. My son who is on a special diet could eat these. I was elated! Then, after we sampled three flavors, we went back for more. They were no where to be found. So sad. I loved the Italian New York style--the wine sausage too.They made an excellent change from chicken and beef. Better yet, I didn't have to do the grinding and shaping.



Then joy of joys. Just after I passed the samples lady giving away Hillshire Farms sausage, I spied them. There, in the freezer case sat the chance for us--all of us-- to eat these fabulous sausages again. Better yet, they were on sale. For these today, I paid just $3 a package at Reasor's foods. So, I grabbed five packages and stuck them into my freezer. I kept one out for dinner, though.

So I changed my plans from chicken to these sausages. Christian was happy. Dad was happy. Both health issues accommodated. Andrew was happy too--even though he doesn't eat a special diet and ate his with some bread. I can't really taste the wine, but they are good.

I served ours with grilled onions and peppers. On top, I grated some cheese. Super yummy and easy like no one's business. Better still, I got kisses for preparing this meal!

Nutty Cheese Crisps and Sesame Crunchers

These would be great party snacks for the season. They are a take off of the standard low carb cheese crisps. The toasted nuts or sesame enhances the flavor and adds some substance too. I found the sesame seeds at the Dollar Tree, so they are an even better deal.

Nutty Cheese Crisps

3 Tablespoons ground almonds
4-6 ounces cheese, sliced

Slice the cheese of your choice and let it warm to room temperature. Pour the nuts onto a small plate. Press the cheese slices into the nuts until quite a few adhere to each slice. Place these slices onto parchment lined baking sheet or on a silpat mat. Bake at 325 until the cheese is melted and browned around the edges. The crunchers will crisp up as they cool.

I have tried these with cheddar and smoked cheddar. VERY addicting, so be warned! Still, they will hold off a craving for Doritos!

Sesame Crunchers

3 Tablespoons sesame seeds
4-6 ounces cheese, sliced

Slice the cheese of your choice and let it warm to room temperature. Pour the sesame seeds onto a small plate. Press the cheese slices into the seeds until quite a few adhere to each slice. Place these seeded slices onto parchment lined baking sheet or on a silpat mat. Bake at 325 until the cheese is melted and browned around the edges. The crunchers will crisp up as they cool.

Either version is good, so give them a try to keep you low carb this holiday season.

Christmas Cookies

Hope you all enjoyed Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful holiday here. I am now gearing up for all the Christmas parties we will have in the next few weeks. I am also getting together the newsletter for December. This one features Christmas cookies which are low carb, and other party foods. I have quite a few recipes, but could use a few more cookie recipes to share. The thought occurred to me that it would be fabulous if my fellow Diners contributed favorite recipes too.

Cookies can be tricky to low carb. They can be pricey to experiment with too, so if you could help me out here, it would benefit all of us! I am a little short on time, a bit short on cash, and far short on my calorie budget to test too many more batches. I am trying not to gain any weight this holiday season, how 'bout you?

So if you have a favorite to share, would you consider sharing the recipe with me? I will publish all the contributions in the newsletter. If you aren't a subscriber already, I would give you a 6 month subscription for free. Even better, if you have a photo of your cookie, you get a year subscription for free.

It is so much better to have some low carb treats around during the party season. So drag out the flax meal, almond flour, coconut flour, and anything else you can think of to build the ultimate Christmas cookie!

Sweet Squash- Notato Casserole

Here is another dish I put together for the Thanksgiving Feast. It is a little sweet, but not too dessert like. It is a good substitute for sweet potato casserole for those of you who miss that around the holidays.

I used two acorn squash and a pumpkin. I baked the pumpkin and squash together in the oven. That was easy enough. Cutting that pumpkin was a chore, but I managed. A can would have been easier, but the pie pumpkins were on sale, so...

The squash was cut into chunks. The pumpkin pureed. The vegetables seemed to choose this way, so I just went with it. I don't always cook with recipes--I experiment often. This flavor is not too different from my Maple Butternut Squash, but the technique is different for sure. It got good reviews at the Feast, and didn't have too much leftover. I never liked the overly sweet marshmallow topped sweet potatoes, but I do love them with butter and just a touch of honey. This is similar--the same slightly sweet and salty and buttery sensation.

Sweet Squash-Notato Casserole

2 acorn squash
1 small pie pumpkin or one can of puree
2 eggs
1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spices
2-3 packets sweetener
1/2 teaspoon maple flavoring
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
5 Tablespoons butter
a few Tablespoons of walnuts or pecans

Bake pumpkin, if using and squash. Cube squash and puree the pumpkin. Place squash cubes into a greased casserole. In a large bowl, blend the pumpkin, eggs, spices, sweetener, maple flavoring, olive oil and salt. Blend well and pour over the squash cubes. Bake at 350 for about 25 minutes. Top with butter and nuts and return to oven for another 5-10 minutes.

This tastes like fall to me. Nutritious, yet lower in carbs than sweet potatoes.


See how much was leftover? Not too shabby, considering there were pumpkin pies and pecan pies too!

Turkey Day

So yesterday wasn't really Thanksgiving, but it was Turkey Day none the less. Our homeschool group held a Thanksgiving Feast out at a local park and my hubby offered to bring the bird. He loves to use his charcoal roaster to make turkey. It is smokey tasting, but not too smokey since it is roasted, not actually smoked. Yummy stuff.

For this recipe, just grab a thawed out bird, plop it in the roaster basket, and then into the Smoke Cube. That is an outdoor roaster with vertical charcoal chutes. The bird, or roast cooks from all four sides at the same time. It cooks in about the same amount of time as a traditional turkey. We got ours as a gift, but it came from Wal-Mart last year. Not sure if they still sell them.

We just have a few leftovers, so we bought two more turkeys for the real Thanksgiving day. One herb roasted and another charcoal roasted. That ought to please everyone!