Notso Nuttzo Butter

In the July Diner News, in celebration of all things blender and food processor worthy, I have a recipe similar to the Nuttzo Butter I have wanted to try. The jar was a bit too pricey for my itty bitty budget, so I opted to try making my own. I love the fact that the founder of Nuttzo added extra nutrients into her nut blends by incorporating flax and chia seeds. Always trying to use those more. I found several copycat recipes floating around the web. My favorite was from the Gluten Free Muse. I changed her recipe up just a bit. I was interested that she also added some psyllium.  Very nice.

Since then, I have changed my recipe again. To make another batch, I wanted to get more like the 7 Nut and Seed Butter version of Nuttzo. This one also does not use peanuts, but some do. See their line up of butters here. Sprouts has a great mixed nut option in the bulk nuts section. That is the best way to get the variety of nuts into the butter without going broke. My blend had almonds, pecans, hazelnuts, Brazil nuts and cashews. To get extra creaminess, I added in some extra cashews. This blend got creamy even in my Ninja Master Prep blender with no extra oils. No 10 minute blending time either. Out of pumpkin seeds, I added sunflower seed kernals this time. Because I was experimenting, I made a small batch. You can easily double if you are going to the trouble. Sunflower seeds really cut the costs too.

This home made version is a lot cheaper than the commercial variety. The jars I saw ran about $18 for 16 ounces. Granted, the Nuttzo brand is certified organic, and I opted for some organic and some not. The choice is yours, just know that you can do this yourself! You can mix it up and go all raw, some raw some roasted, all roasted...some soaked and dried...whichever nuts you prefer. The nuts I used were mostly roasted, but the sunflower seeds were raw. None were salted this time, so I added some salt to the recipe. I suggest you do that after blending so you can adjust the flavor to taste.


Notso Nuttzo Multi Nut and Seed Butter

1/2 cup roasted cashews, unsalted
1 cup mixed roasted nuts, unsalted
1/4 cup sunflower seed kernals, raw
1 1/2 tbsp golden flax seed
1 1/2 tbsp chia seeds
1 tbsp psyllium husk
1/2 tsp salt

Place all ingredients except salt in a food processor. Blend, scraping sides as necessary, until nut butter forms. This may take up to 10 minutes. If mixture remains crumbly, you may add a tsp of neutral flavored oil. This may be avoided by longer processing times.

This nut butter is different from peanut butter and almond butter. The seeds retain a little crunch. Being a devotee of the crunchy style butters--never smooth for me--I think those tiny bites of crunch are terrific. You not so much? Perhaps you should grind the chia seed and flax seed first.

The carb count on the commercial variety lists 8 carbs and 3 grams of fiber for 2 tablespoons. Since I didn't measure out each type of nut, I can't do a specific carb count on this butter. Like all nuts, use in moderation. It is so easy to overdo nuts! But we do feel better knowing this has some extra healthful ingredients in there. Now what to do with it? Basically anything you would do with almond butter or peanut butter. I may try a protein ball later this week and I am thinking about some coconut oil candies too. I'll try to post what I come up with--if we don't eat it all up on celery. If you want the original recipe I featured using only cashews, almonds, and walnuts plus the seeds, order the Diner News here.

Update: I went ahead and figured the nutrition stats for 16 servings here. In that case this butter has
100 calories      2 g net carbs       2 g fiber   8 g fat       3 g protein

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Zucchini Pizza Poppers

You know it is early July around here when you hear firecrackers popping outside and the gardens are overflowing with zucchini. Don't save these treats for holidays though. They would be great any time of year. They are especially good now because you don't have to heat the big oven. You did buy a cake pop machine like I told you to so long ago, right? Guess you could bake them in a mini muffin tin, but they are much more fun this way. These little balls of goodness are wonderful hot, but very tasty at room temperature too. Think of them as a flavor packed cousin of the hushpuppy. A  lot like my Broccoli Bites.

I have to give a shout out to the gardeners in my life. This year I am way too busy to even try my pathetic little attempt at container gardening. About all I have going this year is a big clump of lemon balm. That is wonderful in ice water. Have you tried herbal waters? I love them. I digress. I do that lately in my too much to do brain fog. Anyway, thanks Melanie and Jim and the boys who somehow, just as busy as we are, managed to grow these enormous zucchini plants. They shared some with me. Even after making these poppers, I have 2/3's of this zucchini left to use!

I named these poppers for the Independence Day here in the States. They are not super crispy, although if they were deep fried, I bet they would be. Tomorrow my family will be feasting on delicious chicken and pork sausages made fresh at the Sprouts store. I love their flavors. I wish they had exact carb counts available. Mine doesn't--I asked. I did see the ingredients list. A little sweetener in some of the blends, but it is really low on the ingredient list, so I think we are good. We have the southwest flavor, chicken basil, sweet Italian sausage and French apple. Add to that some of Nana's Coleslaw and a fruit salad. The addition of these poppers will be fun. Maybe we will save them for the park when we go out to see the big display.

Zucchini Pizza Poppers

1/3 cup Parmesan cheese
3 tbsp coconut flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup shredded zucchini
2 eggs
1/4 cup sugarfree marinara sauce
1/4 cup diced bell pepper
1 oz diced pepperoni

In a medium bowl, combine Parmesan cheese, coconut flour, baking powder and salt. Stir in shredded zucchini, eggs and marinara sauce. Finely dice the bell pepper and pepperoni. Stir these into the batter. Spoon batter into the wells of the pop machine, rounding the tops. Close and bake 6-7 minutes. Makes 20-22 pops. If using a muffin tin, bake approximately 25 minutes at 350.  (I haven't tried the oven, so watch for browning)

Nutrition: 1/4 batch or 5 pops: 172 calories, 11 g fat, 3.7 net g carbs, 12 g protein

Speaking of the July 4th Holiday, our books in the Low Carbing Among Friends series are on sale right now. If you don't have them all, this is a great time to complete your selection.

Get more great recipes at the Low Carbing Among Friends Facebook Page:               https://www.facebook.com/LowCarbingAmongFriends

Order our books at: 
http://amongfriends.us/24-7-LCD.php

Love the recipes I share on this blog? My ebook helps you plan and prep to stay healthy 24/7.   http://www.247lowcarbdiner.com

Fizzy Orange Julie--a treat for a hectic summer!

I am such a bad blogger. Being an entrepreneur and blogger is sometimes just too much. I have been so swamped with our summer camps. Teaching 6 solid hours in an academic camp and spending literally 16 hours a day working. It is crazy. I have a little break this week. I do mean little. I have a seminar to prepare for tomorrow evening...

But you are here to get ideas on low carbing. The rest of the life is just fluff. Ah, bet we all wish we had tons of hours to devote to healthy eating. You don't either and that is why you are here, right? I get it. Lately, our meals have been really simple summer fare. Lots of grilling and salads. The few recipes I have found time to develop for the blog were bombs. This recipe was not--just the photo. But it has been too long and I don't want to wait for the chance to capture the perfect photo. So here it is.

For the newsletter this month, I am featuring some of the food processor and blender recipes I have used in the past. Sometimes we just don't remember to use these appliances as much as we should. They can do some amazing things and are huge kitchen helpers. And hey, this time of year, dinner can be a cold protein shake!

This drink is a summer favorite. I don't know if they have this where you are, but here in my little corner of the world, we have Sonic Drive-in. Those evil people ( and I can say that because one of my sweet students is a car hop there and she has stories) are running a special of half price shakes after 8 p.m.. I promise they are everywhere. Not in sugarfree versions, of course. But all my friends seem to have them. They are even promoting like 25 flavors. Instant deprivation. I have had shake envy.

I just had to find some time to get home and make a healthy protein shake. I mean all that sweet, creamy cold stuff can still be good for us, right? I also have a fond memory of Dr. Pepper floats from Sonic. I opted for a version of that....only with the orange soda I happened to have at home. Yum. The shake tastes like vanilla ice cream, and the orange sodapop adds a fun fizz and citrusy tang. We use our Soda Stream so the beverages don't have aspartame. (just a little in the pudding mix, but that really does add to the flavor and ice cream-like texture. You could leave it out and add in a half tsp of vanilla with a pinch of xanthan gum) If you don't do sucralose either, stock up on some Zevia sodas. This just might get you through the summer. It might taste a bit like an Orange Julius too--you decide.

Fizzy Orange Julie

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup plain yogurt

3-4 ice cubes

1 tbsp sugarfree vanilla pudding mix

1 scoop vanilla protein powder

1/2 cup diet orange soda

Into a blender, add water, yogurt, ice, vanilla pudding and protein powder. Blend well. Pour into a tall glass. Add diet orange soda to top the glass. Drink as is or mix with a spoon.

 The newsletter has some more smoothie ideas. It also has some very interesting ideas for using food processors--Not So "Nuttzo" Butter, Green Gazpacho, and Rainbow Shredded Salad. If you want to order the Diner News, head over to our website. I will try to be a better blogger, I promise!

Sausage Roll Bites

Yummy Breakfast. I was always of fan of sausage rolls from doughnut shops. I am one of those people who cannot eat an entire meal of sweet. I have to end on savory. Weird, I know. Sausage rolls always added that salty goodness. The dough is just a little sweet. That fit me to a T.

Enter low carb lifestyle. Exit sausage rolls. Until this morning. Tired of eggs, I decided to try something new. I don't have any classes this week, so I had some time to play. John and I both liked these. I knew we would because I simply modified my coconut flour doughnut recipe. I added some maple flavoring. Yum. The tender crumb and slight sweetness really is similar to the doughnut shop variety.

The idea came into my head with all the work I have been doing with the next issue of the Diner News. It is going to feature ways to use an outdoor grill during your weekly prep day. One idea is to grill several packages of sausages. This is one of the ideas to put pre-grilled sausages to use for quick mid-week meals. All I did was slice up a sausage and whip up the batter. Easy Peasy. Done in under 30 minutes start to finish.


Sausage Roll Bites

1  5-6 ounce link sausage, pre-cooked
1/4 cup coconut flour
2 packets sweetener
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp baking soda
2 large eggs
1/4 cup coconut oil
1 tbsp water
1/4 tsp maple flavoring

Cut cooked sausage into 16 slices. In a microwavable bowl, combine coconut flour, sweetener, salt and baking soda. To the dry ingredients, add eggs, coconut oil, water and maple flavoring. Stir well. If mixture is thick, place into the microwave for 15-20 seconds. This will melt the coconut oil. Divide the batter among 16 mini muffin cups. Place a sausage slice on top and press slightly to bring batter up around the sides of the meat. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before removing from the muffin cups.

4 bites per serving  233 calories  2 net carbs


Note: Coconut flours can vary, so if you find your batter is dry, add some additional water or melted butter.


Now I had better use my time away from school to get that new cookbook done---again. Grr. Even though I have to reformat all those recipes, I am still so honored to be a part of Low Carbing Among Friends. If you don't have all the books in the set, go get them. They truly are indispensable for our way of eating!  http://amongfriends.us/24-7-LCD.php

Western Breakfast Sandwiches

Hope you all have missed me. Two steps forward three steps back these days. It has been tough to blog without a computer. Yep, I need to call out a posse.  The same thieves returned and got things this time. Including my laptop, complete with recipes and photos for the upcoming Among Friends book. I am so stressed out. I lost much of my documents for our school as well. Currently, I am working on John's laptop. Fortunately it was not at home that day. It doesn't even have Word loaded on it though. Add the cost of a new computer to the price of the new locks and the new glass in the French doors, and we are beyond broke. Just the new glass was over $400. Time to redo all that work is even more scarce, as we are in the midst of year end evaluations and writing curriculum for summer camp programs. Yikes. The police are fairly sure they know who did it,  but told us we needed to be our own detectives because my city has only 8 cops working hundreds of burglaries a day. That is reassuring.

Life is slowly returning to normal. Well, a little closer to it anyway. I have a friend who has offered to replace my laptop with an older desktop computer. Our thieves don't seem to want those. Maybe sometime this week I will be able to begin reformatting all my recipes. I will have to rephotograph most of my submissions too. Stupid me. I should have backed it all up when they tried to steal it the first time.

So thank you if you are still reading through my saga. I will reward you with a breakfast sandwich that we really liked. Since we finally got a Sprout's grocery, and I found psyllium husks, I had made a couple of batches with Maria's Toasted  Sub Sandwich and Panini Bread. I made some bun sized rolls that worked great. I use the coconut flour version and they are awesome...and not purple with my Sprouts brand, either.

The filling is a take off of one of our all time favorites from the Diner e-Book. The Cowboy Comfort breakfast. There are some changes, but it is a great change from sausage and eggs. Try it, and make any changes that best suit you! I have been reading a novel about the Indian Territory, and that western theme made this breakfast extra tasty. I would love to share the story behind that story, but that is for another day.

Western Breakfast Sandwich

11/2  lb lean ground beef
1 small onion, diced
1/2 yellow or green bell pepper, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1 1/2 tsp Wright's Liquid Smoke
8 oz cream cheese
6 eggs, beaten
6 low carb sandwich buns (http://mariahealth.blogspot.com/2012/07/toasted-sub-sandwich-and-panini.html)

In a large skillet, brown ground beef with onion and peppers. Drain off any fat. Stir in the liquid smoke. Set the burner on low under the skillet. Use a knife to cut pieces of cream cheese and add them to the skillet. Let the cream cheese melt for about 5 minutes, then stir into the meat mixture. Turn meat to medium. Stir in beaten eggs and stir until eggs are set. Salt and pepper to taste. Split and toast buns. Fill with meat mixture and serve.

You could also use sausage in this, or add mushrooms, chilies, whatever you like! As soon as I get a computer of my own again, I hope to be back blogging more often. If summer camps don't kill me, that is.

Roasted Brussels Salad

  I had actually set this to publish the week my stuff was stolen. It didn't publish, so I am able to post it now. Hope you find it with the messed up post date. Still no new computer, so I am struggling to get things out for the blog. I have to borrow the hubbie's laptop. Even having trouble with new photo editing software. All the stress with the break-ins and financial problems with our school have left me with a sensitive tummy and some other stress related symptoms. That is not conducive to cooking and recipe development. We just got Office loaded on the laptop so I can get to work on the Diner News. Even though we don't have classes this week, I have to so much to do getting our summer camp program going! At least the weather in my area was merciful. During my college career, I spent a year in Moore. Judging from the photos, my old apartments are history--if they weren't wiped off the map in 1999, that is. I should stop complaining and be thankful for my blessings! Like fresh veggies.


I found some beautiful fresh Brussels sprouts at Sprouts, no pun intended. It happens to be the newest grocery store added to my line-up. I couldn't resist making a gorgeous salad for my lunches this week.  John and Pearson are not big on the Brussels, so this will be all for me....and you, of course. I found inspiration from this recipe at the Black Pepper, and just changed up a few things here and there. This one really did not need tweaking, but I have such a hard time following directions to  the letter.  As usual, I read over the recipe, then headed into the kitchen to do my own thing.I used less bacon, and far less dressing. I also used sunflower seeds because I was too lazy to roast some walnuts or other nuts. You use whatever you like.

Roasted Brussels Salad

Dressing:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp tarragon vinegar (any vinegar will do fine)
1 tsp Dijon mustard
stevia equivalent to 1 tsp sweetener

 lb fresh Brussels sprouts

Salad:
4 slices bacon, plus drippings
1 lb fresh Brussels sprouts
salt and pepper
1 small red bell pepper
3 tbsp feta cheese
3 tbsp sunflower nuts

Prepare the dressing by combining the olive oil, vinegar, mustard and sweetener. Set aside.

Partially fry the bacon to release the grease. While that is frying, cut the base off of each sprouts and remove loose leaves. Half if the sprouts are large. Pour the bacon grease over the Brussels sprouts. Place on a rimmed baking sheet.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Lay the bacon slices over the sprouts. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes. Remove the bacon and stir the sprouts. Return sprouts to the oven for an additional 10 minutes. Crumble bacon. Remove sprouts from oven and allow to cool.

Dice red bell pepper. Add the cooled sprouts, bell pepper, and feta cheese to a large bowl. Pour the dressing over all. Chill or serve at room temperature. Before serving, toss in the sunflower nuts and crumbled bacon.

8 servings          192 calories     7 g protein       16 g  fat       5 g net carbs

Get more great recipes at the Low Carbing Among Friends Facebook Page:               https://www.facebook.com/LowCarbingAmongFriends

Order our books at: 

http://amongfriends.us/24-7-LCD.php

Love the recipes I share on this blog? My ebook helps you plan and prep to stay healthy 24/7.   http://www.247lowcarbdiner.com

Bacon Cheesecake Cups

 First off, this is not one of those sweet bacon recipes. The cheesecake is not sweetened at all, but I can promise you these are amazing!

That said, wow has it been a crazy week around our house! Our home was burglarized on Monday. My husband returned home from work just about an hour after we all left because he had forgotten something. He found the house ransacked, and all of our laptops missing, as well as both Playstations and games. Scary stuff. Talking to me on the phone, he saw they had broken in our French doors off the kitchen. Looking outside, John noticed a  backpack near the back fence. Inside that and another bag were the items being stolen. We can only assume that his unexpected return surprised the thieves, and sent them running over the fence. They must not be very good jumpers, because they seem to have dropped everything they stole.  Now I would like to say that my guard dog  Tinker, the almost 90 pound pit bull scared them away. I think not. It seems that they had time to look through upstairs and even use our own bags to haul away our things. Tinker is so darned friendly! Still, I am glad they didn't hurt my hubby or my dogs, but those were some brave or stupid robbers. They opened my bedroom drawers, but passed over a diamond necklace in a velvet box. They must have been hoping for drugs. Too bad for them, we are all so healthy. Had I lost my laptop, the newsletter would not have gone out either--and let's not talk about all the recipes I already have done for the next edition of Low Carbing Among Friends!

This week, I had convention to attend for our school, and all the preparations for it. Our educational program is so small, just a few of us do all the work! It is amazing how tired one gets at these events. It wasn't physically demanding, but the stress of putting your best face on for hours seems to take a toll on me. Long days anyway! Crazy weeks like these seem to be the norm lately. Seems I am busier now than ever before! Blogging my recipes takes a spot on the back burner when I have the newsletter to get out and all these other obligations.  But I am back today. Doing some prep for the week with a recipe to share.

It is funny how I get stuck on a theme. Last week I was busy creating muffin tin meals, since that was the theme of the May Diner News. I had lots of fun stuff in that one. Seemingly, I am having a hard time letting that concept rest. This recipe is made in a muffin tin too. It is sooo delicious! I took my old recipe for cheesecake muffins and left out the sweetener. Instead I added some onion and jalapeno seasoning. That and baked them up inside bacon crusts. Amazing!



Bacon Cheesecake Cups

13 slices thick cut bacon
1 lb cream cheese, softened
2 eggs
1 tsp minced dried onion
1 tsp jalapeno seasoning OR 1 tbsp minced jalapeno pepper (optional)

Place slices of bacon on a cookie sheet. Place into a cold oven. Turn the oven on to 350 degrees. Cook bacon for about 20 minutes. or until it is cooked but not crisp. Remove from oven and allow to cool about 5 minutes. Wrap one strip around the outer edges of each of 12 standard muffin cups. Crumble the remaining strip. Place a drop or two of the bacon grease in the base of each muffin cup.

In a medium bowl, use a hand mixer to combine cream cheese, eggs, onion and seasoning. Divide the batter among the muffin cups, taking care to stay inside the bacon ring. Bake for 20 minutes. The cheesecake will puff, but fall after the cups cool. Garnish with crumbled bacon.

12 cups, each:   313 calories    8 g protein   30 g fat   2 g net carbs

All my guys loved these.  John's did not have the jalapeno seasoning. I mixed the cheesecake batter first without the peppers, poured his out, then added seasoning to the rest of the batter. You can add it--or fresh peppers--as you like.

If you want to go even easier, you can skip the bacon around the edges, and instead just cook it more thoroughly, then crumble it and add it to the batter. I tried that out too. They both taste great, but I definitely prefer the wrapped version because the bacon is crispier. But then, I am a crispy bacon gal, myself.

Hoping for an easier week, but thanking the good Lord for keeping us safe and miraculously in possession of our electronics.


Get more great recipes at the Low Carbing Among Friends Facebook Page:               https://www.facebook.com/LowCarbingAmongFriends

Order our books at: 
http://amongfriends.us/24-7-LCD.php

Love the recipes I share on this blog? My ebook helps you plan and prep to stay healthy 24/7.   http://www.247lowcarbdiner.com