Low Carb Cauliflower Pizza

Looking for recipes with little carbs, I found one or pizza, but alas, I have made some changes... Here is my version.

Ingredients

For the Thin Crust:

2 1/2 cups of shredded cauliflower - I used my food processor(less mess)

1 pkg low fat cream cheese @ room temperature.

2 eggs

1/8 tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp Mrs. Dash Salt-Free Tomato Basil & Garlic Seasoning

1 tsp garlic powder

1/4 c grated parmesan cheese

For the Sauce
1 can -15oz of tomato sauce
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 tsp garlic salt
1 c chopped spinach

Toppings I used (optional) or Use your favorite...
2 sm can of green chili-I don't like the watery substance they pack the green chili in, so I pour my chili into a strainer and rinse with water. (about 6 whole chopped)
3/4 c sliced mushrooms (chopped if you are trying to hide the taste & texture from the kids) Mushrooms have protein and many nutrients that are healthy.
1 c shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 pkg pepperoni

Optional Topping: Sauté the three ingredients below & use as a topping (nicely covers 1/2 of pizza)
1 medium onion sliced
1 lg tbl of minced onion
1 tsp olive oil

Directions

Preheat oven to 350˚F.
For the crust: in a small microwave safe bowl, microwave the cauliflower for 5 minutes, stir, microwave for another 3. Do not add water. While microwaving the cauliflower, mix with electric mixer in medium bowl: cream cheese, eggs, Mrs. Dash, pepper, & garlic powder. Stir in cauliflower and parmesan cheese. Pour into a Pam sprayed 9x13 glass cake pan. Cook in oven for 25 minutes or until to is lightly browned. Let it cool for 10 minutes before adding toppings. When crust is finished, increase temperature of the oven to 400˚F.

For sauce: In a small sauce pan over low-medium heat, add sauce, Italian seasoning, garlic salt & spinach. Once it starts to bubble, place on lowest heat setting & let simmer for 12 minutes stirring occasionally.

Once crust is cooled slightly, pour & spread sauce on top, add toppings, sprinkle with mozzarella cheese, top with pepperoni. Place in oven for an additional 8 minutes or until cheese is melted.

Lazy Cream Cheese Peach Cobbler

Prep-time: 5-10min Cook time: 25-35min Preheat oven: 350°

1 c Flour

1 c Sugar

¾ c Milk

1 tbl baking powder

½ c melted butter or margarine -if you don’t want a cake like crust top, use 1 c melted butter

2-3 c fruit -about 2 cans of peaches

1 lg egg

8 oz cream cheese

1/3 c fruit juice from peaches

1 tsp vanilla extract

Spray 9”x13” glass casserole dish with cooking spray. In you pan, add flour, sugar, baking powder & milk. With a wire whisk, mix ingredients in the pan.

In a medium bowl, mix cream cheese, egg, fruit juice & vanilla extract. Drop spoon fulls of cheese mixture over the batter in pan. Do NOT mix!

Spoon fruit evenly over the top of liquid mixture & cream cheese but do NOT mix (while baking, the fruit will sink and dough will rise).

Pour melted butter over the top. If you have juice from the fruit left over, pour that in too! Again, do NOT mix.

Place in center of the oven. Cook for 25-35 minutes or untill the top is a golden brown.

If you’re using fresh fruit, mix ½ cup of sugar, and ¼ c water in with the fruit

Mini Lasagnas (adapted with Patty Pan Squash)

As easy as it should seem, I never follow a recipe to the dot.  I always have to change something up with the recipe. I found through Pinterest a cute little picture of Petite Lasagnas, taken from Can You Stay For Dinner?
Since my son & I are working on being aware of how many carbohydrates we consume per meal (60 or less), I was ecstatic these were only 15 carbs per mini. I thought my son would have some fun making these. These definitely are a new family favorite! They didn't even notice a big difference between the won ton wraps & when we have had lasagna noodles in the past.

The changes I made were only slight, so I won't go into much detail with this post as you can follow the well written recipe on the link above.

I have issues with ground turkey, yes - yes, I know it is all in my head... I used extra lean ground beef instead.  My beef comes in 16oz packages instead of 12oz, but I cooked it all anyways. Probably worked out for the better since it spread my sauce thinner which in turn made it not so runny. Had a little left over, but my partner will eat it up as it is for her lunch at work.

I also cut down on the onion to 3/4 c., since I wanted to add squash. So I did three equal parts of each: onion, mushrooms, & patty pan squash. I suppose you could add as much anyhoo since there would be leftover meat sauce mix anyways.

I do not regularly keep ricotta cheese at home but I did happen to have some cottage cheese, which I used in place of the ricotta.

I do not keep basil or oregano either... maybe next year I will grow some, I am still learning about growing herbs this summer... So I replaced those with a generic Italian seasoning.

Crouton Substitute-Dehydrated Squash

I really like croutons on my salads, a lot, but I needed to find an alternative that was a bit healthier for me.  I had tried some dried zucchini chips with garlic, & loved how crispy it was so I thought I would try drying strips of zucchini & patty pan squash with a garlic & herb seasoning. One squash covered one tray - 4 trays total.

Set them on the dehydrator yesterday, woke up this morning & found they were super crispy & tasted delish! I could eat them plain - without the salad!



Patty Pan Squash Pleasure

I found a new love! Patty Pan Squash! Now I've only had the pleasure of trying the white ones with a hint of green, but they are still awesome!

The squash itself is sweeter than a zucchini & fewer seeds, but any recipe I have used with Zucchini has been interchangeable with Patty Pans. Cutting up the squash alone is even fun to do. 

With the plants my mom is growing, I've noticed a difference between the squash from two different plants. One is whiter with stripes of light green, bumpier too with more ball like edges and the other is more of a solid white with green tint, and smoother with flat ball like edges. The smoother ones tended to have a tougher outside. Not sure how that happened since the seeds came from the same packet.

With all this squash I have been prepping, I'm beginning to think I also have a secrete love for garlic & onions...... :o)

Ingredients

1 sliced patty pan squash - 4-5 inches in diameter
1-2 tomatoes diced

1/2 c mild green chili

1/2 c onions

2 tbl minced garlic

pinch of pepper

pinch of salt

1 tsp Mrs. Dash Salt-Free Extra Spicy seasoning
1/2 tsp olive oil
Mozzarella cheese to put on top (optional)

In a medium sauce pan or skillet, sauté garlic & onions in olive oil. Add squash sliced 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick. Cook 5-10 minutes until squash is tender, may need to cover to speed up the cook. Add seasons & tomatoes and green chili & cook an addition minute or two until the tomatoes and chili are warm.

Serve with mozzarella cheese.

Best Ever Chicken & Zucchini Soup

I had been sick with pneumonia over the last month, I was taking forever to get better. I was even having trouble keeping food down, It had been five days & the only thing I could keep down was a can of Squirt (I later found out that the antibiotic medicine I was taking was the root of the problem). My mom had decided to come pick me up & take me to her house to get better.  She had purchased a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store.  With the abundance she had left over, she made some soup with it, using all fresh ingredients from her garden, well, minus the chicken broth... Really, anything can be added to the soup with no real measured amounts & it will still taste fantastic! I made it again when I got home, & as my partner told me, it made "A party in her mouth!"

2-3 c or about 1 lb cubed & cooked chicken

2 cans of chicken broth

Squash - diced

Carrots - cut small

Green Chili - diced

1 can of Garlic & Herb Diced Tomatoes

4 tbls minced garlic

1 c sliced onions (I don't really dice my onions, since I like to see & eat the long pieces)

1 tsp olive oil

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

2 tsp McCormick Vegetable seasoning

Sauté garlic & onions in olive oil in a large deep pan, until onions are slightly soft. Add all other ingredients. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 2 hours or until carrots are soft.
Eat!
I served the soup with garlic bread. I didn't have a whole chicken left over, so I browned some cubed chicken breast in olive oil in a skillet before I added it to my soup.  I figured the chicken would fall apart if I didn't brown it first.

Stuffed Zucchini Squash

I've had an abundance of zucchini given to me from my Mom's Garden.  In the past we usually threw out the extremely large pieces thinking they weren't any good.  After trying them, I decided they were still good, they are only extremely large due to my Dad's awesome rabbit manure mix... Plus, my parents live in an area where there are not any rocks, so gardening is very easy for them. I've been trying to put the zucchini to good use & record what I've done with them so I can remember for next year.

I had seen something similar on Pinterest, taken from Kayotic Kitchen, so I decided to adapt the recipe to my liking.

After only two days, my mom would pick anywhere from 7-10 big suckers like these, And she only has two plants!!!

Ingredients

1 extremely large squash (pictured above, large green one about 12 inches long)

1 tsp Olive Oil

3-4 tbl minced garlic

1/2 c sliced onions

1 large tomato diced & drained or one can of diced tomatoes drained (I rinsed the juices off under water)

1 c sliced mushrooms

1/2 c chopped green chili drained

1 tsp McCormick vegetable seasoning

Salt & Pepper to taste

1 spoon full of sour cream

6-10 slices of cooked bacon diced

Mozzarella & Parmesan cheese to sprinkle on top

Preheat oven to 400˚F.

Clean and slice in half the large squash, leaving the ends for the cool look. Scoop out insides, leaving a little flesh in the boat & dice the insides. (If more detail is need, see Kayotic Kitchen's recipe, link above).

Sauté in a medium sauce pan: olive oil, minced garlic, onions, & squash insides for 5-10 minutes until onions are soft. Add mushrooms, tomatoes & green chili. Important to have the tomatoes and green chili drained of their juices because the squash is extremely juicy itself, otherwise will have a lot of juices left on the plate. If necessary, drain extra juice from pan then add vegetable seasoning, salt & pepper. Sauté for 1 minute longer, the remove from heat to cool.

Place zucchini boats in a baking dish, lined with foil and sprayed with non-stick spray.

Add sour cream & bacon to vegetables & mix.

Spoon mix into zucchini boats and top with mozzarella and parmesan cheese.

Place uncovered in oven for about 20 minutes or until cheese is browned and zucchini is forkable.