Low Carb Mini Almond Cheesecakes

Verdict - big thumbs down. The dog liked them.


1 1/2 cups almond meal
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons Splenda

2 8oz packages cream cheese at room temp
2 eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 tablespoons Splenda (or to taste)


Melt butter. Mix with almond meal and splenda. Divide evenly between 12 lightly sprayed muffin tins and pat down with tamper or fingers. Set aside.

Mix together cream cheese, eggs, extracts and splenda. Beat until smooth. Divide evenly on top of the crusts in the 12 muffin cups.

Bake at 350* for 25 minutes, until tops are cracked and golden. Cool. Refrigerate. ENJOY!


Modified from these recipes.

Low Carb Almond Cheesecake

crust: (from About)
INGREDIENTS:

* 1 and 1/2 cups almond meal or almond flour
* 3 tablespoons melted butter
* Artificial sweetener equal to 3 tablespoons sugar

PREPARATION:
Melt the butter (if the pie pan is microwave safe, melt the butter in it) and mix the ingredients up in the pan and pat into place with your fingertips.

Nutritional Information: The whole pie shell has 11 grams effective carbohydrate plus 17 grams fiber and 30 grams protein.

filling: (from RecipeZaar)
55 min 10 min prep
Change to: pie US Metric
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
3 eggs
25 (1 g) packets Splenda sugar substitute (1.5 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract

1. Mix together cream cheese, Splenda, and extracts. Then add eggs and beat until creamy.
2. Pour into a greased pie pan.
3. Bake for 35 minutes at 350°F or until cracked and golden brown.

Black Bean Chili

I usually make chili in the crockpot so when Carl requested a big pot of chili at 1pm today and we still needed to go to the store I needed a quick stove top version of my all day chili.

4 cans black beans, drained
1 big (30oz?) can chopped tomatoes
1 15oz can chopped tomatoes with peppers
1 6oz can tomato paste
3 small onions, chopped
3 large cloves of garlic, minced
3 lbs ground beef
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon oregano
salt & pepper

Brown beef & onion, add garlic. Drain some fat. Add all other ingredients and simmer 20-30 minutes.

Top with sliced black olives, lowfat shredded cheese, sour cream, chopped tomatoes, chopped green onions. Serve with multi-grain chips for dipping.

Great hit with DS2 and DH. I think I might like it more than my crockpot chili. DS1 said it was "ok" and ate some but didn't rave. Pot made enough for 2 full meals plus lunches for DH. Excellent BS for DH.

Almond Pancakes

* 2 cups almond flour
* 4 eggs
* 3/4 cup water (for puffier pancakes, you can use sparkling water)
* 1/4 cup corn oil
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2 T sweetener
* 2 t baking powder

Mix together dry ingredients. Mix together wet ingredients. Mix all together. Cook 1/4 cup pancakes in a non-stick pan over med-high heat. Makes approx. 16-18 pancakes.


The kids and DH LOVED these pancakes. They ate them with a little Earth's Balance on top. I was not fond - the taste was ok but the texture was too crumbly, it just felt oogy. We had the pancakes with bacon and eggs scrambled with spinach.

Cashew Coconut Sauce

(Original Recipe below)

Cashew Sauce
1/2 cup TJ's cashew butter
10oz light coconut milk
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup water (or more as needed)

Mix all together in a small pot and cook over med-low until heated through. Add water until desired consistency. I served over chicken breasts and along side brown rice and steamed spinach. Big hit for DH, DS1 and the few bites of dinner DS2 ate were happy bites. Did well for DH's bloodsugars as well.

Cashew Sauce
Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2003
See this recipe on air Tuesday Dec. 11 at 3:30 AM ET/PT.
Show: Good Eats
Episode: Sometimes You Feel Like A Nut
1/2 cup cashew butter, recipe follows
3/4 cup coconut milk
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt, optional

Whisk the butter, milk, and pepper together in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Taste and add salt, if desired. Heat until sauce is warmed through. Serve over grilled chicken, pork, or rice.

Cashew Butter:
2 tablespoons honey
1/3 cup walnut oil
10 ounces (approximately 2 cups) roasted cashews
1/2 teaspoon salt

Place the honey in a microwave-safe container and heat in the microwave for 15 seconds. Remove from the microwave and add the oil to the container. Place the nuts and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse for 5 seconds. Then, while the processor is running, very slowly drizzle in the honey and oil. Process until an emulsion is formed and the mixture is smooth; this will take approximately 45 seconds to 1 minute. If the mixture is too thick and doesn't spread easily, add a little more oil.

Yield: Approximately 1 to 1 1/2 cups

Carrot Apple Muffins Two Ways

Today was a cold, rainy day and we had no plans. Zachary wanted to make muffins - "red" muffins was his first request. Then he asked for carrot muffins so we came up with this recipe. He was furious with me that I wouldn't let him "taste" the brown sugar as it was measured and dumped in to the mixing bowl.

Kid's Carrot Apple Muffins
1 cup AP flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 cup oat bran

4 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup applesauce
2/3 cup brown sugar

4 cups shredded/chopped mixed apple and carrot**

Preheat oven to 350*

**In food processor shred 1.5 very large carrots and 2 large green apples (not peeled). Remove shredding disk and replace with chopper blade and pulse to make smaller bits. Total volume of apples + carrots should be approximately 4 cups

Mix dry ingredients.
Mix wet ingredients.
Add wet to dry. Mix to combine. Fold in apples.
Fill muffin cups to top. Full size muffins 17-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean. Mini muffins 9-10 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.
Makes about 2 dozen full sized muffins or 4 dozen mini muffins


Sugar-Free Diabetic friendly version -
Replace brown sugar with 3/4 cup Splenda
Add 1-1.5 cups chopped walnuts