Friday, May 6, 2016

NoOatmeal - Grain Free Hot Cereal Recipe


I made this delicious new recipe for NoOatmeal - a grain free hot cereal.  For those of you on a low carb diet, you like me may miss your oatmeal.  There are times, where I have found it very difficult to stay on the low carb diet, because I miss my carbs "a lot!"  I miss oatmeal "a lot!"  I found the inspiration for this recipe at Real Food RN, and if you are trying to low carb it, this is a great recipe to try.

My doctor put me on a Ketogenic Diet in December for health reasons.  It is not a high protein diet, it is a high fat / moderate protein / low carb diet. So far it is working.  When I went for my lab work in March, all of my levels had gone into the normal range, but I still need to be careful.  I do eat regular food and carbs from time to time, but I try to stick to the Ketogenic diet.

In the meantime, it has been very interesting trying to figure out how to eat.  My diet is high in healthy fats such as coconut oil, avocados, and nuts approximately 100 grams.  I eat chicken, fish, beef, pork, and lamb about 80 grams a day ( I avoid shellfish since it is high in triglycerides). I eat approximately 20 grams of carbs a day, which comes mostly from vegetables.

One of the reasons I have not been writing a lot, is because I have been trying to figure out how to eat in this new and different way.  This recipe for NoOatmeal will work for a low carb or paleo diet also, it is really delicious and full of healthy fats and fiber.


Print Recipe

NoOatmeal - Grain Free Hot Cereal Recipe

Ingredients:

2 cups pecans
2 cups walnuts
6 TB Flax Seeds
6 TB Chia Seeds
6 TB Hemp Hearts

Directions:

Put the nuts, seeds, and hemp hearts in a high speed blender or food processor. (I have a Ninja blender which works great for this, its blades are not like a regular blender.)  If you don't have one, then use your food processor.  Pulse all of it on and off, but be careful, not turn your
NoOatmeal Ingredients into nut butter.  You just want it to be ground up, but not stuck together.  

Put it into a container and store in your refrigerator.

Yields about 5 cups of NoOatmeal
7.9 carbs (g)
7.1 Dietary Fiber (g)
.8 Net Carbs (g)
35.1 Fat (g)
8.1 Protein (g)


NoOatmeal Ingredients:

1/2 cup Milk, Cream, Coconut milk, or Almond milk (unsweetened)
1/2 cup NoOatmeal
stevia
butter
anything else you eat with your NoOatmeal

NoOatmeal Cooking Directions:

Bring the milk or whatever liquid you are using to a boil.  Add the NoOatmeal and cook for 1 minute.  Let sit for 5 minutes until thickened.  You can adjust the thickness to your liking by adding a little more or less NoOatmeal to the pan.

I add butter and stevia to my NoOatmeal, but you can add anything that you want, just as you would regular oatmeal.  To keep it low carb, you may want to restrict fruit or sugar.


I would love to hear what you think about the recipe.  I hope that you like it as much as I do. So send me your comments.

Have a great weekend.
Debi

Thursday, May 5, 2016

Mexican Chopped Salad


This is recipe number three for our Cinco de Mayo celebration and it is a very easy Mexican Chopped Salad.  I love looking at Pinterest for recipe and party ideas.  I have lots of cookbooks and magazines, but I tend to turn to Pinterest more often then not.  I found the inspiration for this recipe for Mexican Chopped Salad at The Cafe Sucre Farine.  I used their salad dressing recipe and made up the rest of the salad and it was truly amazing.  It is a great light salad, especially when you are eating  a heavier meal.  I know you are going to love it as much as we did.  The flavors are so light and bright and Yum!
Mexican Chopped Salad

Ingredients:

Salad Dressing:
1/2 cup lime juice
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
2 cloves garlic minced
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup olive oil
black pepper to taste

Salad Vegetables:
2 red bell peppers, chopped into small bite size pieces
1/2 red onion, chopped
6 roma tomatoes, seeded and chopped
8 Persian cucumbers, quartered
4 ears of corn, cooked and sliced off of the cob

Directions:

Mix the salad dressing ingredients together with a whisk.

Cook 2 ears of corn at a time in the microwave for 4 minutes.  Cool and then slice off of the cob.

Combine all of the vegetable ingredients in a bowl and then toss with the salad dressing.


Serves 8 to 10.

This Chopped Mexican Salad was surprisingly delicious and so easy to make.
I always love hearing from you .
Have a wonderful Cinco de Mayo.
Debi



Cinco de Mayo Menu

Appetizers:
Guacamole
Pico de Gallo
Mango Salsa
Chips

Dinner:
Mexican Chopped Vegetable Salad
Fruit Skewers

Dessert:

Cocktails:
Peach Sangria

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Mexican Chicken and Rice



Are you ready for day number two of our Cinco de Mayo recipes? Today I am sharing my version of a recipe that I found on Pinterest for Mexican Chicken and Rice.  It came from Recipe Tin Eats.  It was absolutely delicious and a great meal for a lot of people.  I doubled the recipe, and as usual made some changes.  I know you are going to love it as much as we did.  It does have a lot of ingredients, but it is not a difficult recipe to make.  It is definitely worth the effort.


Print Recipe

Mexican Chicken and Rice

Ingredients:

Mexican Spice Mix:
3 Tb garlic powder
3 Tb onion powder
3 TB chili powder
3 Tb paprika
3 Tb cumin
1 Tb oregano
2 1/2 tsp salt
dash of cayenne pepper (optional)
1/4 tsp black pepper

Chicken:
8 chicken thighs, boneless, skinless
3 boneless skinless breasts (sliced in half, to make 2 thin pieces) 6 pieces total
3 Tb lime juice
6 Tb Mexican Seasoning
1/3 cup olive oil

Rice:
1 onion, peeled and diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 red peppers, sliced
4 cups short grain rice
4 cups chicken stock
1 28 oz can tomato puree
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 12 oz bag frozen corn
1 16 oz can black beans
1 5.5 oz container sliced black olives
4 Tb Mexican Seasoning

Garnish:
2 limes sliced
cilantro

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray 2 9 x 13 inch casserole dishes with non stick cooking spray.

Mix all of the spice ingredients together.

Next, mix 6 Tb spice seasoning with 3 Tb lime juice and rub all over each chicken piece.

Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat and brown the chicken about 4 to 5 minutes on each side.  Set the chicken to the side.

Then add the onion, garlic, and red pepper to the olive oil and browned bits in the skillet and cook until lightly browned, then add the rice and stir it until it is coated with the onion mixture.

Next add the chicken stock, tomato puree, tomato paste and stir well.  Next add the Mexican seasoning mixture and stir again. Bring to a boil.

Then add the corn, black beans, and olives.

Separate this mixture into the two casserole dishes and place the chicken on top of the rice mixture in each casserole dish.  I put the thighs in one dish and the breasts in the other dish.

Place foil over each casserole dish and bake for 35 minutes and then remove the foil.  Bake for an additional 15 to 25 minutes.  Taste to make sure the rice is cooked and serve.

Serves 8 to 10 people

I hope that you enjoy this recipe.  I always love hearing from you.
Have a great week and a wonderful Cinco de Mayo.
Debi


Cinco de Mayo Menu

Appetizers:
Guacamole
Pico de Gallo
Mango Salsa
Chips

Dinner:
Mexican Chicken and Rice
Fruit Skewers

Dessert:

Cocktails:
Peach Sangria


Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Mexican Fried Ice Cream Cake


We celebrated Cinco de Mayo early this year and had friends over for dinner. I love desserts and so we are going to have this Mexican Fried Ice Cream Cake for dessert first, and then I'll share the other recipes over the next few days.  All of the recipes were pretty easy, and as I publish them I will link all of the recipes together.

Charly has made Fried Ice Cream balls before, and she used Frosted Flakes rather then Corn Flakes for her recipe, so I decided that I was going to use them in this recipe also.  My inspiration for this dessert came from Life in the Lofthouse.  This Fried Ice Cream Cake was so good that people were asking for seconds.  You are going to love it!!!


I do want to share my menu with all of you, so that you can look for the additional recipes as I post them.

Appetizers:
Guacamole
Pico de Gallo
Mango Salsa
Chips

Dinner:
Fruit Skewers

Dessert:
Mexican Fried Ice Cream Cake

Cocktails:
Peach Sangria
Mexican Fried Ice Cream Cake

Ingredients:

3 1/2 cups frosted flakes (ground in a food processor)
1/2 cup butter
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 quart vanilla bean ice cream
1 8oz container cool whip
3/4 tsp cinnamon
honey
chocolate syrup
caramel syrup
whipped cream

Take your ice cream and cool whip out of the freezer and let them soften, so that you can mix them together easily.

Melt the butter in a skillet and then add the frosted flake crumbs and cinnamon.
Cook until golden.  Watch it carefully, because the frosted flakes can burn easily.

Let your frosted flake mixture cool down a little bit.  Then spread 1 1/2 cups of the frosted flake mixture in the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch casserole dish.

Next mix the ice cream, cool whip, and cinnamon together very well and spread this over the top of the frosted flake crumbs.

You will then put the rest of the frosted flake crumbs on top of the ice cream mixture, making sure that you have covered the entire top of the ice cream with the frosted flake crumbs.

Next drizzle honey over the top of the corn flake crumbs.

Freeze for 4 to 5 hours before serving.

Cut into 12 pieces to serve and drizzle caramel sauce and chocolate sauce over each piece and then top with whipped cream.

I always love hearing from you.
Have a great week.
Debi