Low Carb Focaccia

Bread,  often referred to as the 'staff of life'.  Bread is an incredibly basic food that supports life. The world of bread is immense and varied: some type of bread is found in almost every society of the world and is made with the simplest of ingredients.  

With the evolution and modification of grains, many folks have digestive issues with gluten and wheat products, others have opted to eliminate wheat as well as grains from their diet. I personally feel better since eliminating wheat from my diet during my low carb journey.

As those of you who join me on the low carb journey probably know, finding a good low carb bread isn't easy and if you like bread, that's a big deal!

I adapted this from a recipe found in About.com and I hope that you will enjoy this recipe as much as I do.  It produces a thin, flat whole grain textured bread that is wonderful for dipping in your favorite olive oil, slathering it with fresh creamy butter, or thinly slicing it in half to make your favorite sandwich or panini.

Low Carb Chocolate Chip Cookies

COOKIES!!! I want COOKIES!!!  I have quite the sweet tooth and cookies have always been my favorite sweet treat (well, pie too.....).  Anyway, as my venture into low carb eating continues, I need something to replace cookies to keep my carb intake lower.  Replace cookies....NO!!!   I'd never be able to stick with any alternative eating plan ever...period.  So, it's now time for me to add some new baking tools to my toolbox because life without cookies...well, that's not happening for me!

I have thought dozens of times about trying to convert the recipe, but opted for trying recipes I found on the web where others had already done the conversion work.  Yes, I will admit that is lazy, but the ratios and quantities are different and well, it's just scary.  Ingredients for the low carb versions are a little on the pricey side and rather than risk an epic failure and trashing the whole batch of cookies, I became a follower rather than a leader in the recipe conversion department.

Today, I decided to pull myself up by my apron straps and give it a try.  I spent a bit of time looking at other recipes, analyzing the ratios of almond and/or coconut flour, eggs, etc. to try to decide what would be best.  Shoot, I even went all out and made my own low carb brown sugar because I wanted something lower carb than the Splenda Brown Sugar substitute in effort to keep the cookies as low carb as possible.

Baking with almond flour (I used Honeyville Blanched Almond Flour) for this recipe along with a little coconut flour is definitely a skill I need to perfect.  The resulting cookies are not the same as the original recipe, but were definitely a very nice, satisfying and tasty low carb chocolate chip cookie.

If you aren't doing low carb, you can find the original recipe here and they are awesome!
Otherwise, for my low carb baker friends or those who want to convert....start your ovens!  Get ready to sample some raw cookie dough (I know, I can't stay out of it either) and bake yourself and your loved ones some cookies to enjoy and ones you feel good about serving.

Lemon Rosemary Butter Cookies

I love lemon and I love rosemary so when a FB friend of mine told me he was making shortbread cookies with those two ingredients, I couldn't wait to get my hands on the recipe.

Well, true to my style, I just can't leave well enough alone and I've made several adjustments to his recipe as I was making it.  Sorry Craig, I just couldn't help myself!

You can find his recipe here if you are interested in seeing or making the original.  Following is my adaption of his recipe.  

Philly Cheese Steak Pizza

I love love love pizza.  I could eat it every day.  So I was thinking pizza for dinner last night but also was having visions of Philly Cheese Steak with that tender thinly sliced steak, grilled peppers and onions and creamy cheese.

Then I had a revolutionary idea....I thought why not?  I'll just blend the two ideas together.  This Philly Cheese Steak Pizza is what resulted.

Lemon Blueberry Cream Cheese Tarts

I was inspired by this recipe that I found on one of the blogs that I follow.  This tasty treat is low carb and gluten free, and honestly just down right tasty!

For me, blueberries and lemon embody spring and freshness.  Both the  lemon and blueberry flavors  marry nicely in this tart.

I don't own small individual tart pans so I "made do" by utilizing  a cupcake pan.  I had a few shells that didn't come out easily but most of the did, and I used the crumbly ones to mix into the remaining filling for a quick decadent snack from the fridge.

I did modify the recipe a bit since my last errand stop was the grocery and there wasn't any Mascarpone cheese (seriously Target....come on!).  As a result, I opted for cream cheese and modified the recipe just a little.  

Gluten Free FireCrackers

I've dubbed these little jewels "fire" crackers because they have jalapeno pepper in them.  I'm among those who like spicy foods.
Also these little gems contain no wheat flour for those of you who are needing to avoid gluten.

I found this recipe via Pinterest, yes it is an addiction, but it inspires me to try new things and helps me pass time on the bus ride to and from work each day. Following is the recipe as posted by The Realistic Nutritionist, inspired by Oh My Veggies with a little modification to the directions by me.
 Let the healthy snacking begin!

Chocolate Espresso Cake with Lemon Mascarpone

This recipe is one I found on Savoring Time in the Kitchen blog as Torta Caprese with Lemon Mascarpone which was adapted from a magazine.  It looked delicious and kept whispering to me...well, actually it was  screaming loudly.

Knowing I had a friend coming for her annual fall visit, I decided this would be the perfect desert to try while she was here.  Yes, those who know me, are very aware if you spend time at my table, you will be subject to my trying new recipes.  So far I only recall one recipe that wasn't well received by a guest, so my batting average is pretty good.

For my gluten free friends, I think this cake may work for you since it does not contain any flour, but rather uses ground almonds.

I will admit to being a little skeptical of the chocolate and lemon combo.  Both are flavors I love, but typically would not consider putting them together.  However, the lemon mascarpone is so light and subtly flavored, it pairs well with the richness of the cake.  Feel free to double the recipe so you can slather it on thick!

Gluten Free and Sugar Free Peanut Butter Cookies

If you are a lover of peanut butter and especially peanut butter cookies, you most certainly will like this recipe.  It is simple and you only need a handful of items to make them with an added bonus of being low sugar and gluten free!


I found this recipe via Pinterest which led me to a blog which linked  to Food.com.  I'm a big Pinterest fan and have pinned oodles of things that I want to try "someday".  


Anyway, as most of you know, I've been trying to eat healthier.   One of the things I have done is reduce the amount of "white" flour in my diet as well reduced the amount of refined sugar I consume.  Since this recipe was gluten free, I figured I would make a few modifications to reduce the sugar and give it a whirl.  


The result was a decadent, soft peanut butter cookie with a touch (okay, a slathering) of chocolate on the base....go with me for a minute and think Peanut Butter Milano's.  Yeah!  Great Results and to top it off, two cookies weigh in at just 115 calories!  So I can have two cookies with my coffee and not just one, which is much more satisfying!


If you aren't counting calories and don't mind eating the sugar, you can substitute 1 cup of granulated sugar or split the cup into equal portions of both granulated and brown sugar for a richer colored cookie.  Either way you decide to make them, the result will be addicting little cookies... and I'll bet you can't eat just one!  


Gluten Free & Sugar Free Peanut Butter Cookies
Yield: 36 cookies 


Ingredients:

1 cup natural peanut butter
1/4 cup Whey Low Granular
1/2 cup Whey Low Gold
1 large egg, beaten
1 teaspoon baking soda


Optional Glaze:
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or grease the cookie sheets.  (I prefer parchment paper for easier cleanup!)

In a medium mixing bowl, beat together the peanut butter and sugar with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy.

Add the beaten egg and soda to the peanut butter mixture and beat until well blended.

Using 1 teaspoon (measuring teaspoon) roll the dough into small balls and place them one inch apart on the cookie sheet.

Flatten the dough balls with the tines of a fork.  Dip the tines in the sugar to prevent them from sticking and ruining your lovely crisscross patterns.

Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes, until golden brown.

Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 5 minutes and then transfer them to a rack to cool.

At this point, you can decide if you want to add the glaze on the bottom of the cookies.

Flip the cookies so their bottoms are up.

In a saucepan, heat the cream until it reaches a boil.

Remove the cream from the heat and pour it over the chocolate chips.  Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes then stir and stir and stir.  It will look awful initially, but it will come together and create a lovely chocolate glaze.

Using a pastry brush (yes this is messy), paint the bottom of each cookie with a generous amount of chocolate. 

Let these cool and store between sheets of waxed paper.  The chocolate will keep the cookies nice and soft. If you are looking for a crisper cookie, omit the chocolate glaze.  You can also make sandwich cookies out of these by sticking two cookies together with the chocolate glaze. Either way is yummy!

Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for around 5 days....of course, that's assuming they last that long!

....and that's What's Cooking at Cathy's ~ Enjoy!

Coconut Banana Pancakes (Gluten and Dairy Free)

I have to admit that when faced with a choice of waffles or pancakes, I'll choose waffles, nearly every time.  So trying new pancake recipes isn't something I'm inclined to do.  However, this recipe caught my eye a while back and since I have some over ripe bananas sitting on the counter, I decided to indulge myself this morning and give this recipe a try.  This is also a great option to regular pancakes if you have dietary considerations that prevent you from eating gluten or dairy products. 

Raw Oats

I have to admit, that when I assembled the ingredients the batter looked too thin.  Then I discovered I had used the 3/4 cup measure instead of the 1 cup measure for the oat flour.  Once that correction was made, the batter was more typical of a pancake batter.

You can purchase oat flour from Bob's Red Mill in most grocery stores.  If your store doesn't carry oat flour, no worries, you can make your own by putting old fashioned oats into your blender and grinding them into flour.  This is quick and easy and is something we can do to help add more whole grain to our diets.

Flour - After Grinding

Coconut Banana Pancakes

Ingredients:

1 cup oat flour
2 Tablespoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 very ripe banana, mashed
1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 large egg
3/4 cup coconut milk
1 Tablespoon canola oil
Toasted Chopped Pecans
Banana Slices

Directions:

1. Mix the oat flour with the baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a small bowl and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, mix the banana and brown sugar.  Add the oil and egg and coconut milk and mix well.
3. Fold the flour mixture into the wet ingredients and stir to combine.  Do not overmix.
4. Heat a cast iron or other heavy skillet over medium heat.  You may want to make a test pancake to test the heat of your skillet.  I found these to burn easily, so be sure to not get your skillet too hot.
5. Cook pancakes 3- 4 minutes per side, until browned and cooked through. 
6. Stack them up, top with butter, sliced bananas, chopped pecans and maple syrup.

Pour yourself a hot cup of coffee, grab your fork, dig in and enjoy.

I think this would also be good sprinkled with some toasted coconut, but didn't have any on hand.  I'll try that variation next time I make the recipe.