Fluffies ... sugar free high protein pancakes

These are AWESOME!!  my mom finds all types of interesting pancakes and usually I am like the kid on "Kid Histories" What else is about it mom?  But she hit the jack pot with these.  they are fantastic.  Im not sure where she got the recipe and I changed it a tiny bit to make it sugar free.  But even still, AMAZING!

Here is the recipe:

FLUFFIES (PANCAKES)

                         serves 4

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 t  stevia or xylitol

1/4 t salt

1/8 t nutmeg (don't omit)

3 large eggs, separated

1/2 cup nonfat plain greek yogurt (or sour cream)

olive oil

1.  Whisk the flour, sugar, salt and nutmeg in a large bowl.  Beat the egg yolks and yogurt in a medium bowl until smooth.  With an electric mixer beat the egg whites in a large owl to soft peaks.  Stir the egg yo8l mixture into the flour mixture until just combines.  (the batter should be lumpy, with visible streaks of flour.)  Using a spatula carefully fold the whites into the batter until just combined.  (Do not over mix - a few streaks of whites should be visible.)

2.  Heat 2 t of oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium low heat for 5 minutes.  Drop the batter by tablespoons into the pan.  Cook until the pancakes are evenly browned on both sides, 3-4 minutes.  Repeat with the remaining batter, using additional oil as needed to grease the pan.  Serve

Although these pancakes are at their puffiest when served in batches, they can be kept warm on a cooling rack coated with cooking spray and placed over a remmed baking sheet in a 200 degree oven for up to 20 minutes.  Take care not over beat the egg whites.  Beating the egg white to soft peaks will produce the tallest and puffiest pancakes  

No Sugar French Toast

So, I am starting a NO SUGAR 3 month period.  I have been feeling a bit lousy of late and while I have been improving this will hopefully get me over the bump.  I LOVE breakfast.  And I LOVE french toast.  But usually on french toast we put Nutella, which equals sugar.

SIDE NOTE: A few months ago, My oldest daughter asked for syrup and nutella on her breakfast and we have a strict -1 sugar topping only rule- and so "nope, sorry" was what came out of my mouth.  Kyle was confused.  "I thought Nutella was a healthy spread, I thought that's why you ate it."  NOPE! DANG! I could have kept fooling him and he would have kept thinking so highly of his healthy wife.  I didn't even know that I was fooling him.  Oh Well.

 This morning, (I made my whole wheat bread recipe yesterday)  we had french toast on our healthy bread.  In the french toast batter I put eggs, a bit of milk, 1 tsp of vanilla.  And we put some Cinnamon.  But I am allergic to cinnamon, so it goes in AFTER I make my two pieces of french toast.

On the Top of the french toast I put....
The last of my Almond butter (major grocery shopping to happen on Monday)
A sprinkling of Cocoa Powder
and the frozen berries from Costco ( I thawed them first)

IT was FANTASTIC!!!

Enjoy!

Roasted Red Potatoes

2lbs of red potatoes quartered
4 tablespoons of butter cut into cubes
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper
1 tablespoon of minced garlic
2 teaspoons o natures seasoning
1 tablespoon of Italian seasoning

Preheat oven to 425

Butter the bottom of a 9x13 glass dish
Evenly spread your potatoes in. The baking dish and place your butter cubes sporadically over the potatoes. Drizzle the potatoes with olive oil. Sprinkle seasonings over potatoes.

Bake at 425 for 45-60 minutes (depending on how deep your potatoes piled up)
Stir every 10-15 minutes to get the seasonings evenly spread and to prevent sticking - also it helps the potatoes bake evenly!

Yummy side dish!

Brit

Green bean Armadine

4 cups of frozen green beans
1/4 cup bacon grease
1/4 cup slivered almonds
2 tablespoons crushed garlic
Sea salt to taste

(Optional cooked bacon and crushed into bits.)

Melt bacon grease in a large sauce pan. Add green beans and garlic and sauté on med/high heat. When the green beans are halfway cooked add the slivered almonds. Add salt to taste. Cook beans until they are slightly browned.

I think this takes about 10 min. Depending on the amount of the green beans! You can place in the oven or a crock pot to keep warm.

Brit

Spinach Lasagna

Ingredients
2lbs spicy Italian ground sausage or hamburger meat
Seasoning (only if you are using hamburger meat- if you use sausage don't use the seasonings)
Sprinkle liberally with garlic salt & Natures seasoning and 1/2 tsp of crushed red pepper

Sauté 1 chopped onion and 3 chopped carrots.

In blender purée,
2 quarts of stewed tomatoes,
1 can of boulenese sauce
Sautéed onions & carrots
Handful of spinach

After meat is browned add the red purée to the meat and simmer for an hour.




Meanwhile, make Bauchemal Sauce- brown 4 tablespoons of butter in a saucepan, once brown add 4 tablespoons of whole wheat flour. Then pour in 4 cups of milk (I use whole milk), simmer for an hour.




Cook one box of lasagna noodles



Once it's all cooked, (not too cooked! Cook just until the noodles are a bit chewy)
Lay the noodles to dry on a tea towel.

Layer in buttered 9x12 pan as followed.
Meat Sauce on the bottom of pan then layer:

Noodles
Meat Sauce
Bauchemal Sauce
Mozzarella Cheese
Parmesan Cheese
Repeat until full on the very top just spread the Bauchemal sauce and the cheeses not the meat.




(this photo is of the second layer, at this point before I add the cheeses I take a pastry brush and smooth the white sauce out so that it's evenly distributed.

Once all in the dish bake at 425 for 40 min.

Enjoy!

Brit

Enchiladas

Enchilada sauce
In blender combine a quart of stewed tomatoes
A pint of canned salsa
A small can of green chilies
After puréed, boil on stovetop until it is 3/4 it's amount.

Cook about 12-16 Costco tortillas

Brown 1.5 lbs of hamburger meat, season (while browning) with 2 tsp of Natures Seasoning, 1 tablespoon of garlic salt, I tablespoon of cumin, 1 tablespoon of chili seasoning and 1/2 tsp of crushed red pepper

Chop a can of black olives

Cook 1 can of black beans

Shred 1/2 lb of cheddar cheese (or use a pre-shredded mexican blend)

Sauté 1 chopped onion.

In 2 8x8 pans (or 1 9x13) spread a bit of the enchilada sauce



Then take your tortillas and spread them out on the counter, in each tortilla layer: enchilada sauce, hamburger meat, cooked black beans, onions, chopped olives, and finely shredded cheddar cheese.




Roll them up and place in the pans



I can fit six in a 8x8 pan. Which gives mom & dad 2 & my girlies 1! Perfect. The second pan I put in the freezer!!!!

Once the enchiladas are all rolled up, spread a little sauce cheese & olives on top.




(the ones without olives are for Kyle who isn't an olive lover yet)

Bake at 375 for 35-45 min. I like mine a bit crunchy on top. As long as the cheese is melted on top, your dinner is ready!

Yum!

Brit

Whole wheat Carbonara

Carbonara is usually made with a a fat spaghetti noodle like linguine but I was out so I used whole wheat penne pasta.

Enough pasta for your family of 4

3 eggs
1/2 lb bacon
1/4 cup half n half or less
Garlic salt
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1 cup of cooked Peas


Bring water to a boil and cook pasta,

Meanwhile cut your bacon into 1 inch squares and cook, the bacon needs to be done cooking before the pasta is done

Bring frozen peas to a boil and then drain. These also need to be cooked before the pasta is done.

Combine the eggs and the half n half, and parmesan cheese, mix until well combined.

When the pasta is cooked. Drain. Then place pasta back in your pot. Quickly add the egg mixture, bacon and peas. Stir until the eggs bits start to appear. The heat from the pasta, bacon and pot cook the eggs. When finished the dish still looks a bit shiny and creamy! Add your garlic salt to taste.

Enjoy!

Brit

Pizza Sauce

This one I made up myself, it's quite very simple

1 quart of stewed tomatoes
1 medium onion
2 cloves Garlic
1 t Salt
1 T Italian seasoning
1/8 t Red pepper


Sauté chopped onion and minced garlic in 1 T butter, when browned put tomatoes, garlic & onion in the blender and blend until smooth.

In a sauce pan, bring sauce to a boil and then bring to a simmer. Add seasonings

Simmer for about an hour or until desired thickness. If you are in a hurry just add tomato paste and add a bit more seasonings.

I use leftovers as a base fir spaghetti!

Brit

Pizza Therapy

We had pizza for dinner. I havent made pizza all summer. Kyle requested this. He doesnt request specific dinners often, so I made sure it happened. So I got this recipe from PizzaTherapy.com and for a short pizza dough recipe it's awesome!

I really want to try one of those very authentic doughs that you have to let rise 18 hours. But, dang it all, that takes forethought & action! I dont do that well :)

Making pizza crust is not that difficult. Authentic Italian pizza does not include olive oil or sugar.

But this one does :)


Ingredients for the Pizza Dough
(Makes 2 Large Pizzas, or Four Thin Pizzas) this doubles really well!!

1-2 Packages yeast ( 1/4 or 1/2 oz. or 2-4 teaspoons of dry active yeast)

2 teaspoons sugar

4 cups of flour or more (I use half whole wheat and half bread flour)

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup olive oil

1 and 1/2 cups of warm water


Use the following Pizza Dough Recipe if you will be making and eating your pizza on the same day...

Directions

1. Put yeast and sugar in a cup. Add 1/2 cup of water. The water should be between 100 and 110 degrees ). Mix well with a whisk or fork. Wait about 5 minutes for the yeast and sugar to activate.

2. In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, salt, olive oil, 1 cup of warm water and the yeast mixture. Mix this with a fork to get all the liquid absorbed by the flour.

3. Place a handful of flour on a mixing surface. Dust your hands and spread out the flour. Empty the contents of the bowl on to the flour.

4. Knead the dough for 8-10 (dont skimp on time here!!!) minutes or until the texture is smooth and uniform. If the dough seems a little sticky, add a little more bread flour.

5. Place the dough in a bowl and drizzle with olive oil. Place bowl in draft free area and cover with a cloth.

6. Let the dough rise for about an hour. Punch down the dough and wait about 45 minutes. Your dough is now ready.

7. Cut the dough in half. (if you make the dough in the morning then you can put each half in ziplock bags and put in the fridge, then about a half hour before you are ready to roll out, take the dough out of the fridge!)

8. dust a rolling pin with flour and gently shape dough on a floured mixing surface. until the dough is the desired shape. Keep using flour, as needed so the dough won't stick.


9. Dust a cookie sheet or pizza sheet, with corn meal. (Or flour)

10. Fold the round dough in half anf then in half again. Place that center point in the center of your pizza sheet and unfold back into a circle!

11. The more you make dough, the easier it will become.

Then add pizza sauce and mozzarella cheese and toppings.

Bake 475-500 for 12 minutes

Cut & eat!

Brit

Boulenease

This is a canning recipe! We use this as a base for spaghetti sauce, lasagna, chili and just by itself!!

We got this recipe from my moms friend who got it from a restaurant and it's awesome, they called it little Joes Sauce but my brother who has lived in Italy, who said, "oh! It's boulenease sauce!" so that's what we call it.

I LOVE IT!

In a large pot combine,

4 quarts skinned crushed tomatoes blended up
4 quarts chicken broth*
1cup olive oil
1cups celery slices
6 cups diced onions
1/2 cup mined garlic
2T oregano
4T basil
8 bay leaves
4T pepper
2t rosemary
1/2 cup salt

Boil the above ingredients for 4 hours or until the desired thickness

then, mix together:
2/3 cup cornstarch
1cup water
When thoroughly combined slowly stir into the pot.

Pour into pints (this makes 18ish pints)

Wipe top of jars, secure sanitized lids with rings, process in a pressure can 12lbs of pressure for 30 minutes

(*we have also water bathed these for 40 minutes with vegetable broth)- don't use chicken broth in the waterbath!!!

Briti

Quick & EASY Mousee

I like to make sure I have a bit of chocolate every day. But I don't really have any drive to eat a candy bar. If I'm eating the calories, it's going to be DANG WORTH IT. period! So here is one I found in this awesome book my dad randomly bought for me called 1000 best recipes. So far, the tittle has been spot on. This Mousee recipe is great 'cause there are only 3 ingredients and they are a staple in my kitchen, and it took 10 minutes to make. It is a bit dish heavy for so few steps, but whatever :) it's worth it.







So easy!! And quick! And ingredient friendly!

Ingredients:
4 oz dark chocolate, finely chopped
4 eggs separated
3/4 cup cream


Bring water in a small saucepan to a simmer and put a glass bowl on top of the saucepan (so it's like a lid) - make sure the water isn't touching the bowl.

Pour chopped chocolate in and stir occasionally until melted. Remove from heat.

Slightly beat egg yolks and add them to the dark chocolate.

Whip egg whites to soft peak stage and fold into chocolate mixture, until the mixture is fully incorporated into each other, otherwise your finished dessert will have spots of dense chocolate (learned from trial & error!)


Whip cream to soft peak stage and FOLD! into chocolate with a metal spoon.

Once just combined, pour into wine glasses or Ramkins and chill for 3+ hours

This has NO (added) SUGAR!!!! how spectacular! Guilt free in my book!

Brit