Two Breakfast Ideas, New kitchen gadget

Love this gadget for quick microwave breakfast dishes

Not sure what it is called.  I just call it my egg muffin thingie, ha!  I got it in the microwave section at Walmart. Pretty cheap.  I have two uses for it on my video below.  A 2 min. 30 sec. breakfast casserole, and a 1 min. 40 sec. english muffin.  I'm thinking a person could get creative with it and find some other ways to use it also.  I'm all for simple you know?  Fast and simple.  This is what I need in my life!  And who doesn't?  

The english muffin I make in it comes from Jennifer Eloff's "One Minute Bread, the Next Minute Toast". I use a variation of her recipe on here that works for me.  I've posted it before here.  So I won't post the recipe again.  Only I used 2 tsp. of coconut oil in that one and here I only use one.  I like it with one tsp. better.  One could make a simple omelet with this gadget also and a toasted english muffin and make it into an egg sandwich as well.  

Breakfast Casserole:

1/4 cup (approximately) of low carb stuffing (made from almond bread) 

1/4 cup half and half

1 large egg

dash dry mustard

salt and pepper to taste

1 sausage link (or bacon if you prefer)

shredded cheese (enough to cover)

Put the stuffing in the bottom of the microwave muffin container

Mix half and half, egg, dry mustard, and salt and pepper well and pour over the stuffing.

Top with cut up sausage or crumbled bacon.

Top that with shredded cheese and microwave for 2 min. 30 sec. approximately, or until it is done in the center.

Slide out onto a plate and enjoy!

Nutrition info will depend on your stuffing mix.  I have not figured out the carb count yet, sorry.  If you use the almond bread for stuffing though, it is very low! 

Pumpkin Cheese Cake Revisited

Made my pumpkin cheese cake for our Thanksgiving dinner today, and wanted to repost, since the video I did was a pretty hurried job of making it the first time.  Turned out wonderful!  Very creamy and rich and the topping was just right.  I baked it for 50 min. and let it cool slowly at room temp.  It was done just right.  Here is the recipe for the topping.

Whipped Topping With Spices

2 cups heavy whipping cream

4 packets Truvia (or 1/4 cup sweetener of your choice)

2 TSPs. Vanilla

1 TBS sugar-free vanilla pudding mix

1/2 tsp. cream of tartar

2 tsp. cinnamon (or more)

1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Mix all together at once in a metal mixing bowl and whip until it forms peaks.  Spread some of it on your pumpkin cheesecake and save some for other pies, cakes, etc. It holds up very well in the frig!  I sprinkled a mix of xylitol and cinnamon on the top.  

Spiced Cranberry Sauce

This is a wonderful recipe.  I hope you'll try it and not let the cayenne pepper scare you away.  Trust me, you'll like it.  Ok, if you don't you have the option to leave it out, but just try it.  I found the original recipe online here and made a low carb version of it which I've been making for the past couple of years.  In fact I've used it for a topping to a "cranberry delight" dessert that came from Karen's recipe for "Raspberry Delight" on the Bernstein forum which I would post the link to if I could but for some reason it won't let me find it.  Maybe I'll do a video for that one some day.





                    

                    

* Exported from MasterCook *

                          Spiced Cranberry Sauce

Recipe By     :adapted to low carb by Ginny Larsen
Serving Size  : 13    1/8 cup size servings
Categories    : Sauces/dressings/Misc., Side dishes
              

  Amount  Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method
--------  ------------  --------------------------------
  1/2        cup  Dry red wine
  6           packets  Truvia -- (equal to 1/4 cup sweetener)
  1/4        cup  Splenda
  1/4        cup  xylitol
  1/2        cup  Davinci Sugar-free Syrup -- Raspberry flavor
  12         ounces  cranberries -- 1 bag--fresh
  1            tablespoon  orange extract -- (or 2 TBS zest of an orange)
  2            sticks  cinnamon
                pinch  salt
                pinch  cayenne pepper -- (trust me! Don't skip it)

In the bottom of a medium pot, place wine and sweeteners. (You can use whatever combo of sweeteners you prefer equal to about 1 1/4 cup sugar). Bring to a simmer and add Cranberries. Bring again to simmer, and add the remaining ingredients.

Simmer approximately 10 minutes or until all cranberries are popped and soft.  Remove from heat, add 2 to 4 icecubes.  Stir until melted and let cool.  Or you can add 1/4 cup cold water instead of icecubes.

The best, tastiest cranberry sauce I've ever had!

Source:
  "inspired by: http://video.about.com/southernfood/Cabernet-Cranberry-Sauce.htm"
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Per Serving: 33 Calories; trace Fat (1.9% calories from fat); trace Protein; 10g Carbohydrate; 7g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 6mg Sodium.  Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 0 Fruit; 0 Fat.

NOTES : 3 g. useable carbs per 1/8 cup serving

Grilled Cheese Sandwich and Hot Chocolate

We got "iced" in today.  Freezing drizzle over night so we could not go to church, even though my husband was supposed to be preaching the sermon today.  Church ended up being cancelled because of treacherous roads.  Good day for hot chocolate and grilled cheese, and some good reading.

My lunch today

Using the Almond Bread I made yesterday, I cut two slices even thinner and made them 4 slices, and made grilled cheese sandwiches out of them.

My hot chocolate:

1 cup unsweetened almond milk

1 tsp. cocoa powder

2 packets Truvia

2 saccharin tablets

a couple dashes of salt

a couple dashes of cinnamon

whipping cream

I mixed the almond milk, cocoa, sweeteners, salt, and cinnamon in a small pan on the stove and heated it.  Whip some cream and sweeten to taste, dollup on top and sprinkle with more cinnamon.  Sorry, have not done the nutrition counts yet.  

Almond Bread for stuffing or eating

I made some of this today, and half of it I'll use for bread and half of it will be cubed, toasted, and saved for stuffing this week.  It is inspired by Lois Lang's Lucious Bread recipe out of "Breaking The Vicious Cycle" by Elaine Gottschall B.A., M.Sc.  I changed it a little to fit my own ingredients.  There are many versions of it on the internet on the SCD sites.  It's gluten free.  Along with this I have looked at different versions of low carb stuffing and I think I'll probably get ideas from them but end up with my own.  I never seem to follow anyone's recipe exactly!  I tend to always take from several recipes and end up with my own.

                      

* Exported from MasterCook *

                        Almond Bread

Recipe By     :original by Lois Lang, Breaking the Vicious Cycle, my tweaks

Serving Size  : 16    

Categories    : Bread

  Amount  Measure       Ingredient -- Preparation Method

--------  ------------  --------------------------------

  1/4       cup  coconut oil -- melted

  8         ounces  fat free cream cheese -- softened (feel free to use full fat, I only used this because it cut down on calories, and the carbs were the same.)

  3         eggs

  1         teaspoon  baking soda

  1/4      teaspoon  salt

  2 1/2   cups  almond meal, blanched

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  (180 C.)

Place first 5 ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix with electric mixer until very creamy and thick.  Or you can put into a food processor and process.

Add the almond meal and mix well.

Grease a loaf pan (about 4" x 8") generously (I spray with non-stick cooking spray).  Pour dough into the pan.

Bake at 350 for about 1 hour or 1 hour and 15 min. until lightly browned on top.   Check by inserting a metal kitchen knife; it will come out clean when bread is done.  Remove from oven and run a bread knife around the edges of the pan to loosen.   Remove bread from pan by inverting the pan onto a cake rack.  Allow to cool thoroughly before you cut it.  Don't cut it while it is piping hot.  It needs to firm up its texture.

Variations: For Bananna bread: 1/2 cup sweetener added, 1 tsp. banana flavoring, and use 1/2 c. flaxmeal and 2 cups almond meal.  Or for lemon bread use 1 tsp. lemon flavoring, 1 TBS lemon juice, and add poppy seeds.

or: add 1 TBS. of caraway seeds with the flour and you will get a bread that resembles rye bread.

Description:

  "Inspired from "Lois Lang's Lucious Bread" from the book "Breaking The Vicious Cycle" by Elaine Gotschall"

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Per Serving: 157 Calories; 13g Fat (71.5% calories from fat); 7g Protein; 5g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 35mg Cholesterol; 208mg Sodium.  Exchanges: 0 Lean Meat; 1 Fat.

Thinking about Thanksgiving

It's always a challenge to stay really 6-12-12 Bernstein friendly for me at Thanksgiving.  I do low carb, and have several low carb sides for myself (and whoever else wants to try them), but I don't count to make sure I stay at 12 grams of carbs for the meal.  I'm asking myself if I think I can do that this year.  Well, I'm not sure, but at any rate I do have to stay with the no wheat thing.   I'm looking at lots of recipes lately, to see what my menu will be.  I found this one a little while ago which is gluten free--Oven Baked Stuffing.  Looks good.  I do have the book, Breaking the Vicious Cycle and have made the bread and it's great.  I've come up with a few variations for it also and have made it into lemon poppy seed bread, banana bread, and mixed flaxmeal and almond meal together with it.  So I think if I decide to have stuffing for myself I may do this one.  I also made a butternut and cheyote squash dish last week that was a hit at our house which will definitely replace the sweet potato casserole I used to make.  I'll post that one when I make it.  Maybe, if I'm really organized and get it together, I'll make a video.  We'll see.  So I'm still browsing for ideas.  I have a really good recipe I've been using the last 2 years or more of spicy cranberry sauce.  My mouth is starting to water!

I know my day will consist of a long walk after the meal, or if the weather isn't good enough for that, a T-Tapp session. 

My favorite very simple vegetable dish, thanks to my boss, who brought this to a potluck at work last year, is asparagus, which I quick steam for just 3 minutes, then plunge into a ice water bath and let cool.  Pat dry and lay on a cookie sheet, and drizzle with EVOO, lemon juice, and balsamic vinegar.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and garlic powder to taste.  I don't have amounts.  I just drizzle and sprinkle to what looks good.  Toss it all together and chill.  Very easy and you can do in the morning and then it's ready to just serve on a nice platter along with some cherry tomatoes or other raw veggies.

So we'll see what else I add to the menu.  I'm still pondering and looking and contemplating.  And one of my requirements for everyone at my table will be that as long as it takes me to put this meal together is how long everyone has to sit at the table and s-l-o-w-l-y enjoy it!  There's much to be thankful for.  Life has had its hardships, and its grief, and there's always something to worry about, but just think what it would be like if every day we thought of all the good things, and all the things we were thankful for, and only one day a year we set aside to grump and complain about all the negative!  Ha!  I think we should practice some thanksgiving every day.  It would keep us all a lot healthier and reduce our stress.