Tag Archives: low carb

Instant Lemon Glucomannan Pudding

It has been blazing hot here in sunny Oklahoma recently! I like light desserts when it is hot. So I’ve turned to puddings.

When I first tried things with glucomannan (or gluccie (pronounced with the k sound not the s sound), as referred to in THM), I did not like it at all. But over the couple of years that we have been following the Trim Healthy Mama eating lifestyle I have grown to the point that I now really enjoy it, especially in a pudding!

This recipe is done completely in the blender.

Instant Lemon Glucomannan Pudding

Ingredients

  • 4 cups liquid (water, almond milk, any combination I use 2 cups water, 2 cups almond milk)
  • Juice of 2-3 lemons (or 4-7 tablespoons bottled lemon juice)
  • 2 pinches salt
  • 2 heaping Tablespoons THM Super Sweet or 1 scant cup sukrin melis (measures 1:1 with sugar)
  • slightly heaped tablespoon of glucomannan

Instructions

  1. Put all ingredients except glucomannan in the blender and begin to blend.
  2. While the blender is running, add the glucomannan and blend for 2 minutes
  3. Rest for a minute or so
  4. Blend for about another 2 minutes
https://lifeofjoy.me/instant-lemon-glucomannan-pudding/

Enjoy! I like to chill mine before I eat it so it is super refreshing. :)

Homemade Low Carb “Bisquick” Biscuits

This makes a delightful “buttermilk” “biscuit” that is low carb. There is even a version that is also low fat, which I will be trying very soon.

I have to say, I wasn’t sure about trying this recipe from Nana’s Little Kitchen because I had to mix up a batch of the “Bisquick” and I wasn’t sure I’d like it. But it can be used for waffles and biscuits and several other things she had directions for on her site.

So, follow along as I show you how simple and quick these are to make.

Start by melting some butter in a ramekin, in the microwave for about 30 seconds.

I seldom use my microwave but have kept it for quick things like this from time to time. A quick 30 seconds and the butter is melted.

Swirl the butter around the ramekin and the pour into the other one to coat, pouring the last of the butter into a small mixing bowl.

Add the baking mix

Add egg and Greek yogurt

And remaining ingredients (baking soda, almond milk, apple cider vinegar, and cream–I used coconut cream because I had some that needed to be used) and stir to combine.

Divide between the two ramekins and bake individually. I let mine go for a minute or just a tad less. I stand there and watch as it cooks and remove when I think it is done.

Yeah, its’ a bit messy. I think I need ramekins that are just a tiny bit larger. :D

Turn out onto a rack to ensure they are not wet.

It has a nice crumb!!!

And here I used it in a breakfast sandwich.

So, head on over to Nana’s Little Kitchen and make this one. She has included a recipe for a single batch of her “bisquick” so that you can try it out (just scroll to the end of her post for FP pancakes).

Nana’s Little Kitchen Bisquick style low carb THM-S biscuits!

Until next time,

Michele ºÜº

Chocolate Chip Cookies Sugar-Free, Dairy-Free, Gluten Free

Lately Tiffany hasn’t done well with egg yolks or flax or peanut butter or chia and an abundance of cheese. It has made it difficult to make special treats but thanks to google search, we can generally find something we can work with.

I’m so thankful for this recipe, although it did need a few tweaks. We subbed cashew butter for sunflower or tahini butter, psyllium husk powder for flax seed meal, and gentle sweet for coconut sugar.

So let’s get to it.

We start by mixing together the coconut oil, cashew butter, and sweetener (we use THM Gentle Sweet).

I found that you can substitute powdered psyllium husk for the flaxmeal, thus making a psyllium egg instead of flax egg. This is important for us since Tiff is currently sensitive to egg yolk.

So next add the “egg”, vanilla and mix again. And then finally add the baking soda, salt, and coconut flour.

Now the recipe calls for chopped dark chocolate but Tiff usually just used chocolate chips. Looking at the pictures on the original webpage makes me want her to use some chopped chocolate instead of the chocolate chips.

Now Tiffany is usually in a hurry and doesn’t chill at all; she immediately drops them on the parchment cookie sheet and then bakes.

Then we bake, cool, and eat. :)

Of course, it only makes 12 cookies.

So follow the directions one bakerita.com and use 3/8 cup Gentle sweet in place of the 2/3 cup coconut sugar. Check out the recipe because they look amazing! I am going to have to push to have these made “the proper” way for similar results. ;)

Until next time,

Michele ºÜº

Low Carb Pumpkin Bars

Last week I decided to give one of my old holiday favorite recipes a makeover. I was encouraged to do this by a family friend who had done it herself using almond flour and coconut sugar. So I thought, if she, who is only 24, had the courage to make some substitutions in the recipe, then I would too.

I got the pumpkin bars recipe 23 years ago from a church friend who had served them at a homeschool lunch. They were so delicious I asked for the recipe and have made them ever since. Until the last couple of years, that is, when we started a low carb lifestyle.

I researched and found that THM Baking Blend can be substituted nearly cup for cup for regular flour (just make it a scant cup instead of a level cup). Of course I had the sweetener conversion chart from THM, available here (scroll to the bottom of the page and it is on the left side of the page). The other major change was the amount of oil; the original recipe called for an incredible full cup of oil. I looked at the recipe I linked to last week from My Montana Kitchen and decided I could do a mixture of water and oil, so I did 1/4 cup oil and 3/4 cup water.

We made this again last night. Since Tiffany was going to eat this one and she is sensitive to egg yolks, of which there are 4 in this recipe, we decided to cut back on the whole eggs and add extra whites thus changing it to 2 whole eggs and 1/2 cup egg whites. I suggested that she beat those egg whites a little bit to make them a bit fluffier.

Combine wet ingredients well.

This picture was from last week, not this week with the frothing of the egg whites.

Add dry ingredients

Blend well.

Pour into lightly greased jelly roll pan (15x10x1 ish measurement). We lightly greased the pan since we reduced the amount of oil and didn’t want it to stick. ;)Bake at 350º for 15-30 minutes. I recommend taking it out earlier rather than later to keep it nice and moist. :)

When it is cooled, add the frosting.

Our problem last week was the frosting. We put way too much Sukrin Melis (icing “sugar”;) in our butter and cream cheese mixture and it was not good. As a matter of fact, we all ended up scraping the frosting off and just ate the cake. :D It was so moist I didn’t even miss the frosting. However last night we are added more butter and cream cheese to what we scraped off the cake, so as not to waste the ingredients. :D And, it turned out nice!

Just beat the room temperature light cream cheese (neufchatel) and softened stick of butter (1/2 cup) until well combined. Add the powdered alternative sweetener a little at a time, tasting for desired sweetness.

So here is the new, low carb pumpkin bars recipe. I hope you’ll enjoy them. :)

Low Carb Pumpkin Bars

Ingredients

  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup egg whites
  • 1 scant cup gentle sweet
  • 1/2 cup oil
  • 1 (15-16 ounce) can PUMPKIN
  • 2 scant cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • Frosting:
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 3 ounces cream cheese, softened we used neufchatel cream cheese
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup powdered sugar substitute (we used Sukrin Melis/Icing sugar alternative)

Instructions

  1. Whip egg whites a bit (a little more than frothy but less than soft peaks 😉 )
  2. Beat together eggs, gentle sweet, oil, water, and pumpkin.
  3. Stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda.
  4. Combine the wet and dry ingredients thoroughly.
  5. Spread batter in a lightly greased 15x10x1 pan.
  6. Bake at 350º for 15-30 minutes
  7. Cool completely.
  8. Frosting:
  9. Cream butter and cream cheese.
  10. Stir in vanilla.
  11. Add powdered sweetener, a little at a time, blending well until mixture is smooth, adding more if needed.
  12. Spread evenly on cooled pumpkin bars.
https://lifeofjoy.me/low-carb-pumpkin-bars/

I hope this is helpful to you. I know I’ll be making it this way again soon (Christmas is coming ;) ).

Until next time,

Michele ºÜº

Philly Cheesesteak Wrap

When I was in college, I worked summers at the local pizza/sub shop. I absolutely love pizza but I found I got sub sandwiches most of the time. My favorite was a steak sub. I liked and ate others like hot ham & cheese or the Italian sub. I occasionally got a small pizza but it was rare, which surprised even me.

They made their steak and cheese subs with meat like a steak um and provolone cheese. I sometimes get a hankering for a steak sub and will buy a box of Steak Ums. Lately has been one of those times. ;)

I start by chopping up some onion, mushrooms, and peppers because that’s what I like on mine now. :) I get those cooking with some salt and pepper.

I add a bit of oil of some kind since I’m having this as a Trim Healthy Mama S meal. Sometimes I’ll add butter, sometimes bacon fat, and sometimes coconut oil.

When they are almost as done as I want them to be, I break up my Steak Um into pieces and add it to the pan.

I sprinkle on a little oregano.

Next I heat up my wrap. I try not to use too many low carb Mission tortillas because THM says that if you are not losing weight and you are eating these (and other “frankenfoods”;) then try cutting them out for a while and see if you start losing again. So that’s what I’m doing.

Last Saturday after I made the double batch of sourdough pancakes, I had Tiff whip up the batter for Trim Healthy Mama’s Wonder Wraps 2 from their Trim Healthy Table cookbook. They have a bit of psyllium husk flakes in them, so they are really beneficial to my health. :)

I made these on my griddle and then let them cool on cooling racks. Then I placed them between sheets of parchment paper and put them in a gallon baggie. Then I just heat them up in a skillet for a few seconds.

I spread a Light Laughing Cow cheese wedge on the wrap and added the filling.

I sprinkle on some nutritional yeast.

Fold and eat. :)You could definitely add some cheese on the meat and veggies and let it melt but I’ve been going a bit overboard with my meat and cheese intake lately and that’s not conducive to weight loss. :( I was surprised that the laughing cow wedge tasted so good on this.

Steak Ums aren’t cheap but I found the name brand is cheaper than the off brand at my local stores. I don’t use these for a family dinner but use them for lunches on occasion. :)

I hope enjoy this as much as I do.

Philly Cheesesteak Wrap

Ingredients

  • Frozen steak um
  • onion
  • peppers
  • mushroom
  • butter
  • wrap
  • light laughing cow cheese wedge
  • salt, pepper, and oregano
  • nutritional yeast, optional

Instructions

  1. Chop veggies and saute in a teaspoon or so of butter.
  2. When nearly done to your liking, break up the steak into pieces and add to veggies.
  3. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and a bit of oregano.
  4. Heat wrap and spread with light laughing cow cheese wedge.
  5. Add cooked meat and veggies and nutritional yeast, if desired.
  6. Fold and eat.
https://lifeofjoy.me/philly-cheesesteak-wrap/

Until next time,

Michele ºÜº

Jello: Easy, Homemade, and From Scratch

When I made that delicious healthified version of Strawberry Pretzel Salad for Independence Day, I remembered that I really like Jello and gelatin desserts. Thing is that I don’t want the bad-for-you sweeteners and bad-for-you ingredients, so I hadn’t considered making it. But part for part of that dessert you use plain gelatin (which is very good for you) and fruity tea to make a gello to pour over the strawberries. That’s when this idea was born.

My biggest struggle was to get the amounts of ingredients right. I did a little search to find other people that made homemade gello and found some that used fruit juice. Well, that will not do for me, as I need this to be low calorie and low glycemic. :)

I decided to go with the Wild Berry Zinger tea from Celestial Seasonings for my flavor. When I make something, I like to make enough that I’m not going to be having to make it or something else again the next day. :) I started by boiling a pot of water.I placed four tea bags in a measuring cup and added four cups boiling water.Meanwhile, I put 1/4 cup cool water in a bowl, added two tablespoons of plain gelatin and stirred to soften the gelatin.

I was doing two batches: one wild berry and the other peach.

Then added 1/4 cup just-off-the-boil water to dissolve it.

When the tea is as strong as it is going to get or as strong as desired, remove the tea bags and add sweetener. I used 1/2 cup Gentle Sweet. Stir to dissolve it in the tea.

I did not get a picture adding the sweetener to the wild berry one. ;)

Then add the dissolved gelatin to the tea. Just pour it in and stir it to mix it all together. At this point you can pour it into individual containers. When it is cool enough, put it into the refrigerator to firm up. It will take a few hours to do so.

Jello: Easy, Homemade, and From Scratch

Ingredients

  • 4 cups of boiled water
  • 4 tea bags, desired flavor
  • 1/2 Gentle Sweet or sweetener preference
  • 1/4 cup cool water
  • 2 Tablespoons plain gelatin
  • 1/4 cup just-off-the-boil water

Instructions

  1. Steep flavored tea bags in the 4 cups boiled water (about 15 minutes or so)
  2. Put 1/4 cup cool water in a small bowl
  3. Add 2 Tablespoons plain gelatin to cool water and stir to soften
  4. Add 1/4 cup just boiled water and stir to dissolve gelatin.
  5. Remove tea bags and add sweetener
  6. Stir in gelatin and cool about 15-30 minutes
  7. Refrigerate until set (a few hours)
https://lifeofjoy.me/jello-easy-homemade-and-from-scratch/

This is a nice sweet snack that will help cool you off a bit during the brutal heat of summer. ;)

What is your favorite fruit flavored tea?

Thanks for stopping by,

Michele ºÜº

Healthy Fruit Pizza Cookies

Thanksgiving and Big Stuff ~ Lifeofjoy.meFor the rest of this month, in honor of Christmas in July, Tiffany is putting her book on sale! If you’d like to read a fun cozy murder mystery (that reads like a romantic comedy at Christmas time), go check out my daughter’s first book, Murder Mystery and the Gingerbread Cookies available on Amazon (and a few other places I can’t recall right now ;) ). She started writing it when she was 12 years old. We published a few years ago in ebook and finally jumped through all the hoops to get it into paperback this past February. If you like ebooks, grab that as it is a better deal for both you and her. ;)


Earlier this month I promised to share the yummy desserts I made for Independence Day and I had forgotten about it, until the other day.

I remember, years ago, someone made a fruit pizza and I really enjoyed it. It had a sugar cookie base. I don’t remember what the frosting was but then it was covered with a variety of cut up fruit. It was really good.

Well, I saw this Healthy Fruit Pizza Cookie on facebook and it looked so good, I was willing to make a second dessert on the fourth.

It was really easy. It’s a quick cookie base, which can be made up ahead of time (think: in the cool of the day). Then it is just a matter of mixing up the cream cheese frosting and adding the fruit.

This one is definitely a keeper here, even though some of our cookies didn’t make it. :D The tray of freshly baked cookies slid off the pans it was resting on when it first came out of the oven and most of them became a crumbled mess.

Of course, that didn’t stop us from eating them. They just weren’t nearly as pretty and couldn’t be eaten by hand but they were still just as good.

So, hop on over to Taryn’s website and get the recipe to make these very soon. I’ll probably make these again soon myself, especially with the plethora of delicious fresh berries available right now. But I’ll be making the cookies in the morning when it isn’t so hot.

I hope you’ll enjoy this dessert as much as we have.

Until next time,

Michele ºÜº

Low Carb Taco Mac Salad ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Taco Mac Salad Low Carb Version

We have really missed this meal since going keto, low carb, and THM but last night I Trim Healthy Mama-fied it. :) I made it as an “s” meal, which is a healthy fats, low carb meal, because I wanted me some cheese. :) If you are not on a low carb or low fat diet, you can find the original recipe here.

Here are the changes I made:

  • used Dreamfields pasta
  • eliminated the tortilla chips but did have pork rinds on the table for any that wanted them
  • added some finely chopped mushrooms to the meat to boost the health benefits
  • Michael and I used the FP 1000 Island dressing instead of catalina or ranch

Start by boiling water for your pasta.

Low carb pasta ~ lifeofjoy.meChop up your lettuce and place it in the bowl.

Salad ~ Lifeofjoy.meShred or cube the cheese. Unfortunately we used our cheddar cheese because I forgot and used it earlier in the week, so we had to use mozzarella. :(

Cubed Mozzarella ~ Lifeofjoy.meTiff added some diced red pepper. It wasn’t enough but it was what we had.

salad ~ Lifeofjoy.meBrown the ground meat; we used ground turkey.

browning ground meat ~ Lifeofjoy.meQuickly chop mushrooms in a food processor.

chopped mushrooms ~ Lifeofjoy.meWhen most of the liquid is evaporated, season it however you like your taco meat seasoned. I used these with salt and pepper.

taco seasonings ~ Lifeofjoy.meVery light on the cumin, oregano, and garlic powder. Heavier on the paprika, onion powder, salt, and pepper. And a bit heavier with the chili powder, unless you don’t prefer it. ;)

When the pasta is done, drain and rinse with cool water. Then combine with the lettuce and meat.

Serving Taco Mac Salad ~ Lifeofjoy.meSometimes we keep the cheese cubes out for each to include themselves as sometimes they sink to the bottom of the bowl and they are not evenly distributed through the salad. ;) The kids don’t prefer the tomatoes either.

Taco mac salad ~ Lifeofjoy.meThen I add my dressing.

Dressing on Taco Mac Salad ~ Lifeofjoy.meYUM!!!

Taco Mac Salad Low Carb Version

Ingredients

  • 1 box Dreamfields rotini, cooked, drained, and rinsed
  • 1/2-1 cup diced green pepper
  • head of lettuce, broken into bite-size pieces
  • 8 oz. cheese, shredded (We've used cheddar, colby-jack, and pepper jack cheeses.)
  • 1 pound ground meat
  • 8 ounces of chopped mushrooms (for added health benefits)
  • 1 packet taco seasoning (or onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper, cumin, paprika, oregano, and chili powder)
  • other items as desired: tomato, onion or green pepper, avocado, et cetera
  • dressing of your choosing

Instructions

  1. Brown the ground meat.
  2. Add chopped mushrooms.
  3. Add seasonings of choice.
  4. Combine all ingredients and serve with dressing of choice.
https://lifeofjoy.me/taco-mac-salad-low-carb-version/

Hope you like it as much as we did last night. :)

Michele ºÜº

Taco Bites ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Taco Bites

I really missed making my taco bites last year, since we were low carb and couldn’t have the wonton wrappers that I had used to make them before in this recipe. So this year I decided to look for some low carb ones. I figured as a worst case scenario, I’d use low carb whole wheat tortillas.

I was thrilled to find this recipe. It is really quite simple. Unfortunately I forgot to take two of the pictures but I think you can get the idea. ;)

Start by placing about a tablespoon of cheese in a flattened pile on a silpat on a cookie sheet/jelly roll pan. I fit 12 piles on my large tray. Leave about 2 inches between piles. (So sorry I forgot to take a picture of this step. :( )

Brown your meat. We used ground turkey. Drain well and season as you like for tacos. (The other step I forgot to take a picture of. :( )

You bake the cheese on 350º for about 5-7 minutes. You want the edges to be slightly browned and the center melted. Let them cool for about a minute, so you can handle them without burning yourself. The arrange them into mini muffin pans.

mini Taco "shells" ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Add the seasoned cooked ground meat.

undressed taco bites ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Add toppings of choice. No more cheese is needed but some avocado, tomato, lettuce, and/or sour cream are good options.

Taco bite with avocado, tomato, and lettuce ~ Lifeofjoy.me

These were super simple and good. Makes sure your meat is not wet or it will seep out the cracks and holes of the cheese. We didn’t eat ours right away and they were a tad bit cold. I’ll wait to fix them until the last thing next time so they are hotter.

Hope you enjoy them. Go here to homemadeinterest.com for the full recipe.

I hope you have a great New Year’s Day. We are having a nice, laid back day full of rest, relaxation, and gaming (probably individually on different electronic devices as we played board games together last night).

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Open-face Philly Cheese Chicken ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Philly Cheese Chicken Skillet

Creamy, cheesy chicken cooked with onions, mushrooms, and bell peppers.

When I was in my early twenties, I worked at a pizza and sub shop. I love pizza but when I worked there I realized that I also loved sub sandwiches. Specifically Philly cheese steak sandwiches. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I also really liked Italian  hoagies and hot ham and cheese subs too. Most every time I worked, instead of getting a small pan pizza, I got a Philly Cheese Steak.

Early in my marriage, I found Steak-Umm steaks and figured out how to make them at home. Yummo! Well, Michael cannot have steak currently, so I decided that I’d try to make this over with chicken. We all loved it. :)

Without further adieu, here’s how to do it.

Slice the veggies and chicken into thin strips.

Slicing onions ~ Lifeofjoy.meSauté the veggies until nearly done to your liking.

sauté veggies ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Sauté onions peppers mushrooms ~ Lifeofjoy.meAdd the chicken strips

cook chicken strips ~ Lifeofjoy.meWhen chicken is cooked, about 5 minutes or so, depending on how big or small you cut your chicken pieces.

saute chicken and veggies ~ LIfeofjoy.me

Add the cream cheese (or Greek cream cheese) and stir to combine until cream cheese is melted.

philly cheese chicken ~ Lifeofjoy.me(We like our veggies VERY well done.)

Sprinkle with shredded mozzarella cheese.

Mozzarella cheese on chicken and veggies ~ Lifeofjoy.meWhen it is melted, it is ready to serve.

Philly cheese chicken ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Philly cheese chicken ~ Lifeofjoy.meI heated some Swiss bread to serve this on.

Heating swiss bread ~ Lifeofjoy.meWe like green fries (roasted frozen fancy green beans) with ours.Philly cheese chicken ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Philly Cheese Chicken Skillet

Ingredients

  • onion, sliced
  • green bell pepper, sliced
  • mushrooms, sliced
  • chicken breast, sliced thin
  • salt, pepper, and oregano
  • about 2 ounces of cream cheese, neufchatel, or greek cream cheese
  • about 3-4 ounces mozzarella, shredded

Instructions

  1. Slice veggies and sauté in a bit of oil.
  2. Add sliced chicken when veggies are nearly cooked as desired.
  3. sprinkle with salt, pepper, and oregano to taste
  4. add cream cheese, mix in and allow it to melt.
  5. sprinkle with shredded mozzarella
  6. Serve either in low carb roll, on low carb bread, or just eat off your plate. 😉

https://lifeofjoy.me/philly-cheese-chicken-skillet/

I hope you enjoy this.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº