Tag Archives: THM

Sprouted Spelt Pizza

I love pizza!!! It has been a family favorite since my childhood.

My grandmother had seven children and could not afford to make Chef Boyardee pizzas for her large family. So she looked at the ingredients and created her own version. She taught her girls how to make it and my mom taught me. :) I in turn have taught my daughter, Tiffany, how to make it.

Well, I decided I wanted to make it over to use sprouted spelt flour. It needed adjusting because spelt flour requires less liquid. I love the sourdough one but I have to be sure to get it mixed in the morning because it has to sit for at least 7 hours. But since sprouted spelt is sprouted flour, it can be used right away. :)

So you start with 1 cup of warm water, 1-2 teaspoons of oil, and 2 1/4 teaspoons yeast. Mom never added any sugar or honey, so I don’t. We’ve never had any problem with it.

Stir to combine and dissolve the yeast.

Stir in one cup of sprouted spelt flour. and then work in the second cup.

I cover it with a clean towel and keep it in a warm place. In about an hour or so, it can be put onto the pizza pans. I used to use two 12-inch pans but I love using four 6-inch personal size pans now.

Divide the risen dough into equal parts. Lightly grease the pans and press one part one each pan.

Tiffany put the dough in the pans this night.

Once it is in the pans, it is good to let it rise again for a little bit. Then add the sauce and toppings, except the cheese.

This night we used turkey pepperoni. But other nights we’ve added a slice of turkey bacon, canned mushrooms, diced onions, and diced bell pepper.

Bake it for about 15 minutes, until the crust is starting to brown. Then add one grated cheese stick (and we use fat free cheddar too) and cottage cheese, which is surprisingly good.

Tiffany didn’t feel like grating it. Pop it back in the oven to melt the cheese.

We eat this as a THM-E meal. It might be a very small crossover but if you are careful with your greasing of the pan and toppings, you’ll keep it in E territory, especially if you only use the 1 teaspoon of oil in the dough.

Sprouted Spelt Pizza

Ingredients

  • 1 cup warm water (NOT HOT OR COLD)
  • 2 1/4 teaspoon rapid rise or SAF yeast
  • 1-2 teaspoons oil
  • 2 cups sprouted spelt flour

Instructions

  1. Make the water warm to the wrist but not hot. Put 1 cup into a bowl.
  2. Add the yeast and oil.
  3. Stir in 1 cup of the flour.
  4. Work in as much of the other cup as needed. (I usually use all of it but don't use too much so that it gets too dry).
  5. Cover with a towel and let rise for about an hour in a warm place.
  6. Lightly grease pizza pans. Spread the dough evenly on them.
  7. Let it rest again for about 20 minutes or up to an hour.
  8. Add sauce and toppings (NOT THE CHEESE YET)
  9. Bake 425º for about 15 minutes.
  10. Add cheese and bake to melt the cheese, about another 5 minutes or so.
https://lifeofjoy.me/sprouted-spelt-pizza/

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

THM FP or E Berry Cobbler

Some time ago we were looking for a light dessert. We found this berry cobbler from A Home with Purpose. We don’t like raspberries, so we use a mixture of strawberries and blueberries. :)

It’s a pretty simple recipe and my lovely daughter Tiffany is pretty amazing because she not only made the dessert last night but also took the pictures for me to use. :) Such a jewel!

Start by measuring out a total of 3 cups of berries and putting them in an 8x8ish pan. Then sprinkle them with sweetener. Tiffany can’t do THM Super Sweet very well, so we use about 3 tablespoons of THM Gentle Sweet. But taste your berries and add sweetener as needed. Our strawberries were pretty tart and could’ve used a bit more sweetener. ;)

Then mix the topping ingredients in a bowl.

We use the ground oats because Tiffany cannot tolerate the flax in the THM baking blend well. Sometimes we go with the greek yogurt and other times we use the applesauce. This time it was applesauce. :)

Combine and spread evenly over the berries and bake.

We follow her directions of baking uncovered for 20 minutes and covering it with foil for 10 minutes.

As you can see, it is really an easy recipe. It is also very yummy. :)

This serves 4, so there are no leftovers. :D

I hope you’ll hop on over to her website and make this one for yourself. Oh, it is gluten free, dairy free, and of course, sugar free. :)

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Instant Pot Taco Rice

Several months ago I was looking for recipes using my Instant Pot or Ninja Foodi. I came across this recipe from My Table of Three.

It is a very simple recipe and quite yummy. :) Also this meal feeds our family of 4 adults dinner, twice. So I make it in full and then freeze the other half. Then on the night we eat the leftovers, I thaw it and steam it.

We serve it with salad and a very small drizzle of oil (about 1/2 a teaspoon) or some canned green beans.

It’s really a simple process, add all the ingredients to the pot and pressure cook on high for 22 minutes with a quick pressure release.

Combine and cook.

Meanwhile, I put about two pounds of boneless skinless chicken breast in the food processor to grind it up and cook up.

Cook quickly in skillet, seasoned slightly.

When it is cooked and the rice is done, add it to the remainder of the dish and stir to combine.We serve with some fat free greek yogurt (and some fat free cheddar cheese, which is our own personal choice item).

Head on over to MyTableofThree for the full recipe and her notes on the recipe.

Pizza Roll (Stromboli)

It is crazy hot here in Oklahoma, which is natural for July but makes the house very hot if I cook as usual. So I’ve been trying to use the Ninja Foodi more and I have to say, I’m loving it!

I found a recipe a few weeks ago that baked bread in it. Yep, bake is one of the settings. :) We love pizza but it is just too hot to heat the oven up to 425º to make it. So I thought maybe I can make a bread with pizza flavors in it and then we can just bake it in the Ninja Foodi.

So Saturday morning I started the sourdough pizza dough. :) We love sourdough pizza dough. After it had risen the requisite 5-6 hours, it was time to form it and let it raise the remaining 1-2 hours before baking.

Unfortunately I had a pretty bad headache and had to lay down. However, Tiffany and Michael rose to the challenge and proceeded to finish off dinner. Now I was planning to make more of a loaf of bread but Tiffany didn’t understand that and instead made more of a stromboli.

They started by patting the dough out. It was supposed to be in a long rectangle but the picture they took seems to look more like a large circle.

Then a thin bit of pizza sauce.

Then it was topped with some low fat toppings. We used some turkey pepperoni and a couple of strips of turkey bacon.

Normally we would have added 2 ounces of low fat mozzarella cheese but we didn’t have any, so Tiffany added a few crumbles of colby-jack cheese (which may have been a little too much fat but it just made it a light crossover, if so).

Then we add some fat free cheese. It’s our personal choice. ;) And rolled it up.

Clearly, it fit into the foodi nicely and it could handle another half batch of dough when we need it. ;)

We baked it on 400º for about 20 minutes. I’ll need to look into how to keep it from getting quite so dark though.

We sliced it . . . it was a bit crusty. ;) But oh so good! We served it with more pizza sauce, for the drier bites.

Over all, it was a good first attempt. :)

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

Cajun Sausage, Rice, and Beans

I have made this recipe from Briana Thomas’ newest cookbook, Convenient Foods, several times. The first couple of times I made it we enjoyed it but the last several times we have loved it. :)

Start by water sauteing a chopped onion in your skillet or dutch oven. :)

I like my onions very soft and starting to brown before I add the next group of ingredients: cooked brown rice, drained canned kidney beans, 6.5 ounces of sliced turkey kielbasi, 1/4 cup water, smoked paprika, oregano, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and cayenne.

It is very important to stir this all together, cover it, and let it simmer for 15 minutes.

Then add the optional 1/2 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and 1/8 teaspoon THM Super Sweet. Cover and simmer 5 more minutes. This too is very important. It just really gives it a great flavor.

A couple times when I made this, I was out of smoked paprika but had plenty of plain paprika. So I added 1/2 tablespoon of paprika and then added a splash of liquid smoke. :) Yum!!!

Oh My! This is sooo good. It is making my mouth water and I’m full from eating my meal. :D

I also love her Hearty Barbecue Soup recipe. And I just saw that she has a birthday cake ice cream recipe. Birthday cake flavored ice cream is a new favorite flavor around here, so we’re going to have to give it a try.

Cajun Sausage, Rice, and Beans

Ingredients

  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 2 Tablespoons water
  • 3 cups cooked brown rice
  • 15 ounce can dark red kidney beans, drained, rinsed
  • 6.5 ounce smoked lean turkey sausage (kielbasi), sliced
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/2 Tablespoon smoked paprika
  • 1 teaspoon oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
  • dash cayenne pepper
  • 1/2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar (optional)
  • 1/8 teaspoon THM Super Sweet Blend (optional)

Instructions

  1. Saute chopped onion in couple tablespoons of water until desired tenderness/color obtained, adding more water as needed.
  2. Add cooked brown rice, drained beans, sausage, water, smoked paprika, oregano, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and cayenne. Stir, cover, and simmer 15 minutes. (Add more water if it begins sticking.)
  3. Add vinegar and sweetener, stir, cover, and simmer another 5 minutes.
  4. Devour! 🙂
https://lifeofjoy.me/cajun-sausage-rice-and-beans/

If you haven’t gotten Briana’s cookbook, you really should. She has some great recipes in it. :) I make this one every couple of weeks. It is inexpensive and delicious. (The package of kielbasi from Aldi makes two batches. So I freeze half the sausage for use later in the month.)

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as we do.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

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. :)

Breakfast Options

I have a couple of different meals I like to eat for breakfast for the two main fuel types: two for healthy fats and two for healthy carbs. And on Saturdays we like to have pancakes or some other special breakfast. I thought I’d share my norms with you today.

Healthy Carbs

  • Oatmeal: I like to cook my 1/2 cup oats with 1/2 cup of almond milk and a cup of water. Some times I like it like this and other times I add some cocoa powder.
  • Toast: One to two pieces of toast, depending on the size of the bread. I spread a thin layer of peanut junkie butter (about a tablespoon) and then either some strawberry jam, strawberries, 1/2 a medium banana, or other fruit on top.

In the beginning, these didn’t fill me up for long. But once I added the extra 1/2 cup of liquid to the oats it did. If I’m not quite full enough, I add a cup of chocolate milk but I’m usually okay because I have a quart of oolong tea each morning, which is about two big mugs. Oh, my quart of oolong has a scoop collagen in it. :)

Healthy Fats

When I have fats as my fuel source, I try to have vegetables. My main veggie of choice is either zucchini or cauliflower. I like to add onion, green or red pepper, and mushrooms as well.

  • Two Fried Eggs on a bed of diced zucchini sprinkled generously with nutritional yeast.
  • Breakfast Caulirice: the key to this one is to season it well. The recipe I follow uses some miso, nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic powder, hot sauce, salt, pepper, and parsley (and/or other herbs). Mix seasonings with two eggs and then add to chopped up (riced) cooked cauliflower and cook until eggs are done.
  • Bonus meal: I like to add sausage to sauteed veggies. This is wonderful eaten in an on-plan tortilla and a wedge of light laughing cow cheese (if’ I’m watching calories) or cheese of choice. The laughing cow is good because it eliminate my need for mayonnaise and is a lot lower in calories.

 

These are my breakfast go-tos. On Saturdays I usually make oat pancakes and then have a bit leftover for Sunday mornings. This gives me a good mix of breakfast fuels and provides veggies for breakfast easily a few mornings a week. :)

I hope this helps you in your search for healthy breakfasts.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº

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

Pasta Again :) (Goulash)

So at this point I guess I’ll admit that when there is a meal scheduled that we don’t feel we have the energy to make or time to make, we switch it up. And a lot of those times we end up with a pasta dish of some sort. We love pasta.

Yesterday I started painting late in the afternoon and didn’t get it finished until after five. At that point I was too hungry to wait to cook the spicy sausage and butternut squash dish, so we went for “hamburger helper” which is what we call pasta dishes. ;)

So like other pasta dishes, we diced some onion, mushroom, and bell pepper and cooked them in an oil-sprayed frying pan and added water to keep them from sticking. ;)

cooked onions and mushrooms ~ Lifeofjoy.me
We actually had diced green pepper too but I didn’t get a picture of it. :(

Meanwhile, we cook up the ground meat; we use cheap ground turkey. Brown it and then rinse it.

Taco Mac Salad ~ Lifeofjoy.meAnd also boil the pasta. :) This time we used the brown rice macaroni noodles. I really love these! Be sure to measure out the proper serving amounts. We actually use a scale and weigh in grams to get every gram we have coming to us.

Season with salt and pepper. I also used some oregano. Oh, and a little nutritional yeast (don’t add it if you don’t want to ;) ).

When the macaroni is done, drain it and add it to the meat and cooked veggies,

along with an eight ounce can of tomato sauce.

Stir to combine. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired.

Those in wanting a crossover, can add some cheese but it is fine without it. We add nutritional yeast and more salt individually. We also serve with a side salad.

Pasta Again 🙂 (Goulash)

Ingredients

  • ground meat
  • ~ 1/2 onion, diced
  • ~ 1/4 bell pepper, diced
  • ~ 2-4 mushrooms, diced
  • brown rice macaroni (248 grams which is about half the bag)
  • 8 oz tomato sauce
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • sprinkling of oregano
  • spray oil

Instructions

  1. Boil pasta and drain.
  2. Brown meat and rinse with very hot water.
  3. Spray skillet with a little oil (we use olive oil spray) and cook diced veggies until desired doneness. 🙂 Add a few splashes of water as needed to keep them from sticking to the pan as they cook.
  4. Add rinsed meat and seasonings of choice.
  5. Add drained macaroni and tomato sauce.
  6. Stir to combine.
  7. Serves 4
https://lifeofjoy.me/pasta-again-goulash/

This is an easy and tasty THM-E meal. I hope it helps you include a few more healthy carbs in your menu.

Until next time,

Michele ºÜº