Tag Archives: THM-S

Homemade Low Carb “Bisquick” Biscuits

Bread, Breakfasts, Tasty Tuesday, ,

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

Desserts, Tasty Tuesday, , ,

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

Desserts, Tasty Tuesday, ,

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. :)

Print
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

Tasty Tuesday, Veggies, , ,

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.

Print
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

Quick and Easy Pasta Skillet

Ground Meat, Main Dishes, Pasta, Tasty Tuesday, Veggies

A couple of weeks ago Tiffany and I were stumped with what to make for dinner. For whatever reason, I didn’t have anything planned for dinner that night or didn’t want to make what I had planned. This  meal is what we came up with and we absolutely loved it!!!!

It’s very simple. Just use whatever you have on hand. We browned some ground turkey with some onions and peppers. Then we added some cut fresh tomatoes that we had on hand and needed to use. (You could use any meat of choice, including chicken breast, raw or pre-cooked.)

The night of this picture we didn’t have any peppers, so it was just onions and tomatoes.

 

While the meat and veggies were cooking, I boiled four servings of Dreamsfield Pasta. To be honest, I didn’t think that the amount stated as a serving (dry measurement) was going to be very much when cooked but went with it anyway. It was plenty!Once the veggies and meat were cooked, we added the cooked and drained pasta.

As you can see, the pasta we had this night was spaghetti. We made it with macaroni the first time and were concerned that we wouldn’t like it as much with this shape of pasta but thankfully, it was delicious as well. :)

We added extra virgin olive oil before eating. Yum!

The first time we made it we added a garnish amount of cheese but to be honest it wasn’t needed.

Print
Quick and Easy Pasta Skillet

Ingredients

  • 1 pound meat of choosing (I used ground turkey)
  • Veggies of choice: I used
  • Onion
  • Pepper
  • Grape Tomatoes
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • Extra virgin olive oil or whatever you choose
  • Dreamfield Pasta
  • Any herbs desired (we sprinkled with a bit of basil)

Instructions

  1. Prepare pasta as directed and drain
  2. Cook the meat and veggies with salt and pepper
  3. Add drained pasta, add any herbs desired, and combine.
  4. Drizzle with oil of choice.
https://lifeofjoy.me/quick-and-easy-pasta-skillet/

I hope this simple meal is as helpful to you as it is to us. :)

Until next time,

Michele ºÜº

Healthy Fruit Pizza Cookies

Desserts, Tasty Tuesday, , , , , ,

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

Summer Dessert We’ve Loved

Desserts, Tasty Tuesday

For a while now, I’ve been craving the Strawberry Pretzel Salad. I never had this when I was young but loved it several years ago when I had my first taste. The saltiness of the pretzels really paired well with the sweetness of the rest of the dessert.

Well, I saw a keto version of this deliciousness several months ago and decided I needed to make it. Independence Day seemed like a good excuse to make it. ;) The creator said the pretzel layer was her favorite in the original dessert and so she had to get it just right. I believe she nailed it! We loved it!

My Tweaks

I made two tweaks to her recipe.

  1. I used Wild Berry Zinger Tea because I don’t like raspberry. I know, sad but true. However the Wild Berry Zinger Tea worked great for me. This has some raspberry in it but it isn’t blaringly obvious, thus tasted great.
  2. I used Neufchatel, which is a lower fat cream cheese, because I am desperately trying to lose weight and appreciate a few less calories where I can manage it.

That’s it. This deliciousness is easy to make. I made the crust early in the day because it does require baking the three ingredients in the oven for 10-15 minutes.

The cream cheese layer is no-bake and very similar to my no bake cheesecake recipe. Very simple ingredients. Just remember to get the cream cheese (or Neufchatel) out when you make the crust so that it softens by the time you are ready to make the cheesecake part.

The top layer is just sliced strawberries with a small amount of ‘jello’ to hold it all together. I refrigerated my bowl of jello and set the timer to stir it after five minutes and then forgot to reset the timer for the last five minutes and it was a solid mass. So I had to do that part over again but I just reused the same two tea bags from before. (There’s something to be said for not cleaning up after yourself immediately. :D )

I hope you’ll give this dessert a try. It really tastes great! Hubby said, “I think I know what I want for my birthday dessert.” :) My 26yo son said it kind of tasted like a pecan pie wanna be. :D He has a sweet-tooth and added more sweetener to the top of his piece the next day and liked it better; he said the strawberries were too tart/bitter. He’d never had Strawberry Pretzel Salad before so had no idea ‘context’ for what this dessert was trying to recreate. However, in the last couple of years we’ve found that we love pecan pie thus his pecan pie comment. ;) We all loved it! Kudos to Jacinda.

Until next time,

Michele ºÜº

 

Low Carb Taco Mac Salad ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Taco Mac Salad Low Carb Version

Ground Meat, Main Dishes, Pasta, Salad, Tasty Tuesday, ,

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!!!

Print
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

Ground Meat, Tasty Tuesday, , , ,

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

Peanut Caramel Candy ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Pay Off Day Candies

Desserts, Tasty Tuesday, ,

Michael loves Payday candy bars. So every now and then I make him these candies. The first several times I made them I followed the directions and tried to spoon it out into circular candies, which did not turn out well for me. However they tasted delicious. So I got creative and decided to let laziness take over. ;) I put the candy mixture into a loaf pan with a piece of parchment paper to make it easier to remove. Then I just cut it into pieces/bars. :)

So here’s how you do it.

Put the butter, gentle sweet, and stevia into a pan and begin stirring as it melts.


butter to melt ~ Lifeofjoy.me
melt butter and sweetener ~ Lifeofjoy.me
Sweeteners ~ Lifeofjoy.me

While it is just starting to heat up get your other ingredients ready to go: nuts, peanut butter, heavy cream and caramel extract.

Add caramel extract to heavy cream ~ Lifeofjoy.me

When the butter and sweeteners are melted, add in the heavy cream and caramel extract.


melted butter and sweetener ~ Lifeofjoy.me
Add cream and caramel ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Whisk as it slowly boils.


Whisk away ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Keep whisking until it becomes a nice caramel color.


Nearly caramel colored ~ LIfeofjoy.me

Watch it carefully once it begins to brown because it goes from that to this in just a few seconds, it seems.


Right colored caramel ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Now we add in the tiny bit of natural peanut butter and the slightly chopped peanuts and combine.


Adding peanuts and pb ~ Lifeofjoy.me
pay off day candy ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Here’s where I cheat and just put it in a parchment lined loaf pan. Since I made a double batch today, I’m putting it in a parchment lined 8×8 pan.


Put in pan ~ Lifeofjoy.me

Then I put it in the refrigerator and let it harden up. I’ll cut this in half and then each half into 8 strips/bars. The recipe is supposed to make 16 pieces, so I reckon each of our bars are two pieces. ;) It doesn’t last long around here.

DIY Payday Candy ~ Lifeofjoy.me

The full recipe is on page 381 of the Trim Healthy Mama cookbook and can be found online if you search for it, especially if you have a THM membership.

I hope this helps you make this delectable candy.

Until next time, God bless,

Michele ºÜº