September 16, 2012 - Creamy Spinach Enchiladas

Tonight's dinner was a great success! We had some friends come over for a nice Sunday dinner. We had so much fun talking and catching up! Everyone loved the food, or at least claimed too... haha.. Unfortunately, with having good friends over, we kinda....sorta.... well.... forgot to take a picture of the deliciousness. And there were no leftovers. So... anyways... This is definitely a good recipe to try! If you aren't low-carbing it, you can use regular tortillas. We made almond flour crepes that we found online. We will include that recipe as well. 

Ingredients For the Crepes:
• 5 eggs
• 1/2 cup almond flour
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• pinch salt
• 1 teaspoon olive oil

Directions: 
1. Beat the eggs together. 
2. Add all the other ingredients except the olive oil. 
3. Heat the olive oil in a pan on medium heat and move it so it covers the bottom of the pan. 
4. Add 1/4 cup of the mixture, quickly spreading it to cover the whole 8" skillet. 
5. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes until the top is set but still slightly wet. 
6. Flip the crepe and cook another 20 seconds of so until browned. 

Makes 4 crepes. 

CREAMY SPINACH ENCHILADAS 
10 Almond Flour Crepes ( we only made 8 which is two batches of almond crepes.) 
10 ounces frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained well 
6 green onions, chopped, divided 
1 cup ricotta cheese 
1/2 cup sour cream 
Salt and pepper, to taste 
8 ounces Monterey jack cheese, shredded, divided 
10 ounce can green enchilada sauce

In a medium bowl, mix the spinach, 3 green onions, ricotta and sour cream. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Stir in half of the Monterey jack; blend well. Divide the filling mixture among the crepes. 

Spread the filling down slightly off center of each one, then roll up. Place seam-side down in a greased 9x13" baking dish. 

Pour the enchilada sauce evenly over the top and sprinkle with the rest of the cheese. 

Bake at 375º 20 minutes, or until hot, bubbly and slightly browned. Sprinkle the remaining green onions over the top.

Makes 10 servings 
Can be frozen

NOTE: This does not include the crepes nutrition... I'm not sure on those counts. The recipe didn't have any. Almond flour is really low in carbs. 

Per Serving: 290 Calories; 24g Fat; 14g Protein; 7g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 5g Net Carbs   

<Enter Picture here> Oops....

HAPPY EATING!!!

September 10, 2012 - Cheesy Eggplant Baked

Tonight's dinner was another sweet, delicious, and easy dinner! We both actually liked it! I'm started to like cooking with eggplant! I had never had it before but this recipe and the last one we made have been excellent! We both agree that we would make this recipe again! Most of the recipes we have found are definitely ones to repeat! We added some tomato sauce on top and had half a banana and some green beans with lemon pepper. It turned out great! 

This is from Linda's Website again. 

CHEESY BAKED EGGPLANT 
1 eggplant, about 1 1/4 pounds before trimming 
Nonstick cooking spray 
8 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded *

Breading mixture: 
3/4 cup almond flour, 3 ounces 
3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, 3 ounces 
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder 
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning 
Salt and pepper, to taste 
2 eggs

For the breading, combine all of the dry ingredients in a pie pan. Break the eggs into a cereal bowl and beat well with a fork. Position your oven rack in the center position. Preheat the broiler to 500º.

Cut the eggplant into twelve slices of even thickness. Dip each piece of eggplant in egg to coat on both sides, then lightly coat them with parmesan-almond mixture. Arrange the eggplant slices on a foil-lined baking sheet in a single layer. Spray the eggplant liberally with cooking spray. Broil about 3 minutes until golden brown; turn over, spray again with cooking spray and broil the other side. Watch it closely so it doesn't burn.

Spray an 8x8" baking pan with cooking spray. Arrange a layer of eggplant over the bottom of the pan, cutting them to fill the gaps. Sprinkle half of the shredded cheese over the eggplant. Repeat layering eggplant and cheese. Bake at 350º about 20-30 minutes until the cheese is bubbly and golden brown on top. Cut into squares and serve with tomato sauce, if desired.

Makes 4 servings

Per Serving: 465 Calories; 34g Fat; 30g Protein; 13g Carbohydrate; 6g Dietary Fiber

Without Tomato Sauce

With Tomato Sauce

HAPPY EATING!!!

September 3, 2012 - Zucchini Pizza

So tonight was an interesting adventure. We got a lot of zucchini from a friend, so this week we have 3 different recipes using zucchini. To make the pizza crust you grate the zucchini and then wash it and dry it. I guess we didn't dry it well enough because it stayed watery in the oven. So after another attempt at draining water, the dish came out pretty good. The carb count is only for the crust, so be careful to count your carbs for any pizza topping you add. It was Ok. you cant really taste the zucchini. We will eventually look for another recipe using almond flour.

Minutes to Prepare: 15
Minutes to Cook: 20
Number of Servings: 2

Ingredients
1 medium zucchini shredded
salt
1 egg
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 clove garlic, crushed

Directions

Salt the zucchini and place in a colander. Let it sit in the sink for 15 to 20 min. Rinse well and drain. Place zucchini between several layers of paper towels and press out the moisture. Keep changing the paper towels until most of the moisture is out. Place zucchini in a bowl and mix in the egg, cheese and clove of garlic.

Spray an 8×8 pan with non-stick spray and pat the zucchini mixture in the bottom of the pan. Bake at 400 degrees about 15 minutes (I forgot to time how long I baked it so keep a close eye on it) until the edges are brown and it is set.

Then you are ready to take it out and put on the toppings. This recipe and nutritional info does NOT include toppings.
Put it back in the oven and bake until the cheese is brown and bubbling. This will serve two people.

Nutritional Info

Servings Per Recipe: 2

Amount Per Serving

Calories: 136.9

Total Fat: 8.0 g

Cholesterol: 120.6 mg

Sodium: 373.7 mg

Total Carbs: 5.0 g

Dietary Fiber: 1.3 g

Protein: 11.4 g

HAPPY EATING!!!

September 1, 2012 - Ratatouille

As it is the first of September, we decided to celebrate with a new recipe named, Ratatouille. We also had to make sure that we made the evening complete by watching the Pixar movie, Ratatouille. It was....interesting to say the least. It is all veggies, including eggplant, which I have never seen nor eaten before. The dish is relatively easy, with the hardest part being to cut up all the veggies. We had cooked the dish for like 15 minutes before we realized that we had forgotten the tomatoes. So, we quickly added them, and upped the time a few minutes. At the time, we were making bread for some new neighbors, and it finished before the Ratatouille. Well, I guess I accidentally turned off the oven, so there was more waiting. All in all, it was a fun night! The dish is pretty good, especially if you make it according to the directions! haha. 

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 teaspoons dried parsley
• 1 eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch cubes, salt to taste
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 zucchini, sliced
• 1 large onion, sliced into rings
• 2 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
• 1 green bell pepper, sliced
• 2 large tomatoes, chopped ( don't forget these!)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Coat bottom and sides of a 1 1/2 quart casserole dish with 1 tablespoon olive oil.
2. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir garlic until lightly browned. Mix in parsley and eggplant. Cook and stir until eggplant is soft, about 10 minutes. Season with salt to taste.
3. Spread eggplant mixture evenly across bottom of prepared casserole dish. Sprinkle with a few tablespoons of Parmesan cheese. Spread zucchini in an even layer over top. Lightly salt and sprinkle with a little more cheese. Continue layering in this fashion, with onion, mushrooms, bell pepper, and tomatoes, covering each layer with a sprinkling of salt and cheese.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 45 minutes.

Servings Per Recipe: 4
Amount Per Serving

Calories: 251
Total Fat: 13.5g
Cholesterol: 18mg
Sodium: 327mg
Total Carbs: 24.3g
    Dietary Fiber: 7.4g

Protein: 12.7g 

HAPPY EATING!!!

August 25, 2012 - Quesadilla Quiche

This is also a great recipe for taste and time. We finished off the tuna muffins from yesterday and some broccoli along with it.( we ate so many leftovers this week for lunch, it was crazy!)  Spencer decided to add a little of his cotija cheese (which I feel smells like feet, but hey, to each his own.) Quesadilla Quiche comes from Linda's Low Carb Menus and Recipes. You got to try this one out! 

QUESADILLA QUICHE 

8 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded 

4 ounce can chopped green chiles 

1 medium Roma tomato, seeded and diced, about 4 ounces 

5 green onions, chopped 

6 eggs 

1/2 cup heavy cream 

1/2 teaspoon salt

Put the cheese, chiles, tomatoes and green onions in a greased 9 1/2-10" pie plate. In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream and salt. Pour into the pie plate and mix everything just to combine. Bake at 350º 35 minutes or until the center is set. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Makes 6-8 servings 

Can be frozen

Per 1/6 Recipe: 306 Calories; 25g Fat; 17g Protein; 4g Carbohydrate; .5g Dietary Fiber

HAPPY EATING!!!

August 20, 2012 - Italian Squash Pie -7 carbs

Our first cooking experiment started with a recipe that we found on

Linda's Low Carb Menus and Recipes

She has a huge selection of different recipes. I highly recommend that you take a look! She has fantastic recipes! And she always puts fun notes at the bottom about how she liked it or if she changed it to help you make it turn out the best it can be. 

We decided to tackle her Italian Squash Pie. 

Here is the recipe:

* Note: We only used the 3 medium/large squash because that is all we had. It still made a ton of food, filling a 9 x 13 glass pan. 

ITALIAN SQUASH PIE 

4 tablespoons butter 

1 1/2 pounds yellow summer squash, sliced thin, 7 medium * 

Small onion, sliced or chopped, 2.5 ounces 

1 clove garlic, minced 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1/2 teaspoon pepper 

1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning 

1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped 

8 ounces Monterey jack cheese, shredded 

2 eggs 

1/4 cup heavy cream 

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

Sauté the squash, onion and garlic in the butter in a large skillet until tender and slightly browned. Sprinkle in the seasonings while cooking the squash. Put the squash mixture in a greased 10-inch quiche pan; mix in the cheese and parsley. Whisk the eggs and cream in a small bowl; whisk in the mustard. Pour the egg mixture over the squash; mix in gently. Bake at 375º for 25 minutes. Let stand a few minutes before cutting.

Makes 6-8 servings 

Freezing not recommended

Per 1/6 Recipe: 297 Calories; 25g Fat; 13g Protein; 7g 

Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 

To go along with the pie, we had some honey dew and a butter sandwich. It was a very filling dinner!

Here is a close up.

As you can see, the servings are quite generous and only 7 carbs! 

Happy Eating!!