We had an absolutely unbelievable September and October weather-wise. Then the real fall weather set in so, that means soup for Kitcheninspirations. I got this recipe from my dear friend John from the Bartolini kitchens blog (currently on hiatus). I have made it at least 100 times since that post in 2018 so I thought it’s time for an update. I no longer measure the spices; I just add what my heart desires, and it hasn’t failed me yet. If you’re a strict recipe follower, then head on over to the originals here or here. Real Phố takes hours to make using beef bones, yielding a rich, deeply flavoured stock. If you don’t have the time, or the patience, this is an excellent alternative. I usually find restaurant Phố extremely salty so I have stopped going out for Phố.
Have you tried making this delicious quick soup?
Quick Phố, an update in the Instant Pot
Serves 2 hearty bowls
Ingredients for the stock:
a small knob of fresh ginger, finely minced with a microplane
2-4 star anise
1/2 cinnamon stick (I use Mexican cinnamon, which is stronger than North American cinnamon)
a bunch of cloves
250 mL beef broth
250 mL chicken stock
15 mL White Miso
250 mL water
salt, to taste
Ingredients for the finished soup:
150 g fettuccini rice noodles
200 g very thinly sliced raw beef
a handful of Mushrooms, sliced
fresh cilantro, Thai basil, spring onions for garnish, chopped
a handful of bean sprouts
1/4 lime
Hoisin sauce, Sriracha sauce
Directions:
Combine the ingredients for the stock in the instant pot and set to Pressure Cook on High for 10 minutes. Quick steam release.
About 15 minutes before you are ready to serve, bring a pot of water to a boil and remove it from the heat. Add the rice noodles and allow to soak to soften 10-15 minutes.
Strain the stock to remove the aromatics and before you return the stock to the pot, sauté the mushroom slices. Return the stock to the pot to keep warm.
Strain the noodles and divide them into two large bowls, top with the thinly sliced beef and ladle the boiling soup over the beef. Garnish with fresh cilantro, Thai basil, spring onions, bean sprouts and lime. Serve the hoisin and sriracha sauce at the table to allow each person to garnish their own bowls.
This is my last post until the new year, so I will take this time to wish you and yours the merriest of Christmases and the happiest and healthiest New Year! We wll see you on the other side.
Way back in August, I had purchased a couple of gorgeous heirloom tomatoes, and as they ripened in my kitchen window, I could only think of one way to enjoy them: with a burrata and some pesto dressing. I was running low on my Spanish pine nuts (good thing we have our next trip to Spain already booked), so I made this pesto with toasted pistachios. What a wonderful pesto it made.
Pistachio Pesto
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Makes about 375 mL Pesto
Ingredients:
50 g pistachios, toasted
45 g fresh basil leaves, cleaned and dried
60 g Parmesan, freshly grated
50 mL EVOO
50 mL Roasted Garlic EVOO
Pinch of salt
Directions:
Place the ingredients into a small food processor and process until smooth. Add more olive oil if necessary.
We were over at a friend’s for dinner and I brought dessert. It wasn’t this haha (it was a peach tarte tatin) but we talked about this cake a lot. They were so excited about it, that I had to make it so I asked for the recipe. The original recipe made more than enough almond paste for three or four cakes, so I asked ChatGPT to pare it down for one cake, which it did rather successfully.
The cake itself is a little dense, like marzipan and it is delicious! I cut the apple slices using a mandoline, which made it look very luxurious!
I wish I had taken a picture of a slice.
German Apple Cake – Low Sugar
Makes 1 23 cm round cake (about 9 inches)
Ingredients for the cake
113 g Almond paste (see recipe below)
48 g erythritol
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
112 g softened butter
3 large eggs (save 8 g of egg white for the almond paste below)
10 mL vanilla extract.
120 g AP unbleached flour
7 g of baking powder
30 g Demerara sugar (I used Splenda Brown Sugar to keep the suger low)
Directions for the cake:
Preheat the oven to 375° F.
Prepare a 23 cm round cake pan by lining the bottom with parchment paper and brushing with cake release on the sides.
Combine the almond paste, erythritol and salt in a food processor and process until smooth,
Add the butter a little at a time so it is blended well.
Add one egg at a time and blend well.
Add the vanilla and blend.
Sift the flour and baking powder together and add it slowly to the cake batter and blend well.
Pour the batter into the prepared springform pan.
Peel and core two Granny Smith apples, slice with a mandoline about 1 mm thick or 1/8 inch.
Add the apples evenly around the edge and then in the centre using all of the slices (they will overlap quite a lot).
Sprinkle the apples with 30 g of Demerara sugar (I used Splenda Brown Sugar).
Bake on the middle rack 50 to 60 minutes until golden brown on top and a toothpick comes out clean.
Cool for 30 minutes before removing the cake from the pan and serving.
Serve with freshly whipped cream.
Almond Paste
Yields 113 g almond paste (just enough for this cake)
Ingredients:
44 g almond flour
57 g erythritol
8 g egg white
tiny pinch of salt
splash of almond extract (I used Amaretto flavour because that is what I had)
Directions:
Combine almond flour, icing sugar, salt in a food processor.
Add the egg white and almond extract. Process until it clumps together.
We like a little olive juice in our martinis (dirty martini), but it uses up the juice before we are through the olives so I am always looking for ways to use the olives after the juice is gone! This is an old favourite but twisted to using green olives. It makes an exellent sandwich spread with a little goat’s cheese or cream cheese.
Green Olive Tapinade
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Makes 375 mL tapinade
Ingredients:
1 jar of 375 mL Manzilla olives, pitted, without pimento
40 g parsley leaves, washed and dried
4 single white anchovies
50-60 mL EVOO
salt to taste
Directions:
Add everything to a blender and blend to desired consistency. Add more olive oil if necessary.
Boy oh boy, those first two weeks in October sent us for a loop! It was so warm and humid, you would have thought it was July! We drove up north (about 3 hours North and East of Toronto) and one day it was hot and humid and the next morning we had frost! One thing I did learn is that I was not prepared for that shock! I had honestly forgotten how cold felt! Not good. Not good at all. We still managed to do some hiking outdoors but it was chilly! All I could think of was soup and being fall, I thought Butternut Squash Soup, so rich and creamy tasting. I don’t go in for the pumpkin spice “thang” so I turned to my Thai cookbook and managed to cobble out a tasty recipe with things I already had in my pantry. This easy soup was fast to put together and full of flavour.
It’s exactly what we needed on a chilly, fall day.
Thai-inspired Green Curry, Coconut and Butternut Squash Soup
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Makes about 1 Litre of soup
Ingredients:
1 medium butternut squash, roasted, seeded, but leave the skin on
1/2 sweet onion, roasted with the squash
15 mL roasted garlic paste
60 g green curry paste (I use Thai Kitchen because it’s not too hot)
400 mL coconut milk, with cream
10-12 Thai basil leaves, plus more for garnish
250 mL chicken stock (plus more for thinning the soup)
Directions:
Place the roasted squash, onion, garlic, and Thai green curry paste into the large Nutri-Bullet container and fill with some chicken stock (you will need to do this in batches). Allow the Nutri-Bullet to blend the contents well.
Add the Thai basil leaves and blend again.
Pour the contents of the blender into a sieve and press through to remove the squash skin (so much easier and safer than trying to peel the thing).
Return half of the mixture to the large blender container and add the coconut milk, including the cream, and blend well. Pour the coconut milk blended soup into the other half of the butternut squash and mix well. At this time, add more chicken stock to achieve the desired thickness.
Reheat in a pan or in the microwave but do not boil. Serve hot with toasted pepitas and a chiffonade of Thai basil.
It was a very hot summer here in the Big Smoke, as it was all over the world, and I am not sure how much more of this climate change I can take. Our dear friends visited from Arizona in mid-June, and we had hotter weather than Arizona! Toronto generally has a lot of humidity, so it always feels hotter than dry heat, like they have in Arizona. It’s still unbearable, but at least your skin glows! July wasn’t much better, so I whipped up an old favourite, Gazpacho. It is really refreshing on a hot day, and it gives you a boost of vegetable-rich energy.
The recipe I usually use originated from a cooking class we took in Madrid back in 2016. Today, I just ad-libbed it with the vegetables I had at home. It turned out nice and red, but if you want a more vibrant colour, I would peel the cucumber, which could make it muddy looking.
A vegetable-packed, rich in nutrients and delicious soup or beverage that is traditionally served cold.
Gazpacho Revisited
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Makes about 500 mL
Ingredients:
1 medium tomato (230-250 g)
1 large red pepper (230-250 g)
110 g cucumber
110 g celery
1 g cumin (toasted)
15 mL sherry vinegar
60 mL EVOO
pinch of baking soda (to reduce acidity)
salt to taste
Water to achieve the desired consistency.
Directions:
Combine all of the ingredients in a large blender and blend until smooth. Add water to achieve the consistency that you desire.
Add salt to taste.
Refrigerate for 3-4 hours or overnight. Press through a fine sieve before serving. Serve cold with a garnish of finely cut fresh herbs or small, cubed cucumbers and red peppers.
You may recall that I posted recipes for Brazilian Cheese Bread here and here. The latter being the lazy, blender version. Well, at some point during the summer, I accumulated a lot of olives and I thought, why not make Brazilian Olive Cheese Bread? In the blender, no less! This recipe is not as olive-forward as you would assume, given the amount of olives in it. They have a nice, subtle olive flavour, complemented by the extra-virgin olive oil. It’s a lovely twist on a traditional recipe. The bread retains its tender, chewy texture, which regular Brazilian Cheese Bread has. They freeze wonderfully, making them an excellent last-minute hors d’œuvres.
Blender Brazilian Olive Cheese Bread
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Makes about 90 little balls.
Ingredients:
400 g tapioca flour
8 g baking powder
10 g salt
3 eggs
200 mL milk or cream
25 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
115 mL extra virgin olive oil
212 g sharp cheddar cheese, grated
750 mL pitted, chopped green olives
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 450°F. Prepare the mini-muffin pan by generously brushing the cavities with cake release.
Combine the tapioca flour, baking powder and 10 g of salt in a dish and whisk to combine everything evenly.
In your food processor or blender, add the eggs, milk, melted unsalted butter, and oil, and blend to combine well. Slowly add the dry ingredients by the spoonful and blend/process until a homogeneous batter forms. Add the cheese and olives and process until well incorporated and smooth.
Drop by 15 mL spoonfuls into the prepared pan. Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden.
Cool completely on a wire rack. Eat immediately or store in the freezer in a ziplock bag. To reheat frozen cheese bread, microwave on a low setting until the bread has completely defrosted.
We had some absolutely amazing temperatures this past September and into the first week of October; they say it’s the warmest fall on record! We took full advantage and ate outside most meals. We often enjoy a small sweet with an espresso after lunch so I made these biscotti as a treat.
Low Carb Pistacchio Biscotti
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Makes about 20 x 1 cm biscotti
Ingredients:
125 g almond flour
20 g ground psyllium husk
3 g baking powder
4 g salt
60 g pistachios
50 g date sugar
2 eggs, well beaten
15 mL pure vanilla extract
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a baking sheet either parchment.
Combine the dry ingredients, including the nuts. Whisk well.
Whisk the wet ingredients together well. Pour the wet into the dry and mix until fully incorporated.
Form into a log with wet hands. Bake 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden. Allow to cool for 4 minutes, then cut into even 1 cm slices. Bake again for 12-15 minutes or until fully crisp.
Vanilla was one of the first flavours I made with the Ninja Creamy Deluxe. Using good quality ingredients is essential when making the simpler flavours because they all need to shine. This flavour will definitely be on my list of staple ice creams.
Ninja Creamy Deluxe Vanilla Ice Cream
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Makes 1 Ninja Creamy Deluxe container
Ingredients:
60 g cream cheese
125 g 35% cream
210 g 3.25% milk
20 g vanilla extract
Seeds from 1 vanilla pod
30 g skim milk powder
Directions:
Combine all of the ingredients in the large container of your Nutribullet or high-speed blender and process until extremely smooth.
Pour the contents into the Ninja Creamy Deluxe container, cover and freeze 24 hours.
Remove the container from the freezer and place as directed into the Ninja Creamy Deluxe outer bowl and affix the lid securely. Slide it into the Ninja Creamy Deluxe, choose “Full” setting and “Ice Cream” and process for the full 2 minutes. When complete, check for consistency and if still not smooth and silky, process again by pressing “Re-Spin”. Serve immediately or return to the freezer for later. Sometimes the product will need to be re-spun to make it easier to scoop.
You caught me, I had a scoop of vanilla and a scoop of pistachio.
Well, you know exactly how I got here: leftover watermelon.
Ninja Creamy Deluxe Watermelon Ice Cream
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Makes 1 Ninja Creamy Deluxe container
Ingredients:
340 g watermelon, seeded and pith removed
165 g 35% cream
130 g cream cheese
30 g Xylitol
10 g vanilla
45 g skim milk powder
Pinch of salt
Directions:
Combine all of the ingredients in the large container of your Nutribullet or high-speed blender and process until extremely smooth.
Pour the contents into the Ninja Creamy Deluxe container, cover and freeze 24 hours.
Remove the container from the freezer and place as directed into the Ninja Creamy Deluxe outer bowl and affix the lid securely. Slide it into the Ninja Creamy Deluxe, choose “Full” setting and “Ice Cream” and process for the full 2 minutes. When complete, check for consistency and if still not smooth and silky, process again by pressing “Re-Spin”. Serve immediately or return to the freezer for later. Sometimes the product will need to be re-spun to make it easier to scoop.
I purchased a small container of strawberries, thinking I would use them, but ended up forgetting about them, so this recipe was born out of leftover ingredients and my aversion to throwing out food. The ice cream has good strawberry flavour. If I had thought about it, I might have added some freeze-dried strawberries for texture and to intensify the flavour even more.
Ninja Creamy Deluxe Strawberry Ice Cream
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Makes 1 Ninja Creamy Deluxe container
Ingredients:
200 g clean, hulled strawberries
200 g 2% cottage cheese
100 g cream cheese
30 g 35% cream
25 g skim milk powder
30 g Xylitol
6 g vanilla
2 g salt
Directions:
Combine all of the ingredients in the large container of your Nutribullet or high-speed blender and process until extremely smooth.
Pour the contents into the Ninja Creamy Deluxe container, cover and freeze 24 hours.
Remove the container from the freezer and place as directed into the Ninja Creamy Deluxe outer bowl and affix the lid securely. Slide it into the Ninja Creamy Deluxe, choose “Full” setting and “Ice Cream” and process for the full 2 minutes. When complete, check for consistency and if still not smooth and silky, process again by pressing “Re-Spin”. Serve immediately or return to the freezer for later. Sometimes the product will need to be re-spun to make it easier to scoop.
I received a Ninja Creamy Delux for Christmas last year so I’ve been messing around creating recipes with it since. It’s essentially a high-duty blender that plunges into the frozen product, first loosening it and then blending it into a luscious, creamy frozen treat. A traditional ice cream maker takes room temperature ingredients in a frozen vessel and continuously swirls it until it is frozen and creamy whereas, the Ninja Creamy takes frozen ingredients and blends it into a creamy scoop-able texture. Here is the process compared:
Ninja Creamy:
Combine ingredients and freeze in the Ninja Creamy container for 24-hours.
Place frozen container into the Ninja Creamy and process for 2-5-minutes to loosen then re-process for an additional 2-minutes to achieve a creamy texture. Enjoy
Traditional Ice Cream Maker:
Freeze the outer bowl for 24-hours.
Combine ingredients in the frozen outer bowl and mix well.
Turn on the churning mechanism and churn until the product is at the desired texture.
I have both and to be honest, I prefer the Ninja Creamy Deluxe. The bowls are smaller, which makes it significantly easier to find a place for them in my freezer. Also, I have two Ninja Creamy vessels so I can make two flavours consecutively, unlike the traditional Ice Cream maker with one vessel, because it needs to be refrozen, particularly if your kitchen is hot, after making one flavour!
In keeping with the low-carb diet I follow, I have experimented with various sugars that don’t impact your blood glucose levels as much as real granulated sugar does. I have also determined the exact ratio of skim milk powder to liquid so that the resulting ice cream forms smoothly without granular bits of ice, which makes the ice cream grainy.
The two flavours I started with are Pistachio and Vanilla bean and both are excellent! This is the recipe for the Pistachio Ice Cream.
Low-Carb Ninja Creamy Pistachio Ice Cream
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Makes 1 Ninja Creamy Deluxe container
Ingredients:
40 g cream cheese
65 g toasted pistachios
110 g 35% cream
370 g 3.25% milk
36 g skim milk powder
60 g xylitol (or sweetener of choice)
Pinch of sea salt
Directions:
Combine everything in the large container of your Nutri-Bullet (or blender, see notes) and blend until extremely smooth. My Nutri-Bullet blends for about a minute and then stops automatically. I blended 2 to 3 times to get it absolutely smooth. Taste for sweetness.
Pour the entire contents into the Ninja Creamy Deluxe pint cups, cover with the lid and freeze on an even surface for 24 hours.
Turn on the Ninja Creamy Deluxe and choose the “Full” setting and turn the dial to “Frozen Yogurt”. Process. Check consistency when the cycle is complete and if it isn’t quite creamy enough, put it back into the Ninja Creamy Deluxe and choose “Full”, “Re-spin”.
Enjoy immediately or return to the freezer with the top on.
There is no added colour or flavour. It’s all pistachios, baby!
Notes:
If your blender does not emulsify smoothly, you may wish to pre-grind the toasted pistachios in a coffee grinder so that the ice cream is not grainy from large bits of nuts.
I did not use pistachio paste because most of the ones I found were expensive and already sweetened.
We have been having ridiculously hot and humid weather. Warmer temperatures than normal, but then again, nothing is normal these days.
We had some good friends over for a barbecue in July, and I wanted to make a special, nostalgic dessert. Naturally, s’mores came to mind right away. According to Wikipedia, a s’more is a treat made of toasted marshmallow and chocolate sandwiched between two graham crackers. It’s a classic in the United States and Canada, usually made over a campfire.
We don’t have space for a campfire, and it was far too hot to use the fireplace, so I put on my thinking cap and came up with the ultimate summer twist: a S’mores Ice Cream Sandwich.
Picture this: a brown butter cookie with chunks of milk and dark chocolate, mixed with Biscoff instead of graham crackers (I’ve never really liked those), and loaded with marshmallows. But I couldn’t stop there. To really take it over the top, I made toasted marshmallow ice cream. Yes, really.
You can make this treat using a traditional ice cream maker or a Ninja Creamy Deluxe, either one works well. A single batch of ice cream will yield approximately 8 to 10 sandwiches, depending on the thickness of the sandwiches. I recommend baking the cookies a couple of days in advance and churning the ice cream two to three days before serving. If you are using the Ninja Creamy Deluxe, I don’t recommend adding the second batch of toasted marshmallows and using the “+Mix-in” feature because it will blend the toasted marshmallows into the ice cream too much, you want bits of chewy toasted marshmallows throughout.
This is possibly the best dessert I’ve ever made. The room goes silent while guests are eating it, I’ve served it to two separate groups and each one concentrated on the dessert. Granted it is a bit of work, but it is well worth it. If you are a toasted marshmallow fan, this is your dessert.
A delicious treat in the heat of the summer.
The ultimate summer treat: S’Mores Ice Cream Sandwich
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Makes about 40 cookies @ 30 g raw cookie dough each
I make the S’mores Ice Cream Sandwiches as needed, just before serving.
Ingredients:
170 g unsalted butter
15 g Skim Milk Powder
240 g brown sugar
120 g granulated sugar
6 Biscoff Biscuits, finely ground
2 eggs, room temperature
10 mL pure vanilla extract
315 g all-purpose flour
5 g baking soda
6 g table salt
100 g milk chocolate bar, roughly chopped
100 g dark chocolate bar, roughly chopped
40 g marshmallows to garnish
Directions:
Melt the butter in a light-coloured saucepan, add the skim milk powder and mix well. Simmer until the milk solids have turned golden. Pour into a small flat baking sheet with sides and cool to room temperature and refrigerate until solid (I did this the day before). When you are ready to make the cookies, remove the butter from the fridge and bring the butter to room temperature.
Combine the sugars in the large bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the scraper paddle. Scrape the butter into the sugars and beat until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well, add the vanilla and beat well until incorporated. Combine the flour, baking soda, ground Biscoff and salt and mix well. Add to the cookie batter and mix just until the flour is entirely incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chunks and walnuts.
If baking them now, preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment and portion out 30g of batter about 5 cm apart on the pan (a scant medium Ice Cream Scoop ~ 4.5 cm in diametre). You can freeze the cookie balls at this point and bake them up individually as needed.
If baking now, bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden on the bottom. If they baked-up irregularly, use a large glass to coax them into a rounder shape. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack.
Set aside in an air-tight container until ready to make the ice cream sandwiches.
Toasted Marshmallow Ice Cream:
Ingredients:
480 ml heavy cream
240 ml whole milk
40 g granulated sugar
6 large egg yolks
Pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 g xanthan gum
250 g marshmallows (divided)
Directions:
Toast the marshmallows under the broiler until they are golden brown and charred in some places, some burned bits are OK.Set aside.
You may use any marshmallow size
Make the Custard Base:
Add the xanthan gum to the cream and blend with an immersion blender until smooth. Add the cream, milk, half of the sugar and a pinch of salt to a medium saucepan, and heat, stirring occasionally until steaming but not boiling.
In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks with the remaining sugar until pale and thickened.
Begin adding the hot milk liquid to the egg yolk to slowly temper, while beating vigorously.
Return the egg mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until it thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon (about 170° F–175° F).
With an immersion blender, blend in half of the toasted marshmallows, make sure you get some of the darker bits.
Remove the custard from heat and allow it to cool completely. Stir in the vanilla extract.
Once cool, pour it into the Ninja Creamy Deluxe container (you will need two containers) and freeze as per directions.
In the meantime, chop the remaining toasted marshmallows into smallish pieces and refrigerate in a covered container.
Once the mixture has frozen completely, follow the Ninja Creamy Deluxe directions to cream the frozen product. The ice cream should be quite creamy and easily stirred. Stir in the remaining toasted marshmallow bits and cover and return it to the freezer for 12-24 hours.
6-12 hours before serving, make ice cream patties by filling a round cookie cutter the same size as your cookies and freeze until serving on a parchment lined baking sheet.
Assemble the sandwiches one cookie on the bottom (bottom side facing ice cream) and one cookie on top. I served it in a bowl with a spoon because it can get messy.
The cookie should be slightly larger than the ice cream part because it will squish out when you bite into it.
I usually shape the ice cream filling and return them to the freezer until it is time to serve.
A tasty treat.
Notes:
I toast the marshmallows on lightly greased parchment paper.
To get double toasty-ness, the second part of the marshmallows, I flip and toast the other side.
This old favourite recipe has been in the making at Kitcheninspirations since the late 1980’s but I first posted about it in 2008 during the first year of the blog. Believe me when I say it is probably the most made recipe over here and it never disappoints. It is very chocolate-y and rich tasting. I usually serve it with a thin base of cherry jam or seedless raspberry jam but today, it is bold and beautiful on its own. This recipe is a little more complex than the first rendition only because I am using date sugar and as you know, fruit sugars tend to absorb a lot of moisture so I had to compensate and add a bit more milk into the batter which resulted in a smooth, almost pudding-like cake that kept its structure.
I first posted a version of this cake in January 2008, the first year of this blog.
Since my initial post, we are trying to cut down on processed sugars and some carbs but sometimes dessert is a must at the end of a dinner party so I am converting some of my old recipes to a slightly healthier version.
Revamping the Classic Molten Lava Cake using Date Sugar and Date Syrup
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Makes 2 ramekin cakes
Ingredients:
75 g bittersweet or unsweetened chocolate
15 g butter, unsalted
12 g cocoa powder, unsweetened, sifted
1 egg, separated
50 g date sugar, sifted and divided
150 mL milk (any kind)
5 mL pure vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
10 mL date syrup
Directions:
Prepare the ramekins with the cake release mixture (see notes).
Melt the chocolate and butter together in the top of a double boiler or in a microwave, stirring frequently until smooth. Remove from the heat and stir in the sifted cocoa, whisk until smooth. Set aside.
Meanwhile, beat the egg whites in a stand mixer or by hand until they form soft peaks, add the sifted date sugar and beat a few moments more, set aside.
Beat the egg yolks with 25 g of sifted date sugar (no need to clean beaters). Add the egg yolk mixture to the cooled melted chocolate and beat further, adding the milk until a smooth batter forms.
Fold one-third of the beaten egg whites into the chocolate with a rubber spatula, thoroughly incorporating. Gently fold in the rest.
Reserve 10 mL of the batter and add 10 mL of date syrup, mix well, set aside.
Fill the ramekins about two-thirds full of the chocolate batter , and create a divot in the centre that doesn’t expose the bottom of the ramekin; ensure there is enough batter left to cover each cake. Add about 10 mL of the chocolate date syrup mixture into each divot and then cover with the remaining batter, smooth over. Repeat with the other ramekin.
Refrigerate covered for 30 minutes or until almost ready to serve. Bake from the refrigerator, do not bring to room temperature.
Bake the ramekins at 400° F until they have risen and cracked on top but are still a bit runny in the center, about 12-15 minutes.
Let the cakes sit for a few minutes, then turn them out and serve immediately.
It’s the perfect combination of firm cake and a molten, oozing chocolate centre.
Notes:
Dates have a low glycemic index (GI) and allegedly do not cause significant blood sugar spikes when eaten in moderation. Do your own research.
This batter is significantly thicker than the original, that’s why I added the milk. Date sugar, like many other fruit sugars, tend to absorb a lot more moisture than regular granulated sugar.
Cake release is equal parts of vegetable shortening, vegetable oil and flour (I generally make a combo of 15 mL each and it lasts in the refrigerator.
I have been trying to find a safe alternative sweetner as I have read some nasty things about Erythritol so I was very excited to find date sugar. Apparently, dates do not impact blood glucose levels as other sugars but moderation is key. I have been trying to limit our carbs, including sugars baked into treats so when I discovered date sugar, I was excited to give it a go. This brownie recipe is easy because it is assembled in the large bowl of your food processor. This is not an overly sweet so it’s right up our alley.
Preheat oven to 350° and line a 23 cm x 33 cm baking pan with parchment paper.
In the large bowl of your food processor, combine the butter, cashew butter, eggs, cocoa powder, almond flour, baking powder, salt, water, vanilla extract, and coffee and process until smooth and you can no longer feel granuals when pressed in between your fingers.
Pour the mixture into the baking dish and smooth with an offset spatula. The batter will be thick but spreadable.
Bake for 22 to 25 minutes or until just set. Overbaking the squares will make them dry. Start checking for crumbs on an inserted toothpick around the 20 minute mark.
Allow to cool for 20 to 30 minutes before cutting into it.
Notes:
I used cashew butter because it is what I had on hand, but you may use any nut butter.
Next time I will skip adding water and up the coffee to 95 mL.
Drizzle sugar-free melted chocolate over the top for an added layer of chocolatey-ness.
I have seen this type of rice paper dumpling for quite some time and I have been curious about them but until I saw them on Lorraine’s beautiful blog, I was hesitant to make them as I have been duped before! These are the real deal and they are easy to make. I just made six to test the recipe but it would be very easy to double or triple it. I think they would freeze well in an air-tight container, not touching each other or oiled lightly. I would freeze them before pan frying.
Chuck full of shrimp.
Shrimp and Scallion Rice Paper Dumplings
Makes 8 x 2-bit dumplings
Ingredients:
125 g shrimp, cut into large chunks
2 scallions, sliced thickly (around 2 mm each)
2 g ginger, finely grated
5 mL date syrup
3 rice papers (20 cm x 20 cm), each cut into 10 cm squares
30 mL sesame oil
Directions:
Combine the shrimp, scallions, ginger and date syrup and mix well.
Take one 20 cm square of rice paper and place about a tablespoon of the shrimp mixture in the centre (see folding technique below. Pull up each side corner and secure it onto the other, then pull in the top and bottom and secure them onto each other. Smooth out the corners if they stick out to make a round-ish dumpling. Repeat with the other rice paper square, turning the corners so the two don’t overlap the same way.
Fry each side until golden and crispy.
Crispy and chewy at the same time.
Notes:
I used 20-30/lb shrimp that I cut into fifths (yes, they still refer to pounds on the shrimp bag, even though they are sold by the gram or kilogram!)
I also used square rice paper about 20 cm by 20 cm.
You could use a 20 cm round but I would use 1 per dumpling, folding over only once so there is only one layer.
The sauce is a simple recipe of 15 mL each of soy, mirin, rice vinegar, and water, 5 g date sugar,and 5 mL toasted sesame oil with about 2.5 mL finely grated ginger, mix well and serve.
I had quite a lot of cabbage left over from my cabbage fresh roll post, so I wanted to create something new and different. I spotted oven-roasted cabbage and fell in love. The roasting creates charred bits that don’t taste as bitter as you would think, which adds a lovely contrast to the rich casshew sauce. Truth be told, I wanted tahini Sauce but I tossed the tahini because it had expired but then I remembered I had some casshew butter I made before we left for Spain and decided to use it instead.
The cabbage roasts up sweet and the tangy Cashew dressing is a lovely foil for it. The duqqa provides texture and some flavour.
Roasted Cabbage with Duqqa and Cashew Sauce
Serves 4 as a meal, 8 as an appetizer
Ingredients:
1 cabbage head cut into eighths
Olive oil for rubbing
Sea salt and pepper for taste
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400° F.
Rub the olive oil over both sides of each slice and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Bake for 20 minutes, then turn each slice over and bake for 10-15 minutes. Light charring is acceptable and preferred.
Cashew Sauce
Ingredients:
5 g Roasted Garlic
3 g Sea Salt 1/2 tsp salt
60 g cashew paste
40 mL freshly squeezed lime juice
65 mL cold water, more if needed
Freshly chopped Cilantro
Directions:
Place all the ingredients except the water and cilantro into a bowl which can take an immersion blender. Blend until smooth, adding extra water to make a pourable sauce.
Place all the ingredients except the Aleppo pepper into the bowl of your food processor. Blend until everything is about the same size. Stir in the Aleppo peppers.
Assembly:
Divide the cashew sauce evenly amoungst the plates leaving a little to drizzle on each cabbage. Place 1 or 2 slices of the cabbage onto each plate and drizzle with the remaining cashew sauce.
Sprinkle with the Duqqa and serve warm.
Notes:
Crumbled bacon, or crispy serrano ham would be wonderful on this dish.
At Kitcheninspirations, we LOVE carbs, sadly they don’t love us, so I am always on the lookout to find alternatives that are low-carb friendly. Let me just say this recipe isn’t my idea. I saw it in several virtual world places and absolutely LOVED it! Using cabbage as the rice paper wrap is genius! There are a couple of ways to make the cabbage more pliable, like freezing the entire head and thawing it for a few hours. I did not have time for this method, so I just blanched the cabbage leaves individually. Both methods are good. If you blanche, some cabbages like Cannonball Cabbage will take longer because of the thick spine. The other cabbage I experimented with was the Korean Flat Cabbage, it took less time to blanche because the spine is thinner than the Cannonball Cabbage. Even after blanching the Cannonball Cabbage for 10-12 minutes, I still had to trim the spine of the Cannonball Cabbage to make it easier to roll, like a fresh roll. I also discovered that bigger is better, as the leaves become significantly smaller as you peel them off the cabbage. I ran out of decent-sized leaves in the Flat Cabbage sooner than I did with the Cannonball Cabbage. From a medium-sized head, I netted about 8-12 fresh rolls. Surprisingly, these fresh rolls are pretty filling, so I would count 2-3 per person, depending on what else you are serving.
JT loved them.
Cabbage Wrap Fresh Rolls
Makes 8-12 Fresh Rolls (about the same size as a rice paper fresh roll)
Ingredients:
8-12 blanched cabbage leaves, spine trimmed if necessary
Meat filling for the fresh rolls, I used this recipe
Shredded carrot (omit if you are low-carb)
Shredded cucumber
Pickled shredded cabbage (see notes for quick recipe)
Peanut dipping sauce (see below)
Directions:
Take one cabbage leaf and lay it in front of you, stem side closest. Put a small amount of each filling onto the end and spread it out to about the width of a standard fresh roll.
Begin to roll the cabbage leaf toward the far side, folding in the ends as you roll. Set the roll on the loose end side to help “glue” it.
Serve with Peanut Dipping Sauce (I used the recipe below)
They look like fresh rolls too!
Quick Pickled Cabbage
Ingredients:
125 mL white vinegar
250 mL hot water
30 g sugar substitute (I used date sugar)
10 g salt
Very finely sliced cabbage
Directions:
Combine the vinegar, water, sugar and salt and mix until the granuals have dissolved.
Add the vinegar mixture to the finely sliced cabbage and allow to stand, at room temperature, undisturbed for 15 minutes, while you prepare the other inclusions for the fresh rolls.
Sweet, tart and salty dipping sauce.
Peanut Dipping Sauce
Ingredients:
20 g sugar substitute (I used date syrup)
50 g peanut butter or peanut sauce
30 mL rice vinegar
10 mL soy sauce
30 mL warm water
Directions:
Mix all together to create a homogeneous sauce, adding water if necessary.
Notes:
I can never figure out the exact amount of filling I need to make anything that is rolled or in little pockets. My general rule of thumb is about 250 g of ground meat and handfulls of the filler veggies.
If you have leftovers, they make an excellent salad the next day or you could freeze the meat mixture for another time.
Truth be told, I have been in search of a flakey laminated biscuit that is Keto so there are a lot of experiments going down in the Kitcheninspirations’ Kitchen! This is one experiment that actually worked out but instead of being a flaky laminated biscuit, it immediately reminded me of cornbread, yet there is nary a grain of cornmeal found anywhere near this delicious biscuit. These biscuits are delicious warm right out of the oven with some butter. We had them with a bowl of creamed cauliflower soup.
Keto “Cornbread” Muffins
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Makes 8 Muffins
Ingredients:
100 g superfine almond flour
50 g oat fibre
2 g salt
15 g baking powder
15 g Erythritol
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
90 g Greek yogurt
100 mL milk (any kind, unsweetened)
39 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
100 g shredded cheddar cheese (plus more for garnish, if desired)
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 400° F. Prepare 7 muffin cups with cake release generously brushed into the cups.
Combine the dry ingredients and whisk so they are evenly incorporated. Add the shredded cheddar and mix evenly.
Add the eggs, yogurt and melted butter to a large measuring cup and whisk well.
Create a valley in the dry ingredients, add the wet ingredients, and stir to combine so there are no dry areas.
Using a large ice cream scoop, scoop a well-rounded scoop into each muffin cup. Garnish with a little shredded cheese.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until a wooden skewer comes out clean.
These muffins have a delicious buttery flavour.
Notes:
To make these a little more flavourful, add 30 g of the following:
finely sliced green onions (~30 g)
finely diced jalapeños or hot chilli peppers (or more if you really like it hot!)
Since our return to Canada from Spain in early December 2024, I have not been able to warm up. Truthfully, I am so done with winter, the cold, the snow and the dreariness. I am already counting the days until our next trip to Spain. Needless to say, soups have been high on my priority list and this beauty showed up on my reels and I was smitten. It does seem like a lot of mushrooms, but other than cleaning them, there is not much individual attention to them.
Easy, Peasy, Creamy Mushroom Soup
Makes 1 L of soup
Ingredients:
680 g mushrooms, any kind, cleaned and stems removed but saved
1 onion, cut into fourths
Olive oil
30 mL cognac
30 mL roasted garlic
750 mL beef bone broth
30 mL cream or milk
toasted walnuts for garnish
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400° F.
Lay the mushrooms stem side down on a baking sheet, and fill in the gaps with the stems. Drizzle with olive oil.
Add the cut onion in between the mushrooms.
Bake the mushrooms/onion for 20 minutes, drizzle with the cognac and return to the oven to bake for an additional 10 minutes.
Remove from the heat and place the mushrooms (reserve about 10 mushrooms for garnish) and onion into a large blender, along with the liquid in the pan, the roasted garlic, beef bone broth and cream, if using. Blend until smooth, about 2-3 minutes.
Press through a fine sieve for an ultra-creamy soup.
Serve hot with slices of the reserved mushrooms and toasted walnuts as garnish and a drizzle of cream.
The mushrooms add the creaminess to this wonderful soup.
Notes:
If you don’t like mushrooms, don’t make this soup.
For a heartier soup, add 100 g of roasted, peeled chestnuts and purée until smooth.
I usually don’t politicize my blog but I just can’t sit silent. Saying Canada should be the 51st state is extremely offensive to Canadians, it’s no joke. So, even if you try to lighten the implications of that statement as frivolous humour, please stop. It is extremely offensive. There, back to our regular programming.
My socials are mostly food-focussed and the more I look at my socials the more disenchanted I become. Don’t eat this because it contains more than acceptable amounts of lead, don’t eat that because it has forever chemicals, don’t eat this because it kills the rainforests. Does it ever stop? Then there is the question of whether you trust the labels as the manufacturers are becoming increasingly sneaky and renaming unhealthy ingredients! Thus, I have often wondered whether store-bought yogurt actually has any benefits that real yogurt has?
The last two weeks of November during our sojourn in Spain, I became quite ill with some sort of stomach bug which I suspect morphed into complications of a pre-existing condition which lasted through mid-December! Once I started feeling like myself, I started thinking about getting some good pro-biotics in me and by coincidence, I had lunch with a dear friend who told me about her experience in making probiotic yogurt! She mentioned that it is very easy and her family loves it so much! So, she gave me some samples of probiotics and prebiotics to make two one-litre batches. They turned out OK because she had told me to use 18% cream and I used 3.25% milk instead so my batches were a bit runny. I strained it in the fridge and it was incredible! My most recent batch, I succumbed and used 18% cream and WOW! What an incredible flavour and texture. Now, if you’re thinking you’d love to make your own yogurt, but you have to buy some new equipment, fret not friends because I made yogurt in my Instant Pot without the Yogurt setting! Yes, you read that correctly: no Yogurt setting.
The trick to thick, creamy, rich yogurt is the process. You have to take the cream to 195° F and hold it there for 10 minutes. Then cool it to 99° F and mix in the pre and pro biotics (details in recipe). You then pour this mixture into sterilized jars that fit into the stainless steel bowl of your Instant Pot and fill the Instant Pot bowl with warm water to the level of the milk mixture, cover with the standard lid. Set the Instant Pot to “Sous Vide” at 99° F for 15 hours. I would check at 5 hours, then 10 hours but 15 hours should yield a super thick and creamy product, no need to strain (I put mine on overnight so I wasn’t checking but by the time I saw it it was around 15 hours and super thick and creamy).
I still recall my grandmother making yogurt from slightly spoiled milk on the top of the gas stove (away from the pilot light but near enough for the heat).
Homemade Probiotic Yogurt
Makes about 2 litres of yogurt
Ingredients:
2 litres of 18% cream
250 mL 35% whipping cream
2 probiotic pills (powder only, not the pill)
20 g prebiotic powder, such as Inulin
Directions:
In a large pot, combine the creams and stir well. Slowly bring the cream up to 195° F and hold for 10 minutes. Cool to 100° F.
In a smaller glass measuring cup, measure out about 250 mL of the cooled cream mixture and mix in the probiotics and prebiotics, stir well to dissolve any lumps.
Pour the mixture back into the cream and mix well. Pour this liquid into sterilized jars that fit into the Instant Pot bowl. Fill the Instant Pot bowl with warm water to the level of the cream. Set the lid on top (mine didn’t lock but that’s OK) and set the Instant Pot to the Sous Vide setting at 99° F for 10 hours. Check the thickness at 5 hours and if still a little too jiggly, check again at 10 hours. I just jiggled the glass to see how jiggly it was. When it has reached the thickness you want, remove them from the instant pot, add lids to the jars and refrigerate until needed.
Notes:
I have noted the brands of pre and pro-biotics I used in the photo above but you can check in your health food store to see what they have. They don’t impart any particular flavour so it really doesn’t matter, but you need both.
I don’t pretend to know anything about the science of yogurt making, but I did read that pre-heating the cream will result in a sweeter and thicker product than not pre-heating.
When I used 3.25% milk, I did not pre-heat and the yogurt was quite tart and runny but it was easily fixed by straining it overnight.
I use yogurt exclusively in my cooking instead of sour cream so this batch will last about 7-10 days, also it depends on how much we snack on it.
In my latest batch, I used 1.25 L 3.25% Milk with 1 L 18% cream. Heated to 195° F and held for 20 minutes, then cooled to 100° C. Beautiful, thick creamy yogurt was the result. The difference is preheating the milk/cream.
I made this batch of Tangzhong cinnamon rolls for breakfast on Christmas Day. We didn’t have any plans as Christmas Eve was celebrated on the twenty-fourth and JT’s Christmas was on Boxing Day, December 26. I love that the Tangzhong makes the dough pillow-soft but it also is an amazing preservative. Google says this, “Tangzhong is a Chinese technique that creates a starch gel that can be used in baking to improve the texture of bread but also to increase its shelf life so it doesn’t go stale as quickly.” Although we would love to scarf down the entire batch in one sitting, we restrain ourselves and have only one for breakfast. Would you be able to resist these soft Cinnamon Rolls?
Combine all of the ingredients in a small pan. Whisk on low heat until it becomes thick. Set aside to cool.
Ingredients for the Dough:
248 g unbleached “00” flour
11 g nonfat milk powder
8 g instant yeast
all of the tangzhong (above)
170 g whole milk, lukewarm
1 large egg
48 g unsalted butter, melted
5 g table salt
Directions:
Whisk to combine the flour, milk powder and yeast in the large bowl of your stand mixer. Set aside.
Combine the remaining ingredients, except the salt and mix well.
Add the wet ingredients into the dry and knead the dough until it comes together. All it to rest for 20 minutes.
Once rested, add the salt and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10-15 minutes. Set aside covered, in a warm place for 60 to 90 minutes. It doesn’t necessarily need to double in size but mine did.
Ingredients for the filling:
245 g packed brown sugar
18 g cinnamon
76 g unsalted butter, room temperature
5 g orange zest
75 g walnuts, toasted
Directions:
Cream the butter with the cinnamon, brown sugar and orange zest.
Fold in the walnuts. Set aside at room temperature.
Assembly:
Prepare a pan with cake release and line the bottom with parchment paper.
Preheat the convection oven to 350° F
Punch down the dough and roll it out to 48 cm x 20 cm.
Spread the filling to three edges leaving a long edge about 1 cm clear. Roll from the long edge with the filling to the edge and pinch the remaining edge to seal. Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for about 35-40 minutes.
Cut into 12 equal lengths and lay cut-side down in the prepared pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the internal temperature is 188° F.
Allow to cool in the pan.
Ingredients for the icing
50 g confectioners’ sugar
A pinch of table salt
14 g butter, melted
2 g pure vanilla extract
14 g milk or heavy cream, enough to make a thick but spreadable frosting
35 g cream cheese, at room temperature
Directions:
Combine the ingredients to make a runny glaze.
Drizzle the glaze over the warm rolls.
Serve warm.
Pillowy, soft cinnamon rolls, definitely a treat.
Notes:
These rolls freeze well. Bring them to room temperature to reheat.
To reheat the rolls, wrap them in parchment paper and foil and reheat at 275° F for 20-30 minutes.
We started watching America’s Test Kitchen because our new internet plan has included some additional channels and one of them is the AMK Channel, playing all of their episodes all the time. This Tomato and Feta Tart Tatin hit a cord with JT and I and I knew had to make it, my way. Tomatoes are not great in winter here in the Northern Hemisphere, in fact, they can be pretty dismal so I developed a technique that caramelizes the tomatoes before they are added to the tart tatin which really concentrates their flavour. JT said I can definitely make this again!
Tomato Feta Tart Tatin
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Makes 1 20 cm tart
Ingredients:
20 g unsalted butter
15 mL garlic olive oil
30 mL balsamic vinegar
3 tomatoes, skinned, seeds and jelly removed
5 mL salt, more for taste
65 g sweet onions, diced finely
1 all-butter puff pastry sheet
100 g sheep’s milk feta, crumbled
Handful of pinenuts, toasted
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400° F.
Salt the tomatoes for 15 minutes, pat dry.
Cook the tomatoes in the air-fryer on 400° F until most of the moisture has evaporated and the tomatoes are beginning to caramelize, about 20 minutes..
Melt the butter and olive oil in a cast iron pan. and cook the onions on medium heat until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the Balsamic vinegar and stir well to incorporate.
Bring the vinegar mixture to a slow boil. Add the tomatoes, exterior side down. Add the puff pastry sheet, tucking the edges in well. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.
Allow to sit for about 20 minutes, then invert onto a serving plate. Wait about 10 minutes until cutting into it so juices can be absorbed by the pastry.
Serve with additional Sheep’s Milk Feta crumbled over the tart.
This is a wonderful, light lunch full of flavour for the dreary winter days.
You may recall that I have posted this recipe back in 2019. That recipe technique was similar to what one uses for Gourgiers; Melt a fat, add the flour then the eggs and the cheese. This ingenious recipe does everything in the blender or food processor, making the process a lot simpler. Back in December, just after we returned from Spain, I was filling the freezer with quick and delicious appetizers and this one made the list. I did not blend the cheese because I wanted pieces of cheese in the little balls but I have seen people blend the cheese as well. These have the same chewy texture that the original recipe has but with half of the work. I also used mini-muffin tins generously brushed with cake release and it worked like a charm.
Blender Brazillian Cheese Bread
Makes 50-60 little balls.
Ingredients:
390 g tapioca flour
8 g baking powder
10 g plus 2 g salt, divided
3 eggs
200 mL milk
25 g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
115 mL grapeseed oil (any vegetable oil)
212 g sharp cheddar cheese, grated
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 450° F. Prepare the mini muffin pan with cake release generously brushed in the cavities.
Combine the tapioca flour, baking powder and 10 g of salt in a dish and whisk to combine everything evenly.
In your food processor or blender, add the eggs, milk, melted unsalted butter and oil and blend to combine well. Slowly add the dry ingredients by the spoonful and blend/process until it is a homogeneous batter. Pour the batter into a bowl and fold in the cheese.
Drop by 15 mL spoonfuls into the prepared pan. Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden.
Cool completely on a wire rack. Eat immediately or store in the freezer in a ziplock bag.
I have once again succumbed to the wiles of the internet, the gluten-free chocolate apple cake! What is intriguing about this particular concoction is that the apple replaces the flour. The result is a brownie-like texture. The consensus at Kitcheninspirations was that it tasted best cold right out of the refrigerator OR even, dare I say, frozen. Many recipes call for only 2 ingredients, the cooked apples and melted chocolate but I found the mixture too thick so I added a little milk and vanilla, of course, which puréed beautifully. Many recipes go right into the refrigerator to set, I baked mine for 30 minutes.
Gluten-Free Chocolate Apple Cake
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Males One 20 cm cake
Ingredients:
4 large apples, peeled and cubed
250 g 85% dark chocolate
100 ml milk
15 mL pure vanilla extract
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350° C.
Prepare a 20 cm round pan by lining the bottom with parchment paper and brushing the sides with cake release.
Cook the apples until soft in a frying pan, adding as little water as possible.
Melt the chocolate.
Combine both apples and melted chocolate in a food processor and process until smooth.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
It’s a rich, chocolatey, dense cake. The sweetness of the apples was enough for my taste with the 85% cocoa chocolate but if you use a higher percentage, you may wish to add some sort of sweetener.
We spent the month of November in Spain. The weather was fantastic, low 20° C during the day and high teens in the evenings. The sun was shining and there was a little humidity so it felt warmer. We were with our dear friends A and M who have decided to move to Spain. Unfortunately, the second week we were there, I picked up a stomach issue and spent the remainder of the month in bed. Apparently eating a high-fibre diet really helps my particular situation, so when I returned home, I went to my kitchen office to begin converting some favourites into high-fibre favourites. Here is the first one.
A nutty, textured breakfast bread,
Low Carb, High-Fibre Banana Bread
Makes one 21.6 cm x 11.4 cm (4″ x 7″) loaf pan, about 12-14 servings, depending on slice thickness
150 g date powder
61 g blanched finely ground almond flour (see Notes)
120 g flax meal
30 g psyllium meal
¼ tsp sea salt
1 tsp baking soda
3 large eggs, well beaten
3 large very ripe bananas, well mashed (375 mL)
1 tbsp vanilla
80 g walnuts, chopped
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a small loaf pan with parchment paper.
Add all the dry ingredients to large bowl and whisk to blend.
Combine the eggs, banana and vanilla and mix well. Add to the dry ingredients and mix until well blended, leaving no clumps of dry ingredients. Fold in the walnuts
Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean, carefully lift out of the pan and cool on a rack.
Slide when cooled thoroughly.
Notes:
I use Kirkland blanched finely ground almond flour
Almond flour has always been a little bit of a bug-a-boo for me. I usually find baked goods using almond flour instead of wheat flour too heavy and grainy, but I think I’ve cracked the code. Instead of using a mixer, use your food processor. So easy, and as long as you have sufficient liquid in the dough, it shouldn’t turn to marzipan! I love this recipe because it uses one appliance so much less cleanup!
It’s a nicely textured doughy cookie.
Low-carb Chocolate Chip Cookies
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Ingredients:
60 g butter
45 g erythritol
5 g vanilla
230 g almond flour
2 g salt
1.5 g baking powder
2 g xantham gum
60 g low-carb chocolate chips (see notes)
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350° F.
In the large bowl of your food processor, combine the butter, erythritol and vanilla and process until smooth.
In another bowl, combine the almond flour, salt, baking powder and xantham gum and whisk until thoroughly combined.
Add the almond flour to the butter mixture and process until well mixed and there are no dry spots.
Fold in the chocolate chips. Refrigerate for about 1 hour if baking immediately.
Using about a 15 mL spoon, scoop out cookies onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake until golden, about 12-15 minutes.
Notes:
I like to keep unbaked cookie balls in the freezer so that I can have freshly baked cookies at a moment’s notice.
Low-carb Chocolate Chips
The more irregular, the more homemade the chips look!
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Makes about 170 g of chocolate chips
Ingredients:
170 g unsweetened chocolate
45 g Erythritol, pulsed in a food processor until it is a powder. (if you like sweet chocolate chips, you might want to add a bit more Erythritol).
Directions:
In a Bain Marie, slowly melt the chocolate with the Erythritol until smooth (there will be some granules)
Pour onto a piece of parchment paper and refrigerate until firm.
Just before we left for Spain in October, we were on a roll having friends over before we left. We had my dear friend from Uni and her hubby over for a brunch and I made a Gluten-Free version of this beauty. The dense, moist texture really lends itself to almond flour. Need to say, it was a raving success!
Gluten Free Sticky Date Cake with Date “Caramel” Sauce
Makes one 20 cm (8 inch) round cake
Ingredients:
300 mL water
275 g pitted dates
5 g baking soda
57 g salted butter
55 g brown sugar substitute
2 large eggs
5 mL vanilla extract
135 g almond flour
5 g baking powder
0.2 g salt
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Prepare your 20 cm pan by lining the bottom with parchment and brushing cake release onto the sides and bottom.
Add the water and dates in a heavy bottom saucepan (no need to chop). Bring it to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the baking soda (it will bubble up) and mix well. Set aside to cool slightly.
Meanwhile, combine the butter and brown “sugar” in the large bowl of your food processor and process until fluffy and light. Add the eggs one at a time and mix well. Add the vanilla and the cooked dates (dates should not be super hot). Process until smooth.
Add the almond flour, baking powder and salt into the batter and process well so that the almond flour is smooth.
Pour it into your prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Turn out the cake onto a cooling rack and cool completely.
Date “Caramel” Sauce
Makes about 250 mL of sauce
Ingredients:
24 dates
1 cup of water, plus more for adjusting the thickness of the sauce
Directions:
Place the dates into a heavy bottom saucepan and pour water over them to cover. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes or until dates have entirely softened.
Pour the dates into a container that fits your immersion blender and blend until smooth, adding more water for a saucy consistency.
Serve with the Sticky Date Cake with unsweetened whipped cream
Don’t you just love the winter light?
It’s not sickly sweet.
Notes:
Cakes made with almond flour tend to be a bit dense, but don’t let that stop you from making this, the almond flour really lends itself to the moist nature of this cake.
The dates have a coying sweetness so you needn’t worry about the small volume of sugar in this cake.
The added date syrup will help increase the sweetness.
Have you ever heard of toum? Have you had it? Toum is a garlic sauce, a popular condiment in Lebanon. It is relatively easy to make and keeps well in the fridge. Use it as you would mayo.
My dear friend and neighbour brought us some toum because she has fallen in love with it and wanted us to try it! Unfortunately, the strong, raw garlic flavour does not agree with JT or I so she brought us Mild Toum. It was delicious! And not overly garlicky. Toum is traditionally made with raw garlic and a flavourless oil, like peanut or grapeseed. I wanted to make some of our own with my own spin. I did two versions, the first was a roasted garlic toum which was mild but had that nutty roasted garlic flavour, and it emulsified beautifully. The second version was a mild-toum, boiling the garlic until soft and puréing it with a clear, flavourless oil, like grapeseed. The boiled garlic toum was really, super mild so I added a small raw clove of garlic to spice it up and WoW, if you love garlic (and don’t mind smelling like it) this one is for you! My favourite though, is the roasted garlic toum.
Hope you have a wonderful holiday season, whatever you observe. We are spending Christmas Eve with my cousin and her family and Christmas Day with JT’s side as well as seeing some friends over the holidays. What are you doing for the holidays?
The one on the left is the roasted garlic toum and the one on the right is the boiled garlic toum. I am going to have it on my burger.
Roasted Garlic Toum
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Makes about 150 mL of toum.
Ingredients:
3 garlic bulbs, separated but not peeled (about 150 g)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
juice of 1 small lemon
salt to taste
Directions:
Separate the cloves but no need to peel. To roast the garlic, place the garlic into a pan and cover it in olive oil, and roast on the stove top or in the oven on medium heat for about 45-50 minutes. The garlic will be golden.
Strain the garlic from the oil and reserve the oil. Allow the garlic to cool.
Peel the garlic and put the cloves into a glass measuring cup that fits your immersion blender. Add the lemon juice.
Blend the cloves garlic with lemon juice until smooth and creamy.
Slowly (very slowly because it has a tendency to separate) add the reserved roasted garlic olive oil into the garlic puree to form a smooth, creamy paste (about the same consistency as mayonnaise). I had to use a whisk to emulsify the oil and garlic after it had been puréed.
Salt to taste.
Store in the refrigerator for 2 weeks.
Mild Toum
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Makes about 250 mL of toum.
Ingredients:
3 garlic bulbs, separate but not peeled (about 150 g)
200 mL unflavoured oil, I used grape seed
juice of 1 small lemon
salt to taste
Directions:
Boil most of the garlic cloves for 5-10 minutes or until soft (hold 1 or 2 small raw cloves back)
Rinse to cool down the garlic so you can easily peel and remove the sprouts, discard sprouts and place garlic into a measuring cup that fits your immersion blender.
Blend the cloves garlic with lemon juice until smooth and creamy.
Slowly add the oil to form a smooth, creamy paste (about the same consistency as mayonnaise).
Salt to taste. Taste the toum, if it’s not garlicky enough for you, add one of the reserved cloves and blend until smooth, taste again and determine if you want to add the other reserved clove. I found one clove to be plenty garlicky, after all, you don’t want to stink of garlic!
Store in the refrigerator for 2 weeks.
Notes:
If the toum is not emulsifying, add about 5 mL of egg whites and blend.
Toum is great in sandwiches, as a dip, or on kabobs or burgers.
I use toum to emulsify salad dressings. It’s absolutely amazing with a little anchovy paste to make a Caesar dressing.
This recipe came about when I wanted to make Korean bulgogi for a low-carb dinner. Of course, the good old stand-by is cauliflower rice but to be honest, it just doesn’t make the cut replicating the crispy-sticky rice texture that goes so well with bulgogi. So I went to the drawing board and started to think about options. The Italians have Orzo, which is a rice shaped pasta, but have you ever tried to make that from scratch? I saw videos of grating the pasta, or making spaghetti and cutting it into little pieces but neither worked with my low-carb dough, plus I was looking for something a little simpler. Then my Hungarian roots started to shape my thinking and as I was making the dough in my food processor, I discovered that this dough crumbles just like Hungarian Tarhonya (they call it egg barley). Made with traditional flour with eggs and then crumbled into a rough, uneven type of mini pasta. Now this could work! The dough is very rough and using the blade in my food processor, I was able to get uneven, small bits of pasta! By George, I think I’ve got it!
For Bulgogi, I put the pasta into a frying pan and add just enough water to boil the pasta to cook it quickly (2-4 minutes) and evaporate the water, then I add some oil (sesame oil for bulgogi) and pan-fry it to get the crispy bits, like sticky rice! It worked out very well.
This is the dried version. I make 6-8 servings and store them in an airtight container.
Low-Carb Pasta “Rice”
Makes 4-6 servings
Ingredients:
80 g lupin flour
90 g vital wheat gluten
4 g salt
2 eggs
Directions:
Add everything to the food processor with blades in and process until the dough is combined but in smaller, uneven bits.
Use immediately or dehydrate in a food dehydrator for keeping long-term.
Notes:
I dehydrate over 6-8 hours at 100° F; the pasta must be completely dehydrated otherwise mould will form.
These muffins keep very well in the freezer and are easily defrosted in the oven in a foil pouch or on a plate in the microwave. JT made a special request for blueberry muffins when I was prepping for our upcoming visit with Arizonians, Paul and T. These were perfect when we needed just a little breakfast to tide us over until a late lunch.
Blueberry Muffins
Makes about 10 large muffins
Ingredients:
225 g All-purpose flour
10 g baking powder
4 g salt
50 g butter
60 g granulated sugar
1 large egg
195 g yogurt
250 mL milk
5 mL vanilla
130 g Blueberries, fresh or frozen (defrost)
8 g flour
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400° F and prepare 10-muffin cups by buttering and flouring them (see notes).
Combine the flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl and make a well in the centre, set aside.
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, and beat in the egg until smooth.
Combine the yogurt, milk and vanilla and mix into the butter mixture until smooth. Pour into the flour mixture and fold in to moisten, batter will be lumpy.
Combine the 8 g flour with the blueberries and coat evenly. Add the blueberries to the batter and mix well. Spoon into prepared muffin cups. You may wish to reserve a blueberry or two per muffin for garnish before putting them into the oven.
Bake for 25 minutes until golden.
Notes:
You needn’t defrost the blueberries.
Instead of buttering and flouring the muffin cups, mix 15 g vegetable shortening, 15 mL unflavored oil and 15 g all-purpose flour and mix well. Brush into the muffin cups.
We had our friends from Arizona come up for a 5-day visit in August so I made a few desserts to take us through and these lemon squares were one of them. I had purchased a bag of lemons before we went to Spain last February (because one lemon was $1.59 and the bag was $3.99!) so I had to freeze them just before we left. I had two lemons left that I wanted to use. Freezing lemons (washed and left whole) are a great way to store them, about the only thing you can’t really do with previously frozen lemons is to slice them for garnish but they are excellent for everything else! I like to zest them whilst frozen because it’s super easy, then allow them to frost for this recipe.
These squares are very lemony, much more lemony than just lemon flavouring or juice. I didn’t include the pith because it’s too bitter and I didn’t want to add more sugar. Freezing the lemons makes them soft so I didn’t feel the need to boil them like I do with the Whole Orange Cake, but you might want to boil them if you use fresh lemons.
These are also quite yummy frozen.
Chewy Whole Lemon Squares with Coconut
From Company’s Coming Squares by Jean Pare.
Makes 1 pan 23 cm x 23 cm (9×9 inch)
Ingredients, base:
200 g all-purpose flour
50 g granulated sugar
114 g butter, cold
Zest of 2 lemons
Directions, base:
Preheat the oven to 350° F.
Crumble flour, sugar and butter until mealy (you can save time and pulse this in a food processor, with metal blades)
Press into ungreased 23 cm x 23 cm (9×9 inch) pan (I like to line my pan with parchment for easy removal). Bake for 20 minutes.
Ingredients, topping:
2 eggs
2 whole lemons, pith removed
200 g granulated sugar
2 g salt
40 g all-purpose flour
2 g baking powder
75 g flaked, unsweetened coconut
Directions, topping:
In the large container of the Magic Bullet add the eggs, lemon sections, granulated sugar and salt. Blend until smooth. Add the flour and baking powder and blend until well incorporated. Fold in the coconut.
Spread over the par-baked shortbread base. Bake at 350° F for 30 minutes, until set in the centre and golden in colour.
A Pullman loaf pan has been on my wish list for several years and I finally received one for my birthday. JT does that, he never buys current items on the wishlist so I really don’t know what I will receive, we both like these types of surprises. I just love the symmetry of the loaf pan, almost perfect corners to make the perfect sandwich (click here to read about the cool history of the Pullman Loaf Pan). I chose this particular recipe because the author had several pan sizes with varying ingredient quantities. It’s a wet dough but don’t let that hold you back, it’s quite easy to work with and active time is minimal, just some bulk rising in the refrigerator and some shaping and baking gets you to the finish line in no time! I made this regular carb brioche bread for our dear friends from Arizona coming for a 5-day visit. We shall have toast and various sandwiches on this delicious loaf.
This rich and buttery loaf is perfect in every way.
In the large bowl of your stand mixer, add the milk, sugar and yeast and allow to proof for a few minutes. With the whisk attachment, beat in the egg.
Sift in the flour, and using the dough hook attachment, knead for 10 minutes to combine fully.
Using the scrapper paddle attachment, add the softened butter and beat until fully incorporated. Allow to rest for 10 minutes.
Sprinkle in the salt and switch to the dough hook attachment and knead for 10 minutes.
Shape the dough into a ball and place in a well-greased bowl cover with a clean cloth and allow to proof until doubled in size (45 minutes to one hour).
Punch down and shape into a ball again and lightly grease the ball. Set in the refrigerator overnight, covered in plastic wrap. The next morning, take the bowl out the fridge and allow to come to room temperature.
Shape the dough into a loaf and place seam side down into the well-buttered Pullman pan. Cover with a clean cloth and allow to proof until it almost fills the pan at the top, then place the buttered lid onto the loaf pan and allow to finish proofing with the lid on.
Preheat the oven to 380° F and bake until the internal temperature is 200° F. I removed the lid to finish the top of loaf so it is evenly golden on all sides.
Allow the loaf to cool fully before cutting into it.
Obviously, this is not a low-carb recipe! We were having some friends over for a barbecue and I felt like making a cake we recently had at a Lebanese restaurant in Yorkville, Toronto. The manager gifted us the cake as a thank you for letting him take the table next to us for a larger group, we would have given it to him for nothing but you know, dessert. Interestingly enough, dates do not have a high GI so I could have made this low-carb but I wanted to see if my recipe was similar enough to the one at the restaurant and if it worked well, I would convert it to low-carb. I wrote this recipe for whole dates because I was lazy and didn’t feel like chopping them so I decided to blitz the batter with dates with my immersion blender before I sifted in the flour and it worked like a charm. I might add that I am not the dishwasher in my house, JT kindly does that because I do all of the cooking! Plus, I am terrible at it, wink wink (dishwashing not cooking). The cake is decidedly sweet enough without the caramel sauce, but that is how it was served to us at the restaurant, so I kept it. I will also serve it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Everyone has their favourite caramel sauce recipe so I won’t repeat it. Mine is this one.
It’s a light but decadent cake.
Sticky Date Cake with Caramel Sauce
Makes one 20 cm (8 inch) round cake
Ingredients:
295 mL water
275 g chopped pitted dates
5 g baking soda
57 g unsalted butter, softened
110 g light brown sugar
2 large eggs
5 mL vanilla extract
135 g unbleached all-purpose flour
5 g baking powder
0.2 g salt
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350° F. Prepare your 20 cm pan by lining the bottom with parchment and brushing cake release onto the sides and bottom.
Add the water and dates in a heavy bottom saucepan (no need to chop). Bring it to a boil, reduce to a simmer, and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the baking soda (it will bubble up) and mix well. Set aside.
Meanwhile, combine the softened butter and brown sugar in the small bowl of your stand mixer and mix until fluffy and light. Add the eggs one at a time and mix well. Add the vanilla and the cooked dates (dates should not be super hot). Blend with an immersion blender until smooth.
Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into the batter and fold it in until there are no more flour lumps.
Pour it into your prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Turn out onto a cooling rack and insert smallish spikes into the cake and pour the caramel sauce over it allowing the sauce to seep into the holes you spiked. Allow to cool completely.
In early October, we finally received our outdoor stacking windows for the deck project! So after three years of my homemade vinyl tablecloth roller blinds, we finally have the classy windows JT was vying for. I think we are done for the back yard for the next while. Click on the photo below for a captioned slide show. We are ready for 3-season entertaining.
With all of these excellent low-carb recipes I have converted, I think I can be on this type of diet forever. Don’t get me wrong, I do eat carbs but I try to limit them to when I go out to eat, like my favourite pizza place or a mouth-watering sandwich, you get my drift. If I don’t overdo it, I don’t gain weight so it’s all about balance. This is by far, one of the best conversions, JT mentioned that they are as good as the carbo ones! Now that’s a compliment.
Slightly crisp exterior and a soft, custardy interior, just like the carb ones!
Some have larger cavities but they are all easily filled, should one choose to fill them.
Low Carb Cheese Gougères
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Makes about 28-30 gougères, but it depends on how big you make them.
Ingredients:
25 g lupin flour
30 g tapioca flour
1.5 g xanthan gum
2 g sea salt, finely ground
2 g baking powder
40 g butter
100 g water
2 large eggs, lightly whisked
60 g grated cheese, I used Havarti
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400° F. Line a baking sheet with a wet but wrung-out parchment sheet.
Combine the lupin, tapioca flour, xantham gum, and sea salt and set aside.
In a heavy-bottom saucepan, melt the butter with the water until lightly boiling. Add the flour mixture and stir until it comes together and forms a film on the bottom of the pan.
Pour the mixture into a small food processor. Add the large eggs and process until entirely incorporated. Add the cheese and process again until smooth.
Spoon quarter-sized balls onto the prepared baking sheet about 5 cm apart. Bake for 15 minutes at 400° F until golden.
Serving size is one Gougères
These freeze really well too. Just reheat them from frozen for 7-10 minutes at 200° F.
Notes:
These are made in a food processor which is not traditional but I found that the cheese blended much better to the cooked roux.
Baking powder is essential for the recipe, making without resulted quite flat gougères.
You may add any old cheese, but the more flavourful, the better.
A little smoked paprika might be a nice addition but then it limits you to what you might stuff them with.
These delightful brownies came about because I had some milk going bad so I made a batch of ricotta. The ricotta lends to the brownies’ fudginess, making them creamy and rich. The use of the unsweetened cocoa powder makes these brownies very chocolatey. If you’re not concerned about sugar, add a few chocolate chips into the batter to give them a double chocolate flavour.
You might have noticed that I’m cutting back my posts to every two weeks, I’ve been blogging since 2007 (food blogging since 2008) and sadly it’s getting to feel like a chore every week, after 1,200 posts, it’s no wonder! I will certainly drop by your blog and leave a comment and I hope you will still follow me and leave a comment, I always look forward to hearing from you.
Low Carb Fudgy Ricotta Brownies
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Makes 1 pan 10 cm x 20 cm (4 inch x 8 inch) pan
Ingredients:
30 g salted butter
50 g ricotta
90 g erythritol
1 egg
30 g unsweetened cocoa powder
5 mL pure vanilla extract
5 g baking powder
100 g almond flour
handful of peanuts
Directions:
Combine all of the ingredients (except the peanuts) in a magic bullet and blend for a couple of minutes. This blending allows the erythritol and the almond flour to emulsify within the liquids and will not be ‘crunchy’ in the batter.
Pour the ingredients into a prepared loaf pan and dot with the peanuts. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with just a few crumbs on it.
My dear friend Liz posted a no-bake PB and Chocolate cookie back in early July and I couldn’t resist making them Low-Carb! It was a sweltering July so I automatically turned them into freezer cookies so we could enjoy them while cooling us! They are the perfect combination of peanuts and chocolate and they are just sweet enough.
Delicious and refreshing on these hot, humid summer days.
Low Carb No-Bake PB and Chocolate Freezer Cookies
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Makes about 16 cookies about 15 g each
Ingredients:
60 g Erythritol
155 g peanut butter, natural (smooth or crunchy)
2.5 g salt
5 mL pure vanilla extract
15 g cocoa powder, sifted
165 g cream cheese, room temperature
Directions:
In a heavy-bottom saucepan, combine the erythritol, butter and peanut butter and heat slowly on medium heat until all everything has melted and the erythritol is no longer grainy (about 175-200° F). Remove from the heat and transfer to a bowl.
Add in the vanilla, salt and cocoa powder and mix well, add cream cheese and beat with a hand mixer until well blended.
Spoon by 15 g (tablespoon) onto a parchment-lined tray and freeze. Allow to freeze for four hours before serving. Store in the freezer.
This recipe came about as we were knee-deep in a heat wave. High temperatures with high humidity and volatile storms. Thank goodness for Air Conditioning! I remembered an old recipe of Banana Chocolate Avocado Frozen pudding I made in 2011 and since I had a couple of over-ripe avocados, I thought, let’s rekindle this oldie but a goodie. Unfortunately, I did not have any bananas on hand so I improvised and gosh-darn, it turned out pretty good. It’s super creamy and luxurious. To me, it takes like frozen ganache. You can thank me later.
2 small, extremely ripe avocados (about 200 g of flesh)
30 g peanut butter
Directions:
Combine the whipping cream, erythritol and chocolate in a saucepan and melt over low heat so erythritol is no longer grainy and chocolate has completely melted and it’s all emulsified (looks like ganache). Cool slightly.
Combine the chocolate with the avocados and blitz with an immersion blender until very smooth.
In a freezer-proof container with a tightly sealing lid, layer the chocolate cream and dot with peanut butter, continue until all the chocolate cream has been layered and dotted with peanut butter. Freeze until a desired consistency has been achieved (I find that overnight is a bit too hard and it must be left on the counter for 5-10 minutes to soften).
I made this tasty salad way back in June, when we were knee-deep in a huge heat wave across Ontario and Québec and it was brutal. Temperatures soared and then there was the humidity which made it “feel like” 31° C (88° F). Fortunately, we have A/C but if you needed to do anything outdoors, like building a new arbour, you were covered in sweat in no time. This is where we landed when we decided to replace our 20+ year old arbour covered in a very invasive, flowering vine. The arbour was in serious decay and every year JT had to reinforce it. My dear friend and her family offered to help us do the demo. We couldn’t have done it without them (we served a grilled 5 kg (11 lb) steak lunch with all the trimmings as a thank you). They pulled the entire thing down and then there was the cleanup which was no small feat. They dropped off 400 kg (882 LB) of debris at the dump and we had about 10 garden waste bags plus about 15 bundles of the old vine. It was a huge job but it’s done now and we feel great about it. JT and I rebuilt a more contemporary arbour with a gate to give us easier access to behind the arbour where the speaker and electrical wires are. I am no stranger to power tools and I love putting on the work gloves and putting some sweat equity into our place and although I am starting to work slower, I can still get ‘er done! Mind you, our dear neighbour, JR had to help JT set the 6x6x12s in the ground because I couldn’t budge them, even with JT’s help. Here are some of the highlights:
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We find both cucumber and mint are extremely refreshing.
Cucumber and Mint Salad
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Serves 2-4
Ingredients:
about 1/2 large English cucumber, slide into 1 cm thickness and then cut into sixths
a small handful of mint, julienned
15 g sweet onions, chopped into small bits
45 mL EVOO
45 mL vinegar
15 g erythritol
5 mL mustard
salt and pepper
Directions:
Combine the cucumber pieces with the mint and onions and mix well.
In a small measuring cup, combine the EVOO, vinegar, erythritol, mustard and whisk until smooth and emulsified. Taste and add salt and pepper if necessary.
Refrigerate until needed. Serve cold.
I served this tasty salad with grilled pork tenderloin steaks with a black olive tapenade and grilled zucchini and red peppers
I am converting all of our favourites one-by-one. This way we can stick to the low-carb life-style and only splurge when we go out, which is rarely these days. Let’s talk about why. Restaurant prices are out of control. A simple sandwich is now $20+ at lunch, if you want dinner, main courses start at $30 and that is pasta! Don’t get me started on tipping. Most restaurants begin the tipping choices on the card machines at 18%, up to 25% or, you can choose your own but they don’t make it easy because usually it’s a dollar amount and not a percentage. We were even asked to tip at a bagel counter that only sold bagels to take home, not sandwiches! I recently saw a millennial on Insta and he said, “if I have to pay before I get my food, I don’t tip.” And I’ve also seen someone say that if they order standing up, they don’t leave a tip. Are you fed up of restaurant pricing and the tipping, and how is it in your country?
Low-Carb Cheese Sticks (made without almond flour)
A Kitcheninspirations original recipe
Makes about 35 sticks, depending on how you cut them
Ingredients:
57 g cold butter, cubed
50 g vital wheat gluten
20 g oat fibre
2 g baking powder
Pinch of salt
60 g old cheddar, shredded
Add flavouring like powdered onion, garlic etc.
about 60 mL water
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350° F.
Combine all of the ingredients in the small bowl of your food processor and process until entirely combined, add water about 15 mL at a time until the dough comes together.
Roll out to 0.5 cm (1/4 inch) and cut into short slices (about 1 cm x 5 cm). Place each slice onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 15-18 minutes or until golden. They will harden as they cool.
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Kitcheninspirations 