Mashed Cauliflower

 

I think this is the most perfect and tasty replacement for mashed potatoes. I have fooled some of my kids friends with this one, however my youngest will never be fooled. He can spot a veggie a mile away. You can decide for yourself.

You can choose to do this with fresh or frozen cauliflower. This recipe I used fresh because all the frozen was cleaned out. Both work. Fresh takes a lot longer, but frozen is a little wetter so its a little thinner.

You will need

2 heads of cauliflower

4 oz/half a block of cream cheese

2 tbsp. butter

salt and pepper to taste

 

Remove the outer leaves and hard parts of the cauliflower (I don’t know what its called) You just want the florets and the extended pieces. Cut up and place in a steamer basket with some water underneath. Cover and steam for about an hour. Check it regularly and when the cauliflower is very soft it is ready.

Place the steamed cauliflower in a food processer. If you have the average size processer you will need to do this in 2 batches. Half the butter and cream cheese so you can use a 1/2 per batch. Process the cauliflower, butter, and cream cheese until smooth.

Mix in salt and pepper to your taste.

This is the best way to get it to the consistency of mashed potatoes. If you use a hand mixer like you would for potatoes you will not have the same creamy texture. A blender is another option, but be sure you have one that can handle heat. You don’t want your blender glass to shatter.

 

Sausage Gravy

So I finally bit the bullet and decided to try sausage gravy. I did this because I made some biscuits that turned out to be something I could actually eat and call it a biscuit Posting that recipe soon). I think that is one of the problems to trying this Keto lifestyle out. We want stuff to taste like it did before, but that isn’t possible. We can however get stuff as close to possible to satisfy a craving without ruining our lifestyle.

If you are not a good whisker…. that’s a word right?…. it doesn’t matter….rules of grammar and punctuation mean nothing to me… If you aren’t a good whisker, this recipe will be hard. Also, I am trying to get better about writing stuff down, but the truth is I kind of cook as I go and wing it. I need you to be willing to do that to. If you need precise instructions and measurements then some of my recipes will not be for you. I’m sorry.

You will need

1 lb of pork sausage

1 envelope of xanthan gum

Heavy cream 1 cup plus more

2 oz of cream cheese

salt and pepper to taste

 

Brown the sausage in a skillet, drain and set aside. Add the grease back to the skillet along with 2 tbsp. bacon grease and cream cheese. Cook and whisk over low heat until combined well. It will not look appetizing at this stage. Add 1 cup of heavy cream and heat up while whisking. Take about a tbs or two of hot water and mix the xanthan gum with it. Use a fork and mix up like crazy. it will look like this.

Throw a small clump of that paste into the skillet and whisk like crazy. At this point the gravy will start to thicken over the next few minutes. This is when you need to decide whether you need to add more of the paste or heavy cream. I added more cream first, a little bit more paste, and then finished off with more cream to get the amount of gravy I needed. Be careful with the xanthan gum because it can be, well, gummy.

Once the gravy is the texture and thickness you like add a little salt and pepper, whisk well. Now you can put your sausage back in the skillet. Now you want to taste it to see if you need more salt and pepper.

You will end up with a gravy that will satisfy your craving for biscuits and gravy without have to cheat!

Low Carb Ranch Dressing

I think if you go back and look at my blog post you will find a trend. 1- I go long periods of time without posting 2-I am like most women and always on some type of diet. There are so many different eating programs out there but I think the most popular is keto or low carb. I am currently doing keto. I feel wonderful and am losing weight. Whatever you do, do what is best for you. Whether that be vegan or the fried chicken diet. Do what makes you happy.

All that being said I am that typical southern gal that loves her ranch dressing. I hate ranch dressing from the bottle though. Has to be homemade. I love the hidden valley packet, but now that I am paying attention to labels I needed an alternative. This makes a large batch so you can cut it down. I make it and put it in a large spice container and it last a while. Another great thing about this is you can adapt it to your liking. Want Cajun ranch? Add some Cajun seasoning. Buffalo ranch? Buffalo dressing. Like it thicker? Add some more mayo. Less ranchy, less seasoning. You get the idea?

 

 

What you need for the dry ranch mix-

6 TBSP Garlic Powder

1 TBSP Garlic Salt

1 tsp Black Pepper

1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper

3 TBSP Minced Dried Onion

3 TBSP Onion Powder

5 TBSP Salt

10 TBSP Dried Parsley

Place all ingredients in a coffee grinder and grind until mixed together and a fine powder. Store in an airtight container.

 

To make the dressing-

1/2 cup no sugar mayo ( I use Dukes)

1/2 cup Sour Cream or Plain Greek Yogurt

1/2 cup 1/2 & 1/2

1/2 cup Heavy Whipping Cream

3 TBSP Dry Seasoning

Whisk all together. Add more mayo, sour cream, or yogurt to make thicker.

 

Chicken and Avocado Enchiladas

So a few things before I get to the recipe. I have been following a eating plan called Trim Healthy Mama. I highly suggest this way of eating. I have been losing weight and feel great. Along with amazing food. I haven’t posted any recipes (or anything for that matter) in awhile. I think it is time I get back to it. I am challenging myself to make delicious recipes while on this plan, which is so easy to do!

There is a local Mexican restaurant that I visited and allowed myself to a cheat meal. I had an avocado enchilada and it was amazing! I have been wanting it again, but didn’t want to cheat. So today I decided I was going to try to recreate this recipe. One thing I needed to do is to add protein. Enough babbling, here is the recipe.  (Below the recipe you will find step by step instructions with pictures)

 

Chicken and Avocado Enchiladas

2 Packs of low carb tortillas ( I prefer the soft taco size)

1 8oz package of cream cheese softened

1-2 avocados

2 jars salsa Verde

1 can diced chilies

1 Tsp Cumin

3-4 cups cooked shredded chicken

Shredded Mexican blend cheese

 

Mix chicken, chilie peppers, and cumin.

Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray.

Spread cream cheese on a tortilla, top with some chicken mixture, avocado, and mixed cheese. Roll up and place seam side down in dish.

Continue until dish is filled up. If you use the soft taco size tortillas and place like I did you will get 12 enchiladas.

Taste the jars of salsa and see if you need to add salt to your liking.

Pour salsa over enchiladas and sprinkle with a little more cheese.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.

Remove from oven and let rest for 5 minutes.

Sprinkle with fresh cilantro.

 

 

Gather your ingredients.

I may have left out a few in the picture. I was making up the recipe as I go.

 

If you notice I have premade chicken strips. This is not something I normally buy, but it was buy 1 get 1 so I decided to get it. I used it tonight to cut down on prep and surprisingly it worked out great. You could use a rotisserie chicken or boil chicken yourself.

I placed the strips in the microwave long enough to thaw them out then put in food processor with the cumin and can of peppers.

I gave it a few pulses and it was good to go.

Then I got my work surface ready by laying out the tortillas, cream cheese, shredded cheese, and dicing up avocado.

Spray a dish with non stick cooking spray.

Now you are going to assemble the enchiladas. Start by spreading the softened cream cheese onto a tortilla.

Now layer the chicken, avocado, and cheese.

Roll up and place seam side down in the dish.

Continue until your pan is filled.

Now it is time to taste your salsa. Personally I poured mine into a dish and added some salt and a dash of cumin. I am def a salt person though, so season to taste. After that pour over the enchiladas.

Now sprinkle with a little more cheese if you are cheese obsessed like me, if not omit it. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Take out and let rest for 5 minutes then sprinkle with some fresh chopped cilantro. If you aren’t a fan of cilantro or don’t have any, leave it off.

Me, myself, and I…. Well I added some diced green onion and tomatoes. But you do you. I think you could do so many things with this recipe. Add onions, bell peppers, steak, black olives, etc. Experiment and have fun!

Mini Low Carb Tacos

So I am doing this Trim Healthy Mama plan. I happen to love it. I like it much better than south beach that I was on before. Really I would just like it if fat was sexy and I could eat everything deep fried and smothered with gravy.

You can make these low carb tacos with whatever filling you want. I just did ground beef. The mini ones are small enough that you can’t do a bunch of fancy toppings, however you can make these into large shells.

 

What you need-

Shredded Mexican blend cheese

An oven

Parchment paper

A sheet pan

 

Preheat the oven to 300. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Place a thin layer of shredded cheese in small circles.

Bake in the over for 15-20 minutes until the cheese has browned but not burnt

Drape the cheese over something to form the shells and leave it until cooled.

You could obviously make these much prettier by making sure the cheese is in a nice even circle or trimming the edges. I don’t really care about the looks of it myself.

Just fill and enjoy the carb free tacos!

 

Cheesy Bacon Pork Chops

This is so easy and delicious! Quick enough to make on a busy weeknight.

What you need-

Boneless pork chops
shredded cheese of choice (I use Colby jack blend)
bacon diced, cooked, and drained
salt and pepper

I don’t use measurements because how many chops you make is entirely up to you. I also don’t put a cooking time because that all depends on the thickness of the chop you prefer. I used thin so it was fast. The thicker will require more cooking time. I am sure most of you already know how to put a pork chop in the oven. I bake it at 375.

Salt and pepper each side of the pork chop and bake until about 5 minutes away from being done.
Sprinkle with cheese and bacon. Bake the remaining 5 minutes then put under broiler for just a minute or two.

I like to serve some homemade ranch on the side with these.

Pizza Muffins

I love making these because I love anything with pizza in the name! These are fun for a good homemade snack or lunch. I prefer to make 6 large muffins, but you can also make mini muffins.

What you need-

3/4 c flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp oregano
1 beaten egg
3/4 c milk
1 c shredded mozzarella
1 c pepperoni slices cut into 4’s or mini pepperoni

Mix the first 4 ingredients. Fold in pepperoni and cheese. Let rest 10 minutes. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

Mix all your dry ingredients, make a well and add the wet, then mix together.

Now you are going to fold in the cheese and pepperoni. Here is what I found. I like the taste better of the pepperoni when I cut it into 4’s rather than the minis. Also, the thicker shredded cheese taste better in this recipe (verses the finely shredded). This is just my opinion, feel free to play around. You could also add other pizza toppings here if you would like. Sub ground sausage for the pepperoni. Add sautéed onions and peppers, black olives etc. Go crazy!

Now we have everything mixed!

Lightly spray your muffin cups with cooking spray and add the mix. Don’t worry they will be nice and full. It won’t spill over.

Bake them in a 375 oven for about 20 minutes or until they look like this.

Serve with a little marina sauce on the side to dip it in. Yummy!!

Parenting…What it’s REALLY like

The pictures above are old pictures of my youngest son, Morgan. To say that he is a handful is an understatement. I have often times thought in the middle of the day, this may be it, Morgan plans to kill me. I mean ,like, I’m going to have heart failure, pass out from exhaustion, or my eardrums blow up… It’s bound to happen. When it does everyone can say yes Shannon said this may happen. Don’t be upset with him though. He didn’t really mean it. This little bundle of energy is just the way God made him. I believe God also made him so cute to off set everything else.
Before you start typing to send me hate mail complaining that I talk about my child and how I am an awful mother, please don’t waste your time. In our family we find humor in things. Each of us have our flaws, something to learn from others, something to teach others, and our strengths. It’s what makes the world go round. We can laugh at the way God designed us, it’s ok. Me personally, I have all kinds of flaws. It would take me all month to write about them, but I will just let you use your imagination.
When I pictured being a mother, images of a smiling baby popped in my head. The sweet sound of coos and baby talk, giggles and baby kisses. Teaching my little one how to write. Holding hands and skipping to school. I cannot tell you how wrong the images of motherhood were. And, again before I start getting hate mail about how I should be thankful to be a mom and all that other stuff… I am. I am very thankful. We had trouble conceiving after Michael. I took fertility meds, I spent a lot of time praying to be blessed with another child… I know how blessed we are. It doesn’t make the trials of parenthood any easier.
This is what a typical morning is like for me. I wake up, I thank the Lord for giving me another day and spend a minute talking to him. I make coffee. I pack lunches and make breakfast. I am not a morning person. Meaning, I don’t mind being up, I just don’t want to be talked to or bothered for at least an hour. By now I am doing pretty good, news is on in the background, I’m pouring another cup of coffee. It’s another day in paradise. Then it’s time to wake up the kids. SCRATCH that. That’s not a typical morning. That is a good morning when the first part before waking the kids up goes smoothly. Normally it goes like this… About 4 a.m. Maddy, who has got in the bed with us and kicked her father out of his spot, is kicking the crap out of me and I am mumbling and asking her to scoot over. 5 a.m. Morgan comes into the room and is jumping on me. I say Morgan please don’t wake up Maddy. I put the t.v. on something kid related in hopes of getting a few extra minutes of shut eye. I manage to get out of the bed because I can’t take Morgan all jumping over me anymore. I come in the kitchen and hear little feet a few minutes behind. Now Morgan in his regular voice (which is pretty much yelling) says mommy what’s for breakfast?? Me- I basically just beg him to go watch cartoons for a few minutes because mommy really needs to wake up. Then I get to the point where I wake the others up. Somewhere between me waking them up and me saying it’s time to leave World War III breaks out.
This makes us all run behind. I am a punctual person. I get very flustered when I run late, kids are not good for this. The first bell rings for school at 7:40 or so. We are normally pulling up about that time. And the times that I have to walk the kids in and sign them in late I get upset because the excuses are things like over slept. Why don’t they have things like- I couldn’t be on time this morning because he licked his sister, or she farted on him? Those are my late excuses.
My point to all this is because being a mom is NOTHING like I expected. I didn’t know how hard it would be. How scary it is, and how scary the world is. Anything I say or do could mess my child up for the rest of their lives. I could be the cause for lifetime therapy bills. This is serious stuff. Not to mention I lost my sanity about 6 years ago. Then, even if you do everything right in the upbringing of your child you have to worry about John Doe at school and the stuff they are into. Let me tell you, things aren’t like they were when we were kids. Children today know way to much. They have access to way too much. They have every answer they will ever need at their fingertips. That, my friends, is scary stuff!! You are just mom and dad. You know nothing in their eyes.
To add to it all, we as mothers have Facebook, message boards, and mom groups. Thousands of things to make us feel like we are doing everything wrong. What diaper you choose, how you feed, your discipline method, your sleeping arrangements… every aspect of your life is being judged by others. To top it all off then you get on Facebook and you see status after status of people saying how wonderful their kids are and see how they made a gluten, dairy, and sugar free cupcakes for the kids after their 10 mile bike ride. You try to tell yourself that peoples lives aren’t as perfect as they make it appear. You remind yourself that the grass is always greener on the other side. You look at all your blessings. It makes it hard not to feel like a failure.
I want to say that it is about dang time we stop sugar coating everything! Do I love my children? Yes, more than anything in this world. Do I have days where I feel like I can’t do this anymore? Yes again. Most days I feel like nothing more than a servant to them. I listen to them whine about what I am cooking for dinner, I watch them walk over the piece of trash on the floor. I try my best to teach them the right way. Like how it’s not polite to complain about what someone is cooking for you and how they should pick up the trash and not walk over it. I listen to them back talk me and test my patience constantly. I see them sit on their butts while I am busting mine to clean the house. It’s a job that never ends. It is the most underappreciated thing you will ever do in life. Sometimes you will ask yourself why you even try. I have often told my husband that I didn’t think I was cut out for this parenting thing. Luckily he always tells me what a great mom I am. He also tells me to stop thinking everything has to be perfect all the time.
There comes a point where I have to agree with him and let go. When I am at the grocery store with my kids, everyone in the store can hear them. I’m sorry they are loud. I do not know where they get it from, I am not loud. It drives me crazy. They are all loud and talk an unreal amount. They all 3 argue all the time. I normally get a lot of dirty looks. Normally all from other women. Who knows what they are thinking. Some may be looking in disgust because my children are bi racial, some are thinking I need to shut those kids up, some are thinking I should spank them, some are thinking I should use time out. Point being they are all thinking something. Why is it that we feel the need to walk around and judge each other? Don’t you think this trip in the store with 3 arguing kids is stressful enough without you giving me “the eye”. I mean really ladies. We should support each other.
I didn’t know when I became a mom that I would literally sit in my car crying because I was so overwhelmed by motherhood. I have had melt downs at just about every place imaginable. I have them about once a month. Complete and total basket case melt downs. I ask myself why do I try so hard when the kids obviously don’t care because I am just their maid/cook/driver? Why do I lose sleep and run myself ragged to make sure everything is perfect for them when they clearly don’t care? Why do I allow what others think of my parenting skills bother me? I have my meltdown, I wake up the next morning like nothing ever happened. I think it’s just my way of dealing with things. We all have different ways we cope.
So here is my point to all this rambling… Being a parent is not all rainbows and unicorns. It is OKAY to not always like being a mom (or dad). It is OKAY to sometimes think you need a break. You are human. Kids yell, throw things, spit, puke, crap, are selfish, are irrational, and well a lot of times hard to live with. Feeling like you would like to get away sometimes is OKAY. It doesn’t make you a bad parent, it just makes you a person. We are not perfect, don’t let the internet make you feel like you have to be.

Crab and shrimp stuffed shells

I was going budget friendly and used imitation crab meat, but this recipe is over the moon good with real crab meat. Both ways are delicious.

What you need-

1 lb shrimp, peeled, deveined, and cut in half
16 oz imitation crab meat or large can of real crab meat
2 cloves garlic
1 1/4 stick butter
1/2 c flour
10 oz gruyere, shredded
1 c heavy whipping cream
1 c half and half
2 c whole milk
1 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 box jumbo shells
Melt butter in a skillet
If using imitation crab meat, chop into pieces and add to skillet.
Cook about 5 minutes then add garlic and cook a few more minutes (If using real crabmeat cook garlic by itself about a minute then add crab and shrimp together)
Add shrimp
Cook until just turning pink DO NOT OVERCOOK
Remove from heat and set aside
Cook shells according to pkg instructions
In a pot add butter, when melted add flour and whisk around
Add milk, 1/2 and half, and heavy cream
Whisk around until thickened
Add salt and cayenne pepper
Add cheese
Whisk around until melted
Add a little sauce into the bottom of lasagna pan (13X9 cake pan)
Place large spoonful of shrimp mix into shells and line in pan
top with remaining sauce
Bake at 350 for 20-30 mins

Meatballs with yogurt sauce (southbeach approved)

If I post a recipe that’s ok to eat on the lovely south beach diet I am on I will let you know in the title. Most are NOT lol. I will try to get more creative and make some more up. It’s just easier for me to throw meat on a salad. This recipe was a hit with everyone in the house.

Meatballs-
1 lb ground turkey
1 lb lean ground beef
1/2 onion diced fine
1/2 bell pepper diced fine
3 tsp all purpose greek seasoning

Mix all ingredients
shape into balls
Bake at 425 for 15 mins

Yogurt sauce
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tsp dried mint
2 tsp all purpose greek seasoning
1 cup plain low fat greek yogurt
1/8 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp thyme

Mix all together