Summer Grilling Without the Fuss!

I totally *heart* foil packets!! Remember them from girl scouts? Little dinners assembled in foil and put to cook on the open fire? Well, this makes camping soooooo easy. I make them ahead of time, throw them in a cooler and while we are all enjoying the lovely campfire, dinner is cooking. And the best part? How much more healthy and low carb can you get than meat and veggies? If you aren't in to camping, throw them on the grill.

The pictures are of the assembly and cooking - no recipes involved, but you can put anything you want in these. Don't forget to season them before you seal them all up. I used ground beef and mixed some seasoning salt into the beef before cooking it. This is our own beef which I had ground VERY lean, so if you're using beef make sure to get 80% lean or better. Otherwise, the grease will be nasty.

Here are my ingredients assembled - from bottom left - green beans, yellow squash, carrotts, turnips, mushrooms, ground beef. Somewhere there was onion too!



Here is the packet all assembled and waiting for the heat!

Have fun with these! Make them up the night before for a really fast/ no mess/ quick dinner!

Peanut Butter Cookies

Memorial Day picnics are soon to be here. This is an easy recipe that is a sure crowd pleaser. I adapted the Paula Dean recipe floating around the internet. Those cookies were always a little too dry for me. These are best if baked until just "done" - browned on bottom - if baked too long, you'll be playing hockey with them.

Joni's Sugar Free Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup smooth peanut butter

2 eggs

1/3 cup almond flour (ground almonds)

1 tsp vanilla

2/3 cup granular splenda

Mix all together and form into little balls. Cross hatch and flatten with a fork dipped in some additional Splenda. Bake at 350 for about 12-15 minutes. (It took 12 in my countertop oven. It may take longer in a big oven). Remember, bake just until done. Cool thoroughly on a rack and store in air tight container. If not being eaten right away, freeze or refrigerate due to no sugar to act as a preservativie.

I got about 20 cookies.

Fruity Granola

I absolutely cannot be trusted around Linda F's Nutty Granola ! It is worse than crack. (OK, not that I know what a crack addiction is like, but... well ya'know.)
So, I came up with a plan to trim the calories just a bit. The final product is not bad at all. Actually, it's very good.

Joni's Fruity Granola

Spray coat the bottom of a large roaster with cooking spray. Heat oven to 250 and add the following:

1/2 cup peanuts

1/2 cup slivered almonds

1/2 cup pecan halves

1/2 cup pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds)

1/2 cup flax seeds

1/2 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 cup soy nuts

1 1/2 cups oats

In a saucepan melt:

1/3 cup smart balance margarine

2 tablespoons canola oil

1/2 cup cherry sugar free preserves

1/2 cup splenda

1 tsp vanilla

Pour over the nuts and seeds and mix well. Put in oven and stir every 20 minutes or so until dry. Mine took about 2 1/2 hours.

Thanks again to Linda F and her awesome recipes!

Ricotta Muffins

I want to write this down before I forget the recipe. These are really GOOD! Picture is of them filled halway up, then I put a little SF cherry preserves. (Of course you need to fill them the rest of the way up!)

1/2 cup ricotta cheese (I used lowfat)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tablespoon butter/margarine - melted
1 tablespoon milk (I used skim)

1/2 cup vanilla protein powder
1/2 cup almond flour
1/2 cup ground flax
1 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
1/4 cup Splenda
Preheat oven to 350 and prepare a mini - muffin pan
Mix wet and dry and then add the wet to dry. Combine with spoon. Fill 12 of the muffin tins with the batter and bake for 12-15 minutes until set and the edges are brown.

Cool for 5 minutes and remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack. I store these in a zip top bag in the refrigerator. They seem to keep more moist there.

Options - fill muffin tins halfway up, add a dab of SF jelly or a chocolate chip and then fill the rest of the way! yum!

Fluffy Veggie Frittata

I'm not sure this is exactly a traditional frittata, but it was good and it was made with eggs. Now that our hens are laying a whole heck of a lot of eggs every day, we'll be eating a lot of them. But, "On no!" you say, "Eggs are bad for you!". Nope, they aren't. Studies show there is no association between consumption of dietary cholesterol and your serum cholesterol levels. It's the saturated fats that will get you. It's the incredible edible egg! :)

Fluffy Veggie Frittata

5 eggs
1/2 cup low fat ricotta cheese
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 cup mozzarella
1 cup cooked broccoli, chopped fine
1 cup shredded zucchini
salt and pepper to taste
Whisk together eggs, milk and cheeses and then add in the vegetable. Spray nonstick spray in a large skillet with high sides (make sure it is oven proof). Add the egg mixture and place on a medium-low heat, covered until set. Then uncover and place under the broiler until the top is browned.
We all really liked this. The ricotta makes it fluffy. Experiment with different cheeses and veggies.

Pumpkin Breakfast Cookie.

Boy, I've had a lot of fun with the breakfast cookies! So easy and quick to make. I made a version using pumpkin and some diced apple. I'm sure raisins would work. (Though I'm not a big fan of the little wrinkly guys- I mean if you're going to let a grape rot, you might as well turn it into wine...)
Let me know what variations you come up with!

Pumpkin/Apple Breakfast Cookie

¾ cup plain pumpkin
1 egg
(Mix and set aside)

½ cup Splenda
½ cup unsweetened coconut
½ cup ground flax seed
½ cup protein powder (choc or vanilla)
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon
1 small apple – peeled and diced

Mix dry and add to wet ingredients. Pile on a well greased cookie sheet, parchment paper or silicone sheet. These retain the shape you put them in and don't really rise. So keep them spread out in a cookie shape. Then bake at 350 for 20 minutes. These don't “bake” as much as they “set up”. So when the cookie is firm to touch in the middle, they are done. This makes 9 cookies. I don't have the stats on them. They are probably similar to my other breakfast cookie.

Let cool completely and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. (There is no sugar to preserve them). I also have a request to make these without the coconut. I'll try and let you know.

Cauliflower Rice

I had a question on how to make the cauliflower rice. I'll tell you how I do it. I'm sure there are fancier methods using "ricers" and such, but I don't own one and this is easy enough I don't need to buy one.

First, start with a fresh head of cauliflower. (Frozen would not work, though you could make some yummy mashed cauliflower with frozen...)
Next clean it up and chop into sizes that will fit into your food processor. (Not a mini processor, that would NOT work). I use the stem and the florets.
Then put the shredding blade on your food processor. Just start shredding up all that yummy stuff.
When you're done, heat some oil in a pan with high sides - either a large skillet or soup pot. Lower the heat to a medium and add the cauliflower, gently cooking and stirring until it's tender (doesn't take very long - maybe 5 or 10 minutes) You don't want it to brown, just get tender.
Now you can use right away or refrigerate or freeze for later on.

Easy peasy!!