Low carb macaroni and cheese that tastes like the real thing

When I went low carb, I mourned the loss of pasta. I'm Italian, it was a big deal! Then I stumbled across Thin Slim Foods and life was good again. I am in no way affiliated with the company, just a hungry Italian in need of a decent pasta.

I can't handle the so called low carb 'miracle noodles' that smell like a non-food and is made from weird slimy plant root.

I digress. On to the recipe!

Ingredients:
- 2 packages of Impastable Low Carb elbows
- 3 tbsp unsalted butter
- 3 tbsp almond flour
- 1 tbsp powdered mustard
- 3 cups 2% milk
- 1 small yellow onion, finely diced
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1 large egg
- 12 oz extra sharp cheddar cheese (who am I kidding, I usually use more. Be at one with the cheese. Use as much as your heart tells you.)
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- black pepper to taste

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large pot, cook pasta to al dente, about 8 min.

While pasta is cooking, melt butter in medium pot. Whisk in flour and mustard and keep it moving for about 5 min, making sure it's free of lumps. Stir in milk, onion, bay leaf, and paprika. Simmer for 10 minutes and remove bay leaf.

Temper in egg. Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2 quart casserole dish. Top with remaining cheese.

Bake for 30 min. I usually flip it to broil at the end and watch carefully to brown the cheese on top.

Remove from oven, let rest for about 5 min. Enjoy the deliciousness!

Spinach & Artichoke Stuffed Chicken

I'm pretty good at finding new ways to reinvent my two of my favorite foods...spinach and artichoke hearts. First came the hummus, then came the foccia bread...then the diet. :( But alas! Chicken stuffed with spinach and artichokes turned out great.

Ingredients:
- 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
- 5 Oz raw baby spinach
- 12 Oz marinated artichoke hearts
- 3.5 Oz crumbled feta
- 1 tbsp. minced garlic 
- 2 Roma tomatoes 
- 3 tbsp pesto
- olive oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Dice spinach and artichoke hearts, sauté with garlic until spinach is wilted. Remove from heat and mix in feta.
Butterfly chicken, and stuff with artichoke mixture. 
Drizzle olive oil into bottom of pan, place chicken on top. Brush top of chicken with pesto, top with tomato. 
Cook for 40 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through.

Nutrition facts:
Serves 3
Calories: 449
Protein: 64g
Carbs: 7g
Fiber: 4g
Sugar: 1g
Fat: 19g

French Onion Meatballs and Cauliflower Rice

Did you know how terrible Campbell's canned French onion soup is for you? There are all sorts of weird ingredients I can't pronounce, plus extra sugar, wheat gluten, and potato starch. Yum. Alas, I was craving onion soup, and decided it should be the base for my next recipe. There had to be a way to make it less terrible for you.

I think I figured it out. Plus, I'm getting better at making cauliflower have actual taste.

Ingredients:
1 lb ground round beef
1/2 c almond meal
1/2 c minced onion
1 egg
1 tbsp roasted garlic
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme
1 pkg Lipton's onion soup mix
2 c water
1 c low sodium beef broth
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tbsp almond meal
1 head cauliflower
4 slices ultra thin provolone cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 
Combine ground beef, 1/2 c almond meal, onion, egg, garlic, oregano, and thyme in mixing bowl. Roll into meatballs...I got 24 medium sized ones. Place on greased baking sheet and cook for 25 minutes.

While meatballs are cooking, combine the onion soup mix, water, beef broth in a medium sauce pan on medium heat. Once it begins to simmer, reduce heat. Combine 1 tbsp of melted butter and 1 tbsp almond meal and pour into sauce. This helps thicken the sauce, so if you want it thicker, add more almond meal.

I'm a huge fan of prepping tons of cauliflower 'rice' and freezing it until I'm ready to use. Simply cut cauliflower heads into medium sized pieces and place in food processor. Pulse until cauliflower is rice sized, being careful not to over process. At this point I freeze until I'm ready to use. But since you are using it now, make sure to squeeze any excess water from the cauliflower. Heat 1 tbsp butter in skillet. Add cauliflower, and sauté for about 5 minutes. Cut provolone into thin strips, remove skillet from heat, and stir in provolone.

Once the meatballs are done cooking, add them to the onion soup and let simmer for 5 minutes. This allows the meatballs to soak up some of the yummy onion soup/sauce.

Place about 1/2 cup cauliflower rice on plate and add meatballs. Pour sauce over meatballs and serve. Seriously delicious and still pretty healthy. 

Serves 6  - 1/2 cup cauliflower and 4 meatballs

Nutrition facts:
Calories: 329
Fat: 23.1g
Carbs: 13.1g
Fiber: 4.4g
Sugar: 3.8g
Protein: 22.1g

Low Carb Mexican Meat Loaf

I miss tacos.  A lot.  While I've managed to subsist on fajitas without the tortillas, it's not the same.  So I figured it was high time to figure out something to at least curb the need for tacos.  Because, tacos.  Besides, I had some ground venison in the freezer and thought, what better use of said venison than a delicious taco substitute.  A few chops and stirs later, and tada!  Mexican Meat Loaf!  The best part about this recipe is that it is low calorie enough to top with some of your favorite taco toppings as well. I added some hatch chile salsa, guacamole, and extra cheddar cheese, and I barely missed the taco shells. Best part is, that if you are cooking for someone who is constantly complaining that all the carbs have vacated the house, this grounds up nicely into a taco shell.

She's not pretty, but she's delicious!  Also makes AMAZING leftovers!

Ingredients:

- 1 lb. ground sirloin

- 1 lb. ground venison (for those less daring, or with limited access to ground venison, an extra lb. of ground sirloin works well too.)

- 1 medium red bell pepper - minced

- 1 medium green bell pepper - minced

- 1 can rotel diced tomatoes & green chilies

- 2 egg whites, lightly beaten

- 1 white onion, minced

- 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese

- 1 tsp paprika

- 2 tsp chili powder

- 2 tsp roasted garlic

- Cooking spray

This is the easiest recipe ever.  Seriously.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Spray 9x5" loaf pan with cooking spray. Mix all of the ingredients above in a medium mixing bowl.  Your (clean) hands work best at incorporating all of the yummy veggies into the meat. Put meat mixture into the pan.  Place pan in oven. Cook for 1 hour or until the internal temperature is 160 degrees and meat loaf is cooked through. Let rest for about 15 minutes, then cut, top, and serve.

Makes 8 servings.

MyFitnessPal shows the following nutrition facts/serving:

Calories: 199

Carbs: 5.1g

Fiber: 1.3g

Fat: 8.1g

Protein: 35g

Sugars: 2.6g

"Fudge brownies"

If someone told me that one day I'd be eating the seeds that grew on my chia pet as a kid, I would have laughed my ass off. Seriously? And then it happened. As I was researching high fiber/low carb foods, low and behold, the mighty (yet tiny) chia seed. Once I managed to get the chia pet song out of my head, I've found some pretty amazing uses for these little guys. 

One thing I mourned the most when trying to cut sugar out of my diet was, well, sugar. Mainly all of the amazing desserts containing lots and lots of sugar. Like brownies. So I had to figure something to tame my sweet tooth. Most of the brownie recipes I found online were jokes. And by joke I mean I might as well have been eating sawdust. Admittedly, this still doesn't taste like the brownies of fat days past, but they do satisfy my sweet craving, and have that added fiber from the ch-ch-ch-chia seeds. Serve with a glass of unsweetened Vanilla Almond milk and it's almost like being a kid again. A very healthy kid.

Ingredients:

Brownie

• 1 Lily's Dark Chocolate bar (sweetened with stevia. This chocolate is incredible!)
• 8 Tbsp European style butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 c almond flour
• 1/2 c unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1.5 tsp cinnamon
• 1.5 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 c powdered stevia
• 1 tsp liquid stevia
• 3 large eggs
• 1/4 c black chia seeds

'Frosting'

• 1/2 Lily's Dark Chocolate bar (the other half makes a great treat while you're making this dessert. Just saying)
• 2 Tbsp European style butter
• 1/4 c heavy cream
• 1/2 tsp liquid stevia

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 8x8 baking pan (I used butter, because why not).

Melt chocolate, butter, vanilla in a double boiler or microwave. Just make sure you don't burn the chocolate or the brownies will taste like burnt chocolate.

Mix almond flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, and baking soda in small bowl. Set aside.

In larger bowl, beat eggs, powdered stevia, liquid stevia, and chia seeds until well blended. Add chocolate mixture. Slowly beat in dry ingredients. Mixture will be thick.

Pour into pan and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

As brownies are cooling, bring heavy cream to a simmer. Remove from heat and add chocolate, butter, and liquid stevia. Stir until melted. Try not to just straight drink the chocolate sauce because it's pretty incredible. Instead, pour over brownies. Place in fridge to harden sauce. Or not, gooey, messy brownies are just as tasty.

MyFitnessPal had the following, but it really depends on how big that one serving of brownie is you just cut. :) This is based on making 12 brownies

Calories: 262

Carbs: 17g (most of this is from the chia seeds and you need to be concentrating on net carbs)

Fat: 23g

Fiber: 9.5g

Sugar: 2g <--- right?! And still yummy!

Protein: 5g

Cheeseburger casserole

The thought of subbing cauliflower for potatoes sounds terrible to me. Cauliflower is not a potato, no matter how many people want it to be. Unfortunately, potatoes are high in carbs, so I had to figure out a way to make cauliflower taste good. Notice I said "taste good", not "taste like potato". Fortunately, I think I've figured it out here. To be honest, I usually modify even my own recipes to taste depending on my mood, so measurements are more of a suggestion. This turned out so amazing, I had to stop myself from getting seconds!

Ingredients:

• 1 head cauliflower, cut into small florets
• 1 lb. 80% lean ground beef
• 1 yellow onion, minced
• 1.5 tsp paprika
• 1.5 tsp cayenne powder
• 2 tsp Tony Chachere's (this stuff really is great on everything)
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1/2 pkg 1/3 fat cream cheese
• 1.5 cup heavy cream
• 3 cups cheddar cheese

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place cauliflower in boiling, salted water. Cook for 5-6 min until slightly transparent/soft. Don't overcook. No one wants to eat mushy cauliflower. Drain and pat dry.

Sauté meat, onion, paprika, cayenne, Tony's, and garlic powder until meat is browned. Drain meat, mix with cauliflower, and place in casserole dish.

In a small saucepan, bring cream to a simmer. Add cream cheese (this melts better if you cut it up into small cubes) and stir for a few minutes until melted. Add 1.5 cups of cheddar, stirring until melted.

Pour cheese sauce over meat/cauliflower. Sprinkle remaining cheese over dish, and bake for 15 minutes, uncovered. I'm a sucker for toasty browned cheese, so after it has cooked, I flip on the broiler and broil until cheese is browned.

MyFitnessPal app has the following nutritional info. But if this will vary depending on the brands of ingredients you use. If this diet has taught me anything, it has been READ EVERY LABEL. 

Calories: 541

Carbs: 7.4g

Fat: 44.8g

Protein: 25.5g

Fiber: 0.9g

Sugar: 0.5g