George Stella's 4 Ingredient Peanut Butter Cookies

This George Stella recipe has been floating around Facebook for months now. My co-worker made them but I had never tried baking them myself, but today I was feeling motivated and really craving something sweet, which is weird for me because I'm not a big sweets person.

But these peanut buttery, crispy cookies hit the spot. They are so rich tasting that just one did the trick and they are only 2 carbs per cookie!

I'll definitely be making these often, so easy and so delicious!

The Recipe:

OLD-FASHIONED PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES 
Flourless, Gluten Free, and Guilt Free 

Recipe from “The Complete Low-Carb Cookbook” 2014
By George Stella

Prep Time 10 min / Cook Time 12 min / Serves 8; 2 cookies each

SHOPPING LIST 
1 cup all-natural smooth peanut butter 
1 cup sugar substitute 
1 large egg, slightly beaten 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350° and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. 

2. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl, mixing well to create the cookie dough. 

3. Use a tablespoon to drop the spoonfuls of the dough 2 inches apart on the lined pan. Then use a fork to press the dough down, creating a criss-cross pattern on each cookie. 

4. Bake for 10–12 minutes, or until cookies begin to brown. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving. 

HELPFUL TIPS 
It is important to let cool completely before removing from the pan and also be careful not to overcook as these cookies are inherently "crumbly".

These are almost 100% peanut butter, and that’s a very good thing!

The recipe above says you can make 16 but I actually got 17 cookies out of the recipe and they are good size cookies with a nice thickness as you can see above. Loving the Low Carb/High Fat lifestyle!


 

Procrastination or Stress Management?

In my book, there are two kinds of people in the world, those that do things right away and those that procrastinate.

I am a self-proclaimed procrastinator.

My sister Lisa is one of those "other" people. The kind of people that does things right away. For instance bill-paying and handling mail. Lisa is one of those people that checks her mail daily, shreds what needs to be shredded, pays what needs to be paid and files away what needs to be filed. If a phone call needs to be made to a creditor and/or bank, she makes it and gets her answer.

I again am a self-proclaimed procrastinator. I believe this...

I get my mail and thumb through it and place it in a pile on my nightstand. I don't open any of it, unless it's a greeting card or looks like a check. So it all goes in a pile where it sits until the 15th of each month. On the 15th of each month I bring that pile of mail to the office and on my lunch hour I open it and make four piles. Pay, File, Shred, Question.

I pay what needs to be paid, attach the confirmation of payment to each bill and put that on the file pile. I shred what needs to be shredded and I call the creditor/bank on anything I have a question about and then I put that in the file pile. There...easy peasy! No stress, no mess!

Every once in a while I will open a letter that I should have taken care of right away, but those are few and far between. For instance I recently opened a letter from my homeowners insurance with big red letters stating CANCELLATION NOTICE, and just for a moment I panicked, then I noticed that I still had time to make the payment so I called my agent and found out that I had forgotten to call them with my new ATM card number and they had tried to take the money out of my account using the old card number. They quickly took my payment over the phone, set my auto pay back up using my checking account and that was that!

My sister stays up nights worrying about my bill paying method and meanwhile I am sleeping like a baby! She has told me many a time "You should just take care of each piece of mail that comes in right away so that then you don't have to worry about it". Ummm, hello? I don't worry. I was born without the worry gene, in fact dear sister, I think I gave that gene to you and you got a double batch!

I always tell her, "Why worry? You worry every day the minute you open that letter and now you have to pay it or call someone or look up something to see if it was paid or taken care of. If you had just set that aside and gone to read a book or watch TV or write a blog post you would be more like me and not spend every day stressing!" My method of bill paying is Stress Management, not Procrastination!

But the world would be a boring place if we were all the same, so I will let my sister continue to lose sleep over bills and mail and whether her sister is procrastinating and in the mean time I will enjoy posting and sleeping and reading a good book.

Which type of person are you? Maybe there's a third kind of person I don't now about. Let me know! Inquiring minds and all that you know! And yes, I procrastinated during my lunch hour to write this post and didn't pay my bills, but I'll do it after work, no one is standing over me "whip in hand".
            

Still Low Carb in 2016 and Loving It!

It’s a New Year and time for an update on my low carb/high fat (LCHF) way of eating (WOE). Yes...I'm still low carbing! Yay me!

I’m happy to say that I have been LCHF since July 7, 2015 and I am down 27 pounds!!! That’s just 3 pounds away from actually losing 30! I am so jazzed people! You just can’t comprehend how jazzed I am!

I was a bit worried about the holidays because there is so much yummy traditional food available and I not only am surrounded by it, but I also had to help cook much of it. But I made it without one bite of Tamales, Biscochos, Chocolate Covered Cherries, Christmas Cookies and Candies, Walnut Bread, and Ice Cream.

I have also learned to say “I don’t eat that” instead of “I can’t eat that”. I can eat it, I can eat all I want and I can put myself into an early grave…I am making a choice to NOT eat that.

When people want to know what diet I am doing I tell them it’s not a diet, I’ve changed my WOE and I explain to them what things I choose not to eat and they say, “I can’t live without bread!”, I can’t live without pasta!”, “I can’t live without ice cream!” Well you know what… you can. It’s not easy, but it can be done and thankfully there are a lot of yummy alternatives out there. This isn’t just about eating Eggs and Bacon people! That’s what everyone thinks of when they hear low carb. Nope, this is about making small changes and eating yummy things like this:

Low Carb Coconut Pancakes - Recipe from Low Carb Yum

Eggs in a Cloud - Recipe from The Cooking Jar

Random Treats from my sister Lisa, Deviled Eggs, Black Olive, Meat and Cheese Tray and Jalapeno Poppers. She had me over to help her decorate her house for the holidays and she prepared low carb foods we could snack on. Best deviled eggs ever!

One of my favorite meals - Pork Chops with Broccoli Slaw - Recipe for Broccoli Slaw

And how about this Low Carb Taco Pizza? It started out as a Low Carb Quesadilla, but the tortilla got too crunchy before I could finish adding the toppings, so I just let it continue to cook slowly on both sides until it was crisp then I added cheese, ground beef, lettuce, salsa, more cheese and black olives then sliced it with a pizza cutter. This was amazing!

I am trying to mix it up so that I am not always eating the same thing, even though I'm not that picky and I can eat the same thing day after day. But they say variety is the spice of life, so I'm trying to be creative.

Just as soon as I post this I am making a new recipe my sister sent me today for Paleo Tortillas. If they come out ok I'll share the pictures and recipe. Wish me luck!

  

Books Read in 2015

I've been keeping track of books that I've read each year since 2009. From 2009 until 2012 I kept track on my own and on my blog, but in 2012 I signed up for Goodreads and they keep track for me. So here's my countdown: ( you can click on each year to go to that post and see my list of books if you so desire)

2009 - 24 books
2010 - 24 books
2011 - 29 books
2012 - 26 books - Goal was 30 books
2013 - 18 books - Goal was 30 books
2014 - 33 books - Goal was 20 books

and drum roll please ......

Of all those years that I have been keeping track I only met my goal one year, in 2014 and then I far exceeded it. I blame Facebook, television and my iPhone for distracting me from reading as much as I should and used to read!

But, instead of beating myself up I'm setting the same goal for 2016, 35 books and forging ahead to try to meet or beat this goal!

Goodreads has done this cute little page that not only keeps track of how many books, but also, how many books and how many pages...

It tells me which of my books was the shortest and the longest...

Which of my books read was the MOST popular with Goodreads and also which was the LEAST popular...

And which of those 19 books was the highest rated on Goodreads, (which I entirely agree with, it was an awesome book!)

Here's the books I read in 2015:

To help me meet or beat my goal, I will be starting with these three books that I was able to find yesterday after a successful Goodwill shopping trip with my mom:

Excellent books that I was so lucky to find! Schindler's List has 4.34 stars on Goodreads, The Red Tent has 4.14 and A Beautiful Mind has 4.09. Have you read any of them? Which would you recommend I start off with?

Happy reading in 2016 and let me know if you have any recommendations of books that I should add!

Celebration of my Mom's 79th Birthday

Yesterday evening we celebrated my mom's 79th birthday. I can't even imagine that...79! But I am so happy that we still have her with us and even though she and I clash at times that unconditional love of a mother is something that I can always count on from her. I wish I was a wonderful a mother as she is!

For the past several years we have made Biscochos on her birthday. Biscocho is a special cookie that was made famous by her sister Nicolasa. The fondest memory of my child is these cookies. Whenever we went to visit my maternal grandmother in Arizona we always came home with a coffee can full of them.

But this year mom said that she wanted to make her famous chili beans and everyone was in agreement that they would rather eat right away than have to spend all day baking! Mama didn't raise no fools, we would all much rather eat!

Well if you are expecting pictures of the Chili Beans, forget about it! I forgot to snap even one picture. But I got plenty of the family and actually that's probably more important. So get ready for a slew of family pictures and no food! Well there was cake. Two delicious cakes that my sister Lisa made with her precious grand-baby, Baby J, and a yummy lemon pudding cake.

Where it all started, my mom and her children. Mom is in the middle of course. On her right is my brother Fred, on her left my brother Jaime, that's me on the right standing up and my sister Lisa on the left. And look! Cake!

From those four children came all of these, my mom and her grandchildren. There were a few missing due to work obligations. She has eleven all total!

Here's yours truly and her mommy! I am the first born and therefore her favorite!!! Behind me you can see the Nativity that she made for me in a ceramics class that she took back in 1983! Something that I will treasure forever. Mom has always been a very crafty person. She would sew matching dresses for myself and my sister when we were little, not that I was grateful! See this post to read about why I make that comment.

Next up my sister Lisa and her husband Guero. They have two boys, Sean and Issac who were both unable to attend as they were working. My sister has the most photogenic family, aren't they just gorgeous?

I'll post this picture next because this is my sister and I with our mom with the added bonus of Baby J. Can you believe how big she is now? She had just woken up from a nap and was not her usual bubbly self. Baby J is my moms only great grandchild, so she is my moms favorite just like I am!

My brother Federico aka Fred came with his whole family, minus one, his daughter Beatriz. But her big sister Alicia was smart enough to figure out a way to include her by pulling up a picture of Beatriz on her cell phone so she could still be in the picture. Way to go Alicia! No wonder you are my namesake, you're just as brilliant and creative as I am :)

The baby in our family is my brother Jaime. His whole family was able to make it! Good job family, you're all gorgeous. Sarena, the oldest one on the left in the ponytail with the beautiful smile just graduated from Nursing School! So proud of her!

Next a few random pictures, just so I can have them on the blog where family members can access them. Mom with both her boys!

Mom with her boys and her favorite son-in-law.

Mom had such a great time and we all loved her chili beans. Happy Birthday mom, you are the greatest blessing in all our lives.

            

You Can Have Your Cake and Eat It Too! Low Carb Snickerdoodle Mug Cake

I'm a self-proclaimed Saltoholic! I love and am addicted to salt. What I miss most on a low carb/high fat diet is Cheetos and Chips with Salsa!

I've yet to find a satisfying low carb alternative for those two things. That being said I sometimes do get a sweet tooth. Today I found myself wanting cake. I have so many things pinned on my Pinterest boards so I started there and I wasn't disappointed. I found a great recipe for Mug Cake and I actually had all the ingredients!

This is a Snicker Doodle Mug Cake from Carolyn of the blog, All Day I Dream About Food. Carolyn is a genius with low carb recipes! I've tried several and have never been disappointed and I was not disappointed again today.

This mug cake has the texture of cake, it's just like cake but it's made with Almond Flour. I added a cream cheese frosting but it would have been simply perfect without the frosting. It makes two cakes so I didn't bake the 2nd one and I stuck it in the fridge for another day. Not sure how it will turn out but we will see.

I'm not going to post the recipe as it's not mine, but the link to Carolyn's recipe is HERE. By the way, each serving, and her recipes makes two, is 4.98 carbs. I ate the whole cake tonight but it was so filling that I would easily have been satisfied with only eating half. Plus the cream cheese frosting adds a couple more carbs so it isn't something that I would have every single day, but it's a nice treat for those times that you are craving cake!

Go visit Carolyn, her picture of the mug cake is so much prettier and appealing than mine!

   

Ground Turkey and Peppers

One thing that I really love about eating low carb/high fat is that there are so many others doing the same thing. And many of these people are actually talented cooks that come up with new and different recipes.

I found this great low carber that makes videos of herself preparing low carb dishes. I watched one of her videos last night and tonight I made my version of Cooking Keto with Kristie's Skillet Taco Bake.

I'm actually calling mine Ground Turkey and Peppers because I didn't exactly stick with her recipe even though hers looked really good!

I started out almost with the same thing. I browned a pound of ground turkey to which I added salt, pepper, garlic powder, cayenne pepper and Ancho Chile Powder. I'll be honest and tell you that I didn't measure which is very unlike me. I think I'm learning how to improvise in cooking!

I then added some sliced bell peppers. My brother Fred dropped off a big bag of red peppers straight from the field! They still had dirt on them. So I washed and diced them and some of them were multi-colored and were such beautiful colors. I also diced up about a quarter of a medium size white onion and add that also and stirred for about 5 to 6 minutes.

Then I opened a can of Rotel Lime and Cilantro flavored diced tomatoes and added about half. Tomatoes have sugar so try to limit how many you use.

At this point I had cream cheese and monterey jack cheese ready to add but the dish just looked so good and fresh with just the peppers and onions that I decided not to add the cheeses and it was just delicious!

I topped it with some shredded Monterrey jack cheese and cilantro just for the picture but then took it off and just ate it without and it was perfect! A new favorite for me!

RECIPE
6 servings

1 pound ground turkey meat
1 sliced bell pepper, red or green
1/2 cup of sliced white onion
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 teaspoon each of Cayenne Pepper, Ancho Chile Powder and Garlic Powder
1/2 to a whole can of Rotel Diced Chiles with Lime and Cilantro

Brown the turkey meat and add the salt, pepper, cayenne, ancho and garlic powder. Add bell peppers and onions and saute stirring often for 5 to 6 minutes, then add the tomatoes and stir for another few minutes. This would be great served next to a green salad or maybe some cauliflower rice!

  

The Biscocho Christmas Cookie - Low Carb Remake

We have a cookie that is a tradition in our family. It's call the Biscocho. It's a crisp little Cinnamon and Anise cookie that we've all grown up having at Christmas and other special occasions. It's as much a part of Christmas to our family as Tamales are.



Ever since 2010 we have been making these on my moms birthday. This year she said she would rather do a Chili Bean feed for her birthday but she still wanted these cookies, so I made them today.

If you would like the recipe to the original Biscocho you can find the link HERE.

After I was all done making them I wondered if maybe these could be made low carb and I came up with a low carb version that was just as satisfying as eating the real thing. My version doesn't have eggs and is made with Almond Flour instead of regular white flour and I use granulated Splenda instead of sugar.

Here's my version:

Recipe:

Oven Temperature: 350 degrees
Servings - 30 to 40 (I got 40)

2 cups Almond Meal
1/2 cup sweetener - I used granulated Splenda
1/2 cup melted Butter
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Cloves
1 teaspoon Anise

Preheat your oven.
Cream the Almond Meal and Splenda and Vanilla Extract, Cinnamon, Cloves and Anise and blend until creamy.
Add the Almond Meal and mix until dough forms.
On a lightly floured surface (use almond meal) roll out the dough. I would chill it for about 10 minutes next time to make it easier, or you could roll it into a tube then chill and cut slices with a knife.

Place on a parchment covered cookie sheet and bake 10 to 12 minutes depending on your oven. Let cool on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes.

As you can see, this is less than 1 carb per cookie! Of course I made these small so it just depends on how big you make them as to the carb count.

I was really feeling a bit sad that I would not get to enjoy a Biscocho today but I actually did and they were good. They were crispier than the original Biscocho but they had that Anise and Cinnamon taste that I love.

Hope you make them and hope they become a Christmas Tradition to you and your family!


 

Faux Caldo de Papa with Cauliflower - Low Carb Style

Don't you love my multi-lingual title, a little French, a little Spanish, and some English! I'm weird, I know. It's the little things that I find amusing!

So Faux means imitation, fake or false. Caldo is Spanish for Soup. De Papa is of Potato. Be sure you pay attention, there will be a pop quiz! With Cauliflower is the English part and that is pretty self explanatory. So this is a post about how to make an imitation potato soup using cauliflower.

My dad who passed away in July of 2013 was famous for his Caldo de Papa. If we were sick, he made Caldo de Papa. If we were cold, he made Caldo de Papa. If we were pregnant, he made Caldo de Papa. We had to only hint that we wanted his Caldo de Papa and he would make it. It was delicious. Hot and spicy with the jalapenos he used and creamy and cheese with the Monterey Jack Cheese he used. Oh how I miss him!

Last night I got home from work a little later than usual as I stopped to do some Christmas Shopping and no one was home waiting for me and I was cold so I checked the fridge and saw that I had a lot of diced up cauliflower as I had planned to make CauliMash for Thanksgiving and I never did. I remembered that I had made low carb cauliflower soup before using my dad's recipe but I couldn't find the recipe and didn't realize that I had done a post last year in October, see that one HERE for a different version.

So I winged it!

Here's the basics: I'm calling 4 servings since I ate two bowls full and have about the same amount left for dinner tonight. Per bowl and using the website Calorie Count I estimate 2.2 carbs per serving.

2 cups of diced or riced cauliflower
Olive Oil
1 Diced Jalapeno, seeds and all
1 small can of Chicken Stock
1 cup of Half and Half Creamer
Salt and Pepper to Taste
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack Cheese

In a soup pan add about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the cauliflower. Saute the cauliflower until it's about half way done. I had to add a few tablespoons of water and cover it with a lid as it was browning more than I wanted. But you're the Master of your own Kitchen, so you do it your way!

I then added the diced jalapeno and stirred it around for a minute or so to let it soften a bit. Add the can of Chicken stock, or your own homemade stock, you choose. Add the Half and Half, Salt and Pepper and let it come to a boil, cover and lower the heat and cook for about 5 to 10 minutes, stirring once in a while. Throw in the cheese and continue to stir until it's melted and it's thickened a bit.

You could at this point puree it using an immersion hand-held blender and I may do that with the leftovers just for a different texture, but I left it as is so I could have the chunkiness I remember of my dad's soup.

I wish I had thought to cook some bacon to add as a topping, but you can certainly do that if you like.

It was warm and soothing and it was almost like daddy was there with me, and knowing how he liked to be in the kitchen all the time I'm sure he was :)

Now writing this I remember when my sister and I were little we had an Easy Bake Oven and we'd bake cakes using random ingredients we found in the kitchen. Lord knows what we used, but daddy always ate them and said they were delicious and I'm sure he would have had a big bowl of this soup as well!

Ok, pop quiz time! For 25 points, what does CALDO mean? Go!

Pepper Jack Zoodles

What the heck is a Zoodle you may be asking yourself! Well it's a simple little Zucchini Noodle I make using my Veggetti. Ok, now you're probably asking what the heck is a Veggetti???

Let me explain and show you how I made this yummy dish right here.

This is super simple...first you buy one of these. You can find them on Amazon for a great price or usually any stores that has the "as seen on TV" displays. There are several other different kinds of vegetable noodle makers out there but this one works great and doesn't take up a lot of valuable kitchen space. Easy to clean too!

Veggetti on Amazon.com

Then you buy a zucchini (not pictured as we all know what a zucchini looks like right?)

Then you do this.

Here's a few tips. Wash the zucchini first and dry it so it won't be slippery as an eel and you end up noodling part of your finger in there... just saying! Also if you want super long noodles, just leave the zucchini as is. For shorter noodles cut lengthwise being careful not to slice the zucchini in half.

Once you have your Zoodles (Zucchini Noodles) place them in a microwave safe bowl and heat for about 30 seconds. Then take one or two depending on how much you are making and how creamy your want it, Laughing Cow Cheese Wedges, there's no science to this, just do what makes you happy! Place the cheese wedge in the bowl and heat again for 30 seconds, take out and stir and keep heating in 30 minute increments until it's all melty, ooey, gooey, cheesy! Then serve alongside your favorite protein. Today I had mine with left over Thanksgiving Ham!

Oh, another tip, Pepper Jack when it's heated is kinda spicy! So don't say I didn't warn you. But of course there are so many other flavors of Laughing Cow Cheese. There's Creamy Original, Swiss Garlic and Herb, Queso Fresco Chipotle, White Cheddar, Creamy Mozzarella Sun-Dried Tomato and Basil and French Onion. Most of them have only one carb per wedge. I plan to try these Zoodles again with one of each!

So here's another easy peasy low-carb/high fat side dish for when you don't have a lot of time. I Veggettied this in the morning before I left for work and heated it at the office! I'm all about the easy!