Spaghetti With Disguised "Noodles"

No.  I'm not dead.  Sorry for the hiatus.  Here's a new entry.  Hope you like it. : )

Tofu.  The word ignites shear disgust and terror at my very core.  Whenever you mention this word all I can think of is the moldy tofu that once graced my TV screen on an episode of Anthony Bourdain.  I know what you are thinking in your mind and to answer you, yes he ate it.  However, what I'm about to tell you will blow your mind.  I ate tofu tonight and liked it!!  Don't run.  Don't hide.  I will tell you how you can enjoy tofu by using it as a substitution for noodles.  You have to trust me on this.  I am a picky eater when it comes to substitutions for my favorite carb-hearty foods.  A friend of mine who is a dietitian let me try Shirataki noodles (made out of tofu) one day and I couldn't believe it.  They were actually tasty.  Did I mention these suckers are basically low carb, already cooked, and gluten-free?  Triple win!!  I decided to take this new food friend on a journey with a commonly pinned Pinterest recipe that I made some changes to.  Success!!!! Below is the result of my adventure and I hope you enjoy!!  By the way, if you live in the KC area, you can find the noodles at the Price Chopper and Hy-Vee in Liberty.  I can't seem to find any over near my neck of the woods, but you might try health food stores.  They will be in the refrigerated section.  The noodles come in a packet of liquid (weird, yes).  This recipe has only 9 carbs per serving compared to 40 carbs in one cup of regular pasta (that's just the pasta, not even with the sauce- crazy!!)  Inspiration for Recipe Here

Creamy Spaghetti Casserole With Shirataki Noodles
Ingredients:

3 (7 or 8 oz) bags of Shirataki noodles *
1 1/2 lbs ground beef (I used 97/3 for this recipe)
1 green pepper, diced
1/2 medium onion, diced
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
8 oz. cream cheese
1 c. cottage cheese
1/4 c. sour cream
26 oz. jar pasta sauce
2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese (divided)

Directions:
*Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. In a skillet cook the ground beef on medium high heat until the meat is no longer pink.
2.  Add the green pepper, onion, and garlic and cook until onions are soft.
3. Add the jar of pasta sauce to the meat and veggies.
4.  Cook on low heat while you prepare the other parts to the recipe.

5. Mix together the cream cheese, cottage cheese, and sour cream in a medium bowl.  Set aside.
6. Rinse all the Shirataki noodles under running water (Don't be alarmed by the smell! This will go away when they cook! Promise!!)
7. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 pan.
8. Layer 1/2 the noodles on the bottom of the pan.
9. Put 1/2 of the meat mixture on top of the noodles.
10.  Layer 1/2 the cheese mixture on top of the meat and then top with 1 c. of shredded mozzarella.
11. Repeat steps 8-10 once more.
12.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Makes 12 servings
*I used two bags of fettuccine Shirataki noodles and one Spaghetti shirataki noodle bag.  Feel free to use whatever kind you like.  I was just trying to use up my spaghetti one.
*Also, sorry for the terrible pictures.  Our good camera is non functional so I had to use my phone camera.  Awesome.

Pizza and Bread Sticks Without the Flour!

When I threw out all of my white flour it posed a dilemma.  What the heck am I supposed to do now for breads, muffins, pizza crust, etc.?!!!!  After much experimenting in the kitchen, I bring you my two favorite low-carb recipes for pizza crust/ bread sticks.  Note:  These you will eat with a fork, but you will not miss a typical pizza crust.  Hope you love them!! P.S.  My husband could not get enough of either of these.

My Favorite Garlic Bread Stick/Pizza Margherita Recipe
(adapted from Mom, What's for Dinner? Here)
Note:  This recipe makes 7 bread sticks, but you could easily double it or triple it to make it into a pizza crust as well!

Ingredients for Crust:
1 cup mashed cauliflower- (1/2 head)
1/2 c. mozzarella cheese
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. minced garlic
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
Ingredients for Garlic Butter
2 Tbsp. butter, softened
2 cloves garlic, minced
Topping
1/2 tomato, sliced
1 cup mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
4-5 good sized fresh basil leaves, minced

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Steam cauliflower for about 15 minutes over stove or in microwave.  I have a pasta-n-more thing that I used in the microwave.  When cauliflower is cooked, use a hand-held potato masher to mash cauliflower. Combine all ingredients for crust in a bowl with cauliflower.  Place parchment paper on cookie sheet and grease the paper.  Take crust contents and mold into a rectangle with hands.  This will seem very soft.  It will firm up in the oven-trust.

Place crust in oven for 15 minutes.  Mix softened butter and garlic in small bowl.  Take crust out of oven and spread garlic butter on top of crust.  Layer tomatoes, basil, and cheese.  

 Place crust back in oven and back for about 5 more minutes.  Cut into bread stick-like rectangles.  Enjoy!!

My Favorite Pizza Crust Recipe  

(adapted from Here)

Ingredients for Crust:

2 eggs

1 8 oz package of cream cheese- softened

1 cup Parmesan cheese

3 sprigs fresh oregano

2 Tbsp. fresh basil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Combine all ingredients above for crust.  (Note:  This will not be "firm" like a pizza crust.  It may even be slightly soupy.  Trust me, it will become firm in the oven.)  Spoon "crust" into a greased 9x13 pan.  Place in oven for 30 minutes.

Ingredients for Topping:

any kind of low sugar pizza sauce

1/2 lb. Italian sausage or other favorite topping

1 green pepper sliced

1/2 onion chopped

1 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

While crust is baking, take Italian sausage and cook it in a pan with 2 Tbsp. olive oil, pepper, and onion.  Spoon pizza sauce onto crust until crust is covered.  Top with cooked sausage, peppers, onion and cheeses.  Crank oven up to 425 degrees.  Bake until cheese is completely melted - about 15 minutes.  Enjoy!!

Makes 10 pieces.

Lemme See Your Grill!

   What awesome weather we are having!  I don't remember it ever being so nice so early on in the year.  Because of this, the hubs and I have been grilling quite a bit.  Yesterday it was raining all day but we reasoned that a covered porch and a grill with a lid would not keep us down.  I checked out some low carb recipes and we went to work.  The menu: grilled chicken bruschetta, mashed cauliflower with Dubliner cheese, and grilled asparagus!!  I have to admit that I have tried mashed cauliflower before and hated it, but there is something about the cheese that I used this time.  I found the Dubliner cheese near the specialty cheese at Price Chopper, so I figure it shouldn't be too hard for you to find either. Yum!

The chicken recipe came from this blog:

 http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2009/04/grilled-bruschetta-chicken.html

The mashed cauliflower came from another website :

http://www.ibreatheimhungry.com/2012/01/better-than-potatoes-cheesy-cauliflower.html

And finally, we just covered the asparagus with a little bit of olive oil and some salt and pepper, then grilled it until we saw some good grill marks. To die for!  Look at our chicken result!  Happy grilling!