chocolate & peanut butter addiction

You guys, I am completely addicted to the combination of chocolate and peanut butter.  But really, who isn't?! They're made for each other. It's like...the Lucy and Ricky of food.

My original plan was to make some kind of keto-friendly buckeye. A decadent peanut butter ball covered in chocolate. So pretty much, heaven.

A few months ago, I was melting chocolate to use in a recipe, and when I added sugar free Torani syrup, the chocolate seized. Stupidly, I didn't make the connection that it was the sugar free syrup that caused the issue, until I did the same thing yesterday when attempting this recipe and it happened again. I had used the rest of my Baker's chocolate, so I needed to come up with a plan B!

I rolled the peanut butter balls in Hershey's Special Dark cocoa, ending up with super duper tasty peanut butter truffles!  These aren't crazy low carb (about 3g per truffle), but they're a nice treat.

Peanut Butter Truffles
(Makes about 20 truffles)

1 cup all natural peanut butter (check your carb counts!)
1 cup almond flour
1/2 cup Splenda (or equivalent sweetener)
2 tablespoons dark cocoa powder

Couldn't be easier: mix the peanut butter, almond flour, and Splenda in a medium sized mixing bowl.  It'll eventually turn into a texture similar to cookie dough.  Roll peanut butter mixture into 1-inch balls and set them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Put the cocoa powder in a small bowl, and individually drop each peanut butter ball into the cocoa, making sure it's evenly coated.  I put mine back on the cookie sheet and chilled them for a few hours, then transferred them to a plastic container for storage in the fridge.

While I do think I'll try these again with chocolate, I was definitely not disappointed by how these turned out!

The facts (for one truffle): Calories: 102, fat: 8.1g, net carbs: 3.2g, protein: 3.6g

low carb go-to meals

We all have favorite go-to meals and dishes...recipes that are sometimes so simple they're hardly recipes, or dishes that you can make from memory because you make them so often.  Definitely helpful when you're trying to stick to a certain diet.  Here are some of my favorites...

Keto Crepes

2 oz. cream cheese
2 eggs
3 pumps sugar free vanilla Torani syrup (or equivalent sweetener)
butter

Blend ingredients until frothy.  Over medium-low heat, add a tablespoon of butter to a hot pan.  Once melted, add some batter to the pan (I make mine about the size of my fist).  After a minute or two, you'll see the edges begin to slightly brown and firm up - this is when you flip.  Cook for another minute or so until golden brown on both sides.

I like to use a sugar free syrup with these, but I've been thinking about serving them with fresh raspberries...yum!  These are great to make ahead on a weekend and warm up during the week, too.

The facts: Calories: 342, fat: 28g, net carbs: 3g, protein: 16g

Coconut Milk Latte

8 oz. unsweetened coconut milk (I use Silk)
1 tablespoon heavy cream
Double shot of espresso
Any flavor sugar free syrup

I've worked really hard to find the ingredients to make as close to a "normal" latte as possible.  I tried almond milk, flax seed milk (yuck!), I tried just drinking americanos...I needed my morning latte.  I stumbled upon Silk's unsweetened coconut milk, and with a little experimenting, came up with this formula.  I steam the heavy cream and coconut milk together.  Make sure you shake the coconut milk well prior to pouring it, or else it can get a little grainy.  

The facts: Calories: 97, fat: 9.7g, net carbs: 1.4g, protein: .1g

Holy Grail Pizza Crust (original recipe from Cooky's Creations)

1 1/2 cups shredded cheese (a mixture of mozzarella and cheddar is best)

1-2 Tbsp cream cheese

3/4 cup plus or minus 1-2 Tbsp almond meal

1 egg

Place the cheese in a med bowl; microwave till melted. Let cool enough to handle with your hands, then add cream cheese, egg, and almond flour.  Mix with hands and form a ball - it'll be super sticky, so you can add a little more almond flour at a time.

Set the dough aside.  I use my pizza stone to cook this, with parchment paper on top of it.  Spread the dough evenly and thinly on the parchment paper.  Broil for 5 minutes, until the crust is evenly brown.  Remove from the oven and carefully flip the pizza (I think the easiest way to do this is just use a second sheet of parchment paper to flip it onto) and broil for another five minutes.  Remove again, top with your favorite toppings, and broil once more until the cheese is melted and delicious looking!

Serves 4.

The facts (FOR CRUST ONLY): Calories: 294, fat: 23.7g, net carbs: 4.2g, protein: 18.2g

Pound Cake (recipe from Linda's Low Carb Menus & Recipes)

1/2 cup butter, softened 

4 ounces cream cheese, softened 

1 cup granular Splenda or equivalent liquid Splenda 

5 eggs 

1 teaspoon lemon or orange extract, optional 

1-2 teaspoons vanilla 

6 1/2 ounces almond flour (1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons) 

1 teaspoon baking powder 

1/8 teaspoon salt 

Lemon or orange zest, optional

Beat the butter, cream cheese and Splenda with an electric mixer until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and beat well. The mixture should look like thick cake batter. Pour into a greased 9-inch round cake pan. Bake at 350º 50-55 minutes. I suggest checking the cake after 40 minutes or so because mine was done in less than 45 minutes. The cake will be golden brown and firm to the touch when done.

Makes 8 servings 

The facts: Calories: 346, fat: 31g, net carbs: 6g, protein: 10g

i don't even like broccoli

...but there's one recipe for broccoli I do like, and Mike's mom introduced me to it! Broccoli is the only vegetable I don't like, but for some reason, when you roast it, I'll eat it. I don't know why. It still tastes like broccoli, looks like broccoli...yeah, I dunno.

In any case, I roasted it with the lemon olive oil I bought earlier today. OH. MY. GOODNESS. So tasty.

We also had grilled chicken which was marinated in the peach vinegar (also purchased earlier!), lemon olive oil, Dijon mustard, herbes de provence, garlic powder, salt & pepper.

And then we had dessert. We never have dessert. Today, however, I found a recipe for chocolate truffles. I had to make them, or else I would just fall over and die. Yep. They've got about 50 calories each, and are super good. It's posted after the broccoli (that way you need to look at something that's good for you, first!)...enjoy!

Roasted Broccoli

1 large bunch of broccoli

4-5 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

freshly ground pepper

3-4 garlic gloves, sliced

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Spread the broccoli on a cookie sheet and toss with the olive oil. Add the salt, pepper, and garlic. Roast for 20-25 minutes - you want the broccoli to be crisp and slightly browned. When it comes out, sprinkle a little more olive oil and some lemon juice. Mike's mom always adds pine nuts, which are sooooo yummy on this, but I didn't splurge on them today :)

Weight Watcher's Vanilla Fudge Truffles (recipe from here)

2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa

1/2 cup(s) unsweetened cocoa

1 cup(s) powdered sugar, sifted

1/2 cup(s) low fat cream cheese, at room temperature

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Reserve 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder on a sheet of wax paper. In a food processor or in a medium bowl, with an electric mixer on high speed, blend remaining ½ cup of cocoa powder, powdered sugar, cream cheese and vanilla extract.

Drop cream cheese mixture by rounded teaspoons into reserved cocoa powder, making 24 truffles; roll into balls, and refrigerate until firm, about 1 to 2 hours. Yields 1 truffle per serving.

comfort food

I don't remember the last time I made a dinner that lacked something green. I feel kind of guilty about it. Every once in a while, though... you gotta have some comfort food.

These honey-ginger chicken fingers were inspired from this recipe at Tasty Kitchen and I've been waiting to try this potato recipe from one of my favorite websites, Noble Pig. They're salt and vinegar potatoes with rosemary - definitely a recipe I was anxious to try! The chicken fingers were hands down some of the best I've had. I made a honey mustard mayo dip to go with it. Definitely something I'll make again!

I'm so, so, so bored. I'm ready to be (gasp!) back to work, and doing my normal things. Unfortunately, I know my body isn't ready. I'm still overdoing it some days - yesterday, for example. And then I wake up feeling like I'm 80. Not good times. I do think that I'm going to head to the gym today (No one freak out, okay?) and walk on the treadmill.

To keep me entertained, here are some recipes I want to try in the near future:

(Healthy) 5 Minute Chunky Monkey Ice Cream

[from Smithfield]

Creamy Mints

[from Kitchen Trial and Error]

Meyer Lemon Mousse

[from All Day I Dream About Food]

Fleur de Sel and Caramel

[from Food and Paper]

Aw, crap. Are you sensing a pattern here?