I am sad that summer is over and wanted to share the popsicles that I developed the first of summer.  My family were the testers and declared them great! They are easy to make. My husband loves the strawberry creamy popsicle, it reminds him of his families creamy strawberry birthday cake. My niece Emily helped me develop the orange creamy popsicle, it is her favorite.

Strawberry Creamy Popsicles

10 ounces strawberries

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1- 16.9 fl oz bottle lemonade vitamin water zero (sweetened with erythritol and stevia)

3 TBL healthy gelatin (I use Bernard Jensen's)

1/8 tsp Bolivian stevia (this is equal to 1/4 cup of sugar sweetness)

In a glass measuring cup or bowl soften the gelatin in 1 cup of the vitamin water for 5 minutes. Microwave the gelatin for 1 minute to melt, don't get it too hot.( If you don't like to use the microwave, boil a small pot of water and place the container of softened gelatin into the boiling water to melt the gelatin.)

Place all of your ingredients into a blender or ninja and blend until smooth. You are using the entire bottle of vitamin water. Adjust the stevia to your liking. Pour the mixture into your popsicle molds. Place into freezer until frozen, about 4 hours. I used twin pop molds which required patience to remove the popsicles from. I had to let it sit out at room temperature for about 10 minutes until the popsicles would come out.  I like the inexpensive popsicle molds that I got at Ikea better, the popsicles come out easier.


This makes several batches of popsicles, store your unfrozen mix in your refrigerator. It will set up because of the gelatin in it. Gently melt it to make more popsicles. 

Orange Creamy Popsicles

2 oranges, pealed and sectioned

1 cup orange vitamin water zero (sweetened with erythritol and stevia)

3 TBL healthy gelatin (I use Bernard Jensen's)

1- 13.5 fl oz can of coconut milk

1/8 tsp Bolivian stevia

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 drops orange essential oil (I like DoTerra)

In a glass measuring cup or bowl soften the gelatin in 1 cup of the vitamin water for 5 minutes. Microwave the gelatin for 1 minute to melt, don't get it too hot.( If you don't like to use the microwave, boil a small pot of water and place the container of softened gelatin into the boiling water to melt the gelatin.)

Place all of your ingredients into a blender or ninja, blend until smooth. If you have a great blender you might not need this next step. I just have a ninja, my husband and grandson did not like the pieces of membrane in the popsicle. Now I strain it though a fine mesh strainer to create a smooth creamy. Adjust for sweetness and if it has enough orange oil. Pour into your popsicle molds.  Place into freezer until frozen, about 4 hours. I used twin pop molds which required patience to remove the popsicles from. I had to let it sit out at room temperature for about 10 minutes until the popsicles would come out. I like the inexpensive popsicle molds that I got at Ikea better, the popsicles come out easier. 

This makes several batches of popsicles, store your unfrozen mix in your refrigerator. It will set up because of the gelatin in it. Gently melt it to make more popsicles. 

This is an old favorite of my husband's family. It sounds strange to add avocado to a sweet gelatin salad, but it is really good. The avocado adds a rich creaminess to the gelatin. The original recipe used a sugary box of lime Jello. I have made this recipe much better by using a bottle of lemon flavored vitamin water zero which is sweetened with erithritol and stevia and healthy gelatin in place of the Jello. Click here to read why gelatin is so good for you. 

Sometimes you just need a cookie!! I have found a delicious, buttery, low-carb shortbread cookie recipe. This has been a long search and I am so happy to have found a great one. When you make these cookies, after you mix the ingredients, you won't have a dough - you will have a crumbly mess. Have faith these will work. Press the dough together into a log shape while you wrap it in plastic wrap and then chill it very well. I chilled my dough for about 3 hours and was surprised at how well the dough stayed together while I cut it into cookies.  I also use 6 drops of DoTerra lemon essential oil in place of the 1 tsp of grated lemon zest. This saves time and has a stronger lemon flavor which we like. For the recipe chick HERE to go to a great blog: ibreatheimhungry. 

I decided to post the other chia-based food that we love and eat every day. This cereal was inspired by a chia cereal that I found at Costco. My Costco discontinued it so I developed a delicious replacement. I don't mix a big batch of the ingredients together because I like to keep the ingredients at the exact amounts that I like. By using only a tsp of the high-carb buckwheat groats it just adds 2 carb but a lot of nice texture. The tsp of cranberries or raisins are just adding 2 or 3 carbs but add a yummy treat to the cereal. I have a chia cereal bar on my counter, so it is very fast to add the ingredients to a bowl, stir in the milk, and let it hydrate for about 20 minutes while I make the rest of our breakfast.

Chia seed cereal

1 &1/2 TBL chia seeds

1/2 TBL hemp seeds

1 tsp raw buckwheat groats

1 tsp fruit-juice sweetened cranberries, or raisins

1 tsp chopped almonds

a pinch of Bolivian stevia

a little vanilla extract

1/4 cup milk

Add all of the ingredients to a bowl, stir every few minutes until the chia seeds hydrate (about 20 minutes). Add a little more milk if the cereal is too thick.

My new favorite thing is chia seeds. They are a perfect, little seed containing omega 3's, antioxidants, fiber, and protein. They have no carbs (the carbs are fiber). I bought a chia drink at my health food store and really liked it. It cost $3. I wanted to make my own to cut down on the price and the carbs. What I do is more of a method than a recipe.

I soak 3 TBL of chia seeds in 1 cup of water in a quart-sized mason jar. I do this at night while I am getting ready for bed for between 1/2 hour and an hour. I stir the chia seeds occasionally. The chia seeds will begin to soak in the water and gel up. I cover the jar and refrigerate it over night. I also chill a bottle of sugar-free Vitamin Water or Sobe. I get the ones sweetened with erythritol and stevia. The next day, when we are ready to drink it, I pour the cold drink into the cold hydrated chia seeds and stir. I add a pinch of stevia and 2 drops of lemon essential oil. This is optional. I just like a bit more flavor since I diluted the drink with a cup of water with chia seeds.  This makes two 2-cup servings. It is a natural energy drink; we love the interesting texture it gives. My sister Catherine loves it and has a hard time drinking her Vitamin Water any other way!

People who do not like gelatinous things, like gelatin or tapioca, may not like chia seeds. 

I get my Chia Seed at Costco. It is $14 for 2 pounds. The first time that I tried chia seeds I got them at my health food store in the bulk isle, but they were bitter. This brand is very good and not at all bitter. 

These biscuits are seriously delicious! They are so good that I make a double batch for just the two of us. I store the leftover ones in the refrigerator. They reheat up very nicely in the toaster. We love them with eggs for breakfast or as a bun for a sandwich.

They have a lot of cheese in them, for the double batch I use one cup of sharp cheddar and a half a cup of gouda or parmesan. Because they have a lot of cheese in them, the biscuits get a bit thin. This is why they fit in my toaster.

These delicious, cheesy, garlicky biscuits are so good and have such a great texture that even your non grain-free, low-carb family and friends will love them! Click here for the recipe. 

Happy Halloween. Because candy and Halloween go together, I am posting a great sweet snack that I developed. Sometimes, I want a sweet snack but want a healthy one that is lower in carbs. This is the first recipe that I have posted that is not sugar free. It contains a little bit of coconut palm sugar. According to my coconut palm sugar package, it is low-glycemic and nutrient-rich but it is just as high in carbohydrates as regular sugar. I use 1/3 of a cup of Swerve (erythritol) which does not have any carbs and 1/3 of a cup of coconut palm sugar. I use the coconut palm sugar because I do not like the taste of straight erythritol. If you don't have a problem with erythritol this recipe will work with all erythritol and no coconut palm sugar, and will be better for your blood sugar.  I use raw almonds that I soak overnight and then dehydrate until they are crisp again (to see why I do this click here). I chop up my almonds in my ninja (or food processor) and store them in zip-lock bags in the freezer. This makes it fast and easy for when I want to make candied cinnamon almonds or peanut butter granola.

Candied Cinnamon Almonds

2 Cups of raw, chopped almonds

1/3 cup Swerve (erythritol)

1/3 cup coconut palm sugar

2 tsp cinnamon

Mix all ingredients in a large frying pan. Place on the stove over medium heat.  Stir constantly: the swerve and coconut palm sugar will melt and begin to coat the nuts. Stir for just a bit more to get good coverage of the nuts.  Carefully pour the hot nut mixture onto a parchment covered counter or other heat resistant surface.  Spread the candied nuts on the parchment sheet.  Allow to cool, break apart and enjoy.

This is one of our favorite low-carb treasures. It is a delicious, thick and creamy strawberry or chocolate shake. I just developed a pumpkin pie shake which is my husband's new favorite; his favorite used to be chocolate. My favorite is the strawberry shake. A regular "frosty"  has 50 grams of carbs for a small. The chocolate version of this has less than 6 carbs.

The inspiration for this shake is the "60 second Chocolaty Frosty" from Melissa at satisfyingeats.blogspot.com. She had the brilliant idea of freezing unsweetened almond milk in ice cube trays and using the almond milk cubes as the base of the shake. I have made these shakes for many friends and family, and everyone loves them.

Strawberry Shake

4 cubes of frozen, unsweetened Almond Milk (about 4 ounces)

4 ounces of frozen strawberries

1/2 cup  unsweetened Almond Milk

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1 small spoonful of stevia (to taste) (I use Bolivian)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Add all ingredients to blender or ninja. Blend until smooth.

Chocolate Shake

8 cubes of frozen, unsweetened Almond Milk (about 8 ounces)

1/2 cup  unsweetened Almond Milk

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1 TBL powdered swerve (erythritol)

1 small spoonful of stevia (to taste) (I use Bolivian Stevia)

2  1/2 TBL unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Add all ingredients to blender or  ninja. Blend until smooth. 

Pumpkin Pie Shake

To make this shake, you need to have frozen cubes of pumpkin puree as well as the frozen Almond Milk cubes.

5 cubes of frozen unsweetened Almond Milk (about 5 ounces)

3 cubes of frozen pumpkin puree (about 3 ounces)

1/2 cup unsweetened Almond Milk

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1 TBL powdered Swerve

1 small spoonful plus a pinch more of Bolivian Stevia (to taste)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Add all ingredients to blender or ninja. Blend until smooth.

These muffins are seriously delicious and easy to make. They have a great flavor and a very nice texture. They are nice and light not heavy like some grain free muffins that I have made. If you have a ripe banana and 2/3 of a cup of natural peanut butter then you probably have all of the ingredients to make a batch! I found this recipe on the blog Satisfying Eats, click here for the recipe.

I love coconut milk and gelatin so I developed a delicious recipe that gives us the tastiness and great nutrition of both. Coconut milk contains vitamins, minerals and antioxidants which are all great. More exciting is that coconut milk is rich in a unique substance, lauric acid, which is a medium-chain fatty acid.  Lauric acid is abundant in mother’s milk; it is important for little developing brains and used to help people with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia.  Lauric acid is anti-fungal, anti-viral and anti-bacterial. I use full fat coconut milk because the coconut oil of the coconut milk is where a lot of the benefit is located. I look for coconut milk that does not have preservatives, we don’t have a problem with guar gum, it is a thickening agent derived from guar beans. Native Forest organic coconut milk is canned with BPA free cans. If your coconut milk has a thick layer of hardened  coconut oil on the top just gently warm it or blend it.  

Coconut Milk Jellies recipe
  
2 Cups water

2/3 cup Bernard Jensens gelatin (If using Great Lakes gelatin reduce to ½ cup)

1 (13.66 fl oz) can of full fat coconut milk

¼ tsp stevia (this is equal to ½ cup of sugar sweetness)

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 drops of orange or lemon essential oil (optional)
 
Put the water into a microwave proof dish, I use a large glass measuring cup. Sprinkle the gelatin into the water a little bit at a time, stirring to prevent clumping.  Allow the gelatin mixture to sit for 5 minutes. Microwave the gelatin mixture for 2 minutes until hot but not boiling. If you don’t like to use the microwave, boil a pot of water that your glass dish of softened gelatin will fit into without boiling water getting into your gelatin. Carefully place your dish of softened gelatin into the boiling water, stir for a few minutes until the gelatin is melted, remove the dish from the boiling water. 

Pour the coconut milk, stevia, vanilla and essential oil, if using, into a large container with a pouring spout, I use an 8 cup measuring bowl,  add the hot gelatin to the coconut milk mixture. Stir well. Pour into 48 small silicone
molds. You need to put the molds on cookie sheets or you will have a big mess when you try to pick it up. I only did that once! You can pour the mixture into a large glass pan 9x13 or larger. I like to use the silicone molds because they only take 2 hours to set up and they are fun to eat.  

Refrigerate, after the coconut jellies are set up, pop out of the molds or cut into squares. Store your coconut milk jellies in the refrigerator. Makes 48.

I got my silicone molds at Joanne’s craft store with my 50 % off coupon, they were $6 each. I saw a cute daisy mold there.