Fruit cake

Ingredients:

– 1/2 banana

– 3 tbsp orange marmalade

– 5 eggs

– 1/4 cup coconut oil

– 1 tsp vanilla extract

– 1 tsp baking powder

– 1/2 cup miracle flour (lupin flour)

– 1/2 cup coconut flour

– 3 gala apples – shredded

– almond slices for topping (optional)

Directions:

Shred the apples on a grader. You will use the juices too.

In a bowl mix the other ingredients. Then add the shredded apples.

Grease a tart pan with butter and add parchment pepper on the bottom.

Pour the mixture into the pan and if desired, add almond slices on top.

Bake in a preheated oven at 350 F for 50 minutes or until it passes the toothpick test.

Remove from the pan and let it cool.

Let it sit for at least 3 hours in the fridge.

The result was okay. It was not that sweet, so – if you preferer more sweeter, add some some sweetener or raisins. The shredded apple almost dissolved in the butter, so you don’t taste them. Now that I’m thinking about, I realised I liked my apple to be in chunks. In chunks, you can see the apple in each slice.

Enjoy!

Cabbage stew – 2 ways

Yes, you’ve seen cabbage recipes on this blog multiple times. This is because we love cabbage and cabbage is healthy and easy to cook.

So, this is a recipe that can be cooked 2 ways. I preferer the second way, my kids and my husband – the first way.

Ingredients:

• cabbage (I used 1.5 heads of medium size cabbage)
• 1 onion
• 300 ml tomato sauce
• oil
• black pepper (to taste)
• salt (to taste)
• paprika (to taste).
• 2 bay leaves
• bacon grease

Directions:

Shred the cabbage and rub it with salt. Leave it aside, like 15 minutes or so.

Chop the onion and saute it in oil, for 7 minutes, on medium heat. After 5 minutes, add a little bit of salt, paprika, and bay leaves.

Add the cabbage and mix well. Let the cabbage kanda “saute” for 10 minutes, mixing from time to time.

Now also add the black pepper (to taste). Add water to almost cover the cabbage. Let it cook for 30 minutes with the lid on, one low heat, mixing from time to time.

After 30 minutes, or until the cabbage is cooked, add the tomato sauce.  Let the stew cook for another 15 minutes, and you are done.

And that was the first way. Cooked this way, the dish will have some liquid (my kid wants liquid in his food). If desired, fresh dill or thyme can be added, but I did not add because I was afraid the kids will not like it.

The second way – my favorite. It’s actually a continuation of the first method.

In a casserole dish, add some bacon grease. Add cooked cabbage (prepared with the first method), making sure you use a spatula to eliminate as much liquid as possible. Add on top additional bacon grease. Put the casserole dish lid on (or use some parchment paper or aluminium foil).

Bake in a preheated oven at 400 F for at least 40 minutes.

We served the cabbage the Romanian way – with polenta. Not a keto or low carb lunch, but a favorite in our house.

Tell me which way you like the most. I am so curious!

Enjoy!

Mushroom sauce (can be vegan)

Ingredients:

– 3 tbsp olive oil or unsalted butter, ghee, or coconut oil

– salt

– fresh ground black pepper

– garlic powder

– one onion, diced

– 6 garlic cloves, minced

– 10 oz – 283 g frozen shiitake mushrooms, sliced

– 1 can – 13.66 oz – 403 ml coconut cream

– fresh chopped dill

Directions:

Melt the fat in a saucepan over medium heat. I used olive oil, so I only waited to heat up.

Note: if you want to make this dish vegan, don’t use butter for sautéing.

Add the onion and a little bit of salt and sauté for 5 minutes.

Add the chopped garlic and some fresh ground black pepper (to taste). Sauté for 2-3 minutes.

Then add the mushrooms and sauté for 5 minutes or until soft. You can use fresh mushrooms if you want.

Add the coconut cream and simmer until the sauce thickens, about 10 minutes, stirring from time to time. Half way, add some garlic powder and taste to adjust the salt.

In the end, add the chopped dill and cook for one more minute.

Set aside and serve it with your favorite meat or vegetarian side.

Enjoy!

Apple tart

Ingredients:

– 300 g yogurt

– 5 eggs

– 4 tbsp orange and elderflower marmalade*

– 2 cups + 2 tbsp almond flour

– 1 tsp baking powder

– pinch of salt

– 3 apples

• note: The final texture was just a little bit crumbly, so I recommend to add 1 tsp xanthan gum (or 2 tsp gelatin), or replace 1/2 cup almond flour with 1/4 cup coconut flour.

Directions:

* If you don’t have the marmalade or if you don’t want to use it, then replace it with 5 tbsp keto sweetener and the zest from one orange.

In a bowl mix all the ingredients with the exception of the apple.

Cut the apples in smaller cubes. I did not peel my apples, but feel free to do so, if you prefer.

Mix the apples with the dough.

Butter the tart pan with butter and add parchment paper on the bottom.

Pour the mixture into the tart pan and bake in a preheated oven at 350 F for 45-60 minutes, or until it passes the toothpick test. Every oven is different – cook the tart to your desired color.

If desired, you can sprinkle some powder sweetener on top.

The result was good, especially after a few hours in the fridge.

Enjoy!

Bacon in the oven

Ingredients:

• bacon (use a good one – nitrate free)

Directions:

Preheat your oven at 400 F.

Place the bacon stripes on a grid/rack from a broiling pan. Do not overload the grid/rack.

Bake the bacon for 10-15 minutes, or until you get the crispiness that you want.

Once cooked, place the cooked bacon on a wire rack to cool down.

Serve it with your favorite salad/side.

Enjoy!

Honey mustard chicken

Ingredients:

• 6 chicken breasts
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 2 tbsp honey

Directions:

Cut the chicken into bite-size cubes. Place the chicken in a bowl, add the salt and the black pepper and toss to coat.

Heat the oil in a cast iron pot. Add the chicken and cook it. For some reasons, my chicken left a lot of liquid, so my chicken did not “fry” like it suppose to.

In a small bowl, mix the honey, mustard, and apple cider vinegar. Pour this mixture over the chicken. Toss to coat. Cook until the chicken is cooked through.

Since my chicken had a lot of liquid, the chicken did not coat in that honey-mustard mixture. But it was still good. We (the kids) served it with cooked rice and some organic corn.

Enjoy!

Fruit salad

Ingredients:

• 1 apple cut in small pieces
• 3 kiwi fruits – cut in small pieces
• 1 cup grapes (red and yellow/green) – cut in halves
• half of small cantaloupe – cut in small pieces
• 1.5 bananas – sliced
• 1.5 cups heavy whipping cream
• 1 tsp honey
• 5 stevia drops

Directions:

Peel and chop the fruits. Mix them in a bowl.

Beat the heavy whipped cream with the sweetners. When serving, add one full tablespoon of the heavy cream, then some fruits, and then another scoop of heavy cream.

The kids were very happy with this healthy dessert.

Enjoy!

Homemade vegan Nutella

I do have a lot of recipes to share with you, but after the sad news of the Texas school shooting, I cannot focus. And I don’t remember the exact measurements for the recipes….

So, to keep the trend, I am sharing a recipe not yet prepared by me. Please forgive me.

Please be safe, and let’s all pray for a happy and long life for our children.!

Baked chicken drumsticks

Ingredients:

– 15 chicken drumsticks

– 2 tsp baking powder

– 2 tbsp Butt Rub (from Costco).

Directions:

In a bowl mix the seasoning and then sprinkle over the chicken drumsticks. Place the coated drumsticks on a baking sheet/pan and bake in a preheated oven at 400 F for 1 hour (60 minutes).

Turn the chicken drumsticks to the other side and bake for another 10-15 minutes.

Serve them with your favorite site.

Note: the Butt Rub seasoning is a spicier than I thought. So, next time, most likely I will use less. It was okay for adults and for my older kid, but for my baby kid was a little too spicy.

Enjoy!

Baked oatmeal with fruit

Ingredients:

– 1 1/2 cup milk

– 2 eggs

– 2 tsp orange blossom water

– pinch of salt

– 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

– 1/4 cup orange blossom honey

– 2 cups gluten-free oars

– 1/2 to 3/4 cup frozen blueberries – I did not measure them (if you have fresh, use 1 cup fresh blueberries)

– 1/3 cup dry goji berries

Directions:

I want to start that you can prepare this oatmeal with fresh berries. You need 2 cups. But I did not have any fresh fruits, so I added what I had.

In a bowl mix well all all the ingredients.

Grease a baking pie pan.

Pour mixture into prepared pie pan and bake in a preheated oven at 375 F for 30 minutes.

Cool for at least 30 minutes before serving.

If desired, serve it with some whipped cream.

Enjoy!