LAUREN'S FLUFFY BISCUITS

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons almond flour, 4 ounces 
1/4 teaspoon salt 
3/4 teaspoon baking powder 
1 1/2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
4 egg whites

In a medium bowl, mix the almond flour, salt and baking soda or powder with a fork. Cut in the fat using the fork until the butter is all incorporated and the mixture is crumbly and not dry. Chill this mixture for at least 5 minutes and preferably longer to get the fat as cold as possible. (I left this in the fridge while separating the chicken from the bone and filtering the stock - explained in next section)

In a small bowl, beat the egg whites with the fork until they look foamy. Add the egg whites to the almond flour mixture and whisk together with the fork for just a couple seconds breaking up any large chunks of flour. The batter will be thin and lumpy. Divide this into four portions in a muffin top pan greased very well or lined with nonstick foil. Bake immediately so that the fat doesn't start to get warm. Bake at 400º for about 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Makes 4 biscuits **

Low Carb Baking Mix

1 cup soy flour 
2 cups soy protein isolate (unflavored)
1 teaspoon salt 
2 tablespoons Splenda or Truvia

Mix well and sift together. Makes about 3 1/4 cups (11 net carbs)

Best Green Beans and Garlic Ginger Ahi Tuna Steaks

Best Green Beans
Serves 2-4 as a side dish

1 pound fresh green beans, ends trimmed

1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 tablespoon butter
1/2 medium onion, sliced
1 cup sliced button mushrooms
1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon diced fresh garlic, depending on your taste
fresh cracked black pepper
Place trimmed green beans, water and 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt in a small skillet over medium heat. Cover and cook 10-15 minutes or until beans have softened slightly but are still crisp.  Drain and set aside.
In the same pan add olive oil and butter. Once butter has melted, add onions and mushrooms. Cook 5 minutes, add garlic and cook until softened.
Return green beans to the pan, cook 5 minutes.Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve

Garlic Ginger Ahi Tuna Steaks

You can use Tuna or Mahi Mahi for this recipe with great results.


Ingredients


3 tablespoons local honey
3 tablespoons GF soy sauce
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root
1 clove garlic, crushed or to taste
2 teaspoons olive oil
4 (6 ounce) tuna or mahi mahi fillets
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon vegetable oil


Directions:


In a shallow glass dish, stir together the honey, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, ginger, garlic and olive oil. Season fish fillets with salt and pepper, and place them into the dish. If the fillets have skin on them, place them skin side down. Cover, and refrigerate for 20 minutes to marinate.
Prepare grill. Remove fish from the dish, and reserve marinade. Grill fish for 6 to 8 minutes on each side, turning only once, until fish flakes easily with a fork. Remove fillets to a serving platter and keep warm.
Pour reserved marinade into the skillet, and heat over medium heat until the mixture reduces to a glaze consistently. Spoon glaze over fish, and serve immediately.

I Fail At Blogging

Like, in a huge way... BUT, I'm going to try to get back into the swing of posting up my favorite recipes again.  I do love to cook and I want everyone else who loves to cook to be able to enjoy it with me.  I swear I'll get something else posted VERY soon!

Tangy Shrimp Pasta

Two days before payday menu selections can get a little interesting with supplies on the low side, and they're even lower than usual because I was a bit of a slacker when it came to grocery shopping this past month.  One thing I never slack on is going to the Amish stand on Saturdays and a few weeks ago I got a crate of sweet red and green bell peppers for $6.00 so I've got -several- bags of those chopped in the freezer but didn't really know what I was going to use them other than etoufee.  I thought about making etoufee until I realized that I was out of crawfish, and I prefer both shrimp and crawfish in my etoufee, so while looking at the shrimp and peppers I decided to get creative and this was the result:

ingredients:
2 cups diced bell pepper, red and green or whatever you have
3 cloves fresh garlic, minced
1 cup chopped green onion
1/2 - 3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I tend to over spice things, but I like it!)
1/2 teaspoon cornstarch
2 cups chicken broth divided
2-3 lbs raw shrimp (de-headed, de-shelled and de-veined)
1 8oz bag Italian cheese blend
pasta of your choice

In large, deep skillet (or pot if you don't have a deep skillet) sautee peppers, onion, garlic and cayenne till soft, add 1 cup of the chicken broth and reduce heat.  Mix corn starch with fork in remaining chicken broth and add to skillet when blended smooth.  Allow mixture to come to boil in order to thicken then add preped raw shrimp.  Stirring constantly cook only till shrimp curl and turn opaque and remove from fire.  Stir in cheese, cover skillet/pot and let sit for 10 minutes then serve over pasta.

It's very easy to over cook shrimp, when cooking in a sauce like this as soon as the shrimp curl and turn opaque TAKE THE POT OFF THE FLAME, the heat from the sauce will continue to cook the shrimp till it is thoroughly cooked through.

It's National Pancake Day!

Today is National Pancake Day and I had planned on celebrating by making Dutch Baby pancakes for the family, but I ran into a road block when I realized that I didn't have a pan that would work to bake it in =(  This is a major problem because for as long as I can remember I've NEVER been able to make a decent batch of pancakes.  I can make awesome batter, but when it comes to cooking them I'm a total failure.  A moment before I gave up I decided to check trusty Alton Brown's site and see if there was anything else I could make that would work when I found his recipe for crepes.  Now, I may not be able to make a traditional pancake to save my life but apparently I was a crepe maker in a former life!  These were SO easy, and even for this pancake killer they came out perfect!  Anyone that has had bad luck making pancakes, give crepes a try - they're a lot easier than snotty french restaurants would have us believe!! I served the crepes rolled up with the Buttermilk Syrup recipe from the Dutch Baby page and it was one of the best meals I think I've ever made! I didn't get a chance to take pictures of them but I -did- manage to get a video of my youngest, Nathan, licking his plate clean afterward =)  Happy Pancake Day everyone!

Pumpkin Cheesecake

Cheesecakes were the first thing I ever noticed I had a talent for making, and this one is ALWAYS a crowd pleaser.  Most people tend to only think of pumpkin as a holiday flavor, but I think pumpkin is great year round! Try making one in the middle of the summer, it's just as tasty then as it is at Thanksgiving =)  The thing that I find makes or breaks a cheesecake is the crust.  Many will tell you that the only way to go is graham cracker, but I honestly am not that big a fan of them so I experimented with other things and for the pumpkin I find that ginger snap cookies bring out the flavor of the pumpkin even more and give it a little zing.  Traditional ginger snaps are hard enough to use as a bulletproof vest, but gluten free ones have more flavor AND they're pliable rather than being rock hard.  Enjoy!

crust:
1 1/2 cups gluten free ginger snap cookies
5 tablespoons butter, melted
1 tablespoon sugar


filling:

1 cup sugar
3 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup pumpkin (canned or from scratch)
3 eggs
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon allspice

directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Combine the graham cracker crumbs with 1 Tablespoon of sugar and then drizzle the melted butter over the top.
3. Mix this together well enough to cover all of the crumbs with the butter. Do not let it turn into a paste.
4. Press the crumbs onto the bottom and about two-thirds of the way up the sides of the springform pan. It’s ok if it doesn’t go all the way up the sides.  You want part of the cheesecake to extend above the crust.
5. Bake for 5 minutes, then chill it in a refrigerator for up to 24 hours.
6. Combine the cream cheese, 1 C sugar, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl.
7. Mix until smooth using an electric mixer (remove the lumps but don’t over-mix).
8. Add the pumpkin, eggs, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice and continue beating until smooth and creamy.
9. Pour the mixture into the graham cracker crust.
10. Bake for 60-70 minutes.
11. The cake will rise and turn a nice golden brown on top.
12. Remove from the oven and allow to cool at room tempurature.
13. When the cheesecake has come to room temperature, put it into the refrigerator (the longer you let it chill the better the flavors will combine - up to 24 hours)
14. When the cheesecake has chilled or you’ve lost all will-power, release the spring and romove the sides of the pan.

cheesecake WILL pick up other flavors in your fridge, so make sure there is nothing pungent in there or that you keep the cheesecake in a sealed container, also, no matter how good it smells cheesecake does not taste good when it's warm so resist the urge to cut a slice as soon as it's done!