This is another ninja recipe since it could easily pass as a “real” waffle.  Jim and I were so excited that these turned out so well, half of it disappeared before I remembered to snap a picture!  Our son, James is at our house, he is not on Keto, and he made “out-of-the-box” waffles after we were done with our lunch and claimed my Keto waffles were better!  I love to hear that about my Keto creations!!  These are fluffy on the inside and crispy on the outside, just as I would expect from my waffles 🙂

This is another simple recipe without an overload of ingredients, and you can easily split it in half.  The recipe as written will feed about 4 hungry people.  It can be modified into pancake batter, omitting the softened butter and adding an additional teaspoon of baking powder.

Set out your cream cheese ahead of time or plan on spending some extra time scraping the bowls and blending.  With the eggs, I usually drop them in some warm to hot water for a few minutes to quickly bring them up to “room temp”.  It seems you would be able to make typical swaps in this recipe (use your favorite sweetener, swap out for your preferred “butter”, etc.), but here are the basics:

Ingredients

8 oz Cream Cheese (at room temp)

8 Eggs (at room temp)*

4 tsp. Vanilla Extract

1 tsp. Butter Pecan Extract**

1/4 cup Heavy Whipping Cream

3 Tbsp. Softened Butter (omit for pancakes)

2 Tbsp. Liquid Allulose (or sweetener of choice)

1/2 cup Coconut Flour

1 Tbsp. Baking Powder (additional 1 tsp. for pancakes)

* For fluffier waffles & pancakes, separate the eggs and beat up the whites to stiff peaks with 1/4 tsp of cream of tartar.  Gently fold the egg whites into the mixture as a last step until well incorporated.  I was looking for a simple version, so I skipped this step and they were still fluffy with great consistency.

** You can use Maple or Additional Vanilla Extract, but the butter pecan is pretty amazing for waffles!

Directions

Heat up waffle iron to med-high (I set my waffle iron at 4.5 where highest setting is 6).  Whip the cream cheese until fluffy.  Add in eggs, extract(s), butter, whipping cream and sweetener, mixing well 1-2 minutes scraping sides.  Mix dry ingredients in small bowl.  Add to the cream cheese mixture.  Continue to mix and scrape sides of bowl until completely smooth.   Spray waffle iron with oil (I use avocado-coconut oil spray).  Use approx. 1/3 cup batter per waffle.  Cook on med-high until most of the steam stops evaporating from the waffle maker.  The recipe yields about 5-6 full-sized waffles.

I topped these with butter, and Heavy Whipping Cream that I whipped up to stiff peaks and then I mixed in some Strawberry Chia topping.  The recipe is the same as my Blackberry Chia topping, except with strawberries.

I hope you enjoy these as much as we did!  I am so full!!

Sherry

So this isn’t a traditional sandwich since it is not on bread, but it definitely satisfied my sandwich craving… 2 nights in a row (I had to try it out with homemade tomato soup of course).  Needless to say, I am pretty pleased with the recipe!  I actually found a similar recipe on Facebook that called for cornstarch but I made a couple modifications to suit our Keto plan.  Really all spices are optional, so you can add or subtract to your taste preference.  The Parmesan cheese is also optional but may help to soak up some of the zucchini juices.  I’ve made the recipe both ways and didn’t notice much of a taste difference.  Straining the juices is not necessary either, but makes for a “prettier” creation in the pan.  I have found that pouring off some of the juices before I make the 2nd sandwich also helps, but you do lose some of the spices.

Ingredients

2 Zucchinis (about 3 cups shredded)

1/2 Tsp. Salt

1/2 Tsp. Pepper

1/4 Tsp. Garlic Powder (optional)

1/4 Tsp. Onion Powder (optional)

1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese (optional)

3 Tbsp. Egg White Protein Powder

1 Large Egg

Grease or Oil

1 cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Directions

Grate the Zucchini and mix in the spices.  Optional: Leave to sit for 10-15 min then strain off juices by squeezing in paper towels or cheesecloth.  Mix in the Egg White Protein Powder (and Parmesan cheese if using) until evenly distributed, then mix in the egg.  Heat a skillet to medium heat with Grease or Oil (I use leftover bacon grease), preferably in a cast-iron skillet.  Dump half of the zucchini mixture on the skillet, shape into a rectangle, and then separate into halves (you should have 2 approximately bread-sized squares).

Cook for 3-4 minutes or until brown and crispy, and then flip over the pieces.  Cook for 3-4 more minutes.  Place 1/2 cup of the cheese on one piece and flip the other piece onto it.  You can add more cheese to the top if you prefer.  These hold together well and can be eaten like a sandwich, but I prefer a fork 🙂 These go great with Homemade Tomato Soup.  I’ll get that recipe out ASAP so that you can try it out.

Enjoy and let me know what you think!

Sherry

It’s been a great weekend with a few new recipes I’ve tried out, and this one is a super simple.  I wasn’t home with the blackberries for more than 20 minutes before I had them made up and in the jars cooling down.  I know myself well enough that I can’t have blackberries in my house for more than 20 minutes before I eat them all, so this had to be done quickly!

I have been trying to steer away from unnecessary sweeteners, so this batch I made using none, but you could add a couple tablespoons of the sweetener of your choice if you prefer.

Ingredients

2 pints Blackberries

2 tsp Lemon Juice

1/4 cup chia seeds

(Opt: 2 Tbsp Sweetener of choice)

Directions

Clean blackberries & put in a pot on medium heat (if using sweetener, you can add it in at this time).  Cook for 5-8 minutes smashing down the blackberries as they break down during cooking.  Add the lemon juice and remove from heat.  Add the Chia seeds and stir well to incorporate.  Fill jars or food containers and let cool at room temperature.

Tada!!  Blackberry-Chia topping.

I add this to low-carb plain yogurt or to whipped or un-whipped full-fat cream for a yummy Keto treat.

Enjoy!

So these aren’t exactly rocket science.  I always overestimate the amount of cheese for the mushrooms I have.  I used all but 3-4 oz of a 16 oz block of mozzarella cheese this time, and about 20 pre-cooked shrimp.  I had so much of the mixture left over that I pulled out the 3 Portabella mushrooms and stuffed those too.  We like garlic a LOT, so I’m not shy about adding it to my recipes in large amounts.  You can go more or less on pretty much everything in this recipe depending on your taste.  Shrimp could also be swapped out for crab, scallops, etc., or you could just add more cheese.  Mozzarella cheese is my go-to for stuffed mushrooms, but you could also play around with type.  Here is my basic recipe for you to play with.

Ingredients

15-20 Peeled & cooked shrimp*

1/4 cup Minced Garlic (more or less to taste)

Salt & Pepper to Taste

1/2 to 1 lb Mozzarella Cheese, grated

Mushrooms of choice (I like the little ones, but tried out portabellas for a change)

2 Tbsp Butter (optional)

*I made these with crab meat a couple days ago and they turned out fantastic!!

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°.  Add the shrimp, garlic and spices to the food processor and mince the shrimp.  Add in the grated cheese and pulse until well combined.  Wash and remove stems from mushrooms.  Stuff with shrimp and cheese mixture.  I place mine on roasting racks, but you can also cook these in a baking dish where they will sit in their own juices.  Drizzle with butter and then cook at 350° for 30-40 minutes or until cheese is brown and bubbly or the mushroom is cooked to your preference (I like my mushrooms cooked longer, my husband likes them a little less done).  The portabellas took a few minutes longer, but that may have been because they were on the bottom rack under the little mushrooms.

Enjoy!