Tzatziki Sauce

1 cup Greek yogurt
3 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 med cucumber

1 tsp salt, divided
Black pepper to taste

Drain yogurt if desired (I don't, because I don't care.)
Shred cucumber. Sprinkle with 1/2 tsp salt, then wrap in clean towel and squeeze out liquid.

Mix all together and refrigerate. It's best if you let it sit for a couple of hours.

It's got a really great texture with the shredded cucumber, but if you want to save time, you can just chop them. If I'm really lazy I don't de-seed or drain them, either. It tastes great either way and is super healthy!

Roasted Eggplant with Garden Vegetables

I have a lot of tiny eggplants in my garden, that don't seem like they want to grow any bigger. So I went searching for a recipe.

I found the basis for this online - simply stuff baby eggplant with garlic, drizzle with olive oil, and roast. I had some other fresh garden vegetables and of course need to tweak everything anyway. This is the result!

* 6 baby or small eggplants
* 1 lemon, sliced thin
* 3 cloves garlic, sliced thin
* 2 tomatoes, large dice *or* 20 cherry tomatoes, halved
* 1 large or 2 small bell peppers. large dice
* 6 basil leaves, cut in half
* 2 tsp. capers
* 1/4 cup kalamata olives, pitted and halved
* 1 tsp. sea salt
* 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
* 1/4 cup olive oil
* juice of 1 lemon
* 1/3 cup feta cheese

Lightly grease a 9x13 baking pan. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Slice each eggplant in half lengthwise, not cutting all the way through. Stuff the garlic, basil and sliced lemon into the slits. Arrange in pan. Arrange remaining vegetables evenly around the eggplants. Sprinkle with capers. Drizzle the olive oil and lemon over all, then season with salt and pepper.

Cover pan with foil and roast, basting frequently with pan juices, for about 40 minutes. Remove the foil for the last 10 minutes.

Serve with pan juices, topped with feta cheese.

** Using different colors of tomatoes and peppers looks beautiful!

Blueberry Custard

I found the basis for this recipe online. I tweaked to make it low carb, along with a few other changes. It was delicious! The kids had no idea it was low carb. One even chastised me for "cheating". WIN!

BLUEBERRY CUSTARD

6 cups fresh or frozen blueberries, picked over and rinsed

Place berries evenly in a 9x13 pan.

• Custard:

Sweetener of choice, equal to 1-1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup almond flour
1/4 tsp. sea salt
5 eggs, beaten
1 cup sour cream
2 tsp. vanilla

mix together the dry ingredients. Add eggs and sour cream, beating until well blended. Pour over the blueberries (do not stir).

• Topping: 

Sweetener of choice, equal to 1 cup sugar
3/4 cup almond flour
2 Tbsp flax meal
2 Tbsp hemp hearts (use more almond meal if you don't have this)
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 tsp cinnamon (optional)

Combine dry ingredients. Cut in butter until it resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle evenly over the custard.

Bake at 350 for about 55 minutes, until lightly browned. Do not overbake!

Eat warm or chill. This would be great with some whipped cream or ice cream!

• Sweeteners: I like to mix different sweeteners when it calls for this much. I think it makes it taste better. For this, I used a combination of Splenda, erythritol, and stevia. It would be fine to use whatever you like.