Jalapeno Cheese Ball

This started out as several different recipes that I spent quite a few tries tweaking. I believe I have finally perfected it! It's hard to make it come out spicy. This was successful. You can adjust any of the spicy ingredients to your taste, and vary the types of cheese as well.

Edited to add: on Day 2 the spiciness is increased. It really is very spicy. Using regular pepper jack will bring that down a lot but you may want to lessen the amount of juice (none of that is necessary at all). Play with it to your own taste but i wanted to let you know that sitting overnight increases it!

Recipe Ingredients

2 cups Cream cheese, softened
2 cup Cheddar cheese, shredded
2 cups Pepper jack cheese, shredded (see note below)
1/4 cup green onions, finely chopped
3 Tbsp. jalapeno peppers, minced
3 Tbsp. juice from jalapeno jar
½ tsp cayenne pepper

Chopped or ground nuts, or crushed corn or tortilla chip crumbs, if desired

Recipe Directions

Combine all of the ingredients until thoroughly mixed and the lumps have been worked out of the cream cheese.

Serve as a dip/spread, or make into a ball:

Lightly spray food release on your hands and gather the cheese mix with your hands to form a ball.

Roll the cheese ball in ground nuts or chip crumbs until completely coated. This makes 1 HUGE or 2 normal sized cheese balls.

Notes:

• This can be made 2-3 days ahead. Seal cheese ball in plastic wrap and place in refrigerator until ready to use. Before serving, allow chilled cheese ball to sit at room temperature for an hour to soften.
• To use as a dip or spread, allow it to soften a bit before serving.
• Pepper Jack Cheese - I used 3 Alarm Pepper Jack, available at Sam's Club. This was the secret to the perfect amount of spicy, in my opinion. If you use regular pepper jack, you will need to add more jalapenos to get it spicier. Do not add more pepper juice unless you're making dip, as it will make it too soft.

Taco Skillet

Found on a low carb recipe site. Everyone loved this! The kids ate some in tortillas and some plain, and pronounced it good both ways. No one asked what the cabbage was. I suppose you could chop it really small if your kids will give you problems over it. You could not taste it but it did add some nice texture. Our kids are adventurous so we don't have to hide things from them - knock on wood!

Taco Skillet

2 pounds ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 batches of Taco seasoning

1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained *

16 oz. package coleslaw mix, or equivalent shredded cabbage

salt and pepper to taste

4 oz. shredded cheddar cheese

Optional garnishes: sour cream, cilantro, diced black olives, extra cheese

* I used a can and a half of Rotel tomatoes.

Brown the meat with the onion and garlic in a large skillet; drain. Add the seasoning and tomatoes. Simmer, uncovered, 5 minutes. Add the cabbage and cook, uncovered for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle the cheese on top, cover and cook for 2 minutes more until the cheese melts. Stir the cheese in slightly before serving. Add the garnishes if desired.

Roasted Broccoli with Garlic

Really delicious and different way to fix broccoli.

Be sure and use the stems. If you haven't tried it before, the stems are really yummy. You do need to peel them to get rid of the tough outer layer. What's left inside is SO sweet and tender, even raw. I like to cut them thin and just eat them raw or dip it into something as you would a chip. Try it!

For this recipe I sliced the stems thin and cut the florets pretty small. I put everything into a baggie to shake and mix, then dumped it out onto a cookie sheet. I roasted them for about 12 minutes and they were crisp-tender. I think 20 minutes sounds like way too long, although I may give it a try to see what happens.

1 bunch broccoli, cut into florets (use the stems too as described above)

2 Tbsp olive oil

3 cloves garlic, sliced

1/2 tsp. sea salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

Preheat oven to 350 F. Put all ingredients into a baggie, seal, and shake to coat. Spread them onto a baking sheet and roast, without stirring, for 20 minutes.

Serve warm (stir before serving).

Taco Seasoning

I haven't wanted to use the store bought stuff in ages (ever since I actually read the label, yikes!). I had been using just chili powder but this is more like the real thing!

1 teaspoon chili powder
3/4 teaspoon paprika
3/4 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/8 teaspoon garlic powder
Pinch cayenne

Combine and add to 1 pound browned and drained ground beef. Add a little water or tomato sauce, if desired. Sometimes I add some V-8 or Rotel tomatoes (undrained). This will be drier than taco meat made with a commercial mix due to the lack of thickeners. It tastes just as good as the store bought kind and is a lot cheaper to make.

Makes enough for 1 pound ground beef or 4-6 servings

Nutty Broccoli Salad

I found this recipe when cooking for Dad. I was looking for vegan recipes with chickpeas. I found that it tastes very close to the broccoli salad Mom and I loved so much - you know, the mayo-full stuff you find on salad bars? But this is WAY healthier! I wish I had been able to share it with her - I know she would have loved it!

We are currently living low-carb, so this is perfect as long as the raisins are not added (we don't particularly care for those anyway). There are just 13 net carbs in a can of chickpeas, so if you use those they add only about 2 carbs per serving. It's good either way, but the peas add a really nice and different touch.

I have since added the grated cheese to the recipe since I do not need to make it vegan anymore. The salad bar kind has cheese, and this makes it even closer, while still being low carb.

Serves: 6-8

• 4 cups chopped or shredded broccoli
• 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup raw almonds, chopped
• 1/4 cup raisins (leave these out if counting carbs)
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup apple cider vinegar or lemon juice (I like to use half each)
• 3 Tbsp. soy sauce

• Mix together broccoli, chickpeas, almonds, raisins, cheese and onions.

• In a separate bowl, whisk oil, vinegar and soy sauce.

• Pour dressing over salad. Let sit for a while to meld.

• Serve.

  
  

  
  

Scalloped Turnips w/Caramelized Onions

I saved this from a low-carb recipe site a few weeks ago and just got around to trying it.

It's a keeper! Even The Teen liked it. We'll be making this again for sure!

Scalloped Turnips w/Caramelized Onions

4 large turnips; peeled and cleaned, sliced into thin slices and boiled
for 3 minutes in water with 3T cream added; drained well
2-3 slices bacon
1T butter
1 large onion, sliced into paper thin rings
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 cup shredded white cheese of your choice (I used a mixture of mozzarella and Swiss)
Additional 1/2 cup cheese for top(optional)
3T butter
1/2tsp salt
1/4tsp pepper


Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 2 quart casserole with cooking spray and set aside.

Dice bacon and fry until crisp. Remove with a slotted spoon, leaving drippings in pan. Add 1 T. butter, nutmeg and onions. Saute onions over low heat until nicely browned. Crumble the bacon back in. Set aside.

In a microwave safe dish, melt the 3 T. butter and then add cream and cheese. Stir to melt, heating for 20 second intervals as needed.

Place 1/2 the turnips in the bottom of the casserole dish; then salt and pepper the turnips, followed by 1/2 the onion mix and 1/2 the cheese sauce. Repeat layers then top with additional cheese if using.

Cover well and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake 15-20 minutes or until top browns and it's all bubbly and tender.

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Italian Sausage

One of my favorite things is Italian Sausage. Since we've been low-carbing I've wanted to cook some, but I am also an avid label-reader these days and what I founf there surprised me! I found that Italian sausage has a bunch of crap in it like sugar (???????????? ) and artificial ingredients (If you NEED sausage and are buying it, bratwurst seems to have the least offensive ingredients - be sure you read as brands may vary). I was really sad because I love Italian sausage. Coincidentally that same night Alton Brown made some on Good Eats. Yay! I made it myself and it was EASY and YUMMY.

Well, his recipe was a tad more complicated. It had you grinding your own pork and stuffing into casings. If you want to do all that, just Google for "Alton Brown Italian Sausage" like I did. Here is my dumbed down / equipment challenged / (almost) immediate gratification version.

But did I say OMG YUM??!??!??!?!? I will NEVER buy Italian sausage premade again. Just saying.

Ingredients

1 1/2 teaspoons fennel seed
2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
2 pounds ground pork

Directions

Crush the fennel seeds: in a blender, coffee grinder, or just put in a baggie and hit it with a hammer.

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Refrigerate for at least one hour.

Form into patties or meatballs.

Cook as you would regular patties or meatballs.

ENJOY! I know I will!