Hawaiian Rice Salad

I found this recipe a few years ago when I was invited to a Luau potluck. It was so enjoyed by all that I sent out the recipe by request. I forgot all about it until recently when someone brought it to another party and said she'd gotten the recipe from me! I lost mine in a computer crash so she sent it back to me. It's delicious!

• 3 cups cooked brown rice
• 2 cups drained pineapple chunks, reserve liquid
• 2 cups sliced celery
• 2 cups cooked chicken, cut in bite-sized pieces
• 3/4 cup mayonnaise
• Salt and pepper to taste

Combine rice, pineapple, celery and chicken. Blend 1/2 cup pineapple juice with mayonnaise. Add to rice and chicken mixture. Toss lightly. Serves 6.
Garnish with sesame and/or celery seeds (optional)

CREAMY TACO SOUP

I really have nothing to say about this soup, other than YUMYUMYUM.

It is a low carb recipe. If you don't care about carbs, you can add corn, and you could also use regular black beans. The black soybeans are low in carbs and taste just like regular black beans. But they are expensive and hard to find.

CREAMY TACO SOUP

1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 recipe taco seasoning
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 10-ounce cans Ro-tel tomatoes, undrained (tomatoes with green chilies)
2 cans beef broth

1 can black soybeans

2 cups finely chopped cabbage

1/2 cup heavy cream
2 teaspoons salt, or to taste

In a large soup pot, brown the ground beef with the onion and garlic; drain. Add the spices and cook a couple minutes. Drop the cream cheese in bits into the meat. With the back of a big spoon, smash it into the meat until no bits of white remain. Stir in remaining ingredients and heat through.

Makes 8 cups or 6-8 servings
Freezing not recommended

Creamed Spinach

We love creamed spinach and have tried several recipes. One of our main requirements when searching was that it had to be able to use frozen spinach.

My sister-in-law made this at Thanksgiving and I had to bug her for the recipe! It's now my favorite. I normally double it because we really, really love it. It's low carb too!

2 tbsp butter

1/2 c chopped onion

2 tbsp flour (see note at the bottom)

3/4 c half and half

10 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

1 c shredded swiss or mozzarella

1/2 t salt

1/2 t pepper

1/4 t gr nutmeg

Melt butter in skillet, add onion and cook till tender. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly for 2 min. Stir in 1/4 c half and half till smooth. Stir in spinach, cheese, salt, pepper, nutmeg and remaining half and half. Spoon into baking dish and broil 5 inches from heat until hot and bubbly.

This serves 2 in large ramekins. Carrie doubled and cooked in shallow pyrex.

Notes:

Substituting flour for low carb diet: I have used soy flour (same amount) and it turned out great. I also left the flour out entirely once when I had no soy flour. It just wasn't as thick. You could use cream instead of half and half to make it thicker, or maybe just half the amount of half and half. Replacing with sour cream will also leave it thicker in the end.

Additions (we have tried all of these and they are delicious!):

2 pieces of bacon, crumbled
1 can artichoke hearts, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

Top with sprinkled parmesan cheese before broiling.

It's also great if you don't broil it at all!

Sugar Cookie Icing

I found this while making Christmas cookies with the kids and it was the best one I've found yet. It takes color really well and the touch of lemon tastes great. Play around with other flavors if you like!

NOTE: This doesn't make much. We went through 4 batches before we were done with the sugar cookies. it does get hard fast and it was easy to whip up more as needed.

Ingredients

• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 teaspoons milk
• 2 teaspoons light corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon extract
• assorted food coloring

Directions

1. In a small bowl, stir together confectioners' sugar and milk until smooth. Beat in corn syrup and almond extract until icing is smooth and glossy. If icing is too thick, add more corn syrup.
2. Divide into separate bowls, and add food colorings to each till desired intensity. Dip cookies, or paint them with a brush.

Low Carb Eggnog

This was really delicious! I will probably never buy store eggnog again, even if I am using real sugar. The kids love it too - without the alcohol, of course! We go through quarts of this over the holidays. Buy your ingredients at Sam's Club!

Egg Beaters - 6 eggs worth (so you don't have to cook the eggs)

4 cups almond milk - unsweetened

2 cups half and half or heavy cream (depends how thick you want it)

1/2 cup Splenda Granular, or sweetener of choice

1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract

Sprinkle of nutmeg, cinnamon to taste

optional: booze to taste - Try all rum or brandy, or half of each.

Sprinkle each serving with nutmeg and/or cinnamon as desired.

I don't have the carb count; there are apps you can use if you want to.

** Try using the ice cream freezer! As a soft serve, it is just like the expensive stuff from the Daiquiri Shop. Frozen hard, it is an excellent ice cream (hide from the kids if you used the booze!). Alternatively, freeze in small containers after alcohol is added. Thaw slightly and then you can put in the blender for that perfect daiquiri texture.

** If you don't want to use Egg beaters, mix up everything but the booze and simmer, stirring, for a minute (should reach 160 degrees F) so the eggs cook. 

**If you don't care about carbs, you can use regular milk and sugar. Everything else stays the same. I still like using the almond milk even if using real sugar. It just doesn't seem as heavy.

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.