Low Carb Shrimp with Feta Pasta Bake

I love Mediterranean flavors because they are usually light and delicious.  This recipe definitely falls into both categories.  The original recipe can be found here and uses orzo.  I am trying to do the lower-carb thing so we decided to use broken Dreamfield's spaghetti instead.  You can find this pasta at Winco, Ralphs, and Von's grocery stores.  I have also ordered it on Amazon.com! We did switch up the recipe a little because our cooking group likes a little spice and we had extra basil.

Assembled and ready to go into the freezer.

Ingredients:

• 2 cup cooked pasta 
  
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 medium onion, chopped
• 12 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 cup white wine
• 4 cups tomatoes, chopped
• 2 tsp. oregano
• 2 Tbsp chopped green onion
• 1.5 pounds shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 8 ounces feta cheese
• 4 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

Directions:

Cook the pastaaccording to the directions on the package.  Drain.  Heat olive oil in a large pan.  Cook onion for 5 minutes.  Add garlic and red pepper flakes, cook 30 seconds.  Add wine, tomatoes, chives and oregano.  Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer, cooking for five minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.   Combine shrimp, cooked orzo and tomato mixture.  Divide among baking dishes.  Sprinkle feta and lemon juice over top.  Proceed to freezing directions or bake immediately at 425 for 15-20 minutes until shrimp are thoroughly cooked.   

Freezing Directions:

Prepare baking dishes as listed above and freeze.  To serve, thaw and bake at 425 for 15-20 minutes until shrimp are thoroughly cooked.

Cheesy Artichoke Chicken

This is probably my favorite recipe from our Freezer Cooking with Friends menu.  It was DELICIOUS.  The original recipe can be found here.  My friend Heather cooked her's first so she gave us the tip that it needed to be served with pasta to catch the yummy sauce.  I used a low-carb spaghetti from Dreamfields that I tossed with butter, parmesan, and parsley.  I am still thinking about this and know that I will have to make it soon!  Word of caution, the freezer recipe has you put the cheese topping in a bag and then freeze it on top of the casserole.  Make sure you remove the baggy of cheese before you put the casserole in the oven.  This was learned the hard way by one of our group ;)

Ingredients: (makes 2 freezer meals, of 4 portions each)

• 8 cups diced roma tomatoes
• 4 tablespoons minced garlic
• 30 ounces artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
• 4 cups chopped baby spinach
• 4 Tablespoons olive oil
• 2 Tablespoons whole wheat flour
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• 4 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup fresh basil leaves, chopped

Serving day:  Cooked pasta of your choice 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, combine tomatoes, garlic, artichoke, basil, spinach, olive oil, flour, salt, and pepper to taste. Divide mixture evenly among 8 x 8 baking pan or pour all into one 13 x 9 pan. Season chicken with salt and pepper to taste and Italian seasoning. Place on top of vegetable mixture. (If freezing, proceed to freezing directions at this point.) Bake chicken and vegetables at 350 degrees for 40-45 minutes or until almost done. Top with cheese and place under the broiler for 1-3 minutes (watch closely) until cheese and veggies are just browned. Remove and sprinkle hot dish with fresh basil. Serve alone or over pasta if desired.

Freezer Directions 

Layer vegetables in the bottom of an 8x8 pan.  Top with chicken, sprinkled with seasonings.  Place parchment paper over the top.  Mix cheeses and put into a quart sized ziploc bag.  Place ziploc bag on top of the parchment, cover with foil and freeze. 

Chocolate Truffle Brownies

The Best Brownie EVER 

(or so I have been told)

Every cook as their "go to" recipe.  The one that you always keep the ingredients on hand for and can bring to any gathering and it is a hit.  For me that recipe is this one.  You will always find a box of brownie mix and a bag of Lindt truffles in my pantry, so that I can throw these togethers when I needed something to give as a "Thank you" or bring to a party.  I am embarrassed when people as for my secret recipe.  Secret?  They come from boxed mix and a bag of candy, but for some reason these two things together along with a cupcake liner make a whole lot of deliciousness.

 My Mommalove and I came up with this when we were experimenting with brownies.   These use my absolutely favorite candy in the world, Lindt Truffles!  My favorite and the super dark ones, but I make them with all kinds.  The cheapest place to buy them is at Costco.  You can get a large bag for what you would pay for two small ones at the grocery store.  We tried just about every kind of chocolate candy in the middle, but the Lindt just blew the rest out of the water.

Hope you enjoy them and make them to give as a gift.  Who doesn't love a box of home baked amazingness? 

Ingredients 

1 box of brownie mix (family sized box meant to make a 9x13 in pan)

ingredients that the box calls for (usually 2 eggs, 1/2 cup oil, 1/4 cup water)

12 Lindt Lindor Truffles 

12 cupcake liners

Cupcake tin

small cookie scoop

Directions 

1.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees

2.  Mix the brownie mix according to directions 

3.  Place liners in cupcake tin

4.  Place one small scoop of batter into each liner 

5.  Place a truffle into the center of each cup

You can use whatever flavor truffle  you want.
Here I used a mix. 

6.  Top each cup with another scoop of batter. 

7.  Bake for 20-25 minutes until puffed in the center.  

remove from the oven and let cool.  They will sink in the center. 

Lower Carb, Gluten Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Eating cookies is never healthy and these are not necessarily "low cal", but they are easy and delicious. I used MomFoodie's recipe, check out the original here: http://blommi.com/flourless-peanut-butter-cookies-with-chocolate-chunks/.  Her recipe uses regular sugar, but I wanted to see if the carb count could be dropped by using a sugar replacement baking blend and it worked!  Each cookie has only 12 carbs :)  If you don't want to use Truvia baking blend, just use 1 cup of regular sugar.  

I apologize the the picture.  I forgot take one and had to snap one at work as I was giving the last cookie away. 

Peanut butter and Chocolate chip cookies (yields 20 cookies)

15oz jar of peanut butter (creamy or chunky) 

1/2 cup Truvia baking blend 

1 large egg

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Blend all of the ingredients together.  Scoop out with a small cookie scoop and flatten slightly.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes on a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Make sure you let these cool for 10 minutes on the cookie sheet otherwise they will fall apart. 

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie!

I guess I should preface this recipe with a note that for the first 5 years of my cooking life I could not make a chocolate chip cookie to save my LIFE.  Seriously, they are supposed to be simple, right?  At 10 I could make dinner for my family (it was edible, most of the time), but I could not make a stupid cookie.  I practiced and practiced until I had an "aha" moment and realized that when you bake you HAVE to follow directions.  I am not so great at following directions, crazy since I am a teacher :)  I love this recipe because you melt and brown the butter.  I do not have to remember to set butter out to make them, that annoys me with other recipes.  I also love it because you can mix it by hand and do not have to dirty your mixer.  It is the the perfect combo of sweet, salty, and chocolate.  Hope you love them as much as my family does.

Each recipe yields 16 large cookies.  Do not make them smaller because the texture will not be quite right. All of the pictures below are from a double batch (one is never enough).  I have also started making this with "white" whole wheat flour, so that I can bump the fiber.  They are just as delicious, but a smidge healthier.

On another note, this recipe is based off a "Cooks Illustrated" recipe with some variations to my tastes.  

Caramel Apple Cupcakes

I make homemade caramel and dip apples in my classroom each and every Halloween.  This year was my 11th year of doing it and I went a little crazy with the amount of caramel that I made and apples I bought, so I had to come up with a way to use them up.  This recipe is easy and quick.  You can sub in jarred caramel sauce, if you don't have leftover homemade.  

Enjoy!

Kate 

Lower Carb Mexi-Mac and Cheese

Whenever the weather gets cold I crave two things, soup and macaroni and cheese.  When I first started cutting processed carbs out I thought pasta was a "no no" good, but then I found Dreamfields Healthy Carb Living pasta with only 5 net carbs per serving! It tastes just like regular pasta, but is made from some type of special wheat that keeps blood sugar from spiking.  Pretty great stuff, but still  high in calories, so it can't be a weekly treat.  I wanted to be able to have a nice portion with this and up the veggies, so I included chopped cauliflower in with the pasta while it boiled.

If you aren't into the low-carb thing then just use regular pasta.  I did this and made my mac and cheese and then a pan for my hubby with no cauliflower and with regular pasta.  You could also make it vegetarian by using vegetable broth.

Hope you enjoy!
Kate

It shows the same amount of carbs, but your body only processes 5 grams with each serving.  Just make sure you cook it al dente!