Recipies from Liz's support group (LONG with LOTS of recipies)

Well I hope Liz doesn't mind me posting all of these...but I am procrastinating doing my housework and wanted to transcribe the recipies to my computer, anyway so I figured I would post them.

Don't be afraid to try the garbanzo bean burgers.  We made them bite size and used them as "finger" like food - and although I do NOT like most beans, or even things like hummus for that matter - these were actually quite good.  Not sure if I would want to sit down to a whole big burger size portion, but yummy yummy. 

Everything was sooooo yummy!!

Buffalo Chicken Meatballs
1 lb ground chicken; all white meat

½ small onion, grated

2garlic cloves, grated

½ cup parsley, chopped

Salt and pepper

Extra virgin olive oil, for drizzling

2 tablespons butter

½ cup hot sauce, frank’s brand

Blue cheese dressing, for dipping

3 scallions, green and whit parts thinly sliced

Celery rib

Carrot sticks

Preheat oven to 400 F

In a large mixing bowl, combine the ground chicken with the onion, garlic, and parsley and season w/ salt and freshly ground pepper.  Shape into balls.

Arrange the meatballs on a nonstick sheet pan and drizzle them with olive oil.  Place in the oven and bake until the meatballs are cooked through and golden brown, about 10-12 minutes.

While the meatballs are baking, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add the hot sauce and whisk to combine.  Toss the baked meatballs in the ot sauce to coat (or serve on the side for those who don’t want the hot sauce).

Serve with a bowl of the blue cheese dressing garnished with scallions, celery, and carrot sticks alongside.

Classic Almond flour pound cake

½ cup butter (one stick, softened, at room temp)

½ cup full fat cream cheese

1 cup splenda

5 eggs, room temp

2 cups almond flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon lemon extract

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream butter, cream cheese, and splenda well.  Add eggs, one a t atime, beating well after each.  Mix almond flour with baking powder and add egg to mixture a little at a time while beating.  Add lemon and vanilla extracts.  Pour into greased 9 or 10 inch springform pan, ring pan, or 9" round cake pan and bake at 350 for 50-55 minutes.

You can change flavors for this cake by using different extract flavors and even food color if you’d like!

Beth’s Spinach Pizza

1 box frozen chopped spinach (thawed and drained)

2cupps mozzarella cheese (she uses low fat 5 blend Italian for flavor)

2 eggs

A small amount of pizza sauce (maybe 1/8 of a cup)

Sauce and cheese for topping

Pre heat oven to 400 degrees.

Mix it all together (except for the topping portions) then when mixed spread out on a pizza pan like a pizza then put on toppings sauce and chunks of mozzarella (You can add anything you like such as pepperoni or veggies)

Bake pizza about 15-20 minutes until golden bubbly brown.

Shelly’s Italian Cream cheese

3-4 basic leaves, chopped

One head of roasted garlic, cloves removed

8 ounces cream cheese

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Good Sicilian Olive Oil

OPTIONAL:  ¼ cup toasted walnuts OR ¼ cup chopped artichoke hearts

Mix chopped basil leaves, the contents of the head of one roasted garlic, cream cheese, grated parmesan cheese, and optional ingredients if using.  Blend thoroughly.  Add olive oil a few drops at a time until creamy.

Tatziki

1 tablespoon grill seasoning (recommended:  McCormick Montreal Seasoning)

1 ½ cups Greek style plain yogurt

1/3 seedless cucumber, peeled and chopped

3 tablespoons fresh dill

½ lemon, juiced

1 ½ teaspoons cumin

1 ½ teaspoons coriander

Salt

Place everything in a food processor and process until smooth.  Adjust seasonings and transfer to a serving bowl.

Garbanzo Bean Burgers

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

½ cup diced onions

½ cup carrots, grated

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon celery seed

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup walnuts

1 ½ cups cooked garbanzo (or 1 can, 15 ½ ounce garbanzo beans, drained)

5 tablspoons flour

2 tablesppons corn starch

¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped fine

Oil for frying

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and sauté the onions, arrots, garlic, cumin, celery seed, and salt over medium heat until the onions are transparent.  In a food processor, combine the nuts, and blend until ½ are a coarse meal and the other just cracked.  Place in a large mixing bowl and add the sautéed vegetable mixture.  Add the garbanzo beans in the processor the same way as the nuts.  Add flour and cornstarch.  Add the beans and parsley to the mixing bowl.  Mix everything together well until the mixture has enough body to form a patty.  If he mixture is too dry or crumbly, add a small amount of water to help the mixture bind.  Form the mixture into burgers.  Lightly oil the frying pan and fry the burgers over medium heat for 3-4 minutes on each side until lightly browned.

Sugar Free Truffles

8 ounces cream cheese; room temp

8 ounces sf chocolate chips

Toppings of choice (suggestions:  Chopped nuts/sf instant pudding powder, unsweetened cocoa blended in food processor with splenda/unsweetened toasted coconut/PB2)

In a medium bowl, beat cream cheese with an electric mixer until light, fluffy, and smooth.

Melt Chocolate chips over a double boiler

Combine melted chocolate with cream cheese and blend with mixer until well combined

Place in refrigerator until set, at least 2 hours

Roll into bite size balls and then roll in coating of choice.

Keep refrigerated until serving time

SF Cream Puffs

For the Cream Puffs

1 cup water

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons splenda

1 cup all-purpose flour

3 to 4 eggs, plus 1 egg for egg wash

For the Filling

1 package sugar free/fat free INSTANT vanilla pudding

1 package sugar free/fat free INSTANT white chocolate pudding

2 ¾ cup fat free half and half or milk of choice

For the Chocolate Topping

8 ounces sugar free chocolate chips

1/4 – ½ cup fat free half and half

To make the cream puffs:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. In a large saucepan, bring the water, butter, salt, and granulated sugar to a rolling boil over medium-high heat. When it boils, immediately take the pan off the heat. Stirring with a wooden spoon, add all the flour at once and stir hard until all the flour is incorporated, 30 to 60 seconds. Return the pan to the heat and cook, stirring, 30 seconds to evaporate some of the moisture.

Scrape the mixture into a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix at medium speed. With the mixer running, and working 1 egg at a time, add 3 of the eggs, stopping after each addition to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Mix until the dough is smooth and glossy and the eggs are completely incorporated. The dough should be thick, but should fall slowly and steadily from the beaters when you lift them out of the bowl. If the dough is still clinging to the beaters, add the remaining egg and mix until incorporated.

Using a pastry bag fitted with a large plain tip, pipe the dough onto a lined baking sheet (either silicone mat or parchment paper works well for this), in 1-inch diameter rounds or balls. Leave at least ½ inch between balls.  Whisk the remaining egg with 1 1/2 teaspoons water. Brush the surface of the rounds with the egg wash to knock down the points (you may not use all the egg wash). Bake 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 375 degrees F and bake until puffed up, and light golden brown, about 20 minutes more. Try not to open the oven door too often during the baking. Let cool on the baking sheet.

To make the filling

Combine all ingredients.  Wisk well until dissolved.  Place in fridge for about ½ hour or until set and chilled (can be done ahead of time)

For the Topping

Melt chocolate and half and half together over a double boiler, whisking until glossy and smooth

To Complete

Once puffs are completely cool, poke a hole in the bottom of the cream puffs using a tip from a pastry bag.  Fill the pastry bag with the filling and pipe into the cream puffs.

Dip tops into melted chocolate mixture.  Place in fridge until chocolate has hardened.  For best results, serve within four hours.  They will keep longer, but the shells will get softer.