Keto Blueberry Muffins

From Southern Keto by Natasha Newton

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Cups Finely Ground Blanched Almond Flour

1/2 Cup Granular Erythritol

2 tsp Baking Powder

1/4 tsp Salt

2 Large Eggs

1/4 Cup Sour Cream

1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract

1/2 Cup Fresh Blueberries

Directions:

 Preheat the oven to 350°F. Greases a standard-size 12-well muffin pan.

In a small bowl, whisk together the almond flour, erythritol, baking powder, and salt.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk the eggs, then stir in the sour cream and vanilla extract. Slowly add the flour mixture, stirring until well blended. Gently stir in the blueberries.

Pour the batter into the prepared muffin pan, filling each well about 3/4 full. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the tops are lightly browned and a toothpick or tester inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean.

Allow the muffins to cool completely before removing from the pan. Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days or in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Mango Salsa

Ingredients:

1 Mango

1/4 C Red bell pepper (finely diced)

1 green onion (finely chopped)

2 TBSP fresh cilantro (finely chopped)

1 fresh jalapeño (finely diced)

2 TBSP lime juice

1 TBSP lemon juice

1/2 avocado (diced)

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together in a medium sized bowl. Allow to sit for a couple hours in the fridge before serving.

Chocolate Zucchini Bread

INGREDIENTS:

3 Eggs
2 Cups white sugar
1 Cup plus 2 TBS Vegetable Oil
6 TBS Cocoa Powder
2 Cups grated zucchini
1 tsp Vanilla extract
2 Cups All-purpose Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1 Cup Chocolate Chips


DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans, or cupcake tin (or for easy cleanup line cupcake tin with cupcake liners!). Beat eggs and sugar together until creamy. Add vegetable oil, cocoa powder, grated zucchini, and vanilla. Beat well. Stir in flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Fold in chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared pans.
Bake in preheated oven for 60-70 minutes int he loaf pan, 25-30 minutes in the cupcake tins. Insert a toothpick into the center of the loaf to check that it comes out clean.

Puppy Chow

This is a SUPER yummy snack but a word of caution... it is ADDICTING! Once you start you might not be able to stop!

Ingredients:
9 Cups Chex Cereal (I prefer the Rice Chex, no name brand!)
1 1/4 Cups Chocolate Chips
1/2 Cups Creamy Peanut Butter
1/4 Cups Butter
1/4 tsp Vanilla
2 Cups Powdered Sugar

Directions:
Put cereal into a gallon sized ziploc bag. Melt chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter in a medium sauce pan. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour into bag with cereal, toss a little. Add powdered sugar and shake until well coated.

Orange Fluff

This makes SO much that you really should do this when you're planning to share!

Ingredients:
24 oz Cottage Cheese
2 Small Boxes of Orange Jello, OR 1 large box
2 cans (8 oz) crushed pineapple (drained)
3 cans (11 oz) mandarine oranges (I personally think Del Monte is the best tasting)
8 oz Cool Whip (defrosted)
Nilla Wafers

Directions:
Mix everything except for the Nilla Wafers together, chill for at least 1 hour. Serve with the Nilla Wafers!

Banana Bread

Ingredients:
1 1/4 Cups Sugar
1/2 Cup (1 Stick) margarine or butter (softened)
2 Large Eggs
1 1/2 Cups Mashed Bananas (about 3-4 medium sized bananas)
1/2 Cup Buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 Cups All-purpose Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Salt
1 Cup Chopped Nuts (optional)
2 Cups Chocolate Chips (optional, I prefer milk chocolate baking chips)


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F
Grease the bottom of 2 large loaf pans, or 4 small loaf pans, with shortening. Mix ingredients together until smooth. Bake 50-60 minutes. Allow to cool for 5 minutes. Cut and serve.

Carrot Muffins

Do you struggle to get your kids (or yourself) to eat as many servings of veggis as you are "suppose" to be consuming? Or maybe I'm the only one.

These carrot muffins worked out GREAT for me, my 2 1/2 year old son absolutely loves these "cupcakes". No I don't put any frosting on them and he just gobbles them right up!

I found this recipe after my mom used her juicer to make some carrot juice and had about 3 cups of carrot pieces left over. What a waste that would be to just throw away!

The original recipe calls for raisins to be added, but anyone who really knows me knows that I really do NOT like raisins, but I love chocolate. So of coarse I switched the raisins for chocolate chips... yummmmm!

The muffins with nothing in them don't really have much flavor, but I love them with the chocolate chips. If you like raisins check out the original recipe here.

Makes about 24 small muffins.

Ingredients:

2 Cups All-Purpose Flour

1 TBSP Baking Powder

2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

1 tsp Ground Cinnamom

4 Eggs

1/2 Cup Vegetable Oil

1/2 Cup Applesauce

3/4 Cup Brown Sugar

3 Cups Shredded Carrots

1 Cup Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease muffin cups or line with paper muffin liners.

In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, oil, applesauce, and brown sugar; beat well. Combine egg mixture and flour mixture; mix just until moistened. Add carrots and chocolate chips. Spoon into prepared muffin cups.

Bake in preheated oven for 18-25 minutes. Let cool for about 20 minutes.

Hooray for a healthy snack!

*If you want to make this even more healthy you can use whole grain flour, or add some benefiber in! I prefer all-purpose flour myself.

Potato Rolls

Every year for Thanksgiving my mom would traditionally make these CUTE rolls that she would make to look like turkeys! This recipe is actually one I got from a friend when I was at college!

****WARNING: This is an OVERNIGHT recipe****

INGREDIENTS

1 package (2 TBSP) yeast
1 1/2 Cups Warm Water
2/3 Cup Sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
2/3 Cup shortening (or butter)
2 Eggs
1 Cup Lukewarm Mashed Potatoes
6 1/2-7 Cups All Purpose Flour

DIRECTIONS

In a small bowl dissolve yeast in warm water. For those who have not worked with yeast before, what I do is make the water from my sink as hot as possible, it seems to work well! In a large mixing bowl combine sugar, salt, shortening, eggs, potatoes, and 4 cups of flour. Mix until smooth. Add yeast-water mix. Mix in enough of the remaining flour until the dough is easy to handle (the least amount you have to use is best. Knead the dough until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.

Place in a greased bowl (I usually use my largest mixing bowl and using a paper towel I wipe shortening all over to grease the bowl); turn greased side up. Cover bowl tightly and refrigerate over night. Punch it down occasionally.

When ready to use punch down the dough.

*For normal rolls I shape the dough into about 2-inch balls and place them on a greased cookie sheet between 1/2-inch to 1-inch apart.*

For nice fluffy rolls I have found it is best to allow the rolls to rise for about an hour.

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Brush the rolls with butter and by the time the oven is preheated the rolls are good to go in the oven!

Bake for 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool for about 10 minutes then put them on a wire rack for another 10 minutes.

*To make the rolls look like turkey's shape dough into about 1 1/2-inch balls, place in greased muffin pan. Then to make the "head" and "tail feathers" you will roll the dough in your hands to make a "snake" (like you did when you were little playing with play dough). Break four pieces about an inch long and place three in the back and one in the front. (Follow the rest of the directions above for cooking)*

Won Tons

This is one of my favorite things my mom use to cook, and what makes it even better is that it makes a lot of food for under $20. If you buy the right package of won tons I believe this recipe is inside one of them, but I don't know which brand, sorry. This recipe makes about 50 won tons, and I recommend planning on each person eating about 8 won tons. So, this recipe is good for up to 6 people. I will make it all (even if it's only two of us eating) that way we have leftovers, and this is a meal that I think is just as good cold as they are freshly made (and they make a great snack)!

Ingredients Needed:

1 lb ground pork (or turkey, lamb, or any combination, you can do half and half of different meats if you want)

5 green onions

1 (8 0z) can sliced water chestnuts

1 tsp ground ginger

2 TBSP Soy Sauce

1 package Won Ton wrappers (these can usually be found in the produce section, in a cool place)

Oil for deep frying (I prefer either Vegetable or Canola Oil)

4 cups cooked Rice (side)

Sweet and Sour Sauce, Teriyaki Sauce, or Soy Sauce (optional, for dipping)

Directions:

This is a recipe where you get to dig in and get your hands messy (feel free to let your kids help)!!!!

Chop onions (using all of the onion) all the way up through the green. I usually don't use the top inch or so, usually because it doesn't look so good! Drain the water from the water chestnuts and finely chop. In a medium sized bowl mix pork, onions, water chestnuts, ginger, and soy sauce. I usually will just dig in with my hands and get it all nice and mixed up (make sure you remove any rings you may be wearing)! 

Next you will fill the won ton. To do this you will put about one teaspoon of the meat mix onto the center of the won ton wrap. Next moisten (with either the water drained from the water chestnuts or just water) the edge of the wrap (I only do half, I think it sticks better, if you get the square wraps just moisten two tangent edges, if you get the circle wraps moisten half the circle). Next fold in half over the filling. Starting at one edge, pinch the edges closed with thumb and finger. You can leave them just like this, but I like to bring the two corners that are farthest apart, add a little water, and stick together. Continue this until you have filled all the won tons. I usually will put them on a cookie sheet that I have lined with wax paper. What's nice about doing that is that you can have layers of wax paper and won tons.

Heat oil to 350°F, this is usually a medium to medium high heat on the stove. Fill pan with enough oil to cover won tons (about 1 inch deep). Fry won tons (I usually do about 6 or 7 at a time) until golden brown, turn once so won tons are golden on each side. Drain on paper towels.

Serve with rice and dipping sauce. ENJOY!!!