Yesterday I wanted something light and not too sweet to have with coffee so I went to my kitchen to create something from what I had on hand. This recipe gave me about 6 dozen delightful little delicate cookies that filled the bill perfectly!

1 stick butter, softened
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/4c xylitol
1/2t salt
1/2c SF vanilla syrup
2c almond flour
1/4c polydextrose
1/4c coconut flour

whip together butter and cream cheese until creamy; whip in xylitol and
salt; add vanilla syrup and whip until well-blended. Add almond flour,
polydex, and coconut flour, and blend well.

dough will be light if it has been well-whipped. (I didn't even use the
paddle, just stuck with the whip in my mixer.) Scoop onto sprayed cookie
sheet in walnut-sized spoonfuls, bake @ 350 JUST until the edges start to
brown; remove from oven and let stand on cookie sheet for a few minutes
before removing, as they are light and delicate will break apart unless
given time to pull together; once they're a little "tighter" you can remove
them to finish cooling.

Do not seal up to store, they become too moist; I left these on a platter, open, on the counter last night and they're still very moist and good - sealing them up they would have been wet by morning.

I didn't do the math and figure up the carb count but it's around 30gN for the whole recipe. If you want/need to be more exact, http://www.ars.usda.gov/Services/docs.htm?docid=17032

Got raves from all for Mother's Day dinner yesterday!

Rubbed a pork tenderloin (about 5#) with garlic powder, chili powder, S&P, and rosemary; roasted covered for 2 hours @ 325, then uncovered for 30 minutes @ 350. Rub made a nice crust!

Tossed chunks of frozen cauli, broccoli, zucchini, yellow squash, and carrots (I didn't eat carrots) with oil, garlic salt, dried onion, and italian seasoning blend, then roasted in an uncovered baking dish for the last half hour with the pork, stirring once.

Made Sam's napa cabbage salad (http://www.thecookingguy.com/cookbook/recipe.php?id=113) with a few changes: made my own dressing with dijon mustard, oil, and sweetener; used feta cheese instead of blue cheese; cooked thinly-sliced onion with the mushrooms. We don't eat desserts typically.

The whole meal was a huge hit, and looked very fancy even though it required very little work and left me lots of time with my guests! Nobody missed the bread or potatoes :).

I made a meatloaf using 1 lb of ground beef, half a bag of porkies crushed, about a Tbsp of worchestershire sauce, a quarter of an onion chopped finely and an egg.

In another baking dish I poured enough oil to cover the bottom, then mixed in some dry basil and garlic powder. Into that I tossed a bag of frozen cauli, and tossed to coat. S&P lightly.

Both of the above went into a 350 oven.

On the stovetop I put 2 drained cans of sliced shitake mushrooms into a pan with 2T butter (not fake oleo stuff), covered it, and set it on the oven-vent burner. (I don't keep fresh mushrooms because they spoil so quickly; I buy them specially if I have an immediate use for them, but keep canned and dried 'shrooms on hand.)

After 30 minutes I tossed the cauli and returned it to the oven. Then to the mushrooms (with now-melted butter) I added 8 oz of sour cream - full fat of course - a tsp of chili powder, and tsp of beef base, and a generous shake of dry basil. I stirred it all together, re-covered it, and put it on the burner set to its lowest setting.

10 minutes later I removed the meat loaf and roasted cauli from the oven, turned the burner off, and stirred the sour cream/mushroom sauce. I served it over the meatloaf. The cauli was plenty flavorful to stand on its own. The mushroom sauce had a good strong flavor - if I wanted it milder (I didn't) I would have added some cream and used just a half-tsp of the chili powder.

Today's late breakfast was so good...it's one of my favorite easy meals!

In a frying pan of hot bacon drippings over high heat I broke 3 eggs, then lowered the heat to low/medium and broke the yolks with a fork, spreading them over the whites. Onto the eggs I sprinkled some chopped frozen spinach pieces, letting a few fall into the fat to fry alone, then some quartered pepperoni slices, and finished it off with a handful of shredded mozzarella. Covered the pan and walked away for 10 minutes. After I slid it onto my plate I put the fried spinach bits on top, just for the sake of embellishment :).

When I haven't used pepperoni, I also like this with salsa and sour cream (full-fat, of course!) on top!

Root vegetables, other than carrots, weren't something I ate much of as I was growing up. As a result, I never really had an interest in them. But now, eating low carb, it's a whole 'nother story! I recently got some turnips on sale, and had to use them. Since my husband had roasted chicken for our dinner earlier and had left the pan on the stovetop, I peeled and diced a couple of turnips and tossed them in the chicken drippings with a few pieces of bacon, and put it back in the oven. About 20 minutes later I had THE most delicious vegetable dish I think I've ever eaten! The turnips were dark brown and caramelized...I put them in a bowl with a little (1 Tbsp or so) shredded cheddar cheese on top and had them for my afternoon snack-meal-thing. (Hubby is at work and I usually don't have full meals when I'm alone, I just sort of graze.) So sweet and tender, a little sticky...oh no, my mouth is watering just thinking about it! And about 12gN carbs for the whole thing.

As my dad used to say, "You can't beat that with a stick!"