New Protein Waffle

Some people comment that they LOVE the Protein Waffles made with almond flour. I have one mother who writes me all the time on how that is the only way for her picky eaters to eat protein at dinner. But there are a few of you who comment that they are too crispy and dry. I have made waffles out of coconut flour before and they are too soft and rubbery, but I have found the solution! The protein powder makes these waffles soft on the inside and crispy on the outside!

TIP: I make a triple batch of waffles whenever I make them and store them in the freezer. If I get home late from work, we have waffles and eggs! All I have to do is toast the waffles like an Eggo Waffle and fry a few eggs...dinner is ready in 5 minutes!

"HEALTHIFIED" PROTEIN WAFFLES
1/2 cup coconut flour
1 cup JAY ROBB vanilla egg white or whey protein
1/2 tsp Celtic sea salt
1 TBS aluminum free baking powder
1 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
4 eggs
4 TBS butter or coconut oil, melted

Preheat waffle iorn to high. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Combine the wet ingredients in another bowl. Slowly add the wet ingredients into the dry. Let sit for 5 minutes. Bake according to your waffle iron directions (I spray my waffle iron with THIS Coconut oil spray). Enjoy! Serve with Nature's Hollow Xylitol syrup. Makes 10 waffles.

NUTRITIONAL COMPARISON (per waffle)
Traditional Waffle = 223 calories, 8.5g fat, 5g protein, 27 carbs, 0.7g fiber (26.3 effective)
"Healthified" Waffle = 144 calories, 8g fat, 12.2g protein, 4g carbs, 2.1g fiber (1.9 effective)

Mocha Fudge Cake and CONVERTING FLOURS

In my family we treat corn, carrots, potatoes, rice…starchy foods, as if they were sweets (starch and sugar = excess weight gain). They are all starchy carbohydrates as are the products made from them (chips, cereal, rice cakes and snacks). So we never use alternative flours made from corn, rice or potatoes. 4 grams of carbohydrates from sugar or starch becomes 1 teaspoon of sugar in our body!

All flours are not created equal. If you have coconut flour in the house and the recipe calls for almond flour, your finished product will not turn out.

If you are trying to replace almond flour with a recipe using white flour, it requires more eggs to provide more structure. If you are trying to replace coconut flour with the white flour, you will need to add A LOT of eggs to the mixture!

Coconut flour is unlike any other consisting of 14% coconut oil and 58% dietary fiber! The remaining 28% consists of water, protein, and carbohydrate. It gives baked goods a rich, springy texture but needs a lot more liquid than other flours, for example you only need a 1/2 cup coconut flour for about 6 eggs in a muffin recipe; therefore you end up with a high protein muffin rather than a high carb starch bomb.

So here is an example of how different the recipes look to make MOCHA FUDGE CAKE with the different flours.

USING ALMOND FLOUR
1 1/2 cups Swerve (or Just Like Brown Sugar)
4 TBS butter or coconut oil
3 eggs
3 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted
3/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 cups blanched almond flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup hot coffee
1 1/2 tsp vanilla or chocolate extract
1/2 tsp Celtic sea salt

USING COCONUT FLOUR
1 1/2 cups Swerve (or Just Like Brown Sugar)
4 TBS butter or coconut oil
6 eggs
3 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted
3/4 cup sour cream
3/4 cups coconut flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup hot coffee
1 1/2 tsp vanilla or chocolate extract
1/2 tsp Celtic sea salt

Pre-heat oven to 350˚. Beat sweetener and butter in a bowl until combined. Beat in eggs, then chocolate, then sour cream. Sift the coconut/almond flour and baking soda in a bowl; add to chocolate mixture. Beat in coffee, vanilla and salt until combined. Coat a 9" cake pan with coconut oil spray; pour in batter. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 35 minutes. Makes 12 servings.

NUTRITIONAL COMPARISON (per serving)
Traditional Cake = 279 calories, 42g carbs, 2g fiber, 4g protein, 11g fat
"Healthified" Almond Cake = 200 calories, 5.8 carbs, 2.7g fiber, 6g protein, 18 fat
"Healthified" Coconut Cake = 162 calories, 11 carbs, 7g fiber, 6 protein, 11g fat

NOTE: You can use 1 1/2 cup erythritol and 1 tsp stevia glycerite in replace for sweeteners.

Inspired by L'Auberge chef David Schmidt

Amazon.com Shopping

I have created an AMAZON.COM store where you can find all the healthy ingredients that are difficult to find in the grocery store (and if you do find them, they are often very expensive). I have done some detective work and found the lowest prices on www.amazon.com for all of the products I use and love. Everything from food, pantry items, kitchen tools, supplements and skin products are in the aStore. I rarely waste time in the grocery store because I find everything online for a way better price!

All you have to do is click on the words in my recipes and it will take you right to the correct item. If you add them to your cart I get a tiny commission which helps me afford to keep practicing recipes (Recipe experimenting can costing me a fortune!...but I love helping!).

By purchasing products through my Amazon store, you help keep this blog going. You can also continue shopping for other products on Amazon after you are finished with "healthified" shopping. Just click the "Proceed to Checkout". It then asks you if you want to add these to your Amazon cart (at the main Amazon site). Just click "Continue" and now you can add whatever else you want from Amazon all in the same cart! I always choose at least one thing from my Amazon Store before moving onto other items I need for the family, those items will also help pay for the blog without any extra cost; I just get a small commission for bringing your business to Amazon.com.

You can click on the below image to go to my store or on the right you will see a "Maria's Amazon Store" widget. Happy Shopping and THANK YOU for all your support!!!

Baseball Cupcakes

My friend, Jamie, has me make some yummy goodies for her boy's lunches. She has the CUTEST ideas for their lunches. Check out her BLOG. Her boys LOVE baseball, so I decided to make them baseball cupcakes.



1/2 cup coconut flour
1/4 tsp Celtic sea salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
6 eggs (or 3 eggs and 1/3 cup coconut milk)
1/2 cup erythritol (or xylitol)
1 tsp stevia glycerite (omit if using xylitol)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup coconut oil or butter, melted
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium sized bowl sift together the dry ingredients. Slowly add the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and stir until very smooth. Grease a donut pan and fill about 2/3 of the way full with batter. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

FROSTING:
1/2 cup coconut oil or butter
8 oz cream cheese or coconut cream
3 TBS Vanilla Almond Milk
1 TBS Stevia Glycerite (to taste)

In a bowl, mix the butter/oil and the cream cheese, almond milk, and sweetener to taste. Mix until creamy. Spread on top of cupcakes. I also melted 1 ChocoPerfection bar with 3 TBS almond milk. I placed the melted chocolate in a small Ziplock bag, and cut a tiny hole in the corner. I used this to pipe baseball stripes on the cupcakes. Makes 16 servings.

NUTRITIONAL COMPARISON (per serving)
Traditional Cupcakes = 283 calories, 19g fat, 3.6g protein, 26 carbs, 0.9g fiber
"Healthified" Cupcakes = 214 calories, 20g fat, 4.2g protein, 3.2 carbs, 1.7g fiber

Almond Joy Donuts

To see the recipe, check out the new cookbook: Low Carbing Among Friends at http://amongfriends.us/order.php


NUTRITIONAL COMPARISON (per donut)
Traditional Chocolate Covered Cake Donut = 327 calories, 33.2 carbs, 1.3g fiber
"Healthified" Cake Donut = 217 calories, 7.4 carbs, 4.2g fiber

Twinkies

What is really in those little plastic packages called Twinkies?
The Twinkie was created during the Depression and contains 39 ingredients! One of those ingredients is a preservative, sorbic acid. Sorbic acid actually comes from natural gas. AND...5 ingredients come from rocks.

If that isn’t gross enough, ingredients like cellulose gum, Polysorbate 60, and calcium sulfate are also used in sheet rock, shampoo, and rocket fuel. Oh, and...what make these treats so "light and fluffy?" It is limestone! And the creamy filling? What is that? It's not cream, it is partially hydrogenated vegetable oil...TRANS-FAT. So instead of pumping our kids with junk that NEVER gets moldy, try this adaptation instead.

I saw this recipe on ComfyBelly Blog and thought I would adapt it a little.

1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 tsp Celtic sea salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 eggs
1/3 cup Swerve (or erythritol and 1/2 tsp stevia glycerite)
1/2 TBS vanilla
1/4 cup butter or coconut oil
CHOCOLATE OPTION: add 3 TBS cocoa powder

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients and then start adding all the wet ingredients to the dry mix. Blend until it is light and fluffy. Grease the Twinkie pan (click HERE to purchase on amazon.com) (or cupcake pan if you don't have a Twinkie pan). Pour the batter into the pan and fill 3/4 to the top. Bake for 11-12 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven to cool completely. Fill the Twinkie using a decorator tool or a ziplock bag with a hole cut into the corner.

Creamy Filling: Option 1 (lighter in calories)
2 egg whites
¼ cup Swerve (or a few drops of stevia glycerite)

Whip egg whites to stiff peaks. Blend in sweetener and re-whip until stiff peaks form again. Place filling in Twinkie filling injector. Place cooled Twinkie flat side up and inject filling into Twinkie in 3 spots on its flat (bottom) side.

Creamy Filling: OPTION 2
1/2 cup heavy cream OR coconut cream (if dairy sensitive)
1/8 cup Swerve (or a few drops of stevia glycerite)

Whip the cream until light and fluffy, add in the sweetener. Use to fill cooled Twinkie.

Nutritional Information (per Twinkie):
Using egg white filling = 195 calories, 4.75 carbs, 2.5 fiber
Using whipping cream filling: 297 calories, 6 carbs, 2.5 fiber

Dutch Pancakes

Dutch pancakes are a fluffy pancake baked in the oven. My tip is to make the batter the night before and place it in the oven when you get out of bed. By the time you are done showering and getting the kids up, the pancakes will be nice and warm, fresh out of the oven!

Butter or coconut oil (to grease pan)
1/2 tsp Celtic sea salt
1/4 cup coconut flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
6 eggs
1 cup coconut milk or vanilla almond milk

Toppings: Nature's Hollow maple syrup, Nature's Hollow honey,

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9 x 13 glass baking pan (or 2 pie pans...for circle shapes) with butter or coconut oil. Whisk all the dry ingredients together and add in the eggs and coconut milk until batter is well smooth. Pour into greased pan. Bake for about 20-25 minutes until puffed and cooked all the way through. Serve immediately. Serves 4.

NUTRITIONAL COMPARISON:
"Traditional" Dutch Pancake = 364 calories, 34 carbs, 1 fiber
"Healthified" Dutch Pancake = 155 calories, 7 carbs, 3.25 fiber (using Almond milk)