An American Housewife: June 2021

6/13/21

From Yesterday's Instagram: The best SUGAR COOKIE - simple, classic and traditional

Such a classic and simple traditional sugar cookie, but one of the best!

Baking for a family get-together so I'm using flour and sugar and WHAT A DIFFERENCE. Oh I miss good old flour and sugar cookies. I'm so used to baking with almond flour and natural sugars that I'd forgotten what flour smells like. Yes... smells like. I'd forgotten what normal, wheat flour based cookies smelled like. Ha ha.

These are... heavenly. I did have one yesterday (vanilla sugar cookies are my favorite cookie ever). It was 15 carbs and 8 sugars but worth every last one. After the cookies were cooled I packed them up and put them in the deep freezer for next weekend. I really did only have one!

SUGAR COOKIES

1 c Crisco
1 1/2 c sugar
2 eggs
2 t good quality vanilla
2 1/2 c flour
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt

Line baking sheet with parchment. Beat shortening and sugar 2+ minutes until smooth. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat again and then add the dry ingredients. Drop cookies 2 inches apart and bake at 375 for 9-11 minutes. Let cool 2 minutes and then remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Unbleached Food Grade Parchment Paper Roll Baking Paper by Baker’s Signature | Silicone Coated & Unbleached – Will not Soak Through or Burn – Non-Toxic

6/12/21

Keto Supreme Pizza (sausage, pepperoni and more)

My husband won't typically eat pizza if it has sausage on it, but he loves this one - with the exact same sausage in it. He would be content if I just always made him a pepperoni and mushroom pizza - I like all different toppings or kinds of pizza depending on what mood I'm in and what sounds good. He hates onions and will pick them out and off anything I make, while I love onions - but again - he eats them on this particular pizza! Go figure? The only thing I can figure out (because his brain works this way...) is that by making the supreme pizza into a 'sheet pan' style instead of a round pizza crust style, he doesn't view it the same. He loves this pizza - onions, sausage and all.

The dough is just another version of the typical keto mozzarella dough, but it works for everything and tastes great so....

Keto Supreme Pizza

Use your favorite mozzarella keto dough
(typically 1 c mozzarella, 2 oz. cream cheese, 1 c almond flour, and 2 eggs but also add 1/4 c coconut flour and 1/4 c parmesan to it).
Mix in about 1 cup Italian sausage, uncooked
1 1/2 t oregano or Italian seasoning

Toppings: Use what you like - mix and match to your preference
                    1 T avocado or olive oil
                    1 onion, sliced
                    1/2 green bell pepper, diced
                    Fresh garlic
                    Pepperoni
                    Mushrooms
                    Black olives/green olives
                    3/4 c low sugar/low carb/keto pizza sauce
                    Mozzarella Cheese and Cheddar Cheese

Mix your mozzarella dough and the sausage, and press into a greased sheet pan about 10X12 or 9X13. Bake 15 minutes at 375. Saute' the onions and green peppers in the olive until they are beginning to soften. Take off the heat and add the garlic. Stir.

Remove crust from oven and top with the pizza sauce, then the toppings - ending with the cheeses. Bake again until the cheese is melted and it's starting to turn golden (about 25 minutes or so).

Pressing it into the sheet pan....

Softening the onions and peppers a bit

Topping with onions, peppers, garlic, pepperoni....

Out of the oven.... piping hot

Literally took this photo quickly right before eating it!

You might also be interested in some of the products related to this post available through Amazon:

Various sheet pans are available through Amazon if you need one

I make my own homemade pizza sauce but I know many people on low carb/sugar free ways of eating use Rao's. I can find this at my local grocery store and have bought it when I didn't have pizza sauce made and frozen for future use.

Rao's Homemade All Natural Pizza Sauce -13 oz (Pack of 2)

I'm not a fan of coconut flour and use it very little - but it does need to be in some recipes to 'help' the almond flour get the right consistency. My favorite brand of coconut flour isn't made any longer but I'm looking at Anthony's for my next purchase as it's really, really popular with people.

Anthony's Organic Coconut Flour, 4 lb, Batch Tested Gluten Free, Non GMO, Vegan, Keto Friendly

I typically buy this almond flour (Blue Diamond) at my local Sam's Club but recently they've not carried it and have another brand in place - it's still available through Amazon though.

Blue Diamond Almond Flour, Gluten Free, Blanched, Finely Sifted 3 Pound bag

6/11/21

Homemade Keto Cream Horns - (Sugar free, low carb cream horns and filling)

Ahh... one of the VERY few dessert/sweets I love. Cream Horns! Give me a cream horn, a cream puff or a plain vanilla sugar cookie and I'm happy. Keep your everything else. However, those goodies are not good to eat when you are trying to follow a low carb, sugar free way of life, right? So of course we come up with ways to make them sugarfree and low carb.

Enter the mozzarella dough... again. Yep, from pizza crust to bread sticks, bagels to bars... the mozzarella dough is used for pretty much everything in keto baking isn't it? This too.

Relatively simple, yet time consuming.

You can use your own favorite version of the mozzarella dough. They are all basically the same, except some add a bit of baking powder and an egg, and others don't.

Here is one of my many items made with a mozzarella dough;
my low carb bagel recipe - LOW CARB BAGELS

And the LOW CARB HOT DOG AND HAMBURGER BUNS
using the mozzarella dough.

For the keto cream horn pastry I used this basic version:

1 3/4 c shredded mozzarella cheese
2 T cream cheese
3/4 c almond flour
1/4 c natural sweetener mixture (I usually blend erythritol, allulose, monk fruit)
1/2 t vanilla
1 egg

Microwave the cheese mixture until melty, add the other ingredients and mix well either with a food processor pulsing with an S-blade, a kitchenaid type mixer with the paddle attachment or by hand. When it all comes together, roll out your dough on parchment (I sprinkled some Longivity flour and almond flour on the parchment to help it not stick). It also helps to divide your dough into half or thirds and only roll one part at a time.

Make sure to spray your cream horn molds lightly with Pam (etc.) or grease them.

Cut your dough into strips with a pizza cutter. Roll strips around your cream horn molds and lay on parchment paper or foil lined baking sheets.

I always sprinkle my cream horns with sweetener before baking - optional.

Bake at 350 until puffy, and golden. (About 15 ish minutes).

Remove and let cool about 2 minutes, then carefully slide off the molds to cool completely on racks before filling.

Fill with your favorite sugar free frosting, whipped cream or pudding.

I opted to use my favorite "non low carb, sugar free" frosting but made it into a sugar free, low carb version.

Here is my ORIGINAL (non sugar free or low carb) version of
Cream Horns and the Filling: 2007 Post for CREAM HORNS and FILLING

Cream Horn Filling (made into sugar free by substitutions)

1/2 c Crisco
1/2 c butter
2 c powdered sweeteners (I use a blend of erythritol, allulose, monk fruit)
2 t vanilla

1/2 package sugar free marshmallows, melted in the microwave (LINKS BELOW POST)

Cream the Crisco and butter. Add the sweetener gradually and then the marshmallow and vanilla. Beat well until it's smooth like whipped cream. Fill cooled or chilled cream horn forms.

You might be interested in related products;

Cream Roll Horn Molds, Set of 6
Norpro 6 Piece Cream Horn Case Set

If you don't want to have to bake in 'batches' because you don't have enough molds, consider buying this 16 pc set or double order the 6 pc because I can tell you it's not fun to have to wait and bake them all in batches using just 6 molds.

Cream Horn Molds EURICA 5-inch Large Size Cream Horn Forms Pack of 16

Normally you can use marshmallow fluff for the filling but I always have LaNouba sugar free marshmallows on hand in the pantry so I just grab a pack and melt them to make my own.

La Nouba Sugar-Free Marshmallows 2.7 Oz (6 bags)

As for the sweeteners, regular readers know I just keep a container in the pantry where I 'mix' at least 2 or 3 versions for best flavor. I use monk fruit, eyrithritol and allulose and just keep adding to the container as it goes down with use.

6/8/21

What I did this past weekend... I had a pity party... errr... a pitting party! Yep, I canned some cherries. 9 pints of fresh cherries home canned.

If you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen my little 'pity party' photo... tongue in cheek. It was a pitting party! But it was just me at the party. Still, I dug in, pitted 9 lbs. of cherries. While I was cleaning them I still hadn't made up my mind whether I was just going to freeze them or can them. Honestly I usually just freeze them. I LOVE frozen cherries. You can use them for almost anything or just snack on them - and you don't have blanch them or do anything special. You can simply and easily just freeze them.

However, I decided this time to put up some fresh cherries into cans because it's really so easy, and they only need a water bath canner; not a pressure canner.

I already did the hard part.

Pitting them all.

(Not hard, just time consuming... but once you get the process down and you lose yourself in your thoughts, it goes by really quickly.)

Wash your cherries. You'll need about 2 - 2.5 lbs. per quart.
Pit them and if you want to, you can put the pitted cherries in a bowl of water with fruit fresh or a teaspoon of citric acid in it to help the color stay bright. If you do this, just drain your cherries when they are all finished and ready.
You can do a hot pack, raw pack or make cherry pie filling of them before canning.
I oped for raw pack.
You can pack in water or a simple syrup. We don't eat sugar so I was going to opt for water packed, but in the end, I used a simple syrup made with natural sweeteners.
In a pan of water add your sweetener/sugar for as strong/thick of a syrup as you wish. I went with a very lightly sweetened syrup/water to pack - I used about 6 c water to 3/4 c sweetener. You can find more light to heavy syrup ratios here: link
To each hot, sterilized jar I added 1/2 cup light syrup.
Pack with cherries.
Added more liquid to fill, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.
Used a chopstick to debubble the jar, removing air.
Checked for headspace again. Filling if needed.
Wiped rims with a papertowel dipped in vinegar.
Topped with a lid from a lightly simmering pan of water.
Screwed on the lid.
Processed in a water bath according to the time for my altitude.
Removed them, let them cool overnight on a towel on the counter.
Checked seals (all sealed perfectly) and put up all 9 pints in my emergency storage pantry.

National Food Center for Home Food Preservation

Procedure: Stem and wash cherries. Remove pits if desired. If pitted, place cherries in water containing ascorbic acid to prevent stem-end discoloration. If canned unpitted, prick skins on opposite sides with a clean needle to prevent splitting. Cherries may be canned in water, apple juice, white-grape juice, or syrup. If syrup is desired, select and prepare preferred type as directed.

Hot pack – In a large saucepan add ½ cup water, juice, or syrup for each quart of drained fruit and bring to boil. Fill jars with cherries and cooking liquid, leaving ½-inch headspace.

Raw pack – Add ½ cup hot water, juice, or syrup to each jar. Fill jars with drained cherries, shaking down gently as you fill. Add more hot liquid, leaving ½-inch headspace. Adjust lids and process.


		Process at Altitudes of:
Style of Pack	Jar Size	0 - 1,000 ft	1,001 - 3,000 ft	3,001 - 6,000 ft	Above 6,000 ft
Hot	Pints	15 min	20	20	25
Hot	Quarts	20	25	30	35
Raw	Pints or Quarts	25	30	35	40

Granite Ware 21.5-Quart Porcelain Canner with Rack

Ball Regular Mouth Pint 16-oz Mason Jar with Lids and Bands (Pack of 24)

MSC International Joie Blossom Cherry Pitter, 4"

Cherry Pitter, Cheery Pitter Tool, Olive Pitter Tool, Red

Cherry Pitter Tool, Olive Pitter Tool,Black

6/7/21

Keto - Low Carb - Easy "Mac & Cheese" like the blue box (keto macaroni and cheese)

Although I'm a fan of truly 'homemade macaroni and cheese', I have had a craving for the Kraft version ever since I made it for a little family member about 2 months ago and licked the stirring spoon before I put it in the sink. Even though I may not have bought or eaten Kraft macaroni and cheese or Easy Mac myself for years, that bite of a few random noodles and the cheesy sauce started a craving that just didn't go away.

At the same time I've been thinking about how good the 'blue box' mac and cheese would taste (which I won't give into because we don't eat that many carbs so 'real' macaroni pasta is something we just don't have in the house), I also am building up our short term emergency storage pantry and making some "jar meals" and "just add water" meals.

For this reason, I had placed an order for some dry powder items to use in my meals. To add another little 'good timing' quirk to the mix, I also just placed an order at Netrition (our regular low carb online grocery provider) and in it were 6 packages of our favorite Great Low Carb Bread Company Low Carb Pastas. What this means is that I had all the ingredients on hand to put together my own version of a keto - low carb version of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.

Even better yet, I had the option of making an 'Easy Mac' version because I had ordered two containers of their brand new Easy Daddy Mac cheese powders as well as my regular cheddar cheese powder.

I mixed up a big batch this weekend and... oh my! Who would have thought a simple macaroni and cheese could make me so happy? It wasn't 'exact' but it close enough to the real thing that it's the perfect addition to our 'craving' foods we can now give into without guilt.

Three (3) Options

FIRST VERSION: If you wish you can make it by adding the 4 main ingredients yourself;

Cheddar Cheese Powder
Butter powder
Whole milk powder
and low carb pasta

SECOND VERSION: Another option using cheese powder that is made to taste similar to the blue box, they call Big Daddy Mac Mix.

You add your own milk and butter to this and your keto pasta just like you would the 'box' mix.

THIRD VERSION: The one I opted for this weekend.

Their Easy Daddy Mac Mix already has the butter powder and milk powder in it. You only add water!

To make the Easy Mac version below I used one package of Great Low Carb Elbow Macaroni and the Easy Daddy Mac Mix. I boiled the macaroni according to package directions but as with the Kraft Easy Mac version, I left the water I used to boil the pasta, in the pan. To the pasta and the water in the pan already, I added 1 cup of Easy Daddy Mac mix, and on a whim, I added 1/4 cup of the cheddar cheese powder as well to make it just a little more cheesier.

Stirring in the cheese powder mix...

The macaroni isn't the same shape as the Kraft box (which you can actually buy pasta that shape, but not in the keto or low carb versions). But the cheese sauce, the smell and the flavor were on target.

This is a photo I snapped on my phone literally right before I took the bite you see here.

For information and links:

So far, the best truly low carb pasta we like to use is from Great Low Carb Bread Company. We've been ordering it since they first came out with it (we were already customers of their bagels and breads). I normally order from Netrition because I've ordered low carb products from them for about 9 years now and trust them; but I've also ordered the pasta from Amazon as well if I was already placing an order with them anyway.

Low Carb Pasta, Keto Pasta, Great Low Carb Bread Company ,7g Net Carbs, 12g of Protein, Non GMO, (Elbow, 3 Pack)

This is the cheddar cheese powder that is simply cheddar cheese. You can use this but you need to add your own butter and milk.

Cheddar Cheese Powder by Hoosier Hill Farm, 1 lb

The Big Daddy Mac mix but without any color added.

Hoosier Hill Farm Big Daddy Mac mix, No Color Added, 1 lb, 1 lb

The Big Daddy Mac mix in orange, just like the box version; you have to add your own milk and butter.

Hoosier Hill Farm Big Daddy Mac Mix, 1 Pound

The company just recently came out with this product - an 'Easy' mac version with the butter and milk powder already in the mix. Speaking with a representative from their company on social media this weekend, they said it's a brand new product they are offering and they are trying it first on Amazon to see how well it does.

Hoosier Hill Farm EASY Daddy Mac Mix, JUST ADD WATER, Contains Real Butter and Milk, No Artificial Colors, Gluten Free, Made in the USA (1 lb)

If you decide to mix the cheese powder, milk powder and butter powder in separately, these are also offered in nice small containers (1 lb.) so you aren't left with huge #10 cans left open to use up.