Mini Bavarian Creme in Fillo Dough Bites

I made extra filling and doubled it so I could make banana pudding for my husband out of the second half.  (As easy as sliced bananas on the bottom of the dish, topped with the Bavarian creme on top).  I make ours sugar free and have to use more sweetener to get the sweet effect so if you use Just Like Sugar you'll want to either use more - or you can use a combination that you like (I like to mix Just Like Sugar and Ideal along with about 10 drops of liquid sweetener, but that's a personal thing).

Enjoy!

Bavarian Creme in Fillo Dough Bites

3/4 c whole milk
3/4 c heavy cream
3 egg yolks
1/3 c granulated white sugar OR  2/3 c natural sweetener  
1t unflavored gelatin
2 T cold water
1 1/2 t vanilla extract
Fillo Dough (Phyllo)
Butter


Thaw one roll of Fillo Dough (this is the thin Fillo dough not the thicker Phyllo Puff Pastry).   While it's thawing out on the counter, make the filling.  Heat the milk and cream in a saucepan on the stove over medium high until the edges start to form the tiny little bubbles and it starts to simmer and is just starting to come to a boil.  While it's heating you can beat the sugar or sweetener with the egg yolks in a medium sized bowl, with an electric mixer until they are pale in color (about 1 minute).

Drizzle the hot milk mixture into the sugar/eggs a little at a time while beating.  Pour this back into the pan and heat over medium low to stir until it starts to thicken.  Do not boil!  Your eggs will curdle.  This should take about 7-8 minutes, don't have your heat too high and adjust for your stovetop as some run hotter than others.

Pour it back into the mixing bowl and dissolve the gelatin in the cold water.  Le it set for a minute then mix into the cream with an electric mixer on high speed, adding the vanilla at this time.  Chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour while you bake the fillo (phyllo) bites.

In a mini cupcake pan, brush each cup lightly with butter.
Roll out your fillo dough.  It's paper thin so carefully brush each sheet with a bit of butter, layering about 5 sheets.  The top sheet can be left dry.  Now slice into squares, slicing through all 5 of your sheets, approximately 2 1/2".  Place each little square of dough sheets into each little cup.  Press down and form your cup.

Bake at 350 until they turn golden brown and crisp.  About 10 minutes or so depending on how hot your oven runs.  Remove and let cool for a few minutes.  Then remove from the pan and let cool completely.   When completely cool (you can put them in the freezer to rush the cooling process) use a spoon to fill each cup with Bavarian Creme.  You can top with a dollop of whipped cream, a slice of strawberry, a raspberry, a chocolate leaf...  anything you wish.

Refrigerate leftovers. 

Beat until pale

Adding the hot milk mixture to the egg/sugar mixture

Now put it in the refrigerator to chill

Brushing the phyllo (Fillo) sheets with butter

Years ago I bought a cheap paintbrush at Lowe's that is kept in

my kitchen and only used for foods.

Pressing about 5 layers into each little cup

Once baked, take out to cool completely before filling

These freeze great!

Great for Summer: Shrimp Taco's - can also use fish (plus an incredible sauce to accompany it!)

I have posted this recipe before - but I whipped these up again last night for dinner and thought I'd remind my readers of this yummy dish that is so quick and easy; and so good! 

This is a hodge-podge of a handful of different recipes for marinades and condiments I mooshed together from about 6 different ideas, into one for a marinade and one for a sauce that I like and has become my "go to" for this dish over the last few years.  Play with it and make it your own!   




Fish or Shrimp Taco's 

1/4 c olive oil
2 T white vinegar
2 T lime juice
zest from 1 lime  (low carb, leave this out)
1 1/2 t honey  (low carb, use 1 1/2 t Xylitol or sugar-free honey)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 t cumin
1/2 t chili powder
1 t Old Bay seasoning
1/2 t pepper
1 t hot pepper sauce of your choice
1 pound fish - shrimp (cleaned, tail off), cod, tilipia, etc. 
flour tortillas (low carb - use your favorite low carb tortilla)

Whisk the ingredients for the marinade together, put in a Ziploc Baggy (or whatever you use to marinate) and add the shrimp and/or fish.  Refrigerate at least 6-8 hours, flipping every now and then so it's all covered equally.

While it marinates, make the dressing.

heaping 1/2 c sour cream
heaping 1/2 c mayonnaise
2 T lime juice
1/2 teaspoon each of oregano, dill weed, cumin, chipotle powder and ground or crushed coriander
2 small jalapenos, chopped fine (you can use less if you really hate spicy dressings)
2 t dried cilantro or parsley
1/2 teaspoon sugar  

 
Whisk ingredients together and refrigerate until it's serving time.

Grill or broil your fish until flaky and done.  This is usually about 10 minutes.  Serve the sliced fish with sides of the sauce, lettuce, shredded cabbage, diced tomato, guacamole, and extra lime slices if you wish.  Enjoy!

Dehydrating Jalapenos

Drain your jalapenos well.  Use plastic gloves - even double glove - to avoid saturating your fingers with jalapeno oils and juices.  If you don't protect your hands and you rub your eye... you'll never fore-go gloves again.

*Place it outside*

Seriously.

You don't want to fill your home with strong jalapenos. It will irritate your eyes!

Jalapeno's are so thin, they dry pretty quickly.  All mine were done in just a few hours one afternoon.

It will depend on your dehydrator - follow the directions for yours.

Mine just turns on - no temperature adjustments - and it took about 4-6 hours.

The thicker slices took longer of course.

A Healthy, Chewy Cookie - Sugar free, wheat free... yum!

My kitchen lighting turns everything a shade of yellow in photos. Sorry!

I think it was about 16 or 17 years ago I first started to make this cookie recipe.  At the time I used sugar and flour as well as regular chocolate.  I often added some corn flakes to it too because the mixture of flavors was really quite good.  However, a couple years after I started to make these, I also started to research and learn more about sugar and the effects on our bodies and over the years, as more ingredients became available to "play with" I tried to make these healthier.

Today, with the internet being so handy to order all my natural sweeteners and almond flour, etc. these are easier than ever to make healthy.  No sugar.  No flour. Sugar free chocolate options.  It's still a cookie - but I can eat one or two and not get sick to my stomach the way eating sugar based goodies make me!
 

"Best Cookie Ever" - and a healthier version in parenthesis)
(I didn't name it this - it came with this moniker)

1 stick real butter
1/2 c sugar (Just Like Sugar or Ideal)
1/2 c brown sugar  (Just Like Sugar Brown or other brown sugar style sweetener)
1 egg
1/2 t vanilla
1 c flour (1/4 c coconut flour, 3/4 c almond flour)
3/4 c rolled oats
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1/2 bag chocolate chips (Sugar Free Hersheys) (I leave these out completely sometimes since I don't like chocolate)
1/2 Hersheys chocolate bar, grated  (Sugar Free Hershey's minis)
3/4 c chopped nuts

Cream the butter and sugars (sweeteners).  Add the egg and vanilla.  Add the dry ingredients, stir to mix and then add the chocolates and chopped nuts.  Form small balls or drop by tablespoons on a greased cookie sheet or parchment.  Bake at 375 for approximately 8 minutes til golden around edges.  Remove from heat, let cool.

Wet Oatmeal Kisses.... A Poem for Moms on Mother's Day

The day I found this print in a tiny little quaint beach side shop, our family was on vacation and we were hot and tired and going to be heading back to the hotel so our 1 1/2 year old and 3 year old could take a nap before dinner.  My husband had no interest in any more little shops and the kids were more interested in the big stuffed gorilla sitting on a bench outside the store.  I very thankfully left the children with my husband and ducked into this little kitchen and knick-knack shop where I slowly wandered up and down the aisles looking all the wonderful little kitcheny goodies I couldn't afford.

It was in this little shop that I turned to leave and found myself looking at a  tall wire rack standing on the floor of the store.  It was filled with hand printed calligraphy and water color print flowers drawn and shaded in around them.  The prints were of various little poetry and prose - hand made by some local artist who found sayings and poems and printed them on these cardboard prints for sale.  They were not framed, it was just prints and they sold for $14.95.

As my eyes glazed over the poems and prose, I suddenly stopped when I started to skim this one.
My heart jumped in my chest.

This.
Was.
My.
Life.


Knowing I could never afford to spend $15, I put it back and left the store.
As I walked with my husband I told him about the poem.
I got tears in my eyes while telling him about it.

We went back to the store.

I used the credit card (inward groan) to pay for it as we had no money to spare at all.  But this print spoke to me at the time with words that went straight to my heart.  I protected that print in the suitcase and when we got home, I couldn't afford a frame so I propped it up and later hung it on the wall without one.

Twenty years later I still have it.  It hangs on my wall with the children's first year baby photos surrounding it - a reminder of how quickly they grow... and grew.  I still find myself stopping to read it every once in a while.  Some days I smile.  Some days I get choked up.  Some days I grin.

But I can tell you it's true.
Oh, so true.

To all the Mom's out there living this now...  Happy Mother's Day.

Wet Oatmeal Kisses

"The baby is teething; the children are fighting.  My husband just called and said to eat dinner without him." 

Okay, one of these days you'll shout:  
"Why don't you grow up and act your age!"  
And they will.  

Or "You guys get outside and find yourselves something to do... and don't slam the door!"  
And they won't.

You'll straight up their rooms neat and tidy... bumper stickers discarded... spreads tucked and smooth... toys displayed on the shelves... hangers in the closet... animals caged, and you'll say out loud:  

"Now I want it to stay that way." 
And it will.

You'll prepare a perfect dinner with a salad that hasn't been picked to death and a cake with no finger traces in it 

and you'll say, "Now there's a meal for company."  
And you'll eat it alone.

You'll say, "I want complete privacy on the phone.  No dancing around, no pantomimes, no demolition crews.  Silence!  Do you hear?"  And you'll have it.  No more plastic tablecloths stained with spaghetti, no more anxious nights under a vaporizer tent, no more dandelion bouquets, no more iron-on patches, knotted shoestrings, tight boots.

Imagine a lipstick with a point, no babysitter for New Year's Eve, washing clothes only once a week, no P.T.A. meetings, carpools, blaring radios, Christmas presents out of toothpicks and paste.  
No more wet oatmeal kisses.  
No more toothfairy, giggles in the dark, or knees to heal.

Only a voice crying, "Why don't you grow up?"  
And the silence echoing, "I did."