Spiral Swirl Cookies - Red and White Peppermint!

 

Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies

3/4 c butter
3/4 c sugar
1 egg yolk
1 t vanilla extract
2 c flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 t peppermint extract
red food color

In mixing bowl cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg yolk and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually add to the sugar mixture. Mix well. Divide dough in half. Add the red food color and peppermint extract to one half, leaving the other white. On a lightly floured work surface roll out the dough to a 16 X 10 inch rectangle with a piece of wax paper between the dough and your rolling pin. Repeat with the second dough. Carefully place the first dough over the second and lightly roll them to bind together. Roll up tightly from the long side. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for a couple hours until firm.

Unwrap the dough and cut into 1/4 inch slices placing them approximately 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets or parchment lined sheets. Bake at 350 approximately 12-14 minutes until set. Cool for 2 minutes before removing from the baking sheet to a rack to cool completely.

My favorite low carb, sugar free homemade bagel

Low Carb Bagels

1 1/2 c (heaped a little) almond flour - fine grain, blanched
1 t xanthan gum (optional but I like the chewiness it adds)
1 T baking powder
2 1/2 c shredded mozzarella cheese
2 oz. cream cheese
2 eggs
Egg whites or water for brushing the tops
toppings - dried onion, poppy seed, onion powder, garlic, etc.

In a large mixing bowl place the almond flour, xanthan gum and baking powder.  Mix by hand or mixer just to blend.  Beat the 2 eggs briefly and add them to the bowl.  Do not mix.

In a microwave safe bowl place the mozzarella cheese and cream cheese.  Microwave until the cheese is melted, stirring once.  This can take 2-3 minutes depending on your microwave.  Pour the cheese into the bowl of almond flour mixture and eggs.  Using a bread dough hook, mix and knead until it forms a dough, scraping down the sides often to help blend.  Divide the dough into 8 pieces.

Roll each piece into a short rope and form a circle like a bagel shape.  Place on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Brush the dough with the egg white or water.  Sprinkle on a favorite topping if you are using.  I used poppy seeds and crumbled dehydrated onion.  Bake at 400 for approximately 18 minutes.  Let cool a few minutes and remove to a wire rack to cool completely (and prevent the bottoms from becoming soggy if left on parchment.)

 

 

COSORI COOKING: Low Carb Mashed Potatoes Substitute: Mashed Cauliflower

Faux Mashed Potatoes - Mashed Cauliflower

If you start with the basic recipe idea, you can add things like green onions, minced garlic, bacon bits, cheddar cheese, cream cheese... whatever you wish!  These are really delicious with a meal that includes bbq sauce; like bbq pork or bbq chicken or with grilled steak.

1 head fresh cauliflower
light or heavy cream
butter
salt and pepper
optional: other spices you might like in your regular mashed potatoes

Take the leaves and core out of the cauliflower and cut into a few large pieces so it fits evenly in your pressure cooker pan.  Add the water your brand pressure cooker requires. Mine uses about 1 1/2 cups water.  Manually set it to cook 8 minutes.  You can either let it release steam/pressure naturally if you wish or release it yourself if you are in a hurry and want to get them made right away.
Drain.  Press out excess water with a slotted spoon - as much as you can.  The dryer the better.
Place in a food processor or place in a bowl and use your stick blender.  Do not over process or they will turn gummy!  The stick blender works best because you have control over it.  If you are food processing, pulse just a few seconds, scrape down the sides and pulse a couple seconds more.
Add a few tablespoons butter to your own personal taste.
Mash with a spoon a little bit to see how much cream you want to add; go slow and add by tablespoons to get the right thick 'mashed potato' consistency you like.  Don't add too much.
Season with salt and pepper.  (I like to add some sour cream, and sometimes a dash of one of our 'chicken' seasoning mixes that has bits of garlic, onion, Lawry's salt and paprika in it.) Serve like mashed potatoes.

Hot, perfectly steam/pressure cooked cauliflower.

Press out as much water as you can

Mashed a little bit and some seasonings and butter added

Blending with a stick blender

Hot, buttered mashed cauliflower with salt and pepper

Cranberry Apple Crisp

Cranberries are always easy to find at Thanksgiving and Christmas but then hard to find the rest of the year.  Luckily, fresh cranberries keep a long time in the refrigerator and even longer in the freezer so you can pick up a couple extra bags and toss them into the deep freeze to use later on in the year.

This year my extra bag has been living in a drawer in the refrigerator as life got so busy with me traveling back and forth to Missouri every week that I ignored it until this week.  I usually make Cranberry Apple Pie with either leftover cranberries or leftover cranberry sauce but as I looked through some of my draft files this morning I saw I still have a cranberry apple crisp recipe here I've never posted - (Why?  I have no idea!) but I've made cranberry apple crisp about three times; yet never took pictures.  Typical me!

If you wish, head over to my old 2011 (?) post on  Cranberry Apple Pie or check out this easy Cranberry Apple Crisp.  Apple Crisp is very, very good with vanilla ice cream or a dollop of fresh whipped cream! 



Cranberry Apple Crisp

3 or 4 apples - peel and slice (choose Granny Smith or other not-too-sweet versions)
2/3 c fresh or frozen cranberries
2/3 c sugar
2 t lemon juice
2 T  plus 1/2 c flour
1/2 c shelled pistachios, walnuts, almonds or pecans
3/4 c brown sugar
1/2 c old-fashioned rolled oats
1 t ground cinnamon
1/4 t salt
6 T cold butter, cut into pieces

In a large bowl, toss together the apples, cranberries, granulated sugar, lemon juice, and 2 tablespoons of flour. Pour the mixture into a greased or sprayed baking dish.

In a food processor, combine the nuts, brown sugar, oats, cinnamon, salt, butter, and last 1/2 cup of flour. Pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Spread the topping over the fruit and bake until golden brown and bubbly, 35 to 45 minutes at 375.

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Homemade Chicken, Spinach and Bacon Sausage Patties and Links

I don't care to eat most store-bought sausage (ditto with store bought ground beef) and instead, I like to grind our own.  I like knowing exactly what is in our food, know there are no fillers or preservatives and by using fewer cuts of meat to mix, there is a less likely chance of contamination of things like e. Coli, etc. 

Now that I'm so comfortable with grinding and making our own chicken sausage, I improvise when I make it, using up what we have on hand, what I think sounds good that day or new flavors I want to try.  We use these sausages on buns, in other dishes like my spicy chicken and pasta recipes, grilled and ate with no buns, fried in a pan, broiled in the oven, on breakfast sandwiches... etc.  

Here is my original recipe to start with and the one I now improvise on in little or big ways -  Chicken Sausage Recipe

This particular version below, I went heavy on the bacon!  Not only because we love bacon - but because I didn't have any fatback and didn't want to go to the store.  I also added some homemade pesto because it needed to be used up (you can see the green pesto in the photo below). 

Homemade Chicken Sausage - improvise to your wants/needs

5 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts - cubed

as many slices bacon you wish (adjust to your preference level of bacon taste/flavor in this one)  You want the fat content or your sausage will be dry. Fatback is preferred for less bacon flavor

1 1/2 T ground coriander
2-4 t salt (start with 2 and adjust after you taste test.  I like to use 3)
2 T fresh garlic, pressed, chopped or minced
Spinach (I've used both frozen and fresh - about 3/4 c frozen, chopped or about 1 1/2 cups fresh leaves)
1/4 c olive oil - I added a little more to make up for the lack of fatback this time
dash or two of lemon juice
dash of lemon pepper

*I added some pesto to this one to use it up

Meat Grinder
Casings of your choice for links or form into patties with no additional casings or stuffing attachment

Follow the directions on your meat grinder.  Grind the chicken, bacon, garlic and spinach into a large bowl.  Add the rest of your seasoning ingredients to the ground mixture in the bowl.  Mix well.  Taste test by cooking a small patty of your mixture on the stove in a bit of oil.  Adjust the flavorings to your liking and test again.  When you are happy with the cooked taste of your sausage, continue.

To make PATTIES:  Simply grind everything and form into patties about the size of a typical thin hamburger. I freeze ours after food sealing them 2 to a package or sometimes just freeze them between parchment paper in a freezer container or a Ziploc Freezer bag.

To make LINKS:  Attach the stuffing tool per your grinder's instructions.  Attach the casing onto the stuffing tube per your grinder's instructions and your casing instructions regarding whether your casings need to be rinsed first, etc.  Re-feed the chicken now ground and seasoned, into the machine and form long tubes per your casing instructions being sure to secure the end first so your sausage doesn't come out!  Be sure not to overstuff, you want to leave room to twist and form sausages.

Holding the rope in small sections in my hands like a tiny jump rope, I spin the sausages a couple times away from me to twist the ends. This forms a sausage.  Now I moved my hands down a little more and holding the first twist in my left hand, and squishing the sausage up about an inch on the right, I placed my fingers there and I spun another chunk of the sausage, but this time spinning towards me (the opposite way).

Continue moving your hands down small sections of the sausage rope, alternating spinning the 'jump rope' away from you and towards you, which forms the twists between the sausages. Make sure you are squishing enough room between the sausage links (about an inch) to form the twists.  Let the ropes set while you finish all the chicken mixture.  You can store as is, or snip them apart with scissors.  These freeze well.  I seal them in food saver style packages, and place in freezer.  To prepare, thaw and boil, broil or grill.  I like to parboil them in 2 inches of water in a saucepan on the stove and then when I'm ready to serve, I just quickly grill or broil them to make them golden brown and crisp on the outside. 

Start with the basic recipe and improvise if you wish

I added some pesto to use it up and extra bacon to make up for the lack of fatback (didn't want to go to the store)

My grinder is a low cost, affordable version we found at Lowe's but you can also buy on Amazon below this post

Mix it all well and cook a little bit in the microwave or a pan on the stove to 'taste test' before proceeding to finish

I did both links and patties! We freeze them and use in recipes, grilled, on buns, etc.

Patties are quick, easy and don't require additional stuffing attachments or casings