Low-Carb Creamy & Fruity Jello

So I'm 19 weeks pregnant, craving all things sweet, and have no energy to make a Low-Carb Pumpkin Pie. So I made a quick Creamy & Fruity Jello to enjoy instead. And it satisfies my sweet tooth too. Don't get me wrong. I'm still totally exhausted from standing over the counter to cut strawberries, but I took it in stride and took a break in between. So here's my yummy Low-Carb recipe. 

Ingredients

- one pack of sugar free jello- any flavor that you want

- 8 oz of cool whip

- 5 strawberries 

Instructions

- make the jello according to the directions on the box. Hint- to expedite the process (from 4 hrs to 1.5 hrs), add 6 ice cubes to the mix instead of cold water. 

- once the jello sets, add 8 oz of room temp cool whip and stir all together 

- slice up the strawberries and fold them into the mix

- now place back in the fridge for a little while and then enjoy! 

Hope you enjoy this simple recipe as much as I did! Bon Apetite!

An exhausted Gigi 

😉

Peanut Butter Cream Dream Dessert

Peanut Butter Cream Dream Dessert 

I love a dessert that I can eat right away and, better yet, that takes five minutes flat to make and enjoy! So tonight I experimented with something new. Tonight I made a Peanut Butter Cream Dream Dessert! 

Ingredients

- 8 oz cream cheese

- 1/2 cup peanut butter (unsweetened, flavored, whatever kind you love!) 

- 1/2 cup butter

- 1 tsp vanilla extract

- 1 tsp liquid sweetener 

- 1/4 tsp salt

Instructions

- soften, or as I do, melt the cream cheese and butter in the microwave for 1-2 mins 

- add the other ingredients and mix with a hand blender 

- add additional liquid sweetener as your taste buds dictate. I used liquid Splenda but you can try your favorite Skinny Syrup too! 

Now, you can eat this Creamy Dreamy Dessert right away OR you can wait until the morning, after it's been sitting in the fridge overnight, for it to become hard and cold, and then indulge at breakfast time (don't judge me!) I ate this right off the spoon, no need for an additional carb to dip into it! 

This dessert is super simple and super divine! It was hard to just eat a few bites and put it away, but I did (proud moment!) I hope you'll try it and love it as much as I did! 

Happy Dreams!

Gigi 

Low-Carb Cucumber Salad

Easy peasy cuc salad! With fresh cucs from the garden! (In-laws garden, not mine) 

Ingredients

- 1 cup sour cream

- 2 tbsp distilled vinegar

- 1 tbsp dry dill seasoning

- a few pinches of Pink Himalayan salt

- 3 cucumbers, pealed and sliced 

 Instructions

- peal and slice the cucs. Toss to the side.

- in a bowl, mix all ingredients together

- add cucs and stir together

- enjoy! 

Very easy and refreshing salad! Even my little man ate with me! 

Yum! Yum! 

Gigi 

Low-Carb Pizza Dip

If you follow my blog, then you'll know that the success of my Low-Carb dishes are measured by those that eat them and tonight, my HUSBAND even ate my pizza dip! Therefore, tonight's meal was a SUCCESS! Hubby, kids, and I loved this amazing pizza dip! I found the recipe on Facebook and adapted it to be Low-Carb. 

Ingredients:

- 1/2 c unsweetened, original flavor, Almond Milk

- 6 oz cream cheese

- 1 c of two different cheese of your choice. I used 1/2 c Mexican blend and 1/2 c Mozzarella. 

- 1/2 can of tomato sauce 

- another 1/2 c of cheese of your choice

- pepperoni 

Instructions: 

- preheat oven to 450 degrees 

- add Almond Milk to sauce pan. Heat up and stir. 

- add cream cheese. Melt and stir in sauce pan. 

- add 1 c of cheese. Melt and stir in sauce pan. 

- pour contents into Pyrex or other baking dish 

- pour tomato sauce on top

- sprinkle another 1 c of cheese on top of the tomato sauce

- arrange pepperoni on top 

- bake in oven until the sides start to bubble 

- take out and dig in!! 

I used Pork Rinds and sweet peppers to eat my dip! 

And the dip was delicious!! Like I said, even the family loved it!! 

Successfully Signing Off!!

Gigi

Low-Carb Waldorf Salad

Delicious dessert for tonight! Check! I made a Waldorf Salad, Low-Carb style of course!! 

Ingredients

- 8 oz cool whip

- 8 oz cottage cheese

- 1 dry sugar free jello packet

- 1 handful of chopped walnuts 

Instructions 

- mix the cottage cheese with the jello, very thoroughly

- add in the cool whip

- add in walnuts 

- cool in fridge for best results or just enjoy it now!!

So, what are you dessert-ing on tonight?? 

Gigi 

Low-Carb Mug Cheesecake

Thanks to someone on one of the many Low-Carb Facebook pages that I follow for posting a Low-Carb cheesecake tonight! Of course the recipe sounded simple so I had to try it! I adapted the recipe to be less than the 6 carbs it started off at and mine is only 2 carbs! Heck yea! Now double the recipe because it is just that good!! Check it out!! 

Ingredients

- 2 tbsp sour cream (remember to look at the carb count and buy the lowest one! It's not always the full fat one either, so read carefully!) 

- 2 oz cream cheese

- 2 tbsp sugar free sweetener like Torani or Skinny Syrup

- 1 egg 

Directions

- melt the cream cheese in a mug for about a minute

- add 2 tbsp of sour cream, an egg, and 2 tbsp of the sugar free sweetener of your choice

- microwave for 90 seconds, then microwave at 30 second intervals till the cheesecake isn't runny (another 45 seconds for my microwave)

- now dig in and enjoy!!! 

Don't burn your tongue while enjoying this sweet treat! It's best when fresh and made to order and won't disappoint!! 

Seconds anyone?

Gigi

Bottle Flowers

I like to recycle "... the other man's treasure" and create unique somethings. I especially like to do this with my kids. Downside... it's messy to paint with young kids, I have to clean it up, and sometimes they touch something that they weren't suppose to touch. Upside... I have a new craft table with a shiny surface that is super easy to clean with a wet sponge! I also have smocks for the kids and an abundance of paper towels. I guess I should give a shout out to my hubs for the craft table and to my pops for the paper towels! ;) 

So today we decided to make some flowers. My favorite kind of flowers too; aka, the ones that don't die! 

Here's what you're going to need:

- the bottoms of water, soda, and/or juice bottles. You'll have to cut the bottoms off from the bottle as shown in the photo below. You can use the bottoms of 2 liter bottles too, but you'll be making another project with them; I'll explain that later! 

- other water bottles, to use as a vase, still intact with no lid

- paint. I used tempura, acrylic, and puffy paints 

- straws- any color will do and you can paint them green or find green straws. Flexible straws are good to flex the flowers in the vase, but not necessary. 

- single hole punch

- paint brushes 

Now to get started! 

- save bottles

- cut the bottoms off of the bottles, as I described above and use a single hole punch to put a hole in the bottle bottom, where you'll stick the straw through 

- use an empty egg crate to put paint in

- put smocks on your kids, or yourself, and start painting 

My kids have been patiently waiting to start! 

So here we go! 

And check out their art work!

Of course, they are very proud artists! And I am a very proud mommy! 

We had to wait for the bottle flowers to dry before putting the straws in the holes and placing them in the vase. So we waited overnight and completed our project in the morning! 

As you see, we used the 2 liter bottles bottoms too, but they were just too top heavy for the 16 oz bottle vase. Instead of trashing a beautiful paint job, I made them into ornaments and made my daughter very happy! 

I just tied a string through the hole and hung it on my cork board. But of course you can hang these anywhere in your home or office or gift them to the grandparents too! 

Hope you enjoyed this project! It's super easy and fun! It's a great family bonding activity too! :) 

Crafting Away!

Gigi 

Water Gun Painting

Well, it's been a minute since I last checked in. Honestly, time gets away from me when I get busy with the family. And this summer has been extremely busy. But tonight I took some time to craft with my kids, and although my daughter is never happy with anything that I do (diva drama is how I refer to it!), we all still had a good time with our art projects. Tonight we painted using water guns! 

Materials Needed

- water guns - I purchased a four pack at the Dollar Store. They worked fine, but they leaked so this made an additional mess on the kids hands and down their arms. Invest in something a little more sturdy is what I recommend. 

- smock - because this craft is messy, protect you and your kids! 

- tempra paints in assorted colors - I used the actual paints, not the powder, but I've heard that you can also use the powder. 

- water 

- cups and a spoon 

- clothesline or other long string to create a clothesline 

- clothespins 

- paper - I recommend using heavier paper than your standard printer paper. It holds up better with water on it. You can also buy special watercolor paper, but I personally just used what I had on hand. 

Now what do I do with all these materials? 

1. Mix the tempra paints in a bowl with a spoon- 1/3 paint to 2/3 water - make sure they mix well. For a more vibrant color, use less water, but I felt this combination worked just fine. 

2. Hang up a clothesline between two trees - or two deck or fence posts, light posts, whatever you can find to tie it up. I also recommend that you hang the clothesline at eye level of your kids. When it was up too high, my 2 1/2 year old had a hard time aiming, but when I lowered it, he did much better. See my little artist - 

3. Use the clothespins to hang each piece of paper - two clothespins, one for each side is what I recommend. 

4. After you mix the water colors, pour one color at a time into a funnel, beaker, measuring cup and then pour into the small hole in the water gun. I mixed the water colors again at this point because paint had already settled at the bottom. 

5. For an additional look, use blue painters tape and tape shapes or names to the paper. When the paper dries, remove the tape to reveal the design. 

6. Now take the water guns outside - and please bring a lot of paper towels outside for clean up! - point at the paper and shoot! 

7. When you're done, you can allow your masterpieces to hang dry or take them off the clothesline and lay them flat to dry. Both give a slightly different end result because of the drippings.

* the watercolor paints clean right up  and out of the water guns * 

My kids had a blast painting tonight. I thought it might not be a great craft for my 2 1/2 year old, but he enjoyed pulling the trigger and (attempting) to aim at the paper. When he actually hit the paper, he was very proud! I recommend doing this outside as it does get quite messy. I also don't recommend that you do it in front of anything that you don't want to get paint on because of the splatter (and poor aim of children). Also, make sure to stand a good distance away from the paper when using the water gun, again, because of the splatter. My kids came inside with paint on their face, along with their hands, legs, up their arms... Now that was a colorful bath time!

End result -

Hope you guys enjoyed this craft as much as we did! I'm always so proud of my little artists! I'm happy to find new crafts to do with the kids and especially happy to see their faces light up in excitement! Too bad they cried when the water guns ran out... :( 

Keep on crafting! 

Gigi 

Low-Carb Sparkling Milk

Need a cool drink on a hot day? We all do, so try this simple recipe! 

Ingredients

- 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla flavored almond milk

- 1/2 cup Seltzer water

- 1-1.5 tbsp sugar free almond flavored sweetener 

- 1-1.5 tbsp sugar free white chocolate flavored sweetener 

- handful of ice (about 6 cubes) 

Instructions

- add ice to cup

- pour in Seltzer water

- pour in almond milk 

- add flavored sweeteners. I use Skinny Syrup brand but you can use Torani or DaVinci or whatever else you find that's Sugar Free! 

- mix together and enjoy!

You can substitute Club Soda for Seltzer water and use any sugar free flavored sweetener that you prefer for a different taste! 

Hope you enjoy this simply cool beverage recipe! 

Gigi 

Low-Carb Almond Milk Ice Cream

Oh hum yum yum yum!!!! Ice cream. Mouth. Watering. Yum yum yum. How dare you post a video on Facebook about how to make simple ice cream and not post a Low-Carb version?!?! What is wrong with people?!?! But hey, that's okay because I can create something for myself, and this post is to share it! I'm sharing especially for my friend Bella in Melbourne Australia who loves ice cream too!! 

Ingredients

- 1 cup unsweetened vanilla flavored almond milk 

- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

- 1/2 tsp coconut extract (or another extract flavor of your choice) 

- 2 squirts of liquid Stevia (or liquid Sucralose or 2 packets of powdered sweetener) 

- 2 dashes of salt 

Instructions

- mix all ingredients in a freezer safe container 

- freeze overnight 

- when you're ready to eat, zap in the microwave for 25-30 seconds and your ice cream will be ready

- enduldge!!

Carb Breakdown: ONE for the cup of milk! (If you substitute a powder sweetener for a liquid, there will be more carbs) 

You can also put yummy additions into your ice cream such as - cocoa powder, chocolate chips, nuts, berries, SF syrups (Torani, butterscotch, chocolate, etc). Just try to add something sweet and SF (to keep the carb count down) and viola! Overnight instant ice cream!! Hope you like it!! 

Soothing my Sweet Tooth!

Gigi 

Low-Carb/Egg Fast Pumpkin Spice Loaf

What are you craving?? I seem to always be craving sweets, especially when I'm doing an Egg Fast. I need something sweet to go with all the eggs that get bland after five days of fasting... ya know what I mean?!?! You know you do if you've ever completed an Egg Fast! 

Here's a simple recipe that satisfied my sweet tooth and my desire for pumpkin spice!! 🎃

Ingredients 

- 6 eggs

- 6 oz cream cheese

- 6 tbsp coconut oil

- 3 tsp pumpkin spice, which I made by mixing the individual spices: 1.5 tsp cinnamon (I added an extra tsp to my mix= 2.5 total tsp), 3/4 tsp nutmeg, 3/4 tsp ginger, and 1/4 tsp cloves 

- 5 squirts liquid Stevia - I used this one: 

Instructions 

- preheat the oven to 350

- melt cream cheese and coconut oil in microwave 

- add spices to the bowl

- add eggs to the bowl

- mix all ingredients together using a hand mixer 

- spray bread pan with a spray oil 

- pour mixture into bread pan 

- bake in oven for 30 mins 

When the loaf is done baking, it will be "big" because it has risen, but it will quickly deflate. 

Because I forgot to spray my bread pan with a spray oil, it stuck, so make sure you spray your pan!! 

Slice your loaf into 6 slices so that each slice is 1 egg, 1 fat, 1 cheese. 

Fall flavor in the Spring time! Yummm!!

Enjoy!!

Gigi 

Low-Carb/Egg Fast Egg Drop Soup

Here's a quick dinner recipe that's Low-Carb and Egg Fast friendly!! I made this while feeding the kids and finishing homework tonight and it hit the spot. 

Ingredients 

- 2 cups of chicken broth. I used boxed broth, but you can also use a bouillon cube and make your own broth. 

- 2 eggs

Instructions 

- pour 2 cups of chicken broth into a microwave safe bowl 

- microwave for 3 minutes until it's boiling hot 

- crack two eggs into the bowl. The boiling water will cook the eggs and make the eggs look stringy. 

- add some spices or bits of celery to the broth to complete your soup 

Egg Fasting Mama signing off! 

Gigi 

Low-Carb/Egg Fast Cheese Loaf

Tonight I took an existing recipe courtesy of my co-administrator of the Facebook page Low-Carb & Egg Fast Support group, Jaslyn, and transformed it to my taste! It was quite delicious too and a perfect dinner as well! 

Ingredients 

- 6 eggs

- 3 tbsp butter

- 3 tbsp olive oil 

- 6 handfuls of Mexican blend shredded cheese

- 1 tbsp green Tabasco hot sauce 

Instructions

- preheat oven to 350 degrees 

- spray the bread pan with cooking spray 

- melt butter in a microwave safe dish 

- add eggs, olive oil, and hot sauce to the bowl and blend with a hand mixer 

- gently fold in 4 handfuls of cheese 

- pour the mixture into a bread pan and sprinkle 2 more handfuls of cheese on top

- bake for 30 mins

- let sit for a minute or two to allow the butter to seep into the loaf 

- slice into 6 pieces and enjoy!! 

I ate 2 slices- equivalent to 2 eggs, 2 fat, and 2 (handfuls) cheese for one meal. It was quite filling and, as I mentioned, delicious! 

Hope you'll try it too!!

Gigi