Ingredients Archives: Tahini

Low Carb Chocolate Chip Cookies

By Ami on October 29, 2019 in Guilt-Free Treats

Aw College. The days of staying up too late, listening to music way too loud, and of course, eating junk every day. Life changed forever when my roommates and I discovered the 1-1-1 peanut butter cookie recipe. The 1 cup sugar, 1 cup peanut butter and 1 egg cookies we made 2-3 times a week about about 11 p.m. We’d eat about half the dough and bake the other half to eat while we watched movies about Julie Roberts finding the love of her life… again. It was magical.

For some strange reason, I can no longer get a way with that lifestyle. If I’m being honest, it didn’t work out too well at the time, but since there are much worse things I could have done being on my own for the first time, I won’t feel too guilty about it. The point is, I love cookies. Even though I eat tons of veggies, drink green smoothies, eat grass-fed meat, and work out daily, I STILL WANT COOKIES! I don’t believe in a life that doesn’t involve treats. But I have to be careful with my treats. I’m so sensitive to sugar and right now eggs and I aren’t friends. So I knew I couldn’t use my old, go-to pb cookie recipe. I needed to re-vamp. I’m very happy with the results.

I decided to go with tahini instead of peanut butter for a more neutral taste, but feel free to use any nut or seed butter. Almond butter, peanut butter or sunflower seed butter would work just as well. Since all nut butters have a different fat content, the texture will vary a bit, but you’ll still end up with a delicious cookie.

These are only low-carb if you use a sugar alternative. The only sugar alternatives I’m a fan of are stevia, monk fruit and erithrytol. This Lakanto sugar substitute is my favorite! And now they sell it at Costco!! I also use Lily’s Chocolate Chips instead of regular. They are sweetened with stevia and are SO YUMMY! Be careful though. If you are sensitive to milk, the only diary free ones are the dark chocolate chips. We also love Enjoy Life chocolate chips for regular (not sugar free) baking. So if you don’t care about the carbs and just want a whole-foods cookie, feel free to use coconut sugar or raw cane sugar; and the Enjoy Life chocoalte chips.

I store these in the freezer because I know myself well. If they are on the counter, I’ll go back to my college days and eat the entire pan. Now I have a cookie in the freezer to celebrate moments like birthdays, holidays, or making it through the day without my head exploding. What do you celebrate with cookies?

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Thai Cauliflower Fried Rice

By Ami on March 19, 2019 in Main Dishes

My husband travels a lot for work. While I miss him a lot, there are some things I take advantage of. I watch movies like “Pride and Prejudice.” I don’t have to worry about us waking each other up at night. But my favorite part is the food. I can make food he refuses to eat. And I do. Last week he was out of town and I made this delicious cauliflower fried rice. My husband thinks cauliflower is a horrible addition to any meal, so I usually save it for snacks and lunch, or serve it on the side.

This dish did not disappoint. It was full of both flavor and nutrients. While I’d still rather have him home, this definitely softened the blow.

The key to this dish is to dice all the veggies small and cook it in stages. Start with the heartier veggies and work your way up to the softer ones so everything cooks evenly.

And can I talk about this sauce. It’s so amazing. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m on a candida cleanse and can’t have anything fermented. That means no coconut aminos or gluten free soy sauce. That has been really hard but this sauce is a great substitute. You can definitely use 1/4 C coconut aminos instead of the water to up the flavor, but it was still incredible with the water.

This is also versatile based on what you have/like. We used leftover pork chops for the protein but this would be great with chicken, ham, steak or any ground meat. We just always got ham fried rice growing up, so fried rice and pork seem to be the perfect combination to me.

Sadly, my husband has a few more trips coming up before summer. The good news is, this dish will get to make more appearances as I plan to have it every time he leaves town.

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Homemade Roasted Red Pepper Cauliflower Hummus

By Ami on September 10, 2018 in Dressings and Sauces, Healthy Snacks

I love hummus! I eat it on veggies, on wraps, on hot dogs (way better than ketchup) and on a well-rounded spoon. I decided I wanted to make my own, but I also wanted to up my veggie consumption. Since vegetables are amazing and we all need more, I’m always trying to find a way to get more in my diet. So I decided to replace the beans with roasted cauliflower and see how that worked out for me.

My life will never be the same. It’s DELICIOUS! If you’re not a big fan of cauliflower, give it a try and see what you think. The addition of tahini and the red peppers, plus the smoky flavors from the cumin and paprika cover any cauliflower taste and make this amazing! I mostly use this as a vegetable dip for broccoli and carrots, upping my veggie intake even more. This is also delicious with crackers or plantain chips. If you’re sensitive to tahini, cashew butter works as well, but the tahini gives it a bit more flavor. If I use cashew butter, I sometimes add a bit more cumin and paprika.

I’m also willing to make this homemade “hummus” because it’s super easy to make, freezes well, and lasts longer in the fridge than traditional hummus. Because I line my sheet pan with parchment paper, the only big dish I have to clean is the food processor bowl.

I just throw it all in together to mix, so there is no order to the ingredients. The only part that takes effort (if you can even call it effort) is scraping down the sides of the food processor bowl between blending. If you don’t have a food processor, feel free to use a blender. Just make sure to continue to scrape down the sides.

I’m so happy with the results, I plan to change up the flavors and see what else I can come up with. Stay tuned!

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Healthy Curry Stir Fry

By Ami on April 22, 2016 in Main Dishes

I have another stir fry recipe today. I love stir fry because it’s a great way to use up excess or about-to-expire vegetables and meat. Plus you can flavor the mixture to fit your mood. This day, I felt like curry. This isn’t surprising since I could eat curry every day.

As is the case with most my stir frys, this comes together quickly in one pan. This serves one very hungry person or two people who are just sort of hungry. I tend to fit in the category of a very hungry person, so this is a great lunch for me.