Heavenly Homemakers

Encouraging women in homemaking, healthy eating and parenting

Crustless Cheesecake Cups

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High Five Recipes 2

Cheesecake is one of my favorite desserts. In fact, I believe I will have my boys make these for my birthday on Saturday. Since I’m turning 40, perhaps I could have them double this recipe so we can have 40 little cheesecake cups. (Why, so I can gain 40 pounds as I celebrate?)  Yeah, we’ll just stick with a single batch.

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Crustless Cheesecake CupsYum

2 – 8 ounce packages cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup real maple syrup or 1 1/2 cups unbleached powdered sugar

In a medium sized bowl, whip the cream until soft peaks form. In a separate bowl, beat together cream cheese, maple syrup, and vanilla. Fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture. Scoop cheesecake mix into about 20 paper-lined muffin cups. Refrigerate or freeze until ready to serve. Top with fresh fruit.

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These Crustless Cheesecake Cups are so easy to make and since they freeze well, they can be made ahead of time. You can even serve them frozen. Delish!

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Crustless Pizza

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Yum

Do you like how I cleaned up the crusty baked-on edges of the pie plate before snapping the shot?
Oh my bad. I was thinking of another picture I didn’t take.

Sometimes, I just don’t feel the need to have grains or carbs with every meal. I’ve been learning to listen more to my body and to give it what it needs – or to not give it what it doesn’t need.

I have especially become more aware of my body’s nutritional needs since I began working out regularly. There are times I find my body screaming for protein. Other times, I can tell that if I don’t get some carbs in me, I am not going to feel well. Later, I might be craving a huge salad or an orange.

I’m not sure how to explain away yesterday’s chocolate chip cookie. Cookies. Plural. Did my body need them? Yes I think so. But of course, not really.

One day recently, while making pizza for my family, I found that I was not hungry for the crust. That day, I was just in it for the meat and veggies. Therefore, I cooked up some hamburger meat with mushrooms, sweet peppers and onions, stirred in some sauce, spread it in a pie plate, and topped it with cheese. I put it into the oven with the regular pizzas I had made, just long enough to melt the cheese the way I wanted it.

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In case you ever find yourself short on time and not able to make a crust, or if you simply don’t want a pizza crust on your pizza – I highly recommend the Crustless Pizza. So incredibly tasty.

Ever tried this before? 

 

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Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

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What’s great about having a recipe that is flourless? If you have run out of flour, you can still make this cookie.

Profound.

But there’s more.  Because these don’t have flour in them, they turn out super moist and chewy. Trust me when I say that there is much yum in one of these cookies. (Or in three or more of these cookies if you just can’t control yourself.)

And…if you’re someone who eats gluten free or you’re baking for someone who eats gluten free, these cookies fit the bill. I have no idea what the phrase “fit the bill” means. Are we talking about a dollar bill, or the bill of a hat? Or maybe we’re talking about a duck? I went to school with a boy named Bill. As far as I know, he can eat flour. But I’m guessing he would still really like these cookies.

Anyway, I should look up the phrase “fit the bill” someday when I have spare time, which will be never, since I typically spend my free time rambling about ducks, hats, and my classmates who like cookies. Come to think of it, I don’t remember Bill ever wearing a hat.

Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Flourless Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip CookiesYum

1 cup natural peanut butter (I use homemade)
1 cup sucanat or brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Cream together peanut butter, sucanat, egg, vanilla, and baking soda. Fold in chocolate chips.

Place 1 1/2 inch balls of dough about two inches apart on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. Bake in a 350° oven for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Cookies will firm up as they cool, so do not overbake. Allow the cookies to sit on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. Makes about 18 cookies.

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You will love how easy these cookies are to make. If you need to, you can prepare this dough up to five days in advance, pulling out the dough and baking as needed. How very handy. You can also mix up the dough, shape it into balls, and freeze them unbaked. Then, when you need a cookie fix or you need to quickly bake cookies for an event, all you have to do is put them on a pan and bake them as directed.

I’m telling you, if you’re looking for an easy, delicious cookie, these really hit the nail on the head (because I just hate to use the phrase “fit the bill” twice in one post).

And for the record, I couldn’t resist. I took the time to look up where the phrase “fit the bill” comes from. Turns out, “Fit the bill” is a British, American and Australian idiom which means to have the qualities or experience which are needed. Thank you online search engine. I already understood what it meant. I just didn’t understand its origin.

Well, I guess we’ll never know. Maybe I should just ask Bill. He was, after all, our class Valedictorian.

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What to Do With Coconut Flour

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There’s been some conversation over on my facebook page about what to do with coconut flour. After all, if you take advantage of this great deal on coconut flour at Amazon, you may need a few recipes to go with it!

Coconut flour does not substitute one-for-one with wheat flour. Coconut flour is quite dry, therefore recipes usually require quite a bit more liquid (such as milk, water, or eggs) and less flour than you may be used to in wheat flour recipes. For instance, in my Coconut Flour Muffin recipe, I use just 1/2 cup of coconut flour to make 12 muffins. For a typical wheat flour muffin recipe that makes 12 muffins – I typically use 1 1/2 cups of flour. This means that even though coconut flour costs more than wheat flour, it will go much farther, keeping the overall cost quite similar! (Especially when you can get it for just $2.23 a pound. I am so thankful to know about this deal. Thanks again for your email, Heather!)

Here are the coconut flour recipes you’ll find here at Heavenly Homemakers:

And if you head over to the Tropical Traditions website, you’ll find tons and tons of recipes that include coconut flour.  From pancakes to chicken fingers to crepes to pizza crust – and everything in between. That page is a great resource. One more reason to love Tropical Traditions!

If you have any great recipes or links to recipes that use coconut flour, please share them in the comments of this post.  I’m excited to play with all of my coconut flour and to discover more great ways to eat it!

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Simple Almond Flour Muffins

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This was my first time to “play” with almond flour. Wow, is it awesome to work with!

I had ordered a package from Vitacost to experiement with. It is not an inexpensive ingredient by any means. But I know that using alternative flours occasionally to give my family variety is a healthy choice. Plus, I’d heard that almond flour is awesome. It is so true!

These simple muffins went together quickly, and the end result was amazing! The muffins taste like a cupcake – super light, sweet, and airy.

You can make your own almond flour if you prefer. Simply grind almonds in your food processor until a fine flour has formed. Just be sure you don’t grind them too long, or you’ll end up with almond butter!

Simple Almond Flour MuffinsYum

2 cups almond flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
4 eggs
1/2 cup melted butter
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix together almond flour, baking powder, and sea salt. Add eggs, melted butter, honey, water, and vanilla and whisk until smooth. Spoon batter into 12-15 paper-lined muffin cups. Bake in a 350° oven for about 20 minutes or until muffins are golden brown.

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Have you done much baking with almond flour? What are your favorite recipes using this fun ingredient?

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Sweet Pepper Fritata

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I can’t decide which I like best about this dish:  looking at it…or eating it. I love that the red and green peppers make this fritata look festive for Christmas. This is very easy to make and can be put together ahead of time and baked just before serving. If you want to add a little extra protein, throw in some leftover cooked chicken or sausage.

Sweet Pepper FritataYum

1 small onion, chopped
3/4 cup chopped green pepper
3/4 cup chopped red pepper
2 Tablespoons butter
5 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Saute onion and peppers in the butter for 5-7 minutes or until veggies are tender and your family comes running into the kitchen to see what smells so good. Meanwhile, combine remaining ingredients in a bowl. Stir sauteed vegetables into egg mixture. Pour into an ungreased pie dish. Bake in a 350° oven for 25-30 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle of the fritata comes out clean. Serves 6-8.

Sweet Pepper Fritata

Which would you rather do – look at this, or eat it? Or maybe you could just really enjoy looking at it while you eat it. ;)

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Healthy Crock Pot Recipes: Turkey Sausage and Red Bean Stew

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This Turkey Sausage and Red Bean Stew is a pretty awesome comfort food!

How nice is it that I put this stew into my crock pot before a soccer game, then came home to dinner all ready and waiting for us to eat? In fact, my crock pot was so nice that as we walked in the door, it scooped the prepared stew into six serving bowls, poured milk for us to drink, set the table and sang us a song while we gathered around. Okay, not really. But still, having a hot meal ready and waiting made me feel like someone else had done all the work.

This stew is especially easy to make if you already have turkey sausage and red beans cooked up ahead of time. I typically make six pounds of the sausage at a time, then freeze it in one pound packages, making it easy to throw into a meal like this one.

Turkey Sausage and Red Bean StewYum

Healthy Crock Pot Recipes: Turkey Sausage and Red Bean Stew
 
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Author:
Serves: 6-8
Ingredients
  • 1 pound turkey sausage (browned)
  • 2 cups cooked red beans or 1 can (15 ounces) small red beans
  • ½ cup brown rice (uncooked)
  • 1 cup water
  • 1½ cups corn (frozen or canned)
  • 2 cups tomato juice
  • ½ cup chopped sweet green pepper (more if you like)
  • salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
  1. Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker.
  2. Cook on low setting for 6 hours.
  3. This stew is great served with hot cornbread and a glass of milk.
  4. It is also gluten free - a bonus for those of you with GF needs!

You need this recipe: Turkey Sausage

Crock Pot Turkey Sausage and Red Bean Stew

With my crock pot cooking our dinner for us, now all I need is an appliance that will clean my kitchen for me. Oh wait – that’s what the kids are for. We make kitchen clean-up a family project – here’s a post explaining more, along with a free downloadable kitchen chore chart.

Is it stew weather where you live? (If it’s still warm and sunny at your house, break it to me gently.) ;)

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Coconut Flour Brownies (Gluten Free!)

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I decided to follow my “What Kind of Wheat Flour is Best?” post with a gluten free recipe. Talk about swinging from one side of the pendulum to the other, huh? I’m either trying to be accommodating – or keeping you forever on your toes with what to expect when you check in here. ;)

Beth emailed this recipe to me, saying she found it on the Azukar Coconut Flour package that I’d posted a deal for recently. (The deal is still good, by the way!)  I tweaked the recipe slightly by replacing the regular sugar with sucanat. Also, you could add chocolate chips if you’re feeling the need for a major chocolate fix, or chopped nuts if you’re feeling nutty. Personally, I can always use a chocolate fix, and nutty as I am, I don’t care for chopped nuts in my brownies.

Coconut Flour BrowniesYum

1/3 cup melted butter or coconut oil
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 cup sucanat
6 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Stir together melted butter (or oil), cocoa and sucanat. Add eggs and vanilla, mixing well. Stir in coconut flour, stirring until all ingredients are well combined. (Coconut flour likes to clump together a little bit – I find a whisk usually helps smooth out the mixture as I stir.)  Fold in chocolate chips and/or nuts if you choose.

Pour into an 8×8 inch baking dish. Bake in a 350° oven for about 30 minutes.

Whether or not you need to eat a gluten free diet, I really recommend that you check into using coconut flour every once in a while. It’s a very healthy flour. Read more about why I love coconut flour.

What have your coconut flour experiences been like so far? Are you a nutty brownie sort of person, or simply just…nutty?

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Raw Cookie Dough Bites (somebody stop me from eating them all!)

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I happened upon this Raw Cookie Dough Bites recipe today over on The Nourishing Home. Since I had all the ingredients and since the thought of eating cooke dough bites made me very happy, I decided to surprise the boys and make these for a snack.

Yum

My goodness these things are good. They took just a few minutes to put together, plus they are packed full of goodness. What an awesome, healthy snack to have on hand!

Best of all, for those of you with food allergies, these are egg, dairy and gluten free!!! (Sorry nut allergy friends, these do have nut butter.)  They call for ground flax seed, which I ground in my food processor. And they call for coconut flour, which is one of my new loves. I used my mini soy free chocolate chips and found that these little bites are super addicting. I decided you needed to know about these so that you could also become addicted. Wait – that’s not what I meant. Really, I just wanted to share a new, great snack recipe idea with you because I’m nice and helpful like that. Yes, that’s it.

 

You’ll find the recipe for Raw Cookie Dough Bites here. Warning:  It’s hard to eat just one. Or two. Or four.

It’s a good thing these are full of healthy ingredients. ;)

Hey, hey! I just peeked over at Amazon and found that the Azukar Coconut Flour is back in stock and still being offered for a great price! These bags always seem to be snatched up quickly, so act fast if you’re interested.

Azukar Organics Natural Coconut Flour 32 ounce bags (3 count)…

Azukar Organics Natural Coconut Flour 16 ounce bags (6 count)…

These are excellent prices for coconut flour!

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Coconut Flour Cheddar Drop Biscuits

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At a recent youth event, my friend Lisa mentioned something about her Coconut Flour Cheese Biscuits. I immediately dropped my plate and fork, leaped over the couch to the other side of the room and tackled her onto the floor, begging her to please share her recipe.

Of course you know I’m kidding.

Her name is really Louanne.

Okay no, I’m kidding again.

Her name really is Lisa and when she mentioned her Coconut Flour Cheese Biscuits I didn’t actually drop anything or leap over anything or tackle her. I’m not that crazy.

Yes, kidding again. You all know I’m crazy.

But still, she was nice enough to give me her recipe without all the drama. The drama is what I felt inside when I heard that she had a new great coconut flour recipe to offer.

So here, without any shoulder shaking, leg grabbing or tearful pleading is my friend Lisa’s awesome recipe:

Coconut Flour Cheddar Drop BiscuitsYum

¼ cup coconut oil or butter, melted
1/3 cup sifted coconut flour
4 eggs
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

Blend together eggs, coconut oil or butter, salt, and onion powder. Combine coconut flour with baking powder and whisk into batter until there are no lumps. Fold in cheese. Drop batter by the spoonful onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. For a cheesier biscuit increase cheese to ¾ cup.

This recipe makes about 10 biscuits.

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If you’re curious, here’s a post I wrote explaining more about why I love coconut flour. And also, one of my readers just let me know that this great deal for coconut flour is back up and running. How very thoughtful of them to re-stock five minutes before I posted this recipe. :)

Disclaimer:  No friends were harmed during the acquiring of this recipe.

Have you tried coconut flour yet? Do you love it?

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