No Sugar Caramel Apple Salad / Apple Dip- Great for the kids!!

Every year when Halloween comes around, I am always tempted by the beautiful caramel apples that clients often bring in. This year I almost gave in and took some home to the kids, but decided to see how they liked a low carb version first.

My mother made something from cream cheese and brown sugar when we were kids, but trying to avoid the sugar this wasn't an option. Here is what I came up with and it was a hit with my kids.

Dip
1 package of 8oz Neufchatel Cheese -Its sold next to cream cheese, but has less fat than cream cheese 23% versus 30% with a creamier texture.

8 oz of Greek Yogurt. I buy a huge container at Sam's club for about 4$.

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Stevia Drops to personal taste

Place the neufchatel cheese into a bowl and place it into the microwave for only 15-20 sec intervals just to soften. Fold in the Greek yogurt and vanilla extract. Add 1 dropper full of stevia drops. Combine ingredients. Add additional stevia as needed to taste. Serve as dip with apple slices.

To make an excellent apple salad, cut 5-8 apples into bite size pieces. Fold the dip into the apples and mix well. The dip is a bit rich so a light coating is enough on the apple pieces. I also like to take the chocolate stevia bars I always have in the refrigerator and sliver tiny bits, it really adds something.

Low Carb Coleslaw

Love coleslaw, but don't like all the sugar??

Solution

Dressing

1/4 cup Mayonaise

1/4 Vinegar (regular, apple cider, rice...really whatever you got)

Stevia drops  (I use NuNaturals ..roughly 2-3 mls, but do it to your own taste)

teaspoon Salt

teaspoon cracked Black Pepper

 

 

Simply pour over Coleslaw mix out of a bag..or if you grow your own slice a head of green cabage really thin along with some carrots.

Tastes best if you let it sit overnight.

 

 

Homemade Healthy Popsicles

A new favorite treat around here and it doesn't get any easier!!
Pour Bolthouse Green Goodness juice into popsicle molds, freeze, and ta-da....amazing.

My kids love it. When finished the texture is almost a a bit slushy. Bolthouse makes other smoothie type drinks, but I like the idea that we are sneaking in some greens without argument.

Low Carb Chocolate Bar made with Stevia Drops

I love chocolate and it is one of the hardest things for me to to try to do without living a low carb lifestyle. So I have spent months on a the quest for the perfect way to make chocolate. I have tried numerous recipes on other blogs and pinterest but wasn't overly thrilled. Chocolate Covered Kate had the recipe with the best texture but way to dark for my liking. So far this is my current working recipe.
1 cup Coconut Oil ( I have used organic, but also just used LouAna brand as well which is significantly cheaper and was available at Walmart for around 6$ for 31.5oz)

1/2 cup of baking chocolate powder ( I use Hersheys brand)

5 mls Stevia Drops.. I use lots compared to some recipes and it still isn't as sweet as a standard hershey bar.

3 tablespoons heavy cream (optional - makes it a little less dense), I've also used evaporated milk, but that adds a bit more carbs.

I gently heat the coconut oil on the stove on the lowest setting. Be careful not to scorch anything. Coconut oil melts easily at temps as low as 80 degrees F. Once the oil is melted I add in the Stevia drops and cream or evaporated milk. I gently mix this but it doesn't completely go into a uniform solution. I then add the coco powder. I've found using my hand blender with the whisk attachment gives the most uniform chocolate at the end. I whisk the heck out of it until it starts getting thick. Using a candy thermometer bring the mixture up to 110 degrees while stirring. Let the batch cool down to about 83-85 degrees and then gently warm it back up again to  about 90 degrees to temper the chocolate. This helps the chocolate be more firm at room temperature, but they still need to be stored in the refrigerator.

Pour the mix into a chocolate bar mold and put into the refrigerator until firm.

This same chocolate mix can be used to coat things....like these frozen banana slices with and without peanut butter. Then dip the bananas into the chocolate while still in the pan...try to maintain the temperature of the chocolate. Lay them out onto a silicone bake sheet and then into the freezer until the chocolate is firm. My kids eat them as soon as they are ready, but they will keep a day or so in the refrigerator or you can keep them in the refrigerator and just set them out for a few minutes before you eat them.

You can also add goodies to your chocolate bar.  I like to add unsweetened coconut (usually have to purchase from health stores or organic sections) and chopped raw almonds immediately after I pour the chocolate into the mold. My husband prefers chopped salted peanuts added to his.

Japanese Beetles : Cheap Protein for Chickens and Ducks

It's no joke that commercial chicken feed has nearly doubled in price in the last 2 years alone. Even with all the garden and house scraps, the cost of raising meat birds and laying hens is almost making it too expensive to bother with. I've read that chickens, especially those in pens, love japanese beetles and with the damage they have cause on my raspberry plants in just a few days since they have emerged for the year I am all too happy to watch the chickens devour them. Here is a trap we rigged up to capture the beetles for our chickens and ducks. We placed one directly in the chicken pen where they just fall into a shallow rubber feed pan filled with a few inches of water. A second one that is closer to our raspberries, they fall into a 5 gallon bucket that also has a few inches of water in. The goal when placing near a heavily infested area is to get close enough to draw them away from the plants u want to protect or you end up attracting more. The five gallon bucket style one needs to be dumped a few times a day or there gets to be so many that they climb on each other and start flying back out. We seem to be catching an enormous amount. I am hoping between the japanese beetles, duck weed, and garden produce that maybe for at least 2 months we won't have to buy food. Someone suggested freezing them for use at other months, but I just don't think I can stomach bags of dead beetles in my freezers, even an old one devoted to that.

The Haskap

Last year we added Haskaps. They are cultivated versions of the honeyberry. The fruit is elongated in shape and deep purple and basically whatever you can do with a blueberry you can do with a haskap.

We started with 3 tundra plants and 2 pollinators from Jung's. Originally, I had plans to keep them out in the field, but the hard clay soil seemed too much for them. I moved them all very early this spring into a raised bed filled with horse manure compost. They simply took off in the compost. I was even amazed that they flowered very early this spring and put on fruit, despite the flowers being exposed to several frosts. The flowers were a very soft yellow and looked like other flowers in the honeysuckle family. The fruit is said to riped earlier then strawberries and this turned out to be our experience as well. Our first "crop" was small only about 15 -20 berries, but they ripened almost 2 weeks or more ago and the strawberries are just starting to turn. We found the flavor slightly tart, but very similar to a blueberry and good just fresh. I have a feeling no matter how many I plant they won't make it into the house.

Uses for Your Canned Tomato Puree: Salsa

In the middle of winter, I crave fresh tasting salsa. I have tried canning "already made salsa" and found it to be lacking in flavor and it really tasted no better then a quality jar of salsa you would find in the grocery store. The biggest problem is I don't really like the flavor of cooked salsa in general. Store bought "fresh "tomatoes in the winter are however just as gross. What do you do?? I took a quart jar of plain home canned tomato puree from the cellar and to that added lots of fresh cilantro, a medium fresh onion,a green pepper, 3 garlic cloves, lime juice from half of a fresh lime, and salt to taste. Screw the bottom of your blender into the top of the jar....blend until the fresh bits are chopped up nice and small and....Ta-daaaaaaa..... A fresh tasting salsa and another use for those tomatoes you spent all summer saving.