Comforting Ham & Potato Casserole

This "Meat and Potatoes" casserole is

traditional American comfort food. 

Our family is having company over for dinner tonight. They are young missionaries with hearty appetites, who have been away from home for a while, which means they have been missing out on home-cooked meals. So, I'm cooking homey food that I hope will fill them up.

The rest of my menu is steamed butter & chive carrots seasoned with onion salt and fresh ground pepper and a green jello salad (a corny Utah tradition) with crushed pineapple. For dessert, I'm serving banana pie pudding which is vanilla pudding with lots of fresh bananas and sweetened whipped cream, poured over a graham cracker crust. We usually don't eat this way. But I don't have an issue with it every now and then.

This casserole is a good way to use up leftover ham. It is hearty and delicious. I hope you enjoy it.





Ham & Potato Casserole Recipe:

Serves: 3 

4 T. organic butter
1 small onion, diced
2 1/2 T. flour (or gluten-free flour)
2 c. organic milk
1/4 t. garlic powder
1/2 t. onion salt
1/2 t. BioSalt or sea salt, totaste
30 grinds fresh black pepper, to taste
3 c. chopped ham
3 c. boiled diced potatoes
1 cup grated cheese, divided


Method:

Brown the onion in the butter.
Sprinkle the flour over the onions and stir and saute until it starts to brown.
Slowly stir in milk and gently simmer, with stirring until thickened. Do not boil hard or it may curdle.
Season with garlic, onion salt, salt and pepper, to taste.
Add the ham and potatoes and gently stir to combine.
Add 3/4 c. of the shredded cheese and stir to blend in.
Transfer the mixture to a small baking casserole and sprinkle the top with remaining 1/4 c. cheese.
Cover casserole with a lid or foil and bake in a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes, or until hot.
If you want to bake the casserole later, cover and refrigerate. Bake for 45 minutes, since it is cold.


Tip: This casserole doubles well and will fit into a large casserole dish (I always double the recipe).



Photos of the process:

Prep the the casserole ingredients.

Saute onions in butter.

Add flour to the cooking onions.

Cook the flour and onion mixture to brown and develop more flavor.

Add milk.

Add seasonings.

Cook gently until sauce thickens.

Add the ham.

Blend in the ham.

Add the potatoes and mix in.

Add most of the cheese.

Mix well.

Transfer to a baking casserole.

Top with the rest of the cheese.

Bake in a 350 oven.

The finished casserole along with the sides.

Dinner is served.

Banana Pudding dessert.

The dessert plate.

So dinner was served and the Missionaries were happy. We really enjoy having them over. I sent them home with all of the banana pudding dessert. Like we need to eat more of that!

Enjoy,

Leila.

Chai Spice Mug Cake - Sugar-Free, Low-Carb, and Gluten-Free. Y-U-M.

Here is another Amazing 2-Minute Speedy Cake!

2-Minute Chai Spice Jiffy Cake.

This is another delicious gluten-free cake recipe that is very similar to our Amazing Mini Gingerbread Speedy Cake. These make your kitchen smell heavenly!

I adore Chai Tea. I make some herbal caffeine-free versions of chai that our family loves and they have long been one of our favorite beverages... But I just cant seem to get enough Chai, so this mini cake was born.

This low-carb Chai-Spice mug cake is light and fluffy. It tastes terrific, plus it is packed with lots of nutritious ingredients, instead of using a high amounts of starch like the typical gluten-free baked goods. This unique Mini Cake fills you up and keeps you feeling satisfied for a long time, taking care of your cravings for sugary sweets. It's perfect paired with a cold glass of organic whole milk or almond milk.

We LOVE these Jiffy Cake recipes!

This is a variation of a recipe created in the Kitchen Cheetahs Test Kitchens in the fall of 2014. This delicious microwave mini cake cooks in only 2 minutes. It's nice to make just a little cake and not have a bunch of leftover cake you don't know what to do with.

We like to prepare several of these single-serving cake mixes and package them up into mini zip-lock bags. The ingredient list is more complex, but it is totally worth getting out all of these ingredients to make these cake mixes. Then they are ready for a quick dessert, breakfast, or snack. Often 2 of us will share 1 of these scrumptious cakes. They are very filling and enjoyable to eat. These quick mini cakes are great for people who don't want to be deprived on their low-carb or gluten-free diets, and still want to lose weight.

These are truly a guilt-free treat. I feel completely comfortable having my family eat these for breakfast, or as a snack before bed. This is sugar-free, gluten-free, chemical-free, and dairy-free. It also has a nice protein content and is loaded with healthy fiber. The coconut oil is very good for you too.

Stay tuned, more delicious speedy mini-cake recipes will be posted on this blog!



MINI CHAI SPICE SPEEDY CAKE Recipe:

Dry Cake Mix Ingredients:

3 T. finely ground white almond meal
1 T. plus 1 t. coconut flour
1 T. finely ground golden flax meal
2 t. finely ground rice bran or oat bran
1 T. xylitol
1 T. IMO powder
1 T. Lakanto brand White Zero-Calorie Natural Sweetener (sugar substitute)
1/16 t. (heaping) lecithin powder


1/2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. plus 1/8 t. ground cardamom, to taste (I love cardamom)
1/4 t. ground cinnamon
1/4 t. ground cloves or allspice
1/4 t. ground ginger (make sure your ginger powder is fresh)
1/8 t. powdered intense natural sweetener, of choice (we will post a formula for soon!)
1/16 t. (heaping) sea salt or Biosalt (recipe on this blog)


Wet Ingredients:

1 large egg, at room temperature
1 t. vegetable glycerine
2 T. warmed coconut oil
2 T. warm water
1/2 t. real vanilla extract, optional


Method:

To Make The Dry Cake Mix:

Place the first 8 ingredients in a Krups seed mill and finely grind together. The finer this is ground, the nicer the cake will turn out.

Pour out the fine powder mix into a small zip-lock bag.

Add the rest of the dry ingredients into the zip-lock bag.

Seal the bag and shake together well to blend.

Repeat this process for however many cake mixes you choose to make.

Label and store the bags of cake mix in your refrigerator, or in your freezer for longer term storage.


To make 1 mini-Cake:

Oil a 2-cup sized Pyrex baking cup (we like to use deodorized 76 degree coconut oil).

Crack the egg into the 2-cup Pyrex baking cup and whisk to blend without incorporating air.

Add the vegetable glycerine and vanilla and whisk together.

Add the warmed coconut oil along with the warm water, whisk together well to blend.

Pour in a single serving of prepared dry Mini-Cake Mix. Stir together until smooth.

Place the Pyrex baking cup off-center in your carousel microwave for even cooking.

Cook on high for 2 minutes in the microwave. The center of the cake should just spring back when touched.

Let cake cool in the microwave 3 minutes.

Remove from microwave and eat once it has cooled down enough, or cover with a lid to keep moist and eat it later.

You may sprinkle the top with additional cinnamon or chai spices. Topping with whipped cream is excellent too!

Enjoy!


Variation: To Make a mini-cake that you can turn out of the baking cup:

Cut out a piece of parchment paper that fits neatly into the bottom of your Pyrex baking cup.

Oil the bottom and partway up the sides of the Pyrex baking cup. Place the parchment paper disk in the bottom of the baking cup and press to attach.

Oil the top of the parchment paper in the baking cup.

Mix up your cake mix in a separate small bowl and scrape it out into your oiled and papered Pyrex baking cup.

Microwave 2 minutes, as directed above. Cool 3 minutes in the microwave.

Remove from microwave and then invert cake onto an oiled serving plate. Peel off parchment paper.

Let the cake cool an additional 3 minutes before eating, or cover for later.

Source: VitaFiber IMO (Isomalto-oligosaccharide) fiber powder http://www.bioneutra.ca/product_vitafiber.htm



Photos of the process:

An easy way to store and warm the coconut oil for Jiffy Cakes.

Mix the wet ingredients together and them add the dry ingredients (I used a pre-made mix).

Mix together well until lumps are removed.

Microwave off-center 2 minutes, for even cooking.

The finished cake.

Sprinkle the top with cinnamon or chai spices if desired. You can top with whipped cream too!

A very nice textured cake.

Enjoy!

Leila & Nancy
The Kitchen Cheetahs!

Sweet Perfection Copy-Cat recipe (All-Natural Sugar Substitute)

This is an all-natural,  super simple sugar-free formula to make at home. 

IMO powder - A fabulous sugar substitute.

We like to make our own Sugar-Free sweeteners. We make several intense sweetener blends, bulking sugar blends and several mixtures combining both bulk sweeteners with added intense sweeteners. We make many different formulas for different applications. It gets complicated, but we love it.

We already have posted some sweetener blends on this blog that you can make yourself:

Stevia Glycerite (Now brand Copy-Cat)
Copy-Cat Truvia
Low-Carb Vanilla Sugar
Low-Carb Brown Sugar
Low -Carb Pancake Syrup #1

We love IMO powder and (IMO Syrup). We also love erythritol, and xylitol. We love using stevioside (stevia), although not usually alone. We also love monk fruit extract and citrus extract. There are more, but most of them are not available to the public. We would LOVE to introduce them to you, maybe with time, we will be able to be a source for you.

Make a small batch of sweetener at first and then try sweetening mild herbal tea with it or try it in a smoothie. It's easy to adjust. Its easier to add more IMO that it is to reduce the amount of stevia, obviously.

Look online for IMO powder, monk fruit extract, and pure, white stevioside extract.


Sweet Perfection contains:

99 % Oligofructose from chicory root fiber (a prebiotic fiber that doesn't increase blood sugar)

1 % Organic stevia

Serving size: 1 t. and contains 3 calories and 3 g fiber.
Each 20-ounce bag costs $22.95 and contains 3 cups.


To duplicate this I use:

99%   IMO powder (like VitaFiber from http://www.bioneutra.ca/faq.htm)
1%   95 to 98% pure stevioside powder (without maltodextrin or other bulking fillers)

Method:

Mix ingredients together Very well. Putting in a blender on very low speed works great.
Store air-tight and use as you would sugar.



A newer Sweet Perfection formula contains:

99.5% Oligofructose from chicory root fiber
Organic stevia
Monk fruit


To duplicate this I would try:

99.5%   IMO powder
0.5%   Combined intense sweeteners:
      0.3%   95% to 98% pure stevioside powder
      0.2%   Lo Han Guo (monk fruit) concentrate powder

Method: 

Premix your intense sweeteners.
Dilute a tiny amount in water and see if you like the ratio of stevia to monk fruit. Adjust as desired.
Mix VERY well with the IMO powder.
Store air-tight.
 

Note: IMO stands for isomalto-oligosaccharide

Sweet Perfection's label.

Have fun experimenting!

Leila & Nancy.

Copy-Cat Outshine Mango Frozen Fruit Bars or Full-O-Fruit Pops

These mango pops are SO yummy! 

You will love me this summer after you make these.

Copy-Cat Outshine Recipe.

In a health food store we often frequent, my daughter and I saw a box of frozen Mango Full-O-Fruit Pops. They were a bit pricey, but...

We bought them, we ate them, we loved them.

I then duplicated them!

This is the recipe I created and they taste just like the ones we bought. I can't find the brand in stores anymore, so I'm glad I can make them at home. Outshine brand is the closest thing I've found in the market now.


I originally used fresh mango to make these but Costco usually carries frozen mango chunks, and using the frozen mango saves time, is less messy and makes putting these popsicles together even easier. My kids beg me to make these and yours will too (Heck, I beg me to make these). Yeah, I just typed 'heck'. Wow.

Do not leave out the fresh lemon juice, it's the key to a balanced flavor.

Taste the mango mixture and adjust the tartness and sweetness to taste. Remember that frozen treats need to be sweeter than room temperature treats.

You can easily make these sugar free by using a combination of erythritol, xylitol, and a very few drops of stevia glycerite. I have not worked out the proportions yet. Using this blend of sugar-free sweeteners gives a more realistic effect.

I also added some extra nutritious ingredients to make these healthier, but all you taste is the yummy mango.





Mango Full-O-Fruit Pops Recipe:

Makes 12.

10.50 ounces  Filtered water
10 ounces  organic mango puree
4 ounces  (1/2 c.) organic evaporated cane juice (Costco carries)
2 to 2.80 ounces  (about 1 large lemon) organic fresh lemon juice
1 t.  Guar gum (a natural healthy fiber thickener)
1/4 t.  Xanthan gum (a natural healthy fiber thickener)
1 Pinch  Sea salt or BioSalt
1/8 t.  Tumeric powder (natural coloring high in anti-oxidants)
1 T.  Udo's Oil (balanced nutritional oil), optional
1 t.  Cal/Mag powder (calcium & magnesium powder), optional

Method:

In a high-powered blender, puree the mango with the water and lemon juice.
Add everything else, with the gums added last, and blend well.
Pour mixture into 12 large popsicle holders and freeze until solid.


Notes: 

The gums mix in better if you first pre-blend them with the other dry powder ingredients.

You may substitute Lakanto's golden zero-cal sweetener (erythritol based sweetener) for the sugar.





Enjoy!

Leila.

My Other Favorite 2-Minute Egg Sandwich

This is a great hot sandwich and it's easy to make. 

2-Minute Egg Sandwich

We had this for dinner tonight because I worked past dinner time and I hadn't planned ahead. I actually crave this tasty sandwich, which is weird because I'm generally not a sandwich person.

Choose a good, on the sweet side B-B-Q sauce, because it makes the sandwich. My husband first made this egg sandwich for me when we were dating... and I fell in love - and the sandwich wasn't bad either!


As a teenager, my husband was an assistant breakfast cook in a ski resort restaurant, called Purgatory. He also learned how to make a mean sunny-side-up egg (I'll post his method later). I asked him if it got hot in that Purgatory kitchen (yup). I'm thinking it was hot in that kitchen because HE was in it!

Anyway, try this sandwich - it's yummy.

You can omit the dairy if desired, and of course, you can choose a gluten-free option.

Egg Sandwich Recipe:

Serves: One

1 extra-large egg
1 T. purified water or organic whole milk, optional
1 scallion, minced
1/2 c. chopped vegetable mix of choice, fresh or frozen
1/2 t. dried onion flakes
1/8 t. garlic seasoning of choice
1/8 t. fresh ground black pepper
BioSalt or sea salt, to taste
Cheese for topping
Sandwich bun of choice (gluten-free if preferred)
Mayonnaise
B-B-Q sauce of choice
Garnishes like sliced tomato, sliced avocado, spinach...


Method:

Oil the bottom of a 2-cup baking dish about the circumference of your sandwich bun.
Crack the egg into the dish, and add the water or milk and whisk to blend.
Add scallion and chopped vegetables, to taste.
Season with dried onion flakes, garlic seasoning, and pepper.
Microwave on high for 90 seconds.
Salt the top of the egg to taste, then top with cheese and microwave on high 30 seconds to melt.
Prepare your sandwich bun with mayonnaise and a generous portion of B-B-Q sauce.
Place egg pattie onto bun and top with garnishes of choice.
Eat hot.


Note: Normandy vegetable blend is good when you want fast vegetables. We will also use an oriental vegetable blend. We chop it up uncooked and stir into the egg. I do prefer using fresh chopped vegetables however (like broccoli, cauliflower, onion, carrot...)


Photos of the process:

Prep the vegetables.

Chopped frozen Oriental vegetable blend.

Mix the vegies into the egg.

Season the egg and prepare the bun.

The uncooked egg mixture is ready to microwave..

The egg mixture has been microwaved for 90 seconds, making an egg pattie.

Topping the egg with Provolone cheese.

Microwave 30 seconds to melt the cheese

The cheese-topped egg pattie is ready to transfer to the bun.

Now top with desired garnishes.

EAT.

Enjoy,

Leila.


P.S.   Speaking of my cute husband, he bought me these gorgeous flowers this week. I thought I'd share them with you :)

Thanks sweetie!


Author, Leila.