Twelve Weeks of Christmas Cookies: Week Two

The second week of twelve weeks of Christmas cookies is here already.  This should have been posted on Thursday but Thursdays aren't a great day for me as I put in a 12 hour shift at work so I shall be posting my contributions on Fridays or Saturdays.

I have no idea where I got the idea for this weeks cookie; I think I glanced at something chocolate and ginger and thought....hey! that would make a good combination.  Only good if you like chocolate and ginger of course. I happen to like ginger.  The flavour of it isn't too strong at all really, it just gives the cookie a spicy kind of warmth to it without being overpowering.  You will also notice that I used almond flour rather than wheat flour like I did with the last recipe.

I'm on an almond flour kick at the moment, I don't know why.  I'm using the hell out of my food processor these days and it's so easy to make.  I've decided I'm going to try and make a lot of my contributions out of almond flour.

If you're on a low carb diet, these cookies are acceptable as a treat with a fraction of the carbs in a normal cookie.  If you're on a low fat diet, however, you had better stay clear.  With the butter, fat from the almonds and coconut, they're pretty much half their weight in fat per cookie. If you don't give a stuff, go right ahead and make them! Haha!

Chocolate Ginger Cookies

125g butter

2 Tablespoons Cocoa Powder

1 1/2 cups almond flour

1/2 cup fine coconut

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 cup fine sugar

70g crystallised ginger

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Heat oven to 180 degrees Celcius.  Melt butter in a saucepan and add cocoa.  Mix with a spoon till it is gently bubbling.  Add vanilla extract.  Set aside.

In a bowl, add almond flour, coconut, baking powder, ground ginger and sugar.  Mix well with a spoon.  Pour melted chocolate butter over mixture and mix well.  Finally, fold in crystallised ginger.

Line a baking sheet with baking paper.  Form tablespoon-sized balls with your hands and flatten slightly on the baking sheet.  Place in the oven for about 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool.  Makes about 20.

Check out the other goodies:

Zucchini Pasta

I tried this dish for the first time a few weeks ago. I'm not a huge fan of regular pasta; I'll eat it but I won't seek it out if you know what I mean. I do love vegetables though so this was a perfect stand in dish for me. I've used zucchini before in place of pasta when I've made low carb lasagne. This was definitely a tasty addition to the low carb "pasta" repertoire. Have this dish in place of your normal pasta and serve with your own special pasta sauce.

Zucchini Pasta

2-3 large zucchini

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Freshly ground sea salt and pepper

Freshly grated Parmesan

1. Using a vegetable peeler, cut the zucchini into lengthwise ribbons.

2. Cook the zucchini strips in two batches. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. When it is hot, add the zucchini ribbons and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt. Cook, tossing and stirring the zucchini, for two to three minutes, until softened and beginning to turn translucent. Adjust salt and add freshly ground pepper to taste, and transfer to a serving dish. Repeat with the remaining olive oil and zucchini.

Recipe: Tropical Prawn Cocktail

500g packet of cooked & peeled prawns

1 cup diced fresh pineapple

1 firm ripe avocado

1 cucumber, halved lengthways and sliced

1 tablespoon of lime juice

Dressing:

1/4 cup coconut cream

1 teaspoon of sugar

2 teaspoons of finely grated lime rind

1 small chilli, finely diced

1/4 cup of chopped fresh mint or coriander leaves, for garnish

1. In a medium bowl, combine prawns, pineapple, avocado, cucumber and lime juice

2. Place dressing ingredients into a screw top jar or jug and shake or whisk to combine.

3. Spoon prawn salad into serving blows, drizzle with dressing and garnish with mint or coriander and serve.

I used rockmelon/cantaloupe instead of pineapple and chili powder instead of fresh chili and it was nice!

A second day

...there was PSMF (again).

Pretty straight forward today.  I set my alarm for 6am to go for a morning walk, but when morning came around I discovered it's still dark at 6am (who knew?).  I don't like walking outside in the dark, so I decided to sleep in.  I'll try again tomorrow for 6:15am and leave at 6:20am!  But do not worry!  I actually did go for my walk after work - a 30 minute brisk walk.

The supermarket sucked today.  I went there to stock up on chicken breast, eggs, broccoli and cottage cheese.  I got the eggs, I had to get the steroid chicken (not my normal free range) and there was no broccoli or cottage cheese!!  Bloody hell people!!

Diet today was spot on:

M1: Protein shake with a shot of espresso

M2: Chicken Spinach Salad

M3: Jelly Fluff

M4: Chicken & PSMF Broccoli Soup

M5: Grilled Lamb Loin + Rest of Jelly Fluff as dessert

Supplements: 10 Fish Oils, 1 Centrum, 1 Calcium

For those of you that have not experienced the glory of Jelly Fluff, behold:

Jelly Fluff

1 packet of jelly/jello made to packet directions

250-300g low fat cottage cheese

Add cottage cheese to set jelly and blend with a stick blender (the easiest option).  Place in refridgerator to set.  Enjoy!  I swear, this stuff keeps me sane when dieting.  My favourite flavours are lemon, lime and orange.

And for those of you not dieting: please try out Pioneer Woman's Cauliflower Soup for me. I love soup so much and that one looks glorious!

Spicy Deviled Eggs

I tried a new recipe the other day that I found from Muscle and Fitness Hers:

Spicy Deviled Eggs

6 eggs

2 Tbsp low fat cottage cheese

Salt to taste

Hot Sauce to taste

1 green onion, thinly sliced.

Hard boil the eggs (about 10 minutes). Peel eggs and cut in half lengthwise. Carefully remove the yolks, discarding three of them. Place remaining yolks in a small bowl with cottage cheese. mash with a fork until smooth and then add salf and hot sauce to taste. Spoon yolk mixture into egg white halves and top with green onion.

I actually added a little low fat greek yoghurt to the egg yolk-cottage cheese mixture to make it more smooth.

Makes 2 serves - each serve 284 calories, 35.5g protein, 3g carbs, 14g fat.