Low Carb Cauliflower Pizza Casserole

I am a pizza addict. There. I said it. I love cheese, I love pepperoni. I LOVE pizza. But Im trying to watch my carbs, so pizza is usually a craving that goes unfed. I have tried low carb pizza, and it was pretty good, but Im always looking for pizza recipes that I dont have to feel guilty about eating. So last week I stumbled across a recipe for a pizza casserole. I looked it over and it looked pretty tasty. I made some adjustments and decided to give it a try.

Ingredients:

Puree 
1 medium head cauliflower
1 tablespoon butter
6 tablespoons light whipping cream
6 low sodium pepperoni
garlic powder to taste
onion powder to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Toppings
12 slices low sodium Pepperoni
12 small slices Canadian Bacon
1 bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup shredded Mozzarella
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese

Directions:
Chop broccoli into small florets. Place in a microwave safe bowl add two tablespoons of the whipping cream and a tablespoon of butter to the bowl. Microwave for 10 minutes. Remove from microwave and stir to coat cauliflower in butter and cream. Mircrowave for six more minutes. In a blender combine cauliflower, the rest of the cream, pepperoni, garlic powder, onion powder and salt and pepper. Blend until smooth.

Spread cauliflower into the bottom of a small casserole dish. The dish I used was about 6x8. Top with pepperoni, Canadian bacon, pepper, and cheeses. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes.

This recipe makes four servings. Each serving is 270 calories, 7.5 net carbs, and 17 grams protein. If youre trying to cut down on fat, use skim milk instead of whipping cream, and cut down the cheese by half. You can also use turkey pepperoni instead of original.

Recipe adapted from: IBreathImHungry.com

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I am Blessed

The last few weeks the kids and I, and Barry, were very blessed by our community, our friends and our family.

While Barry was in the hospital, I had some meals brought to us, and families at the kids school provided us with many, many, gift cards for various restaurants and grocery stores around the area. I have only used one of the gift cards, and am saving them for when we need them.

After Barry passed, my friends set up meals for us. This was just incredible. My MOPS group, the Kids school (via a friend of mine), and my Meet Up group each took a week. I dont have to cook until November 1st. And actually, much later than that because we have so many left overs in the freezer. At Barrys service, I came home with TONS of lasagna, 3 are in my freezer, plus an additional few meals that we had leftovers from. Ladies from my MOPS Group fed us at the reception too.

Also, my oldest friend Rina, over at GottaLittleSpace set up a Pay Pal donation fund for us, family members, friend from school, and many other friends have donated to us as well.

I have made new friends during this time, and lost some. You really do see peoples true colors during times like this. I have to say though, I am so very incredibly grateful for EVERYONE that has donated food, time and money to the kids and I. You really dont know what it has meant to us. I dont think that I could ever find the words to express our thankfulness, because there just arent enough words to express what I am trying to say. I truly wish that this didnt have to happen, I would give it all back just to have Barry back, but unfortunately that is not an option. I am still thankful though.


Thank You a million times over!

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Low Carb Cheesy Cauliflower Bread Sticks

Bread. The heavens supervised its creation, and just when we think it cant get any better, top it with cheese and BOOOOOM. Love. 

As heavenly and lovely as bread sticks are,the carbs are a little too much sometimes. 

Ive heard about cauliflower bread, but Ive been hesitant to try it - mostly because Im lazy and it seems time consuming. However, the other night I was desperately craving some cheese bread dipped in marinara, I had three different kinds of cheese in the fridge and a head of cauliflower. Maybe it was a sign, or maybe I was just hungry enough to work through my laziness... Whatever it was, I tried a recipe for cheesy cauliflower bread sticks and it was everything I hoped and dreamed it would be.

Cheesy Cauliflower Bread Sticks

1 large head cauliflower
4 eggs 

2 cups mozzarella, shredded

2 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp Italian seasoning
Topping: 

1 cup mozzarella, shredded

1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

1/4 cup Parmesan shredded

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Chop cauliflower into medium sized florets. Rice cauliflower (place in a blender or a food processor and use a low-medium speed or a chop setting). Your cauliflower should look like rice, and not have any large pieces in it. Remove from food processor and place in a microwave safe dish. Cover and microwave for 10 minutes. Add eggs, 2 cups mozzarella, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning. Mix well using a fork.

You Might Also Enjoy: Low Carb Pumpkin Fluff

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. I was out of parchment paper so I used aluminum foil. I was still able to get remove them, but it was kind of tough. Spread mixture onto the cookie sheet. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven, top with additional mozzarella, cheddar, and Parmesan, and bake for another 5 minutes. 

Slice with a pizza cutter and serve with warm tomato sauce or marinara.

This makes about 6 servings of 2 bread sticks each. Calories: 297, Net Carbs: 7 grams, Protein: 26 grams

I had leftovers and I was kind of nervous to reheat them, but they were actually even better reheated. I just laid them flat side by side and microwaved them for about a minute and a half. They were awesome! 

Recipe adapted from jcooks.com

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Slaps In The Face

Every night I go to bed knowing that my husband is dead. I am unhappy about it, but mostly resolved to the fact that he is never coming back (I still feel like I am in a dream sometimes). And very happy that the day is over and I get to go to sleep.

But every morning, I wake up and the pain is fresh again. Its like somehow my mind has been wiped clean during the night, and then is re-set as soon as I wake up. Fresh pain all over again, with new realization that he died and is never coming back. I feel like I am being slapped in the face. Have you seen the movie 50 First Dates with Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler? where every morning he has her watch a video of her accident and life and what caused her amnesia? I feel like she does every morning. Having to realize again, every single day, that he is dead and nothing can bring him back.

I noticed this morning though, that I didnt jump too quickly when the alarm went off, and look for a text message. I think that subconsciously I knew that it wouldnt be there. But again, not seeing it was like a slap in the face.

Seeing as yesterday was such an emotional day, having to relive the whole story to the reporters, I kind of figured that today would be hard. I certainly did not expect what happened yesterday, to happen. And today I get to read the article in the news paper too. Ive only seen the online version of the article, I dont know if our picture was included in print, or even if the reporter used the donation information she asked for (crossing my fingers). I am going to pick up some copies today and get them laminated them as well.

I guess I still dont get it. Why has this happened to us? What did we do to deserve this? Why, when there are so many other evilpeople who deserve to have their lives snuffed out, did my husband die? A good, kind, loving man who did EVERYTHING for his family was torn away from us for no reason.

Why do my kids have to grow up without their daddy when there are so many dead beat fathers in prison? And why do I have to live without the love of my life when so many women out there hate their husbands and wish them dead? Take them please, and give us back our daddy and husband.

Please.

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