Recipe review: Key Lime Laraballs

Call them nut balls, energy bites, or no-bake cookies. No matter what you call them, I love 'em! First of all because I LOVE the flavor, but also because they are a totally guilt-free treat!

Let's just list all the things these have going for them:

• Quick and easy to make; no bake.
• Raw, vegan, gluten free.
• I'm not a paleo expert, but I think these might be paleo-friendly, too.

They are very dominantly lime-flavored. If you don't love lime or you're a wimp when it comes to sour things, you might want to make mix it up it as-is, then taste before you start rolling the dough into balls. I'm glad I did, because since I was using unsweetened coconut, and I had to add a little extra dates and a splash of vanilla to sweeten it up a bit.

Try them! YUM!

Here's the original recipe, from peasandcrayons: Key Lime Larabars.

And here are my tweaks:

1/2 cup chopped dates (pre-chopped; coated w/ dextrose)
1/4 cup raw, unsalted almonds

1/4 cup unsweetened shredded coconut (+ extra for coating)
1-2 Tablespoons raw, unsalted walnuts
2-3 Tablespoons  fresh lime juice

1 teaspoon real maple syrup

1 splash vanilla extract

Combine in food processor till it starts sticking together. You may need to stop a scrape things down a couple times. Taste and add more dates and/or syrup as needed. 

Put mixture in a small bowl and chill in the fridge for about five minutes. Remove, roll into balls, and roll the balls in shredded coconut. Place in a closed or plastic-wrapped container and store in the fridge.

Recipe roundup: Mother's Day menus

Here's a little gift for you: instead of wandering all over the internet for the perfect Mother's Day menu, here are four different options for you, each with its own theme. Almost all of these recipes can be made ahead, so you can enjoy the day without last-minute panic. And all (except the shortbread) are low carb. You get enough guilt from Mom; you don't need any from your food! ;)

Light lunch, light flavors

Want to treat mom to just a little something, perhaps before you head out to tour a local garden -- or mall? Serve this easy, make-ahead orange-cranberry chicken salad on lettuce leaves or in soft pita pockets...

 ...with this elegant, lightly-sweet and super tender almond poppyseed shortbread.

Neither of these dishes will weigh you down, but they will both delight Mom with their flavors!


Classic ladies' lunch, done low carb

What could be more classic than quiche? If Mom is doing South Beach or some other low-carb diet, you'll be happy to know that a crustless spinach quiche can be just as delicious as one with the traditional but high-carb pastry crust. I added a little Canadian bacon to the original recipe.

Serve a fruit salad on the side. Here, I've just drizzled fresh strawberries and blueberries with some sweetened cream. One cup of heavy cream or half-and-half, one packet of Splenda, 1/2 t. of vanilla extract. That will be enough for about six servings, and possibly some leftovers. So simple, but elegant and delish!

Oh, and about the quiche... be sure not to overcook it. You want it only just done, or maybe slightly underdone, in the center when you take it out. It will continue to cook a bit as it cools, and you want a creamy, custardy texture, not one like over-done scrambled eggs. A thin knife inserted in the center should come out looking pretty clean.

Finish things off with a vintage-y lemon icebox pie, updated by serving it in a cute little Mason jar! Just use my no-bake lime cheesecake recipe, use lemon instead of lime, freeze them a day or so ahead, and set them out on the counter 45 minutes before serving time.

Mother's Day with a Mexican twist

For something different, serve up my easy but elegant ancho-crusted salmon with avocado crema...

a make-ahead Tex Mex salad...

and no-bake lime cheesecake mini-desserts. Add a wee bit of triple-sec (if you're not philosophically opposed), and call it margarita pie.

Elegant and -- dare I say? -- impressive

If your mom is the fine china and real silverware type -- or you just want to treat her so -- here's a sure-fire trio. For the main dish, quick pork tenderloin with seasoned rub.

For a side dish, green beans with pine nuts -- which, trust me, is so much more than the sum of its parts, and as delicious as it is simple.

If you're not low-carbing it, some good bread would round things out nicely, then finish with a flourish by serving individual mini tiramisu cups.

And if mama ain't happy after one of these, well then, mama ain't gonna ever be happy at all!

Lime cheesecake stuffed strawberries

This is something I've been meaning to try for a long time, and now that strawberries are starting to be in season, it's time!

They're easy, they're delicious little bites, and yes, they are low carb! Yes, there are some carbs in strawberries, but berries are pretty low on the glycemic index, as far as fruit goes, and one serving has 149% of your daily dose of vitamin C! The "crust" is also low carb and gluten free: it's nothing more than ground pecans.

To start, make a batch of my no-bake lemon or lime cheesecake, and the pecan crust. Recipe here. Since these won't have sweetened whipped cream on top, you might want to make the filling a little sweeter than you would for the shooters. Add maybe one or two extra packets of sweetener. Put the filling in the fridge to chill while you go to work on the strawberries.

I used a paring knife, but if you have a strawberry huller, you could use that. (I used to have one, but got rid of it the day I discovered that it was just the right size to firmly lodge itself crossways in my garbage disposal. And I mean firmly.)

First I just cut out the leaves and upper core as I normally would to prep them for shortcake. Then I go back in with the paring knife and cut out most of the white-ish core, working out a little larger hole in the top. Then I use an ice tea spoon (because it's narrower) and just stuff some of the filling in the cavity, then heap it up on top a smidge and smooth it out a little. Don't worry about making the perfect swirl; the crust will cover it up.

Then just dip them in the pecan crumbs, and you're done! You can cover and refrigerate them if you like. The filling will start to melt and drip the warmer it gets, so if you're serving them later, do chill them right up until serving time.

Ah, spring!

No-bake lime cheesecake shooters

I love recipes that are elegant enough to serve for special occasions, but easy enough to make every day! And yummy enough that you want to. This is one of those. We make it at least once a week! It gives us a little sugar-free treat after dinner, which really helps cut down on those late-night snacks.  

You're going to be amazed at how simple the crust is. And it's low-carb and gluten-free!

And did I mention easy?

A note about dishes to serve them in... I've served these in little half-pint Mason jars, which is very cute. But I also like the way they look as "shooters." And by the way... my shooter glasses are really just candle votives from Hobby Lobby. The number of servings you get out of this recipe depends on what size dishes you serve it in. If you're planning this for a special occasion, you might want to experiment ahead of time to see how it works out for you.

Then -- oh, darn! -- you'll have to eat your test batch. Oh well, do it for science!

Recipe for:
No-bake lime cheesecake shooters

makes 6-8, depending on serving sizes

1/2 c. pecan pieces
8 oz. cream cheese
zest of one lime
juice of one lime (or 1/2 or 3/4, depending on how sour you like things)
4 pkts. Splenda
1/2 t. vanilla
2 drops yellow food coloring (optional)
1 drop green food coloring (optional)
1/4 c. cream
whipped cream:
1/2 c. cream
1 pkt. Splenda
1/2 t. vanilla

This crazy-simple crust is made of: pecans! That's it! No butter needed.

In the photo below, you can see two different blender blades that came with my favorite kitchen gadget. The four-bladed piece (shown at the top of the photo) chops things up from coarse to fairly fine, depending on how long you run it. The shorter, two-bladed one (on the left) minces things down to a fine powder or -- in the case of nuts -- butter.

In the pic below you can see the difference. The left-hand image shows the pecans after running them with the four-blade piece for a few seconds. This would work just fine for crust if this is all you have. But if you have the second kind of blade, you can grind the pecan pieces until they're so fine they begin to stick together, like in the image on the right, below. This gives you something with the look and consistency of a crust made of graham crackers and butter. Neat, huh?!

Then you just place about 1 tablespoon of ground nuts in the bottom of your serving vessel, and tamp it down with the top of a bottle (securely capped and very clean, of course).

Set those aside while you prep the filling.

If you want a few pieces of lime peeling for garnish, make sure you slice off a couple thin slabs of peel before you grate off any lime zest. Then just slice them up into little slivers and set aside. (I don't recommend eating these. I love sour, but that's too much even for me!)

Now you can zest the lime, and proceed with combining it along with the cream cheese, lime juice, vanilla and sweetener (and food coloring, if you want). Whip this all up till it gets past looking like cottage cheese (top part of the image below), and starts to look smooth and creamy (bottom image).

Then in a separate small bowl, whip the 1/4 cup of cream just until it's stiff enough that pulling the beater out leaves a hole that doesn't fill in. Don't whip too much longer, or you'll wind up with butter.

Gently beat that whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture. Taste, and adjust. Too sour? Add sweetener. Too sweet? Add a little more lime.

Then, combine the remaining cream, vanilla and sweetener, and beat in the same way, but don't add it to the mixture.

Taste it: if it's not sweet enough for you, and if you won't be topping it with sweetened whipped cream, add more sugar/sweetener. (Now that I'm adjusted to living without sugar, I'm more sensitized to the taste, so I tend to under-sweeten things.)

Now, assemble!

Sorry; I forgot to take assembly pictures. I think I must have been overcome with hunger! 

It's pretty simple; you can pipe the stuff in, using a baggie with the corner snipped off, or you can just carefully spoon it in. Lime filling first, then the whipped cream. And top with the garnish, if that's your plan.

You can also make a lemon version, using the zest and juice of half a lemon, and omitting the green food coloring.

Either one is perfect for spring or summer. Mother's Day, Easter, bridal showers, graduation parties. 

Or just a little something after dinner on Tuesday to keep you from raiding the pantry at midnight!

Update: See how to turn this recipe into cheesecake-stuffed strawberries!

Update 2: Here's the nutrition info, via myfitnesspal.com; this is for a single serving (of eight servings), with the crust, but with NO whipped cream.

Nutrition Facts Per Serving   Servings 8

Calories 163

Total Fat 16 g

Saturated Fat 7 g

Monounsaturated Fat 6 g

Polyunsaturated Fat 2 g

Trans Fat 0 g

Sodium 87 mg

Potassium 95 mg

Total Carbohydrate 3 g

Dietary Fiber 1 g

Sugars 0 g

Protein 3 g

 

Recipe roundup: one dozen delish dessert shots

Tiramisu, from SprinkleBakes.

Coconut-Lime, from Lauren's Latest.

Strawberry shortcake, via Lucy Dylan Weddings.

Peanut-butter chocolate, from TheFamilyKitchen.

(I think I'd put a mini Reese's cup on top.)

Pots de creme a l'orange, by Pioneer Woman.

No-bake raspberry cheesecake, from My Baking Addiction.

I've made this, but subbed homemade whipped cream for the stuff in a tub. It rocks!

Lemon-berry trifle, via Tasty Kitchen.

Lemon meringue, from Honest Cooking.

Key lime, from bloomingdesign.

Carrot cake, photo by Delicious Desserts on Flickr.

(No recipe, but it looks like it's just carrot cake and cream cheese frosting, layered.)

I'm thinking this blackberry cobbler from MyRecipes could be adapted.

Coffee panna cotta, from Oh, that's tasty!

Just pour into shot glasses after stirring and cooling.

Recipe review: No-bake raspberry-lemon cheesecake - low-carb version

This pretty photo grabbed my interest, but I was a little disappointed to see that the original recipe on My Baking Addiction included Cool Whip. Not 'cause I'm a snob about that, but we're trying to eat low-carb, and even "No Sugar-Added" Cool Whip has corn syrup in it. (Sneaky, huh?)

But that's easily solved. To make this dessert low-carb:
- replace the sugar with equivalent sweetener of your choice,
- replace the Cool Whip with homemade whipped cream: start w/ 1/4 c. cream, sweetened with a little vanilla and 1 or 2 teaspoons of the sweetener of your choice, then whip it -- whip it good!
- replace the graham cracker crust with chopped pecans.

Yum!

I've also made variations...

Lemon or lime - Leave out the raspberries and add the zest and juice of one lemon or lime. If you like, add a little food coloring to make it more citrusy-looking.

Coffee - Leave out the lemon juice and add 1 teaspoon of instant espresso powder. And, if you like, a couple tablespoons of Kahlua.

Peanut butter - Leave out the lemon and add sugar-free peanut butter to your liking; 2 Tablespoons if you want just a hint of PB flavor; pile it on if you want more. This is especially delicious topped with a bit of shaved chocolate! (Or try my Peanut Butter Pie recipe.)

Also, you can make this lower fat by using reduced fat cream cheese and/or replacing some of the cream cheese with ricotta.