Valentine’s Day was fast approaching and I wanted to do something special for the day. Why not make a red Velvet Cake? I have been sugar free for a few years now, however the rest of my family are not sugar free, so I decided to make two different red velvet cakes. I only tried the sugar free version, which is also on plan for THM as an S meal, and it would make a great Keto cake.
Here is the video of me making the cakes…
And now the list of ingredients:
Sugar Free Red Velvet Cake
1 1/4 cup Baking Blend
1/2 cup Protein Powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup Pyure Sweetener
3/4 cup almond milk
2 teaspoons vinegar
5 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 Tablespoon red food coloring
2 Tablespoon cocoa powder
1/3 cup melted butter
Red Velvet Cake
1/2 cup butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup milk
1 tablespoon vinegar
2 eggs
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 1/2 flour
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoon red food coloring (You may need more. Maybe 2 tablespoons)
My family and I have never really had a traditional Easter meal, but a couple of years ago I learned about the classic Italian Easter Pie and decided to try it myself. I thought it would me a nice way to celebrate Easter with my family. During my research I found that everyone seems to have their own way of making Italian Easter pie. Since no two recipes are the same, I came up with my own version. The ingredients can get a bit expensive, so I did not end up making it last year as my budget was pretty tight. This Easter, with everyone staying home because of covid19, I wanted to do something to make Easter special. What better way than to make an Italian Easter Pie, also known as Pizza Rustica. I am not Italian, but I do appreciate Italian food. I prepared it two ways, a traditional pie and a low carb pie.
I have only made these twice, so I am still learning, I am not an expert, but if you do decided to try my Italian Easter Pie recipe, let me know, I would love to hear how it turned out for you. Just remember, I am not an expert.
Italian Easter Pie (Pizza Rustica) Makes 2 pies
For the pie crust:
2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon Sugar
1 tablespoon Instant Yeast
1/2 cup olive oil
5 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon salt
Add the yeast and sugar to the warm water. Let it sit for about 5 minutes.
To this add the olive oil and salt. Slowly mix in the flour, one cup at a time. Knead for about 5 minutes, then cover and let rest for 2 hours.
For the filling:
11 eggs
1 1/2 pound Italian cheese, you select the type and amount of each, but you will need approximately 1 1/2 pounds. I used Provolone, Parmesan, and Pecorino Romano. (Some people use ricotta cheese, but I did not, as I said, you can select your own type of cheese.)
1 1/2 pounds Italian sausage/meats, you can select the type and amount of each. Here are some suggestions: prosciutto, sopressata, mortadella.
Mix all of these ingredients together in a bowl, then set aside.
1 egg plus 1 tablespoon water to use for the egg wash.
To assemble the pies: You will need two 8 1/2 -9 inch deep-dish pans. Spring form pans work great. I greased and lined the bottoms of my pans with parchment paper. Be sure to also grease the sides of the pans. Divide your dough into four sections. Roll out the dough. First I roll the bottom crusts and line the pans with the dough. Then add half of the filling to each pan. Roll out the top crusts and place on the filled pies. I cut the top crusts into strips and did a basket weave on the top of the pie. Seal the edges as you see fit. At this point you will want to use the egg wash on the top crust. Gently brush the egg wash on the top crust. Now it is time to bake your Italian Easter Pie. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 1 hour 15 minutes, until nice and golden brown on top. Ovens very in temperature, so be sure to check on your pie. This recipe makes 2 pies.
Low Carb variation:
The filling is the same as the regular pie, but instead of the dough recipe, you will want to use a low carb crust recipe. I am still working on a recipe for my low carb version. This is what I have so far:
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup of my baking blend (I am sure you could use the Trim Healthy Mama Baking blend.)
1/2 cup oat fiber (NOT oat flour)
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 eggs
4 tablespoons softened butter
5 tablespoons sour cream
Combine ingredients and form into two balls. Cover with plastic and refrigerate for an hour. Roll out the dough between two pieces of parchment paper. I found this dough to be quite sticky. Gently remove the rounds from the parchment paper and fill the bottom of the baking round. This is tricky, but the dough is forgiving and you can just press it into the bottom and sides of the pan. Fill the bottom crust with half of the filling. If you are making only 1 pie, you can half the filling recipe. Then roll out the top half, again being careful with this sticky dough. Make your top as intricate or simple as you like. I did the basket weave on my pie.
Bake at 350 degrees for 1 hour or until done. Oven temperatures very, so keep an eye on the pie toward the end of the cooking time. My pie was a golden brown and bit bubbly on the edges when I pulled it out of the over.
Enjoy your Italian Easter Pie. Let me know if you try my recipe. I have only made these twice, so I am still learning, I am not an expert.
When I was a little girl my mom would make special pancakes for me. It was not until I grew up that I found out she used buckwheat flour in those pancakes. It has been several years since I have had those buckwheat pancakes, and in that time, I have changed the way I eat food. Over three years ago I gave up sugar and traditional white flours and white rice. I started following the Trim Healthy Mama plan. If you do a search on the internet, you will find all kinds of information on the plan. There are so many people who can explain it better than I ever could, so I will just let you know that is the plan I follow.
I had not thought about those special pancakes for years. It wasn’t until I found that I had a few bags of buckwheat groats in my cupboard that either needed to be used up, or tossed out. That was when I thought of buckwheat pancakes. I have no idea how my mom made her special buckwheat pancakes, but since buckwheat grains are on the carb side of the Trim Healthy Mama plan, I wanted to limit the fat in these pancakes, so I used only egg whites, and almond milk. I didn’t add any fat to the recipe, as I would be using a fat in the pan to keep the pancake from sticking to the surface, but I believe I could have used a teaspoon and still kept it on plan.
I have found that low fat pancakes like these buckwheat pancakes tend to stick to the frying pan more than normal, so it takes a bit more work to flip the pancake and keep it in one piece.
Here is a video I did on my first try with this recipe. I added cocoa to the pancakes in the video, but since then I have made the recipe without the cocoa. That is the recipe you will find below the video. If you try my recipe, let me know.
Sugar Free Buckwheat Pancakes (THM E)
1/4 cup almond milk
1/4 cup buckwheat flour (I ground buckwheat groats into flour, and soaked the flour in the almond milk.)
2 tiny 1/32 teaspoons Stevia or Sweetener of your choice
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg white
pinch of salt
Mix together until smooth, but not over mixed. Fry in prepared frying pan, flipping so as to not burn them. As for how many pancakes this recipe will make, well that depends on the size of the pancake.
A friend brought me some Dutch cookie molds, so I decided to make some traditional speculaas cookies.
It was a lot of work. I can see why people buy speculaas cookies rather than make them from scratch. Even so, they were very good. I made both regular speculaas cookies and a low carb, sugar free version.
You can watch my video here…
Speculaas Cookie Recipe
1/2 cup cold butter
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used only 1/2 tsp)
1 3/4 flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cardamom (I omitted this)
Blend together butter and sugars. Add egg, and beat well. Add vanilla. Stir in flour and the rest of the ingredients. Mix well. Refrigerate dough for at least 30 minutes. If you refrigerate longer, you may need to let the dough sit out for a bit before forming cookies.
To form cookies, take a small bit of the dough and press into prepared wooden cookie mold.
To prepare the mold, you will want to spread oil over the cutout section of the mold. You may want to brush it with oil several times before the first use, this prepares the mold to make release of the cookie dough easier.
Once the dough has been formed in the mold, slowly remove the dough from the mold. This may take some time to figure out. Don’t worry if the dough falls apart as you remove it from the mold, as you can just press the dough again. We did find this step to be time consuming.
Gently place cookie on a baking sheet. I used parchment paper on my pan, but it is not necessary. Bake in a 350 degree F oven until done. Times will vary, so keep a close eye on your cookies.
Low Carb Sugar Free Speculaas Cookies Recipe
3/4 cup butter
3 Tablespoons sweetener, I use Pyure
1 1/4 cup my baking blend
1/4 teaspoon xantham gum
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
Alternate ingredients:
If you have a mix for speculaas spices, then use 1 1/2 tablespoons instead of the mixed spices.
If you do not have my baking blend, use:
1/8 cup almond flour
1/4 cup coconut flour
1 cup Oat fiber
1/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
1 Tablespoon Pyure or sweetener of your choice.
1 egg
Mix together. You can either use the dough in cookie molds, or roll out and cut with cookie cutters, or even shape into cookies and bake in 350 degree F over until done.
It was a lot of work. I can see why people buy speculaas cookies rather than make them from scratch. Even so, they were very good. I made both regular speculaas cookies and a low carb, sugar free version.
