5-Ingredient Baked Cauliflower Tots

There are two things I always scour a restaurant menu for: doughnuts and tater tots. My obsession with the former has been well documented around these parts, while the later is just now making its debut. But before you go reaching for the potatoes, can I gently encourage you to make a mad dash for the cauliflower instead?

Ingredients

• 2medium heads cauliflower, cut into florets
• 1/4 cupsmall diced onion
• 1/4 cupgrated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cupfinely ground breadcrumbs
• 1large egg

DIRECTIONS

 

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a nonstick baking sheet liberally with cooking spray.
2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the cauliflower florets to the water and cook them just until fork tender, 5 to 10 minutes. Thoroughly drain the florets and transfer them to a food processor. Pulse the cauliflower for a few seconds just until the it breaks down into small pieces (about the size of grains of rice). (Do not overmix the cauliflower or the mixture will be too wet to form.)
3. Measure out 3 packed cups of the cauliflower and add it to a large bowl. (See Kelly's Notes.) Stir in the diced onion, Parmesan cheese, breadcrumbs, egg, 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, mixing until thoroughly combined. (The mixture should be roughly the consistency of mashed potatoes.) Using your hands, scoop up 1- to 2-tablespoons of the mixture and mold it into a tater tot shape. Place it on the prepared baking sheet and repeat the shaping process with the remainder of the mixture, spacing the tots about 1 inch apart.
4. Bake the tots for about 20 minutes then flip them and bake an additional 10 to 15 minutes until crisped. Remove and serve with ketchup, pesto, hummus or your preferred dipping sauce.

You can find complete recipes of this 5-Ingredient Baked Cauliflower Tots in justataste.com

HONEY MUSTARD CHICKEN, AVOCADO + BACON SALAD

Being a number one fan of honey mustard everything, I gave up enjoying honey mustard dressing on salads because of all of the mayo and calories normally sneaking their way into them. Then, this morning happened. Waking up with the strongest honey mustard craving (weird, right?), I smacked myself upside the head when I remembered, um, HELLO, food blogger, remember? Which means, don’t-give-up-anything-just-find-a-way-to-make-it-yourself, type of thing.

INGREDIENTS

Dressing / Marinade:

• ⅓ cup honey
• 3 tablespoons whole grain mustard
• 2 tablespoons smooth and mild Dijon mustard
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• Salt to season
• 4 skinless and boneless chicken thighs or chicken breasts

For Salad:

• ¼ cup diced bacon, trimmed of rind and fat
• 4 cups Romaine lettuce leaves, washed
• 1 cup sliced grape or cherry tomatoes
• 1 large avocado, pitted and sliced
• ¼ cup corn kernels
• ¼ of a red onion, sliced

INSTRUCTIONS

 

1. Whisk marinade / dressing ingredients together to combine. Pour half the marinade into a shallow dish to marinade the chicken fillets for two hours if time allows. Refrigerate the reserved untouched marinade to use as a dressing.
2. Heat a nonstick pan (or grill pan or skillet) over medium heat with about a teaspoon of oil and sear / grill chicken fillets on each side until golden, crispy and cooked through. (Grill in batches to prevent excess water being released.) Once chicken is cooked, set aside and allow to rest.
3. Wipe pan over with paper towel; drizzle with another teaspoon of oil and fry the bacon until crispy.
4. Slice chicken into strips and prepare salad with leaves, tomatoes, avocado slices, corn, onion strips and chicken.
5. Whisk 2 tablespoons of water into the remaining untouched marinade / dressing and drizzle over the salad. Sprinkle the bacon over the top and season with a little extra salt and cracked pepper (optional).

You can find complete recipes of this HONEY MUSTARD CHICKEN, AVOCADO + BACON SALAD in cafedelites.com

Cucumber Tomato Avocado Salad

Our family’s favorite classic cucumber and tomato salad just got better with the addition of avocado, a light and flavorful lemon dressing and the freshness of cilantro. Easy, excellent avocado salad.

INGREDIENTS :

• 1 lb Roma tomatoes
• 1 English cucumber
• 1/2 medium red onion, sliced
• 2 avocados, diced
• 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil or sunflower oil
• Juice of 1 medium lemon (about 2 Tbsp)
• 1/4 cup (1/2 bunch) cilantro, chopped*
• 1 tsp sea salt or 3/4 tsp table salt
• 1/8 tsp black pepper
• *Note: if you aren’t keen on cilantro, fresh dill is a good substitute

INSTRUCTIONS :

1. Place chopped tomatoes, sliced cucumber, sliced red onion, diced avocado, and chopped cilantro into a large salad bowl.
2. Drizzle with 2 Tbsp olive oil and 2 Tbsp lemon juice. Toss gently to combine.
3. Just before serving, toss with 1 tsp sea salt and ⅛ tsp black pepper.

You can find complete recipes of this Cucumber Tomato Avocado Salad in natashaskitchen.com

APPLE PIE EGG ROLLS

Apple Pie Egg Rolls!! If you like the OLD McDonald’s apple pies (the fried ones!) you will LOVE these!  Crispy shells with a warm apple pie filling.
I love these guys! They were simple to make and super yummy!
I may be aging myself here but… do you remember being a kid.. the OLD Apple Pies from McDonalds before they were baked? When they were crispy deep fried instead of flaky? I loved those… and I miss those! THESE taste like those! 🙂
I don’t deep fry very often so to fry these I put about 3/4″ of vegatable oil in a frying pan and just cooked them a couple of minutes on each side until they were browned.
I used apples fresh off of our apple tree and they were quite soft. A softer variety of apple is preferred for this recipe as they don’t take very long to cook! Be sure to cut your apples small.
If you use a harder variety of apple (such as granny smith) they may still be crisp when you cook the egg rolls. Although I did not precook my filling, it can be put in the microwave for a minute or so and cooled before filling to slightly soften the apples if preferred.

INGREDIENTS :

• 3 cups apples, peeled and diced (approx. 3 apples)
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 4 teaspoons flour
• ¾ teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• Other
• 12 Egg Roll Wrappers
• Oil for Frying

INSTRUCTIONS :

1. Combine all filling ingredients and mix well.
2. Place 2 heaping tablespoons of filling in the center of each wrapper.
3. Fold in the sides and roll the wrapper tightly.
4. Use a dab of water to secure the tip of the wrapper.
5. Note: It is important to make sure the sides of the wrapper are tucked in holding the ingredients in.
6. If they leak, it can cause splattering.
7. Preheat oil to 350 degrees.
8. Fry each egg roll for about 4-5 minutes or until browned and crispy.
9. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve warm.

You can find complete recipes of this APPLE PIE EGG ROLLS in spendwithpennies.com

Mediterranean Chickpea Salad

It’s supposed to be warming up soon which makes me crave more salads and healthy options! I’m fairly certain that’s why everyone in California is so fit and healthy…when it’s sunny you crave juices & salads and when it’s cold all I want is mac n’ cheese and fried chicken.
Last week I was racking my brain for some easy dinners & snack to throw together and decided to give this a try. Chickpeas are one of my favorite ingredients to play with because they are filling and I love the taste. Lately, Trevor has been studying after work and coming home late so I end up snacking on every unhealthy item in our cabinets till I make dinner at like 8 for the two of us.
This Salad was so easy to throw together (seriously 10 minutes) and lasted us through most of the week. Grab these few things from the grocery and just chop, toss together in a bowl and dress. The dressing can be mixed easily and feel free to add salt and pepper to your taste!
Hope this is a lovely addition to your current menu & let me know how you like it!

INGREDIENTS :
SALAD

• 2 cans (15 oz) garbanzo beans
• 1 cup red bell pepper
• 1 cup Grape Tomatoes
• 1 cup Cucumbers
• 1/4 cup Red Onion
• 1/4 cup fat free feta cheese
• Parsley To Garnish

DRESSING

• 1 tbs lemon juice
• 1 tbs red wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• salt & pepper to taste

You can find complete recipes of this Mediterranean Chickpea Salad in lowstoluxe.com

Low Carb Zucchini Tots

Every time I go back to Phase 1 of the South Beach Diet, I stock up on zucchini and love to try new ways of converting recipes to things that are allowed on the plan. There are a lot of recipes for zucchini tots out there, but all of them contain potato, panko, or breadcrumbs. All of those are loaded with carbs, even though the recipes call them healthy and low carb.
I converted this recipe to a low carb, low glycemic South Beach Phase 1 friendly zucchini tot. Oh and yes, they are delicious!

Ingredients

• 2 cups grated zucchini (1 large)
• 1/2 small onion, minced
• 1/2 cup shredded sharp cheddar
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• salt & pepper

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 400
2. Grate the zucchini and squeeze out as much water as you can. It’s surprisingly a pretty watery veggie. The more water you get out, the crisper your tots will be. Use a tea towel, or paper towels to squish and absorb the water.
3. Add all ingredients into a large bowl. Stir well.
4. Spray a mini muffin pan with a non-stick spray.  You could alternatively shape these into tots and place on a baking sheet.
5. Fill the muffin tin with the mixture, and bake for 15-20 mins or until the tops have turned golden.
6. Serve immediately with a low fat sour cream, light blue cheese, or reduced sugar ketchup!

You can find complete recipes of this Low Carb Zucchini Tots in theneighborhoodmoms.com

Chocolate Mudslide Cake

This Chocolate Mudslide Cake is loaded with chocolate, Kahlua and Bailey’s Irish Cream. The decadent chocolate cake is covered with a spiked buttercream and covered with ganache. You’d be surprised how easy this cake recipe is.
This past weekend I kicked my butt into gear and eased myself back into my workout routine.
I’ve been putting it off for weeks and I’m just realizing that summer is quickly approaching, as is our yearly summer lake trip. This sneaks up on me every year! It’s embarrassing how close the gym is to our house, I don’t even have to drive there. I’ve actually been doing really well with my eating lately, but I haven’t been tracking my points, so I started that again as well.
Part of what I’m trying to do is really limit my sweets. I’m trying to bake every other weekend instead of every weekend so that there are less temptations around. But then at night I’m scrolling through Instagram and my boyfriend starts talking about cookies and I find myself digging into his stash of peanut MnMs. I have to keep telling myself to fight the urge, but MnMs though!
Then there’s this Chocolate Mudslide Cake. All healthy eating habits go straight out the window when this cake is around. After I made my Chocolate Stout Cake, I knew there were more chocolate cakes in my future, and with booze of course.
For this mudslide cake, I swapped out the chocolate stout for Kahlua in the cake, I changed up the frosting to include a hint of coffee and a drop of Bailey’s Irish Cream and I’ve topped this cake off with some Bailey’s chocolate ganache. Technically you don’t need both liquors I suppose. You could use all Baileys or all Kahlua and call it a day.
The cake is definitely dense with a compact crumb. I find that most of my boozy desserts are that way. The chocolate flavor is a bit stronger because I use Hershey’s Special Dark sweetened cocoa powder. It is the BEST and my go-to cocoa powder when I want that intense chocolate flavor.
With the dense cake, you need a nice whipped chocolate frosting to go along with it. The key to getting the frosting to the right consistency is for it to be just slightly softened, maybe 30 minutes on the counter top, and then whip it for several minutes before adding the powdered sugar.
Then, you’ll whip it again for a few minutes after you’ve added all the liquid and dry ingredients. There’s plenty of frosting to go around here and that’s just the way I like it. In my Valentine’s Day Cake tutorial, I talked a bit of the useful tools for frosting cakes, although I can’t take original credit for that either. That’s all thanks to my bestie as well.
I’ve been wanting to master the drippy chocolate ganache on my cakes for SO long. I’ll tell you that the back side of this cake isn’t as pretty, but after a little practice, it totally works. My friend Lindsay has this great tutorial for how she does the drippy ganache and it totally works!
You just need to make sure the ganache is thin enough to drip easily. At first I thought my ganache was thin enough but after the first drip, I could tell it needed just a bit more liquid to thin it out. You can fix this by adding your liquid about one drop at a time.

INGREDIENTS :
For the cake :

• 1 cup Kahlua liquor
• 4 tablespoons light sour cream
• 2½ cups all-purpose flour, sifted
• ¾ cup Hershey’s Special dark chocolate cocoa powder, sifted
• 1½ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup unsalted butter, melted
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 5 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

For the frosting :

• 2 tablespoons hot water
• 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
• 2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup Hershey’s Special dark chocolate cocoa powder, sifted
• 8 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons Kahlua or Baileys
• 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt

For the ganache :

• 6 ounces dark chocolate chips
• 2 to 3 tablespoons Kahlua or Baileys

INSTRUCTIONS :
For the cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease three 8-inch cake pans with Crisco
2. and dust with cocoa powder to help easily release the cake after it is baked.
3. Combine the Kahlua and sour cream in a cup, stir until the sour cream is mixed into the liquor
4. and set aside. In a medium-sized bowl, sift the flour and cocoa powder.
5. I usually sift my cocoa powder with a sieve instead of my actual sifter.
6. Add the baking powder and salt and set aside.
7. In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter.
8. Combine the melted butter in a large mixing bowl with oil and sugar.
9. Beat on medium speed for 3 minutes until light and fluffy.
10. Add the eggs, one at a time, ensure that each egg is well beaten before adding the next one.
11. Add the vanilla extract together with the last egg.
12. Alternate adding the flour mixture and the Kahlua mixture.
13. First, pour in half of the dry ingredients and beat for 30 seconds before adding half of the Kahlua mixture.
14. Repeat with remaining flour mixture and remaining liquid mixture.
15. Use a spatula to ensure the batter at the bottom of the bowl is well mixed.
16. Pour the batter in the greased & coated pans, dividing as evenly as possible.
17. Bake at 350°F for 25-30 minutes. Check for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center of the cake.
18. If the toothpick comes out clean, your cake is done.
19. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
20. Once cooled, gently run a knife around the edge of the pan to help release the cake from the pans.
21. Tort the top of the cake but using a serrated knife to cut the dome off the cake.
22. You want a nice flat surface on top.

For the frosting:

1. Please note this is a large batch and requires a large bowl.
2. You might consider making this in two batches
3. In a small glass, combine the hot water and espresso powder and whisk until the espresso powder is dissolved. Set this aside.
4. Cut the butter into pieces. Using the paddle attachment, whip butter for 3-4 minutes, scraping down the bowl occasionally.
5. Beat until the butter looks light in color.
6. Sift the cocoa powder into a mixing bowl.
7. Turn the mixer on slow speed and beat it until the cocoa power is mixed into butter, scraping down the bowl as needed.
8. Add 2 cups of powdered sugar and mix on low speed until incorporated into butter.
9. Continuing adding powdered sugar, one to two cups at a time, followed by 1 tablespoons of Kahlua and 1
10. tablespoons of the brewed espresso and beat on low speed until the sugar is incorporated.
11. Increase speed to medium-high and beat for 3 minutes.
12. Add the last cup of powdered sugar along with a pinch of salt and remaining Kahlua and beat on low until the ingredients start to mix together.
13. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat for another 3-5 minutes to whip additional air into the frosting.
14. You will need to judge the consistency of your frosting.
15. You want it light and fluffy and not too stiff. If the frosting seems to thin, you can still add an additional cup of powered sugar.

For the ganache:

1. In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the dark chocolate chips with 1 tablespoon of the brewed espresso.
2. Microwave in 30 second increments, stirring each time until the chocolate is melted.
3. Remove from the microwave and add 1 tablespoon of Kahlua at a time, stirring until well mixed.
4. Use your judgment to test how thin the ganache needs to be in order to nicely drizzle down the sides of your cake.
5. You can slowly add additional Kahlua, just drops at a time as needed.

To assemble the cake:

1. Place a dollop of frosting on the bottom of the cake plate and place the bottom layer of cake on top.
2. The frosting will help prevent the cake from sliding.
3. In order to create even layers, I use a piping bag fitted with an open round tip, or simply cut off the end of the piping bag.
4. I also highly suggest to use a lazy Suzan to rotate the cake as you work.
5. Fill the first layer of frosting by using your piping bag and pipe from the outside edge into the center.
6. Gently spread the frosting with an offset spatula to fill in the gaps.
7. Place the next layer of cake on top and repeat the above instructions to fill the layer of frosting. For the top layer of cake, place it inverted, so the bottom of the cake is actually the top, creating a nice and smooth top edge.
8. Proceed to add your crumb coat by adding a cup of frosting to the top of the cake and gently spread out to the edges and down the sides. Use the leftover frosting in your piping bags to fill in the cracks between the layers.
9. Using an offset spatula or icing smoother, the wipe away excess frosting, leaving you just enough to coat the outside of the cake. Do not mix your crumb coating frosting back into your icing if it has cake debris in it. Refrigerate the cake for 15-20 minutes to allow the crumb coat to harden.
10. First, add about ½ cup of frosting to the top of the cake and create a nice, smooth top. Use your Viva paper towel and fondant smoother to create a flat even surface.
11. Put remaining frosting in a 18-inch piping bag fitted with a Wilton #789 icing tip. Pipe the outside edge of the cake working from the bottom to the top. Use your icing smoother or large offset spatula to smooth edges and remove excess frosting. Again, use your Viva paper towels and the icing smoother to help smooth out the edges of the cake.
12. To drizzle the ganache, use a piping bag and squeeze the ganache near the edges of the cake and if needed, use the flat edge of your offset spatula and push it gently over the sides. Repeat these steps until you are satisfied with the dripped edges. Pour the remaining ganache in the middle of your cake and gently flood out to the edges with the offset spatula. All the ganache to set until slightly firmed.
13. Once the cake is completely smooth, put remaining frosting into a large piping bag fitted with an Ateco Tip 846 (closed star tip). Pipe the boarders on the edges of the cake and garnish with sprinkles.

You can find complete recipes of this Chocolate Mudslide Cake in beyondfrosting.com