Cauliflower Cheese and Starting Again

Last week I went back to eating LCHF again.  For one reason and another I had fallen off the wagon, for nearly 9 months. Inevitably I had re-gained all the weight that I had lost, but that didn't bother me as much as the other symptoms.  The worst one was the reflux.  When I'm eating carbs I need to carry gaviscon tablets around with me all the time, which is no fun, let me tell you.  I also really hate the fact that my ankles are swollen almost constantly when I am eating carbs.

I've been low carb again now for just over 10 days, and have had no reflux symptoms at all for the last 9 days.  The constant hunger that I have when eating carbs/sugar has already receded, and my ankles have come back again.  I didn't weigh myself at the outset this time, as I don't have weighing scales in the house anymore, but some of my clothes are already slightly looser around the waist.

One of the things that I find the most difficult about eating low-carb is the amount of cooking involved.  I find that unless I have a ready supply of meals in the freezer and suitable snacks in the fridge that it is too tempting to eat foods that are too high in carbs.  I'm going to try from now on to make a point of always having appropriate meals available in the freezer, and one of those meals is cauliflower cheese.  I've always loved cauliflower cheese, and spent many of my weight watchers years trying to make a low-fat version.  They never worked though, and after a while I just resigned myself to only eating it when having a 'cheat day'.

All of this meant that the first recipe I wanted to tackle when embarking on a LCHF regime was cauliflower cheese.  And let me tell you, in all the times I have made it since, with slight differences to the recipe each time, there has never been a dud one.  It is now one of my favourite meals.

The last time that I made it I took time to write down the amounts of ingredients I used, and even took a few photos, so that I could keep a definitive recipe for myself. You'll notice that my recipe is in fact for cauliflower and broccoli cheese with bacon.  I can assure you that it will work just as well without the broccoli or bacon, but I think they make this recipe perfect.

Ingredients

1 head of cauliflower
1 head of broccoli (just use 2 heads of cauliflower if you prefer)
6 rashers of streaky bacon (optional)

400g cheddar (you could substitute 100g of this with blue cheese and it works wonderfully too)
150ml cream
400g full-fat cream cheese

Method

Steam or boil the vegetables until they are almost cooked, then drain all the water away.
Cook the bacon until crispy. Put the vegetables and bacon into a baking dish. Don't forget to put all the bacon fat in with it too.

Put the cream cheese, cream and almost all of the cheddar into a pan and stir together to make the best cheese sauce you have ever tasted.  It will seem like a lot of cheese sauce.  Trust me, you'll need it all.

Pour the cheese sauce over the vegetables and bacon and mix well to ensure there is sauce covering everything.

Sprinkle your reserved cheese on the top and bake in the oven at 200C for about 25 minutes.

Look at that - doesn't it look fabulous?

It serves 4-6 people, depending on how hungry you are.  If you're cooking for 1 or 2, just freeze the rest.  When needed again, cook in the microwave for 2-4 minutes for a speedy, delicious, LCHF ready meal.

Chocolate and Pecan Brownies

These brownies are the best I've ever made, and I stumbled upon the recipe by chance, as I wanted to use up the pecans I had left after making Nigella's Christmas Cake.  (and yes I know it's February now, but it seems as good a time as any to blog about brownies).

I made these on Christmas Day, using my shiny new KitchenAid, which is without doubt one of the best Christmas presents I have ever received.

I made enough for us all on the day, and to take with us to the rest of the family on Boxing Day.  Every single person in the family liked them (ages 4 to 64) which was very gratifying, but did mean that I didn't get to eat quite as many of them as I would have liked.

The recipe I used was a Sophie Grigson one, and can be found here.  Since one of my new year's resolutions was to give up refined sugar, I'm not planning on eating any more of these myself in the near future, but I may make some for everyone else to eat, seeing as they were so popular.

 

Chocolate Chip Shortbread

I can't remember ever making shortbread before, as I'm not normally a fan, but I'm very proud of how well my first attempt turned out. I was inspired to make it at the weekend for two reasons - one is that I was saw by this recipe on the Baking Bar blog, and the other is that the partner had mentioned that shortbread was a particular favourite of hers.

It was dead easy to make, and due to the partner's request for plain shortbread I put about a fifth of the plain mixture in the tin before folding the chocolate chips into the rest of the mixture.

I was really pleased with the results - it is indeed rich and buttery, and had a great texture. The 3-year-old was very excited throughout the baking process, and attacked the first piece I gave him with enthusiasm. By the second piece, however, I noticed that he was just picking out the chocolate chips, and thereafter he asked for chocolate chips on their own, which was a little disappointing. The partner loved the plain version and has requested I make it again soon.

It just so happened that we were going to a picnic the next day, so I duly packed a box of the chocolate chip version (as was under strict instructions to leave all the plain at home for the partner to eat during the week) and it was a big hit - with children and adults alike. In fact I had to hide the box from one 3-year-old after I saw him reaching for a fourth piece...

Verdit - I would definitely make this again, although I might try with dark chocolate chips next time.