Curried Pumpkin Soup

This is a great winter warmer; it's so quick to make and very comforting on a cold day. Make it as spicy as you prefer by using different spice blends to roast your pumpkin.

Low Carb Curried Pumpkin Soup

Serves 3

Ingredients

• 500g pumpkin, cubed (NOT butternut squash)
• 1 Tbsp olive oil (high heat or light, not virgin)
• about 3 Tbsp spices of choice, such as a garam massala, ground ginger, curry powder etc
• ¹/₂ can coconut cream
• 1 cup good quality chicken stock (or veggie stock for a vegetarian friendly soup
• salt to taste

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180'C (or use a small roaster inside an airfryer)
2. Toss the cubed pumpkin in the oil and then the spice blend. I like a bit of ginger and a lot of a fairly spicy curry blend. You can also use Thai yellow curry paste, beaten with the oil to loosen
3. Roast the pumpkin for 20-30 minutes until well browned and very soft
4. In a liquidizer (or a bowl big enough to use an emergion blender without splashing) combine the roast pumpkin, coconut cream and stock until completely smooth
5. Taste the soup and add salt as needed
6. Serve on its own for lunch or with your favourite low carb cheese scone or bread roll for dinner.

Cauliflower Cheese Soup

This is one of those dishes where the taste to effort ratio is just ridiculously high.

I made it one night when I was as short on time as I was ideas, and I wasn't expecting much to be honest. Cauliflower is ok, but not one of my favourite veggies.

I try to incorporate Meat Free Mondays in my weekly meal planning - as one of the many small things we can do to reduce our carbon footprints, but also as a cooking challenge. I had made brocolli and cheese soup the week before, so devoid of any other meat-free ideas that aren't macaroni and cheese (my pre-banting go-to meat free dish) I just changed the brocolli to cauliflower and the blue cheese to parmesan and cream cheese.

Obviously, adding chicken stock makes this not a truly vegetarian meal; substitute with veggie stock if necessary.

I was honestly surprised with the results, in the most pleasant way. It's rich, velvety and comforting. It tastes of creaminess with a subtle hint of cheese. Hubby loved it, and even the three-year old cleaned his bowl. Pro-tip: involving a toddler in the cooking process will increase their excitement about the dish by at least 50%.

Low Carb Cauliflower Cheese Soup

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 600g cauliflower, broken into florrets
• 100g cream cheese
• 2 cups chicken stock
• ¹/₂ - 1 cup grated parmesan, to taste
• ¹/₄ tsp ground nutmeg
• ¹/₄ tsp salt
• ¹/₄ tsp white pepper

Method

1. Cook the cauliflower until soft (I usually steam mine, or I microwave it when I'm in a hurry). If boiling, boil it in the chicken stock
2. In a blender (with somewhere for steam to escape), or with a stick blender, process the cauliflower, stock, cream cheese and ¹/₂ cup parmesan until smooth
3. Taste, and add seasoning and more parmesan to taste. The nutmeg really does compliment the cauliflower so try not to skip it

Chocolate Hazelnut Cake

It's really hard to find hazelnuts at the moment! I have no idea why, but I do know that I struggled to find even whole hazelnuts, nevermind ground hazelnuts. And so I am very grateful that I recently bought myself 'n new food processor that includes a coffee grinder attachment.

I made this cake out of Bake it by Murdoch Books. Instead of the vanilla cream suggested in their recipe, I decorated it with chocolate ganache and more hazelnuts (since I had more than enough left - I could only find a 1kg pack). My mom's signature chocolate cake gets a slab of whole nut chocolate melted on top, and I wanted to recreate that effect here. In part because it tastes divine, and in part because it reminds me of one of my favourite ladies.

My batter became very thick (I maaaay have forgotten to add the melted chocolate at the right stage, so that could be it) so folding in the egg whites at the end was very tricky, and it came out a little dense; or perhaps it's because my home-ground hazelnuts were too coarse. For whatever reason, I wasn't quite happy with the outcome so I brushed it with some coffee syrup after it had cooled (I imagine it would be even better if you do it when hot).

Having said that, an imperfect chocolate hazelnut cake is still a CHOCOLATE HAZELNUT CAKE so, you know.

Low Carb Chocolate Hazelnut Cake

Ingredients

Cake

• 150g dark chocolate (the higher the cocoa content, the lower the carbs)
• 125g butter, softened
• 5 eggs, seperated
• 150g sweetener (e.g. xylitol)
• ¹/₂ tsp baking powder
• 200g ground hazelnuts
• ¹/₃ cup (40g) cocoa powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon

Syrup

• 100ml boiling water
• ¹/₄ cup sweetener (e.g. xylitol)
• 1 tbsp instant coffee (optional; leave out or replace with a dash of vanilla essence or liquor of your choice)

Ganache

• 100g dark chocolate
• 2 tbsp sweetener (e.g. xylitol) or to taste - the very dark chocolate makes for a bitter ganache, so I opted to sweeten it a bit
• ¹/₂ cup cream

Method

1. Preheat oven to 160^oC
2. Grease a small cake pan and line with baking parchment
3. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler, over hot water or in the microwave in 30-60 second bursts
4. Cream the butter and sweetener for the cake in a food processor until smooth
5. Add the egg yolks one by one, mixing after each
6. Mix in the melted chocolate
7. In a seperate bowl, whisk or sift together the remaining ingredients
8. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, and mix well (using a paddle attachment or wooden spoon)
9. In a seperate, clean bowl or mixer, beat the egg whites to stiff peaks
10. Fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture in two batches, as gently as possible
11. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 50-60 minutes, until a knife comes out clean
12. In the meantime, mix all the ingredients for the syrup until the sweetener is melted
13. When the cake comes out of the oven, allow to cool a little then turn out onto the serving platter (because once you've moistened it, it will be very hard to move without breaking it)
14. Pour the syrup over the hot cake (or brush with a pastry brush if you prefer) and allow to cool completely
15. Melt the ingredients for the ganache together (double boiler, hot water, or in microwave bursts). You can stop when the chocolate starts melting into the cream, and finish the process simply by stirring until fully melted
16. Spread the slightly cooled ganache over the cake, allowing it to drip over the sides. Optionally, you can spread half the ganache, then add a handful of whole, toasted hazelnuts to the rest of the chocolate before topping the cake with it

Cheesecake

When thinking of banting desserts or cakes, anything with "cheese" in the name is going to have a huge head start, isn't it?

I have got a lot of use out of this chocolate cheesecake cake recipe from Barbara Bakes. It makes a spectacular celebration cake; I've paired the chocolate cake part with chocolate buttercream for an epic chocolate cake; and I noticed from the start that the cheesecake layer is flourless and thus ideally suited to gluten free or low carb baking.

There's very little that needs changing about this recipe, and I've made it exactly as given before (except for the sugar, of course). I added a coconut and ground almond crust that time, but frankly I feel like it's unnecessary at best, and detracts from the cheesecake at worst. I do however find it a little too dense - it has to be for the original recipe, to stand its ground between two layers of chocolate cake - but I prefer the slightly softer texture you get by replacing some of the cream cheese with creme fraiche - sold in South Africa as "cultured cream" - or sour cream. It is slightly more likely to crack, though, so the choice is yours.

I bake this in my smallest spring form pan (20cm). I always swear I'm going to double it next time just to get a more dramatic looking cake - until I realise how much that would cost. Cheesecake is expensive, yo.

A NOTE ON PREPARING YOUR PAN:
This is a very runny batter. I like to not only put parchment on the bottom before greasing my pan, but I also use some foil to create a tighter seal. Place the bottom of a spring form pan on top of a large piece of foil. Lower the foil into the spring form pan's outer ring, bending the foil up around the bottom as you go, so as to fit inside. Secure the ring around the bottom, then smooth the foil up against the inner sides of the ring - they'll be a little more uneven but I've never noticed a significant issue with how the cake looks - and creamy cheesy batter dripping out the bottom is a much bigger problem. Cut out a round of greaseproof paper, lay it in the bottom, then grease the inside of the pan/foil/paper.

I like to serve this with a bit of strawberry compote; it adds a sweet and juicy lushness as well as a burst of colour. You may choose to serve it with whipped cream instead, or both (like I did in the picture - which has nothing to do with hiding an epic crack in my cheesecake!), or just as is.

Low Carb Cheesecake

Ingredients

• 2x230g tubs of cream cheese, or 1 + 1x230g tub creme fraiche
• ²/₃ cups sweetener (e.g. xylitol)
• pinch of salt
• 2 large eggs
• ¹/₃ cup sour cream
• ¹/₃ cup cream
• 1 tsp vanilla essence

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160^oC with two oven racks - one in the middle of the oven, one on the bottom
2. Prepare your pan (see above)
3. Get out a large baking tray and boil a kettle of water
4. Beat the cream cheese (and creme fraiche) with the sweetener and salt until smooth
5. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each
6. Beat in the sour cream, cream and vanilla
7. Pour into the prepared pan
8. Put the oven tray on the bottom oven rack and fill with hot water, and put the cake pan on the top rack
9. Bake for 45-60 minutes, until set
10. Remove from the oven, allow to cool for a few minutes, then run a knife along the edge - this ensures that when it starts to cool and contract, it will pull away from the sides instead of cracking

Low carb strawberry compote

Ingredients

• 2 cups ripe strawberries (leaves removed)
• 1 tbsp lemon or lime juice
• 2 tbsp sweetener (e.g. xylitol)

Method

1. I like to place all the ingredients in my food processor and blitz them, but if you don't have one or you prefer bigger pieces of strawberries, you can chop them by hand and then mix everything together
2. Place in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 3 minutes, stirring after each minute, or until cooked and slightly thickened and smelling wonderful

"Minestrone" Soup

The sarcasm quotes in the title are because this is more of a minestrone inspired soup. It doesn't have the trademark pasta or beans, and I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but it was pretty delicious, if I do say so myself.

I made mine in my pressure cooker. You can make it on the stove or in the slow cooker as well, although I find the pressure cooker is better at preserving the delicate taste of foods and needs less salt.

I made it with whatever vegetables I had on hand (I happen to have a lot of cabbage, for example), so that's what I list in the ingredients, but go mad with whatever you have or whatever you love. The carrot isn't as low carb as the rest of the veggies (Real Meal orange list) but so little of it spread across so much soup is still well below the carb limit.

I had this with a side of cloud bread (aka oopsies) but I am still trying to decide whether or not I liked them enough to post a recipe.

Low carb minestrone style soup

Makes 8-10 servings

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp oil
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 500g bacon, chopped (I used streaky bacon)
• 1 large or 2 small baby marrows (chopped)
• 2 large carrots (chopped)
• 3 small leeks (sliced) - you could use celery
• 1 green pepper (chopped)
• 1/4 cabbage (shredded)
• 1 large handful of green beans (chopped)
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 - 2 cups chicken stock (I used 60ml concentrated chicken stock and enough boiling water to cover the veggies)
• salt and pepper

Method

1. Chop all your veggies. This is the labour intensive part of the recipe (or food processor FTW).
2. Heat the oil and butter in the body of the pressure cooker or a heavy bottomed, large saucepan or pot
3. Fry the onion and bacon until the onion is translucent and the bacon starts to brown
4. Add the other ingredients
5. Cook until all the veggies are soft (carrots are a good test) - in my electric pressure cooker, this took 40 minutes
6. Taste for salt and pepper, and season if necessary

Nutritional values

(per serving, assuming 8 servings; calculated with My Fitness Pal)
Total Fat: 20g; Total Carbohydrates: 11g; Dietary Fiber 3g; Nett Carbs: 8g; Protein: 12g

Stuffed Cabbage Rolls

I have seen a few of these come across my Pinterest feed recently, and although I'm not the biggest cabbage fan, they looked quite cute, easy, and banting friendly (minus the rice).

I more or less went with this recipe from Low Carb Crock, only changing the fresh herbs for dried, the onion powder for what I had in the house, and I think their cooking time is a bit much.

I made mine in the slow cooker, as per the link, because that thing saves my life during the working week. I'm sure you can just as easily bake it in a low oven, and that there are many recipes out there that can guide you regarding times and temperatures.

As I said, I'm not a big cabbage fan, but I really enjoyed this. Hubby did too; however the kiddo steadfastly refused to eat the cabbage. Our rule is, you have to try at least one bite, but he was over tired tonight so I let it go this once. He loved the filling though.

Now the only thing I have left to do, is figure out what to do with all that left-over cabbage.

Low carb stuffed cabbage rolls

Ingredients

Wrappers

• 1 large cabbage

Sauce

• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 2 tsp sweetener (e.g. xylitol)
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp salt

Filling

• 500g minced beef
• 1 cup grated parmesan
• 2 tsp minced garlic (about 2 cloves)
• 1 tsp onion powder (I used Ina Paarman's Green Onion seasoning)
• 1 tsp dried mixed herbs
• 1/2 tsp white pepper

Method

1. Steam or boil the cabbage for 5-10 minutes until the leaves are cooked enough to be soft and pliable but not mushy and grey
2. Mix together all the sauce ingredients and spread enough over the bottom of the slow cooker pot to cover it in a thin layer
3. Mix together all the filling ingredients until well combined (I prefer to do this with my hands)
4. Carefully peel one leaf at a time off the cabbage, and roll a portion of the filling in it, tucking the ends in underneath to make a neat parcel. I got out about 8 parcels, which was perfect for the bottom of my slow cooker.
5. Arrange the parcels in a single layer on top of the sauce in the slow cooker, then cover them with the remaining sauce
6. Cook on low for 6-8 hours, or on high for 4-5

Banting Truffles ("Fat Bombs")

I've been trying to find a few nice recipes for something sweet and satisfying to have while banting. There are a lot of recipes out there for fat bombs, but I've got a few problems with them.

• The name. Eugh.
• They use so much coconut oil. That stuff is super expensive!
• Some have other weird and wonderful ingredients I just don't have, and don't plan to buy just for one recipe.

I've tried out a few recipes. The chocolate ones have been too dark and bitter; the lemon ones don't taste of anything but butter (I guess that's why they use so much coconut oil). The choc fudge ones wouldn't set. I am still experimenting but here's the first batch I thought wasn't too bad. In fact, they were finally good enough to give as a gift to some fellow banters. If you are using Stevia or some sort of liquid sweetener, you can skip the melting phase. It's just to dissolve the xylitol granules I use so they aren't crunchy in the truffles.

To set your truffles, there are a number of options.

• You can use small paper liners, like in the photo. This is the least effort, and prettiest, option. Put them in a mini cupcake pan or cake pop pan, or on a flat plate that you can transfer easily.
• You can chill it until almost set and roll into balls, then roll in cocoa like normal truffles
• Chill it in a buttered dish and cut into blocks
• Use a cake pop tin, ice cube tray or mini cupcake pan. Remember to butter or spray it first - it might be a bit harder to get them out of these shapes as they don't set completely like chocolate.

May I suggest spooning the finished mixture into a piping bag or zip seal bag with a small corner cut off, and piping it into your container(s). It isn't runny enough to pour, and using a spoon will get messy. You can see the swirls in the picture where I piped mine into my papers; maybe next time I'll keep the tip still so they don't look so much like... well, you know.

I think you could reduce the cocoa a bit, they still taste quite dark; I want to keep trying to perfect the recipe. It's a tough life :)

Banting chocolate truffles

Ingredients

• 125 g coconut oil and/or butter - I used 75g coconut oil and 50g butter
• 25 g cocoa powder
• 1 Tbsp sweetener (e.g. xylitol)
• Half a tub (about 113g) cream cheese

Method

1. Melt the xylitol in 50g of the oil by microwaving in short bursts, until dissolved (careful that you don't burn it though)
2. Soften the rest of the oil if necessary, in the microwave, in VERY short bursts
3. Mix together all the ingredients. Whisk well until it's all dissolved, slightly set and glossy
4. Transfer into your container(s) of choice (see above), and allow to set in the fridge or freezer. Keep chilled at all times.