STRAWBERRY SWIRL CHEESECAKE - LOW CARB

I think I died and went to heaven, where strawberry cheesecake is served everyday. I came up with a recipe which will not raise the blood glucose levels by much at all.

BASE INGREDIENTS

100 g finely chopped pecans

100g almond meal

2 tablespoons butter

3 teaspoons xylitol

1 tablespoon sugar free maple syrup

Melt the butter in a saucepan, then throw in the other ingredients and cook over low heat for about 1 minute, until warmed through.

Line the base of a springform cake tin with baking paper and press the nut mixture in firmly. Allow base to set in fridge for 1 hour

STRAWBERRY SAUCE INGREDIENTS

250G  chopped strawberries

2 teaspoons xylitol

1/2 packet diet strawberry jelly (jello)

Heat the strawberries in the microwave for 2 minutes or until liquified. Mush the strawberries with a fork and add xylitol and jelly crystals. Set aside to cool.

 CHEESECAKE INGREDIENTS

500 g full fat cream cheese at room temperature

300ml full fat cream

2 tablespoons xylitol

2 teaspoons vanilla bean extract

3 teaspoons gelatine

1/4 cup lemon juice

Beat cream. xylitol and vanilla to soft peak stage.

Beat cream cheese until soft.

Heat lemon juice in microwave until hot, then add the gelatine. You may need to zap again for another 15 seconds if it starts to set.

Fold the cream into the cheese until well combined, then stir in the lemon mixture.

Alternate spoonfuls of cheese mixture with the sauce over the set base. Swirl the two mixes to achieve the above pattern. Allow to set in fridge - at least 3 hours.

 If the cheesecake is divided by 12 slices, each slice contains only 5.86 carbs

Now you can enjoy cheesecake everyday!

LOW CARB BLONDIES

These turned out very well. Nice and moist.

 

INGREDIENTS

 

100 g sugar free white chocolate

1 50g sachet coconut milk powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

3 tablespoons coconut oil

2 tablespoons xylitol

1 1/2 cups almond meal

 

ICING

100 g sugar free white chocolate

1 tablespoon full fat cream

 

 

 

 

Melt the chocolate in microwave for about 60 seconds. If it hasn't melted after this time, just do short 15 second bursts until it has (it can burn easily)
Mix in coconut oil until melted.
Add other ingredients.
Cook at 180 degrees for about 30 minutes, until slightly golden. I used a standard size square cake tin.
ICING: melt the chocolate as above, then mix in the cream. Spread over the blondies whilst still warm.

I cut mine into 16 pieces. Each piece contains 3.8 g carbohydrate.

3

Christmas in Australia - Part 1

Did everyone have a good Christmas? I thought I would show you how we celebrate Christmas in Australia, or more precisely, how I celebrate Christmas.

As my family and I are Christians, Christmas means we have been given the gift of eternal life when God came to earth in human form.  The great thing about this is, anyone can receive the gift- all you have to do is accept it by opening your heart to God and living the way he intended us to. You don't need to earn your way into heaven. The gift of eternal life is free to anyone who wants it.

I also enjoy the other aspects of Christmas.  Even though it is always hot where I live at Christmas, I still can't help decorating using European and wintery icons.  In fact, many Australians do, despite our climate.
I had a big party on Boxing Day, so I spent alot of time beforehand creating and cooking in preparation. These little softies were take home gifts for the children.  I hand sewed them from sweaters.

Then I packaged them up with a bar of Ikea chocolate.  The kids went nuts over them.  Even the older boys all wanted one!

I made these gift baskets for all the ladies to take home. They contained: jam, truffles, apricot balls, pudding and cake- all made by me of course.

They were decorated with a handmade fake cookie.  Actually, my daughter wrapped all these for me.

My daughter made this table tree from a fake tree, fake snow and berries. We then painted fake birds with white paint and glitter.

These were easy to make from papier mache reindeer, painted with paint and glitter again.

My 12 year old son made all these cones which we filled with chocolate.  I got the template from the Marie Claire Idees website. As you can see, my children have inherited my creative genes.

I placed the take home favours on pretty crystal platters.  This is the only time of year all the wedding presents see the light of day!  When we got married 20 years ago, it was the tradition to receive heaps of crystal as wedding gifts.  We even received three whiskey decanters.  I've never drunk whiskey in my life!

We made these as table centrepieces, once again using the crystal wedding gifts.  I collected pinecones off the street near my work and covered them in fake snow and glitter.

 We used to have a Hello Kitty and Thomas the Tank Christmas tree. Now my children are older, I have replaced all the decorations with more stylish ones.

This little bird in a cage is from "Natural Kitchen" in Shibuya, which I picked up on our last trip.

A funny little Danish Christmas Elf.

Please check back tomorrow when I will show you the rest of my Christmas celebrations.

Christmas Goodies

I like to make Christmas edibles to give as presents. People always appreciate handmade gifts.

Pictured above are: caramel and chocolate brownies with toffee pecans on top, white Christmas, chocolate fudge and mini chocolate Christmas puddings.

These are little golden fruit cakes with a toffee coating.

Lastly, little chocolate rum and raisin puddings.

The problem is...I always end up eating some that were intended as gifts.  I will have to whip up another batch I suppose!

We are having 17 people for Boxing Day lunch, so I am happily planning and making lots of gifts and decorations.

JAPAN DREAM 3 LADUREE GINZA

The Laduree teahouse is located in Mitsokoshi Department store, Ginza.  Laduree is ichiban in the world of French Patisseries.  Have a look at the tearoom. I want to live there.  The decor is so posh.

I already know what I am going to order.  Plus I will be indulging in a little take away box of macaroons or two.  And, they also sell bags and purfume - could it be any more perfect? So purrty.

Apparently, the wait to get a table is about one hour, so my daughter and I are going to take turns waiting in the queue whilst the other browses the lovely objects in Mitsukoshi.  My son is not going to like! But us girls have our hearts set on lunching here, and once he has a cake in his mouth, he'll be happy.

http://www.laduree.fr/fr/maisons/monde-details#38

JAPAN DREAM 2 - L'OCCITANE CAFE

 What could be more wonderful than a collaboration between  French fragrance and French cakes? That's my idea of heaven. For some reason I never had time to visit the L'Occitane cafe in Shibuya, even though it was literally next door to the hotel I stayed in.  It is in a fantastic position; right on the Shibuya scramble.  So during my next visit, I will most definitely be visiting this cafe and buying a little bottle of nice smelly stuff.  Have a look at their website. I'm hungry already.

http://www.loccitane.co.jp/shop/cafe/index.aspx