Low Carb Nut and Seed "Bread"

Ingredients

2½ cups mixed nuts & seeds left whole. For example:

• pistachios

• almonds

• walnuts

• Sesame Seeds

• cashews

• whatever seeds and nuts you have around. Clean the cupboard.

½ cup flax seed (or ground flaxseed meal)

3 eggs

¼ cup oil

½ tsp Salt

Instructions

• In a large bowl, mix everything together.

• Pour into a greased loaf pan.

• Bake at 325°F for 35-40 mins and then let the pan cool for 10 minutes.

• Turn out the bread and let it finish cooling.

Notes

• It’s the eggs and flax seed that bind this together. Don’t short this part.

• I ground half of the flax seed (¼ cup) to powder in a clean coffee grinder, and left the rest (also ¼ cup) whole.

• I added millet and flaked coconut to the “2½ cups mixed nuts & seeds.” I’m thinking I’ll keep trying to make the nuts the big portion and the seeds the small portion.

• I used parchment paper instead of greasing the pan. As usual, it worked wonderfully.

• Apparently it’s not difficult to over-cook this. The original recipe called for 45 minutes. Yeah, that’s too much. When it gets close, keep an eye on it. The only real cooking needed is for the eggs, and they don't actually require that much time.

• The original recipe also called for ⅓ tsp of salt. I used salted nuts, so I cut that back to ¼ tsp. Mistake. Don’t short the salt. 

• It’s better if you put butter on it. I sprinkled some kosher salt onto the butter: that really helped!

Pumpkin Soup from Fresh Pumpkin

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

One 2-pound sugar pie pumpkin

1 medium yellow onion, chopped

2 large or 3 medium garlic cloves, pressed or minced

1 TBSP butter

¼ teaspoon sea salt

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg

Dash of cloves

Tiny dash of cayenne pepper

Freshly ground black pepper

2 TBSP chicken broth concentrate

½ water

2 cups whole milk

Instructions

    Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Peel pumpkin, remove seeds, cut into 2”-ish cubes. (You can roast the seeds if you’d like for garnish).

    Drizzle ½ tablespoon olive oil over the flesh of the pumpkin and place the chunks onto the baking sheet. Roast for 35 minutes or so, until the orange flesh is easily pierced through with a fork. Set it aside to cool for a few minutes.

    Heat the remaining 1½ tablespoons olive oil in a large Dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat. Once the oil is shimmering, add onion, garlic and salt to the skillet. Stir to combine. Add butter. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is translucent, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add milk and bring back up to temperature.

    Add the pumpkin flesh, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, cayenne pepper, and a few twists of freshly ground black pepper. Use your stirring spoon to break up the pumpkin a bit. Pour in the broth. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes, to give the flavors time to meld.

    Once the pumpkin mixture is done cooking, remove the soup from heat and let it cool slightly. Use an immersion blender to blend this soup in the pot. (Alternatively, use a stand blender, which yields the creamiest results, but cool the soup some, first.)

    Ladle the soup into individual bowls.Consider garnishing with shredded cheese, perhaps parmesan or another hard cheese, or maybe with those roasted nuts..

    Let leftover soup cool completely before transferring it to a proper storage container and refrigerating it for up to 4 days (leftovers taste even better the next day!). Or, freeze this soup for up to 3 months.

Served this with fried garlic toast.

Roasted Tomato Soup

Ingredients

4 or 5 pounds Roma tomatoes - halved and roasted

3 cloves garlic - peeled

1½  TBSP olive oil

1 tsp salt - divided

Some freshly ground black pepper

1½ tsp butter

1 onion - sliced

½ cup fresh basil - plus more for serving

1 TBSP chicken bouillon concentrate

1 cup milk (your choice what kind)

½ tsp red chili flakes - plus more, if desired

optional croutons or crackers

Instructions

    Roast the tomatoes and garlic (400° for maybe 45 minutes).

    Sauté the onions in olive oil and butter. Sauté on lower heat for at least 10 minutes or until starting to brown and caramelize. Stir often.

    Add the tomatoes, fresh basil, broth, and red chili flakes to the pot. Bring to a low simmer, reduce heat to low. Add the oven-roasted tomatoes to the pot with their juices, and return to a simmer.

    Simmer. Simmer the soup uncovered and over low heat for approximately 20 minutes.

    Puree with an immersion blender. Avoid over-blending; you want some chunks. You may also use a stand blender.

    Season and serve. Return soup to your pot and season with additional salt and pepper, to taste. Garnish with fresh basil, croutons, or a splash of fresh cream, or crack an egg into a bowl of cool soup and microwave 4 or 5 minutes until egg is done.

Yummy!