Japanese Coffee Jelly Drink (Low-Carb, Gluten-Free, Paleo/Primal)

I don't see it very often in the United States, but coffee jelly is actually a pretty popular drink in Japan. It's served about a million and one ways over there, but my favorite way to eat coffee jelly is simply by serving it with milk or cream. It makes for an excellent summertime pick-me-up, plus there's something about a glass of jelly that is very refreshing to look at. When you've let it sit for a long enough time, the color of the coffee actually melds with the white of the cream, giving the drink a lite, mocha tan. Speaking of mocha, you can add chocolate liquor to the coffee (while it's still liquid) or milk for a nice kick.

One serving of low-carb coffee jelly drink is 2 grams of carbs.

Rasmalai (Low-Carb, Gluten-Free, Primal)

When I made this, I actually went through the whole process of making the paneer from scratch. You need quite a bit of milk to yield the amount needed for this recipe, but the recipe is very simple and also kind of rewarding to make. Maybe it's because I never made cheese from scratch before, but I couldn't get over the fact that I was making cheese. It's just such a "gourmet" thing to do. Making paneer from scratch is time-consuming though, so I decided to just adjust this recipe to a one step ricotta paneer I learned about from my friend's mother. But if you want the experience of making your own paneer for rasmalai, here is a link to get you started. 

For those doing low-carb, rasmalai using Splenda as a sweetener comes to 6.6 grams of carbs per serving. 

Cinnamon Ice Cream (Low-Carb, Gluten-Free)

I never realized until this morning how difficult it is to take pictures of ice cream in the summer. Seriously, it is nearly impossible. The picture above is the best picture I took, out of like fifty pictures. The ice cream was melting at a rapid pace and the glass cup I scooped it into was fogging up. It was a race against the green house effect taking place in my sun room. I should probably choose a different place to shoot, but the lighting there is so great.

Anyway! I received an ice cream maker for my birthday a few weeks ago, and last night I finally got a chance to use it. I spent a great deal of time mulling over what sort of ice cream I could make that was low-carb and not just vanilla or chocolate flavored. I also didn't want to add anything that would bump up the carb count too high. So, enter cinnamon; it's got only .5 grams of carbs per teaspoon, but it's so often associated with sweets that it pretty much acts as not only a flavoring, but also a sweetener for desserts. I love cinnamon's role in this recipe. The slight warmth it provides is a welcome contrast to the chilly sweetness of the base.

One serving of this recipe comes out to around 5 grams of carbs.

Matcha (aka Green Tea) Steamed Cake (Low-Carb, Gluten-Free)

This is a quick, easy, and delicious cake recipe you can make even when you're on the go. It's a knockoff of Japanese green tea steamed cakes often sold in convenience stores. The total time spent on prep and cooking comes out to 10 minutes, and if you cook it in a coffee filter or even wax paper, you can take it anywhere with you. I've seen variations of the steamed cake sold with different toppings, such as red beans in this case. I didn't have red beans, so instead I ate mine this morning with a spread of peanut butter and sugar-free strawberry preserves. I could also see the cake paring well with cream cheese and walnuts.

One serving comes to 3 grams of carbs.

The Ultimate Comfort Food: Flax Meal Porridge (Low-Carb, Gluten-Free)

It's things like this recipe that make me want to get up early in the morning. I'm usually the kind of person who hits snooze about 5 times before getting up. But whenever there's a box of flax in my fridge and frozen berries in my freezer, I find myself getting too excited for breakfast to hit snooze more than twice. Oh, how I love flax. I love its many different textures, I love how it keeps me full for hours, and I love how a $1.99 box of it can last me an entire month. Most mornings I have flax either as minute-mug cake with ricotta, or as porridge with a side of bacon and eggs. I'll even mix flax into my savory foods and have it for lunch and dinner. One day I plan to erect a monument to flax, but I'm still working on the funding for that project.

This recipe comes to at most 6 grams of carbs per serving. (You could cut all the optional ingredients I added, and it would bring the carb count down. I just wanted to show how versatile the recipe is.)