St. Paddy's Day Delight

I made a themed dinner to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with my family. Dinner included: Rainbow Cauliflower, Protein Packed Potato Clouds, Cheese "Gold", Geen Eggs and Shamrock Ham, and a Rainbow Coconut Flour Cupcake.  To read my journal entry about this meal, click here.  Below are the recipes I used to provide a low-gylcemic/no sugar-low starch celebratory dinner.

Rainbow Cauliflower
1/2 bag frozen cauliflower
1 c. water
7 small bowls (I used measuring cups)
food coloring

Put cauliflower in pot with the water.  Steam cauliflower until tender.   Drain the water into the 7 small bowls.  Add a few drops of food coloring into each bowl for each color of the rainbow.  Put a few flowerets into each bowl of food coloring and let sit 5-10 minutes.  Serve immediately, or reheat when ready.

Protein Packed Potato Clouds (or Mashed Protein Potatoes)
I don't typically serve mashed potatoes at our house, but my husband loves them and, quite honestly, has been missing them.  I modified the traditional recipe to lower the glycemic index of this former staple and can now feel okay about offering them on special occasions.

1 1/2 pounds potatoes, peeled and quartered
water to cover them
2 scoops "Regular Flavored" whey protein
1/2 cup half and half
2 Tb. butter

Boil the potatoes in water until tender.  Meanwhile, mix the whey protein with the half and half until smooth.When potatoes are tender, drain. Add the milk mixture and the butter and mash by hand.  Add more half and half until desired consistency.

Rainbow Coconut Flour Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

½ cup butter, melted

½ cup milk

8 eggs

¾ cup sugar equivilant (I use Ideal Sweetener, but you can use Truvia or Splenda.  Note that Truvia does NOT have a 1:1 sugar equivilance.

¾ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

¾ cup sifted coconut flour

¾ teaspoon baking powder

7 bowls

Food Coloring

Mix butter, milk, eggs, sweetener, salt, and vanilla.  Combine coconut flour with baking powder and

whisk into batter until there are no lumps. Pour batter evenly into 7 bowls.  Using the food coloring, add a few drops of each color to create the colors of the rainbow.  Stir.  Starting with purple (which is opposite what I did, but wish I would have!), pour 2 TB. of colored batter into each muffin tin.  Use a spoon or a toothpick to even out the color.  Continue with each color, ending with red on top.  Bake at 350 degrees F

(175 C) for 20-25 minutes or until knife inserted into center comes out clean. Cool and frost.

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz. cream cheese

1 egg

1 TB. coconut flour

1/4 c. sugar equivalent (again, I use Ideal sweetener)

Beat cream cheese with egg, coconut flour and sweetener until well blended.