Giraffe's Frozen Low-Carb Blueberry-Orange Creamsicles

Well, the dog days of summer have definitely arrived, especially, in our home state of Arizona.  Our daily afternoon and early evening temperatures have soared to a little over 100°F.

We're always looking for something to both quench our thirst and to satisfy our sweet tooth.  As children, Orange Creamsicles were so scrumptiously delicious.  However, they contain awful amounts of sugar.

We therefore,  glanced into our refrigerator, to see if we had ingredients to create a low-carb version.  Since, we had a couple of packages of blueberries, we thought we would attempt to create our own Blueberry type Creamsicle. 

In past recipes, we've used Lemon Extract to enhance our blueberry flavors. However, when we visited our local grocery store, Lemon Extract was unavailable.  We then, decided to choose a compatible flavor that would likely blend well with our blueberries - orange!

Preparation time for our Blueberry-Orange Creamsicles is about 5-10 minutes, while our freezing time is another 3-4 hours.

Our ingredients for our yummy recipe are as follows:

• 8 oz. Cream Cheese
• 2 Packages of Blueberries
• 1 Cup of Heavy Whipping Cream
• 1 Cup of Sweetener
• 1 Tbsp. Orange Extract
• Popsicle Molds

Any Popsicle Molds would work just fine. However, we wanted a set of molds that would be sturdy and last awhile.  So, we found these Molds on Amazon.com (Merely click this link and you too can own this product from Amazon's Website.)

We'll begin by placing our Cream Cheese in our mixing bowl, will place in our microwave oven, and will melt for about 1 minute.

Melted Cream Cheese would assist our mixture to easily blend together.

After our melting time, we'll remove our cheese from our microwave, will stir, and will place in our food processor.

If a food processor is unavailable, a blender or electric mixture would also suffice.

Next, we'll add our cream, sweetener, Orange Extract, 1 1/2 containers of our blueberries, will cover, and blend on high for about 1 minute, or until our mixture is smooth and creamy.

Since our mixture is now creamy and smooth, we'll use our spoon to scrape any remaining ingredients from the sides of our processor,  and will mix in with our bowl of creaminess.

We'll now add our remaining 1/2 container of blueberries to our mixture and will stir.  

This will ensure that each creamsicle will hopefully, contain at least 1 blueberry.  

We'll then, slowly and carefully fill our molds with our cream cheese mixture.   We'll fill each mold to the top, but will try not to overflow them.

Next we'll cover our molds, will insert our sticks about 1/2 of the way into our mixture, and will place in our freezer for 3-4 hours.

(Please excuse our full flavored ice cream and whipped topping in our freezer.  One of our birthdays was last week.  So, naturally, this was one of our sugar cheating days. 😁😅😀)

We were in such a rush to eat our creamsicles, that we removed them from our freezer after about 3 hours.

Our creamsicles were slightly difficult to remove from our molds. However, after running them under hot water for about 10 seconds, we were easily able to pull them from their casings. 

Our Creamsicles were definitely worth the wait!  

Their textures are delicate and silky, while their flavors are just incredible!

Each bite is creamy, smooth, and embodies the rich blueberry flavor, coupled with the hint of orange.  The two flavors complement each other extremely well. 

Our low-carb Blueberry-Orange Creamsicles definitely satisfied our sweet tooth and will hopefully, satisfy yours, as well.  

Since our frozen bars have such a low-carb, we're finding ourselves eating more than one at a time.

Thank you for visiting another week of Smokey and Giraffe's Low-Carb Kitchen!

From our kitchen to yours ~

Enjoy!

Smokey's Juicy Low-Carb Baked Chicken Drumsticks

Many of us have those quick go-to recipes, when they have either a lazy day or lack the time to cook a fancy meal.

Our baked chicken recipe started out as our go-to meal, years ago.  However, recently, this recipe has become one of our favorites.

We thoroughly enjoy the crispy chicken skin that seals in its juices.  Right before our chicken has finished baking, we find ourselves anticipating our first bite.

Preparation time is less than 5 minutes, while baking takes another 1 hour to 1 hour 30 minutes, depending on your taste.

Our ingredients for our succulent chicken includes:

• 1 Family Pack of Chicken Drumsticks
• 1-2 Tbsp. Onion Powder
• 1-2 Tbsp. Garlic Powder
• 1-2 Tbsp. Poultry Seasoning
• 1-2 Tbsp. Paprika
• 1 Tbsp. Ground Pepper
• Generous drizzle of Olive Oil

We thought we should comment about our spices that we use for our recipe.  

As we generously drizzle our Olive Oil over our drumsticks, we'll do the same with our seasonings.  

That's why we mentioned that we use approximately 1-2 Tbsp. of each seasoning, depending on your tasted.  Feel free to season your chicken as you wish.  😀

With that said, we'll begin by lining our pan with Aluminum Foil,  will spray with our cooking spray, and will preheat our oven to 375°F.

Next, we'll line our drumsticks on our greased pan, skin side up. 

Lining our chicken, skin side up, will allow our skin to crisp, throughout our baking process.

We'll then, sprinkle our Onion Powder, pepper, Poultry Seasoning, Garlic Powder, and Paprika over our drumsticks.

Next, we'll drizzle our Olive Oil over our seasoned drumsticks and will place in our oven. 

We'll then, bake for 1 hour to 1 hour and 30 minutes, depending on how you like your chicken. 

After 1 hour and 30 minutes, our drumsticks appear to have finished baking.

Voila! 

Our baked and juicy chicken drumsticks are ready to be served!

The skin is slightly crispy, super moist, and full of flavor!

Each succulent bite oozes with the juices, coupled with the seasonings to create the perfect taste.  

I can't tell you how much we enjoy our baked chicken!  Probably a little too much.  😅😅 If we're lucky, we'll put a few drumsticks in our refrigerator, for leftovers.

We also decided to pair our chicken dish with our Korean Style Bean Sprouts, from one of our previous blog entries.

We're happy to share another delicious and innovative meal with you.  😃

From our kitchen to yours ~

Enjoy!

Smokey's Very Cheesy Low-Carb Philly Cheese Steak Sloppy Joes

We've been exploring Philadelphia on our layovers and have been enjoying their famous Philly Cheese Steak Sandwiches.  We contemplated how we could turn a Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich into a low-carb meal. So, we decided to create a bun less Sloppy Joes - Philadelphia style!  And we're glad we did.  

Our bun less Philly Cheese Steak Sloppy Joes are SO cheesy and delicious!  They taste exactly like we're eating a Philly Cheese Steak at a local Philadelphia diner. 

The Green Peppers, fresh mushrooms, and double cheese complement the ground beef very well.  

Our preparation time is only about 5 minutes, while our cooking time was another 15-20 minutes.

Our ingredients for our yummy dish includes:

• 2 Tbsp. Margarine or Butter
• 2 Tbsp. Reduced Sugar Ketchup
• 2 - 8 oz. Packages of Sliced Provolone Cheese
• 1 Small Package of Fresh Sliced Mushrooms
• 1 Chopped Onion
• 1 Green Pepper
• 1 Pound Ground Beef
• 1 Cup Beef Broth
• 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 Tbsp. Xanthan Gum 
• 1/2 tsp. Black Pepper

We'll begin by placing our Ground Beef in our skillet, will cover, and will cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes or until our meat has fully browned.

We'll stir every couple of minutes to avoid our beef from sticking to our skillet and burning.

Next, we'll transfer our ground beef to our bowl, with a slotted spoon, to avoid losing any of our grease.  

We'll then place our grease aside.

While our grease is resting, we'll chop our onions and Green Pepper, using our 1-Second Slicer, that we bought on Amazon.com.  This slicer is absolutely wonderful!  We use this for any kind of vegetable chopping.

We've added a link to our 1-Second Slicer. Simply click on the "1-Second Slicer" wording.

We'll then, place our Margarine in our grease and will continue to stir, until completely melted.

Next, we'll add our vegetables to our grease mixture and will cook for about a couple of minutes, or until they have slightly softened.

We'll then, cover and will allow our vegetables to further steam and soften for an additional 3 minutes.

Next. we'll remove our lid, will stir, and will once again cover and cook for just 3 more minutes.

This will ensure our vegetables will not burn or stick to the bottom of our skillet.

While our vegetables are cooking, we'll slice our cheese into cubes and will place aside.

After our vegetables have finished cooking, we'll remove our lid, will stir, and will return our Ground Beef to our skillet.

We'll then, stir until our ingredients are fully mixed together.

Next, we'll add our Ketchup, Worcestershire Sauce, and pepper, and will stir until completely mixed.

We'll then, add our Beef Broth and will stir.

Finally, we'll add our Xanthan Gum as our thickener, will stir, and will cook for another 2-3 minutes, or until a slightly thickened gravy has formed.

We'll then, turn off our stove, add our cheese, and will stir until all has fully melted and is thoroughly mixed together.

Voila!!

We add extra cheese to everything, as one can tell.  😋   

The added extra cheese makes each bite even more fabulous. We thoroughly enjoy the flavor of the onions, Green Pepper, and mushrooms, coupled with the gravy. And the extra cheese on our Philly Cheese Steak Sloppy Joes were definitely an added bonus.  

We felt as if we were dining in a local Philadelphia diner.  The flavors are exquisite and its aroma is delightfully permeating our apartment.

From our kitchen to yours ~

Bon Appetit!