Hello & thanks for visiting Joy Filled Eats! Your go-to website for easy delicious recipes that fit into a gluten-free, sugar-free, low carb, keto, & Trim Healthy Mama life.
Welcome! I’m Taryn. The kitchen has always been a joy filled place in my life. Even in the midst of dieting and weight loss food should bring JOY. I have lost over 50 pounds and enjoyed every bite. 100% of my recipes here at Joy Filled Eats are gluten-free and sugar-free. 99% of them are also low carb, keto, and grain-free; along with over 100 paleo and dairy-free recipes. I enjoy spending time baking, cooking, and creating recipes and I want to share that with my readers.
I have been happily married for 20 years and I am a loving mom to 6 children from a 4-year-old to a 17-year-old. One of my first loves is baking and cooking. I’ve been playing around with recipes for over 30 years. Unfortunately, mothering all these babies has added to my waistline. After my 4th baby, I became determined to lose ALL the baby weight. And I did!
But now after welcoming my 6th baby, I get to do it all over again! I’ve tried whole30, low carb, keto, the South Beach Diet, intermittent fasting, Trim Healthy Mama, and paleo over the last 15 years. Right now I've found success using a combination of THM and Keto. I’m looking forward to sharing recipes and tips along the way.
I remember rolling out pie crust with my grandmother and sprinkling the scraps with cinnamon and sugar to make little cookies. The rolling pin in my header is a drawing of the rolling pin she passed down to me. I love having that little part of my grandmother on the top of every page.
With a love of food and a background in photography, food photography was a natural choice. My bachelor's degree is in Visual Arts with a concentration in Photography. I am available for professional food photography in Central NJ and the surrounding areas.
I love being in the kitchen and I want to share that with you. I hope you enjoy Joy Filled Eats as much as I enjoy creating it for you.
Make sure to visit my husband Paul and I at our newest venture, A Grill for All Seasons.
My daughter and I are also collaborating on a new site at Baking Me Hungry.
And check out my Amazon author page!
Contact:
Meet the Joy Filled Eats Team!
Paul
Paul is the chief taste tester, support person, finance guy, and much more at Joy Filled Eats. I really couldn't do it without him!
My social media links:
FoodGawker
Yummly
Kelley A Lichtenberg says
Hi Taryn ~ I love your recipes and your cookbooks, and I have printed many of your recipes that I see online. You're a great resource for sure!!! I just printed the Sausage Kale Soup one without even looking to see if it was in one of the books! LOL! That's how good it looked. If I use the can of cannellini beans, would it still be a THM S? I see they're optional, I just wasn't sure if being optional they were counted in the nutritional guidelines. 😉 Would including them make it a crossover?
Taryn says
Hi Kelley, if I remember correctly you can have 1/4 cup of beans in an S. More than that would probably be an S helper. The one can of beans should still keep this in S range since it makes so much soup 🙂
Clara McRae says
Taryn, In your recipe for Keto Loaded Caramel Magic cookie Bars , int the main recipe for Sweetened condensed Milk you listed 3 tbsp butter but in the cooking instructionsyou listed 2 tablespoons. Which is correct? Thank you. I love your recipes.
Taryn says
Hi Clara, you start using 2 tablespoons and then add the 3rd tablespoon after removing the caramel from the heat. I edited the recipe to clarify 🙂
Amy says
Hi, I am new to the sugar free world but have offered to bake holiday treats for the local senior center. Since many of the residents are diabetic they have requested I make sugar free treats. Because this is only temporary I do not want to invest a lot of money into all the various sweeteners. I found your recipe for sweetener on the walnut toffee recipe and was wondering if i could use that sweetener in all of the baked goods I choose from your website. Thank you for your help
Taryn says
Yes, in 99% of them. There are a few that call for powdered erythritol or just xylitol or erythritol.
Maryann Allen says
Is the amount of cinnamon in your Keto cinnimon swirl pancakes 2 tblsp as stated, or is it supposed to be 2 tsp.
Tblsp seeems like allot of cinnimon but haven’t made it yet
Taryn says
No, it is 2 tablespoons. They are supposed to have a strong cinnamon flavor like a cinnamon roll.
Rita says
Hi love the Hannah brownies can u tell me where u got raw cacao butter on line like 11 dollars a pound I think u said. I paid much more
Taryn says
Hi Rita, I purchase it on Amazon. It is cheaper if you buy in bulk. I normally buy a 2 pound bag for $22-25ish.
Jeanne Bowe says
Hello Taryn,
I love your website and your recipes. I am new to THM. I was looking at the lemon poppyseed loaf cake and I was wondering what sweetner you use if you don't use the gentle sweet (which is currently out of stock). I have regular stevia, pyure stevia (which is stevia and erythritol) and swerve granular as well as truvia. I am so confused on the whole sweetner issue with so many blends, choices and level of sweetness with each one!?!?!?
Do you use a certain sweetner on the market or do you blend your own?
Any clarification would be appreciated. Thank you
Jeanne Bowe
Donna Henderson says
I love your recipes! I am not a cookie baker but fell in love with these cookies. I thought maybe you could convert it to a THM suitable recipe.
English toffee Cappuccino Cookies
1C soft butter
1C brown sugar
3/4 C sugar
2tsp vanilla
3 eggs
3 TBSP cappuccino powder ( Hills Brothers Cappuccino café style drink mix- English toffee flavor)
21/2 C flour
1/2 C cocoa
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 C English toffee bits
1 6.8 oz Hershey Symphony toffee candy bar chopped
Cream butter and sugars, add eggs and vanilla, add cap. powder and remaining dry ingred, stir in candy, do not overmix, drop by rounded TBSP onto cookie sheet, flatten slightly, bake at 325' for 16 min.
Yes, lots of bad stuff here, maybe too much to fix......
But the flavor combinations are so good!!
I just thought you probably have experience transforming recipes to be healthy-- just wondering!
Thank you.
Taryn says
Hmmm.. I have a mocha cookie. If you made that in a muffin tin and then poured in my caramel on top after baking and drizzled on chocolate the flavors would be similar. The caramel sets into a toffee consistency when chilled.
Cookie: https://joyfilledeats.com/mocha-chocolate-chip-cookies/
Toffee: https://joyfilledeats.com/caramel-pecan-turtle-bark/
Daylene says
Hi! I have so many of your recipes pinned on Pinterest and want to try. Thank you for your hard work and sharing. I just started THM so new to low carb. I searched site but didn’t get anything. Wondering if you have a recipe for sugar free sweet and sour sauce? We love Asian food and using this sauce, but I’d like to know how to make sugar free. I use THM Gentle Sweet and Pure Monk. If you have one I have checked the box to be notified of your comments. Thanks, again!
Taryn says
I do not but I'm pretty sure my friend Keri over at http://www.mytableofthree.com does 🙂
Pamela says
I am enjoying and using your recipes! Thank you so much for sharing!
I have a blog user request: Would you please consider moving your website/recipe search box at the top every page? This would make using your blog so much more efficient. I have to access it via my iPhone. The web format currently requires, what seems like, endless scrolling to the bottom to get to the site's search box. You have so much content- this is no small scroll. 😊 It would be so nice to be able to hop in and search recipes on my phone and get moving in the kitchen. This would be a very user-friendly improvement to the website format. Thanks again! Your website is a joy and a blessing!
Taryn says
Thanks for the feedback. I'll look into that 🙂
Nancy T says
I agree! I switched from my phone to my iPad thinking it would be easier to search. I love you recipes and blog and if I am looking for something in a pinch, that would b super helpful!
Pam says
I just found your website and tried your chicken parm recipe. It was awesome! Just one question, what do your acronyms THM and S stand for?
Taryn says
Trim Healthy Mama Satisfying. It is a notation for the Trim Healthy Mama diet 🙂 a Satisfying meal is similar to low carb.
Kathy Zimmerman says
Hi Taryn,
I just mixed up your recipe for Chicken Cordon Bleu Casserole and am getting ready to put it in the oven for dinner tonight. Can't wait to try it!
I was wondering if you've frozen this before and if so how it turned out? I'm doing a THM freezer meal exchange with one of my daughters and a few of her friends and was thinking of doing this. Thank you.
Taryn says
I have not frozen it yet. If you try let me know how it turns out 🙂
Kathy Zimmerman says
It was delicious! Thank you for another wonderful recipe.
I will try freezing one and will let you know how it works.
Laura Balcunas says
I enjoy your recipes!
Brunella Brunet says
I would love to win the frying pan give away.
Alison says
Hi Taryn,
Thanks for your great website! I'm wondering if there's an alternative for your baking mix. I am allergic to coconut and flax. I started THM about 2 months ago, and many recipes have these two ingredients. I'm starting to miss some baked goods! Do you have any advice for me?
Taryn says
Hi Alison,
You can use straight up almond flour in S recipes. You may need 25% more since the coconut absorbs liquid. If you have a Costco they have it for $5 a pound or I have a link to it on Amazon for $7 a pound. It is cheaper than the premade baking mixes. I just made a Cranberry Danish with just almond flour that I'll be posting tomorrow or Saturday. The dough for that can be used in many applications. It's a sweet variation of a mozzarella dough.
Fanny Lang says
Love your creativity in the kitchen. Just found you and can't wait to try loads of your recipes! Thanks for sharing!!
Whitman Hanley-Nelson says
I wanted to know if you already had a recipe or if you would create one for bakery style doughnuts. The only low carb recipes I'm finding are for cake doughnuts. I'm looking for that chewy fluffy pull apart texture that you find with jelly filled and bavarian cream doughnuts that are made with flour. I'm thinking it's impossible to get that with alternative flours. I'm reaching out to well-known lowcarbers to see if such a recipe exists or can be created. Thanks
Taryn says
No, I don't, sorry. If I find one I'll let you know 🙂
Donna says
Taryn,made these yesterday & love them! New to THM so new also to cooking with these new ingredients.
My brownies are a little crumbly so I'm wondering if I did something wrong? Also the praline topping is delish but I only had enough to cover 1/2 of the brownies. ( only had pecan pieces so thought maybe this was the issue) next time I'lll double the praline recipe unless you have advice.
Thanks!
Taryn says
Hi Donna,
I'm not sure why they would be crumbly. Mine were more fudgey. I did chill them before slicing so maybe that helped? I think the size of the pan matters with the praline topping. My baking pan is about 8x10 to 9x11. With a bigger pan the topping would be thinner.
Carla says
Where can i find bacon chicken ceaser cassarole?? I cannot find it in your website
Taryn says
Hi Carla,
Here is a direct link: http://joyfilledeats.com/bacon-chicken-caesar-casserole/
Stacy says
Congratulations on the new site. I enjoy your recipes. Thank you for sharing your journey.
ephraimblessing says
Love the looks of these recipes! I see that you do not have Pinterest share button. Do you mind if readers pin your photos/recipes, which would link back to your page? It's my favorite way to organize recipes online. Thanks!
mercyandgratitude says
Yes, of course! I pin most of them. Wordpress doesn't offer the Pinterest button for some reason. Not sure why.
ephraimblessing says
Thank you! 🙂
mercyandgratitude says
I figured out how to add the pinterest button the other day 🙂 It should be much easier to share now!
ephraimblessing says
Yay! Thanks for letting me know! 🙂