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Indian Samosas (with meat)

Peggy 2 Comments

I made Indian food for dinner tonight, which consisted of my Indian Creamed Spinach (Saag Paneer), Indian Baked Chicken (done in my air fryer) and I tried my hand at samosas.  My husband just loves samosas, so I put my thinking hat on.  Traditionally they are made with vegetable mixtures, but I decided to use some leftover Kheema Matar for mine today.  Thought I could use my Mozzy Dough as it’s pretty flexible to be manipulated.  For the filling, my Kheema Matar meat mixture will do nicely, has it has veggies and meat.

These came out wonderful!  I used a little of my Sofrito mixed with a little chopped mint in olive oil for a dipping sauce.  They are traditionally dipped into a tamarind sauce.  I have tamarind on hand, but haven’t picked a recipe for that sauce yet.   Here is a link to a Youtube video on how to make a tamarind dipping sauce.  Samosas to me, don’t really need a sauce at all, really, if the filling is a good one.

INGREDIENTS:

1 recipe my Mozzy Dough

1 recipe my ground meat Kheema Matar

DIRECTIONS:  Make the Kheema Matar meat mixture by that recipe’s instructions and set by your work area.  Make the dough by that recipe’s instructions.  After final kneading, roll into a log and divide into 12 equal parts.  For easier construction, you may prefer to make just 6 larger samosas.  But I wanted small ones tonight as I’m eating a lot less these days.

Roll each of the 12 (or 6) portions of dough into a ball and set on a silicone sheet or plastic wrap.  Press the dough into a 4″ round with your fingers and the but of your palm.  Fill each round of dough with 2 T. meat filling and press it firmly into a mound.  Gently lift opposite sides up over the filling (all four) and to the center to cover the meat completely, pinching the dough at the top to seal well.  If dough tears, dump the meat back into the skillet, roll and press the round of dough out again and refill.  Heck, the dough is a little delicate.  Even I had to redo one myself.  Place the samosas onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Continue until all 12 (or 6) samosas are made.  Preheat oven to 350º and pop pan into oven.  Bake for about 15 minutes until just browning on the tops.  Remove and serve as a snack, appetizer or with a full Indian meal as a first course.  If you want a little dipping sauce, mix 2 T. of my Sofrito (and 2 T.fresh mint, if you have some) in 2 T. olive oil.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 12 small or 6 large samosas.  A serving, 1/6 recipe) consists of 2 small samosas (1 if making just 6 larges ones) and has:

258 cals, 23.8g fat, 13.8g carbs, 7.7g fiber, 6.1 NET CARBS, 27.1g protein, 808 mg sodium (mostly from the cheese in the dough)

Hot and Sour Soup

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This is my version of the well-known Hot and Sour Soup.  I always get some when we’re at our local Chinese restaurant buffet.  It reminds me so much of the Hot and Sour soup served there, all but the tofu, that is.  I try to avoid soy as much as possible and used bean sprouts in place of tofu, but if you consume tofu, add about 1 c. small cubes of tofu to the pot during cooking for a more authentic soup.  This recipe is suitable for Atkins, ketogenic diets, Primal and Paleo as well.

INGREDIENTS:

5-6 oz. piece of pork loin, trimmed of all fat, slivered thin

1 T. olive oil

4 c. pork or chicken broth (I use homemade)

1½ c. bean sprouts, fresh (or canned, drained)

1 large green onion, chopped

1 bok choy leaf (green part only), or 1 leaf kale, chopped

4 oz. red bell pepper, sliced (not authentic, but very good)

¼ c. dried sliced shitake mushrooms (equivalent of 2 mushrooms)

½ c. dried clour ear fungi/mushrooms

sesame oil (my bottle says toasted)

¼ c. rice wine vinegar (no substitutions)

½ Tamari or soy sauce

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp. Sambal Oelek chili sauce (more if you like real spicy)

1 c. water (as needed)

½ tsp. xanthan gum to slightly thicken

Dash toasted sesame seeds

VARIATIONS:  Add 1 c. diced firm tofu.  You can also sub in slivered canned bamboo shoots for the bean sprouts for a different look but not much flavor change.

DIRECTIONS:  Brown slivered pork in the tablespoon of olive oil in the bottom of a 4 qt. saucepan.  Add all remaining ingredients but the last 3 (water, xanthan gum & toasted seeds).  Bring to a boil over high heat, then lower heat and simmer just until red pepper is starting to soften (but is not mushy, limp), or about 5-6 minutes.  Bok choy (or kale) will be done by then.  Add optional tofu cubes if using.  Taste broth.  If too salty for you add the water slowly until to your desired salty level.

I use a salt shaker for my xanthan gum.  Lightly dust it over surface and stir in.  Simmer a couple minutes to let it take action.  Repeat until soup is thick enough (or until all used).  This should be enough thickener even if you add the cup of extra water.  Add sesame seeds and stir or you can serve them with the soup at table, letting diners sprinkle seeds on their own.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 4 servings, each contains:

251 cals, 18g fat, 9.87g carbs, 4.85g fiber, 5.02g NET CARBS, 18.5g protein, 1207 mg sodium (Use low sodium soy sauce to reduce, but I was out of it.)

Air Fryer Jamaican Jerked Pork Loin

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These were some small 4-oz. pieces of pork loin I took out of the freezer tonight and I wanted to try my latest spice creation on them.  I chose to do these in my air fryer, but am sure they would be even better done on the charcoal grill.  Tomorrow is another day :).  Man, were these ever tasty!  Much better than the jerked chicken I had one time in a little cafe here in town (that has since folded, maybe that’s why).  I see much many Jamaican Jerk meats in my future with my toned-down version of Jamaican Spice.   This recipe, with the typical brown sugar eliminated from my version of the spice, should be suitable on any eating program, ketogenic or otherwise.

INGREDIENTS:

4   4-oz. pieces boneless pork loin

¼ c. light olive oil

2 T. my Homemade Jamaican Jerk Seasoning Blend

1 oz. onion, minced fine (I used red onion)

DIRECTIONS:   Pour the olive oil into a marinating dish.  Add the spice blend and minced onion to the dish.  Stir.  Dip each “chop” into the mixture, using it all up, trying to get the minced onion evenly onto all sides of the meat.  Cover and marinate for 1 hour in the refrigerator.

To air-fry, preheat your fryer to 375º for 3 minutes.  Open and place meat in the basket so they do not touch.  Cook at 375º for about 12 minutes.  Turn and if any left in the marinating pan, brush any marinade remainders onto the exposed side.  Raise fryer to 400º and cook for another 3-4 minutes.  As fryers vary, check before time is up to be sure yours doesn’t cook hotter than mine.  If charcoal grilling, have your coals very hot and place meat on the grate and grill for about 15 minutes on each side or until thoroughly done but not dried out.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 2 adult servings (shrink to about 3.2 oz. cooked ad they are so lean to begin with). Two chops contain:

578 cals, 40g fat, 6.9g carbs, 1g fiber, 5.9g NET CARBS, 49.1g protein, 204 mg sodium

Homemade Jamaican Jerk Seasoning Blend

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I have eaten Jamaican Jerked chicken in a cafe before but found it way too spicy for my palate.  I understand the spices and amounts of each used varies a lot from household to household, much like gumbo recipes vary dramatically in Louisiana from home to home.  I have always found most commercial Jerk seasonings to be too heavy with salt, and of course, I also cannot have the sugar anymore, or in my case, not even substitute sweeteners.  I worked around that by adding a small amount of maple extract to the final marinade to mimic brown sugar’s taste.  Works for me!  I’m extremely pleased with my final version, having now tested it out on oven-baked chicken, grilled shrimp and air-fried pork.  We loved it on all 3 meats.  This spice is suitable for all phases of Atkins and Keto diets as well as Paleo and Primal Blueprint followers as well.  Here’s a delicious air fryer pork recipe made from this seasoning mix.

INGREDIENTS: 

1 T. Spanish Smoked Paprika (I order mine on-line)

2 T. onion powder or granulated onion

3 T. garlic powder

2 T. cayenne pepper

½ tsp. crushed red pepper (more if you like things real spicy)

2 T. crushed dried thyme leaves

1 T. allspice

1 T. ground cinnamon

2 T. dried parsley

1 T. coarse black pepper

1 tsp. salt

DIRECTIONS:   Measure out all ingredients into a medium mixing bowl. Stir well.  Spoon into an old empty spice jar or other jar with tight lid.  Tip:  when making spice blends, pour the mix onto a paper plate (in 2-3 portions), fold the plate to make a handy “funnel” to tap your new spice right into the receiving jar.  My Dad taught me this trick as he loved concocting his own blends.  As with all spices, store in a dark cupboard or spice cabinet that has doors. I use 2 T. for pork chops, 3 T. for whole chicken or equivalent parts, and 2 T. on shrimp.  I always rub either olive oil or butter all over the meat surfaces so the spice will adhere and marinate for 1 hour (covered) in the refrigerator before cooking.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes about 14 tablespoons of spice.  Each 1T. serving contains:

20.6 cals, 0.31g fat, 4.71g carbs, 1.07g fiber, 3.64g NET CARBS, 0.72g protein, 169 mg sodium

Air Fryer Chicken Breasts with Sofrito Sauce

Peggy 4 Comments

I keep seeing recipes on air fryer Facebook groups that use baking powder to coat chicken for frying.  Well, I’m here to tell you that flat WORKS!  You will simply be amazed!  I can’t convey how crisp this chicken came out.  My husband said I could “do this one again and SOON!”  I want to caution people who must restrict potassium this techniques is not for you, as 4 tsp. baking powder has 2020 mg potassium.  You could substitute 1/4 c. almond, coconut, low-carb bake mix or Parmesan cheese instead of the baking powder if you are potassium shy.  Might not come out quite as crisp, but it’s still doable.

The sauce I made for this is one I’ve used in many of my recipes, as I find Puerto Rican Sofrito to be almost addictive it is so delicious!  This dinner tonight, served with steamed cauliflower and fresh green beans, was a big hit with my husband!

Added note:  Please don’t think MORE is better when it comes to this coating.  This isn’t like flour coatings, where thicker may be better.  With the baking powder coating, MORE is NOT BETTER!  Too much baking powder will taste sharp, almost bitter.  Been there.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE CHICKEN: 

2 medium chicken breasts, skin left on

4 tsp. baking powder (I use aluminum free)

¼ tsp. each onion and garlic powder

¼ tsp. sea salt

1/8 tsp. coarse black pepper

INGREDIENTS FOR THE SAUCE:

2 T. butter, unsalted

1 T. my Sofrito Sauce

1 Roma tomato, chopped

Dash each salt and pepper

½ c. heavy cream

½ c. water

(thickener of choice if you feel a need)

DIRECTIONS:  De-bone the chicken breasts (I buy with the rib frame so I can boil the bones for broth and any bits of meat for my dog).  If your chicken breasts are quite large, often these days, slice them laterally and splay them out for more even cooking.  Measure and stir the baking powder and spices on a paper plate and coat the chicken pieces well on all surfaces.  Set aside for a few minutes.  Preheat your air fryer.  Place breasts into basket skin-side down on piece of parchment paper lining, as mine tended to want to stick to my basket.  Set fryer to 375º and cook 18 minutes skin-side down.  Open fryer, turn and cook skin-side up another 18 minutes.  Check them at 15 minutes both sides if your chicken breasts are small…….also air fryers can vary.

While they are cooking, melt the butter in a medium skillet.  Add the Sofrito Sauce and simmer on low heat for 2 minutes.  Add chopped tomato and simmer 3-4 minutes to break them down a bit.  Finally add cream and water and simmer 3-4 more minutes, allowing to reduce and slightly thicken.  If not thick enough for you preference, add a light dusting of your favorite thickener, stir and simmer 1-2 more minutes.  Serve with sauce spooned over each breast.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 2 servings, each contains:

736 cals, 51.5g fat, 9.1g carbs, 1.9g fiber, 7.2g NET CARBS, 60g protein, 1180 mg sodium

Char Siu (Chinese BBQ Pork)

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My husband raved about our Char Siu tonight!  Throughout the meal he just wolfed it down saying “Yes!” over and over again, ending the meal with “You can make those again any time!”.  LOL  I have to admit, it did come out pretty darn tasty.  I had thawed 4 small pieces of lean pork loin, but when I decided to do an Asian grilled dinner, I thawed two more pieces so there would definitely be some leftover.  The marinade I came up with basically has all the usual things I like to put in my Chinese stir-fries.  For the sweet edge, to the plum flavor in the hoisin sauce, I needed something fruity.  All I had on hand was canned pineapple juice or I could fresh-squeeze an orange.  But after seeing the carb count for both, I decided to just use diet orange soda and maple extract.  If you use the actual fruit juice, know your carbs will go up to around 8.5 net carbs per serving with the orange juice and around 10 net carbs with pineapple juice.

The vegetable combination in the side stir-fry was stellar with this delicious smoked meat.  If you don’t own a grill, you CAN bake this meat on a metal sheet pan in a 400º oven for about 30 minutes, but we don’t think kebabs of any sort are as tasty cooked inside.  🙂

MEAT:  1½ lb. boneless pork loin (leave bit of fat on edges), cut 3/4″ strips

VARIATION:  Substitute strips of chicken meat for the pork

MARINADE INGREDIENTS:

3 cloves garlic, minced

1½ tsp. fresh ginger root, peeled and minced

2 T. my Homemade Hoisin Sauce

3 T. soy sauce (I use low-sodium)

1 T. rice wine vinegar

2 T. toasted sesame oil

2 T. dry sherry (or white wine)

¼ c. diet orange soda (I used Zevia® with stevia) (or squeezed juice from orange)

½ tsp. maple extract

¼ tsp. each black and cayenne peppers

VEGGIE STIR-FRY SIDE:

3 T. light olive oil

2 oz. onion, sliced

3 oz. red bell pepper, diced to 3/4″

2 c. bok choy (2 stalks)

Remainders of meat marinade

DIRECTIONS: Cut boneless pork loin into 3/4″ strips and set aside.  Measure up all marinade ingredients into medium mixing bowl.  Stir well and add pork.  Stir, cover and refrigerate for at least 6 hours.  Stir contents every 2 hours to be sure all meat is getting a good soaking in the marinade flavors.  Also soak your wood skewers in water (to prevent catching fire during cooking) while your meat is marinating.

When ready to prepare meal, set meat out on counter to come to nearly room temperature. While meat is sitting, cut up the onion, red bell pepper and have ready by the stove.  Next cut leaves off the bok choy stems and cut or tear them into large pieces.  Cut the white bok choy stems separately into ½” slices.  Have all veggies at the ready by the stove (I use paper bowls for lineups of cut veggies).

Next skewer the pork as evenly as possible onto your skewers (I do mine like a “Z” or snake, piercing meat 2-3 times for stability during grilling).  I put 2 long strips on each skewer (3 smaller pieces on a couple skewers) using this “Z” method.  I do make every attempt to put equal portions of meat on each skewer.

Prepare charcoal fire in your outdoor grill. When your coals are white hot, place skewers of meat directly over coals.  Reserve the marinade for final recipe step.  If coals are plenty hot, this meat will only take 2-3 minutes on a side to get done, provided it was cut as directed.

While someone is cooking/watching the meat outside, prepare the veggie stir-fry at your stove-top.  Heat olive oil in skillet or wok over high heat.  Add onion, cut up white bok choy stems and diced red bell pepper.  Stir-fry until all just begin to soften.  Add bok choy leaves last and cook the veggies until bok choy leaves just go limp.  Finally, add in the reserved marinade, stir-frying, stirring continuously, long enough to insure the marinade juices are thoroughly cooked, for health reasons.  Raw meat juices in the marinate MUST be fully cooked to be safe to eat (about 3-4 minutes).  Plate the veggies alongside the grilled meat on your serving platter and serve.  This would be tasty with some favorite low-carb dinner roll or bread.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 8 skewers.  Each 2-skewer serving with 1/4 of veggie stir-fry contains:

437.5 cals, 26.3g fat, 8.35g carbs, 1.82g fiber, 6.53g NET CARBS, 39.72g protein, 561 mg sodium

Bernaise Sauce

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Bernaise Sauce

Serve with Linda Genaw’s “Just Like Baked Stuffed Potatoes”. https://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/just_like_stuffed_baked_potatoes.html

This recipe is inspired by my mories of a wonderful steak with bernaise sauce I had at Galveston’s Wentletrap Restaurant some years back.  We moved away, so I don’t know if it survived Hurricane Ike though.  Sure hope so.  For those that don’t know, a wentletrap is a beautiful seashell.  This restaurant sure was a great place for fine dining.  I’ve loved bernaise sauce so much since, I have even been known to serve it on top of scrambled or fried eggs occasionally!  Yes, I know that may be odd, but it really is quite good!   Bernaise is actually just Hollandaise sauce with a tarragon-vinegar twist added.  This sauce is Induction friendly, albeit a bit fat/calorie pricey.  🙂  This recipe makes enough to serve atop 4 servings of eggs, a bowl of fresh asparagus, over a delicious grilled steak or butter-seared chicken breast.  If any is leftover, I just cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate up to two days.  To reuse, just melt 1-2 T. butter in a pan and slowly add in the leftover Bernaise a spoonful at a time, whisking continuously. Voilà, it’s reborn! 🙂

INGREDIENTS:

¼ c. red or white wine vinegar

1 T.  parsley, chopped

¼ tsp. dried tarragon (or 1 tsp. fresh, chopped)

3 egg yolks

1 tsp. lemon juice

1 stick butter, unsalted (4 oz. or 8 T.)

DIRECTIONS:   This sauce goes together pretty fast, so you really have your steaks about ready before you begin.  Now for the sauce, add vinegar, parsley and tarragon to a small saucepan and over medium heat, bring to boil, lower heat and simmer to allow it to reduce to about 1-2 T.  In another  non-stick skillet over med-low heat, whisk the egg yolks with the splash (1 tsp) lemon juice and 1-2 T. of the butter until smooth.  Whisking continuously, add the rest of the butter in small pats, whisking between each pat as it melts.  When all butter is melted and smoothly incorporated, add the tarragon-vinegar mixture to the Hollandaise egg-butter mixture and stir well.  Serve at once in whatever recipe you are using this for.  If you like a thinner Bernaise, just add more melted butter and adjust the nutritional info to reflect that addition.  🙂

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes  about 1 cup, or 4 servings of  ¼ c. each.   A fourth of the recipe contains:

248 cals, 26g fat, 0.83g carbs, 0.1g fiber, 0.73g NET CARBS, 2.35g protein, 11 mg. sodium

Twice Cooked Cauliflower and Leeks

Peggy 4 Comments

Next time you’re contemplating making the low-carber’s classic dish, Loaded Baked “Potatoes”, try using leeks sometime instead of the green onion.  WONDERFUL change!

Man, did my husband ever rant about this cauliflower dish tonight.  I have my Twice Baked “Potatoes” that uses green onion, but leeks are much milder!  I used half a large leek and it sliced up to made 2 c. sliced up!  I used more cream cheese than I usually do in my similar dish and decided to use American Deluxe cheese tonight instead of cheddar cheese.  WOW!  What a difference in flavor those changes made.  Who’da thunk?  🙂  Hope you give this one a try!  This recipes is suitable for all phases of Atkins and Keto programs.  Primal followers can enjoy this as written.  Paleo people will need to leave out the cream cheese.  It’ll taste OK, but not quite as rich.  🙂

INGREDIENTS:

½ large head cauliflower (6-7″) cut into flowerets

3 oz. cream cheese, cut into small bits

6 T. total butter, unsalted

Dash salt (omit if using salted butter)

½ leek, sliced thinly

6 slices American Deluxe or Cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS:   Under running cold water, wash all dirt from between the leaves of the half leek.  Do this carefully, as the dirt hides on both sides of the leaves.  Nothing worse than biting into grit at the table.    Slice the leak thinly.  Melt 2 T. of the butter in a skillet over medium heat and saute leeks just until tender. Turn off heat and set aside.

Cut up the cauliflower into flowerets, place it into a 4-qt. saucepan.  Cover with water and bring to a boil.   Reduce heat and medium boil until soft, or about 15-18 minutes.  Remove from heat, pour all into a colander to drain and with a rubber spatula, mash out any water you can. Preheat oven to 350º.  Pour cauliflower back into the saucepan and drop in the cut up cream cheese.  Stir with you a rubber spatula to allow the cream cheese to melt a bit.  Add 4 of the 6 tablespoons of butter and the salt.  With a hand-held mixer or stick blender (I used the stick for mine), puree all until smooth.   Add the sauteed leek, scraping all the butter you can get into the pot.  Stir well to mix evenly.  With your rubber spatula, scrape the cauli-leek mixture into a lightly buttered baking dish (mine is about 7″x11″).  Top with 6 slices of cheese (you can shred the cheese first if you prefer).  Pop into 350º oven and bake for about 25-30 minutes or until cheese is melted nicely.  This tasty dish was delightful served with butter-seared pork chops and a salad.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 6 servings, each contains:

259.3 cals, 23.4g fat, 6.36g carbs, 1.99g fiber, 4.48g NET CARBS, 7.7g protein, 350 mg sodium

Shrimp-Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

Peggy 2 Comments

Next time you’re having grilled, baked or fried fish, you are going to want to try these delicious stuffed mushrooms I cooked tonight to accompany our salmon.  The cheeses and spices made these so yummy.  They are simple to make as well, so what more could you ask for to serve such deliciousness?!  These are suitable once you reach Phase 2 of Atkins and will fit into most ketogenic diets.

INGREDIENTS:

18 oz. medium Portobello mushrooms (about 2¼” diameter)

¼ c. olive oil

1 T. unsalted butter

2 medium green onions, chopped

8 large raw shrimp, peeled, deveined and chopped

2 oz. cream cheese

1/3 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Dash each salt & pepper

½ tsp. my Seafood Spice Blend

1 low-carb roll or slice low-carb bread (I used this one)

1 T. more butter

DIRECTIONS:  Wipe mushrooms of any dirt.  Remove stems with small knife without destroying the mushroom caps.  Pour the olive oil into a medium bowl and drizzle the olive oil over them.  Toss to coat them well.  Place mushroom caps onto a baking pan and set aside while you make the filling.

Melt 1 T. butter in small non-stick skillet.  Chop the mushroom stems and add to the pan.  Chop green onion and also add to pan.  Add chopped shrimp.  Saute until they are all done.  Sprinkle a dash of salt, pepper and the seafood spice blend over the mixture.  Now add the cream cheese and mash/stir until melted and blended well.  Add cheddar shreds and stir/fold the mixture well allowing it all to heat, melt and bind together.   Turn off heat.  Now preheat your oven to 375º.

Stuff each mushroom cap with about 1 T. of the mixture to fill them to capacity using up all your filling with as even a distribution as your can.

Crumb the low-carb bread/roll with the remaining 1T. butter in a food processor, blender or crumb by hand & melt/stir them into the melted butter in a skillet.  Sprinkle the crumb topping over the 10 mushrooms.  Pop the pan into a hot 375º oven for about 20-25 minutes (watch then as ovens vary).  Larger mushrooms will take up to 30-35 minutes to get fully heated and golden on top.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 10 pieces, each contains:

151 calories, 12.9g fat, 4.15g carbs, 1.26g fiber, 2.89g NET CARBS, 6.29g protein, 142mg sodium

If making appetizers, use 20 smaller mushrooms.  Just divide the above numbers by to to calculate the values for the smaller ones.

 

Grilled Sriracha Shrimp with Sriracha Aioli

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Click to enlarge

Grilled Sriracha Shrimp is good on its own merits, but my buttery aioli sauce is a lovely compliment.  This sauce would also be delicious on grilled fish, grilled chicken or skillet seared scallops.  I wish my husband had rotated the skewers so those pictured would have charred more evenly.  But they all tasted GREAT and that’s what counts!  This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins and Keto diets.  It is not suitable for Primal-Paleo lifestyles unless you can find a recipe for homemade Sriracha sauce.  As I can’t know how many shrimp you will eat, I am providing nutrition information for what I felt was a satisfying serving 1/3 lb. (5 large shrimp) with numbers for  around 2 T. aioli, which is what I ate.   You will have to adjust your numbers according to how much you actually eat.  Divide the numbers for the shrimp by 5 to get the numbers for 1 shrimp.

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FOR THE SHRIMP:

1 lb. extra-large shrimp ( There were 16 in my bag), peeled, tail piece left on

½ stick unsalted butter, melted (4 oz.)

2 tsp. Sriracha sauce  (or other bottled hot sauce of your choosing)

Dash each garlic powder and onion powder

Peal the shrimp, leaving tail shell on for a “handle”.  Place on skewers and set skewers on a platter.  Melt the butter in a small saucepan and add the Sriracha sauce and seasonings.  Stir to blend and remove from heat.  With a basting brush, baste both sides of the skewered shrimp with the sauce.  Save the remaining sauce to baste the shrimp while the are being grilled.

FOR THE AIOLI:  Process the following ingredients in a food processor or blender until smooth.  Scrape into serving dish and place in refrigerator until shrimp is grilled and you are ready to serve.  (Makes about 1/2 c. sauce or about 8 T.)

½ stick butter, melted

1 jalapeno, seeded, ribs removed (omit if you prefer)

1/3 c. Homemade Mayonnaise

Click to enlarge

   Sriracha Aioli

½ c. fresh cilantro

Juice of 1 lime

Dash each salt and pepper

½ clove garlic, minced

Dash smoked chipotle  chile powder

¼-1 tsp. Sriracha sauce (to your taste)

GRILLING THE SHRIMP:  Prepare a charcoal fire.  When coals are hot, Place skewers over coals and grill about 5 minutes on a side or until they are opaque.  Baste with extra sauce in your saucepan.  Use up all the sauce on the shrimp while grilling for best flavor.  Remove the shrimp from the grill and either remove from skewers to a serving platter, or serve on the skewers if you prefer.  Using the very large shrimp I used (16 per pound) I found 5 made a perfect serving size.  Serve the aioli sauce on the side for your diners to use to suit their personal taste.  🙂

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 3 servings (5 XL shrimp per serving) each contains:

5 X-large shrimp (1/3 lb) contain:  299 cals., 18g fat, 2.06g carbs, 0 fiber, 2.06g NET CARBS, 31g protein, 265 mg sodium

2 T. Aioli sauce contains: 231 calories, 25.4g fat, 1.5g carbs, 0.5g fiber, 1g NET CARBS, 0.6g protein, 77 mg sodium

Bang Bang Dipping Sauce

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This delightfully spicy sauce is amazing with fried shrimp or chicken tenders.  So much so I thought it deserved its own posting rather than just including the recipe with dishes I’ve created with it.  Have some other ideas up my sleeve for this sauce as well, so stay tuned.  You know what they say…………..the Saucier is the most important chef in a French Kitchen.  🙂

We just LOVE this stuff!  Me, I’m not so fond of overly hot, spicy food, but this has just a little bit of tingle on your tongue that I don’t think most folks will find it too spicy.  I do hope my readers will try it sometime, if you have not yet had the pleasure.   This sauce is suitable for all phases of Atkins & Keto diets, as well as Primal and Paleo folks!

INGREDIENTS:

½ c. homemade mayo

2-3 tsp. Sambal Oelek chili sauce

2 tsp. Sriracha

Dash each salt and black pepper

VARIATION:   Add ¼ clove minced garlic for a new twist

DIRECTIONS:     Measure out all ingredients into a small bowl, stir well and chill until ready to serve as a condiment with fried shrimp, chicken or whatever you little heart desires.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes five 2-T. servings of sauce, each contains:

161 cals, 17.68g fat, 0.84g carbs, 0.02g fiber, 0.82g NET CARBS, 0.52g protein, 140 mg sodium

Air Fryer Montreal Pork

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These plump, juicy chops were the most moist pork I have cooked in a long time.  I had to keep checking them as I didn’t know how long to cook them, but eventually reached the internal temp of 150º I was wanting.   I’m really having fun experimenting with my new air fryer (Power XL 7 qt.)!  These were sooooo easy to make!  Actually, I don’t know why I haven’t thought to try something like this recipe with Montreal seasoning before now, but I’m here to tell you these chops came out really moist!  Flavor was nice, too.  My husband and I both said this one is a keeper.

I used 1″ extra thick, boneless pork loin, each weighed 5 oz. raw (4 oz. after cooking).  You could certainly use bone-in chops, or thinner cut chops, but you will have to play around with your time, as those variables (ant the variances in air fryers themselves) will require close watching to be sure they do not overcook.

INGREDIENTS:

3   1″ thick pieces boneless pork (about 5 oz.)

2 T. olive oil (I cook with extra light)

2 T. Sukrin Gold (or other plan-suitable low-carb brown sugar sub)

2 T. my Homemade Montreal Steak Seasoning

VARIATION:  Baste at the turning point with 1-2 T. melted butter with minced garlic in it. 

DIRECTIONS:  Coat chops on all surfaces with olive oil.  I poured into shallow dish and dipped them in it, being sure to get the edges, since mine were so thick.  Mix the Sukerin Gold and Montreal Seasoning on/on a paper plate or little cup.  Sprinkle the seasoning mixture evenly over all surfaces of the three chops, using it ALL up.  Preheat your air fryer for 2-3 minutes.  Cook chops at 400º for 16 minutes, turning them over at the 8 minute mark.  As with all air fryer cooking, check them a few times during cooking to be sure they are not burning.  Use a meat thermometer to check internal temp (desired 150º) to make sure they are done, cooking a couple minutes longer if needed.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:    Makes 3 servings, each contains: 123.7 cals, 8.8g fat, 4.73g carbs, 2.23g fiber, 2.5g NET CARBS, 7.86g protein, 216 mg sodium

 

Spinach Gratin

Peggy Leave a comment

I worked up a delicious air fryer pork chop recipe tonight and created what turned out to be a very tasty cheesy spinach side dish to have along with the chops.  Both got a resounding thumbs up from the hubs.  I really liked both dishes, too.  I will be posting the pork recipe shortly, so stay tuned.  This simple to make spinach recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins and Keto programs.  Primal Blueprint folks can enjoy it but it is not suitable for Paleo with the cheeses.

INGREDIENTS:

4 tsp. bacon grease or butter

1 oz. yellow or red onion, chopped

½ c. drained canned sliced mushrooms (or 3-4 fresh, sliced thin)

16 oz. frozen chopped spinach, cooked in water per package instructions

1 oz. cream cheese

1 c. shredded mozzarella cheese (part skim)

1 Roma tomato, sliced

OPTIONAL:  1-2 T. grated Parmesan cheese to top

DIRECTIONS:  Cook spinach per package instructions and drain well in a sieve, pressing out water with the back of a spoon.  Set aside.  Preheat oven to 350º.   In a skillet, melt the bacon grease over high heat.  Saute chopped onion until tender.  Add mushrooms and saute a couple minutes as well.  Add spinach and cream cheese and stir mixture until cheese is melted.  Reduce heat to medium.  Add mozzarella shreds and stir just until incorporate shreds evenly.  Remove from heat.  Top decoratively with tomato slices and if using, sprinkle with the Parmesan cheese.  Pop into 350º oven and bake for 20 minutes or so to allow flavors to blend and tomatoes to cook nicely.  Remove and serve alongside your favorite meat.

VARIATION:  Use Smoked Gouda cheese instead of mozzarella for a different flavor!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 6 servings, each contains:

123.7 cals, 8.8g fat, 4.73g carbs, 2.23g fiber, 2.5g NET CARBS, 7.86g protein, 216 mg sodium

 

Iranian Kubideh (meat kebabs)

Peggy 3 Comments

Iranian Kubideh 2When I was 10 years old, my family lived in Teheran, Iran.  Dad, USAF,  was  teaching their  then fledgling air force to fly F-86 jets.  Our motor pool driver, Reza, loved good food and sometimes would cook for us to show off his skills in the kitchen.  Kubideh was one of his favorites.  Although I don’t have his actual recipe, my creation evokes the flavor of his specialty.  The jalapeno is not traditional but I like it in these.  It does not make these spicy “hot”, just adds a nice flavor layer in my opinion.

These kubideh can be made with the more traditional lamb, but I prefer using ground beef.  Unless I can have mild Iranian lamb, which is highly unlikely now, I will not eat lamb that’s available here in the U.S.  Just tastes awful to me.  When grilling your kubideh, you want them somewhere between the done stage between these two photos.  I like them as shown upper left; the hubs likes them as shown lower right.    The other skewers in the photo are some lamb kebabs we grilled to freeze for a future meal.  🙂  This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins, Keto diets, Primal and Paleo.

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. ground beef or lamb (mine is 90% lean; omit bacon grease below if using fattier meat)

1 egg, beaten

¼ c. parsley

1 oz. onion, minced as fine as you can get it

1 clove garlic, minced

1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon

¼ tsp. ground cumin

¼ tsp. black pepper

Optional:  ½ jalapeno, seeded and minced fine

Optional:  1 T. bacon grease if your meat is very lean

DIRECTIONS:   Soak wooden skewers for 20-30 minutes (if using).  This retards scorching of sticks during grilling.  Mix all ingredients well in a bowl with a fork or your hands like you would a meatloaf.     Dry off the skewers.  Form hot-dog like meat shapes on the wooden skewers, pressing the meat on tightly and as evenly as possible.   Set them on a platter as you form them. Prepare a hot charcoal fire.  Gently place the skewers of meat on your charcoal fire, disturbing the skewers as little as possible until the first side is lightly browned.  Carefully, with a large spatula, flip the skewers over.  If you use tongs, they are likely to tear up on you.  The voice of experience here.  Brown the second side of the kubideh.    Serve at once with a nice creamed spinach, a cucumber-tzatziki or sour cream mint salad or perhaps a quinoa side.  ENJOY! 🙂

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 4 kubideh, each contains:

371 cals, 30.4 g fat, 1.95 g carbs, 0.4g fiber, 1.55 g NET CARBS, 21.4g protein, 93 mg sodium (I add salt to meat at table so as not to dry meat out during cooking)

Indian Baked Chicken

Peggy 2 Comments

photocat

I recently created a  tasty baked Indian chicken dish similar to tandoori chicken in flavor.  Typically I would just take Indian spices and marinate the meat for 1 hour using some yogurt or sour cream, but I had neither dairy product on hand and tried using heavy cream.  The cream worked just fine.  This simple dish is delicious with a piece of my Flat Bread.  We LOVE this recipe now and bake it often.  It is even better grilled over charcoal for that true tandoori smoke flavor to enhance the spices.   If baked indoors, the pan dripping are delicious basted up over the meat when serving, so don’t throw that away!  This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins, Keto diets, and Primal as well.  Paleo followers will need to use coconut milk in lieu of the cream.

INGREDIENTS:

1 large chicken breast, skin on, cut in half crosswise

2 chicken leg quarters, cut apart at joint

1/3 c. heavy cream, (or yogurt, sour cream or coconut milk)

1 tsp. tandoori spice blend (I use Sharwood’s brand)

¼ tsp. turmeric

1 large clove garlic, minced

1 tsp. ginger root, peeled, minced

1 T. (1 oz.) onion, minced as fine as you can get it

Juice of ½ lime

VARIATION:  Instead of indoor baking, prepare a hot bed of coals in your charcoal grill and cook about an hours until done.  Then it will taste a lot like classic restaurant Tandoori chicken.

DIRECTIONS:  Place cream in large marinating bowl.  Add all spices, ginger, garlic and onion.  Add lime juice and then the 6 chicken pieces.  Toss to coat well and refrigerate for 1 hour, turning once during marinating.  When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375º.  Place chicken pieces on a large baking pan (I used metal pan).  Spread the marinating mixture atop each piece.  Pop into 375º oven and bake for 1 hour or until 170º on a meat thermometer and browned nicely.  Serve with your favorite side dishes.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:    Makes 3 adult servings (2 pc. each).  Serving contains approximately:  (using heavy cream)

465 cals, 28.3g fat, 2.93g carbs, 0.40g fiber, 2.53g NET CARBS, 47.4g protein, 694 mg sodium

 

 

Cranberry Refrigerator Cookies

Peggy 3 Comments

cranrefrigerator cookies

I created a tasty refrigerator cookie some time ago:  these Pistachio Rosewater Cookies) were my inspiration for this holiday version.  These are delicious and so easy to make!  My mother loved refrigerator cookies you just slice off and bake like these.  A little dessicated coconut (maybe 1/4 c.) would transform them yet again.  Those changes would require you add the numbers to the nutritional info provided below.  It’s nice to be able to freeze this dough and just slice off the number of cookies you want to bake.  Lowers the chance for constant temptation.  I bake a little pan of 6 refrigerator cookies at a time.  This recipe is not suitable until the grains rung of the OWL phase of Atkins.

INGREDIENTS:

2 sticks butter, unsalted, softened

1 large egg, beaten

¼ tsp. salt

2/3 c. fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped (pulsed in processor 4-5 times)

1 tsp. vanilla extract

½ c. granular Splenda

¼ c. erythritol

1 c. KevinPa’s Bake Mix (see below)

½ almond flour

½ c. Jennifer Eloff’s Splendid LowCarb Bake Mix

2 T. Carbquik Bake Mix

1 T. oat fiber

VARIATIONS:   Add ½ c. unsweetened coconut or orange zest (or both) to the batter.

Kevin’s Bake Mix (slightly modified):

½ c. Carbalose flour

¼ c. wheat protein isolate 5000

1 T.  wheat protein isolate 8000

1½ T. almond flour

1½ T. resistant WHEAT starch (Kevin used resistant corn starch)

1¼ tsp. Splenda

½ tsp. xanthan gum (Kevin used Not/Sugar)

DIRECTIONS:  In a medium bowl, soften the butter and beat the egg into it well.  Add the salt, sweeteners and vanilla.  Measure and mix in each of the bake mixes.  Add chopped cranberries and gently fold in to get berries evenly distributed in the batter.  Shape into a log about 12″ long and 1½” in diameter on waxed paper.  Roll the log up snugly, closing ends of waxed paper and chill in refrigerator for about 1-2 hours, or until firm enough to slice.  Preheat oven to 350º.  Slice off in ¼” slices and place on silicone or parchment lined baking sheet (these don’t spread much during cooking.   Bake for 10-12 minutes (don’t let get too brown) and remove to cool.  Roll any unused dough in waxed paper and store in refrigerator or freeze if you prefer.  If freezing, slightly defrost dough a half hour before attempting to slice or the cookie will likely “break” under the knife pressure.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes about 48  (¼” cut ) cookies, each contains:

58 cals, 5.13 g fat, 1.94 g carbs, 1.05 g fiber, 0.89 g NET CARBS, 1.6g protein, 17 mg sodium

Sugar Cookie Mini Stars

Peggy Leave a comment

It just isn’t Christmas without sugar cookies frosted with my “cherry/almond” butter frosting.  So I took my low-carb favorite sugar cookie recipe, cut star shapes with my mini cookie cutter and piped with a 1/2 teaspoon dollop of low-carb butter frosting that has almond extract for a cherry flavor.  Both of us just love these just-a-biteful mini cookie treats at our parties!  My recipe usually makes around 40 mini cookies, but of course, your cutter size and rolled dough thickness will make a difference on the per cookie nutritional stats.  I will provide the info below for the entire recipe of batter.  You need to divide those numbers by the number of cookies you get.  Then be sure to add in the nutritional value for your chosen frosting.   These are suitable once you get to phase 2 Atkins.

INGREDIENTS:

1 recipe my Sugar Cookie dough

About 1 c. low-carb frosting of choice

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Make up the cookie per that recipe’s instructions.  Instead of making balls and pressing the cookies out onto pans, roll out the dough on plastic wrap with another sheet of plastic wrap on top.  Roll to about 1/4″ thickness.  With a floured cutter, cut into 40 1″ mini star shapes (or whatever mini cutter shape you have) and place onto parchment-lined cookie sheets.  Pop into 350º preheated oven for about 15 minutes.  Watch them so they do not get over-browned.   Remove from oven and completely cool.  While they bake, mix up your preferred frosting recipe.  I made a quick frosting mixture of:  1 stick softened butter, 1 c. powdered erythritol, 1 c. granular Splenda, 1/2 tsp. vanilla, 1 tsp. almond extract and some food coloring.  Fill a piping bag (or use a plastic bag with corner clipped off) and with a star tip, pipe 1/2 teaspoon frosting on each cookie.   Plate and serve.  Refrigerate them if you have any leftover.  We rarely do, as I only make them for special occasions and they disappear quite fast.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Entire recipe of cookie dough has 1589.4 calories, 152.64 g fat, 64.26 g carbs, 35.46 g fiber, 28.80 g net carbs, 31.32 g protein and 140 mg sodium.

If you get 40 mini cookies from the dough, each cookie (minus any frosting) will contain 39 cals, 3.8g fat, 1.6g carbs, 0.88g fiber, 0.72g NET CARBS, 0.78g protein, 3.5mg sodium

Baked Tilapia with Cajun Eggplant Stuffing

Peggy Leave a comment

My grocery store had fresh whole Tilapia today.  I picked up a package of two of them.  They weighed 12-13 oz. each, perfect for individual portions.  Having lived on the Texas Gulf Coast for over 30 years, I’m very familiar with stuffing red snapper, sea trout and flounder, but I have never tried to stuff tilapia.  It was plentiful in the Gulf, but I just never bought it for a stuffing fish, or for anything for that matter, as we preferred flounder and red snapper.  Well, I discovered when I got these home the cavity in this fish does NOT lend itself to stuffing.  So for my creation tonight, I quickly decided to put the stuffing between the baking fish.  That worked out just fine though.  And man, did this stuffing ever taste good with it!  Dinner was ready in under 1 hour flat, 20 minutes to get the stuffing prepared, 30 minutes to bake the final dish.

One must eat whole fish carefully to get the bones out.  But using a fork skillfully for many years has enabled me to do this effortlessly.  Even my very detail-inept husband can do this on his own now without assistance now.  I taught him well.  🙂  This meal was absolutely yummy with a green salad.  One added note:  I ended up with slightly more stuffing than we needed (had a full serving leftover, so looks like I’ll be stuffing some jumbo shrimp next week).  So I have adjusted the ingredient amounts to reflect what you will need for just two nice 1 cup servings of stuffing.

This recipe is not suitable for Atkins Induction unless you substitute slices of an Induction suitable bread.  This recipe and many other tasty ones can be at your fingertips when you get  our LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS cookbooks.  Special complete set pricing going on right now. You can place your order today for one or more of our cookbooks at https://amongfriends.us/sale.php or at Amazon. After your book(s) arrive, and you’ve had a chance to try a recipe or two, do stop by and leave a review at Amazon here.

INGREDIENTS:

2   12-13 oz. whole tilapia, heads removed

½  cup (stick) unsalted butter

2/3 c. chopped celery

2  oz. onion, chopped

½ c. chopped sweet red bell pepper

1  clove garlic, minced

1  c. eggplant, peeled and cut into ½” dice

1½ Smart Buns (or 3 slices other low-carb bread of choice), chopped coarsley

¼ tsp. sea salt

1 tsp. my Seafood Spice Blend

6 oz. crawfish tails (I used ½ bag Boudreaux)

VARIATION:  Add 2 slices chopped, cooked bacon to the stuffing just before baking.

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  At my husband’s request, I cut off the fish heads, but actually don’t care one way or the other myself.  Leave them on if you like that look on the plate.  Rinse the fish well with cold water.  Set them aside for now.  Peel and chop eggplant and set aside.  Next chop the onion, celery, red pepper and mince your garlic.  In a large skillet over high heat, melt about 5 T. of the butter.  Add the chopped onion, celery and pepper.  Saute until all is getting soft.  Add eggplant cubes and garlic and continue to saute until eggplant is also getting pretty soft.  That will take about 10 minutes.   Stir the mixture often as it cooks.  When the eggplant is nearly done, add the crawfish tails and cook 1-2 minutes longer (they are usually already fully-cooked when you buy them).  Add just 3/4 tsp. of the Seafood Spice Blend and the salt to the stuffing next and stir well to blend.  Finally add the chopped bread to the stuffing and stir well to moisten the mixture evenly.  Turn off heat.

With your spoon or rubber spatula, push the stuffing to the middle of the skillet like a long log.  It will spread out during cooking as shown in photo.   Lay the two fish along the sides of the pan, slightly leaning onto the stuffing.   In your microwave, melt the remaining 3 T. butter and add the remaining 1/4 tsp. Seafood Spice Blend.  Stir well.  With a basting brush, coat the fish with this butter mixture.  Pop skillet into 350º oven for about 30-35 minutes.  Baste again with the melted butter mixture 1-2 more times during cooking.  Remove pan from oven.  Check for opaque, flakiness with a fork tip down to backbone.  If fish is done, turn off oven.  If not, bake 5-10 minutes longer.  Ovens will certainly vary.   Serve with a nice green salad or perhaps steamed broccoli.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:    Makes 2 servings, each contains:

577.5 cals, 30.6g fat, 22.4g carbs, 14.1g fiber, 7.30g NET CARBS 67.3g protein, 635mg sodium

Roast Duck with Blueberry Sauce

Peggy 2 Comments

Since there are just two of us now gathering for Thanksgiving, I sometimes just roast a duck to avoid so many leftovers.  This is a delicious recipe for duck which cooks up very moist.  I usually serve a traditional cornbread stuffing and green beans with this delicious bird.  I have never liked orange sauce on duck, so I decided to work up this blueberry sauce with a hint of herbs some years ago and that turned out to be a good decision.  The herbs and bacon in the sauce bring so many flavor layers to the table.  This can be served with your wine of choice, even red.  This recipe is suitable once you reach the berry level of Atkins (OWL Phase 2).  It is suitable for all Keto diets, Primal Blueprint and Paleo if you omit the wine in the sauce.  This Tipsy Blueberry Sauce would be good with turkey, roast pork or probably any other wild game you might be cooking this holiday season.

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INGREDIENTS FOR DUCK:

5½ lb. duck

1/4 tsp. each onion powder, dried thyme and rosemary, crushed

Dash my Seafood Spice Blend (optional)

¼ tsp. salt

1 T. butter

DUCK DIRECTIONS:  Remove sauce packet (I throw it away) and the innards.  Boil the innards in 2 c. water for your dog.  🙂  Save the broth for your sauce.  Preheat oven to 375º.  Rub your fingers over duck checking for pinfeathers and remove any you find with the tip of a knife.  Mix the herbs and spices in a small dish with the salt.  Rub over duck skin all over.  Place duck on a grate that is then set down in a large roasting pan.  Baste with melted butter and pop into hot 375º oven for 1 hour.  Remove from oven, baste skin with remaining butter and return to oven for 30-45 minutes longer or until skin is brown, crisp and the duck read internal temperature of 180º.  While duck is roasting, prepare sauce.

SAUCE INGREDIENTS:

3 green onions, chopped coarsely

1½ oz. bacon (3 slices), chopped coarsely

1 c. blueberries (dried, fresh or frozen)

1 c. broth (or a little more if you simmer too long)

2 T. Port wine or Sherry

Dash each thyme, rosemary, onion powder and salt

¼ tsp. xanthan gum or your preferred thickener

SAUCE DIRECTIONS:  Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium-high heat and add chopped bacon, brown it nicely.  Add onion and saute until onion is very tender.  Do not drain off grease.  Add all remaining ingredients but the thickener.  Allow to simmer until berries begin to burst open and turn the sauce blue.  Here, I go by smell, and appearance, but when all appears to be cooked and it smells wonderful, slightly thicken to desired level with your preferred thickener.  Allow guests to serve atop roasted duck slices at table.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 8 servings, each contains:

385 calories, 31 g fat, 3.82 g carbs, .81 g fiber, 3.10 g NET CARBS, 20 g protein, 277 mg sodium

Vegetable Mac

Peggy Leave a comment

This tasty lunch was developed from a few odds and ends in the refrigerator today.  As my husband is away for the day, I only had to make a very small amount of it.  With a bit of leftover pasta, a small piece of yellow squash and red pepper, 1 last leek, this dish was born.  And man, was it ever good!  The spice blend was the crowning touch!  This dish could also be served as a side dish, but I enjoyed it for my complete lunch today.  The little bit of cheese adds to the rich, creaminess of the final dish, without really tasking like a mac and cheese dish, per se.  You might prefer Parmesan sprinkled on top instead of the slice of American cheese.  You could even add a bit of leftover meat for a higher protein content, if you have in the fridge……but I had no leftover meat, so I ate this meatless.  This dish is not suitable for Atkins Induction unless you sub in shiritake noodles or cauliflower for the noodles I used.  As written, this recipe should perhaps be avoided until Pre-Maintenance, or at least until you’re fairly close to your goal weight on whatever Keto plan you follow.

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INGREDIENTS:

2 T. butter, melted

1 T. olive oil

2/3 c. sliced yellow squash

½c. leek, washed well

¼ c. sliced red bell pepper (or roasted red pepper from jar)

1 slice American Cheese (or 1 oz. shredded cheddar)

1½ oz. (about 2/3 cup raw) Fiber Gourmet ‘Rotini’ pasta

¼ tsp. my Seafood Spice Blend

VARIATION:  Add a few bits of leftover chicken, beef or pork for a higher protein count.

DIRECTIONS:  In a small saucepan, boil the noodles until tender.  Drain off water and set aside.  While the noodles boil, quarter about 1/3-1/2 yellow squash and cut it then into thin slices.  Slice off ½c. leek.  Slice red bell pepper (or jarred roasted peppers).

Melt the butter over medium-high heat.  Add olive oil.  Add squash and saute until tender.  Add leeks and red pepper and continue to saute until those are tender.  Add Seafood Spice Blend next.  Stir well.  If adding any bits of meat, now is the time.  Lower heat to low and add the slice of cheese, stirring until it has completely melted and blended into the vegetable mixture.  Finally, stir in cooked pasta, tossing several times to coat all ingredients well.  Dip up onto two plates and ENJOY!  This pairs nicely with a small green salad.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 2 servings, each contains:

263 cals, 20.6g fat, 22.6g carbs, 13.3g fiber, 9.3g NET CARBS, 5.85g protein, 180 mg sodium

BBQ Crack Cabbage with Ham

Peggy 2 Comments

I have cooked this recipe numerous times now and my husband and I just LOVE it!  It’s so simple and the mystery added ingredient to what is basically the Crack Slaw recipe, makes all the difference in the world!  The BBQ sauce is the KEY INGREDIENT, so don’t omit that for the true flavor impact of this dish.  Doing so would make it pretty much just an ordinary Crack Slaw in my opinion.  Carb count is a little high on this dish, but it is all in the healthy vegetables in it.  This recipe provides your daily requirements for Vitamins B6, C, iron, manganese, niacin, phosphorous and thiamin.  So the carbs are well worth the carbs in nutrition alone!

This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins and most Keto programs.  Paleo/Primal Blueprint folks must use a plan-acceptable BBQ sauce.

INGREDIENTS:

3 T. bacon grease

8 oz. cooked cured ham, cut in small strips

2 oz. red bell pepper, cut in small strips

1 leek (12 oz.), washed, sliced ½” (or 1 lg. yellow onion)

12 oz. green cabbage, cut in ½” stir-fry slices

¼ c. low-carb BBQ sauce (I use G.Hughes, thinned with 1 T. each vinegar & water)

Dash of coarse black pepper

VARIATIONS:  Instead of ham, use thinly-sliced smoked sausage, leftover grilled pork meat, breakfast sausage mini-meatballs, or leftover BBQ brisket.  Brown all meats first in the skillet as was done with ham in the directions.

DIRECTIONS:  In a large non-stick wok or skillet, melt the bacon grease over high heat.  Add cut-up ham (or leftover grilled BBQ meat) and stir-fry to caramelize and lightly brown it for about 3 minutes.  Add the red bell pepper next and sauté until just barely starts to soften.  Add leeks and stir-fry until it just begins to go limp (about 4-5 minutes).   Add the cut-up cabbage and cook all together just until cabbage begins to soften.  Drizzle the water/vinegar- diluted BBQ sauce over the top and turn off heat.  Stir to mix the sauce to coat all ingredients with its smoky, sweet goodness.  Sprinkle top of mixture with a quality coarse black pepper.  At this juncture, you have two choices.  You can either serve the dish at once if you like your cabbage to still be a bit crunchy.  Or you can pop it into a 350º oven for 15-20 minutes for flavors to develop further and for veggies to get a bit softer.  Your call.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Made with leek rather than yellow onion, makes 5 servings, each contains:

199 cals, 11.72g fat, 12.02g carbs, 2.78g fiber, 9.24g NET CARBS (only 7.5g NET CARBS using yellow onion), 11.78g protein, 768 mg sodium

Peach Melba

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Click to enlarge

Peach Melba

I remember a Russell Stover specialty candy they made many, many years ago.  It was called “Peach Melba”.  It consisted of a wonderful peach/coconut filling covered in rich dark chocolate.  Don’t know if they still make that candy anymore or not.  My Mom loved that candy so much, we’d walk into the Russell Stover candy shop and she’d buy it 2 or 3 pounds at a time!  Dad loved it, too.  In fact, she decided to come up with her own recipe so she could make it at home.  Hers truly rivaled Russell Stover’s!!    But she no longer has that recipe. So I just had to try something similar (low-carb of course).  My hubby isn’t so fond of coconut, so I didn’t put the large coconut chip onto these as I had wanted.

My favorite dried fruits have always been dried apricots and peaches but they’re both fairly high in carbs.  You sure can’t eat many of them on a low-carb diet. But I thought maybe just a very small piece of fruit, a big nut and just a whisper of delicious chocolate might make a wonderful confection worthy of serving during the holidays, without breaking the carb “bank”.   These came out GREAT!  I also did some with dried prunes, which I freely admit came out even better than the apricot version!  Next time I’m going to put a thin slice of fresh coconut between the fruit and nut on some of these, for ME.  I LOVE coconut!

This recipe makes a pretty big batch of the chocolate sauce, around 1¼ cups, so I’m providing the per teaspoon nutritional info and you’ll have to calculate your per serving candy figures because that depends on which fruit you pick, how many you eat or if the sauce is used in other dessert applications how much you used on each serving of that recipe.  This recipe is not suitable until you are way up on the fruits rung of Atkins Phase 2 OWL or Maintenance.

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INGREDIENTS FOR CHOCOLATE SHELL COATING:

1 c. sugar free chocolate chips

1 square unsweetened baking chocolate (or 4 squares Lindt 90% chocolate)

¼ c. melted butter

1 T. coconut oil (or 1 T. more butter)

6 drops liquid Splenda (or 2 tsp.vanilla sugar-free syrup)

DIRECTIONS:  First, cut each dried peach in half and with your fingers or a knife tip, butterfly each half out flat.  Set each piece sticky side up on a small baking sheet (I used a small 11 x 7″ pan as I was just making 10 pieces total).  Cut each dried prune into 3 pieces.  Butterfly them open and place sticky side up onto your pan.  Press 1 almond (or walnut half, or pecan half) on top of each piece of fruit, pressing firmly enough so that the sticky fruit “grabs’ onto the nut and holds is firmly in place.

Next, in a small saucepan, melt the butter in either a double boiler over medium heat.  You can use a makeshift one, where you put your saucepan down in a skillet of 1” boiling water (that’s all a double boiler really is anyway).  Add the square of chocolate and melt slowly.  Add the chips, stirring constantly so the chocolate will stay smooth.  You can add more butter (or coconut oil) in small increments if your chocolate is too thick to be like a nice chocolate sauce.  Melting/smoothness qualities vary from brand to brand, in my opinion.

ASSEMBLY:   Stir the warm chocolate sauce again and with a small spoon, dip about ½ tsp. of sauce onto each candy.  Refrigerate or freeze any leftover sauce for future use on more candy recipes or for a chocolate shell coating for vanilla ice cream bars.  Pop the pan into the refrigerator or freezer for about 10-15 minutes.  When the chocolate is hard to the touch, ENJOY!  The chocolate will melt if at room/hand temperature too long, so these should pretty much go from fridge to mouth, but that shouldn’t be a problem for any of you.   Never has been for me either.  LOL

VARIATIONS:   Dried apricots, dried prunes, coconut chips, almonds, walnuts, pecans, macadamia nuts, dried cherries.

NUTRITIONAL INFO FOR SAUCE:  Makes about 1¼ cups or 20 T. (60 tsp.).  Each tsp. contains:

19 cals, 1.79g fat, .55 g  carbs, 0.21g fiber, 0.34 NET CARBS, 0.2g protein, < 1 mg. sodium

To help you calculate your per serving info I’m providing below the details on the various dried fruit and nets below:

Chicken-Guacamole Salad

Peggy Leave a comment

I had one leftover baked chicken breast in the fridge (didn’t even use it all, in fact) and 2 avocados that were at the peak of ripeness calling out to be used today, so I dreamed up this delicious little salad for lunch.  Pretty, isn’t it?  It rings in at just 4.95 grams net carbs (mostly the avocado), is very filling, ever so nutritious for your family, not to even mention it was delicious!

This simple-to-put-together dish can be enjoyed at all levels of Atkins and Keto diets if it fits your daily numbers limits.  This one would be suitable for Primal-Paleo as well.

Our latest volumes are selling fast! What are you waiting for? Volume 8, 9 and 10 are almost exclusively comprised of my recipes! Included are some tasty new creations of my dear friends George Stella and Jennifer Eloff. Special complete set pricing going on right now. Hurry and place your order today for one or more of our cookbooks at https://amongfriends.us/sale.php or at Amazon. After your book(s) arrive, and you’ve had a chance to try a recipe or two, do stop by and leave a review at Amazon here.

INGREDIENTS:

5 leaves romaine lettuce, chopped

1 Roma tomato, diced

1/3-1/2 jalapeno, seeded and chopped fine

2 avocados, skinned and seeded

1/8 tsp. garlic powder

4 oz. cooked chicken meat (more if desired, but adjust numbers below)

4 shakes/dashes of sea salt (1/16 tsp.)

VARIATION:  Instead of chicken, use 4 oz. leftover bits of grilled steak.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 2 servings, each contains:

406 cals, 30g fat, 18.45g carbs, 13.5g fiber, 4.95g NET CARBS, 21.4g protein, 497 mg sodium

Olive Bagels

Peggy 2 Comments

I’m currently following the lowest carb diet I have ever done.  Not quite an Atkins Fat Fast, but pretty darn close.  I’m only eating protein, cheese, eggs, fat, olives and avocados for awhile.  So my creative hat kicked into gear today.  I know a lot of low-carb breads and pancakes are made with just cream cheese and eggs, so I thought I’d go down that road to create a bagel for lunch.  I was going to eat the olives “on the side”, but decided to incorporate them into the bagel, as my husband and I have always enjoyed a good olive yeast bread.  Well, these are far from a yeast bread, but they did come out quite good.

I used a doughnut pan to make these, but if you don’t have one, you could use a muffin-top pan, or make them shallow in the bottoms of pans for making large muffins.  Who says they have to have holes in the middle?  🙂

This recipe is suitable once you get to Atkins phase 2 since there is almond flour in them.  Many more of my tasty recipes are in Jennifer Eloff’s LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS cookbooks.  Chef George Stella and other great low-carb cooks have participated in this on-going project.   Special complete 10-volume set pricing is going on right now. Hurry and place your order today for one or more of our cookbooks at https://amongfriends.us/sale.php or at Amazon. After your book(s) arrive, and you’ve had a chance to try a recipe or two, do stop by and leave a review at Amazon here.

INGREDIENTS:

2 T. cream cheese, softened

1 beaten egg (I used extra large)

2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

10 black olives, chopped very fine

1 T. olive or coconut oil (for batter)

1/8 tsp. each garlic and onion powders

1T. almond flour (or some low-carb bake mix if allergic to nuts)

1 tsp. my 8-Seed Spice Blend (or similar bread-topping blend)

1 T. olive or coconut oil (to grease pan)

VARIATION:  You could omit the olives, reduce or omit onion & garlic powders for a plain bagel. 

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 375º.  With a basting brush, oil the 6 slots of your pan with 1 T. olive oil.  Set aside while you mix up the batter.  Soften cream cheese in microwave in a medium ceramic/glass mixing bowl.  Add in all other ingredients to the cream cheese and blend well for a few minutes with a rubber spatula to try to distribute the cream cheese evenly throughout the mozzarella.  Spoon the batter equally into the 6 pan slots, pressing it down with your spoon or fingers to compress batter tightly in the slots.   Pop into 375º oven and bake for 20 minutes or until browned on top.  I pulled mine out a tad too soon at 15 min., as the browner ones were the tastiest.  Allow bagels to almost completely cool before attempting to remove from the pans with a knife point to help lift them.   If you try while they are hot, they will tear up, as my first one did.   Serve with salads, Greek foods, Italian food or just by themselves.  Mmmm, they are GREAT!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Make 6 bagels, each contains:

220 cals, 18.3g fat, 2.53g carbs, 0.40g fiber, 2.13g NET CARBS, 11.7g protein, 286 mg sodium

Turkish Pide (pronounced pee-day)

Peggy Leave a comment

Moving through syria on our food journey, we end up in Turkey.  Turkey is so close to Greece,  I can see how many of their foods are somewhat similar.  This recipe I tasted in Turkey, I understand they make something similar to this meat-filled ‘pizza-like’ flatbread dish in several Arab nations.  How it is constructed may change (probably spices, too), but the concept is similar.  I tasted this dish when we purchased it in a little eaterie near the airport in Istanbul.  Our plane was stopped due to engine problem.  The replacement engine had to be flown in from Paris, so the ‘short wait’ ended up spanning a period of about 16 hours.  They kept announcing over the loud speaker it would just be another hour, so we were afraid to leave the airport for a hotel………..but that hour stretched into many announcements all night long and totaled 16 long hours on those long, hard, wooden benches in the waiting lobby.

My brother and I went for a walk around the airport at one point in hopes of finding a snack of some sort.  A nearby street food vendor had something that intrigued us.  He called it what sounded like “pee day”  (pide).  It looked good, so we bought some, took it back to Mom and Dad (who had sick our entire trip back to the States).  We all loved it and gobbled it down!  We had no idea what we were eating, but could telll it was spiced ground lamb.  It sure was good!  Years later I read about this dish in a book on Middle Eastern cuisine organized by country.   After gaining more knowledge of their common meat spices, I made this feeble attempt to reproduce the flavors of lamb and fenugreek in the pide I remeber.

I have also read Pide is typically served during the Moslem religious holiday known as Ramadan.  It is shared when the feast begins after the long fast.  What we ate was clearly made with a whole wheat flat bread dough similar to Iranian noon/naan but mine posted here is instead made with my Mozzy Dough to keep it relatively low in carbs.  My husband ranted about this the first time I made it for him, so I think you will like it as well!   

This recipe is not suitable for Atkins Induction as the dough has a small amount of flour product in it (it’s in the Carbquik).   Although this is a main entrée, it can be served in smaller slices as snack food.  It goes over well at parties but does requires a plate and fork if served in the traditional longboat shape.  For party serving, I have formed the dough into small mini muffin cups and filled with smaller portions of the toppings to make it more manageable as finger food.

INGREDIENTS:

½ recipe my Mozzy Dough

8 oz. lean ground beef (or lamb, to be authentic)

2 oz. onion, finely chopped

15 San Marzano mini tomatoes (or cherry tomatoes), chopped

3/4 c. parsley, chopped

1/2 tsp. Baharat Spice

¼ tsp. each: dried mint

¼ tsp. crushed dried fenugreek leaves (key flavor here)

¼ tsp. each salt and coarse black pepper

DIRECTIONS:  Make the Mozzy Dough per that recipe’s instructions, reserving half the dough for another use.  It freezes well in a plastic baggie.  Roll the dough into a fat canoe shape about 12″ x 7″ on a parchment lined sheet pan.  Set aside.

Preheat oven to 375º.  Brown the beef (or lamb) in a skillet with the onion.  Add the parsley and all seasonings listed above.  Cook over medium-high heat for a few minutes to tenderize the onions.  Remove and spoon evenly into the “canoe” of dough, leaving a good inch of dough free of filling.  Sprinkle the chopped tomatoes on top.  Fold the uncovered dough up over the meat to create the sides of the “canoe”, pinching the pointed ends together with your fingers to help maintain the “canoe” shape.  Traditionally, they sprinkle sesame seeds on the sides of the “canoe” dough before baking but I did not, as the hubs isn’t fond of seeds on/in breads.    Pop into 375º oven for about 20-25 minutes or until begins to brown.  Remove from oven and cut into four equal portions.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:    As a meal, makes 4 servings of pide (cut smaller into snack size for lower carbs), each contains:

316 calories, 23.5g fat, 12.17g carbs, 6.2g fiber, 5.97g NET CARBS, 24.424 g protein, 476mg sodium

Asian Meatball Lo-Mein

Peggy Leave a comment

This quick lunch came about when I pulled some leftover Pork Patties and Dipping Sauce out of the freezer to have for lunch today.  But I instead decided to take them into a new direction and the result was quite tasty and most filling.  Needed to use up half a head of bok choy in the refrigerator, so this dish was born as my mind wandered.

Although this dish uses leftover meat patties cut up, you could also just make up a batch of the sauce and cook the base dish using thinly sliced, lean pork rather the cut-up leftover meatballs I used.  Your call there, bit I do think the seasonings in the meat mixture does considerably improve the overall flavor profile of the final dish.  This recipe is suitable for any phase of Atkins or other Keto plans.

Our latest volumes of LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS cookbooks are calling you. What are you waiting for? Volume 8, 9 and 10 are almost exclusively comprised of my recipes! Included some tasty new creations of my dear friends George Stella and Jennifer Eloff. Special complete set pricing going on right now. Hurry and place your order today for one or more of our cookbooks at https://amongfriends.us/sale.php or at Amazon. After your book(s) arrive, and you’ve had a chance to try a recipe, do stop by and leave a review at Amazon here.

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. lean ground pork

1 beaten egg

2 jalapenos, seeded, ribs removed and minced fine

2 tsp. coconut aminos (or low-sodium soy sauce)

2 cloves, garlic, minced

4 T.  bacon grease (or oil of choice)

2 oz. onion, slivered in thin wedges

2 c. bok choy, coarsely chopped

12 oz. shiritaki noodles spaghetti shape

1/3 c. chicken broth (preferably homemade)

SAUCE INGREDIENTS:

2 tsp. sesame oil

1 tsp. creamy natural peanut butter (omit if on Atkins Induction)

2 T. rice wine vinegar

1 tsp. ginger root, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp. Sambal Oelek chili sauce (or Sriracha sauce)

2-3 drops liquid stevia or sucralose

1 T. low sodium soy sauce (or coconut aminos)

1 T. finely minced green onion

2 T. water

DIRECTIONS:  Mix sauce in small bowl and set aside.  Mix meat ingredients in medium bowl.  Form into very small meatball shapes and set aside.  Open and drain/wash off noodles in strainer under running cold water.  Set aside for now. Cut bok choy coarsely, separating white stem from green leaves (leaves cook faster).  Set that aside for now.  Have all these items by stove at the ready.

In large skillet, melt the bacon grease.  Add meatballs and brown all sides.  Add onion and allow to brown.  Add white stems of bok choy and stir-fry just until slightly soft.  Now pour the sauce over the ingredients.  Then add the chicken broth.  Add green leafy parts next and stir for just a minute to allow then to go limp.  Stir in the drained noodles and toss well.  Continue to simmer and stir 2-3 more minutes to properly heat the noodles, to blend flavors, as well as to dry out the mixture a bit.  Serve at once.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 4 large adult servings, each contains:

367 cals, 30.5g fat, 8.02g carbs, 5.25g fiber, 2.77g NET CARBS, 12.32g protein, 232 mg sodium

Twice-Baked Portobello ‘Potatoes’

Peggy Leave a comment

I’m going to make these again tonight to go with our grilled rib-eye steaks.  We just love these.  So glad I tried this veggie combo so I can feel like I’m eating “high on the hog” as my Dad used to say.  Of course, you can use homemade mashed cauliflower, but the Birdseye was so good, and so convenient, why would you bother?  😉  This side dish is suitable for all stages of Atkins, Keto plans, Paleo and Primal as well.

INGREDIENTS:

3  Portobello mushrooms (mine were 3-oz. each)

3 T. olive oil

12 oz. pkg. frozen Mashed Cauliflower (I used Birdseye), Sour Cream & Chive

1 T. unsalted butter

¼ c. green onion, chopped

¼ c. Cheddar Cheese shreds

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Line a pan with parchment (optional).  Using a spoon, scoop the dark gills out of the mushrooms.  With a basting brush, brush both sides of the mushrooms with olive oil.  Set them curved side down on the pan.  Pop them in oven for about 8-9 minutes.

While they are pre-cooking, cook the cauli-mash as instructed on the box.  I microwaved mine.  Remove film from tray and stir in the butter to mix and melt.  Remove mushroom pan from the oven and spoon 1/3 of the mixture into each of the 3 mushrooms.  Top each with 1/3 of the Cheddar cheese shreds.  Finally, sprinkle the green onion evenly on all 3 servings.  Return the mushroom pan to the oven and bake about 10 minutes more or just until cheese is melted.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 3 servings, each contains:

297 cals, 22.3g fat, 7.06g carbs, 2.33g fiber, 4.73g NET CARBS, 4.6g. protein, 261 mg sodium

Ground Pork Fried “Rice”

Peggy 2 Comments

My husband was down in Austin today and said he would stop by a BBQ place on his way home to bring some sliced brisket for our supper tonight.  Then at 5:30, he called and announced they were closed!  Luckily I had thawed some ground pork for tomorrow night and got to work creating something quick for dinner.  This dish was quite tasty and we will definitely fix it again.  I had my doubts about using ground pork rather than sliced pork, my preference for stir fires, but it was pretty good in this!  I’d sure do it with the ground pork “in a pinch” again.  🙂

This dish is suitable for all phases of Atkins.  Those still on Induction or who are doing Paleo should leave out the sherry.  It is OK for Keto diets and Primal diets as well.

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. ground pork

3/4 c. carrot, peeled, sliced or diced

1 stalk celery, sliced thinly

1½ c. cabbage, sliced thinly

½ c. green onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

½ tsp. ginger root, minced

½ tsp. Sambal Oelek chili sauce

1/8 tsp. coarse black pepper

Dash salt

1 T. sherry (optional, omit for Induction or Paleo)

1 T. low-sodium soy sauce

1 pkg (14 oz)  Zeroodles shirataki rice-shape noodles with oat fiber, drained, rinsed

VARIATIONS:  Substitute chopped, cooked chicken for the ground pork.  I like to add some scrambled egg, chopped to all my fried rice recipes.  It just adds a nice flavor layer.

DIRECTIONS:  Drain and rinse noodles in sieve and set aside.  Heat wok or large non-stick skillet.  Add oil and then ground pork.  Brown over high heat.  Do drain off some of the fat if excessive (but not all of it), but I did not have to, as my meat was pretty lean.   Add carrots and celery and continue stir-frying until carrots nearly tender.  Add cabbage and green onion next, stir-frying until cabbage is getting limp.  Add all remaining ingredients, including “rice” noodles and lower heat to medium.  Allow to simmer, stirring frequently, for five minutes longer, allowing flavors to blend and mellow. Serve at once with Sambal Oelek chili sauce and soy sauce at table for those that like more of these.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 4 servings, each contains:

412 cals, 31 g fat, 9.55g carbs, 5.82g fiber, 3.73g NET CARBS, 22.2g protein, 288 mg sodium

Chicken Spread Crunchies

Peggy Leave a comment

 

This quick appetizer for parties made a delicious lunch today.   Had a small amount of cream cheese to use up and decided to onion it up a bit and make a spread for serving with crunchy pork rinds.  I don’t usually like dips and such on pork rinds, but THIS onion-y combo with chicken really did it for me!  The crunch came though without so much pork rind taste.  This recipe is a keeper for us.  I will definitely make this again.  For parties, just triple the recipe (using the entire can of chicken meat) to make approximately 60 taste bites for your guests.

Our latest three volumes of LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS cookbooks are calling you. Volume 8 and Volume 9 are almost exclusively comprised of my recipes! Included in both editions are a few tasty new creations of my dear friends George Stella and Jennifer Eloff.   Volume 10 is hot off the press with more delectable goodies. Special discount prices being offered right now on the set! Hurry and place your order today for one or more of our cookbooks at https://amongfriends.us/sale.php or at Amazon. After your book(s) arrive, and you’ve had a chance to try a recipe or two, we hope you’ll stop by and leave a review at Amazon here.

INGREDIENTS:

2 oz. cream cheese, softened

¼ c. sour cream

1/3  can (13 oz.) chicken breast (water + salt pack only, I use Sam’s brand)

1 T. dehydrated minced onion flakes, toasted

¼ tsp. onion powder

1/8 tsp. each: turmeric, paprika, and garlic powder

½ tsp. granular Splenda or other sweetener (optional)

20 small bite-size pork rinds

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Place onion flakes on baking pan and bake about 8 minutes just long enough to lightly toast.   Remove from oven and add the flakes to a medium mixing bowl.  Drain chicken broth off the meat into a dish for another use.  I like to drizzle it on my dog’s kibble, which she just loves!  Spoon out 1/3 of the chicken meat into your mixing bowl (reserve rest for another use).   Flake meat a bit with a fork.  Add softened cream cheese and sour cream.  Add all spices and sweetener (if using).  Stir mixture well and let sit 5-10 minutes to allow onion flakes to soften a bit and flavors to blend.  Spoon about 1 tsp. of the mixture onto the cupped “bowl” side of the 20 pork rinds, placing the tasty treats on your serving platter.  Enjoy!

CAUTION:  Do not try to be efficient and fill these ahead of time or the pork rinds will get soggy! 

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 20 chicken appetizers, each contains:

26 cals, 1.98g fat, 0.50g carbs, 0.04g fiber, 0.45g NET CARBS, 1.55g protein, 41 mg sodium

Chicken “Risotto”

Peggy 8 Comments

This tasty dinner came together in under an hour, start to sitting down to table.  I always buy chicken breasts with bones, as I stew the bones to strip for adding those bits of meat to my dog’s food and making chicken broth.  But you can certainly use boneless breasts for this dish if you wish to speed up this quick meal even more.  This risotto-like dish is very psychologically satisfying, as well as being literally quite filling.  My husband and I felt like we were eating a real rice or cous-cous dish!  It is extremely low-carb and suitable for all phases of Atkins, other Keto diets, Primal Blueprint and if the wine and cheese are omitted, it is also acceptable for Paleo followers.

Our latest LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS cookbooks are calling you. Special prices going on right now. Hurry and place your order today for one or more of our cookbooks at https://amongfriends.us/sale.php or at Amazon. After your book(s) arrive, and you’ve had a chance to try a recipe or two, I hope you’ll stop by and leave a review at Amazon here.

INGREDIENTS:

5 T. butter, unsalted

20 oz. boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into strips

½ tsp. my Seafood Spice Blend (or seasoning of your choice)

¼ tsp. black pepper

1 clove garlic, minced

3/4 c. chopped parsley (I used flat leaf, but either type will work)

2 T. white wine (optional)

¼ tsp. sea salt

1 pkg (14 oz) Zeroodles brand Shirataki Rice-Shape Noodles w/ oat fiber

4 T. grated Parmesan Cheese (added at table)

DIRECTIONS:  Melt butter in large skillet over high heat.  Add chicken strips and begin to brown.  As it is browning, sprinkle with half the Seafood Spice Blend, salt and black pepper. Turn the pieces of meat over and brown the other side.  Sprinkle remaining spices on the side of meat now up.  When meat has nicely browned a bit on both sides, add in the parsley, garlic and wine (if using).  Lower heat to medium and stir occasionally as it simmers for about 5-10 minutes.  Open noodle package and drain in a sieve under running cold water to rinse.  Pour noodles into skillet and stir to blend ingredients well.  Continue cooking another 10 minutes and remove from heat.  Serve at table allowing each serving to receive 1 T. grated Parmesan on top.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 4 servings, each contains:

365.3 cals, 22.9g fat, 5.95g carbs, 4.42g fiber, 1.53g NET CARBS, 31.1g protein, 590 mg sodium

 

 

Meyer Lemon Pound Cake

Peggy Leave a comment

photocat

My lemon pound cake is basically my dessert bread batter with the zest and juice of 1 Meyer lemon added.  Comes out out very moist and incredibly delicious!  It has been a very popular recipe on my blog.  If you’ve never tasted them before, Meyer lemons are a cross between a lemon and a Mandarin orange in flavor.  A very aromatic taste but much milder than regular lemons to me!  You can make this recipe with regular lemons if you prefer a more intense flavor.  The Meyer lemons are not always available in your grocery stores.  My local store has them once in awhile in the summertime.  I snatch up a bag and make this recipe whenever they are on the shelf!

This recipe is not suitable until you reach the nuts and seeds rung of the Atkins OWL carb ladder.  It is suitable for Primal if you use a plan-acceptable sweetener.  This pound cake is so moist, it is delicious without frosting.  But it was also good with a cream cheese frosting made from 4 oz. cream cheese, juice and zest of another Meyer lemon and a little sweetener.  But I didn’t calculate any frosting in the nutritional info below, so be sure to add in numbers for any frosting you put on this cake.

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INGREDIENTS:

1/3 c. coconut flour

2/3 c. almond flour

¼ tsp. sea salt

1 T. glucomannan powder (optional, but improves texture & fiber)

Granular sweetener to equal 3/4 c. sugar

5 drops liquid Splenda

3 T. coconut oil

1 stick unsalted butter

½ tsp. vanilla

Juice of 1 Meyer lemon (or regular lemon)

Zest of 1 Meyer lemon (or regular lemon)

¼ tsp. Boyajian lemon oil  (see “where to buy” tab atop this page)

8 large eggs, beaten

DIRECTIONS:   Preheat oven to 350º.  Melt butter and coconut oil in microwave in a medium mixing bowl.  Add almond flour, coconut flour, salt and glucomannan powder to the melted butter and oil and beat with a spoon until smooth.    Add vanilla, lemon zest, juice and Boyajian lemon oil now.  Add sweeteners and beaten eggs.  Beat with spoon until all lumps are out of batter.  Using a rubber spatula, scrape the batter evenly into a lightly oiled non-stick loaf pan (mine is extra long, but shallow 4″x 2.5″x10).  Level batter as best you can with the spatula.  Pop into preheated oven for 40-45 minutes or until it is lightly browned on top and passes the toothpick test in the center.  Remove and cool before attempting to remove from pan and slicing. Enjoy plain or with a thin lemon frosting on top.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes fourteen ½” thick slices, each contains:

168 cals, 15.3g fat, 3.56g carbs, 2.03g fiber, 1.53g NET CARBS, 90 mg sodium

Asian Turkey-Sausage Soup

Peggy Leave a comment

I was digging around in my freezer for something to put together for lunch today and forgot I’d made a small turkey at Easter.  I had the torso part of the carcass still left in a bag and decided on some sort of soup.  Then when I went to the fridge to get some other veggie ingredients, I saw the highly smoked, dry-cured sausage my husband gets when he’s at his convention and thought I’d mix the two meats.  I don’t think ordinary smoked sausage would do well here, so if you don’t have a meat market that dry-cures their own smoked sausage, I’d just omit it altogether.   Then I tossed in some chopped Zeroodles Shiritaki Noodles with Oat Fiber, a bit of fresh spinach leaves, a little of this and that and ended up with a DELICIOUS soup!  This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins and most Keto diets.  It’s very low in carbs yet so rich in flavor layer.  Hope you’ll give this one a try!

Our latest three volumes of LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS cookbooks are calling you. Volume 8 and Volume 9 are almost exclusively comprised of my recipes! Included in both editions are a few tasty new creations of my dear friends George Stella and Jennifer Eloff.   Volume 10 is hot off the press with more delectable goodies. Special prices right now! Hurry and place your order today for one or more of our cookbooks at https://amongfriends.us/sale.php or at Amazon. After your book(s) arrive, and you’ve had a chance to try a recipe, do stop by and leave a review at Amazon here.

INGREDIENTS:

½ meaty turkey carcass, 1 chicken carcass or 2½ c. diced cooked turkey meat

4 oz. highly smoked, dry-cured beef/pork sausage (see comment above)

6 cups water (if using diced turkey, I would use chicken/turkey broth for more flavor)

2 oz. onion, chopped

1 c. celery, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp. fresh ginger, minced

1 14-oz pkg. Zeroodles Shiritake Rice-Shape noodles (or other shape, chopped up)

1 tsp. Sambal Oelek chili sauce (or few drops Sriracha, or 1 tsp. Thai red curry paste)

1 T. low-sodium soy sauce

2 T. rice wine vinegar

1 c. dried shitake mushrooms, broken into small pieces

2 c. fresh spinach leaves (added at very last)

OPTIONAL:  ½ tsp. toasted sesame oil

DIRECTIONS:  Into a 5 qt. soup pot, place the turkey or chicken carcass.  Add the sausage and water to the pot.  Add celery, onion, garlic and ginger next.  Add rice-shaped or chopped up shiritake noodles and shitake mushrooms next.  Bring this mixture to a boil over high heat.  Lower heat and simmer covered with lid 30 minutes, or until veggies and mushrooms are fully tender.  Remove carcass to a cutting board, cool and strip meat off bones.  Chop meat into bite-size pieces and add back to the soup pot.  Add all remaining ingredients listed above but the spinach leaves.  Simmer about 15 minutes more to blend flavors.  Finally add the spinach leaves cooking just until it is barely done, or about 5 minutes.  Serve soup at once.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 6 large servings, each contains:

205 cals, 9.85g fat, 6.33g carbs, 3.46g fiber, 2.87g NET CARBS, 20.8g protein, 486 mg sodium

Grilled Steelhead Trout-Spinach Pizza

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I know this recipe may sound a little bizarre, but trust me, it is really, really tasty!  If you like things made with tuna or salmon, you will LOVE this interesting twist on a “pizza”.  The smoke on the fish combines so heavenly with cream cheese and green onion.   I created this for our lunch today and even my picky husband, a non-fish lover, said it was good!  And it was quite simple to put together.  I had a small piece of grilled Steelhead Trout leftover from our last grilling adventure and froze this piece.  I defrosted it and got this incredible idea as I blended it into some cream cheese.  Yummy, is all I can say.  I used my Mozzy Dough dough for the crust, but you can use whatever low-carb pizza crust you prefer.  I am providing nutritional stats for the entire recipe in case you decide to make this up as bite-size party food using a mini-muffin pan.  Just divide the “entire recipe” numbers below by the number of mini-bites you make.

This recipe is suitable once you get to phase 2 Atkins and is OK for most Keto diets provided you use a plan-suitable crust.

Our latest three volumes of LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS cookbooks are calling you. Volume 8 and Volume 9 are almost exclusively comprised of my recipes! Included in both editions are a few tasty new creations of my dear friends George Stella and Jennifer Eloff.   Volume 10 is hot off the press with more delectable goodies. Special prices offered right now! Hurry and place your order today for one or more of our cookbooks at https://amongfriends.us/sale.php or at Amazon. After your book(s) arrive, and you’ve had a chance to try a recipe, do stop by and leave a review at Amazon here.

INGREDIENTS:

1 recipe my Mozzy Dough

4-5 oz. grilled Steelhead Trout, salmon or other fish

25 small spinach leaves, stemmed

6 oz. cream cheese, softened

½ c. green onion, chopped

2/3 c. mozzarella shreds

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º. Line a pizza pan with parchment paper and set aside. Make the crust by that recipe’s instructions.  Press the dough out evenly in your pan to a 14″ diameter circle.  Pop into 350º oven for 8-9 minutes or until just beginning to brown a tiny bit.  Remove and cool 5 minutes.  Slide parchment out from under the crust so it will crisp up on the bottom for the next phase of cooking.

While crust is baking, soften the cream cheese in a bowl in your microwave set to defrost.  Remove, add green onion and trout flakes (discard skin).  Blend well with a fork.  With a rubber spatula or the back of a spoon, spread half the fish mixture evenly onto the crust to within 1/4″ of the edge.  Place the spinach leaves in a single layer evenly on top.  Carefully spread the remaining fish-cream-cheese mixture on top.  Sprinkle the mozzarella shreds on top and pop into 350º for about 10 minutes or until the edges are nicely browned and the cheese is melted.   Remove from oven and slice into 8 slices.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Entire recipe contains 2215 cals, 177.7g fat, 77g carbs, 44.7g fiber, 32.30g NET CARBS, 151.4g protein, 2812 mg sodium 

For 8 slices, each contains:  277 cals, 22g fat, 9.62g carbs, 5.58g fiber, 4.04g NET CARBS, 19g protein, 352 mg sodium

For 6 slices, each contains:  369 cals, 30g fat, 12.83g carbs, 7.45g fiber, 5.38g NET CARBS, 25g protein, 469 mg sodium

Mushroom-Hemp Heart Pilaf

Peggy 2 Comments

This recipe came about when I received my first order of  Zeroodle brand Shirataki (Rice Shape) “noodles” with Oat Fiber.  I swear by oat fiber.  It brings so much flour taste to baked goods; to shirataki noodles, it brings an improved opacity and texture.  Plus this type of shirataki does not have any of the off-putting rubber band smelling packaging water! The water these come in is odorless.  That’s a triple win in my book!  I like these MUCH better than tofu shirataki noodles, heretofore my favorite low-carb noodle substitute.  When cooked up with the right ingredients, these seem very similar to a classic risotto or rice pilaf/cous-cous dish.

My recipe’s inspiration was Barbo’s recipe for Mushroom Miracle Risotto posted recently on Low Carb Neighborhood forums.  Her recipe is more of a classic Italian risotto with cream and Parmesan cheese for richness.  Mine is more of a typical rice pilaf with a secret spice ingredient, as I wanted it to serve this alongside a delicious grilled Steelhead trout we did tonight. I can see this “risotto” being a great side for wild game or fowl.  I will be trying that application real soon!

I introduced hemp hearts to my pilaf for a slightly nuttier taste and some parsley, as I love it in such things.  I also threw in a bit of my Seafood Spice Blend so it would compliment the grilled fish we had tonight.   Man, was this mélange ever tasty!!  Even my picky husband, who doesn’t like shirataki noodles at all, loved this pilaf with the grilled fish!  He gave me the green light to fix this again any old time!

Our latest three volumes of LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS cookbooks are calling you. Volume 8 and Volume 9 are almost exclusively comprised of my recipes! Included in both editions are a few tasty new creations of my dear friends George Stella and Jennifer Eloff.   Volume 10 is hot off the press with more delectable goodies. Special prices going on right now as all proceeds are going to help team leader Jen pay off some big medical bills resulting from cancer surgery. Hurry and place your order today for one or more of our cookbooks at https://amongfriends.us/sale.php or at Amazon. After your book(s) arrive, and you’ve had an opportunity to try a recipe, do stop by and leave a review at Amazon here.

INGREDIENTS:

2 T. unsalted butter

5 large mushrooms, chopped coarsely

½ c. green onion, chopped

2 T. parsley, chopped

½-1 clove garlic

1/8-¼ tsp. my Seafood Spice Blend

¼ tsp. sea salt

¼ tsp. coarse black pepper

¼ c. + 2 T. hemp hearts

14.11 oz. pkg. Zeroodle brand Shirataki Rice Shape with Oat Fiber

DIRECTIONS:  Pour shirataki rice into strainer and rinse with cold water.  Set aside.  In a medium skillet, melt the butter over medium high heat and saute chopped mushrooms, green onion, garlic and parsley.  Add salt, pepper and Seafood Spice Blend (linked above).  Saute 2-3 minutes. Now add in the drained shirataki rice and the hemp hearts.  Stir-fry a couple more minutes and serve at once.   Doesn’t get any easier!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 4 servings, each contains:

51 cals, 12.4g fat, 7.82g carbs, 6.22g fiber, 1.6g NET CARBS, 8.3g protein, 156 mg sodium

Breakfast Quesadillas

Peggy Leave a comment

I love quesadillas and thought this morning “Why not make a breakfast version?”  These were quite tasty and neither of us could even eat a whole one.  So this recipe of 3 whole quesadillas will actually serve 4 adults (3 pieces per serving).  I use HEB Carb Sense whole-wheat tortillas, which are the lowest carb tortillas I have found to date, at 3 net carbs per tortilla).  Numbers have been calculated with that particular brand tortilla.  These are suitable once you get to Phase 2 of Atkins and most Keto diets.

Our latest three volumes of LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS cookbooks are calling you. Volume 8 and Volume 9 are almost exclusively comprised of my recipes! Included in both editions are a few tasty new creations of my dear friends George Stella and Jennifer Eloff.   Volume 10 is hot off the press with more delectable goodies. Special prices right now. Hurry and place your order today for one or more of our cookbooks at https://amongfriends.us/sale.php or at Amazon. After your book(s) arrive, and you’ve had a chance to try a recipe, do stop by and leave a review at Amazon here.

INGREDIENTS:

6 small low-carb tortillas (I used HEB Carb Sense)

1 T. unsalted butter (for cooking)

3 oz. pork breakfast sausage

1 oz. red onion, chopped

3 large eggs, beaten

6 oz. shredded Monterey Jack or mozzarella cheese

OPTIONAL:  1 small jalapeno, seeded and chopped fine

DIRECTIONS:  Place griddle on stove burners and melt the butter over low heat.  Turn fire off for now.  Lay 3 tortillas on top of the griddle but do not turn the fire on yet.  If you don’t own a griddle, you will have to construct and cook each one separately in a skillet.  In a medium skillet over medium-high heat, brown the sausage and onion together until done and onion is soft.

Now you’re ready to construct the quesadillas.  Sprinkle 1/2 of the cheese shreds evenly on the top of the 3 tortillas on the griddle.  Spoon 1/3 of the meat-onion mixture atop each tortilla next.  If using, sprinkle jalapeno on next.

Now, using the same skillet you browned the sausage in, scramble the beaten eggs until just set.  Spoon 1/3 of the eggs atop each tortilla spreading them out nicely to cover the full size.  Sprinkle remaining cheese on next.  Press another tortilla on top firmly and turn on the griddle heat to medium.  You want to brown these slowly so the cheese has time to melt and bind the ingredients together.  When first side is nice and brown, flip them over (holding top with your hand) and brown the second side.  When browned to your liking, turn off heat.  With a large knife, cut quesadillas into four quadrants for a total of 12 pieces.  Serve at once.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 12 pieces.  Each 3-pc. serving contains:

430 cals, 28.3g fat, 20.82g carbs, 15.15g fiber, 5.67g NET CARBS, 23.7g protein, 733n mg sodium

 

Chocolate Covered Blueberries

Peggy Leave a comment
Chocolate Blueberries

Click to enlarge

There’s no law that says you have to make chocolate covered STRAWBERRIES for your special occasions.  Other berries (or pineapple chunks) will work, too!  Today, I had big, plump blueberries in the fridge and wanted something sweet.  🙂

This recipe makes a pretty big batch of the chocolate sauce, around 1¼ cups, so I’m providing the per teaspoon nutritional info.  One teaspoon will definitely coat 1 blueberry, maybe even two.  This recipe is suitable once you reach the berries level of Phase 2 Atkins or for Keto diets as well.

INGREDIENTS/NEEDS:

Some toothpicks

Fresh blueberries (pick the biggest ones in the carton)

Half lemon, orange or apple (for toothpick serving post)

1 c. sugar free chocolate chips

1 square unsweetened baking chocolate

¼ c. melted butter

1 T. coconut oil (or 1 T. more butter)

6 drops liquid Splenda or other liquid sweetener to taste

DIRECTIONS:  First, push a toothpick through the number of large berries you want to make.  Push through the stem scar but not quite all the way out the top.  Lay them aside until the chocolate sauce is made.  Set the lemon half cut side down on your serving plate and set aside.

CHOCOLATE SAUCE:  In a small saucepan, melt the butter and coconut oil in a double boiler over medium heat or use a makeshift double-boiler, where you put your saucepan down in a skillet of 1″ boiling water (that’s all a double boiler really is anyway).  Add the square of chocolate and melt slowly in the hot melted oil/butter.  Add the chocolate chips, stirring constantly so the chocolate will stay smooth.

ASSEMBLY:   Take each berry pick and dip the berry just deep enough into the chocolate sauce to coat the berry.  Lift carefully straight up and let it drip, rolling to even the chocolate as evenly as you can get it.  When it appears to be stopped dripping, carefully poke the berry pick into the lemon half.  Repeat for all berries.  It will take about ½ tsp. chocolate sauce to coat each berry. Refrigerate any leftover sauce for future use on more berries or for a chocolate shell coating for vanilla ice cream bars.  Pop the plate into the refrigerator for about 10-15 minutes so the chocolate can harden.  When the chocolate is hard to the touch, ENJOY!  These should pretty much go from fridge to mouth or they will melt, so it’s not really a good party food sitting around on a buffet table.  They are best served right from the fridge.

VARIATIONS:   Big fresh strawberries, pineapple chunks, or orange segments with outer skin/membrane removed.

NUTRITIONAL INFO (sauce only):  Makes about 1¼ cups sauce (20 T.= 60 tsp.).  Each tsp. should coat 1-2 berries.  The berry will add another 0.2 net carbs.  Each teaspoon of sauce contains

19 cals, 1.79g fat, 0.55g carbs, 0.21g fiber, 0.34g NET CARBS (the blueberry adds 0.2 g additional net carbs, so one berry treat has 0.56 NET CARBS total), 0.2 g  protein

Beef-Eggplant Curry

Peggy Leave a comment
Beef Eggplant Curry

Beef Eggplant Curry

This is a quick, tasty and wonderful way to use up leftover beef pot roast (chuck).  I made it again for dinner last night so I thought I’d share again for new followers to try.  This one’s a keeper, both for ease of prep and incredible flavor layers!  We are always pleased with this quick curry.  What it lacks in photogenic qualities, it gains in taste!  Using the Garam Masala spice mixture makese it taste more Indian; the Baharat makes it taste more Middle Eastern.  This dish can also be made with lamb.  I love how easy most Indian curries are to prepare!  This dish is suitable for all phases of Atkins, Keto and Primal-Paleo as well.

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INGREDIENTS:

2 T. olive oil or coconut oil

2 c. cooked beef (or lamb), trimmed of fat, cut in ½” dice (or use ground meat)

6 oz. eggplant (I used Japanese purple eggplant), cut in 1″ cubes

3 oz. onion, diced large

½ c. red bell pepper, chopped (omit for lower carbs)

½ c. cilantro, cut roughly

1 large tomato, cut in 1″ cubes (2 oz.)

2 tsp. my Garam Masala Spice blend (or 1 tsp. Baharat Spice Blend)

1/4 tsp. curry powder

1/8 tsp. turmeric

Dash salt

½-1 c. water (beef stock if you have some is better)

OPTIONAL:  ½ tsp. crushed fenugreek leaves if available

DIRECTIONS:   Cut up meat, eggplant and onion as indicated above. Heat oil in non-stick skillet over hi heat.  Add onion and slightly brown.  Add eggplant and continue to saute, stirring often.  Add beef and brown a bit.  Add cilantro, tomato and all spices.  Add water as needed to just barely surround meat.  Lower heat.  You don’t want this soupy, but add more water as you cook the dish if all evaporates.  Simmer on medium heat about 15 minutes to allow flavor to mingle.  Serve on cauli-rice, cauli-mash, toasted low-carb bread or muffins, or eat it straight up!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 4 servings, each contains:

237 cals. , 12.5g fat, 7.05g carbs, 2.77g fiber, 4.28g NET CARBS, 24g protein, 107 mg sodium

Indian Kheema Matar (Beef with “Peas” and Mint)

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233

Shown on bed of sauteed cabbage

This dish can be made with either ground lamb or ground beef and is equally good with both.  This Indian dish is traditionally cooked with peas and served atop basmati steamed rice.  But I have I found it is just as good with made small cut frozen green bean pieces (to lower carbs) and then served on a bed of shredded, sauteed cabbage.  I think I may even like it that way better than over the traditional basmati rice!    The nutritional info below does not include the cabbage (or rice).  My husband and I found my first attempt at Kheema Matar, which we have often had at Indian restaurants, to be pretty darn good!  It has rapidly moved into my quick and easy recipes category.

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. ground beef, lamb or goat

1 T. olive or coconut oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 clove minced garlic

½ tsp. minced ginger

¼ tsp. cayenne pepper

½ tsp. turmeric

1 tsp. ground coriander

¼ tsp. salt

2 plum tomatoes, finely chopped

½ c. frozen cut green beans, cut again into halves

1 carrot, cut into small dice

2 T. chopped cilantro

2 T. chopped fresh mint (I use spearmint)

½ jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped

1½ tsp. my Garam Masala

OPTIONAL:  Add 1/2-1 c. chicken stock and simmer a bit for a moist gravy.  Thicken a bit with your favorite thickener if desired.

DIRECTIONS:  Place carrots and green bean pieces in small amount of water in saucepan and cook just until tender crisp.  Add oil to large skillet.  Brown chopped onion.  Add meat and break apart as it browns.  Add garlic, tomatoes, jalapeno and all spices except mint and cilantro.  Lower heat to simmer, cover and cook 15-20 minutes until tomatoes and onion well cooked.  Now add the drained carrot/bean mixture, cilantro and mint and stir well.  Cover again and cook additional 5-10 minutes or so for flavors to blend well.  Serve atop bed of shredded stir-fried cabbage (my preference) or basmati rice for those non-low-carbers at your table.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Serves 4, each serving contains: (does not include cabbage base)

187 calories, 23.8 g  fat, 7.55 g carbs, 2.38 g fiber, 5.17 NET CARBS, 23.8 g  protein, 620 mg sodium

Sausage & Cabbage with Sofrito

Peggy Leave a comment

What a tasty surprise!  I’m a bachelorette for the day and had not yet washed the skillet I fried bacon in this morning.  So I thought I’d stir-fry me a quick lunch of smoked sausage and cabbage.  I had just made a fresh batch of my Sofrito for freezer keeping and was smitten with the idea of breaking off a little piece from my freezer block and putting a little in my lunch skillet.  What a great idea this turned out to be! And what a simple, quick meal to prepare on a week night when you come home from work really tired.

Earlier in the week I had pulled off the outer leaves of a cabbage for stuffing but changed my mind.  So I wanted to use those leaves up quickly before they dried out.  This final dish turned out to be delicious and much better than I anticipated!  But then I really just love this Sofrito and use it on/in so many different recipes now.  If you like it, you’ll become addicted to the stuff, I’m certain. Haven’t used it in or on anything to date I didn’t like.  This recipe is naturally Atkins Induction friendly and suitable for Keto, Paleo and Primal lifestyles.

INGREDIENTS:

8 medium cabbage leaves, stemmed & sliced ½” (or equivalent)

8 oz. Burton’s Smoked Sausage (or other brand), sliced ¼”

2 tsp. bacon grease

2 T. my Sofrito

VARIATION:  Use halved small red radishes or daikon radish slices instead of cabbage

DIRECTIONS:  Cut cabbage and sausage as instructed above.  Add bacon grease to a skillet and head on medium-high.  Add sausage to the pan and brown slices on both sides lightly.  Add cabbage and stir-fry a few minutes until cabbage begins to soften.  Add the sofrito herb mixture and continue stir-frying until cabbage is done to your liking. Serve at once.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 2 servings, each contains:

350 cals, 27g fat, 6.2g carbs, 2.55g fiber, 3.65g NET CARBS, 23.4g protein, 1050 mg sodium (reduce sausage to reduce sodium)

Smoked Sausage Twinkies®

Peggy 4 Comments

I was craving some good old sausage cheese balls for lunch today, but realized I’m out of bulk breakfast sausage.  But I did have a 6-oz. piece of smoked sausage in the fridge.  Wasn’t sure how all that would bind together with the change in meat, so I added 2 eggs, some cream and baked my ball-shaped lunch in to Twinkie® shapes instead.  Wow!  These were amazingly good, and not at all heavy like one would think.  I ate 3 of these things and am pleasantly full.  My husband won’t be home from Waco until dinner, so I’ll let him try them for a late snack perhaps.  I just KNOW he’s going to love these delicious treats!

INGREDIENTS:

2 c. Carbquik Bake Mix (or other low-carb mix)Smoked Sausage Twinkies (2)

1 c. shredded Cheddar cheese

6 oz. Burton’s Smoked Sausage (or any brand you have), chopped

2 large eggs, beaten

½ c. heavy cream

VARIATION:  Add a little minced green onion to the batter.

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º.  Using a brush, oil a non-stick twinkie-shape pan (12-slot).  I used a food processor to chop up my sausage, but you could finely dice with a knife if you prefer.  Scrape into a medium bowl.  Add all other ingredients and stir until uniformly moistened and blended.  Spoon the stiff batter into the 12 slots of the twinkie pan.  Batter will be nearly to the top of each slot.  Slightly press batter down to eliminate air holes.    Pop into 350º oven for 18-20 minutes or until lightly browned as shown above.  Remove from oven.  Cool 3-4 minutes before attempting to loosen and lift out of the pan of they may break apart.  Serve warm and enjoy!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 12 Twinkies®, each contains:

123 cals, 11.2g fat, 4.81g carbs, 3.5g fiber, 1.31g NET CARBS, 7.46g protein, 296 mg sodium

Apple-Caramel Snack Cake

Peggy Leave a comment

I continue to try new versions of my modified Atkins MIM (Muffin-in-a-Minute) recipe.  I’m trying to increase my flax intake for a health issue and so far these flax-based gems are helping me.  To the basic Atkins MIM recipe, I added a couple items to improve texture & flavor.  I also increased sweeteners and the amount of butter.  The resulting muffins/cakes are baking up consistently moist and very tasty.

For this one, I used diced apple, caramel sugar-free syrup and cinnamon.  Yummy! This version is not suitable until you get closer to goal weight and are at the higher-carb fruits rung of the Atkins OWL carb-re-introduction ladder.

Our latest three volumes of LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS cookbooks are calling you.  Volume 8 and Volume 9 are almost exclusively comprised of my recipes!  Included in both editions are a few tasty new creations of my dear friends George Stella and Jennifer Eloff.   Volume 10 is hot off the press with more delectable goodies.  Special prices currently.  There’s a deal for the 10 volume set for around $99!  Hurry and place your order today before this offer ends.  Visit our direct order page at: https://amongfriends.us/Secret-SALE.php.  When you purchase our books, we would sure appreciate you stopping by Amazon to leave a review there.

DRY INGREDIENTS:  (I like to measure out 10 sets of the dry ingredients to put in plastic bags so I can have them on hand like a “ready mix”)

¼ c. golden flax meal

½ tsp. baking powder

1 T. granular Splenda (or equivalent sweetener of choice)

1 T. Resistant Wheat Starch

1 tsp. oat fiber (do not substitute oat bran or oat flour)

1/3 tsp. cinnamon

WET INGREDIENTS:

1 T. melted butter

1 large egg, beaten

2 T. sugar-free Caramel syrup (or almond, or vanilla)

1/2 c. apple, diced

DIRECTIONS:  In a 5-6″ round or oval dish melt the butter in the microwave.  Add the sugar-free syrup & stir with fork (to cool down the butter).  Add the egg and beat all together.  Add in all dry ingredients and stir well with a fork.  Add in your diced apple and stir well. Microwave on HI for about 1 minute 30-40 seconds.  Slide knife tip between cake and bowl and tip cake onto serving plate.  Cut in half for two servings.  This batter rises as it bakes and then slightly falls when removed from microwave…..that is normal………it is done.

VARIATION:  Add some chopped pecans (recalculate those into numbers below if you do).

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 1 cake (2 servings) the size of 2 muffins.  Each half of the cake is a serving and contains:

200.5 cals, 14.3g fat, 16.16g carbs, 9.15g fiber, 7g NET CARBS (use less apple to lower), 5.9g protein, 134 mg sodium

 

 

Chicken-Pizza Logs

Peggy 5 Comments

I created a delicious lunch today with half a baked chicken breast that was leftover from dinner last night.  Man, did these come out ever so good!  I basically took my Cheese Thin Buns recipe, subbed in mozzarella cheese for the Cheddar and added just a pinch of crushed oregano to the batter.  Added my flavorings and baked 12 minutes!  These are so filling with glucomannan (pure fiber) just 2 will be an ample serving for most people.  Men might be able to eat 3, but I could not.  All I can say is lunch tasty, filling and not as heavy as regular pizza can be to me.  You could also make these as bite-size  treats using a mini-muffin pan.  Just spread out into 24 slots and using ½ slice pepperoni atop each mini.  This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins, Keto and gluten-free diets.  Clearly it is not suitable for Paleo due to the cheese.

INGREDIENTS: 

4 T.  plain whey protein powder (I use isolate)

1 T.+1 tsp. glucomannan powder

1 T. baking powder

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

3 eggs, beaten

1 T. olive oil

1/4 c. tap water

1 c. shredded mozzarella cheddar cheese for the batter

4 oz. cooked chicken meat, cut into 12 strips (or 24 bits for minis)

12 slices pepperoni

1/3 c. shredded mozzarella to top (more if you add carbs to numbers below)

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Oil a Twinkie® or baking log pan with your preferred oil (or line large baking sheet with parchment paper).   If you don’t have a Twinkie® pan, but you still want to try this, just make round ones using a regular muffin pan.   They just won’t be “logs”. 😉

On a paper plate, measure out dry ingredients and stir.  Set aside a moment.  Break eggs into medium bowl and add oil and water.  Beat with whisk to blend well.  Using a rubber spatula next, slowly dust in or sprinkle the dry ingredients over the top and stir rapidly to blend.  Add the 1 cup mozzarella shreds, stirring and folding batter over and over to allow the glucomannan to thicken up.  It will be a pretty thick like bread batter in just a couple minutes.  When all nice and thick, spoon about 1½ T. batter into each of 12 oiled Twinkie® pan slots.

If batter seems a bit thin, let it set up a couple minutes longer.  Stir several times more.   If still too thin, I fear you’ve added too much water and need to add a teensy bit more glucomannan powder.   When batter is fairly thick, use the side of your rubber spatula to dip into the Twinkie® slots of your pan, or into your muffin cups.  Or you can spoon batter into 24 oiled mini-muffin cup slots for a bite-sized version of these that would be nice for entertaining.   Top each “log” with a small strip of the chicken meat (around 2″x½” strip or equivalent morsels of meat) until all meat is used up.  Then top with a slice of pepperoni (I sliced mine in half to spread it out).  If not sodium sensitive like we are, you may want to increase pepperoni to 2 slices per log, but alter numbers below accordingly.  Last, sprinkle a few of the extra mozzy shreds atop each log.  Pop pan into hot oven and bake for 9-12 minutes or until lightly browned on top.  Keep an eye out so you don’t over brown these or they may dry out.  To avoid tearing them up, slightly cool before removing from pans to a serving plate.  I used a mini rubber spatula to help lift mine out of the pans.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 12 pizza logs, each log will contain:

137.25 cals, 10.6g fat, 1.75g carbs, 0.71g fiber, 1.04g NET CARBS, 9.93g protein, 397mg sodium

(Divide numbers by 2 if you make the mini-muffin version)

 

 

Pineapple Spoon Cake

Peggy Leave a comment

I’ve been playing around with the classic Atkins MIM (Muffin-in-a-Minute) recipe lately and have come up with several tasty versions.  I’ll be sharing another one here today that I’m calling Pineapple Spoon Cake because it is so moist you simply have to eat it with a spoon.  I’m presenting this recipe with two versions, the original with real pineapple and also a lower-carb second version that substitutes pineapple extract for the real pineapple.  Both are quite good.

I’m trying to increase my flax intake for a health issue and so far these flax-based gems are doing the trick.  To the basic Atkins MIM recipe, I added a couple texture enhancers to improve texture & flavor.  I also increased sweeteners and the amount of butter.  The resulting muffins/cakes are baking up consistently moist and very tasty, especially this one!  All have been sturdy enough to slice or hand-hold but this one and it really requires a spoon to eat.  It’s just too moist to eat with your hands.   Only the extract version of this cake is suitable for Atkins Induction Phase and Keto programs.  Once you’re nearing or at goal weight, the real pineapple version is a must try!

DRY INGREDIENTS: I like to measure out 10 sets of the dry ingredients to put in plastic bags so I can have them on hand like a “ready mix” for when I get a snack craving.  Then all I have to do is add the melted butter, egg, syrup and flavoring item.

¼ c. golden flax meal

½ tsp. baking powder

1 T. granular Splenda (or equivalent sweetener)

1 T. Resistant Wheat Starch

1 tsp. oat fiber (do not substitute high-carb oat bran or oat flour!)

Optional:  Dash ground cinnamon

WET INGREDIENTS:

1 T. melted butter

1 large egg, beaten

2 T. crushed pineapple juice pack

1 T. pineapple or almond sugar-free syrup

LOWER-CARB VARIATION:  Substitute 1/2 tsp. pineapple extract for the crushed pineapple

DIRECTIONS:  In a 5-6″ round or oval dish, melt the butter in your microwave.  Add the sugar-free syrup (to cool down the butter).  Add the egg and beat all together.  Add in the dry ingredients and stir well with a fork.  Add in your choice of flavorings below by stirring to blend or dropping fruit bits in by hand evenly.  Microwave on HI for about 1 minute 30-40 seconds.  This batter rises as it bakes and then slightly falls when removed from microwave…..that is normal.  It is done when dry to touch in center.  If not dry to touch, cook 5-10 seconds longer, as ovens can vary.  Remove and slightly cool. Cut in half with a knife and spoon half onto two individual plates or bowls to serve with a spoon to eat.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 1 cake that is two servings.  Bake in two separate ramekins if you prefer.  Numbers do not include photo garnish (whipped cream and additional teaspoon pineapple).

Each half of the plain cake contains:

With Real Pineapple:  200 cals, 14.25g fat, 16.05g carbs, 8.45g fiber, 8.6g NET CARBS, 6.05g protein, 136mg sodium

With Pineapple Extract: 181 cals, 14.25g fat, 11.6g carbs, 8.2g fiber, 3.4g NET CARBS, 5.8g protein, 134mg sodium

Fruits de Mer Chowder

Peggy 2 Comments

I no longer live on the Texas Gulf Coast and can’t get the wonderful fresh seafood I was accustomed to for 30+ years.  Most of what I can get up here in Central Texas is either frozen or canned.  Sigh.  But you work with what you have.  I wanted to make a new seafood chowder this week so I picked up some frozen and canned seafood at the local grocery store for this purpose.  You can, of course, change out the seafood in this recipe, but you’ll need to recalculate the nutritional info if you do.   Gulf Redfish, if you live on the Gulf Coast, is delicious in ANY chowder, in my opinion.

This recipe is high in sodium (due to canned items and the fact that seafood lives in well…….the sea, which is salty).  To reduce the sodium load in this, drain the canned seafood juices into a large measuring cup (missing out on all that flavor, sigh).  You can even rinse the solids in a colander to lower sodium a little more.  Then just add an equal amount of homemade chicken or seafood stock for the amount of drained off seafood liquid in your measuring cup.  You can either freeze the drained off seafood juices for parceling out in future chowders or discard.  Your call.  This is not suitable for Atkins Induction Phase unless you omit the wine.

INGREDIENTS:

5 thick slices bacon (6 oz.), cut coarsely

3 oz. onion, chopped

12 oz. crawfish tail meat (use fresh if you can get it.  I used frozen)

2 small lobster tails (5.5 oz. meat) shelled, coarsely cut up

1   4-oz. can whole mussels (4 oz.) with juice (or fresh if available)

2  8-oz. cans whole oysters with juice (or fresh if available)

1½ c. white clam sauce (canned, I used Progresso brand)

1½ c. homemade seafood or chicken stock (no-sodium)

½ white wine (I used Riesling) [omit if still in Atkins Induction Phase]

3 cloves garlic, minced

½ c. parsley, chopped

¼ tsp. black pepper

Few drops fish sauce (Thai Kitchen or Red Boat)

1 c. diakon radish (or turnip or red radish), chopped

1 c. heavy cream

1/8-¼ tsp. glucomannan or your favorite thickener

DIRECTIONS: Brown bacon in soup pot over high heat.  Add onion to pot when bacon is nearly done.  Sauté until onion is caramelizing.  Add all other ingredients but lobster, cream and thickener.  Bring all to a boil and lower heat to lowest setting to allow a slow simmer for about 30 minutes.  Add cream.  Simmer 10 more minutes.  Add glucomannan slowly (I dust on with an old salt shaker), stirring after each addition to allow time to thicken up.  When thick to your liking, remove from heat and serve with a nice salad.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 8 bowls (about 1¼c. each), each one contains:

348 cals, 27.5g fat, 7.55g carbs, 0.60g fiber, 6.95g NET CARBS, 22.7g protein, 1049 mg sodium (use the tips I gave above to lower sodium)

 

 

Breakfast “Chili Dogs”

Peggy 2 Comments

Who eats chili dogs for breakfast?  Well………I tried a little experiment with a batch of my Cheese Thin Buns this morning and it actually was quite tasty.  A pleasant switch from keto quiches, bacon and eggs or low-carb pancakes.

Seems like when I cook (or defrost ready-cooked chili for a meal) there is invariably 1 bowl leftover.  I never throw food away because I must live up to my husband’s label for me:  “Queen of Leftovers”.  Today I lived up to that title. 🙂 Added just 2 tsp. chili atop one of my favorite buns, a special-shaped sausage patty, a sprinkle of cheese.  Voila! A delightful breakfast was born!   We were both quite surprised this was so tasty!  The hubs had me crack a couple eggs aside his, requiring extra cook time (5 minutes longer) but I forgot to get a photo of the one with eggs before he had eaten most of it.  This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins and Keto plans.

Buns right from the oven:  Glucomannan Hot Dog Buns

INGREDIENTS:

1 recipe my Cheese Thin Buns batter

4½-5 oz. bulk breakfast sausage

4 T. leftover chili

6 T. shredded Cheddar cheese

6 T. shredded Mozzarella Cheese

OPTIONAL: 6 eggs (1 per serving) or 12 eggs (2 per serving)

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Make the Cheese Thin Buns batter per that recipe’s instructions, using a lightly-oiled eclair or hot-dog bun pan to contain the batter.  I used this Tescoma® pan set into a metal pan for support/handling: https://www.amazon.com/Bread-roll-moulds-holes-5-5/dp/B06Y3MGDVT/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=tescoma+silicone+baking+pan&qid=1553192169&s=gateway&sr=8-3. If you don’t have or want to buy this pan, use whatever similar shape you have.  Bake 12-13 minutes at 350º.

While those are baking, oil 6 small 6″ oval baking dishes (or whatever shape you have similar).  Divide sausage into 6 portions (about 2.5 oz. each).  Press them into an oblong (or shape of your baking dishes) flat shapes to match your pan shape.  Brown them on both sides in a skillet over medium heat and remove when done.

Now place 1 bun into each oiled ramekin dish.  Top with one of your cooked sausage “ovals”.  Spoon 2 tsp. chili down the length of the sausage patty in the center.  Top each chili-dog with 1 T. Cheddar and 1 T. mozzarella shreds.  If adding the extra egg(s), crack one to the left and one to the right of each chili dog assembly.  It will flow out the entire length.  Pop the small dishes into a 350º oven and bake 15-16 minutes.  If not using the extra eggs, they will be done in just 10-11 minutes baking time.  We ate ours right from the baking dishes set onto a larger plate to protect the table.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 6 Breakfast Chili Dogs, each contains:

With 2 eggs added: 583 cals, 45.23g fat, 6.48g carbs, 3.48g fiber, 3g NET CARBS, 35.7g protein, 1064 mg sodium

With no extra eggs:  440 cals, 35g fat, 5.71g carbs, 3.48g fiber, 2.23g NET CARBS, 23.1g protein, 924mg sodium

 

 

Indian Meatball Curry

Peggy 4 Comments

This delicious curry draws  much of its flavor from the dried fenugreek leaves.  I can’t really describe the flavor of fenugreek, other than it is similar to dried parsley with a musty, somewhat earthy taste.  Although it is available in whole seeds and powder, I prefer using the dried leaf form of this spice in curries.  Widely used in Iranian, and Indian cuisine, it is a nice backdrop flavor that adds something special to the other spice profile of this dish.  I order mine on the internet, but if you’re lucky enough to have an Indian or Middle Eastern grocery in your city, they will surely have it.  You can make this recipe without it, but it won’t be quite as unique in flavor, more like a lot of other curries you’ve had before………good, just not AS good.  🙂

I like to make meatballs in big batches and freeze the leftovers for quick, easy meals in the future.  Although this recipe of meatballs makes thirty 1½ meatballs, I only cooked 9 tonight in my gravy and found that 3 (plus 2 large spoons of gravy) made a nice serving over some cooked cauliflower “rice”.  My husband ate 4 meatballs.    The two leftover (with a couple spoons of sauce) will make a nice lunch one day for someone.

MEATBALL INGREDIENTS: Makes 30 (but leftovers are even better!)

24 oz. (1½ lb.) lean ground pork

18 oz. chicken breast (mine was skin on and bone-in, use only 16 oz. meat after boning, skinning)

2 oz. onion, finely minced

1/3 c. cilantro leaves, chopped

½ jalapeno, seeded and minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 large eggs

½ sheet Joseph’s Lavash Flax & Oat Fiber flatbread (omit if still on Atkins Induction Phase)

1/8 tsp. sea salt

1 tsp. Garam Masala Spice Blend

½ tsp. curry powder

¼ tsp. ground turmeric

½ tsp. ground cumin

¼ tsp. coarse black pepper

VARIATION:  Use ground beef or lamb for a change in flavor!

CURRY/GRAVY INGREDIENTS:

2 c. homemade chicken broth

¼ c. heavy cream

½ c. tomato sauce (or 2 T. tomato paste)

¼ cilantro leaves, chopped

½-1 tsp. Garam Masala

1 tsp. curry powder

1/8 tsp. ground turmeric

1 T. crushed, dried fenugreek leaves (or 1 tsp. ground seed)

1/3 tsp. nigella seed (optional), also called Charnushka or Kalongi

1/8 tsp. coarse black pepper (or cayenne if you like curry spicy)

½ tsp. sea salt

¼ c. frozen peas (or frozen green beans to lower carbs)

3 Roma plum tomatoes, cut into chunks (added at very last of cooking)

Optional:  1/2 cup coconut milk for richer gravy (adds 1 more net carb than shown below)

DIRECTIONS: Mix all meatball spices in a bowl and set aside a moment.  Wet the bread with water to soften.  Squeeze out water and break/mush it up in a medium mixing bowl.  Add meat(s) and all other meat mixture ingredients to bowl.  Mix with a fork or your hands (like you do meatloaf) until all ingredients are uniformly blended into one mass of meat.  Using your palms, form thirty 1½” meatballs placing them on a non-stick or parchment-lined sheet pan.  I actually skillet browned the nine I was cooking for tonight’s meal.  Pop into 350º oven for about 30 minutes or until lightly browning.  Remove.

While the meatballs are cooking, if you skillet-browned tonight’s meatballs, in that very same skillet, add all listed gravy ingredients (except the tomatoes) and bring to a boil over high heat.  Lower heat to a simmer and simmer for about 20 minutes.  Add the tomatoes and meatballs back into the skillet at this juncture.  Continue simmering about 10 more minutes to reduce liquid and blend flavors.  The gravy will slightly thicken as it cooks down (keep simmering it too watery.  It WILL thicken up).  If you like your curry gravy thicker, add a light dusting of your favorite low-carb thickener and simmer 1-2 minutes to set up. Serve at once with green side, salad or if preferred, a prepared bed of cooked cauliflower rice.

TIP: Freeze the surplus meatballs for future Indian curry recipes.  Just make up any of your favorite curry gravies and drop the still frozen meatballs, simmering all long enough to gently thaw them and compose you new dish!  A quick week-night meal at the ready in about 30 minutes with pre-cooked meatballs!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   (meat will make 30 meatballs total).  Using just 9 of them for this meal.  3= 1 serving.  Each serving plus 2 large cooking spoons of the curry/gravy will contain:

349 cals, 21.47g fat, 9.93g carbs, 2.08g fiber, 7.85g NET CARBS, 26.55g protein, 670 mg sodium

Coconut Shrimp Curry

Peggy Leave a comment

IMG_4994

Curry (a similar version to this made with chicken) was the very first meal I ever cooked for my husband.  He said my curry is what won his heart.  🙂  We just love Indian food and with my years of cooking it, I’m getting pretty good at it.   I recently made a delicious version with coconut milk, absent from the chicken curry I made him when we were in college.  Pretty good combination, coconut and curry.  I served my shrimp curry atop a bed of sauteed fresh spinach leaves and they were delicious together!  This Atkins Induction-friendly dish goes nicely with a cucumber mint salad or a crisp green salad.  This recipe is suitable for most Keto diets and the Primal Blueprint program.  Paleo folks will need to use all coconut milk and no cream.

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. raw shrimp, shelled and cleaned

4 oz. onion, chopped or sliced thinly

3 T. coconut oil

4 oz. San Marzano tomatoes (8), cut in halves (or 2 small diced Romas)

1½ c. seafood broth (boil shells for 30 minutes in water and strain off broth)

1 tsp. my Garam Masala

1 tsp. curry powder

½ c. coconut milk

½ c. (4 oz.) heavy cream

½ c. cilantro leaves, chopped, loosely placed in cup

xanthan gum or glucomannan powder to thicken

DIRECTIONS: Heat a non-stick wok or large non-stick skillet over high heat.  Add oil and sliced onion.  Saute until onion begins to brown.  Add shrimp and stir-fry with onion until scrimp begins to sear on surface.  Add seafood stock, spices, and lower heat to medium-low.  Simmer for 30 minutes or until onion is totally soft.  Lower heat to lowest setting and add cilantro, tomatoes and cream and coconut milk.  Continue to simmer on low heat for 10 minutes or so.  Either thicken with several light dustings of the xanthan.  Wait a couple minutes before each dusting, as too much can get kind of slimy.  Or, you can mix a little of the curry liquid in a saucer with ¼-½ tsp. glucomannan powder.  Stir the glucomannon paste slowly into the curry sauce.  When thickened to suit your preference, remove from heat.  For anyone at the dining table NOT ON LOW-CARB, this is divine on steamed basmati rice.  Low carbers should eat it alone or over a bed of sauteed spinach or steamed cauliflower or cauli-rice.  🙂

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 4 servings (about 3/4-1 c. each).  Each serving contains: (DOES NOT include spinach or cauliflower you serve this on)

438 cals, 31g fat, 7.4g carbs, 1.6g fiber, 5.8g NET CARBS, 27g protein, 331 mg sodium

Cabbage Trifecta

Peggy Leave a comment

This colorful triple cabbage side dish was most delicious with our broiled chicken last night.  I have always loved cabbage.  My husband, on the other hand, isn’t a big fan.  He’ll eat it, but gripes the entire meal.  But he dipped up seconds of this veggie side!  He “says” he doesn’t LIKE cabbage, but I prove him wrong on this regularly.  He prefers his cabbage raw in coleslaw.  In fact he LOVES coleslaw!  So maybe I got enough bacon in this recipe to disguise the flavor he finds offensive in cooked cabbage.  I know it was just right for my palate.  🙂  This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins, Keto, Primal and Paleo eating programs.

INGREDIENTS:

2 c. shredded napa (Chinese) cabbage

2 c. shredded green cabbage

1 c. shredded purple cabbage

3 oz. onion, sliced thin

5 slices bacon, cut in 1″ pieces

¼ tsp. coarse black pepper

DIRECTIONS:  Brown bacon in large skillet or wok until it begins to get crisp.  Add onion and saute until it begins to brown/caramelize.  Add green cabbage and saute until it begins to go limp.  Add napa cabbage and only saute a couple minutes until barely gets limp.  Add purple cabbage last so it won’t discolor too much.  Volume will reduce during cooking with cabbage. Sprinkle on the pepper, stir well and spoon up into your serving dish.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 4 1-cup servings (after wilting down), each contains:

193 cals, 16.2g fat, 7.37g carbs, 2.25g fiber, 5.12g NET CARBS, 5.65g protein, 324 mg sodium

Ribeye Steak in Tequila Cream

Peggy 4 Comments

Taken stove-top, which has yellowish lighting

Taken stove-top, under yellow spectrum light.

I’ve never cooked with tequila before, but I like margaritas, so I thought it was high time I give it a whirl.  This rib steak, which I was originally just going to butter sear tonight, transformed in my skillet into a delicious, saucy dinner my husband and I just loved!  I served this with steamed cauliflower and fresh green beans.  Omit the tequila if still in the initial Inducation phase of Atkins.  Suitable for all other phases of Atkins and Keto diets.

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Taken in normal lighting

In normal lighting (truer sauce color)   🙂

INGREDIENTS:

16 oz. rib-eye steak, cut into three portions (or other tender cut of beef)

1 clove garlic

3 T. unsalted butter

2 T. canned green chiles, undrained

1 c. rich beef broth

1/3 c. heavy cream

Dash each salt and coarse black pepper

1 oz. tequila (I used Hornitos)

¼ c. chopped cilantro

DIRECTIONS:   Mince garlic and rub both sides of the meat with it.  Melt the butter in a large, non-stick skillet.  Sear the steaks on both sides until done to your liking.  Add all remaining ingredients except cilantro.  Remember to omit the tequila if still in Induction.  Reduce to low heat and simmer about 5-7 minutes for flavors to blend. Add cilantro and simmer 1 minute longer.  Remove meat to temporary plate.  Pour sauce into a serving platter.  Place meat on top and serve at once.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 3 servings, each contains:

443 cals., 34g fat, 1.13g carbs, 0.4g fiber, 1.9g NET CARBS, 48.1g protein, 443 mg sodium

 

Peggy’s Muffin-in-a-Minute (MIM)

Peggy Leave a comment

Blueberry Version with blueberry syrup. Use clear syrups to avoid “pink” batter.

I’ve been playing around with the classic Atkins MIM (Muffin-in-a-Minute) recipe this month.  I’m trying to increase my flax intake for a health issue and so far these flax-based gems are helping.  To the basic Atkins MIM recipe, I add a couple enhancers to improve texture bit.  I also increase sweetener and the amount of butter.  The resulting muffins/cakes are baking up consistently moist and very tasty.  Trials so far include of course, the classic cinnamon version, a chai version, a mango version, a peach version, a cherry version and today a blueberry version.  We love them ALL! My husband’s fav is the cherry; mine is the peach.   FYI the least carb-y versions are the ones with just cinnamon, Boyajian oils or chai tea spice, followed by the Boyajian oil citrus zest versions.

I used blueberry sugar-free syrup for the one I made this morning, which is a dark blue in color, so it made the batter turn pink.  Flavor was scrumptious!  The original cinnamon version and the Boyajian oil versions are suitable for Atkins Induction.  The others are OK once you get to at least the the berries (or higher-carb fruit) level of the Atkins carb re-introduction ladder.

DRY INGREDIENTS:  (I like to measure out 10 sets of the dry ingredients to put in plastic bags so I can have them on hand like a “ready mix”)

¼ c. golden flax meal

½ tsp. baking powder

1 T. granular Splenda (or equivalent sweetener)

1 T. Resistant Wheat Starch

1 tsp. oat fiber (do not substitute very carb-y oat bran or oat flour)

WET INGREDIENTS:

1 T. melted butter

1 large egg, beaten

2 T. sugar-free syrup (select specialty flavor to compliment your choice below)

DIRECTIONS:  In a 5-6″ round or oval dish, melt the butter in your microwave.  Add the sugar-free syrup (to cool down the butter).  Add the egg and beat all together.  Add in the dry ingredients and stir well with a fork.  Add in your choice of flavorings below by stirring to blend or dropping fruit bits in by hand evenly.  Microwave on HI for about 1 minute 30-40 seconds.  Slide knife tip between cake and bowl and tip cake onto serving plate.  This batter rises as it bakes and then slightly falls when removed from microwave…..that is normal………it is done.

FLAVORING OPTIONS:

½ tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. Chai Tea Spice Blend

2 drops Boyajian orange oil + bit of orange zest

2 drops Boyajian lemon oil + bit of lemon zest

2 drops Boyajian lime oil + bit of lime zest

6 chopped raisins + dash cinnamon

1 T. ch. pecans

3 slices peach, chopped

6 canned red tart cherries

10 blueberries

2 T. pumpkin + 1/8 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

6 raspberries cut in halves

2 strawberries, chopped

2 T. ch. pineapple (or canned, crushed)

2 T. grated apple

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 1 cake the size of 2 small muffins.  Each half is a serving.  Not including any flavoring additives you chose to add from the flavoring options suggested, each half of this cake contains:

183 cals, 14.25g fat, 11.55g carbs, 8.2g fiber, 3.35g NET CARBS, 5.8g protein, 134mg sodium

This entire base cake/muffin recipe (without flavorings) contains:  366 cals, 28.5g fat, 23.1 g carbs, 16.4g fiber, 6.7g NET CARBS, 11.6g protein, 267 mg sodium (eat only half the cake/muffin to cut these numbers in half)