Pork on “Lotus Leaf”

February 13, 2019March 24, 2023Peggy 3 Comments

I often am smitten with a good recipe at my worst times. One day I had fallen asleep at the TV in my favorite recliner. It was already late when the hubs woke me up asking “Are you going to cook dinner or shall I order/pick up something for us?”. I had a bad cold and was a little foggy. I had already thawed 3 small pieces of pork loin earlier in the day but hadn’t decided what I was going to cook for dinner yet. A quick stir fry is usually what I do to pull off a fast, effortless meal. This idea erupted in my head when I saw the fresh, small head of cabbage sitting right by the pork in the refrigerator. So I proceeded, almost as if in cruise control.

The entire lotus plant is edible and is also used in Chinese medicines. They say the tubers tastes a lot like sweet potato. I’ve read they use the blossoms in cooking. They do dry the slightly sweet leaves and sell them on-line. I read the leaves tend to be aromatic/perfumey in cooking. If you have lotus growing in a pond where you live, I would encourage you to use real lotus leaves for this. Not being so lucky, I used outer cabbage leaves as a stand-in. The shape is similar and visual impact is nice. Cabbage is also slightly sweet. Plus, cabbage is just so good in Chinese food!

Folks, I have no idea where the presentation idea was coming from, as I was not fully awake by any stretch of the imagination. I sure know we both loved this dish! My husband said at table “Be sure to upload this one to your blog!” I had already decided to do that after just one bite! This dish may sound spicy upon first reading, but I assure you, it was not, as I don’t care for overly spicy food. Many of you may want to increase the Sambal Oelek, or even double the jalapeno! This dish had just a tingle of heat on my tongue and that’s all I want.

As I began preparation, I knew it would be too rich without something “bland” to stand in for rice. Then I remembered a little of our cauliflower mash leftover from a couple nights before. Seasoned with a dab of Sambal Oelek chili paste and voilà! A miracle that disguised most of the cauliflower taste in my “rice”. It really complemented the mélange of flavors of the meat mixture!

This recipe is suitable for Atkins Phase 2 and beyond as well as other ketogenic diets. Omit the sherry and those on Atkins Induction can also enjoy this delightful concoction.

INGREDIENTS:

3 T. coconut oil (or your preferred oil)

9 oz. pork loin, trimmed of all fat, sliced julienne-style

3 T. total dry sherry

3 T. total low-sodium soy sauce, tamari or coconut aminos

2½ finely shredded green cabbage

½ c. green onions, chopped (I used the white ends only)

1 large jalapeno, seeded and chopped

1 tsp. fresh ginger, minced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/8 tsp. sea salt

2¼-2½ c. leftover, butter-seasoned cauliflower mash

1 tsp. Sambal Oelek chile paste

½ small carrot, peeled, shaved into long thin strips

VARIATION: Use lean beef instead of pork.

DIRECTIONS: Place julienned pork in a bowl with 2 T. of the sherry and 1½ T. of the soy sauce. Mix with your hands and let marinate about 10 minutes while you cut up the other ingredients.

Peel off 3 outer leaves of cabbage and dunk in boiling water for 2-3 minutes to slightly soften. If you want to actually eat the serving leaf (which we do eat), cook them maybe 4 minutes. Remove from water, drain on paper towel and set them on serving platter (mine, as you can see, are shaped like a giant lotus leaf, hence the recipe name). Discard water.

In a small non-stick skillet, mix the leftover cauliflower mash with the tsp. of Sambal Oelek. It will turn the cauli pink when uniformly stirred. Turn heat on low and warm while you do the stir-fry.

In a heated wok, melt the coconut oil over high heat. Add the julienned pork and stir-fry until it begins to brown. Add cabbage, green onion, jalapeno, ginger and garlic to the wok and continue to stir-fry. Sprinkle the mixture with the sea salt, add the strips of carrot you have made with a carrot peeler and stir a couple minutes to let the carrot slightly cook. Add the remaining tablespoon sherry and the remaining 1½ tablespoons soy sauce.

To serve, spoon 1/3 of the pink cauliflower ‘rice’ onto each leaf of cabbage and spread out a bit, leaving the dark edge of the leaf exposed. Then spoon on 1/3 of the meat mixture on top of the cauli mixture and serve your family and guests at once. I found one of these filled me up like a tick, as we say in the South. My husband did eat two of them, gluton that he is. ENJOY! 🙂

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 3 servings, each contains:

439 cals., 26.7g fat, 13.93g carbs, 6.0g fiber, 7.93g NET CARBS, 23.3g protein, 1178 mg sodium

Pork Loin in Mushroom-Wine Sauce

February 11, 2019Peggy Leave a comment

To be so simple to prepare, these boneless pork loin chops were both delicious and especially tender. My husband just loved these tonight and said to “please do these often!” A quick pan dinner for a busy week-night when you’re tired, for sure. Simply sear, simmer and EAT! This recipe is not suitable until Atkins Phase 2 due to the wine, but subbing in chicken stock would allow this for those still in Atkins Induction Phase.

INGREDIENTS:

2 boneless pork loin chops (or bone-in chops)

¼ tsp. my Homemade Montreal Steak Seasoning

3 T. butter

6 large mushrooms, cut into quarters

1 clove minced garlic

Dash black pepper and sea salt

¼ c. white wine (I used Riesling)

DIRECTIONS: Melt butter in skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle Montreal Steak Seasoning on both sides of the pork. Sear both sides of the meat until light brown. Lift meat out to a plate when both sides are golden (meat will not quite be done). Add garlic, mushrooms, black pepper and sea salt. Saute mushrooms until nearly tender, push them to the outside of the pan and replace meat in pan. Lower heat to medium-low. Add wine to both de-glaze the brown bits from the pan bottom and to continue cooking the meat. Simmer over low heat about 5-7 minutes or until meat is firmed up and fully done. Remove from stove and serve at once with you favorite sides.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 2 servings, each contains:

443 cals, 31g fat, 3.3g carbs, 0.65g fiber, 2.65g NET CARBS, 33g protein, 143mg sodium

Individual Cherry Coffeecake

February 7, 2019February 7, 2019Peggy Leave a comment

I made an absolutely delicious single-serving coffeecake for our breakfast this morning. I’m having some health issues and I need to eat something with flax meal or psyllium nearly everyday to correct the problem. I’ve refined the One-Minute Muffin recipe that is so popular on the internet in all its variant glory. My version gives it a slightly smoother texture, less flax taste and pulls the carbs down (except when you add carb-y fruit like cherries). This one is my husband’s favorite version to date. I have started measuring out all dry ingredients x 10 and storing in 10 plastic bags so I can whip these up much faster int he mornings.

To this basic batter you can change up the sugar-free syrup flavors, spices or berries/fruit to come up with all sorts of tasty morning treats. In my case, it’s like taking my medicine and LIKING it! This particular version of the coffeecake is not suitable until you are nearly at goal weight due to the use of high-carb cherries. But cherries are my husband’s fav, so what can I say? Choose strawberries, blueberries or raspberries and the carbs will go down on this treat. You can order the more unusual ingredients in this recipe as always, at Netrition.com, or from other internet suppliers.

INGREDIENTS:

4 T. golden flax meal

½ tsp. baking powder

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

1 tsp. resistant wheat starch

1 tsp. oat fiber (do not sub in higher-carb oat bran or oat flour)

1 large egg, beaten

1 T. melted butter

2 T. almond sugar-free syrup (I used Monin brand)

8 tart cherries (canned)

VARIATION: Mix up some cream cheese frosting and spread or pipe a wee bit on top for a sweeter coffeecake (or for a dessert).

DIRECTIONS: Melt butter in 6″ oval baking dish (round or square will do also). Add the sugar free syrup and egg and beat with a fork until the 3 are incorporated well and smooth. Measure the flax meal on top of the egg mixture. Measure and add in all other dry ingredients. Beat all together until you have a smooth batter. Drop the 8 cherries evenly on top and pop in your microwave on HI for about 1 minute 30 sec. (check at 1 minute as microwaves vary a lot). Remove from oven. Run knife tip around outside and tip out onto plate. Serve at once.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 1 coffeecake which contains:

365 cals, 28.5g fat, 23.2g carbs, 12.3g fiber, 10.9g NET CARBS (only eat half or use berries to cut carbs), 12g protein, 331 mg sodium

Kale and Smoked Sausage

February 2, 2019February 3, 2019Peggy Leave a comment

What a pleasant surprise our lunch was today! It was ready in under 30 minutes and DELICIOUS! My husband isn’t as fond of kale as I am yet he dipped up seconds on this dish! That tells you how well smoked sausage and kale taste together. A flavor combination you really must try! The addition of leeks and yellow onion, with their sweet edge, really mellowed the kale’s “greens” taste as well! This quick and tasty dish is suitable for all phases of Atkins, Keto diets, Primal and Paleo programs as well.

INGREDIENTS:

4 c. curly leaf kale, stemmed and cut into large pieces (3/4 bunch)

2 T. bacon grease

3 oz. yellow onion, cut up in wedges

1 leek, well-washed and chopped large

6 oz. smoked pork sausage

Dash salt

Coarse black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS: Melt bacon grease in large pot over high heat. Add yellow onion and saute until it caramelizes. Add stemmed and washed kale to the pot. Add salt and pepper as well. Add enough water to just cover the kale. Bring to a boil and then lower heat to medium-low. Simmer for 10 minutes or until kale is softening. Add the chopped leek and continue simmering for only about 10 more minutes.

While the greens are cooking, cook the sausage in a separate skillet. I like to slice my links as shown above so the meat cooks more quickly and more evenly. Brown lightly on both sides over medium heat and remove when done. When the meat is done, the greens should also be done, as they won’t take long. Overcooked kale is not only unappealing in color (brownish-green) but they are both strong and bitter. I’m certain, such overcooking is why many people do not like them. They only take about 15-20 minutes TOTAL to get tender, keeping their mild, delicate flavor. Any longer on the heat and they are simply inedible, in my opinion. Remove from heat at 20 minutes, drain and plate 1/4 of the greens on each plate. Add 1/4 of the sausage on top of each serving of greens as shown above.

MY PERSONAL NOTE: Be sure to get a small bite of sausage with each bite of greens, you’ll be amazed at the almost sweet taste the flavor combo has in your mouth.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 4 servings, each contains:

307 cals, 22g fat, 11.45g carbs, 1.92g fiber, 9.53g NET CARBS, 19g protein, 809mg sodium

Pineapple-Pecan Cookies

February 1, 2019August 31, 2022Peggy 9 Comments

I made some delicious pineapple cookies recently. They came out kind of chewy and are still like that after they cooled off. I’m very pleased with the moist, chewy texture of these cookies and will likely use this cookie dough for many cookie variations in the future. These freeze well and are even chewier eaten right out of the freezer!! These are not suitable until the advanced fruit rung of the Atkins OWL ladder, or near Pre-Maintenance. But they are so good, they are well worth waiting for.

INGREDIENTS:

2 c. almond flour

½ c. coconut flour

1 T. oat fiber

1 tsp. glucomannan powder (konjac powder)

1/8 tsp. salt

½ tsp. baking soda

½ c. butter, softened (or coconut oil)

2 T. almond butter

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1½ tsp. pineapple extract

½ c. granular Splenda

1 T. erythritol

1 egg, beaten

¼ c. sugar-free imitation honey (I make my own to save money, see below)

½ c. juice pack crushed pineapple (water pack if available), drained well

½ c. chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º. Measure out all wet ingredients including the pineapple into a large mixing bowl. Beat well with a fork until smooth. Measure out all dry ingredients, including the nuts, on top of the wet and stir well to blend. The dough will be moderately stiff. Roll into 1″ balls and place them onto parchment lined baking sheet. Press balls down slightly flat and try to leave 1″ between cookies. Pop pan into preheated oven. Bake for about 8-10 minutes. Do not overbrown these cookies or texture will be drier and less chewy. Remove from oven and cool completely on the pan before attempting to remove with a spatula. These are delicate while hot but “firm up” nicely when they cool. Store in an airtight container. I store mine in the freezer and eat them without even defrosting!

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 30 cookies, each contains:

110 cals, 9.79 g fat, 4.55 g carbs, 2.07 g fiber, 2.48 g NET CARBS, 2.55 g protein, 45 mg sodium

HOMEMADE IMITATION HONEY: Modified slightly from a recipe of Birgit Kerr on Birgitkerr.blogspot.com. Boil for 2-3 minutes ¼ c. erythritol, 1 tsp. honey, 2 T. imitation honey and 1 pkt. stevia or Splenda. Cool and put in airtight jar. If it crystalises over time, soften in microwave on defrost a minute before using.

Avocado Dressing

January 28, 2019April 11, 2023Peggy 4 Comments

We grilled rib-eye steaks last night and I whipped up a delightful avocado dressing for our salad. It was perfect with our steaks! It only took 5 minutes to make and really pleased my husband! This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins and other Keto diets.

INGREDIENTS:

1 ripe avocado, skinned, seeded

3 T. sour cream

3 T. my Shawarma Mayonnaise (or other homemade mayo)

1 T. red wine vinegar

1/8 tsp. sea salt

1/4 tsp. coarse black pepper

DIRECTIONS: Place all ingredients in small bowl or whipping container for your stick blender. Blend until smooth. You can also use a large blender to do this job. Spoon into a serving dish and slather atop your favorite green salad mix or taco salad.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 4 servings (possibly 5), each of 4 servings contains:

168 cals, 19g fat, 4.42g carbs, 2.97g fiber, 1.45g NET CARBS, 1.5g protein, 102mg sodium

Lasagna Eggplant Slices

January 27, 2019February 7, 2019Peggy 2 Comments

I made a quick dinner tonight. The hubs was in Austin and a few minutes late getting home, so I almost over browned this dinner. I’m sure that has happened to you a time or two. 🙂 This dinner was scrumptious! Lasagna without all the time and effort. About 15 minutes to put together (if sauce is in your freezer at all times like at my house) and 40 minutes to bake. I do hope you’ll try this sometime. You can sub in a commercial low-carb sauce and perhaps cut a few carbs off my recipe for sauce. Your family will love you for trying this recipe. This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins, Keto plans and Primal Blueprint if you do dairy occasionally.

INGREDIENTS:

14 oz. eggplant

4 T. olive oil

3/4 c. ricotta cheese

1 c. my homemade spaghetti sauce

1 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

4 T. grated Parmesan

½ c. heavy cream

1 large egg, beaten

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º. Line a large baking sheet with parchment for clean-up ease. Cut the stem off the eggplant. Sliver off (lengthwise) the outer skin off the left and right sides. Cut the remaining eggplant into four thick ½” slices. Heat oil in large skillet and sear eggplant (2 at a time) on both sices until the slices just begin to turn translucent and slightly soften. this speeds up cooking time and insures the eggplant will get done in the oven.

Place the four seared slices of eggplant evenly on the parchment-lined pan. Using the back of a spoon, spread half the ricotta evenly on the eggplant slices. Place half the mozzarella shreds evenly on each slice next. Using a measuring cup, spoon ¼ c. of the meat sauce over the top of each slice. Place the remaining mozzarella cheese shreds evenly on top next.

Now, in a small bowl, using a spoon, whip the remaining ricotta cheese, egg and cream until a smooth sauce is formed. It will thicken as you stir it. Spoon it evenly down the center each slice so it won’t all roll off during cooking. Pop pan into heated 350º oven and bake for 30-35 minutes (Mine pictured above cooked 40 min. total.)

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 4 servings, each contains (using my homemade sauce):

547 cals, 45g fat, 13.65g carbs, 3.97g fiber, 9.68g NET CARBS, 24.4g protein, 305mg sodium

Einkorn Jumbo Cinnamon Muffins

January 26, 2019January 26, 2019Peggy 3 Comments

I’ve been wanting to try my delicious Einkorn Dinner Roll recipe as a sweet muffin and this morning was the day. Tried using my brand new jumbo muffin pan for the first time, too. The pan cups here were filled 3/4 full and rose nicely! Being jumbo, these are a bit carb-y, so you might want to make 12 regular-size muffins to cut the numbers below in half per muffin. Alternately, you can use liquid sweeteners and cut carbs even more. The psyllium and flax meal make these VERY filling, so not even the heartiest sweets eaters will ask for a second one. Place those leftover muffins in a plastic bag and as with all low-carb baked goods, keep refrigerated until you want them again. Should keep about a week.

This recipe is not suitable until you are near goal weight (Pre-Maintenance).

DRY INGREDIENTS:

1 ¼ c. almond flour

2 T. Einkorn flour

½ c. egg white protein powder

2 T. oat fiber

2 T. coconut flour

1 T. baking powder

2 T. golden flax meal

¼ tsp. sea salt

3 T. psyllium husk powder

½ c. Splenda (or equivalent sweetener of choice)

WET INGREDIENTS:

1 tsp. dry yeast dissolved in 2 T. warm water + 2 tsp. sugar (consumed by yeast)

5 large eggs, beaten

3 T. olive oil

2 T. melted butter

¼ c. egg whites (I use carton variety)

½ c. boiling water (added at very last)

TOPPING: 3/4 c. ch. pecans, 2 tsp. cinnamon, 3 T. melted butter, 2 T. Splenda

VARIATION: Add a little brown sugar substitute to the topping mixture

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º. Lightly oil a jumbo muffin tin with a brush and set aside. Dissolve yeast in 2 T. warm water and add a 2 tsp. sugar (consumed by the yeast). Set aside for now. Mix topping ingredients in another small bowl, stir and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, measure out all dry ingredients. Stir well. In a separate bowl, beat eggs and add oil, melted butter and egg whites. Beat until uniform and smooth. Next add the dissolved yeast mixture and stir well. Now pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and beat well with rubber spatula until all is moistened smooth. Add in boiling water all at once and beat well 15-20 times with spatula until smooth. Using half-cup measuring cup, spoon batter into greased muffin pan slots, evenly distributing the batter as best you can. Cups will be about 3/4 full. sprinkle on topping evenly on the 6 muffins. Pop in preheated 350º oven for around 20-22 minutes. Check at 20 minutes as ovens vary. If not firm and dry to touch center top, cook 2-3 minutes longer. Remove from oven and cool 3-4 minutes. Gently lift out with knife tip and serve warm with butter.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 6 jumbo muffins, each contains:

457 cals, 37.7 g fat, 18.83g carbs, 8.36g fiber, 10.47g NET CARBS (use liquid sweetener to lower), 19g protein, 497mg sodium (halve these numbers if you make regular-size muffins)

Lemon Ambrosia

January 25, 2019January 25, 2019Peggy 2 Comments

This is a modification of a dessert my mother used to make that also had crushed pineapple and chopped maraschino cherries in it. I’ve left out the high carb items and come up with something just as pleasing for me. This is a very easy and light summertime dessert. It’s also good done with lime jello. This also makes a nice no-bake pie filling for your favorite low-carb pre-baked nut-based crusts. This is not suitable for Atkins Induction due to the coconut and pecans.

INGREDIENTS:

2 small pkgs. sugar-free lemon (or lime) jello

2 c. boiling water

2 c. cold water

1 c. heavy cream, whipped

2 oz. chopped pecans

1½ oz. unsweetened coconut

1/2 tsp coconut Extract

DIRECTIONS: Empty jello powder into a large bowl. Boil water and stir 2 c. boiling water into the gelatin powder. Stir until totally dissolved. Add 2 c. cold water and chill in the refrigerator until it is half set. Scrape the into large bowl and whip with hand mixer on LOW (or whisk to mush it all up). I confess it really looks pretty unappetizing right now. 🙂 In a separate bowl, whip the cream. When nice and thick, add it to the beaten jello. Blend or fold into a smooth mixture. Fold in the coconut and chopped pecans blending well. Dip the mixture into serving glass dishes (or decorative clear glasses as shown). Refrigerate until fully set (about an hour). I like to top with a light sprinkle of toasted coconut, a sprinkle of finely chopped pecans or a slice of lemon. On special occasions, I’ll actually add a few maraschino cherries chopped and 1-2 T. crushed pineapple folded into the mixture at the end……but just a bit, as those are high carb items. ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 8 servings, each containing:

195 cals, 19.5g fat, 2.19g carbs, 1.55g fiber, 1.64g NET CARBS, 3g protein, 70mg. sodium

Pork Carnitas

January 21, 2019January 27, 2019Peggy 6 Comments

Slow-cooked & fork-tender!

I’ve been meaning to make some carnitas for some time so I recently bought some pork tenderloins on sale so that’s what I used to make these for dinner tonight. Of course, you can use fattier cuts of meat, like pork butt or shoulder roast (some people actually prefer the fattier cuts for this recipe). Your choice on cut. carnitas (wrapped ready to eat!)

This recipe can be done in your oven on low temp (275º-300º), in a roaster oven low setting, in your crock pot, just as you would any slow-cooked roast or pulled pork recipe. I actually like to cook mine stove-top, in a lidded stew pot, on the lowest burner setting. Any method will render fork-tender, delicious shredded meat for eating in flour tortillas with your favorite sides. I just had a guacamole salad on the side; the hubs spooned his guac right into his tortillas along with the meat filling! Made them a little messier to eat, but that didn’t slow him down. These were delicious!One filled me up; the hubs had two.

This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins, but if still on Induction, you need to sub in meat broth for the wine.

INGREDIENTS:

½ c. fresh-squeezed orange juice

Juice of 1 lime

Juice of 1 lemon

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 T. fresh spearmint, chopped (optional)

¼ c. cilantro, chopped (omit if you’re not a fan)

¼ dried ancho chili pepper, seeded & chopped

1 tsp. dried oregano leaves, crushed (or 1 T. fresh chopped)

1 tsp. ground cumin

1 T. onion powder

1 tsp. garlic powder

6 oz. white wine (omit if still on Atkins Induction)

¼ tsp. chili powder

1/3 c. olive oil

OPTIONAL: ½ tsp. sea salt, but I like the sweet edge of the citrus and didn’t use any

DIRECTIONS: Use with this sauce, your choice of pork tenderloin, boneless pork loin, pork shoulder or butt roast. Heat olive oil in a stew pot on high heat. Sear your pork (whole) on all sides until brown. Add rest of ingredients to the pot. When it comes to a boil, lower heat to a simmer and tightly lid the pot. Simmer for 3-4 hours or until meat is falling off the bones or a fork slides right into it easily. Check every hour and add a bit of water to the pot if all your liquid is cooking away too fast before meat is fork tender and fully done. Remove from heat and set meat on a cutting board or platter. Using 2 forks, pull the meat off the bone, separating into shreds. Slide the meat shreds back into your pot and stir well to coat with remaining juices/sauce. Serve at once with warm low-carb flour tortillas (I use HEB’s “Carb Sense”) and a nice guacamole salad. I like to serve some chopped lettuce, tomato and fresh cilantro at table as well. Cilantro (if you like it) is really good added right before eating.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes about 1 cup sauce or 16 tablespoons. Each 2 T. serving of sauce (sauce only!) contains:

FYI: 2 oz. pork will add about 5g. fat, 115 cals and 16g protein. My HEB tortillas are 3 net carbs each.

116 cals, 9.1g fat, 5.11g carbs, 0.48g fiber, 4.63g NET CARBS, 0.57g protein, 4.37 mg sodium (more if you add the optional salt)

Sour Cream Grilling Bread (low carb)

January 13, 2019January 13, 2019Peggy 4 Comments

Shown on a Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Sadly, most low-carb breads made with alternate flours simply do not toast well. They just won’t get…….ummmm……………toasty!!! 😦

This individual serving bread recipe I developed I think is particularly suited for grilling sandwiches. It toasts up better than any other low-carb bread I’ve tried toasting in 10 years of low-carbing and bread experimentaation. Not sure which ingredient is facilitating that toasty quality though. Likely it is the oat fiber, but am VERY glad whatever ingredient is doing that!

You can bake this in any microwaveable square container. I have a plastic bread-shaped container (which isn’t so healthy to cook in actually), so I have switched to using my 4″ square glass dish. I have not tried baking this bread in a conventional oven, but suspect it would need 350º for around 10-15 minutes. One recipe can be sliced laterally into two thinner slices after cooling to make 1 sandwich, as shown in the photo above. This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins and Keto diets. It is not suitable for Primal-Paleo lifestyles.

INGREDIENTS:

¼ c. + 1T. flax meal, preferably golden flax meal

1 T. butter (plus dab more for skillet or panini pan grilling)

2 T. sour cream

1 egg, beaten

½ tsp. baking powder

2 tsp. oat fiber, no substitutes! (omit for gluten-free)

Pinch salt

DIRECTIONS: Melt the butter in microwave in a small mixing bowl. Add beaten egg and sour cream. Add all dry ingredients and stir well. With a rubber spatula, scrape batter into a 4″-5″ square microwaveable container and zap on HI power for 70 seconds or until dry to touch in center (microwaves can vary). Cool a minute and tip out onto cutting board. Laterally slice as evenly as possible with a long-blade knife to form two thinner slices.

When ready to construct your sandwich, melt a little butter or olive oil on a non-stick griddle and baste one side of each slice of bread. Place one slice on griddle, buttered side down. Add slice of your preferred cheese or meats and top with second slice of bread, buttered side up. Brown well on both sides for best, “toastiest” results. Slight over-browning is a GOOD thing here! 🙂

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 2 thin slices after cutting. Entire recipe contains: (does not include sandwich fillings)

425 cals, 37.4g fat, 14.1g carbs, 11.3g fiber, 2.8g NET CARBS, 13.8g protein, 497mg sodium

Cheese Puffs

January 12, 2019February 7, 2019Peggy 4 Comments

I decided to modify my Cheese Thin Buns recipe by adding some Carbquik to the ingredient line-up. What a marvelous change that makes! These tasty little snacks are less than 1 net carb per puff! We both love snacking on cheese bread, but what we buy at the store isn’t exactly low-carb. This is my answer to a late night snack that is suitable on a very low-carb diet. These are easy to make and I’m certain they’ll be a hit with your family. If you don’t like things spicy, omit the cayenne; if you do like things spicy, you may even want to increase the amount of cayenne! 🙂 These are suitable once you get to the end of Phase 2 Atkins.

INGREDIENTS:

3 eggs, beaten

½ c. water

2 T. olive oil

2 c. shredded Cheddar cheese

1 T. + 1 tsp. glucomannan powder (there is no substitute for this)

¼ c. whey protein powder (plain, unsweetened)

1 T. (3 tsp) baking powder

¼ tsp. garlic powder

¼ tsp. onion powder

¼ tsp. cayenne pepper (optional, but greatly enhances flavor profile)

1/8 tsp. sea salt

1 c. Carbquik (use a gluten-free bake mix if needed)

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º. Measure out the dry ingredients in a small mixing bowl and stir well to evenly mix. In a separate medium mixing bowl, beat the wet ingredients with an electric mixer or whisk. While you are whisking the egg mixture, slowly add in the dry ingredients until all is well blended into a batter resembling pancake batter. Stir in the cheese and mix it well. Let the dough stand a few minutes as it will thicken/stiffen up a bit.

I used a non-stick mini-muffin pan. The cheese will bleed out some oil, so you shouldn’t have to oil a non-stick pan. But if yours is NOT non-stick, oil the cups of your mini-muffin pan lightly with a brush. Using a measuring spoon, put 1 level tablespoon of batter into each cup raking it out with a finger to get it all. Will make exactly 34 muffins, so a second baking will be necessary unless you own two mini-muffin pans. Pop into 350º oven and bake for 17 minutes or until browning on top. We found browning enhances flavor, so you may want to even bake yours a bit longer. Remove from oven and cool a couple minutes. If cooled a bit, they will come out of the pans with a knife tip’s help without tearing apart. If removed too hot, you are going to tear them up.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 34 Cheese Puffs, each contains:

50.6 cals., 4.52 g fat, 2.13 g carbs, 1.43 g fiber, 0.70 g NET CARBS, 3.06 g protein, 138 mg sodium

Peppered Cowboy Ribsteak (or rib roast)

January 1, 2019December 19, 2025Peggy Leave a comment

We love to buy “Cowboy Ribsteaks”, or what some call hatchet steaks. What it is is a bone-in rib roast about 3″ thick. We bought one for my New Year’s Eve birthday dinner last year and just loved it. Yes, I’m a New Year’s Eve baby. We used my dad’s favorite peppered beef grilling marinade on it and WOW, was it ever good! My husband grilled it about 15 minutes on a side and it was medium-rare to perfection!

This marinade recipe was truly my Dad’s creation and we often say his “pride and joy”. In his 83 years on this earth, he never found a marinade he liked better. I confess I have not either. It’s unique; it’s DELICIOUS! You grilling fanatics MUST try this recipe sometime! This recipe makes enough marinade for an 8 lb. boneless rib roast if you’re having holiday dinner guests, but my “Cowboy Steak” is much more reasonable size for just the two of us, about 3.5 lb. I made up a half recipe of marinade for this smaller cut of meat. This meat marinade isn’t as tasty reheated, so leftovers are best consumed in steak sandwiches, unheated.

This marinade also is great on a nice lean chuck or sirloin roast. It is Atkins friendly (after you finish Atkins Induction 2-weeks). Leaving out the wine just isn’t an option for this recipe, so wait until the Atkins OWL (On-going Weight Loss) Phase to enjoy this wonderful hunk of grilled melt-in-your-mouth perfection. I guarantee, this is so good you’ll be fighting over who gets the two end slices, just like we did when I was growing up. 🙂

MARINADE INGREDIENTS: (remember, it is not all consumed)

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. paprika

1/8 c. low-sodium soy sauce (1/4 c. if you can tolerate the sodium, I don’t though)

1/2 c. dry red wine (I use burgundy or claret generally)

1 T. tomato paste (or tomato sauce)

1½ T. coarse ground black pepper (or enough to entirely coat your meat thickly)

DIRECTIONS: Pound the coarse ground black pepper over all surfaces of a nice rib roast or extra thick rib steak using the butt of your palm or a meat cleaver. Use less pepper if doing a smaller piece of meat. Place meat in glass dish. I drizzle marinate every half hour (as often as you can remember to stop and do it) most of a day (minimum 6 hours). Most efficient way to marinate without disturbing pepper coating is to use a basting brush. Do not touch the meat with your brush, or you’ll wipe all the pepper off! Hold it over the meat and let it drip off the brush. When surface is soaked, put in refrigerator to marinate. Baste hourly with my drip method until cooking time.

COOKING: This recipe really is not good cooked inside in an oven. Not sure why, but trust me on this one, it just isn’t, so grill it for sure. It seems the marriage of the marinade with charcoal smoke makes this recipe flavor profile so magical.

Prepare your charcoal fire and when coals are white hot, set the meat slightly off to the side (not directly over the coals). Discard marinade now and do not baste again during cooking so raw meat juice doesn’t contaminate your meat at the end of cooking. You need to grill a 3-3½# piece of meat for about 30 minutes total time (15 minutes on a side) for medium-rare (125º internal). Larger roasts of 4-6# will take around 20 minutes on a side. If cooking a 6#-8# roast for a large dinner party, I would cook for 60-80 minutes total cooking time, (30-40 min per side) checking often with meat thermometer until an internal temp of 125º is reached for medium rare. You should turn the meat every 10 minutes during cooking. Rib roast/steak is best if not cooked past medium-rare or medium stage unless you like dry, tough meat. I take mine off when my meat thermometer reads 120º degrees and let it sit on my cutting board for around 5-7 minutes to “rest” before slicing to avoid juices being lost when sliced. Always remember that a piece of meat over 3# will continue to climb to higher temps while resting on the board (why I err on the side of removal at 120º).

This recipe always gets the WOWS when I serve it so I hope you folks will try it sometime! You won’t be sorry you did!

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION: The marinade is discarded when you cook the meat. No further basting should be done while cooking as there is now raw meat juice in the marinade. Calculating how much marinade is consumed is difficult. It would also be impossible for me to know how many servings you are able to get out of your roast. So I’m providing the totals for the entire batch of marinade and you will have to see how much it makes and how much is left in the pan before discarding to determine roughly how much is staying on the meat and thus consumed by how many people you are serving. Most of the sauce goes down the drain, to be perfectly honest, so you’re getting mostly sodium from the soy sauce and a few carbs from the wine and tomato paste that cling to the surface of the meat (a little more if you get the end slices). The figures below DO NOT INCLUDE THE MEAT.

The entire batch of marinade has:

131 cals, 0.7g fat, 18g carbs, 4.6g fiber, 15.4 NET CARBS (entire batch), 5.5g protein, 1070 mg. sodium

Roasted Pork Tenderloin

December 29, 2018January 27, 2019Peggy 2 Comments

I haven’t cooked a pork tenderloin in ages and picked up a couple twin-packs at the store this week on sale. I prefer mine pan-seared for sandwiches, but decided to roast a couple tonight for a change of pace. Just started putting things on top and popped them in the oven. They were done in 25-30 minutes flat as they were fairly small tenderloins (from a small pig)! My kind of quick meal prep! I served these with a combo of butter-sauteed red radishes and onion along with some some green beans seasoned with ham drippings from my Christmas ham. We loved this particular seasoning tonight! This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins and Keto programs provided the wine is omitted for those still in their first 2 weeks of Induction.

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 Christmas prices on many of our books, some as low as $9.77 (also free shipping in USA!). Hurry and place your order today for any of our books at https://amongfriends.us/Secret-SALE.php. When you purchase our books, we would sure appreciate you stopping by Amazon to leave a review here.

INGREDIENTS:

2-2½ lb. pork tenderloin (mine weighed 2#)

2 T. any dry red wine (optional, omit for Atkins Induction)

1 T. low-sodium soy sauce

½ tsp. onion powder

1/8 tsp. garlic powder

¼ tsp. coarse black pepper

1½ T. sliced fresh shallot

½ c. homemade pork or chicken broth (as needed)

1-3 T. olive oil (optional)

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 375º. Place the two pork tenderloins on an appropriate size baking pan (I used metal, but any oven-proof pan will do). Stir the onion and garlic powders with the black pepper in a little saucer. Holding each piece of meat up for easy handling, sprinkle this mixture on both sides of meat and lay them back down on the pan. You can sear off the meat in a hot skillet of oil first if you prefer. I did not, but did pop mine into the boiler for 5 minutes at the end of cooking. Sliver the shallot and lay separated slices atop each piece of meat. Mix ½ c. of the broth with the wine and soy sauce and baste each strip of loin. Drizzle meat with olive oil if desired (I did). Pop in 375º oven and bake for about 25-30 minutes or until meat thermometer reads 130º-140º. Check pan halfway through cooking and gently pour the broth mixture around the outside of the pan. Remove when meat reaches temperature. Broil 5 minutes if you prefer yours browner. Rest the meat on a cutting board with a piece of foil laying on top (to retain heat) for 5-8 minutes. This wait will help retain the juices in your meat. Slice on the diagonal about 3/4″ thick. Baste slices with any pan juices and serve at once with your favorite sides.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 5 adult servings, each contains:

231 cals, 6.3g fat (more if you use olive oil drizzle), 1.26g carbs, 0.08g fiber, 1.18g NET CARBS, 38.9g protein, 228 mg sodium

Indian Chicken-Eggplant Curry

December 18, 2018March 4, 2023Peggy 1 Comment

Water/broth version.

This particular base curry recipe is the one I keep coming back to again and again. One can substitute tomato paste or sauce in the gravy, rather than whole tomatoes, but I prefer the fresh tomatoes in my curry. This is easy to make and incredibly delicious! This dish is OK for Induction and is also suitable for Primal diners. Paleo followers need to use coconut milk instead of cream, but coconut milk is GREAT in Indian curries! The sky’s the limit on what vegetables or meat you use in this basic curry recipe.

Cream-based version

INGREDIENTS:

1 T. cumin seed (or 2 tsp. seed + 1 tsp. ground)

2 T. each olive oil and butter (or any combination of same)

3 oz. sliced onion

2 deboned 7-8 oz. chicken breasts, cut into 1-1½” chunks

¼ tsp. salt

¼-½ tsp. cayenne pepper (use ½ tsp. only if you like it HOT)

1 tsp. ground cumin

½ T. minced fresh ginger

½ tsp. ground turmeric

1 T. my homemade Garam Masala

4 T. fresh cilantro, chopped

1½ c. chicken broth

2 Roma tomatoes (3″) , cut into 1″ cubes (OR use 1 Tbsp. tomato paste)

10 oz. eggplant, cut into 1½” large cubes

1 jalapeno, seeded and slivered very thin

¼ c. heavy cream (Paleo-Primal folks should use coconut milk)

VARIATION: Omit cream or coconut milk in the sauce and have what is called a “water-based” curry gravy.

DIRECTIONS: In a dry non-stick skillet or wok, dry roast the whole cumin seed, stirring, just until they become fragrant but not burned (about 1-2 minutes). Add olive oil, butter and onions & saute a few minutes. Add chicken, turmeric and continue to saute until chicken is opaque. Add all remaining ingredients except heavy cream (if using). Simmer covered on lowest heat about 30 minutes until tomatoes are tender but not falling totally apart. Add heavy cream (if using) and continue to simmer 5-10 minutes longer. If desired, slightly thicken with a few successive, light dustings of xanthan gum or glucomannan powder, whisking or stirring vigorously between additions to allow it to “develop/thicken”.

Optional: serve over steamed cauliflower or basmati rice for non-low-carb dinner guests.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Serves 5, each serving contains: (includes cream, but not suggested cauliflower or rice “bed”.

425 cals, 34.3g fat, 7.7g carbs, 2.64g fiber, 5.06g NET CARBS, 21g protein, 404mg sodium

Butter Pecan Toffee Candy

December 14, 2018March 31, 2019Peggy 2 Comments

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This recipe was inspired by two different low-carb toffee recipes: one called Toffee, by Pami on now-closed Low-Carb Friends forums; one called Heath Bar Candy by Elaine Smith, also on the same closed forums. I first tried Elaine’s recipe and it basically failed on me, in that when the boiled sugar mix reached the “brown paper bag color” specified in the recipe, I don’t think it had cooked long enough, so the final candy was too grainy and fragile when I tried to get it out of the pan. Just wasn’t cohesive enough.

So as not to waste the nuts, I basically reheated the candy so I could strain out the pecans and recooked the sugar mix longer, but also decided to add in a little polydextrose, as Pami does in her recipe. If unfamiliar with polydextrose, you can read about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polydextrose I added a few other things as well. This time I boiled the candy until it would form a nearly firm ball, but still stretchy/pliable, like a stiff caramel or SloPoke candy bar being stretched out (if you ever ate one of those). In other words, I cooked it to “just short of hard ball stage” in candy making terms, or around 300º-310º on a candy thermometer. Hard ball stage would end up like peanut brittle, and you definitely don’t want it that hard.

So cooking longer seems to have been what was needed! The result is very tasty (I’m munching down on it as I type this. Mmmm.) The texture is just about like the toffee center of a Heath® bar. This batch came out VERY close to my Mom’s sugar-based Butter Brickle Candy she made at Christmas every year! This recipe is not acceptable until the nuts and seeds rung of Atkins Phase 2 OWL.

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 Christmas prices as low as $9.77 on some books (free shipping in USA). Hurry and place your order today for any of our cookbooks at https://amongfriends.us/Secret-SALE.php. When you purchase our books, we would sure appreciate you stopping by Amazon to leave a review here.

INGREDIENTS:

1¼ c. erythritol, powdered

2 T. hazelnut sugar-free syrup (DaVinci or Torani)

2 T. caramel sugar-free syrup (DaVinci or Torani)

¼ tsp. vanilla

2 sticks butter, unsalted (8 oz.)

2 T. water

Dash salt

1/2 c.+ 2 T. polydextrose

2 c. pecan halves, chopped coarsely

DIRECTIONS: Liberally butter a 12½ x 17½ sheet pan (even if it is non-stick, butter the pan!). Chop the pecans and place in a bowl and set by the stove top. Powder the erythritol in a food processor if you are using granular. Using a large saucepan (3-4 qt.), melt the butter over medium-high heat. Place a saucer of cold water beside the stove. Add the erythritol, polydextrose, vanilla, both syrups, water and salt to the saucepan and whip with a whisk. It will eventually get smooth (add a T. more water if not) as you bring it to a boil over medium-high heat. As with most candy-making, you should stir the mixture continuously throughout the preferably with a whisk. The mixture will slowly change from a slightly yellowish color to a tan and eventually dark caramel color when it is ready. When the color starts to go browner, drop a few drops of mix in the water and see if it will clump together when you try to form a ball with your finger. If it won’t, keep cooking and stirring. Repeat the ball test in fresh water again in a few minutes. When it will come together and form a ball or clump that feels pretty stiff but is still a little pliable, the mixture has cooked long enough. Remove from heat.

Very quickly stir in the chopped pecans. Working just as fast as you can, pour it onto the greased sheet pan, spreading quickly with a rubber spatula out to the edges of the pan. It will set up real fast, so you really must work quickly. I have never been able to work fast enough to be able to mark off square pieces with a knife, but maybe you’re faster than I. 🙂 When it is fully set (about an hour) , lift it up with the edge of a metal spatula and break into pieces. Store in a VERY air-tight container at room temperature, as humidity (even in a refrigerator) really messes this candy up. It will get softer and grainy if it gets damp. If in an air-tight enough container, I found mine got a little more brittle on day 2, which pleased me greatly.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Because I can’t know how your pieces will break up, an exact nutritional count is virtually impossible for this candy. So I will give you the info for the entire pan full and you will have to estimate based on your number of pieces. I got around 100 1″ pieces, maybe more, I’d guess, which made mine averaged around .18 net carbs per piece, or 5 pieces for 1 NC. Some pieces broke small, some broke off larger. Although per piece counts are impossible, clearly the count is so low (since polydextrose is full of deductible fiber), I never worry about it. Basically only the pecans really rack up the few carbs that are in this.

Entire batch: 3233 cals, 339g fat, 139g carbs, 121g fiber, 18g NET CARBS (for the entire batch!!), 22g protein, 199 mg sodium

Eggs with Leek Cream on Toast

December 12, 2018March 2, 2023Peggy Leave a comment

A delicious way to use up a leftover low-carb sandwich bun, roll or biscuit. I used one of my new Einkorn-Carbalose Sandwich Buns (because it is all I had baked on hand this morning) for this breakfast creation. That explains a little higher carb count on this breakfast than if I had used one of my other low-carb breads/buns. These little piles of breakfast deliciousness I will be making again. This was very tasty indeed! This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins provided you use a phase-suitable bun on the bottom. For those still on induction, I would recommend toasting a one-minute-muffin (the original recipe minus the cinnamon and sweetener) to meet Induction guidelines. That will also lower the carb count (see below).

Low Carbing Among Friends cookbooks Volumes 8, 9 are still available. Volume 10 is hot off the press! Hurry and place your order today for any of our cookbooks at https://amongfriends.us/Secret-SALE.php. Special sale pricing going on right now! Free USA shipping! When you purchase our books, we would sure appreciate you stopping by Amazon to leave a review here.

INGREDIENTS:

1 low-carb bun of your choosing, sliced laterally, toasted

4 large eggs, beaten

2 T. (total) unsalted butter

2 leek leaves, well-washed, sliced thin

½ c. heavy cream

½ c. tap water

Dash salt

1/8 tsp. coarse black pepper

1/8 tsp. xanthan gum (or preferred thickener)

DIRECTIONS: Wash leeks to rid them of any dirt. Slice thinly crosswise. In a medium skillet over medium-high heat, saute leeks in 1 T. of the butter until soft. Add cream, water and bring to simmer. Add salt and pepper and slowly dust xanthan gum on top, whisking continuously until sauce thickens up to your liking. Turn off heat.

In a small egg skillet, melt the other tablespoon butter and scramble the eggs as you usually do. Spoon half the scrambled eggs atop each half of the toasted bun. Top with half the leek cream sauce and serve at once.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 2 servings, each contains:

438 cals, 40g fat, 11.15g carbs, 3.35g fiber, 8.8g NET CARBS, 10.6g protein, 508 mg sodium (The particular bun I used because it is what I had baked up and on hand, has 5.8 NC per half. A lower carb bun like a one-minute muffin toasted would lower carbs to 5.75 net per serving).

Einkorn-Carbalose Sandwich Buns

December 9, 2018December 12, 2018Peggy Leave a comment

I continue to tweak my Einkorn Sandwich Bun recipe in an attempt to make it whiter and to eliminate the “damp” feeling on the inside. Suffice it to say I’m getting there. With today’s experiment I got rid of the “slightly damp” interior that bothered my husband and I both. When cooled, these were not “damp” feeling inside (just a normal level of bread moisture you would want). I believe reducing the psyllium husk powder is what dried the interior a bit.

They are also now lighter in color with the addition of a little bit of resistant wheat starch. Now I admit freely that this isn’t the lowest carb bread recipe out there folks, and clearly not suitable until you’re at or near goal weight. But if you’re looking for a better low-carb yeast-tasting bread that is really, really good, that is sturdy enough to hold up to hot roast beef with juice for a delicious sandwich, with a very neutral flavor, you NEED to try this recipe. 🙂 Even my husband ate one and said he could learn to eat this bread regularly. Not suitable until nearing goal weight when slightly higher carbs and grains are permissible occasionally on Atkins carb re-introduction ladder.

For hot-dog buns, form into 6″ “ropes” and slightly press flat on the pan before baking.

NOTE: This bread, gets a little “tough” when toasted if care is not taken to avoid over-browning. If only lightly toasted, that doesn’t seem to happen.

INGREDIENTS:

1 tsp. dry yeast

1/2 tsp. real sugar (consumed by the yeast)

¼ c. very warm tap water

3/4 c. Carbalose flour

1/4 c. Einkorn flour

½ c. almond flour

2 T. psyllium husk powder

2 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. sea salt

3 T. vital wheat gluten

1 T. arrowroot powder

1 T. Resistant Wheat Starch

1 T. coconut flour

3 egg whites (I used ½ c.+1 T. egg whites from carton)

2½ T. apple cider vinegar

½ c. boiling water (in addition to the warm water listed above)

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º. Put a kettle of water on to boil. In a small bowl dissolve the yeast, sugar with the 1/4 c. warm tap water. Set aside while you continue. Mix all the dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. Stir well to be sure it is uniformly mixed. Mix the egg whites and vinegar in a small bowl with a fork, add the proofed yeast mixture, stir to blend and add the mixture all at once to the dry ingredients. Stir quickly with the fork, to make a uniform thick dough. Now pour 1/2 cup boiling water over the top of the dough and with the fork, stir very quickly until it comes together into a uniform consistency. Switch to a rubber spatula and continue to stir and fold the dough as it thickens up to form a single ball of dough.

Spread evenly in the bottom of the bowl and with your rubber spatula portion off 5 equal portions of dough. Scoop up each portion and roll in your palms into a round ball. Place each ball on a non-stick, silicone-lined or oiled baking sheet. Press them down slightly to about 5/8″ thick and 4″ round. They don’t spread much during cooking so they can all fit on one sheet pan. Make 6 portions for smaller buns with lower carb count.

Pop into preheated 350º oven and bake for about 35-40 minutes or until golden as shown above. Cool partially before attempting to slice laterally as shown or bag to store. Like all low-carb cakes and breads, I store these in a gallon ziploc bag in the fridge. 🙂

NUTRITIONAL INFO: I’ll provide for both size buns:

5 buns: each will contain: 180 cals., 5.72g fat, 22.32g carbs, 10.6g fiber, 11.72g NET CARBS, 10.4g protein, 469 mg sodium

6 buns: each will contain: 150 cals., 5.6 g fat, 18.6g carbs, 8.83g fiber, 9.77g NET CARBS, 8.66g protein, 391 mg sodium

Sausage Noodle Soup

November 30, 2018December 3, 2018Peggy 9 Comments

I recently bought some Palmini canned “noodles”, which are made from Hearts of Palm. To date, I’ve only used Hearts of Palm in salads. Some pickle them. I tried them with a meaty Bolognese Italian meat sauce recently and didn’t much care for them that way as the taste of the Hearts of Palm came through in my final spaghetti. But today I decided to experiment with them in a soup and this application was a success. We both liked this soup. Simple to put together, too. Can’t wait to do a chicken noodle soup with these! This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins and other Keto diets. Paleo and Primal folks can enjoy this recipe, too!

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. EARLY BIRD SECRET SALE!! Special pricing and limited-time free shipping so hurry and place your order today. You can order these or any of our cookbooks at https://amongfriends.us/Secret-SALE.php. When you purchase our books, we would sure appreciate you stopping by Amazon to leave a review here.

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. pork bulk breakfast sausage

3/4 c. celery, chopped

2 oz. onion, chopped

1 oz. red bell pepper, coarsely chopped

2 oz. green bell pepper, coarsely chopped

½ c. parsley, chopped

¼ tsp. my Seafood Spice Blend

1/8 tsp. coarse black pepper

¼ tsp. crushed dried thyme

1/4 tsp. Chipotle Tobasco Sauce (or 1/8 tsp. regular Tobasco)

1 Roma tomato, coarsely diced

3 c. chicken broth, (more if you like greater ratio liquid to solids in soup)

1 14-oz can Palmini “noodles”, drained & rinsed (I actually used 2/3 can)

DIRECTIONS: Brown pork sausage in a 4 qt. saucepan or soup pot. Add celery, onion, bell peppers and saute until the veggies begin to wilt. Add all remaining ingredients but the noodles and bring to a low boil. Lower heat to a simmer and cook 30-45 minutes or until flavors have developed. Add noodles toward the end of cooking (earlier if you want them softer, last 5 minutes if you want them firmer or “al dente”). Fat will eventually cook out of the sausage into the soup stock and give it a very deep, tasty flavor. If you like more liquid in your soup, add a little more broth or a little bit of water and simmer a little longer. Serve hot. Leftovers should freeze well.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 6 large bowls, each contains:

316 cals, 23g fat, 4.95g carbs, 2.88g fiber, 2.07g NET CARBS, 19.3g protein, 627 mg sodium

Breakfast Pirogues

November 30, 2018November 30, 2018Peggy Leave a comment

I bought a new silicone hoagie roll pan (made by Tescoma) to make hotdog buns with and tried them for making our breakfast this morning. I call these “pirogues” because they are in the shape of little boats to me. These are simple to make and were quite tasty. These are suitable for all phases of Atkins and other Keto diets. They fit a Primal Blueprint program but not paleo with the cheese in them.

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. EARLY BIRD SECRET SALE!! Special pricing and limited-time free shipping so hurry and place your order today. You can order these or any of our cookbooks at https://amongfriends.us/Secret-SALE.php. When you purchase our books, we would sure appreciate you stopping by Amazon to leave a review at this site.

INGREDIENTS:

4 large eggs, beaten

2/3 c. cooked pork sausage crumbles

1 c. total Cheddar cheese (or cheese of choice)

½ c. green onion tops, chopped

VARIATION: You could spoon a small amount of low-carb bread batter in the bottom of the pans first for a “boat shell” for a change of pace. They will likely take maybe 5-7 minutes longer cooking time if you do this variation.

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º. Place a hotdog bun or hoagie roll silicone pan on a baking sheet for support and baking.

Beat the eggs in a medium bowl. Set aside for a moment. Sprinkle half the cheese in the bottom of a silicone hoagie/hotdog bun pan. Using a 2-T. scoop, spoon the eggs as equally as possible (start with 2 T. per slot) into the 6 slots of your pan. Even out the rest of the beaten eggs evenly in the 6 slots until all used up. Sprinkle the chopped green onion over each pirogue. Top with the rest of the cheese. Pop into 350º oven and bake for about 15 minutes or until dry to the touch on top. Serve at once.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 6 pirogues, each contains:

167 cals, 12.5g fat, 2.1g carbs, 0.23g fiber, 1.87g NET CARBS, 11.4g protein, 389mg sodium

Cran-Orange Pastry Bites

November 21, 2018November 30, 2018Peggy Leave a comment

I got the idea for these from a holiday recipe posted on Pinterest this month. It was basically two layers of pie crust rolled with a sprinkling of chopped cranberries and pecans inside (my husband hates nuts in desserts) and then cookie cutters were used to cut out holiday shapes, baking them like cookies. Well, I really liked the idea and they were real cute, but didn’t want to go to that much trouble. So I used my own fav low-carb pie crust, processed a few raw cranberries and orange peel right with the crust dough and pressed the sweetened pie crust dough into some Christmas Tree silicone molds. You could use any shape oven-safe mold you like to make these or even use a mini-muffin pan. These are delicious and I can’t wait to take some to our annual neighborhood Christmas round-robin dinner coming soon. They are somewhere between a pie crust and a cookie in texture with a nice mouth feel.

This recipe is not suitable until you reach the grains rung of the Atkins Phase 2 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. EARLY BIRD SECRET SALE!! Special pricing and limited-time free shipping so hurry and place your order today. You can order these or any of our cookbooks at https://amongfriends.us/Secret-SALE.php. When you purchase our books, we would sure appreciate you stopping by Amazon to leave a review at this site.

VARIATIONS: Use extra virgin coconut oil (chilled and firm) for the shortening to give them a hint of coconut taste. Or add ½ c. chopped pecans or almonds.

INGREDIENTS:

1 recipe my Carbalose Pie Crust

½ c. fresh cranberries

1½ T. orange zest

½ c. granular erythritol

½ c. Splenda

DIRECTIONS: Make up the pie-crust dough per that recipe’s instructions. Crumble slightly into the bowl of a food processor. In a small bowl mix the two sweeteners well. Reserve 3 T. and add the rest to the food processor as well. Next add the whole, raw cranberries and the orange zest to the processor. Pulse several times until the mixture is well blended and all the cranberries are chopped up. Spoon a rounded teaspoon of the crumbled dough into each of the slots of your mold. Press down firmly into the bottoms of the shapes. If your mold is flexible silicone you will want to set it on a baking sheet. Sprinkle the 3 T. sweetener mix on the tops as evenly as you can. Pop into 375º oven for about 25 minutes. They should be lightly browned around the edges only. Allow to cool and firm up before tipping them out of your molds as they are a little fragile when hot. I had to bake mine in two batches since my mold has just 24 slots.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 32 bites, each contains:

62 cals, 4.6g fat, 4.81g carbs, 3.2g fiber, 1.61g NET CARBS, 0.15g protein, 6.34g sodium

Apricot Trail Mix

November 20, 2018September 1, 2020Peggy Leave a comment

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I absolutely LOVE trail mix. And such a healthy snack! It has the added bonus of being very transportable, for hiking, biking, camping, or taking to the office in a little baggie. This apricot-coconut mix was a Christmas favorite of a relative. She always brought some to the holiday gatherings. The pumpkin seeds are my addition to her recipe. The stuff is so good I have to dip my ½ cup portion out and put the bag away, or I’ll just keep eating and eating it. Wrapped prettily with a ribbon, this makes a lovely gift when going to parties or for the holidays. Just place in a pretty clear glass container and affix a pretty bow on top! This very nutritious dessert/snack is not suitable until the highest fruit rung of the Atkins OWL carb re-introduction ladder (pre-maintenance or maintenance). This recipe is suitable for Paleo-Primal eaters.

VARIATION: Substitute pieces of dried prunes (Delmonte has no added sugar) for the dried apricots. I also have a Cranberry Trail Mix recipe you might like.

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INGREDIENTS:

5 oz. pumpkin seeds, hulled, roasted (unsalted)

5 oz. sunflower seeds, hulled, roasted (unsalted)

2 oz. walnuts (about 28 halves), coarsely chopped/broken up

6 oz. fresh coconut meat, slivered thinly

4 oz. sliced almonds

6 oz. dried apricots, no sugar added (I buy them at Sam’s)

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 200º and spread thinly sliced coconut onto a sheet pan. Dry for about 1½-2 hours, stirring occasionally. Remove from oven before coconut begins to brown and cool. You don’t really want to toast it for this recipe, just dry it out a bit. In a large mixing bowl, toss all ingredients together. Using kitchen shears, cut apricots into small pieces and add to the bowl. Stir to mix well. Store in a zipper plastic bag in your pantry.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes about 6 cups or twelve ½ cup servings. Each ½ cup serving contains:

301.6 cals, 23.5g fat, 18g carbs, 5.3g fiber, 12.7g NET CARBS, 9.8g protein, 53.6 mg sodium

Swedish Meatballs

November 19, 2018June 14, 2020Peggy Leave a comment

These meatballs are fantastic! Love the allspice and nutmeg that is typically used in these. We always have some when we shop at IKEA. My husband just loves these things. This is a very BIG recipe, so either make a half recipe or just freeze any leftover. These are suitable for Atkins Induction ONLY if you omit the white wine in the sauce and use an Induction approved bread like this one in the meatballs.

MEATBALL INGREDIENTS:

1¼ lb. (20 oz) 80% ground beef

4 oz. pork breakfast sausage meat (or plain ground pork)

3 oz. onion

¼ c. parsley

Dash each salt and black pepper

¼ tsp. each nutmeg and allspice

2 large eggs

2 low-carb tortillas (HEB Carb Sense have 3 net carbs)

SAUCE INGREDIENTS:

1 c. beef broth

½ c. heavy cream

½ c. white wine (omit if still in Induction Phase)

4 oz. can sliced mushrooms with juice

Few sprinkles xanthan gum to thicken (if needed)

Dash coarse black pepper

½ c. chopped parsley

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º. You can brown your meatballs in a skillet if you prefer, but baking is so much simpler. Place all meat ingredients in food processor and pulse until it it well blended and onion is well-chopped. With your hands, form into 28 meatballs (about 1½”) and place on large parchment-lined baking pan (close together but not touching). Bake at 350º for about 30 minutes or until they begin to brown nicely. Remove pan from oven and using parchment to facilitate, lift the meatballs over to an awaiting large skillet. Turn heat to high and allow to brown a little more in their pan juices, shaking skillet to roll them around a bit.

Add all sauce ingredients to the pan and let meatballs simmer in the gravy to allow flavors to co-mingle and to be sure meat is fully done. Only thicken with xanthan gum or your preferred thickener if you feel the sauce is too thin. Serve at once with your favorite green side dish (I served with buttered, steamed broccoli).

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 28 meatballs. Allowing 4 meatballs per serving, so this should serve 7 people nicely. Each serving contains:

452 cals, 36g fat, 7.58g carbs, 3.61g fiber, 3.97g NET CARBS, 21.6g protein, 362 mg sodium

Einkorn Melba Toast

November 19, 2018November 20, 2018Peggy Leave a comment

I made some delicious “Melba Toast®” today from a loaf of Maria Emerich’s Amazing Bread (slightly modified). Given the moisture level of the interior of this bread, I wasn’t sure it would work………………… BUT IT DID! I used these crisp cracker-like toasts to serve the leftover Smoked Steelhead Trout Spread I whipped up yesterday for lunch. They were a delicious vehicle for the spread! My husband was out of town yesterday and didn’t get to taste my delicious spread. My husband loves Melba Toast® and said these were almost as crisp and tastier than the original! And the spread was a hit, too! Can’t wait to try these melba toasts with marmalade in the morning! This recipe is not suitable (with my modifications) until you are nearing goal weight at the final grains rung of the carb-ladder of Phase 2.

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INGREDIENTS: (my 2 minor changes to Maria’s recipe in blue)

1 tsp. dry yeast + ½ tsp. real sugar dissolved in:

¼ c. warm water

3 c. almond flour

½ c. Einkorn flour

10 T. psyllium husk powder

4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

5 T. apple cider vinegar

6 egg whites, beaten in a bowl with a whisk until frothy

1½ c. boiling water

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º. You’ll need to first bake the loaf of bread these are made from (unless you already have a loaf baked and ready). Lightly oil the ends of an 8×4″ loaf pan. Lay a sheet of parchment (cut to fit) into the bottom that rolls up the long sides of the pan.

In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in the ¼ c. warm water with the sugar. Let it sit on your counter while you measure out your other ingredients.

In a medium mixing bowl, measure out all listed dry ingredients. Stir well to make sure they are uniformly mixed. Into the yeast/water mixture, add the beaten egg whites and cider vinegar. Stir well to blend. Now add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients bowl and stir a few times. All at once, pour the boiling water over the mixture and stir quickly and briskly with a fork to pull it together into a contiguous ball of dough. Switching to a rubber spatula, scrap the sides of the bowl down to get all of the dough. Spoon the dough into your oiled/papered pan. Pop into 350º oven for about 1 hour. Check often after 50 minutes as ovens vary. When toothpick stuck into center comes out dry and clean, it’s done. Remove and chill in the refrigerator for at least a couple hours overnight before proceeding.

Preheat oven to 350º. When the loaf of bread is completely chilled, remove from refrigerator and slice into 40 very thin slices ½cm or 3/16″ thick. Lay them on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Pop pan into oven and bake on first side for about 15-20 minutes (again, ovens vary, so keep an eye out on these so as not to over brown). Remove from oven, turn each toast over and pop back into oven for about another 10 minutes only. When you are satisfied they have dried out and are lightly browned, remove them and cool. Serve as is with your favorite jams, jellies. They will likely lose their crunchiness when stored, but just reheat on low oven setting (300º) awhile, or make fewer of them for immediate consumption.

NOTE: *For party spreads and cheese balls, you might prefer a smaller, cracker shape. Just cut the “toasts” in half before baking.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 40 “Melba Toasts”, each contains:

57 cals, 3.86g fat, 4.77g carbs, 2.62g fiber, 2.15g NET CARBS, 2.4g protein, 118mg sodium

If cut in halves, recipe makes 80 square crackers with 1.07 net carbs per cracker.

Smoked Steelhead Trout Spread

November 18, 2018January 13, 2023Peggy 2 Comments

With holiday socializing and friends popping in, you always want some munchies to serve. We often cook Grilled fish which is delicious so many other ways. Recently we had nearly 6 oz. leftover from a huge steelhead trout, so I got creative and made a fantastic spread for low-carb crackers or veggie dipping. This was one of the yummiest dips/spreads I’ve ever created, so I do hope you’ll try it sometime! Plan for it to disappear fast, as it it THAT good! You can substitute grilled salmon if that is more readily available, but be aware that commercially smoked salmon will be considerably stronger in fish/smoke flavor and much higher in sodium than a fish you grill at home yourself.

INGREDIENTS:

1 c. (8 oz) cream cheese

1/3 c. sour cream

1/3 c. my homemade Shawarma Mayo (or regular mayo)

4 T. green onion, finely chopped

½ tsp. Tobasco “Chipotle” Hot Sauce

Dash cayenne pepper

Dash sea salt

5-6 oz. smoked Steelhead Trout (or Salmon)

DIRECTIONS: Place all ingredients but the fish into a food processor or blender. Pulse until well blended. Scrape out into a medium mixing bowl. On a paper plate, flake the fish well with a fork. Scrap into the bowl and stir just to blend the spread well. Serve with you preferred dippers: low-carb crackers, celery or carrot sticks, other raw veggies of choice.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 2½ cups or 40 Tbsp. Each tablespoon contains: (does not include dippers)

42 cals, 4.32g fat, 0.30g carbs, 0.02g fiber, 0.28g NET CARBS, 1.3g protein, 29 mg sodium (sodium will be much higher if you use commercially smoked salmon)

Mr. Matthews’ Omelet

November 13, 2018September 20, 2025Peggy 2 Comments

In 1980 we took a 6-weeks driving tour of Great Britain that was truly the trip of a lifetime. Planned our route for months. We put over 6,000 miles on a brand new Volkswagon “Golf” we rented just outside London, where our epic journey began. Drove all the way to Edinburgh by way of Berwick-on-Tweed, back down through the Lake District, over into Wales, Down the west coast to Tintagel in Cornwall, stopping over at Clovelly a day, a dip down to Lynton-Lynmouth and finally back to London by way of a B & B just down the road from Paul McCartney’s famous Windmill home. The car dealership was honestly gob-smacked when we turned the car back in and the agent took note of the odometer that had read nearly zero when he handed the car over to us. 🙂

My husband, a retired World History teacher, just had to see Hadrian’s Wall, near Corbridge, so we picked a lovely little country cottage in Corbridge from our AA Farmhouse Guide whose description was idyllic. It turned out to be the most memorable one we stayed it during out 6-week tour of the UK. The proprietor was a stout, soft-spoken, distinguished, silver-haired elderly gentleman, Mr. Matthews. Inordinately proud of his B&B. The approach to the establishment was through a circular drive in a lovely garden. Once inside the cottage (more a mansion really) we looked up to see the massive staircases that encircled each end of the main room. We looked at each other and our eyes said “Picked a good one.”

The very formal dining room had a massive picture window that looked onto a huge garden lined in pink honeysuckle! Mr. Matthews, assisted by a lovely daughter, served dinner that night himself, as he was inordinately proud of his B & B. It was a non-fancy meal, but typical, hearty country fare: ham, greens, potatoes and baked beans. The British, you see, ate a lot of canned beans throughout WWII (beans on toast, my father said, was a favorite when he was stationed there in 1943). To this day, beans are still a staple in their diet and served in ways we “colonials” would never dream of. One of the side dishes on the plate that night was baked beans, which were quite tasty with his ham.

At breakfast the next morning, our omelet was again served by Mr. Matthews, presented with great pride. He was beaming when he said “You don’t get an omelet like THAT in just any B & B”. We smiled to show how eager we were to try his special omelet that clearly had everything in it that was leftover from our dinner the night-before. It was cooked to perfection and man, I’m here to tell you that his was one of the best omelets I ever ate!

Well, I ramble on in a sea of nostalgia, so I’ll get back to the matter at hand, the recipe and prep. I’m such a lousy omelet cook I invariably tear them up rolling the sides over, so I prefer to bake them like a quiche to avoid that issue. This recipe is not suitable until you reach the legumes level of the Atkins carb reintroduction ladder well into the OWL (Ongoing Weight Loss Phase). It is not suitable for Primal-Paleo unless you omit the beans, but that’s really what makes this recipe so special. But a bacon-onion quiche, although a horse of another color, is always good. 🙂

INGREDIENTS:

5 slices lean “streaky bacon” as Mr. Matthews would call it (regular bacon in the States)

2 oz. chopped yellow onion

½ c. well-rinsed pork ‘n beans (from a can)

3 extra large eggs, beaten (more if you want a thicker, heftier, more eggy quiche)

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º. Coarsely chop the bacon into 3/4″ dice. In a medium skillet ( I prefer non-stick for omelets), brown the bacon but stop BEFORE it is very crisp. Chop the onion and add to the pan. Sauté until the two are browned and tender. Drain off any excess grease. Sprinkle the beans evenly on top. Drizzle the beaten eggs evenly over the mixture. Pop into 350º oven and bake for 10-15 minutes or just until the center is set to the touch. Cut into 4 portions and serve.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 4 servings, each contains 136 calories, 6.9 g fat, 4.70 g carbs, 0.95 g fiber, 3.75 g NET CARBS, 9.77 g protein, 2261 mg sodium

Pork Florentine in Wine Sauce

November 12, 2018January 27, 2025Peggy 2 Comments

This was a super quick and easy dish to prepare I think my readers will enjoy. I’ve made Chicken Florentine for many years but never thought to do a florentine rendering with pork. Well, I should have tried it years ago! This was a delicious dinner tonight. I served it with some buttered, “Candied” Carrots which complimented the meal nicely. This recipe is not suited for those still in the initial 2-week Induction phase (unless you leave out the wine) but can be enjoyed anytime after your Induction period. This dish should be fine for those on most Keto diets as well. This recipe can be stretched easily for 4 portions if you add 2 more portions of pork to the recipe (carb count would go slightly down since sauce would be distributed among 4 servings). There was ample sauce to do this. Alternately, you can reduce the chicken broth, cream, wine and peppers to just 2 slices for less sauce on just 2 servings. We’re creamy sauce lovers, so we ate all the sauce!

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INGREDIENTS:

2 4-5 oz. pieces boneless pork loin

1 T. each unsalted butter and olive oil

½ c. heavy (whipping) cream

½ c. white wine (I used Chardonnay)

1½ c. chicken broth (I use homemade, virgin broth)

1 c. frozen leaf spinach

Dash coarse black pepper

Dash red pepper flakes

2 oz. red bell pepper, sliced crosswise into 4 slices

1/8 tsp. xanthan gum or preferred thickener

DIRECTIONS: Pound the two pieces of pork with a meat tenderizer. Place butter and olive oil in skillet over high heat and sear the pork on both sides. Remove to a paper plate while you construct the sauce. Add the cream, chicken broth, wine, spinach, black and red pepper flakes to the pan. Sprinkle the thickener over the sauce now. Simmer the pan contents a couple minutes until until spinach is cooked and sauce has begun to thicken. Add the red pepper slices around the outside of the pan. Place the chops back on top of the sauce in the center and simmer just until red pepper slices are softened but not falling apart. Serve pork with an ample serving of the sauce and pepper slices on top.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 2 servings, each contains: (numbers go down with 4 portions of meat)

631 cals, 44g fat, 8.3g carbs, 3g fiber, 5.3g NET CARBS, 37g protein, 142 mg sodium

Blueberry-Lemon Snack Cake

November 11, 2018March 15, 2019Peggy Leave a comment

I have developed my own bake mix and this was my first experiment with it. Boy was this ever good! Smooth texture, moist and great taste! I only had on hand 1/2 cup dried blueberries left in an open bag in my freezer and I needed to use them up. Fresh berries would have been healthier and tastier, but the dried is what I had and not many of those. The second time I baked it, I increased berries by a couple tablespoons and it just gets better!

My husband was out of town all weekend and this was hot out of the oven when he walked in the door. He really liked it, too, and downed a second slice. Said “Please make this again soon, with some other fruits as well.” Any berries, chopped fruit or nuts you can fit into your daily carb limits will work in this basic batter. Make it just a lemon cake, or add a bit of diced peaches. Get creative! This recipe isn’t suitable until you are near goal weight at the grain level of carb-re-introduction of the Atkins program. The carbs are low on the basic lemon cake batter (4.02 NC per slice). With 1/2 cup dried berries added, it jumps to 9.02 NC per slice.

INGREDIENTS:

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

4 T. (½ stick) unsalted butter, melted

2 eggs, beaten

½ c. egg whites (I used from carton), but 4 whole egg whites will work

Zest of 1 large lemon

Juice of 1 large lemon (2 T.)

1½ c. Buttoni’s Low Carb Bake Mix

½ c. each Splenda and erythritol (or 1c. sugar equivalent other sweetener)

½ c. fresh, dried or frozen blueberries

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º. Butter the inside of an 8×4″ loaf pan. Or you can butter the ends only and line sides & bottom of the pan with a piece of parchment, which is what I like to do. Set aside while you prepare batter.

Soften the cream cheese on counter or in microwave. Whip until smooth with a whisk. In a separate medium bowl, whip the egg whites until frothy. Add the 2 whole eggs to the egg whites and beat the two well together a couple minutes. Add sweeteners. Add melted butter slowly and beat until you have a smooth mixture. Add the bake mix next and beat by hand with a rubber spatula until batter is smooth and well-blended. Add your berries (or chopped fruit/nuts) and stir to distribute berries throughout batter. Scrape the batter into prepared pan and pop into 350º hot oven for 40-45 minutes or until toothpick stuck in center comes out clean/dry. Slice into approximately ½-5/8″ thick slices to make 12 nice portions. After serving, wrap remainder in plastic wrap or place in plastic bag. Refrigerate as with all low-carb baked goods that lack the preservative quality of real sugar.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 12 slices, each contains: (using ½c. dried berries). You must recalculate if you use other berries/fruit/nuts

166 cals, 11.1g fat, 11.44g carbs, 2.42g fiber, 9.02g NET CARBS, 7.21g protein, and 84 mg sodium

Buttoni’s Low-Carb Bake Mix

November 11, 2018February 18, 2023Peggy 8 Comments

I’m so pleased to share a handy low-carb bake mix. I have left out the fat so it has a long shelf life. Be sure to add butter or shortening when you bake your recipes with it. It only has 4.83 net carbs per ¼ cup of mix! That’s fewer carbs than my Einkorn Bake Mix! Regular Pioneer Bake Mix has 25 net carbs per ¼ cup. Bisquick has 27 net carbs per 1/3 c. Carbquik has only 2 net carbs per 1/3 c. but has a funny background taste to me even after their product changes some years back. My goal with this was to create a mix with no ‘funny taste’ and but keep it as low carb as possible.

My inspirational recipe was a low-carb flour mix I saw over on Pam’s Low Carb and Delicious blog (she links to the mix inside her bread recipe). Her mix has 18 NC per 1/2 cup; mine has 9.66 NC per 1/2 cup. So a nice carb drop there. Her bread photo a thing of beauty, so I keep her recipe around to maybe try when I can afford a carb splurge on special occasions and I want a loaf just like her photo!

I modified her ingredient listing as well as the amounts of those ingredients. The final bake mix has produced several baked items that I am quite pleased with: a 2-serving vanilla microwave quick cake

Vanilla Microwave Cake

an oven-baked Blueberry-Lemon Snack Cake (shown right) and my

Blueberry-Lemon Snack Cake

Fluffy Pancakes.

This recipe makes a big batch of nearly 11 cups of mix, so you might want to make just 1/2 this recipe to play around with in 1 or 2 of your favorite, tested recipes and see what you think. I would love your feedback.

INGREDIENTS:

4 c. almond flour

1 c. oat flour (I grind mine from rolled oats)

½ c. oat fiber

½ c. Einkorn Flour

1 c. vital wheat gluten

2 c. Carbalose Flour

2 c. unflavored whey protein isolate

1 T. glucomannan powder

4 tsp. baking powder

DIRECTIONS: If grinding your own oat flour (my 2 local grocers don’t carry oat flour that is pre-ground), do this step first, letting your food processor or blender run a pretty long time for the finest grind possible. This will lead to better texture in your final baked goods. When you have 1 cup of oat flour ground, place in large mixing bowl. Measure all other ingredients into the bowl. Stir well. Then stir well at least 4 more times! You want the ingredients uniformly mixed. Spoon mix into lidded container and store in your pantry for use whenever you want to bake. Since there is no fat or sweet item in this, you will, of course, have to add butter/oil/fat and and naturally, sweetener if making a dessert recipe. Eggs and possibly cream/liquid will be needed for binding and moisture to achieve the correct batter thickness.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes about 11 cups bake mix.

1 cup mix: 443 cals, 24.9g fat, 33.78g carbs, 14.44g fiber, 19.34g NET CARBS, 34.4g protein, 223 mg sodium

¼ cup mix: 110 cals, 6.22g fat, 8.44g carbs, 3.61g fiber, 4.83g NET CARBS, 8.61g protein, 55.7 mg sodium

Tarte Tatin

November 11, 2018June 10, 2023Peggy Leave a comment

Holidays always make me remember desserts my mother loved to serve at this time of year. The well-known French apple Tarte Tatin is one of those. My low-carb version has a much thinner cake layer than is typical of this famous dessert. My husband and I really liked this conversion. I serve mine with a dollop of whipped cream on top. I apologize for the photo quality, but this picture was taken with my very first digital camera, in the evening when natural light just isn’t there. I’m going to have to bake this again and get a prettier picture next time. But the photo can’t take away the fact that this recipe is absolutely delicious! If you decide to give this one a go, you’ll be glad you did!

VARIATIONS: Although Tarte tatin is only made with apples, this basic concept can be made with strawberries or raspberries and carbs will go down. Pear or peach slices also do well in this but carbs will go up with those choices.

This recipe is not suitable until the higher carb fruit rung of the Atkins Phase 2 OWL carb re-introduction ladder, as you approach Maintenance. This dessert would be acceptable for a Paleo-Primal liefstyle provided you substituted REAL honey for the sugar-free honey and subbed in REAL maple syrup for the Cary’s sugar-free maple syrup called for below.

INGREDIENTS:

For the Apple filling:

4 T. total unsalted butter or ghee

11 oz. apple, peeled and sliced thin (I used 1 large JonaGold)

½ tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. nutmeg

2 T. sugar-free maple syrup (I used Cary’s)

¼ tsp. grated lemon zest

For the bottom Cake Layer:

½ c. almond butter

2 T. coconut milk

2 eggs, beaten

1 tsp. vanilla extract

4 T. sugar-free honey (I buy at Walmart)

½ tsp. baking powder

¼ c. almond flour

1 T. coconut flour

¼ glucomannan powder (for best texture)

DIRECTIONS: Grease bottom and sides of a non-stick tarte pan with 1 T. of the butter and set aside. Melt remaining 3 T. of the butter in a non-stick skillet. Add cinnamon, nutmeg to the skillet and stir. Add sliced apples and saute them for 3-4 minutes until apples begin to soften. Turn off heat. Using a fork or small tongs, remove apples and layer them in the bottom of the tart pan. You should have enough apple slices for a single layer of apples in a standard tart pan. with the help of a spatula or heat-proof rubber spatula, scrape out and drizzle any buttery juices left in the skillet over the apples. You don’t want to wast any of that rich flavor. Grate lemon zest over the apples and finally drizzle the maple syrup over the apples.

Now to make the cake. Preheat oven to 350º. In a medium bowl, measure out the almond butter. Add the coconut milk, imitation honey and stir with a rubber spatula until fairly smooth. Add the vanilla and beaten eggs. Beat a minute or two to achieve a smooth liquid batter. Measure the almond flour on top, then the coconut flour and finally the baking powder. Beat with the spatula until smooth. Evenly pour the cake batter over the apples, gently coaxing it out to the edges of the pan. Pop into 350º preheated oven for about 20 minutes. This does not rise very much and it will be completely dry to the touch in the center when done. Toothpick test will come out clean at the center. Remove tart from the oven and cool for awhile. While still a little warm, invert your serving plate over the tart pan or pie plate and using two hands, holding tightly, flip tart pan and serving plate over and the tart should fall neatly onto the serving plate. Gently re-place any apples that may have stuck to the pan. Cut into 8 slices and serve with sweetened whipped cream if desired.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 8 servings each contains: (does not including any whipped cream topping)

235 calories, 19.5 g fat, 11.6 g carbs, 2.76 g fiber, 8.94 g NET CARBS, 5.1 g protein, 125 mg sodium

Moo Shu Pork

November 8, 2018January 5, 2025Peggy 8 Comments

Roll Under Construction

The filling

We were introduced to Moo Shu Pork by a friend in Houston many years ago by a friend who was married to a girl from China. We fell in love with Moo Shu at first bite! There’s something about the unusual ingredients and the sweet, tangy hoisin sauce that is a flavor marriage made in heaven. As with any Chinese food, more time is spent in slicing/cutting up the ingredients than the actual cooking takes, but this dish is so worth the effort!

I line up paper plates by my stove and get each ingredient chopped and onto a plate, ready to add to the wok at the right moment. I soak the tiger lily buds, cloud ear and mushrooms in little bowls first in hot water to rehydrate them. I make the marinade in a bowl and set aside. I next scramble the eggs, chopping them when cooked into smaller bits (but not too small). I slice all the veggies last. Then I’m ready to cook!

This recipe is slightly higher in carbs than most on my site and therefore are not suitable until you are closer to goal weight, but this dish is a special treat to me and I don’t indulge in this one often. The way I look at it, I consider any recipe below 10g net carbs per serving to be OK, considering that is ever so much lower than the average carb count for most Standard American Diet (SAD) entrées of my past. 🙂

NOTE: Shitaake mushrooms, Cloud Ear Fungus (also called wood ear mushroom) and Tiger Lily Buds are essential to traditional Mu Shu Pork classic flavors. If omitted, you are not eating Moo Shu Pork. Asian groceries will all carry these items. I have to order mine on-line.

MARINADE INGREDIENTS:

¼ c. mushroom soaking liquid

4 T. my homemade Hoisin Sauce

1 T. rice wine vinegar

1 T. fish sauce (I use Thai Kitchen brand) [or a good bottled oyster sauce]

1 tsp. toasted sesame oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp. Sambal Oelek chili sauce

¼ tsp. xanthan gum or preferred thickener

FILLING INGREDIENTS:

2 large eggs, scrambled

1 T. butter

8 oz. lean only pork loin, slivered thin

3 T. peanut or olive oil (or your preferred oil)

½ c. cabbage, slivered thin

4 large dried shitake mushrooms, soaked

3 large green onions, slivered thinly lengthwise, cut 1″ pieces

1 c. fresh bean sprouts

¼ c. canned bamboo shoots, julienne slivered

½ c. dried Cloud Ear Fungus strips, soaked (if using whole, slice thin julienne size)

½ cup (small handful) Tiger Lily Buds, soaked, cut in halves

8 low-carb flour tortillas (I use La Banderita)

Extra hoisin sauce to “dress” before eating (not calculated into stats, as amount used varies)

VARIATION: Use slivered chicken in lieu of pork for a Moo Shu Chicken version

DIRECTIONS: In 3 small bowls, soak mushrooms, Tiger Lily Buds and Clour Ear in very hot water until soft. You want to save the mushroom liquid and just lift them out of that “stock”. Cut out the tough mushroom stems and slice the mushroom flesh. Place on paper towels to dry off for now. Discard water off the Cloud Ear Fungus. If using whole ones, chop or slice and paper towel dry. If using pre-cut strips just set them on paper towel to dry. Discard water off the Tiger Lily Buds and chop them in half. Dry on paper towels. Set these 3 ingredients near the stove.

Mix all marinade ingredients in the small bowl. Add ¼ c. of the mushroom soaking water. When well-mixed, pour half the marinade into medium bowl and add the sliced meat. Toss the meat with your hands to coat meat well and let it marinade while you continue your prepping. Remaining marinade will be added to the wok at the end of cooking.

Scramble the eggs over medium in the butter until set. Remove from heat and chop into medium bits (but not too fine). Set those aside by stove so they are at-the-ready.

Now you’re ready to cook. Heat a dry wok or large skillet. Chinese cooks have a saying: “Hot Wok; Cold Fat.” If you do it this way, the meat does not stick to the pan. If you heat the oil as you heat the wok, the meat almost invariably sticks to the pan! When the steel is VERY HOT, quickly dump in the oil and promptly the meat into the cold oil. Don’t worry, the oil will get hot quick when it hits the hot metal. Stir-fry with spoon until meat is no longer pink. Add in cabbage and Cloud Ear Fungus next. Stir-fry until they just barely begins to go limp. Next add the bean sprouts & scallions and cook those just 1 minute. Add the mushrooms, bamboo shoot slivers and Tiger Lily Buds next, cooking the mixture 2-3 minutes. Pour in the remaining marinade and stir well so all filling is now moistened. Cook another minute or so for the thickener in the marinade to do its job. Add the egg to the wok last, during the final minute of cooking, and stir just to mix. Remove wok from heat.

Serve the filling at the table (I like to do it right in the wok so it stays warm) with low-carb tortillas and more hoisin sauce. I haven’t gotten around to creating a Chinese-style pancake, but give me awhile and I may do that one day. Place about ½-3/4 c. filling on the tortilla down the center. Dab a little extra hoisin sauce down the filling edge (as shown above) and fold the bottom edge up like an envelope end (to catch juice as you eat). Then fold the sides of the tortilla inward like a burrito. Pick up and eat it with your hands, like a burrito. Moo Shu Pork is traditionally eaten with hands and is actually rather messy/difficult to eat with a fork, to be honest.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 8 servings, each contains: (Includes wrapper but does not include hoisin sauce)

216 cals, 12.4g fat, 24.35g carbs, 13.72g fiber, 10.63g NET CARBS (plus any added hoisin), 13.7g protein, 814mg sodium (and that’s using low-sodium soy sauce!)

Spinach Mini Pizzas

November 7, 2018November 7, 2018Peggy Leave a comment

I went to make a little spinach pizza today and decided to make a couple minor tweaks (less cheese and less oil) to my versatile Mozzy Dough recipe. Good thing! These minor changes really improved it! Those changes have been post to the original post now, with adjustments to the nutritional stats that reflect those changes. I think you will be pleased with my changes next time you bake that dough. We sure were. Anyhow, these little lunch treats were quite tasty. I ate 2; the hubs ate 3. I think 1 tsp. jar low-carb Alfredo sauce on the dough before adding the cheese/spinach toppings would be a plus, but I didn’t have any in the house. I’m going to add a dab next baking. 🙂 And there will be a next baking! Of that I am certain! These gems are not suitable until you reach Phase 2 of Atkins.

Our latest two LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS cookbooks, 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 coming out soon as well. EARLY BIRD SECRET SALE!! Special pricing and limited-time free shipping so hurry and place your order. Or you can order these or any of our cookbooks at https://amongfriends.us/Secret-SALE.php. When you purchase our books, we would sure appreciate you stopping by Amazon to leaving a review at this site

INGREDIENTS:

1 recipe my Mozzy Dough

1 scant cup (14 Tbsp.) Parmesan cheese shreds

3 oz. frozen chopped spinach

DIRECTIONS: Boil the spinach 1-2 minutes, drain and dry on paper towels. Set aside for now. Make the Mozzy Dough by that recipe’s instructions. Divide dough into 7 equal portions (a ball about 1½” round). Press each portion of dough evenly either into 7 slots of a muffin-top pan, a similar ebelskiver pan, or on a parchment-lined baking sheet to about 2-3″ in diameter. Top each crust with 1 T. Parmesan shreds. Evenly distribute the spinach on the 7 pizzas. Finally, sprinkle 1 T. Parmesan shreds on the top. I thought about some mozzarella at this point, but there is so much in the dough itself, none is really needed on the tops. Pop pan into a 350º oven and baked for about 15-18 minutes or until golden around the edges. Serve at once.

VARIATION: Make these up even smaller, in 28 slots of mini-muffin pans for bite-size party/appetizer version. Just distribute the toppings out over the 28 equally as possible and divide the numbers below by 4 to get the stats fsor 28 bite-size morsels.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 7 Spinach Mini Pizzas, each contains:

202 cals, 15.8g fat, 9.02g carbs, 5.8g fiber, 3.22g NET CARBS, 15.9g protein, 400 mg sodium

Sausage-Chicken Bean Soup

October 25, 2018Peggy Leave a comment

My husband had to go have some lab work done for his doctor this morning so he volunteered to get my groceries on the way home. Of course, it started raining, is a might chilly out as well, so when I asked him what he wanted for lunch today, I wasn’t surprised he said soup! Well, since I’m always trying to use up leftovers and one-of’s in the fridge, I put together what turned out to be a very tasty soup! My husband was doubtful when I said what all I was throwing into the pot, but ended up eating TWO bowls of it, so clearly not a problem for his palate. LOL

What I had to work with was a small piece of a smoked sausage rope, 1 baked chicken thigh, half of a large yellow squash, and some fresh kale. Also had in my freezer the cooking pan juices from my last batch of Montreal Baked Chicken (I always save it for just such uses) and homemade chicken broth that is always in my freezer. VOILA! A delightful lunch fit for a chilly, rainy day that you can have once you get to phase 2 of Atkins.

Our latest two LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS cookbooks, 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. EARLY BIRD SECRET SALE!! Special pricing and limited-time free shipping so hurry and place your order. Or you can order these or any of our cookbooks at https://amongfriends.us/Secret-SALE.php. When you purchase our books, we would sure appreciate you stopping by Amazon to leaving a review at this site

INGREDIENTS:

3 T. unsalted butter

2 oz. onion, chopped

1 c. chicken meat, pre-cooked, chopped

4″ piece smoked sausage (beef or pork), sliced

1 can Eden soy black beans, with juice (not regular, high-carb black beans!)

2 large kale leaves, stemmed, rinsed and chopped

3 oz. yellow summer squash, diced or sliced

3 c. homemade chicken broth (mine is just chicken boiled in water)

¼-½ tsp. my homemade Montreal Steak Seasoning

¼-½ tsp. Sriracha Chili sauce (or other hot sauce to taste)

DIRECTIONS: Melt the butter in a soup pot over high heat and saute the onions until they begin to brown. Add the sausage and squash and saute until all are partially cooked. Add all remaining ingredients and bring to just a simmer for about 15 minutes or just until the kale is just done. Add salt to taste only if the sausage hasn’t already made the soup salty enough for your palate.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 4 servings (large bowls), each contains:

385 cals, 27 g fat, 12.25g carbs, 6.27g fiber, 5.98g NET CARBS, 21.4g protein, 485 mg sodium

Middle Eastern Stuffed Peppers (Dolmas)

October 21, 2018March 18, 2023Peggy Leave a comment

When they stuff grape leaves, peppers, tomatoes, onions, or whatever in the Middle East with meat mixtures, they call that food ‘Dolmas‘, which literally means “stuffed”.

I haven’t had these particular stuffed peppers since I lived in Iran but I do stuff peppers with a variety of meat mixtures fairly often. Our maid in Iran made something like this for us one time. I remember she put raisins in her meat filling, which I thought very odd at the time. That jacks up the carbs too high for me on my low-carb regimen, since peppers themselves are pretty carb-y. So I tend to leave out the raisins. If I think I can splurge a bit, I’ll snip up a few with kitchen shears and add them since they add so much flavor. Fatimeh also used bulgur wheat in hers, whereas I used lower-carb hemp seeds. Even with my changes, the peppers themselves have quite a bit of carbs, as you can see in the stats below. But peppers are so good for you, I don’t care. I’m just going to fix stuffed peppers once in awhile and that’s a fact! One of these is a serving and fills me right up. These are suitable once you get to Phase 2 Atkins. Keto folks can probably fit these macros into their day with menu planning. These are also suitable for those following Primal or Paleo programs.

INGREDIENTS:

4 medium-large green peppers (or any other color you like)

20 oz. lean ground beef

2½ oz. onion, chopped

3/4 c. chopped parsley

1 14.5-oz (total) can diced low-sodium tomatoes

3 T. hemp seeds/hearts

1 tsp. each turmeric, dried mint and dried dill

1½ tsp. ground cinnamon

Dash each salt and pepper

VARIATIONS: Use ground lamb instead of beef. Use cooked lentils instead of hemp seeds (carbs will go up with lentils). If you can are in maintenance and can afford the extra carbs, add 2 T. snipped raisins to the meat mixture before filling the peppers.

DIRECTIONS: Cut the tops off the peppers. Pull out the seed cluster and discard. Save the “lids” if you want to use them for plate presentation, otherwise, chop the flesh and save all but the stem in a baggie in the refrigerator for future pepper needs. Parboil the peppers in a braising/soup pot of water 1″ deep for just 2-3 minutes to slightly cook them. Carefully drain off water and stand the peppers cut-side up in the pot. Set aside for now.

For the filling, in a skillet over medium-high heat, brown the meat and onion together. Add half of the can of tomatoes (just solids) to the meat and stir. Add all remaining ingredients and simmer 5 minutes to cook off any water in the tomatoes. Preheat oven to 350º while you are simmering the meat. After 5 minutes of cooking, spoon the filling equally into the peppers. Place pepper “lids” on top if using. Pour the remaining diced tomatoes and their liquid down into the bottom of the pan around the peppers as shown below to help the peppers remain moist during cooking. Pop your cook pot into a 350º oven for about 40-50 minutes. The amount of time will depend upon the size of your peppers and the thickness of the pepper “walls”. Bigger/thicker peppers will take more time. If they look like they are about ready to collapse, they’re done! As the filling is totally cooked, you just want to cook the peppers until they are tender and not fall-apart stage, so keep an eye on them (ovens vary).

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 4 stuffed peppers, each contains approximately:

391 cals, 22g fat, 17.07g carbs (in the tomatoes and peppers), 5.9g fiber, 12.17g NET CARBS, 32.7g protein, 443 mg sodium

Creamy Avocado Salad Dressing

October 21, 2018October 21, 2018Peggy 2 Comments

Our latest two LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS cookbooks, 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. EARLY BIRD SECRET SALE!! Special pricing and limited-time free shipping so hurry and place your order. Or you can order these or any of our cookbooks at https://amongfriends.us/Secret-SALE.php.

When you purchase our books, we would sure appreciate you stopping by Amazon to leaving a review. Review here

INGREDIENTS:

1 ripe avocado, skinned, seeded

3 T. sour cream

3 T. my Shawarma Mayonnaise (or other homemade mayo)

1 T. red wine vinegar

1/8 tsp. sea salt

1/4 tsp. coarse black pepper

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 4 servings (possibly 5), each of 4 servings contains:

168 cals, 19g fat, 4.42g carbs, 2.97g fiber, 1.45g NET CARBS, 1.5g protein, 102mg sodium

Pigs in a Blanket

October 18, 2018October 18, 2018Peggy 2 Comments

I haven’t made Pigs in a Blanket in literally years. So when I passed by the center-aisle display of Little Smokies at the store yesterday, I picked up a package. I decided to use some of my Mozzy Dough to blanket them and they came out so good. But man, oh, man, I had no idea how much sodium are in those little sausages! My fingers swelled up after just eating three of these! These are NOT suitable for the sodium sensitive, so as my husband’s doctor just put him on a low-sodium diet, he could only taste one of them. Be sure to drink lots of water after eating these piggies. They were so tasty I ate three! A flavor from parties past! These are suitable for Atkins Phase 2 or beyond and other Keto diets.

Our latest two LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS cookbooks, 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. EARLY BIRD SECRET SALE!! Special pricing and limited time free shipping so hurry and place your order. Or you can order these or any of our cookbooks at https://amongfriends.us/Secret-SALE.php.

When you purchase our books, we would sure appreciate you stopping by Amazon to leaving a review at this site

INGREDIENTS:

1 recipe my Mozzy Dough

28 Oscar Mayer beef Little Smokies sausages

DIRECTIONS: Make the Mozzy Dough per that recipe’s instructions. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and preheat oven to 350º. Pinch off 1″ balls of dough and form a ball and then with your fingers form a small oval of dough slightly less wide than the sausages are long. Place a sausage in the middle of the dough and roll the ends up over to the center, overlap a bit and press the seam. Place onto parchment-lined pan and repeat with the rest of the dough and sausages. I had enough dough for 28. Pop into 350º oven and bake until golden or about 17 minutes. Keep an eye out as ovens vary and this cheese-laden dough can brown very fast once it begins to brown. Remove and cool slightly. The dough seems to improve when they are cooled off a bit.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 28 pieces, each contains:

180 cals, 16g fat, 1.96g carbs, 1.35g fiber, 1.61g NET CARBS, 9.1g protein, 496 mg sodium (Sodium is mostly in the meat, not the dough. A lower-sodium sausage might be a better choice)

Cajun Broiled Shrimp

October 18, 2018October 20, 2018Peggy Leave a comment

This is my preferred broiled shrimp recipe now. I thought I had posted this on the blog ages ago, but just discovered last night I had not done so to date. Since I made these tonight (served on a taco salad,less the beef) I thought it was about time I shared this one. I think you’ll like this simple shrimp preparation. I served them on a taco salad, but have also served them with other sides. However you serve them………..just SERVE THEM! You won’t be sorry you did! I found 1 skewer filled me up with the salad base. My husband ate two. I’m providing numbers for each skewer of shrimp and you can determine the serving size. 🙂

These are suitable for all phases of Atkins and other Keto diets. If you decide to serve on a taco salad as shown, if still on Induction, save the soy black beans shown in the photo until you are farther along in Atkins Phase 2 to enjoy those on your salad.

Our last two LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS cookbooks, 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. EARLY BIRD SECRET SALE!! Special pricing and limited time free shipping so hurry and place your order. Or you can order these or any of our cookbooks at https://amongfriends.us/Secret-SALE.php.

When you purchase our books, we would sure appreciate you stopping by Amazon to leaving a review at this site

INGREDIENTS:

30 medium shrimp, tail-on, peeled & veined

3 T. unsalted butter, melted

1½ tsp. my Cajun Seafood Spice Blend

VARIATION: Use Fiesta brand Chili Lime Seasoning and garlic powder (if you like it) instead of the Seafood Spice Blend. I’m not so fond of the popular chili-lime flavor, but many do like that combo.

DIRECTIONS: Preheat broiler. Skewer 5 shrimp on each of 6 skewers as shown in the photo. Lay them on a sheet pan. It a little saucepan, melt the butter and stir in the spice blend. With a brush, baste the shrimp. Turn the skewers over and baste the other side. Pop into preheated broiler and brown on 1st side for about 4 minutes? Watch them, as broilers vary. Remove and with a tool or pot holder, turn the skewers over and brown the 2nd side of the shrimp. Remove and serve with your favorite sides or atop a lovely green or taco salad.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 6 skewers, each contains (not including salad):

84.7 cals, 6.3g fat, 1.28g carbs, 0.0g fiber, 1.28g NET CARBS, 6.15g protein, 65 mg sodium

Cherry Mini Bites

October 12, 2018October 12, 2018Peggy Leave a comment

Yet another tasty use of my versatile Mozzy Dough recipe and a great way to use up half a can of opened lite cherry pie filling. The hubs and I have been super strict, ultra low-carbing (under 20 NC a day) since the 1st of September. We decided to treat ourselves tonight with something sweet. These took a mere 35 minutes to make, start to finish. I have a 24 slot non-stick mini-muffin pan that turned out to be perfect for this amount of dough and filling. These come out to be 1.9 net carbs per piece, so an occasional indulgence like this can break the diet monotony without breaking the proverbial “carb bank”. 🙂 These are suitable for Atkins Phase 2 and beyond and most Keto diets.

When you purchase our books, we would sure appreciate you stopping by Amazon to leaving a review at this page.

INGREDIENTS:

1 recipe my Mozzy Dough

½ can Lite Cherry Pie Filling

VARIATION: Use other lite pie filling, like blueberry or what you make up from scratch with other fruit. Another variation would be to dot each crust with 1/2 tsp. cream cheese before adding the fruit topping. You will need to calculate numbers again if you do that.

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º. Make a batch of the Mozzy Dough. After kneading the ball of dough until smooth, break off 1″ balls of dough and press one ball into each of the 24 slots of mini-muffin pans. The “bowls” of dough will be quite shallow in the pan slots. Spoon just 2 cherries (with dab of filling) into each slot neatly. Pop into 350º and bake for around 15 minutes or until the “crust” is lightly browned around the edges. Remove, cool 1-2 minutes and lift out with knife tip onto serving plate. ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 24 Cherry Bites, each contains:

67 cals, 5.1g fat, 3.61g carbs, 1.71g fiber, 1.9g NET CARBS, 4.5g protein, 95 mg sodium (in cheese)

Mirepoix-Stuffed Beef Roll

October 6, 2018October 7, 2018Peggy Leave a comment

This recipe was delicious, but quite rich. You might want to serve it with some creamy mashed cauliflower to tone down the richness. But we both loved this one. My bacon slices there have been cut off on the ends and are merely laying atop the roll. I’m bad about slicing off the ends of bacon for other recipes which shortens the remaining slices. Guilty as charged this week. LOL

The sauce is not absolutely necessary, but we quite liked it on top. You know me, I’m a gravy nut. This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins (those still on Induction must omit the wine in the sauce) and other Keto diets. Primal folks can enjoy this but not Paleo.

MEAT INGREDIENTS:

1lb. 10 oz. ground beef (I used 90%)

3/4 tsp. Montreal Steak Seasoning of other seasoning of your choice

1 T. chia seed + 9 T. water

FILLING INGREDIENTS:

3/4 c. each carrot and celery, chopped or processed

2 oz. onion, chopped or processed

2 T. butter

4-oz. can mushrooms, drained and chopped or processed

1/8 tsp. black pepper

1 T. chia seed

4 oz. cream cheese (I used 8 oz. and it was way too much)

SAUCE INGREDIENTS:

All pan juices

any stuffing that oozes out of the meat during cooking

¼ c. dry white wine (omit if on Induction)

½ c. heavy cream

1/8-1/4 tsp. xanthan gum to thicken

½ c. green onion, chopped

FINISHING TOUCH: 4 oz. bacon slices

DIRECTIONS: Place the chia seeds in a jar or small bowl and add 9 T. tap water. Let them sit for 10 minutes or so to thicken. Stir occasionally. When gel is ready, work it and the Montreal Seasoning into the meat like you would a meatloaf, with a fork or your hands. Spread the meat onto a silicone sheet (or plastic wrap) and form a 1/2″ thick 9″x10″ rectangle (approximate) with the meat. Use a fork or your fingers to spread the meat.

Preheat oven to 350º. In a non-stick skillet melt the butter and saute the celery, carrot and onion (known as a mirepoix) until tender. Add the chopped mushrooms to the mirepoix mixture. Add the cream cheese in chunks and stir to melt and blend all. Spoon mixture down the center 1/3 of the meat rectangle. Lifting the side with the plastic or silicone sheet, fold one side of the meat over the cream cheese filling. Carefully lift the second side of the meat and bring it to the center, slightly overlapping the first flap of meat. Press the seam lightly to seal. Now using the plastic/silicone to help move it, roll the meat roll gently over into your baking dish (seam will be down). Lay 7 short slices of bacon across the top, sprinkle them with more black pepper and pop pan into 350º oven for 1 hour. Internal meat temp will be 130º when done. I would recommend sticking the meat thermometer in the side of the bottom of the meat roll, trying not to touch the pan with the tip of the thermometer. If bacon is not brown enough for your liking, put in broiler for 1-3 minutes (I had to). Cut between bacon slices into 7 servings. If your bacon is particularly “skinny” you may be able to get 8 servings out of this meal, which would also lower the per-serving carbs. 🙂

While the meat is sitting awaiting slicing/serving, carefully pour off the juices into a small saucepan. Add the wine, green onion and heavy cream. Bring to a low simmer and thicken with a little xanthan gum to you desired level. Pour sauce into a gravy boat and serve alongside meat.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 7 servings, each contains:

627 cals, 55 g fat (omit sauce to lower), 5.94 g carbs, 1.88g fiber, 4.06g NET CARBS, 25.3g protein, 637 mg sodium (from the cream cheese and cream)

Smoked Chicken-Broccoli Casserole

October 3, 2018June 16, 2020Peggy 3 Comments

This recipe came about from a huge chicken breast we smoked on the grill last week that was not eaten. This casserole is a perfect meld of flavors that is sure to please. It is edibly rich and delicious. My husband rants about this one when I make it. The smoke flavor of the meat is what makes it so tasty! This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins and Keto diets if you can fit it into your daily macro limits. You can lower the nutritional numbers below by stretching this to 5 servings or reducing the heavy cream, the cream cheese but bear in mind the final dish will be somewhat “thicker” on the fork.

INGREDIENTS:

1 large grilled chicken breast, chopped (mine yielded 2½ c.)

1 stalk broccoli, stem removed, cut into small flowerets

2 T. butter, unsalted

2 oz. onion, slivered thinly

6 large mushrooms, sliced

8 oz. cream cheese

2/3 c. heavy cream

¼ c. hemp hearts (optional)

1 c. shredded Parmesan cheese

Dash coarse black pepper

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º. Melt butter in skillet and saute onion & mushrooms until translucent. While it is cooking, cut up the chicken into bite-size pieces. Add the broccoli to the pan and saute for just 1-2 minutes. Dot the skillet with small pieces of the cream cheese and blend to aid in melting. Add the cream, shredded Parmesan hemp heart and fold all together lightly to blend. Remove from heat and pour/spoon into a lightly oiled baking dish. Pop into 350º oven for 20-25 minutes to allow flavors to meld and develop. Remove and serve with a nice green salad.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 4 servings each containing:

736 cals, 59g fat, 8.32g carbs, 2.15g fiber, 6.17g NET CARBS, 44.3g protein, 916 mg sodium

Pumpkin Pie (individual or large)

October 1, 2018August 28, 2025Peggy 2 Comments

Individual pies (4″ mini pie pans) using FRESH pumpkin

This is my favorite traditional pumpkin pie filling recipe. I have been baking this recipe of my mother’s for many years now. It is very light and fluffy as the egg whites are whipped separately. Of course, those still on Induction will need to leave off crust as shown to the right. It’s very good that way!

9″ large pie (crustless for Induction) made with canned pumpkin

Those that are already to the OWL Phase 2 level of Atkins can pour this filling into an uncooked low-carb pie crust of your choice and then bake. Mine are shown on my “Flour” Pie Crust. With that crust recipe, each pie (minus topping) contains 9 net carbs. I usually use canned pumpkin for this but tried it with fresh today and it was delicious, although a tad milder in flavor I think. This recipe is only suitable for Induction if made crustless.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 c. granular Splenda (or equivalent sweetener of your choice)

1 T. erythritol (or pinch stevia extract)

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. ground cloves

1/4 tsp. ground ginger (optional)

1/8 tsp. salt

1 c. canned or fresh baked pumpkin flesh (NOT pumpkin pie filling!)

1/2 c. heavy cream

3 large eggs, separated per directions below

1 recipe my “Flour” Pie Crust

DIRECTIONS: Make pie crust by that recipe’s directions. Roll and shape in pie pan (large or 4 mini pans).

For the filling, break and beat one whole egg in a medium mixing bowl. Take out another medium mixing bowl. Separate the two remaining eggs, putting the yolks into your first bowl with the whole beaten egg. Put the whites in a clean, dry, separate bowl.

In the bowl with the 1 whole egg and 2 yolks, add all other pie ingredients. Beat will with a stick blender or hand mixer until smooth, especially if using fresh pumpkin, as it can be lumpy. Slowly stir in the cream and blend until smooth.

Beat the 2 egg whites to “stiff peak” stage using an electric mixer. With a rubber spatula, fold the beaten whites into the pumpkin mixture. When all is incorporated well, pour the mixture into 4 mini pie crusts. For the crustless version, pour into a buttered baking dish. For the large pie version, pour into an uncooked, prepared 9″-10″ low-carb pie crust positioned in your pie plate.

IMPORTANT: For the large pie version, if you use an 8″ pie plate, this amount of filling will likely overflow during baking. 9″ pie plate works better, but if 8″ is the only size pie plate you have, only fill the prepared crust 3/4 full. Put remaining filling into a buttered small dish to bake separately for the kids, who often don’t like crust anyway.

Bake at 350º for 40-45 minutes. Filling will puff way up during cooking and then fall level when removed from the oven and cooled. When totally cooled, Serve with a dollop of whipped cream sweetened with the sweetener of your choice.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION (for filling): Makes 4 mini pies or 1 large pie. Each mini contains enough filling to tally up the following numbers: (Does NOT include topping or crust)

191 cals, 15g fat, 9.52g carbs, 2.2g fiber, 7.5g NET CARBS, 6g protein, 72 mg sodium (for much lower carbs, just eat half of a mini pie)

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION (for crust): Entire crust recipe contains: (divide by # servings you cut from your large pie)

612 cals, 70.7g fat, 70.8g carbs, 63.84g fiber, 6.8g NET CARBS, 26.4g protein, 648 mg sodium

Mushroom-Quinoa Soup

September 30, 2018October 1, 2018Peggy 2 Comments

This was a quick and delicious lunch today. My husband wasn’t home, so there is lots leftover, even after my eating 2 servings! What can I say? It was so good! Whipped up a quick batch of Jennifer Eloff’s low-carb Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup in my blender. Used half for this recipe and saved half for perhaps a casserole binder this week. Dumped the rest of the ingredients in the pot and VOILA! Tasty lunch in just 30 minutes! This recipe is not suitable until Phase 2 of Atkins. Keto and Paleo followers can enjoy as well. Paleo people will need to omit the cream and up the broth or sub in coconut milk for the cream.

INGREDIENTS:

½ recipe Jen Eloff’s low-carb condensed mushroom soup

1 4-oz. can mushroom stems and pieces

4 large fresh mushrooms, chopped

¼ tsp. onion powder

Dash each salt and black pepper

2 Tbsp. quinoa seed

½ c. heavy cream

1½ c. chicken broth bone broth (chicken broth will do)

DIRECTIONS: Using your blender or food processor, make Jennifer’s condensed soup per that recipe’s instructions (it’s buried in her casserole recipe). Spoon up half of it into a medium soup pot for my recipe here. Store the rest in your refrigerator for another use. If your family is large, you could double all other ingredients listed above and use the entire batch of her soup for a huge pot of this soup. That will make 10 servings total!

After placing half the condensed soup mixture into a 4-qt. saucepan, add the can of mushroom pieces and chopped fresh mushrooms and stir to mix it well. Add in the salt, pepper and onion powder and stir. Next add the heavy cream and blend until it appears smooth. Add in the bone broth (or stock) next and stir again. Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Add in the quinoa seed and reduce heat to medium/med-low until you achieve a gentle simmer. Cook for about 20 minutes stirring occasionally to avoid scorching on the bottom of the pan. When quinoa is softened and beginning to burst open it is ready. Garnish with a sprinkle of parsley if desired.

VARIATION: I had 1 slice of leftover cooked bacon I crumbled into mine and it was a nice flavor layer for this soup. So you might want to add 4 slices bacon, chopped and pre-browned to the ingredient list. 🙂

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 5 large bowls, each contains:

203 cals, 16.8g fat, 6.74g carb, 1.2g fiber, 5.54g NET CARBS, 4.88g protein, 249 mg sodium

Cucumber Salad with Hemp Seed Oil-Ranch® Dressing

September 29, 2018September 29, 2018Peggy Leave a comment

I have recently found cold-pressed organic hemp seed oil in my local Walmart (Carrington Frams brand). I have read that it (along with flax seed oil) is one of nature’s perfect healthy oils, with a near perfect balance of Omega 3 and Omega 6 oil and other needed amino acids. To get the daily needed balance, you would only have to consume 2-4 tsp. a day. A serving of my Ranch®-like dressing here has 3 tsp. (1 T.) per serving, so job done! I didn’t find the oil to have much flavor, slightly nutty, which reminded me of the taste of flax oil. I plan to keep it in the refrigerator to prevent its going rancid so fast ( as flax seed oil does). This will add yet another delicious, healthy oil to my arsenal of oils for salads. DO NOT HEAT/COOK with this oil as it loses a lot of nutrients if heated. This recipe is suitable for all Atkins phases, Keto diets, Primal and Paleo.

Our latest LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS, Volume 8 and soon-to-be-released Volume 9 are almost exclusively comprised of my recipes! Included are a few tasty new creations of my friends George Stella and Jennifer Eloff. EARLY BIRD SECRET SALE!! For estimated October delivery on Vol. 9, order it or any of our cookbooks at https://amongfriends.us/Secret-SALE.php or at Amazon. LIMITED TIME SPECIAL OFFER: Currently we have a special offer on a bundle of all 8 previous volumes that reduces their individual price to only $13.22! Don’t miss out on this incredible bargain!

INGREDIENTS:

1 c. cut up cucumber

6 tiny San Marzano tomatoes, cut into pieces (or cherry tomatoes)

2 T. hemp seed oil

2 T. red wine vinegar

2 tsp. my Ranch® Powder blend

Dash salt

DIRECTIONS: Mix last 4 ingredients in a small ramekin and stir well. Cut cucumber and tomato up and place in small serving bowl. Drizzle dressing over all and stir well. Chill 30 minutes and serve.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 2 servings, each contains:

21 cals, 0.15g fat, 3.95g carbs, 1.2g fiber, 2.75g NET CARBS (dressing is about 1g of the 2.75g), 0g protein, trace sodium

Sofrito Zoodles

September 27, 2018April 12, 2023Peggy Leave a comment

Early along in my Atkins journey, I learned that zucchini noodles not only made a great support for spaghetti sauce and to create a new twist on mac and cheese, but they could also be pretty delicious with not much added to the picture. One of my favorite ways to serve them is just sautéed in butter and a good dousing of Parmesan cheese. It reminds me of risotto.

When I created my version of sofrito sauce, I found it to be delicious on just a plate of zoodles. These healthy “noodles” are delicious alongside a variety of meats and seafood. Their flavor profile is most adaptable to what you are serving. Last night I served them with broiled shrimp. They will also serve as a foundation for a number of delicious meat stir-fries, Bolognese sauce, as well as numerous creamy seafood dishes I have tried on them. They are exceedingly quick to make and Induction friendly on Atkins or Keto program. This recipe is also acceptable for Primal or Paleo followers.

INGREDIENTS:

2 large zucchini (about 16 ounces)

2 T. unsalted butter

2 T. my Sofrito sauce

2 T. Parmesan cheese (finely grated)

VARIATION: Use yellow summer squash instead of zucchini (or any combination of the two). For added color impact, you could add some carrot you have run through the noodler.

DIRECTIONS: Form the zucchini noodles in your preferred noodling tool. I used my hand-held Vegetti® for this task as my larger Spirooli® broke irreparably not long ago. I like the little Vegetti®! I understand they make an electric Vegetti® now, but I’ve not seen them in the stores yet. Saw it on the internet. But the hand held model works just fine. You will end up with about 3½-4 c. zucchini noodles. Depending on your tool, you may want to cut them shorter with a knife (I did). Place on a clean kitchen towel and pat/press to absorb all the water. Wait a few minutes and press again to dry them well of their water.

Heat a non-stick skillet and melt the butter. Add the noodles and with a large kitchen fork, stir them gently just until they go limp and translucent. Add the Sofrito sauce and mix well. Remove from heat and dip into a serving dish or onto plates. Sprinkle Parmesan on top either in your serving dish or allow your diners to add it themselves at the table. Enjoy!

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 4 servings (about 3/4 c. each after shrinkage). Each serving contains:

108 cals., 8g fat, 5.95g carbs, 1.9g fiber, 3.05g NET CARBS, 3.1g protein, 60 mg sodium

BBQ “Potato” Chips

September 25, 2018October 5, 2018Peggy 4 Comments

UPDATE: I have concluded I must have sliced these just perfectly the first time, as on subsezuent fryings, many did not stay crisp after cooling. If you don’t get them VERY brown (just short of burned), slice them incredibly thin up front and also eat them right out of the grease, they are inclined to soften up in the centers. Only those sliced so thin you can almost read a book through the jicama slices will get/stay crisp. Since that kind of thin uniformity is nigh on to impossible with anything short of a professional slicer or quality mandolin (neither of which do I own, as can both can be very dangerous to use) you may want to wait until you can get a mandolin.

These crispy little chips came out extremely close to the flavor of commercial BBQ potato chips! We LOVED them! So crisp, too. The natural sweet edge in this vegetable lends itself to BBQ flavoring, as the commercial chips actually have unhealthy sugar added to their spice seasoning. And best of all, these little snack chips are an Atkins Induction friendly recipe. The dehydrated tomato powder I use is Goya brand in the Mexican section of your grocery store. They make it in tiny cubes and blocks. Of course, you can omit the spice blend for plain “Potato” Chips. I also have a Nacho Cheese “Corn” Chip recipe you might like.

I have often wondered if you could deep fry jicama. Honestly I just didn’t believe you could hide the sweet quality jicama has, which is actually a plus for BBQ seasoning here. I also didn’t think I could ever slice it thin enough to work for something like this. Well, I recently bought a little folding Rival slicer and it slices jicama VERY thin, but I do believe a mandolin would slice them even thinner. These are delicious with burgers or by themselves!

These can also be made plain and those taste like real potato chips to me! At 8 net carbs for this entire batch not bad all in all. The plain ones even hold up to sour cream and yogurt dips.

For more delicious crackers, chips and snacks, you really should visit the LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS Facebook page and see what a marvelous collection of recipes are in these best-selling cookbooks. International author Jennifer Eloff has collaborated with several other talented low carb cooks, including George Stella, well-known to the low-carb community! You can order individual volumes or the entire 5-volume set at Amazon or http://amongfriends.us/order.php.

INGREDIENTS:

6 oz. jicama, peeled

Oil of your choice 1″ deep or more for frying (1T. is calculated into nutritional info below as absorbed, but I suspect less than that is actually absorbed)

Dash sea salt

¼ tsp. my Seafood Spice Blend

1/8 tsp. dehydrated tomato powder (optional)

DIRECTIONS: Mix seasoning (and the crumbled tomato powder if using) into a paper plate (I poured mine into an empty salt shaker I keep for such purposes). Set some paper towels on old newspaper by your cook top for draining purposes. Peel and slice the jicama VERY thin, 1/16″ or less or they will not get crisp when cooked.

I use a Rival slicer set on the thinnest setting, but a mandoline set thin would also work. It will take a very adept slicer to get thin enough slices with a knife, cutting by hand. My food processor doesn’t slice this thin with either of the 2 slicing blades I have, but maybe you have a thinner blade than I and will try that method.

Heat oil in a deep skillet or deep fryer over high heat. Drop one slice of jicama in the oil for a test fry. If it browns too fast or burns, turn the fire down a wee bit to lower oil temp. Drop about 6-8 slices in the oil next so as not to crowd and cool off the oil. The bottoms brown first, so keep flipping them during frying for the most even browning. If any areas in the center are white, those areas will NOT be crispy! White areas will be tough/chewy and nothing like a potato chip. If browned throughout, they will stay crisp even after they cool off, an impressive fact for such a moist vegetable. As soon as they are brown, lift them out of oil with a slotted spoon onto awaiting paper towels. While still hot and oily, sprinkle with salt and the spice blend on both sides. Fry in batches until finished. These are delicious!

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes about 20-25 chips. The entire batch contains:

190 calories, 13.7 g fat, 16.7 g carbs, 8.4 g fiber, 8.3 NET CARBS (for the entire batch), 1.3 g protein, 196 mg sodium

White Bread Sandwich Rounds

September 17, 2018July 26, 2020Peggy 6 Comments

This recipe is a slight modification of my new Toasting Bread recipe. I merely added some psyllium to the original batter. They came out soft, neutral in flavor and resilient to handling. Made GREAT roast beef sandwiches for our lunch today. The husband really liked this one! So a thumbs up on this one from both of us. This recipe is not suitable until you are in Pre-Maintenance or Maintenance on the Atkins plan.

INGREDIENTS:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

4 large eggs, beaten

1 c. my Einkorn Bake Mix or Jennifer Eloff’s Gluten-Free Bake Mix

½ c. CarbQuik Bake Mix

½ tsp. each baking powder & baking soda

1½ tsp. psyllium husk powder (I use NOW brand)

1 T. olive oil

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º. Line two sheet pans with parchment paper. Set aside. Prepare the batter. Soften cream cheese in a medium glass mixing bowl in microwave. Beat with a whisk until smooth. Add in eggs and olive oil and whisk until smooth. Add in the rest of the dry ingredients listed and whisk smooth. Scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula. I didn’t use a measuring cup, but used my spatula to spoon up about into 4 well-spaced piles on the papered pans. If more batter left, evenly distribute into the 8 piles total. Smooth out fairly thin with your spatula or back of a spoon. Aim for roughly 4″ rounds with 3/4″ space between them. Pop into 350º oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden. I intentionally under-browned one pan of mine so that I could re-heat them without overly drying them out or over-browning. Ovens vary, so keep an eye out! When as golden as you like, remove pans from oven and cool. Enjoy with your favorite sandwich fillings. Store extras in a plastic bag in the refrigerator.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 8 thin round breads. Each bread round contains: Takes two to make a sandwich as I find them too thin to slice, so each person is eating 8.3 net carbs plus your sandwich fillings.

195 cals, 15g fat, 11.02g carbs, 6.87g fiber, 4.15g NET CARBS, 11.7g protein, 219 mg sodium

Toasting Bread

September 15, 2018July 11, 2019Peggy 1 Comment

I believe this is the very best bread for toasting I have made to date. The one in my Grilled Cheese Sandwich is still good, mind you, but this one tasted more like regular white bread toast of times past. Both I and my husband thought so. So this one is going to earn the name of Toasting Bread, and rightfully so, until I find/create one that is better. So this is where I’m stopping on “toast” for now. I can’t wait to try this for grilled cheese sandwiches! This recipe, although very tasty, must be delayed until you reach Atkins Pre-Maintenance Phase 3, the grain level of carb reintroduction. But it is certainly worth the wait. Depending on whether you slice your breads into 2 or 3 slices, these tasty, filling breads topped with warm butter and marmalade make a delightful breakfast for you morning coffee, and for only 4.1 net carbs (plus the topping you use)! By the way, buttered as a muffin, unsliced, these make pretty darn tasty biscuits, too!

Many more simple, tasty low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own copy of our cookbooks LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS. Volume 8 is almost exclusively comprised of my recipes with some new George Stella and Jennifer Eloff creations. Volume 9, due out in October, once again has mostly my recipes with a sprinkling of George Stella’s and Jennifer Eloff delights. EARLY BIRD SECRET SALE!! Order here for estimated October delivery: https://amongfriends.us/Secret-SALE.php Order any of the team’s cookbooks from Amazon or here: amongfriends.us/order.php. LIMITED TIME SPECIAL OFFER: Currently we have a special offer on a bundle of all 8 previous volumes that reduces their individual price to only $13.22! Don’t miss out on this incredible bargain! And please, if you’ve already bought Volume 8, we sure would appreciate your taking a moment to stop by this page and leave your personal review:

INGREDIENTS:

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

4 large eggs, beaten

1 c. (see note below) Jennifer Eloff’s Gluten-Free Bake Mix

½ c. CarbQuik Bake Mix

½ tsp. each baking powder & baking soda

1 T. olive oil to grease pan slots

NOTE: I was nearly out of my made-up batch of Jen Eloff’s bake mix, and in a hurry this morning, decided to just go on and use ½ c. her mix and ½ c. my at-the-ready Einkorn Bake Mix. No difference in carb counts for ½ c. of both mixes. Therefore you could use all my Einkorn Bake Mix if you prefer. 🙂 As to whether that change made the bread toast better? Who knows? I plan to try it with all Jen’s mix next time and see. I’ll post back my findings.

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º. I bake these in 8 12 oz. canned chicken cans I have been saving for some time. You can use mini round cake or pie pan tins. Last resort, you could use the oversize muffin pans, but it will take 8 slots/portions (probably two separate bakings unless you have two of the 6-slot large-muffin pans) in order for the numbers below to be accurate. With a brush, lightly oil the bottoms and sides of your pans. Mine did not stick, but if you’re worried, cut some small parchment rounds for the bottoms of your pans.

Soften cream cheese in a medium glass mixing bowl in microwave. Beat with a whisk until smooth. Add in eggs and whisk until smooth. Add in the rest of the dry ingredients and when whisked smooth, scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula. I didn’t use a measuring cup, but used my spatula to spoon up around ¼ cup of batter and fill each of the 8 oiled round pans. I distributed the remaining batter as evenly as I could among the 8 pans. Tap each pan on the counter to eliminate bubbles/air holes. Set pans on a baking sheet and pop into 350º oven for 20 minutes. Ovens vary, so keep an eye out. Remove pan from oven and cool a minute or so. Run a knife tip around the sides, lifting the bread as you do so. Invert and tip the bread out of pan (only 1 of mine tried to stick to the pan). Slice laterally into 2 or even 3 thinner slices and toast lightly in your toaster. Serve with soft butter and the jams/jellies of your choosing.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 8 round breads. Each whole bread (unsliced) contains: (Divide these numbers by 2 or 3, depending on how you slice them for toasting.)

195 cals, 15g fat, 11.02g carbs, 6.87g fiber, 4.15g NET CARBS, 11.7g protein, 219 mg sodium

Pastry Bites

September 13, 2018September 13, 2018Peggy Leave a comment

This little experiment with my Mozzy Dough came out quite nicely. Only thing I will change next time: melt the cream cheese and cook chopped mushroom right with your cooking pork sausage crumbles for the ones on photo right. Hindsight is always 20:20.

These tasty treats are not suitable until you are at Pre-Maintenance or Maintenance in the Atkins program due to the flour product in the dry mix. You could use a phase acceptable dough/bread made with flax meal on the bottom and perhaps still enjoy these on Induction but they will definitely be different doing so. All of these varieties were quite delicious but our favs were the ones with breakfast sausage, mushroom and cream cheese. We rated second the jalapeno cheddar version, second from left in the photo. These would be great for dinner party appetizers or for football gatherings!

EARLY BIRD SECRET SALE!! Order here for estimated October delivery: https://amongfriends.us/Secret-SALE.php

Order any of our books from Amazon or here: amongfriends.us/order.php. There’s currently a special offer of a bundle of all 8 previous volumes that reduces their individual price to only $13.22! Don’t miss out on this bargain! And please, if you’ve already bought Volume 8, I sure would appreciate your taking a moment to stop by this page and leave your personal review:

INGREDIENTS:

1 recipe my Mozzy Dough

Toppings of your choosing

TOPPINGS: Since I can’t know which variety of Pastry Bites you will choose to make and can’t know exactly how much of the various/possible topping ingredients you might use, I will provide nutritional numbers for the basic dough per piece and a few common toppings I think you might like to try.

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º. Have a 24-slot non-stick mini muffin pan at the ready. Make up the Mozzy Dough recipe (linked above) per that recipe’s instructions. Once the dough is in a smooth workable ball, pull off small balls (about 1″ round), roll then slightly and drop into the mini muffin pan slots. I had exactly enough dough to get all 24 filled with a 1″ ball of dough. Press down with your index finger to make a tiny depression in each ball of dough. Press a slice of pre-cooked smoked sausage in each, or press a slice of pepperoni topped with a sprinkle of mozzarella cheese, or add some pre-browned breakfast sausage with a little chopped mushroom and a bit of cream cheese (mixed together). Or place 1 tsp.l cheddar cheese, followed by a slice of jalapeno and topped with yet another tsp. of cheddar. Pop pan into 350º oven for 15 minutes (do not over brown). Remove and with a knife tip to facilitate, remove them to a serving platter. We found these to be just as tasty as they cooled off as when still hot……especially the jalapeno/cheddar version.

NUTRITIONAL INFO FOR PASTRY BOTTOM ONLY: Makes 24 mini pastry shells, each will contain: 62 cals, 5g fat, 2.47g carbs,1.57g fiber, 0.9g NET CARBS, 4.4g protein, 93.8g sodium

THEN ADD IN THE VALUES FOR YOUR TOPPINGS (per piece eaten):

1 slice pepperoni adds about 0.1g NC

1 slice raw jalapeno adds about 0.2g NC

1 chopped slice mushroom adds 0.1g NC

1 tsp. cheddar adds about 0.3g NC

1 tsp. cooked breakfast sausage 0.1g NC

1 slice smoked pork sausage 0.1g NC

Wild Blueberry “Bran” Muffins

September 13, 2018September 14, 2024Peggy Leave a comment

My husband asked for some muffins for breakfast today. We’re both kind of burned out on eggs this week. No pumpkin in the house, so the only thing I had on hand to flavor them (other than extracts) was the tail end of a bag of Sam’s Club Daily Chef dried wild blueberries in my freezer. A carry over hubby purchase from eons ago I’m glad to get rid of once and for all. They use sugar in the processing of their dried blueberries, so using them would effectively double the carb count. I decided to go ahead and splurge and make the muffins for the hubby anyway as I sure didn’t want to go to the store at 7am just to get fresh berries. I am posting nutritional number for regular, no-sugar-added wild blueberries so this recipe will make sense for you.

But I digress. These were created from the batter for an old Flax-Whey Protein Pancake recipe of mine. And I discovered, much to my surprise, that batter makes lovely muffins as well! As these use predominantly golden flax meal, their carb count (using fresh berries, of course) is quite low. And they were DELICIOUS! These are not suitable until you get to Phase 2 Atkins and reach the berries level of carb re-introduction.

INGREDIENTS:

1½ c. golden flax meal

2 T. Resistant Wheat Starch (I order at Netrition.com)

½c. plain whey protein powder (I use NOW brand)

Dash salt (2 shakes of the shaker)

4 T. granular Splenda (or sweetener of choice)

1 pkt. stevia (or 1 T. erythritol)

1/4 tsp. glucomannan powder

1 c. tap water

2 large eggs, beaten

2 T. unsalted butter, melted

3 oz. frozen wild blueberries (smaller than regular blueberries), or regular berries

VARIATION: Use ½ c. chopped fresh strawberries or fresh raspberries, which will lower carb count a bit.

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º. Lightly oil the six wells of a non-stick large muffin pan. If you don’t have one, use a regular muffin pan and oil all 12 wells. In a medium mixing bowl, measure out all dry ingredients and stir will to blend evenly. Add 2 eggs to the bowl and beat. Add water and melted butter and stir well. Add blueberries and blend again. You will have enough batter to spoon about ½ cup batter into each slot. If using a regular pan, use about 1/4 c. batter in each slot. Even out the batter as needed to achieve equal batter height. Pop into 350º oven. Bake large muffins for about 20 minutes for light golden as shown in photo above. Probably only takes 15 minutes in smaller slot pan. Remove and serve with butter.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 6 large muffins, each contains:

412 cals, 30g fat, 22.3g carbs, 18.4g fiber, 3.9g NET CARBS, 19.4g protein, 244 mg sodium

Shrimp and Sausage Bisque

September 11, 2018September 12, 2018Peggy 14 Comments

I made the most scrumptious seafood bisque tonight for dinner. It was ready in just 1 hour, too! I wanted to make seafood gumbo, but I didn’t have okra in the freezer and gumbo just isn’t gumbo to me without okra. So I pulled out my trusty gumbo recipe of many years and basically made that, less the okra. I subbed in cream for all the canned tomatoes in my gumbo recipe to make it more like a bisque. WOW! We LOVED IT! This one is a keeper for sure! This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins, provided those still on Induction omit the white wine and those on Paleo use coconut milk instead of cream.

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INGREDIENTS:

3 oz. bacon, coarsely chopped

1 c. celery, chopped

3/4 c. green bell pepper, chopped

3 oz. onion, chopped

½ c. parsley, chopped

6 oz. pork breakfast sausage

1 medium leaf kale, (about 3/4 c.), stemmed & chopped fine

2 cloves garlic, minced

¼ tsp. Cajun Seafood Spice Blend

½ tsp. dried thyme leaves

¼ tsp. black pepper

Dash cayenne pepper

22 large shrimp, (shell removed), cut in halves (12 oz tail-on pkg)

2 c. chicken broth (preferably homemade, or seafood stock)

1 c. heavy cream

¼ c. white wine

Tiny dusting of xanthan gum or your favorite thickener

11 San Marzano mini tomatoes cut into 4 pieces (or 22 cherry tomatoes left whole)

VARIATION: Add 1 c. shelled/cleaned fresh crab meat + 1 c. extra chicken/seafood broth. Mmmm.

DIRECTIONS: In a large soup pot, over medium-high heat, brown the bacon. Add the Louisiana “Holy Trinity” (celery, bell pepper and onion) to the pot and saute until they begin to soften. Add sausage and saute, crumbling as you do so. Add kale, garlic and the four spices. Lower heat to medium. Add shrimp and saute until opaque. Add chicken (or seafood) stock, white wine, and cream. When returns to a simmer, lower heat to lowest setting. Add tomatoes and simmer about 10 minutes. Some like this stage of thickening from the cream. But if you like your cream soups a bit thicker, add the light sprinkle of xanthan gum. Alternately, if you like more broth in your soup, or ned to stretch this out for more servings (it was a bit thick with “solids”) you can always add 1-2 more cups of chicken stock to the pot. If you do add more broth, you will definitely want to use a thickener. Simmer a few minutes longer for the thickener to go to work. Pour into a soup tureen and serve at once.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 6 servings (as written), each containing:

382 cals, 31g fat, 7.01g carbs, 1.53g fiber, 5.48g NET CARBS, 16.3g protein, 410mg sodium

14 responses to “Shrimp and Sausage Bisque”

Dawn

November 3, 2019

Made this for dinner tonight. Hubby went for seconds and neither kiddo complained which makes it a four star recipe in my house! Lol.

I used a full pound of shrimp. I didn’t have kale or parsley so I just used all cilantro. I thought I had thyme but I didn’t, so I just used a pinch extra of Tony Chacherie Cajun seasoning.

Even with the substitutions it was pretty amazing to my whole family. Thank you.

1. Peggy
  
  November 4, 2019
  
  WONDERFUL! Yes, it’s a good thing when the hubs likes a dish, but when the kiddoes like a recipe, that’s something to celebrate! 🙂
  
Sue Compo

November 11, 2018

Sounds lovely…..is the bacon the “sausage” , in the recipe.title?? Thanks Susie

On Tue, Sep 11, 2018, 7:47 PM Buttoni’s Low-Carb Recipes Peggy posted: “I made the most scrumptious seafood bisque tonight for > dinner. It was ready in just 1 hour, too! I wanted to make seafood gumbo, > but I didn’t have okra in the freezer and gumbo just isn’t gumbo to me > without okra. So I pulled out my trust gumbo recipe ” >

1. Peggy
  
  November 11, 2018
  
  No, there are 6 oz. pork breakfast sausage in the ingredients list in addition to the bacon. .
  
Diva

September 12, 2018

I’m making tonight!

1. Peggy
  
  September 12, 2018
  
  Would love your feedback if you make it.
  
mencanmakehomes

September 12, 2018

looks yummy !

1. Peggy
  
  September 12, 2018
  
  Thank you! And I hope you’ll try it sometime! We found it indeed yummy!
  
Renee N

September 12, 2018

Hi! This sounds so yummy. I have a question though. You titled the recipe Shrimp and Sausage Bisque but the recipe doesn’t have any sausage listed. Did it get accidentally omitted from the recipe? Thanks.

1. Peggy
  
  September 12, 2018
  
  Oops! Yes, it did get accidentally overlooked, Renee. There’s 6 oz. breakfast sausage in this and I have now added it with the sequential note in the directions for when to add it. Thanks for catching my omission. The sausage IS included in the nutritional numbers already. If you try this, I hope you like it. It was marvelous and I’m having the leftovers for lunch today. 🙂
  
  1. Renee N
    
    September 28, 2018
    
    Made this tonight. Just loved it! Like you with your gumbo, I was shy a couple of ingredients. I used condensed cream of chicken soup and spinach in lieu of the chicken broth, heavy cream and kale. And no white wine since I can’t have it. But it turned out delicious. This is definitely a keeper! Can’t wait to try it with everything proper.
  2. Peggy
    
    September 29, 2018
    
    I’m so glad, Renee. I’m sure yours was close to the original recipe. That tells you next batch will be even BETTER! 🙂
Dawn C

September 11, 2018

Uh, Peggy? There doesn’t seem to be any sausage in your delicious sounding Shrimp and Sausage Bisque.JulY

1. Peggy
  
  September 12, 2018
  
  Oops, I corrected that now with a note of when to add in the directions. Another reader caught the omission also. This stuff was delicious and I hope you’ll try it sometime!