Grilled Grass-Fed Hanging Tender (“Hanger Steak”)

Click to enlarge (shown rare)

I find myself liking grass-fed beef more and more.  Not only is it healthier for you, but if cooked properly, it is NOT tough.  Hanging Tender (also known as Hanger Steak, is one of the prized cuts of beef.  Is the one the butcher likes to save for himself!  Now I know why!  This was DELICIOUS!!  Here’s a little video from a professional chef that tells you all about this cut of beef: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4MAR5XKd8lk The flavor of this cut falls  somewhere between grilled chuck and ribeye to me. The pictured piece of meat weighed about 2 lbs. and was marinated for about 3 hours in my Peppered Rib Roast marinade (I made up only 1/2 that marinade recipe) seen here:  http://buttoni.wordpress.com/2009/07/13/peppered-rib-roastd-beef/  Of course you can marinate your Hanger Steak in your favorite marinade, but this marinade never  disappoints on beef.  The nutritional counts for this recipe would naturally vary depending on the marinade you choose to use for your steak.  So all I am showing below is the count for a 4 oz. serving of grass-fed beef.  You will have to calculate the amount of meet eaten and then also add in the numbers for the marinade used.  This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins and for Primal and Paleo devotees as well.

INGREDIENTS:

2 lbs. trimmed grass-fed Hanging Tender (Hanger Steak)

1 recipe your favorite beef marinade I used the one linked in the above paragraph.

DIRECTIONS:  Trim any sinew or membrane the butcher may have left on the surface of the meat.  Season the the meat with pepper (I don’t like to salt meat prior to cooking as I think this draws out vital juices). Mix your marinade ingredients in a shallow ceramic or glass dish. Place the meat in the dish.  Using a basting brush or spoon, drizzle the marinade all over the top surface of the meat. Flip and repeat on bottom surface. Cover and place in refrigerator for 3 hours (or longer).  Drizzle the marinade 2 more times times at hour intervals, turning the meat over each time so you can baste both sides.  When ready to cook, prepare a hot bed of coals on your charcoal grill.  You want to grill this like you would a large steak, fairly close to the coals for best surface charring.  If you want your meat rare, the above-pictured piece was cooked 15 minutes on each side. For medium rare, cook about 20 minutes on a side. For medium, 25 minutes on a side.  Larger pieces will of course take a little longer for each stage. You do not want to cook grass-fed beef well-done or you will likely render it unpleasantly tough. Remember, grass-fed beef grazes….and all that walking reduces fat marbling in those muscles. This meat is VERY lean!  I can tell you for certain the above-pictured steak was as tender as any rare ribeye or tenderloin I’ve ever eaten!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Number of servings determined by consumer.  I would guess 4-8 servings.  Each 4 oz. serving has approximately: (remember to add in your numbers for the marinade you select)

340 calories

22 g fat

0 g  carbs, 0 fiber, 0 net carbs

32 g  protein

50 mg sodium

29% RDA Vitamin B6, 305% B12, 33% copper, 90% iron, 10% magnesium, 56% phosphorous, 64% selenium, 10% thiamin, 182% zinc

Meyer Lemon Pound Cake

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I made a lovely lemon pound cake today. It’s my basic dessert bread batter with the zest and juice of 1 Meyer lemon added.  Came out very moist and delicious!  If you’ve not tasted them, Meyer lemons are a cross between a lemon and a Mandarin orange.  A very aromatic taste, Meyer lemons!  You could use a regular lemon for this if you can’t find Meyer lemons in your grocery store.  I can’t get them all the time, but my local store has them once in awhile.  I snatch up a bag whenever they are on the shelf!  This recipe is not suitable until you reach the nuts and seeds rung of the Atkins OWL carb ladder.  It is suitable for Primal if you use a plan-acceptable sweetener.  This pound cake was delicious with a cream cheese frosting made from 4 oz. cream cheese, juice and zest of another Meyer lemon and a little sweetener.  But I didn’t calculate any frosting in the nutritional info below.  Be sure to add in numbers for any frosting you put on this cake.

INGREDIENTS:

1/3 c. coconut flour

2/3 c. almond flour

¼ tsp. sea salt

1 T. glucomannan (konjac) powder (optional, but improves texture and fiber count)

Sweetener to equal 3/4 c. sugar (I used ¼ c.+ 2T. Steviva)

6 drops liquid Splenda

3 T. coconut oil

1 stick unsalted butter

½ tsp. vanilla

Juice of 1 Meyer lemon (about 2T.)

Zest of 1 Meyer lemon

8 large eggs, beaten

DIRECTIONS:   Preheat oven to 350º.  Melt butter and coconut oil in microwave in a medium mixing bowl.  Add almond flour, coconut flour, salt and glucomannan powder to the melted butter and oil and beat with a spoon until smooth.    Add vanilla, zest and lemon juice.  Add sweeteners.  Add eggs.  Beat with spoon until all lumps are out of batter.  Using a rubber spatula, scrape the batter evenly into a lightly oiled non-stick loaf pan (mine is 4″x2.5″x10).  Level batter as best you can with the spatula.  Pop into preheated oven for 40-45 minutes or until it is lightly browned on top and passes the toothpick test in the center.  Remove and cool before attempting to remove from pan and slicing. Enjoy plain or with a thin frosting on top.

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

168 calories

15.3 g  fat

3.56 g  carbs, 2.03 g  fiber, 1.53 g  NET CARBS

90 mg sodium

48 mg potassium

13.6 RDA Vitamin A, 16% B12, 13% iron, 8% phosphorous, 17% selenium

Blackberry-Coconut Smoothie

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This was so refreshing it will be a wonderful summertime afternoon treat or even a dessert!  It is not suitable until the nuts and seeds rung of the Atkins OWL carb ladder.  It is perfectly OK for Paleo-Primal folks. The sweetener I used has no carbs, so if you use one with a bulking agent, you will need to add in those carbs to the numbers below.   Of course, you can always add protein powder to this if you wish, but be sure to add in those carbs to the stats below.

INGREDIENTS:

6 T. coconut cream (the kind without added sugar)

3/4 c. blackberries

½ c. water

about 3/4 c. ice cubes

Your preferred sweetener to taste (I used O carb KAL Pure Stevia Extract)

DIRECTIONS: Put everything in the blender and let ‘er rip until all is smooth and ice is no longer in chunks.  The coconut cream will thicken it adequately.  Pour into a glass and ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 1 smoothie which contains:

193 calories

24.5 g  fat

13.4 g  carbs, 6.7 g  fiber,  6.7 g  NET CARBS

1.5 g protein

16 mg sodium

176 mg potassium

30% RDA Vitamin C, 8% E, 21% copper, 39% manganese, 8% Iron,

Low-Carb Crawfish Pies

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Man, oh, man, these little gems were perhaps THE best low-carb kitchen creation of my now 4+ years of low-carbing.  I’m even going to give this recipe my “mouthgasm” award.  I took my new Gluten-Free Grain Free Focaccia Bread recipe and with some considerable effort, created a crawfish pie to rival any I have eaten in Louisiana, and I wantonly admit to scarfing down a lot of them in my time there.  My filling consisted of basically my étouffé ingredients with a little glucomannan powder added to stiffen it up so it wouldn’t run out the edges.  I knew as this idea was germinating in my head this afternoon that  sealing the edges would be tricky and take some ingenuity, as I would be using a thick batter and not a traditional pie pastry.  IT WORKED!  And the dough ended up tasting amazingly like, ummmm………… PIECRUST!!!  Even my fussy, non-low-carbing husband said it tasted like piecrust  and gave tonight’s dinner two thumbs up! The ratio of filling to crust was just perfect on these, too!

I can’t tell you how pleased I am with this recipe and thought you’d enjoy listening to the song that made this Louisiana Cajun delicacy famous to put you in the mood:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnKOVPXhlnE.  I can even see berry/fruit empanadas on the horizon!  These pies are suitable once you reach Phase 2 Atkins nuts & seeds rung of the OWL carb ladder.   They would not be suitable for Paleo-Primal due to the oat fiber and dairy in the bread.  By the way, I started preparing this meal at 4pm and we were eating it at 5:30!  Longer than most of my recipes, but much faster than I thought it would take to prepare!  This recipe boasts some pretty impressive nutritional stats below as well!

INGREDIENTS: 

4 T. butter

2 oz. onion, chopped

½ c. each green bell pepper and celery, chopped (I used both red and green bell pepper in mine)

¼ c. each green onion and parsley , chopped

6 oz. crawfish tails (I use the frozen and defrost)

2 cloves garlic, minced

½ tsp. my Seafood Spice blend: http://buttoni.wordpress.com/2009/08/20/my-seafood-spice-blend/

1/8 tsp. salt

6 drops Tobasco or other hot sauce

Dash each ground thyme and black pepper

1/3 c. chicken stock (preferably homemade)

¼ tsp. glucomannan (konjac) powder or your favorite thickener

1 recipe my Gluten-free Grain-free Focaccia Bread:  http://buttoni.wordpress.com/2013/04/22/gluten-free-grain-free-focaccia-bread/

DIRECTIONS:  Melt butter in skillet over high heat. Add celery, green pepper and onion.  Add Seafood Spice Blend, salt, pepper and thyme.  Add Tobasco.  Saute until vegetables are completely tender.  Add green onion, parsley, garlic and crawfish and stir.  Add glucomannan powder and chicken stock and stir to blend altogether. Turn fire off.

Preheat oven to 350º.  Make the bread/”pastry” in a medium mixing bowl according to the directions for that recipe.  You need to decide on the shape you want your pies to have (I used a 3 x 6″ oval dish shape, but round or square would work as well) .  I inverted my dish on my parchment paper and drew five outlines of the dish with a marker pen, so I could be sure my pies would all be uniform in size and shape.  When the batter is ready, scoop up 3 T. onto each outline shape on your parchment.  I used a 2 T. measuring cup I have and added 1 T. to total 3T. batter for each pie.  Then using a fork, very gently spread the batter out thinly to within ¼” of the outlines you drew (you don’t want the batter to touch that ink!).  It will be thin, but should go nearly to the edges with effort.  Pop the pan into your 350º oven and bake just 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and increase oven temp to 375º. Using a spoon, section off the filling in your skillet into 5 equal portions and spoon 1/5 of the filling onto each of the 5 bottom “crusts”.     Spread the filling evenly to within ¼” of the edge of the bottom crust.

Again using a spoon, make 5 equal portions of the remaining batter in your bowl.  Here’s where it gets a little tricky.  I spooned one of the marked off portions of batter into one hand and using my fork, dotted the batter evenly over the top and sides of the pile of filling, using the fork then to try to blend those tiny dots into a contiguous top “crust”.  It didn’t cover perfectly, but I was able to create a respectable top crust on each pie.  During the baking the top crust spreads a wee bit to fill in most of those gaps in the top “crust”.

Pop the pan into  a 375º oven and bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned on top.  Serve at once with a nice green salad or perhaps a favorite green veggie. I hope you enjoy these as much as we did!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 5 large pies, each contains:

395 calories

30.5 g  fat

8.62 g  carbs, 3.64 g  fiber, 4.98 g  NET CARBS

24.6 g  protein

471 mg sodium

345 mg potassium

23% RDA Vitamin A

12% B6

51% B12, 25% C, 11% E, 21% calcium, 31% copper, 25% iron, 15% magnesium, 17% manganese, 10% niacin, 49% phosphorous, 17% riboflavin, 38% selenium, 16% thiamin and 17% zinc

Individual Strawberry Cobbler

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This delicious dessert recipe actually makes two individual cobblers in a jiffy!  A few slightly cooked, sweetened strawberries and a little batter spooned on top and 20 minutes later, Strawberry Cobbler!  You could make these instead with simmered blackberries, raspberries or blueberries.  This is suitable once you reach the berry level of Phase 2 Atkins carb ladder.

INGREDIENTS:

6 large strawberries, sliced

¼ c. water

your favorite sweetener to taste (I used 2 T. erythritol)

1/8 tsp. your favorite thickener (optional)

2 T. oat fiber

1 T. coconut flour (I used Let’s Do Organic)

1 T. unsweetened, unflavored whey protein powder

½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. glucomannan (konjac) powder

2 T. heavy cream

2 T. water

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Slice berries and place in small saucepan with the 1/4 c. water, sweetener,  and thickener (if using). Bring to boil and lower to just a simmer and cook just until they begin to soften.  While the berries simmer, measure the dry batter ingredients into a small bowl and stir to blend.  With a fork, stir in the cream and water and stir until all is mixed well.  Spoon half the berries equally into 2 small ceramic baking dishes (mine were 6″x 3″ ovals).  Next spoon half the batter atop each dish of berries, avoiding it touching the edges of the dish. Pop the dishes into 350º oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until lightly browned on top. Serve warm.

NOTE:  Different brands of coconut flour can produce widely varied results in batters and doughs.  Many low carb cooks out there are already well aware of this somewhat annoying phenomenon. Switching from Let’s Do Organic to Honeyvillegrains coconut flour on third baking today, produced a much thicker, almost pie dough mixture (not spoonable at all) that could be spread out with your bare fingers or rolled between plastic.    The resulting dough, I chose to crumble over my berries (using  Honeyvillegrains coconut flour) cooked up as shown on the right.  It tasted exactly the same however:

using Honeyvillegrains coconut flour

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 2 individual cobblers, each contains:

140.5 calories

10.7 g  fat

13.2 g  carbs, 8.6 g  fiber, 5.1 g  NET CARBS

3.9 g  protein

7.4 mg sodium

95 mg potassium

13% RDA Vitamin A, 42% C, 11% manganese

Gluten-Free Grain-Free Pizza Crust

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Finally a pizza crust I’m really proud of!  It’s tasty, sturdy enough to be eaten with your hands, and best of all, it has NO WHEAT FLOUR or GRAINS in it!  I no longer eat wheat, after reading Dr. William Davis’ Wheat Belly.  I used to include small amounts of Carbquick in some recipes, which has wheat ingredients that are specially-processed to lower their carb count.  But that product is OFF my shopping list now and no longer appears in any of my baked goods (my older recipes containing Carbquick will remain on site).  I’ve really missed some of those recipes and have struggled to find comparable baking results for pizza and breads since going wheat-free.  This recipe just crossed that barrier.  It is VERY close to my older Carbquick pizza crust recipe, but this one has an even better texture!    I’m most pleased with this crust and think you’ll like it!  This recipe is OK once you reach Phase 2 OWL of Atkins.   It would be OK for Primal folks that eat occasional dairy, but it is not suitable for Paleo.

INGREDIENTS:

½ c. almond flour

¼ c. golden flax meal

¼ c. unflavored, unsweetened whey protein powder

1 tsp. baking powder

3 T. cream cheese, softened

2 large eggs, beaten

1 c. grated Monterrey Jack cheese

½ c. grated Mozzarella cheese

1 tsp. cider vinegar

1 T. heavy cream

1 T. water

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Soften cream cheese in medium mixing bowl in microwave.  Beat in the eggs, cream, water, vinegar and both cheeses.  Measure and add in all the dry ingredients and stir well with a rubber spatula. Line a sheet pan either with parchment paper or silicone sheet.  Scrape the batter onto the prepared pan, spreading it as evenly as possible with the spatula into a circle that is roughly 13½” in diameter. Batter will be about ¼” thick.  Pop crust into a 350º oven and bake for about 20 minutes and remove.  If your pizza pan has tiny holes in it, slide the parchment paper out from under the crust now so air will flow to the bottom of the crust for nicer browning.  Add sauce, cheeses and toppings.  Bake an additional 20 minutes or so.

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NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Cutting into 8 slices, each contains: (does not include toppings)

168 calories

12.95 g  fat

3.29 g  carbs, 1.73 g  fiber, 1.73 g  NET CARBS

11.3 g  protein

214 mg sodium

70 mg potassium

13% RDA Vitamin B12, 11% calcium, 120% phosphorous, 11% selenium.

Gluten-Free Grain-Free Focaccia Bread

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I no longer eat wheat flour, after reading Dr. William Davis’ Wheat Belly.  Carbquick, with its specially processed wheat ingredients, is off my shopping list and off my recipe ingredient lists.  I have a number of existing Carbquick recipes here on the site using Carbquick, and will leave them on site for those who still eat Carbquick.  This gluten-free, grain-free recipe I made today is VERY close to my older Carbquick Focaccia bread recipe, but this one has more chewy elasticity.  I’m most pleased with this bread!  It’s actually a reworked pizza crust recipe to which I added several ingredients and altered a couple others.  This one has a nice elasticity, top and bottom crust, is not crumbly and has a wonderful flavor.  I enjoyed a piece hot from the oven with butter and it was amazing!  Scarfed down a second piece!  It makes GREAT sandwiches, too! No strong flax taste to drown out the sandwich filling!  Very neutral in flavor.  I will definitely explore other uses, both savory and sweet and try adding some dissolved yeast in my next batch.  Found out it makes a wonderful pizza crust, too! http://buttoni.wordpress.com/2013/04/23/gluten-free-grain-free-pizza-crust/ . It can also be made up as sandwich buns:  http://buttoni.wordpress.com/2013/05/12/gluten-free-grain-free-sandwich-buns/   This recipe is OK once you reach Phase 2 OWL of Atkins.   It would be OK for Primal folks occasionally, but not suitable for Paleo.

INGREDIENTS:

½ c. almond flour

¼ c. golden flax meal

¼ c. unflavored, unsweetened whey protein powder

1 tsp. baking powder

3 T. cream cheese, softened

2 large eggs, beaten

1 c. grated Monterrey Jack cheese

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½ c. grated Mozzarella cheese

1 tsp. cider vinegar

1 T. heavy cream

1 T. water

Spices of your choosing sprinkled on top before baking.  I used this one:  http://buttoni.wordpress.com/2012/10/09/peggys-8-seed-spice-blend/

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Soften cream cheese in medium mixing bowl in microwave.  Beat in the eggs, cream, water, vinegar and both cheeses.  Measure and add in all the dry ingredients and stir well with a rubber spatula. Line a sheet pan either with parchment paper or silicone sheet.  Scrap the batter onto the prepared pan, spreading it as evenly as possible with the spatula into a rectangle that is roughly 10″x13″.  Batter will be about ¼” thick.  Sprinkle on spices if using any.  Pop bread into 350º oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until done to the touch in the center and lightly browned around the edges.  Cool a few minutes and cut evenly into 9 “slices.  When totally cool, store in plastic bag in refrigerator.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 9 large slices, each contains:

149 calories

11.5 g  fat

3.5 g  carbs, 2.1 g  fiber, 1.4 g  NET CARBS

10.1 g  protein

204 mg sodium

65 mg potassium

12% RDA Vitamin B12, 10% calcium, 18% phosphorous, 10% selenium.