Pumpkin Granola

My husband was asking for an easy breakfast cereal recently, because occasionally I just don’t want any breakfast and he doesn’t want me to cook when it’s just him eating.  So…… I created a very tasty cereal for such occasions.   I like to just snack on this stuff, no milk required!  The hint of pumpkin taste is delightful and so is the bit of coconut.  Mostly I taste the spices, nuts and fruit in this.   🙂  This recipe is not suitable until Atkins Phase 2 OWL when nuts are re-introduced.  This keeps AMAZINGLY well over time and stays quite crunchy, but you can reheat in the oven if it seems to get soft over time.  Mine has not, quite honestly, just storing in a Tupperware canister in my pantry.  

INGREDIENTS: 

½ c. roasted sunflower seeds, unsalted

½ c. roasted pumpkin seeds, unsalted

2 T. chia seeds

1½ c. large flake coconut, unsweetened

1 c. walnuts, coarsely cut

1 c. pecans, coarsely cut

1½ tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. ground nutmeg

¼ tsp. ground cloves

1/8 tsp. sea salt

2 T. erythritol

5 dried prunes, chopped fine like tiny raisins (Del Monte has no added sugar)

1/3 c. liquified coconut oil

¼ c. sugar-free maple syrup

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 c. canned pumpkin puree (do not use the pie filling!)

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 300º.  Line two large baking sheets  with parchment paper and set aside.  Measure the first 12 (dry) ingredients into a large mixing bowl and stir well.  In a small bowl, stir the last 4 (wet) ingredients well.  Using a rubber spatula, pour the wet ingredients evenly over the dry and with the spatula, stir and toss to coat all the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients.  When well-blended, pour half the mixture onto each paper-lined pan.  Spread evenly.  You will need to bake until it is dry and somewhat crisp to the touch, or about 1½ hours (longer for some ovens).  Stir ever 15-20 minutes to be sure it is cooking evenly.  Do not allow to overly brown or the nuts will taste burned.   Turn off oven and let the granola dry in the oven as it cools.  Break it apart into smaller clusters if you like.  I like mine in larger clusters, as I eat it more as a snack than a cereal.  Transfer to an airtight container or zip-loc gallon bag.  BE ABSOLUTELY SURE IT IS FULLY COOLED BEFORE STORING.  Otherwise it will “sweat” and get soft (just re-bake for 15-20 minutes to crisp it up again).  This stuff is delicious, so do ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 9 cups total or eighteen ½ cup servings.  Each ½-cup serving contains:

214 cals, 19.6g fat, 7.5g carbs, 3.21g fiber, 4.29g NET CARBS, 4.9g protein, 42 mg sodium

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Granola Bars

This experiment was quite a pleasant surprise.  I am quite pleased with the final taste on these granola bars.  They baked up beautifully.  I would describe these as firm, but not hard like Nature’s Valley® granola bars.  This makes a huge pan of bars, so you may want to make half a recipe or simply freeze half, as they freeze really well without detriment.  I love one of these with half a banana!

These can be crumbled up for a granola cereal if you like, but I recommend a little extra toasting after crumbling.   These also make a nice crunch topping for baked peaches, apples, or favorite crumb-topped pies.  This recipe is not suitable until Phase 2 Atkins but they are well worth the wait, folks!  They are very nutrient dense.

INGREDIENTS:

½ c. rolled oats, toasted (use 100% certified gluten-free oats if required)

2 c. dark flax meal

¾ c. vanilla whey protein

½ c. granular Splenda

10 drops liquid stevia

½ c. sesame seeds

¾ c. grated coconut meat

1½ T. cinnamon

½ tsp. salt

½ c. coconut oil (or butter), melted

½ c. sugar free maple syrup

¼ c. water

2 c. pecans, chopped

½ c. walnuts, chopped

½ c. almonds, coarsely chopped

6 T. sugar free honey (I use Honey Tree from Walmart)

¾ c. sunflower seeds, unsalted

½ c. pumpkin seeds, roasted,salted

VARIATIONS:  Add a very few snipped home dried cranberries or raisins (add to nutritionals below)

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º.  On a 13×15 cookie sheet, toast oats until begin to lightly brown.  Remove from oven and lower heat to 250º.   Pour oats into large mixing bowl.  Add all other ingredients and stir well to be sure all ingredients are moistened.  Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Pour granola mixture onto paper and using plastic gloves or baggies over hands, press evenly into pan.  I like to take a glass loaf pan or sheet of parchment and press the surface evenly before baking.  Pop into oven and bake at 250º for approximately 1 hr. 30 minutes until dry to the touch in the center.  Remove from oven and when almost cool, cut into 30 rectangular bars (10 x 3 rows). This makes a nice size granola bar at an acceptable 4.05 net carb count.  Cutting into 60 squares will of course halve that number.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 30 bars, each contains:

239.7 Calories, 20.0 g  fat, 8.77 g  carbs, 4.72 g  fiber, 4.05 g  NET CARBS, 8.31 g  protein, 79 mg sodium

Smoked Sausage Twinkies®

I was craving some good old sausage cheese balls for lunch yesterday, but realized I was out of bulk breakfast sausage.  I did have a 6-oz. piece of smoked sausage in the fridge but wasn’t sure how all that would bind together to form balls.  I added 2 eggs, some cream and baked my ball-shaped lunch into a different shape.  Wow!  These are really good!  Not heavy like one would think.  I ate 3 of these things to find myself pleasantly full.  My husband really liked these, too.

INGREDIENTS:

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

1 c. shredded Cheddar cheese

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

2 large eggs, beaten

½ c. heavy cream

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

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

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 12 Twinkies®, each contains:

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

Gluten-Free Cinnamon Bread

This is a tasty breakfast variation on my Gluten-Free Focaccia bread recipe.  I just shape the batter into 9 individual Circles and sprinkle on cinnamon and Steviva (blend of stevia and erythritol)  on them.   Hot out of the oven with butter they are delicious!  Haven’t made them in years and decided to whip up a batch today.  I sometimes toast them in the broiler depending on my mood.  I would pre-butter these if you toast them.  These are suitable once you are past the Atkins Induction Phase when you reach the nuts and seeds rung of the OWL carb reintroduction ladder.  These are not suitable for Primal-Paleo unless you eat whey protein powder and cheese occasionally.

VARIATION:  You can snip a few raisins to add for a raisin bread version, but only 1 Tbsp. or the carbs will really go up.  You can add a little finely chopped, peeled peach or nectarine for another tasty version. You need to recalculate and add carbs below if you add raisins or peaches.

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

1/2 tsp. Cinnamon

about 2 tsp. Steviva or sweetener of your choice

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.  Scoop the batter onto the prepared pan into 9 equal portions. I used a 1/4 c. measuring cup.  Spreading the batter out the size of a slice of bread.  Sprinkle tops with cinnamon and 1/4 tsp. Steviva or other sweetener of your choosing.  Pop into 350º oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until done to the touch in the center and just beginning to lightly brown.  If you wish to broiler toast them, brush some melted butter on top of each and broil to lightly toasted stage.  Store leftovers, once cooled, in a plastic bag in the refrigerator.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 9 pieces, each contains:

149 cals, 11.5g fat, 3.5g carbs, 2.1g fiber, 1.4g NET CARBS, 10.1g protein, 204 mg sodium

Sausage Breakfast Focaccia

To quote the bard, “a sausage biscuit by any other name……” would taste as sweet.  🙂  A tasty new way to use my wonderful gluten-free focaccia bread recipe.   You’ll be happy to know you CANNOT taste the flax meal in this bread either!

TIP:  If you are not gluten-free, I find 1 T. oat fiber improves this bread’s taste and texture greatly.  But remember, if you add it, OAT FIBER IS NOT GLUTEN FREE.

This recipe is suitable for Phase 2 Atkins, Keto diets, Primal folks if consumed only occasionally.  This bread would not be suitable for Paleo.

BREAD INGREDIENTS:

½ c. almond flour

¼ c. golden flax meal

¼ c. plain 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

1 tsp. yeast dissolved in 1 T. warm water (optional, for flavor only)

1 T. oat fiber (optional)

TOPPING:   5 oz. browned sausage + 1 c. more shredded cheese of your choice

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Soften cream cheese in medium mixing bowl in microwave.  Beat in the eggs, cream, water, vinegar, both cheeses and dissolved yeast (if using).  Measure and add in all the dry ingredients and stir well with a rubber spatula. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.  You can also use a non-stick pan.  I would not recommend silicone, as this won’t brown as nicely on your Silpat.  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 cooked sausage and then the mozzarella shreds.  Lightly press down on the toppings so they embed slightly into the batter.  Pop pan into 350º oven and bake for about 15-20 minutes or until dry to the touch in center and lightly browned on the edges.  .  Cool a few minutes and cut evenly into 9 slices and enjoy!  When totally cool, store in plastic bag in your refrigerator.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Entire sheet contains:  2113 calories, 164 g fat, 30.6 g carbs, 13.8 g fiber, 16.8 g net carbs, 142 g protein, 3334 mg sodium  (divide by number of servings you cut)

If cut into 9 portions, each serving would contain:

235 calories, 18.2 g  fat, 3.4 g  carbs, 1.53 g  fiber, 1.87 g  NET CARBS, 15.73 g  protein, 370 mg sodium

Einkorn Sausage-Cheese Balls

This is an ever-popular party appetizer that never goes out of favor with your guests.  When I’m hosting the appetizers phase of our neighborhood annual Christmas round-robin dinner, this easy treat is easy to make ahead, heat and serve.  I have another Sausage Cheese Ball recipe on my website that rings in at only 1 net carb per ball but I like this one a bit better because it’s a little easier to put together.  It features my convenient homemade Einkorn Low-Carb Bake Mix (similar to Bisquick and Carbquik).  Even with the bake mix, these only have 1.76 net carbs per ball!  Not bad for the convenience of just 3 ingredients.   These are not suitable until the grains rung of the carb re-introduction ladder of Atkins Phase 2 OWL.  They are OK for Keto diets if you can fit them into your daily carb limits.

INGREDIENTS:

12 oz. breakfast sausage (I used my homemade breakfast sausage recipe)

1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

2 c. my Einkorn Bake Mix  (For gluten-free version, use Jennifer Eloff’s Gluten-Free Bake Mix or another GF mix of your choice)

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º. Mix the above ingredients in a medium bowl with your hands as you would a meatloaf mixture.  When thoroughly blended, form into 30 1″ balls and place on non-stick baking sheet or one lined with parchment or silicone sheet for ease of clean-up. Bake for 15-20 minutes until lightly browned.  Remove to paper towels to drain off any excess grease (mine had none actually).  Serve warm and ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 30  1″ balls, each sausage ball contains:

95 calories, 7.81 g  fat, 2.4 g  carbs, 0.64 g fiber, 1.76 g  NET CARBS, 4.82 g  protein, 81 mg sodium

Bacon Maple Twists

My husband asked for pancakes today, but honestly, that is NOT one of my favorite foods.  It’s not the flavors I don’t like; it’s the bulky, cake-like mouth feel of pancakes that just doesn’t seem like breakfast food to me.  So today I created a mock “pancake” thingie that really tasted just like pancakes, maple syrup and bacon without all that voluminous bulk pancakes give you.  These have a slightly chewy texture in your mouth.

I only used half a recipe of dough making 4 twists for the two of us today.  Honestly, they are so filling a serving would be just one twist I think.  They were delicious with our eggs and I will definitely be making these again.  If you’re feeding a large family or have some breakfast company, baking a full recipe of these will make your breakfast task much easier.  This recipe is not suitable until you are well along in Phase 2 Atkins.

INGREDIENTS:

1 recipe my Mozzy Dough

8 slices thick-slice bacon

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

1/8 tsp. coarse black pepper

DIRECTIONS:   Preheat oven to 350º. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.  Make the Mozzy Dough per that recipe’s instructions.  On your countertop, roll the ball of dough between 2 sheets of plastic wrap or silicone sheets) into the form of a rectangle (one side the length of your bacon.  Remove top piece of plastic wrap.  Gently cut into 8 equal strips with a knife scoring completely the dough, but if using silicone sheet on the bottom, be careful not to cut your silicone sheet with your knife!  Using a brush, baste each slice of dough with the maple syrup.  Lay a slice of bacon down each strip of dough.  Sprinkle with the black pepper.  Next step is a little tricky, but doable if you don’t rush it.  Gently lift your plastic wrap or silicone sheet along the outermost strip of dough/bacon and tip it carefully over onto your hand.  Carefully grab each end with both hands now and lift over to baking pan.  Twist the dough assembly 2-3 times.  Pop into 350º oven and bake for about 15-17 minutes or until the dough is golden and bacon should be done as well.  Remove, allow to “set up” a minute or so before removing from pan with an extra-long spatula.  If you don’t own one yet, I highly recommend an investment in a long spatula.  They are invaluable for such tasks as this and lifting meatloaves or broiled/baked fish out of pans. Mine has an 8″ lifting blade.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 8 twists, each one contains:

228 calories, 187 g fat, 7.51 g carbs, 4.81 g fiber, 2.7 g NET CARBS, 15.8 g protein, 376 mg sodium

Gluten-Free Cinnamon Bread

This is a tasty breakfast variation on my Gluten-Free Focaccia bread recipe.  I just shape the batter into 9 individual Cinnamon Bread Buns and sprinkle cinnamon and Steviva (blend of stevia and erythritol)  on them.   Hot out of the oven with butter they are delicious!  Haven’t made them in years and decided to whip up a batch today.  I sometimes toast them in the broiler depending on my mood.  I would pre-butter these if you toast them.  These are suitable once you are past the Atkins Induction Phase when you reach the nuts and seeds rung of the OWL carb reintroduction ladder.  These are not suitable for Primal-Paleo unless you eat whey protein powder and cheese occasionally.

VARIATION:  You can snip a very few raisins to add for a raisin bread version.  You can add a little finely chopped, peeled peach or nectarine for a tasty version. You need to add those carbs below if you add raisins or peaches.

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

1/2 tsp. Cinnamon

about 2 tsp. Steviva or sweetener of your choice

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.  Scoop the batter onto the prepared pan into 9 equal portions. I used a 1/4 c. measuring cup.  Spreading the batter out the size of a slice of bread.  Sprinkle tops with cinnamon and 1/4 tsp. Steviva or other sweetener of your choosing.  Pop into 350º oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until done to the touch in the center and just beginning to lightly brown.  If you wish to broiler toast them, brush some melted butter on top of each and broil to lightly toasted stage.  Store leftovers, once cooled, in a plastic bag in the refrigerator.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 9 pieces, each contains:

149 cals, 11.5g fat, 3.5g carbs, 2.1g fiber, 1.4g NET CARBS, 10.1g protein, 204 mg sodium

Loquat-Orange Preserves

At our last house there was a young loquat tree in the back yard.  Clearly planted by previous owners, but in a very shady area of the yard.  Either they didn’t know it would need full sun or perhaps the line of trees along the fence were not so big and blocking its sunlight when they first planted it.  Either way, it wasn’t flowering at all and just provided a bit of green in winter when most else is leafless.  Didn’t produce flowers or fruit for years.  Then about 2 years ago, we cut out a hackberry tree nearby and suddenly the loquat was getting a wee bit of dappled sunlight throughout the day for the very first time in its life.  The next season it produced a few bloom pods, but no fruit.  The next, many more bloom pods, but still very little fruit, maybe a dozen or so, which the local squirrels decimated.  This year, it has gone wild producing hundreds and hundreds of loquats!!  I pick up about 3# off the ground and off low limbs every single day!  I’ve always heard they make great preserves, but they’re so small (most are 1-1½”), I thought “what a pain” to peel and seed these tiny things for so little flesh yield. Yesterday I bit the bullet and decided to try my first batch of loquat preserves.

Loquats don’t have a lot of flavor to me. Sort of a cross between a plum, apple and apricot.  But I decided to add a little of my no-cook Meyer Lemon-Orange Marmalade to the preserves and EUREKA!  That was magical indeed.  Even my husband was quite pleased with these preserves, and he’s quite the jam connoisseur!  🙂  I’m glad there was a huge, established loquat tree at my new house, too.  🙂

Loquats grow in clusters

This recipe is not acceptable until the higher up fruits rung of the OWL ladder.  But if you have a loquat tree,  I highly recommend you not ignore those annoying fruit on the ground any longer and give this a try!  Well worth the 45 minutes it took to get the fruit peeled and prepared.  I plunged them into boiling water a couple minutes to help loosen the peeling like you can do when peeling tomatoes for canning.  The cooking part only took 4-5 minutes and the results were FANTASTIC! I’ll not be ignoring my loquat crop anymore!

As with all things using sweetener, I strongly recommend adding half the sweetener and tasting and add remaining sweetener to suit YOUR taste.  Everyone’s sweetness preferences vary and I lean toward the sweet side.  🙂

INGREDIENTS:

3 lb. ripe (fully yellow, not green) loquats, raw (weighed unpeeled)

2 c. equivalent sugar (I used 2 c.granular Splenda) (use 50 drops EZsweets small bottle)

2 T. erythritol (or 2 T. more Splenda)

1 c. water

2 pkgs. unflavored Knox gelatin

1/2 c. sugar-free marmalade (I used my no-cook Meyer Lemon-Orange recipe)

DIRECTIONS:  Wash and stem the loquats.  Bring some water to a boil, enough to just cover the fruit and simmer 2-3 minutes.  Remove, drain and cool.  When you can handle them, peel skin down, slice in center and dig out seed cluster.  When all fruit have been peeled and seeded put the fruit and all listed ingredients (except gelatin) into large saucepan, bring to a boil.  Lower to medium and cook just until loquats are tender but not reduced to mush, or about 4-5 minutes.  Add gelatin last and stir until it is dissolved.  Remove from heat, cool and spoon into airtight lidded jars.  Makes about 4 c. preserves.  It will get thicker in the refrigerator overnight.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes about 4 cups, or 64 Tbsp.  Each tablespoon contains:

13.45 cals, 0.05 g fat, 2.73g carbs, 0.4g fiber, 2.33g NET CARBS, 0.85 g  protein, 2.3 mg sodium

Cherry Strudel

Who doesn’t like strudel?  I’ve used my Mozzy Dough to make peach strudel, so I’m trying a cherry version now.  I like the peach better; my husband always prefers cherry anything.  This dessert/breakfast option is not suitable until you are at Phase 2 Atkins or near goal weight due to the flour in CarbQuik mix.

 

INGREDIENTS:  

1 recipe my Mozzy Dough

1 can red cherries (water pack)

liquid sweetener of choice to taste

3/4 tsp. glucomannan powder

1 tsp. coconut oil (to oil pan, or omit and use parchment paper)

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Oil 8″x 12″ pan (or thereabouts in size) with coconut oil or line with parchment paper, your choice.  Stats below include oil on pan.  Make up the Mozzy Dough per that recipe’s instructions.  Press kneaded dough evenly into pan all the way to edges.  In a small bowl, stir glucomannan into cherries with liquid.  If you use xanthan gum instead to thicken your filling, you will have to heat the filling to a boil, then simmer and allow to thicken under heat to desired thickness.  Heating is not required for glucomannan to thicken……..just time.  When glucomannan is dissolved into cherry liquid and well-distributed, set aside for 10 minutes to thicken up.  Then spoon cherry filling down the center of dough lengthwise.  Gently lift one side of the dough up and over the cherry filling to the middle of the strudel.    Lift remaining side of dough up and over the filling, slightly overlapping the edge of the first flap of dough and set it down gently.  Press the dough seam lightly with fingertips.  Pop into 350º oven for about 20 minutes or until browned to your liking.  Cool slightly and cut into eight 2″ slices.  I like mine served warm, but we both think this dough is slightly improved when served at room temperature.  🙂

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes eight 2″ slices, each contains:

163 cals, 11.77g fat, 12.56g carbs, 5.68g fiber, 6.88g NET CARBS, 10.5g protein, 197 mg sodium.

 

 

Einkorn Sausage-Cheese Balls

This is an ever-popular party appetizer that never goes out of favor with your guests.  When I’m hosting the appetizers phase of our neighborhood annual Christmas round-robin dinner, this easy treat is easy to make ahead, heat and serve.  I have another Sausage Cheese Ball recipe on my website that rings in at only 1 net carb per ball but I like this one a bit better because it’s a little easier to put together.  It features my convenient homemade Einkorn Low-Carb Bake Mix (similar to Bisquick and Carbquik).  Even with the bake mix, these only have 1.76 net carbs per ball!  Not bad for the convenience of just 3 ingredients.   These are not suitable until the grains rung of the carb re-introduction ladder of Atkins Phase 2 OWL.  They are OK for Keto diets if you can fit them into your daily carb limits.

INGREDIENTS:

12 oz. breakfast sausage (I used my homemade breakfast sausage recipe)

1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

2 c. my Einkorn Bake Mix  (For gluten-free version, use Jennifer Eloff’s Gluten-Free Bake Mix or another GF mix of your choice)

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º. Mix the above ingredients in a medium bowl with your hands as you would a meatloaf mixture.  When thoroughly blended, form into 30 1″ balls and place on non-stick baking sheet or one lined with parchment or silicone sheet for ease of clean-up. Bake for 15-20 minutes until lightly browned.  Remove to paper towels to drain off any excess grease (mine had none actually).  Serve warm and ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 30  1″ balls, each sausage ball contains:

95 calories, 7.81 g  fat, 2.4 g  carbs, 0.64 g fiber, 1.76 g  NET CARBS, 4.82 g  protein, 81 mg sodium

Breakfast Quesadillas

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

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

INGREDIENTS:

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

1 T. unsalted butter (for cooking)

3 oz. pork breakfast sausage

1 oz. red onion, chopped

3 large eggs, beaten

6 oz. shredded Monterey Jack or mozzarella cheese

OPTIONAL:  1 small jalapeno, seeded and chopped fine

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

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

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

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

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

 

Smoked Sausage Twinkies®

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

INGREDIENTS:

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

1 c. shredded Cheddar cheese

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

2 large eggs, beaten

½ c. heavy cream

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

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

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 12 Twinkies®, each contains:

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

Breakfast “Chili Dogs”

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

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

Buns right from the oven: 

INGREDIENTS:

1 recipe my Cheese Thin Buns batter

4½-5 oz. bulk breakfast sausage

4 T. leftover chili

6 T. shredded Cheddar cheese

6 T. shredded Mozzarella Cheese

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

 

Sausage Tarragon Cream on Toast

It’s what I had for breakfast today!  This dish evolved from my Eggs with Tarragon Cream recipe but I added some sausage.  This is Atkins Induction friendly and a tasty change of pace for breakfast when you just don’t feel like eggs.  My husband scrambled up an egg and placed on his toast before adding his gravy mix.  Nice variation on a theme.  This dish is also good as a lunch or evening meal served alongside a lovely green salad.  It truly is one of my favorite breakfasts!  This one is Atkins Induction Friendly, too!

INGREDIENTS:

2 Revolution Rolls (also known as Oopsie Rolls or Cloud Bread)

4 oz. pork breakfast sausage, browned (or whatever brand you prefer that has minimal sugar added)

1/3 c. green onion, chopped

1 Roma tomato, coarsely chopped

¼ tsp. dried tarragon (or ½-1 tsp. fresh)

Dash salt and black pepper

¼ c. heavy cream

1 c. water

DIRECTIONS:  Brown sausage in non-stick skillet over medium-high heat..  Add chopped green onion and chopped tomato and saute until onion is softening a bit and the tomato is just barely beginning to soften, but is not cooked to mush.  Lower heat to low.  Add seasonings, cream and water.  Simmer to thicken.  If not thick enough to suit your preference, sprinkle a tiny bit of your favorite thickener and stir until it has thickened up.  Toast the Revo Rolls and spoon the sausage cream over the toasted rolls and serve at once.

VARIATION:   Add scrambled egg before topping with sausage gravy. 

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes two servings, each contains (not including egg):

330 Cals, 26.7g fat, 4.3g carbs, 0.8g fiber, 3.5g NET CARBS, 17.5g protein, 522 mg sodium

Eggs with Leek Cream on Toast

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 Sausage Balls

This is an ever-popular party appetizer that never goes out of favor with your holiday guests.  I’m hosting the appetizers phase of our neighborhood annual Christmas round-robin dinner and this easy make-ahead treat will be easy to make ahead, heat and serve.  I have another Sausage Cheese Ball recipe on my website that rings in at only 1 net carb per ball but I like this one a bit better.  With fewer ingredients it’s a little easier to put together.  This recipe features my convenient homemade Einkorn Low-Carb Bake Mix (similar to Bisquick and Carbquik).  These tasty treats only have 1.76 net carbs per ball!  Not bad for the convenience of just reaching for 3 ingredients in lieu of a whole bunch of ingredients.   These are not suitable until the grains rung of the carb re-introduction ladder of Atkins Phase 2 OWL.  They are OK for Keto diets if you can fit a few into your daily carb limits.

INGREDIENTS:

12 oz. breakfast sausage (I used my homemade breakfast sausage recipe)

1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

2 c. my Einkorn Bake Mix  (For gluten-free version, use Jennifer Eloff’s Gluten-Free Bake Mix or another GF mix of your choice)

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º. Mix the above ingredients in a medium bowl with your hands as you would a meatloaf mixture.  When thoroughly blended, form into 30 1″ balls and place on non-stick baking sheet or one lined with parchment or silicone sheet for ease of clean-up. Bake for 15-20 minutes until lightly browned.  Remove to paper towels to drain off any excess grease (mine had none actually).  Serve warm and ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 30  1″ balls, each sausage ball contains:

95 calories, 7.81 g  fat, 2.4 g  carbs, 0.64 g fiber, 1.76 g  NET CARBS, 4.82 g  protein, 81 mg sodium

Pumpkin Granola

My husband was asking for an easy breakfast cereal recently, because occasionally I just don’t want any breakfast and he doesn’t want me to cook when it’s just him eating.  So…… I created a very tasty cereal for such occasions.   I like to just snack on this stuff, no milk required!  The slight yellow hue to the coconut is due to the pumpkin in the recipe, but trust me, the pumpkin taste is mild (and the coconut, too, for that matter).  I taste the spices, nuts and fruit mostly.  🙂  This recipe is not suitable until Atkins Phase 2 OWL when nuts are re-introduced.  This keeps AMAZINGLY well over time.  I stored mine in a Tupperware canister.  This granola (what is left) is still dry, crunchy and delicious! 🙂

INGREDIENTS: 

½ c. roasted sunflower seeds, unsalted

½ c. roasted pumpkin seeds, unsalted

2 T. chia seeds

1½ c. large flake coconut, unsweetened

1 c. walnuts, coarsely cut

1 c. pecans, coarsely cut

1½ tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. ground nutmeg

¼ tsp. ground cloves

1/8 tsp. sea salt

2 T. erythritol

5 dried prunes, chopped fine like tiny dried currants (Del Monte has no added sugar)

1/3 c. liquified coconut oil

¼ c. sugar-free maple syrup

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 c. canned pumpkin puree (do not use the pie filling!)

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 300º.  Line two large baking sheets  with parchment paper and set aside.  Measure the first 12 (dry) ingredients into a large mixing bowl and stir well.  In a small bowl, stir the last 4 (wet) ingredients well.  Using a rubber spatula, pour the wet ingredients evenly over the dry and with the spatula, stir and toss to coat all the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients.  When well-blended, pour half the mixture onto each paper-lined pan.  Spread evenly.  You will need to bake until it is dry and somewhat crisp to the touch, or about 1½ hours (longer for some ovens).  Stir ever 15-20 minutes to be sure it is cooking evenly.  Do not allow to overly brown or the nuts will taste burned.   Turn off oven and let the granola dry in the oven as it cools.  Break it apart into smaller clusters if you like.  I like mine in larger clusters, as I eat it more as a snack than a cereal.  Transfer to an airtight container or zip-loc gallon bag.  BE ABSOLUTELY SURE IT IS FULLY COOLED BEFORE STORING.  Otherwise it will “sweat” and get soft (just re-bake for 15-20 minutes to crisp it up again).  This stuff is delicious, so do ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 9 cups total or eighteen ½ cup servings.  Each ½-cup serving contains:

214 cals, 19.6g fat, 7.5g carbs, 3.21g fiber, 4.29g NET CARBS, 4.9g protein, 42 mg sodium

Jam Tea Cakes

My British and Canadian readers will LOVE these!!  They were just lovely with a hot cuppa…..not too sweet.   I baked these tea cakes in a whoopie pie pan that I recently purchased (see below), so each tea cake is about 2¼” x ¼”  before slicing.  The recipe makes exactly 12  tea cakes if you carefully spoon in 1 level tablespoon of batter into each pan slot. I used my focaccia bread batter for these, actually, as I didn’t really want them too sweet or crumbly/cake-y.  These are not suitable until Phase 2 OWL of Atkins.    These do not meet Primal-Paleo guidelines at all.

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.

INGREDIENTS: 

3 T. cream cheese, softened

2 large eggs

1 tsp. apple cider vinegar

1 T. cold water

1 T. heavy cream

½ tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. dry yeast dissolved in 1 T. lukewarm water

1 tsp. baking soda

¼ c. flax meal

¼ c. plain whey protein powder

½ c. almond flour

1½ c. Monterey Jack cheese

2 T. erythritol (or other sweetener to equal around 1½ T. sugar)

1 T. oat fiber (omit for gluten free version)

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Have a non-stick whoopie pie pan at hand.  You can use a muffin-top pan, a large muffin pan or an ebilskiver pan to make these if you don’t own a whoopie pie pan.

Soften cream cheese in a medium mixing bowl.  Whisk in all the wet ingredients.  Add the cheese and stir well.  Measure in all dry ingredients and stir well to blend.   Using a tablespoon, dip up a LEVEL tablespoon of batter and using your finger to empty out the tablespoon, fill each pan slot with exactly 1 level tablespoon of batter and spread evenly with the back of a spoon.  There will be exactly enough batter to make 12 cakes that will be sliced into 24 pieces when done, to make 12 sandwich-type jam-filled tea cakes.

Pop into oven and bake for around 10-11 minutes or until firm in the center (don’t let them brown too much).  When they are totally cool, remove from pans.  Using a serrated bread knife, carefully slice them laterally.  Using the back of a teaspoon, spread one half with 1 tsp. your favorite sugar-free preserves or jam.   You want the jam to be quite thin, for lower carbs, and so it will not ooze out when these are eaten.  Most of my sugar-free jams have around 1-3 net carb per teaspoon.  Top with the other side of the cake, repeat for all 12 cakes, and serve.  ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Make 12 two-piece jam-filled tea cakes.  Numbers below do not include the jam filling.  Each tea cake consists of 2 of the sliced thinner pieces of cake with jam layered between. Therefore each jam cake/serving will contain:

129.2 calories, 10.4 g  fat, 2.28 g  carbs, 1.2 g  fiber, 1.18 g  NET CARBS  (plus whatever carbs in your chosen jam), 7.8 g  protein, 179 mg sodium

 

Meatza Meatza® Spinach Burrito

I broke my run on salads this week, OH MY!  I just wasn’t hungry for breakfast this morning, so I just had a cup of coffee.  The hubs took his usual Sunday hobby trip to Austin and it was just me and Button left to our own devices.  By 10:00 I was feeling a might peckish, so I ate brunch.  With just one last psyllium flat bread in the fridge, this is what I came up with.  A couple meats, a dash of fresh spinach and a bit of cheese to bind it altogether and man, was this ever tasty and filling!   This would be great breakfast, brunch or lunch!  I’ll need to get in the kitchen later today to make some more of my flat breads!  This recipe is not suitable until you get to the flour/grains carb re-introduction level (Phase 2) of Atkins due to the very healthy Einkorn flour and CarbQuik bake mix in the ingredient list for the flat bread.

Many more delicious 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, has mostly my recipes once again.

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 FOR EACH BURRITO:

1 Flat Bread round

3 oz. bulk pork breakfast sausage

2 slices thick pepper bacon

3/4 c. fresh baby spinach leaves

2 T. shredded Monterrey Jack Cheese

DIRECTIONS:  Lay the cooked flat bread on a serving plate and set aside the stove top.  In the middle of a small skillet, using your fingers, form the sausage into an oblong, half-moon shape the size of one half of the bread round.  Lay each strip of bacon along the outer edges of the skillet.  Over medium-high heat, brown until all the meat is thoroughly cooked on both sides.   With your spatula, set the sausage on one side of the bread round.  Lay the two strips of bacon on top of the sausage.  Now wilt the sausage right in the grease remaining in your skillet.  When wilted/cooked lift it onto the burrito atop the bacon.  Sprinkle the 2T. cheese on top and fold the other side of the flat bread over all, securing with a toothpick.  Place plate in microwave at 30% power for about 3-4 seconds so the cheese will melt.  Remove and serve at once.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 1 burrito which contains:

670 cals, 60g fat, 18.5g carbs, 10.1g fiber, 8.4g NET CARBS, 33.4g protein, 1417 mg sodium

Carbs can be lowered serving open-faced on only 1/2 bread round; sodium and fat can be lowered making your own lean sausage homemade.

“Frosted” Sausage Donuts

An interesting approach for a crustless quiche creation.  These rose halfway up the sides of the little pans and each one was a perfect portion for an adult!  And they were delicious! If you don’t like mushrooms, you can just omit them (carbs will go down a wee bit).  This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins and Keto diets if you can fit the numbers into your daily routine.  They are suitable for Paleo-Primal folks if you substitute coconut milk for the cream.

INGREDIENTS:

5 oz. pork bulk sausage

4 medium mushrooms, chopped

1 green onion, chopped

3 medium eggs, beaten

¼ c. shredded Monterrey Jack or Mozzarella cheese

1 c. heavy cream

¼ tsp. dried tarragon

Dash each salt, pepper and cayenne pepper

1/8 tsp. xanthan gum or your favorite thickener

OPTIONAL:  Chopped parsley to garnish

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Crumble and cook the sausage, green onion and mushrooms over medium-high heat.  Spoon 1/4 of the mixture into two non-stick mini angel food cake pans.  If you don’t have those, use a donut pan (you will have to spread mixture and cheese out over 4 donut wells instead of 2 pans as I used).  Alternately, you could fill 2 large muffin pan wells or use two mini-loaf pans.   Sprinkle 1 T. cheese over each one.  Spoon in the remaining 1/4 mixture into each pan again.  Again, sprinkle 1 T. cheese over each one.  All filling and cheese should be distributed now.

Beat the eggs in a small bowl.  Slowly drizzle the egg mixture over all the “donut” shapes you are making.  If you need more egg using different pan, beat up another egg and finish filling them up to 1/2 the height of your well shape.  Pop pan into hot 350º oven and bake for around 10-12 minutes, watching closely so as not to overcook them.  Will be dry to the touch on top when done.

While they are cooking, make the sauce.  Heat the cream in a skillet over medium heat.  Add the tarragon, salt (omit if very sensitive to salt), pepper and cayenne.  Dust your preferred thickener over the top and stir until it thickens up for you.   When you remove the cooked donuts from the oven, tip them out of the pans onto your serving platter, using a knife tip to help removing them.  Spoon the sauce over the top and garnish with chopped parsley if desired.  Serve at once.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 2 servings, each contains:

810 cals., 75.1g fat, 6.25g carbs, 0.85g fiber, 5.4g NET CARBS, 29.15g protein, 870 mg sodium

Since you may use different pans, I am providing the numbers for the entire recipe below.  Simply divide these numbers by the number of portions you made to get the values for one of YOUR servings.

ENTIRE RECIPE CONTAINS:  1621 calories, 150.2g fat, 12.5g carbs, 1.7g fiber, 10.8g net carbs, 58.3g protein, 1740 mg sodium

Einkorn Pineapple Sweet Potato Logs

All I can say is YUM!  Although I made these tasty treats using a non-stick Twinkie® pan, you can just as easily make these into muffins, mini-muffins or even a square cake and cut into 12 portions.  You’ll have to do some re-calculating of carbs for different shapes.  The square cake will probably take 30-35 minutes to bake fully.  Test with a toothpick in the center.  The count below is for the Twinkie® shape, each of which which has 3 tablespoons of batter. These are delicious with morning coffee or for a lunch-box or after-school snack!

Mine tried to stick to my non-stick pan a bit, so be sure to oil your pan and cool them off before attempting to loosen and remove from the pan.  This recipe is not suitable until you reach the grains rung of the Atkins OWL carb re-introduction ladder.

To lower carbs, you will want to sub in a lower-carb bake mix and definitely sub in pumpkin for the sweet potato.  I just happened to stumble on 1/2 c. sweet potato in my freezer this week that I wanted to use up.  I figure if I don’t know how long it was in the freezer, best I use it right away.  I will probably use pumpkin next time myself to lower carbs on these.

Many more delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own copy of our cookbooks  LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS.  Volume 8, by Jennifer Eloff, Chef George Stella of Food Network fame, and myself, is almost exclusively comprised of my recipes with some new creations by Chef George Stella and Jennifer Eloff.  Order your copy (or any of our  cookbooks) from Amazon  or our direct order site: amongfriends.us/order.php.

INGREDIENTS:

1½ c. my Einkorn Low-Carb Bake Mix

¼ c.+2T. Pineapple Sugar-Free Syrup (I used DaVinci)

1 beaten large egg

½ c. sweet potato, cooked and mashed

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Oil a Twinkie® pan or muffin pan.  Set aside.  In a medium bowl, mash the cooked sweet potato with a fork.  Whisk in the egg and pineapple syrup until smooth.  Finally stir in the bake mix with a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl, until all is well-blended.  Using a tablespoon measure, spoon 3 T. batter into each slot of the pan.  If any leftover, top any off that are under-filled.  Pop into 350º oven for 20 minutes.  Cool slightly before attempting to remove from pan.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:    Makes 12 logs, each contains:

113 cals., 8.3g fat, 6.66g carbs, 1.49g fiber, 5.17g NET CARBS, 5.38g protein, 66.2 mg sodium

 

 

 

Sausage Ball Hash

I bought a beautiful bunch of big red radishes at the store this week expressly to use them for a breakfast “potato” sub dish.  This is what I made with them today.  Very tasty little dish.  I used the entire 10 oz. bunch (which was a bit much, we decided) and next time will use only about 6 oz. and reflect that change in the instructions/stats below.    This was a very pleasant change from the same old scrambled eggs and bacon, or scrambled eggs and sausage I usually fix in the morning.  This dish is suitable for all phases of Atkins and Keto diets.

Many more delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own cookbooks from LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS, Volume 8, by Jennifer Eloff, Chef George Stella of Food Network fame, and myself.  Volume 8 is almost completely comprised of my recipes! Chef George Stella and Jennifer Eloff are also including several tasty new delights in Vol.  8! Order yours (or any of our earlier cookbooks) from Amazon  or our direct order site: amongfriends.us/order.php.  Remember, they make GREAT birthday or holiday gifts!  If you’ve already purchased a book, the team would appreciate it if you would please take a moment and drop by the our Amazon page to leave your personal review.  🙂

INGREDIENTS:

3 large eggs, beaten

2 T. bacon grease

3 oz. onion, coarsely chopped

6 oz. pork bulk sausage

6 oz. red radish, cut large ones into halves

Dash each sea salt and coarse black pepper

DIRECTIONS:  Roll sausage into mini balls about 3/4″ in size.  Set aside near stove.  Chop onion and do the same.  Rinse and trim radishes, cutting any oversize ones into halves or quarters.  Leave small ones whole.  Set radishes aside as well.

In a small lightly-oiled or non-stick pan, scramble the eggs.  Do not break them up too much as you flip chunks of them over.  Remove from heat and with your spatula or spoon, break them up into large bite-sized chunks.  Set the eggs aside for now.

In a large non-stick wok or large skillet, heat the bacon grease over high heat.  Add the onion first to the pan and stir-fry until the onions brown a bit and are fully caramelized.  Add the radishes and stir fry until they are getting translucent and tender.  Let them brown a bit as well as this improves their flavor.

Finally add the sausage balls around the edge of the radish-onion mixture but do not disturb with your spatula/spoon.  When they are beginning to brown on one side and firm up, gently shake the pan to let them roll around (still on the edge of the veggie mixture) ant they will start to brown on the other sides.  Gently shuffle the pan until the balls appear to be fully firmed up and then you can gently stir them into the radish mixture.  When the meat appears to be fully done, add the salt, pepper and egg chunks.  Gently mix altogether with your spoon and serve at once.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 3 servings, each contains:

359 calories, 29.7g fat, 4.53g carbs, 1.2g fiber, 3.33g NET CARBS, 17.9g protein, 687 mg sodium

 

Bacon Maple Twists

My husband asked for pancakes today, but honestly, that is NOT one of my favorite foods.  It’s not the flavors I don’t like; it’s the bulky, cake-like mouth feel of pancakes that just doesn’t seem like breakfast food to me.  So today I created a mock “pancake” thingie that really tasted just like pancakes, maple syrup and bacon without all that voluminous bulk pancakes give you.  These have a slightly chewy texture in your mouth.

I only used half a recipe of dough making 4 twists for the two of us today.  Honestly, they are so filling a serving would be just one twist I think.  They were delicious with our eggs and I will definitely be making these again.  If you’re feeding a large family or have some breakfast company, baking a full recipe of these will make your breakfast task much easier.  This recipe is not suitable until you are well along in Phase 2 Atkins.

INGREDIENTS:

1 recipe my Mozzy Dough

8 slices thick-slice bacon

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

1/8 tsp. coarse black pepper

DIRECTIONS:   Preheat oven to 350º. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.  Make the Mozzy Dough per that recipe’s instructions.  On your countertop, roll the ball of dough between 2 sheets of plastic wrap or silicone sheets) into the form of a rectangle (one side the length of your bacon.  Remove top piece of plastic wrap.  Gently cut into 8 equal strips with a knife scoring completely the dough, but if using silicone sheet on the bottom, be careful not to cut your silicone sheet with your knife!  Using a brush, baste each slice of dough with the maple syrup.  Lay a slice of bacon down each strip of dough.  Sprinkle with the black pepper.  Next step is a little tricky, but doable if you don’t rush it.  Gently lift your plastic wrap or silicone sheet along the outermost strip of dough/bacon and tip it carefully over onto your hand.  Carefully grab each end with both hands now and lift over to baking pan.  Twist the dough assembly 2-3 times.  Pop into 350º oven and bake for about 15-17 minutes or until the dough is golden and bacon should be done as well.  Remove, allow to “set up” a minute or so before removing from pan with an extra-long spatula.  If you don’t own one yet, I highly recommend an investment in a long spatula.  They are invaluable for such tasks as this and lifting meatloaves or broiled/baked fish out of pans. Mine has an 8″ lifting blade.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 8 twists, each one contains:

228 calories, 187 g fat, 7.51 g carbs, 4.81 g fiber, 2.7 g NET CARBS, 15.8 g protein, 376 mg sodium

Lemon Curd

                Lemon Curd

Decided to try my hand at one of my pastry favorites: lemon curd.  I grew to love this scone & pastry topping while on an extensive six-weeks trip through Britain in the 80’s.  I have since modified my recipe of the 80’s to be Atkins friendly.  Had it on a Muffin in a Minute for breakfast and man was it ever good!  This also makes a good cream filling between layers of vanilla cake or pound cake or for lemon mini-tarts.  I love it on a hot biscuit as well!  🙂  As lemon and lime juice is limited during Induction to 3 T. per day, this recipe is only suitable for Induction if you don’t over indulge.

More delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own set of Jennifer Eloff and friends’ best-selling cookbooks LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS.  She has collaborated with famous low-carb Chef George Stella and several other talented cooks to bring you a wealth of delicious recipes you are going to want to try.  Even a few of my recipes are in the cookbooks! Order your 5-volume set TODAY! (also available individually) from Amazon or: http://amongfriends.us/order.php

INGREDIENTS:

3 eggs, whisked well

1 T. liquid Splenda (or other sweetener to equal 1 c. sugar)

½ c. fresh lemon juice

1 T. lemon peel, grated

¼ c. unsalted butter

DIRECTIONS:  In a saucepan, whisk eggs, add sweetener, lemon juice and peel.  Turn fire to medium-low and add butter.  Cook, stirring constantly for about 10-15 minutes until thickened.  Pour into jar and chill/store in refrigerator.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes about 20 T. or ten 2T. servings, each serving contains:

54.53 calories, 4.6 g  fat, 1.56 g  carbs, .41 g  fiber, 1.15 g  NET CARBS, 2.13 g  protein, 23 mg. sodium

Sausage Breakfast Focaccia

To quote the bard, “a sausage biscuit by any other name……” would taste as sweet.  🙂  A tasty new way to use my wonderful gluten-free focaccia bread recipe.   You’ll be happy to know you CANNOT taste the flax meal in this bread either!

TIP:  If you are not gluten-free, I find 1 T. oat fiber improves this bread’s taste and texture greatly.  But remember, if you add it, OAT FIBER IS NOT GLUTEN FREE.

This recipe is suitable for Phase 2 Atkins, Keto diets, Primal folks if consumed only occasionally.  This bread would not be suitable for Paleo.

More delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own cookbooks from LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS, by Jennifer Eloff and low-carb friends. Chef George Stella also brings you a wealth of delicious recipes you will love! Order yours TODAY! from Amazon or our direct order site: http://amongfriends.us/order.php

BREAD INGREDIENTS:

½ c. almond flour

¼ c. golden flax meal

¼ c. plain 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

1 tsp. yeast dissolved in 1 T. warm water (optional, for flavor only)

1 T. oat fiber (optional)

TOPPING:   5 oz. browned sausage + 1 c. more shredded cheese of your choice

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Soften cream cheese in medium mixing bowl in microwave.  Beat in the eggs, cream, water, vinegar, both cheeses and dissolved yeast (if using).  Measure and add in all the dry ingredients and stir well with a rubber spatula. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.  You can also use a non-stick pan.  I would not recommend silicone, as this won’t brown as nicely on your Silpat.  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 cooked sausage and then the mozzarella shreds.  Lightly press down on the toppings so they embed slightly into the batter.  Pop pan into 350º oven and bake for about 15-20 minutes or until dry to the touch in center and lightly browned on the edges.  .  Cool a few minutes and cut evenly into 9 slices and enjoy!  When totally cool, store in plastic bag in your refrigerator.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Entire sheet contains:  2113 calories, 164 g fat, 30.6 g carbs, 13.8 g fiber, 16.8 g net carbs, 142 g protein, 3334 mg sodium  (divide by number of servings you cut)

If cut into 9 portions, each serving would contain:

235 calories, 18.2 g  fat, 3.4 g  carbs, 1.53 g  fiber, 1.87 g  NET CARBS, 15.73 g  protein, 370 mg sodium

Bacon-Leek Gravy on Toast

Rather than go with an ordinary bacon gravy on toast today, I decided to cut up one of the leeks I have in the fridge and add to the party.  These two flavors are always a winner in my book.  This tasty dish, served on toasted slices of this Einkorn flour bread recipe (made up in a sheet of 12 slices, rather than dinner rolls) was absolutely delicious this morning.   This would also make a nice brunch or lunch dish.  This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins and other Keto diets, provided those still on Induction use an Induction suitable bread (toasted flax bread).

INGREDIENTS:

6 slices low-carb bread of choice, toasted (numbers below based on linked bread recipe)

6 slices bacon, chopped

½ leek washed of dirt hiding in leaves, sliced thinly

1 c. heavy cream

½ c. water

Few shakes each salt and black pepper

Dash xanthan gum or your preferred thickener to thicken gravy

DIRECTIONS:   Chop bacon and leek.  Add bacon to non-stick skillet and brown.  Do not drain.  Add leek and saute just until tender.  Add cream, water, salt and pepper and simmer a few minutes to slightly thicken.  Two or three light dustings of xanthan gum stirred in (allow each addition to thicken to avoid getting too much) or use your preferred thickener to thicken gravy a bit more.  Plate up the toast and dip gravy on top, dividing the skillet contents as equally as possible (about 1 generous cooking spoonful each).  Serve at once.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:    Makes 6 servings, each contains:

275 calories, 23.2 g fat, 803 g carbs, 4.16 g fiber, 3.89 g NET CARBS, 8.4 g protein, 565 mg sodium

 

Smoked Sausage Breakfast Pizza

This was a very tasty treat this morning!  I remembered I had Joseph’s Oat Fiber-Flax Pita Bread in the fridge and decided to do my scrambled eggs a little differently today.  Didn’t want too many busy flavors competing, so I only added green onion to the meat and cheese, and limited the cheese at that!  These got a thumbs up from both of us and I’ll be making them again!  They are suitable once you get to the grains level of Atkins (close to Maintenance).  If you use a low-carb bread like cloud bread, even those in Phase 1 can enjoy these “pizzas”.

Many delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own cookbooks from LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS, by Jennifer Eloff and low-carb friends (me included).  Chef George Stella also brings to the table a wealth of delicious recipes added to our collection!  You’ll LOVE these recipes!  Order your copy today from Amazon  or our direct order site: amongfriends.us/order.php.

INGREDIENTS: 

2 Joseph’s Oat Fiber-Flax Pita Bread rounds

½ c shredded Mozzarella (or other cheese if you prefer)

3 large eggs, beaten with the onion below

1 large green onion, chopped fine

6 oz (3 links) smoked sausage, sliced thin

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Place the pita breads on a broiler pan with holes, a pizza pan with holes or a parchment lined baking sheet.  Sprinkle each “crust” with a quarter of the mozzarella cheese (about 2 T. per pita).  In a non-stick skillet, lightly cook the sausage over medium-high heat for a couple minutes.  Remove slices to paper towel to drain.  In the sausage grease remaining, lightly scramble the egg-onion mixture, turning off the heat just when the eggs are no longer runny, but not quite done.  Spoon the eggs evenly over the two loaves.  Top each with the remaining mozzy cheese.  Pop into oven for about 10-15 minutes just to set up the eggs and melt the cheese.  Crusts will get almost crisp enough to pick up and eat with hands, else use a fork and knife to eat these.  ENOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 2 servings, each contains:

416 calories, 29 g fat, 6.1 g carbs, 1.8 g fiber, 4.3 g NET CARBS, 36 g protein, 1125 mg sodium

Quick Danish

Blueberry version

This is a wonderful new way to use my Peggy’s Sliced Bread recipe! TIP:  I keep some sort of plain, unflavored low-carb sheet bread cooked and at the ready in a gallon Ziploc bag in my refrigerator at all times, so making this for breakfast takes about 10 minutes total!

I took a piece of my Peggy’s Sliced Bread (linked above), sliced it laterally into two thinner slices and filled it with a delicious thickened pineapple filling with a smear of cream cheese.  Doused with cinnamon.  Nuked it on defrost for 20 seconds and man, oh, man, was it ever good!  A little carby as I had no berries in the house today, but REALLY good if you can afford the pineapple carbs when you get farther along in your weight-loss journey. Net carb counts for other fruits provided below.

If using other fruits, you will want to use some other DaVinci syrup (vanilla or appropriate berry flavor) or use other sweetener of your choice with 2-3 T. water added to compensate for the syrup’s water. This is not suitable until the grains rung of OWL.

You can sure pull the carb count down using other berries.   As you can see, I have explored several varieties of this Quick Danish.  By the way, this reminded me very much of pineapple upside-down cake, just without the cherry.  But that could be remedied on special occasions! 🙂  With a dollop of sweetened whipped cream on top, this would make a lovely, easy dessert for unexpected company!  If serving on black/dark plates, for visual impact, I would dust the plate with powdered sweetener/erythritol along with the cinnamon.  Of course, you can use any plan-suitable bread you prefer over the bread I used, but you wil have to calculate your nutritional info from scratch.

Pineapple Version

PINEAPPLE VERSION (right) :  Slice the bread laterally into 2 thins slices and place 1 on a plate.  Set aside.  Place in a saucepan ¼ c. crushed pineapple, juice pack (I didn’t drain), ½ T. unsalted butter, dash cinnamon, dash xanthan gum, 2 T. Davinci Pineapple sugar-free syrup (or sweetener to taste).  Heat, stirring until slightly thickened.  Remove. Spoon half onto the slice of bread on the plate.  Top with 1 T. softened cream cheese (sweeten if you like).  Place the second thin slice of bread on top and spoon on the rest of the fruit mixture.  Warm a few seconds in the microwave on defrost and serve while hot.

Blackberry Version

BLUEBERRY or BLACKBERRY VERSION:  Mash 2 oz. berries with a fork in a saucepan with 1-2T. water, pinch of stevia + 2 drops liquid Splenda and a sprinkle of xanthan gum to thicken.  Cook on medium heat a couple minutes until thick.  Slice bread laterally and place 1 thin slice on a plate.  Spoon half the berry mix onto it.  Top with about ½ T. cream cheese. Placed second half-slice bread and add remaining berries to top and dot with cream cheese.  Mmmmm.   this recipe is not suitable for Atkins Induction.

NUTRITIONAL INFO (for the pineapple version, the first one I made):  Makes a single serving which contains:

256 calories, 21 g  fat, 16.2 g  carbs, 3.7 g  fiber, 12.5 NET CARBS, 8.5 g  protein, 243 mg sodium

Strawberry Version:  Use 3 medium strawberries sliced:  5.3 NET CARBS

Blackberry Version:   Use 1/4 c. frozen blackberries: 7.3 NET CARBS

Cherry Version:  Use 1/4 c. canned tart cherries:  10.9 NET CARBS

Blueberry Version:  Use 1/4 c. fresh blueberries: 7.6 NET CARBS

Einkorn Sausage Balls

This is an ever-popular Holiday appetizer that never goes out of style or favor with your holiday guests.  And they are so easy to make ahead, heat and serve.  I have another Sausage Cheese Ball recipe on my website that rings in at only 1 net carb per ball.  But I like this one a bit better and it’s easier to put together, with fewer ingredients.  This recipe features my convenient homemade Einkorn Low-Carb Bake Mix (similar to Bisquick and Carbquik) and have come up with what I think is an even tastier, more moist Sausage-Cheese Ball.  And this improved recipe only rings in at 1.76 net carbs per ball.  Not bad for the convenience of just reaching for 3 ingredients in lieu of a whole bunch of ingredients.   These are not suitable until the grains rung of the carb re-introduction ladder of Phase 2 OWL.  They are OK for Keto diets if you can fit them into your daily carb limits.  They would be totally unacceptable for Primal-Paleo due to grain.

INGREDIENTS:

12 oz. breakfast sausage (I used my homemade breakfast sausage recipe)

1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

2 c. my Einkorn Bake Mix  (For gluten-free version, use Jennifer Eloff’s Gluten-Free Bake Mix or another GF mix of your choice)

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º. Mix the above ingredients in a medium bowl with your hands as you would a meatloaf mixture.  When thoroughly blended, form into 30 1″ balls and place on non-stick baking sheet or one lined with parchment or silicone sheet for ease of clean-up. Bake for 15-20 minutes until lightly browned.  Remove to paper towels to drain off any excess grease (mine had none actually).  Serve warm and ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 30  1″ balls, each sausage ball contains:

95 calories, 7.81 g  fat, 2.4 g  carbs, 0.64 g fiber, 1.76 g  NET CARBS, 4.82 g  protein, 81 mg sodium

Beef Bacon Burrito

I have been wanting to try my grass-fed beef supplier’s cured beef bacon for some time as I’ve never eaten it before.  Ordered some this week from my supplier in the panhandle and the verdict is still out for me.  The hubs likes it.  It was better today in this new burrito recipe than straight with eggs in my opinion, but still a little heavy for me.  I think I lean more toward conventional pork bacon myself.  The beef bacon is very lean and not quite as salty as regular bacon though.  It appears to be made from the lean end of brisket.  Photo below if you’ve never had beef bacon.  

I was NOT wanting eggs today, so we didn’t put any into these burritos, but these would typically have a scrambled egg in them.  As mine were a little heavy with just meat and cheese, I recommend adding the eggs.  🙂

HEB grocery stores here in Texas have a whole-wheat Carb Sense flour tortilla that only has 3 net carbs (lower than Mission or LaTortilla Factory brand).  Numbers below are calculated using the HEB 3 g. carb tortillas.    These are suitable for Phase 2 Atkins and other Keto diets if you can fit the numbers into your daily macros.

INGREDIENTS:

2  oz. bulk pork breakfast sausage, formed into elongated shape

1  slice lean beef bacon

3 T. shredded Cheddar cheese

1  HEB Carb Sense brand whole wheat flour tortilla (3 g NC)

OPTIONAL:  Add a egg scrambled in 1 pat butter for each burrito.

VARIATION:   Add 1 T. your favorite salsa or a pinch of fresh chopped cilantro (or both) when serving

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 325º.  Shape the pork sausage into an elongated shape.  Brown it and the beef bacon in a skillet or on a griddle.  Remove from heat.  Lightly oil a baking pan.  Place a tortilla on the pan.  Lift sausage and place on one half of the tortilla.  Top with the beef bacon and sprinkle on the cheese.  If using, add the scrambled egg last.  Fold other half of tortilla over all and press down.  Cover pan with loose foil and pop into 325º oven for 10-15 minutes to melt the cheese.  Serve at once.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 1 burrito which contains: (does not include egg)

327 calories (435 if egg added)

22 g. fat (31 if egg added)

14.2 g carbs, 10 g fiber, 4.2 g NET CARBS (4.6 NC if egg added)

17.6 g protein

792 mg sodium

Spinach-Egg Breakfast Stack

 

These were a nice way to use up a small amount of leftover spinach from the day before.  I like these extremely low-carb pork-rind tortillas by Low-Carb Maven and keep them on hand now.  They’re made with pork rinds and are very high in fat and sodium…………so I warned you.  With those ready-made in the fridge, this was  quick and tasty different sort of breakfast yesterday.  These tortillas have only .55 net carbs per tortilla, so if you substitute, you will have to recalculate your numbers.  These are suitable for all phases of Atkins and Keto diets.

INGREDIENTS:

1 tsp. unsalted butter

1 large egg, beaten

2 T. frozen, chopped spinach

Dash onion powder

1 large egg, for frying

1 “Almost Zero Carb Wrap” tortilla

3 oz. pork sausage patty, cooked

¼ c. shredded Monterey Jack cheese (or mozzarella)

1 Tsp. grated cheddar cheese (¼ slice)

VARIATION:   Fry the egg and just layer the spinach and mozzy underneath it as you construct the stack.   If you prefer, place the fried egg on top of the sausage rather than underneath it.  To cut sodium, you could substitute some other low-carb pancake or tortilla, but recalculate the nutritionals if you sub.

DIRECTIONS:   Preheat oven to 325º.  Melt butter in non-stick skillet over medium heat.  Add spinach and heat.  Add beaten egg and dash onion powder.  Scramble until just barely done and remove to a paper plate.  

With a fork, press the sausage into a large, thin patty on the surface of the same skillet and cook until done.  Remove from heat.  Fry the second egg last, sunnyside-up.  Place a tortilla on parchment or silicone lined baking pan.  Evenly top with the spinach-scrambled egg mixture.  Place 2 T. Monterey Jack cheese over the top of egg/mixture, which will serve to bind the scrambled egg together in place.  Place sausage on top of that.   Finish with remaining Monterey Jack cheese.  Place fried egg on the stack next.  Sprinkle shreds of cheddar atop the egg yolk .  Pop into 325º oven and bake just long enough to melt the cheeses, or around 10-15 minutes.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 1 serving which contains: (only way to lower calories & protein is use less cheese & a smaller sausage patty)

693 cals, 54.6 g fat, 2.7 g carbs, 1.6 g fiber, 1.1 g Net carbs, 46 g protein, 1400 mg sodium

 

Sausage Breakfast Focaccia

To quote the bard, “a sausage biscuit by any other name……” would taste as sweet.  🙂  A tasty new way to use my wonderful gluten-free focaccia bread recipe.   You’ll be happy to know you CANNOT taste the flax meal in this bread either!

TIP:  If you are not gluten-free, I find 1 T. oat fiber improves this bread’s taste and texture greatly.  But remember, if you add it, OAT FIBER IS NOT GLUTEN FREE.

This recipe is suitable for Phase 2 Atkins, Keto diets, Primal folks if consumed only occasionally.  This bread would not be suitable for Paleo.

More delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own cookbooks from LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS, by Jennifer Eloff and low-carb friends. Chef George Stella also brings you a wealth of delicious recipes you will love! Order yours TODAY! from Amazon or our direct order site: http://amongfriends.us/order.php

DISCLAIMER: I do not accept payment for book promotions. I do so because they are GREAT cookbooks anyone would be proud to add to their cookbook collection.

BREAD INGREDIENTS:

½ c. almond flour

¼ c. golden flax meal

¼ c. plain 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

1 tsp. yeast dissolved in 1 T. warm water (optional, for flavor only)

1 T. oat fiber (optional)

TOPPING:   5 oz. browned sausage + 1 c. more shredded cheese of your choice

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Soften cream cheese in medium mixing bowl in microwave.  Beat in the eggs, cream, water, vinegar, both cheeses and dissolved yeast (if using).  Measure and add in all the dry ingredients and stir well with a rubber spatula. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.  You can also use a non-stick pan.  I would not recommend silicone, as this won’t brown as nicely on your Silpat.  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 cooked sausage and then the mozzarella shreds.  Lightly press down on the toppings so they embed slightly into the batter.  Pop pan into 350º oven and bake for about 15-20 minutes or until dry to the touch in center and lightly browned on the edges.  .  Cool a few minutes and cut evenly into 9 slices and enjoy!  When totally cool, store in plastic bag in your refrigerator.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Entire sheet contains:  2113 calories, 164 g fat, 30.6 g carbs, 13.8 g fiber, 16.8 g net carbs, 142 g protein, 3334 mg sodium  (divide by number of servings you cut)

If cut into 9 portions, each serving would contain:

235 calories

18.2 g  fat

3.4 g  carbs, 1.53 g  fiber, 1.87 g  NET CARBS

15.73 g  protein

370 mg sodium

Quick Danish

Blueberry Quick Danish

I discovered a wonderful new way to use my Peggy’s Sliced Bread recipe!  NOTE:  I keep some sort of plain, unflavored low-carb sheet bread cooked and at the ready in a gallon Ziploc bag in my refrigerator at all times, so making this for breakfast takes about 10 minutes total!

I took a piece of my Peggy’s Sliced Bread (linked above) this morning, sliced it laterally into two thinner slices and filled it with a delicious thickened pineapple filling with a smear of cream cheese.  Doused with cinnamon.  Nuked it on defrost for 20 seconds and man, oh, man, was it ever good!  A little carby as I had no berries in the house today, but REALLY good if you can afford the pineapple carbs when you get farther along in your weight-loss journey. Net carb counts for other fruits provided below.

If using other fruits, you will want to use some other DaVinci syrup (vanilla or appropriate berry flavor) or use other sweetener of your choice with 2-3 T. water added to compensate for the syrup’s water. This is not suitable until the grains rung of OWL.

You can sure pull the carb count down using other berries.   As you can see, I have explored several varieties of this Quick Danish.  By the way, this reminded me very much of pineapple upside-down cake, just without the cherry.  But that could be remedied on special occasions! 🙂  With a dollop of sweetened whipped cream on top, this would make a lovely, easy dessert for unexpected company!  If serving on black/dark plates, for visual impact, I would dust the plate with powdered sweetener/erythritol along with the cinnamon.  Of course, you can use any plan-suitable bread you prefer over the bread I used, but you wil have to calculate your nutritional info from scratch.

Pineapple Quick Danish

PINEAPPLE VERSION (right) :  Slice the bread laterally into 2 thin slices and place 1 on a plate.  Set aside.  Place in a saucepan ¼ c. crushed pineapple, juice pack (I didn’t drain), ½ T. unsalted butter, dash cinnamon, dash xanthan gum, 2 T. Davinci Pineapple sugar-free syrup (or sweetener to taste).  Heat, stirring until slightly thickened.  Remove. Spoon half onto the slice of bread on the plate.  Top with 1 T. softened cream cheese (sweeten if you like).  Place the second thin slice of bread on top and spoon on the rest of the fruit mixture.  Warm a few seconds in the microwave on defrost and serve while hot.

Blackberry Quick Danish

BLUEBERRY or BLACKBERRY VERSION:  Mash 2 oz. berries with a fork in a saucepan with 1-2T. water, pinch of stevia + 2 drops liquid Splenda and a sprinkle of xanthan gum to thicken.  Cook on medium heat a couple minutes until thick.  Slice bread laterally and place 1 thin slice on a plate.  Spoon half the berry mix onto it.  Top with about ½ T. cream cheese. Placed second half-slice bread and add remaining berries to top and dot with cream cheese.  Mmmmm.

More delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own set of Jennifer Eloff and friends’ best-selling cookbooks LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS.  She has collaborated with famous low-carb Chef George Stella and several other talented chefs to bring you a wealth of delicious recipes you are going to want to try.  Even a few of my recipes are in her cookbooks! Order your 5-volume set TODAY! (available individually) from Amazon or: http://amongfriends.us/order.php

DISCLAIMER: By personal preference, I do not get paid for this book promotion or for the inclusion of my recipes therein.  I do so merely because they are GREAT cookbooks any low-carb cook would be proud to add to their cookbook collection

NUTRITIONAL INFO (for the pineapple version, the first one I made):  Makes a single serving which contains:

256 calories

21 g  fat

16.2 g  carbs, 3.7 g  fiber, 12.5 NET CARBS

8.5 g  protein

243 mg sodium

Strawbery Version:  Use 3 medium strawberries sliced:  5.3 NET CARBS

Blackberry Version:   Use 1/4 c. frozen blackberries: 7.3 NET CARBS

Cherry Version:  Use 1/4 c. canned tart cherries:  10.9 NET CARBS

Blueberry Version:  Use 1/4 c. fresh blueberries: 7.6 NET CARBS

 

Granola Bars

 

This experiment was quite a pleasant surprise.  I want to give credit where due.  This bar recipe is based on a recipe from Dana Carpender’s granola cereal recipe in her book 500 Low Carb Recipes.  I had to seriously increase sweetener, increase the syrup, add sugar-free honey and increase cinnamon to get the flavor I was looking for.  I also used whole toasted oats rather than oat bran.  I am quite pleased with the final taste on these.  They went together well  and baked up beautifully.  Just so you know what to expect, I would describe these as firm, but not hard like Nature’s Valley brand granola bars.  This makes a huge pan of these, so you may want to make half a recipe or simply freeze half, as they freeze really well without getting  dry or crumbly.

These can be crumbled up for a granola cereal if you like.  They also make a nice crunchy topping for baked “fruit” or “fruit” pies and bar cookies.  🙂  The inspirational recipe mid-cooking time, is crumbled and baked for the last half of the time, as it is offered in the book as a cereal recipe, not a bar.

This recipe is not suitable until Phase 2 Atkins but they are well worth the wait, folks!  They are very nutrient dense.

More delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own set of Jennifer Eloff and friends’ best-selling cookbooks LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS.  She has collaborated with famous low-carb Chef George Stella and several other talented cooks to bring you a wealth of delicious recipes you are going to want to try.  Even a few of my recipes are in her cookbooks! Order your 5-volume set TODAY! (available individually) from Amazon or: http://amongfriends.us/order.php

INGREDIENTS:

½ c. rolled oats, toasted (use 100% certified gluten-free oats for gluten-free version)

2 c. dark flax meal

¾ c. vanilla whey protein

½ c. granular Splenda

10 drops liquid stevia

½ c. sesame seeds

¾ c. grated coconut meat

1½ T. cinnamon

½ tsp. salt

½ c. coconut oil (or butter), melted

½ c. sugar free maple syrup

¼ c. water

2 c. pecans, chopped

½ c. walnuts, chopped

½ c. almonds, coarsely chopped

6 T. sugar free honey (I use Honey Tree from Walmart)

¾ c. sunflower seeds (I use unsalted)

½ c. pumpkin seeds, roasted, salted

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º.  On a 13×15 cookie sheet, toast oats until begin to lightly brown.  Remove from oven and lower heat to 250º.   Pour oats into large mixing bowl.  Add all other ingredients and stir well to be sure all ingredients are moistened.  Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Pour granola mixture onto paper and using plastic gloves or baggies over hands, press evenly into pan.  I like to take a glass loaf pan or sheet of parchment and press the surface evenly before baking.  Pop into oven and bake at 250º for approximately 1 hr. 30 minutes until dry to the touch in the center.  Remove from oven and when almost cool, cut into 30 rectangular bars (10 x 3 rows). This makes a nice size granola bar at an acceptable 4.05 net carb count.  Cutting into 60 squares will of course halve that number.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 30 bars, each contains:

239.7 Calories, 20.0 g  fat, 8.77 g  carbs, 4.72 g  fiber, 4.05 g  NET CARBS, 8.31 g  protein, 79 mg sodium

 

Texas-Size Sausage “Biscuit”

You know what they say:  Everything’s bigger in TEXAS!   🙂  Just down the road 10 miles from me is a wonderful Czech Sausage House and Meat Market called Green’s in the tiny town of Zabcikville just east of Temple, TX.  It is quite the popular place with the locals.   Folks in surrounding cities, like us, often drive over to enjoy a meal on site and also bring home some of their wonderful sausages.  My brother just loved their breakfast smokies and just had to have some each time he flew down to Texas.  🙂

In the cafe by the meat market, they have a Sausage Burger on the menu.  Curious, I ordered it one day for lunch a few years back.  Much to my surprise, it was made with their bulk pork sausage, rather than their smoked sausage.  It was VERY good and frankly, similar to a typical sausage biscuit anywhere, only theirs is served on a hamburger bun, not a biscuit.  Recently they have added their homemade sauerkraut to that burger.

That menu item was the inspiration for my low-carb Texas-size Sausage “Biscuit” pictured above.   They are pretty darn good made with my version of the low-carb Oopsie Rolls (also known as a Revo Rolls).   I dotted mine with sesame seeds so it would look just like the Sausage Burger I had at the cafe that day, even if the sausage was my own recipe.  Who says you have to eat eggs all the time for breakfast on Atkins?  🙂  This breakfast is Induction friendly if you leave off the sesame seeds on the bun.  If you’re into sausage-cheese biscuits, I say GO FOR IT!

More delicious low-carb breakfast ideas can be at your fingertips with your very own set of Jennifer Eloff and friends’ best-selling cookbooks LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS.  She has collaborated with famous low-carb Chef George Stella and several other talented chefs to bring you a wealth of delicious recipes you are going to want to try.  Even a few of my recipes are in her cookbooks! Order your 5-volume set TODAY! (also available individually) from Amazon or here: http://amongfriends.us/order.php

DISCLAIMER: I do not get paid for this book promotion or for the inclusion of my recipes therein.  I do so merely because they are GREAT cookbooks any low-carb cook would be proud to add to their cookbook collection.

INGREDIENTS:

2 pieces Peggy’s Sandwich Buns (omit sesame seeds if on Induction):

3 oz. pork sausage (preferably homemade for 0 carbs)

DIRECTIONS:  Form a large, thin patty with the sausage meat and cook in skillet until browned and done.  Lightly toast one of the buns in the broiler to brown it a bit more after they are baked.  Sandwich the sausage between two buns and enjoy!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 1 serving which contains:

443 calories

37.8 fat

3.8 g  carbs, 2 g  fiber, 1.8 g  NET CARBS

11.6 g  protein

612 mg sodium

Rutabaga and Onion Hash Browns

Served with braised beef and fresh green beans.

Rutabagas, shown above with braised beef and green beans, are very close to real potatoes, both in texture and flavor, thus its nutrient profile classes it as a “starchy” vegetable.  This tasty hash browns dish made with rutabaga and onion can be ready in about 15 minutes. This recipe is not suitable until the starchy vegetable rung of the Atkins OWL ladder.  Yes, there are a number of substitution vegetables (red radish, daikon radish, turnips), but those are completely different recipes in my opinion.

INGREDIENTS:

5 oz. peeled rutabaga, cut ½” dice or smaller

2 oz. chopped onion

1 T. bacon grease

Dash each of salt and black pepper

DIRECTIONS:    Heat bacon grease in non-stick skillet and saute chopped onion over high heat until ½ done.  Add diced rutabaga to skillet and saute, turning often until rutabaga is fairly tender.  This will take about 15 minutes of cooking.  Salt and pepper to taste.   This goes well with your breakfast eggs, sausage and bacon or makes a lovely side dish for meaty dinners.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 2 servings, each contains:

93 cals, 6.6g fat, 7.95g carbs, 2.05g fiber, 5.9g NET CARBS, 1.1g protein

Bacon Smothered Burger

This delightfully easy dish makes a great lunch, dinner, or even breakfast.  It’s quick to make and very nutritious.  Note the nutritional stats below!  Of course, it goes without saying this it Induction friendly.  This is Paleo suitable if you use the coconut milk rather than the cream and it is suitable for all phases of Atkins.   This is just as good, perhaps even better, served over a ground pork patty sprinkled with a pinch of thyme (had it that way today!!) or a couple regular pork sausage patties.   🙂

More delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own set of Jennifer Eloff and friends’ best-selling cookbooks LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS.  She has collaborated with famous low-carb Chef George Stella and several other talented cooks to bring you a wealth of delicious recipes you are going to want to try.  Even a few of my recipes are in the cookbooks! Order your 5-volume set TODAY! (also available individually) from Amazon or: http://amongfriends.us/order.php

DISCLAIMER: By personal choice, I do not get paid for this book promotion or for the inclusion of my recipes therein.  I do so merely because they are GREAT cookbooks any low-carb cook would be proud to add to their cookbook collection

INGREDIENTS:

6 oz. raw ground beef (cooks out to about 4-4¼ oz)

3 slices bacon, chopped fine

1 green onion

¼ c. heavy cream (coconut milk for Paleo)

½ c. water

Pinch salt (omit if you are sodium sensitive)

Cracked fresh pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:  Form a meat patty with meat and brown it in a non-stick skillet until done.  Drain and set on a serving plate.  Cook bacon in same skillet, drain on paper towel.  Chop green onion and add to pan.  Lower heat to lowest setting and  add water and cream.  Stir until onion is soft.  Thicken with your favorite thickener if not naturally thick enough for you after it reduces a minute or two.  Add bacon, salt, pepper and dip over meat and serve.  Goes nice with a green salad at lunch or some scrambled eggs if serving at breakfast.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 1 serving which contains:

633 calories

50.5 g  fat

3.8 g  carbs, .7 g  fiber, 3.1 g  NET CARBS

39.8 g  protein

1055 mg sodium (depends on your bacon)

Bacon-dogs

Bacon-dogs

I was wanting something cheesy and bacon-y yesterday for breakie, but just didn’t want eggs.  Having made a new version of my Einkorn bread the day before, I decided to pull it together into a tasty breakfast that even my husband gave a thumbs up to.  This is a little carb-y with the Einkorn roll, but you can use some other low-carb bread and pull the carbs down on this.  You won’t get the chewy quality these have, but they will perhaps be adequate for you. This recipe as-written would not be suitable until Pre-Maintenance or Maintenance phases of Atkins or Keto.  There is Einkorn wheat flour in the bread, folks, so definitely not gluten-free either.

These are extremely filling, the bread being made with psyllium.  You will probably find one will feed 2 children.  Those we reheated the next day, again in the regular oven, were as delicious as they were on the first day.

More delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own cookbooks from LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS, by Jennifer Eloff and low-carb friends.  Chef George Stella also brings you a wealth of delicious recipes you will love!  Order yours TODAY! from Amazon or our direct order site: http://amongfriends.us/order.php

DISCLAIMER: I do not accept payment for this book promotion. I promote the books because they are GREAT cookbooks anyone would be proud to add to their cookbook collection.

INGREDIENTS:

1 recipe my Einkorn-Arrowroot Sandwich Buns

5 oz. cheddar cheese (1 slice per “dog”)

10 slices low-sodium thick bacon, cooked (2 per “dog”)

VARIATION:  Scramble some eggs and spoon a little down each bun before adding the cheese and reheating.

DIRECTIONS:   Make the bread as instructed in that recipe, rolling the 5 portions into 6″ “ropes” and slightly pressing them flat before baking.  Remove from oven but don’t turn the oven off.  When totally cooled, slice the buns, open out and set aside.

While the bread is cooling a bit, fry the bacon until done but not overly crisp.  Drain and place 2 slices bacon into each sliced bun.  Cut and arrange the cheese on each bun.  Close the bun and set them back onto your bread baking sheet and replace in a 350º oven for 5-7 minutes just to melt the cheese. Remove from oven and ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 5 Bacon-dogs, each contains:

528 calories (use 1 slice bacon to lower calories)

40.9 g  fat (use 1 slice bacon to lower fat)

21.4 g  carbs, 10.1 g  fiber, 11.3 g  NET CARBS

27.5 g  protein

735 mg sodium

 

 

Einkorn Apricot-Cherry-Brazil Nut Bread

Einkorn Apricot-Cherry-Brazil Nut Bread

To give credit where it is due, this basic sweet bread batter was inspired by a Basic Quick Bread recipe at Sugar Free Low Carb Recipes website.   I added vanilla, sweetener, baking powder and glucomannan powder and I believe the smooth texture is now perfect.  The texture of this batter is quite nice and very moist.  No crumbling!  You can vary the fruit, berries and nuts in this but you will have to recalculate the carbs for any changes.  This recipe is suitable once you get to  Atkins Phase 2 OWL or farther.  If you require gluten-free, you will have to omit the Einkorn and sub in the same amount of “oat flour” ground from 100% certified gluten-free oats.

More delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own set of Jennifer Eloff and friends’ best-selling cookbooks LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS.  She has collaborated with famous low-carb Chef George Stella and several other talented cooks to bring you a wealth of delicious recipes you are going to want to try.  Even a few of my recipes are in each of the 5 volumes! Order your set TODAY! (also available individually) from Amazon or: http://amongfriends.us/order.php

DISCLAIMER: I am not paid for this book promotion nor for the inclusion of my recipes therein.  I do so merely because they are GREAT cookbooks any low-carb cook would be proud to add to their cookbook collection.

INGREDIENTS:

Slight rise in 8″x5″ loaf pan.

1/3 c. coconut flour

1/3 c. almond flour

1/3 c. Einkorn flour

¼ tsp. sea salt

1 T. glucomannan powder

1½ tsp. baking powder

Stevia equivalent for ½ c. sugar (I used ¼ c. Steviva, a blend of erithritol & stevia)

1 stick (1/2 c.) unsalted butter, melted

1 tsp. vanilla

8 large eggs, beaten

½ c. chopped dried apricots

½ c. unsweetened dried cherries, chopped (I dehydrate my own)

½ c. chopped brazil nuts.

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Grease a loaf pan.  I use a standard aluminum loaf pan.  I can get fourteen approximately ½”slices out of the loaf.  Mix dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. Melt butter and add to bowl.  Also add vanilla and the eggs and beat until you have a smooth batter.  Use an electric mixer if necessary, but I did not find I needed to do that.  Fold in your desired fruit, nuts or flavorings and stir well.   Spoon batter into greased pan, level with a spoon and bake at 350º for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick stuck into center comes out slightly damp (this cake is THAT moist), but clean of any batter.  Cool a bit, slice into fourteen ½” slices (or to lower carbs, cut into 16 slices for 6.23 net carbs per slice).

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 14 servings, each contains: (numbers are specific for apricots, cherries and brazil nuts.  Recalculate for other additives).  Cutting into 16 slices reduces count to 6.23 g. net carbs.

122.3 calories

8.59 g  fat

8.9 g  carbs, 1.96 g  fiber, 6.94 g  NET CARBS

5.64 g  protein

124 mg sodium

Bacon Gravy with Kale

Bacon Gravy with Kale

I felt like eating bacon gravy for breakfast today, rather than my usual sausage gravy.  And as I knew neither lunch nor dinner tonight would involve any Vitamin K for my hubby (he has to eat a little bit of Vitamin K each day), I decided to throw in a bit of finely chopped kale to see what that was like.  Well, it was delicious, although the kale took a rear seat to the bacon and green onion flavors. I would definitely make this new breakfast gravy again and it’s sooooooo nutritious with that little bit of kale thrown in the mix.  Hubby gave it a thumbs-up, too!  I served it at breakfast over toast, but I see potential for this being served over baked or broiled fish or chicken as well.  🙂 this recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins (using an Induction-friendly bread) and for Keto diets.  Primal diners could enjoy this occasionally as well.  Paleo folks will want to sub in coconut milk or almond milk for the cream.

More delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own set of Jennifer Eloff and friends’ best-selling cookbooks LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS.  She has collaborated with famous low-carb Chef George Stella and several other talented cooks to bring you a wealth of delicious recipes you are going to want to try.  Even a few of my recipes are in each of the 5 volumes! Order your set TODAY! (also available individually) from Amazon or: http://amongfriends.us/order.php

DISCLAIMER: I am not paid for this book promotion nor for the inclusion of my recipes therein.  I do so merely because they are GREAT cookbooks any low-carb cook would be proud to add to their cookbook collection

INGREDIENTS:

1/3  lb. bacon (about 6 slices)

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

2 large green onions, chopped

1 c. heavy cream

1 c. water

Dash salt and black pepper

xanthan gum or your favorite thickener (optional)

DIRECTIONS:   Coarsely chop the bacon and brown in a non-stick skillet.  Add the kale and saute over high heat until it begins to get limp (about 2 minutes).  Add the green onion and saute 1 minute to soften. Reduce heat to medium and add the cream, water and seasonings.  As it simmers, lightly dust the surface with xanthan gum and wait to allow it to thicken.  Dust again if necessary to get it as thick as you like, waiting a minute between additions.  Less is always better when it comes to xanthan gum, lest you end up with a slimy gravy.  😉  Serve at once over low-carb toast as shown, or low-carb biscuits.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:    Makes 4 generous servings, each contains: (numbers below DO NOT include the toast, biscuit or whatever meat/recipe you serve this on)

387 calories

39 g  fat

4.12 g  carbs, .6 g  fiber, 3.52 g  NET CARBS

6.2 g  protein

382 mg sodium

Pumpkin Granola

My husband was asking for an easy breakfast cereal recently, because occasionally I just don’t want any breakfast and he doesn’t want me to cook when it’s just for him.  So I created a very tasty cereal for him.  This stuff is great for just snacking, too!  The slight yellow hue to the coconut is due to the pumpkin in the recipe, but trust me, I can’t really taste pumpkin (or the coconut, for that matter) in there.  I taste the spices, nuts and fruit mostly.  🙂  This recipe is not suitable until Atkins Phase 2 OWL when nuts are introduced.

NOTE:  Just wanted to add that this keeps AMAZINGLY well over time.  I stored mine in a Tupperware canister and 6 months later it was still good! It was still dry and we finished it off as a snack food rather than cereal.  DEElicious! 🙂

INGREDIENTS: 

½ c. roasted sunflower seeds, unsalted

½ c. roasted pumpkin seeds, unsalted

2 T. chia seeds

1½ c. large flake coconut, unsweetened

1 c. walnuts, coarsely cut

1 c. pecans, coarsely cut

1½ tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. ground nutmeg

¼ tsp. ground cloves

1/8 tsp. sea salt

2 T. erythritol

5 dried prunes, chopped fine like tiny dried currants (I use DelMonte which has no added sugar)

1/3 c. liquified coconut oil

¼ c. sugar-free maple syrup

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 c. canned pumpkin puree (do not use the pie filling!)

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 300º.  Line two large baking sheets  with parchment paper and set aside.  Measure the first 12 (dry) ingredients into a large mixing bowl and stir well.  In a small bowl, stir the last 4 (wet) ingredients well.  Using a rubber spatula, pour the wet ingredients evenly over the dry and with the spatula, stir and toss to coat all the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients.  When well-blended, pour half the mixture onto each paper-lined pan.  Spread evenly.  You will need to bake until it is dry and somewhat crisp to the touch, or about 1½ hours (longer for some ovens).  Stir ever 15-20 minutes to be sure it is cooking evenly.  Do not allow to overly brown or the nuts will taste burned.   Turn off oven and let the granola dry in the oven as it cools.  Break it apart into smaller clusters if you like.  I like mine in larger clusters, as I eat it more as a snack than a cereal.  Transfer to an airtight container or zip-loc gallon bag.  BE ABSOLUTELY SURE IT IS FULLY COOLED BEFORE STORING.  Otherwise it will “sweat” and get soft (just rebake to crisp it up again).  This stuff is delicious, so do ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 9 cups total or eighteen ½ cup servings.  Each ½-cup serving contains:

214 calories

19.6 g  fat

7.5 g  carbs, 3.21 g fiber, 4.29 g  NET CARBS

4.89 g  protein

42 mg sodium

Daikon “Hash Browns”

Daikon Hash Browns

If you’re missing hashbrowns with your morning eggs, wait no more.  I’ve tried this with grated jicama, but that’s not quite as satisfying.  These made with Daikon or Japanese radish (available in Asian grocery stores) have a closer texture to potatoes than jicama.  I add the onion because my family always added it, and it helps to hide the very mild radish taste.  You mustn’t judge these until you’ve tried them.  They are pretty amazing.  And they are low in carbs.  They are suited to all phases of Atkins, Keto diets, Primal and Paleo.  As seen in the picture below, they can also be made with traditional red radishes.  Both are equally tasty in my opinion.

Daikon (Japanese) Radish

INGREDIENTS: 

2 c. daikon radish, peeled and cubed

1 T. + 2 tsp. bacon grease

2 oz. onion, chopped (I used purple onion)

Dash salt

Dash pepper

DIRECTIONS:  Melt bacon grease over high heat.  Add onion and saute until it is softened.  Add diced daikon and continue sauteing, stirring often to brown on all sides.  When tender, salt and pepper to taste and serve warm.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 2 servings, each contains:

127 calories

10.8 g  fat

7.0 g  carbs, 2.1 g fiber, 4.9 g  NET CARBS

.9 g  protein

468 mg sodium

 

 

Quick Breakfast Danish

I discovered a wonderful new way to use my Peggy’s Sliced Bread recipe!  Fruit Danish!  Or at least a cross between that and a fruit-topped pancake type breakfast. 🙂

I keep some sort of plain, neutral low-carb bread at the ready in a gallon plastic bag in my refrigerator at all times.  That practice makes creating this for breakfast a snap!   Try all of the variations as they all came out delicious!

More delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own set of Jennifer Eloff and friends’ best-selling cookbooks LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS. She has collaborated with famous low-carb Chef George Stella and several other talented cooks to bring you a wealth of delicious recipes you are going to want to try. Several of my own creations appear in each of the 5 volumes! Order your set TODAY! (also available individually) from Amazon or our direct order site: http://amongfriends.us/order.php

DISCLAIMER: By personal choice, I do not accept payment for this book promotion nor for the inclusion of my recipes therein. I do so merely because they are GREAT cookbooks any low-carb cook would be proud to add to their cookbook collection.

INGREDIENTS:

1 slice Peggy’s Sliced Bread (per person being served)

Fruit or berries of your choice (specific ingredients and amounts noted below)

Small dollop cream cheese (about 2 tsp. per serving)

GENERAL DIRECTIONS: Take a piece of my Peggy’s Sliced Bread, slice it laterally into two thinner slices.  Dab 1 tsp. cream cheese on top of 1 slice.  Fill with a little fruit topping.  Douse with cinnamon for apple, peach or pineapple varieties.  Place second thin slice of bread on top and repeat.  Nuke it on defrost for 20 seconds and man, oh, man, is it ever good!

Some versions are a little carb-y.  What can I say….fruit is carb-y.   Net carb counts for some fruits and berries provided below.  Those early in OWL phase should stick to the berry versions.

If using other fruits, you will want to use some other DaVinci syrup (vanilla or appropriate berry flavor) or use other sweetener of your choice with 2-3 T. water added to compensate for the syrup’s water. This is not suitable until the grains rung of OWL.

You can sure pull the carb count down using berries rather than the higher carb fruits.   As you can see, I have explored several varieties of this Quick Danish.  By the way, this reminded me very much of pineapple upside-down cake, just without the cherry.  But that could be remedied on special occasions! 🙂  With a dollop of sweetened whipped cream on top, this would make a lovely, easy dessert for unexpected company!  If serving on black/dark plates, for visual impact, I would dust the plate with powdered sweetener/erythritol along with the cinnamon.  Of course, you can use any plan-suitable bread you prefer over the bread I used, but you wil have to calculate your nutritional info from scratch.

Pineapple Quick Danish

PINEAPPLE VERSION (shown  right) :  Slice the bread laterally into 2 thins slices and place 1 on a plate.  Set aside.  Place in a saucepan ¼ c. crushed pineapple, juice pack (I didn’t drain), ½ T. unsalted butter, dash cinnamon, dash xanthan gum, 2 T. Davinci Pineapple sugar-free syrup (or sweetener to taste).  Heat, stirring until slightly thickened.  Remove. Spoon half onto the slice of bread on the plate.  Top with 1 T. softened cream cheese (sweeten if you like).  Place the second thins slice of bread on top and spoon on the rest of the fruit mixture.  Warm a few seconds int eh microwave on defrost and serve while hot.

BLACKBERRY VERSION (BELOW)  OR BLUEBERRY VERSION (TOP OF PAGE):  Mash 2 oz. berries with a fork in a saucepan with 1-2T. water, pinch of stevia + 2 drops liquid Splenda and a sprinkle of xanthan gum to thicken.  Cook on medium heat a couple minutes until thick.  Slice bread laterally and place 1 thin slice on a plate.  Spoon half the berry mix onto it.  Top with about ½ T. cream cheese. Placed second half-slice bread and add remaining berries to top and dot with cream cheese.  Mmmmm.

Blackberry Quick Danish

More delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own set of Jennifer Eloff and friends’ best-selling cookbooks LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS.  She has collaborated with famous low-carb Chef George Stella and several other talented chefs to bring you a wealth of delicious recipes you are going to want to try.  Even a few of my recipes are in her cookbooks! Order your 5-volume set TODAY! (available individually) from Amazon or: http://amongfriends.us/order.php

DISCLAIMER: I do not get paid for this book promotion or for the inclusion of my recipes therein.  I do so merely because they are GREAT cookbooks any low-carb cook would be proud to add to their cookbook collection

NUTRITIONAL INFO (for the pineapple version, the first one I made):  Makes a single serving which contains:

256 calories

21 g  fat

16.2 g  carbs, 3.7 g  fiber, 12.5 NET CARBS (pineapple is pretty high in carbs)

8.5 g  protein

243 mg sodium

132 mg potassium

Made with 3 medium strawberries sliced:  5.3 NET CARBS

Made with 1/4 c. frozen blackberries: 7.3 NET CARBS

Made with 1/4 c. canned tart cherries:  10.9 NET CARBS (another high carb fruit)

Made with 1/4 c. fresh blueberries: 7.6 NET CARBS

Jam Tea Cakes

My British and Canadian readers will LOVE these!!  They were just lovely with a hot cuppa…..not too sweet.   I baked these tea cakes in a whoopie pie pan that I recently purchased (see below), so each tea cake is about 2¼” x ¼”  before slicing.  The recipe makes exactly 12  tea cakes if you carefully spoon in 1 level tablespoon of batter into each pan slot. I used my focaccia bread batter for these, actually, as I didn’t really want them too sweet or crumbly/cakey.  These are not suitable until Phase 2 OWL of Atkins.    These do not meet Primal-Paleo guidelines at all.

More delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own set of Jennifer Eloff and friends’ best-selling cookbooks LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS.  She has collaborated with famous low-carb Chef George Stella and several other talented chefs to bring you a wealth of delicious recipes you are going to want to try.  Even a few of my recipes are in her cookbooks! Order your 5-volume set TODAY! (available individually) from Amazon or: http://amongfriends.us/order.php

DISCLAIMER: I do not get paid for this book promotion or for the inclusion of my recipes therein.  I do so merely because they are GREAT cookbooks any low-carb cook would be proud to add to their cookbook collection

INGREDIENTS: 

3 T. cream cheese, softened

2 large eggs

1 tsp. apple cider vinegar

1 T. cold water

1 T. heavy cream

½ tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. dry yeast dissolved in 1 T. lukewarm water

1 tsp. baking soda

¼ c. flax meal

¼ c. plain whey protein powder

½ c. almond flour

1½ c. Monterey Jack cheese

2 T. erythritol (or other sweetener to equal around 1½ T. sugar)

1 T. oat fiber (omit for gluten free version)

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Have a non-stick whoopie pie pan at hand.  You can use a muffin-top pan, a large muffin pan or an ebilskiver pan to make these if you don’t own a whoopie pie pan.

Soften cream cheese in a medium mixing bowl.  Whisk in all the wet ingredients.  Add the cheese and stir well.  Measure in all dry ingredients and stir well to blend.   Using a tablespoon, dip up a LEVEL tablespoon of batter and using your finger to empty out the tablespoon, fill each pan slot with exactly 1 level tablespoon of batter and spread evenly with the back of a spoon.  There will be exactly enough batter to make 12 cakes that will be sliced into 24 pieces when done, to make 12 sandwich-type jam-filled tea cakes.

Pop into oven and bake for around 10-11 minutes or until firm in the center (don’t let them brown too much).  When they are totally cool, remove from pans.  Using a serrated bread knife, carefully slice them laterally.  Using the back of a teaspoon, spread one half with 1 tsp. your favorite sugar-free preserves or jam.   You want the jam to be quite thin, for lower carbs, and so it will not ooze out when these are eaten.  Most of my sugar-free jams have around 1-3 net carb per teaspoon.  Top with the other side of the cake, repeat for all 12 cakes, and serve.  ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Make 12 two-piece jam-filled tea cakes.  Numbers below do not include the jam filling.  Each tea cake consists of 2 of the sliced thinner pieces of cake with jam layered between. Therefore each jam cake/serving will contain:

129.2 calories

10.4 g  fat

2.28 g  carbs, 1.2 g  fiber, 1.18 g  NET CARBS  (plus whatever carbs in your chosen jam)

7.8 g  protein

179 mg sodium

 

Strawberry Egg Puffs

Strawberry Egg Puffs

These little breakfast treats came about as a result of a kitchen mishap. I was intending to make a giant Oopsie cinnamon roll, but right when I switched my ancient Hamilton Beach electric hand mixer on, it just sat there in silence.  Not surprised, as it’s over 30 years old.  I certainly have gotten my money’s worth out of THAT thing!!   I knew there was no way I was ever going to get my egg whites whipped stiff enough with my immersion blender.  I did try, but it just wasn’t happening.I simply didn’t feel like scrambled eggs this morning.  Really wanted a sweet breakfast for a change, as I hadn’t had anything sweet for breakfast in ages.  Plus I had promised my husband a cinnamon roll for breakfast!  I had to think quick on my feet.  Looking in the fridge, the beautiful, ginormous strawberries I bought yesterday were right at eye level.  I thought a moment, glanced over and saw my  Ebilskiver pan hanging nearby and the light bulb went off!  These are a VERY pleasant way to have your eggs in the morning when you’re kind of burned out on plain old eggs.  Hubby was happy, too. These little breakie treats are suitable as soon as you reach the berries rung of the Atkins Phase 2 OWL carb ladder.  They are also suitable for Paleo-Primal followers.  I found 3 of these filled me up nicely; hubby ate the remaining 4.  You would definitely want to double the recipe for a larger family.  These would also be good made with blueberries instead of strawberries.  A dab of cream cheese underneath the fruit would also be delicious. There are just endless ways you could vary this basic little recipe.  1 tsp. cream cheese dotted under the strawberry would turn these into little strawbery danish real easily.  🙂

More delicious low-carb breakfast ideas and recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own set of Jennifer Eloff and friends’ best-selling cookbooks LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS.  She has collaborated with famous low-carb Chef George Stella and several other talented chefs to bring you a wealth of delicious recipes you are going to want to try.  Even a few of my recipes are in her cookbooks! Order your 5-volume set TODAY! (available individually) from Amazon or: http://amongfriends.us/order.php

DISCLAIMER: I do not get paid for this book promotion or for the inclusion of my recipes therein.  I do so merely because they are GREAT cookbooks any low-carb cook would be proud to add to their cookbook collection.

VARIATION:  Add 1 tsp. cream cheese in the center of each one, under the strawberry slice,  before baking. 🙂

INGREDIENTS:

4 eggs

2 T. sugar equivalent of your favorite sweetener

1 T. flax meal

1 T. whey protein (unsweetened, plain)

½ tsp. vanilla extract

2 extra large strawberries, sliced

DIRECTIONS:   Preheat the oven to 350º. Break the eggs into a mixing bowl.  Whip well with a whisk.  Add all remaining ingredients but strawberries, whip with whisk until smooth and set aside a moment.  Stem and slice the large end of the strawberries into 7 nice large slices (cook gets to eat the pointy bits :)).  I used my non-stick Ebilskiver pan that has 7 seven ½” deep slots, but a muffin top pan would work just fine.  If you have neither one, you could use 7 slots of a regular muffin pan (to keep the per-serving stats below accurate), but allow perhaps a few more minutes cooking time as they will be a little thicker.  I lightly oiled my pan just because EVERYTHING seems to stick on me if I don’t.  I’ve learned. Give the batter one last whisking to incorporate any settling ingredients.  I used a 2 T. measuring cup to dip out 7 equal portions of batter into the cups, evenly distributing the remaining batter.  Gently set 1 slice of strawberry in the center top of each one.  Pop into your preheated oven and bake about 15 minutes or until puffed up and firm to the touch.  Expect them to fall level as they cool off.  OPTIONAL:   Dust with powdered erythritol .  Below is a pic of the ebilskiver pan I used to bake these with.   It has slots that are 3/4″ deep and about 2½” wide.  These could be baked in a muffin top pan or the bottom of muffin cups, too.

My Ebilskiver pan (I think it’s a discontinued pan now)

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 7 egg puffs, each contains:

53 calories

3.4 g  fat

.91 g  carbs, .43 g  fiber, .48 g NET CARBS

4.5 g  protein

41 mg sodium

Gluten-Free Grain-Free Cinnamon Bread

This is a tasty breakfast variation using my gluten-free focaccia bread recipe.  I just shaped the batter into 9 individual Cinnamon Bread Buns and sprinkled cinnamon and Steviva (blend of stevia and erythritol)  on them.   Hot out of the oven with butter they were VERY good.   They’re really too thin to slice, but making fewer would make them thicker, thus making it possible to slice them for broiler toasting (I would pre-butter if broiling).  This is suitable for Phase 2 of Atkins when you reach the nuts and seeds rung of the carb ladder.  These are not suitable for Primal-Paleo unless you eat whey protein powder and cheese occasionally.

VARIATION:  You can snip a very few raisins to add for a raisin bread version.  You can add a little finely chopped, peeled peach or nectarine for a tasty version. You need to add those carbs below if you add raisins or peaches.

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

Cinnamon

about 2 tsp. Steviva or sweetener of your choice

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.  Scoop the batter onto the prepared pan into 9 equal portions. I used a 1/4 c. measuring cup.  Spreading the batter out the size of a slice of bread.  Sprinkle tops with cinnamon and 1/4 tsp. Steviva or other sweetener of your choosing.  Pop into 350º oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until done to the touch in the center and just beginning to lightly brown.  If you wish to broiler toast them, put some melted butter on top of each and broil to lightly toasted stage.  Store leftovers, once cooled, in a plastic bag in the refrigerator.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 9 pieces, each contains:

149 cals, 11.5g fat, 3.5g carbs, 2.1g fiber, 1.4g NET CARBS, 10.1g protein, 204 mg sodium

Chia Microwave Biscuits (2)

Two Chia Biscuits shown.

Since I’ve cut most wheat out of my diet, I can no longer eat some of my older biscuit recipes that used Carbalose flour or Carbquik.  So I’ve been tinkering around with new ingredients.   In doing so, I’ve made a delicious 2-serving low-carb biscuit that is moist and light.  Chia seeds have many health benefits and they also bring moisture to a baked product.  The gel is great as a meatloaf additive as well, for moisture and as a bread replacement.

This biscuit falls somewhere between the texture of cake and your Granny’s biscuits.  The surface is crusty if you brown it in the broiler a bit.  I love the built-in portion control of individual or 2-serving recipes because then we don’t have any leftovers to be tempted to go back and eat later.  This is quick, easy, tasty!  It is not suitable until the highest (grains) rung of the OWL ladder (or Maintenance) of Atkins.  This recipe is not really suitable Primal-Paleo followers.

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DISCLAIMER: I do not get paid for this book promotion or for the inclusion of my recipes therein.  I do so merely because they are GREAT cookbooks any low-carb cook would be proud to add to their cookbook collection

INGREDIENTS:

2 T. oat fiber (substitute 100% gluten-free ground oat flour for gluten-free version)

2 T. almond flour

1 T. egg white powder (I use NOW brand)

1 T. plain whey protein powder

½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. glucomannan powder

2 T. grated Monterrey Jack cheese

1 T. chia gel (1T. ground chia in 9T. water.  Gels up in 5-10 min.  Shake several times.  Can refrigerate leftover gel 1 week)

1 tsp. melted unsalted butter

1 T. heavy cream mixed with 3T. water

DIRECTIONS:   Measure the dry ingredients into a small mixing bowl.  Stir well.  Add in the melted butter, chia gel and cream/water mixture.  Stir well to blend ingredients.  Allow batter to sit for a few minutes to slightly thicken.  The batter will NOT be as thick and stiff as traditional drop biscuit dough.    You can either make 2 single biscuits by dividing the batter between two small ramekins or bake all the batter in a 6″ oval dish like I did and cut in half for two-biscuits (shown in the pic above).  The smaller ramekin-shaped biscuits should cook in 1 minute on HI in your microwave; the oval mega biscuit will take about 1 minute 30 seconds on HI.  My microwave is 1150 watts, but they do vary in wattage.  Yours may take a few seconds longer. They should be dry int he center if they are done.  Remove them from the microwave and gently tip out of their dish with a knife tip onto a small baking pan.  Pop into the broiler and brown the top a couple minutes.  Serve at once and ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Entire recipe (two servings) contains: (halve these numbers if eating half of this recipe)

287 calories

22.3 g  fat

16.3 g  carbs, 12.9 g fiber, 3.3 g NET CARBS

15.8 g  protein

426 mg sodium

Sugar Free Honey

Click to enlarge

I only made this when I was about to run out of my store bought Honey-Tree brand of sugar-free honey and didn’t want to drive in to Austin or wait to order it on-line.  It was quite pricey on-line, too!  Just recently, my local Walmart has started carrying Honey Tree brand of sugar-free honey and since it’s pretty tasty, I just buy it nowadays.  But for any of you who would like a recipe to “stretch those dollars” and get a lot more honey out of just one little jar, this is the recipe I used when I was making it some tome ago. This is actually a recipe (slightly modified) of a very talented cook, Birgit Kerr on Birgit’s Daily Bytes. Her original recipe can be seen here:   http://birgitkerr.blogspot.com/search?q=sugar-free+honey .  I decided to post my version here because a number of my readers have asked me how to make it when it is not available where they live.  I must give Birgit credit for my inspiration on this wonderful creation.  Since my Walmart may not carry the Honey Tree forever (they often drop products from their lineup), I’m keeping this recipe just in case I ever have to go back to making my own.  This recipe is VERY good!  NOTE TO SELF:  buy next bottle of Honey Tree honey before the last 2 T. is used up!! 🙂

I have to substitute erythritol in for the xylitol called for in Birgit’s recipe.   The reason for this substitution is that xylitol is highly toxic to dogs so I won’t keep it in the house.  If a very small dog ingests xylitol they usually die from organ failure.  The poor vets are helpless to save the animal.   And as my husband and I are guilty of giving our rat terrier, Button (nicknamed Buttoni) a wee bite of our cookie or cake, and I’m so afraid one of us will unknowingly hand her something with xylitol!!  I don’t even buy sugar-free chewing gum anymore as it is usually sweetened with xylitol.  Ratties are notoriously clever at getting what they smell/want, even if it’s in a purse.  Anything within reach is fair game to a rat terrier! 🙂

My revised version of her recipe appears below as a courtesy to my readers. I do hope you will all stop by and visit Birgit’s blog.  This sugar-free honey recipe is but one example of her creativity and skill in the kitchen.

One very nice thing about honey, whether real honey or the cooked, imitation variety, is that it brings a “chewiness” to low-carb cookies that I have been unable to achieve with anything else.  Honey, like sugar, isn’t just a sweetening agent, but also has a lot to do with final texture, especially in cookies.

This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins.

INGREDIENTS: 

1/4 c. erythritol

1 tsp. real raw honey

2 T. any brand of sugar-free honey (or 1 T. more real honey, adding 17 more net carbs to entire batch)

1 packet stevia or Splenda

DIRECTIONS:  Combine all ingredients in a non-stick saucepan over medium heat.  Let it melt and keep stirring with a wooden spoon.  It will bubble up quite vigorously.  Let is bubble hard for about 2 minutes (it doesn’t thicken until it cools) and then remove from the heat.   Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes and pour into a clean jelly jar.  If it crystallizes over time (mine does), no problem.  Just warm it up by letting hot warm water run over the jar a few minutes,  or you can nuke it a few seconds in the microwave on DEFROST to soften it up. This honey will keep a long time on the pantry shelf.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:    Makes about 1/3 c. or 5 T. and each Tbsp. contains:

12.6 calories, 1.2 carbs, .5 g  fiber, .7 g  NET CARBS (real honey has 17 NC per Tbsp!!! so if you used the extra tablespoon of real honey, your batch is carbier and each Tbsp. will have 4.1 net carbs!  But that is still better than 17 net carbs in 1 T. of REAL HONEY and won’t spike your blood glucose as badly.)

Best Banana Bread

To give credit where it is due, the basic sweet bread batter that inspired this creation was a  recipe at Sugar Free Low Carb Recipes.  I changed it up by adding vanilla, sweetener, baking powder and glucomannan powder.  I believe the smooth texture is now the perfect foundation for my favorite sweet breads.

This morning, I added 2 mashed bananas for a lovely banana bread (cut into 18 slices) that only has 3.74 g. net carbs per slice!  The texture of this batter is amazingly smooth and moist.  No crumbling!  The basic batter only has 1.08 g. net carbs (cut into 18 slices), so conceivably you could add any variety of fruits, dried fruits, nuts and flavorings for an endless variety of breakfast/dessert sweet breads.  Be sure to add in the added carbs for any nuts you add and recalculate your new per-serving numbers, because the numbers below only reflect the basic batter and 2 mashed bananas.  This is suitable for Atkins OWL or above and I believe for Paleo-Primal adherence as well.

This recipe appears in Vol. 5 of Jennifer Eloff’s latest cookbook series Low Carbing Among Friends.  These books are a compilation of fantastic recipes from well-known low-carb cooking gurus on the internet.  Even George Stella has participated in Jennifer’s latest cookbooks. They would make a wonderful addition to any low-carb cook’s library and you can order your copies at Amazon or here: http://amongfriends.us/order.php

INGREDIENTS:

1/3 c. coconut flour

2/3 c. almond flour

¼ tsp. sea salt

1 T. glucomannan powder

1 tsp. baking powder

Sweetener equivalent for ½ c. sugar (I used ¼ c. Steviva)

1 stick unsalted butter, melted

3 T. coconut oil, liquified

½ tsp. vanilla

8 eggs, beaten

2 mashed bananas

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Grease a loaf pan with a bit of coconut oil or butter.  I use an odd-size loaf pan 4″x 2½x 10″ that allows me to get 18 smaller slices from my loaf.  Using a standard loaf pan, you may only get 9 slices and have to cut them in half to get the carb values shown below for each of my 18 slices.  Mix dry ingredients in a small mixing bowl. In a larger bowl, beat or whip all wet ingredients.  Add the dry items to the wet and whip with a whisk or electric mixer until smooth. Fold in your desired fruit, nuts or flavorings and stir well.    Spoon batter into greased pan, level with a spoon and bake at 350º for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick stuck into center comes out dry/clean.  Cool a bit, slice into 18 servings (or 9 cut in halves) and serve warm.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 18 servings, each contains: (2 bananas calculated in below, but no nuts)

141 calories, 12 g  fat, 5.61 g  carbs, 1.87 g  fiber, 3.74 g  NET CARBS, 4.24 g  protein, 90 mg sodium