Jun 3 2017

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).

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 the collection! You’ll LOVE these recipes! Order your copy today from Amazon or our direct order site: amongfriends.us/order.php.

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

May 29 2017

Einkorn Tuna Pimiento Cheese Muffins

Tuna is always in my pantry, so I reached for some to make lunch today. These two-bite mini-muffins I created today, honestly……..my husband had trouble stopping at SIX of them! But he’s a big eater. I stopped at four. 🙂 These go together fast and only took 13 minutes to bake. I highly recommend slightly cooling before attempting to loosen them from even a non-stick pan, as baked egg tends to stick to whatever pan you use. I’ve not had good luck baking tuna items in silicone pans. Tuna likes browning. I used a 24 ct. metal pan to bake these. This recipe is not suitable until Phase 2 Atkins when you are nearing maintenance, due to the Einkorn Bake Mix. You can lower the carb count per muffin even more using a lower carb bake mix than mine, which has Einkorn Flour in it. But the count is already pretty darn low in my opinion. Those still in the initial 2-week Induction Phase of Atkins need to eliminate the bake mix entirely and increase the eggs to about 6. The muffins will naturally have a different, and somewhat eggier texture than mine here, but should taste about the same. These should freeze nicely for about a month. If you do the Induction version, adding 1-2 T. flax meal to that variation would add a little firmer structure to them.

INGREDIENTS:

4 beaten eggs

3 small pouches (7.8 oz. total) water-pack tuna

1½ c. my Einkorn Bake Mix

3/4 tsp. my Seafood Spice Blend

¼ tsp. sea salt

1 lg. 4-0z. jar chopped pimiento, drained

1 lg. green onion, chopped fine

2 2/3 slices American Deluxe or Cheddar cheese, 2 cut into 9 squares, 1 cut into 6 squares

VARIATION: Add a few drops of Tobasco or a few shakes of cayenne pepper to the batter for a spicier muffin.

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º. Beat the eggs in a medium bowl. Add all other ingredients but the cheese. Oil 24 slots of a mini-muffin pan. Using a 2 T. scoop, add one level scoop to each slot. They will be nearly full and there should be just enough batter for 24. Place 1 square of cheese atop each and push it down slightly into the batter. Pop into hot 350º oven. Bake for 13-15 minutes or until they puff up and the cheese just begins to brown on top. Remove and cool slightly. If you try to remove while too hot, they will tear up on you. Gently loosen with a knife tip or fork and enjoy. A modest serving would be 4 mini-muffins. A big eater will want 6 of these minis.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 24 muffins, each contains:

22 calories, 0.9 g fat, 0.35 g carbs, 0.08 g fiber, 0.27 g NET CARBS, 3.22 g protein, 74 mg sodium

May 20 2017

Creamy Sausage Herb Pasta Sauce

This dinner creation this week was quite a pleasant taste surprise! I was expecting ordinary but got anything but. It went together amazingly fast, too, once I cooked my zoodles. You could also use spaghetti squash threads or even a bed of steamed riced cauliflower. This recipe is suitable for Phase 2 Atkins (OWL) and if the wine is omitted, those on Induction can even enjoy this dish.

Many more delicious low-carb recipes like this 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 you a wealth of delicious recipes you will love! Order yours TODAY! from Amazon or our direct order site: amongfriends.us/order.php

Added Note: The leftovers on this recipe were even tastier than the night I made it!

INGREDIENTS:

12 oz. smoked sausage, sliced thin (mine was all pork made locally)

3 oz. onion, sliced thin

1 clove garlic, minced

2 Roma tomatoes, seeded and cut into strips

1/3 c. parsley, chopped

3 leaves fresh basil, sliced (or ½ tsp. dried)

1 T. fresh oregano, chopped (or ½ tsp. dried)

1 tsp. fresh thyme (or ¼ tsp. dried)

¼ tsp. coarse black pepper

1/8 tsp. sea salt

1 c. dry white wine (I used Chardonay)

1 c. heavy cream

4 very large mushrooms, sliced

VARIATION: Substitute Italian Sausage for the smoked sausage

DIRECTIONS: Slice and lightly brown the sausage in a non-stick large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and saute until it begins to brown. Add garlic, all spices, parsley and all other listed herbs. Add the tomato strips and mushrooms and saute until both are slightly limp. Add the white wine and simmer on medium heat. Lower heat to lowest setting and add cream. Simmer until the cream slightly thickens. If you like a thicker sauce, add a light dusting of xanthan gum (or your preferred thickener) until desired thickness level is achieved. Serve over a bed of zucchini noodles, spaghetti squash threads or cauli-rice.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 5 servings of sauce, each contains: (Note, this if for the sauce only. You must add the numbers for whatever noodles you choose)

377 calories, 29.84 g fat, 6.18 g carbs, 0.96 g fiber, 5.22 g NET CARBS, 15 g protein, 308 mg sodium

May 8 2017

Spinach Mayonado (with optional Sausage Meatballs)

This is essentially a creamed spinach dish, but with a very special cream indeed. I decided to not stir it altogether as that does not photograph so prettily. The flavor of this creamy spinach dish will blow you away. It’s sinfully rich and ever so good! So good, in fact, I lick every bit of the sauce off the spoon and food processor bowl. Seriously good eats.

Of course, you can always stir the sauce right into the spinach. It certainly ends up mixed on my plate while eating it. 🙂 To be quite honest, ANY meat, seared chicken breast strips, beef or pork meatballs or smoked sausage would be good alongside (or on top as shown) this extremely nutritious dish.

This recipe is Atkins Induction friendly, as well as being suitable for Keto diets, Primal and Paleo followers as well.

VARIATION: This makes a great side dish without meat. In fact, that is the first way I ate it when I created this creamy sauce.

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 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:

5 oz. lean pork bulk sausage (I use homemade sausage but any low-carb sausage will do)

6 T. my Shawarma Homemade Mayonnaise

1 avocado

16 oz. bag of frozen, chopped spinach

Water to cover spinach

DIRECTIONS: Place spinach in large saucepan, cover with water and bring to boil and cook per package directions, about 5 minutes. When done, drain spinach in strainer pressing out excess water as best you can. Set aside while you make the rest of the dish.

While spinach is boiling, roll sausage into 6 small meatballs and brown in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat, turning and rolling them frequently to brown all sides. Cook until fully done (about 10-15 minutes, turn off heat remove and drain meatballs on paper towels.

In a bowl of a food processor (or blender), process the avocado with the 6 T. homemade mayo until fairly smooth. You can also just mash it well with a fork, as it doesn’t have to be perfectly smooth. Add a few drops of lemon juice (to prevent darkening) and pulse.

Spoon the spinach into your serving dish, Add the thick, creamy mayonado sauce to the top as shown (or stir into the spinach if you prefer) and top with your cooked meatballs. ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 3 servings, each contains:

468 calories, 48 g fat, 12.03 g carbs, 8.66 g fiber, 3.37 g NET CARBS, 15.2 g protein, 453 mg sodium

Apr 10 2017

Cheesy Crawfish Casserole

This was a quick and delicious way to put crawfish together for a casserole dinner. My husband loves casseroles. You know me……always looking for easy. It’s cheesy, buttery and full of good veggie nutrition as well. If your family loves seafood, give this a try! It’s sure to please. 🙂 You can substitute shrimp or 1 lb. crab meat in this recipe if you prefer, but of course, each has a slightly different taste. This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins.

INGREDIENTS:

½ medium (5-6″ head cauliflower, cooked

1 c. yellow summer squash, ½” dice (I used a small 5″ squash)

4 T. unsalted butter

1 stalk celery, chopped

2 oz. bell pepper, chopped (I cross sliced mini bell peppers I had on hand)

2 oz. onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

½ c. chopped green onion

¼ c. chopped parsley

½ tsp. my Cajun Seafood Spice Blend

1/8 tsp. cayenne (optional)

12 oz. crawfish tail meat, rinsed well (or cleaned, peeled shrimp)

1 c. shredded Cheddar cheese

1 c. shredded Monterrey Jack Cheese

Topping: Mix ¼ c. shredded Parmesan with 5 well-crushed pork rinds

VARIATION: Use 1 lb. cleaned shrimp or 1 lb. cooked crabmeat instead of crawfish

DIRECTIONS: Break cauliflower into flowerettes and cook by your preferred method until nearly tender. Drain well, dice coarsely and set aside. Dice squash and other veggies. Melt butter in non-stick skillet or wok over high heat. Preheat oven to 350º. Saute squash and all other vegetables until nearly tender or about 5 minutes. Add parsley, spices and crawfish. Stir in cauliflower. Reduce heat to medium and saute all for about 5 minutes stirring several times, to allow flavors to meld. Mix the Cheddar and Jack cheese in a bowl and sprinkle half over the crawfish mixture. Stir all well. Now put remaining cheese on top evenly. Sprinkle with the Parm-pork rind topping and pop into 350º oven for 30 minutes. I garnished with slices of mini bell peppers. Pairs nicely with your favorite low-carb dinner roll and a lovely green salad.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 6 servings, each contains:

296 calories, 20.7 g fat, 7.16 g carbs, 2.0 g fiber, 5.16 g NET CARBS, 21.1 g protein, 509 mg sodium

Apr 2 2017

Tandoori Cornish Hens

I love tandoori chicken so much and there are so many recipes out there for the spice blends for it, I never tire of trying new ones! This one is my latest experiment. It was a recipe I found in a magazine a long time ago and finally got around to making it, with a couple of modifications. If you bake this recipe in your oven, rather than grilling over charcoal, I like to put some sliced onions in the bottom of the pan with some olive oil the last half hour of baking and de-glazed the pan brown bits with some water over stove-top burner on low for a nice sauce. This can also be done with regular cut-up chicken pieces or just wings (which will cook much faster!). To be more traditional, if your way of eating allows it, add 2-3 drops of food coloring to the marinate, for the traditional red hue in the picture, but this step is optional. This is not necessary for the flavor to be spot on, however.

This chicken pairs nicely with Indian Creamed Spinach (Saag Paneer) and my Indian Cauliflower.

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INGREDIENTS:

2 Cornish hens (about 1¼ lb. each) or 8 cut pieces of chicken

½ tsp. cayenne pepper

1/8 tsp. salt (optional but included in stats below)

Pinch black pepper

1 T. fresh lime juice

½ c. sour cream or plain yogurt

1 large clove minced garlic

1 tsp. minced fresh ginger

¼ medium onion, chopped

½ tsp. cumin seed (or ¼ tsp. ground)

½ tsp. ground turmeric

DIRECTIONS: Split the Cornish hens into halves or cut up 4 of your desired whole chicken pieces. You can skin the chicken if you like, but I never do. I LIKE the skin! Poke holes randomly in the skin, piercing through into the flesh as well. Mix salt, pepper and cayenne with lime juice and rub onto the pieces of meat. Set aside while you do the next step.

In a blender or food processor, puree the yogurt, garlic, ginger, onion, and remaining spices. Add optional 2-3 drops red food coloring (if using). Spoon into gallon plastic zip bag and add chicken to the bag. Zip bag and mix to coat meat pieces by manipulating with your hands. Refrigerate for 6-8 hours, manipulating occasionally during this period.

Tandoori Chicken, in India, is cooked in a Tandoori clay oven, which I certainly do not have. However a medium-hot charcoal fire will do nicely. But if neither is available, preheat your indoor oven to 400º. Place hen quarters skin up onto grill surface or on a rack in a roasting pan. Brush or spoon the yogurt marinate evenly over the pieces of meat. Depending on your charcoal fire, distance from coals to meat, or your oven accuracy, size of birds…….these hens will take about 45 minutes to an hour to get done. Test the thigh joints for internal temp of 180º on a meat thermometer or until juices are clear and not pink.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Serves 4, each serving contains:

381 calories, 23.4 g fat, 9.2 g carbs, 0.4 g fiber, 8.8 g NET CARBS, 31.83 g protein, 377 mg sodium

Apr 1 2017

Beef Patties with Sriracha Cream Sauce

A quick, delicious meal for week nights when you’re tired. These meat patties and sauce will only take 30 minutes to prepare! And is this ever good! This recipe is one you’ll find yourself making again and again. There’s not enough Sriracha in the sauce to make this too hot for most people, but add it last and taste as you go to be certain you get it just right for your taste. This recipe is suited to all phases of Atkins, Keto diets, and Primal Blueprint. Use coconut milk instead of the cream if you follow Paleo.

Many delicious low-carb recipes like this 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 you a wealth of delicious recipes you will love! Order yours TODAY! from Amazon or our direct order site: amongfriends.us/order.php.

MEAT INGREDIENTS:

16 oz. lean ground beef (I used grass-fed 90%)

6 oz. breakfast pork sausage

1 tsp. my homemade Montreal Steak Spice Blend

1 tsp. no-salt lemon pepper (I use Victoria Gourmet brand)

1/4 tsp. Dad’s Poultry Seasoning (or your preferred brand)

SAUCE INGREDIENTS:

4 T. butter, melted

½ c. heavy cream

½ c. water

¼ tsp. xanthan gum (or your preferred thickener)

1/3 c. green onion, chopped fine

2 tsp. Sriracha sauce

Salt to taste

DIRECTIONS: In a large bowl, mix the two meats and 3 spices listed. Form into 4 patties and place in a hot non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Brown nicely on both sides. Wile they cook, in a small saucepan, melt the butter, add the cream, water and green onion and bring to a light simmer. Dust with the xanthan gum and whisk it in, simmering on low heat until the sauce thickens. Add the Sriracha gradually and taste as you go, stopping when it is spicy to your liking. Serve patties with 1/4 of the sauce over each serving.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 4 adult servings, each contains: (form 5 patties to lower cals. & fat)

575 calories, 50.7 g fat, 2.65 g carbs, 0.62 g fiber, 2.03 g NET CARBS, 29.3 g protein, 440 mg sodium

Apr 1 2017

Crawfish-Stuffed Spaghetti Squash

What a pleasant surprise! I just started throwing leftovers together and added some homemade mushroom soup and Cheddar cheese and BAM! A tasty, creamy seafood dinner! And so nutritious, too! You really NEED to try this! This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins provided you omit the wild rice. If you look closely, you may notice some grains of rice. I had about 1/2 cup cooked wild rice in my freezer and I threw that in, too. You could omit that for lower carbs, but it sure added a nice nutty taste to the dish. Lower-carb hemp hearts would be a better choice for that nutty flavor when I make this next time.

This recipe is suitable once you get to Phase 2 of Atkins. Suitable for Induction without the wild rice addition. Paleo-Primal followers will also need to make dairy modifications to enjoy this.

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:

4 T. unsalted butter

½ c. green bell pepper, chopped

3/4 c. celery chopped

2 oz. onion, chopped

1½ c. small Japanese eggplant, sliced (the purple kind, although the black can be diced and used instead.)

1½ c. cooked spaghetti squash threads (the threads of one half a 6″-7″ squash)

6 oz. cooked crawfish tail meat

4 green onions, chopped

1/8 tsp. salt (omit if you used salted butter above)

1/4 tsp. my Seafood Spice Blend

½ batch (store the rest for another casserole) Jennifer Eloff’s low-carb Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup

¼ c. heavy cream

½ c. cooked wild rice (or hemp hearts for lower carbs & those still on Atkins Phase 1 Induction)

1 c. shredded Cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º. Melt butter over high heat in large non-stick pan. Add the celery, onion and bell pepper. Saute until nearly tender. Add the eggplant and saute until half cooked. Stir in the spaghetti squash threads, crawfish and green onion. Cook a couple minutes only.

Add the salt and spice mix. Stir in the soup, cream, wild rice (if using) and finally the cheese. Scoop into a greased baking dish or back into the spaghetti squash shells if you want to. Bake at 350º for 30 minutes and serve with a nice salad.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes six 1-cup servings, each contains:

298 calories, 23.8 g fat, 10.68 g carbs, 2.46 g fiber, 8.22 g NET CARBS, 11.1 g protein, 574 mg sodium

Mar 31 2017

Loaded Chicken Wraps

My husband came home from Sam’s with a roasted chicken a couple nights ago. We only ate the leg quarters. Tonight, I used up the two breast pieces in a delicious, stupidly simple dinner that was just DELICIOUS! I’ll be making THESE again and often! I use HEB Carb Sense whole wheat flour tortillas at 3 net carbs per tortilla. I always have some in the fridge, so this meal of leftovers was super easy! This recipe is not suitable until you are farther along in your Atkins weight loss journey, as flour product isn’t allowed until you have traversed all the rungs of the carb reintroduction ladder. That said, these are only 4.85 net carbs per wrap, so you decide. 🙂 Together we ate four of the six wraps this made, but I was stuffed at just 1½ wraps; the hubs ate 2½ of them and gave them a resounding stamp of approval. I didn’t use any sour cream; the hubs liked it on his.

INGREDIENTS:

6 low-carb flour tortillas (mine were 3 net carbs per)

2 small chicken breasts, pre-cooked & cut into strips

6 slices bacon, cooked, drained (I use thick slice)

2½ slices American Deluxe cheese, tear the whole slices into halves

1 c. shredded Cheddar cheese

½ c. green onion, chopped

OPTIONAL: 6 dollops sour cream (not calculated in numbers below)

DIRECTIONS: Line a cooking sheet with parchment. Cook the bacon in a skillet until done but not too crisp. Drain on paper towels. Preheat oven to 325º. Lay the flour tortillas on the pan. Place the cooked chicken evenly on half of each tortilla. Next tear each slice of bacon in half and lay the two halves diagonally over the chicken meat. Now place ½ slice American cheese on top of the bacon for each wrap. Next sprinkle the Cheddar shreds evenly over the bacon. The final touch is to sprinkle the green onion over each and fold the other side of the wrap over to form a half moon shape. Press firmly with your hand. Loosely cover the pan with foil but do not seal it up or it will sweat during cooking. Pop into 325º oven for 15 minutes to just melt the cheeses. Serve at once with dollop of sour cream if desired. I served mine with a small green salad on the side.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 6 wraps, each contains:

308 calories, 15.5 g fat, 15.06 g carbs, 10.21 g fiber, 4.85 g NET CARBS, 27 g protein, 795 mg sodium

Mar 22 2017

Smoked Gouda Stuffed Beef Roll

This beef roll was scrumptious! We both gave it a thumbs up! Very simple to put together, too. When I make such dishes, I tend to make enough for 2 meals so I used 2# of lean, grass-fed ground beef. You could vary the meat and use some lamb or pork if desired. Of course, the flavor will change a bit with meat changes. This roll was in the oven in about 5 minutes flat and it cooked itself. I served with steamed cauliflower and green beans. This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins, Keto diets and Primal Blueprint plans.

VARIATION: Use other seasoning of your choosing. The sky is the limit. You can also make this a cheesier roll by increasing the cheese, but be sure to add in the nutritional numbers for additional cheese used.

INGREDIENTS:

5 oz (8 slices) sliced bacon

2 lb. lean ground beef (or meat of choice)

½ tsp. my Homemade Montreal Steak Seasoning

4 oz. smoked Gouda cheese (I buy mine at Sam’s Club)

½ c. chopped parsley

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º. With your hands or a fork, in a large mixing bowl, mix the meat with the Montreal Steak Seasoning (or whatever seasoning blend you prefer). If your seasoning contains no salt, you may wish to add a little. My stainless meat roasting pan is 16″ long, but you could probably use a 9″ x 13″ pan for this recipe. Tear off a piece of parchment paper as long as your baking pan and lay it on your counter. Lay the slices of bacon side-by-side, touching but not overlapping, on the parchment. Spread the seasoned beef mixture on top pressing it evenly over the bacon with your fingers (forming a rectangle layer of meat). Along the long edge, lay the Gouda cheese the entire length of the meat layer. Mine was in ¼” sticks, but slices can be cut or rolled instead. Sprinkle the parsley all over the rest of the meat layer. Picking up the parchment as a lifting/rolling tool, carefully roll the bacon/meat over like one forms a cake roll until it is one long, roll/log. You want to end with the seam down. Lift it over to your baking pan (using the parchment to help you), placing the seam down onto the baking pan (leave the parchment there for cooking). Pop into hot 350º oven for about 45 minutes or until a meat thermometer reads 130-140º and the bacon is browning. Cut into 8 slices neatly between the bacon slices.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 8 servings, each contains:

349 calories, 28 g fat, 1.05 g carbs, 0.18 g fiber, 0.87 g NET CARBS, 25 g protein, 416 mg sodium

Mar 18 2017

Hasselback Chicken Breast in Pesto Cream

This simple-to-put-together dish was delicious beyond words and prep time was about 5 minutes! I’ll be honest……….I was apprehensive at first, as to whether I would be able to handle it as fresh basil sometimes upsets my stomach. But the amount here was small enough, that usual effect didn’t occur. This was so good my husband practically “inhaled” his dinner tonight! The chicken came out so tender and moist. It practically cooks itself, so this one’s a keeper for us! Suitable for all phases of Atkins, Keto diets and Primal followers, this one is sure to please your family.

INGREDIENTS:

2 medium chicken breasts (skin on preferred, so it will baste and create pan juices)

3 1/3 slices of Provalone cheese, cut the whole,round slices into 3 strips

2 T. pesto sauce (I used my homemade Pesto Sauce)

5 T. heavy cream (whipping cream)

3 T. additional heavy cream for final sauce

1 Roma tomato, cut crosswise into 6 slices

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

Sprinkle of Italian Seasonings (optional)

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º. With a sharp knife, make 5 cuts all the way to the bone in your chicken breasts. Place them in a metal baking pan (I used 8″ square). Deeply poke a strip of Provalone cheese into each slit in the chicken. Top each of the chicken breasts with 3 slices of Roma tomato. Set pan aside for a few minutes. Place the pesto sauce in a small skillet over medium heat. Add 5 T. heavy cream, stir well to heat the initial sauce. Spoon this down the center of the chicken breasts, trying to get some into each cheese-stuffed slit. If using, sprinkle with Italian Seasoning blend.

Pop pan into 350º oven and bake for about 1 hour or until the meat reaches 170º on a meat thermometer. Remove from oven and with a long spatula, remove them to a serving platter. Add the remaining 3 T. cream to the pan juices and heat over medium-high heat, mashing any melted cheese bits up as you stir to thicken. If you want it thicker, dust lightly with xanthan gum or your favorite thickener and allow it to develop/thicken. Pour sauce into a serving dish or spoon it directly over and around the chicken breasts if you prefer. ENJOY! Did I not promise this was easy and delicious? 🙂

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 2 adult servings, each contains:

800 calories (skin chicken to lower about 100 cals. ), 57.8 g fat, 4.8 g carbs, 0.95 g fiber, 3.85 g NET CARBS, 64 g protein, 1107 mg sodium (use half cream and half water to lower)

Mar 14 2017

Steak Diane with a Twist

I had two New York Strip steaks I thawed tonight and decided to make my Steak Diane recipe, but decided a bit of creamy cheese on top might be nice. GOOD decision, as it was indeed a delicious addition to the wonderful flavor of parsley and mushrooms. I served roasted asparagus on the side. A meal fit for a king, it was. This entree goes together so fast (a wonderful week-night dinner!), I actually had to wait a few minutes on my asparagus to get tender which caused some of my liquid in the griddle to evaporate. Could have added a little water of bouillon, but instead melted a wee bit more butter, which did the trick. If the calories and fat numbers below are too high for your diet, use smaller portions of meat and less butter when preparing this tasty dish. This is suitable for all phases of Atkins provided you omit the wine for Induction Phase. It is suitable for Keto diets and Primal as well. Omit cheese for Paleo.

INGREDIENTS:

20 oz. lean, trimmed steak (I used NY Strip Steaks)

2 T. unsalted butter

1 4-oz can sliced mushrooms, undrained

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

2-3 shakes each sea salt and coarse black pepper

3/4 c. parsley, chopped

Sprinkle fresh lemon juice (maybe 1 tsp.)

6 T. shredded white cheese (I used Monterrey Jack)

VARIATION: Make classic Steak Diane by omitting cheese. For a totally different dish, make Chicken Diane using seared, skinless/boneless chicken breasts instead of beef.

DIRECTIONS: Trim outer fat off the steaks. Laterally slice them into 4 thinner pieces. Pound on both sides to tenderize a bit. In a griddle or skillet, melt 2 T. of the butter over high heat. Sear the meat on both sides until done and browned to your liking. Remove meat to a waiting platter. In the hot griddle, add the rest of the butter to melt, the mushrooms with their liquid, parsley, lemon juice, wine, salt and pepper. Simmer just until parsley goes limp. Place steak strips back in the pan a couple minutes and sprinkle about 1½ T. cheese over each. The heat of the meat will melt by the time it is at table. When serving, dip 1/4 of the parsley-mushroom mixture/sauce over each portion. Serve with your favorite green side dish.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 4 servings, each contains:

569 calories, 47 g fat, 2.72 g carbs, 1.10 g fiber, 1.62 g NET CARBS, 30.4 g protein, 417 mg sodium

Mar 11 2017

Spaghetti Squash Lasagna

The hubs is out of town today so I tend to eat sandwiches or scrounge around and use up leftovers when he is gone. Since I had a sandwich for lunch, I decided to use some of the open Classico spaghetti sauce in the fridge with a half pound of ground beef. I knew I had some frozen spaghetti squash threads int he freezer (be sure to wring them out in a towel after defrosting if using frozen squash) and some ricotta as well. Bingo! Sounded sort of like lasagna to me. I quickly defrosted ½ lb. ground beef in my microwave and browned it. then I just layered and VOILA! A delicious lasagna-like dish that would have served two. I used a 6″ square baking dish for this, but a loaf pan will work as well. This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins, Keto diets and Primal if you indulge in dairy.

INGREDIENTS:

1/3 c. Classico or Lucini prepared spaghetti sauce (use more if you like, but it will be “soupier”)

8 oz. ground beef (browned)

1 c. spaghetti squash threads (cooked and squeezed of all water)

4 oz. shredded Mozzarella cheese (about 1 cup)

3 T. grated Parmesan cheese

½ c. Ricotta cheese

1/8 tsp. dried oregano leaves (or ½ tsp. fresh, chopped)

DIRECTIONS: Cook spaghetti squash using your preferred method. I halve it, place face down in 1/2″ water and microwave for 13 minutes. I then scrape out and discard the seeds and fork out the threads. Place threads in clean kitchen towel and wring out any water over your sink……especially if using previously frozen squash!). Set aside 1 cup for this recipe and save the remainder for another use or freeze in baggies. Preheat oven to 350º.

Brown the ground beef, leaving it in fairly chunky bits. Spread the meat undrained into a glass loaf pan. I used a 6″x6″ square baking dish, but a loaf shaped pan or small round baking dish will work. The meat grease oils your baking dish quite nicely. 🙂 Shred half of the spaghetti squash threads on top of the meat. Sprinkle 1/3 of the Mozzy and 1 T. Parm cheese on next. Spoon on half the spaghetti sauce, spreading evenly. Dot with half of the ricotta and spread it out a bit with the back of your spoon. Lightly sprinkle with oregano. Next top with 1/3 more of the Mozzy and another tablespoon of the Parm cheese. Add the remaining sauce and spread evenly. Dot with remaining Ricotta and spread with back of your spoon again. Sprinkle on the remaining Mozzy and last tablespoon of Parm cheese. Sprinkle with oregano lightly again. Pop into 350º oven. Bake 30 minutes or until bubbly. Allow to cool 5-6 minutes to set up before attempting to dip up.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 2 adult servings (double ingredient for a larger pan to serve 4). Each serving contains:

623 calories, 40 g fat, 12.5 g carbs, 1.85 g fiber, 11.65 g NET CARBS, 54 g protein, 1300 mg sodium (to lower these figures, cut this into 3 servings. 🙂 )

Mar 9 2017

Mushroom-Spinach Stuffed Chicken Breasts

This dish was simply delightful! The hemp hearts adds a slight nutty taste with virtually no carbs. We both gave it two thumbs up in the flavor department! It was simple, in the oven in 15 minutes and bakes itself to perfection! This will definitely make my regular chicken recipe rotations again! It made, as you can see in the photo, lovely pan juices for basting during cooking and drizzling over the meat when done. This recipe is suitable for Phase 2 of Atkins once you have reached the grains level of the plan, as it has half of a Joseph’s pita bread in the ingredients line-up. You could use flax meal instead of the 1/2 pita and enjoy this recipe by the nuts and seeds level of Phase 2. This recipe is not suitable for Atkins Induction or Primal-Paleo followers.

Many delicious low-carb recipes like this one 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:

2 medium chicken breasts, skin on but rib frame removed (boil the ribs for delicious stock!)

2 T. unsalted butter

4 large mushrooms, chopped or sliced

2 c. spinach, chopped (1 c. packed)

2 T. Boursin soft cheese, garlic and fine herb variety

3 T. shredded Monterrey Jack

1/2 Joseph’s Flax and Oat Bran Pita Bread, softened with water (or 1 low-carb flour tortilla)

2 T. hemp hearts

Dash coarse black pepper

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º. Run a sharp knife between the rib bones and the chicken meat to remove the rib bones from the breast. Boil them down for delicious chicken stock for future uses. I freeze mine. With a large knife, laterally slice the breast 3/4 of the way through making a pocket or shelf for the filling. Place them in a lightly oiled baking dish and set aside. In a non-stick skillet, heat the butter and saute the mushrooms until no longer opaque. Add the spinach and saute just until it is limp. Stir in the Boursin and Jack cheese. Turn off heat. Add the hemp hearts and stir filling well to blend the cheese. With your fingers, mush up the softened bread and add it, stirring again. Spoon half the mixture into each breast and fold the skin half over the filling. Press lightly and sprinkle with pepper. Pop the pan into a 350º oven and bake for about 1 hour (less time for small breasts, more for large ones). When the skin has browned nicely on top, they should be done. Serve in the baking dish pan so the pan juices can be dipped over the top if desired. 🙂

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 2 servings, each contains: (adjust ingredients for more servings)

478 calories, 33 g fat, 5.90 g carbs, 2.85 g fiber, 3.05 g net carbs, 39.35 g protein, 645 mg sodium

Mar 9 2017

Creamy Dreamy Chicken-Broccoli Casserole

Click to enlarge

I don’t usually like broccoli cooked into casseroles because it invariably gets “overdone” by the time the dish is cooked. But I think I’ve found a solution to that issue with the method I used to put this sinfully rich, tasty casserole together tonight. The broccoli went into the mixture uncooked! Voilà! Problem solved. The broccoli was still quite firm in this final dish and for once, I actually liked this broccoli casserole! My husband REALLY liked this and kept dipping up more and more! I loved it, too! Guess this one will be a keeper for us. 🙂

I used precooked chicken, but you could dice up your chicken breast and sear in grease if you don’t happen to have any pre-cooked on hand. This recipe is EASY! PEASY! Basically you just toss the ingredients together in a bowl, pour the mixture into a greased casserole dish, top with cheese and bake!

This recipe is not suitable for Atkins Induction unless you omit the wild rice. Just increase the broccoli by 1 more cup and the dish will taste just fine. This recipe, because of the small amount of wild rice in it, should not be enjoyed until you reach Pre-Maintenace or Maintenance due to the rice. This dish is not suitable for a Primal-Paleo regimen.

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! (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 c. cooked chicken meat, diced large

2 c. broccoli, cut into small flowerettes and stem pieces

5 oz. cream cheese, softened

3 T. melted butter

½ c. heavy cream

½ c. shredded Parmesan cheese

3 T. mayonnaise (I use homemade)

½ tsp. my Shawarma Spice Blend (or your favorite blend)

3/4 c. chicken broth (I use homemade)

Dash black pepper

1 c. cooked wild rice (you could substitute hemp hearts to lower the carbs)

4 oz. Monterey Jack Cheese, shredded (for topping)

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º. Lightly oil a 9×13 or large oval casserole dish. Cut up the broccoli and chicken and place in large mixing bowl. Add the softened cream cheese and melted butter. Stir well. Now add all remaining ingredients except the Monterey Jack Cheese. Stir well to blend and pour into the greased baking dish. Sprinkle the Jack cheese on top and bake at 350º for 45 minutes to 1 hour. I served with a nice green salad and some garlic toast made with my favorite Gluten-Free Focaccia Bread.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 6 servings, each contains:

485 calories, 39 g fat, 9.70 g carbs, 1.30 g fiber, 8.4 g NET CARBS, 25 g protein, 597 mg sodium

Feb 26 2017

Tuna Cheesies

I’ve been making these creamy, cheesie goodies for probably 20 years or more. My husband just LOVES these things so I made a pan of them for our lunch yesterday. Mmmm, I forget how good these are. The inspirational recipe I found years ago in a newspaper used saltine crackers. My low-carb version here uses my Almond-Flax crackers. You could alternately use baked low-carb flour tortilla wedges or baked, low-carb pita bread wedges. This time I cut my almond cracker recipe into 12 oblong larger rectangles as shown above (instead of my usual 48 small square crackers for the cracker recipe). These tasty treats are suitable once you get to Atkins Phase 2. They are OK for Keto dieters if they fit your daily macro limits.

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:

½ recipe my Almond Flax Crackers (or 24 pre-baked low-carb crackers/chips of choice)

1 6-oz foil pouch tuna (or a 5 oz. can, drained)

1 c. shredded Cheddar cheese

2 slices Kraft American Deluxe cheese, shredded

3 T. homemade mayo (or soft butter)

2-3 shakes cayenne pepper (more if you like things “hot”)

4-5 drops Worcestershire sauce

1/8 tsp. onion powder

VARIATION: Add a bit of chopped green onion.

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º. As to making the cracker base for these, I tend to mix up a whole recipe of the cracker dough and shape it on the baking sheet into two rectangles, one on each end, not quite all the way to the edges of the pan, with a slight separation between them. I use half the cracker recipe for these Tuna Cheesies and save the other rectangle to cut into plain crackers to have on hand for other uses. Or if you’re having a party, you could double the topping ingredients and use the entire recipe of crackers for a total of 48 Tuna Cheesies. They disappear fast, so make the batch of 48 for a party! 🙂

Prepare and bake the crackers by that recipe’s instructions at 350º. Cool slightly on the pan. If you made the full recipe of crackers, but only want 12 or 24 portions, store the rest of the crackers in a lidded container on your kitchen counter for up to 2 weeks.

While the crackers are baking, mix the tuna-cheese topping in a bowl. When crackers are cooled and cut into the number you want, spread tuna-cheese mixture on top. Pop back into the oven for about 5-10 minutes longer to melt the cheesy topping nicely. Remove from the oven and enjoy! Serve warm. Often for parties, I’ll make two pans of 24 each, waiting untilt he first pan has been wolfed down by guests before popping the second pan in the oven. They are definitely better hot so the cheese is gooey. 🙂

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 12 rectangular Tuna Cheesies, each contains:

147 calories, 11.83 g fat, 3.5 g carbs, 2.01 g fiber, 1.49 g NET CARBS, 7.9 g protein, 203 mg sodium

NOTE: If crackers cut into 48 squares and you use 24 for this recipe, divide the nutritional numbers above for by 2 to get the per serving numbers for each smaller square.

Feb 25 2017

Toasted Almond Chicken Casserole

My mother made this often when I was growing up. She LOVED the taste of toasted almonds with chicken so much! Of course, she used canned soup and real rice in her recipe, but I use my homemade low-carb version of Cream of Chicken Soup and cauliflower and grains instead. Tastes every bit as good as the classic recipe of my childhood! The hubs dipped up seconds tonight! Neither of us miss the rice in this low-carb version of this dish.

This recipe is suitable once you reach the nuts and seeds level of Phase 2 Atkins. Keto folks can enjoy it if it will fit into your daily carb limit. This would not be suitable for Primal-Paleo followers. Many more delicious low-carb recipes like this 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 you a wealth of delicious recipes you will love! Order yours TODAY! from Amazon or our direct order site: amongfriends.us/order.php.

INGREDIENTS:

2 c. cooked chicken, diced

1 c. celery, diced fine

3 c. cauliflower, coarsely chopped around ½” dice, RAW!

1 c. heavy cream

½ recipe my low-carb Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup

¼ c. chopped pimiento

3/4 c. + 3 T. Hemp Hearts

½ tsp. onion powder

¼ tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. coarse black pepper

½ c.-3/4 c. chicken broth (use just as much as needed for thick, moist mixture)

½ c. slivered almonds, toasted in 350º oven until lightly browned

VARIATION: If you prefer, you can put all the almonds on the top of the casserole, but I like some inside as they soak up liquid and plump up, rendering a nice texture. Another variation is to add some chopped water chestnuts if you like. This can be made with leftover turkey meat as well.

DIRECTIONS: Make the homemade cream of chicken soup. Place 1/2 recipe in a large bowl. Save the balance for another use. Preheat oven to 350º. Stir in all remaining ingredients, reserving a few of the almonds for topping. Toss the ingredients in the bowl until all is moistened, adding just enough of the chicken broth for a nice, moist mixture. Pour into lightly oiled casserole dish. Pop into 350º oven for 35 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining toasted almonds and continue to bake around 15-20 minutes longer or until bubbling around the edges. Remove from oven and allow to “set up” 5-6 minutes (grains will continue to absorb excess liquid during this wait. Serve with your favorite green vegetable and ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 7 servings, each contains:

507 calories, 40 g fat, 9.61 g carbs, 4.95 g fiber, 4.66 g NET CARBS, 23 g protein, 479 mg sodium

Feb 22 2017

Jalapeno Meatloaf Burgers

I wanted a quick meal last night as I had been gardening most of the day and was tired. I basically started with my meatloaf recipe (know it by heart) and added half of a huge jalapeno. Ate them on a Carb Smart Bun. DEEEEEliscious! Not quite the same as a meatloaf sandwich (without the tomato sauce topping), but super tasty! Will do these again, that’s for sure! These are not suitable until late in Phase 2 Atkins OWL unless you substitute a phase approved bread to sub in for the Joseph’s pita called for below. These will fit a Keto diet if the carbs will fit your daily limits.

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. lean ground beef (I used grass-fed with a stronger flavor)

8 oz. lean ground pork

1 oz. red bell pepper, chopped

½ large jalapeno, chopped fine (use the whole thing if you like “spicy” food)

2 oz. onion, chopped

1 large stalk celery, chopped fine

2 T. olive oil

½ c. parsley, chopped

¼ tsp. dried oregano

1/8 tsp. black pepper

1 Joseph’s Flax-Oat Fiber Pita, moistened with a little water and mushed up

2 large eggs

¼ c. grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS: In a non-stick skillet, saute the celery, bell pepper and jalapeno in the olive oil. When getting tender, add to a medium mixing bowl. Add all remaining ingredients and stir well with a fork or use your hands to blend like a meatloaf. Form into 6 patties and brown on both sides on a lightly oiled griddle until they firm up and no longer exude pink juices. Serve on your favorite low-carb bun and ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 6 large burgers (we could only eat one!), each contains:

337 calories, 26 g fat, 3.08 g carbs, 1 g fiber, 2.10 g NET CARBS, 24.3 g protein, 190 mg sodium

Feb 16 2017

Bacon-Onion-Smoked Gouda Chipotle Burger

Man, this may just be the best burger I’ve ever eaten! The hubs grilled the meat patties and I came up with the rest of the magic. Mmmm……Mmmm……Mmmmm……is all I can say!

I want to take this opportunity to mention the wonderful little commercially-made low-carb hamburger buns called SMART BUNS by SmartBaking Company in my photo. A friend over at Low Carb Friends Forums (Ouizoid is her member name) mentioned them not too long ago and I decided to order some at Netrition.com). They are just marvelous in neutral flavor and texture! You’ll swear you’re eating a regular high-carb bun! And there is a bit of deductible sugar alcohol in them that, along with a hefty measure of fiber, makes them zero carb. Only 4 net carbs even if you don’t deduct the sugar alcohol! The bag says gluten-free, but most will tell you Oat fiber isn’t 100% gluten-free, so Celiacs will not be able to enjoy these most likely. I have no such issues, so I will be ordering these regularly to be used exclusively for burgers, as they are a little pricey to use for everything bread-related. I will continue to bake my own low-carb breads for other uses. Charcoaled burgers are pretty darn special at our house and worthy of the extra expense, not to mention the time savings. 🙂

These burgers, due to grain product in the buns, are not suitable until you are past Atkins Induction Phase. They are suitable for Keto diets, but unsuitable for Primal-Paleo. But you folks can certainly use a plan-suitable bun and enjoy this delicious recipe.

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. ground beef

4 slices bacon, cut into large pieces

2 oz. onion, slivered in thin wedges

2 oz. shredded Smoked Gouda cheese (or cheese of choice)

4 T. my Chipotle Mayonnaise (I added more at the table to mine)

4 Smart Buns (or low-carb buns of your choice)

DIRECTIONS: Form four patties with your hamburger meat and grill as usual to desired doneness. While those are being cooked, brown the bacon and onion until the onion is beginning to brown and caramelize. With your spatula, divide the mixture into 4 equal groups in the skillet. Place 1/4 of the cheese atop each group. This will “bind” it together as the cheese melts so it will stay put on your burger while you eat it. Place lid on skillet and turn off heat. In a minute or so the cheese will be melted. Place a patty on each bun bottom. With your spatula, carefully dip up each portion of the bacon-onion topping onto each burger patty. Squirt (from a mustard squirt bottle if you have one) or dip your mayo equally onto the four burgers and top with bun top. Finally, CHOW DOWN on these tasty wonders!

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 4 burgers. Each contains:

469 calories, 36.6 g fat, 17.5 g carbs, 12.2 g fiber, 5.3 g NET CARBS, 35.3 g protein, 562 mg sodium

Feb 15 2017

Shrimp Putanesca on Zoodles

If you want a QUICK and tasty dinner, try my Shrimp Putanesca! It’s a low-carb version of a classic Italian dish. It is simply delicious and ready in about 20 minutes total! If you are still on Atkins Induction Phase, omit the white wine to be safe. This recipe (with that modification) is acceptable for all phases of Atkins, Keto diets, Primal and Paleo as well. I have owned/used several different noodling tools, but most recently I invested in a Vegetti and find it the easiest to use as well as being the most compact for storage.

INGREDIENTS:

12 oz. zucchini, cut into noodles

3 T. olive oil total

20 large shrimp, shelled and deveined

3 Roma tomatoes, coarsely chopped

3/4 c. parsley, chopped

1 large clove garlic, minced

Dash black pepper

1/8 tsp. red pepper flakes

¼ tsp. sea salt

15 pitted black olives, cut into halves

¼ tsp. anchovy paste or 1 anchovy, mashed (optional but very good in this dish)

¼ c. white wine (I used Chardonnay), omit if still on Induction

DIRECTIONS: Coarsely chop the tomatoes and set aside. Halve the olives and set aside.

Cut the zucchini into long spaghetti-type noodles. Heat 1 T. olive oil in a non-stick skillet and saute zoodles on low heat for a few minutes, stirring and tossing them just until they “green up” and are no longer opaque. Turn off heat so they will not cook further. In another non-stick skillet on high heat the remaining olive oil. Saute the shrimp until opaque. Add the tomato and stir/saute just until it begins to soften. Add parsley, red and black pepper, salt and olives, anchovy paste (if using) and stir. Add white wine and lower heat to medium. Simmer just 3 minutes tops. If you prefer your tomato to be less cooked in such dishes, add them last. Dip mixture over the cooked zoodles or stir it together. Either presentation will look nice. 🙂

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 4 servings, each contains:

160.8 calories, 10.9 g fat, 5.52 g carbs, 1.6 g fiber, 3.92 g NET CARBS, 8.25 g protein, 208 mg sodium

Feb 13 2017

Southwest Ham-n-Cheese Squash

Once again, the Queen of Leftovers creates a surprisingly delicious dish with a bit of “this and that” she has been staring at the last few days in the fridge. One small piece of thick ham steak, half a spaghetti squash and an avocado getting way too ripe on my kitchen counter. Just sounded like a Mexican meal in the making to me! This creation sort of reminds me of Ham-Mac-and-Cheese. But the generous handful of cilantro really takes it to a different flavor level. For those that don’t like cilantro, just leave it out and sub in a little chili powder. This dish will be nearly as good without it, I’m sure.

The Mexican Poinsettia stuck onto my guacamole was an afterthought, but I thought it came out very pretty! I quartered 2 San Marzano tomatoes and 1 thin slice of jalapeno pepper for my flower. This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins and other Ketogenic diets, but is not suitable for Primal-Paleo unless you sub in coconut cream for the cheeses (might also require a little chili powder to kill the coconut taste.).

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 of a medium, 7-8″ long spaghetti squash (about 1¾ c. threads)

2 tsp. bacon grease

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

4 oz. chopped ham

¼ c. red bell pepper, chopped

½ c. chopped cilantro

2 oz. American Deluxe or cheddar cheese, shredded

2 oz. Monterrey Jack Cheese (I used 2 slices)

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º. Place the half squash cut-side down in a dish with ½” water and microwave on HI for 13 minutes. Fork the threads into a bowl and save the shell to stuff. While it is cooking, Melt the bacon grease in a skillet and saute the onion until tender. Add the ham and bell pepper and saute until they are done/tender respectively. Turn off fire and stir in the cilantro. Add half the ham mixture to the bowl of squash and stir well. Add the American or cheddar cheese shreds and stir again. Spoon into the squash shell. Top with the 2 slices of Jack cheese any way you want to arrange/cut and place it. Top with the remainder of the ham mixture and pop into the 3350º oven just long enough to melt the Jack cheese, or about 15 minutes. Remove and scoop half the squash contents onto each plate and serve with guacamole or a green salad.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 2 servings, each contains:

399 calories, 26.5 g fat, 14.45 g carbs, 2.65 g fiber, 11.80 g NET CARBS, 26 g protein, 1600 mg sodium (soak ham in water for 1 hour before frying to lower sodium)

Feb 9 2017

Tuna-Cauli Cakes

These came about for lunch today from a lone half cup of leftover buttered, steamed cauliflower. I added one of the small 2.5-oz pouches of tuna, some Smoked Gouda cheese and a bit of onion and VOILA! A delicious lunch! That’s sauteed kale (cooked exactly 1 minute in bacon grease) on the side of the plate. The sliced steamed carrots were good with these, too! These tuna cakes are simply DELICIOUS! Of course, you can sub in other cheeses, but the Smoked Gouda really makes these different and quite special. Smoked Cheddar would be just as good in this recipe, I believe. I’ll be making this recipe regularly with leftover dabs of cauliflower from now on. Such a tasty way to keep from wasting event he smallest amounts of pricey vegetables. This is suitable for all phases of Atkins if you use flax meal in lieu of the small amount of low-carb breadcrumbs.

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:

2.5 oz. tuna

3 oz. Smoked Gouda cheese, shredded

2/3 c. steamed cauliflower, mashed with a fork

1 medium green onion, chopped fine

2 T. low-carb bread, crumbed (or 1 T. flax meal)

1 large egg, beaten

Dash black pepper

Dash Cajun spice blend or my Seafood Spice Blend

1 T. coconut oil (or your preferred oil) for frying

DIRECTIONS: Mix all ingredients but the coconut oil in a medium bowl. Stir well with a spoon. Heat the coconut oil in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat These are inclined to stick to the pan, so do not flip them to side two until they have browned well on the first side, and don’t over handle them with your spatula. Section off the mixture into 6 equal portions in your bowl. Dip 1/6 of the mixture up and drop onto the hot pan, spreading into a 2½” patties. When the first side is browned nicely for all the cakes, flip them quickly and carefully. Brown the second side and when done, transfer to serving plate. Serve hot with green veggies or a nice green salad.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 6 cakes, each contains approximately (varies slightly with your personal choice of low-carb bread or flax):

118.5 calories, 9.16 g fat, 2.31 g carbs, 1.11 g fiber, 1.2 g NET CARBS, 7.65 g protein, 325 mg sodium

Feb 8 2017

Curried Meatballs and Cauliflower

My husband wanted something “Indian” for dinner tonight. I had thawed a pound of ground pork and also had half a pound of lean ground beef in the fridge. We both love those tiny meatballs that appear on Indian restaurant buffet tables, so I decided to give them a stab and see what I ended up with. Using what veggies I had on hand, this was the final dish and brother was it ever good! Not at all spicy, so double the jalapeno if you’re into spicy, or add a dash of cayenne pepper. For the non-low-carbers at the table, this would be delicious served with basmati rice, but it was pretty darn good just as is, quite honestly. This dish is suitable for all phases of Atkins, Keto diets, and would be OK for Primal-Paleo using coconut milk for the cream.

INGREDIENTS:

½ medium head cauliflower, cut into flowerettes

1 lb. lean ground pork

½ lb. lean ground beef

1 egg, beaten

2 oz. raw onion

2 cloves garlic

2 tsp. ground ginger root

1 tsp,. total Garam Masala

1 jalapeno, seeded and coarsely chopped (use 2 for spicier dish)

¼ c. cilantro for meat

¼ tsp. ground turmeric

¼ tsp. salt

2 plum tomatoes, coarsely chopped

½ c. cream + ½ c. water

1-2 T. more chopped cilantro for sauce

Dash curry powder

2 T. coconut or olive oil for browning meatballs stove-top (or bake them on non-stick pan)

VARIATION: Add ¼-½ tsp. crushed dried mint to meat mixture (or 6 fresh leaves chopped). you can also use ground lamb in this recipe for a more intense meat flavor.

DIRECTIONS: Cut up cauliflower and partially cook in boiling water until just half tender. You want it under-cooked as it will cook more once in your skillet sauce. Drain and set aside for now.

In a food processor, pulse to a smooth mixture both meats, the egg, onion, garlic, ginger, jalapeno, ¼ c. cilantro, turmeric, salt and ½ tsp. of the Garam Masala spice blend. Heat coconut oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat (medium if not using a non-stick pan). You can also bake the meatballs if you prefer to eliminate the need for any coconut oil (for about 20 minutes at 350º). Form into twenty 1½” meatballs. Brown them rotating gently as they brown. Spoon/drain off excess grease, if any.

When meatballs are nice an golden and almost done through, add the cream and water to the pan. Using a silicone spatula, scrape up any brown bits off the pan so it will make the sauce richer. Add chopped tomato, the final bit of the cilantro (and dried mint if using), dash curry powder and the rest of the Garam Masala spice. Gently stir in the cauliflower chunks, coating each with sauce. Simmer on low heat until thick to allow flavors to meld together nicely. If the sauce is not thick enough for your taste, dust with the tiniest dusting of xanthan gum or your preferred thickener. Work it into the sauce with your spatula until it has done a proper thickening job. It will not take much at all.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 5 servings (4 meatballs each with 1/4 cauli/sauce mixture). Each serving contains:

428 calories, 33 g fat, 9.36 g carbs, 3.64 g fiber, 5.72 g NET CARBS, 25.5 g protein, 258 mg sodium

Feb 4 2017

Greek Stuffed Peppers

When I can find them, I buy the really big bell peppers for stuffing. Usually a recipe of my filling using 1 lb. of ground beef will make four stuffed peppers for me. The two colossal specimens shown in the photo above were SO ginormous, the two of them ALONE used up ALL the filling!! Now that RARELY happens, but on this occasion, this was the honest truth!

I didn’t have any kind of recipe when I created these. I just decided to take some ground meat, cheese it up with several cheeses (including feta of course), add some typical Greek seasonings and see what resulted. Glad I did, as these came out GREAT!! Then, after dinner, I Googled “Greek Stuffed Peppers” and indeed, they do make something similar in Greece, but with rice added to the filling, which I can’t eat on a low-carb diet. These are only Induction friendly if you omit the red wine.

More delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your own set of LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS, the latest 5-volume best-selling cookbooks by Jennifer Eloff, and a number of other talented chefs well-known in the low-carb community. Even Chef George Stella is on-board with the team! Click my link above to visit their Facebook page for a photo and recipe preview of some of the recipes that appear in these books. These books are can also be purchased individually, in regular or coil-binding from Amazon or direct.

INGREDIENTS:

4 3-oz. bell peppers, any color (try to select peppers with fairly flat bottoms)

16 oz. ground beef (or ground lamb)

2 oz. onion, chopped fine

1 Roma tomato, chopped

1 T. tomato paste

1/3 c. water

¼ c. red wine (omit if on Induction)

1 large clove garlic, minced

1/8 tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. crushed dried oregano

¼ c. parsley, chopped

½ c. feta, rinsed in strainer under cold water

½ c. Monterrey Jack cheese

2 tsp. Parmesan

VARIATION: Use some dill weed in place of the cinnamon

DIRECTIONS: Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cut the tops off peppers and save for some other use. Remove seed core. Boil the main pepper bottoms 3-4 minutes to begin to tenderize them a bit, which will greatly shorten overall baking time on this dish. Remove and drain and place in baking dish. Preheat the oven to 350º at this point. Next brown the ground meat in a non-stick skillet. Add onion, garlic, tomato, tomato paste, wine and water. Next add the parsley and spices. Simmer about 10 minutes, stirring, until tomato and onion are fully tender and the liquid is evaporating nicely. Add feta and Jack cheese. Stir to blend and melt. Remove from heat. Stuff the peppers and sprinkle the tops with the Parmesan cheese. Pop in preheated 350º oven for 30-35 minutes or until pepper shells are tender, but not overcooked and falling apart. Serve with a nice Greek salad.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 4 stuffed peppers, each contains:

370 calories, 23.18 g fat, 8.15 g carbs, 2.1 g fiber, 6.05 g NET CARBS, 29 g protein, 720 mg sodium

Feb 1 2017

Eggplant Focaccia

This is a fairly easy dish to throw together and it is quite tasty. Any leftovers can be reincarnated the next day by adding some browned Italian sausage and mushrooms or some super thin slices of green pepper and seeded tomato. My husband is a hearty eater and had 3 slices. It took only 2 to satisfy me. Not suitable until Atkins Phase 2 OWL unless you use a different, Induction-friendly bread instead of the bread mentioned below. I added 2 sausage patties to the focaccia pictured above, because that’s what I had cooked, leftover in the fridge. Next time I’ll use 4 patties. If you add sausage, be sure to add that to the nutritional info shown below.

INGREDIENTS:

1 batch of Artisan Flat Bread (use Jen Eloff’s Gluten-Free mix in this bread for gluten-free version)

8 oz. unpeeled, eggplant (sliced thin, about 1/8″-¼” thick)

2 T. extra virgin olive oil

1 T. chopped fresh rosemary

¼ tsp. crushed dried oregano

Pinch each onion powder and garlic powder

3 oz. Havarti, Emmentaler, Swiss or Jack cheese, shredded

1 oz. Parmesan cheese for final topping

VARIATION: Add a little cooked crumbled pork or Italian sausage crumbles to crust before layering with eggplant.

DIRECTIONS: Slice eggplant and spread onto paper towels and lightly salt. Let sit 10 minutes and pat the water off tops. Repeat for other side of eggplant.

Preheat oven to 350º. While eggplant is “bleeding” out its water, make the Artisan Flat Bread per recipe instructions. I always use mozzarella cheese where the recipe says Italian blend cheese. Spread batter onto parchment-lined 13×15 pan. You can spread batter all the way to the edges and make the sheet rectangular, or make it oval like I did in the picture below. Sprinkle rosemary, oregano and onion and garlic powder on top. Now evenly spread half the grated cheese onto the batter. If adding sausage, do it now. Arrange eggplant slices in 1-2 slightly overlapping layers evenly on top. Sprinkle with remaining grated cheese. Finally, top with the Parmesan. Drizzle with the olive oil and bake for 30 minutes at 350º or until eggplant is done. Remove from oven and slice into 12 pieces. Serve immediately. This is nice with a green or tomato salad. Easiest eaten with your hands like pizza.

Shown with a little cooked sausage added under eggplant layers.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 12 servings. Excluding any added sausage, each serving contains:

238.5 calories, 19.7 g fat, 4.76 g carbs, 2.34 g fiber, 2.42 g NET CARBS, 14.1 g protein

Jan 31 2017

Middle Eastern Stuffed Eggplant

Shown with Iranian Mint Cucumber Salad

This tasty stuffed eggplant will fill you right up! It has a lot of flavor layers going on and will excite your palate. It’s actually quite easy to make, too. It’s a little carb-y, but that’s because of the eggplant itself. No empty fillers in this recipe. This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins and Keto diets if you can fit the carbs into your daily limits. It is also suitable for Primal and will even work for Paleo if you sub in chia gel or an extra egg for the ricotta cheese.

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: 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:

2 T. coconut oil

1 16-oz. whole eggplant, stemmed and cut in half lenghtwise

10 oz. ground beef (or lamb)

2 oz. onion, chopped

¼ tsp. sea salt

Dash black pepper

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

½ tsp. ground cumin

1 Roma tomato, chopped coarsely

1 clove garlic, minced

1 T. fresh spearmint, chopped (or 1 tsp. dried mint)

2 beaten eggs

1/4 c. ricotta cheese (use chia gel or an extra egg for a Paleo version)

DIRECTIONS: Melt the oil in a very large skillet over high heat. Place eggplant in the pan cut-side down. Brown the cut surface, pressing the eggplant halves down with your hand as they cook. Cook them for about 10-15 minutes. Remove them to a cutting board to cool a bit.

Add the meat to the skillet and brown over medium-high heat. Add the onion toward the end of the browning process and cook until pretty tender. Add the seasonings next. Lower heat and simmer 5 minutes or so to let the spices mingle in the meat nicely. Turn off heat.

Preheat oven to 350º. Using a knife slice or scoop out most of the eggplant flesh from the halves, leaving about 1/2″ of the flesh intact on the skin for support during baking. Place the two hollowed out shells in a baking pan.

Next, chop the scooped out eggplant flesh into ½” dice and add back into the meat mixture in the skillet. If the eggplant is still opaque in places (likely it is not fully done), turn the fire on to medium and stir/simmer the meat-eggplant mixture until the eggplant is pretty tender. Turn off heat.

Stir the beaten eggs into the ricotta and add to the meat mixture and mix well to bind and moisten the filling. Spoon half the mixture into each eggplant shell. Pop the pan into your preheated oven and bake for about 35-40 minutes or until the shells appear to be fully cooked. Pairs nicely with a sour cream/mint cucumber salad as shown.

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

467 calories, 42 g fat, 19.85 g carbs, 9.25 g fiber, 10 g NET CARBS, 38.4 g protein, 499 mg sodium

Jan 30 2017

Chicken-Eggplant Parmigiana Casserole

If you love Italian food, you are really going to LOVE this dish! So tasty! This casserole was created with leftover cooked chicken breast meat I had in the refrigerator and a small amount of cooked spaghetti sauce and some commercial no-sugar sauce I wanted to use up. I bought a beautiful eggplant yesterday and some mushrooms, so I created a quick Parmigiana casserole. This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins and Primal followers that eat occasional cheese. This meal would not be suitable for Paleo diners.

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 our direct order site: http://amongfriends.us/order.php

INGREDIENTS:

8 oz. cooked chicken meat, cut in bite size pieces

2 T. olive oil

6 oz. mushrooms, sliced

5 oz. eggplant, sliced 1/4″ thick (I do not peel)

¼ c. low-carb spaghetti sauce (I use Lucini with no added sugar)

3/4 c. homemade spaghetti sauce [you could use all homemade or all Luccini sauce]

6 oz. Mozzarella cheese, grated

½ c. grated Parmesan cheese

½ tsp. dried oregano (or 1 tsp. fresh, chopped)

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

¼ tsp. dried rosemary (or ½ tsp. fresh, chopped)

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 400º. Use a small amount of the oil to grease your casserole dish and a small baking sheet. Place eggplant on baking sheet and bake at 400º for about 15 minutes, turning once during this pre-cooking. Remove from oven and lower temperature to 350º.

In a non-stick skillet, saute the mushroom slices in the rest of the olive oil. Place eggplant in a single layer on the bottom of your greased casserole dish. Top with the shredded chicken meat. Spoon half the spaghetti sauce over the meat. Sprinkle on half the Parmesan and half the mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle with half the spices. Spoon on the remainder of the sauce. Sprinkle on the rest of the two cheeses and the last of the spices. Top with the sauteed mushroom and pop into your 350º oven for about 30-35 minutes or until cheese is melted and the casserole is hot hot in the center. Serve with your favorite salad or green vegetable and some garlic bread made with low-carb bread.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 4 servings, each contains:

427 calories, 26.1 g fat, 10.4 g carbs, 2.98 g fiber, 7.42 g NET CARBS, 38 g protein, 270 mg sodium

Jan 29 2017

Creamy, Smoky Chicken Casserole

This delicious casserole evolved from several packages I call “last of this vegetable” that were staring at me in the fridge when I went to start making dinner. Despite that fact, this was an amazingly good dinner! It’s also very nutritious with the kale added, which was an after thought, actually. Since I was afraid this dish wouldn’t be very photogenic, I decided at the last minute to make my Savory Casserole Topping for the top. GOOD decision, as it also added flavor to the simple flavor profile of this dish! This recipe is suitable once you get to phase 2 of Atkins. Omit the topping and you Induction folks can enjoy this as well. This recipe is not suited for Primal or Paleo followers due to the dairy in it.

INGREDIENTS:

½ medium head cauliflower, stemmed and chopped to 3/4-1″ pieces (about 2½ cups)

2 T. coconut oil

3 oz. onion, chopped

2 large carrots, sliced or chopped

1 c. my low-carb Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup

2 T. cream cheese

3/4 c. heavy (whipping) cream

2 c. cooked chicken meat, chopped (I left skin on mine)

3 oz. Smoked Gouda cheese, shredded

Dash black pepper

1 leaf raw kale, stemmed, chopped fine (about 3/4 c. loose-pack)

½ recipe of my Savory Casserole Topping

DIRECTIONS: Make the casserole topping per that recipe’s instructions (click blue link above). Set aside. Preheat oven to 350º.

In a medium saucepan, cover cauliflower with water and boil only until half tender. While it is cooking, heat oil over high heat in non-stick large skillet (I use a non-stick wok), add onion, carrot and saute until half-tender also. Lower heat to medium, add cream cheese and heat until melted. Lower heat to lowest setting and add the soup, cream, half the shredded Gouda, the pepper and chicken meat. Stir lightly to mix well. Drain water off cauliflower when half tender and add to the skillet mixture. Stir again. Add the raw, chopped kale and stir one last time. Sprinkle remaining Gouda over the top and then add the crumble topping evenly over the top. Cover with foil and bake at 350ºfor 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake 20 minutes longer or until topping is golden brown.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 8 servings, each contains:

390 calories, 30.7 g fat, 8.73 g carbs, 2.55 g fiber, 6.18 g NET CARBS, 17 g protein, 539 mg sodium

Jan 29 2017

Chipotle-Pork Soup

Man, to have so few ingredients, this soup was amazingly full-flavored! DELICIOUS! The hubs is down in Georgetown today, so he won’t get to taste it until reheated tomorrow. This is one of those foods that I just know is going to get even tastier upon re-heating. I am out of Eden soy black beans, so I had to use pintos, which are much carbier. So to lower the carb count shown below, use soy black beans with only 1 net carb per 1/2 cup rather than the pinto beans and you have a delicious, low carb soup. The count isn’t terribly bad having used pintos, but I would have preferred to use soy black beans. This soup is not suitable until you are farther along in your weight-loss journey. Those still in Atkins Induction Phase need to omit the beans and add 1 c. more water, as I think you will find it too rich without the extra water). Primal-Paleo followers will want to substitute chick peas or lentils for the beans.

INGREDIENTS:

10 oz. breakfast sausage

3 oz. onion, chopped

3/4 c. red bell pepper, chopped

3 c. homemade chicken broth

1 c. water

1 c. canned pinto beans, drained (can use soy black beans, chickpeas or lentils)

¼ c. cilantro, chopped (optional)

1 7-oz. can Herdez Salsa Verde (or 1/2 c. mixture of tomatillos & mild, canned green chilies)

1 clove garlic, minced

1/3 tsp. each regular chili powder, mild Ancho chile powder and Guajillo chile powder)

Dash smoky, dried chipotle chile powder (the hottest of them all)

DIRECTIONS: Brown sausage in medium soup pot over high heat until no longer pink. Add onion and bell pepper. Add chicken broth, cilantro, Herdez Salsa Verde, garlic, chile powders and beans. When it all comes to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for about 15 minutes or until onions are tender and flavors have mellowed. You Paleo-Primal folks will want to cook until lentils are done. You will not need added salt in this recipe as the sausage and Herdez have plenty between the two (too much for my taste, in fact, but I’m a very light salt user.). Serve and enjoy!

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 8 cups, each cup containing:

191 calories, 11.5 g fat, 7.36 g carbs, 1.91 g fiber, 5.45 g NET CARBS, 10.9 g protein, 589 mg sodium

Jan 29 2017

Beef in Mushroom Wine Sauce

I love to make this recipe whenever I have a sizeable portion of a very large chuck or sirloin roast leftover. It’s very tasty, rich and a great way to tenderize that meat even further. Whenever I make a beef roast, I always save any leftover gravy or roast meat broth/drippings, no matter how little that may be. I invariably find many uses like this recipe for using it up. I freeze it in ½-cup and 1-cup blocks and once frozen, pop them into a gallon zip-loc bags for soups, casseroles and recipes like this one that just needs a little bit broth or gravy. I can then thin the gravy to use as beef broth. 🙂

This delicious dish can be enjoyed by all phases of Atkins provided those still on Induction omit the red wine. This is suitable for Keto diets, Primal and Paleo as well.

INGREDIENTS:

1½ c. rich beef gravy or roast drippings (or beef broth + ¼ tsp. xanthan gum (to thicken)

2 4-oz cans mushrooms, drained (liquid reserved)

2 T. tomato paste

¼ tsp. black pepper

1/8 tsp. sea salt

1½ lb. leftover cooked beef roast, sliced

¼ c. dry red wine (I used zinfandel, but any dry red will work) [omit for Induction]

VARIATION: Add 1/2 c. chopped parsley (I was out, or I would have used it here)

DIRECTIONS: In a large skillet over medium heat, add the beef gravy or beef stock. If using beef broth instead of gravy, whisk in xanthan gum to blend. Add the tomato paste and whisk again to blend well. Add salt and pepper and stir. If using, add parsley and red wine. Add beef next. Bring to a simmer and simmer covered on LOW heat for 15 minutes. Remove lid and simmer 5 minutes longer. If gravy is too thick, add a bit of the mushroom liquid back to the pan; if too thin, add more xanthan gum (or your preferred thickener) in very light dustings on the surface, stirring in and allowing each addition to develop and thicken before adding more. You do NOT want to overdo xanthan gum lest the sauce get slippery in texture. Serve at once with you favorite green vegetable or side dish.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 4 servings, each contains:

255 calories, 6.9 g fat, 387 g carbs, 1.40 g fiber, 2.47 g NET CARBS, 40.3 g protein, 417 mg sodium

Jan 28 2017

Cheesy “Hash Browns”

Shown with sausage added

We’ve all tasted and love that well-known hash brown casserole. I certainly see no reason we low-carbing folks can’t still have it even though we can’t eat those real hash browns. The only changes needed here were substituting cauliflower for the potatoes and a low-carb mushroom soup for commercial soup, thus making it OK for Induction. This is also great with crumbled, cooked pork sausage on top! I keep a double batch of this soup made up in my freezer all the time, frozen in plastic drink cups in 1 cup amounts. It’s awfully convenient to just pop one out and defrost or put it right into the simmering pot. Here’s my recipe with necessary low-carb changes. This is Induction friendly, too! Sometimes I add 1 lb. browned pork sausage to this and turn it into a main dish (as shown above) No meat is calculated into the nutritional info below, however. This is such a large recipe I cook a half recipe unless I have company.

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:

1 c. finely chopped green onion

1 c. (4oz) grated cheddar cheese

2 T. butter melted

1/4 tsp. pepper

1 head fresh cauliflower, cooked & chopped (or 3 10 oz. pkgs. frozen, thawed, drained, coarsely chopped)

1/2 c. sour cream

1 c. Dottie’s Mushroom Soup for Recipes

OPTIONAL GARNISH: sprinkle top with paprika before baking

DIRECTIONS: Thaw the frozen (or cook the fresh) cauliflower & drain well. Preheat oven to 350º. If adding sausage, brown it in a skillet. Mix first 7 ingredients in a bowl and stir in the sausage if using. Spray glass baking dish. Pour mixture into greased dish and bake at 350º for 30 minutes or until bubbly and “hash browns” are tender but not reduced to mush.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 9 1-cup servings, each has: (does not include sausage)

190 calories, 15.94 g fat, 7.36 g carbs, 2.78 g fiber, 4.58 NET CARBS, 6.28 g protein

Jan 27 2017

Mega Meatballs

Click to enlarge

Browsing my favorite food blogs, I came across a lovely picture of meatballs, something I’ve not made in ages. I decided it was high time I did some meatballs for dear hubby and I love them, too! The dish I came up with is not classic “saucy” spaghetti and meatballs, as actually very little sauce is put on each serving. But an adequate tomato-y edge was there and made this a delightful dinner.

I’m providing the nutritional information for the individual parts of this, as many will use this meatball recipe with other sauces, serve it over other bases than the zucchini noodles and will use this thick veggie-heavy marinara sauce for other applications. This dish is not suitable until Phase 2 Atkins due to the ricotta. It is OK for Ketogenic diets. It is however not acceptable for Primal-Paleo.

I like to make large batches of meatballs and freeze the extras for quick uses later on. This recipe makes 20 meatballs or 10 servings of two meatballs. Adjust your recipe as your needs dictate.

I absolutely love the Lucini “Rustic Tomato Basil Sauce” (no added sugar or bad ingredients) that I found at my local Walmart. It’s made with all natural ingredients, has a lovely taste and I buy it for quick sauces and us it for quick pizza sauce. It’s a great flavor foundation to build on. 🙂 It costs somewhere around $3.99/jar if I remember right.

You can have many more tasty low-carb recipes like this at your fingertips with your very own copy of the latest publications by Jennifer Eloff and friends: LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS. Volumes 1-5 are released. Vol. 6 is due out later this year and Vol. 7 will be released in early 2015. Order yours today at Amazon or here: http://amongfriends.us/order.php

MEATBALLS:

1 lb. ground beef (I used 90% lean grass-fed)

1 lb. ground pork

2 beaten eggs

½ c. ricotta cheese

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

¼ tsp. each onion powder, garlic powder, crushed fennel seed and dried basil

½ tsp. dried oregano, crushed

¼ c. Parmesan cheese

MEATBALL DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º. Measure out all ingredients into a large bowl and mix together with fork or hand until well blended. Form large 1½” balls by rolling in your palms. Place them on either a non-stick baking sheet or one with a silicone sheet liner. Bake at 350º for 30-40 minutes or until lightly browned and no longer oozing pink juices.

QUICK MARINARA SAUCE:

3 T. olive oil

½ c. celery, chopped

4 oz. onion, chopped

¼ c. bell pepper, chopped

5 large mushrooms, chopped

1 25.5 oz. jar (3c.) Lucini “Rustic Tomato Basil Sauce”, all natural ingredients with 4 NC per ½c. serving

2/3 c. parsley, chopped

3/4-1c. water, as needed

DIRECTIONS FOR SAUCE: Heat oil in skillet or large saucepan. Add celery, onion and bell pepper and saute until nearly tender. Add mushroom and saute until translucent. Add Lucini sauce, parsley and bring to a simmer on very low heat. Cook on lowest setting while meatballs are baking. Stir often, adding water, as needed, to prevent scorching on the bottom of the pan and to maintain a thin marinara sauce consistency.

ZUCCHINI NOODLES “Zoodles”: VARIATIONS: Serve over spaghetti squash.

3 medium zucchini (about 10 oz. each)

1 T. olive oil

DIRECTIONS FOR NOODLES: Cut the zucchini into noodle shapes either with a hand held julienne peeler, a Vegetti, or a spiralizing tool like the counter-top Spirooli that I used to use, but whose handle broke off. Heat olive oil in non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add zucchini threads to the pan and lightly saute just until they become translucent. DO NOT OVERCOOK them or they will get mushy.

FINAL PLATING: Plate about 1 cup zoodles on each plate. Top with 1/2 c. sauce. Place 2 meatballs on top and if desired, garnish with a sprinkle of grated fresh Parmesan.

MEATBALL NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 20 very large meatballs. Two per serving. Each 2-meatball serving contains:

290 calories, 23 g fat, 1.18 g carbs, .8 g fiber, .38 g NET CARBS and 20.2 g protein, 155 mg sodium

SAUCE NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes ten 1/2 c. servings of sauce. Each serving contains:

97 calories, 7.2 g fat, 7.27 g carbs, 1.93 g fiber, 5.34 g NET CARBS, 2.24 g protein

ZUCCHINI NOODLES NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 10 servings of noodles. Each 3 oz serving contains:

59 calories, 4.7 g fat, 4.2 g carbs, 1.4 g fiber, 2.8 g NET CARBS 1.5 g protein

Jan 26 2017

Beef Chile Relleno Casserole

I just love chile rellenos, but I don’t like all the fuss of actually stuffing them. So I just make the dish up in a layered casserole. Tastes exactly the same, but it’s much less trouble to put together. My last similar recipe was with chicken. This is how I make this dish with beef. This recipe is Induction friendly and Primal diners who eat cheese can also enjoy this dish. It would not be suitable for Paleo followers.

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 poblano peppers (mine weighed 2-2.5 oz. each)

12 oz. lean ground beef

2 oz. onion, sliced

½ tsp. dried guajillo chile, seeded and chopped fine (optional)

¼ tsp. dried ancho chile powder (optional)

¼ tsp. chili powder (use ½ tsp. if guajillo and ancho above are omitted)

¼ tsp. garlic powder

3/4 c. Ro-Tel tomatoes and green chiles, solids only (the mild ones unless you like “hot”)

¼ c. cilantro, chopped (optional)

6 oz. Monterrey Jack cheese, grated

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 450º. Roasting your peppers will make them milder and sweeter, so don’t bypass this step. Cut tops off poblano peppers and remove seed cluster. Cut in halves, lay the halves on a non-stick baking sheet and roast in 450º oven for about 15-20 minutes, turning once during roasting. Remove and cool. Lower oven to 350º. Peel tough skin gently off the peppers.

While they are roasting, heat ground beef in non-stick skillet over high heat. When meat is no longer pink, add onion and saute until tender. Add all remaining ingredients except the cheese. Simmer 3-4 minutes for flavors to meld together. Lay the skinned poblano pepper pieces in the bottom of 3 individual casserole dishes or one larger casserole dish if you prefer. Top the peppers in each serving dish with 1 spoon of the beef filling. Spread 1/3 of the cheese equally over the top. Place the remaining beef filling evenly next. Top with the remaining cheese. Pop into a 350º oven for about 20 minutes or until bubbly and the cheese is melted. Serve at once with a nice guacamole salad (and if you are in Pre-Maintenance or Maintenance, this is nice with a ½ c. of heated refried beans).

VARIATION: If your are at goal weight and you can afford the extra carbs, a thin layer of refried black soy beans is delicious on this (I usually start out with the bean layer, or you can dot them on top before adding the final cheese).

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 4 servings, each contains:

412 calories, 27.7 g fat, 6.72 g carbs, 2 g fiber, 4.72 g NET CARBS, 32.6 g protein, 897 mg sodium

(adding ½ c. mashed soy black bean layer increases carbs to 10.7 g, fiber 5.5 g, net carbs 5.22 g).

Jan 25 2017

Chicken Scallopini

This is a recipe I’ve been cooking for years. It’s truly Atkins friendly without a single modification. It’s rich, but I love this one every once in awhile. Vermouth has a distinctive flavor, but if you don’t have it, you could use an equal amount of dry white wine instead. This will, however, greatly impact the final flavor. This is real easy to put together yet it really delivers on flavor! If you omit the vermouth/wine, this is OK for Induction. this is a wonderful recipe to pull out after the holidays when you are trying to get rid of some leftover turkey meat. It works very nicely in this creamy sauce.

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:

4 4-oz skinless, boneless pieces chicken breast

1 ½ T. olive oil

8 oz. mushrooms, cleaned and sliced

¼ c. chopped parsley

½ tsp. dried tarragon

1/3 c. heavy cream

3 T. dry vermouth or white wine (omit if on Induction)

Dash Salt & Pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS: Pound chicken breasts between two pieces waxed paper until flattened to about ¼” thickness. Lightly salt and pepper. In a large non-stick skillet, heat 1 T. of the oil and sear chicken until lightly browned on both sides. Just cook until done (no pink juice exuding). Remove to a platter and cover with plate or foil to keep warm.

Add remaining olive oil to skillet and saute mushrooms, stirring occasionally until lightly browned and done, about 5 minutes. Lower heat and add vermouth, cream, tarragon, parsley and deglaze any brown bits off bottom of pan. Pour mushroom cream sauce over chicken. Decorate with a sprig of parsley or a sprinkle of chopped parsley.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Serves 4, each serving containing:

368 calories, 21.43 g fat, 4.25 g carbs, 1.0 g fiber,3.25 NET CARBS, 36.88 g protein, 39 mg. sodium

Jan 24 2017

Zuppa Toscana

This soup is similar to Zuppa Toscana at Olive Garden restaurants, but mine has diced cauliflower standing in for potatoes. I tend to use ground pork rather than Italian sausage, as I can control spices and salt doing that. You just need to add oregano, fennel and garlic really. But you can certainly substitute in commercial Italian sausage if you prefer for convenience. It will almost DOUBLE the sodium and increase carbs though. Just be aware of that. This soups is delicious and we both gave it a resounding thumbs up. It will make the rounds at our house. 🙂

VARIATIONS: Substitute 1/2 c. chopped parsley for the kale; substitute diced rutabaga for the cauliflower.

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

INGREDIENTS:

6 slices bacon, cut into 3/4″ bits

12 oz. lean ground pork, coarsely broken up to 1/2″ chunks

2 oz. onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1½ c. coarsely chopped kale (about 3 leaves after stemming)

3 oz. cauliflower, diced to ½”-3/4″ pieces

1 oz. pimiento (half a 2 oz. jar)

3 large mushrooms, sliced or cut however you like

4 c. homemade chicken broth (32 oz.)

1 c. water

1 c. heavy cream

Dash black pepper

Dash crushed red pepper

3-4 drops Tobasco (or other hot sauce)

¼ tsp. dried oregano leaves

½ tsp. fennel seed, crushed

DIRECTIONS: In a large dutch oven over high heat, cook the bacon. Add the pork, onion and garlic and saute until meat is no longer pink. Lower heat to medium. Add all remaining ingredients but the cream. Simmer 5 minutes. Add cream and simmer 5 more minutes. Thicken with xanthan or gum if desired. Serve at once.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes six 1-1¼c. servings, each contains:

356 calories, 30.5 g fat, 5.51 g carbs, 1.08 g fiber, 4.43 g NET CARBS, 15.6 g protein, 865 mg sodium

Jan 22 2017

Meatballs & Smoked Gouda on Zucchini Noodles

More sauce added AFTER photo was taken

Not your usual meatball dish, but man, was this ever good! I used just enough Smoked Gouda to be a subtle background taste, but you can add more if you prefer. This recipe makes 24 meatballs and I found 4 per serving filled us right up, in fact 3 filled me up and I put one back into the pot. I have another meal or two leftover for my freezer! 🙂 This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins (but omit wine if still in Induction) and Keto diets if the carbs will fit into your day. Use a plan suitable bread in the meatballs and omit cheese to make this Primal or Paleo suitable.

MEATBALL INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. lean ground beef

2 links Italian sausage, casings removed

2 eggs, beaten

1 slice my Flax-Whey Protein Bread (or low-carb bread equivalent)

¼ tsp. garlic powder or granulated garlic

1/8 tsp. onion powder

¼ chopped parsley

¼ tsp. coarse black pepper

2 T. grated Parmesan cheese

SAUCE INGREDIENTS:

1½ c. chicken broth

3/4 c. dry white wine (omit if still in Induction)

8 mushrooms, sliced

1 oz. red bell pepper, diced

Dash black pepper

1/8 tsp. xanthan gum or favorite thickener

3 oz. Smoked Gouda cheese, shredded

5 4″-5″ zucchini (makes about 6 cups “noodles”)

DIRECTIONS: Mix all meat ingredients in a bowl using a fork or your hands. Form twenty-four 1-1½” meatballs. Heat non-stick skillet over medium heat (high will cause them to stick badly, but adjust heat as your stove requires). If your beef is very lean, oil the skillet a bit. Not necessary if meat is 20%-30% fat. Brown meatballs on all sides, handling them very gently with tongs as you turn and brown them. Remove balls to a paper plate or platter. Add mushrooms and brown just a bit over medium heat until no longer opaque. Add red bell pepper and wine to skillet and scrape free the brown bits stuck to the pan. This is what makes your gravy taste so good. Add chicken broth, dash pepper. Dust the xanthan gum over the sauce and stir to blend. Lower heat to lowest setting.

Heat a second skillet over medium heat for cooking your zucchini noodles (yes, you’ll have to juggle both skillets here. Keep an eye on the sauce, stirring a time or two as it thickens). Add just a splash of oil to coat the noodle pan. Add zoodles and stir gently to begin cooking and stir-saute just until they lose their opaqueness and begin to soften. Remove from fire for plating.

Dip up about 3/4-1 cup zoodles onto each plate. Top with a light sprinkle of Smoked Gouda shreds so it will begin melting. Place 4 meatballs on top. Spoon on about 1/6 of the sauce (1 nice cooking spoon worth) over each serving. Sprinkle with a bit more of the Gouda to garnish. Serve at once & ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 6 servings, each contains: (I only cooked 2 servings of noodles for us and we ate 2 servings. Froze the remainder of the meatballs and sauce for two future easy meals.)

451 calories, 29 g fat, 11.13 g carbs, 3.76 g fiber, 8.37 g NET CARBS, 34.3 g protein, 863 mg sodium

Jan 18 2017

Shrimp Crepes

After enjoying Paul Prudhomme’s Seafood Crepes at K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen in New Orleans (before he went up to the New York restaurant), I just had to create a low-carb version. In those days, he would be seen sitting at the back of the dining room (when he wasn’t in the kitchen) and often came over to your table to ask if you enjoyed what you ordered. 🙂

His entree had both crab and shrimp, but crab in Central Texas leaves much to be desired, so I just use shrimp for my creation. Man, do these ever come out GOOD! My hubby just loves them! These are definitely different from K-Paul’s crepes, but I think they are an equally good dish. I don’t recall any wine in his version either, but I like a little in my creamy seafood dishes, so I added a little sherry to these. You need to leave it out if you’re still in Atkins Induction phase. But they’ll still be good without it! These would not be suitable for Paleo-Primal followers.

For this creation, I used Jennifer Eloff’s latest low-carb crepe recipe, with a couple changes. That recipe is here: http://low-carb-news.blogspot.com/2013/02/ultra-low-carb-crepes-and-another-idea.html . I omitted the sweetener and vanilla for this savory application and I also added 1/8 tsp. salt. I also made my crepes earlier in the evening so those would be ready to go when it was time to prepare the dish and assemble. I just stacked the cooked crepes with plastic between each one and left on the counter. My crepe maker is 7″ in diameter (Jennifer’s is only 5″) so I only got 5 larger crepes from the recipe. Therefore, each of my unfilled crepes have slightly more calories and carbs:134 calories, 10 g fat, 7 g protein, 3.56 g carbs, .28 g fiber and 3.28 g net carbs and these numbers are reflected in the recipe per serving nutritional numbers below.

This recipe is featured in Jennifer Eloff’s low-carb cookbook series Low Carbing Among Friends (Vol. 4). The series is a collection of recipes by some of the most talented low-carb cooks on the web! Order yours here: Amazon.com or at http://amongfriends.us/order.php

INGREDIENTS:

1 recipe crepes (five 7″ crepes, made by Jennifer Eloff’s recipe, minus the sweetener and vanilla:

FILLING:

5 oz. shrimp, peeled and chopped coarsely (leave 1 or 2 whole for garnish if desired)

3 slices low-sodium, no salt added bacon, chopped

1 large shallot, sliced thin

¼ c. red bell pepper, chopped

¼ c. parsley, chopped

¼ c. white wine or sherry

¼ tsp. my Seafood Spice Blend

Dash each salt and black pepper

1 c. heavy cream

½ c. water

1/4 tsp. glucomannan powder (or use your preferred thickener)

DIRECTIONS: Make the crepes ahead by that recipe’s directions. Stack them with plastic wrap between each so they won’t stick together. When ready to prepare meal, brown the chopped bacon over high heat in a non-stick skillet. When it is browned, added the shallot and red bell pepper. Saute until they are tender. Add all the shrimp, including those left whole for garnish. Remove the 2 whole garnish shrimp and set aside for now. Add the parsley, wine (if using) and the salt and pepper to the skillet mixture. Simmer a few minutes. Lower heat to lowest setting. In a bowl, whisk the cream, water and slowly dust the glucomannan over the liquid (or whatever thickener you’re using), whisking constantly until blended. Pour the liquid into the skillet and simmer the filling a couple minutes to meld flavors. The sauce will turn slightly pink from the bell pepper. 🙂 Turn off heat and plate the crepes as follows:

ASSEMBLY: Place your serving platter by the skillet and the stack of cooked crepes close at hand. Try to visually judge in the skillet 1/5 of the filling as you have 5 crepes to fill. Using a slotted spoon, so as to get mostly just the solids, place 1/5 (about 1 cooking spoon) of the filling into one of the crepes, roll carefully and lift the filled roll onto the platter, placing seam down. Repeat for the remaining crepes, lining them in a row. The remaining sauce in the skillet will be dribbled over the crepes. If you don’t have enough sauce left to do this, add a little more cream, blend with a spoon and adjust salt if needed. Then pour the sauce down the center of the crepes on the platter and garnish with the 2 whole shrimp you browned and a sprinkle of chopped parsley if desired. I hope you enjoy these as much as we did!

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes five servings, each contains:

371.2 calories, 30.5 g fat, 7.06 g carbs, .62 g fiber, 6.44 g NET CARBS, 15.44 g protein, 287 mg sodium

Jan 17 2017

Kale-Turnip Soup

I needed to add some green to the day’s menu plan so I whipped up a batch of soup today with what I had in the fridge……..kale and 2 turnips. It was a simple soup, quick to make and very tasty! This soup is suitable for all phases of Atkins, Keto diets, Primal and Paleo as well.

INGREDIENTS:

12 oz. pork breakfast sausage

3 oz. red onion, sliced or chopped

2 c. turnip, cut into large cubes

1 medium stalk celery, sliced coarsely

1½ c. kale leaves, stemmed, coarsely cut up

6 c. homemade chicken broth

Dash each sea salt and coarse black pepper

DIRECTIONS: Coarsely crumble the sausage into a soup pot and lightly brown with the onion. There should be enough grease in the sausage to accomplish this. Add all remaining ingredients. Bring pot to a boil and lower heat, simmering just until turnip pieces are tender but not falling apart. Kale sill be fully cooked at this juncture. Serve at once.

VARIATION: Add 3 T. rice wine vinegar to the pot during simmering for a slightly different taste. Another variation would be to use ground beef instead of pork sausage. Again, a slightly different taste. 🙂

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 6 nice bowls (about 1-1¼ c. each) Each serving contains:

243 calories, 19.2 g fat, 5.75 g carbs, 1.35 g fiber, 4.40 g NET CARBS, 18.2 g protein, 495 mg sodium

Jan 12 2017

Calico Cabbage

This scrumptious cabbage creation will really surprise you. It was actually SWEET! My husband swears he does not like cabbage yet he dipped up seconds! Man, he’s a walking paradox when it comes to food. However tonight, he was a seated gobbling turkey scarfing this stuff down! After chopping the ingredients, this takes only 5-8 minutes to get it on the table for your hungry family. Can’t beat THAT! I am particularly fond of Burton’s brand of smoked sausage as it has no fillers or sugar added. My local Walmart is carrying this brand now. 🙂 What I like about it is it is light on the garlic, which I do not like in smoked sausage if they use too much. Any brand you like will do for this tasty, colorful dish.

This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins, Keto diets, Primal and Paleo as well. If you like things spicy, increase the jalapeno a bit.

INGREDIENTS:

4 c. cabbage, coarsely chopped

3 oz. onion, sliced large (I used a purple onion)

2 oz. red bell pepper, diced large

2 oz. green bell pepper, diced large

½ large jalapeno, seeded and slivered thin (more if you want any real “heat”)

12 oz. Burton’s smoked sausage, sliced (no sugar added)

Dash coarse black pepper

DIRECTIONS: Chop all your ingredients and have them ready by the stove-top. In a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat, stir-fry the sliced sausage first, just until the edges begin to brown. Add 1 T. oil if the sausage didn’t render out much grease, but that is not included below. I did not have to add any. Add the onion, red and green pepper and jalapeno too the skillet. Saute all, stirring as you cook, until onion wilts & begins to brown. Add the cabbage and just stir fry until the cabbage wilts. Sprinkle with a dash of black pepper and serve at once.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 4 servings, each contains: (not included optional olive oil)

231 calories, 15.2 g fat, 8.52 g carbs, 3.07 g fiber, 5.45 g NET CARBS, 18.12 g protein, 784 mg sodium

Jan 11 2017

Grilled Chicken & Spinach Pizza

This pizza was absolutely delicious. I call it my white pizza. It’s so different from classic red-sauced pizzas. I’ll definitely add more spinach next time as it was so good on this pizza. I used ½ cup on this one but will use 3/4 c. next time and have calculated for that below. The red onion is key to the flavor so wait until you can get a red one for this recipe. They have a sweeter, fruitier taste than other onions.

This recipe is not suitable for Atkins Induction but will be OK for all other phases. The carb count is certainly low enough for most Keto diets.

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:

1 recipe my Gluten-Free Pizza Crust

1½ c. grilled chicken meat, chopped (skin on)

3/4 c. (3 oz) shredded Monterrey Jack Cheese

3/4 c. (3 oz) shredded Mozzarella Cheese

3/4 c. baby spinach leaves

¼ tsp. dried oregano leaves, crushed (or 1 tsp. fresh, chopped)

Pinch garlic powder (optional)

1 oz. red onion, slivered as thinly as possible

2 oz. heavy cream

2 T. Parmesan cheese (kind in green canister is fine)

Pinch (about 1/16 tsp.) glucomannan powder (to thicken Alfredo sauce)

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º. Make the pizza crust by that recipe’s instructions, on a 16″ pizza pan (preferable pan with holes) lined with parchment. Remove crust from oven. Evenly spread the Jack cheese on the crust.

For your Alfredo sauce, mix the cream, Parmesan and glucomannan in a saucer and let it sit for a few minutes. Should thicken up a bit. When it appears thicker, spread it on the top disturbing the Jack cheese as little as possible. Go almost to the edges of the crust with the sauce. Next spread the Mozzarella cheese evenly on top. Sprinkle with the oregano. Sprinkle with a bit of garlic powder if you like also.

Now evenly top the pizza with spinach leaves. They may overlap if need be. Next evenly place the diced chicken meat on the pizza and the final topping will be the wafer thin onion slivers. Pop into the still hot oven and cook until the cheese appears to be melted and the onion is cooked, or about 15-20 minutes. ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 8 slices, each contains:

321 calories, 23.5 g fat, 4.0 g carbs, 1.7 g fiber, 2.3 g NET CARBS, 23 g protein, 281 g sodium

Jan 7 2017

Pork in Queso Flameado Sauce

If you’ve ever ordered Queso Flameado in a Mexican restaurant, it’s a flavor you don’t soon forget. It’s a thick melted cheese fondu with chorizo crumbled in it served with flour tortillas to roll it up in. It is considered an appetizer. It is sooo good! Traditionally, a bit of warmed brandy is poured over the fondu and the dish is lit when served (where the name “flameado” comes from), but I dispense with that step.

Well, this new dish I created a few years back, I made again last night for dinner. I used this tasty sauce over seared pork and it was simply outstanding! If you love Mexican food, you’ve GOT to try this dish! My husband just love this, as do I! This dish is suitable for all phases of Atkins and other Ketogenic diets. It is not, however, suitable for Primal/Paleo without revisions.

INGREDIENTS:

12 oz. pork loin, cut into 4 portions

1 link chorizo, removed from the skin and crumbled

2 T. unsalted butter

4 large green onions, chopped

1/2 c. red bell pepper, chopped

1 c. cilantro, chopped

1/2 c. heavy cream

1/2 c. water

6 oz. Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded (or more, if you can afford the extra carbs)

VARIATION: Use boneless chicken breast in lieu of the pork

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º. Pound the 4 pieces of pork with a meat tenderizer. Melt butter in large skillet over high heat. Brown pork on both sides until nearly done. Remove. Add crumbled chorizo and brown, crumbling as small as you can as it cooks. Add the green onions, bell pepper and saute until they are tender. Lower heat to medium low and add cream, water and cilantro. Simmer a couple minutes to reduce a bit. Sprinkle the cheese over the sauce and lay pork on top. Pop into preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes or until bubbly and the meat appear to be done. Serve 1/4 of the sauce over each portion of meat. This pairs nicely with mashed cauliflower or a nice guacamole salad alongside.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 4 servings, each contains:

567 calories, 45 g fat, 4.35 g carbs, 1.15 g fiber, 3.2 g NET CARBS, 36 g protein, 654 mg sodium

Jan 5 2017

Chicken Brussels Sprouts Casserole

A mere magazine photo of a creamy chicken and rice dish triggered off this idea. The dish was literally a toss-in-a-little-of-this-and-a-little-of-that creation. Sometimes those dishes come out tasting quite good, as we all know well. My husband ate seconds, which is always a good indicator, so I thought I’d share this one with you. Although quinoa is technically a seed, this recipe is not suitable until you reach the higher-carb grains rung of the Atkins carb ladder (Phase 2 OWL).

You may find this dish a bit carby for your nutrition program, but all the carbs are pretty much coming from the Brussels sprouts and quinoa. But quinoa is a super food nutritionally that I like to include in my diet once in awhile. If you are still on Induction or wish just to lower the carb count for this dish, you can omit the quinoa. 🙂 Hemp hearts are a good lower-carb substitution for the quinoa, but those are only susitable if you are out of Atkins Induction phase.

More delicious low-carb casserole 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

INGREDIENTS:

1 c. homemade chicken broth

¼ c. quinoa (substitute hemp hearts for much lower carb count)

10 oz. chicken breast, deboned, skin removed, cut in small pieces

4 slices bacon, chopped

2 T. butter

1 c. celery, chopped

2½ oz. onion, chopped

1/2 recipe Jennifer Eloff’s low-carb Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup

¼ c. heavy cream

Dash each salt and black pepper

3 oz. Smoked Gouda cheese, shredded (or cheese of your choice)

5 oz. frozen Brussels sprouts, cut into quarters lengthwise (do not precook)

VARIATION: Substitute some of that leftover Holiday turkey you froze for the chicken. 🙂

DIRECTIONS: Preheat the oven to 350º. First, prepare the mushroom soup, set ½ the mixture into a medium bowl for inclusion in this recipe. Store the remaining soup in the refrigerator for another use. Bring chicken broth to a boil in a medium saucepan, add the quinoa and simmer covered for about 5-10 minutes while you prepare the other ingredients. In a large skillet, fry the bacon until done. Add the butter, celery, onion, salt and pepper and saute until the vegetables are getting tender. Add the pieces of chicken next and saute until no longer pink. Lower the heat and add the soup mix and cream. Stir well. Next add the shredded Gouda and Brussels sprouts. Turn off heat and stir gently. Add in the quinoa and remaining broth (or steamed cauliflower if substituting). Toss the mixture well with a spoon. Pop into a preheated 350º oven and bake for 30-40 minutes or until hot and bubbly. Serve at once.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 4 servings, each contains:

468 calories, 33 g fat, 15.27 g carbs, 2.9 g fiber, 12.37 g NET CARBS, 25.8 g protein, 880 mg sodium

Dec 29 2016

Turkey Poblano “Chalupas”

Trying to think of ways to use up some left-over holiday turkey? This one got TWO thumbs up from my husband as well as myself! It was amazingly simple and was ready in well under an hour total. The example pictured has ¼ c. Eden Black Soy beans added, because my husband really wanted beans in his. And if you’re to the legumes rung of the OWL ladder, GO FOR IT! This recipe is only Induction friendly if you don’t use any beans in it. But I tell ya, I didn’t mind not having them in mine at all.

INGREDIENTS:

2 large poblano peppers, seeded (6-6½” long, 3.5 oz. each after stemming)

1 T. olive oil

8 oz. cooked, turkey breast meat

2 oz. onion, chopped or slivered

4 slices American cheese

4 oz. Cheddar cheese, grated

¼ tsp. ground cumin

½ tsp. chili powder

¼ c. cilantro, chopped

OPTIONAL: Soy black beans, drained and mashed (3-4 T. per pepper half)

DIRECTIONS: Preheat oven to 350º. Cut up turkey meat and set aside. Cut peppers in half lengthwise, removing any ribs with their seeds. Over med-high heat, in non-stick skillet heat the olive oil and sear the pepper halves on both sides, pressing them down with a spatula. This takes any “hotness” out of them. If you prefer, you can roast them in the oven, but these days, in Texas triple digit heat, I don’t like to keep the oven on that long. Remove peppers to a large oiled baking pan cut side up and set aside for now. In the same skillet you seared the peppers in, add the onion and saute until nearly tender. Add turkey meat, cumin, chili powder and cilantro. Saute 1-2 more minutes, stirring several times. Lower heat and lay the 4 slices of American cheese on top and stir in into the turkey until it melts and turn off heat. If using the soy black beans, spoon ¼ c. evenly onto each pepper half first. Next, spoon ¼ of the turkey mixture evenly on top. Sprinkle the tops with the grated cheddar. Pop into a preheated 350º oven for 15-20 minutes, just long enough to melt the Cheddar cheese. This was delicious with a small guacamole salad on the side.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 4 servings, each contains: (without mashed soy beans)

357 calories, 23.85 g fat, 6.53 g carbs, 1.13 g fiber, 5.4 g NET CARBS, 28.8 g protein, 651 mg sodium

Dec 24 2016

Steamed Lobster Tails

One of life’s culinary pleasures is lobster, in my opinion. Only thing that comes close is a cooked-to-perfection char-broiled ribeye steak. We love to prepare lobster at Christmas or New Years, as by then, we’re usually pretty “turkey’ed out”. My parsley-cilantro salad dressing https://buttoni.wordpress.com/2011/08/09/parsley-cilantro-salad-dressing/ really compliments lobster nicely. The lobster I can get locally is usually brought in from the Bahamas. Tastes a little sweeter than cold water lobster from New England, in my opinion. This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins, Keto diets, Paleo-Primal as well.

INGREDIENTS:

1.25 lb. lobster tails (yields about 12 oz. tail meat after removing shell)

Water to boil

½ stick salted butter, melted and clarified (butter fat solids scooped off the top)

DIRECTIONS: Put about 1½ cups water in a deep boiling pot and bring to a boil. Run two skewers from the base of the tail up the center of the belly, all the way up to the center of the thickest part. This will keep the tail from curling so tight while cooking. When the water comes to a rolling boil, insert skewered lobster tail up in the pot. I usually lean the skewers out the top. Set a lid on the pot slightly offset to reduce water evaporation, but it really doesn’t have to be 100% closed. Lower to medium heat and let steam for 7-10 minutes. Turn off heat, remove skewers and holding shell with one hand, with the help of a kitchen towel or mitt, cut with kitchen shears straight up the belly shell from top to base of tail. Pull sides of tail shell apart and fork out the tail meat (I like to leave the tail fins attached and in tact) right out of the shell. Splay the tail fins out when serving lobster meat on plates or platter. Makes for a pretty presentation with the tail fins attached! Serve along a nice green salad and perhaps my Rosemary Onion Dinner Rolls: https://buttoni.wordpress.com/2011/05/31/rosemary-onion-dinner-rolls/

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 2 servings and each contains (including ¼c. of the butter):

367 calories, 23.9 g fat, 2.2 g carbs, 0 g fiber, 2.2 g NET CARBS, 34.8 g protein, 1350 mg sodium

Dec 18 2016

Dad’s Peppered Rib Roast

This recipe was my Dad’s pride and joy. In 80 years of cooking he never found a marinade he liked better. I often make this truly out-of-the-ordinary roast for company and holidays, but we do it on smaller cuts of beef year-round! It’s DELICIOUS! You grilling fanatics MUST try this recipe sometime! This is truly my all-time favorite beef marinade as well and has been since I was in high school over 40 years ago. I will be making it again for Christmas. We are usually turkey’ed out by Christmas and enjoy this change of pace. This recipe makes enough marinade for an 8 lb. boneless rib roast, which will (after shrinkage) serve 10 nice servings, with some leftover for the most delicious cold roast beef sandwiches you ever had. I do not recommend reheating this meat, as the meat and marinade loose some of their impact on reheating. But it makes the best cold roast beef sandwiches you ever ate! 🙂

In the beginning, I only made this roast for large dinner parties and holidays, not because it was hard to make, but because that’s when I tend to purchase, cook and serve rib roasts. But once I realized this marinade could just as easily be used on smaller cuts of beef, we enjoy it much more often now. I have done it for a 3-4 lb. rib roast, lean piece of boneless chuck, sirloin roasts and individual steaks. It’s also good on wild game you plan to do on the grill. It’s a truly unique flavor when cooked over charcoal (not so good oven-cooked though). It is Atkins friendly (just not Induction friendly, because of the wine). Leaving out the wine just isn’t an option for this recipe, so wait until the Atkins OWL (Ongoing Weight Loss) phase to enjoy this wonderful dish. I guarantee, this is so good you’ll be fighting over who gets the two end slices, just like at my house. 🙂

Many more delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own set of Jennifer Eloff and friends’ latest cookbooks LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS. She has collaborated with famous low-carb Chef George Stella and several other talented chefs to bring you a myriad of delicious recipes you are going to want in your collection. Order your set of cookbooks (also available individually) TODAY from Amazon or here: http://amongfriends.us/order.php

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

1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. paprika

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

1/2 c. dry red wine (burgundy or claret work nicely but any dry red will do)

1 T. tomato paste

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

DIRECTIONS: Pound the coarse ground black pepper over all surfaces of an 8 rib roast using the butt of your palm or the smooth side of a meat cleaver. Use less pepper if doing a smaller piece of meat. Place meat in glass dish. I drizzle marinate every half hour (as often as you can remember to stop and do it) most of a day (minimum 6 hours). Most efficient way to marinate without disturbing pepper coating is to use a basting brush. Do not touch the meat with your brush, or you’ll wipe all the pepper off! Hold it over the meat and let it drip off the brush. When surface is soaked, put in refrigerator to marinate between “bastings”. I baste hourly until cooking time.

COOKING:

This recipe really is not good cooked inside in your oven. Not sure why, but it just isn’t. It seems it is the marriage of the marinade with smoke that makes this taste indescribable. You need to grill the 8 lb. rib roast for about 2 hours over medium coals (using a rotary spit if you own one). If you don’t have one, like me, just turn the meat every half hour to sear all surfaces nicely. Best if not cooked past medium to medium rare stage. I take mine off when my meat thermometer reads 120º degrees and set it on my cutting board for another 10 minutes to “rest”. A piece of meat this large will continue to climb to around 130º while resting. That’s usually a nice pink medium-rare inside.

If doing sirloin or chuck roast or individual rib steaks with this recipe, cook a 3-4 lb. chuck about 20 minutes on a side for medium-rare. This marinade really does a nice job of tenderizing a chuck or sirloin roast. Cook steaks as you usually would to your desired doneness.

This recipe always gets the WOWS when I serve it. Hope you folks will try it! I think you’ll find you won’t be sorry you did! The outside slices are so good we always fight over them at home. 🙂

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION:

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

The entire batch of marinade has:

131 calories, 0.7 g. fat, 18 g. carbs, 4.6 g. fiber, 15.4 NET CARBS (entire batch), 5.5 g. protein,

1070 mg. sodium

Dec 16 2016

Roasted Lemon-Garlic Duck

I just love duck! I often cook it during the holidays. Here’s my newest recipe for preparing it that is delicious! Although duck is very nice cooked on the grill outside, it is also good just roasted in the oven. But no matter which way you choose to cook it, it will likely be very tasty. Duck is traditionally eaten slightly pink, but you can cook it longer if you prefer. This VERY nutritious recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins (use broth if still on Atkins Induction) and is suitable for Paleo-Primal followers if broth is used rather than wine.

INGREDIENTS:

1 c. white wine (use chicken broth if still on Induction)

4 T. my Lemon-Parsley-Garlic Butter

3 cloves garlic, minced

Dash each: salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder

1 whole 5-lb duck, neck and giblets removed for other use

DIRECTIONS: Remove neck and giblets from duck and save for other uses. My dog usually gets the giblets and neck meat I simmer until tender, but the neck will make great stock for soup if you want to add it to the carcass bones after dinner in a pot of water with chopped onion and carrot. Duck stock makes delicious soup!

Butterfly (spatchcock) the duck by cutting up the backbone and spreading it out in a marinating dish. Add wine (or broth), minced garlic and other spices. Marinate covered in plastic on your refrigerator shelf for 2-4 hours, turning and basting 1-2 times during this period with a basting brush.

VARIATION: Cook the marinated duck on a grill like you would grill chicken.

You’ll need to allow about 1½-2 hours to oven roast a 5# duck to internal temperature of 180º. Duck is traditionally served a wee bit pink. When ready to cook, preheat oven to 375º. Remove duck from refrigerator and lift out of the marinating dish. Pour marinade off into a small saucepan. Add compound butter and simmer for 5 minutes or so to allow raw duck juices to fully cook. Place duck skin side up in a large baking pan, baste with marinade and pop in hot oven. Using a basting brush, baste duck with marinade and pan juices every half hour. At 1 hour cooking, remove duck and cover wing tips and leg tips with small pieces of foil so they will not over brown/burn. Pop pan back into oven, lower oven to 350º and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour longer (ovens will vary), or until a meat thermometer reads 180º at center thigh and center breast. Serve at once with your favorite sides for fowl. I served mine with steamed broccoli and broiled tomatoes. If I had char-grilled the duck, as originally planned, I was going to grill some fresh pineapple slices to go with it. Mmmm. How I DOOOOOOOO love grilled pineapple! 🙂

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 4 servings, each contains:

791 calories, 65.3 g fat (duck is much fattier than chicken), 2.4 g carbs, 0.2 g fiber, 2.20 g NET CARBS, 36.4 g protein, 485 mg sodium

Dec 13 2016

Southern Fried Chicken

My husband asked me to make “real” skillet-fried chicken for dinner recently, so I caved and gave it a try. Haven’t been pleased with any of the low-carb fried chicken recipes I’ve tried to date, so I decided to put on my experimenting hat.

I honestly wasn’t sure what to coat it with, but remembered reading a recipe somewhere on the web for a coating that used whey protein powder, so I decided that would be my foundation ingredient. To that I added crushed pork rinds for crunch and a touch of oat fiber for a flour-y taste. BINGO! The resulting coating was the closest to my old high-carb flour coated chicken I was astounded! Although I didn’t make any cream gravy with the browned skillet bits, I tasted them and they would have made an excellent batch of gravy had I been in a mood for some gravy.

I’m so pleased with this recipe!! Great flavor! Crispy! Until you try this one, you just won’t believe it tastes just like flour coated chicken! A winner!!! And it’s great leftover, cold, right out of the fridge!! Hubby said this was the best low-carb fried chicken I have cooked in my 5 years of low-carbing! My heretofore popular Oven-Fried Chicken, although very good, is just not the same as classic Southern Fried Chicken, ya know? Not like my Granny made, at least. This new recipe is almost exactly like my Granny’s chicken!

In order for this to be suitable for Atkins Induction, you’ll need to omit the oat fiber. As I can’t know how you cut up your chicken, or what size pieces you tend to eat, I can’t really provide nutritional stats for the entire final meat dish. Instead, I am providing nutritional info for 1/10 of the coating, as it was just enough to coat 10 pieces of chicken: 2 legs, 2 thighs, 2 wings and 4 pieces of breast as I cut them into halves to speed cooking time.

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INGREDIENTS:

3/4 c. plain whey protein

1 c. crushed pork rinds (about 2 oz.)

1 T. oat fiber (omit if on Induction or for gluten-free version)

1 tsp. my Seafood Spice blend (or seasonings of your choice)

½ tsp. onion powder

½ c. Parmesan cheese

1/8 tsp. coarse black pepper

2 large eggs

¼ c. heavy cream

¼ c. water

½-3/4″ deep hot oil (I used palm shortening) in a large 13-14″ skillet

DIRECTIONS: Measure out and mix all dry ingredients in a paper bag by shaking well. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, cream and water together. Toss in the pieces of cut up chicken into the egg wash and turn several times to well coat each piece. Pick each piece of meat out of the bowl and drop into the bag of seasoned “flour” and when you have 3 pieces in the bag, holding the top closed, shake the bag to coat the chicken. Don’t put more than 3 pieces into the bag at a time or they will not coat well.

Heat 3/4″ deep oil over high heat. Place the pieces closely together. If you’re creative, you can get an entire chicken in a 14″ skillet. Lower heat to medium-high so larger pieces don’t over-brown before done. Repeat the coating process with the remaining pieces of chicken. I was only able to fry 8 pieces of chicken in my largest skillet at a time, so I saved the wings for last as I knew they would cook quite fast. Brown the chicken well on one side disturbing as little as possible. Turn pieces of chicken over carefully to brown the second side. When brown and done (about 30 minutes) remove to paper toweling to drain. Finish cooking the remaining pieces if you were unable to get them all in your skillet. Serve at once with your favorite sides. I served mine with steamed cauliflower I topped with cheese and chives.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes enough coating for 10 pieces of chicken. Numbers are for the coating only. Be sure to add in the info for the chicken piece(s) you eat! 1/10 batch of the coating contains:

113.4 calories, 7.26 g fat, 1.72 g carbs, .53 g fiber, 1.19 g NET CARBS, 12.8 g protein, 209 mg sodium

Dec 12 2016

Crawfish Dumpling Stew

WOW! I found a fantastic way to shake up my glucomannan dumplings! This is 5-star restaurant tasty as far as I’m concerned. Not many recipes strike me that way, either. It was every bit as good as the lobster ravioli served to my at Gershwin’s in Dallas, that’s for sure! My husband and I were absolutely astounded at how good this idea I hatched recently came out. I hesitated to actually make it for the longest time, as I was afraid putting that much bulk into the dumpling batter would make them just totally fall apart in the simmering water. As you can see in the pic, that just didn’t happen! What potential I now see for other recipes with this dumpling batter. 🙂

This recipe will be a keeper for sure! For those still on Atkins Induction, omit the wine and substitute 1/2 c. seafood stock or chicken stock in your sauce. This recipe is suitable for Atkins OWL Phase 2 or beyond and Keto diets as well if it fits your daily carb limits. You’d have to make the sauce with coconut milk for it to pass Primal-Paleo muster, but that’s doable. By the way, these freeze beautifully and tasted even better than the first night they were made! 🙂 I was only able to eat two dumplings (they are very filling) so my number of servings below reflects that fact.

VARIATIONS: Substitute either crab meat or shrimp for the crawfish. These made smaller would also be lovely in a simple wonton-style soup, standing in for the meat-filled wontons. 🙂

DUMPLING INGREDIENTS:

6 oz. cooked, cleaned crawfish tail meat (the rest of the 12-oz. package goes in the sauce)

4 T. butter, unsalted

2 oz. celery, chopped

2 oz. green bell pepper, chopped

2 oz. yellow onion, chopped

½ c. green onion, chopped

1/3 c. parsley, chopped (3 more T. needed for the sauce, so go on and chop 1/2 c. total 😉 )

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp. my Seafood Spice Blend

2 recipes my glucomannan Dumplings batter

SAUCE INGREDIENTS:

4 T. unsalted butter, melted

6 oz. remaining crawfish

½ c. white wine (omit for Induction)

1 T. lemon juice

3 T. parsley, chopped

½ c. heavy cream

½ c. water

1 small clove garlic, minced

Dash each salt and black pepper

DIRECTIONS: Chop all the vegetables up. Melt 4 T. butter over high heat and add the celery, bell pepper, onion and minced garlic. Saute until they are tender. Add 6 oz. of the crawfish, the parsley, and seafood spice mix. Lower heat and let simmer 2-3 minutes for flavors to blend. Turn off heat.

Bring a large stew pot of water to a boil. While it is heating, make up a double recipe of my glucomannan dumpling batter and add the veggie crawfish mixture to the egg/water mixture and stir well. Stir the dry ingredients in and mix with a rubber spatula until it begins to thicken up. Keep turning the dough until it is stiff enough to roll. Roll 24 1″ dumpling in your palms and set on a sheet of silicone (best) or a baking sheet. When all 24 are formed, your water should be at a rolling boil. Drop all 24 dumplings gently into the water. This will cool the water down a bit. You want a medium gentle rolling water bath. Cover and cook for exactly 10 minutes without lifting the lid.

Make the sauce while the dumplings are cooking. Melt 4 T. butter over medium heat in a skillet. Add the remaining 6 oz. crawfish, garlic, wine, lemon juice parsley and simmer long enough to cook the garlic well. Add the cream and salt and pepper to taste.

When dumplings have cooked 10 minutes, lift lid and using a slotted spoon or tongs, gently lift onto a serving platter and spoon the sauce around them. I served with steamed, buttered broccoli, but they would be good with a nice green salad and low-carb dinner rolls.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 6 servings of 4 dumplings each and ¼ c. sauce. Each contains:

258 calories, 20.4 g fat, 10.55 g carbs, 5.96 g fiber, 4.59 g NET CARBS, 13.25 g protein, 481 g sodium

Dec 11 2016

“Tortilla” Soup

Tortilla Soup is one of my favorites at Mexican restaurants, but they are not all created equal, I’ve learned.

My very first exposure to Tortilla soup was at a little place in San Antonio called El Mirador. My Dad and Mom kept bringing up how fantastic this soup was and we finally went to try it. What a flavor delight! It was every bit as good as my parents had advertised! Let me tell you, I’ve had it many places since and none shine a light to El Mirador’s rendering of it. 🙂 I know the restaurant is still there and assume they are still offering this wonderful soup, but it looks like at their website linked above, they have changed the name of the soup to Chicken Cilantro Soup. I’m sure it’s the same soup though. You San Antonio dwellers who were unaware of this culinary treat need to get on over to El Mirado and try it if you haven’t yet! The rest of you might want to try my version of it.

I’ve tried to recreate that wonderful soup ever since I tasted it! And I got pretty close, but not quite as good as theirs. This low-carb version of my creation, without the little strips of tortillas usually found in tortilla soup, is VERY good. If the base soup is good enough, you really don’t need the tortilla strips in this soup. I hope you’ll give it a try, as it is simply DELICIOUS! This recipe is Induction friendly and also suitable for Keto and Primal lifestyles. Paleo followers will want to omit the cream or sub in coconut milk.

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INGREDIENTS:

13 oz. cooked chicken meat (canned is OK if just meat, salt and water)

1 qt. water + 2 c. chicken broth

1 oz. tomato paste

1 c. yellow squash, diced (about ½ med-large squash)

2 oz. yellow onion

2 oz. green bell pepper

1 oz. poblano pepper, seeded and chopped

1/2 tsp. chili powder

dash chipotle chile powder (smoky)

1 small Guajillo chile, seeded and chopped (these are very mild and found in most stores’ produce dept. dried, sold in a bag)

Dash cumin

1/4 c. heavy cream

DIRECTIONS: Cut chicken meat up into small pieces. If using canned meat, just break up the large chunks. Put all ingredients but the cream into soup pot. Bring to a boil and then lower heat and simmer until squash and all veggies are tender but not falling apart (about 15-20 minutes). Turn heat to lowest setting. Now add cream and stir. If you like, you can puree this soup with a stick blender or in small batches in your food processor. I think I like it better chunky myself. That’s how El Mirador served theirs as well. I’ve done it both ways though.

VARIATION: Cut 1 corn tortilla into thin strips, bake at 350º until golden and garnish each bowl of soup right before serving. Be sure to recalculate numbers below to add for this “carb-y” change.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION: Serves 4, each serving contains:

283 calories, 15.1 g. fat, 6.95 g. carbs, 1.6 g. fiber, 5.35 NET CARBS, 26.3 g. protein, 780 mg sodium

Dec 8 2016

Kielbasa with Cabbage & Kale

Having made keilbasa and cabbage many a time I don’t know WHY it has never occurred to me before now to throw in a little kale into the dish. Today for lunch, I did so and was it ever good! Even my husband wolfed this down and he’s not a fan of either cabbage or kale! So it sounds like a keeper to ME. 🙂 The onion brings a slightly sweet edge to the cabbage and kale, which is quite nice.

I used Kolbasa brand of sausage (newly discovered at HEB stores in Texas). I always like a brand that has much less garlic than most. Many companies just get way too much garlic in their smoked sausage. This hearty, delicious dish is suitable for all phases of Atkins, other Keto diets and Primal-Paleo as well.

INGREDIENTS:

2 T. bacon grease

4 links your favorite smoked sausage, sliced ¼”

3 c. chopped green cabbage

2 c. chopped kale (larger stem parts removed)

2 oz. slivered sweet yellow onion

¼ tsp. coarse black pepper

VARIATION: Add a splash of your favorite vinegar to the skillet for the last few minutes of cooking for a more Polish or Czech-style of this famous dish.

DIRECTIONS: Heat bacon grease in a non-stick wok or skillet over high heat. Add sausage and stir fry until it begins to lightly brown. Add the onion and saute until starts to wilt and caramelize. Add cabbage and chopped kale, sauteing just until cabbage begins to wilt. Sprinkle with the black pepper and serve.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 4 adult servings, each 1½-cup serving contains:

266 calories, 21 g fat, 9.37 g carbs, 2.5 g fiber, 6.87 g NET CARBS, 11.1 g protein, 378 mg sodium