Asian Shrimp Patties

These tasty shrimp patties make a wonderful, quick lunch or light dinner for 2-3 people.  We both LOVE these things served with a nice green salad.  They are suitable for all phases of Atkins and other Keto diets.

INGREDIENTS FOR SHRIMP PATTIES:

8 oz. raw, peeled shrimp
1/2 tsp. Sambal Oelek chile paste
2 cloves minced garlic
1 1/2 tsp. minced shallots or green onion
juice of 1/2 lime
3/4 tsp. dried lemon grass, ground (or 1½ tsp. fresh, finely chopped)
1/4 of a Revo Roll (Cloud Bread) crumbled  (http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/improved_revolution_rolls.html) [or any other low-carb roll on hand]

INGREDIENTS FOR DIPPING SAUCE:
1 ¾ tsp. sesame oil
1/2 tsp. peanut butter
2 tsp. rice vinegar
1/2 tsp. grated ginger
2 cloves minced garlic
1/4 tsp. chili paste or Sriracha sauce
1 tsp. Splenda or equivalent sweetener of your choice
1 T. low sodium soy sauce

Pulse all shrimp pattie ingredients in blender or food processor until well blended. Shape into 6 small patties and brown in a lightly oiled skillet over medium-high heat. You’ll know when they are done as they become visibly opaque when properly cooked.  This recipe is technically not suitable until OWL due to sauce ingredients, but the patties themselves are OK for Induction and there’s so little PB and rice vinegar in the sauce, it probably won’t cause you problems.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION:  Makes 3 servings, each contains:

142 cals, 6.33g fat, 3.5g carbs, 0.92g fiber, 2.58g NET CARBS, 17.6 g protein, 178 mg. sodium

Iranian Kubideh (meat kebabs)

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

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

INGREDIENTS:

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

1 egg, beaten

¼ c. parsley

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

1 clove garlic, minced

1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon

¼ tsp. ground cumin

¼ tsp. black pepper

Optional:  ½ jalapeno, seeded and minced fine

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

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

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 4 kubideh, each contains:

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

Smoked Chicken-Broccoli Casserole

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

INGREDIENTS:

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

1 stalk broccoli, stem removed, cut into small flowerets

2 T. butter, unsalted

2 oz. onion, slivered thinly

6 large mushrooms, sliced

8 oz. cream cheese

2/3 c. heavy cream

¼ c. hemp hearts (optional)

1 c. shredded Parmesan cheese

Dash coarse black pepper

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

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 4 servings each containing:

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

 

 

Chicken Chile Relleno Casserole

It’s what’s for dinner tonight.   We just love chiles rellenos, but I don’t like all the fuss of actually stuffing them.  So I just make the dish up in a layered casserole that comes out delicious every time!  Tastes exactly the same, but it’s much less trouble to put together.   This Atkins Induction friendly recipe has over a millions Facebook fans.  Primal diners who eat cheese can also enjoy this dish, though it is not suitable for Paleo followers.

INGREDIENTS: 

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

12 oz. skinless, boneless chicken breasts, chopped into bite-size pieces

2 T. olive oil

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

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 oil in non-stick skillet.  Saute onion until tender.  Add chicken and saute until meat is no longer pink.  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 use one larger casserole dish if you prefer).  Top the peppers in each serving dish with 1 spoon of the chicken filling.  Spread 1/3 of the cheese over the chicken filling in each dish. Place the remaining chicken filling evenly in the dish(es).  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).

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 3 servings, each contains:

547 cals, 35g fat, 07.7g carbs, 2.23g fiber, 5.47g NET CARBS, 47.7g protein, 1194 mg sodium

London Broil

When you want to tenderize a tougher cut of meat, like flank steak or London Broil, you have to marinate it to loosen up those meat fibers a bit.  This is one of my favorite steak marinades to use on London Broil.  If you can’t get flank or London Broil, use a piece of lean chuck roast. The flavor on the outer crust of meat is just divine.  The longer you marinate the meat, the more tender the meat will get.  Marinating all day long is preferred, but a minimum of 4-5 hours is a must lest you end up with a very tough, difficult to chew experience.  My husband cooked ours tonight a bit too long (medium) for our personal taste, as we prefer medium rare, but it was still quite tasty and still fairly tender.  This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins beyond Induction.  If you are still on induction, sub in some beef broth for the red wine.

INGREDIENTS:

3 lb. piece of London Broil or flank steak

½ clove garlic, minced

1½ tsp. tomato paste

½ c. red wine (or beef broth if still on Induction)

¼ c. low sodium soy sauce

2 T. balsamic  vinegar

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

DIRECTIONS:  Coat the meat with the black pepper and set in a glass or plastic marinating pan.  Add the remaining ingredients, stirring in the tomato paste well until it is evenly distributed in the liquid.  Using a basting brush, drizzle the marinade over the meat and place marinating pan in the refrigerator.  Marinate for at least 4 hours to all day long, drizzling over the meat carefully hourly.  Turn the meat once or twice while marinating.

When ready to cook, prepare a hot charcoal fire.  Lift meat out of marinating pan and discard the marinade.  Place meat directly over the hot coals and grill for about 8-10 minutes on a side or until it reaches your desired stage (around 8 minutes per side for medium rare; around 10 for medium as shown).  These two cuts of meat are really too tough to cook them well done.  Just being honest.  Serve with a nice salad or your favorite green side dish.  This is delicious with compound butter, if you have a favorite recipe.  Here’s the one I used tonight:  Garlic Herb Butter.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  As the marinade is discarded, a firm count per serving is difficult to arrive at.  No more than 1 T. is consumed on the meat surfaces, if THAT much.  1 T. marinade contains around 1.27 net carbs, so that is what is added to the serving below.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Serves 6-7 people nicely (maybe 8), so each serving of meat with 1 T. marinade contains around:

297 calories, 12g fat, 1.3 carbs, 0 fiber, 0 NET CARBS, 44 g protein, 101 mg sodium

Sour Cream Grilling Bread (low carb)

Nothing like a delicious grilled cheese sandwich!

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

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

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

INGREDIENTS:

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

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

2 T. sour cream

1 egg, beaten

½ tsp. baking powder

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

Pinch salt

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

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

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

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

Momma’s Baked Chicken

This was the baked chicken I was raised on.  Throughout my childhood, I disliked intensely the taste of vinegar.  Wouldn’t eat pickles, wouldn’t eat pickled vegetables, wouldn’t eat salads or even condiments that contained vinegar.  But man, when my mom made this baked chicken, I just could not believe I watched her douse it with such an “evil” ingredient  and LIKED IT!!!  The natural red grape sugar in the red wine vinegar caramelizes under high heat and gives the chicken skin such a sweet, tangy taste.  The pan juices make a lovely gravy/baste for the drier breast meat.   Fortunately, my taste has changed over the years and I will now consume vinegar without hesitation, provided the food isn’t drowning in vinegar.  🙂

This recipe can be used on a split/butterflied/spatchcocked chicken as pictured, or you and cut the chicken up into pieces.  This method is delicious on Rock Cornish Hens, too.  It is also excellent for BBQ’ing of the chicken, and even for BBQ pork.  This recipe is perfectly suited to all phases of Atkins, Keto diets, Primal and Paleo as well.

SAUCE INGREDIENTS:

6 T.  melted butter

3 T. red wine vinegar

1/4 tsp. salt (omit if using salted butter)

1/4 tsp. coarse black pepper

THAT’S IT!!

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 400º.  Place butter in baking pan (I use a metal pan) as the oven is heating up.  Remove pan and add red wine vinegar to the butter, as well as the salt and pepper.  Prepare the chicken.  You can either split the chicken up the back with kitchen shears and spread it out as shown above, or cut the bird up into quarters or single pieces.  Using a brush, baste the pieces of chicken all over.  Sprinkle lightly with the salt and pepper and pop into hot oven for about an hour (less time for smaller birds, a little more for the butterflied bird shown) or until golden brown and reaches internal temp of 170º at the joint where the thigh meets the torso and in the thickest part of the breast.  I like to baste the chicken once or twice during cooking for the tastiest result on the skin.  I’m a skin fan, so that’s real important to me.  My husband just rips it off and hands it to me.  That works out just great, huh?  🙂 Remove from oven and serve at once with your favorite sides.  Be sure to put a spoon or brush into the pan for diners to baste their meat with the buttery juices if they wish (or pour the juices into a gravy boat).

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  These numbers are for the baste/sauce only.  You will have to add in the values for whatever pieces of chicken you eat.  Makes enough for 10 pieces of chicken (1 whole l cut-up chicken).  Each portion of the sauce, assuming you even eat that much of the sauce, has:

62 calories, 6.9 g fat, 0.02 g carbs,  0.00 g fiber, .02 g NET CARBS, 0.13 g protein (add in your piece of chicken)

Pork Chops in Mushroom-Tomato Cream

I love to sear off meats and then create a lovely sauce from de-glazing the pan of the tasty brown bits and adding a little of this and that for a delicious sauce to add moisture to a meat that I find somewhat dry typically.  This delicious dish pulls together in about 30 minutes.  I serve this with a side of seasoned French frozen green beans, but a salad is also nice with these.  This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins, Keto diets, Primal and even Paleo if you sub in coconut milk for the cream.

VARIATIONS:   Substitute 2 boneless, butterflied chicken breasts for the pork.  Add 1/4 c. white or rose wine of your choice, simmering off the alcohol at least 4-5 minutes.  Just discovered a few weeks later that 4 oz. of either lean chopped cured ham or bacon, pre-browned added is quite good in this recipe.  Chop pork before browning and serve this dish over zucchini noodles for a totally different taste.

With optional cured ham added, served on “zoodles”

INGREDIENTS:

2   6-oz bone-in center-cut pork chops or 10 oz. boneless pork loin (yield two 5-oz. portions)

3 tsp. bacon grease for frying

¼ tsp. lemon pepper (I use Victoria Gourmet No-Salt Lemon Pepper)

½ c. water (or pork or chicken broth)

¼ c. heavy cream

1/3 c. chopped parsley

1 6-oz can sliced mushrooms, with their juice

10 cherry or San Marzano tiny tomatoes, cut in halves

Dash sea salt

1/8 tsp. coarse black pepper

1 clove garlic, minced (optional)

DIRECTIONS:  Heat the bacon grease in a skillet over high heat.  Coat the surfaces of the chops with the lemon pepper.  Sear them in the hot skillet until golden and completely done.  Lift them out onto a plate briefly.  Or you can remove the bone and chop the pork if you prefer and then sear the pieces.  I often do that if I plan to serve this on zucchini noodles. Add the water or broth to the skillet and with a rubber spatula, de-glaze the tasty brown bits stuck to the pan.  Add the cream, parsley, mushrooms with juice, salt and black pepper.  Simmer a few minutes to allow the cream sauce to thicken slightly on its own.  Add the tomatoes and simmer just until they begin to soften.  If sauce is still not thick enough for your preference, dust the smallest amount of xanthan gum lightly over the top, whisk constantly and allow time to thicken before repeating.  Place chops back in the pan and simmer just a couple minutes more.  Serve at once.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:    Makes two 5-oz. servings (adjust for more people).  Each serving contains:

448 calories, 28 g fat, 6.85 g carbs, 2.30 g fiber, 4.55 g NET CARBS, 40.99 g protein, 432 mg sodium

Chicken in Sofrito Cream

This quick dish is absolutely delicious and so incredibly easy to make!  I keep the Sofrito Sauce made up in my freezer in a plastic zip bag and just break off what I need for a recipe.  Once the chicken is seared, this takes only 8-10 minutes to simmer down to delectable deliciousness.  This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins and Keto diets.  Primal followers can enjoy if you do dairy but Paleo folks will want to use coconut milk instead of cream.

INGREDIENTS:

1 large chicken breast, skin on (1o oz. of deboned meat)

1½ T. butter

1 c. homemade chicken stock

½ c. heavy cream (use 2 T. less if still on Induction)

Sprinkle xanthan gum

2 T. Sofrito sauce

DIRECTIONS:   Melt butter in a non-stick skillet over high heat.  Slice meat at an angle laterally into 4 smaller filets.   I pounded mine, but that isn’t necessary.  Just a habit with me and chicken.  🙂   Sear the chicken in the hot butter, both sides, until golden.  Lower to medium when both sides are golden and the meat is fully done.  Add chicken stock around the meat.  Add cream and Sofrito sauce and simmer a couple minutes.  Lightly dust with xanthan (less than 1/8 tsp.).  Simmer until it slightly thickens, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and serve at once with you favorite sides or a nice salad.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:    Makes two adult servings, each contains:

590 cals, 46.3 g fat, 2.6 g carbs, 0.3 g fiber, 2.3 g NET CARBS, 37.4 g protein, 470 mg sodium

Montreal-Chipotle Pulled Pork

Occasionally my local grocer puts pork roasts on sale and I bought one recently, a picnic shoulder roast.  We didn’t feel like firing up the grill for this, so I just baked the pork roast low and slow in the oven.  Wanted falling-off-the-bone tender and that’s what we got!  I saved all the wonderful baking juices and froze them for future soup making.  Didn’t want the entire piece done as seasoned pulled pork, so I baked it just with salt, pepper and a little Homemade Montreal Seasoning on the surfaces.  Man, did this roast come out delicious!!  One of the best pork roasts I’ve ever done with this particular sauce.  Then I decided to put tonight’s dinner’s worth on the table as a seasoned pulled pork and went about making my sauce.  Mmmm.  Delicious indeed!  Next time we’ll perhaps do it on the grill, for that added smoked flavor layer.  This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins, Keto diets, Primal and Paleo (provided you use ghee for the butter).

INGREDIENTS:

1 pork roast (I used a 9# bone-in picnic shoulder roast, but a Boston butt, shank, or loin will do)

Sea Salt and black pepper

1 tsp. my Homemade Montreal Steak Seasoning

SAUCE:  6 T. melted butter, 1 tsp. red wine vinegar, 2 tsp. Homemade Montreal Steak Spice Blend, ½-1 tsp. Tobasco Chipotle Sauce® and 1/4 tsp. liquid smoke (any brand, but I use “Amish Meadow”.   Sorry, don’t remember where I ordered it from).

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 325º.  Place pork roast skin/fatty-side up in a 9×13 baking pan.  Coat all surfaces with Black pepper, 1 tsp. Montreal Spice Blend, and I use Pink Himalayan Sea Salt.  Cover pan tightly with foil.   Pop into 325º oven and bake for 30 minutes to allow it to heat to the center.  Reduce oven to 250º and continue slow baking (for an 8-9# bone-in roast) for about 5 hours. This could be done in a slow-cooker, but I’m not experienced with them, so check for a slow-cooker recipe on-line for guidelines for a 9# roast for setting and time.

Make the sauce in a small sauce pan over low heat, simmering the ingredients for 2-3 minutes only.  Remove from heat.

At the 5 hour mark, open oven, remove meat from oven and remove foil.  Slice off any thick skin and the fat layer from the top of the meat (it should almost slide right off effortlessly if meat is done properly to 160-170º internal temperature).  I freeze this for other uses and seasoning. My dog sometimes gets a bit on her dinner.  It’s very good for a dog’s coat and skin and highly digestible for dogs.

Increase oven heat to 350º and return pan uncovered to the oven.  Allow meat surfaces to slightly brown , about 30 minutes.  Remove meat from oven and cool slightly.  Shred off the meat with a fork or tongs, pulling off as much meat onto your serving platter as you think your family will consume.  Using a brush, baste the shredded meat with the warm Montreal-Chipotle butter sauce, coating it well.  Serve at once with your favorite sides or a salad.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Each 3 oz. portion of meat contains:

350 calories, 28.1 g fat, 0.90 g carbs, 0.30 g fiber, 0.60 g NET CARBS, 23 g protein, 87 mg sodium

Indian Kheema Matar

 

Shown on bed of sauteed cabbage

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

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. ground beef, lamb or goat

1 T. olive or coconut oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 clove minced garlic

½ tsp. minced ginger

¼ tsp. cayenne pepper

½ tsp. turmeric

1 tsp. ground coriander

¼ tsp. salt

2 plum tomatoes, finely chopped

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

1 carrot, cut into small dice

2 T. chopped cilantro

2 T. chopped fresh mint (I use spearmint)

½ jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped

1½ tsp. my Garam Masala

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

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

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

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

Crawfish al Pesto on Eggplant “Pillows”

This recipe grew out of a delicious spaghetti squash alfredo dish I created some time back.  At first I had my doubts on  crawfish for this, but it came out DELICIOUS!  I made a batch of my Oven-Fried Fish coating and baked off the eggplant first, as you would for classic Eggplant Parmigiana.  The crunchy coating on the eggplant very quickly loses its crunchiness, so serve this quickly and don’t hold it over for any reason.  This sinfully rich dish was so good I will definitely be doing this again!  It freezes nicely, too, getting even tastier upon re-baking!  The eggplant will lose that crunchiness from freezing, but the dish still tastes fantastic when reheated.

This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins and Keto, and for Primal folks that consume occasional dairy products.  This would not be suitable for Paleo followers.

INGREDIENTS:

12 oz. eggplant, sliced into eight ½” slices

3 oz. plain pork rinds, crushed fine

6 T. homemade mayonnaise

Dash salt

4 T. butter

1 large leek, ends trimmed off, washed well, sliced or chopped into small pieces (about 1½ cups)

¼ recipe Jennifer Eloff’s Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup

¼ c. Parmesan cheese, grated

1½ T. homemade pesto sauce (or commercial)

8 oz. frozen crawfish tail meat, defrosted (or shrimp)

½ c. heavy cream

½ c. water

1 c. grated mozzarella cheese

2 T. chopped parsley for garnish (optional)

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 450º.  Lightly oil a baking sheet.  Cut the eggplant into ½” slices.  Baste all surfaces with the mayonnaise using a brush.  Spoon crushed pork rinds over each slice, coating well.  Place the coated slices on the oiled pan and pop into oven, baking at 450º for 20 minutes.

While the eggplant bakes, prepare the topping.  Melt the butter in a large skillet.  Add leeks and saute until tender. Lower heat to medium.  Add the mushroom soup, the Parmesan, crawfish meat, cream and water and simmer over low heat until eggplant is done.  It will thicken as it cooks. Add the pesto and stir.  Be sure to stir the mixture often during cooking so the flavors will blend.

When the eggplant is tender, remove from oven, top each slice with 2 T. of the mozzarella and then spoon 1/8 of the topping (about 1/3 cup) onto each slice of eggplant.  I made the mistake of putting 1 T. under and 1 T. over the topping and popped the pan back into the oven while my garlic toast cooked in the broiler to melt the cheese on top.  But it didn’t completely melt by the time the toast was done.  So in future, I’ll put all 2T. of the cheese underneath the bubbly hot topping so it will melt nicely for me.  Garnish tops with chopped parsley and serve at once.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:    Makes 8 servings, each contains:

355 cals, 30.5 g  fat, 6.06 g  carbs, 1.88 g fiber, 4.18 g  NET CARBS, 14.8 g  protein, 421 mg sodium

Crab-Pumpkin Bisque

I love seafood and especially a good seafood bisque.  I have a cup of picked crab meat and a fresh-baked pie pumpkin to use up and decided to make them into a crab bisque for lunch today that came out super delicious!  We both decided this one was good enough to share with my readers.  This recipe is not suitable for Induction unless you omit the wine.  It is OK for all other phases of Atkins and Keto diets.  This soup is not suitable for Primal or Paleo as it is dairy heavy.

INGREDIENTS:

3 slices bacon, chopped

1/4 c. onion, chopped

1/4 c. celery, chopped

8 oz. softened cream cheese

1 c. pumpkin (preferably fresh)

Dash each black & cayenne peppers

½ c. dry white wine (use stock if still in Induction)

2 c. seafood stock (or chicken broth)

1 c. water

½ tsp. my Seafood Spice Blend

8 oz. white crab meat, picked of all shell

DIRECTIONS:  Brown bacon over medium-high heat.  Add onion and celery and saute until tender. Add white wine.  Add cream cheese and stir to blend.  Add the seafood stock and water.  Stir well.  Add pumpkin the spice blend, salt, pepper and cayenne.  Stir and lower heat to low.  Simmer for about 15 minutes.  Stir in crab and simmer 1-2 minutes longer only, or the crab will fall apart.  Serve at once with your favorite low-carb crackers.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:    Makes 6 large servings, each contains:

256 cals, 21.2 g fat, 4.86 g carbs, 0.63 g fiber, 4.23 g NET CARBS, 10.7 g protein, 550 mg sodium (use less cream cheese to lower sodium)

Baked Chicken and Vegetables

This dish is a “set it and forget it” kind of meal. Love to throw this in the baking pan when I’m tired and want dinner to cook itself.  This recipe delivers on that!    Doesn’t get any easier!  And it is ever so good!  This dish is simalar to my Lebanese Baked Chicken, but this one has no lemon juice in it.  The carrots make this one not suitable for Atkins Induction Phase 1, but you can increase the jicama, substitute zucchini or white pattypan squash, or just omit the carrots altogether until you get to Atkins Phase 2 OWL.  I used calaba squash (Mexican Zucchini) instead of jicama in the batch pictured above.  I change up the veggies depending on what I have on hand and what is in season.  Eggplant works well in this dish with some of my Shawarma Spice Blend (instead of the oregano).   Just so you know, the original recipe I modified for this dish calls for potato wedges instead of jicama.

INGREDIENTS:

20 oz. deboned chicken breasts, to make 4 servings

5 oz. jicama, peeled (or any veggies mentioned in VARIATIONS below)

4 oz. yellow onion

8 large cloves garlic

4 Roma tomatoes

½ tsp. oregano

2 tsp. chopped fresh Rosemary

2 tsp. Chachere’s Cajun seasoning (or 2 tsp. my Shawarma Spice Blend)

Dash salt & black pepper

3 T. olive oil

2 medium carrots (optional but included in nutritional numbers below)

VARIATIONS:  Substitute zucchini, yellow squash, turnips, red radishes or white daikon radish for the jicama.  They’re all low in carbs and wont’ greatly impact the carbs count on this dish.  Eggplant is lovely as a substitute for the jicama, but the eggplant will up the carbs a bit, but not a lot.  Use different spice blends of your choice!  Get creative!

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 425º.  Leaving skin on, place chicken on safe surface and flatten a bit with a cleaver to shorten cooking time.  Drizzle l T. of the olive oil in a large glass baking pan (9×13 or lasagna pan).  Dip skin side of chicken into olive oil in the pan, turn skin side up and arrange evenly in pan.  Next, peel and cut jicama into potato-like pieces.  Space evenly around the chicken pieces.   Peel and cut carrots into 1″ pieces and arrange around the meat also.  Next cut the tomatoes into wedges and space decoratively, skin side up,  around the pan.  Try to avoid laying the tomato wedges directly atop the chicken or the skin won’t brown as nicely. Next cut the  onion into small wedges, separate layers,  or cut into ringlets and arrange the onion over the entire pan next.   Cut garlic cloves and arrange evenly in pan, being sure to get some of that atop the chicken itself!  Now sprinkle on the spices and drizzle the remaining olive oil over all.  Try to moisten everything with oil.  Bake uncovered at 425º for about 1½ hours.  Smaller, thinner pieces of chicken, smaller dicing of veggies and varying ovens will impact cooking time, so check the dish after 1 hour if your chicken pieces are less than 6-8 oz. in size.   Voila, a meal in one pot fit for a king!  Hubby just LOVES this dish!

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 4 serving, each containing:

410 cals, 21.3g fat, 9.85g carbs, 2.9g fiber, 6.95g NET CARBS, 43.3g protein, 604 mg. sodium

Classic Shrimp Scampi

My father introduced us to this dish when we lived in Hampton, Virginia.  Of course, we had all the fresh seafood there in the world anytime we wanted it.  What is amazing about Shrimp Scampi besides its wonderful flavor, is how easy it is to make!  Traditionally served over white rice, as a low-carber, I tend to spoon ours over a heaping serving of my Foolproof Mashed Cauliflower.  I’m very pleased with this one and had it again for dinner tonight.  I like to add a bit of my Seafood Spice Blend to most of my seafood dishes, but it is not seen in most shrimp scampi recipes.  That’s my change to a classic dish.  I also been known to add a couple tablespoons of white wine to this dish, but do not always do that, so I don’t show it in the ingredients below.  Your call there.  It’s delicious with or without.  This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins and other Keto diets, as well as for Primal and Paleo followers.  Those still on Atkins Induction should not add the white wine I just mentioned.

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. medium-large shrimp, peeled and deveined

4 T. butter, unsalted

3 cloves garlic, minced

½ c. parsley, chopped

1/8 tsp. coarse black pepper

¼-½ tsp. my Seafood Spice Blend

1 oz. (optional) dry white wine, (Pinot Grigio, Riesling or Sauvignon Blanc are good)

DIRECTIONS:    Preheat broiler.  In a large skillet melt the butter over high heat.  Add garlic and let saute a couple minutes.  Add shrimp and saute until the begin to get opaque and golden on the edges.  Add black pepper and spice blend.  Saute couple more minutes.  Finally add parsley and stir to blend.  Remove and pop into broiler long enough for the shrimp to begin to brown just a bit.  Remove from oven and serve immediately over bed of mashed cauliflower (or rice for non low-carbers at the table)

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 3 servings, each contains:  (does not include mashed cauliflower, 1 cup of it would add around 2.8 net carbs to each serving)

306 cals, 18.1g fat, 3.73g carbs, 0.43g fiber, 3.3g NET CARBS, 31.4g protein, 233 mg sodium

Southern Fried Chicken

My husband asked me to make “real” skillet-fried chicken for dinner 7 years ago when I was only a few years into my low-carb adventure.  I caved that day and gave it my best stab.  Hadn’t been pleased with any of the low-carb fried chicken recipes I’d tried to date, so I decided to put on my experimenting hat and give it a whirl.

You regular readers already know how I hate to stand over a hot skillet of grease to fry anything, but what we do for love.  I invariably get popped with hot grease and get burned when frying, but ever so glad I gave it a stab back then, as it has become a staple coating for chicken and a multitude of other fried foods as well!

I really wan’t sure where to begin, 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 we make it again and again!!  Great flavor!  Crispy!  Until you try this one, you just won’t believe it tastes just like flour coated chicken!  A real keeper in my opinion!!!  It’s great leftover, cold, right out of the fridge!!  Hubby said this was the best low-carb fried chicken I have cooked to date on my low-carb journey.  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 and my mom’s fried chicken!

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.

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 cals, 7.26g fat, 1.72g carbs, 0.53g fiber, 1.19g NET CARBS, 12.8g protein, 209 mg sodium

Chicken (Pork) and Spanish “Rice”

It’s what’s for dinner tonight!

When I was growing up my mother made a braised chicken dish she called Chicken and Spanish Rice.  Of course, that was before the low-carb movement, so she browned and used REAL rice in the dish I had as a child.  The skin-on chicken pieces were first browned in oil, the rest of the dish was put together and then the masterpiece was oven-baked in a deep, tightly-covered Dutch oven.  Man, was it ever good!  The smell drove us wild while it was cooking.  I was thinking about that today and wondering what to do for dinner with 2 drumsticks and 2 chicken thighs.  Decided on this childhood favorite.  This consistently comes out fantastic, although I do change it up a bit with bits of leftover cooked squash, green peas, a few sliced green olives or some diced carrots.  I usually use all cauliflower rice in this dish, but had some rice I cooked for my husband for Indian food recently and just tossed that cup into the skillet to get it out of the refrigerator. 

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

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. cauliflower, riced by hand or processor coarsely

2 T. olive oil + 2 T. chicken fat or finely diced chicken skin (or 1/4 c. olive oil)

3 oz. onion, chopped coarsely

4 oz. green bell pepper, chopped coarsely

3 cloves garlic, minced

½ tsp. ground cumin

4-6 pieces chicken (I like thighs and drumsticks for this recipe)

Dash each chili powder and black pepper

2 chicken bouillon cubes

1/4 tsp. oregano (preferably Mexican oregano leaves if you have them)

1 can tomatoes, drained and chopped coarsely (or 3 fresh Roma tomatoes, seeded and diced)

Dash saffron threads (I use 3 threads only as too much is NOT a good thing!)

2 T. cilantro, chopped (optional)

VARIATION:  Add 1/2 c. sliced pitted green olives.

DIRECTIONS:  Heat cumin in dry skillet over medium heat until it smells toasty but is not burned.  Pour onto paper towel for now and set aside.  Rice the cauliflower either with a hand box grater or in a food processor.  I like to do the stems first and a little extra before ricing the flowerettes. Set aside to be added later. 

Preheat oven to 350º.  In your skillet (14″ skillet in my photo), heat the oil over high heat.  Add the meat and brown to golden on the surfaces.  Add the onion, garlic and bell pepper.  If using any raw carrot or yellow squash in the dish, saute those now as well.  Saute just to partially tenderize veggies. Add roasted cumin back to skillet, salt, pepper, chili powder, oregano and saffron threads, minced garlic and bouillon cubes.  Stir in the tomatoes.  Add the cilantro last, if using.  Stir to blend uniformly.  Turn off heat.  Add the UNCOOKED cauli-rice to the pot and stir to mix it evenly into the veggie mixture.  Top the dish with seared chicken pieces.  Cover skillet with a tight-fitting lid.  Pop into 350º oven for about 35-40 minutes and allow flavors to blend.  Check to be sure chicken pieces are thoroughly cooked before turning oven off.  Pairs nicely with a lovely guacamole or green salad.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:    Makes 4-6 servings (based on pieces of chicken), each contains approximately:

240 cals, 14.4g fat, 8.61g carbs, 2.93g fiber, 5.68g NET CARBS, 18.6 g protein, 166 mg sodium

Indian Beef (or Lamb) Koftas

Delicious with or without gravy!

I like to throw my favorite Indian or Middle Eastern spices into ground meat and make what I call “mini meat loaves”.  The correct name for these is Koftas (or Keftas in some countries) and they are even better if cooked over hot charcoal! This goes together so fast you can be eating them in 30 minutes from the time you start mixing your ingredients.  It’s what’s for dinner tonight!  I’ll be tossing some leftover frozen peas and cooked carrots into the curry gravy for a change of pace.  I’ll be serving a nice cucumber salad as well.

I like to mix this stuff up in my food processor, but you can just blend it in a bowl like you would meatloaf if you are more comfortable doing it that way.  These little meat patties are often served without a sauce, but I like a little moisture with mine, so I included below a light cream curry sauce recipe.  Greek Tzatziki is also good with these meat patties.  These are often done with bread crumbs or grated potato, but my lower-carb choice of rutabaga ended up being good and made these indistinguishable from other koftas I’ve eaten in restaurants.  By using grated jicama, sauteed a few minutes, instead of the rutabaga, these would be acceptable for Induction.  But as written, this recipe is not suitable until OWL.

VARIATION:  Use Baharat Spice Blend instead of Garam Masala, making these more Middle Eastern than Indian.  🙂

INGREDIENTS (for Koftas):

20 oz. ground meat (beef or lamb)

2 tsp. grated ginger root

2 large cloves minced garlic

1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped very fine

2 oz. onion, chopped very fine

1 beaten egg

½ tsp. turmeric

1 tsp. my Garam Masala

1 c. cilantro, chopped

1 tsp. spearmint leaves, chopped (Optional.  I grow my own. :))

¾ c. rutabaga, peeled and grated (use grated jicama, pre-sauteed for Induction compliance)

2 T. olive oil for frying

INGREDIENTS (for sauce):

2 oz. heavy cream

¼ c. water

1 T. tomato paste

½ c. beef stock or bouillon

Dash more my Garam Masala spice blend (or Baharat, if doing the Middle Eastern version)

Dash Tandoori spice (I use Sharwood’s brand)  (omit for Middle Eastern version)

Dash salt & black pepper

DIRECTIONS: Place all meat ingredients except olive oil in food processor (or bowl) and blend well.  I process until quite smooth for this recipe.  These are great cooked over charcoal, or just heat oil in large skillet and fry.  I form meat mixture into 2-2.5″ oblong patties.  Fry until lightly brown on both sides.  Lower heat to lowest setting and add all sauce ingredients.  Stir, simmer 5 minutes and serve.  These go nicely with my Indian Spiced Cabbage or Indian Cauliflower dishes here on my blog.  Fresh mushrooms are a nice addition to the sauce, too!  For the non-Atkins folks at the table, some basmati rice is excellent with these.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 12 koftas, (2 patties per serving).  Each serving has:

332.3 calories, 22.95 g  fat, 4.13 g  carbs, 1.0 g  fiber, 3.13 g  NET CARBS, 26.3 g  protein 465 mg sodium

Coconut Pork & Vegetable Stir-Fry

I don’t usually use coconut oil for my Asian stir fries, but I did so last night and man, is that ever good in a pork dish! I suspect a bit in chicken stir-fries would also be quite tasty. I actually used 50:50 coconut and olive oil, to be more precise. The hint of background coconut oil flavor in this dish was amazing! If you’re a fan of Asian food, you must try this one soon. I think you’ll be very pleased with the outcome and response from your family! If you don’t have any sherry in the house, white wine can be substituted. This dish is only permitted on Atkins Induction if you omit the sherry/wine, however. Won’t be quite as good, but still a great stir-fry. It is suitable for all other phases of Atkins & other Keto diets, provided the numbers below will fit into your totals for the day.

INGREDIENTS:

12 oz. lean pork loin, sliced

2 T. each coconut and olive oil

2 oz. yellow onion, sliced

½ c. carrot, sliced

1 c. Chinese bok-choi, around 3 stems (white part sliced)

Bok-Choi leaves from 3 stems (torn in large pieces)

1 c. sliced fresh mushrooms

2 medium green onions, cut in 1″ pieces

VARIATION: Add a few snow pea pods with the carrots for a spot of color.

LIQUID INGREDIENTS: Mix all but the xanthan gum in a small bowl and set aside until dish is ready to finalize in the wok.

1 c. homemade chicken broth

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp. fresh ginger root, minced

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

1¼ tsp. Sambal Olek chili paste

1 T. rice wine vinegar

3 T. sherry

Hold back for last: 1/4 tsp. xanthan gum to thicken

DIRECTIONS: Old Chinese saying: “Hot wok; cold fat”. This prevents meat from sticking to the wok so it is one well worth remembering. Heat wok until very, very hot. Add the oils and immediately dump the pork into the hot oil. Stir fry until no longer pink and just beginning to brown slightly. I like to add the vegetables in the order shown above, the ones taking longer to get tender crisp are shown first. Add the onion and stir-fry until it begins to soften a bit. Add carrot and be sure to not overcook. Add white only part of the bok-choi stems, frying until slightly softening. Add mushrooms and green onions and stir-fry just until mushrooms begin to look a little softer and white look is gone. Lower heat and add green onion, torn bok-choi leaves and the liquid ingredients last. To thicken your final dish, slowly dust the xanthan gum into the liquid (tilt wok to help get it into the liquid). Allow each addition to thicken before adding more because everyone’s preference in thickness is different and you may want to use less or more xanthan gum than I’ve indicated. Serve alone or with a side of steamed, riced cauliflower (rice for non-low-carbers at the dinner table). Enjoy!

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 4 servings, each contains:

337 cals, 24.6g fat, 6.62g carbs, 1.72g fiber, 4.9g NET CARBS, 19.8g protein, 550 mg sodium

Blue Crab Stuffing

For Christmas we often cook lobster tails with a side of stuffed crab.  How we both adore seafood and have really missed the qualaity seafood we had access to when we lived on the Texas Gulf Coast where we lived for over 30 years.  This is the crab stuffing recipe I’ve made for many, many years.   I developed this recipe in an attemps to imitate the wonderful stuffed crab I ordered many times at Gaido’s seafood restaurant, perched on the Galveston Island seawall.  where we lived for over 20 years.  This was one of my favorite dishes on their menu.  Bar none, the best stuffed crab I have ever eaten.  My take on it is fairly close, so I am still cooking this to this day.  It’s easy to prepare and always at hit with dinner guests.  If you have access to fresh, picked crab meat, you’ve GOT to try this one!  This is also great used to stuff baked fish or stuffed mushrooms!  

INGREDIENTS:

1½ lb. crab meat, shelled and picked well for bits of shell (Blue crab is the sweetest and best for this)

3 Flax Sandwich Buns  (or other low-carb bread)

4 oz. finely chopped onion

4 oz. finely chopped celery

1 oz. finely chopped green pepper (or mixture of red and green if you like)

½ oz. parsley

2 oz. heavy cream

¼ tsp. salt

Dash of cayenne pepper

1 tsp. dry mustard powder

½ c. (1 stick) unsalted, melted butter

DIRECTIONS:    Using a large bowl, carefully pick out all bits of shell from crab meat.  Soak 2 of the pieces of bread with the cream and crumble over the crab.  Crumb the remaining roll into fairly fine crumbs.  Set aside.

Melt the butter in a skillet over medium high heat.  Add celery, onion, bell pepper, salt, cayenne and mustard powder and saute until slightly tender. Add parsley and saute couple minutes longer.  Pour sauteed veggie mixture over crab/bread mixture in the bowl.  Gently toss ingredients to mix well.  Spoon mixture into 6 large crab shells (if you have them) , into individual 6 oven-safe ramekins or stuff into fish prepared for baking.  Top with bread crumbs and bake in preheated 350º oven for 30 minutes (whole 1 lb. fish should be nicely done in that amount of time, but check for flaky done stage on your fish to be sure).

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 6 servings, each serving has: (numbers are just for stuffing & does not include fish)

351.3 cals, 25.9g fat, 5.4g carbs, 2.47g fiber, 2.93g NET CARBS, 25.3g protein, 120 mg. sodium

Crab-Pumpkin Bisque

I love seafood and especially a good seafood bisque.  I have a cup of picked crab meat and a fresh-baked pie pumpkin to use up and decided to make them into a crab bisque for lunch today that came out super delicious!  We both decided this one was good enough to share with my readers.  This recipe is not suitable for Induction unless you omit the wine.  It is OK for all other phases of Atkins and Keto diets.  This soup is not suitable for Primal or Paleo as it is dairy heavy.

INGREDIENTS:

3 slices bacon, chopped

1/4 c. onion, chopped

1/4 c. celery, chopped

8 oz. softened cream cheese

1 c. pumpkin (preferably fresh)

Dash each black & cayenne peppers

½ c. dry white wine (use stock if still in Induction)

2 c. seafood stock (or chicken broth)

1 c. water

½ tsp. my Seafood Spice Blend

8 oz. white crab meat, picked of all shell

DIRECTIONS:  Brown bacon over medium-high heat.  Add onion and celery and saute until tender. Add white wine.  Add cream cheese and stir to blend.  Add the seafood stock and water.  Stir well.  Add pumpkin the spice blend, salt, pepper and cayenne.  Stir and lower heat to low.  Simmer for about 15 minutes.  Stir in crab and simmer 1-2 minutes longer only, or the crab will fall apart.  Serve at once with your favorite low-carb crackers.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:    Makes 6 large servings, each contains:

256 cals, 21.2 g fat, 4.86 g carbs, 0.63 g fiber, 4.23 g NET CARBS, 10.7 g protein, 550 mg sodium (use less cream cheese to lower sodium)

Slivered Beef Spaghetti Sauce

My parents came across a recipe for spaghetti sauce some 50 years ago that used slivered sirloin rather than ground beef.  They tweaked it a bit, as all good cooks tend to do, and this was their final result.  To this day, I think it one of the best spaghetti sauce recipes I serve.  Dinner guests are amazed how different from traditional Bolognese sauce this tastes, considering the meat form is the only dramatic change from traditional recipes.  I don’t think to make it that often, but am doing so for dinner tonight and thought I’d share it again with my newer readers. I have substituted very lean chuck for the sirloin in the original recipe and that is very good.  Tonight I’m trying it with some lean round steak I found in my freezer.  This recipe is Induction friendly provided you serve it on faux noodles like zoodles (zucchini noodles), spaghetti squash threads or chunks/slices of cooked eggplant.

INGREDIENTS:

¼ c. olive oil

6 oz. chopped yellow onion

2 lb. very thinly slivered sirloin  (easier if partially frozen about an hour before slicing)

14.5 oz. can of tomatoes, crushed

8 oz. can of tomato sauce

2 cloves minced garlic

2 tsp. oregano, crushed

¼ tsp. each salt and black pepper

Dash cayenne pepper

DIRECTIONS:

In deep stew pot heat oil and brown meat over high heat, stirring occasionally,  until begins to brown nicely.  Add onions and continue to brown both until onion begins to soften and caramelize.  Add remaining ingredients, cover and simmer over lowest heat possible for 1 hour.  Check and stir every 15 minutes to avoid sticking/burning.  Add a little water if it is drying out too much.   Serve over your favorite lo-carb pasta, zucchini pasta or spaghetti squash threads.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Serves 6-8

1/6 batch:

336.3 calories, 15.52 g  fat, 12.72 g  carbs, 1.98 g  fiber, 35.9 g  protein,

approx. 96 mg. sodium, 9.74 g  NET CARBS

1/8 batch:

250 calories, 11.64 g  fat, 9.0 g  carbs, 1.43 g  fiber,

26.9 g protein,  approx. 73 mg. sodium, 7.57 g NET CARBS

Paleo Pot Pie

Made with Chicken

I want to use up some leftover baked chicken meat for dinner tonight and my husband voted for chicken pot pie.  I have even made this recipe with leftover pork before and it is quite good as well. I have a pot pie recipe on my site already that is Atkins suitable, but that recipe has Carbquick in it and I’m trying to cut back on my use of Carbquik.  I fall back on this recipe of old and it’s just as tasty.  This should satisfy his desire for one of his comfort foods tonight.  We both just love chicken pot pies and like this recipe equally.

This dish is suitable for anyone who has reached the nuts and seeds rung of the Atkins OWL ladder or who follows a Ketogenic or Paleo-Primal program.  The nutritional stats below are very impressive, making it a most nutritious dinner! This would also be good made with turkey or even with rabbit, if you have access.

FILLING INGREDIENTS:

2 c. homemade chicken stock

1 1/3 c. carrot, diced

1 1/3 c. red radishes, diced

½ c. red bell pepper, diced

1½ c. green beans, cooked and chopped a bit

½ tsp. red palm oil (optional, this is for yellow color only)

2 c. chicken breast, cooked, diced

½ tsp. glucomannan powder (or your favorite thickener)

Dash black pepper

3 T. coconut cream

3 T. homemade mayo

Dash olive oil to grease baking dish

TOPPING INGREDIENTS:

1 c. almond flour

2 T. butter or ghee, softened

1 whole egg

1 T. coconut cream or coconut milk

DIRECTIONS:  Pour chicken stock into 4 qt. saucepan.  Add diced carrot and radish.  Bring to boil and simmer until almost tender.  Add bell pepper and cook until it is just softened a bit.  Turn off fire and add chopped green beans.  Stir in coconut cream and mayo.  Dust the glucomannan powder (or whatever thickener you prefer) evenly over the broth and stir quickly to disperse into the sauce.  Sauce should begin to thicken right up.  Add black pepper and stir to blend all ingredients.  Preheat oven to 350º. Grease an 8×11 baking dish with a bit of olive oil and pour chicken filling into the dish.  Set aside while you make the topping.

In a small bowl, measure the almond flour.  With a fork, beat in the soft butter, then the egg and finally the coconut cream or coconut milk.    It will form a medium thick dough.  With the fork and a spoon, drop small dots of the dough evenly all over the top of the chicken filling.  Pop into the preheated 350º oven for about 40 minutes or until bubbly and slightly browned on top.  This is nice served with a green salad.  ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 5 nice 1¼ cup servings, each containing:

426 cals, 33g fat, 12.5g carbs, 5.56g fiber, 6.94g NET CARBS, 24.3g protein, 382mg sodium, 58% RDA Vitamin A, 33% B6, 31% B12, 45% C, 15% E, 37% iron, 48% niacin, 34% phosphorous, 30% riboflavin, 48% selenium, and much more.

Sausage-Bacon Croquettes

These delicious cheesy croquettes were quite a surprise, considering I just started throwing stuff from the fridge into the skillet, having forgotten to defrost any major meat for dinner.  After Texas’ horrific arctic blast of single-digit temps in February, we all lost a lot of landscape shrubs and trees.  Over 3 months now of digging up dead ones, pruning those struggling to stay alive and as always, finding a few new ones I’d like to try.  So lately I’m choosing to work in my garden over cooking.  I often ‘overdo’ it in the garden, and fatigue blocks my energy to cook dinner………………..so meals on such days are real simple.

My husband loved these and ate three!  We both agreed this one’s a keeper for a simple, quick meal.  There’s just enough cheese in these to pull all the flavor layers together and to facilitate browning but you can use less if you need to pull the sodium count down a bit.  To these I chose to use a hint of Cajun seasoning, but you can use any favorite seasoning blend you like to enhance smoked meats.  These tasty patties are suitable for all phases of Atkins, Keto diets and Primal Blueprint followers.  With the cheese, they are not acceptable for Paleo.

INGREDIENTS:

2 c. cooked spaghetti squash threads (half medium squash)

6 oz. smoked sausage (I use Burton’s)

2 slices thick-slice bacon

1 tsp. bacon grease  (if bacon too lean)

1 oz. each red and green bell pepper

1½ oz. yellow onion

1 clove garlic, minced

Dash black pepper

3/4 tsp. my Cajun Seafood Spice Blend (or spices of your choice)

2T. + 1 tsp. golden flax meal

1 large egg, beaten

1½ c. shredded Monterey Jack cheese (or mozzarella)

VARIATION:  Use different cheese of choice; use diced shrimp.

DIRECTIONS:  Cook the squash with your preferred method.  You will only be using half the squash for this recipe, so reserve the rest in the fridge for another use.  I cut the stem end off my squash, cut the squash in half lengthwise and microwave face down in a dab of water for about 13 minutes.  With a towel, hold the cooked squash in one hand and fork out the threads onto a cutting board.  Chop, place into a medium mixing bowl and set aside.

On a cutting board chop the onion, red pepper & green pepper fairly small.  Next chop the sausage & bacon into 1/4″ dice.  Over medium-high heat, cook the bacon & sausage in a skillet until nearly done.  Add chopped veggies to the pan and cook all until thoroughly cooked and veggies are softened.  I had to add 1 tsp. bacon grease to the pan (included in the fat number below) as my bacon was so lean.  You can leave that out if your bacon is fatty enough to fry the mixture properly.   Remove from heat and spoon over the squash threads in your bowl.  Add garlic, pepper and Cajun Seafood Spice Blend and stir to mix.  Add the cheese shreds, beaten egg, flax meal and again stir to blend well.  Let mixture rest a few minutes for the egg and flax to properly set up.

Heat a lightly oiled griddle to medium-high.  Using a serving spoon, spoon out 8 fairly equal portions of the mixture on the hot griddle.  Slightly press the mixture piles flatter.  DO NOT move these around as they are quite fragile until they are browned on one side.  When the first side is browned upon peeking, quickly flip them to the other side and brown as shown in the photo.  You don’t want to under-brown these as it is the browning of the mixture at pan contact that helps them taste their best.  I served these with a bowl of buttered broccoli, but they would be nice with any green vegetable or a lovely salad.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 8 croquettes, each contains:

191 cals, 14g fat, 5.75g carbs, 2.11g fiber, 3.64g NET CARBS, 11.7g protein, 484 mg sodium

Montreal-Chipotle Pulled Pork

I have been wanting to cook a large pork roast this week for a few meals and to have some leftovers for sandwiches and snacks.   My grocery store had fresh pork picnic on sale for $.97 per# this week so I bought a 9# bone-in picnic shoulder roast.  We didn’t feel like firing up the grill for this, so I just baked the pork roast low and slow in the oven.  Wanted falling-off-the-bone tender and that’s what we got!  I saved all the wonderful baking juices and froze them for future soup making.  Didn’t want the entire piece done as seasoned pulled pork, so I baked it just with salt, pepper and a little Homemade Montreal Seasoning on the surfaces.  Man, did this roast come out delicious!!  One of the best pork roasts I’ve ever done with this particular sauce.  Then I decided to put tonight’s dinner’s worth on the table as a seasoned pulled pork and went about making my sauce.  Mmmm.  Delicious indeed!  Next time we’ll perhaps do it on the grill, for that added smoked flavor layer.  This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins, Keto diets, Primal and Paleo (provided you use ghee for the butter).

INGREDIENTS:

1 pork roast (I used a 9# bone-in picnic shoulder roast, but a Boston butt, shank, or loin will do)

Sea Salt and black pepper

1 tsp. my Homemade Montreal Steak Seasoning

SAUCE:  6 T. melted butter, 1 tsp. red wine vinegar, 2 tsp. Homemade Montreal Steak Spice Blend, ½-1 tsp. Tobasco Chipotle Sauce® and 1/4 tsp. liquid smoke (any brand, but I use “Amish Meadow”.   Sorry, don’t remember where I ordered it from).

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 325º.  Place pork roast skin/fatty-side up in a 9×13 baking pan.  Coat all surfaces with Black pepper, 1 tsp. Montreal Spice Blend, and I use Pink Himalayan Sea Salt.  Cover pan tightly with foil.   Pop into 325º oven and bake for 30 minutes to allow it to heat to the center.  Reduce oven to 250º and continue slow baking (for an 8-9# bone-in roast) for about 5 hours. This could be done in a slow-cooker, but I’m not experienced with them, so check for a slow-cooker recipe on-line for guidelines for a 9# roast for setting and time.

Make the sauce in a small sauce pan over low heat, simmering the ingredients for 2-3 minutes only.  Remove from heat.

At the 5 hour mark, open oven, remove meat from oven and remove foil.  Slice off any thick skin and the fat layer from the top of the meat (it should almost slide right off effortlessly if meat is done properly to 160-170º internal temperature).  I freeze this for other uses and seasoning. My dog sometimes gets a bit on her dinner.  It’s very good for a dog’s coat and skin and highly digestible for dogs.

Increase oven heat to 350º and return pan uncovered to the oven.  Allow meat surfaces to slightly brown , about 30 minutes.  Remove meat from oven and cool slightly.  Shred off the meat with a fork or tongs, pulling off as much meat onto your serving platter as you think your family will consume.  Using a brush, baste the shredded meat with the warm Montreal-Chipotle butter sauce, coating it well.  Serve at once with your favorite sides or a salad.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Each 3 oz. portion of meat contains:

350 calories, 28.1 g fat, 0.90 g carbs, 0.30 g fiber, 0.60 g NET CARBS, 23 g protein, 87 mg sodium

London Broil

When you want to tenderize a tougher cut of meat, like flank steak or London Broil, you have to marinate it to loosen up those meat fibers a bit.  This is one of my favorite steak marinades to use on London Broil.  If you can’t get flank or London Broil, use a piece of lean chuck roast. The flavor on the outer crust of meat is just divine.  The longer you marinate the meat, the more tender the meat will get.  Marinating all day long is preferred, but a minimum of 4-5 hours is a must lest you end up with a very tough, difficult to chew experience.  My husband cooked ours tonight a bit too long (medium) for our personal taste, as we prefer medium rare, but it was still quite tasty and still fairly tender.  This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins beyond Induction.  If you are still on induction, sub in some beef broth for the red wine.

INGREDIENTS:

3 lb. piece of London Broil or flank steak

½ clove garlic, minced

1½ tsp. tomato paste

½ c. red wine (or beef broth if still on Induction)

¼ c. low sodium soy sauce

2 T. balsamic  vinegar

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

DIRECTIONS:  Coat the meat with the black pepper and set in a glass or plastic marinating pan.  Add the remaining ingredients, stirring in the tomato paste well until it is evenly distributed in the liquid.  Using a basting brush, drizzle the marinade over the meat and place marinating pan in the refrigerator.  Marinate for at least 4 hours to all day long, drizzling over the meat carefully hourly.  Turn the meat once or twice while marinating.

When ready to cook, prepare a hot charcoal fire.  Lift meat out of marinating pan and discard the marinade.  Place meat directly over the hot coals and grill for about 8-10 minutes on a side or until it reaches your desired stage (around 8 minutes per side for medium rare; around 10 for medium as shown).  These two cuts of meat are really too tough to cook them well done.  Just being honest.  Serve with a nice salad or your favorite green side dish.  This is delicious with compound butter, if you have a favorite recipe.  Here’s the one I used tonight:  Garlic Herb Butter.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  As the marinade is discarded, a firm count per serving is difficult to arrive at.  No more than 1 T. is consumed on the meat surfaces, if THAT much.  1 T. marinade contains around 1.27 net carbs, so that is what is added to the serving below.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Serves 6-7 people nicely (maybe 8), so each serving of meat with 1 T. marinade contains around:

297 calories, 12g fat, 1.3 carbs, 0 fiber, 0 NET CARBS, 44 g protein, 101 mg sodium

Indian Butter Chicken

This is my husband’s favorate Indian dish.  He always orders it when we eat Indian out, so I thought I’d try to duplicate it using my favorite chicken curry recipe as a starting point.  The flavors are very similar in my opinion, but this dish is richer (with all the butter and cream added) and it has more tomato in it than my regular curry recipe.  This is ever so easy to make once you have the ingredients on hand, and the results are simply stellar!  This dish is suitable for those still on Atkins Induction Phase and is also suitable for Primal diners.  Paleo followers will need to use coconut milk and ghee (clarified butter) instead of the cream or regular butter.  

INGREDIENTS:

1 T. whole cumin seed

2 T. olive oil

3 oz. sliced onion

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

¼ tsp. salt

¼-½  tsp. cayenne pepper  (use ½ tsp. only if you like food really HOT with spice)

1 tsp. ground cumin

½ T. fresh ginger root, peeled and minced fine

¼ tsp. ground turmeric

1T. + 1 tsp. my homemade Garam Masala 

4 T. fresh cilantro, chopped

1 c. chicken broth

2  Roma tomatoes (3″) , cut into large cubes or wedges 

4 T. tomato paste (about ½ of 6-oz small can)

4 T. more butter

3/4 c. heavy cream 

DIRECTIONS:  In a dry non-stick skillet or wok, dry roast the whole cumin seed, stirring, just until they become fragrant but not burned (about 1-2 minutes).  Add olive oil and onions & saute a few minutes until onions are translucent.  Add chicken and continue to saute until chicken is no longer pink.  Add all remaining ingredients except heavy cream. Simmer covered on lowest heat setting about 30 minutes until tomatoes are tender and falling totally apart.  Some use a stick blender to puree the mixture at this point, but I personally do not do this as I like the onions to remain visible in my curry.  Your call there.  Add the heavy cream and continue to simmer (unlidded) over low heat for 5-10 minutes longer.  It should thicken right up as the cream reduces.  You can eat this as  is at this point, or…… if you prefer, you can serve it over steamed cauliflower, baked eggplant slices, or for any non-low-carbing diners at your table, over steamed basmati rice.   Those are not included below, however.  Make the necessary recalculations if you serve your Butter Chicken atop one ov these.  

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Serves 5, each serving contains:

463 cals, 35.5g fat, 7.88g carbs, 1.68g fiber, 6.2g NET CARBS, 29g protein, 530 mg. sodium (omit salt & recude cream if you are sodium sensitive)

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.

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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

Indian Samosa Cups

I was thinking of making samosas for dinner tonight, but wanted a little simpler assembly and decided to fill muffin cups with my tasty meat filling and just top each with a “cap” of pastry. These came out delicious! We had them as a main course, but you could serve just one as a side dish with your favorite curry recipe! I will definitely be making them again, as my husband just loves Indian food. I used my regular Peggy’s “Flour” Pie Crust recipe to complete this dish. This recipe is not suitable until you reach the grains rung of the Atkins OWL carb re-introduction ladder (near goal weight).

MEAT FILLING INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. lean ground beef

1 T. olive oil

3 oz. yellow onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp. fresh ginger root, minced

¼ tsp. cayenne pepper

½ tsp. turmeric

1 tsp. ground coriander

¼ tsp. sea salt

2 Roma tomatoes, chopped

¼ c. cilantro, chopped

1 medium 6″ carrot, peeled & chopped fine

1 T. fresh mint, chopped

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded & chopped fine

2 tsp. Garam Masala

CRUST RECIPE: Peggy’s “Flour” Pie Crust at this link.

VARIATION: Substitute lamb for the beef

DIRECTIONS: Make the pie crust per that recipe’s instructions. Set aside for now.

In a skillet, brown the ground beef, onion and carrot until veggies begin to soften, stirring often. Add all other ingredients and simmer about 5 minutes, stirring often, so spice flavors will develop. Remove from heat.

Preheat oven to 350º. Form a log of the pie dough and divide into 6 equal portions. Take one portion, pinch off and reserve 1/3 of it (for the “cap”) and press the remaining 2/3 into non-stick muffin cups (I used a jumbo muffin pan to make these). As you press the dough into the cup, press it up to the tops of the slots. Fill with 1/6 of the meat mixture (about 1/3 c.). Repeat these steps for the remaining 5 samosa cups. If there is any meat mixture unused, spread it evenly among the 6 servings. With the 6 bits of dough you pinched off, form small 2-2½” circles of dough with your fingers on a floured surface. Place a “cap” atop each samosa cup. No need to try to seal the edges. Place muffin pan on a baking sheet and pop into hot 350º oven. Bake about 35-40 minutes or until lightly browned on top.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 6 samosa cups, each contains:

112.2 cals, 8.06g fat, 5.93g carbs, 2.96g fiber, 2.97g NET CARBS, 6.58g protein 216 mg sodium

Duck Soup

This year I served an oven- roasted Marinated Duck for Christmas dinner. There isn’t all that much meat on a duck, but our 4-pound bird fed two of us amply with a nice amount of meat still left on the carcass. I love to make soup from leftover fowl carcasses, so soup it was today! After simmering the carcass for an hour and cooling, it yielded about 2-2½ c. duck meat for my soup pot. I wanted my soup fairly simple, with rich depth of flavor, so I added the duck fat it rendered during the initial roasting. I also used some homemade chicken broth to add even more flavor to the final soup. We were both very pleased with this creation! I used no recipe, but threw in the “usual suspects” for tasty game birds. My Marinated Duck had some bay leaf in it, so you will want to add a bay leaf to your pot.

This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins, Keto diets, Primal and Paleo followers.

INGREDIENTS:

4 slices thick bacon, cut into 3/4″ dice

1 c. chopped onion

1 c. chopped celery

1 c. chopped carrot

½ c. chopped parsley

2 cloves minced garlic

¼ c. duck fat (use butter if not available)

1 c. chicken broth (I use salt-free homemade)

water to cover meat and veggies

3/4 tsp. sea salt

½ tsp. coarse black pepper

1 large bay leaf (or 2 small)

3 T. Hemp Seed Hearts

1 4-oz can mushrooms with liquid

1 duck carcass (mine was from a 4# duck) or 2½ c. cooked diced duck meat

7 oz. pkg. shiritaki noodles with oat fiber, rice-shaped

DIRECTIONS: Brown bacon in soup pot over high heat. Add chopped onion, carrot, celery, garlic and parsley. Saute until onion begins to go translucent. Add all remaining ingredients to pot, bring to boil and lower heat to simmer. Cover and simmer for about 1½ hours, stirring every half hour.  Remove duck carcass and strip meat off bones, replacing meat into soup pot.  Discard bones.  Open package of noodles and rinse well in a sieve under running water. Add to pot and simmer 15 more minutes. I recommend serving this rich soup with a buttered low-carb dinner/sandwich roll if you have cooked and at the ready. 🙂

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 6 large bowl, each contains:

454 cals, 37.2g fat, 10.1g carbs, 3.85g fiber, 6.25g NET CARBS, 21.9g protein, 635 mg sodium

London Broil

Shown with Garlic Herb Butter.

When you want to tenderize a tougher cut of meat, like flank steak or London Broil, you have to marinate it to loosen up those meat fibers a bit.  This is one of my favorite steak marinades to use on London Broil.  If you can’t get flank or London Broil, use a piece of lean chuck roast. The flavor on the outer crust of meat is just divine.  The longer you marinate the meat, the more tender the meat will get.  Marinating all day long is preferred, but a minimum of 4-5 hours is a must lest you end up with a very tough, difficult to chew experience.  This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins provided those still on Atkins Induction sub in some beef broth for the red wine.  It’s also delicious with my Garlic Herb Butter.

INGREDIENTS:

3 lb. piece of London Broil or flank steak

½ clove garlic, minced

1½ tsp. tomato paste

½ c. red wine (or beef broth if still on Induction)

¼ c. low sodium soy sauce

2 T. balsamic  vinegar

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

DIRECTIONS:  Coat the meat with the black pepper and set in a glass or plastic marinating pan.  Add the remaining ingredients, stirring in the tomato paste well until it is evenly distributed in the liquid.  Using a basting brush, drizzle the marinade over the meat and place marinating pan in the refrigerator.  Marinate for at least 4 hours to all day long, drizzling over the meat carefully hourly.  Turn the meat once or twice while marinating.

When ready to cook, prepare a hot charcoal fire.  Lift meat out of marinating pan and discard the marinade.  Place meat directly over the hot coals and grill for about 8-10 minutes on a side or until it reaches your desired stage (around 8 minutes per side for medium rare; around 10 for medium as shown).  These two cuts of meat are really too tough to cook them well done.  Just being honest.  Serve with a nice salad or your favorite green side dish.  This is delicious with compound butter, if you have a favorite recipe.  Here’s the one I used tonight:  Garlic Herb Butter.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  As the marinade is discarded, a firm count per serving is difficult to arrive at.  No more than 1 T. is consumed on the meat surfaces, if THAT much.  1 T. marinade contains around 1.27 net carbs, so that is what is added to the serving below.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Serves 6-7 people nicely (maybe 8), so each serving of meat with 1 T. marinade contains around:

297 calories, 12g fat, 1.3 carbs, 0 fiber, 1.3 NET CARBS, 44 g protein, 101 mg sodium

Roaster Oven Turkey

I love roasting turkey in a roaster oven.  If you don’t own one, they are excellent for extra oven space when you entertain or during holiday gatherings and your oven is full to the brim.  They bake cakes, muffins, cookies, and meats just beautifully!  And they are getting so cheap, one can be had for sometimes as little as $29 during the holiday season sales.  I paid $60 for my first one in the 60’s, when $60 was worth a lot more than it is today!  I find a roaster oven to be the most useful and versatile small appliance in my kitchen after an electric mixer.  I can carry it out onto the patio to cook outdoors in summertime, eliminating excess kitchen heat, as well.  🙂

You go about cooking turkey in a roaster oven pretty much as you would in a regular oven.  Just be sure you buy a bird that will FIT in your roaster oven!  I cover the wing tips and drumstick knobs with foil when I first put it in the oven, as the bird sits so close to the lid where heat can rise and overcook those areas.  They consistently come out delicious, moist and tender.  More moist that my usual inside oven turkeys in fact!   The skin doesn’t get quite as crispy cooked in a roaster oven, but it is crisp enough for me to get that level of moist cooking. Turkey is suitable for all phases of Atkins, Keto, Primal and Paleo diets alike.

INGREDIENTS:

1  12-13 lb. turkey, thawed (follow chart on wrapper for a larger bird)

4 T. melted butter

Dash each of salt and black pepper

4 small pieces of foil

DIRECTIONS:   Preheat oven to 325º.  Open turkey wrapper and remove bird to a clean sink.  Remove the leg binding gadget.  Remove giblets and set aside for making your gravy.  I only use the neck meat for gravy and my dog usually gets the liver, heart and gizzard in her dinners over a week or so.   I like to eat them; I just don’t like them in my gravy much.

I like to rinse out the inside of the bird.  Pat the exterior dry with paper towels.  Melt the butter in a small saucepan or in the microwave.  Place turkey, breast side up in a pan large enough to hold it.  Baste with the butter all over on the outside and inside with a basting brush, using half the butter.  Sprinkle bird inside and out with salt and pepper.  I cook my dressing outside the bird as I like it to brown.  You can add some chunks of celery, onion and parsley if you like to the cavity, but I do not.  Your call there, but be sure to add those carbs below if you do. Cover wing tips and leg knuckles with foil so they will not burn.

Place pan with bird into the roaster oven, cover with lid and cook, for 1½ hours.  Open oven and baste with remaining butter.  Recover and cook for 1 hour and check for doneness with a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the breast and around the thing-leg joint (slowest area to get done).  You want the thermometer to read 170º.  Cook for another 30 minutes or so, checking with thermometer every 10-15 minutes now so as to not over cook.  Remove when it has reached 170º internal temperature. Set on cutting board for 15-20 minutes before attempting to carve to avoid tearing up the meat and all the juices running out.  You want those juices to STAY in the meat.  This turkey should be extremely moist.  Roaster ovens do an incredibly good job at moist heat roasting.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   I can’t know what pieces or amount you will eat, so I’ll provide some numbers for both white meat and dark meat.

4 oz. dark meat contains:  250 calories, 13 g  fat, 0 carbs, 0 fiber, o net carbs, 31 g  protein and 269 mg sodium

4 oz. white meat, skin eaten contains:  222 calories, 9.4 g  fat, 0 carbs, 0 fiber, 0 net carbs, 32.3 g   protein and 255 mg sodium

Air Fryer Whole Roasted Chicken

I finally got around to trying a whole, roasted chicken in my Power XL 7 qt. air fryer last night.  The meat of the nearly 5# bird was moist and cooked perfectly done (even at the joints).  My husband just loves chicken that is baked or roasted!  Also tried my new Peggy’s Poultry Rub on it and that was a winner, too!  I may add even more of the rub next time!  Yummy!  This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins and other keto diets, as well as for Paleo-Primal folks.

INGREDIENTS:

1 whole chicken (mine was 4.75 lbs)

1 t. olive oil

1 T. Peggy’s Poultry Rub (or seasoning of your choice)

DIRECTIONS:  Pat the chicken dry of any water/moisture with paper towels.  Rub olive oil all over the chicken getting all skin surfaces damp with oil.  You’ll want to wash and dry off your hands at this point.  Next sprinkle 1 tsp. of the seasoning bland over the top surfaces of the chicken.  Sprinkle 1 tsp. over the bottom surfaces of the chicken.  Invert chicken to expose the carcass opening and sprinkle the remaining spice blend as best you can inside, rubbing until it is distributed.  Although I did not do it this, next time I may make a slit into the lower leg quarter joints and rub a tad in that joint as well as a tad underneath the breast skin as I am able.

Preheat your air-fryer at 350º a few minutes (mine requires 4 min. preheat).  Open basket/drawer and place seasoned bird into the basket/drawer breast side down. Cook the bird for 30 minutes.  Then open drawer and using a heavy kitchen fork, turn the bird over, now breast up.  Cook for 20 minutes and open basket to (check leg quarter with a meat thermometer (165º internal is done).  Also check thickest part of breast.  If not to 165º yet, continue cooking another 5-10 minutes and check again.  My 4.75# bird took precisely 25 minutes on side two.  Cookers vary, so the rule of thumb with air fryers is CHECK YOUR FOOD OFTEN to avoid under cooking, or worse, over cooking and major disappointment.   Always remember that any air-fryer recipe is just a guideline and nothing more.  Cookers vary for any recipe cookbook for them to be always spot on……….even the manufacturer’s cookbook!  Food size and volume/weight impact any instructions and cooking times/temps.

ADDED NOTE:  I recommend soaking your basket in 1″ water while you enjoy your meal (for easier cleanup).  Also don’t forget when fully cooled, to wipe off (use a soapy sponge) the element at the top and back walls of cooker to get any grease splatters there.  If you don’t do that, the cooker is likely to smoke heavily at next use and you’ll think the machine is dying on you.  It just wasn’t thoroughly cleaned after roasting meat.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  I can’t really provide that for you as I can’t know what pieces you eat, how large your bird is, nor how many pieces you will eat.  I certainly can’t know how much of the seasoning you will be ingesting on any particular piece.  Best calculation I can recommend for you is to take the stats for the piece/size of piece(s) of chicken you eat and add 1/8 tsp. of the spice blend for each piece you consume.  That said, this recipe is so low-carb…………I wouldn’t bother calculating anything but the meat itself that you consume.  One can get too anal about any diet in my opinion.  Just enjoy this delicious recipe and know that you are not breaking the carb bank doing so!

1 tsp. spice blend = 0.84g NET CARBS

Kielbasa with Cabbage & Kale

Having made keilbasa and cabbage many a time I don’t know WHY it took me so long to  throw in a little kale into the skillet.  Once I did, there was no turning back.  This vegetable combo is so tasty!  The cabbage mellows any bitterness in the kale; the kale gives depth of flavor to the blander cabbage.  Even my husband wolfed this down and he’s not a fan of either vegetable!  So that sounds like a keeper to ME.  🙂 The caramelized onion brings the perfect touch of magic sweetness to the flavor profile.

I use Burton’s brand of sausage (newly discovered at my HEB & Walmart grocery in Texas).  I always like a brand that  has much less garlic than most people.  Many companies put way too much garlic in their smoked sausage for my palate.   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

Cajun Shrimp and “Grits”

This dish came out so good.  Frankly, I was quite surprised!  I essentially took my method for making shrimp scampi, added some Cajun spices to take it up a notch, topped with buttery Parmesan bread crumbs and served over a bed of seasoned cauli-rice.  Man………this is definitely a keeper!  My husband just ranted about his dinner tonight!  I confess it was one of the better shrimp dishes I’ve created in quite some time!  Provided you use an Induction-friendly bread for the bread crumbs, this is suitable for Atkins Induction and all other Atkins diet phases!  Just leave out the 2 T. white wine until Phase 2, please.  🙂

BASE INGREDIENTS:

4 T. unsalted butter

2 oz. yellow onion, slivered as thinly as possible

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/8 tsp. salt (omit if using salted butter)

1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper

2 T. (1 fluid oz) white wine (omit if still in Atkins Induction Phase)

30 large peeled shrimp (I used pre-cooked, tail-on, but raw will work also)

CRUMB TOPPING INGREDIENTS:

2 slices plan-suitable low-carb bread, crumbed

2 T. grated Parmesan cheese

½ c. chopped parsley

4 T. more unsalted melted butter

‘GRITS’ INGREDIENTS:

½ small head cauliflower, cut into chunks

1 small carrot, peeled and cut into chunks

1/8 tsp. each onion and garlic powder

¼ tsp. (more if you like thinks spicy) my Cajun Seafood Spice Blend

1 c. Cheddar Cheese shreds

½ c. chopped green onions or chives

DIRECTIONS:  Begin by making the “grits” first.  Place the chunks of cauliflower and carrot in you food processor (or blender) and pulse until riced coarsely.  Scrape into microwavable bowl and cook on high for about 4-6 minutes or until no longer raw/hard (but not overly done)  Stir the spices in along with the green onions and cheese shreds.  Set aside while you make the rest of the layers.  In a large skillet (I used non-stick), over medium-high heat, melt one whole stick (8 T.) butter.  Carefully pour just half the melted butter into the bread crumb mixture and blend to moisten the crumbs evenly with the butter. Again, set the topping aside for now.

Preheat oven to BROIL.  In the 4 T. melted butter remaining in the skillet, add the slivered yellow onion and garlic.  Add cayenne and salt and continue to saute a couple more minutes to soften & caramelize them.  Add white wine and simmer 1-2 minutes only.   Spread mixture evenly in the skillet.  Scrape the cheesy grits mixture over the top of the caramelized onion mixture, spreading it evenly.  Next arrange the shrimp in a single layer, 2 concentric circles, tail out, placing shrimp fairly close together as they shrink during cooking.  If you end up with a few shrimp left out of the two circles, put those in the center, tail centered and pointing upwards.  That will look attractive for table presentation.

Sprinkle the crumb topping evenly over the shrimp.   When broiler is hot (450º-475º) pop skillet into broiler and broil until bread crumb topping is golden brown as shown above.  Shrimp cooks fast, so they should get properly done even if you are using raw shrimp. Those mounded in the center will cook the slowest, so check to insure they are properly cooked.

VARIATION:  You can construct this differently, by cooking the “grits” in a separate microwavable serving baking dish and cook the shrimp separately in the skillet.  Then simply top 1/3 portion of the “grits” on each of 3 plates and top with 1/3 the broiled shrimp mixture.  Your call on the construction method.  Will taste great either way.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 3 servings, each contains 10 shrimp & 1/3 the grits

643.6 cals, 52.5g fat, 15.8g carbs, 4.76 g fiber, 11.04g NET CARBS, 32.3g protein, 781mg sodium.  To reduce carbs, eliminate the carrot, reduce cheese & use 1 slice bread for crumb topping………or make it stretch for 4 servings. 🙂  )

 

 

 

Sausage-Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

If you’re a mushroom fan you MUST try these.  You can use either breakfast bulk sausage or Italian sausage to make them.  They will be delicious either way.  My Homemade Italian Sausage is what I used, as it is low in sodium or you can use my Homemade Breakfast Sausage for a different flavor.  If you use commercial sausage, bear in mind the sodium count will be much higher than shown below.   For the breadcrumbs, I used a slice of my homemade Grain-Free Fluten-Free Focaccia because I have it currently made and on hand.  Using other low-carb bread for your bread crumbs will also impact numbers and require recalculations be done. This recipe is suitable once you are at Phase 2 Atkins.

INGREDIENTS:

4 Portobello mushroooms (about 4 oz. each)

3 T. olive oil

14 oz. ground Italian (any casing removed) or bulk breakfast sausage, crumbled

1/3 c. chopped red bell pepper (or green)

2 oz. onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

¼ c. chopped parsley

¼ tsp. dried oregano, crushed

1/8 tsp. dried basil

1/8 tsp. each sea salt and coarse black pepper

¼ tsp. Sriracha sauce (or 6-8 drops Tobasco)

1 slice low-carb bread (I used my gluten-free focaccia)

1 beaten large egg

4 oz. mozzarella cheese shreds

¼ c. grated Parmesan

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Wipe mushrooms clean with a dry, clean cloth.  Stem and with a spoon, scoop out and discard black gills in center.  Chop stems and set on paper plate.  Chop/mince all listed vegetables and add to that same paper plate.  Heat olive oil over medium-high heat.  Brush mushroom cap domed sides with olive oil and place on baking sheet.  In remaining oil saute the sausage crumbles, breaking up smallish.  Add all listed vegetables, including the chopped mushroom stems, cooking until all are tender.  Turn off heat.  Add all spices shown and the Sriracha sauce (or Tobasco).  Crumb your low-carb bread and add to the mixture.  Beat the egg in a small bowl and add.  Stir the finished filling mixture well so all gets moistened with the egg.  Fill each of the mushroom caps with 1/4 of the filling.  Sprinkle 1 T. Parmesan on top of each mushroom.  Finish with 1 T. mozzarella shreds sprinkled on top.  Pop pan into preheated 350º oven.  Bake 20-25 minutes.  Enjoy with a lovely green salad or green side of your choosing.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 4 servings, each contains:

522 cals, 40g fat, 10g carbs, 3.37g fiber, 6.63g NET CARBS, 32.3g protein, 316 mg sodium

 

 

 

 

German Brats and Vegetables

We recently grilled some delicious German Beef Brats I get from my grass-fed beef supplier. The seasoning blend in his sausages is simply delicious!  Very heavy with black pepper, but we like that.  With the 3 leftover links I defrosted tonight, I created a quick, stir-fried dish that’s both tasty, satisfies and yet stays low in carbs, despite all the vegetables in it. This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins, Keto, Paleo and Primal nutritional programs.  You could also make this using any type of brats, smoked sausage or Kielbasa with equally good results.

INGREDIENTS:

2 T. bacon grease

8 oz. German beef brat sausages (or any lean link sausage), precooked & sliced

1 c. frozen green beans

4 oz. onion, sliced thinly

4 oz. green cabbage, sliced

1 large clove garlic, minced

4 oz. red bell pepper, sliced

4 oz. sliced mushrooms, drained

Dash each salt and black pepper

¼ tsp. Sriracha chili sauce

DIRECTIONS:    Heat the bacon grease in a non-stick wok or skillet.  Saute the green beans and onion until it begins to wilt.  Add the cabbage and garlic next and continue sauteing until it just begins to soften.  Add the bell pepper, stirring as it softens just a bit (but isn’t mushy).  Add sausage, mushrooms, salt, pepper and Sriracha sauce and stir well for 2-3 minutes for flavors to blend. Remove and enjoy.   I ate mine plain, but it would be good on brown rice for non-low-carb guests.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 4 servings, each contains:

274 cals, 22.5g fat, 10.1g carbs, 3.05g fiber, 7.05g NET CARBS, 8.7g protein, 384 mg potassium, 725 mg sodium

Chicken-Sausage Roulades

This is an excellent way to use up that dab of cooked spinach that I invariably seem to have leftover every time I cook it.  This dish is quick, easy and so flavorful!  You’ll want to give this a try sometime.  It’s suitable for all phases of Atkins and Keto diets.  Primal followers can enjoy it but it is not suited to a Paleo lifestyle unless you omit the cheese or sub in a plan suitable creamy binder.

INGREDIENTS: 

9 oz, chicken breast, skinned

2 slices (1 ¾ oz.) Muenster cheese (you can use Swiss or Jack cheese)

2 oz. pork breakfast sausage (or Italian sausage)

¼ c. cooked spinach

Seasoning blend of your choice

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Oil a small baking pan.  Pound the chicken breast between two pieces of plastic wrap with a meat mallet.  Try not to tear it and strive for ” thickness.  Remove top sheet of plastic.  Cut into 2 equal portions.  Form sausage into two flat oblong pieces and fold the cheese slices around them.  Lay those “logs” in the center of each piece of chicken.  Spoon 2 T. spinach down each “log” of cheese & sausage.  Tightly roll chicken around the log of sausage and cheese.  Lift onto the baking pan, seam down.  Drizzle the roulades with the olive oil and brush with a brush to spread it evenly on the surfaces. Sprinkle the roulades with your favorite seasoning.  I used a blend of Mrs. Dash (original), onion powder and granulated garlic.  Pop into 350º oven for 20 minutes.  Remove and baste all surfaces with the olive oil in the pan (add more if needed).  Return to oven and bake another 15-20 minutes or until firm and golden brown.  Sausage will be done by now and cheese will have begun to run out the ends.  Plate and serve with mashed cauliflower or your preferred vegetable.  ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 2 servings, each contains:

456 cals, 27.9g fat, 1.65g carbs, 0.95g fiber, 0.7g NET CARBS, 48g protein, 913 mg sodium

Indian Curry Leaf Fish on Cauliflower Pilaf

I changed up my usual Indian broiled fish recipe tonight and my husband just LOVED the new ingredient and method of serving.    This dish goes together really fast, so it is an easy meal prep during the summer when it’s hot and you don’t want the oven on long.  If you wish, you can use whole fish for this recipe, but you will want to bake at 350º rather than broil if using whole fish.  If using whole fish, cooking time will be 20-30 minutes depending on the size and thickness of your fish.  This spice mixture would also be good on flounder,  trout or bluefish filets.  This recipe is Induction friendly.

I order my curry leaf powder on-line.  Many spice vendors carry it. If you can’t (or don’t wish to) order it I would substitute 1 tsp. dried mint leaves.

INGREDIENTS FOR CAULI PILAF:

1 small head cauliflower (or 1/2 larger head)

2 T. olive oil

2 oz. red onion, finely minced

2 T. cilantro (I used the stems only)

½ tsp. Garam Masala Spice Blend

1/8 tsp. turmeric

Dash sea salt

DIRECTIONS FOR PILAF:  Cut cauliflower into chunks and pulse in food processor or blender to coarse “rice” stage.  Microwave in covered bowl for 4 minutes, stirring once before removing from microwave.  Set aside a few moments.   Heat olive oil in non-stick pan over high heat and saute onion and cilantro until nearly tender.  Add Garam Masala, turmeric and salt.  Lower heat.  Using a yellow or metal spoon (turmeric will stain white or wooden tools) gently stir in the tender cauliflower rice and mix all  until well-blended.  Turmeric will turn the mixture light yellow.  This is normal and what you want.  Let pan set over lowest heat possible for flavors to mellow while fish is broiling.

INGREDIENTS FOR FISH:

4   Tilapia filets (about 4-5 oz. each) [or fish of choice]

1 tsp. minced ginger root

1 tsp. minced garlic

1 finely chopped jalapeno, seeded and chopped

2 T. chopped cilantro

¼ tsp. turmeric

Dash each of cayenne, black pepper & turmeric

1/2 tsp. curry leaf powder  (or 1 tsp. dried crushed mint leaves)

4 T. unsalted butter, melted

1 T. tomato paste + 3 T. water (or ¼ c. tomato sauce)

FISH DIRECTIONS:  Preheat boiler. Lightly oil or parchment line a medium a baking pan large enough to hold fish in single layer.  Lay filets in the pan white side up.  Mix all other ingredients in a glass or metal bowl.  Do not use a plastic bowl (or your food processor) as the turmeric stains them yellow.  Add HALF the melted butter and mash all the seasonings to blend well in to a thick paste.  Using the back of a spoon, spread seasoning paste evenly on the tops of the 4 filets.   Broil for about 10 minutes, until thickest part of the filets is firming up.  You can bake for about 20 minutes (30 for whole fish) at 350º if you prefer, but I think broiling this is best.  Fast is goodness in my book.  When done, remove and drizzle remaining melted butter on each portion and serve with the cauliflower pilaf as a base, trying to use 1/4 of the pilaf under each of the 4 servings.  This pairs  nicely with my homemade Samosas.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Serves 4, each serving contains:

327.25 cals, 26.15g fat, 5.62g carbs, 2.15g fiber, 3.47g NET CARBS, 24.35g protein, 84.5 mg sodium

Crunchy Parmesan-Boursin Chicken Filets

This simple dish will really please your family.  It’s almost effortless to make if you have some of my Shawarma Mayo made up (I always keep it on hand in my fridge).  You can use regular homame mayo, but it won’t come out quite as good, as the Shawarma mayo linked in the recipe really is quite good with Boursin cheese.  This can be ready in 30 minutes or less! Truly delicious and suitable for all phases of Atkins, Keto diets, Primal-Paleo as well.

INGREDIENTS:

24 oz. boneless, skinless chicken breast, in 4 nice portions

4 T. my homemade Shawarma Mayonnaise

4 T. Boursin Garlic-Herb cheese (or garlic-herb Alouette cheese)

1 oz. pork rinds

½ c. parsley, chopped

¼ tsp. each black pepper, garlic powder & onion powder

¼ c. Parmesan cheese (any variety will work)

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Using the flat side of a meat tenderizer or mallet, pound the 4 breast filets between 2 sheets plastic wrap to flatten them a bit using the flat side of a meat tenderizer or mallet.  Real thin is NOT necessary here, just flatten them so they aren’t too thick for fastest baking. Place filets on an oiled baking pan making sure they are not touching.  Brush each with 1 T. of the Shawarma Mayo.  Then dot each with 1 T. of the Boursin cheese.  Place all remaining ingredients in a food processor or blender and pulse to make a nice crumb mixture.  Sprinkle this mixture evenly over the chicken filets and pop pan  in 350º oven for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:     Makes 4 servings, each contains:

500 cals. 29.3g fat, 1.5g carbs, 0.22g fiber, 1.29g NET CARBS, 59.5g protein, 975 mg sodium

Pork Chops with Roasted Poblano Gravy

I picked up a couple of medium-size poblano peppers at the store yesterday as I wanted to make a creamy sauce for some pretty pork chops.  I added a mashed avocado to my sauce, which added nutrients, but absolutely no flavor whatsoever and I will not add it in future.  Waste of a good avocado in my opinion.  😉

This recipe was quite tasty if you like the taste of poblanos.  As a rule, these peppers are not spicy hot, especially when you roast them as I did for this recipe.  Although there are the occasional hot ones out there.  However, that has only happened to me one time in 45+ years of cooking with them.

This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins, Keto diets and Primal followers.  Use coconut milk instead of the cream for Paleo dining.

Variation:  Substitute 2 portions of seared boneless chicken breast or chicken thighs for the pork.

INGREDIENTS:

2  medium poblano peppers, stemmed, seeded, cut into halves

2   pork chops (mine were 7-oz bone-in)

1-2 tsp. bacon grease

1 clove garlic, minced

¼ c. chopped cilantro

½ c. heavy cream

½ c. chicken broth (I use homemade)

Dash each salt and black pepper

DIRECTIONS:  In a skillet, melt the bacon grease and cook the pork chops until brown on both sides and thoroughly done.  Remove to a platter for now.

Preheat oven to 375º.  Stem, seed and cut pepper into halves lengthwise.  Place cut side down on a baking pan and roast for about 20 minutes.  Peel as much of the papery skin off as you can get off. Cut into ¼” strips and set aside.

In the skillet you seared the meat in, add the garlic, pepper, cilantro, salt, pepper and saute over medium heat for a few minutes.  Add the chicken broth and reduce heat to medium-low.  Add cream and simmer for 5 minutes.  Replace chops on top and allow them to reheat on low fire.  Serve with half the gravy dipped over each chop.  ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 2 adult servings, each contains:

552 cals, 39.3g fat, 5.4g carbs, 1.3g fiber, 4.1g NET CARBS, 41.7g protein, 239 mg sodium

 

Stuffed Focaccia

I wanted something Italian tonight, but not pizza and not pasta.  So I decided to try a stuffed focaccia.  GOOD decision, as this came out VERY good!

variation, add a few sliced black olives, but I didn’t have any on hand.

Before Cutting

This recipe is suitable for Phase 2 Atkins, Keto diets, Primal folks if consumed only occasionally.  This recipe is only suitable for Paleo if you use a plan suitable bread.

VARIATION:  Add a few sliced black olives to the filling

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. ground beef (or ½ beef and ½ Italian sausage removed from casings)

½ tsp. total Italian Spice blend

½ c. almond flour

¼ c. golden flax meal

¼ c. plain whey protein powder

1 tsp. baking powder

3 T. cream cheese, softened

2 large eggs, beaten

1½ c. shredded white mild cheese (I used a combo of Monterey Jack & Mozzarella)

1 tsp. cider vinegar

1 T. heavy cream

1 T. water

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

FILLING:  6 oz. sliced mozzarella cheese + 1/4 tsp. Italian Spice Blend

TIP:  If you are not gluten-free, I find 1 T. oat fiber added improves this bread’s texture greatly.  But remember, oat fiber is NOT 100% gluten-free.

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Brown the beef in a skillet.  Add half of the Italian Spice and a dash garlic powder if you like.  Stir well, remove from heat and set aside.

Soften cream cheese in medium mixing bowl in microwave.  Beat in the eggs, cream, water, vinegar, both cheeses and dissolved yeast (if using).  Measure and add in all the dry ingredients and stir well with a rubber spatula. Line an 8 x 11 pan (I used metal) with parchment paper or silicone sheet.  Spoon up around 1/2 of the batter onto the paper and spread to a thin layer with a fork. Batter will be about ¼” thick.  Use 9 x 13 pan for thinner stuffed focaccia results.

Drain meat of any excess grease and spread evenly on bottom layer of batter.  Place the sliced mozzarella cheese on next.  Sprinkle with the rest of the Italian Spice blend.  Dot with the remaining batter, spreading with a fork as best as you can, but it doesn’t have to be perfect coverage.  As it will spread out a bit during baking.  Pop into 350º oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until dry to the touch in the center and lightly browned.  Cool 3-4 minutes and cut into 6 equal portions.  Lift carefully with spatula, avoiding parchment on bottom and serve with a nice green salad on the side.  Store leftovers covered in the pan or in a plastic bag in your refrigerator.  Goes well with a green, tossed salad with a light vinaigrette dressing.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 6 large slices, each contains:

487 calories

37 g  fat

5.61 g carbs, 2.43 g fiber, 3.18 g NET CARBS

36.3 g protein

558 mg sodium

Beef Stroganoff

 

Shown over Al Dente’s Carba-Nada egg fettucine noodles

This is how I usually put this famous dish together…..pretty simple, actually.  Takes under an hour to prepare. We low-carbers can serve it over low-carb noodles (I can highly recommend Al Dente’s “Carba-Nada” fettucini noodles), shredded stir-fried cabbage or mashed cauliflower.  I don’t care for it much on zucchini noodles, but you might like it that way.   This recipe is suitable for Induction if served over the cauli-mash and the red wine is omitted.

INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. sirloin steak, trimmed & cut in thin strips

4 T. butter, unsalted

4 oz. onion, chopped

8 oz. mushrooms, sliced

1 c. beef broth (or deglaze the skillet with water)

¼ c. red wine (omit if still in Atkins Induction)

½ c. sour cream

xanthan gum or your favorite thickener

Low-carb noodles or veggie “noodles” of your choice

DIRECTIONS:  In a large non-stick skillet or wok, brown the onion.  Add meat strips and continue searing until nicely browned.  Add mushrooms at this point.  Saute for a few more minutes until they, too, are done.  Lower heat to lowest setting.  Add beef broth & red wine.  Simmer 5-10 minutes to blend flavors.  Cover with lid and simmer (or bake at 350º ) for 30 minutes or so.  Check and stir occasionally during cooking.  Slightly thicken with a very light dusting of xanthan gum or your favorite thickener, whisking continuously between additions.    Right before serving, with fire off, remove lid and gently stir in sour cream.  Lower heat and simmer just a few minutes.  Do not let boil after adding sour cream or it can curdle and be visually off-putting.  Serve over buttered stir-fried cabbage shreds, cooked zucchini noodles, Carba-Nada noodles or mashed/riced cauliflower.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Please note the numbers below do not reflect the veggie or noodles you serve this on.  The numbers below are for the meat sauce only.

Serves 4, with each serving containing:

344 calories

21.9 g  fat

5.6 g  carbs, 83 g  fiber. 4.82 NET CARBS

28.8 g  protein

313 mg. sodium

Indian Chicken Tandoori & Roasted Vegetables (Sheet Pan)

This dish goes together in 30 minutes and can be on the table in no time with a convection oven feature on your oven.  Just marinate the chicken a half hour, cut the veggies up into your sheet pan and it cooks itself…….REALLY!  My kind of meal, as my regular readers know.  I’m such a lazy cook! This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins, Keto programs, Paleo and Primal Blueprint as well!  You can make it as spicy as you like, increasing the Tandoori spice and curry powder, but I’ve kept this recipe fairly “tame” as that suits my palate.

INGREDIENTS: 

2 large chicken thighs, bone-in

1 large chicken breast, cut into 3 portions (they’re so big nowadays)

2/3 c. sour cream (or yogurt)

1 tsp. each curry and tandoori powders

1/3 c. extra virgin olive oil

6 oz. sweet onion (I used yellow and red), cut into wedges

3 oz. red bell pepper, cut 1″ pieces

10 oz. eggplant, cut in large cubes (about 1-1½”)

1 very small head cauliflower (yield about 2½c. florets)

3 Roma tomatoes, cut into 4 wedges

1 tsp. minced ginger root

¼ c. cilantro chopped

Dash black pepper

¼ tsp. sea salt

2 tsp. my Garam Masala

DIRECTIONS:  In a large mixing bowl, measure out the sour cream or yogurt.  Add the tandoori and curry powders.  Stir well to blend.  Dip each piece of the chicken into the mixture, coating well on all surfaces.  Place bowl in fridge for 30 minutes.

In the meantime, Preheat convection oven to 350º (375º for a regular oven).  Place the EV Olive Oil into a large baking sheet pan.  Cut the eggplant into 1-1½” cubes (I do not peel mine) and put it in the pan.  Cut onions, separate the segments and add to the pan.  Cut red bell pepper into 1″ pieces and add to the pan.  Add the cauliflower pieces as well.  Next add the ginger, Garam Masala spice, salt and pepper.   With a spoon or rubber spatula, stir all so the vegetables get well-coated with the oil and spices.  Add the tomato wedges last and toss once or twice, very gently.  Lay the chicken pieces on top of the vegetable melange and sprinkle all with the chopped cilantro.  Pop into a hot 350º convection oven (or 375º regular oven) and bake under convection for about 40 minutes; for about 1 hour in a regular oven, or until meat is properly done.  Please check before time is up, as ovens, convection or not, can vary quite a bit.  Remove and serve with your favorite low-carb flat bread (if you can fit it into your daily number limits).

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 5 servings, each contains:

410.2 cals, 29.66g fat, 12.04g carbs, 3.96g fiber, 8.08g NET CARBS, 24.52g protein, 461g sodium

 

 

Greek Chicken & Spinach

This chicken I’ve made for many years, but tonight I got the idea to add bacon to this dish and well,  we really liked that addition!  This goes well with a Greek salad but I have served it with broccoli and sauteed leeks as well.  I make my own Cavender’s Greek Seasoning, but you can use Cavender’s no-salt Seasoning if available.  Otherwise, just black pepper, thyme and oregano.  This recipe is Induction friendly.

This dish doesn’t freeze too well as the homemade mayo tends to separate upon freezing and reheating.

INGREDIENTS:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

10 oz. pkg. frozen spinach

½ c. Feta cheese, crumbled and rinsed well with cold water in strainer.

2 oz. onion, chopped

¼ Parmesan cheese

pinch dill

1 c. total my homemade mayonnaise:  https://buttoni.wordpress.com/2009/07/27/homemade-mayonnaise/

4 slices finely chopped bacon

½ tsp. my homemade Cavender’s Greek Seasoning

½ c. crushed plain pork rinds

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 400º.  Cut chicken breasts in half, making 8 pieces.  Using 1/4 c. of the mayo, baste each piece of chicken on both sides and set aside.  If using whole pieces of bone-in chicken, make several slits in the flesh with a knife first to speed up cooking time.  In a medium bowl, stir spinach, Feta cheese, chopped onion, dill and Cavender’s seasoning.  Add 3/4 c. of the mayo and stir well.

Pour spinach mixture into baking dish (no need to grease pan).   Now place chicken pieces on top of the spinach mixture.  Sprinkle pork rinds and Parmesan over the pieces of chicken.  Place the finely chopped bacon over entire dish, being sure some gets on each piece of chicken.    Place in 400º oven and bake for about 1 hour 15 minutes.   For a faster-cooking dish that will be ready in only 45 minutes, pound chicken breasts with mallet before brushing with mayo.   This dish is chock full of nutrients, including 168% of selenium, 129% vitamin B12, 110% riboflavin recommended daily requirements!  And lots more other good stuff!

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 4 servings of 2 pieces of chicken each.  Each serving contains:

734 calories, 63.5 g  fat, 5.25 g  carbs, 2.75 g  fiber, 2.40 g  NET CARBS, 46.6 g  protein, 655 mg. sodium

Indian Cashew Chicken Curry

This curry recipe is quite unique in flavor from any others I’ve made.  The fenugreek is what makes the difference.  If you’re a curry fan, you will want to give this delicious recipe a try.   I have had my jar of fenugreek for some time.  I bought it for Iranian cuisine, which uses fenugreek often.  I had this notion to try it in an Indian curry and WOW!  Great decision!  An added note:  despite the pepper(s) in this, the final dish is NOT too spicy.  As always, I don’t like food too spicy and you won’t find many on my blog that are.  Something about cooking Indian recipes seems to tone down jalapeno and cayenne in the final dish.  Not sure why, it just does.  This recipe is suitable for Phase 2 of Atkins and beyond, and Keto diets as well.  Omit cashews or use almonds for Atkins Induction folks.

INGREDIENTS:

2 T. coconut oil (or butter)

16 oz. chicken breast, boned, skin removed, cut into big chunks

4 oz. onion, sliced

1 jalapeno, seeded and slivered (will not be hot in the final dish)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp. black pepper (a key flavor in this recipe yet too too hot)

1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper (final dish was NOT hot)

1 tsp. fenugreek seed, ground

Dash salt

¼ tsp. my Garam Masala

Dash turmeric (1-2 shakes from a shaker)

3/4 c. heavy cream

½ c. chicken broth

2 oz. cashew nuts (raw or roasted is OK)

3 Roma tomatoes, cut in chunks

1/8 tsp. xanthan gum (optional, if you want it thicker)

Garnish with a sprig of cilantro if you like

DIRECTIONS:   Melt coconut oil over high heat in a non-stick wok or skillet.  Add chicken and saute to brown on all sides.  Add onion and saute until it, too, begins to brown.  Add slivered jalapeno and garlic.  Add all spices, cream and chicken broth, nuts and tomatoes.  Lower heat to LOW and simmer for about 10-15 minutes or until flavors have had a chance to meld.  Serve alone or over steamed cauliflower rice.  For those not low-carbing at your table, I would offer a bowl of steamed basmati rice.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:    Makes 5 servings, each contains:  (does not include cauli-rice or basmati rice)

353 cals, 19g fat, 9.40g carbs, 1.48g fiber, 8.92g NET CARBS, 34.4g protein, 457 mg sodium

Indonesian Beef Soto

Our best friends of some of 30+ years are wonderful cooks and often introduce us to interesting Indonesian foods and spices.  Though he is as American as apple pie, she is American-born Indonesian and often cooks Indonesian foods.  This dish came about from my exposure eating dinner with them and my reading of a number of Beef Soto recipes in cookbooks.  I combined a mixture of spices traditional to the dish, and then added some veggies I thought would also be good in it. The result of this experiment was delightful, and quite simple since the grass-fed beef brisket I used in this was already cooked.  This dish would also be good made with cooked lamb or venison.  What a hearty, rib-sticking meal this was!  You can prepare this from scratch with raw beef, but it will naturally take much longer than my version made with leftover meat, as the meat will have to be first browned in oil and then simmered in the broth/water for at least an hour to get tender before adding veggies to the pot.  This dish could also be served as a dinner entree if you made it with less broth, thickened it with your favorite thickener or mashed veggie puree and served it over basmati rice (for the non-lowcarbers, of course).  This dish is suitable for Atkins Induction and passes Paleo-Primal muster as well.   🙂

INGREDIENTS:

2 T. palm oil (or coconut oil)

3 oz. onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 shallot, chopped fine

10 oz. lean, cooked beef (or lamb), cubed large

8 oz. summer squash, cut up large (calaba, zucchini, or yellow)

12 cherry tomatoes

1 tsp. dried red guajillo chiles (these are mild), seeded and chopped coarsely

Guajillo Chiles

½ tsp. ground cinnamon (or 1″ stick if you prefer)

1 tsp. Thai red curry paste

Dash of chipotle chile powder (or ½ canned chipotle chile, seeded and mashed)

1 thin slice ginger, minced

½ tsp. galangal powder (optional)

½ tsp. turmeric

around 2 c. beef stock (or water) (enough to cover meat)

DIRECTIONS:   In a large soup pot, heat the palm oil.  Brown the onion until it begins to caramelize.  Add shallot and continue to saute until shallot begins to “toast” a bit.  Add garlic and cubed meat and saute a few minutes longer.  Lower heat, add liquid and the cinnamon, guajillo chiles, ginger, turmeric and galangal powder, along with the Thai curry paste.  Simmer for 15 minutes if meat was already cooked, simmer for 30 minutes or longer if meat was raw when you started.  This will allow the spices to mingle with meat and the meat to get tender.  Add cubed squash and continue to simmer until squash is done.  Add tomatoes and cook just until tomatoes have softened up a bit, but have not fallen apart.  Thickening is optional, but you can if so desired.  I had a dab of leftover sweet potato puree in the freezer and added 3-4 tablespoons of that for thickening my soup a bit.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:    Makes 3 large servings, each contains:

309 calories

19.8 g  fat

9.23 g  carbs, 2.23 g  fiber, 7 g  NET CARBS

24.2 g  protein

627 mg potassium

193 mg sodium

Asian Pork Riblets

If you love those ribs on a classic Chinese Pu-Pu Platter you will want to give these a try.  They are not too sweet but have that sweet edge and Asian spices to make them a nice addition to your next stir-fry dinner!  Or have them as snacks or appetizers.  These are suitable once you get past the first 2 week Induction Phase of Atkins and are OK for most Keto diets if the will fit into your daily macro limits.

INGREDIENTS:

1½ lb. pork spareribs (I used the point end of a rack with little bone)

10 drops liquid smoke

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp. ginger root, peeled & minced

2 T. low sodium soy sauce

1/8 tsp. coarse black pepper

1 tsp. rice wine vinegar

1/8 tsp. dry mustard

1 T. molasses

1 T. my homemade Hoisin Sauce

¼-½ tsp. Sriracha sauce

1 T. dry sherry (or dry white wine which helps tenderize meat)

2 T. tap water

DIRECTIONS:  Cut ribs along bones.  If using the point end of a rack of ribs, that is almost totally boneless, cut any wider strips of boneless meat into strips about 3/4″ wide, or roughly the  size of the bon-in ribs.  Set them aside for a few minutes.  In a large mixing bowl, measures out all other ingredients.  Stir to blend well.  Add meat and toss well to coat.  Cover and chill for 1-2 hours.  When ready to cook, preheat oven to 400º.  Line a baking sheet with foil and place marinated meat strips onto pan making sure they are not touching.  With a brush baste lightly with marinade.  When oven is hot, place in oven and cook for about 20 minutes.  Turn and baste the other side of the meat pieces and cook another 15-20 minutes.  When browned nicely on both sides, remove meat to a platter and serve with whatever other Asian fare you like or enjoy these as an appetizer.  Be forewarned this is finger food and they are a little sticky & messy to eat, so have plenty of napkins on hand. 🙂

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 4 servings, each contains:

515 cals, 40g fat, 6.17g carbs, 0.27g fiber, 5.9g NET CARBS, 29.7g protein, 428mg sodium

Bœuf Bourguignon (Beef Burgundy)

A long time favorite of my parents when they were living.  I was pretty fond of it myself!  We hadn’t had it in ages so I fixed it for dinner tonight with the small chuck I defrosted.  Yum!  I forget how good this French stewed beef dish with burgundy wine and mushrooms is!  This evening I used a fairly small piece of chuck roast, only 2#, but it made enough dinner for 4 very ample servings.  We consumed two and I froze the remainder for another meal!  This dish is not suitable for Atkins induction or Keto dieters in the first 2-3 weeks because of the wine.  But once you’ve been on plan for awhile you can enjoy this delightful, rich, hearty dish from the Burgundy region of France.

INGREDIENTS:

2 lb.   beef chuck, cut in 1½” cubes, trimmed of all fat and gristle

3 T. coconut or extra light olive oil

¼ c. Einkorn flour (or Carbquik bake mix, to reduce carbs)

2 large carrots, peeled, cut in ½” slices

4 oz. yellow onion, cut in wedges (1″ whole onions are traditional)

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

2 large cloves garlic, minced (or 3 small)

½ c. Burgundy wine (or other full-bodied red wine)

¼ t.. sea salt

¼ t. coarse black pepper

10 large button mushrooms (8 oz.)

½ c. rich beef broth or bone broth

Water to cover pot contents

Thickener of your choice (I used a light dusting of xanthan gum)

DIRECTIONS:  Cut beef into 1½” cubes.  Trim all visible fat and gristle off that you can.  Using a large stew/soup pot, heat up the 3T. oil on high heat.  While it is heating, Place the meat into a bag with the flour, salt and pepper.  Shake well to coat.  Place pieces of meat into hot oil and brown the bottom surfaces.  When really browned, turn the pieces and brown the other side.  Add 1-2 c. tap water to slow the cooking.  Next add wine and all remaining ingredients listed.  End with enough more water to cover all solid ingredients, about 1/2″ past, actually.  Allow to come to a boil on high heat.  When it is bubbling lower to lowest heat setting and simmer for about 2 hours.  Cover only if too much water is evaporating and contents are not well-covered. Stir about every 15-20 minutes.  When all is tender and veggies are not too overdone, thicken liquid with your preferred thickener.  Serve at once.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 4 large servings, each contains:

462 cals, 19.1g fat, 16.3g carbs, 3.3g fiber, 13g NET CARBS, 138 mg sodium (to reduce carbs, eat a smaller portion than 1/4 of the batch)

Chicken Fajitas

We usually do our fajitas (chicken or beef) on the grill, but it was kind of cold out this evening and I decided not to ask my husband to light a charcoal fire for this small meal and stand out in the cold cooking these.  Just did them in my searing skillet inside.  But they came out fantastic.  I didn’t measure my spices, but estimated 1 tsp. of each one.  This recipe is not suitable until you get past the first 2-wk. Phase 1 Induction of Atkins.

INGREDIENTS:

6 low-carb whole-wheat tortillas (I use Carb Sense from HEB)

2 large chicken breasts, deboned and skinned

3 T. total extra light olive oil or coconut oil

1 tsp. quality chipotle chile powder

1 tsp. smoked Spanish paprika

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. onion powder

3 oz. slivered onion

Optional:  If you like it, some chopped cilantro (about 1/4 c)

DIRECTIONS:  A couple hours before your meal, skin and debone the chicken breasts.  Boil the bones and skin to chop up for your pet and freeze the broth for soup making and recipes downstream.  Cut the chicken into long strips no more than 5/8″ wide.  Set meat aside a few minutes.

In a gallon ziploc bag (or bowl) mix the oil and spices, stirring well.  Add the chicken pieces and toss with a spoon (or manipulate the bag with your fingers to coat the meat well.  Zip up the bar (or cover bowl with plastic wrap) and place in fridge to marinate a couple hours.

When ready to cook, warm your tortillas on defrost in the microwave for 3 minutes (or in regular oven in a covered baking dish).  While those are warming, sliver the onion and have ready by stovetop.  Heat a non-stick large pan or seasoned cast iron skillet over high heat.  Lightly oil pan with remaining 1 T. olive oil and add the meat, sauteing until browned on first side of pieces.  Turn or stir meat to brown other surfaces of meat.  When nearly done, add the onion and saute with the chicken until the onions begin to turn brown and caramelize.

Remove to table for serving with the warmed tortillas and optional cilantro.  To serve, dip some meat and onions onto a flour tortilla.  Add cilantro if you like it.  I served these with a tasty guacamole salad.  Truth be told, I actually put the guacamole inside my fajita roll before rolling and ate it altogether!  Yummy!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 6 fajita rolls, each will contain:

168.33 cals, 10.03g fat, 14.26g carbs, 10.48g fiber, 3.78g NET CARBS, 14.4g protein, 430 mg sodium