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

Italian Chicken Tart

With just 1½ cups of leftover cooked chicken in the refrigerator, I am going to revisit my Italian Chicken Tart for lunch today.  We just loved it when I first developed this recipe and I confess I haven’t cooked it again since.  So today’s the day!  With the fresh spinach layer and the tomato base, here, there are 2 servings of vegetables right in the tart!  This delicious recipe is suitable once you reach Phase 2 of Atkins and is acceptable for most Keto plans.

VARIATION:  For a smaller version, divide the dough into 12 balls and press the dough onto the bottom and up the sides a bit of each cup of a muffin pan.  Distribute the toppings on all 12 portions.  Baking time probably won’t change for the smaller version.  You could even divide dough into 24 balls and press into the real mini-muffin pans.  Reduce cook time a bit for those.  Another variation would be to sub in 2-3 Italian sausage links, skinned, crumbled and pre-browned for the chicken in this recipe.  Subbing in an Alfredo sauce for the red marinara would change this up quite a bit, too.

CRUST INGREDIENTS:

2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese (I used whole milk variety)

2 T. unsalted butter, pre-melted

½ c. Jennifer Eloff’s GF bake mix

½ c. Carbquik Bake Mix

1/8 tsp. each onion and garlic powder

1 T. oat fiber

1/2 tsp. psyllium husk powder (I use NOW brand)

1 egg, beaten

TOPPINGS:

1 c. fresh spinach leaves, coarsely chopped

¼ c. low-carb spaghetti sauce (jar) (I used Classico brand with basil)

1½ c. cooked chicken, coarsely chopped

½ tsp. each dried basil and oregano leaves

½ c. additional mozzarella cheese

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Place cheese in glass bowl and set in microwave.  Melt cheese on HI for around 2 minutes.  Remove bowl from.  Drizzle melted butter over the top of cheese and stir with fork.  Add in the two bake mixes, the psyllium, oat fiber, the beaten egg, onion and garlic powder.  Stir well with fork until it forms a ball and pulls away from the bowl.  Knead once or twice with hands in the bowl and then place dough into a classic tart pan (the kind where the bottom pushes up/out).  If you don’t have one, use a large pie plate.  This crust wanted to stick to the pan a bit, despite the fact my tart pan is non-stick, so you might want to lightly oil the pan with coconut oil.  Press the dough out evenly on the bottom with your hands, pushing it up the sides a bit to form a “wall” around the edge.  Just so you know, my tart pan is 11″ in diameter.  Pop into 350º oven for about 12 minutes to set up the dough surface. Remove when it just beings to get tan on the edges.  Remove.  Place the spinach evenly on the bottom of the tart.  Next add the chopped chicken, oregano and basil.  Top with the additional ½ c. mozzarella cheese.  Raise oven temp to 375º and pop back into oven.  Bake until lightly browned, or about 15 minutes.   Watch it, as ovens do vary.  Cut into 6 slices and serve hot.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:    Makes 6 slices, each contains:  (I ate 2 and the hubs ate 3)

333 calories, 25 g fat, 10.83 g carbs, 6.65 g fiber, 4.18 g NET CARBS, 27 g protein, 549 mg sodium

Ranch® Buttermilk Salad Dressing (or dip)

Ranch Buttermilk Dressing

Ranch Dip for Veggie Trays

I finally came up with a low-carb version of Ranch® Dressing for my husband, who just loves it on salads.  I think my version tastes better than what is sold in the bottle (which I actually don’t like).  No unhealthy ingredients in mine, either.

I’m not too fond of dill, so I tend to reduce it in most recipes.  But my husband LOVES dill and likes more in recipes, thus the range of dill shown in the Ranch® Powder recipe linked below.  I basically used equal amounts of the herbs I selected except the dill and thyme.  A tablespoon of thyme would have been waaaaay too much!   This dressing is super yummy!  Try it and see if you don’t agree it’s even better than the famous bottled stuff!  As you well know, this also makes an excellent dip for raw vegetable party trays.  All you have to do for the dip is increase the sour cream to make it thicker.  You’ll have to recalculate carbs to add in the extra sour cream.  This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins and Keto diets.

INGREDIENTS:

1 c. homemade mayonnaise

3/4 c. sour cream (add ¼ c. more if using as a veggie dip)

¼ c. buttermilk (only 2 T. if using as a veggie dip)

1 T. my Ranch Dressing Powder Blend

2 tsp. red wine vinegar

1/8 tsp. salt

OPTIONAL:  1/8 tsp. glucomannan powder if you like a thicker dressing

DIRECTIONS:  Measure the first 3 ingredients into a medium bowl.  Whisk well to blend to a smooth mixture.  Add my Ranch Dressing Powder Blend, vinegar and salt and whisk a couple minutes until the herb mixture is thoroughly blended in.  If using the glucomannan thickener, whisk it in last.  Transfer to a saved empty plastic dressing bottle (I always keep and wash them for homemade dressings) if you have one, or a lidded jar.  Close tightly and chill.  Serve on crisp green salads or as a dip for raw veggies.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes two cups or eight ¼ c. servings, each contains:

251 calories, 26.8 g  fat, 1.81 g carbs, 0.1 g  fiber, 1.71 g  NET CARBS, 1.72 g  protein, 66 mg sodium

Shrimp-Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

Next time you’re having grilled, baked or fried fish, you are going to want to try these delicious stuffed mushrooms I cooked tonight to accompany our salmon.  The cheeses and spices made these so yummy.  They are simple to make as well, so what more could you ask for to serve such deliciousness?!  These are suitable once you reach Phase 2 of Atkins and will fit into most ketogenic diets.

INGREDIENTS:

18 oz. medium Portobello mushrooms (about 2¼” diameter)

¼ c. olive oil

1 T. unsalted butter

2 medium green onions, chopped

8 large raw shrimp, peeled, deveined and chopped

2 oz. cream cheese

1/3 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Dash each salt & pepper

½ tsp. my Seafood Spice Blend

1 low-carb roll or slice low-carb bread (I used this one)

1 T. more butter

DIRECTIONS:  Wipe mushrooms of any dirt.  Remove stems with small knife without destroying the mushroom caps.  Pour the olive oil into a medium bowl and drizzle the olive oil over them.  Toss to coat them well.  Place mushroom caps onto a baking pan and set aside while you make the filling.

Melt 1 T. butter in small non-stick skillet.  Chop the mushroom stems and add to the pan.  Chop green onion and also add to pan.  Add chopped shrimp.  Saute until they are all done.  Sprinkle a dash of salt, pepper and the seafood spice blend over the mixture.  Now add the cream cheese and mash/stir until melted and blended well.  Add cheddar shreds and stir/fold the mixture well allowing it all to heat, melt and bind together.   Turn off heat.  Now preheat your oven to 375º.

Stuff each mushroom cap with about 1 T. of the mixture to fill them to capacity using up all your filling with as even a distribution as your can.

Crumb the low-carb bread/roll with the remaining 1T. butter in a food processor, blender or crumb by hand & melt/stir them into the melted butter in a skillet.  Sprinkle the crumb topping over the 10 mushrooms.  Pop the pan into a hot 375º oven for about 20-25 minutes (watch then as ovens vary).  Larger mushrooms will take up to 30-35 minutes to get fully heated and golden on top.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 10 pieces, each contains:

151 calories, 12.9g fat, 4.15g carbs, 1.26g fiber, 2.89g NET CARBS, 6.29g protein, 142mg sodium

If making appetizers, use 20 smaller mushrooms.  Just divide the above numbers by to to calculate the values for the smaller ones.

 

Garlic Dinner Rolls

My Mozzy Dough, somewhere between the Flathead Pizza Crust recipe on the Diet Doctor’s website and Jennifer Eloff’s Miracle Dough recipe, makes excellent dinner rolls.  Delicious hot with butter!  Also good split, toasted with melted butter brushed on the tops and a sprinkle of Italian herbs and Parmesan cheese.  Makes delicious toasted garlic bread!  This dough has good elasticity, flavor and is so versatile.  This recipe is not suitable until you get closer to goal weight on Atkins.

INGREDIENTS:

1½ c. shredded mozzarella cheese

1 T. cream cheese

1½ T. melted butter

1 egg, beaten

½ c. Jennifer Eloff’s Gluten-Free Bake Mix

½ c. Carbquik (or another ½ c. gluten-free mix)

1 T. oat fiber

1/4 tsp. psyllium husk powder

1 small clove garlic, minced

Dash oregano

1 T. dry grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Line baking sheet with parchment or silicone sheet.  Measure out all dry ingredients in small bowl, stir well and set aside.  Place mozzarella cheese shreds, minced garlic and cream cheese in glass or ceramic bowl and microwave on HI for about 1-1½ minutes to melt it.  Remove and stir quickly with a fork.  Add the egg and melted butter and stir again.  Quickly pour in the dry ingredients and stir quickly with a fork to form a single ball of dough, scraping it down off the sides of the bowl.  Knead or stir a few minutes to be sure all is uniformly mixed.  Divide into 6 equal portions and roll smooth into a ball.  Place them spaced out on parchment-lined pan.  Press slightly flat if you like, but not really necessary.  Sprinkle tops with oregano and Parmesan cheese. Bake at 350º for about 18 minutes until dry to touch and lightly browned as shown.  Remove and serve hot with butter.

CORRECTED NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes enough for a 9″-10″ pie-crust with lovely fluted edge, 4 hand pies, 12″ pizza crust or 6 dinner rolls which have 6.26 net carbs each if made/cut into 6 portions.

ENTIRE RECIPE CONTAINS:  1140 calories, 95.8 g fat, 58.6 g carbs, 37.6 g fiber, 21 g NET CARBS, 81.2 g protein, 1542 mg sodium (divide by number of servings/pieces for the specific application you use this dough for)

 

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 a little 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 numbers below 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 low-carb 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

Boursin-Herb Stuffed Mushrooms

I’ve done shrimp-stuffed mushrooms, herb-stuffed mushrooms, sausage-stuffed mushrooms, but last night I decided to do just a simple, rich herb-Boursin cheese filling.  Yummers!  These so “dressed up” a simple beef pattie dinner.  A side of fresh green beans was the perfect complement.  These would make great party snacks, using smaller mushrooms, of course.  This recipe is certainly a keeper for us as we love Boursin cheese!  And these gems have 30%-55% RDA of 11+ vital vitamins and minerals, so they are very nutritious for your family!  Best of all, they’re suitable for all you folks still on Atkins Induction!

INGREDIENTS:

6 large button mushrooms

2 T. olive oil + 2 T. unsalted butter

¼ c. chopped parsley

1 large green onion, chopped fine

1/8 tsp. each black and cayenne pepper

4 T. Boursin or Alouette “Garlic & Herb” soft cheese

1 slice low-carb bread or roll (I used this focaccia), crumbled

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Wipe clean and stem the mushrooms.  I saved the stems for some other use.  You can, of course, chop them up, saute and add to the filling mixture, but in doing so, you may not get all the filling into the mushroom cavities when stuffing.

Melt the butter with the olive oil in a small skillet over medium heat.  With a brush, coat the outsides and insides of the mushrooms and set on baking pan.  To the remaining oil in the skillet, add the parsley, green onion, black and cayenne pepper.  Saute for a couple minutes.  Turn off heat and stir in the cheese to melt and blend.  Fold the bread crumbles into the mixture last and blend well.  Using a spoon, fill each mushroom cavity with 1/6 the filling, forcing it down well in the hole and allowing it to mound slightly.  If you have leftover filling, grab a 7th mushroom and fill it!  That will lower the numbers below a bit.  Pop pan into 350º oven and back around 25 minutes until mushrooms appear done and topping is slightly brown on top as shown above.  Serve at once.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 6 stuffed mushrooms, each one contains:

128 cals, 12.4g fat, 2.2g carbs, 0.7g fiber, 1.5g NET CARBS, 3g protein, 78 mg sodium

 

BBQ Dogs

When you BBQ a big piece of brisket, like we do from time to time, it seems there’s always so much leftover (there are just two of us here).  I like to chop some of the leftover meat, add a little of my low-carb BBQ sauce, so there is some convenient chopped beef BBQ for sandwiches throughout the week.

Last time we grilled a brisket, I also happened to need to bake some low-carb bread, as I was down to my last.  Then when I started stirring all those ingredients up in my mixing bowl this finger-food idea just popped into my head.  Using my protein bar silicone baking pan (but you could use a regular muffin pan), I formed the tastiest little treats!  These are great for parties, great snacks or even several for a grab-and-go lunch!  They’re low in carbs, too!

I have started adding 1 tsp. yeast dissolved in 1 T. warm water to my bread batter, not for rise, but for flavor.  You can omit that, but it will only lower net carbs by .13 g, so why not go ahead and add it for that touch of yeast flavor?  These are suitable once you get to the nuts level of Atkins Phase 2 (OWL, Ongoing Weight Loss).  If you add that cheese, be sure to add in those cheese carbs.  You can bake these in muffin pans if you don’t own or want to get the specialty pan shown below.  I just happen to have stumbled on a couple of these pans in my local Tuesday Morning store one day.

INGREDIENTS: 

1 recipe my gluten-free grain-free focaccia bread

12 oz. leftover chopped BBQ beef or pork

¼ c. low-carb BBQ sauce  (1-2 carbs per tablespoon or less)

VARIATIONS:  Add 1 tsp. shredded Cheddar cheese or some chopped green onion on top of the meat portion before topping with the “cover” batter.  🙂

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º. Make up the bread recipe per that recipe’s instructions.  If you like, you could add a little onion powder to the batter, or finely minced green onion, but be sure to add in those carbs if you do!  Toss the chopped beef with the ¼ c. BBQ sauce.  If not using silicone pans, grease your muffin cups generously to prevent sticking. Dip up about 2 tsp. batter into each of your pan’s 12 slots.  This should take about half the batter.   Using a spoon or fork, spread it evenly on the bottom of the form.  Next dip 1 oz (about 1 Tbsp.) chopped beef mixture onto the batter.  Gently spread the meat evenly.  Finally, spoon the remaining batter on top of the meat in each slot (about 2 tsp.).  Again, with the back of a spoon, spread that batter carefully and as evenly as possible.  You want to completely cover the meat as best you can.  There will barely be enough batter to complete the job, so it is important you measure the bottom and top batter as suggested to avoid running out before all 12 “dogs” are “constructed”.  Place silicone pan on a sheet for support and pop into 350º oven for 25 minutes or until lightly browned as shown.  ENJOY!  Below is a photo of the pan I used.  Although they still make it (BTW, it is rimmed in metal framing for support, which I really like), it is difficult to find on the internet.  You can make this recipe using muffin pans however.  I stumbled upon these two Chicago Bakeware pans at my local Tuesday Morning store several years ago and snatched them up. 🙂  Other companies make similar pans:  http://www.amazon.com/Purple-Silicone-Sponge-Finger-Bakeware/dp/B00AFRALOS.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 12 “dogs”, each contains:

193 cals, 13.3g fat, 2.71g carbs, 1.05g fiber, 1.66g NET CARBS, 15.7g protein, 145 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

Air Fryer Croutons (low-carb)

 

 

I just discovered I can make low-carb croutons in my air fryer (Power XL 7 qt 1700 watt basket style).  Using my familiar Einkorn English Muffin as the base, it was a piece or cake, or perhaps I should say a piece of “toast”. 🙂  This time I coated them with my spice mixture, but next time I’m going to put it right into the batter when making the muffin just for ease.  Doubt it will make a bit of difference in the end result.  We both thought these a tasty substitute for high-carb commercial croutons.  To lower carbs, you could use some other low-carb bread or merely eat less of them on your salad.

INGREDIENTS: 

1 recipe my Einkorn English Muffin

1 T. extra virgin olive oil

¼ tsp. my Seafood Spice Blend

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

Dash sea salt

¼ tsp. baking powder

VARIATION:  Use other seasoning blends to change things up a bit

DIRECTIONS:  Make the English muffin by that recipe’s instructions (linked above).  If adding spices to batter, add to batter before baking.  DO NOT slice the muffin laterally when cooked.  Tip muffin onto cutting board.  When completely cooled cut into ½” cubes.  The croutons will toast better if not larger than ½” size.  I found the corner pieces (my dish is oval) toasted the best! Let cubes rest on cutting board for 1 hour to totally dry out.  Turn them over once to try to get them dry to the touch on all surfaces.

When about ready to get meal together, toss them into a medium bowl with 1 T. olive oil.  If adding spices to surface, mix it into the olive oil in the bowl and then toss in your cubes.  Stir well to coat.  Place them in the basket of your air fryer (or in a pan if you have the shelf type.  I placed a cake cooling wire rack on mine to be sure they didn’t fly around during cooking.  My fryer has a forceful fan!  Cook at 375º for about 6 minutes, checking often and shaking to get all sides brown and toasty.  Add more time if needed to get them to a firm and toasty state without them burning.  All fryers are different and the time is variable with each brand/model.  Cool completely before serving.

Low carb breads do not keep their crunchy quality for long, but if you have some leftover (I did) put remainders in a ziplock bag and reheat in the air fryer at 375º for 2-3 minutes to toast them right up again.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes enough to garnish 4 salads.  Each of the 4 servings will contain:

114 cals, 10.4g fat, 4.6g carbs, 2.25g fiber, 2.35g NET CARBS, 3.33g protein, 94 mg sodium

 

Indian Samosas

I made Indian food for dinner tonight, which consisted of my Indian Creamed Spinach (Saag Paneer), Indian Baked Chicken (done in my air fryer) and I tried my hand at samosas.  My husband just loves samosas, so I put my thinking hat on.  Thought I could use my Mozzy Dough as it’s pretty flexible to be manipulated.  For the filling, my Kheema Matar meat mixture would do nicely.  They came out wonderful!  I used a little of my Sofrito and chopped mint mixed with a bit of olive oil to dip them into. They are traditionally dipped into a tamarind sauce.  I have tamarind but haven’t picked a recipe for that sauce yet and was not wanting to bother tonight anyway.  Here is a link to a Youtube video on how to make a tamarind dipping sauce.  But samosas to me, are truly good with no dipping sauce.  I think next time I’ll just make 6 samosas to see if that affords me enough dough for each one to make them in the traditional triangular shape.  Don’t know until you try.  🙂

INGREDIENTS:

1 recipe my Mozzy Dough

1 recipe my ground meat Kheema Matar

DIRECTIONS:  Make the Kheema Matar meat mixture by that recipe’s instructions and set by your work area.  Make the dough by that recipe’s instructions.  After final kneading, roll into a log and divide into 12 equal parts.  For easier construction, you may prefer to make just 6 larger samosas.  But I wanted small ones tonight as I’m eating a lot less these days.

Roll each of the 12 (or 6) portions of dough into a ball and set on a silicone sheet or plastic wrap.  Press the dough into a 4″ round with your fingers and the but of your palm.  Fill each round of dough with 2 T. meat filling and press it firmly into a mound.  Gently lift opposite sides up over the filling (all four) and to the center to cover the meat completely, pinching the dough at the top to seal well.  If dough tears, dump the meat back into the skillet, roll and press the round of dough out again and refill.  Heck, the dough is a little delicate.  Even I had to redo one myself.  Place the samosas onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Continue until all 12 (or 6) samosas are made.  Preheat oven to 350º and pop pan into oven.  Bake for about 15 minutes until just browning on the tops.  Remove and serve as a snack, appetizer or with a full Indian meal as a first course.  If you want a little dipping sauce, mix 2 T. of my Sofrito (and 2 T.fresh mint, if you have some) in 2 T. olive oil.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 12 small or 6 large samosas.  A serving consists of 1 large or two small samosas and will contain:  Does not include any dipping sauce.

258 cals, 23.8g fat, 13.8g carbs, 7.7g fiber, 6.1 NET CARBS, 27.1g protein, 808 mg sodium (mostly from the cheese in the dough)

Tzatziki

My late brother, Executive Chef many years ago at Top of the Mark in San Francisco, once said he thought the saucier was the most important chef in the kitchen.  I have always agreed with that assessment.   I have been asked more than once at someone’s house to “please make the gravy” so I think I may be pretty good at that.  I will be re-posting several of my favs this week on the site as they often get lost in the sea of “main attraction” posts.

Tzatziki is a well-known Greek condiment and one I enjoy frequently with several grilled meat entrees.   This Greek food condiment is marvelous with my Middle Eastern/Mediterranean grilled beef or Kubideh lamb kebabs or my Mediterranean Meat Wraps.  It’s also great on tuna, salmon or crab cakes or added to a shawarma gyros sandwich wrap.  I’ve even used this sauce on cucumber-tomato salads as a dressing!  It’s ever so simple to make, too!

NOTE:  Be sure to squeeze out as much water (with hands or clean kitchen towel) from your grated cucumber as possible before combining ingredients or else it will bleed out its water into the sauce and weaken the flavor as well as spoil appearance.  This recipe is not suitable for Induction due to the yogurt, but you could make it with all sour cream and enjoy 2-3 Tbsp.  This sauce is suitable for other Keto diets and Primal Blueprint (occasionally), but not at all Paleo approved due to the yogurt.

INGREDIENTS:

1 large 8-9″ cucumber, peeled, seeded and grated

1 c. Greek yogurt (I personally prefer half yogurt & half sour cream)

1 clove garlic, minced

1 T. yellow onion, minced finely

½ tsp. dried dill weed (or 2 sprigs fresh, chopped)

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

Dash each salt and black pepper

DIRECTIONS:  At least 1 hour before serving, peel the cucumber.  Cut in half and seed with a spoon.  Grate the cucumber onto paper toweling double thick or even better, place it in a clean cotton woven kitchen towel (not terry cloth, please).  Blot the water away with paper towels or wrap, twist and squeeze it in the kitchen towel to remove all water.  You want to get as much water out as you can.  Add the cucumber to a medium bowl.  Add all remaining ingredients and stir well.  Cover and chill until ready to serve.  If it bleeds out more water, blot it from around the edges with a paper towel, stir and serve.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes about 2 cups or 4 servings (perhaps more depending on how much people eat).  1/4 of the batch contains:

102 calories, 8.1 g  fat, 4.6 g  carbs, .8 g  fiber, 3.8 g  NET CARBS, 3.2 g. protein, 110 mg sodium

Shrimp-Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

Next time you’re having grilled, baked or fried fish, you are going to want to try these delicious stuffed mushrooms I cooked tonight to accompany our salmon.  The cheeses and spices made these so yummy.  They are simple to make as well, so what more could you ask for to serve such deliciousness?!  These are suitable once you reach Phase 2 of Atkins and will fit into most ketogenic diets.

INGREDIENTS:

18 oz. medium Portobello mushrooms (about 2¼” diameter)

¼ c. olive oil

1 T. unsalted butter

2 medium green onions, chopped

8 large raw shrimp, peeled, deveined and chopped

2 oz. cream cheese

1/3 c. shredded cheddar cheese

Dash each salt & pepper

½ tsp. my Seafood Spice Blend

1 low-carb roll or slice low-carb bread (I used this one)

1 T. more butter

DIRECTIONS:  Wipe mushrooms of any dirt.  Remove stems with small knife without destroying the mushroom caps.  Pour the olive oil into a medium bowl and drizzle the olive oil over them.  Toss to coat them well.  Place mushroom caps onto a baking pan and set aside while you make the filling.

Melt 1 T. butter in small non-stick skillet.  Chop the mushroom stems and add to the pan.  Chop green onion and also add to pan.  Add chopped shrimp.  Saute until they are all done.  Sprinkle a dash of salt, pepper and the seafood spice blend over the mixture.  Now add the cream cheese and mash/stir until melted and blended well.  Add cheddar shreds and stir/fold the mixture well allowing it all to heat, melt and bind together.   Turn off heat.  Now preheat your oven to 375º.

Stuff each mushroom cap with about 1 T. of the mixture to fill them to capacity using up all your filling with as even a distribution as your can.

Crumb the low-carb bread/roll with the remaining 1T. butter in a food processor, blender or crumb by hand & melt/stir them into the melted butter in a skillet.  Sprinkle the crumb topping over the 10 mushrooms.  Pop the pan into a hot 375º oven for about 20-25 minutes (watch then as ovens vary).  Larger mushrooms will take up to 30-35 minutes to get fully heated and golden on top.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 10 pieces, each contains:

151 calories, 12.9g fat, 4.15g carbs, 1.26g fiber, 2.89g NET CARBS, 6.29g protein, 142mg sodium

If making appetizers, use 20 smaller mushrooms.  Just divide the above numbers by to to calculate the values for the smaller ones.

 

Hummus

I made some Middle Eastern Tabouleh Salad recently and wanted a bit of hummus to go along with it.  The flavors are a paired must for me.  Being traditionally made from basically chickpeas, this is far from a low-carbers “safe” food to eat.  But I recently I saw on another WordPress blog Cavewoman Cafe that cauliflower can be used to make hummus, so I pulled out my hummus recipe of many years and tried it.

I really wanted to add just a few chick peas for the flavor boost, but discovered I didn’t have any among my canned goods or cooked in the freezer either.  I thought a moment and remembered I have DO chickpea flour in my pantry.  After all, it’s made from finely ground chickpeas, non?  Hmmmm…..Why not?

So I whipped up a batch of my regular  hummus recipe, subbing cauliflower for chick peas, guessing how much chickpea flour to put in the mix.  Man, this came out not just good, it was to die for!  I honestly couldn’t really tell it apart from the carb-laden variety made with all chickpeas!   This recipe is not suitable until the legumes rung of the OWL ladder.  The bread sticks pictured are made from 1 slice of my focaccia bread

NOTE:  This is not so great leftover in my opinion.  The cauliflower taste comes through much stronger on day 2.  So only make up as much as you think will be consumed completely the day it is made.

INGREDIENTS: 

16 oz. cauliflower

2 T. tahini paste (sesame seed butter)

2 T. chickpea flour (or ¼ c. cooked chickpeas. mashed up well)

1 T. fresh lemon juice

½ clove garlic, minced

dash salt

1 T. olive oil (for the hummus mixture)

¼ c. olive oil for top garnish

Dash paprika for garnish

parsley sprig to garnish (optional)

DIRECTIONS:   Steam cauliflower over boiling water until tender.  Lift out of pot and put into food processor.  Add all remaining ingredients EXCEPT the ¼ c. olive oil, paprika and parsley sprig.  Blend until smooth.  Scrape out onto serving dish.  Sprinkle with paprika.  Drizzle with ¼ c. olive oil, allowing some to pool around the edges.  Garnish with sprig of parsley (or chopped) and serve with your favorite low-carb breadsticks or crackers.  I personally love this stuff best when served with Tabouleh Salad and black or kalamata olives.  The flavors are wonderful together!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:    Makes about 2 cups or around five servings.  Each serving contains:

196 calories

17.76 g  fat

8.04 g  carbs, 3.16 g fiber, 4.88 g NET CARBS

3.46 g  protein

Einkorn Sausage-Cheese Balls

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

INGREDIENTS:

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

1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

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

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

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

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

Cheese Puffs

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

INGREDIENTS:

3 eggs, beaten

½ c. water

2 T. olive oil

2 c. shredded Cheddar cheese

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

¼ c. whey protein powder (plain, unsweetened)

1 T. (3 tsp) baking powder

¼ tsp. garlic powder

¼ tsp. onion powder

¼ tsp. cayenne pepper (optional but greatly enhanced the flavor layers)

1/8 tsp. sea salt

1 c. Carbquik (use gluten-free bake mix for a gluten-free version)

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

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

NUTRITIONAL INFO:    Makes 34 Cheese Puffs, each contains:

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

Turkish Pide (pronounced pee-day)

Although a traditional Turkish treat, they make something similar to this meat-filled flatbread in several Middle Eastern countries.  The seasoning used varies from country to country.  This dish is often served at Ramadan when the feasting begins.  Classically, it is made with wholewheat flatbread dough, but mine is made with my Mozzy Dough to keep it lower-carb.  I just chose spices and herbs reminiscent of our days in Teheran, as my Mom didn’t bring a recipe for this dish back to The States.   The chosen seasonings here are typical of many Middle Eastern recipes.  My husband ranted about this at lunch today! 

This recipe is not suitable for Atkins Induction as the dough has a small amount of flour product in it (Carbquik).   Although this is a main course, it can be served in smaller portions as a pizza-like snack.  It is substantial enough to require a plate, fork and knife to eat, however.

Many more delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own copy of our cookbooks  LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS.  Volumes 8-10 are almost exclusively comprised of my recipes with some new creations by famed Chef George Stella and Jennifer Eloff as well.  Order your copy (or any of our  cookbooks) from Amazon  or our direct order site: amongfriends.us/order.php.

INGREDIENTS:

½ recipe my Mozzy Dough

8 oz. lean ground beef (or lamb, for more authentic version)

2 oz. onion, finely chopped

15 cherry tomatoes (or San Marzano minis), chopped

3/4 c. parsley, chopped

¼ tsp. each: dried mint, dried fenugreek leaves, my Baharat Spice Blend

¼ tsp. each salt and coarse black pepper

DIRECTIONS:  Make the Mozzy Dough per that recipe’s instructions, reserving half the dough for another use.  It freezes well in a plastic baggie.  Roll the dough into a fat canoe shape about 12″ x 7″ on a parchment lined sheet pan.  Set aside.

Preheat oven to 375º.  Brown the beef (or lamb) in a skillet with the onion.  Add the parsley and all seasonings listed above.  Cook over medium-high heat for a few minutes to tenderize the onions.  Remove and spoon evenly into the “canoe” of dough, leaving a good inch of dough free of filling.  Sprinkle the chopped tomatoes on top.  Fold the uncovered dough up over the meat to create the sides of the “canoe”, pinching the pointed ends together with your fingers to help maintain the “canoe” shape.  Traditionally, they sprinkle sesame seeds on the sides of the “canoe” dough before baking but I did not, as the hubs isn’t fond of seeds on/in breads.    Pop into 375º oven for about 20-25 minutes or until begins to brown.  Remove from oven and cut into four equal portions.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:    Makes 4 servings, each contains:

316 calories, 23.5g fat, 12.17g carbs, 6.2g fiber, 5.97g NET CARBS, 24.424 g protein, 476mg sodium

Garlic Dinner Rolls

My Mozzy Dough, somewhere between the Flathead Pizza Crust recipe on the Diet Doctor’s website and Jennifer Eloff’s Miracle Dough recipe, makes excellent dinner rolls.  Delicious hot with butter!  Also good split, toasted with melted butter brushed on the tops and a sprinkle of Italian herbs and Parmesan cheese.  Makes delicious toasted garlic bread!  This dough has good elasticity, flavor and is so versatile.  This recipe is not suitable until you get closer to goal weight on Atkins.

INGREDIENTS:

1½ c. shredded mozzarella cheese

1 T. cream cheese

1½ T. melted butter

1 egg, beaten

½ c. Jennifer Eloff’s Gluten-Free Bake Mix

½ c. Carbquik (or another ½ c. gluten-free mix)

1 T. oat fiber

1/4 tsp. psyllium husk powder

1 small clove garlic, minced

Dash oregano

1 T. dry grated Parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Line baking sheet with parchment or silicone sheet.  Measure out all dry ingredients in small bowl, stir well and set aside.  Place mozzarella cheese shreds, minced garlic and cream cheese in glass or ceramic bowl and microwave on HI for about 1-1½ minutes to melt it.  Remove and stir quickly with a fork.  Add the egg and melted butter and stir again.  Quickly pour in the dry ingredients and stir quickly with a fork to form a single ball of dough, scraping it down off the sides of the bowl.  Knead or stir a few minutes to be sure all is uniformly mixed.  Divide into 6 equal portions and roll smooth into a ball.  Place them spaced out on parchment-lined pan.  Press slightly flat if you like, but not really necessary.  Sprinkle tops with oregano and Parmesan cheese. Bake at 350º for about 18 minutes until dry to touch and lightly browned as shown.  Remove and serve hot with butter.

CORRECTED NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes enough for a 9″-10″ pie-crust with lovely fluted edge, 4 hand pies, 12″ pizza crust or 6 dinner rolls which have 6.26 net carbs each if made/cut into 6 portions.

ENTIRE RECIPE CONTAINS:  1140 calories, 95.8 g fat, 58.6 g carbs, 37.6 g fiber, 21 g NET CARBS, 81.2 g protein, 1542 mg sodium (divide by number of servings/pieces for the specific application you use this dough for)

 

Chicken Spread Crunchies

 

This quick appetizer for parties made a delicious lunch today.   Had a small amount of cream cheese to use up and decided to onion it up a bit and make a spread for serving with crunchy pork rinds.  I don’t usually like dips and such on pork rinds, but THIS onion-y combo with chicken really did it for me!  The crunch came though without so much pork rind taste.  This recipe is a keeper for us.  I will definitely make this again.  For parties, just triple the recipe (using the entire can of chicken meat) to make approximately 60 taste bites for your guests.

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

INGREDIENTS:

2 oz. cream cheese, softened

¼ c. sour cream

1/3  can (13 oz.) chicken breast (water + salt pack only, I use Sam’s brand)

1 T. dehydrated minced onion flakes, toasted

¼ tsp. onion powder

1/8 tsp. each: turmeric, paprika, and garlic powder

½ tsp. granular Splenda or other sweetener (optional)

20 small bite-size pork rinds

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Place onion flakes on baking pan and bake about 8 minutes just long enough to lightly toast.   Remove from oven and add the flakes to a medium mixing bowl.  Drain chicken broth off the meat into a dish for another use.  I like to drizzle it on my dog’s kibble, which she just loves!  Spoon out 1/3 of the chicken meat into your mixing bowl (reserve rest for another use).   Flake meat a bit with a fork.  Add softened cream cheese and sour cream.  Add all spices and sweetener (if using).  Stir mixture well and let sit 5-10 minutes to allow onion flakes to soften a bit and flavors to blend.  Spoon about 1 tsp. of the mixture onto the cupped “bowl” side of the 20 pork rinds, placing the tasty treats on your serving platter.  Enjoy!

CAUTION:  Do not try to be efficient and fill these ahead of time or the pork rinds will get soggy! 

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 20 chicken appetizers, each contains:

26 cals, 1.98g fat, 0.50g carbs, 0.04g fiber, 0.45g NET CARBS, 1.55g protein, 41 mg sodium

Grilled Steelhead Trout-Spinach Pizza

I know this recipe may sound a little bizarre, but trust me, it is really, really tasty!  If you like things made with tuna or salmon, you will LOVE this interesting twist on a “pizza”.  The smoke on the fish combines so heavenly with cream cheese and green onion.   I created this for our lunch today and even my picky husband, a non-fish lover, said it was good!  And it was quite simple to put together.  I had a small piece of grilled Steelhead Trout leftover from our last grilling adventure and froze this piece.  I defrosted it and got this incredible idea as I blended it into some cream cheese.  Yummy, is all I can say.  I used my Mozzy Dough dough for the crust, but you can use whatever low-carb pizza crust you prefer.  I am providing nutritional stats for the entire recipe in case you decide to make this up as bite-size party food using a mini-muffin pan.  Just divide the “entire recipe” numbers below by the number of mini-bites you make.

This recipe is suitable once you get to phase 2 Atkins and is OK for most Keto diets provided you use a plan-suitable crust.

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

INGREDIENTS:

1 recipe my Mozzy Dough

4-5 oz. grilled Steelhead Trout, salmon or other fish

25 small spinach leaves, stemmed

6 oz. cream cheese, softened

½ c. green onion, chopped

2/3 c. mozzarella shreds

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º. Line a pizza pan with parchment paper and set aside. Make the crust by that recipe’s instructions.  Press the dough out evenly in your pan to a 14″ diameter circle.  Pop into 350º oven for 8-9 minutes or until just beginning to brown a tiny bit.  Remove and cool 5 minutes.  Slide parchment out from under the crust so it will crisp up on the bottom for the next phase of cooking.

While crust is baking, soften the cream cheese in a bowl in your microwave set to defrost.  Remove, add green onion and trout flakes (discard skin).  Blend well with a fork.  With a rubber spatula or the back of a spoon, spread half the fish mixture evenly onto the crust to within 1/4″ of the edge.  Place the spinach leaves in a single layer evenly on top.  Carefully spread the remaining fish-cream-cheese mixture on top.  Sprinkle the mozzarella shreds on top and pop into 350º for about 10 minutes or until the edges are nicely browned and the cheese is melted.   Remove from oven and slice into 8 slices.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Entire recipe contains 2215 cals, 177.7g fat, 77g carbs, 44.7g fiber, 32.30g NET CARBS, 151.4g protein, 2812 mg sodium 

For 8 slices, each contains:  277 cals, 22g fat, 9.62g carbs, 5.58g fiber, 4.04g NET CARBS, 19g protein, 352 mg sodium

For 6 slices, each contains:  369 cals, 30g fat, 12.83g carbs, 7.45g fiber, 5.38g NET CARBS, 25g protein, 469 mg sodium

Ranch® Buttermilk Salad Dressing (or dip)

Ranch Buttermilk Dressing

Ranch Dip for Veggie Trays

I finally came up with a low-carb version of Ranch® Dressing for my husband, who just loves it on salads.  I think my version tastes better than what is sold in the bottle (which I actually don’t like).  No unhealthy ingredients in mine, either.

I’m not too fond of dill, so I tend to reduce it in most recipes.  But my husband LOVES dill and likes more in recipes, thus the range of dill shown in the Ranch® Powder recipe linked below.  I basically used equal amounts of the herbs I selected except the dill and thyme.  A tablespoon of thyme would have been waaaaay too much!   This dressing is super yummy!  Try it and see if you don’t agree it’s even better than the famous bottled stuff!  As you well know, this also makes an excellent dip for raw vegetable party trays.  All you have to do for the dip is increase the sour cream to make it thicker.  You’ll have to recalculate carbs to add in the extra sour cream.  This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins and Keto diets.

More delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own set of Jennifer Eloff and friends’ best-selling cookbooks LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS.  She has collaborated with famous low-carb Chef George Stella and several other talented cooks for several years now to bring you a wealth of delicious recipes you are going to want to try.  Many of my recipes are also in these cookbooks! Order your 10-volume set TODAY! There is special pricing on for a limited time!  You can always purchase volumes individually, too, from Amazon or for the best deals, order here: http://amongfriends.us/order.php

INGREDIENTS:

1 c. homemade mayonnaise

3/4 c. sour cream (add ¼ c. more if using as a veggie dip)

¼ c. buttermilk (only 2 T. if using as a veggie dip)

1 T. my Ranch Dressing Powder Blend

2 tsp. red wine vinegar

1/8 tsp. salt

OPTIONAL:  1/8 tsp. glucomannan powder if you like a thicker dressing

DIRECTIONS:  Measure the first 3 ingredients into a medium bowl.  Whisk well to blend to a smooth mixture.  Add my Ranch Dressing Powder Blend, vinegar and salt and whisk a couple minutes until the herb mixture is thoroughly blended in.  If using the glucomannan thickener, whisk it in last.  Transfer to a saved empty plastic dressing bottle (I always keep and wash them for homemade dressings) if you have one, or a lidded jar.  Close tightly and chill.  Serve on crisp green salads or as a dip for raw veggies.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes two cups or eight ¼ c. servings, each contains:

251 calories, 26.8 g  fat, 1.81 g carbs, 0.1 g  fiber, 1.71 g  NET CARBS, 1.72 g  protein, 66 mg sodium

 

 

 

Indonesian Pork Bites

I wanted meatballs for dinner tonight but not “the usual”.  So I opened up my spice cabinet by the stove and just started throwing Asian/Indonesian ingredients into the bowl.  It never ceases to amaze me that sometimes those “no-recipe” creations end up coming out soooooo tasty!   These have a very delicate flavor, despite the fact that the ingredients have pretty strong flavors.  I recommend serving with steamed cauliflower and green beans.

Made even smaller and served with toothpicks, these would be great party food or a first course when entertaining.  Substituting an phase-suitable cracker, those on Induction could also enjoy these little pork delights.  These fit a Keto lifestyle nicely, too.  Paleo-Primal followers will want to use another nut butter in lieu of the peanut butter.  🙂

DIPPING SAUCE:  Sauce I used to go with these tasty morsels is in this recipe.

MEAT INGREDIENTS:

1 lb. lean ground pork

1 beaten egg

1 oz. onion, finely minced

2-3 T. chopped cilantro

¼ tsp. Thai green curry powder

1/16 tsp. cayenne pepper (optional)

4 low-carb crackers of your choice (I used Almond-Arrowroot Crackers ), crushed

DIPPING SAUCE INGREDIENTS:

1 tsp. coconut aminos (or low-sodium soy sauce or tamari)

1 small clove garlic, minced

2 tsp. fish sauce (I use Thai Kitchen brand)

2 T. all natural peanut butter or other nut butter of your choice

1 T. olive oil (for frying)

DIRECTIONS:   Mix all ingredients together using a fork or your hands in a medium mixing bowl.  Heat the oil in a  non-stick skillet over medium-high heat.  Form into 13 “rough” meatball shapes, drop onto hot greased skillet, and with the back of a spatula, press them slightly to  flatten to about ½” thick.  Fry until golden brown on both sides.   This will take about 5 minutes per side.  Serve at once with your favorite Asian stir-fried vegetable dish.  ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 13 pork bites, each contains:

133 calories, 11 g  fat, 1.2 g  carbs, .4 g  fiber, .8 g  NET CARBS, 7.45 g  protein, 133 mg sodium

More delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own set of Jennifer Eloff and friends’ best-selling cookbooks LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS.  Famous low-carb Chef George Stella and several other talented cooks bring you a wealth of delicious recipes to try.  If you’ve been debating on whether to buy, now would be a GREAT time to jump right in, as special pricing is going on right now with books as low as $9.77 per volume!!  Proceeds will go far to help defray all the medical bills our Team Captain, Jen has incurred since her breast cancer diagnosis and treatment.  Order you cookbooks today at Amazon or our direct order site.

Skillet Pizza

Skillet Pizza (for 1)

I’m currently revisiting Atkins Induction for a “reset” and remembered this delicious recipe that literally got me through Atkins Induction 10 years ago.  I’ve tried so many of the popular low-carb pizza crust recipes and just don’t like but a few that I have developed or tried in the interim.  A lot of sodium in pizza toppings.  Even this amount of sausage and cheese packs a whopping amount of sodium, as seen in the nutritional stats below!  But hey, when you’re still on Induction and craving pizza, this’ll do occasionally.  Best of all, it can be ready in 10-15 minutes!  Moreover, I don’t end up with “sausage fingers” and swollen ankles the next day from water retention due to the sodium in most low-carb crust recipes.  I’m so sodium sensitive, I leave off pepperoni from my pizzas as a rule.  Just increase ingredients accordingly if you need more servings.

Now this “pizza” isn’t one you can pick up and eat with your hands.  Even as it cools a bit and the cheese firms up, you’ll still have to eat with a fork.  So I don’t do this recipe for company.  🙂  But I find not being able to pick it up and eat by hand doesn’t bother me one bit.  This tastes just like the best sausage, mushroom, bell pepper pizza I ever had in any Italian restaurant or pizza parlor!  You may prefer to use all sausage or all beef, your call, but nutritional info is for the recipe as written.  If watching your sodium intake on doctor’s orders, using all ground beef and also lowering the cheese to 2 oz. would be wise choices.

More delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own set of Jennifer Eloff and friends’ best-selling cookbooks LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS.  She has collaborated with famous low-carb Chef George Stella and several other talented chefs to bring you a wealth of delicious recipes you are going to want to try.  Order your set TODAY! Special pricing going on right now, too!  Books are always available individually or as a set from Amazon or: http://amongfriends.us/order.php

INGREDIENTS:

Ready to dig in!

2 oz. pork sausage (breakfast or Italian)

1 oz. ground beef (or more pork sausage)

¼ tsp. fennel seed

Dash oregano

Sprinkle of garlic and onion powder

1/3 can drained, canned mushrooms (or 2 fresh, sliced)

2 oz. bell pepper

3 T. low carb spaghetti sauce (I use Bello Vita)

2 oz. grated mozzarella cheese

DIRECTIONS: Brown meat in no-stick skillet on medium heat.  Add veggies and continue to cook until pretty tender, about 5 minutes.  Add spices and stir.  Using spoon or spatula, neatly push ingredients away from the edges of the skillet as shown in picture.  Dot the surface with the tomato sauce but no need to stir.  Top with the cheese, trying to keep it pretty much on the ingredients.  Cover and lower heat to lowest setting and heat long enough to melt cheese.   Should be ready in just a few minutes.  Allow to cool a couple minutes so cheese will firm up a tad before attempting to “slice” into two slices.  Using a broad spatula, slide a portion out of the skillet onto the serving plate (or toasted French bread, for non-Atkins eaters). Enjoy!

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Serves 1 and contains:

531 cals, 39.3g fat, 11.2g carbs, 2.9g fiber, 8.1g NET CARBS, 34 g  protein, 1312 mg sodium

Chile Con Queso Bites

 

This very old recipe of mine has made an appearance at many a party throughout my life.  They are tasty and disappear so fast!  This recipe is Induction friendly with no modifications!   They’re great for any group celebrations!

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

INGREDIENTS:

½ c. finely chopped tomato

¼ c. finely chopped green onion

1 clove minced garlic or ¼ tsp. garlic powder

4 eggs, beaten

2 oz. shredded Cheddar Cheese

2 oz. shredded Monterey Jack Cheese

1 tsp. chili powder

½ tsp. ground cumin

1 4 oz. can mild, drained chopped green chiles

1 seeded, very thinly sliced jalapeno (optional garnish)

DIRECTIONS:  Lightly oil a non-stick skillet with olive oil and lightly saute tomato, green onion and garlic a couple of minutes.  Set aside while you prepare the rest of the mixture.

In a medium bowl, beat the 4 eggs, add the cheeses and green chiles.  Now stir in the tomato mixture.  Add spices and stir well to incorporate.

Either line with paper cups (best method) or oil mini muffin pans with olive oil.  Spoon 1T. of the mixture into each muffin cup.   There should be enough mixture for 24.   Bake at 350º for 10-13 minutes or until centers are set.  Let cool in pans 1-2 minutes if you did not use paper liners.  Loosen edges carefully with a knife and gently lift from the pan.  Serve garnished with a slice of jalapeno on top if desired.  If you prefer, you can put the jalapeno on these before baking.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 24, each contains:

25.9 cals, 1.84 g fat, 0.67g carbs, 0.17g fiber, 0.5g NET CARBS, 0.17g protein, 45 mg sodium

Chicken-Pizza Logs

I created a delicious lunch today with half a baked chicken breast that was leftover from dinner last night.  Man, did these come out ever so good!  I basically took my Cheese Thin Buns recipe, subbed in mozzarella cheese for the Cheddar and added just a pinch of crushed oregano to the batter.  Added my flavorings and baked 12 minutes!  These are so filling with glucomannan (pure fiber) just 2 will be an ample serving for most people.  Men might be able to eat 3, but I could not.  All I can say is lunch tasty, filling and not as heavy as regular pizza can be to me.  You could also make these as bite-size  treats using a mini-muffin pan.  Just spread out into 24 slots and using ½ slice pepperoni atop each mini.  This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins, Keto and gluten-free diets.  Clearly it is not suitable for Paleo due to the cheese.

INGREDIENTS: 

4 T.  plain whey protein powder (I use isolate)

1 T.+1 tsp. glucomannan powder

1 T. baking powder

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

3 eggs, beaten

1 T. olive oil

1/4 c. tap water

1 c. shredded mozzarella cheddar cheese for the batter

4 oz. cooked chicken meat, cut into 12 strips (or 24 bits for minis)

12 slices pepperoni

1/3 c. shredded mozzarella to top (more if you add carbs to numbers below)

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Oil a Twinkie® or baking log pan with your preferred oil (or line large baking sheet with parchment paper).   If you don’t have a Twinkie® pan, but you still want to try this, just make round ones using a regular muffin pan.   They just won’t be “logs”. 😉

On a paper plate, measure out dry ingredients and stir.  Set aside a moment.  Break eggs into medium bowl and add oil and water.  Beat with whisk to blend well.  Using a rubber spatula next, slowly dust in or sprinkle the dry ingredients over the top and stir rapidly to blend.  Add the 1 cup mozzarella shreds, stirring and folding batter over and over to allow the glucomannan to thicken up.  It will be a pretty thick like bread batter in just a couple minutes.  When all nice and thick, spoon about 1½ T. batter into each of 12 oiled Twinkie® pan slots.

If batter seems a bit thin, let it set up a couple minutes longer.  Stir several times more.   If still too thin, I fear you’ve added too much water and need to add a teensy bit more glucomannan powder.   When batter is fairly thick, use the side of your rubber spatula to dip into the Twinkie® slots of your pan, or into your muffin cups.  Or you can spoon batter into 24 oiled mini-muffin cup slots for a bite-sized version of these that would be nice for entertaining.   Top each “log” with a small strip of the chicken meat (around 2″x½” strip or equivalent morsels of meat) until all meat is used up.  Then top with a slice of pepperoni (I sliced mine in half to spread it out).  If not sodium sensitive like we are, you may want to increase pepperoni to 2 slices per log, but alter numbers below accordingly.  Last, sprinkle a few of the extra mozzy shreds atop each log.  Pop pan into hot oven and bake for 9-12 minutes or until lightly browned on top.  Keep an eye out so you don’t over brown these or they may dry out.  To avoid tearing them up, slightly cool before removing from pans to a serving plate.  I used a mini rubber spatula to help lift mine out of the pans.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 12 pizza logs, each log will contain:

137.25 cals, 10.6g fat, 1.75g carbs, 0.71g fiber, 1.04g NET CARBS, 9.93g protein, 397mg sodium

(Divide numbers by 2 if you make the mini-muffin version)

 

 

Italian Chicken Tart

With just 1½ cups of leftover cooked chicken in the refrigerator, I am going to revisit my Italian Chicken Tart for lunch today.  We just loved it when I developed this recipe last year!  You could certainly serve this lunch with a salad, but with the fresh spinach layer here, there is a serving of greens right in the tart!  This delicious recipe is suitable once you reach Phase 2 of Atkins and is acceptable for most Keto plans.

VARIATION:  For a smaller version, divide the dough into 12 balls and press the dough onto the bottom and up the sides a bit of each cup in the tin.  Distribute the toppings on all 12 portions.  Baking time probably won’t change for the smaller version.  You could even divide dough into 24 balls and press into the real mini-muffin pans.  Reduce cook time a bit for those.  Another variation would be to sub in 2-3 Italian sausage links, skinned, crumbled and pre-browned for the chicken in this recipe.  Subbing in an Alfredo sauce for the rec marinara would change this up quite a bit, too.

CRUST INGREDIENTS:

2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese (I used whole milk variety)

2 T. unsalted butter, pre-melted

½ c. Jennifer Eloff’s GF bake mix

½ c. Carbquik Bake Mix

1/8 tsp. each onion and garlic powder

1 T. oat fiber

1/2 tsp. psyllium husk powder (I use NOW brand)

1 egg, beaten

TOPPINGS:

1 c. fresh spinach leaves, coarsely chopped

¼ c. low-carb spaghetti sauce (jar) (I used Classico brand with basil)

1½ c. cooked chicken, coarsely chopped

½ tsp. each dried basil and oregano leaves

½ c. additional mozzarella cheese

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Place cheese in glass bowl and set in microwave.  Melt cheese on HI for around 2 minutes.  Remove bowl from.  Drizzle melted butter over the top of cheese and stir with fork.  Add in the two bake mixes, the psyllium, oat fiber, the beaten egg, onion and garlic powder.  Stir well with fork until it forms a ball and pulls away from the bowl.  Knead once or twice with hands in the bowl and then place dough into a classic tart pan (the kind where the bottom pushes up/out).  If you don’t have one, use a large pie plate.  This crust wanted to stick to the pan a bit, despite the fact my tart pan is non-stick, so you might want to lightly oil the pan with coconut oil.  Press the dough out evenly on the bottom with your hands, pushing it up the sides a bit to form a “wall” around the edge.  Just so you know, my tart pan is 11″ in diameter.  Pop into 350º oven for about 12 minutes to set up the dough surface. Remove when it just beings to get tan on the edges.  Remove.  Place the spinach evenly on the bottom of the tart.  Next add the chopped chicken, oregano and basil.  Top with the additional ½ c. mozzarella cheese.  Raise oven temp to 375º and pop back into oven.  Bake until lightly browned, or about 15 minutes.   Watch it, as ovens do vary.  Cut into 6 slices and serve hot.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:    Makes 6 slices, each contains:  (I ate 2 and the hubs ate 3)

333 calories, 25 g fat, 10.83 g carbs, 6.65 g fiber, 4.18 g NET CARBS, 27 g protein, 549 mg sodium

Cheese Puffs

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

INGREDIENTS:

3 eggs, beaten

½ c. water

2 T. olive oil

2 c. shredded Cheddar cheese

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

¼ c. whey protein powder (plain, unsweetened)

1 T. (3 tsp) baking powder

¼ tsp. garlic powder

¼ tsp. onion powder

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

1/8 tsp. sea salt

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

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

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

NUTRITIONAL INFO:    Makes 34 Cheese Puffs, each contains:

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

Spicy Cheese Thins

This recipe is a variation of an Almond Thin cracker recipe posted on the now closed Low Carb Friends forums.  It was originally posted there by a member known as Miredkitty, but am not sure if it is in fact Miredkitty’s own recipe.   It has been tweaked by so many good cooks they have come up with a ton of wonderful savory and sweet variations.

I took the basic almond flour thins recipe, doubled it, omitted the Splenda and then added cheese and one of my favorite seasoning combinations to come up with a spicy little snack cracker reminiscent of Cheez-its or Pepperidge Farm Goldfish.  These are very thin and VERY crispy if you allow them to brown a bit!  They are good alone or they are delicious with soup! You can eat five of these crackers for under 2 net carbs!!   My kind of cracker!  These are not suitable until you get to the nuts and seeds rung of the Atkins OWL ladder.

VARIATION:  For an even cheesier taste, you can add 2 T. Nutritional Yeast to the dry ingredients when mixing the dough. 🙂

You can have many more delicious cracker and snack recipes to serve your guests with your very own copy of LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS, a collection of recipes by International author Jennifer Eloff and some other VERY talented low-carb  cooks, including George Stella, well-known to the low-carb community. Open the link to see a lovely sampling of what awaits you in these cookbooks.  You can order the 5-volume set or individual volumes at Amazon or here.

INGREDIENTS:

2 c. almond flour

2 egg whites from large eggs

¼ tsp. onion powder

1/8-¼ tsp. cayenne pepper (optional)

1/8 tsp. chili powder

1 c. grated Cheddar cheese (½ c. more if you want them even cheesier)

¼ tsp. salt (optional)

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 325º. Cut parchment paper to fit exactly the bottom of an 11″ x 16½” sheet pan.  Just set the paper on your kitchen counter for now.  Mix almond flour and seasonings in a bowl.  Add egg whites and stir with a fork.  Add cheese and continue stirring until it forms a moist dough.  Spoon (or crumble with your hands) the dough evenly onto parchment working from the center out. Cover the dough blobs with a sprayed/oiled sheet of waxed paper the same size.  Using a rolling pin, roll dough into a single, smooth rectangular sheet of dough the size of the parchment.  Be careful to not let the dough exceed the piece of parchment paper. If it does, put those bits back into the sheet and roll smooth again.  You definitely want this dough to go all the way to the edges of the parchment paper so the crackers will be thin enough to be crisp.

Slowly and carefully lift off the waxed paper.  Use the tip of a pointed knife to lift up two corners and with your hands, applying tension to keep the sheet stiff, carefully lift parchment, dough and all onto the baking sheet.  If you cut it the right size, it should sit right down on the bottom nicely.  Using your sharp knife, carefully (and gently since the dough is fragile) score the dough into cracker shapes (8 x 10, making 80 crackers total).  Pop into your preheated 325º oven and bake for about 10-11 minutes or until lightly browned.  The outer rows brown faster, so you will likely need to remove outer rows as soon as they are browned so those don’t get over-browned while  the center ones finish cooking.  Cool a few minutes and separate into separate crackers along your score lines.  Store in an airtight container or ziploc bag.  NOTE:  If these lose their crispness on day 2 or 3 (due to high oil content of cheddar cheese) re-crisp on a baking sheet in a 325º in the oven for about 10 minutes.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 80 crackers, each cracker contains: (using 1 c. cheese only)

23.5 calories, 1.98 g  fat, 0.64 g  carbs, 0.3 g  fiber, 0.34 g  NET CARBS, 1.12 g  protein, 20.4 mg sodium

Einkorn Sausage Balls

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

INGREDIENTS:

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

1 c. shredded cheddar cheese

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

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

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

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

Apricot Trail Mix

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

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

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

INGREDIENTS:

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

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

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

6 oz. fresh coconut meat, slivered thinly

4 oz. sliced almonds

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

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

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

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

 

Einkorn Melba Toast

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

Our latest three volumes of LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS cookbooks are calling you.  Volume 8 and Volume 9 are almost exclusively comprised of my recipes!  Included in both editions are a few tasty new creations of my dear friends George Stella and Jennifer Eloff.   Volume 10 is hot off the press with more delectable goodies.  Early orders can be delivered by Thanksgiving.  EARLY BIRD SECRET SALE!!  Special pricing and limited-time free shipping so hurry and place your order today.  You can order these or any of our cookbooks at https://amongfriends.us/Secret-SALE.php.  When you purchase our books, we would sure appreciate you stopping by Amazon to leave a review at this site.

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

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

¼ c. warm water

3 c. almond flour

½ c. Einkorn flour

10 T. psyllium husk powder

4 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

5 T. apple cider vinegar

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

1½ c. boiling water

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

Smoked Steelhead Trout Spread

With Thanksgiving and Christmas just around the corner, you’re going to want some new munchies to set out while the turkey cooks.  We Grilled Steelhead Trout last night for dinner, which is quite mild in flavor.  We had nearly 6 oz. leftover from his huge filet, so I got creative with it today and made a fantastic spread for low-carb crackers or veggie dipping.  This was one of the yummiest dips/spreads I’ve ever created, so I do hope you’ll try it sometime!  Plan for it to disappear fast, as it it THAT good!   You can substitute grilled salmon if that is more readily available, but be aware that commercially smoked salmon will be considerably stronger in fish/smoke flavor and much higher in sodium than a fish you grill at home yourself.

Our latest three volumes of LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS cookbooks are calling you.  Volume 8 and Volume 9 are almost exclusively comprised of my recipes!  Included in both editions are a few tasty new creations of my dear friends George Stella and Jennifer Eloff.   Volume 10 is hot off the press with more delectable goodies.  Early orders can be delivered by Thanksgiving.  EARLY BIRD SECRET SALE!!  Special pricing and limited-time free shipping so hurry and place your order today.  You can order these or any of our cookbooks at https://amongfriends.us/Secret-SALE.php.  When you purchase our books, we would sure appreciate you stopping by Amazon to leave a review at this site

INGREDIENTS:

1 c. (8 oz) cream cheese

1/3 c. sour cream

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

4 T. green onion, finely chopped

½ tsp. Tobasco “Chipotle” Hot Sauce

Dash cayenne pepper

Dash sea salt

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

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

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

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

Spinach Mini Pizzas

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

Our latest two LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS cookbooks, Volume 8 and Volume 9 are almost exclusively comprised of my recipes!  Included in both editions are a few tasty new creations of my dear friends George Stella and Jennifer Eloff.   Volume 10 is coming out soon as well.  EARLY BIRD SECRET SALE!!  Special pricing and limited-time free shipping so hurry and place your order.  Or you can order these or any of our cookbooks at https://amongfriends.us/Secret-SALE.php.  When you purchase our books, we would sure appreciate you stopping by Amazon to leaving a review at this site

INGREDIENTS:

1 recipe my Mozzy Dough

1 scant cup (14 Tbsp.) Parmesan cheese shreds

3 oz. frozen chopped spinach

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

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

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

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

 

Pumpkin Granola

My husband was asking for an easy breakfast cereal recently, because occasionally I just don’t want any breakfast and he doesn’t want me to cook when it’s just for him.  So I created a very tasty cereal yesterday.  This stuff is great for just snacking, too!  The slight yellow hue to the coconut is due to the pumpkin in the recipe, but trust me, the pumpkin taste is mild (and the coconut, too, for that matter).  I taste the spices, nuts and fruit mostly.  🙂  This recipe is not suitable until Atkins Phase 2 OWL when nuts are re-introduced.  This keeps AMAZINGLY well over time.  I stored mine in a Tupperware canister.  This granola (what is left) is still dry, crunchy and delicious! 🙂

You can order our latest Volume 10 or any of our cookbooks at https://amongfriends.us/Secret-SALE.php.  Check us out for our Black Friday Sale discount.  When you purchase our books, we would sure appreciate you stopping by Amazon to leaving a review at this site

INGREDIENTS: 

½ c. roasted sunflower seeds, unsalted

½ c. roasted pumpkin seeds, unsalted

2 T. chia seeds

1½ c. large flake coconut, unsweetened

1 c. walnuts, coarsely cut

1 c. pecans, coarsely cut

1½ tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. ground nutmeg

¼ tsp. ground cloves

1/8 tsp. sea salt

2 T. erythritol

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

1/3 c. liquified coconut oil

¼ c. sugar-free maple syrup

1 tsp. vanilla extract

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

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

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

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

Pigs in a Blanket

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

Our latest two LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS cookbooks, Volume 8 and Volume 9 are almost exclusively comprised of my recipes!  Included in both editions are a few tasty new creations of my dear friends George Stella and Jennifer Eloff.   EARLY BIRD SECRET SALE!!  Special pricing and limited time free shipping so hurry and place your order.  Or you can order these or any of our cookbooks at https://amongfriends.us/Secret-SALE.php.

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

INGREDIENTS:

1 recipe my Mozzy Dough

28 Oscar Mayer beef Little Smokies sausages

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

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 28 pieces, each contains:

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

BBQ “Potato” Chips

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

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

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

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

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

INGREDIENTS:

6 oz. jicama, peeled

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

Dash sea salt

¼ tsp. my Seafood Spice Blend

1/8 tsp. dehydrated tomato powder (optional)

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

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

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

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

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

 

Pastry Bites

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

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

Many more simple, tasty low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own copy of our cookbooks  LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS.  Volume 8 is almost exclusively comprised of my recipes with some new George Stella and Jennifer Eloff creations.  Volume 9, due out in October, has mostly my recipes once again.

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

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

INGREDIENTS:

1 recipe my Mozzy Dough

Toppings of your choosing

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

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

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

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

1 slice pepperoni adds about       0.1g NC

1 slice raw jalapeno adds about   0.2g NC

1 chopped slice mushroom adds  0.1g NC

1 tsp. cheddar adds about             0.3g NC

1 tsp. cooked breakfast sausage    0.1g NC

1 slice smoked pork sausage          0.1g NC

 

Nacho Bean “Soft Tacos” (mini)

This idea was inspired by my love of Mexican food and by my tasty Mozzy Dough recipe.  I wanted to see if I could cut the carbs on the Mozzy Dough and tried pork rinds in place of the “flours” in that recipe.  I melted a little less shredded cheese and also chose Cheddar instead of Mozzarella.  You could probably use Monterey Jack cheese if available.  These remind me of both nachos and soft tacos, just without any meat.

Well, I couldn’t taste the pork rind flour as such.  The chili powder took care of that issue.  These were also less bread-like than my Mozzy dough.  The “wrap” is soft yet substantial enough to pick up and eat with your hands.  This is not at all crisp like a taco shell…more like real soft tacos.  If you prefer a crisp/taco quality, you are going to want to make a different wrap, the classic, crispy, all-cheese oven-baked low carb “taco” shells and recalculate the numbers below. These are great for snacking and great for party finger food as well.  If you don’t eat pork rinds, you could sub in some low-carb bake mix instead.  Be sure to re-calculate the stats if you do, as they will be HIGHER IN CARBS with that change. The only way I can afford any beans is by using 0-carb pork rinds. 

Boy, oh, boy, were these ever good!  Ended up the jalapeno pepper I used was too hot for me and I had to pull some of it off mine, but this was a nice snack served warm.  You should be able to reheat these quite nicely, too.  This recipe is not suitable until you reach Atkins Phase 2 and are at the legumes rung of the carb-reintroduction ladder in that phase.

INGREDIENTS:

1½ c. shredded Cheddar cheese

2 T. cream cheese

1 egg, beaten

1½ c. pork rind flour (about 2 c. crushed)

½ tsp. chili powder or Taco seasoning

2/3 c. canned refried pinto beans

¼ c. Monterey Jack Cheese

1 medium jalapeno, seeded and sliced into very thin rounds

VARIATION:  Add 1 T. taco-seasoned browned ground beef atop the beans before finishing construction.

DIRECTIONS:   Line a sheet pan with parchment paper and set aside.  Preheat oven to 375º.  In your microwave, melt the Cheddar cheese, cream cheese and chili powder in a glass bowl for about 1 minute on HI.  When fully melted, remove and stir once.  Add the beaten egg and pork rind flour.  Quickly stir together vigorously with a fork until ingredients appear to be uniformly distributed and it forms a uniform ball of dough that pulls away from the sides of the bowl.  Divide into 10 equal portions, slightly roll into a ball and with fingers, press onto parchment in 2″ circles that should be slightly thinner than 1/4″. If sticky to work with, dampen your fingers with a bit of water.

Pop into 375º oven for about 7 minutes or until dry in the center to your finger touch.  Remove from oven and spoon 1 T. beans onto each dough round.  Spread beans out a bit but not all the way to the edges of the dough circles.  Carefully do this as the dough is still very soft and not fully cooked.  Place 2 slices of jalapeno on each one (or 1 if you don’t like things spicy).  Garnish each dough round with about 1 tsp. Jack cheese.  Pop pan back into oven and bake these for about 10 minutes more or until beans have had a chance to warm up and the Jack cheese is melted.  Remove from oven and fold them in half.  Press slightly in middle so they will stay folded.  Serve warm.  I suspect these would reheat nicely in your oven set at 350º.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 10, each “soft taco” contains:

126 calories, 10.96 g fat, 3.85 g carbs, 0.99 g fiber, 2.86 g NET CARBS, 8.95 g protein, 353 mg sodium

Turkish Pide (pronounced pee-day)

Although a traditional Turkish treat, they make something similar to this meat-filled flatbread in several Middle Eastern countries.  The seasoning used varies from country to country.  This dish is often served at Ramadan when the feasting begins.  Classically, it is made with wholewheat flatbread dough, but mine is made with my Mozzy Dough to keep it lower-carb.  I just chose spices and herbs reminiscent of our days in Teheran, as my Mom didn’t bring a recipe for this dish back to The States.   The chosen seasonings here are typical of many Middle Eastern recipes.  My husband ranted about this at lunch today! 

This recipe is not suitable for Atkins Induction as the dough has a small amount of flour product in it (Carbquik).   Although this is a main course, it can be served in smaller portions as a pizza-like snack.  It is substantial enough to require a plate, fork and knife to eat, however.

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

INGREDIENTS:

½ recipe my Mozzy Dough

8 oz. lean ground beef (or lamb, for more authentic version)

2 oz. onion, finely chopped

15 cherry tomatoes (or San Marzano minis), chopped

3/4 c. parsley, chopped

¼ tsp. each: dried mint, dried fenugreek leaves, my Baharat Spice Blend

¼ tsp. each salt and coarse black pepper

DIRECTIONS:  Make the Mozzy Dough per that recipe’s instructions, reserving half the dough for another use.  It freezes well in a plastic baggie.  Roll the dough into a fat canoe shape about 12″ x 7″ on a parchment lined sheet pan.  Set aside.

Preheat oven to 375º.  Brown the beef (or lamb) in a skillet with the onion.  Add the parsley and all seasonings listed above.  Cook over medium-high heat for a few minutes to tenderize the onions.  Remove and spoon evenly into the “canoe” of dough, leaving a good inch of dough free of filling.  Sprinkle the chopped tomatoes on top.  Fold the uncovered dough up over the meat to create the sides of the “canoe”, pinching the pointed ends together with your fingers to help maintain the “canoe” shape.  Traditionally, they sprinkle sesame seeds on the sides of the “canoe” dough before baking but I did not, as the hubs isn’t fond of seeds on/in breads.    Pop into 375º oven for about 20-25 minutes or until begins to brown.  Remove from oven and cut into four equal portions.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:    Makes 4 servings, each contains:

316 calories, 23.5g fat, 12.17g carbs, 6.2g fiber, 5.97g NET CARBS, 24.424 g protein, 476mg sodium

Spicy Onion Rings

 

Spicy Onion Rings

I am not so wild about onion rings, but my husband just LOVES them!  These are oven-baked instead of fried, so no greasy mess on the stove.  They came out very tasty, but not consistently as hand-holdable as batter-fried rings.  No surprise there.   But the coating does brown nicely and is very crunchy.  Just so you know, only the smallest diameter rings cut from the ends of the onion can be picked up by hand and eaten from hand.  I place the larger ones onto my plate and use a fork to eat the big ones.  These tasty rings are Induction friendly, too!

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

INGREDIENTS:

8 oz. onion cut into ½” rings

2 oz. plain pork rinds, crushed very fine

3/4 tsp. my Seafood Spice Blend

4 T. my homemade mayo

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 450º.  You will need a large, preferably non-stick baking sheet to bake these.  Slice onion and separate rings until you have 8 oz.  That’s about 16 medium ½” rings.  Parboil for 1 minute in boiling water and lift out onto paper towels to totally dry. Crush pork rinds very fine in processor, blender or by hand.  Remove any larger, hard bits that are invariably in pork rinds when you crush them.  Mix spice into crushed rinds in a small bowl.  In a shallow dish or pie plate, pour the 4T. mayo.    Slowly dip an onion ring into the mayo, coating the outside and the inside (with your finger if necessary.  Then drop them into the pork rinds and coat well outside and inside.  Lay each onto the baking sheet.     Repeat until all rings have been coated.  Pop into 450º oven for about 25 minutes.  They tend to brown more and faster on the bottom where they touch the pan, so you may want to turn them over at the 15 minute mark.  Not much grease so no draining necessary.  Lift onto serving platter and ENJOY!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 4 servings of 2 0z. each.  Each serving contains:

196 cals., 15.6g fat, 5.1g carbs, 0.53g fiber, 4.57g  NET CARBS, 9.5 g  protein, 271 mg sodium

San Marzano Tomato Focaccia

This was what we had for lunch today as I didn’t really feel like a full-blown pizza with a lot of toppings.  I had a bag of San Marzano tomatoes to use up quickly as my husband bought a ginormous box of cherry tomatoes at Sam’s the very next day, not realizing I had just bought the San Marzanos the day before.  Another great use of my Mozzy Dough.  I’m having so much fun trialing new applications for this dough.  TIP:  I’m making up 10 batches of the dry ingredients pre-measured on paper plates.  Then I fold and pour each into a sandwich bag and store the bags in a shoe box in my pantry.  Very convenient…..as then all I have to do is grab a bag, melt the butter, add the beaten egg, melt the cheese and make my dough ball.  So easy that way.  I store the paper plates and baggies and re-use for the next batch. 🙂 

Boy, was this focaccia ever simple to make and delicious!  I made mine fairly thin.  If you like focaccia thicker, make a smaller sheet (using fewer tomatoes, of course) and you’ll have to recalculate the nutritional info doing that change.  Mine was plenty thick to pick up and eat with our hands though.  🙂  This recipe is not suitable until you get to Phase 2 grains reintroduction level of Atkins as the Carbquik has some flour in it.

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

INGREDIENTS:

1 recipe my Mozzy Dough

2 T. extra virgin olive oil

25-27 San Marzano mini tomatoes (I used entire 10 oz. bag)

1 c. shredded mozzarella cheese

¼ shredded Parmesan cheese

2 cloves garlic, chopped fine

½ tsp. dried basil (or 1 T. fresh basil chopped)

¼ tsp. dried oregano

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Make the Mozzy Dough per that recipe’s instructions.  Line a baking sheet with parchment and press the ball of dough out to a 9″x12″ rectangle.  With a brush baste the dough with half the olive oil.  Sprinkle the chopped garlic evenly over the top and press it down a bit.  Now sprinkle 1/2 c. mozzarella over the crust evenly.  Slice the tomatoes lengthwise into halves and place skin-side down evenly over the top of the focaccia sheet.  Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella on next and then the shredded Parmesan.  Sprinkle on the basil and oregano last.  Pop into oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until the dough is browning on the edges and the tomatoes are looking cooked on top.  Serve with a nice green salad.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:    Makes 12 3″x3″ squares of focaccia, each square contains.

190 calories, 15 g fat, 6.88 g carbs, 3.61 g fiber, 3.27 g NET CARBS, 12.6 g protein, 276 mg sodium

Jack Snack Nachos

My extremely popular recipe for Jack Snacks (millions of fans on Facebook)  I have just taken to a new level.  Last night my husband asked for some and begged me to put just a few refried beans on top this time.  So I did the nutritional math for a tiny bit of those added and the damage wasn’t as bad as I thought:  3.45 net carbs per piece (original version w/o beans is .08 NC per piece), but definitely higher than the inspirational recipe.

These were VERY good and I felt like I was eating a real Texas-style nacho.  I baked them  in two stages and let them get crisper than I usually do so they might get crisp enough for the final nachos to be manageable in our hands.  That surprised me as I thought the moisture in the beans might make them a bit soggy and require a fork to eat them.  But that didn’t turn out to be the case.  These are not suitable until you reach the legumes rung of Atkins Phase 2 carb reintroduction ladder.  Keto folks can have these if the numbers fit your daily limits.  These are not suitable for Paleo or Primal due to the beans.

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

INGREDIENTS:

1 recipe my Jack Snacks

½ c. canned refried beans, warmed a bit in the microwave for a minute or so

1/3 c. shredded Cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 375º.  Per the Jack Snack recipe, place 1 T. of the shredded Monterrey Jack cheese on a parchment-lined baking sheet.  A total o f 16 little piles should be formed equally spaced apart.  Pop into the hot oven and bake about 10-15 minutes or until golden on top and around the edges.  Remove pan and dot each cheese portion with about ½-3/4 tsp. of the warm beans.  I used a tiny demi-tasse spoon to dip these up for portion control.  Do not spread the beans out lest the cheese bases get soggy!  Lay the jalapeno slice on top of each and sprinkle the 1/3 c. shredded Cheddar on top.  Pop back into oven and bake until the Cheddar has melted or about 7-10 minutes longer.  Remove from oven and cool a minute or so so the bases can form/crisp up for removing.  Serve and enjoy!

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 16 nachos, each contains:

45 calories, 3.3 g fat, 3.73 g carbs, 0.59 g fiber, 3.45 g NET CARBS, 1 g protein, 107 mg sodium

 

 

 

Silver Dollar Pizzas

When I was growing up my mother used to make us tiny pancakes she called Silver Dollar Pancakes, served up in a “Leaning Tower of Piza” stack.  My brother and I LOVED THEM!    They were just regular old pancakes made about 2½” round, but it got us excited about eating them when we were little.  Well, I made some real tiny pizzas in my muffin-top pan today and decided that would be a perfect name for these tasty  pizza bites.  I used my new Mozzy Dough, which held up nicely for eating with fingers.  They made a great lunch and they would make great party appetizers!   These delicious little gems are not suitable until you get fairly well into Phase 2 Atkins, as there is a little wheat product in Carbquik bake mix (in the dough).

Many more delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own cookbooks from LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS, Volume 8, by Jennifer Eloff, Chef George Stella of Food Network fame, and myself.  Volume 8 is almost completely comprised of my recipes! But George Stella and Jennifer Eloff are also including several tasty new delights to try in this latest Volume 8! You’ll LOVE these delicious recipes, so order yours (Volume 8 or ANY of our cookbooks) from Amazon  or our direct order site: amongfriends.us/order.php.  For a limited time, there is free shipping if you order 2 or more cookbooks on the same order.  Remember, they make GREAT birthday or holiday gifts!  If you’ve already purchased a book, take a moment and drop by the our Amazon page and  leave your personal review on the latest book.  Inquiring minds want to know. 🙂

INGREDIENTS:

½ recipe my Mozzy Dough

¼ c. Classico Spaghetti Sauce (Tomato & Basil) or other low-carb sauce

1/4 tsp. dried oregano leaves, crushed

12 slices pepperoni

12 black olives, sliced into 3 slices each

1 oz. green bell pepper, sliced into 12 thin pieces

½ c. shredded mozzarella cheese

3 T. shredded Parmesan

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Make the Mozzy Dough per that recipe’s instructions.   Divide in half and wrap/store half for some other use.  Divide the half you are using into 12 equal balls (that’s about 1½ T. each ball of dough).  I used a non-stick muffin-top pan, but you could alternately use the bottom of non-stick muffin pan slots or a parchment-lined baking sheet if you don’t own a muffin-top pan.  Place a ball of dough into each of the 12 pan slots and press flat into a 2½” circle.  Top each with 1 tsp. of spaghetti sauce.  Sprinkle on the oregano.  Next place a slice of pepperoni on top of each Pizza.  Then place 3 slices of olive on each, followed by 3 pieces of bell pepper.  Finally, top each pizza with 1-2 tsp. mozzarella shreds, ending with a sprinkle of the Parmesan shreds.  Pop into 250º oven for 15 minutes or until lightly browning on the edges.  Remove, plate and serve warm.  These can be handled with your fingers, so the youngest kiddoes will love these and be able to eat them without dropping a bit on the floor or their lap.  Of course, they may have never seen a real silver dollar and wonder about the name.  Silver Dollars are rarely seen nowadays.  Perhaps you have one you can show them?

NUTRITIONAL INFO:     Makes 12 Silver Dollar Pizzas, each contains:

98.3 calories, 7.85 g fat, 3.32 g carbs, 1.83 g fiber, 1.49 g NET CARBS, 6.44 g protein, 231 mg sodium

 

Cheese Puffs

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

INGREDIENTS:

3 eggs, beaten

½ c. water

2 T. olive oil

2 c. shredded Cheddar cheese

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

¼ c. whey protein powder (plain)

1 T. (3 tsp) baking powder

¼ tsp. garlic powder

¼ tsp. onion powder

¼ tsp. cayenne pepper (optional)

1/8 tsp. sea salt

1 c. CarbQuik (or other low-carb bake mix)

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

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

NUTRITIONAL INFO:    Makes 34 Cheese Puffs, each contains:

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

Mozzy Dough

Used in a pizza-like Italian Chicken Tart

I’ve begun experimenting with a dough that is somewhere between the Flathead Pizza Crust recipe on the Diet Doctor’s website and Jennifer Eloff’s Miracle Dough recipe.  But the final result is a little less delicate when rolling/handling.  This dough has good elasticity and flavor and numerous possible applications.  I can see I’ll be using this dough recipe a lot.  I have made a couple minor changes since my original version, noted below in ingredients, reflected in the revised nutritional stats.

TIP: As a time saver, I’m now making up 10 batches of the dry ingredients pre-measured on paper plates. Then I fold and pour each into a sandwich bag and store the bags in a shoe box in my pantry. Very convenient…..as then all I have to do is grab a bag, melt the butter, add the beaten egg, melt the cheese and make my dough ball. So easy that way. I store the paper plates and baggies and re-use for the next batch. 🙂

INGREDIENTS:

1½ c. shredded mozzarella cheese

1 T. cream cheese

1½ T. melted butter (slightly less than my original recipe)

1 egg, beaten

½ c. Jennifer Eloff’s Gluten-Free Bake Mix

½ c. Carbquik (or another ½ c. gluten-free mix)

1 T. oat fiber

3/4 tsp. psyllium husk powder (for rolls, only use 1/4 tsp)

Dash each onion and garlic powder (omit for dessert applications)

DIRECTIONS:  Measure out all dry ingredients in small bowl, stir well and set aside.  Place mozzy cheese and cream cheese in glass or ceramic bowl and microwave on HI for about 1-1½ minutes to melt it.  Remove and stir quickly with a fork.  Add the egg and melted butter and stir again.  Quickly pour in the dry ingredients and stir quickly with a fork to form a congruous ball of dough, making sure to get it all off the sides of the bowl.  Knead or stir a few minutes to be sure all is uniformly mixed.  Proceed to make a 12″ pizza crust (moisten hands with water to avoid sticking to fingers), pie crust, hand pies, sweet filled pastries, dinner rolls (omit onion/garlic powder for sweet applications) or whatever application you dream up.  For pizza bake at 350º until dry to touch.  Remove, slide parchment paper out from under pizza, add toppings and bake 15-18 minutes longer to desired brown level.

Formed ball once all ingredients kneaded together.

CORRECTED NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes enough for a large pie-crust with lovely fluted edge, 4 hand pies, a small 12″ pizza or 7 dinner rolls or mini pizza rounds.

ENTIRE RECIPE CONTAINS:  1140 calories, 95.8 g fat, 58.6 g carbs, 37.6 g fiber, 21 g NET CARBS, 81.2 g protein, 1542 mg sodium (divide by number of servings/pieces for the specific application you use this for)

 

Italian Chicken Tart

I have modified the popular Fathead Pizza Dough a bit and think it is improved with my changes.  The oat fiber I’ve added makes it taste like there’s real flour in it; the psyllium makes it a more elastic, sturdier final product; the two bake mixes always render for me a wonderful final product when mixed.  With just 1½ cups of leftover cooked chicken in the refrigerator, I made a delicious dinner for the two of us tonight.  You could certainly serve this with a salad, but with the fresh spinach layer here, I felt we were getting enough greens in this meal and did not make one.  This is suitable once you reach Phase 2 of Atkins.  Keto dieters can have this if it fits their daily number limits.

Many more delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own cookbooks from LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS, Volume 8, by Jennifer Eloff, Chef George Stella of Food Network fame, and myself.  Volume 8 is almost completely comprised of my recipes! But George Stella and Jennifer Eloff are also including several tasty new delights to try in this latest Volume 8! You’ll LOVE these delicious recipes, so order yours (Volume 8 or ANY of our cookbooks) from Amazon  or our direct order site: amongfriends.us/order.php.  For a limited time, there is free shipping if you order 2 or more cookbooks on the same order.  Remember, they make GREAT birthday or holiday gifts!If you’ve already purchased a book, take a moment and drop by the our Amazon page and  leave your personal review on the latest book.  Inquiring minds want to know. 🙂

VARIATION:  For a smaller version, divide the dough into 12 balls and press the dough onto the bottom and up the sides a bit of each cup in the tin.  Distribute the toppings on all 12 portions.  Baking time probably won’t change for the smaller version.  You could even divide dough into 24 balls and press into the real mini-muffin pans.  Reduce cook time a bit for those.  Another variation would be to sub in 2-3 Italian sausage links, skinned, crumbled and pre-browned for the chicken in this recipe. 

CRUST INGREDIENTS:

2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese (I used whole milk variety)

2 T. unsalted butter, pre-melted

½ c. Jennifer Eloff’s GF bake mix

½ c. Carbquik Bake Mix

1/8 tsp. each onion and garlic powder

1 T. oat fiber

1/2 tsp. psyllium husk powder (I use NOW brand)

1 egg, beaten

TOPPINGS:

1 c. fresh spinach leaves, coarsely chopped

¼ c. low-carb spaghetti sauce (jar) (I used Classico brand with basil)

1½ c. cooked chicken, coarsely chopped

½ tsp. each dried basil and oregano leaves

½ c. additional mozzarella cheese

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Place cheese in glass bowl and set in microwave.  Melt cheese on HI for around 2 minutes.  Remove bowl from.  Drizzle melted butter over the top of cheese and stir with fork.  Add in the two bake mixes, the psyllium, oat fiber, the beaten egg, onion and garlic powder.  Stir well with fork until it forms a ball and pulls away from the bowl.  Knead once or twice with hands in the bowl and then place dough into a classic tart pan (the kind where the bottom pushes up/out).  If you don’t have one, use a large pie plate.  This crust wanted to stick to the pan a bit, despite the fact my tart pan is non-stick, so you might want to lightly oil the pan with coconut oil.  Press the dough out evenly on the bottom with your hands, pushing it up the sides a bit to form a “wall” around the edge.  Pop into 350º oven for about 12 minutes to set up the dough surface. Remove when it just beings to get tan on the edges.  Remove.  Place the spinach evenly on the bottom of the tart.  Next add the chopped chicken, oregano and basil.  Top with the additional ½ c. mozzarella cheese.  Raise oven temp to 375º and pop back into oven.  Bake until lightly browned, or about 15 minutes.   Watch it, as ovens do vary.  Cut into 6 slices and serve hot.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:    Makes 6 slices, each contains:  (I ate 2 and the hubs ate 3)

333 calories, 25 g fat, 10.83 g carbs, 6.65 g fiber, 4.18 g NET CARBS, 27 g protein, 549 mg sodium

Ham-Tuna Cheesies

I’ve posted my Tuna Cheesies , a long-time family favorite snack, some time back.  A number of you have tried and loved them.  Those are made and served on low-carb crackers.  Today for lunch, I wanted to “push the diet envelope” and take these to an even lower carb level and try them without actual crackers!  I had a piece of cured ham leftover from breakfast, so I decided to make my “crackers” from that fried ham.  What a GOOD IDEA that turned out to be!  At first, I was not sure ham and tuna would go well together together.  Well, I’m here to tell you they are wonderful together!  The cheese rounds out the flavor profile quite nicely!  Sometimes cooking whims really do work!  If you’ll let these slightly cool a bit before serving, they are easier to lift off the pan with a thin spatula and easier to hold in your hand for eating.  Plus…….you won’t burn the top of your mouth with the very hot, gooey cheese.  These tasty snacks are suitable for all phases of Atkins, Keto diets and for those Primal Blueprint folks that consume the occasional dairy.

Many more delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own cookbooks from LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS, Volume 8, by Jennifer Eloff, Chef George Stella of Food Network fame, and myself.  Volume 8 is almost completely comprised of my recipes! But George Stella and Jennifer Eloff are also including several tasty new delights to try in this latest Volume 8! You’ll LOVE these delicious recipes, so order yours (Volume 8 or ANY of our cookbooks) from Amazon  or our direct order site: amongfriends.us/order.php.  For a limited time, there is free shipping if you order 2 or more cookbooks on the same order.  Remember, they make GREAT birthday or holiday gifts!If you’ve already purchased a book, take a moment and drop by the our Amazon page and  leave your personal review on the latest book.  Inquiring minds want to know. 🙂

VARIATION:  Use diagonally sliced pieces, pre-browned smoked sausage in place of ham.

INGREDIENTS:

4 oz. fried, cured ham

4 oz. (slices) American Deluxe or Cheddar cheese, shredded

½ small pouch (1.3 oz) water-pack tuna

Dash onion powder

Dash cayenne pepper

1/8 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

2 T. softened butter

DIRECTIONS:  Preheat oven to 350º.  Slice ham off into ¼” slices and then cut those into 16 pieces.  Place them on a parchment-lined pan with ample space between them, as the cheese topping will sprawl beyond the ham bits during cooking.  Place remaining ingredients in a small bowl and mix well with a fork until the butter is binding the cheese and tuna together nicely.  Spoon or fork about 1 T. of the mixture onto each slice of ham, evenly distributing any that is left over.  Slightly press the mixture down with fingers or your fork if it seems a bit “loosey-goosey”, as I call it when a mixture isn’t cohesive enough.  Pop the pan into a hot 350º oven for about 10 minutes or just until the cheese-tuna mixture melts.  It will spread over and beyond the ham most likely.  Remove pan from oven and cool a couple minutes.   Using a thin metal spatula, remove the cheesies from the pan to a serving platter and serve at once.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 16 cheesies, each contains:

48.6 calories, 3.75 g fat, 0.36 g carbs, 0.0 g fiber, 0.36 g NET CARBS, 3.38 g protein, 187 mg sodium

Tzatziki

         Greek Tzatziki

This well-known Greek sauce is one of those recipes I’ve been meaning to put up on my site for ages and ages and just kept forgetting to do it.  This year I’m really trying to get to posting all those recipes I make often but are the meal “extras” and not the “main attraction”.   This is typical condiment with Greek food and  Middle Eastern/Mediterranean grilled beef or lamb kebabs and ground beef/lamb koftas.  It’s also great on tuna, salmon or crab cakes or on shawarma gyros-type sandwich wraps.  I’ve even used this sauce on cucumber-tomato salads as a dressing!  It’s ever so simple to make, too!

Be sure to squeeze out as much water from your grated cucumber as you can before combining all the ingredients or else it will bleed out its water into the sauce and really weaken the flavor and spoil the appearance.  This recipe is not suitable for Induction due to the yogurt, but you could make it with all sour cream and enjoy 2-3 Tbsp.  This sauce is suitable for other Keto diets and Primal Blueprint (occasionally), but not at all Paleo approved.

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

INGREDIENTS:

1 large 8-9″ cucumber, peeled, seeded and grated

1 c. drained or Greek yogurt, or half yogurt and half sour cream (my personal preference), or all sour cream (for lower carbs)

1 clove garlic, minced

1 T. yellow onion, minced finely

½ tsp. dried dill weed (or 2 sprigs fresh, chopped)

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

Dash each salt and black pepper

DIRECTIONS:  At least 1 hour before serving, peel the cucumber.  Cut in half and seed with a spoon.  Grate the cucumber onto paper toweling double thick or even better, place it in a clean cotton woven kitchen towel (not terry cloth, please).  Blot the water away with paper towels or wrap, twist and squeeze it in the kitchen towel to remove all water.  You want to get as much water out as you can.  Add the cucumber to a medium bowl.  Add all remaining ingredients and stir well.  Cover and chill until ready to serve.  If it bleeds out more water, blot it from around the edges with a paper towel, stir and serve.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes about 2 cups or 4 servings (perhaps more depending on how much people eat).  1/4 of the batch contains:

102 calories, 8.1 g  fat, 4.6 g  carbs, .8 g  fiber, 3.8 g  NET CARBS, 3.2 g. protein, 110 mg sodium

Grilled Chicken & Spinach Pizza

This pizza was absolutely delicious and it has seen nearly 7,000 re-pins on Pinterest and Facebook now.  Try it sometime and you’ll see why.  I call it my white pizza.  It’s so different from classic red-sauced pizzas.  I’ll definitely add more spinach next time as I liked that flavor on it and want more next time.  I used ½ cup spinach on this one but will use 3/4 c. next time and have calculated for that below.  The sweet, fruity flavor of a red onion is key to the flavor so wait until you can get a red one for this recipe.  Very different from yellow or white onions.

This recipe is not suitable for Atkins Induction but will be OK once you get to Phase 2.  The carb count is certainly low enough for most Keto diets if the numbers will fit into your daily limits.

More delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own set of Jennifer Eloff and friends’ best-selling cookbooks LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS.  She has collaborated with famous low-carb Chef George Stella and several other talented cooks to bring you a wealth of delicious recipes you are going to want to try.  Even a few of my recipes are in the cookbooks! Order your 5-volume set TODAY! Volume 8, the latest publication, is mostly my personal recipes.  Our cookbooks can be ordered either from Amazon or at this site: http://amongfriends.us/order.php

INGREDIENTS:

1 recipe my Gluten-Free Pizza Crust

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

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

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

3/4 c. baby spinach leaves

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

Pinch garlic powder (optional)

1 oz. red onion, slivered as thinly as possible

2 oz. heavy cream

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

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

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

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

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

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 8 slices, each contains:

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

Pizza Muffins

Had an idea today for using up some pepperoni and mozzarella cheese that had been in my freezer about as long as I care to freeze them.  These were constructed using my Fluffy Biscuits dough for the bottom part of the muffin.  I was concerned whether they would cook thoroughly in the center, but they DID get done and came out simply delicious.  My husband said he would have preferred regular pizza sauce over the thin tomato slices, but this was a quickie dinner and I had no pizza sauce made up (or bottled low-carb sauce in the pantry).  I actually prefer the fresh tomato better as I find it less heavy. 🙂  We will be making these again I’m sure!  They are not suitable for Induction.  Use all Jennifer’s homemade bake mix for a gluten free version.

Many more delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own cookbooks from LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS, by Jennifer Eloff, Chef George Stella of Food Network fame, and myself.  Volume 8 is almost completely comprised of my recipes! But George Stella and Jennifer Eloff are also including several tasty new delights to try in this latest Volume 8!  You’ll LOVE these delicious recipes, so order yours (Volume 8 or ANY of our cookbooks) from Amazon  or our direct order site: amongfriends.us/order.php.  For a limited time, there is free shipping if you order 2 or more cookbooks on the same order.  Remember, they make GREAT birthday or holiday gifts!

INGREDIENTS:

1 recipe my Fluffy Biscuits batter

6 slices mozzarella cheese, cut into quarters

12 slices pepperoni

1½ Roma tomatoes

5 oz. pork sausage or ground pork (if you have Italian sausage, omit next 5 ingredients)

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp. fennel seed, crushed

½ tsp. crushed oregano leaves

2 T. parsley, chopped

Dash coarse black pepper

DIRECTIONS:  If using a metal muffin pan, lightly oil it.  If using silicone, oiling won’t be needed, but bottoms of your muffins won’t brown as nicely.  In a skillet over medium heat, brown the sausage, breaking it into crumbles as you cook it until it is no longer pink.  Add garlic, fennel, oregano and parsley as it is cooking (or you can just use Italian sausage to begin with, which I didn’t have on hand).  Remove from heat.  Preheat oven to 350º.

Make Fluffy Biscuits dough per that recipe’s instructions.  Divide into 12 portions and place a portion in the bottom of each oiled muffin cup.  Slightly press flat and slightly up the sides.  Add 1 slice of pepperoni to each cup next.  Place ¼ slice mozzarella cheese in each cup.  Place small spoon of sausage mixture in each cup.  Slice Roma tomatoes thinly into 12 slices (less than ¼” or they won’t get done!!).  Again add ¼ slice of cheese to each muffin cup and top off with a final slice of pepperoni.   Pop pan into preheated 350º oven for about 15 minutes, watching closely (ovens vary) so they don’t over brown.   Mine were fully done in the middle by the time they were just starting to brown on top. Serve at once and enjoy!  Two filled me up; the hubs ate three of these for dinner.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 12 Pizza Muffins, each contains:

237 calories, 19.6 g fat, 4.58 g carbs, 1.91 g fiber, 2.67 g NET CARBS, 12.0 g protein, 510 mg sodium