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

 

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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)

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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 Kubideh 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.

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

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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.

 

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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

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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 Carbquick).  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

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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

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