Homemade Hoisin Sauce (low-carb)

I made some Moo Shu Pork for dinner tonight.  My first exposure to Moo Shu Pork was at a restaurant in Houston called Shanghai East.  On one occasion, the actress Debra Paget was dining across the room from us.  She is/was married to an Asian oil businessman, my husband said.   I will always see her as the beautiful Indian princess Sunsiree, who marries Jimmy Stewart in “Broken Arrow”.  The restaurant was fairly empty as it was mid-afternoon, so we walked over, introduced ourselves and chatted a moment about her career.   Such a pretty woman, even then, in her late 50’s or early 60’s maybe?  I remember this occasion every time I eat Moo Shu Pork now.  Photo below.  🙂

We love, love, love Moo Shu Pork.  But to make it at home, you just have to have Hoisin Sauce to go with it and that just isn’t low-carb.  Readers have been asking me for years to create this sauce low-carb, but kept dragging my feet as I didn’t actually know where to begin.   Here goes.  Better late than never.  🙂

All the commercial Hoisin sauce either has brown sugar, high fructose corn syrup or a considerable amount of molasses in the ingredient listing.  I tried several several recipes for this sauce I gathered around the net over the past 9 years and the only two I had actually tried I annotated “not so good” or “not special”.  :{

So I set about creating my own sauce finally.   Hoisin sauce is used in making/serving Peking Duck and as a condiment for the famous Moo Shu Pork rolls.  Since Hoisin is basically a seasoned, slightly sweet and salty fermented soy bean/plum sauce, and I had an open bag of no-sugar-added prunes in my pantry, I finally got around to filling the long-time request of my readers to develop a low-carb version of this famous sauce.  I started with 10 dried prunes as my base.  Then I added a few store-bought ingredients mention on commercial labels of the sauce, cutting carb “corners” and guessing the amounts for those ingredients to derive the correct taste.

Well, I’m here to tell you my final sauce came out pretty darn good!  Not exactly like the high-molasses stuff right out of the jar at the store, but it gets much better and closer to that flavor when it has “aged” a bit.  We ate it while it was still warm and it was considerably milder than I would have liked.  The anise (licorice flavor) in the Chinese 5-Spice Powder was pretty pronounced but the bean paste, not so much.   Those flavors mellow and develop in just 24 hours, getting considerably better in a week.

All in all, not bad for my first shot at a low-carb version of this essential condiment. Most commercial hoisin sauce has around 8 carbs per tablespoon, so this number is trimmed down considerably with my recipe.  Using liquid Splenda lowers carbs a tad, but not very much.  A couple weeks later, the sauce had aged quite nicely in flavor, so the key is letting it age before using.

I’ll post the Moo Shu Pork recipe later today.  I have been cooking many years with with Gloria Bley-Miller’s marvelous cookbook The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook  as my “Bible” for Chinese cooking.  I highly recommend her cookbook.  I can cook Moo Shu pork blindfolded but must be sure to have dried tiger lily buds and dried cloud ear fungus on hand to prepare it.

This sauce is suitable once you get to Phase 2 of Atkins, since it is used in such small amounts on the “pancake” (low-carb flour tortilla) that you will use to roll up the Moo Shu Pork.  This sauce is totally unsuitable for Primal or Paleo due to the soy beans, as all legumes are eschewed in those food plans.  Sauce should keep a long time in a jar in the refrigerator.  Mine is now 3 months old and it smells/tastes just fine.

INGREDIENTS:

10 large dried prunes (4 oz.), no sugar added

½ c. water

1 T. rice wine vinegar

3 T. low-sodium soy sauce (dark soy sauce if available)

¼ tsp. Chinese 5-Spice powder

1 tsp. molasses

3 T. Splenda or few drops of liquid sweetener of choice

2 T. Eden soy black beans, rinsed & mashed smooth

DIRECTIONS:  Place prunes in small saucepan with about ½ c. tap water.  Bring to boil, lower heat and simmer until they are soft, or about 5 minutes.  Mash well into the water with a fork until pretty smooth.  You can puree in a blender or food processor if you like, but is difficult to do with such a small amount.  Remove from heat.

Mash the beans on a paper plate to as smooth a paste as possible and stir into the prune mixture.  Add vinegar, soy sauce and 5-Spice powder to the pot and stir well.  Spoon into a lidded jar and store if in your refrigerator for  a week.  I do not know how long this keeps yet, and it sure has no preservatives in it.  But since it’s just made from basically dried fruit, vinegar and sugar ( preservatives naturally) with some soy sauce (fermented), I suspect a pretty long time.  Just don’t know yet.  The soy beans will be what spoils first in this combo.  I’ll try to remember to post back my findings on that when mine no longer seems to smell/look right to me and I toss it out.  🙂  UPDATE:  Lasted about one month for me in the refrigerator.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes about 1 cup (16 Tbsp.).  Each tablespoon contains:

17.2 cals, 0.1g fat, 3.65g carbs, 0.51g fiber, 3.14g Net CARBS (2.8 NC with liquid Splenda), 0.45g protein, 101 mg sodium

Advertisement

Clam Sauce on Zoodles

I have always loved a good clam sauce on pasta.   This recipe is one I often turn to when it’s late in the day and I’ve forgotten to defrost meat for dinner.  I make sure I always have a few cans of clams in my pantry for this reason. Though you can serve this on real pasta for your non-low-carb guests, it goes nicely for low-carbers over sautéed zucchini “noodles”, as shown above, or shirataki noodles.  Allow about 6 oz. zucchini noodles per person.  The zucchini noodles soak up the sauce’s wonderful flavor.   This dish is OK for Induction if served on zucchini noodles.  I do NOT think this would be good atop spaghetti squash threads as I think the squash taste will negatively impact the overall flavor of the clam dish.  If you are already to the OWL phase of Atkins, ¼ c. dry white wine is good added to this before thickening.  You want to talk healthy?  Get a load of the nutritional info below!!  I think clams (‘molluschi‘ in Italian) may just be the highest source of vitamin B12 in the food kingdom!  And it’s mostly in the juice!  Moral of the story:  EAT MORE CLAM LINGUINE!!  🙂

INGREDIENTS:

2  6-oz. cans clams with juice (do not drain)

4 slices bacon, cut into ½” pieces

2 T. butter, unsalted (or olive oil)

2 oz. onion, chopped

6 medium mushrooms, sliced

2 oz. red bell pepper, chopped coarsely

¼ c. parsley, chopped fine

1 clove garlic, minced

¼ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

Dash black pepper

VARIATIONS:   A splash of white wine is good in this sauce.  It’s also tasty with about ½ c. heavy cream added.  This is more traditional served on low-carb linguine pasta.  I use Al Dente’s product called ‘Carba Nada’

DIRECTIONS:  Chop bacon and brown over med-high heat.  Add butter to melt in with the bacon drippings.  Add onion, mushrooms and garlic.  Sauté until onion and mushrooms are both tender.  Add red pepper, parsley and seasonings.  Add clams with their juice and simmer 2-3 minutes to blend flavors.   Thicken slightly with your favorite thickener and serve.   Garnish plates with a sprinkle of parsley if desired.  Serve on zucchini noodles or “zoodles” as shown above, Carba Nada linguine or shirataki noodles (the ones with oat fiber).

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 3 servings, each containing:  (numbers are for sauce only, as written)

253 cals, 13.8g fat, 8.27g  carbs, 1.75g fiber, 6.52g NET CARBS, 23.8g protein, 330 mg sodium

Eggplant Sauce for “Pasta”

My second most favorite pasta sauce is eggplant sauce.  This is a recipe my family has been using forever and is it ever good!   It freezes well and is even tastier when reheated.  It’s very versatile for making other casseroles and meat dishes as well.  Although I created this when I was still eating Dreamfield’s pasta occasionally (before the lawsuit over false carbohydrate claims on their products) and show it above on Dreamfields pasta, I now use Al Dente ‘Carba Nada’ pasta whenever I don’t want to use spaghetti squash threads, zoodles or steamed cauliflower for serving.   

I always make a double or triple batch and keep it in small containers in my freezer for handy use.  I don’t like to be without a good spaghetti sauce!    It’s so nice to be able to pop one out, zap in the microwave a few minutes and have a great dinner fast, only having to cook the “pasta”!  You can add ground meat to this recipe, but to be quite honest, it’s quite tasty with just the eggplant!  I encourage you to try it without the meat at least one time to see for yourself.  

VARIATION:  Add some browned ground beef or Italian Sausage to make this a meat sauce.

INGREDIENTS:

1 clove minced garlic

3 oz. onion, chopped very fine

4 T. olive oil

1 ½ c. eggplant diced into ½” cubes

2-3 T. chopped parsley

½ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. pepper

Dash cayenne pepper

¼-½ tsp. fennel seed

1 tsp. dried basil (or 2 T. fresh, chopped)

20 oz. crushed canned tomatoes

DIRECTIONS:   Sauté onion in olive oil in large pot (high heat) until partially tender.  Add eggplant cubes and minced garlic and continue sautéing until eggplant is half cooked.  Add remaining ingredients and simmer 15-30 minutes, but not until eggplant dissolves completely in the sauce (as it will if overcooked).  Excellent over spaghetti squash threads or zucchini noodles or in your favorite Italian low-carb recipes that call for sauce.  Garnish with freshly grated Parmesan if desired.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 5 servings of about 1 c.,  each contains:  (numbers are for the sauce only without added meat)

145 cals, 11.22 g fat, 11.44 g carbs, 3.32 g fiber, 8.12 g NET CARBS, 2.36 g  protein, 385 mg sodium

Spaghetti Sauce Bolognese

This week I’m going to take you to Italy!  Italian foods are on the menu, so get set for some fun!   Some of the recipes I’ll showcase are authentic Italian fare; some are my own creations.  But I promise they are all delicious!  One can’t think of Italian food without immediately turning one’s thoughts to spaghetti!  This is the spaghetti sauce recipe I have used for nearly 75 years now.  It was my mother’s version long before me.  🙂  Haven’t found one I like better.  I usually double or triple this recipe and freeze some for convenience in other kitchen creations.  This recipe is acceptable for all phases of Atkins, Keto diets, Primal-Paleo as well.

INGREDIENTS:

1 ½ lb. lean ground beef

½ c. green pepper chopped

½ c. parsley chopped

1 c. celery chopped

6 garlic cloves minced

6 oz. yellow onion chopped

2   14-oz. cans crushed or diced tomatoes (with no added sugars)

1   small (8 oz.) can tomato paste

½ tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper (less if you don’t like it very spicy)

1 T. dried crushed oregano

1 bay leaf

1 T. fresh rosemary (or ½ tsp. dried)

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

½ tsp. fennel seed, crushed

VARIATIONS:  Add 1½ c. diced eggplant, 6 sliced fresh mushrooms, or replace 1/2 lb. of the ground with with browned Italian sausage crumbles, balls or links.  Any of these variations are quite nice in this recipe.

DIRECTIONS:  Brown meat in large stew pot.  You may need a little oil if your meat is real lean.  Chop all veggies and add to meat and stir well.  Now add garlic, seasonings, tomatoes and tomato paste.  Simmer covered for 1½-2 hours on lowest heat possible.  Stir often during cooking and if it gets too thick to do so, add ½ c. water to think the sauce a wee bit.  Will yield about 8-9 cups of sauce, or 8-10 servings, depending on how saucy you like things and how you plan to use the sauce.   For my noodles, I use spaghetti squash threads, zucchini ‘noodles’ or I order on-line low-carb commercial noodles like Al Dente’s ‘Carba Nada’ line of pasta.  Those still on Atkins Induction might consider the shirataki noodles with oat fiber for your Italian dishes.  I think they are the best shirataki noodles out there.  I believe the brand I’ve tried is Zeroodle I obtained at Netrition.com.  

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Serves 10, each serving has: (excluding ‘noodles used)

295.3 cals, 20.75g fat, 13.18g carbs, 4.48 g fiber, 8.7g NET CARBS, 18.3g protein, 116 mg. sodium

Maple-Bacon-Bourbon Sauce

      Shown on seared pork chops

I often make compound butters and store them in my freezer.  There are literally limitless flavorings you can blend into butter for serving on grilled meats and vegetables.  They’re quick to make and ever so handy when you want an exotic taste FAST!  My Maple-Bacon-Bourbon Butter is one of my favorites.  I occasionally put it to work in creamy sauces like the one pictured above over pork chops.  This sauce is divine on pork chops and what a quick meal for week nights!  This recipe is not suitable until you reach Atkins Phase 2 (OWL) due to the bourbon.   It is not suitable for Primal-Paleo on several levels.

INGREDIENTS:

2 slices thick-slice bacon, chopped (3 oz,)

4 large mushrooms, sliced (optional)

3 T. Bacon-Bourbon Butter

1 tsp. sugar-free maple syrup

¼ c. cream

1/3 c. water

2 T. bourbon

Dash of your favorite thickener (optional)

Dash sea salt and black pepper

1 tsp. parsley, chopped (for garnish)

VARIATION:  Serve over seared chicken or duck breast for an interesting change.

DIRECTIONS:   Fry the chopped bacon in a skillet.  Remove bacon with a slotted spoon to a paper towel.  If planning to serve with skillet-seared meat, sear the meat over high heat to nearly done stage right in the same skillet in that delicious bacon grease.  Or have your spouse grill the meat outside over charcoal to the desired stage.  When skillet chops are browned and done, remove them to a plate while you put the sauce together.  Add the 3 T. Bacon-Bourbon butter to the pan juices, melt and add the mushrooms.  Saute until mushrooms are done.   Lower to medium heat and add water, cream, bourbon, salt, pepper, and maple syrup.  Stir well and lay pork chops on top of the mushroom sauce.  If doing grilled meat, you won’t do this step. Simmer sauce on low heat 5-10 minutes to reduce/thicken the cream.  If not thick enough for you, you can slightly thicken with a dash of your preferred thickener. Gently pour mushroom sauce onto serving platter and set the meat on top.  Garnish with chopped parsley.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 2 servings, each contains: (does not include meat)

496 cals, 48.2g fat, 5.35g carbs, 0.95g fiber, 4.4g NET CARBS, 7.65g protein, 475mg sodium

Momma’s Baked Chicken

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

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

SAUCE INGREDIENTS:

6 T.  melted butter

3 T. red wine vinegar

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

1/4 tsp. coarse black pepper

THAT’S IT!!

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

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

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

Momma’s Baked Chicken

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

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

SAUCE INGREDIENTS:

6 T.  melted butter

3 T. red wine vinegar

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

1/4 tsp. coarse black pepper

THAT’S IT!!

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

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

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

Portobello Mushrooms in Wine Sauce

I just realized this evening (we grilled ribeyes for dinner) that I have never posted my mushroom recipe on the site before! Oh, my! I don’t know how I could forget this favorite. They’re simple to prepare and ready in 5-10 minutes! I usually start these when the steaks go out to the hot charcoal fire. Omit the red wine and use ½ c. more beef stock if you are still on Atkins Induction.

Whenever I make a chuck roast or oven-baked brisket, I always save all the broth and freeze it in 1/2 c. blocks for just such quick recipes. You can use canned broth, but your final dish won’t be quite as tasty.

INGREDIENTS:

2 large portobello mushrooms

3 T. butter

1 large clove garlic, minced

½ c. rich beef stock

¼-½ c. dry red wine (I usually use Merlot or Cabernet)

Dash each sea salt and coarse black peppper

Optional: chopped parsley to garnish

DIRECTIONS: Wipe any dirt off mushrooms with a paper towel. Never rinse mushrooms in water else it will bleed into your sauces! Chop mushrooms into 1″ chunks. You can scoop out the gills if you like, but frankly, I never bother. Melt butter in skillet over medium high heat. Add mushrooms and minced garlic to the pan and sauté a few minutes or until they begin to look translucent. Add wine and beef stock and simmer a few minutes longer or until ‘shrooms are done. 🙂

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes two 3/4 c. servings, each contains:

232 cals, 19g fat, 7.4g carbs, 2.7g fiber, 4.7g NET CARBS, 6.5g protein, 93 mg sodium

Cheddar Cheese Sauce

We all love a good cheese sauce for broccoli and cauliflower.  This one goes together quick and is extra thick.  Because of the amount of cheese, please note the high sodium content of this sauce.  No way to reduce that unless you cut back on cheese, resulting in a thinner, less cheesy sauce.  I like to pour some of the sauce on my veggies and bake off awhile, topping at the table with another spoonful per serving.  But that isn’t necessary.  You can just dip the sauce over the veggies right at the table when serving!  This works great for a Mac ‘n Cheese sauce, too!

INGREDIENTS:

½ c. heavy cream

½ c. tap water

2 c. shredded cheddar cheese (I actually used 1 c. each American and Cheddar)

Dash coarse black pepper

DIRECTIONS: Measure the cream and water into a small saucepan over medium heat.  Add the cheese and black pepper.  Stirring constantly, heat mixture until cheese is fully melted and blending  (no visible bits or lumps) into a creamy smooth golden sauce.   You can either pour half over your veggies in an oven-proof dish and bake for 20 minutes at 350º.  Or simply serve the sauce in a bowl at table for each person to dip their own up over their pre-cooked veggies.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 4 servings of about ½ c. each.  Each serving of cheese sauce (approx. 1/4 batch) will contain:

305.5 cals, 27.05g fat, 3.77g carbs, 0.07g fiber, 3.7 NET CARBS, 12.42g protein, 618 mg sodium.

Cheddar Cheese Sauce

We all love a good cheese sauce for broccoli and cauliflower.  This one goes together quick and is extra thick.  Because of the amount of cheese, please note the high sodium content of this sauce.  No way to reduce that unless you cut back on cheese, resulting in a thinner, less cheesy sauce.  I like to pour some of the sauce on my veggies and bake off awhile, topping at the table with another spoonful per serving.  But that isn’t necessary.  You can just dip the sauce over the veggies right at the table when serving!

INGREDIENTS:

½ c. heavy cream

½ c. tap water

2 c. shredded cheddar cheese (I actually used 1 c. each American and Cheddar)

Dash coarse black pepper

DIRECTIONS: Measure the cream and water into a small saucepan over medium heat.  Add the cheese and black pepper.  Stirring constantly, heat mixture until cheese is fully melted and blending  (no visible bits or lumps) into a creamy smooth golden sauce.   You can either pour half over your veggies in an oven-proof dish and bake for 20 minutes at 350º.  Or simply serve the sauce in a bowl at table for each person to dip their own up over their pre-cooked veggies.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 4 servings of about ½ c. each.  Each serving of cheese sauce (approx. 1/4 batch) will contain:

305.5 cals, 27.05g fat, 3.77g carbs, 0.07g fiber, 12.42g protein, 618 mg sodium.

 

Grilled Sriracha Shrimp with Sriracha Aioli

Grilled Sriracha Shrimp is good on its own merits, but my buttery aioli sauce is a lovely compliment.  This sauce would also be delicious on grilled fish, grilled chicken or skillet seared scallops.  I wish my husband had rotated the skewers so those pictured would have charred more evenly.  But they all tasted GREAT and that’s what counts!  This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins and Keto diets.  It is not suitable for Primal-Paleo lifestyles unless you can find a recipe for homemade Sriracha sauce.  As I can’t know how many shrimp you will eat, I am providing nutrition information for what I felt was a satisfying serving 1/3 lb. (5 large shrimp) with numbers for  around 2 T. aioli, which is what I ate.   You will have to adjust your numbers according to how much you actually eat.  Divide the numbers for the shrimp by 5 to get the numbers for 1 shrimp.

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 (myself included) 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 10-volume set TODAY! (always available individually as well) from Amazon or: http://amongfriends.us/order.php

FOR THE SHRIMP:

1 lb. extra-large shrimp ( There were 16 in my bag), peeled, tail piece left on

½ stick unsalted butter, melted (4 oz.)

2 tsp. Sriracha sauce  (or other bottled hot sauce of your choosing)

Dash each garlic powder and onion powder

Peal the shrimp, leaving tail shell on for a “handle”.  Place on skewers and set skewers on a platter.  Melt the butter in a small saucepan and add the Sriracha sauce and seasonings.  Stir to blend and remove from heat.  With a basting brush, baste both sides of the skewered shrimp with the sauce.  Save the remaining sauce to baste the shrimp while the are being grilled.

FOR THE AIOLI:  Process the following ingredients in a food processor or blender until smooth.  Scrape into serving dish and place in refrigerator until shrimp is grilled and you are ready to serve.  (Makes about 1/2 c. sauce or about 8 T.)

½ stick butter, melted

1 jalapeno, seeded, ribs removed (omit if you prefer)

1/3 c. Homemade Mayonnaise

   Sriracha Aioli

½ c. fresh cilantro

Juice of 1 lime

Dash each salt and pepper

½ clove garlic, minced

Dash smoked chipotle  chile powder

¼-1 tsp. Sriracha sauce (to your taste)

GRILLING THE SHRIMP:  Prepare a charcoal fire.  When coals are hot, Place skewers over coals and grill about 5 minutes on a side or until they are opaque.  Baste with extra sauce in your saucepan.  Use up all the sauce on the shrimp while grilling for best flavor.  Remove the shrimp from the grill and either remove from skewers to a serving platter, or serve on the skewers if you prefer.  Using the very large shrimp I used (16 per pound) I found 5 made a perfect serving size.  Serve the aioli sauce on the side for your diners to use to suit their personal taste.  🙂

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 3 servings (5 XL shrimp per serving) each contains:

5 X-large shrimp (1/3 lb) contain:  299 cals., 18g fat, 2.06g carbs, 0 fiber, 2.06g NET CARBS, 31g protein, 265 mg sodium

2 T. Aioli sauce contains: 231 calories, 25.4g fat, 1.5g carbs, 0.5g fiber, 1g NET CARBS, 0.6g protein, 77 mg sodium

Bang Bang Dipping Sauce

This delightfully spicy sauce is amazing with fried shrimp or chicken tenders.  So much so I thought it deserved its own posting rather than just including the recipe with dishes I’ve created with it.  Have some other ideas up my sleeve for this sauce as well, so stay tuned.  You know what they say…………..the Saucier is the most important chef in a French Kitchen.  🙂

We just LOVE this stuff!  Me, I’m not so fond of overly hot, spicy food, but this has just a little bit of tingle on your tongue that I don’t think most folks will find it too spicy.  I do hope my readers will try it sometime, if you have not yet had the pleasure.   This sauce is suitable for all phases of Atkins & Keto diets, as well as Primal and Paleo folks!

INGREDIENTS:

½ c. homemade mayo

2-3 tsp. Sambal Oelek chili sauce

2 tsp. Sriracha

Dash each salt and black pepper

VARIATION:   Add ¼ clove minced garlic for a new twist

DIRECTIONS:     Measure out all ingredients into a small bowl, stir well and chill until ready to serve as a condiment with fried shrimp, chicken or whatever you little heart desires.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes five 2-T. servings of sauce, each contains:

161 cals, 17.68g fat, 0.84g carbs, 0.02g fiber, 0.82g NET CARBS, 0.52g protein, 140 mg sodium

Air Fryer Parmesan-Coconut Shrimp

These air-fried Parmesan-coconut shrimp came out so good tonight!  Not strong with coconut flavor, but that suits us both fine.  I would have never bought myself an air fryer, but my husband went and did so for my Christmas present, so I’m trying to learn how to cook different things in it.  I’ve seen so many recipes for coconut shrimp on the internet, but the coatings can be pretty high carb.  I have trimmed down the carbs and reached a total count of 1.8 net carbs per 6-shrimp serving!  I did this by looking to my popular Oven-Fried Fish coating and then modified it even further.    The end result will be a dish I cook again.  My husband really loved these shrimp!

INGREDIENTS FOR SHRIMP:

26 medium-large raw shrimp, peeled and de-veined

1 low-carb slice of bread or roll (I used a Smart Bun from my freezer)

½ c. pork rind crumbs (about 1 c. whole pieces)

¼ c. grated dry Parmesan

1 oz. dessicated unsweetened coconut

1/3 c. Carbquik or other low-carb bake mix

3 egg whites

¼ tsp. my homemade Seafood Spice Blend

¼ tsp. sea salt

INGREDIENTS FOR OPTIONAL BANG BANG DIPPING SAUCE: 

½ c. homemade mayo (or from jar if you prefer)

1 T. Sambal Oelek Asian chili sauce

2 tsp. Sriracha sauce

Dash each salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS:   Mix up the sauce ingredients well in a small bowl and refrigerate until ready to serve shrimp.   Drain off any water in the bag of shrimp.

In a food processor, crumb the pork rinds until fine, removing any large, hard chunks.  Add the low-carb bread/roll, Parmesan cheese, coconut, spice blend and salt.  Pulse until smooth mixture.  Pour into a medium bowl.  Break the egg whites into another small bowl.  Place the Carbquik in yet a third small bowl.  Line the bowls up beside a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or silicone mat:   flour first, egg whites second and crumb mixture last.  Dip the shrimp first into the flour with your left DRY HAND, then drop into the egg whites.  With your right WET HAND, turn each shrimp in the egg white to coat both sides.  With the wet hand, drop the shrimp lastly into the crumb mixture without touching the crumb mixture with your WET HAND.  With your left DRY HAND, toss the crumbs up over the shrimp to also coat on the tops (will be coated on the bottom from having been dropped into the crumbs).  With your left DRY HAND, pick up and place gently on the parchment lined pan.  Repeat until all shrimp have been cooked.   If your hands get gooey/messy, just wash and dry them off mid process.

Preheat you air fryer for 3 minutes.  Also preheat your regular oven at the lowest setting or around 200º-250º.  I can do 12-13 large shrimp in my 7-qt. Power XL fryer at a time, so that means 2 batches.   Do not crowd the shrimp even if you have to cook three batches if using a smaller fryer than mine.

Fry first batch of shrimp at 370º for 4 minutes.  Gently turn shrimp over and fry 4 more minutes.    When I placed the remaining shrimp on the fryer tray and turned it on for 8 more minutes (turning at 4 minute mark), I then placed the pan with the first batch into my regular oven to keep it warm until the second batch was done.   If needed, fry your third batch similarly.  When all are done, plate and serve with the Bang Bang Sauce or other sauce of your choosing.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes four 6-shrimp servings, each contains (not including sauce):  176 cals, 10g fat, 11g carbs, 8g fiber, 3g NET CARBS, 19.37g protein, 509 mg sodium

1/4 batch sauce adds:  200 calories, 22g fat, 1.05g carbs, .02g fiber, 4.5g protein and 175 mg sodium

Clam Sauce on Zoodles

(Shown on zucchini noodles)

I have always loved clam sauce on pasta and this recipe is one I often turn to when it’s late and I’ve forgotten to defrost meat for dinner.  I make sure I always have a few cans of clams in my pantry for this reason. Though you can serve this on real pasta for your non-low-carb guests, it goes nicely for low-carbers over sautéed zucchini “noodles”, as shown above, or shirataki noodles.  Allow about 6 oz. zucchini noodles per person.  The zucchini noodles soak up the sauce’s wonderful flavor.   This dish is OK for Induction if served on zucchini noodles.  I do NOT think this would be good atop spaghetti squash threads as I think the squash taste will negatively impact the overall flavor of the clam dish.  If you are already to the OWL phase of Atkins, ¼ c. dry white wine is good added to this before thickening.  You want to talk healthy?  Get a load of the nutritional info below!!  I think clams may just be the highest source of vitamin B12 in the food kingdom!  And it’s mostly in the juice!  Moral of the story:  EAT MORE CLAM LINGUINE!!  🙂

INGREDIENTS:

2  6-oz. cans clams with juice (do not drain)

4 slices bacon, cut into ½” pieces

2 T. butter, unsalted (or olive oil)

2 oz. onion, chopped

6 medium mushrooms, sliced

2 oz. red bell pepper, chopped coarsely

¼ c. parsley, chopped fine

1 clove garlic, minced

¼ tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

Dash black pepper

VARIATION:   A splash of white wine is good in this sauce.  It’s also tasty with about ½ c. heavy cream added

DIRECTIONS:  Chop bacon and brown over med-high heat.  Add butter to melt in with the bacon drippings.  Add onion, mushrooms and garlic.  Saute until onion and mushrooms are both tender.  Add red pepper, parsley and seasonings.  Add clams with their juice and simmer 2-3 minutes to blend flavors.   Thicken slightly with your favorite thickener and serve atop zucchini noodles. Garnish plates with a few sprinkles of parsley if desired.  Serve on zucchini noodles or “zoodles” as shown above or shirataki tofu noodles.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 3 servings, each containing:  (numbers are for sauce only, as written)

253 cals, 13.8g fat, 8.27g  carbs, 1.75g fiber, 6.52g NET CARBS, 23.8g protein, 330 mg sodium

Chicken Tenders with Bang Bang Sauce

My husband asked me to make some chicken tenders recently.  I have developed a great Southern Fried Chicken coating recipe and just took that to a new level, serving as tenders with a dipping sauce with a “bite”.  This particular coating has been my best to date and it didn’t fail me on the tenders.  I’m so pleased with this recipe!!  It’s my first time to try a spicy sauce with tenders and we loved it! The hubs said please make these again!  They were nice and crispy!  By the way, chicken coated with this coating is great leftover, cold, right out of the fridge!!  It also reheats nicely (crispy) in the oven at 350º for about 20 minutes.

As I can’t know how you cut up your chicken strips, it’s not possible to really provide nutritional stats per serving.  Instead, I am providing nutritional info for 1/10 of the coating, as I cooked 10 nice-sized strips of chicken breasts (off 2 large breasts I de-boned).  There was at least 1-1½c. coating and some egg/cream mix that didn’t get used, so this recipe would coat quite a few more tenders if you have a big family.  No need to double the recipe for say 15-18 tenders.  Therefore, the carb numbers are actually even lower than shown below.  Woo! Hoo!

INGREDIENTS:

3/4 c. plain whey protein

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

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

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

½ tsp. onion powder

½ c. Parmesan cheese

1/8 tsp. coarse black pepper

2 large eggs

¼ c. heavy cream

¼ c. water (or more heavy cream if you prefer)

½-3/4″ deep hot oil (I use coconut oil) in a large 13-14″ skillet

OPTIONAL BANG BANG SAUCE: ½ c. homemade (or regular) mayonnaise, 1 T. Sambal Oelek chili paste, 2 tsp. Sriracha, dash each salt and black pepper.  Stir all in a small bowl.  Sauce adds approximately 0.35 net carbs for each serving (1 serving = 1 T.).

DIRECTIONS: Preheat holding oven to 350º.  Measure out and mix all dry ingredients in a paper or plastic bag by shaking well.  In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, cream and water together.  Cut chicken breast meat into long strips about 4″ x 1″.  Dip each one into the egg mixture and turn several times to well coat each piece.  Pick each piece of meat out of the bowl and drop into the seasoned “flour” in the bag.  This makes coating easier and less messy.  When you have 3 pieces in the bag, holding the top of the bag closed, shake the bag to coat the chicken with the dry mix.  Don’t put more than 3 pieces into the bag at a time or they will not coat well.

Heat 3/4″ deep oil over high heat.  Remove the coated chicken strips carefully from the bag and place the pieces closely together in the skillet of hot grease.  If you’re creative, you can get about 8 strips in a 13″ skillet.  Repeat the coating process with the remaining pieces of chicken.  Brown the chicken well on one side disturbing as little as possible as they cook.  With a fork, flip pieces over gently to brown the second side.   When brown on both sides they should be done (about 15 minutes total) remove to paper toweling to drain and if still frying more pieces, place the platter of first-cooked tenders in your preheated oven until all meat has been fried.  When you have finished cooking all pieces of chicken, serve at once with the Bang Bang dipping sauce.

VARIATION:  Serve with a good homemade cream gravy rather than the Bang Bang Sauce. 

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes enough coating for more than 10-15 tenders of chicken.  Numbers are for the coating only. Be sure to add in the info for the chicken piece(s) you eat and whatever dipping sauce you use!  1/10 batch of the entire coating recipe contains:

113.4 cals, 7.26g fat, 1.72g carbs, 0.53g fiber, 1.19g NET CARBS (less if not all coating and egg wash used), 12.8g protein, 209 mg sodium (sauce adds little to these numbers (mostly fat grams) and is nearly impossible to provide a per serving figure for as that would be person dependent in how liberally they used the sauce.

Roast Duck with Blueberry Sauce

Since there are just two of us now gathering for Thanksgiving, I sometimes just roast a duck to avoid so many leftovers.  This is a delicious recipe for duck which cooks up very moist.  I usually serve a traditional cornbread stuffing and green beans with this delicious bird.  I have never liked orange sauce on duck, so I decided to work up this blueberry sauce with a hint of herbs some years ago and that turned out to be a good decision.  The herbs and bacon in the sauce bring so many flavor layers to the table.  This can be served with your wine of choice, even red.  This recipe is suitable once you reach the berry level of Atkins (OWL Phase 2).  It is suitable for all Keto diets, Primal Blueprint and Paleo if you omit the wine in the sauce.  This Tipsy Blueberry Sauce would be good with turkey, roast pork or probably any other wild game you might be cooking this holiday season.

Many more delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own cookbooks from LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS, by Jennifer Eloff and low-carb friends (me included).  Chef George Stella of Food Network fame, also brings to the table a wealth of delicious recipes added to the collection!  You’ll LOVE these recipes!  Order your copy today from Amazon  or our direct order site: amongfriends.us/order.php. Special prices available for the complete 10-volume set.

INGREDIENTS FOR DUCK:

5½ lb. duck

1/4 tsp. each onion powder, dried thyme and rosemary, crushed

Dash my Seafood Spice Blend (optional)

¼ tsp. salt

1 T. butter

DUCK DIRECTIONS:  Remove sauce packet (I throw it away) and the innards.  Boil the innards in 2 c. water for your dog.  🙂  Save the broth for your sauce.  Preheat oven to 375º.  Rub your fingers over duck checking for pinfeathers and remove any you find with the tip of a knife.  Mix the herbs and spices in a small dish with the salt.  Rub over duck skin all over.  Place duck on a grate that is then set down in a large roasting pan.  Baste with melted butter and pop into hot 375º oven for 1 hour.  Remove from oven, baste skin with remaining butter and return to oven for 30-45 minutes longer or until skin is brown, crisp and the duck read internal temperature of 180º.  While duck is roasting, prepare sauce.

SAUCE INGREDIENTS:

3 green onions, chopped coarsely

1½ oz. bacon (3 slices), chopped coarsely

1 c. blueberries (dried, fresh or frozen)

1 c. broth (or a little more if you simmer too long)

2 T. Port wine or Sherry

Dash each thyme, rosemary, onion powder and salt

¼ tsp. xanthan gum or your preferred thickener

SAUCE DIRECTIONS:  Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium-high heat and add chopped bacon, brown it nicely.  Add onion and saute until onion is very tender.  Do not drain off grease.  Add all remaining ingredients but the thickener.  Allow to simmer until berries begin to burst open and turn the sauce blue.  Here, I go by smell, and appearance, but when all appears to be cooked and it smells wonderful, slightly thicken to desired level with your preferred thickener.  Allow guests to serve atop roasted duck slices at table.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 8 servings, each contains:

385 calories, 31 g fat, 3.82 g carbs, .81 g fiber, 3.10 g NET CARBS, 20 g protein, 277 mg sodium

Momma’s Baked Chicken

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

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

SAUCE INGREDIENTS:

6 T.  melted butter

3 T. red wine vinegar

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

1/4 tsp. coarse black pepper

THAT’S IT!!

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

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

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

Homemade Hoisin Sauce (low-carb)

I made some Moo Shu Pork for dinner tonight.  We love the stuff!  But I needed some Hoisin Sauce to go with it and had none in the pantry.  Readers had been asking me to create this sauce low-carb, but just now am getting around to it.  All the commercial Hoisin sauce either has sugar, high fructose corn syrup or molasses in the ingredient listing.  I checked my several recipes for this sauce (gathered around the net over the past 9 years) and the only two I had actually tried before were annotated “not so good” and “nothing special”.  :{

So I set about creating my own instead.  Since Hoisin is basically a seasoned, fermented plum jam/sauce, and I had an open bag of no-sugar-added prunes in my pantry, I started with 10 of those.  Then I added a few ingredients that store-bought brands mention on their labels, guessing the amounts for those items, tasting as I went along.

Well, I’m here to tell you the final sauce came out pretty darn good!  Not exactly like the high-sugar stuff right out of the jar at the store, but I suspect it will taste much better and closer to that flavor when it has “aged” a bit.  We ate it while it was still warm tonight, so the anise (licorice) flavor in the Chinese 5-Spice Powder was pretty pronounced. That aroma and taste is already mellowing, after just a few hours, actually.   All in all, not bad for my first shot at a low-carb version of this essential Chinese condiment. Most commercial hoisin sauce has around 8 carbs per tablespoon, so this number is trimmed down considerably in mine.  Using liquid Splenda lowers carbs a tad more.  A couple weeks later, the sauce had improved and flavors developed nicely.  So the key is letting it age.

I’ll post the Moo Shu Pork recipe later today.  I have been cooking with Gloria Bley-Miller’s marvelous cookbook The Thousand Recipe Chinese Cookbook  as my “Bible” for Chinese cooking.  I can cook Moo Shu pork blindfolded but must be sure to have dried tiger lily buds and dried cloud ear fungus hand to have this tasty treat.

This sauce is suitable once you get to Phase 2 of Atkins, since it is used in such small amounts on the “pancake” (low-carb flour tortilla) that you will use to roll up the Moo Shu Pork.  This sauce is totally unsuitable for Primal or Paleo due to the soy beans, as all legumes are eschewed in those food plans.  Sauce should keep a long time in a jar in the refrigerator.  Mine is now 3 months old and it smells/tastes just fine.

INGREDIENTS:

10 large dried prunes (4 oz.), no sugar added

½ c. water

1 T. rice wine vinegar

3 T. low-sodium soy sauce (or regular)

¼ tsp. Chinese 5-Spice powder

1 tsp. molasses

3 T. Splenda or few drops of liquid sweetener of choice

2 T. Eden soy black beans, rinsed & mashed smooth

DIRECTIONS:  Place prunes in small saucepan with about ½ c. tap water.  Bring to boil, lower heat and simmer until they are soft, or about 5 minutes.  Mash well into the water with a fork until pretty smooth.  You can puree in a blender or food processor if you like, but is difficult to do with such a small amount.  Remove from heat.

Mash the beans on a paper plate to as smooth a paste as possible and stir into the prune mixture.  Add vinegar, soy sauce and 5-Spice powder to the pot and stir well.  Spoon into a lidded jar and store if in your refrigerator for  a week.  I do not know how long this keeps yet, and it sure has no preservatives in it.  But since it’s just made from basically dried fruit, vinegar and sugar ( preservatives naturally) with some soy sauce (fermented), I suspect a pretty long time.  Just don’t know yet.  The soy beans will be what spoils first in this combo.  I’ll try to remember to post back my findings on that when mine no longer seems to smell/look right to me and I toss it out.  🙂  UPDATE:  Lasted about one month for me in the refrigerator.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes about 1 cup (16 Tbsp.).  Each tablespoon contains:

17.2 cals, 0.1g fat, 3.65g carbs, 0.51g fiber, 3.14g Net CARBS (2.8 NC with liquid Splenda), 0.45g protein, 101 mg sodium

Chicken Breast in Shawarma Cream Sauce

This moist, delicious, quick dinner was all that I hoped it would be.  I seared off butterflied chicken breasts in butter and made a delicious sauce of a cream reduction of a mixture of cream and homemade mayonnaise along with some of my tasty Shawarma Spice Blend.  This simple recipe is perfect for a week night when you’re tired from a hard day at work.  But it would be good enough to serve guests as well!  And of course this is suitable for all phases of Atkins, Keto diets, Primal and even Paleo if you sub in coconut milk for the cream.

More delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own cookbooks from LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS, by Jennifer Eloff and low-carb friends.  Chef George Stella also brings you a wealth of delicious recipes you will love!  Order yours TODAY! from Amazon or our direct order site: http://amongfriends.us/order.php.DISCLAIMER: I do not accept payment for this book promotion. I promote the books because they are GREAT cookbooks anyone would be proud to add to their cookbook collection.

INGREDIENTS: 

2   8-10-oz.  boneless, skinless chicken breasts, butterflied

2 T. unsalted butter

Dash each coarse black pepper and sea salt

½ c. heavy cream (coconut milk for Paleo version)

1/3  c. homemade mayonnaise

½ tsp. my Shawarma Spice Blend

Water (just a bit, if needed to thin sauce if too thick)

DIRECTIONS:   Butterfly the chicken laterally almost through, spreading the two halves of each breast out to form 4 smaller, thinner fillets.  Alternately, you can leave them butterflied and whole and let your diners cut them as they wish at the table when serving themselves. Melt the butter in a large non-stick skillet over high heat.  Sear the chicken on all sides until the meat is no longer bleeding out pink juices and is done.  Remove meat to your serving platter while you make the sauce.

Lower heat to lowest setting and add the cream, homemade mayo and Shawarma spice blend.  Sprinkle on a dash of coarse black pepper and sea salt.  Allow to simmer stirring constantly, to de-glaze any brown bits off the pan into the sauce. Pour sauce carefully around (and a little bit down the middle of) the chicken fillets and serve at once with your favorite green veggies.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:    Makes 4 servings, each contains (using 10-oz breasts):

385 calories, 31 g fat, 1.07 g carbs, 0.30 g fiber, 0.77 g NET CARBS, 26 g protein, 374 mg sodium

 

Chimichurri Sauce

Shown in my Chicken Quesadillas

This wonderful blending of herb flavors is a favorite of mine. You just can’t go wrong with cilantro, jalapeno and parsley in my book.  I just throw in some kale or occasionally spinach because it is so darn good for you and can’t be tasted as such in this sauce!  I don’t always include the vinegar usually found in Chimichurri Sauce…..it kind of depends how I’m going to use the sauce.  I usually do add some wine vinegar if it’s destined for grilled meats; I omit the vinegar for lots of other uses of the sauce like my Chicken Quesadillas.  I like to freeze any leftover sauce in a flattened ziploc bag so I can just break off a small piece for use in recipes.   This is OK for all phases of Atkins, Paleo and Primal fare as well.

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 c. loosely packed kale, stemmed and chopped (or fresh spinach)

½ c. parsley

½ bunch cilantro

1 clove garlic

½ seeded jalapeno

Dash sea salt

¼ c. extra virgin olive oil

OPTIONAL:  2 T. red wine vinegar and dash of crushed red pepper flakes

DIRECTIONS:  Place all the ingredients into a food processor or blender and blend until well-mixed.  Serve with your favorite Mexican dishes or in recipes that call for Chimichurri herb mixture.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes about 10 T., each tablespoon contains:

52.3 calories, 5.48 g  fat, .85 g  carbs, .33 g fiber, .52 g  NET CARBS, .34 g  protein, 21 mg sodium

Roast Duck with Tipsy Blueberry Sauce

Since there are just two of us now celebrating Thanksgiving, I sometimes just roast a duck.  This is a delicious recipe for duck which cooks up very moist.  I usually serve a traditional cornbread stuffing and green beans with this delicious bird.  I have never liked orange sauce on duck, so I decided to work up this blueberry sauce with a hint of herbs some years ago and that turned out to be a good decision.  The herbs and bacon in the sauce bring so many flavor layers to the table.  This can be served with your wine of choice, even red.  This recipe is suitable once you reach the berry level of Atkins (OWL Phase 2).  It is suitable for all Keto diets, Primal Blueprint and Paleo if you omit the wine in the sauce.  This Tipsy Blueberry Sauce would be good be good also with turkey, roast pork or probably any other wild game you may be cooking this holiday season.

Many more delicious low-carb recipes can be at your fingertips with your very own cookbooks from LOW CARBING AMONG FRIENDS, by Jennifer Eloff and low-carb friends (me included).  Chef George Stella of Food Network fame, also brings to the table a wealth of delicious recipes added to the collection!  You’ll LOVE these recipes!  Order your copy today from Amazon  or our direct order site: amongfriends.us/order.php. Special prices available for the complete 10-volume set.

INGREDIENTS FOR DUCK:

5½ lb. duck

1/4 tsp. each onion powder, dried thyme and rosemary, crushed

Dash my Seafood Spice Blend (optional)

¼ tsp. salt

1 T. butter

DUCK DIRECTIONS:  Remove sauce packet (I throw it away) and the innards.  Boil the innards in 2 c. water for your dog.  🙂  Save the broth for your sauce.  Preheat oven to 375º.  Rub your fingers over duck checking for pinfeathers and remove any you find with the tip of a knife.  Mix the herbs and spices in a small dish with the salt.  Rub over duck skin all over.  Place duck on a grate that is then set down in a large roasting pan.  Baste with melted butter and pop into hot 375º oven for 1 hour.  Remove from oven, baste skin with remaining butter and return to oven for 30-45 minutes longer or until skin is brown, crisp and the duck read internal temperature of 180º.  While duck is roasting, prepare sauce.

SAUCE INGREDIENTS:

3 green onions, chopped coarsely

1½ oz. bacon (3 slices), chopped coarsely

1 c. blueberries (dried, fresh or frozen)

1 c. broth (or a little more if you simmer too long)

2 T. Port wine or Sherry

Dash each thyme, rosemary, onion powder and salt

¼ tsp. xanthan gum or your preferred thickener

SAUCE DIRECTIONS:  Melt butter in medium saucepan over medium-high heat and add chopped bacon, brown it nicely.  Add onion and saute until onion is very tender.  Do not drain off grease.  Add all remaining ingredients but the thickener.  Allow to simmer until berries begin to burst open and turn the sauce blue.  Here, I go by smell, and appearance, but when all appears to be cooked and it smells wonderful, thicken to desired level with your preferred thickener.  Allow guests to serve atop roasted duck slices at table.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 8 servings, each contains:

385 calories, 31 g fat, 3.82 g carbs, .81 g fiber, 3.10 g NET CARBS, 20 g protein, 277 mg sodium

 

Bourbon-Pecan Cranberry Sauce

What Holiday feast would be complete without a bowl of fresh cranberry sauce?  Most often I make cranberry sauce in the traditional manner, no frills, as shown in the photo above.  But occasionally, I like to add a touch of bourbon and pecans, turning it into almost a chutney, which certainly takes it up a notch or two in flavor!  It’s delicious made this way so I hope you try it some time.  It has proven to be very popular with my holiday guests. This recipe is not suitable until you reach  Atkins Phase 2 “OWL”, when alcohol, nuts and berries are permitted.

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

INGREDIENTS:

½ c. water

1 c. fresh cranberries

½ c. granular Splenda (or equivalent sweetener of choice)

½ stick cinnamon or ¼ tsp. ground

1½ tsp. orange zest/peel

1 T. bourbon

½ c. (about 20 halves) pecans, coarsely chopped

DIRECTIONS: Cook all ingredients but the nuts over medium heat until all berries’ skins have popped open.  Remove from heat, stir in the nuts and chill until ready to use.  Remove and discard cinnamon stick just before serving.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes about 2 cups or 16 servings.  Each serving has:

16 calories, 1.28 g fat, 1.03 g carbs, 0.48 g fiber, 0.55 g NET CARBS, 0.19 g protein and negligible sodium

 

Momma’s Baked Chicken

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

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

SAUCE INGREDIENTS:

6 T.  melted butter

3 T. red wine vinegar

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

1/4 tsp. coarse black pepper

THAT’S IT!!

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

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

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

Spaghetti Sauce Bolognese

This week I’m going to take you to Italy!  Italian foods are on the menu, so get set for some fun!   Some of the recipes I’ll showcase are authentic Italian fare; some are my own creations.  But I promise they are all delicious!  One can’t think of Italian food without immediately turning one’s thought to spaghetti!  This is the spaghetti sauce I have been cooking for nearly 75 years and my mother for probably that long before me.  🙂  Haven’t found one I like better.  I usually double or triple the recipe and freeze some for convenience in other creations.  This recipe is acceptable for all phases of Atkins, Keto diets, Primal-Paleo as well.

INGREDIENTS:

1 ½ lb. lean ground beef

½ c. green pepper chopped

½ c. parsley chopped

1 c. celery chopped

6 garlic cloves minced

6 oz. yellow onion chopped

2   14-oz. cans crushed or diced tomatoes (with no added sugars)

1   small (8 oz.) can tomato paste

½ tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper (less if you don’t like it very spicy)

1 T. dried crushed oregano

1 bay leaf

1 T. fresh rosemary (or ½ tsp. dried)

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

½ tsp. fennel seed, crushed

VARIATIONS:  Add 1½ c. diced eggplant, 6 sliced fresh mushrooms, or replace 1/2 lb. of the ground with with browned Italian sausage crumbles, balls or links.  Any of these variations are quite nice in this recipe.

DIRECTIONS:  Brown meat in large stew pot.  You may need a little oil if your meat is real lean.  Chop all veggies and add to meat and stir well.  Now add garlic, seasonings, tomatoes and tomato paste.  Simmer covered for 1½-2 hours on lowest heat possible.  Stir often during cooking and if it gets too thick to do so, add ½ c. water to think the sauce a wee bit.  Will yield about 8-9 cups of sauce, or 8-10 servings, depending on how saucy you like things and how you plan to use the sauce.   For my noodles, I use spaghetti squash threads, zucchini ‘noodles’ or I order on-line low-carb commercial noodles like Al Dente’s ‘Carba Nada’ line of pasta.  Those still on Atkins Induction might consider the shirataki noodles with oat fiber for your Italian dishes.  I think they are the best shirataki noodles out there.  I believe the brand I’ve tried is Zeroodle I obtained at Netrition.com.  

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Serves 10, each serving has: (excluding ‘noodles used)

295.3 cals, 20.75g fat, 13.18g carbs, 4.48 g fiber, 8.7g NET CARBS, 18.3g protein, 116 mg. sodium

Grilled Sriracha Shrimp with Sriracha Aioli

Grilled Sriracha Shrimp is good on its own merits, but my buttery aioli sauce is a lovely compliment.  This sauce would also be delicious on grilled fish, grilled chicken or skillet seared scallops.  I wish my husband had rotated the skewers so those pictured would have charred more evenly.  But they all tasted GREAT and that’s what counts!  This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins and Keto diets.  It is not suitable for Primal-Paleo lifestyles unless you can find a recipe for homemade Sriracha sauce.  As I can’t know how many shrimp you will eat, I am providing nutrition information for what I felt was a satisfying serving 1/3 lb. (5 large shrimp) with numbers for  around 2 T. aioli, which is what I ate.   You will have to adjust your numbers according to how much you actually eat.  Divide the numbers for the shrimp by 5 to get the numbers for 1 shrimp.

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

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

FOR THE SHRIMP:

1 lb. extra-large shrimp ( There were 16 in my bag), peeled, tail piece left on

½ stick unsalted butter, melted (4 oz.)

2 tsp. Sriracha sauce  (or other bottled hot sauce of your choosing)

Dash each garlic powder and onion powder

Peal the shrimp, leaving tail shell on for a “handle”.  Place on skewers and set skewers on a platter.  Melt the butter in a small saucepan and add the Sriracha sauce and seasonings.  Stir to blend and remove from heat.  With a basting brush, baste both sides of the skewered shrimp with the sauce.  Save the remaining sauce to baste the shrimp while the are being grilled.

FOR THE AIOLI:  Process the following ingredients in a food processor or blender until smooth.  Scrape into serving dish and place in refrigerator until shrimp is grilled and you are ready to serve.  (Makes about 1/2 c. sauce or about 8 T.)

½ stick butter, melted

1 jalapeno, seeded, ribs removed (omit if you prefer)

1/3 c. Homemade Mayonnaise

Sriracha Aioli

½ c. fresh cilantro

Juice of 1 lime

Dash each salt and pepper

½ clove garlic, minced

Dash smoked chipotle  chile powder

¼-1 tsp. Sriracha sauce (to your taste)

GRILLING THE SHRIMP:  Prepare a charcoal fire.  When coals are hot, Place skewers over coals and grill about 5 minutes on a side or until they are opaque.  Baste with extra sauce in your saucepan.  Use up all the sauce on the shrimp while grilling for best flavor.  Remove the shrimp from the grill and either remove from skewers to a serving platter, or serve on the skewers if you prefer.  Using the very large shrimp I used (16 per pound) I found 5 made a perfect serving size.  Serve the aioli sauce on the side for your diners to use to suit their personal taste.  🙂

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 3 servings (5 XL shrimp per serving) each contains:

5 X-large shrimp (1/3 lb) contain:  299 cals., 18g fat, 2.06g carbs, 0 fiber, 2.06g NET CARBS, 31g protein, 265 mg sodium

2 T. Aioli sauce contains: 231 calories, 25.4g fat, 1.5g carbs, 0.5g fiber, 1g NET CARBS, 0.6g protein, 77 mg sodium

Raspberry Coulis

This wonderful sauce made from fresh or frozen raspberries can be used in many ways.  Coulis is usually made without the seeds.  But I don’t like to strain those out unless I’m putting on the dog for company, as there is so much healthy fiber in those seeds.  Your call on that one, but leaving the seeds in gives you an added fiber deduction on the carb count! 🙂  This recipe makes about 1 cup of raspberry coulis, or 48 tsp. total  That will top many scones, cookies, biscuits, a cheesecake, or float pretty liqueur-soaked poached pears or simply some sauteed apples!  You can get creative with this sauce. 🙂

This recipe is suitable once you get to Phase 2 Atkins OWL or for Keto diets if you can fit in the carbs.  It is suitable for Paleo-Primal if you use a plan-suitable thickener like chia seed gel.

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

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

INGREDIENTS:

1 c. fresh or frozen unsweetened raspberries (with juice)

3/4 c. sugar equivalent your favorite sweetener (I used ½ c. erythritol + ¼ c. Splenda)

about ¼ tsp. xanthan gum (or your favorite thickener

DIRECTIONS:   Place the fruit in a medium saucepan.  Add your sweetener.  Bring to a simmer and lower to medium low heat.  You can run it through a sieve to remove seeds, but I don’t bother as I don’t mind getting that added fiber. 😉  Simmer slow, stirring constantly, until it thickens to your liking for the intended purpose.  Use for your application (either warm or chilled).  Refrigerate any unused sauce in a lidded jar.  Should keep about 5-7 days.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:    Makes 1 cup or 48 tsp.  Each teaspoon contains:

3.25 calories

0.03 g  fat

0.77 g  carbs, 0.39 g  fiber, 0.38 g  NET CARBS

0.06 g  protein

trace sodium

Pink Cream Sauce

A quick sauce many chefs like to use in a variety of ways.  It’s good on fish, chicken, some vegetables and even scrambled eggs.  This sauce is Atkins Induction friendly and a pleasant way to change up those boneless, skinless chicken breasts.  If you’re at the Atkins Phase 2, 1-2 T. of white wine is good added to this sauce.  This sauce is suitable for Paleo-Primal diners only if you use coconut milk instead of heavy cream.  This sauce compliments steamed asparagus and steamed cauliflower very nicely.

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

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

INGREDIENTS:

1 T.  butter

2 T. tomato paste

1 c. heavy cream (or coconut milk for Primal-Paleo)

Dash black pepper

Dash salt

Optional:  1-2 T. white or rose wine (not for those still on Induction)

DIRECTIONS:    In a small saucepan, melt the tablespoon of butter.  If using, add white wine (not for Induction).  Add tomato paste and stir to blend well.  Add salt and black pepper.  Slowly stir in the cream, a couple tablespoons at a time until tomato paste is thinning down a bit.  Slowly add rest of cream in small increments, stirring constantly until sauce is thickened and will coat the spoon/spatula.  Pour into gravy boat and serve at once over chicken, fish, vegetables or scrambled eggs.  Optional garnish:  chopped parsley or tarragon flakes.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION:   Makes 4 servings, each contains: (calculated using all heavy cream)

237 calories

25 g  fat

3.17 g  carbs, 0.32 g  fiber, 2.85 g  NET CARBS

1.6 g protein

 90 mg sodium

Sriracha Aioli

Sriracha Aioli

A buttery aioli (mayonnaise-based) sauce is a lovely compliment to grilled seafood or grilled chicken.  This recipe is suitable for all phases of Atkins and Keto diets.  It is not suitable for Primal-Paleo lifestyles unless you can find a recipe for homemade Sriracha sauce.

DIRECTIONS:  Process the following ingredients in a food processor or blender until smooth.  Scrape into serving dish and place in refrigerator until shrimp is grilled and you are ready to serve.

INGREDIENTS: 

½ stick butter, melted (2 oz.)

1 jalapeno, seeded, ribs removed (optional)

1/3 c. Homemade Mayonnaise

½ c. fresh cilantro

Juice of 1 lime

Dash each salt and pepper

½ clove garlic, minced

Dash smoked chipotle  chile powder

¼-1 tsp. Sriracha sauce (to your taste)

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 10 tablespoons or 5 servings of 2 T. each.  Each serving contains:

231 calories

25.4g fat

1.5 g carbs, 0.5g fiber, 1 g NET CARBS

0.6g protein

77 mg sodium

Bacon Gravy with Kale

Bacon Gravy with Kale

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

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

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

INGREDIENTS:

1/3  lb. bacon (about 6 slices)

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

2 large green onions, chopped

1 c. heavy cream

1 c. water

Dash salt and black pepper

xanthan gum or your favorite thickener (optional)

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

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

387 calories

39 g  fat

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

6.2 g  protein

382 mg sodium

Queso Flameado Sauce

Shown on Seared Pork Loin

I wanted this delicious sauce to be archived on my site as a sauce and not just as a pork recipe, so I’m reposting it at this time.  If you’ve ever ordered Queso Flameado in a Mexican restaurant, it’s a flavor you won’t soon forget. It’s a thick melted cheese fondu with chorizo crumbled in it served with flour tortillas to roll it up in. It is considered an appetizer.  It is sooo good!  Well, I decided to try my hand at it with some pork for dinner.  If you love Mexican food, you’ve GOT to try this dish!  My husband just loved it, as did I!   This dish also sports some very impressive nutritional numbers below, so it’s a keeper in my book.  It is suitable for all phases of Atkins and other Ketogenic diets.  This sauce is also delicious on seared chicken and fish.  Of course, I first ate this as a fondu with toasted bread cubes to dip into it (I would now use low-carb bread cubes, of course)!  If serving as a fondu, you will likely need to add a little more cheese, at is is supposed to be quite thick.  You’ll have to recalculate the carbs for any additional cheese you melt into it, however.

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

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

INGREDIENTS:

2 T. unsalted butter

1 link chorizo, removed from the skin and crumbled

4 large green onions, chopped

1/2 c. red bell pepper, chopped

1 c. cilantro, chopped

1/2 c. heavy cream

1/2 c. water

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

DIRECTIONS:  Melt the butter in a non-stick skillet over medium heat. Add crumbled chorizo and brown, crumbling as small as you can as it cooks.   Add the green onions, bell pepper and saute until they are tender.  Lower heat to medium-low and add cream, water and cilantro.  Simmer a couple minutes to reduce a bit. Sprinkle the cheese over the sauce and if serving with meat, lay the seared meat on top.  Pop into preheated 350º oven and bake for 15 minutes or until bubbly and the flavors have fully melded.  Serve 1/4 of the sauce over each portion of meat.  This pairs nicely with mashed cauliflower or a nice guacamole salad.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 4 servings, each contains:

567 calories

45 g  fat

4.35 g  carbs, 1.15 g  fiber, 3.2 g  NET CARBS

36 g  protein

654 mg sodium

Asian Dipping Sauce

Asian Dipping Sauce

This versatile Chinese-style dipping sauce is good for pork patties, Chinese dumplings, Korean BBQ and for using on various Chinese stir fries.  You can play around with the amount of peanut butter and Sambal Oelek chili sauce in this and change the overall flavor and spiciness to suite your taste.  This sauce is not suitable until the Atkins Phase 2 OWL level.

INGREDIENTS:

2 tsp. sesame oil

1 tsp. creamy natural peanut butter (I use Laura Scudder’s)

2 T. rice wine vinegar

1 tsp. ginger root, minced fine

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp. Sambal Oelek chili sauce (or to taste)

2-3 drops liquid stevia or sucralose

1 T. low sodium soy sauce (or coconut aminos)

1 T. green onion (finely minced)

2 T. water

DIRECTIONS:  Stir the peanut butter into the sesame oil until smooth.  Add all remaining ingredients and serve with Chinese dumplings, Korean BBQ or other Asian marinated grilled pork or beef.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes about 1/2 c. sauce (8 Tbsp.).

23 calories

1.45 g  fat

.91 g  carbs, .08 g  fiber, .83 g  NET CARBS

.32 g  protein

71 mg sodium

34 mg potassium

Barbecue Sauce

BBQ Sauce

I tried my hand at a homemade, Texas-style tomato-based BBQ sauce today.  I just got a new order of grass-fed beef from my panhandle supplier in which I had a lovely 3½ lb. rack of beef back ribs.  Hubby didn’t really feel like cooking outside tonight, so I just did the ribs in my roaster oven on the patio to avoid heating up the kitchen. Texas is so hot this time of year.  The ribs were actually frozen solid when they went into my roaster oven, set at 250º.  I put them on at 9am and they were falling-off-the-bones tender by 2pm.  I really wasn’t sure how long they would take, as I’d never cooked grass-fed ribs before, and grass-fed meat usually takes much longer to get tender than other beef.  I will just warm them up at dinner tonight with my side dishes.

This sauce was so good on the oven-baked version, but it is even better on outdoor charcoal-grilled ribs.  The charring caramelizes and smokes the applesauce in this delicious, slightly sweet sauce.  🙂  This sauce is good on beef, lamb, pork and for BBQ chicken as well.

This sauce is suitable once you reach Atkins Phase 2 OWL and Keto diets but not for Primal-Paleo unless you use real honey and real maple syrup.

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

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

INGREDIENTS:

1 c. stale coffee

½ c. apple cider vinegar

1 T. Worcestershire sauce

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

2 T. sugar-free maple syrup

2 T. sugar-free honey

2 tsp. liquid smoke  (I use American Spice brand “Amish Meadow”)

4 oz. unsweetened applesauce (omit if still on Induction)

¼ tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. chili powder of your choice (I use Chipotle, which is pretty HOT!)

1 tsp. paprika (I use smoky Spanish paprika from Penzey’s)

1 tsp. onion powder

¼ tsp. cumin

3 cloves minced garlic

4 oz. onion

6 oz. tomato paste

¼ c. butter or ghee

DIRECTIONS:  Measure out all ingredients but the butter into a food processor or blender.  Puree until the garlic and onion are completely smooth. Scrape it all into a large saucepan, add the butter and bring it to a boil.  Lower heat very low and simmer 10-15 minutes.  Baste your meat as usual as you grill it outside.  If roasting your meat in the oven I recommend covering with foil until the last hour or so and add the sauce the last hour of cooking, when you should remove the foil.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes around 2 cups.  Each tablespoon contains:

24 calories

1.5 g  fat

2.25 g  carbs, .46 g  fiber, 1.79 g  NET CARBS

49 mg sodium

77 mg potassium

Maple-Bacon-Bourbon Sauce

      Shown on seared pork chops

I often make compound butters and store them in my freezer.  There are literally limitless flavorings you can blend into butter for serving on grilled meats and vegetables.  They’re quick to make and ever so handy when you want an exotic taste FAST!  My Maple-Bacon-Bourbon Butter is one of my favorites.  I occasionally put it to work in creamy sauces like the one pictured above over pork chops.  This sauce was divine on these pork chops and what a quick meal for week nights!  This sauce would also be wonderful on baked or grilled chicken, steaks, lamb or wild game.  This recipe is not suitable until you reach Atkins Phase 2 (OWL) due to the bourbon.   It is not suitable for Primal-Paleo on several levels.

INGREDIENTS:

2 slices thick-slice bacon, chopped (3 oz,)

4 large mushrooms, sliced (optional)

3 T. Bacon-Bourbon Butter

1 tsp. sugar-free maple syrup

¼ c. cream

1/3 c. water

2 T. bourbon

Dash of your favorite thickener (optional)

Dash sea salt and black pepper

1 tsp. parsley, chopped (for garnish)

DIRECTIONS:   Fry the chopped bacon in a skillet.  Remove bacon with a slotted spoon to a paper towel.  If planning to serve with skillet-seared meat, sear the meat over high heat to nearly done stage right in the same skillet in that delicious bacon grease.  Or have your spouse grill the meat outside over charcoal to the desired stage.  When skillet chops are browned and done, remove them to a plate while you put the sauce together.  Add the 3 T. Bacon-Bourbon butter to the pan juices, melt and add the mushrooms.  Saute until mushrooms are done.   Lower to medium heat and add water, cream, bourbon, salt, pepper, and maple syrup.  Stir well and lay pork chops on top of the mushroom sauce.  If doing grilled meat, you won’t do this step. Simmer sauce on low heat 5-10 minutes to reduce/thicken the cream.  If not thick enough for you, you can slightly thicken with a dash of your preferred thickener. Gently pour mushroom sauce onto serving platter and set the meat on top.  Garnish with chopped parsley.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 2 servings, each contains: (does not include meat)

496 cals, 48.2g fat, 5.35g carbs, 0.95g fiber, 4.4g NET CARBS, 7.65g protein, 475mg sodium

Chicken with Pink Tarragon Cream

A quick meal for summertime when you don’t want to heat up your kitchen.  This tasty dish is Induction friendly and a pleasant way to change up those boneless, skinless chicken breasts.  Any leftover sauce is absolutely divine dipped over your scrambled eggs at breakfast.  🙂  If you’re at the OWL phase, 1-2 T. of white wine is good added to this sauce.  This sauce is suitable for Paleo-Primal diners if you use coconut milk instead of heavy cream.  This sauce can be prepared separately and compliments steamed asparagus, steamed cauliflower and is even great atop scrambled eggs!  🙂

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

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

INGREDIENTS:

12 oz. boneless, skinless chicken breast, sliced into thin slices on the diagonal

1 T. unsalted butter or olive oil for frying chicken

1 T.  butter

½ tsp. tarragon

2 T. tomato paste

1 c. cream (or coconut milk, or any mixture of water with cream/coconut milk to = 1 c. total)

Dash black pepper

Dash salt (unless using salted butter above)

DIRECTIONS:    Slice chicken into thin slices laterally and brown in 1T. of the butter in large non-stick skillet.  While it is cooking, in a small saucepan, melt the other tablespoon of butter and add tarragon.  Let simmer a few seconds on very low heat, stirring with rubber spatula or wooden spoon.  This will release the tarragon flavor.  Add tomato paste and stir to blend well.  Add salt and black pepper.  Slowly stir in the cream, a couple tablespoons at a time until tomato paste is thinning down a bit.  Slowly add rest of cream in small increments, stirring constantly until sauce is thickened and will coat the spoon/spatula.  Pour into gravy boat and serve at once over chicken.  Garnish with tarragon flakes.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION:   Makes 4 servings, each contains: (calculated using all heavy cream)

301 calories

19.2 g  fat

4.05 g  carbs, .3 g  fiber, 3.75 g  NET CARBS

27.3 g protein

Pesto Sauce

Pesto Sauce

This versatile little sauce can be used as a marinade for grilling fish or chicken.  It’s wonderful on low-carb “mock noodle” Italian dishes.  I’ve made a very tasty spaghetti squash dish with this as well. It’s also a delightful addition to salads made of tomatoes, olives, quinoa or cucumber.  I’ve even put this into wild rice pilaf and wild rice salads.

NOTE:  You may be wondering why no Parmesan cheese, a usual ingredient in this classic sauce.  I prefer to add that as I prepare recipes, as I like it omitted when using as a meat marinade, but like it included in my Italian recipes.  🙂  Just add 1T. Parmesan right before using the sauce for that cheesy taste!  This recipe is Induction friendly if you leave out the nuts.  It is suitable for Keto diets, Primal and Paleo as well.

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 other wonderful cooks to bring you a wealth of recipes you will love! Some of my low-carb creations appear in each of the 5 volumes! Order yours TODAY! from Amazon or our direct order site: http://amongfriends.us/order.php

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

INGREDIENTS:

½ c. olive oil

20 fresh sweet basil leaves (you may like more, but too much basil disagrees with my tummy)

1 oz. pine nuts, ground (or walnuts, almonds or macadamias)

2 cloves garlic, minced

Pinch of salt

Dash Crushed Red Pepper Flakes (optional)

DIRECTIONS:   Place all ingredients in your blender or food processor and pulse a few times to chop/blend it.  If not using it all up at once, store in a tightly lidded jar in your refrigerator.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  This makes about 3/4 cup of sauce, or 12 T.  Each tablespoon will contain:

94.17 calories

10.2 g  fat

.67 g carbs, .33 g fiber, .35 NET CARBS

.56 g  protein

9 mg sodium

Indian Mint Sauce

I love the combination of mint, cilantro and jalapeno on most things Indian as well as Middle Eastern salads, cucumbers and even jicama diced up.  Wonderful flavors together. This chutney sauce is Atkins Induction friendly and suitable for Keto diets.  It can be used as a dip for low-carb versions of Indian naan, for dressing cucumbers and salads, or as a condiment for Indian Mixed Grill meats or even Middle Eastern meat dishes.  I increase the sour cream and make a creamier dressing when I do this sauce for a cucumber salad.  This can also be thinned with a touch of water if you like it thinner.  You’ll see it both thick and thin in Indian Restaurants.

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

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

INGREDIENTS:

1 c. cilantro leaves

1 c. mint leaves

2  3-inch jalapenos, seeded

juice of 1 lemon or lime

3 T. sour cream (you can use Greek yogurt, but will be higher in carbs)

3 T. heavy cream

Dash salt

Water as needed if you want it thinner

DIRECTIONS:  Throw all ingredients into food processor and pulse or hand chop to a fairly smooth mixture as pictured above.  Use as a condiment for Indian food at room temperature.  Chill and toss a little of this with sliced cucumbers, sliced jicama or diced tomatoes for a wonderful salad.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:   Makes 6 servings (or enough to dress 6 salads).  1/6 batch has:

29 calories

2.3 g fat

1.77 g carbs, .73 g fiber, 1.04 g NET CARBS

.77 g protein

35 mg sodium

Eggplant Sauce for “Pasta”

I have been making this recipe for ever so long.  It’s so tasty, freezes well and is even tastier when reheated.  Although I created this when I was still eating Dreamfield’s pasta occasionally (before the lawsuit over false carbohydrate claims on their products).    I now use Al Dente ‘Carba Nada’ pasta if not using spaghetti squash, zoodles or steamed cauliflower for my spaghetti sauce plating. 

I like to make a double or triple batch and keep it in small containers in my freezer at all times.   It’s so nice to be able to pop one out, zap in the microwave a few minutes and have a great dinner fast!  You can add ground meat to this recipe, but to be quite honest, it’s quite tasty with just the eggplant!  The batch pictured below has added browned homemade Italian bulk sausage. 

VARIATION:  Add some browned ground beef or Italian Sausage to make this a meat sauce.

INGREDIENTS:

1 clove minced garlic

3 oz. onion, chopped very fine

4 T. olive oil

1 ½ c. eggplant diced into ½” cubes

2-3 T. chopped parsley

½ tsp. salt

¼ tsp. pepper

Dash cayenne pepper

¼-½ tsp. fennel seed

1 tsp. dried basil (or 2 T. fresh, chopped)

20 oz. crushed canned tomatoes

DIRECTIONS:   Sauté onion in olive oil in large pot (high heat) until partially tender.  Add eggplant cubes and minced garlic and continue sautéing until eggplant is half cooked.  Add remaining ingredients and simmer 15-30 minutes, but not until eggplant dissolves completely in the sauce (as it will if overcooked).  Excellent over spaghetti squash threads or zucchini noodles or in your favorite Italian low-carb recipes that call for sauce.  Garnish with freshly grated Parmesan if desired.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes 5 servings of about 1 c.,  each contains:  (numbers are for the sauce only without added meat)

145 cals, 11.22 g fat, 11.44 g carbs, 3.32 g fiber, 8.12 g NET CARBS, 2.36 g  protein, 385 mg sodium

North Carolina BBQ Sauce

Shown on grilled pork country ribs

Scott’s BBQ in Goldsboro, North Carolina, where I was born, serves classic N.C.  style shredded pork BBQ.  And of course, with their signature vinegar-based sauce.  It’s so unlike the tomato-based, sweeter sauce we see here in Texas, where I have lived the last 40 years.  Though their BBQ sauce recipe is proprietary, this is my parents’ take on the sauce.  It’s real close to the real thing!  Of course their artful slow smoking of the pork has much to do with the success of their business.  Try it sometime on pulled pork!   Yummy!  🙂  Sometimes I make a 50:50 mixture of this sauce and my traditional tomato-based Texas style sauce.  That’s quite good as well for chicken and beef!  This sauce is Induction friendly.  This sauce requires no refrigeration.  Keeps forever on the pantry shelf.  🙂

INGREDIENTS:

2  c. cider vinegar

1-2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

½ tsp. coarse-ground black pepper

1 tsp. Mexican chili powder

½  tsp. salt

½ tsp. dry mustard powder

DIRECTIONS:

Mix all ingredients and fill a shaker bottle.  Will keep for ages in the fridge!  My parents poked a hole in the metal lid with an ice pic before placing on the bottle.  They would shake in onto their finely chopped smoked pork right at the table, in addition to what they basted on the meat during the smoking process.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes about 2 cups, or 8 servings, each ¼ c. serving contains:

18 cals, 0.29g fat, 1.34g carbs, 0.34g fiber, 1 g NET CARBS, 0.21g protein, 152 mg. sodium

Green Herb Sauce

Click to enlarge

This colorful green herb sauce makes a tasty and attractive entrée.  And it’s so easy to prepare!  This would also be good on baked/broiled fish.  This recipe is Induction friendly.

INGREDIENTS:

1 t. shallot, minced

1 oz. fresh spinach leaves (about a cup)

1 T. fresh dill

2 T. parsley, chopped

4 T. chicken broth

1 T. lemon juice

2-4 drops Tobasco

Pinch salt

2 boneless chicken breasts (5 oz. each)

3 oz. heavy cream

DIRECTIONS:

Place spinach, shallot, lemon juice, broth and Tobasco into microwave dish and cook at 100% power for 2 minutes. Remove, sprinkle with the salt and put this mixture into a blender or food processor.  Add cream and pulse just enough to puree into a smooth mixture.    Sear chicken breasts in skillet with some butter or you can place them in the same microwave dish you cooked the spinach mixture in.  Cover with plastic wrap or microwave cover.  Cook at 100% power, turning once, until chicken is done (about 4-6 minutes, depending on your microwave).  Plate the chicken on platter and drizzle sauce over meat without complete covering the meat with sauce.  Garnish edge of plates with little sprinkle of chopped parsley or dill.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Makes 4 servings, each with:

196 calories

10 g  fat

1.5 g  carbs

.2 g  fiber

1.3 g  NET CARBS

22 g  protein

325 mg. sodium

Pink Cream Wine Sauce

Pink Cream Wine Sauce

I find I just love this sauce on scrambled eggs or baked/broiled seafood or chicken, too.  Totally changes up the eggs for folks getting tired of eggs the same old way day in and day out.  If not to OWL yet, leave the wine out.  It’s just about as good without it.

INGREDIENTS:

2 T. butter

4 large mushrooms, sliced

Pinch onion powder

Pinch dried tarragon

1 tsp. tomato paste (used a plum tomato in picture above)

1 T. white wine

Dash salt and pepper

1/4 c. heavy cream

DIRECTIONS:

Saute mushrooms in butter in no-stick until done.  Add remaining ingredients and lower heat to lowest setting.  Add cream and simmer couple minutes to let flavors blend.  Serve over eggs, chicken or seafood.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Serves 2, each serving containing:

222.5 Calories

22.7 g  fat

2.95 g  carbs

.52 g  fiber

2.25 g  protein

approx. 75 mg. sodium

2.43 g  NET CARBS

Spaghetti Sauce Bolognese

This is the spaghetti sauce I have been cooking for over 50 years now and my mother for that many years before me!  🙂  We just never found one we liked better.  I usually double or triple the recipe and freeze some for future convenience.  This recipe is acceptable for Atkins Induction, Keto diets and Primal-Paleo as well.

INGREDIENTS:

1 ½ lb. lean ground beef

½ c. green pepper chopped

½ c. parsley chopped

1 c. celery chopped

6 garlic cloves minced

6 oz. yellow onion chopped

2   14-oz. cans crushed or diced tomatoes (kind with no added sugars)

1   small (8oz) can tomato paste

½ tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. black pepper

1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper (less if you don’t like it very spicy)

1 T. dried crushed oregano

1 bay leaf

1 T. fresh rosemary (or ½ tsp. dried)

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

½ tsp. fennel seed, crushed

VARIATIONS:  add diced eggplant, mushrooms, or chopped, browned Italian sausage

DIRECTIONS:  Brown meat in large stew pot.  You may need a little oil if your meat is real lean.  Chop all veggies and add to meat and stir well.  Now add garlic, seasonings, tomatoes and tomato paste.  Simmer covered for 1½-2 hours on lowest heat possible.  Will yield about 8-9 cups of sauce, or 8-10 servings, depending on how saucy you like things and how you plan to use the sauce.

NUTRITIONAL INFO: Serves 10, each serving has:

295.3 cals, 20.75g fat, 13.18g carbs, 4.48g fiber, 8.7g NET CARBS, 18.3g protein, 116 mg. sodium

Cilantro-Almond Sauce (on Chicken)

Cilantro-Almond Sauce (shown on braised chicken)

If you like cilantro you’ll love this sauce!  It is so easy to prepare and is extremely good on chicken or baked/broiled fish (any variety really).  Any leftover sauce in the pan also freezes well!  When reheating, warm over lowest heat just long enough to get hot so as to not overcook the cilantro or curdle the cream.  this is not acceptable for Atkins Induction due to almonds.

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

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

INGREDIENTS:

2 c. chicken broth, preferably homemade

4 oz. onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 jalapeno pepper, seeded & finely chopped

2 chopped seeded fresh tomatillos (or 3.5 oz. [½ can] Herdez Salsa Verde)

¼ c. almonds, finely ground

2 T. butter

1 whole bunch cilantro, chopped fine (use ½ c. parsley if you don’t like cilantro)

1/2 c. heavy cream

Dash salt and pepper

DIRECTIONS:  If making this sauce for chicken, sear the meat well on both sides in the butter until golden brown.  If it is for fish, bake/broil your fish until completely done and set aside until sauce is completely done.  Place first 7 ingredients (except for the butter you’ve already used searing the chicken) into a blender or food processor and pulse until fairly finely chopped.  Now carefully transfer the cilantro mixture back into the skillet around the chicken.  Simmer sauce with chicken for about 45 minutes or until chicken is completely done.  Lower heat and add cilantro and cream.  Stir for only 2-3 minutes to slightly thicken.  This sauce will NOT be very thick.  If using on fish, spoon the sauce over your baked/broiled fish right before serving.

NUTRITIONAL INFO:  Makes about 3 c. sauce for 9 servings, each containing:

96.78 calories

8.63 g  fat

2.79 g  carbs, .67 g  fiber, 2.12 g  NET CARBS

2.10 g  protein

17 mg. sodium

Pizza Sauce

I keep this Induction friendly pizza sauce made up and frozen at the ready for a variety of uses.  This is handy for when I just need that 1/4 cup or 1/2 cup for a pizza or some other Italian recipe.  With the addition of a little browned ground beef, it would be a nice spaghetti sauce; as written, it makes a nice pizza sauce or Chicken Parmesan sauce.   NOTE: nutritional info does NOT include optional spices, but they would add very little to the totals.

INGREDIENTS:

2 T. olive oil
1/4 c. ch. onion
1/4 c. ch. celery
1/4 c. ch. green pepper
2 T. parsley
1 clove minced garlic
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
1 8 oz can water
1/2 tsp. oregano
dash salt & pepper

Optional:
dash cayenne
dash dried basil (or 1 leaf fresh)
dash dried rosemary(or few leaves fresh)
dash fennel seed

DIRECTIONS:

Saute the vegetables in the oil in a small no-stick pot. Add tomato sauce and water, minced garlic and parsley. Add oregano & seasonings.
Simmer on lowest heat covered with lid about 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION:

1/2 batch: 223 Calories; 16.3 g.  Fat; 17.1 g. carbs; 3.1 g. protein; 1.6 g. fiber, approx. 80 mg. sodium, (15.5 NET CARBS)

1/4 batch: 111.5 Calories; 8.15 g. fat; 8.55 g. carbs; 1.5 g. protein; .8 g. fiber, approx 40 mg. sodium,  (7.75 NET CARBS)