Daily Archives: April 25, 2014

Healthy Life

Zero Effective Carbs Equals Zero Flavor

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Yesterday, I went to my local health food store and purchased two loaves of Julian Bread’s zero net carb breads, their regular bread and the cinnamon bread. First, these were in small supply at this big store that carries health food products and the cinnamon bread was frozen. They sell so few units that it’s best to freeze the bread. The bread lists online at Julian Bread’s web site for $7.95 a loaf, pretty pricey for a small loaf of bread, but from this chain market, it was $9.99 a loaf. Way too pricey!

But I had hopes that the taste of the bread would make up for it. This was not to be. I toasted up one of slices in the toaster. It was very thin, but it held together well and didn’t fall apart when I removed it. Often low carb breads tend to crumble. These breads are gluten free also so that is a plus for it. I buttered it, split the piece and my roomie and I both tasted it. No flavor! I would say it tastes like cardboard, but I’ve never eaten cardboard. It just didn’t even have a taste of salt or anything else a bread should taste like. Worse, the butter flavor disappeared in it.

Today, I tried a piece of the cinnamon bread with peanut butter and strawberry jam on it. It brought nothing to the party. The only flavors that came through were the toppings. Not even the cinnamon is distinct enough. It’s not even like a cracker.

So, I would have to say that this is not worth the money to purchase. You can make a better tasting low carb bread from scratch that only has a couple of effective carbs in it or buy a low carb bread mix from New Hope Mills or Bob’s Red Mill or LC Foods. Even my low carb soda bread has more flavor with a taste that’s very close to the real thing.

If you want to make low carb breads, I can’t stress how easy they are to make even though you may have to special order a few products. I get mine from Netrition.com. It takes about a week and the shipping is $4.95, no matter how much you order, so order several at one time, They carry New Hope Mills, CarbQuick, Bob’s Red Mill, Dixie Diner and LC Foods products, so they’re a great place for one stop shopping and shipping.

POSTED BY RENE AVERETT AT 11/16/2013 1:06 PM

Main Dish, Recipes

Quick Fix Green Chile Chicken

Green Chile Chicken Skillet Casserole

Cinco de Mayo is just around the corner so it’s time to throw out a few recipes to help celebrate the day!  Since I am a product of the Southwest, I love this kind of food, but I admit, much of it has a Tex-Mex flavoring to it.  This recipe is one I’ve made for years and always relished.  It’s easy, takes about 30 to 40 minutes to prepare and tastes wonderful.

It only required a couple of changes to make it low carb’d and that was mostly to replace the rice with riced cauliflower.  Using pico de gallo that is already made from the grocery store and canned green chile enchilada sauce really speeds up the process but still delivers the wonderful flavors.  If you can’t find pico de gallo at your grocery store, it is easy to make with onions, tomatoes, jalapeno chiles and cilantro.  There are many on the internet, but you can try this one.

Green Chile Chicken Skillet Casserole

Chicken strips work very well with this dish.

6 oz – Chicken Breast
4 tablespoons Pico de Gallo
1/2 cup Green Chile Enchilada Sauce
2 tablespoons Chopped Green Chiles
1 teaspoon Better than Bullion chicken plus 1/2 cup water or 1/2 cup chicken broth
1 cup Cauliflower, frozen, thawed and riced
1 cup Zucchini sliced or chopped
2 tablespoons Sour Cream,
1/4 cup Cheddar Cheese, shredded
1 tablespoon Olive Oil

If starting with fresh cauliflower, par boil for 3 minutes and drain. If using frozen cauliflower, thaw and cook in the microwave for 2 minutes or par boil for 2 minutes, then drain excess water off. Process in a food processor for a few seconds until it is riced. Or you can chop finely or grate.

Cut the chicken into bite sized cubes.

Heat oil in a medium skillet and add the pico de gallo. Saute about three minutes over medium heat. Move to one side and add the chicken to it. Cook until brown on both sides, then add chicken broth or bullion and water to the skillet along with the enchilada sauce. Stir in the chicken pieces and let come to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer, then add the riced cauliflower and zucchini.

Cook for about 15 minutes until most of the liquid is reduced and zucchini is fork tender. Add the sour cream and cheese and stir in to mix well, cooking for about three minutes more to melt the cheese.
Serves 2 or 3 people, depending in how hungry you are.

Nutrition Info: 2 servings
Calories: 274 Fat: 13.8 g Net Carbs: 5.7 g Protein: 26.2 g

3 servings:
Calories: 183 Fat: 9.2 g Net Carbs: 3.8 g Protein: 17.5 g