All posts by RAverett

Breads, Breakfast & Brunch, Recipes

Easy, Delicious Baked French Toast

I love French toast and I love bread pudding. Sadly, those are almost a no-no if you’re trying to keep your carbohydrates low. Man, I wish I could eat about double the net carbs that I am forced to stay at because my metabolism is so slow. If I could, these things wouldn’t be a problem. So I have to look for alternatives.

Fortunately, a low carb bread will work in this recipe that combines French toast and bread pudding in an easy bake option. For this I used only two slices of New Hope Mills Cranberry Orange bread that I made a couple of weeks ago. You can order the mix from NewHopeMills.com or Netrition.com. LC Foods and Bob’s Red Mill also have low carb bread mixes. Or you can make your own low carb muffins and use two (regular sized ones) of those for the bread in this recipe.

One half of one of these small cassoulets of this was like a muffin and enough, with a couple of slices of bacon, to make a satisfying breakfast, but most people will want more.

Quick Baked French Toast

2 slices (1/12th of loaf each) of New Hope Mills Cranberry Orange or Blueberry Bread or other low carb bread (approx. 2 net carbs per slice)
2 large Eggs
1 1/2 ounces Heavy Cream
2 teaspoons Cinnamon, ground
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/4 teaspoon Clove, ground

Break bread slices into pieces. In a small bowl, mix eggs, cream, cinnamon, clove and vanilla until well blended. Add bread pieces. Cover with plastic wrap and put in refrigerator for at least one hour (or overnight) to allow bread to soak up the egg mixture.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Prepare two cassoulet dishes by spraying with cooking spray or butter lightly.

Spoon the French toast mixture evenly into each of the two dishes. Bake for about 25 minutes until the egg bread is firm and lightly browned. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then serve with butter and sugar free pancake syrup.

Makes 2 large servings

Nutrition Info: 1 serving
Calories: 333.1 Fat: 13.6 g Net Carbs: 3.8 g Protein: 14.8 g

Originally POSTED BY RENE AVERETT AT 11/11/2013 9:52 PM

Breads, Recipes

Wheat Germ & Flax Bread Round

Another simple bread to make that is non-yeast and made with low carb flour options. I use CarbQuick for most of my baking, but you can also use Bob’s Red Mill baking mix or any of the flour options from LC Foods. Or you can avoid the flour substitute altogether and use a combination of almond flour, coconut flour or other nut flour with the flax meal. In fact, you can make it with just the flax meal for the flour options. It is much nuttier in flavor and flax is loaded with fiber, so it may affect your digestive system a bit.

Wheat Germ and Flax Bread Round

1 large Egg
1/4 teaspoon Pepper
1 teaspoon Onions, dehydrated flakes
1/2 cup Carbquick
1/4 cup flax meal, ground
1 tablespoon Wheat Germ
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Salt
3 tablespoons Coconut Oil

Preheat oven to 365 degrees F. Prepare baking sheet and three 3″ cake molds or rings. (You can use tuna cans with both ends cut out for rings.) If using rings, cut parchment paper to fit the baking sheet or use a silicone mold. Spray with baking spray. If using 3″ round cake molds, spray the molds with baking spray.

In a mixing bowl, combine flours, salt and baking powder. Add Coconut oil, onion flakes and egg and mix well to make sure all the flour is moistened. Add a little water if you need more moisture.

Spoon evenly into three molds or rings and smooth the tops with the back of a spoon dipped in water.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes. The bread should be lightly browned and firm. Let cool a few minutes before eating.

This roll can be completely cooled, sliced and used for sandwiches and toasts well.

Nutrition Information for 1 roll:
Calories: 242.6 Fat: 21.4 g Net Carbs: 2.4 g Protein: 7.8 g

Breads, Recipes

Tea Time Is Scone Time

Typical High Tea with scones on the middle tray.

Warm days are a great time for a nice English tea, but keeping within the carb count can be challenging. I have gone to a few at one of our local Irish shops that has a yummy High Tea on Sundays, but all the little bread sandwiches and scones can be a challenge for controlling the intake. I talked to the owner and asked if I could get lettuce roll-ups instead. Most of the fillings in the sandwiches work well with roll-ups and it was a delicious solution to that problem. The scones, on the other hand, are more of an issue. I have made my own low carb ones and taken them to the tea with me, but it isn’t normally something a person wants to do. So, you either confine your scone eating to one scone (or less) or you save scones as an option you can make and eat at home.

This is my basic low carb scone recipe. While I use a combination of Carbquick baking mix and almond flour, the scones can be made with all almond flour. They are delicate and need to cool before you try to move them.

 

I made my scones in my 3″ round cake pans, so they look a lot like my bread rounds, but the taste is definitely a scone.

Cream Scones

1 cup CarbQuick
1 cup Almond flour
1/4 cup  Sugar Substitute
3 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/8 teaspoon Salt
1/3 cup Butter
1 Egg
1 teapoon Vanilla
1/4 cup Heavy Cream

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and place the rack in the middle of the oven. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the two flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter, a fork or two knives or you can use a food processor. The mixture should look like coarse crumbs. In a small bowl, combine the whipping cream, beaten egg, sugar substitute and vanilla, mixing well. Add mixture to the flour mixture. Stir just until combined. Batter should be thick and lumpy.

Knead dough four or five times, adding a little more Carbquick if the dough is too sticky. On a lightly floured pastry board, pat the dough into a 7″ circle. Use a 2 1/2 inch round cookie cutter or glass to cut the dough into rounds. Place the rounds on the prepared cookie sheet, spacing a few inches apart. Gather excess dough and pat it out to about the same thickness and cut again. Shape the remaining dough into a single round. Brush the tops of the scones with a little cream.

Alternately, you can pat the dough into a 1/2 inch thick x 7″ round on the prepared baking sheet, then cut it into 4 quarters, then cut each of those in half. separate slightly to cook. Brush the tops with cream.

Bake for about 15 – 18 minutes or until nicely browned and a toothpick inserted into the center of a scone comes out clean. Remove from oven, let cool about 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Serve with Devon cream or softly whipped cream and your favorite jam. Low carb Strawberry and lemon curd work especially well.

Makes about 10 – 2 1/2 inch (6.5 cm) round scones or 8 triangles.

Nutrition Info per scone. (1/10th of recipe)
Calories: 128.2    Fat: 12.2 g    Net carbs: 2.2 g    Protein: 3.2 g
POSTED BY RENE AVERETT AT 7/29/2013 4:55 PM

Breads, Mexican/Spanish Recipes, Recipes

Rene’s Corn and Flax Tortillas

Corn is a high carbohydrate food and there is just no way to use masa to make a low carb corn tortilla for this reason. Still, I can do something similar by using a little bit of corn meal, flax meal, ground up baby corn (which is surprisingly low carb) and almond flour. It isn’t the same as a corn tortilla, but it does have some of the flavor. I plan to keep experimenting to try to get closer to the flavor, but in the meantime, this one is a pretty good substitute.

2 tblsp Corn Meal
1/4 cup Almond Meal
1/4 cup Flax Meal
1/4 cup ground Baby Corn
1 tblsp Shortening
2 tblsp Water
Pinch of Salt

Grind the baby corn up in the food processor until it is the texture of meal. (I used canned Dynasty baby corn, which is low in carbohydrates.) Mix the corn meal, almond meal, flax meal and salt together, then add the ground corn. Stir in the shortening and water and mix well until the grains are moist and they pull together into a dough. Add a bit more water if needed.

Refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Heat a griddle to medium heat in preparation.

Divide dough into 6 pieces and roll each into individual balls. Spray a quart sized plastic bag with cooking spray inside, put dough in it and roll with a rolling pin or glass until it is about 4 inches in diameter. Don’t press too hard. The tortilla should be about 1/8″ thick. Very carefully remove the tortilla from the plastic bag by sliding your fingers gently between the bag and the dough. Slide your hand in to support the dough, then flip the bag and work the bag away from the other side. Continue to support the tortilla with your hand until you get it on the griddle.

Place tortilla on the griddle and cook until lightly browned, 2 to 3 minutes. Flip over and cook the back side another 2 to 3 minutes. Let cool. The tortillas will be delicate so handle them carefully. When cooled, they will break if you try to fold them.

I cook one tortilla before rolling out the next one to minimize the time the dough has to stick to whatever surface it is waiting on. Once the tortilla is on the griddle, you can repair any breaks by pressing lightly with a wet fingertip. Resist the urge to press down on it with the back of a spatula as it will likely stick to it. Once the tortilla is flipped, you can press on it.

As someone once said, uneven sizes and edges are a sure indicator that it’s homemade.

To reheat them, bake in a 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes or fry them, one at a time, in a little oil until golden brown. Drain on paper towels and use to make tostadas or tacos. Or fry them until crisp, salt and cut into wedges for chips.

Makes about six 4″ tortillas

Nutrition Information for 1 tortilla:
Calories: 85.7 Fat: 6.1 g Net carbs:2.9 g Protein: 2.4 g

Originally POSTED BY RENE AVERETT AT 5/4/2013 3:02 PM

Breads, Recipes

Savory Flax Yeast Sandwich Roll

It’s taken me a while to actually begin trying to make yeast breads with low carb flours. They don’t react the same as wheat flour, so it takes a bit of experimenting to get the recipes to work. My first success with low carb English Muffins worked out very well, so I thought I’d try a little experiment with flax muffin bread and see if I could make a crumpet. I actually got something that resembles a roll more than a crumpet. And the taste is wonderful.

I would recommend actually getting a low carb flour, such as CarbQuick baking mix, Bob’s Red Mill low carb baking mix or LC Foods English Muffin and Bagel flour, which I only used a small amount of in combination with other flours. I don’t think the yeast would work well with almond, peanut or coconut flour alone. Most of the flours are available from Amazon.com or Netrition.com or at some health food stores. Bob’s Red Mill might be in your grocery store.

So, on to the bread! By the way, you can add 1 tablespoon of wheat bran to give this more of a wheat taste. Remove 1 tablespoon of the flax meal.

Savory Flax Yeast Sandwich Roll

1 2/3 cups Carbquick
1/4 cup Flax Meal
1.5 teaspoons Baking Powder
3 tablespoons Oat Fiber (0 carb, 0 calorie)
1 teaspoon Sugar Substitute
1 teaspoon Salt
1 packet Active Dry Yeast
1/3 cup Buttermilk, warmed
1 tablespoon Dried Onion Flakes
1/4 cup Olive Oil
3 Eggs, large

In a small glass bowl or cup, add 1/4 cup hot (not boiling) water and sprinkle the yeast over the top. Stir in  sugar substitute. Set aside for about 30 minutes to let the yeast activate. They will get bubbly.

In a bowl, mix together the flours, baking powder and oat fiber, onion flakes and salt. In a large bowl beat the eggs, then add olive oil and buttermilk. Lastly, add the yeast mixture to this and mix it all in.

Add 1/3 of the flour mixture and use a wooden spoon to mix or use the paddle blade on your mixer or food processor. (I prefer mixing by hand.) When the flour is incorporated, add another third of the flour and mix it in, then the final third. The batter should be thick enough to drop from a spoon but not stiff.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.

When the dough has doubled, prepare your baking pan. Use a baking paper (like parchment paper) or silicone mat on the bottom. I use eight English muffin rings — 3 inches in diameter– for containing the rolls. ( You can make your own from empty tuna cans or pet food cans by cutting out the bottoms.) Place the rings on the baking tray and spray the insides and bottom mat or paper with baking spray.

Sir the dough down, then spoon it into the muffin rings. It should take about two tablespoons in each ring. The dough will rise to fill the ring. Cover the rings with the plastic wrap or kitchen towel and place in a warm place to rise for about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place rolls, which should be just about doubled in size, in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Check to see if they are lightly browned. If so, remove from the oven. If you are going to heat these again, either in the toaster or a sandwich maker or toaster oven, then you want them slightly undercooked.

Makes 8 sandwich rolls

Nutrition Info per roll:
Calories 170   Fat: 13.6 g   Net Carbs: 2.9 g   Protein: 7.6 g

Originally POSTED BY RENE AVERETT AT 4/19/2013 11:45 AM