All posts by Rene Averett

Appetizers, Recipes

Greek Festival Tiropitas

Photo of Tiropitas

Tiropitas are a delightful combination of phyllo dough and feta cheese. They make a great snack or appetizer for parties. In Greek, the word means cheese pie. While their carb count is a little high for snacking on many of them, at 3.2 net carbs each, you can indulge in two or three depending on your total carb allotment for the day.

I’ve made tiropitas many times over the past decades, but I have to admit this last time really caused headaches. My preferred brand of Phyllo dough (Athena) wasn’t stocked by the market I usually buy it from, and the one they had turned out to be problematic. It broke when I unfolded the sheets and continued to break while I folded the dough into packets. The dough tends to dry out while you’re using it, so it becomes more difficult to work.

Ultimately, I developed plan B, which was to use phyllo cups instead. Not only did his work better, but the cups come out lower in carbs, but they also hold more of the cheese mixture. I have dubbed these tiropita cups, although they could be described as a mini Greek quiche.

Photo: Tiropita Cups

Tiropitas

1 pound feta cheese
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh or 1 tablespoon dried basil leaves
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1 package (16 ounces) frozen phyllo sheets (18×14 inches), thawed
1/3 cup margarine or butter, melted

Heat oven to 400°F. Prepare a cookie sheet by placing a sheet of parchments paper on it and spraying it with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, crumble the cheese and mash with a fork. Stir in eggs, basil, and white pepper until well mixed. Alternately, you can put the cheese into the food processor and pulse it a few times to break it into small bits, then add the eggs, basil, and pepper and pulse to mix together. You want it to be coarse rather than a paste.

On your large work surface, unroll the phyllo sheets carefully and cut them lengthwise into 2-inch strips. Cover with plastic wrap or wax paper, then with a damp towel to keep them from drying out.

Take one strip, and place 1 level teaspoon of the cheese mixture on the end. Fold the strip over the cheese, turn it, and bring the right side to the left edge to form a triangle. Turn the triangle up, then fold it from the left edge to the right side. This makes a triangular fold, like folding a flag. Repeat until you come to the end of the strip. Tuck the dough under and place on the cookie sheet. Repeat with each dough strip.

Once all the strips are done, brush the triangles lightly with butter.

Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until puffed and golden brown. Serve warm.

To make them in cups, place the cups on a parchment-covered sheet pan and fill each cup with a rounded teaspoon of the cheese mixture.

Once all the cups are filled, lightly brush with butter if you wish. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes.

These are best when baked just before serving. You can prepare them earlier and bake when needed or refrigerate or freeze them until you’re ready. If you freeze the packets, let them thaw before baking or add a little extra baking time.

The folded tiropitas make about 72 triangular cookies. Most packages have 18 to 20 sheets of dough.

The cups make about 60 appetizers. Each package has 15 cups in it.

Product Review

Product Review: King Arthur Carb-Conscious Pancake Mix

Photo: King Arthur Carb-Conscious Pancakes

King Arthur Flour  has a great flour product, so I was eager to try their Carb-Conscious Pancake Mix. I usually make my own batter from the low-carb flour products I have at home, but I wanted to see how this mix compares. It doesn’t.

While it is super-easy to mix up, simply measure out one cup of the mix and add 1/2 cup water. If the mixture is too thick, as mine was, add water 1 tablespoon at a time to bring it to a spreadable consistency. I live at 4,500 feet above sea level, and this sometimes affects baking. It took almost another 1/4 cup of water to get the batter thin enough to spread on my trusty waffle iron.

My iron has made hundreds of waffles over the years I’ve had it, and most of my batters have been low carb. I’ve made regular waffles and savory waffles, but I’ve never had a waffle stick to the iron…until now. I did spray the iron with baking spray before pouring the batter, in case you’re wondering.

The waffle cooked longer than a usual waffle. Since I could still detect steam coming from the iron, I let it continue to cook. Once the steam had stopped, the iron still did not want to release the waffle. I finally had to force it. The waffle was completely cooked, but it stuck to both sides of the iron.

Photo:Crumbled waffle

Once the iron had cooled some, I extracted the pieces adhered to the non-stick surface. So, I had the cake in many pieces on the plate. Nothing else wrong with it, except it was a mess.

Nonetheless, I buttered it, added sugar-free syrup, and ate it. It tasted okay but lacked a little in flavor. My recipe is much more flavorful. Like many low carb flour products, the Carb-Conscious product doesn’t have as much flavor as the real deal.

Photo: Waffle with apples.
To dress up the waffle pieces, I added a compote of cooked apples with cinnamon. Big improvement.

The next time I used it, I made pancakes. 1/4 cup of the flour plus about 1/3 cup of water makes three cakes. I added 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract to the batter to add flavor. They worked fine, browned up nicely, and tasted okay. Still not as flavorful as they could be. If you add cinnamon along with the vanilla, you might get a better pancake.

Bottom line. The mix comes together easily but lacks flavor compared to a homemade mix or some other low-carb mixes. I’d give it three spoons – not the best, but okay if you add a little spice to it.

Nutrition information indicates that two pancakes use 1/3 cup of mix to make and contain 4 net carbs.

Try my pancake recipe. This one is for Pumpkin Pancakes.

This evaluation is the first of several low-carb or Keto flour mixes or products I will be reviewing this week. Keep an eye out for more as I try the goods and report back to you, so you don’t have to waste money on those that aren’t up to the flavor.

I will also be getting to the promised tiropitas recipe this week.

Please note: I am not receiving anything from the makers of the products I review. I purchase the item, make it when needed, and give it my honest review. The opinions expressed are mine. Other people may have different thoughts on the product.

Curds and Jellies, Desserts, Recipes

Applesauce Topping Is Awesome

Applesauce Topping photo

As I said last post, I had a huge jar of applesauce, so I’ve used it several ways. This one is a recipe from All Recipes that I adapted for low carb. It’s a wonderful topping for ice cream or yogurt. Use a low carb ice  cream and the lowest vanilla yogurt you can find to keep the carbs down. I use CarbMasters yogurt from Kroger Foods, but some people don’t care for the taste. I also use CarbSmart ice cream from Breyers Ice Cream.

With only four ingredients, the recipe is easy. I suspect it would be delicious over vanilla pudding, custard, cheesecake, or even as cake topping. If you don’t like pecans, substitute in walnuts or almonds, or leave them out completely.

If you have any leftover, you can refrigerate it for a few days.

Applesauce Sundae Topping

1/2 cup Unsweetened Applesauce
1 tablespoon Swerve Brown Sugar
1/8 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 cup Pecan pieces

In a microwave safe bowl, combined the applesauce, brown sugar, and cinnamon. Cook for one minute. Stir in the pecan pieces.

Alternately, put the applesauce, brown sugar, and cinnamon in a small pan and cook over medium heat until it just comes to a boil. Remove from heat and stir in pecans.

For a slightly richer flavor, add 1 tablespoon butter to the bowl before you microwave or bake. If you like the tang of clove, add a pinch or so to the mixture.

Serve over two scoops of low Carb ice cream.  Tastes like Fall!

Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition Info Image

 

Italian Inspired Recipes, Pork, Poultry, Recipes

Italian Flavors in this Chicken & Sausage Dish

Photo of Chicken & Sausage Italiano dish

I wanted to use up a little pasta sauce I’d opened for a pizza a few nights earlier, so I came up with this variation on Chicken Parmesan. I use the extra Italian sausage in it along with two cheeses. Simple to make and delicious. You can use a premade pasta sauce or your own recipe.

I had a bear of a time getting the nutrition information for this. The website with the calculator I’ve been using shut down and the others I’ve found aren’t as robust. I finally located one that calculated about what I estimated the carbs to be, but it didn’t include the fiber, cholesterol, or potassium counts in it, so I had to hunt those down individually. I believe the final result is accurate, depending on which pasta sauce you use. I used Prego’s plain sauce. If you use a dry red wine in it, the count may be about 1 net carb higher.

Chicken & Sausage Italiano

2 chicken breasts
1/2 pound Italian Sausage
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
1/3 cup sliced Mushrooms
1 cup Pasta Sauce
1/4 cup Water or Red Wine
1/3 cup Parmesan Cheese
1/2 cup Mozzarella Cheese

In a medium skillet over medium-high burner, heat the olive oil. Season the chicken with salt and pepper then add to the skillet. Brown chicken on both sides. Set aside on a plate. Add sausage to the pan and use a spatula to separate the meat. Cook and stir for about three to five minutes until the sausage is browned. Push to one side.

Add mushrooms and cook about two minutes. Add pasta sauce and water or wine and stir sausage and mushrooms until mixed. Return chicken to the pan and spoon sauce over the top. Cover pan and reduce heat to simmer. Cook about 20 minutes until chicken is tender. Sprinkle Parmesan over the chicken and sauce, then cover with mozzarella cheese. Cover the pan again for about 5 minutes to melt the cheese.

Makes two servings.

Image: Nutrition Information

Short Non-Cooking Message:

A little off subject but maybe of interest to you. I write novels under two pen names. If any of you are fantasy sci-fi fans, I have an episodic novel up on Kindle Vella. Plus, I’m doing a promotion this month with other authors in related genres. If you’d like to check it out, please visit our promotion page:

https://books.bookfunnel.com/sciencefictionfantasyparanormalromanceforamazonvellaaugust/xnmxtogywb

My story in this is Cynara’s Destiny by Lillian I. Wolfe, so please take a peek. If you’d like to read the first three episodes, they are free. Plus you get 200 tokens to read more.

Product Review

Product Review: Natural Heaven Hearts of Palm Spaghetti

For people on a low-carb diet, pasta is often a banned or use-very-seldom food. Over the years, low carb and Keto practitioners have found several substitutes for the popular starch. What is Italian food without it? Asian food also uses a starch noodle, frequently made from rice, but also flour, in many of their dishes.

So, we’ve turned to cauliflower to substitute for macaroni, rice, and potatoes in our meals. It does an admirable job most of the time. Likewise, spaghetti squash, zucchini, and butternut squash have helped fill the void when you don’t eat pasta. Some companies are even developing low carb pasta from carb-reduced flour. More on those another time.

When I first saw an ad for Natural Heaven’s Hearts of Palm pasta, I did a double-take. But I ordered three varieties to try. The hearts of palm spaghetti comes in a sealed package, ready-to-use. Each package provides two-and-a-half servings. I always wonder about that odd packaging, but I’m guessing the producers look more at weight than servings when they package. For the record, this is 9 oz. of pasta. Each serving is 1/2 cup. The key nutrition values per serving are: calories=25, sodium=19mg, carbohydrates=4g, dietary fiber=2g, and protein=1g. The net carbs per serving=2g. That’s a great number!

Palm core or heart.
Photo By mhoenig – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29408125

These palms are harvested and prepared in Ecuador in a sustainable manner. They insure three stems grow replacing each one cut. The core of the palm stem is the heart, which can be cut, cooked, and eaten.

Hearts of Palm Spaghetti with Meatballs

Now to the taste test. I made a quick throw-together spaghetti using 1/2 cup of premade pasta sauce and premade mozzarella-sausage meatballs from the grocery. I pan cooked and slightly over-browned the meatballs, then broke them into smaller pieces. I added the pasta sauce and a little water and cooked the meatballs for about five minutes in the sauce.

Then I opened the pasta and slid it into the pan, carefully separating the strands with a spoon, so I didn’t break too many. The pasta is moist but doesn’t need to be drained before using.

Following the directions on the container, I turned my stove’s heat to medium and let it cook another four minutes, often stirring, to heat the pasta. Following my tradition, I sampled one noodle. It tasted similar to a regular strand, and the texture is like al dente pasta.

Once I served the dish, I added Parmesan cheese on top and a side salad and had a very tasty meal served on my fancy paper plates. It is very much like regular spaghetti with the sauce and cheese since most of the flavor comes from the sauce ingredients.

Bottom line, it’s a very good substitute for spaghetti in texture, color, and taste. Be adventurous and try it with your favorite spaghetti ingredients.

Cost-wise, at $4.99 a package through Netrition.com, it’s not too expensive. But given that it’s only 2-1/2 servings, it’s certainly higher than a spaghetti squash or a couple of zucchinis. Still, when you want a more authentic looking and tasting pasta, it’s worth it.