Category Archives: Product Review

Beef, Crock Pot Recipes, Main Dish, Product Review

Super Ground Beef Chile

This time of year just calls out “make chile” to me because nothing warms you up quite like a nice, spicy bowl of chile. Adding beans to it adds more carbs than I sometimes can allow in my daily menu, so I make an all meat chile. This version uses lean ground beef, which makes it quicker to make and bacon to add a little more flavor. The result is delicious. I’ve left the beans as optional if you want to use them.

6 slices Bacon
3 pounds lean Ground Beef
1 package Chili Seasoning
2 cans (14 1/2 ounces each) Diced Tomatoes, undrained
1/2 cup diced Onions
2 teaspoons Garlic, minced
4 oz. can chopped Green Chiles
1 Bell Pepper, chopped
1 cup Medium Hot Salsa
1/2 cup Red Beans (optional)
1 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

Fry bacon strips in a large, deep skillet until almost crisp. Remove to paper towel to drain. Drain off fat, leaving about 1 tablespoon in the pan. Add garlic and onion and cook until the onion is almost tender. Add to the crock pot.

In the same skillet, brown the ground beef, but don’t cook all the way through. Drain fat. Add to the crock pot. Break the bacon into pieces and add to the crock pot. Add the diced tomatoes, salsa, chopped chiles, chile seasoning and cayenne pepper. Stir together to mix it well.

Cook on high for one hour, then reduce to low heat for 2 hours. Check seasonings and adjust if necessary, then cook for another 30 minutes with the lid off to thicken.

Serve with crumbled Queso Fresco and sour cream.

Makes 10 servings

Nutrition Info: (No beans) per serving
Calories: 240 Fat: 16.0 g Net Carbs: 5 g Protein: 14.4 g

Nutrition Info: (With beans) per serving
Calories: 251.4 Fat: 16.0 g Net Carbs: 6.3 g Protein: 15.1 g

Breads, Desserts, Product Review

Product Review: Dixie Carb Counters Applesauce Snackin’ Cake Mix

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Dixie Carb Counter Applesauce Cake Mix.

This past weekend, I tried out Dixie Carb Counters Applesauce Snackin’ Cake Mix (trademarked by DCC), which is one of several snacking cakes that they make.  Generally, I like the baking products from DCC, so I was eager to try this one.

Making the cake is super simple, you just need to add a few ingredients to the two packages of mix that are supplied.

To packet #1, you need to add 4 large eggs, 1/3 cup coconut oil or other oil and 2/3 cup water to make the cake.  Packet #2 is sugar seasoning for the frosting to which you add 8 ounces of cream cheese and 1/4 cup water.  Pretty easy.

You just mix the cake ingredients in a bowl, add the included cup of unsweetened apple sauce, mix well and put it in a greased or sprayed with baking spray 8-inch square pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes and you have a lovely, moist cake.  Let it cool, then combine the ingredients from packet #2 to the cream cheese and water and beat until creamy and spread it over the cake.

Applesauce cake without the icing.

The cake makes 9 servings and each serving is 2 net carbs.  You can add in nuts and/or raisins if you like, but they do increase the carb count per serving.  Adding just the nuts brings it up to about 2.5 net carbs, but adding 1/2 cup raisins will add about 2.5 net carbs, so a total of 4.5 net carbs for the raisins alone.  If you want to go that route, I’d suggest using reduced-sugar craisins instead.

The cake has a lovely texture and is very moist and look at that nice layer of cream cheese icing.

After the icing was on the cake, it was time for the taste test.  Both PK and I tried a piece and agreed that the texture was very nice and it was moist.  But we didn’t feel that the apple taste was very strong, so it could have used more of that flavor.  Still with the cream cheese icing, it was a good treat.  I have made better from-scratch cakes, so I don’t think that I’m likely to buy this one again.  If I did, I think it could be improved by adding one packet of sugar-free Apple Cider mix and a little more cinnamon. I would also likely add 1 tablespoon of Vanilla Whey Protein Powder which adds taste as well as protein.

I do have two other packets of snacking cakes that I will be trying in the next few weeks, so I’ll let you know how those stack up.

Nutrition information per one slice of the cake
Calories: 218  Total Fat 0  Carbohydrates: 6 g Fiber: 4 g  NC: 2 g

On a scale of one to five, for flavor I give this cake four spoons.  Good, but not great.

4-spoons

This mix is available by mail from Dixie Carb Counters website or from Netrition.com.

Disclaimer: I have not received any promotional items to review and no one from any of the companies whose products I review have asked me to do so. I have purchased the product and am giving my honest opinion about it. Should any company send me a product to try, I will state it up front and will still give my honest opinion.

Breads, Product Review

Product Review: Dixie Carb Counters One Step Homemade White Bread

Dixie Carb Counters White Bread

Right off, I’m going to say that this is hands-down the best low carb white bread I’ve had so far. To be fair, I haven’t tried all the options that are out there, but the price and taste on this bread are excellent and I plan to buy it again and again.

This is a mix, so you need to add eggs, butter, and water to it, but that’s about it. You have the option to make it with whole eggs, 5 of them, or the equivalent amount of egg whites or a combination. If you use all eggs, as I did, then your bread is golden color. If you use only egg whites, the bread will be a white bread. As soon as I mixed in the liquid ingredients, the bread started to puff up in the bowl, meaning it was rising. I put it in a standard 9×5-inch loaf pan and popped it into the oven at the designated temperature. The bread rose beautifully and was a deep golden brown when I pulled it from the oven. I immediately cut off an end piece, buttered it, and savored the taste of this bread. It’s terrific!

It’s not quite like a yeast bread, but the flavor is excellent, the texture is perfect and it’s study enough to hold up to sandwiches and peanut butter and jam. (See photo below.) Best of all, it’s only 2 net carbs per slice when divided into 24 slices. It’s a little more if you want thicker bread. I see no reason you couldn’t add a little sugar substitute, cinnamon and reduced sugar craisins to the batter to make this a a low carb craisin loaf if you’d like or omit the craisins and just add the sugar substitute and cinnamon to make cinnamon bread. I’m thinking you could even divide this into two dozen cupcake molds and make small rolls. Just cook them between 10 and 15 minutes until they are done. I definitely plan to experiment with this bread, so check back on my blog to see what ways I can use it successfully.

At $7.79 from Netrition.com a pack to make one loaf, ($9.99 from Dixie direct) it may seem a little pricey, but to get a really good tasting loaf of low carb bread, it isn’t that bad. You can freeze it in serving portions so you don’t waste any of the bread. I’ve previously made and reviewed their Rye Bread and Multi-grain & Flax Bread Mixes and they are also excellent when it comes to taste and texture, but for white bread lovers, this is the one. It is worth the money and it’s easy to make.

So this bread definitely gets five cooking spoons from me and from my roomie. We both indulged on peanut butter and low carb jam toast this Christmas morning.

5-spoons

Disclaimer: I have not received any promotional items to review and no one from any of the companies whose products I review have asked me to do so. I have purchased the product and am giving my honest opinion about it. Should any company send me a product to try, I will state it up front and will still give my honest opinion.

Appetizers, Product Review

Product Review: Flackers Flax Seed Crackers

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I have not received any promotional items to review and no one from any of the companies whose products I review have asked me to do so. I have purchased the product and am giving my honest opinion about it. Should any company send me a product to try, I will state it up front and will still give my honest opinion.

I am always on the lookout for a good cracker that is low carb so when I saw this one on Amazon from Doctor in the Kitchen, I decided to try them.  They are a savory cracker with garlic, onion, red pepper and basil seasonings added.  The main ingredient is flax seeds.  They are sprouted, which, according to the box, makes them easier to chew,digest and absorb.  If you eat low carb, you are probably aware that flax seed is very low in carbohydrates and high in fiber, being one of those foods that can actually give you a negative number on net carbs.  They are also high in Omega 3 fatty acid, which is good for your heart.

If you like the taste of flax, you will probably find these to be very tasty and they are a good cracker for a snack or putting cheese or a little of the cranberry salsa on for a quick treat.  They are surprisingly satisfying as well.  I enjoy them although I really favor my own crackers made with flax meal and Carbquick.  The seeds tend to stick in my teeth, so I prefer the ground flax.

Developed by Dr. Alison Levitt for herself and her patients, she decided to take them to the consumers, who can now benefit from these nutritional and tasty crackers. In addition to the flax, they also contain apple cider vinegar, vegetable protein from non-GMO soy beans and the aforementioned spices.  One serving is a generous 6 crackers that amounts to 100 calories, 7 grams of fat, 6 carbohydrates with 7 grams of fiber, giving you a -1 net carb, and 5 grams of protein.  On many levels, these are a win-win.

The only drawback is in the pricing.  There are 30 crackers in a box, 5 servings, for $5.69 on Amazon as an add-on item, which makes them about $1.12 a serving.  It doesn’t sound too bad unless you eat them daily.

In addition to these savory crackers, there are also Flax seed Rosemary, Flax seed Tomato Basil, Flaxseed Dill, and Flax seed  Cinnamon and Currants.  Unfortunately, this last one has a net carb count of 6 g per 6 cracker-servings, thanks to the currants.  I haven’t tried any of the others, but it appears they are all a little higher on the carbohydrates than this one.

I give these 4 cooking spoons out of 5 for flavor and good taste.

Breakfast & Brunch, Desserts, Product Review, Recipes

Delicious Pomegranate & Yogurt Parfait

Copyright 2015 R. Averett

I tried this wonderful parfait for the first time over the weekend and it is so refreshing and delicious that I had to share it. The recipe came from Ocean Spray Cranberries and I’ve made the adaptations to low carb. It does require a low carb granola and I use Sensato’s Nut and Flax Granola or make my own.

Let me take a moment to praise the granola from Sensato. They have three flavors, that I know of, to choose from: Plain, Apple, and Cranberry-flavored. They are all tasty, although the chunks are a little big. They can be broken into smaller pieces when you’re cooking with them. They’re high in fiber, a good source of protein and are only 2 net carbs per 1/2 cup serving. You can eat them for a cereal or as an out-of-the-bag snack or put them in your cooking where a recipe calls for granola or oatmeal. I’ve used them in coffee cakes and in cookies. Try your health food store to see if they stock this product or ask them to order it. Or you can order online from my favorite health food supplier, Netrition.com. I am sure there are other online sources, so just Google it.

Now, on to the recipe, which is delicious for breakfast, lunch or dessert. I use Carbmasters low carb yogurt product, which is a Kroger Foods brand, but you can use Greek yogurt in place of it. However, the carbs will be about 1/2 carb higher if you use a brand that is about 5 net carbs per 6 oz. For reference, Carbmasters is 4 net carbs per 6 oz. By the way, Pomegranate arils (the fruit covered seed) are okay to eat in their entirety. You might get a bit of seed stuck in your teeth, but that’s it.

Pomegranate Yogurt Parfait

2 tablespoons Pomegranate Arils
1 container CarbMasters Vanilla or other flavor yogurt
1/4 cup low carb Granola

In two serving glasses (I use ice cream glasses or you could use brandy glasses or tall flutes), put in 1 teaspoon of granola, 2 tablespoons of yogurt, 2 teaspoons of pomegranate arils, two teaspoons of granola, then the next layer of 2 tablespoons of yogurt, 2 teaspoons of pomegranate arils and top with the remaining yogurt, granola and pomegranate arils.

You can add a little whipped cream topping if you wish, but it isn’t necessary.

Serves 2.

Nutrition Info per serving:
Calories:79.8 Fat: 3.9 g Net Carbs: 4.2 g Protein: 5.6 g

Will you give this treat a try and let me know if you like it or not? I’d love to hear from you.