Category Archives: Breads

Breads, Breakfast & Brunch, Mexican/Spanish Recipes, Recipes

An Easy Breakfast for Easter or Cinco de Mayo

Yum! Cornmeal pancake with egg, pico de gallo and sour cream! This breakfast is so tasty I wanted to get it out in time for Easter although its Mexican flavors certainly fit with the Cinco de Mayo theme. The initial recipe came from my local grocery store, Raleys, but I adjusted it to low carb and made a couple of tweaks in it. Add a little ground beef flavored with taco seasonings and you have a great brunch meal.

To get a little of the cornmeal taste into the corn cake, I used one tablespoon of corn flour instead of two and used one tablespoon of golden flax meal that has a similar texture and compliments the taste. I hope you’ll give these a try because they are really good.

I do have to add that with the cornmeal in them, they are not technically legal on Phase 2 and 3 Atkins, but the carb count is low and it should be a fairly safe “cheat”. I am on maintenance and still stay within my body’s carb limit, which is low, so I want my food to be as low carb’d as possible. If you prefer to make it without the cornmeal and use two tablespoons of golden flax instead, it will save you a little in the carbs, but you will lose the cornmeal flavor.

Fiesta Cornmeal Pancakes & Eggs

 

For the pancakes:
1/4 cup Carbquick or New Hope Mills Pancake Mix*
2 tablespoons heavy cream plus 1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon cornmeal
1 tablespoon golden flaxmeal
2 tablespoons shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
1/4 teaspoon Mexican Blend Seasoning
1 tablespoon beaten egg
1 teaspoon olive oil
butter for skillet

For the toppings:
2 fried eggs
2 tablespoons Fresh Pico de Gallo
2 tsp. sour cream

* You can make your own pancake mix using 4 tablespoons almond flour or 2 tablespoon coconut flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder (with the almond flour) or 1 extra egg white (with the coconut flour).

In a small bowl, mix together the pancake ingredients, except cheese, until well mixed. Add the cheddar cheese last. If batter is too thick, add a little water until it is easy to spoon out.

Heat an omelette pan or small griddle on the burner until it is hot enough that water sizzles when dropped on the pan. Lower the heat a little to a medium high. Melt 1/2 tablespoon of butter in the pan and pour half the batter onto the griddle and spread to make a 4 inch pancake. Put a lid over the skillet or tent aluminum foil over the pan to hold the heat and begin cooking the top. This will help to cook the pancake through without burning it. After 2 or 3 minutes, remove the lid and turn the pancake. Cook about 4 minutes on the back side until golden brown. Remove to a warm plate and place in an oven or cover with foil to hold the heat. Repeat with the second pancake.

Corn cake off the griddle.

Melt the rest of the butter in an egg pan and when it bubbles, carefully break an egg into the pan. Use the spatula to keep the egg white around the egg. To cook a sunny side up egg, cover the pan with a lid for about 3 minutes, then check the egg white to see if it is solid. If so, remove the egg, place on top of the corn cake and top with a tablespoon of pico de gallo and a teaspoon of sour cream. Repeat with second egg. You can cook the eggs any way you prefer. The one at the top of the page is over easy, but you can also scramble them if you wish.

Serve hot.

Makes 2 servings

Nutrition Info:
Calories: 301 Fat: 24.4 Net Carbs: 5.4 g Protein: 13.4 g

Fiesta Taco and Egg Corn Cake

Same ingredients plus:
1/4 lb ground beef
1/4 teaspoon taco seasoning

Cook the ground beef in a small skillet until lightly browned. Add taco seasoning and 1 tablespoon of water or beef broth. Stir the seasonings into the meat. Drain and set aside.

Follow the instructions above, but add pre-cooked ground beef to the toppers and about 2 tablespoons cheddar jack cheese per serving.

I also added a tablespoon of guacamole to my brunch taco corn cake, so that’s an option also.

Nutrition Info: (without the guacamole)
Calories: 481  Fat: 39.1  Net Carbs: 5.9 g  Protein: 23.2 g

Originally Published 04/18/2014 on my previous blog.

Breads, Recipes

Easy Flourless Muffins

How about a little muffin magic? These delicious muffins are sweet, flourless and low carb.

This may have been tried by someone else, but to my knowledge, this is my recipe. At least, I haven’t seen it anywhere else. It takes the Atkins roll another step further to make a sweet muffin that has the texture of a sponge cake. Although the basic recipe is vanilla, it can easily be an almond, strawberry or chocolate muffin, or any other flavor you’d like to try. You could also add a teaspoon of cinnamon powder to add a bit of spice.

Although the recipe says flourless, it actually uses coconut flour in place of wheat flour. This still makes it low carb and gluten free. Win-win!

Flourless Sweet Muffins

2 tablespoons Coconut Flour
2 oz. Cream Cheese
2 Eggs, separated
1 tablespoon Butter
1/4 cup Sugar Substitute
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1/4 teaspoon Cream of Tarter
2 tablespoon Water

Preheat oven to 315 degrees (F). Prepare a muffin tin by spraying with cooking spray or use 5 individual silicone muffin molds and spray them with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, add the egg whites and cream of tarter. Beat with a mixer until stiff peaks form. Set aside.

In a smaller bowl, add cream cheese, butter and sugar and cream together. Add egg yolks, vanilla, water and coconut flour. Mix together until completely combined. Fold the egg yolk mixture into the egg whites as carefully as possible so that it doesn’t break down the whites. Continue to lift and fold the mixture until the egg yolk mixture is blended into the whites.

Spoon 2 tablespoons batter into each muffin mold. It will make 5 muffins. Bake for 18 minutes until just lightly browned. Remove and cool.

Nutrition Info: Per muffin
Calories: 116   Fat: 4.1 g   Net Carbs: 2.0 g   Protein: 3.4 g

Originally POSTED BY RENE AVERETT AT 4/12/2014 7:20 PM

Breads, Breakfast & Brunch, Desserts, Recipes

Take Waffles to a New High…

Okay, so the leaf bordered plate wasn’t the best choice to display these waffles. Still they look yummy!

I love waffles, but I don’t make them too often and every time I do make them, I wonder why I don’t do them more often. Well, the taste of this fantastic waffle and syrup that I made today is one that really needs repeating often. This is a recipe adapted from one at the Raley’s grocery store web site. Theirs isn’t low carb, but mine is and it lacks nothing with the substitutions in it. Add the terrific Bourbon Pecan syrup I created to go with this and it is absolutely “fantastical”! (To quote Huey Calhoun in Memphis.)

Once again, I rely on a combination of low carb baking mix – my preferred one being CarbQuick – and a non-wheat flour, like almond flour or coconut flour. Can it be made with just almond flour or coconut flour? I haven’t tried, but I am guessing that yes, it can, but it will be more delicate and you will need extra eggs in it. Waffles are tricky enough to get out of the iron, so the almond flour or coconut flour mix may be really hard to move without them falling apart. If you have a flip waffle maker, you might be able to flip them into your plate successfully.

While these are great for breakfast or brunch, don’t overlook the possibility of a smaller portion with ice cream or yogurt and whipped cream on top as a dessert. It’s that good!

And, like most waffle batters, this also makes great pancakes, so that’s an option if you don’t want to go the waffle route.

Ricotta Waffles

1 cups carbquick
1/4 cup almond flour
1 large egg
2 tbsp. sugar substitute
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
2 tablespoons melted butter

Mix dry ingredients together. In a separate bowl, mix wet ingredients together with a whisk. Stir into dry ingredients until thoroughly mixed, but may be slightly lumpy.

Pour or spoon 1/2 batter into a lightly greased hot waffle iron and cook until golden brown, about 3 to 4 minutes. Check after 2 1/2 minutes to see if it releases easily. If not, let it cook another 30 to 40 seconds and check again. The cook time will vary with waffle irons. Mine is a flip and takes about 2 1/2 to 3 minutes to cook.

Makes 4 waffles. If you’re a light eater, half a waffle will be enough.

Nutrition Info per waffle:
Calories: 232 Fat: 19 Net Carbs: 3.7 g Protein: 11.1 g

Awesome Bourbon Pecan Syrup

Best made just before serving, so the recipe is per waffle.

Per waffle:
1 tablespoon butter
1/3 cup pecan halves
1 tablespoon sugar substitute
1 tablespoon Kentucky Bourbon
1/4 cup sugar-free pancake syrup (Mrs. Butterworth’s)
OR
*1/4 cup water, 2 tablespoon brown sugar substitute and 1 teaspoon maple extract

In a small saucepan, melt the butter and add the pecans and 1 tablespoon sugar substitute. Stir and cook for about 3 minutes. Add the bourbon, stir and cook another minute or two. Add the maple syrup and cook one more minute to just warm the syrup.

*If you’re making your own syrup, prior to starting the pecans and the waffles, mix the water, brown sugar substitute and maple extract in a saucepan and cook on medium high heat until the mixture begins to thicken. Stir frequently so it doesn’t burn and stick. It will take about 10 minutes and it won’t get very thick.

Spoon over buttered waffle and serve. Delicious!

Nutrition Info for 1 serving sauce:
Calories: 324   Fat: 31.9 g   Net Carbs: 1.2 g   Protein: 2.7 g

Originally POSTED BY RENE AVERETT AT 3/26/2014 4:16 PM

Breads, Recipes

Peanut Butter Muffin Is Smooth & Yummy

I haven’t had a sweet muffin in a while so I decided to try something a little different by adding peanut butter instead of regular butter to my favorite muffin recipe. The result is wonderfully delicious without being overwhelmingly peanut butter. For those who want more, just spread a little on the muffin after it’s cooked. As usual, I use my 3″ round cake silicone baking mold to make these so they are nicely round with lots of space for butter and/or jam. You can put them in muffin top pans but they may a bit larger so the muffin won’t be as tall. This recipe makes three muffins. If your pan makes six, then just double it. You can make this using either CarbQuick Baking Mix or Almond flour or any other low carb flour you prefer, but texture and taste may change.

Peanut Butter Muffins

1/2 cup CarbQuick or Almond flour
1/4 cup Flaxmeal
1/4 cup Sugar Substitute
2 tablespoons Creamy Peanut Butter
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
2 Eggs, large
1 tablespoon Coconut Oil
1 tablespoon Cinnamon, ground

Preheat oven to 360 degrees (F). Spray a 3″ (3 wells) cake tin or muffin top tin with cooking spray.

Mix flours, sugar substitute and baking soda together. Add eggs, peanut butter, oil and cinnamon and mix well. Make sure the eggs get thoroughly mixed in so you don’t have strings of egg in the muffins. Spoon equally into the three prepared wells and smooth.

You can also use regular muffin tins, filling each well to at least two-thirds. You may get four to six muffins and the carb count will be lower.

Bake for about 20 minutes until lightly browned. Let cool a few minutes, then remove from the pans and serve or let cool completely and store in a plastic baggie.

Peanut Butter Muffin with low carb pomegranate jelly. Awesome!

Nutrition Info for 1 muffin:
Carbquick:
Calories: 215.7 Fat: 16.1 g Net Carbs: 3.5 g Protein: 11.7 g
Almond flour:
Calories: 250.3 Fat: 20.19 g Net Carbs: 4.4 g Protein: 11.6 g

NOTE: Different brands and qualities of almond flour have different carb counts. For this calculation, the net carbs for 1/2 cup came to 4.5 g. Check it against yours and adjust accordingly, but the count should be close.

Peanut Butter Muffin with low carb pomegranate jelly. Awesome!

Originally POSTED BY RENE AVERETT AT 1/15/2014 11:38 PM

Breads, Recipes

Rene’s Egg Bread Roll: A Variation of the Atkins Roll

Egg roll bread used to make yummy French toast.

 

‘Tis said that the Oopsie Roll came about by accident while Jaime from YourLighterSide was making the Atkins Revolution Roll. Well, this one also came about by accident while I was making my version of the Oopsie Roll. I inadvertently forgot to add the cream cheese. There it was, sitting on my counter, ready to be added to the egg yolks in the bowl and I completely spaced it! That’s what happens when your brain is busy doing other things. So I call this an egg bread, because it is primarily egg. I even added an extra egg to it because it seemed too thick. The flavor is very good and it is a sturdy bread. It uses Carbquick or Almond Flour (or possibly Coconut flour, although I haven’t tried that in it), so it isn’t suitable for Induction on Atkins, nor probably South Beach. It is good for the other phases of the plan though.

Rene’s Egg Bread Roll

An accidental version of my version of Oopsie rolls with Carbquick.

4 eggs
2 tablespoons Carbquick or other baking mix or almond flour
1/8 teaspoon Cream of Tartar
1 teaspoon Oat Fiber (optional)
dash of Salt
1/2 teaspoon Sugar Substitute

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Prepare 3″ cake molds or a baking sheet with parchment paper by spraying with cooking spray. Recipe makes 6 buns.

Separate three eggs, one at a time, putting egg yolks in a medium bowl and egg whites in a deeper bowl. Beat the egg whites until foamy, add the cream of tartar and continue to beat until egg whites are stiff.

Add Carquick and oat fiber to the egg yolks and beat until well blended. Add a couple of drops of liquid sucralose or a teaspoon of sugar substitute. Add 1/4 teaspoon salt. Mix into the egg yolks.

Carefully fold the yolk mixture into the stiff egg whites until blended. Don’t stir as that will break down the egg whites. Spoon the mixture into the molds evenly or into six equal rounds about 3 inches across on the parchment paper.

Bake for 20 minutes until lightly browned. If you are using pans on two rack levels, swap them mid-way through cooking to ensure they brown evenly.

Remove the pans and let cool 10 to 15 minutes, then remove from pans and place on rack to finish cooling.

These make good sandwich buns or can be torn and used for Baked French toast, bread pudding or other bread based dishes.

Makes 6 rolls. Use two rolls for a sandwich.

Nutrition Info: (per roll)
Calories: 56.4   Fat: 3.8 g   Net Carbs: 0.6 g   Protein: 4.7 g

Original POSTED BY RENE AVERETT AT 1/9/2014 2:10 PM