Category Archives: Breakfast & Brunch

Breakfast & Brunch, Main Dish, Sandwiches, Seafood

Quick to Make & Delish Tuna Sandwich

Tuna, egg and cheese melt

It’s been a while since I last posted. A lot happened in my life in June, so it’s taken a while to get back in the rhythm. But I have a new and delicious recipe for you for a simple sandwich with enough enhancements to make it so delicious you’ll want more.

This is actually PK’s recipe, but it is outstanding. Loaded with tuna and eggs mixed into a salad, then topped with cheese and grilled. To finish it off, add fresh cut tomato and cucumber slices. These are optional, but they bring a whole new dimension to the grilled cheese sandwich.

The most difficult part may be getting the low carb bread. Luckily, many grocery stores are now stocking at least one option. OroWheat makes Keto bread that is 3 net carbs a slice, Franz Keto Bread is 1 carb per slice, Kiss My Keto makes 0 carbs a slice, and Timber Wolf Inked Bread makes a fantastic seed bread at 1 carb a slice. The latter is my preferred bread, and I find it at my local Sam’s Club for a reasonable price. You can buy any of these through Amazon, but it’s pricey with the shipping.  I found OroWheat Keto at Smith’s Food Stores (Kroger Foods) and sometimes at Wal-Mart. You can also find bread mixes on Amazon. Just search for Keto Bread. The picture uses the Timber Wolf Seed Bread.  The nutrition information is based on 1 carb per slice, so if you use OroWheat, add 4 more carbs for the bread.

Another bread alternative is to fold it up in a low carb tortilla. It will be about the same carb count.

Grilled Tuna Deluxe Sandwich

1 can white albacore Tuna, water-packed
2 hard boiled Eggs
2 to 3 tablespoons sugar-free Sweet Pickle Relish
1/4 cup Mayonnaise
1 teaspoon Mustard
2 to 3 tablespoons Red Onion, chopped (optional)
8 slices Tomato, sliced thinly (optional)
16 thin slices Cucumber (optional)
4 slices Sharp Cheddar Cheese
8 slices low carb Bread
Butter for grilling the sandwich (about 2 tablespoons per sandwich)

Mix the Filling:

Drain the tuna and put in a medium bowl. Cut the eggs into smaller pieces then use a fork to mash them and stir them into the tuna. Add pickle relish with juice, mayonnaise, and mustard and mix together. Stir in the onion if you are using it.

Assemble & Cook the Sandwich:

Put 1/4 of the mix on top of 1 slice of bread. Add a slice of cheddar cheese, then put the other slice of bread on top. Butter the outside of the top bread.

Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat. When it’s hot enough for a drop of water to skittle across the surface, add one tablespoon butter and let it melt, then set the sandwich in the pan with the buttered side still on top. Cook a few minutes until the cheese begins to melt. Press down on the top with a spatula and flip the sandwich to the other side. The new top should be golden brown. Cook long enough for the side you just flipped to get lightly browned. Remove to a serving plate.

Lift the top and arrange two slices of tomato and four of the cucumber slices on top. Add extra mayo if you like. Put the top back on, cut in half, and serve.

If you don’t use the tomato and cucumber slices, you will save two grams of carbs. This will also apply if you don’t use the onion.

Makes 4 sandwiches.

Nutrition Information

Breakfast & Brunch, Desserts, Recipes

Yummy Berry Cream Cheese Biscuit Bake

Berry Cream Cheese Cake

This is my low carb adaptation of Pillsbury’s recipe for this lovely coffee cake. It works well for dessert also. To replace the biscuits, I adapted a low carb biscuit recipe. While I used Carbquik baking mix, you can substitute in Bakesquik or any other low carb biscuit recipe you have. I added the sugar substitute to make it a sweet biscuit.

one slice of cake
I made mine in a 9×9-inch square pan, so it isn’t as compact as it would be in the 8×8-inch pan.

Berry Cream Cheese Biscuit Bake

For the biscuits:
2 cups Low Carb Baking Mix
2 tablespoon Butter, softened or Butter-flavored Crisco
1 tablespoon Sugar Substitute
1 tablespoon Heavy Whipping Cream
1/2 cup Water

In a medium bowl, add the baking mix and sugar. Whisk together. Cut in the Butter or Crisco until it forms crumbles. Add whipping cream and water and stir until the dough comes together. If it isn’t all moistened and forming into a ball, add water a tablespoon at a time until it does. You want a firm batter. Form into 32 balls and set aside.

For the filling:

4 oz (from 8-oz package) Cream Cheese, softened
1/4 cup Powdered Sugar Substitute
1/2 cup fresh chopped Strawberries or Raspberries
1/2 cup fresh Blueberries

Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 8-inch square glass baking dish with cooking spray. I prefer to use parchment paper on the bottom and spray it.

In medium microwavable bowl, microwave cream cheese about 20 seconds, stir in powdered sugar and microwave another 20 seconds. Stir until smooth. Stir in 1/4 cup of each of the berries.

Stir dough dough balls into the cream cheese and berry mixture. Using a spoon, transfer the mixture to the baking dish and distribute as evenly as possible.

Bake 25 to 28 minutes. Mixture will bubble around edges and dough should be lightly browned.

Set on a cooling rack for about 10 minutes. Make your icing using 1/4 cup powdered sugar substitute, a splash of sugar-free Strawberry syrup, and 1 tablespoon of cream. Garnish with the rest of the berries, then use a spoon to drizzle icing over the coffee cake.

Makes 8 servings.

Serve warm or at room temperature. May be stored in the refrigerator or frozen.

Breakfast & Brunch, Desserts, Recipes

Refreshing Strawberry Coffee Cake

Strawberry coffee cake photo

I found this recipe while looking for something to do with the leftover strawberries aging in the ‘fridge. Although it calls for fresh strawberries, I had some I’d enhanced with sugar substitute to get juice, so I gave it a try. Since it was very moist, it needed to cook a little longer than 25 minutes.

The flavor is delicious; one of the best coffee cakes I’ve made. Adding a single serving pack of lemonade adds a refreshing tartness to the batter that goes well with the berries. It is tender and browns beautifully. I plan to try it with other fruits such as blueberries, raspberries, and cranberries. I think it would also work well with apples and peaches, but these are higher-carb’d fruits, so you might want to reduce the fruit to 1/2 cup for the cake.

Strawberry Coffee Cake

1/4 cup oil
1 Egg
1/3 cup Almond Milk
1 packet Sugar-free Lemonade Mix (Crystal Light or Wylers)
2 tablespoons Sour Cream
1 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
1 cup Almond Flour
1/4 cup Vanilla Protein Powder
1/4 cup DCV All-Purpose Flour or 2 tablespoons Coconut Flour
3/4 cups Sugar Substitute
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
2/3 cup chopped Strawberries

Topping
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
2 tablespoons Almond Flour
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
2 tablespoons Butter, melted

Icing Drizzle
3/4 cup Swerve Powdered Sugar
1 tablespoon Unsweetened Almond Milk or Cream
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract or Lemon Extract

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and grease, or line with parchment paper, a 9″ circular cake pan, or an 8×8 square baking pan.

Mix together flour, sugar, lemonade, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.

Using a separate bowl, add oil, egg, vanilla extract, and milk and whisk together.

Form a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Stir the wet into the dry, being careful not to over stir. Add the sour cream, and stir until combined.

Fold in the strawberries, and pour the mixture into your prepared pan. Set it aside.

Prepare Topping
Combine the topping ingredients in a small bowl. Dot over the top of the batter in the pan. Use a rubber spatula to swirl the topping.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, depending on how moist the strawberries are. Test with a toothpick in the center to ensure the cake is done. Set aside to cool.

Make the icing by stirring the powdered sugar, almond milk, or cream, and vanilla together. Drizzle over the coffee cake.

Makes 8 servings. Serve warm or cool.

Nutrition Info for Strawberry Coffee Cake

By the way, Cinco de Mayo is coming up next week. Looking for some delicious Mexican dishes to celebrate? Check out my Mexican Food Cookbook in the sidebar. It has some great low carb recipes in it.

Breads, Breakfast & Brunch, Recipes

Try beets in your scones

Photo: Beet scones

I like finding unusual ingredients for baking. Beets are not the first thing to come to mind when you’re making cakes, cookies, or scones, but they work surprisingly well, bringing a slight earthy flavor and moisture to the baked goods. In this case, you have the added bonus of color since nothing escapes the dying prowess of the red beet. Being a natural dye, it’s safe to use in food as well as clothing.

In the case of these scones, it added a nice pink color that makes it perfect for a Valentine’s Day tea. In fact, you could easily shape those triangles into hearts. I didn’t think of it while I was making them, but it’s quite easy to cut the dough apart and press the outside curve in the middle to a V-shape to transform them. The pistachios add an interesting nut flavor to the mix and as a topping. These are not sweet, so if you want a sweeter scone, add more sugar substitute. Otherwise, just slather on butter or clotted cream and jam.

For the record, I used Carbquik for the low carb flour mix and Dixie Carb Counter’s All Purpose Flour for the additional 2 to 4 tablespoons. You can substitute coconut flour for the oat flour and gluten flour, but only use 3 tablespoons to replace both. Add water if the dough is too stiff or won’t absorb all the flour. For the beet puree, I used drained canned beets, not pickled, and put them through a food processor until they were pureed, then measured out 1/2 cup.

Photo One Scone

Beet Scones with Pistachios

1/2 cup Low Carb Flour Mix
1/4 cup Oat Flour
2 tablespoons Almond Flour
2 tablespoons Gluten Flour
2 to 4 tablespoons Low Carb Flour (DCC All-purpose Flour)
1/2 tablespoon Baking Powder
1/8 teaspoon ground Cardamom
1 Egg
1/8 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Beet Puree
2 tablespoons melted Butter
2 tablespoons Sugar-free Maple Syrup
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/4 cup Pistachios, chopped
1/2 teaspoon Sugar Substitute
1/2 teaspoon Melted Butter

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, oat flour, almond flour, gluten flour, baking powder, ground cardamom and salt. Whisk to combine.

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter and pour into a medium mixing bowl. Add the beet puree, maple syrup, and vanilla extract and stir. Add the egg and whisk to combine.

Pour the wet mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients and stir to combine. If the dough is too dry or does not all combine, add a tablespoon of water and mix. You may need to use your hands to get flour mixed in well. Add water as needed to incorporate all of the water. If the mix is too moist, add all purpose flour, one tablespoon at a time. Mix well until everything is combined and you have s sticky ball of dough. Don’t over knead the dough. The consistency should be like biscuit dough.

Measure3 tablespoons of the chopped pistachios and fold into the dough. Mix with your hands to distribute the nuts evenly.

Transfer dough to bread board or clean countertop dusted with two tablespoons of low carb all purpose flour and and shape into a ball. Flatten it into a 1-inch thick disk. Brush the top with melted butter.

Mix the remaining chopped pistachios with sugar substitute. Sprinkle the disk with this mixture and use your fingers to lightly press into the dough.

Use a knife to cut the circle into 6 wedges. Transfer scones to the prepared baking sheet, leaving at least one inch between each. Shape into a heart if you wish.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, rotating the pan half way through. Allow scones to cool slightly before serving. Serve warm.

Makes 6 scones.

Photo: Nutrition info

For a delicious – I kid you not!- chocolate cake recipe using beets, click on the picture below.

Photo Chocolate beet cake

 

Breads, Breakfast & Brunch, Desserts

Fall is coming and so are tasty Fall-flavored Donuts

In a spur of the moment decision, I bought a 32-oz container of unsweetened applesauce. I’ve used it a couple of times to make these breakfast bars, and I made a dessert sauce with them. (Recipe for that coming soon.) I’ve even added it to a hot cereal, like this one. But I still have more applesauce.

I decided to make these deliciously-tempting applesauce donuts with another portion of the fruity sauce. They’re easy to make and they come out tender and tasty. They don’t rise as much as I’d like, but they’re still a nice breakfast treat. At a little less than 3 net carbs per donut, you could splurge with two if you’d like. For me, one fills me right up.

Applesauce Donuts

1 cup Low Carb All Purpose Flour
2 tablespoons Coconut Flour
1/2 cup Sugar Substitute
1 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoons Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoons Nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/2 cup Cinnamon Apple Sauce
1/3 cup Unsweetened Almond Milk or Coconut Milk
1 Eggs, Lightly Beaten
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
1/2 Tablespoon Butter, Melted

FOR THE GLAZE:
1/2 cup Powdered Sugar Substitute
½ teaspoons Maple Extract
1/2 tablespoon Unsweetened Almond Milk or Coconut Milk or 1 teaspoon Cream with 1/2 teaspoon Water

Preheat oven to 325 F.

Add the flour, coconut flour, sugar substitute, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt to a large bowl and mix together with a whisk.

In a smaller bowl, add the applesauce, almond or coconut milk, egg, vanilla, and butter and combine using the whisk.

Make a well in the dry ingredients and gradually pour the wet ingredients in while you stir to mix. Beat until it is combined and you have a smooth batter. You may need to add another 3 to 4 tablespoons of water, depending on how much liquid your coconut flour absorbs. The batter should be easily spoonable, but not too runny.

Use grease or butter or baking spray to coat two 6-well each donut pans. Spoon 2 tablespoons of batter into each donut ring. Fill the rings half-full.

Put the pans in the middle of your oven and bake for 15 to 18 minutes. Donuts will be a light brown. If they are getting a darker brown around the edges, they are done.

Remove donuts and let them cool for about 10 minutes. Invert the pans over a wax paper covered baking pan or other surface. The donuts should fall out. If an don’t, try to encourage them by gently rocking them in the pan. If it still won’t release, then use a plastic knife to slide down and loosen the stuck donut.

You can place them on a wire rack to cool or leave them on the wax paper-covered surface.

Make the icing:

Put the powdered sugar substitute, maple syrup, and milk, adding a little at time, in a soup-sized bowl. Whisk until the glaze is smooth and about the consistency of syrup.

Dip each donut in the glaze to coat the top, then put them back on the rack or wax paper to dry for a few minutes.

Eat while fresh out of the oven or put them in an air-tight container and storage bag once the icing is completely dry. The donuts are okay for 2-3 days on the counter, then refrigerate.

Makes 12 donuts.

Note:  A single donut can be warmed in a microwave oven for about 10 seconds.