Category Archives: Recipes

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

Breads, Desserts, Recipes

Gingerbread Bliss

We are truly into the holiday season now and part of that season are the wonderful scents associated with the winter and cooking. Pine scents from the trees or scented candles, peppermint, cinnamon, clove and of course, ginger… specifically gingerbread. I haven’t enjoyed gingerbread in several years now and I was determined this year to make some while trying to keep it in the low carb column. Honestly, I’ve worked too hard for the past four years to get the weight off and I have no intention of letting the holidays un-do any of that effort. Besides, with the products available for baking and making sweets, there’s no reason you can’t have your gingerbread and not the carbs or calories.

This recipe is based on one from AllRecipes.com by Charles. All adjustments to make it low carb are mine and I can say it is very, very good. PK raved about it as well, so I think it is a great substitute for the original gingerbread. But if you are one of the lucky folk who have a metabolism that burns everything, you can find the original recipe here and make the full-bodied version.

For the rest of us, here’s the adapted recipe and also a recipe for a Simple Hard Sauce. Do let me know if you try it and how you like it. As usual, I use CarbQuick, which is the lowest carb flour mix I can find, but you can use any low carb flour as the main flour except coconut flour. Too much of it doesn’t make the best option and it requires at least 4 to 6 eggs to get a good rise. Bob’s Red Mill has a low carb baking mix that you can find in many stores that have a health food section and sometimes at Big Lots.

Old Fashioned Gingerbread

 

1/4 cup White Sugar Substitute
1/4 cup Brown Sugar Substitute
1/2 cup Butter, unsalted
1 Egg
1 Egg White
1 cup Sugar-free Maple Pancake Syrup
2 cups Carbquick or other low carb flour (almond flour will also work)
1/4 cup Coconut Flour or other low carb flour
2 tablespoons Vanilla Whey Protein Powder (optional)
1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Soda
1 1/2 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoon ground Ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground Cloves
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1 cup hot Water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8-inch square pan or spray with cooking spray. .

In a large bowl, use a mixer to cream together the sugars and butter. Beat in the egg and egg white and mix in the syrup. Beat until smooth.

In a smaller bowl, sift together the flours, protein powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Blend into the creamed mixture in about three batches, mixing in before adding the next. Mix in the hot water until well blended. Pour into the prepared pan.

Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until a knife or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan before serving. Cut into squares and serve with a dollop of whipped cream or with a hard sauce to add a little more spice.  Makes 16 2″x2″ servings.

Gingerbread nutrition per serving:
Calories: 99.6 Fat: 8.5 g Net Carbs: 1.4 g Protein: 3.4 g

Simple Hard Sauce

Makes two servings (increase as needed)

1 tablespoon Butter
1/4 teaspoon ground Ginger
1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon
1 tablespoon Sugar Substitute
1 tablespoon Rum or Bourbon

In a small sauce pan, melt the butter and sugar, stir in the spices, and stir until it is warmed up. Add the rum or bourbon, stirring in and letting it heat up a little.

With a fork or a toothpick, poke several holes in the top of the gingerbread servings, then slowly pour or spoon 1/2 of the syrup over each slice, allowing the syrup to soak into the bread.

Serve immediately.

Note: If you have a Gingerbread Sugar-free Syrup, you can use one ounce of that in place of half the sugar substitute, but I would still use the spices.

Nutrition Info per serving:
Calories: 68.5   Fat: 5.8 g   Net Carbs: 0.2 g   Protein: 0.1 g

Originally POSTED BY RENE AVERETT AT 12/12/2013 12:58 PM

Breads, Recipes

The Flat Scone Revealed

Back many moons ago, when I was a kid, I loved reading Walt Disney Comic Books. My favorites were Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck and I really enjoyed stories with Uncle Scrooge and his nephews. I learned things from the comics, although they may have steered me wrong on the Terries and the Firmies causing earthquakes, even though the two types of quakes may have been pretty much on target. But one of the things that really stayed with me was the story of Uncle Scrooge cravings scones, saying he’d give a fortune for a “bucket of scones”. Donald and the nephews, thinking he said stones, brought him a bucket of rocks. Scrooge then explained that scones were a thin, flat cake eaten in Scotland.

Fast-forward many years and I was finally in Great Britain and there were scones all over the places, but none of them were the ones described by Uncle Scrooge. The wonderful baked scones I encountered became a favorite, especially slathered with clotted cream. Even in Scotland and Ireland, I didn’t encounter the scones of which the old duck had quacked poetic. But recently, I have seen a few recipes from Ireland and Scotland for a griddle scone that does sound a bit like the one described. Reading though a recipe for Potato Scones, I thought, “Ha! I can make this using mashed butternut or acorn in place of the mashed potatoes. So, I did… and the result was wonderful. The scones are “baked” on the griddle, much like a pancake or crumpet. The flavor is absolutely delicious. Add a little butter and jam and you have a real treat. I added a little sugar substitute to mine to make them sweet, but you can leave it out for a scone that goes well with soups and stews.

My only complaint is that the scones are a bit too small, so it takes two to make a nice serving.

Butternut Griddle Scone

A variation on an Irish Potato Scone using Butternut or Acorn squash instead of potatoes. I use Vanilla whey protein powder in the recipe to help with the texture, but it is optional. If you don’t use it, add one more tablespoon of coconut or 2 tablespoons of almond flour.

1 cup cooked and mashed Butternut or Acorn Squash
2 tablespoons Butter
1/2 teapoon Salt
3/4 cup Carbquick baking mix or other low carb flour
2 tablespoons Carbquick (for rolling out)
3 tablespoons Coconut or Almond flour
2 tablespoons Vanilla Whey Protein Powder (optional)
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/4 cup Sugar Substitute

Combine the squash, butter, sugar and salt together in a bowl, mixing thoroughly. Mix the flours (except the 2 tablespoons of Carbquick), whey powder and baking powder together, then stir in the butternut mix to make a pliable dough.

Spread 1 tablespoon of the Carbquick on a cutting board or bread board and push about 2/3 aside. Divide the dough into three parts. Put one section of dough on the bread board and shape into a round. Press it out to about 5″ in diameter and round out the circle. Cut the circle into quarters. Repeat with each section of the dough.

Heat a flat griddle or frying pan on medium heat and lightly butter. Cook each wedge for 5 to 6 minutes, turning once. Serve hot with butter or clotted cream.

Makes 12 scones.

Nutrition Info per scone:
Calories: 58 Fat: 3.9 g Net Carbs: 2.5 g Protein: 2.2 g
The acorn squash is slightly lower in Net Carbs at 2.2 g

Originally POSTED BY RENE AVERETT AT 12/9/2013 6:09 PM