Category Archives: Recipes

Desserts, Recipes

Tasty Apple Yogurt Tart

Looking for a simple to make and low carb dessert? Look no further than this delightful Apple Yogurt Tart. It comes together quickly and tastes fabulous. For the base, I’ve used two flours that are usually available at grocery stores — almond flour and coconut flour. When cooking with these flours, allow the cooked results to completely cool and handle them carefully. They are delicate and break easily. If you prefer not to remove them from the mold (I used a silicone mold to make removal easier) then you can make them in a ramekin and serve them in it. Apples are not on the weight loss portion of the Atkins diet due to the higher count of natural sugars, but if you are on maintenance or are just trying to stay lower carb’d in your eating, this is great with apples. You can also use berries to top the tart.

I used Kroger Foods CarbMasters dairy yogurt product, but there are a couple of other low carb yogurts. The one I based the nutrition value on is CarbMasters at 4 net carbs for 6 oz. Look for a yogurt that is around that carb level. If you use Greek yogurt, it will probably be a little higher. Alternately, you can also use a 2-tablespoon layer of sugar-free vanilla pudding.

Apple Yogurt Tart

2 tablespoons Almond Flour
2 tablespoons Coconut Flour
3 tablespoons Butter, softened
3 tablespoons Sugar Substitute
1/2 cup diced Apples
2 tablespoons chopped Pecans
1/2 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
1/2 container low carb Vanilla Yogurt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees (F.)

Bottom crust:
In a small bowl, mix almond flour, coconut flour, 1/2 sugar substitute, and 2 tablespoons butter together. If dough is too dry, add a little water. It should come together into a crumbly dough. Spray 2 round 2 1/2 to 3 inch mini-cake baking molds with cooking spray. Press 1/2 the dough into each mold to cover the bottom.

Bake for 5 to 7 minutes until the cookie tart is lightly browned. Remove and let cool completely before removing from the mold. Almond flour and coconut flour are very delicate and break easily.

Apple Topping:
In a skillet, melt remaining butter and add remaining sugar substitute. Add Pecans, apples and cinnamon and sauté over medium heat until apples are soft and a caramel sauce forms in the pan.

Once the cookie crusts are cool, remove from the molds and place on serving dishes. Spread 1/2 of the yogurt (about 1 1/2 tablespoons) over the cookie crust and top with 1/2 of the warm apple mixture. Add a dollop of whipped cream if you wish.

Makes two servings.

Nutrition Information per serving:
Calories: 434 Fat: 42.4 g Net Carbs: 6.0 g Protein: 5.5 g

Made with Strawberries (omit the cinnamon and pecans)
Nutrition Information per serving:
Calories: 345 Fat: 31.3 g Net Carbs: 5.5 g Protein: 7.3 g

Note: The apple topping is also great over low carb ice cream.

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

Delicious Chorizo Egg Muffins for Cinco de Mayo

Happy Cinco de Mayo! No better way to celebrate this festive holiday than with a spicy Mexican style dish and that’s just what this little egg muffin is.  It’s a little late for breakfast today, but the party goes on all week.  Heck, we went to the Star Trek Experience at the Grand Sierra Hotel last Sunday (fabulous, by the way) and the parking lot was packed with people going to the Cinco de Mayo street fair set up in the side parking lot.  No doubt in my mind that it’s running through this weekend.  Besides you don’t need a holiday to spice up your breakfast and these egg muffins make a great lunch also.

Chorizo Egg Muffins

Slightly spicy, with vegetables in it. The kohlrabi is like adding potatoes to the mix and spinach and onion add to the taste and nutrition. The golden flax meal brings a bit of a taste of cornmeal with no carbs and extra fiber for a great breakfast start.

6 Eggs
1/4 cup Kohlrabi, cubed
1/4 cup Spinach, fresh, chopped
2 medium Scallions, sliced
4 oz. Texas Chorizo or Mexican Chorizo
1/4 cup Ricotta Cheese
1/4 teaspoon Pepper
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/2 cup Sharp Cheddar Cheese
2 tablespoons Heavy Whipping Cream
3 tablespoons Golden Flax Meal

Heat oven to 365 degrees (F.) Spray 6 to 8 muffin wells or individual muffin cups with baking spray.

Cook kohlrabi in the microwave for a minute or in boiling water for two to three minutes until tender. Cool. Slice the cubes into smaller pieces.

In a bowl, break the eggs and beat with a whisk, then add the ricotta cheese and cream and whisk until mixed in. Add vegetables, chorizo, flax meal and seasoning and mix well. You may have to separate the chorizo into small pieces before adding if it is the more solid variety. If you use the Mexican chorizo, it has a chili sauce mixed into it and the egg muffins will have a redder color from it.

Use a 1/4 or 1/3 cup measure to scoop and pour the egg mixture into the muffin cups. They should be almost full. Top with shredded cheese. Bake for 30 minutes until they are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out cleanly.

Let cool for a few minutes before serving. May be refrigerated or frozen.

Makes 7 or 8 egg muffins

Nutrition Info per muffin
Calories: 212.8 Fat: 16.6 Net Carbs: 1.4 g Protein: 13.2

 

 

 

 

Book News, Book Nook, Healthy Life, Mexican/Spanish Recipes, Recipes

New Cookbook, New Series Launched

coverLC15-Mexican2_96

I’m excited to launch a new series of little cookbooks that I call Low Carb 15.  Simply, it is a little cookbook with fifteen recipes covering one subject or category with delicious adapted to low carb recipes.  Since it is almost Cinco de Mayo, I launched with one of my favorite food types — Mexican Food!

I love it and have had to come up with adapted recipes to help keep me in maintenance mode.  I sure don’t want to go back up in weight and it is a struggle all the time to not fall off the low carb path and indulge in some of the great food out there. Sure, I do fall off now and then, but I always try to snap back to the low carb intake. But it’s my mission to these days to try to adapt as many recipes for favorite foods to a low carb version.

This booklet has fifteen great recipes for tried and enjoyed Mexican and Tex-Mex food.  It includes two recipes for soup, two for desserts, one for a spicy cheesy cornbread made with low carb flours, and the rest are main course items.  A few of the recipes have been posted on this blog, but there are several new, never posted ones that are exclusive to this book.

The booklet is only available on eBook.  At the moment, it is available from Smashwords (see widget above) and Amazon Kindle. It will be available on iBooks, Barnes and Noble, and Kobe soon.

So check it out and treat yourself to a copy.  If you like it, please review it. Thanks.  And happy Cinco de Mayo!

Main Dish, Pork, Recipes

Simple Cranberry Mustard Marinade Spices Pork

Pork roasts are a snap to cook and they are so good. They’re a lean piece of meat and very tender and they take well to marinades, rubs, and fruit coatings.  This marinade is a simple to put together spicy blend that adds a tang of chile with cranberry mustard to the flavor.    You can make it with Dijon mustard instead of cranberry mustard, but it loses that fruity tang.

Sometimes cranberry mustard is difficult to find at the grocery store.  I use Beaver brand and I order it online when I can’t find it locally.  It’s great on sandwiches, particularly ham or chicken ones.

Cranberry Mustard Marinated Pork Loin

1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon chili flakes
2 tablespoons Cranberry mustard
salt and ground black pepper to taste
1 teaspoon Sugar Substitute
2 pounds pork tenderloin

In a bowl, add all ingredients except the pork and whisk together. Use a cooking fork or a sharp knife to pierce the pork roast in several places, which will allow the marinade to go into the meat better. Using a large resealable plastic bag, put in the pork and pour the marinade in. Seal the bag and massage the marinade to work the marinade into it. Place in the refrigerator to marinate for two to three hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (F.).

Place the pork in a foil-lined baking dish and pour the marinade over the top. Bake for 45 to 60 minutes until a meat thermometer inserted to the middle of the roast reads 145 degrees.

Remove the roast and cover with foil to keep warm. It will continue to cook. Pour the pan juices into a small skillet or pot and cook over medium heat to reduce to a thicker gravy.

Serve with a tablespoon or two of gravy over the top.

Makes 6 servings.

 

Main Dish, Pork, Recipes, Vegetarian

Low Carb Spinach & Artichoke Cauli-Mac

A lot of yummy recipes are shared on Facebook, like this one recently posted from BuzzFeed for One-Pan Mac and Cheese. This is a delicious recipe with lots of cheese flavor and the subtle taste of the spinach and artichoke hearts just enhances it.

For me, I immediately start adapting it to a low carb version because I know that macaroni, or any pasta, is too high carb’d for my lifestyle unless I make the pasta myself from low carb flours. So far, I haven’t tried that although it’s on my to-do list.

But in this case, the easier change to the recipe is to replace the macaroni with cauliflower. If you like this vegetable, and I know some people who don’t, then it is an amazing replacement for many starches in your cooking. You can chop it and use it to replace smaller pastas. You can rice it or chop it finely in a food processor to use it as a fill-in for rice, couscous, and other small pastas. You can also use it for pizza crusts, bread sticks, and assorted other bread replacements.

As a replacement for macaroni, it is fantastic. It doesn’t have a strong flavor, particularly if you start with fresh cauliflower or use frozen that hasn’t defrosted and sat in the refrigerator for a couple of days. While this recipe is very close to the one posted, I never make anything exactly the way it’s written. In addition to the cauliflower for macaroni swap, I also added bacon, because I love bacon and this just called out for it. The artichoke hearts may be a little hard to find but you can get them either canned or frozen. If you can get frozen, those are better. Do not get marinated artichoke hearts unless they’re the only option you have. If you do, wash them thoroughly before using unless you want the taste of the marinade in your meal. While I didn’t add them this time, the next time I make this, I think adding chopped green onions would be awesome.

I also cut the recipe in half so two people don’t have too many leftovers, but you can easily double it if you want the larger dish. I used an 8″ cast iron skillet and it filled it to almost over-flowing so even the larger cast iron skillet might not be big enough for the full recipe. Also, if you are making this recipe with macaroni instead of cauliflower, use 1/2 the amount called for as macaroni expands as it cooks, so one cup dry equals two cups cooked.

Don’t like cauliflower? Try dicing turnips or kohlrabi into small cubes to fill in for the macaroni. After they are diced, cook them in boiling water or in a bowl in the microwave until a fork can easily pierce them. At this point, this resembles a scalloped potato recipe more than it does macaroni and cheese, but they are similar.

Skillet Spinach Artichoke Cauli-Mac

1 tablespoon Butter
1 clove Garlic minced
3 oz. Baby Spinach
1/2 cup Artichoke hearts, drained
1/2 pound Bacon, cooked and broken into pieces(optional)
3/4 cup Heavy Cream
1/4 cup Water
1 teaspoon Sea Salt
1 teaspoon Black Pepper, freshly ground
2 cups Cauliflower, chopped
1/2 cup Cheddar Cheese
1 1/2 cups Mozzarella Cheese

Preheat oven to 450 degrees (F.)

In an ovenproof 8″ skillet, such as a cast iron one, melt the butter, then add the garlic, spinach and artichoke hearts. Cook and stir until the spinach wilts. Add the cream, water, salt and pepper. Stir until the sauce is boiling. Add the bacon and cauliflower pieces and stir into the sauce. Cool until the sauce coats the cauliflower pieces. Add the cheddar and one cup of mozzarella to the pan and stir until it is completely melted.

Sprinkle the remaining mozzarella on top and bake for about seven minutes or until the cheese if bubbly and golden brown.

Makes 4 servings. nutrition_Cauli-mac-bacon-artichokes