Happy 2017, everyone!

I hope everyone had a great holiday and we’re all ready to settle back into a low carb routine. I know I need to do it.  Too many holiday goodies in this girl’s life and I definitely must drop some pounds.  How about you?

I tapered off on posts a little towards the end of the year in 2016, but I’m aiming to get back on a weekly schedule this year. If you have any particular food dish that you’d like to see if I can adapt to an under 10 carb meal, please drop me a line or post a comment. I’m always looking for new recipes.

On New Year’s Eve, I went with my Mexican food tradition and put together turkey enchiladas for dinner. For dessert, I wanted something light that would compliment the main course and not be too heavy. What better than a Mexican flan?

Flan is very much like a panna cotta and is very easy to make.  This one has a light orange flavor from adding grated orange rind, but I took it a step further and put slices of orange dipped in sugar substitute on the top. Give it a try and you might count it among your favorite desserts.  I do.

The only drawback is that this makes a very small serving, but it’s rich enough to satisfy. If you have the carbs to spare, you can make it into two servings instead of four.

Orange Mexican-Style Flan

1 tablespoons Brown Sugar Splenda
1 tablespoon Sugar Substitute
1 tablespoon Butter

2 Eggs
3/4 cup Cream
1/4 cup Water
2 1/2 tablespoons Sugar Substitute
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
1 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
1/3 teaspoon Orange Zest

8 segments Orange for garnish (optional)
1 tablespoon Almond slivers (optional)

Heat oven to 325 degrees (F.) Butter four 1/2 cup custard dishes or four cupcake molds. Heat water to boiling in a pot.

In a microwavable bowl, put the brown sugar, and 1/2 tablespoon butter, and cook for 20 seconds. It probably won’t melt much. Add 1/2 teaspoon of hot water and stir. Spoon into the bottom of the custard dishes. You could also use a caramel-flavored sugar-free syrup instead of the brown sugar Splenda.

In a blender, add the eggs, cream, water, sugar substitute, vanilla, cinnamon, and orange zest and blend until smooth. Pour equal amounts of the mixture into each custard dish.

Put the custard dishes In a roasting pan or other large pan and place in the middle of the oven, then pour hot water into the roasting pan to about 1 inch up the sides of the custard dishes. Be careful to not get water in the custard dishes.

Bake for 40 to 50 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack. Spray cooking spray on plastic wrap and   sprayed side down, cover each of the dishes, then chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Garnish with slices of oranges dipped in sugar substitute and/or toasted almonds before serving,

Makes four servings.

Nutrition Information per serving: (No topping)
Calories: 188.5 Fat: 17.2 g Net Carbs:4.5 g Protein: 4.0 g

With orange slices:
Calories: 222 Fat: 20.1 g Net Carbs: 6.1 g Protein: 4.0 g