Tag Archives: Atkins friendly recipes

Desserts, Recipes

Easy, Delicious No Bake Strawberry Cheesecake Pie

Summer calls for fresh strawberries. They are everywhere right now,  calling your name and asking to be made into delicious desserts or just eaten with a touch of sugar or dipped in chocolate. They can be a real temptation for anyone trying to watch their carb or calorie in-take. Fortunately, strawberries are an allowed fruit if you’re on phase II or higher of Akins, but you do need to watch the quantity. One half cup of cut up strawberries is 3.9 net carbs, which isn’t too bad if you plan for it.

But strawberries are also delicious in other things, including salad, like this wonderful Strawberry Chicken Salad, and my so delightful adaptation of a Knox Gelatin recipe for cheesecake that I’ve jazzed up with strawberries in the mix and on top. Depending on how much will power you have, this could set you back between 2.5 nc’s (1/12th of pie) and 4 nc’s per slice (1/8th of pie).

Summer Fresh Strawberry Cheesecake Pie

Crust:
1/2 cup Almond Flour
2 tablespoons Vanilla Whey Protein Powder*
2 tablespoons low carb Baking Mix*
Butter, 2 tbsp
2 tablespoons sugar substitute
Cinnamon, ground, .5 tsp

Filling:
1 envelope Knox Gelatin
2 8 0z packages Cream Cheese
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/2 cup sugar substitute
1 cup boiling water
1/2 teaspoon sugar free Strawberry Drink Mix or strawberry extract
1/2 cup Fresh Strawberries

 1/2 cup Strawberries, fresh, .sliced and sprinkled with a little Sugar Substitute (optional)

• You can use all almond flour instead of protein powder and baking mix.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F)

Make the Crust:

In a small bowl, mix all crust ingredients, cutting butter through with a fork. The dough will be soft and sticky. Spray a pie tin or cake pan with cooking spray and spread the dough over the bottom of the pan. Wet your finger tips to make spreading it easier. Bake for 8 minutes. Remove and let cool while you mix the filling.

Make the Filling:

Puree the fresh strawberries in a food processor so they are mashed. Set aside.

In a small bowl, add sugar substitute and boiling water. Sprinkle the gelatin over the top and let it sit a few minutes to soften, then stir it in. Continue to stir until the gelatin completely melts, about five minutes.

In a large bowl, put the softened cream cheese, vanilla extract and strawberry drink mix and mix on low speed until the flavorings are blended in. Gradually add the gelatin mixture and continue to beat until the filling is smooth and creamy, then add the pureed strawberries and mix until blended.

Pour the filling on top of the crust and smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least three hours before serving.

Yes, I pulled out the fine dinnerware for this one, but really? It’s summer, isn’t it? And paper plates are so much easier than doing dishes.

To serve, arrange sliced strawberries on each slice and add a garnish of whipped cream and a sprig of mint, if you have it.

Makes 8 servings
Nutrition Info per slice
Calories: 271.6 Fat: 26.3 g Net Carbs: 3.7 g Protein: 6.1 g
With berries on top:
Calories: 275 Fat: 26.3 g Net Carbs: 4.2 g Protein: 5.2 g

Makes 12 servings
Nutrition Info per 1/12 of pie
Calories: 181.1 Fat: 17.5 g Net Carbs: 2.5 g Protein: 4.0 g
With berries on top:
Calories: 183.1 Fat: 17.5 g Net Carbs: 2.7 g Protein: 4.0 g

Breakfast & Brunch, Main Dish, Pork, Poultry, Recipes, Vegetables & Salads, Vegetarian

Summer Fresh Mixed Vegetable with Sausage Dinner

Or lunch!  I used to go to a restaurant here in Reno that served a wonderful mixed vegetable dish with a cheese sauce for brunch and I just loved it.  Add bacon and it was all you could want for breakfast or lunch.    Following a visit to the local Farmer’s Market, I came home with fresh zucchini and scalloped summer squash and I kept thinking about that great steamed vegetable dish.  So I decided to try a low carb version of it and add sausage to it.

A bratwurst, either pork or chicken, would work well with this recipe.  Just be sure to check the carb count on the links to try to get around 1 net carb for a link.   We are talking the 4 or 5 links to a pound variety, not the little breakfast sausages.  Some of the fancier sausages are wonderful and have great additions to them but run the carbs up to 4 or 5 nc per sausage and unless you have a lot to spend on this meal, it could be more than you want.  An alternative is to buy bulk sausage with no added ingredients and make mini-sausage balls to add to the dish or fry up some bacon and add that.

For a nice vegetarian dish, simply omit the sausages.

Mixed Vegetables with Sausage Au Gratin

1 cup Broccoli, fresh
1 cup Cauliflower, fresh
1 cup Summer Squash
1 cup Zucchini, sliced
6 Brussels sprouts, fresh, cut in half
1 cup kohlrabi, diced
3/4 cup Turnips, about 1 medium
2 tablespoons Carbquick or other low carb flour
3/4 cup Heavy Whipping Cream or Unsweetened Almond Milk
1/4 cup water
2 tablespoons Butter
1 /2 cup Cheddar Cheese, shredded
1 oz. Dubliner Irish Cheese
1 tablespoon Dried Parsley
1 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
1 teaspoon Seasoning Salt
2 links Chicken or Pork Sausages, sliced (look for 0 or 1 carb per serving)

Trim and cut vegetables into bite-sized pieces. Steam kohlrabi and turnips in a steamer until almost fork tender or in the microwave, covered, for about 5 minutes. Steam the rest of the vegetables for about four minutes, then combine with the kohlrabi and turnips and steam (microwave) another three minutes. Test that they are fork tender. If not, steam a little longer.

In a sauce pan, melt the butter over medium heat and add the low carb flour, stirring to make a paste. Add the cream and seasonings and cook while stirring until the mixture begins to thicken. Add the cheese and continue stirring until the cheese is completely melted. If the mixture gets to thick, add a little water to thin. Remove from heat.

In a small skillet, sauté the sausages until they are completely warmed and browned s bit.

Spoon a 1/4 of the vegetable mix into a bowl or on a plate, add 1/4 of the sausages and top with about 1/2 cup of cheese sauce. Sprinkle with a little pepper and serve.

Nutrition Info: 1 serving made with cream
Calories: 490 Fat: 39.6 g Net Carbs: 9.5 g Protein: 22.8 g

Nutrition Info: 1 serving made with Unsweetened Almond Milk
Calories: 348 Fat: 23.8 g Net Carbs: 8.7 g Protein: 22.5 g

Desserts, Recipes

Cool Off with a Piece of Brandy Alexander Pie

While looking for a light, cool dessert, I spotted this recipe on a box of Knox Gelatin and decided it would be pretty easily adaptable to a low carb dessert.  I changed the crust, which was crushed Oreo Cookies, to an almond flour crust with cocoa in it for a rich, chocolate flavor.  Instead of Creme de Cocoa, I used a sugar free chocolate mocha syrup.  It is a delightfully refreshing and does remind you of the drink of the same name.  Oddly, I did discover that the brandy taste was quite pronounced on the first day, but the second day, instead of getting stronger, it seemed to blend into the overall flavor of the dessert and was not as strong.

Brandy Alexander Pie

Adapted from Knox Gelatin recipe by me

Crust:
1/2 cup Almond Flour
2 tablespoons Vanilla Whey Protein Powder
2 tablespoons Carbquick
Butter, 2 tbsp
2 tablespoons sugar substitute
1 tablespoon unsweetened Cocoa

Filling
1 envelope Knox Gelatin, unflavored
1 1/2 cups Heavy Whipping Cream
1/3 cup sugar substitute
1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract, 1 tbsp
2 tablespoons Brandy or Brandy extract
1 tablespoon Sugar Free Chocolate Mocha Syrup
1/4 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F.) Spray a pie tin or an 8″square pan with cooking spray.

To make the crust, put all the crust ingredients in a small bowl and blend with a fork until you have small crumbs clumped together. Press the crumbs into the bottom of the prepared pan and spread them smoothly to cover the entire bottom. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until it is firm and just a little brown around the edges. Set aside to cool.

In a small saucepan, add 1/4 cup cold water, then sprinkle the gelatin over the top and let stand for a minute. Stir and cook on low heat until the gelatin is completely dissolved. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool for 5 minutes.

While it is cooling, beat whipping cream with an electric mixer on high speed until it is slightly thickened. Still beating on low speed, gradually add the gelatin mixture, vanilla, brandy, sugar substitute and sugar free syrup. Mix until it is well blended. Pour into the prepared crust. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 2 hours until it is set.

To serve, cut into 8 servings. Decorate with sugar free chocolate syrup or shaved sugar free dark chocolate, if you wish, then add a heaping spoonful of whipped cream or Cool Whip.

Makes 8 servings.

Nutrition Info per serving (with topping):
Calories: 266.4 Fat: 24 g Net Carbs: 3.4 g Protein: 3.3 g

Breads, Recipes

Peanutty Chocolate Chip Scones For Tea Time

Scones are a great breakfast or tea time treat.  The American scone has taken a few turns from the classic English scone and is made in a variety of ways with fruits, nuts and more like a biscuit at times.   I like experimenting with the various ways you can make these and still be low carb.  One of the flours available at health food stores and online is peanut flour.   Unlike some of the other nut flours, peanuts really retain the peanut taste when used in baking.  So it isn’t as versatile as almond flour for general baking, but it is terrific when you want the peanut taste, as in these scones that get a bit of a peanut butter flavor without any peanut butter in them.  For the sugar free chocolate chips, I used Sensato Mini-Chocolate Chips, but you could also use Hershey’s Sugar Free Chocolate Chips, which I usually find at Wal-Mart.

Peanutty Chocolate Chip Scones

1 cup Carbquick or Almond Flour
1 cup Peanut Flour
1/4 cup Sugar Substitute
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
2 tablespoon softened Butter
1/3 to 1/2 cup Buttermilk or Heavy Cream
1 Egg
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1/4 cup chopped Peanuts
1/2 cup sugar free Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 435 degrees (F.)

In a large bowl mix the dry ingredients together. Add wet ingredients and mix well. Add in peanuts and chocolate chips and mix into the dough. The dough should be stiff and a little sticky, but not wet. Use your clean hands to mix the dough if necessary.

Prepare a baking sheet by spray it with cooking spray. Turn the dough into the center of the pan and press and shape it into an 8 inch circle. If it tries to stick to your fingers, wet your hand. Score the dough into 8 pieces (scored into quarters, then each quarter scored in half) but don’t cut all the way through.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until the scone loaf is golden brown. Let cool a few minutes, then slice on the scored lines. Serve warm with clotted cream or butter or with jelly or jam. Delicious afternoon tea break!

Makes 8 scones.

Nutrition Info: Per scone
Calories: 155  Fat: 8.9 g  Net Carbs: 4.5 g  Protein: 7.7 g

Beef, Main Dish, Recipes

Tender Short Ribs with Root Vegetables

Oddly, in my many years of cooking, I had never made short ribs until recently.  Why?  I don’t know, because these are so simple to make and so wonderful to eat.  It only took a little bit to adapt them to low carb.  They take about 2 1/2 hours to make with the cook time, but they are so worth it.  My recipe is adapted for two people, but you can easily double it to serve four.  For my root vegetables, I used golden beets and turnips.  You could also use kohlrabi or celery root in this.  The vegetables pick up the flavor from the braising liquid and I am not sure that a potato used in this would taste much different.

Short Ribs with Vegetables

4 Beef Short Ribs (with bones) – about 1 1/2 lbs
1 Golden Beet, medium
1 Red Onion, medium
1 Turnip, medium
1/2 cup Beef Bullion
1/2 cup Red Wine (Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon)
1/2 cup CarbQuick or Coconut Flour
2 tablespoons Olive Oil
1 teaspoon Seasoning Salt
1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1/2 teaspoon Black Pepper, ground

Preheat oven to 325 degrees (F)

Peel the beet and turnip and cut into cubes. Peel the onion and slice it.

In a pie pan, mix the CarbQuick or coconut flour with the seasoning salt and garlic powder. Dredge the short ribs in the flour.

In a dutch oven or heavy oven-ready deep pot, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil until hot. Add the onions and vegetables and cook until just browned. Remove to a plate. Add the remaining oil, then add the short ribs and brown on all sides, about three minutes a side. When browned, add the beef bullion and wine and stir in the pot. Then add the vegetables back in.

Cover the pot with an oven-proof lid or heavy foil and put in the preheated oven. Cook for 2 hours. Short ribs will be tender and delicious.

Serves 2.

Nutrition Info:
Calories: 448  Fat: 24.4 g Net Carbs: 8.6 g  Protein: 35.7 g