I’m still working my way through the two pounds of asparagus my friends left for me while they ran off to France. So many ways to prepare asparagus and I’ve stir-fried a little, mixed it with cabbage and turnips and made a quiche. But this simple recipe for chicken and asparagus wrapped in bacon is one of the best. It is quick to prepare and cook, so dinner can be on the table in less than 30 minutes.
A key to making sure the bacon is done is to pre-cook the bacon about halfway, so that it is still flexible, but not raw. I used a George Foreman grill, but any tabletop grill, outdoor grill or broiler will work. It is so low in carbs that you can indulge with a salad and a few vegetable fries. I used turnips and cauliflower fries with my dinner.
Grilled Chicken with Bacon and Asparagus
For a quick, elegant entrée, this goes together in four steps and cooks on the grill, in the broiler, or in something like a George Foreman grill in just a few minutes. It tastes wonderful! Chicken, asparagus, and bacon — how can you go wrong?
2 (8 oz) Chicken breast filets (about 1/2 inch thick), pounded to square if you wish
4 to 6 Asparagus Spears, trimmed – small or medium
2 slices thick Bacon
1/2 teaspoon Herb Seasoning of choice
Sprinkle of Lemon juice (optional)
Salt and Pepper to preference
Partially cook the bacon so that it is about half way done. This ensures that it will get done while grilling. Drain the bacon.
Partially cooked bacon is drained on paper towels.
Pound or press the chicken to tenderize and flatten to a square. (You can use the side a plate for this or the end of table knife.)
Put 2 to 3 asparagus spears in the middle of each chicken breast, season and sprinkle a little lemon juice on it. Roll up and wrap a slice of bacon around it. Use a toothpick to secure the bacon.
Chicken is wrapped with bacon and ready to grill.
Grill on each side until the chicken is done and juices run clear. If you’re using a Foreman or similar grill, it will grill both sides at one time, so just make sure the chicken is done. The time to cook varies with the method used.
Let rest a couple of minutes, then serve.
Serves 2
Nutrition info per servings: Calories: 180.6 Fat: 6.1 g Net Carbs: 0.8 g Protein: 28.0 g
Not everything works well with low carb flours or natural flours and it takes some experimenting to get it right. One of those experiments was this failed popover recipe that actually made a very tasty, simple egg bread muffin that I am calling a popover muffin. Where a popover would rise and collapse in on itself while creating a well in the middle, this muffin rose, but simply deflated, leaving a nice rounded surface. But the flavor is great and it makes a fabulous low carb bread to go with almost anything.
The bread is also sturdy enough to hold up to being turned into French Toast Rounds. So this is a two-fer-recipe day as it includes the recipe for the popover muffins and the French toast rounds.
If you give either one of these recipes a try or both, let me know what you think and if you have other ideas how to use them.
Popover Muffins
Popover Muffin
This recipe makes 6 popover muffins, which are delicious with almost anything — butter, jam, soup, a salad, but it isn’t hollow like a popover normally is. So I am calling them popover muffins. A popover pan will give you depth and make tall and nicely browned muffins, but you can also use a standard muffin pan.
This recipe is the very basic version without any kind of flavoring or seasoning. You can add a little sugar substitute to make them sweet or you can add grated cheese to make a cheese version that would complement a bowl of chile nicely. Add a tablespoon or two of chopped chiles to the batter along with the cheese and really enhance the flavor.
3/4 cup Low Carb Flour*
1/4 cup Almond Flour
2 Eggs
1/4 cup Heavy Cream mixed with 1/4 cup water
Pinch Salt
* I used CarbQuick, but Bob’s Red Mill Baking Mix, LC Flour, Carbolose or any other low carb mix will work. I have not tried Coconut Flour, but I would guess it might not work as well.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees (F.) Make sure the oven rack is on the lower level to allow room for the batter to rise and to keep them from browning too quickly.
Prepare a 6 well popover pan by spraying with cooking spray or buttering the wells. Deep muffin cups will also work.
Put the eggs into a bowl of warm water to bring them to room temperature, about 10 minutes.
When the oven is fully heated, begin preparing the batter. Whisk the eggs, milk and salt together in a medium bowl. Make sure the ingredients are mixed well, then add the flours at one time and continue to whisk until the flours are and it looks frothy. You can use a mixer with a whisk attachment to do this. Or you can mix it in your blender following the same sequence. Wet ingredients first, then add the flours. Add the melted butter after everything is mixed.
Pour the batter into the popover wells equally. They should be between 2/3 and 3/4 filled.
Bake for 20 minutes, then lower the temperature to 350 degrees and bake an additional 10 minutes. Do not open the oven door while baking, especially during the first 20 minutes. They should be a deep, golden brown.
Nutrition Info per muffin Calories: 153.2 Fat: 13.5 g Net Carbs: 1.9 g Protein: 5.8 g
Popover Muffin French Toast Rounds
This simple recipe uses an egg bread “popover” muffin as the base for a basic French toast for one. Add pumpkin butter or syrup to serve. A little bacon or sausage helps to round it out.
Slice the muffin across the middle, then slice each half across the middle again to make four rounds.. In a bowl or shallow pan, beat the egg, then add the cream, vanilla and pumpkin spice or cinnamon. Beat with a fork until well mixed. Dip the muffin slices into the egg mixture, turning them to completely coat both sides. Let them sit in the mixture while you warm up a small skillet.
Add the butter and set to medium heat. When the butter melts and is just getting to sizzle, add the muffin rounds. Cook for about 2 minutes on one side, then flip to cook the other side. They should be golden brown. If they aren’t, cook just a little longer. Remove to serving plate and top each with 1/4 of the pumpkin butter or butter the tops and cover with sugar free syrup.
Makes one delicious serving.
Nutrition info per recipe: Calories: 362.7 Fat: 31.6 g Net Carbs: 4.8 g Protein: 12.8 g
Asparagus is figuring prominently in my recipes at the moment since a friend of mine just brought over about three pounds and left them with me. So, I need to eat a lot of it over the next week or so! I whipped up this yummy cheese pie featuring asparagus and bacon, two of my favorite things. I often add ricotta cheese to my quiches and breakfast omelets, so it goes in great with this crustless pie. It’s great for brunch, lunch or add a salad and make it dinner.
Incidently, if you missed it, I did a guest post earlier this week for The Chinese Quest with a great recipe for Asparagus Shrimp Stir Fry.
Just want to mention that the print copy of my cookbook is on sale at Amazon for $5,85 versus $6.50. Not sure how long this price will last, but it’s a good time to buy it if you haven’t already. Many recipes in it are not on this website, so you won’t find them here, but you will find the color images of the photos in the book, which are black and white, beginning on this pagewith links to the rest of the pages. The link to the book page at Amazon is on the right.
Asparagus Bacon Pie with salad topped with fried pork rinds.
Asparagus, Bacon & Ricotta Cheese Pie
A crustless pie made with ricotta cheese, bacon, asparagus and cheddar jack cheese. It’s garnished with more asparagus and tomatoes.
14 stalks Asparagus, 5″ trimmed
4 Eggs
1/2 cup Ricotta Cheese
1 cup Cheddar Jack Cheese, shredded
1/4 cup Onions, diced
4 slices thick Bacon,
4 large grape tomatoes (optional)
Salt & Pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 oz. Heavy Cream
1/2 teaspoon Seasoning Salt
Preheat oven to 375 degrees (F.) Spray an 8″ pie dish with baking spray.
Hold back 6 asparagus spears, then slice the rest into 1 inch pieces and distribute evenly over the bottom of the pie pan.
Cook bacon until crisp and let drain and cool on paper towels while you cook the onions. Add a little bacon grease to a small pan and sauté the onions until they are just tender. Sprinkle the onions over the top of the asparagus. Break the bacon into pieces and distribute over the top of the asparagus, then sprinkle 3/4 cup of the shredded cheese over the top.
In a medium bowl, break the eggs and beat until blended, then add the ricotta cheese, heavy cream, and seasonings. Beat to mix the ingredients together. Pour over the asparagus and cheese in the pan, spreading as evenly as possible. It will settle in.
Trim the asparagus to the 4″ lengths and cut the extra trimmed off into two pieces. Position the asparagus spears on the top to form six divisions. Cut grape tomatoes and use to decorate the pie as shown.
Bake for 35 to 45 minutes until golden brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out fairly clean, It will firm up more as it cools. Let sit about 10 minutes, then cut and serve.
Makes 6 servings.
Nutrition info per serving: Calories: 190.4 Fat: 14.3 g Net Carbs: 3.0 g Protein: 12.9 g
Tip: This can be made with zucchini or chopped broccoli (par-boil first). Substitute in turkey bacon if you prefer or to make it vegetarian, use a soy bacon or other vegetarian bacon. This will affect the carb count by about .5 net carbs more per serving.
My friend at The Chinese Quest, Mee Magnum, has graciously allowed me to repost this great article about how to approach eating Chinese food at restaurants without over-doing the carbohydrates. It is a challenge, but it is entirely do-able.
Low Carb Chinese Food
This month marks the one-year anniversary that Mini Mee was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. In his three days in the hospital, upon diagnosis, I learned more about carbs than I had known about it in my whole entire life. I had to become keenly aware of his carbohydrate intake so that he would get the proper amount of insulin to offset it. Counting carbs, or carbohydrates, became a way of life of him. And for Mee. To honor him, and The Chinese Quest, I am going to post a series of articles and recipes this month on low carb Chinese food.
As an added bonus, cutting down on your carbs will help you (umm, Mee) to lose the weight you’ve been wanting to lose, and to help you lead a healthier lifestyle. And now I won’t have to give up my Chinese food, or The Chinese Quest!
You don’t have to stop eating Chinese food to follow a low carb diet, but you’ll need to pick your dishes carefully. For instance, a typical serving of a Chinese restaurant staple such as sesame chicken with white rice can contain as much as 76 grams of carbohydrates. Learning what to eat, and what to avoid, can allow you to enjoy Chinese cuisine while keeping your carb count as low as possible.
Clear Soups
Instead of ordering egg rolls, fried wontons, dim sum, dumplings, prawn toast or batter-fried shrimp as an appetizer, go for a clear soup such as egg drop soup, recommends the low carb Atkins diet guidelines. Soups with a heavier consistency usually rely on carbohydrate-rich cornstarch as a thickener, which can add approximately seven grams of carbohydrates per tablespoon.
Tip: Ask your server to help you identify which soups on the menu are prepared without cornstarch.
Stir Fries
Stir fried vegetables, lean beef, chicken, shrimp or a combination such as beef with mushrooms are a low carb Chinese entree choice as long as you ask them to be served without noodles or rice. Many stir fry dishes come seasoned with plum, orange, hoisin, sweet and sour or oyster sauce.
Tip: Ask for yours to be prepared without any sauce, or with a small amount of the sauce served on the side. These sauces contain a large amount of sugar and often include cornstarch.
Grilled Meat, Poultry or Seafood
Avoid Chinese dishes that contain meat, poultry, fish or shellfish that’s been breaded or coated with a thick batter and fried, particularly if the food is served in a thick sauce. A restaurant serving of a batter-coated, sauce-rich entree such as sweet and sour pork can contain more than 70 grams of carbohydrates, even without the addition of noodles or rice.
Tip: Opt for grilled foods instead, such as grilled fish or skewers of chicken or lean beef. If grilled dishes aren’t available, look for steamed entrees.
Egg Foo Young
Egg foo young is a combination of minced vegetables, eggs and small pieces of meat, seafood or poultry cooked into an omelet-style pancake. Egg foo young is traditionally served with a dark brown sauce made from soy sauce, oyster sauce and cornstarch.
Tip: Skip the sauce to avoid excess carbs.
So there you have it, you can have your cake (ok, perhaps NOT literally), and eat it too! Choose your carbs as wisely as you choose the Chinese restaurants you eat in. And for our recommendations and reviews, please check out our Review page, and our Rankings page.
If you have any other suggestions to share, please post them in the comments.
From ARene (Mee Ree)- Check out more of Mee Magnum’s post at The Chinese Questto get more tips, recipes and reviews of some of the great Chinese restaurants in New York.
Over the month of April, 2015, I participated in the A to Z Blog Challenge, writing 26 blogs during the month, one each day from Monday through Saturday, to correspond with the 26 letters of the alphabet. My theme was about food, mostly vegetables with a few fruits thrown in and covered a little history about the food and how it was used. Many had original recipes and all had links to recipes either on Skinny Girl Bistro or on other blogs.
To make it easier to find and read any of these articles, here are the links to each of them:
