A couple of weeks ago, I happened to catch Rachel Ray’s afternoon talk show and she was making this chicken dish that is seasoned like sausage. It sounded delicious and it also included butternut squash and Brussels sprouts, so I had to try it. As near as I could jot down while drooling over the picture on mt TV, this is Rachel’s basic recipe. All I’ve done is adjust the proportions a little and calculate the carbs in it.
I actually made this dish with four chicken quarters — thigh and leg – which were pretty large. You can also use four whole chicken breasts or 8 half breasts.
Arrange the Brussels sprouts face down on the pan. Add the diced butternut squash and onions and sprinkle nutmeg over the top. Drizzle one tablespoon of the oil over the top.
Clean, dry and oil the chicken thighs in a pan or large bowl. In a small bowl, mix together all the remaining seasonings. Sprinkle over the chicken thighs., then use your hands to turn and coat the chicken until the seasonings are distributed over the thighs. Place the thighs on top of the vegetables in the pan.
Bake for about 30 minutes until the chicken is done and the vegetables are tender.
Makes 4 to 8 servings depending on your appetite. I usually only eat one chicken thigh, but two per serving is okay.
Nutrition Info: 1/4 of recipe
Calories: 274.3 Fat:9.3 g Net Carbs: 13.2 g Protein: 30.2 g
Nutrition Info: 1/8 of recipe
Calories: 137.2 Fat:4.6 g Net Carbs: 6.6 g Protein: 15.1 g
Tip: To get down to the lower carb count and still eat 2 chicken thighs, cut the vegetable amounts in half. They are adding double the serving so using less still gives you about 1/3 cup of vegetables with the thighs. Using only half will bring the carbs down to 7 g.
I am working on my cookbook project, which I plan to have out in March 2015, but as a bit of a teaser and as a little Holiday thank you to all my supporters and friends, I’ve put together a low carb recipe Holiday Baking booklet, called “Holiday Cakes, Cookies and Candy the Low Carb Way”. It’s got recipes from this site and some that haven’t been posted here in a neat little booklet on a PDF file that you can download and open on your tablet or print out. It makes a 6″x 9″ format booklet, so you would have to trim and bind it to make a booklet that size, or just print and put in a binder.
This booklet is no longer available as a download. Hope you got it downloaded and have enjoyed some of the recipes in it. I will be updating it this year and it will be coming out as a Kindle Book via Amazon in October, 2015.
This cook booklet is free to you from now until January 15th. At that point, it will no longer be linked to this page, so download it right away so you can enjoy all these sweetly delicious ways to celebrate the holidays. Please do not share the booklet file itself or post it on your own pages, but feel free to direct others to this site to download it and maybe sign up to receive notices when the site is updated. Of course, I hope to add more subscribers to the site, but I also want people to enjoy a low carb, guilt free holiday.
So, click on the cover picture to download the book. If you are on your tablet, you can download the file and open it with Adobe Reader (or any other reader) or with a Kindle application.
I think having recipes on your tablet is really a great way to cook without having a bulky book in your hand or having to print out paper. I keep thinking you could make a tablet holder on one of your cabinets by putting four large clips or brackets on the cabinet positioned to hold the tablet. So, then you have it where you can see it and still be hands free. Haven’t tried this yet, but it’s on my to do list. If you do it before I do, send me a photo and tips on how you did it and I’ll feature it on this site. Or if you have other ideas for making a holder for your Kindle or tablet, send those along.
Please let me know if you try any of the recipes – and I hope you do – and how you like them.
When it comes to a festive-looking, easy to make, no-bake cheesecake, this Pistachio cheesecake is great. It’s a twist on the pudding cheesecake that is delectably delicious and low carb.
No Bake Pistachio Cheesecake
16 oz Cream Cheese
1 pkt unflavored Gelatin Mix
1/2 cup Sugar Substitute
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 oz. Sugar-free Hazelnut Syrup (optional)
1/2 pkg Sugar Free Pistachio Pudding Mix
3/4 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1/4 cup Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk
Crust
1/2 cup Almond Flour
1/4 cup Baking Mix or LC Flour
2 tablespoons Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground Ginger
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 an 8×8″ cake pan with cooking spray and spread the dough over the bottom of the pan. Wet your finger tips or the back of a spoon to make spreading it easier. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove and let cool while you mix the filling.
Make the Filling:
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 and vanilla extract and mix on low speed blended. Gradually add the gelatin mixture and hazelnut syrup, if using, and continue to beat until the filling is smooth and creamy.
Mix 1/2 box of the Pistachio pudding mix with whipping cream and almond milk. Us a mixer to beat the ingredients together. Let stand for about five minutes until the pudding begins to set. Add 1/2 cup of the cream cheese mixture to the pudding and stir together with a spoon.
Pour the remaining cream cheese mixture onto the top of the baked crust and smooth it out evenly. Pour the pistachio pudding over the top and smooth without mixing it into the lower layer. Loosely cover the pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours.
Cut into 12 servings, 4 slices one direction by three across the other way.
Serve with a tablespoon of whipped cream and a few chopped pistachio nuts, if desired.
Nutrition info per serving Calories:246.7 Fat: 24.2 g Net Carbs: 3.6 g Protein: 4.5 g
A soup that can warm you up from the inside out on these cold nights is the Chinese Hot and Sour Soup. You don’t need to go out for it because it’s easy to make at home. If you have rice wine vinegar and soy sauce at home, then you have a good start toward the soup. I made it with what I had in the house — chicken bullion instead of broth, turnips instead of mushrooms, and celery added for a bit of crunch. Instead of scallions, I added dried minced onions and chives and I also added some mixed, chopped greens. The original recipe called for shitake mushrooms, but I’ve substituted regular mushrooms for a lower carb dish. This is a delicious soup with or without other Chinese food on the menu.
Hot and Sour Soup
4 cups Chicken Broth
2 tablespoons Soy Sauce
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed Red Pepper
1 cup fresh Mushrooms, thinly sliced
4 tablespoons Rice Vinegar
1 tablespoon Cornstarch
1 large Egg, lightly beaten
1 deli Smoked Pork Chop, diced
1 stalk Celery, finely diced
1/2 teaspoon Ground Ginger
3 Scallions, thinly sliced
1 cup mixed greens, torn or chopped
Prep all vegetables before starting as this will cook quickly.
In a large pot, combine broth, soy sauce, crushed red pepper, ginger and 2 cups water. Bring to a boil over medium hea, then add celery, pork and mushrooms.
Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until tender, about 10 minutes.
Whisk together 3 tablespoons vinegar and cornstarch. Add to pot; simmer, stirring, until soup is thickened, about 1 minute.
Drizzle egg into the soup and stir to form ribbons. Remove from heat; let stand, covered, 1 minute. Taste; add additional vinegar, if desired.
Makes 6 servings
Nutrition Info: per serving
Calories: 57 Fat: 1.9 g Net Carbs: 4.3 g Protein: 5.6 g
The Thanksgiving holiday just isn’t complete at my house without pumpkin pie. The best recipe I’ve found for it is the one on Libby’s pumpkin can, but it does need adjustments to be low carb. But this year I decided to enhance my low carb recipe to a Maple Pumpkin Pie with Pecans.
The first change is the pie crust. I made the crust with hazelnut flour mixed with a low carb flour. You can use all almond flour as a substitute for both flours. The crust will not be like a regular crust, but more like a crumble crust on the bottom. Look for almond flour or hazelnut flour in the health food section of the grocery store or at health food stores. You can also find Bob’s Red Mill low carb flour in these places also. Bob’s is not the lowest low carb flour, but it will only add about 1/2 a carb to the serving over the CarbQuick flour. The other change is using sugar substitute for the sugar and heavy whipping cream for evaporated milk.
If you use Splenda, the filler that carries the sweetener has up to .9 carb per teaspoon. I don’t know the exact amount as they only show <1 carb. Xylitol and liquid sucralose have no carbs. That saves up to 36 carbs by making the switch. For those that like it, liquid Stevia also works.
For those who are phase 1 of Atkins or just don’t want a crust on your pie, you can make this without the crust. Just spray the pie pan with baking spray and pour the filling into the pan. Everything else is the same. If you want to make them in muffin pans or custard cups, go the instructions at the bottom of the page.
For more recipes for your Thanksgiving or Christmas holiday to stay on a low carb lifestyle, go toA Low Carb Winter Holiday
Hazelnut and low carb flour pie shell.
Pie Crust:
1/4 tsp Salt
3 Tbsp Cold Water
1/3 cup Shortening or Butter (cold)
1/3 cup LOW CARB BAKING MIX (CarbQuick, Bob’s Red Mill, LC Foods or Atkins)
1/3 cup hazelnut flour or almond flour
Heat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit. Lightly spray an 8″ or 9″ deep dish pie pan with cooking spray.
In a mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients ( Low Carb Baking Mix and salt). Cut in shortening until pea sized balls are formed. Sprinkle water one tablespoon at a time and mix in lightly with a fork. If the dough is very moist, then only use as much water as necessary for it to form a ball. Let rest a few minutes.
Divide the dough into quarters and place in each section of a deep dish pie tin. Use your fingers to spread the crust around the bottom of the pan and work it up the edge of the pie pan about half way. Use a fork, to pierce the bottom of the crust a few times.
Bake the crust for 10-12 minutes at 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
Crust Nutrition Info: Calories: 72.3 g Net Carbs: .4 g Protein: 1.1 g
(I’m giving you crust only information in case you want to use it for another pie. Whether you use Almond flour, Hazelnut flour or all Baking Mix, the crust will be about the same number of carbs.)
1/12 slice of Maple Pumpkin Pie.
Pie Filling
3/4 cup Sugar substitute
1/4 cup Brown Sugar Substitute**
1/4 cup sugar-free Maple Syrup
1 tablespoon ground Cinnamon *
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon ground Ginger *
1/4 teaspoon ground Cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground Nutmeg *
3 large eggs
1 can (15 oz.) Pumpkin Puree
1/2 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1/4 cup unsweetened Almond or Coconut Milk
1 cup Pecan halves (optional)
Whipped cream (optional)
• You can use 2 tablespoons Pumpkin Pie Spice for the cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Still add the clove .
** You can use white sugar substitute for the brown sugar if you can’t find any sugar free Brown Sugar. Do NOT use the Splenda Brown Sugar mix for this. It uses real brown sugar, so the carbs are quite a bit higher.
Mix sugar, salt, and spices in a small bowl. Beat eggs in large bowl., then stir pumpkin, maple syrup and sugar-spice mixture. Combine milks and stir together. Gradually add to mixture as you stir it in.
POUR into prepared pie shell. Arrange the pecans over the top of the pie.
BAKE in preheated 425° F oven for 15 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350° F; bake for 40 to 50 minutes or until knife inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 2 hours. After it cools down enough, about 30 minutes, I cover the pie with plastic wrap.
Serve or refrigerate. Top with whipped cream before serving.
To make a thicker pie, use 4 eggs, 3 cups of pumpkin puree and 1 cup of heavy whipping cream. This will add about 1 net carb to the count.
Makes 10 average servings or 12 small servings.
Nutrition Info per serving: 10 servings
Calories: 237 Fat: 22g Net Carbs: 4.1 g Protein: 4.4 g
Nutrition Info per serving: 12 servings
Calories: 198 Fat: 18.4 g Net Carbs: 3.4 g Protein: 3.7 g
Crustless Pumpkin Pie (Custard)
You can make these in 8 to 10 muffin pans instead of putting into a pie shell. If you’re on phase I of Atkins, the crust is definitely not a part of the plan.
To make: Simply use the recipe for the pie filling and mix it up according to the directions above, omitting the optional pecans.
Preheat the oven to 365 degrees (F.). Spray 1/2 capacity cup muffin cups or custard cups with cooking spray. Use a 1/2 cup measure to dip into the batter and fill cups to about 2/3 full.
Put muffin cups on a baking sheet and bake for about 25 to 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Let cool, then cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Remove from the mold. Add a dollop of whipped cream and serve. Makes 8 to 10 servings.
Nutrition Info: 8 servings per serving
Calories: 131 Fat: 10.5 g Net Carbs: 4.3 g Protein: 3.6 g
So, click on the cover picture to download the book. If you are on your tablet, you can download the file and open it with Adobe Reader (or any other reader) or with a Kindle application.
