Tag Archives: peaches

Mexican/Spanish Recipes, Pork, Recipes

Cinco de Mayo book plug and a new taco recipe

Image: Pork taco with avocado crema

For those who like a reason to celebrate, Cinco de Mayo is just around the corner. That’s May 5th for anyone who doesn’t read enough Spanish to know. It’s a great celebration day for Mexico, but also just a good reason to raise a margarita in their honor and indulge in Mexican food. Of course, if you’re trying to stick to your low carb lifestyle, this presents some challenges.

One of our Reno Mexican restaurants has a sugar-free orange margarita made with Crystal Light that is not bad at all. If you’re making them at home, you can buy Skinny Syrup sugar-free margarita mixes in syrup form from Amazon. They also have a mojita mix if you prefer that flavor. Or you can find recipes on line for sugar free to make at home, like this one for a Skinny Margarita.

But moving along to the food, it is difficult to eat out and not indulge with more carbs than you want in your meal. Some dishes, like fajitas are not bad in carbs, but the tortillas, beans, and rice will really slam you, so best to avoid going out unless you can say no to the side dishes and just make something at home.

Here’s a plug for my low carb LC15 cookbooklet, Mexican Food for a Low Carb Lifestyle. This booklet has over 15 recipes for tried and true Mexican or Tex-Mex dishes that will satisfy your need for spice. At only 99-cents, this will give you main courses and side dishes with easy to follow instructions. I didn’t go into the desserts but I do have a recipe for flan on this website .

As a reminder, if you’re looking for low carb flour tortillas, most stores carry La Tortilla Factory or Mission flour tortillas in the low carb version. These vary from 3 net carbs to 6 net carbs per tortilla, so be sure to check the package for the carb count. For corn tortillas, I haven’t found a low carb offering, but I do have this recipe that is similar, golden flax meal tortillas.

While a few of my recipes from the book are on this website, most of them are exclusive to the booklet. If you prefer a book you can take to the kitchen and scribble notes in, the booklet is included in the 3-in-1 paperback book with Breakfast Choices and Magic Muffins for just $4.99. You can buy it here.

image: Open pork taco with apricots

Grilled Pork and Apricot Tacos with Avocado Crema

Now, for a new recipe that I tried last week, here’s a very tasty pork taco with an apricot salsa. This can also be made with peaches. I settled on apricot because I had some in my freezer and I couldn’t find a ripe peach at the grocery store. Using fresh is better than a frozen fruit that doesn’t look quite as attractive, but it tasted very good.

1 large  (8 oz) boneless Pork Loin Chop, about 1/2 inch thick
1/2 tsp. Chipotle Powder
1/2 tsp. Cumin
1/4 tsp. Oregano
1/4 tsp. Garlic Powder
1/8 tsp. Coriander
1/8 tsp. Allspice
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Freshly ground Black Pepper
1 tbsp. Olive Oil, divided
1 Avocado, diced
1/4 cup Sour Cream
1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
1 Peach or 2 Apricots, chopped
1/2 Green Onion, finely sliced
Juice of 1 lime, divided
1 1/2 tbsp. freshly chopped Cilantro
1/2 tsp. Sugar Substitute
4 Low-carb Flour Tortillas
Cilantro leaves, for serving (optional)

In a large bowl, add chopped apricots or peaches, shallots, cilantro, sugar substitute, 1/2 the lime juice, and 1/2 tablespoon olive oil. Mix together well and season with salt and pepper to your taste. Cover and chill until ready to use.

In a big bowl, add chipotle powder, cumin, oregano, garlic powder, coriander, and allspice and salt and pepper. Mix all together, then add the pork and cover it the seasonings on both sides. Let sit while you mix the avocado crema.

Using your food processor, add the chopped avocado, sour cream, 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper, and the rest of the lime juice. Blend until it is smooth and creamy. Scrape down the sides with a silicone spatula if necessary. Set aside.

Grill pork chop on an outdoor grill or in your grill pan for three minutes. Turn to grill the back side for another two to three minutes until the pork is done. Let rest a few minutes, then slice thinly.

Heat the tortillas on the grill or in the grill pan until they are hot. You can also do this over an open gas flame allowing them to blister or bubble, then flipping to the other side. Top each tortilla with 1/4 of the avocado crema, then the pork, and top with the salsa.Garnish with cilantro if you wish.

Makes 4 tacos.

My picture at the top shows the taco with a scoop of riced turnips with green chile, corn, and beans. I’ll share that recipe next week.

Breads, Recipes

Celebrate Fall with a Plum Bread

Photo: Loaf of plum bread

This fall, a friend gifted us with some fruit from her garden. She included plums, not enough to make jam, but sufficient for a plum bread. So I found this recipe, which is versatile enough to substitute in nectarines or peaches. I adapted it to low carb and tried it out.

First, I didn’t put it in a bread pan big enough for the dough and foolishly poured it all in when I saw it was overfilled hoping it would rise to a nice tall loaf. Unfortunately, the batter wasn’t thick enough to stand on its own while it cooked, so it oozed over the side of the pan, as you can see from the photo.

However, the flavor is wonderful and eating lumps of it didn’t bother me at all. But for this recipe, use a standard-sized bread pan. This bread us very moist and can be a breakfast or dessert bread.

I use a mixture of low carb flours fours for my bread. In this case, I used Bakesquick for 1/2 cup of the flour, 1/4 cup CarbQuick, and 1/4 cup Almond Flour. If you use Coconut Flour, use 2 tablespoons for 1/4 cup of flour and add an extra egg or egg whites.

Photo: Slice of plum bread

Plum Cake

1 cup chopped Plums (Nectarines or Peaches can also be used)
1 1/2 cups Low Carb Flour
1/2 cup Butter
3/4 cup Sugar Substitute
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
2 Eggs
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Cream of Tartar
1/2 teaspoon Baking Soda
6 ounces Vanilla Low Carb yogurt

Preheat oven to 250 degrees (F.) Cut a parchment paper liner for the bottom of your loaf pan, spray with baking spray.

Remove the pits from the plums and chop them.

In a large bowl, use a mixer cream together butter, sugar, and vanilla. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat into the mixture.

In a separate bowl, add flour, salt, cream of tartar, and baking soda and stir together.

Add 1/2 of the yogurt to the butter mixture, then add 1/2 of the flour mixture. Repeat mixing in the remainder.

Stir in the chopped plums. Pour into your prepared loaf pan.

Bake for 50 to 55 minutes until the top is golden brown. Serve warm. Reheats easily in the microwave.

Makes 8 to 10 servings.

Nutrition information per serving (8 per loaf):
Calories:245 Fat:21.3 g Net Carbs: 6.2 g Protein:8.1 g

Nutrition information per serving (10 per loaf):
Calories:196 Fat:17.1 g Net Carbs: 5.0 g Protein: 6.5 g

If you try this recipe, please let me know how it turned out and how you liked it.

Desserts, Recipes

Fruit Cobblecakes are a Nice Change

We bought a bag of apples for the holidays and still had a few remaining toward the end of January, so I’ve been looking for recipes that use apples. I ran across one for an Apple Pudding and I tried it using low carb ingredients. It’s very good, but I wouldn’t call it a pudding. I’ve dubbed it a cobblecake because it’s more like a cobbler and cake combination.

It’s also a flexible recipe that you can easily substitute different fruit into it. So far, I’ve tried cherries as well as the apple version. But I’ve given you some other options like peaches and berries to try.

You can make it gluten-free by using almond flour, soy flour, or a gluten-free flour of choice. The only one I wouldn’t use is coconut flour, primarily because it won’t rise without an egg in the recipe. If you decide to try it, add 1/4 cup liquid egg whites and 1/4 cup coconut flour to replace the flour in order to get a puffy cake. The almond milk makes it a good choice if you’re lactose intolerant, although you can make it with cream or milk instead of almond milk if you prefer.

Apple Cobblecake
Apple Cobblecake

Basic Apple Cobblecake

1 cup Apple slices (about 1 medium apple)
1/2 teaspoon ground Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground Cloves
1 tablespoon Sugar-free Gingerbread syrup (optional)
1/4 cup Butter, melted
1/2 cup Sugar Substitute
1/2 cub Low Carb Flour
1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 cup Unsweetened Almond Milk or 1/4 cup Cream plus 1/4 cup Water

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Put the apple slices, cloves, and cinnamon into a microwave safe bowl and add syrup and mix. Microwave for 2 minutes.

In a bowl or the blender, mix the rest of the ingredients until they are completely blended and smooth.
Pour the batter into 1 quart casserole dish. Put the apples slices in the middle. Do not stir in.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the top is lightly browned. Let cool about 10 minutes and serve with whipped cream or low carb ice cream.

Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition Information per serving with almond milk:
Calories: 151 Fat: 13.4 g Net Carbs: 4.2 g Protein: 4.2 g

Nutrition Information per serving with cream:
Calories: 199 Fat: 18.6 g Net Carbs: 4.5 g Protein: 3.6 g

Peach Cobblecake

Use the same recipe, but use only 3/4 cup of peaches.

Nutrition Information per serving with almond milk
Calories: 154.5 Fat: 14.2 g Net Carbs: 3.9 g Protein: 2.7 g

Cherry Cobblecake with whipped topping. Photo at the top is the whole cake in a casserole dish.
Cherry Cobblecake with whipped topping. Photo at the top is the whole cake in a casserole dish.

Cherry Cobblecake

3/4 cup fresh or frozen Cherries (Cranberries or Blueberries)
1/4 cup Butter, melted
1/2 cup Sugar Substitute
1/2 cub Low Carb Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 cup Unsweetened Almond Milk or 1/4 cup Cream plus 1/4 cup Water
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract (for blueberries, try Almond Extract)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cut the cherries in halves or quarters and mircowave with a tablespoon of water for 1 minute to soften them.

In a bowl or the blender, mix the rest of the ingredients until they are completely blended and smooth.
Pour the batter into 1 quart casserole dish. Place the cherry pieces and any juice in the middle. Do not stir in.

Bake for 30 minutes or until the top is lightly browned. Let cool about 10 minutes and serve with whipped cream or low carb ice cream.

Makes 4 servings.

Cherry Cobblecake
Nutrition Information per serving with almond milk:
Calories: 159 Fat: 14.1 g Net Carbs: 4.7 g Protein:2.8 g

Cranberry Cobblecake
Nutrition Information per serving with almond milk:
Calories: 152.5 Fat: 14.1 g Net Carbs: 2.8 g Protein:2.6 g

Blueberry Cobblecake
Nutrition Information per serving with almond milk:
Calories:160.4 Fat: 14.1 g Net Carbs: 2.8 g Protein:2.6 g