Tag Archives: walnuts

Seafood, Vegetables & Salads

Changing Web Hosts & a Recipe

Avocado and Tuna Salad

Greetings everyone and Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

I just changed web hosts and finally moved Skinny Girl Bistro to its own domain name instead of bumming off my basic one. So the new place to find Skinny Girl Bistro is www.skinnygirlbistro.online. Could that be easier? I don’t think so. Please change your bookmarks to this new address.

Since the temperature is beginning to climb in various parts of the world, I thought a tasty salad recipe would be welcome about now. This one uses avocado along with apples, onions, celery, nuts and a tuna to make a delicious combination. You can also use chopped or shredded chicken in place of the tuna.

Tuna Salad with Avocado

1 ripe Haas Avocado
2 (5 ounce) cans or packets of flaked Light Tuna
½ medium Red Apple, chopped
½ cup chopped Red Onion
½ cup chopped Celery
¼ cup chopped toasted Walnuts or Pecans (optional)
2 tablespoons Mayonnaise
1 tablespoon sugar-free Sweet Pickle Juice
1 teaspoon dried Dill Weed (optional)
½ teaspoon Dijon Mustard
¼ teaspoon ground Cumin
Salt and Pepper to taste

Cut the avocado in half and use a spoon to scoop out the flesh into a large bowl. Mash the avocado with the back of a fork.

Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Adjust the salt and pepper to your own taste. Put in the refrigerator to chill for at least an hour to three hours. The longer it sits, the more the flavors will merge and increase the flavor.

Use a big scoop on top of lettuce for a tuna salad or put it on a low carb sandwich roll.

Makes about 6 servings.

Nutrition Information Avocado Tuna Salad

Desserts, Recipes

Low Carb Version of Hepburn’s Brownies

Recently, I saw a recipe from the New York Times that said it was Katherine Hepburn’s own for Brownies. It’s a simple recipe and I really wanted to try it, but I also needed to adapt it to low carb. It uses a lot of powdered chocolate and very little flour. I made it and it turns out well, with a rich dark chocolate flavor and a lot of nuts. I plan to make it again, but I am going to make a couple of changes so that it isn’t quite so dark chocolate-tasting as I prefer a lighter taste to my chocolate, being very fond of milk chocolate. When I do that, I’ll post the lighter version.

The best part of this recipe is that it is very low in effective carbs with only 1 net carb in each square. Without further fanfare, here is the low carb adapted recipe.

Low Carb Hepburn’s Brownies

1/2 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 stick Butter
2 Eggs
1 cup Sugar Substitute
1/4 cup Low Carb Flour
1 cup chopped Walnuts or Pecans
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
pinch of Salt

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees(F.)

Use a medium-sized heavy pot. Over low heat, melt the butter until it’s almost completely melted (or put this over a double boiler to avoid burning). Stir in the unsweetened cocoa powder until completely mixed in. Remove from the heat and let cool a few minutes.

Mix the flour, sugar substitute, salt and nuts together in a bowl.

Whisk the eggs into the chocolate mixture one at a time, blending each in well. The mixture will begin to thicken. Add the vanilla and stir it in, then add the flour and nut mixture and stir it in until it is completely blended.

Pour into a buttered (or cooking spray coated) 8×8-inch baking pan. Spread the batter so that it is even, then bake for 35 to 40 minutes. Do not overbake so that the brownies are gooey inside. Let cool completely, then cut into 16 2×2-inch squares.

Nutrition Information per square:
Calories: 122.5 Fat: 12.3 g Net Carbs: 1.0 g Protein: 2.3 g

Notes:  For the low carb flour you can use CarbQuick, LC Foods Cake Flour, Soy Flour or Almond Flour.  I personally don’t like the taste of Soy Flour, so I don’t use it, but if you don’t mind it, then it will work.

Regular Katherine Hepburn Brownies

For those of you who want the full sugar version, here’s the ingredient list and the instructions are the same:

1/2 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 stick Butter
2 Eggs
1 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Flour
1 cup chopped Walnuts or Pecans
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
pinch of Salt

Nutrition Information per square with regular sugar and flour:
Calories:170.5 Fat: 11.7 g Net Carbs: 15.2 g Protein: 2.7 g

Are you a Brownie fan?  (Isn’t everyone?)  Which do you prefer — dark chocolate or milk chocolate? Let me know in the comments and let me know how you like the recipe.