Thursday, August 30, 2012

Chinese "Take-out" Night

Tonight I made Faux Fried Rice and Orange Chicken.  Both from Kent Altena, who has Youtube videos and his recipes are in Low-Carbing Among Friends.  I cooked the cauliflower (rice) way too long, and it mushed down way too small, so once I added in the soy sauce, it was way too salty.  I think it would have tasted exactly like fried rice, if I would not have cooked it too long.  The Orange Chicken, was AWESOME!  I even loved the chicken "nuggets" by themselves even without the Orange sauce.  This made a TON of chicken.  It was delicous.  The Orange chicken will definately be a staple.  I can't wait to try other sauces with the chicken!!


UPDATE:  I had the leftover chicken nuggets for lunch today, cold out of the fridge, and OMG they reminded me of my grandma's homemade leftover friend chicken I used to eat straight out of the fridnge too!!  These are so good!!!  I think I might start living off of them, and the different variations I can make with them!  :-)  YUM!

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Pumpkin Spice Loaf

YUM! YUM! YUM!  This was so good!  This is another recipe from Jennifer Eloff, her Pumpkin Spice Loaf.  It is really good!  I didn't even make the cream cheese icing for it.  I heat up the slices and put some butter on them, so good.

Pecan Turtle Bars

I tried another desert recipe from Low Carb-ing Among Friends.  It was called Pecan Turtle Bars.  There were several layers, a shortbread type crust, then pecans and a caramel, then topped with chocolate.  I didn't really care for it.  It was quite crumbly and hard, but the taste had a bite to it that I did not like.  I'm thinking it might have been all the erithrytol in it.  I don't think I'll be making this one again.


Saturday, August 25, 2012

Carrot Cake - Yes, Low carb

So, I'm in heaven.  I found an amazing carrot cake recipe.  It's again from Jennifer Eloff at Splendid Low-Carbing.  She calls it a Carrot Cake Loaf.  I doubled the recipe for the icing, added .5 more carbs per slice.  I also used Ideal sweetner instead of Splenda.  This was SOOOOO good!  There was no way you could tell this was low carb!  AMAZING!




The dark spots are the walnuts...YUM!  I did those instead of raisins, because raisins add more carbs, and I can't stand them in baked goods.  :-)

Friday, August 24, 2012

Chris' Stir Fry

My friend, and fellow low carber Chris created a yummy new recipe.  Wal-Mart sells a frozen Philly Cheesesteak.  It comes in beef, pork and chicken.  This is what he used for the meat.

4 frozen Philly Cheesesteaks
butter
olive oil or coconut oil
one onion, sliced
one red bell pepper, sliced
4 cloves of garlic
2 shakes chinese 5 spice
4 Tbs dried basil
2 tsp soy sauce
salt and pepper to taste

Put the cheesesteaks in a pan and grill them until they are done.  Remove them from the pan and set aside.

In the same pan melt some butter and oil (olive or coconut).  Then add the garlic and saute.  Next add the onions and bell peppers and let them saute until the onions start to become translucent.  Then add back in the cheesesteak meat (you may want to chop it up some before adding it in).  Add the chinese 5 spice, basil soy sauce, salt, pepper and mix. 



This is so yummy!  I ate mine out of the bowl by itself.  Chris buttered up some sandwich bread (another recipe I wrote about on this blog) and fried it and ate it with his.  This is definately something I'll make again!

Ideal Sweetner

I finally found a sweetner that I really like in coffee.  I was using the DaVinci syrups but the Splenda just doesn't sit right in my stomach.  I then tried several different kinds of Stevia...but didn't really care for them.  I then found Ideal at my HEB Kingwood Market.  It is so good!!  It's a blend of Xylitol, Dextrose with Maltodextrin and sucralose.  It's only got .3 gms net carbs per packet.  LOVE IT!  I plan on trying it in some recipes soon to see how it does there.

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Breakfast Bonanza Muffins

Today's recipe was Breakfast Bonanza Muffins.  This recipe is again from my Low Carb-ing Among Friends cookbook.  I used a smoked sausage, which was a little strong, think I'll use another type of sausage next time, but these are good.  My kids like them, so thats all I need!  And at 2 carbs a peice, they are filling, yummy and really low in carbs!  It made a great lunch today, tomorrow it will be a good breakfast.  I'll have to see how they reheat!


Sunday, August 19, 2012

Dia De Los Muertos Mannequin

Here is the pic of my mannequin that I did last year for Halloween.

Halloween Mantle 2011

So, it's already feeling like fall to me, so I've been thinking about my Halloween decorations for this year.  I always go ALL OUT for decorating.  I fill every window in the front of my house with Jack-o-laterns and have full size props of a witch, butler and vampire that I put into a display in my dining room.  Last year I turned a mannequin of mine into a Dia De Los Muertos mannequin.  I'll post some other pics up as I find them.  Here was my mantle.

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Almond Chocolate Donuts

Another day, another donut recipe. :-)  Today it's Almond Chocolate Donuts.  It's another recipe out of Low Carb-ing Among Friends cookbook.  I really like this one.  My kids were not fond of it.  I love all the almond flavor, a friend of mine wished it had more chocolate flavor to the glaze instead of almond flavor.  I used a Lindt 85% bar because I didn't have any unsweet chocolate.  My donut pan must be a different size than the normal.  It was supposed to make 10, but I made 12.  I think this one might be a keeper! 


UPDATE:  These donuts were not good after they were first made.   It seems the almond extract became really strong and gave it an almost medicine taste.  The consistency seemed to dry out too.  I will not be making these again.  I did like the glaze, will try putting that on maybe a bundt cake recipe (minus the almond extract), once I find a good one to try.

Friday, August 17, 2012

Mini Coconut Donuts

OK...so, still on a donut kick.  I purchased a new food processor today and while I was at the store, picked up a mini donut pan and a regular donut pan.  So, I thought I'd whip up a quick batch from one of my many recipes I've got bookmarked.  The ones I chose to make tonight were called Mini Coconut Donuts.  I got the recipe out of my recipe book "Low Carb-ing with Friends".  They were definately coconut-y and they took a while to grow on me.  They are not going to be a staple in my "go to list", but they were ok.

Monday, August 13, 2012

Low Carb Donut Holes / Funnel Cake

I found this recipe for low carb donut holes.  First off I got the oil too hot because I did not have a candy thermometer to judge the oil temperature (need to get one).  I used coconut oil to fry these in and it started smoking because I got it too hot.  Secondly, I could not find a way to drop the whole blob down in one scoop so that it would look like a donut hole.  So mine ended up looking more like funnel cake or squid!  The ones that weren't burnt ended up tasting REALLY good!!  I need to try this one again one day with the proper oil temperature and a better way to drop the balls of dough or a better way to make funnel cake.  I ate all the good peices before I remembered to take a picture, so you get to see the burnt ones!  Here is the recipe I tried:  Low Carb Donuts

Low Carb Brownie Search

I was having some serious chocolate cravings and decided to search for a low carb brownie recipe.  I found a ton of them.  It was hard to decide which one I wanted to try first.  After reading some good recommendations, I decided to make this one:  Low Carb Chocolate Brownies    I used erythritol and xylitol  instead of Splenda.  It ended up being too sweet for me.  Maybe I got the wrong porportions for the different sugars.

Sandwich Bread

I've tried a couple of different low carb sandwich breads that I've ordered online, and I don't care for them.  I spent some time this weekend browsing the web and came up with one I made.  It was pretty easy to make, even though I did not have a food processor (need to get one of those).  I omitted the parmesan cheese though.  I think it turned out good, I'm not sure I love the cheese flavor of it, but I tried it on a Turkey and Cheddar sandwich and it was good.  The next morning tried it toasted in  pan with butter and a bacon and egg sandwich.  I'm not sure it worked as well with that one.  I'll keep trying it though, as it made plenty of bread (30 slices)!  Splendid Low Carb Sandwich Bread







Amazing Low Carb Donuts!

Last week, I found some delicious looking low carb chocolate donuts on Etsy.  They were AMAZING!  So yummy, and filling!  I'm in breakfast heaven.  :-)  ShannonsSugarFree  Can't wait to try some of her other baked goods.