Lemon Caper Chicken

Lemon Caper Chicken

This is a great simple recipe that tastes like something more complex.  I used to make this one back in my carb-etarian days but used white flour back then.  If you aren't familiar, capers are yummy little tang/vinegar fun balls.  Yup, I just wrote "fun balls" and I'm not going to change it.  If you don't have both almond and coconut flours, use whatever low carb flour you have and it will taste just fine.  I prefer the combo because coconut flour gives you the closest texture to white flour, however it sucks all of the moisture out of whatever you are cooking so a mix yields the best results in my opinion.

5 STARS
2 servings
3.6 net carbs per serving

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 TBSP almond flour
1 TBSP coconut flour
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp parsley
1/4 tsp seasoned salt
pepper to taste
1 egg
2 TBSP olive oil (or oil of choice)
1 TBSP fresh lemon juice (about 1 medium lemon)
2 tsp jarred capers
1/3 cup chicken broth
1/8 tsp guar gum (optional)

Cut each chicken breast in half horizontally so you have 2 thin cutlets from each breast.  On a plate, combine almond flour, coconut flour, paprika, parsley, seasoned salt and pepper.  Mix together.  On a separate plate, scramble egg.  Preheat a skillet with oil over medium-high heat.  Dip chicken in egg then dredge through flour mixture, making sure to cover both sides with mixture.  Cook chicken for about 4-5 minutes per side.  Once chicken is cooked through, remove from pan and plate.  Add lemon juice, capers and chicken broth to the same pan.  Stir sauce, making sure to scrape all of the yummy browned bits left over from cooking chicken.  Once heated through, pour over chicken on each plate.  Sauce is very thin.  If you prefer to thicken a bit, add the guar gum, stirring constantly.

Crockpot Tangy Pork Roast

Crockpot Tangy Pork Roast

Great recipe.  I would say that this could be good enough for company, even carb-etarian company!  I've made this twice, once with 1/4 cup Splenda (subbing for the sugar called for in the ORIGINAL RECIPE) and the second time without any Splenda at all.  The entire family agreed that the sweetness was a bit odd with the rest of the flavors so I would recommend not using any sweetener or just a pinch to cut through the tang of the red wine vinegar.  I'm writing it below without any sweetener as I thought that had the best flavor.  The original recipe also called for a bit of ketchup but I used a tomato paste that had no added sugars.  You could also use the Heinz Less Sugar Ketchup.  Whichever you have on hand.

5 STARS
6 servings (original said 8 but 6 is more realistic)
2.3 net carbs per serving

1 onion, sliced
2 1/2 pound boneless pork roast
1/2 cup hot water
3 TBSP red wine vinegar
2 TBSP soy sauce
1 TBSP less sugar ketchup (or no sugar added tomato paste)
1/2 tbsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic powder
a few dashes of hot pepper sauce (tabasco or tapatio, etc)
1 tsp of guar gum (optional to thicken sauce at end)

Arrange the onion slices evenly over the bottom of the crockpot. Place the roast on top of the onion.  In a bowl, mix together water, vinegar, soy sauce, ketchup, black pepper, salt, garlic powder, and hot sauce.  Pour mixture over roast.  Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 3-4 hours.  If you want to thicken the sauce, remove and plate the roast and onions.  With the sauce still in the crockpot, sprinkle guar gum on sauce and stir.  Guar gum creates a bit of a jell-like sauce, not creamy so be aware of the texture, as you can see in my photo.  Pour sauce over roast and onions.

Low-Carbing Among Friends volume 3!

Ooohhh, looky look what came in the mail today!  I have two recipes in this awesome compilation from some of the top low-carb bloggers.  Order your copy of Low-Carbing Among Friends volume 3 now!  http://amongfriends.us/preorder.php

Laughing Cow Creamed Spinach

Laughing Cow Creamed Spinach

It's no secret that I like to use Laughing Cow spread wedges to make creamy sauces.  Just type Laughing Cow into the search box on the top right of my page and you'll see all the yummy sauces I've made with these magic wedges!  I've already posted a creamed spinach recipe as SOUR CREAM SPINACH but this one is made with my beloved Laughing Cow so I figured there's room for two on my blog.  I made it with half of an onion, which I thought was too much so I've written the recipe to only be 1/4 of an onion.  This was very creamy so if you like the taste of the spinach to shine through, you might want to reduce the Laughing Cow wedges from 4 to 2 or 3.  This was super simple to prepare, tasted great and the Hubs enjoyed so this was a winner all around!

4 STARS
2 servings
4.4 net carbs per serving

1 TBSP butter
1/4 onion, chopped
4 Laughing Cow wedges of any savory flavor (I used garlic & herb)
6 ounces fresh spinach
1 tsp red wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Melt butter in large skillet over medium.  Saute chopped onion until translucent and soft.  Add Laughing Cow wedges and break them up, smash and stir them until melted (at this point is will look like a train wreck glob and you will think I'm crazy but just trust me, it will melt down to a sauce).  Add the spinach.  Once it starts wilting and breaking down (just a minute or two), add the red wine vinegar, salt and pepper.  Stir and mix until spinach is wilted to the consistency you like and the Laughing Cow is fully mixed through (usually just 3 or 4 minutes). *INDUCTION FRIENDLY*

Atkins Crustless Chicken Pot Pie Review

Atkins Crustless Chicken Pot Pie

click to enlarge

My Super Walmart FINALLY put these little gems in the freezer section.  So let's start with the obvious.  It does not look like the photo.  That's pretty normal for frozen meals so it wasn't much of a shock.  They are 5 net carbs for 9 ounces.  That's fairly large for a frozen meal, most of the low calories frozen meals are closer to 6 or 7 ounces.  I had this for lunch and it didn't have me stuffed but it satisfied me until time for an afternoon snack.  Now on to the important stuff, the taste.  This tasted good!  The chicken was pretty decent (I don't like the quality of the chicken in some brands of low calorie frozen meals), the veggies were plentiful and the sauce was great!  I don't think it really tasted like a pot pie but if you ignore the name of it, then it was very good.  The price point is higher than the low calorie frozen dinners (I think I paid $3.89) but you can't complain considering us low carbers finally have frozen dinners again!

4 STARS
1 serving
5 net carbs per serving

Caribbean Baked Fish

Caribbean Baked Fish

Oh my this was good!  I will certainly be making this one again.  I also can't wait to try it with chicken.  Yum!    This was super easy to make and had lots of flavor.  You just mix the ingredients together for the sauce and pour it over the fish.  Ta-da!

5 STARS
2 servings
4.3 net carbs per serving

juice of 1 lime
1/2 cup coconut milk
2 TBSP tomato paste
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
salt to taste
2 4-5 ounce white fish fillets (tilapia, catfish, swai, etc)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Lightly grease baking dish (with oil or nonstick spray).  Rinse fish and pat dry.  Place fish in baking dish.  In a separate bowl, mix all other ingredients until thoroughly combined and tomato paste is broken down.  Pour over fish.  Bake for 18-20 minutes.  Plate fish and pour extra sauce in baking dish over plated fish.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Shake

Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Shake

So good and so easy!  I've had one of these every day for the last week or so.  I almost never do that as I'm pretty adventurous with food and love to try different things.  The taste will vary and the carb count will vary depending on your brand of chocolate protein powder.  Just try to find the lowest carb one you can.  I buy mine at Walmart and is 2 net carbs per scoop.  You can reduce the carb count in the recipe pretty easily by using only 1 scoop of protein powder.

5 STARS
1 serving
7 net carbs per serving

ice (4 or 5 ice cubes)
1/2 cup unsweetened chocolate almond milk
1/2 cup water
2 scoops chocolate low carb protein powder
1 TBSP natural peanut butter (ingredients should only be peanut butter and salt)

Throw it all into a Magic Bullet or whatever blending device you have and blend for 30 seconds or so.