Oh my! Apple Pie!

Yes, that pie has real apples!  And it's low carb!  How can this be?  This has been an experiment.  I fermented apples in kefir whey, which uses up all the sugar in them.  Then I added my own spices and sweeteners to the sugarless apples.  I am glad to report I found a way to have my apple pie and eat it too!  YES!  I do miss apples. Especially in the Fall when all the best apples come out.  Around here there are lots of apple orchards, and friends with apple trees giving away yummy apples and I have to turn them away.  NO LONGER!

My experiment was a success as far as how this affects my blood sugar. Today I ate a piece.  Here were my results...
Before: 101 mg/dl
1 hr. after: 117 mg/dl
2 hrs. after: 100 mg/dl

My bg has been higher than I like lately because I've been fighting off first a UTI, and then a respiratory virus.  Everything has been raising me too high, so this was really good.

I will post the recipe as soon as I tweak it some.  The crust is made of almond flour with a small amount of coconut flour.  This pie was not sweet enough. I should have thought to use twice the amount of sweetener since the apples themselves were no longer sweet.  It has a nice unique flavor with the fermented apples.  People will ask you, "What is in that?"  Ha ha.  It can be your little secret.  The apples were crisper than normal in a pie, so I think I will slice them thinner next time, and perhaps cook them somewhat before adding to the pie.

I'm very very excited!  Apple pie, apple cake, apple crisp... all back in my life again!!!  I've done the zucchini pie, etc. and it is good, but it's not apples.  This is apples.

Orange Chicken and Broccoli

This is what we had last night.  It was a very simple dish.  I haven't been feeling too well since picking up a cold or flu virus this week. I've been thinking a lot about different orange dishes.  I've been dreaming about orange bread and orange cake, but then decided to do an orange chicken dish.  This turned out really good.  In fact my hubby informed me he wants this at least once a week now.

I guess the whole orange thing was because of a UTI I had for a couple weeks, and found out that soda pop was a big no no when you're trying to get over one.  I happened to have just bought a 12 pack of Diet Rite Pure Zero Tangerine soda.  I don't normally even drink soda. It's a very occasional thing for me to ever get some.  But since I really should not drink it, I was brainstorming how I could use it.  This was one way I used it.  But I still want to try an orange bread or cake or something!  That may be in the future.

ORANGE CHICKEN AND BROCCOLI

4 boneless skinless chicken breast halves

15 ounces  Diet Rite Pure Zero Tangerine Soda

1 teaspoon  garlic powder

1 teaspoon  onion powder

1/2 teaspoon  salt -- (or to taste)

1/8 teaspoon  pepper

                        Orange Sauce

Liquid from crockpot -- (all the soda and broth remaining when you remove the chicken)

2 1/2 tablespoons  soy sauce

1/4 cup  Brown Sugar Twin

liquid sucralose -- to equal 1/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon  apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon  grated orange peel

1/4 teaspoon  ginger

1 teaspoon  minced garlic

1/4 teaspoon  red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons  cornstarch (you can use small amount of xanthan gum for less carbs, if you like.  I happen to find the sliminess disgusting, and it takes away flavor.  I prefer the 4 g added carbs per serving.  I did not experiment with xanthan gum so I don't know what amount would work.  Start out very small, 1/8 tsp. and go from there.) 

                            

14 ounces  frozen broccoli flowerets -- steamed lightly, about 7 minutes.

Place chicken breasts in crockpot.  Sprinkle all with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and onion powder. Pour soda over all. Cover and cook on high for 2 to 3 hours.

Remove chicken from crockpot and cut into strips or chunks.  Pour all liquid into medium saucepan and place chicken back into crockpot to keep warm.  

In saucepan with liquid, add soy sauce, Brown Sugar Twin, liquid sucralose, apple cider vinegar, orang peel, ginger, and minced garlic.  Bring to a boil. 

Mix cornstarch into 1/4 cup cold water and pour into hot liquid while whisking.  Stir and simmer until mixture is thickened.  (If using xanthan gum you'll need to sprinkle it in gradually and whisk vigorously.  If you end up with lumps, just place in a bullet blender and blend and add back to pan.)

Mix steamed broccoli and chicken pieces together and pour sauce over all and toss together.  Serve with cauli-rice if desired.

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4 Servings/Per Serving: 188 Calories; 2g Fat (8.8% calories from fat); 31g Protein; 12g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber/9 g net carbs

VALENTINE'S DAY CHOCOLATE FUDGE, LC, GF

Need a great low carb treat idea for someone special for Valentine's day?  This is a simple recipe for fudge.  Using my sweetened condensed milk substitute, this came out very rich, chocolatey and wonderful!  It is not a hard fudge.  It's soft and has to be refrigerated, but it's fudge, trust me!  And it tastes like fudge.

I made this in a heart shaped cake pan, and used parchment paper in the bottom thinking I could scrape around the edges after it chilled and turn it out on a plate, but that did not work.  So skip the parchment paper if you're wanting to do that.  It would have been better to line my pan with saran wrap perhaps, and then be able to lift it out.  But it was nice in the pan.  It still tasted great!

Decorate yours with some low carb icing to write on it that romantic message to your low carbing loved one you want to impress.

VALENTINE'S DAY CHOCOLATE FUDGE

Sweetened Condensed Milk Substitute (for 1-14 oz. can)
2  cans Nestle Table Cream (Nestle Media Crema-Mexican section of Walmart)
1/2 cup xylitol or powdered erythritol (granular will make it come out grainy)
12 packets Truvia

3  squares  unsweetened baking chocolate -- (3 oz)
1/4 cup  coconut oil
8 drops  liquid sucralose -- (to equal 1/4 cup Splenda Granular) (optional, for greater sweetness)
1 teaspoon  vanilla extract

Spray 8 x 8-inch square pan (or heart shaped cake pan) with non-stick cooking spray.

In a medium heavy sauce pan, mix sweetened condensed milk substitute, unsweetened chocolate, coconut oil, and liquid sucralose, if using (if you want it sweeter).  Stir constantly and bring to boil.  Stir in vanilla. Turn heat to simmer and stir for 1 minute more until smooth, creamy, and thick.

Pour into pan and cool.  Refrigerate.  It should be completely chilled before eating. This is a soft fudge.  Store in refrigerator.
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16 Servings/Per Serving: 145 Calories; 13g Fat (77.1% calories from fat); 1g Protein; 8g Carbohydrate; 7g Dietary Fiber

NOTES : 1 g net carbs per piece

Kale Chips - OH MY!

These were surprisingly and incredibly delicious!  This is not my creation, it is from a youtube channel I discovered of Dani Spies.  I don't know all that much else about her or what she's about, but I am really glad to find her video on Kale Chips.  I'll probably do some more checking out of her stuff.

Here's mine this morning that I made for a potluck.  It drew a lot of attention and several asked for the recipe, which I printed out and brought with me, cuz I knew people would be curious.

What an incredibly health snack! What a great way to get your veggies, your calcium, your omega 3s, and all the other goodness you get from kale!  Next time I will make bigger pieces, however, because they shrink quite a bit when they come out of the oven. They are crunchy, they are salty, they have that taste and feel you look for in a salty type snack.  They are easy to make.

So here is Dani's video that I know you'll all love and you'll want to do this, even if you never have eaten kale before, which I never did.  Oh well, I think I tried it once in a salad and spit it out and threw it away.  But I loved this!

Mini Flourless Chocolate Cake

This was a spur of the moment result of a chocolate craving.  I think I've had too many good low carb sweets lately with all my experimenting and creating and probably need to lay off the desserts!  But this was my last indulgence before I got back to some strict carb counting ok?  It is flourless... that is no nut flours, coconut flours, or any flours.  The only "flour" is the cocoa.  It's soft and very cake-like.  It's very chocolate.  I don't think I had enough sweetener in it though, so I think next time I make it I'll add a couple more packets of Truvia or some erythritol. In the recipe I have the amount I used, so you may want to taste the batter and sweeten to your taste.  It was more semi-sweet.  

In the middle I have Walden Farms caramel syrup.  I liked it, but next time I think I might try it with a peanut butter filling.  I actually made it in my microwaveable egg muffin container.  It worked perfectly.  Just the right size and shape.  You can get them at Walmart.  

Well, I've learned that when I have any cravings, it's usually because I've been eating too many carbs and too many sweets, even though they are sugar-free sweets.  So I know craving sweets is something I'm going to have to withdraw myself from for a time.  When I'm staying in my carb count, I do not get hungry, I do not crave anything, and I don't gain weight.  I've been over-doing the low carb foods and desserts lately and not counting actually how many carbs I'm eating at each meal, not to mention desserts and snacks! Every since Christmas I guess.  I need to back off for a time!  But Valentine's day is coming!  I have a fudge video to make!  Oh me oh my!  Ok, after my fudge video I'm done. 

MINI FLOURLESS CHOCOLATE CAKE                      

1/4  cup  cocoa powder

1/4  teaspoon  baking powder

1/8  teaspoon  salt

6  packets  Truvia (or 1/4 cup equivilant)

1  large  egg

1  tablespoon  vanilla flavored sugar free syrup -- (Torani or DaVinci)

1  tablespoon  coconut oil -- melted

                        Glaze

2  tablespoons  heavy cream

2  packets  Truvia

2  squares  Lindt 85% Cocoa bar -- chopped, *see Note

1  tablespoon  Walden Farms caramel sauce

In a small bowl, such as a cereal bowl, mix together cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and Truvia.  Make a well in the middle and add egg, vanilla syrup, and melted coconut oil. Stir together.

Place in microwave on high for approximately 1 minute and 40 seconds, time will vary according to your microwave.  Make sure it is cooked in the middle on the bottom to be done.  

Glaze:  Place heavy cream and Truvia in a small microwave container and microwave for 20 seconds or until it starts to boil.  Place chopped chocolate in cream and stir continuously until melted and thickens.  It will not get real thick. It will be like a hot fudge icecream topping.  

When cake is cooled, with a sharp sarated knife slice in half to make two layers.  On the bottom layer spread 1 to 2 tbsp of caramel sauce.  Place top layer on top and pour the chocolate glaze over all spreading around the sides.  Yeah, it's sloppy but oh so good!  I had some of the glaze left over.  I didn't need it all.  

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2 Servings/Per Serving: 229 Calories; 21g Fat (73.2% calories from fat); 7g Protein; 10g Carbohydrate; 5g Dietary Fiber  (5 g. net carbs)

*NOTE : Lindt 85% cocoa bar does not contain any gluten products but Lindt states that though they use the most stringent cleaning methods their products are made on the same product line as those containing malt barley.  Because of this they cannot guarantee their chocolate is gluten free.  

Triglycerides in Women and Stroke Risk

Thought this article was interesting this morning from Science Daily:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/02/120202164536.htm

Postmenopausal women may be at higher risk of having a stroke than they think. A new study by researchers at NYU Langone Medical Center and colleagues found that traditional risk factors for stroke -- such as high cholesterol -- are not as accurate at predicting risk in postmenopausal women as previously thought. Instead, researchers say doctors should refocus their attention on triglyceride levels to determine which women are at highest risk of suffering a devastating and potentially fatal cardiovascular event.

Worth reading the whole article.  One thing that happened to me since I began low carbing is that my triglycerides went way down and my HDL went way up.  My LDL was too high (according to medical standards) but when I pressed the doctor about what kind my LDL was she told me my small particle LDL was very good.  In spite of this she wanted me on cholesterol lowering drugs.  No thank you!  I think my cholesterol is just fine thank you, and I don't need to take something that has the potential to cause dementia, muscle damage, liver damage, etc. just so my numbers can look good in their records.

There is so much misinformation out there regarding this stuff!  Do your research people!  If all you have for information is what you see in the news media, that's not going to help you.

Chicken Coconut Flour Pizza Crust

Pizza pizza pizza, we all love pizza!  In my family we do.  We have to have pizza.  For every type of diet I've ever been on in my life, I have always come up with a way to have my pizza.  Life just is not fun without pizza.  I tried another way to have a low carb, gluten free pizza crust that turned out to be pretty good.  I usually made myself a low carb pizza and a regular wheat crust for my family, since they so far have not joined me on my low carb journey.  But when I made this one I made it for all of us, and they loved it.  So it is non-low carb, gluten loving people approved, just so ya know.

unbaked crust

baked crust

finished product

I've made a chicken crusted pizza a couple different ways in the past, but this one was different.  It was made with canned chicken, precooked. Very simple to do if you have a food processor.

CHICKEN COCONUT FLOUR PIZZA CRUST                      

25 ounces  valley Fresh 100% Natural Chicken Breast -- (2 12.5 oz cans)
2  tablespoons  coconut flour
4  large  eggs
2  tablespoons  kefir  (or cream)
1  teaspoon  garlic powder
1  teaspoon  onion powder
1  teaspoon  italian seasoning

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Place chicken, coconut flour, eggs, kefir, garlic powder, onion powder, and Italian seasoning in food processor.  Process until well purreed.

Place parchment paper on two 12-inch pizza pans.  Spray with non-stick cooking spray.  Spread half of chicken mixture onto each pan.  This is easiest if you spray a piece of plastic wrap with non-stick spray and place on top and spread with your hands.

Bake for 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and spread toppings of your choice on crust.  Bake for another 15 to 20 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.

Yield:
  "2 pizzas"
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16 Servings/Per Serving: 79 Calories; 3g Fat (35.5% calories from fat); 11g Protein; 1g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber;