Some Recipies

I promised I would share some of my favorite recipes. I will continue to post these from time to time. For today's post I will just share one recipe per meal. I have gathered these from various cookbooks, websites and other blogs.

Starting with the most important meal, dessert!

Dessert:
Gelatin and Whip Cream
Most commercially prepared gelatin products are sweetened with sugar or aspartame so you have to be a little creative. I make my own using a recipe I found on low carb friends

3 packages unsweetened gelatin (like knox)
1 or 2 pkgs Kool aid
4 cups water
1 cup splenda

boil 2 cups of the water
Combine the other 2 cups with the kool aid and Splenda.
sprinkle gelatin over top and allow to bloom
stir this mixture and then add in boiling water and mix until gelatin is fully dissolved.
Add in sweetener
Pour into containers and put into fridge to set

While gelatin is setting mix up some Heavy Whipping Cream with some splenda to taste. I use about 1 package for every 1/2 cup of cream.

You can either stir this into the unset gelatin to make fluffy gelatin or you can wait and let the gelatin set all the way and then cut into pieces and stir in some of the cream.

I often mix up enough cream for a few days worth and then just add a few tablespoons per about a cup of gelatin.

Carb breakdown:
The gelatin has 24 grams carbs (from the splenda)
The whipped topping has 3.3 grams carbs per cub and .9 carbs for each package of splenda.

This amount of desert makes enough for about 12 servings so the breakdown would be
24 from splenda in gelatin
3.3 from cream
1.8 from 2 packages splenda per cup whipped topping
---
29.1 total / 12 servings for 2.45 carbs each.


Breakfast:
My favorite breakfast so far has to be Ricotta Pancakes. This may sound really weird but believe me they are very delicious. My dear husband is not on the program with me but he even loves these.

You will find this listed on many low carb websites, cookbooks etc so I don't know where this originally came from. I don't even know where I originally got it from.

2 tablespoons ricotta cheese
1 egg
1 splash vanilla
1 dash cinnamon
1 package xylitol, stevia or splenda

Mix making sure to get it all blended really well and then cook in pan on stove just like you would a pancake.

It is thinner than a traditional pancake, sort of like a cross between a crepe and a pancake but there is no flour in it at all. And the cinnamon and vanilla make it a really sweet treat.

Carb Analysis:;
I posted this on RecipeZaar (http://www.recipezaar.com/ricotta-cheese-pancakes-387597) so that they could help calculate the carb count for me.
They came back with 1.5 carbs per serving and 2 total servings for this recipe.  That is about right when you consider that an egg has 1.5 carbs, splenda has .9 so the rest is from the 2T of ricotta. 


Lunch
I usually cook something for dinner and the leftovers becomes my lunch. I don't really think of a segregation between the two meals.

I often prepare this on the weekend and then have this during the week several days for lunch.

Easy Grilled Chicken
This is from Sugar Free Sheila http://sugarfreesheila.com/ which is a FANTASTIC resource for low carb or sugar free recipes and other resources.
1 bag of boneless chicken breasts
Poor in 2 bottles of low carb beer*
Marinate for 2 days
Season to taste**
Bake in oven 350 for 1 hour.

You will have a whole bunch of fantastic chicken that you can eat for dinner or lunch for the next week or so.

*I use Michelob Ultra but this website has carb counts: http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art14302.asp)

**I usually do every breast different. Last night I did 2 with Greek seasoning, one smokey paprika, two with chicken rub, one cayenne, one jerk, you get the idea.

Carb Breakdown:
5.2 Carbs total (from the beer) so < 1 carb per serving.  

Dinner:

This is an old family recipe that was off limits for most other diets I have been on. I was surprised and delighted to find it was allowed. Now it isn't smart to eat this type of meats (pastrami, bacon etc) often due to other health issues but this is okay every few months.

I call this Stuffed Chicken from Heaven.

Ingredients
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1 (8 ounce) container sour cream
1 (11 1/2 ounce) can cream of mushroom soup (or chicken, broccoli, etc any cream soup will work)
1/4 lb pastrami (from deli works best but packaged is okay in a pinch)
1/4 lb corned beef (from deli works best but packaged is okay in a pinch)
16 ounces mozzarella cheese
12 ounces turkey bacon (you can use real bacon if you prefer but it will make the saucing greasier and not as thick)

Directions
Coat 9 1/2 x 13 baking pan (glass is best) with cooking spray.
Measure out 4 slices of pastrami and 4 slices of corned beef. Cut each of these in half (for new total of 8 slices) and set aside.
Line bottom of baking pan with remaining sliced meat.
Mix sour cream and soup together.
Slice cheese in about 1/4 inch slices. (Note, string cheese also works and saves on having to cut cheese).
Place chicken on cutting board and put plastic wrap over top and then pound chicken flat. (Note; If you don't have a mallet, you can use a heavy pan.).
Cut each pounded chicken breasts into 2 pieces.

Assembly:
1 piece of chicken.
top with 1 piece of cut pastrami.
top with 1 piece of cut corned beef.
top with mozzarella cheese piece.
Roll into a tight ball.
Wrap each chicken roll with a slice of bacon and secure closed with a toothpick.
Place rolls in baking dish on top of leftover deli meats.
Repeat for remaining 7 pieces of chicken.
Top with sour cream/soup mixture.
Bake at 350°F for 1 hour.

This has 6 carbs per serving but can be made lower if you don't use the soup.

I hope you enjoyed these recipes.  From time to time I will post more of the ones I have enjoyed.