Low Carb Chicken Divan is Comfort Food at it's Finest!

You know that good home cooked comfort food that is associated with your childhood and brings back nostagia from days gone by?  Yup!  This is one of those recipes!

I've revamped this recipe from Paula Deen's and removed the high carb canned soups and bread crumbs replacing it with healthier dairy.  Who needs processed foods anyway?
My husband absolutely loved this and it will be a permanent fixture    
 3 pounds boneless chicken thighs, baked and cut into bite sized pieces   (I use the frozen bag from Kroger)  2 pkgs frozen broccoli (approximately 10 ounces each) thawed
1 cup mayonaise
1 cup sour cream  1 cup heavy whipping cream 1 teaspoon season salt  1/2 teaspoon cajun seasoning 1 teaspoon mustard 8 ounces grated shredded cheddar (swiss would be great!) 
2 Tbsp butter 1 cup Parmesan Cheese (canned)   
Grease 13 by 9 Glass Pyrex pan and preheat oven to 350 degrees Spread broccoli on bottom of pan.   Top with cubed chicken.   Whisk together mayo, sour cream, heavy whipping cream, mustard and spices. Pour sauce over chicken and spread out as evenly as possible.   Top with grated cheese.
Mix together butter and parmesan cheese and sprinkle on top of cheese.  
Bake 45 minutes or until bubbly and top is nice and brown.
Let sit for 10 minutes before serving!   I hope you enjoy this!  
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Have a Lovely Day!  

Cheesy Cauliflower Cups

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Grease your muffin tins well and for best results line them with parchment paper.  

One Cauliflower, riced 

1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese 

2 Tbsp softened butter (not melted) 

2 large egg yolks

1/4 cup almond flour

1 tsp Korean Chili Powder

(reduce the amount if you are using ordinary chili powder or add to taste) 

1 tsp Cajun or Creole seasoning

8 ounces grated pepper jack cheese 

My cauliflower measured out to a bit over 4 cups.  

(if you're not sure how to rice a cauliflower click HERE)

Combine cauliflower, butter, egg yolks, parmesan cheese and almond flour till well mixed.  If you are using larger eggs you might have to add some more parmesan cheese so the dough isn't to wet.  

Divide 'dough' between 12 muffin tins.  

Press down and make a well in the center with a spoon or a measuring spoon.  

Bake at 350 for 20ish minutes or until nice and golden brown.  

Add shredded cheese and return to oven to melt.  

These are very delicate.  I used a knife to remove carefully. 

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Have a Lovely Day!!!

How to 'Rice' Cauliflower

A staple ingredient in low carb eating is cauliflower.  

There are great things that can be done with it and it's the base for many delish dishes such as Cauliflower Fried Rice (pictured below)

and Cauliflower Bread. (also pictured below)

 If truth be told, ricing a cauliflower can be a little messy, but it's worth it for the healthy (and tasty) results)

So without furthur adieu...

Break your cauliflower apart and cut of the hard stems.

Throw them in your food processor and pulse till they are a rice like texture.  You probably will have to remove the larger pieces and throw them in the next batch. 

The pieces will be smaller than rice.

Place in large glass bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place in the microwave for 5 minutes.  

Voilla!  Riced Cauliflower! 

Now you can sneak some veggies into your dinner without anyone being the wiser!

A quick video of how I rice cauliflower.  Turn down the volume since it does get quite loud when I turn on my mini food processor.  

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Flaxseed Wraps

Every so often I want to jump up and down in excitement and thank fellow bloggers, online recipe originators and low carbers for the wonderful work they do in sharing.  It is incredibly awesome!  I belive in giving credit where credit is due, and I believe this recipe originated in the book Wheat Belly.  I found it over at Spark People.  

The ingredients are minimal and there is no need to turn on your oven since these are cooked in the microwave.  They are quick to make, dense, heavy, and hold up to the folding of a wrap.   For those that are cutting carbs it's absolutely great! 

3 Tbsp flaxseed 

1/4 tsp baking powder 

1 Tbsp Coconut Oil 

1 egg 

1 Tbsp water

Salt and Pepper Grinder

(Pam spray or oil) 

Mix together, flaxseed and baking powder in bowl, mixing till baking powder is well distributed.  In seperate bowl mix together coconut oil, egg and water.  Add wet ingredients to dry and stir together with a whisk.  (If you don't mix it well enough you'll get some eggy spots as you can see)  

Grease a regular dinner plate with Pam spray and spread batter on plate.  

Microwave for 2 minutes and check doneness in center.  Microwave as needed till done.  

I hope you enjoy this as much as I have! 

 If you'd like to try another low carb bread substitution click on over to my post on Oopsie Bread.  

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Have a Lovely Day!!!

The Country Cook

Chic on a Shoestring Decorating

Low Carb Chili

With the leaves turning color and the colder weather upon us, it's the perfect time to make a big pot of chili!  

This recipe came from a super guy, Michael,

 who straight talked me into controlling my diabetes by diet and gave me the tools to make it happen.   I'm grateful for his inspiration and advice! 

 I've tweaked it a bit by adding olives in place of the traditional beans used in chili.  

Even my carbivore husband loved this!   It's going on my menu for next week.  Again!  

Low Carb  Chili

2 lbs ground beef
10 green onion stalks, choped
2 cloves garlic, minced
5 teaspoons chili powder
3 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon paprika
2 teaspoons salt
8 oz can of no-sugar added tomato sauce
4 tomato sauce cans water 2 cans black olives, drained and cut them in half

Brown ground beef, onion, and garlic in a large pot. Drain well.
Add chili powder, cumin, cayenne, paprika, salt, tomato sauce, black olives and 2 cups of water.
Bring to a boil then turn the heat down to a low simmer
Cover and simmer.  Since we aren't using any flour for a thickener, we're relying on the liquids reducing and thickening naturally.  When your chili starts getting a bit dry add the third cup of water and simmer that down.  You'll want to simmer, add and reduce until you've used your 4 cups of liquid and the chili is your desired.  I simmered for a few hours.

Per Serving:
5g carbs, 18g fat, 25g protein, 283 calories Your macros will vary according to ingredients used.
Note: I had to add quite a bit more seasonings for my taste buds.  I also added quite a few whole peppercorns.    My secret ingredient was adding 2 chipotle peppers (canned at 1 carb each)  to give it a smoky flavor.
These little gems are SOOOO good!  

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Rasberry Hot Breakfast Cereal~ Low Carb and Grain Free

Remember those sweet little packets of Oatmeal that were so handy and good?  This rivals those!

I was trying to convert an ordinary muffin recipe to Low Carb and made a mistake... and this was the result.

The fact that it is grain free and won't spike your blood sugar is another reason you have to give this as shot.

1 Tbsp Butter
4 Tbsp Almond Flour
2 Tbsp Heavy Whipping Cream
2 Tbsp Water
2 Fresh Rasberries, cut in small pieces

Place butter in your mug and heat in microwave till barely melted.  

Add almond flour, heavy whipping cream water and raspberries.

Heat in microwave till bubbly. 

Add sweetener of your choice.  

You can reduce water to 1 Tbsp if you prefer a thicker cereal.

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Super Yummy Dreamsicle Floats!

Orange and Cream. 

Could there be a better combination?

I think not!  

And when you know how easy it is, you'll wonder why you didn't think of it.

I know~  because I wondered the very same thing!

Enter Diet Sunkist and Heavy Whipping Cream! 

The perfect pair!

Simply fill up your glass with some Orange Sunkist (or Crush) and 

add a Tablespoon or two of Heavy Whipping Cream

Give it a stir... and Voila... you have a wonderful dreamsicle float!  

This is perfect for Autumn or a wonderful Hot Weather Treat!     

Yum Yum!   If you'd like to get updates from my facebook page please click HERE to follow and get notifications.  I'd love to hear from you here on the blog as well so please leave a comment!

Have a Lovely Day!!!

         

Cinnamon Caramel Pound Cake- Low Carb and No Grain

This is super good.  

Did I mention that this is good?  Oh yeah,  I did!!!

I can't get over how wonderful this is!  

And the fact that it's no grain makes it a wonderful choice for those on a low carb diet and/or controlling their blood sugar.  

The cinnamon and caramel syrup really push this over the top!  

And how yummy is this for the upcoming fall weather?  

I hope you enjoy this as much as we did!  

So, without further delay...

2 1/2 cups almond flour 

 2 tsp baking powder 

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 

6 ounces cream cheese, room temperature

8 Tablespoons butter, room temperature-  do not melt

1 1/2 cup baking sweetener

8 eggs 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 Tbsp Torani Caramel Syrup

In large bowl mix together almond flour, baking powder and cinnamon.  Set aside.

Blend the cream cheese and butter till nice and well incorporated.  Add the sweetener and mix well.  Add eggs and mix well.  

Add extract and Torani Caramel Syrup

Mix in dry ingredients till blended.

Pour batter into 2 greased loaf pans.  

Bake at preheated 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes, till toothpick comes out clean.  

Let cool on rack.

My loaf didn't rise and I'm positive the culprit is the almond flour being used in place of regular flour.  I can assure you that even though the loaf is flat, it still is incredibly awesome.  My husband kept pilfering slices of this when I wasn't looking.

Sunday morning breakfast was topped with homemade low carb cinnamon pound cake and was absolutely delish!   (recipe for the yogurt is forthcoming)

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Have a Lovely Day!!!

Low Carb and Grain Free Fried Biscuits

I had a recipe written on a piece of paper that had some chord progressions sitting on the church piano for quite a while.  It was a nameless recipe back from my carbivore days.   I'd play the progressions here and there and suddenly the light bulb went on as I looked at that recipe.  It seemed to me that it was a recipe for hush puppies or something similar since it had cornmeal and a bit of flour in it.
I took a picture of it with determination to use it as inspiration.
And the result?  No grain, no gluten, and low carb fried biscuits!

The ingredients are simple and you probably already have them on hand if you are eating Low Carb.   You have no idea how giddy I was at the result of these!

1 cup Almond Flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 medium egg
1-2 Tbsp heavy whipping cream dash of salt

Place almond flour in bowl and make sure there are no clumps.   Add baking powder and egg and mix just till blended.
Add 1-2 Tablespoons of Heavy Whipping Cream , and mix, being careful not to overmix or add too much liquid.   It needs a soft hand and over mixing will make them tough.

Roll dough into walnut sized patties in your hand and flatten to about 1/4 inch thick.  Fry in hot oil till golden brown and both sides, nice and crispy on the outside and done in the center.   
Little delectable fried biscuits! 

The carb content per biscuit is 5 carbs but might vary depending on the ingredients you choose.

Happy Eating Lovelies!
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Grain Free/Low Carb Pumpkin Bread

I must admit, this pumpkin bread was pleasantly surprising!  It looks great, tastes great and is really moist!  When recipes are converted to low carb it's hard to find a bread substitute that looks and tastes like the real thing.  This is the exception!

Pumpkin Bread

1 cup pumpkin (I used Libby's) 

1 cup baking Splenda (I'd like to try a different sweetener in the future)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt 

5 eggs

1 1/4 cup of almond flour

Mix together pumpkin, Splenda, extract and eggs in large mixing bowl.  

In seperate bowl stir together cinnamon, salt and almond flour.

Whisk dry ingredients into wet ingredients until mixed together.  

Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees for one hour or until toothpick inserted in middle of loaf comes out clean. 

12 servings  This is super good slathered in butter and cream cheese.  It would be super drizzled with some caramel flavored Toriani syrup.  Another super idea to make it more 'traditional' would be to add a few chopped macadamia nuts or almonds to give it some crunch in each bite.  

Even my carbivore hubby said this was good!

Plain and Fresh out of the oven~ 

 Slathered in Cream Cheese~

Oozing in butter~ (my preferred choice)

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Have a Lovely Day!!!

Spinach Pizza

My BFF made this recipe up and it's an awesome substitute for pizza crust.  Best of all, it only takes a few minutes to throw together. 1 can of spinach, drained and squeezed of water
1 egg
1/2 cup of Parmesan Cheese (I used the green can)  1 Tbsp Almond Flour

Various toppings that strike your fancy such as pepperoni, sausage, olives,  peppers, etc.

Make sure your spinach is as dry as possible. I squeezed mine against/through a wire/mesh sieve multiple times and then squeezed it with my hands until no water came out.

Add the remaining ingredients and form into a ball.   Press onto parchment paper as even as possible.   Bake at 350 for 10 minutes or until crispy and golden on the edges.  You can continue cooking if you want it more crispy.  Remove from oven and add cheese and toppings.  Return to oven until cheese is melted.

I did not use any sauce on my pizza but I'm sure this would be WONDERFUL with an alfredo base!

Macros for the crust alone.   Your toppings will alter the macro count and will vary depending on the toppings used. 

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Have a Lovely Day!!!