The Holidaze

So, the holidays are approaching, traditionally one of the hardest times of the year to stick to my commitments to my low carb lifestyle. Oh weakness...all those holiday treats and goodies...these couple of months seem absolutely wrapped around food! I try to remember what it's really about, though, family and friends...the warmth and appreciation of the holiday spirit. To make it through, I make sure I have plenty of things that I CAN eat around, things that I like and consider special. I often bring my own treats to parties and get togethers...to make sure that there's something around that I can treat myself to, and to share with others (nothing like a really great tasting low carb treat to bring my friends and family around to my side of the nutrition table!)

So first we face thanksgiving. Traditionally not too bad, but then you come to the mashed potatoes, candied sweet potatoes, breads, rolls, stuffing and pumpkin pie! Well, I've got some tricks up my sleeves to get us all through it, and I'm sharing a couple of my secret weapons!

Turkey, a perfectly fine no-carb protein, but my favorite recipe was a basting sauce that included apricot or peach preserves and Kahlua. Yes, the sugary liqueur. Trust me, this was so delicious, and it made the gravy unbelievable. Okay, so not so hard to replicate...try this basted on your turkey this year and you'll never go back! (If you're not sure you want to commit to experimenting for the 'big dinner', try it basting a roasted chicken and cutting the recipe in half or a quarter)

Bridget's Favorite Poultry Baste
Whip up in the blender:
1 cup (4 sticks) melted butter
1/2 cup sugar free apricot or peach preserves (preferably no maltitol, I like the new Polaner Sugar Free with Fiber, or Walden Farms)
1 tablespoon instant coffee
1/4 cup DaVinci's Kahlua flavored syrup* (available at Netrition.com and CarbSmart)
*Alternatively you can use 1/4 cup chocolate syrup, like Hershey's or Walden Farms and and extra tablespoon of instant coffee

That said, another one of my favorites at Tgiving is stuffing...carby stuff for sure, but I've done it a couple of years in a row for clients the low carb way. The key is to make a stuffing that starts with some low carb bread crumbs (toast your favorite low carb slices, then tear or cut it up into cubes, (I like King Sooper's Carb Helper or Orowheat Light 100% Whole Wheat), chicken broth, poultry seasoning, salt and pepper...and then add a 'kitchen sink' full of good low carb stuff to fill it out. If you use some bastings from your turkey instead of standard chicken broth it'll be even better. Here are some of my favorite things to 'fill out' the stuffing: Sauteed mushrooms (the wilder, the better), artichoke hearts, sliced/chopped olives, bamboo shoots, water chestnuts, diced chayote, onions, leeks...you get the idea...you could even do some diced zucchini or chopped cauliflower in there. This is really too good to save just for thanksgiving...bake some up and freeze it for whenever!

Next post: solving the potato dilemma.

Busy Week! (and a recipe)

So it's been a really busy week, trying to get the Low Carb Lifestyle Meetup up and running. I'm really excited to have worked out a partnership with the Low Carb Cravings market in Centennial CO http://www.lowcarbcravings.com to invite their customers to join our support group. So...a trip to office depot and 200 postcards later, we're getting off some snail mail invites as well as the emails owner Sharyn will be sending. Hopefully this will boost membership so we can do more events! I'd like to get to the point where we're offering something, a meeting, mixer, cooking lesson, etc., once a week. Right now we've got a base of members, but not everyone's active...I've tried everything to get some of these folks to respond...geez, just email me back to be removed from the group or remove yourself if you don't want to play...but knowing that you're causing an effort and not having the courtesy to respond one way or another is just disrespectful to the rest of us...okay, done with rant. Anyway, I was supposed to leave for Aspen today, got another good cooking gig for a vacation rental...$16.5 mil house, so the kitchen's REALLY nice...but I-70's been closed all day...very non-productive. I'll have to high-tail it there in the morning hoping it's clear. Gave me a chance to post some more good articles on the Meetup site http://atkinsdiet.meetup.com/173/ in the files section...and a low, low carb pancake recipe. Check it out, just go to the meetup site and hit the files section...Laura Dolson from http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/ is one of my favorite authorities and source for great info, so there's lots of goodies there from her site and others. Speaking of Laura, she actually saw a post of mine on a community board and wrote to me...i was so flattered and thrilled. Okay, enough rambling, here's a good recipe as a thank you for reading this far!

Bridget's Exotic Moroccan Chicken Salad

-30 oz chicken (canned, leftover or pickup roasted)
-1.5 tsp curry powder (or your choice of curry paste, check carb count,adjust to taste)
-3 T unsweetened coconut milk
-2 T splenda (or equiv. alt. sweetener)
-1/3 cup low carb ranch dressing (Ken’s Steakhouse Ranch = 1 carb per 2 T)
-1/3 cup chopped sweet bell pepper
-1/3 cup chopped green beans
-1/8 cup chopped blanched almonds (or sliced)
-1 T no-sugar/low carb apricot preserves (optional)

Roughly chop chicken. In a separate bowl, mix curry with coconut milk, splenda, ranch dressing and preserves. Add dressing mix to chicken and toss with vegetables. Refrigerate before serving over greens. Recipe yields 17.5 grams carbohydrate in the whole batch, ind. serving count varies with number of servings (Tip: leave out the apricot preserves for a total savings of 5 grams carb.)

Butter Cookie Recipe

So today was our first Meetup...a luncheon for members of our Low Carb Lifestyle Meetup. I met two great people...Mary (who's lost 150 lbs in 2 years) and Tony (who eats low carb so he can enjoy the foods he loves without gaining weight). The lunch was really fun...it's so great to be able to connect with people who are passionate and love food as much as I do. We shared a lot of hints, tips, and coping strategies, as well as re-affirmed our beliefs in the lifestyle. Such interesting people with so much to offer...I think we're all looking forward to getting together more often in the future! See here http://atkinsdiet.meetup.com/173/ for info on our Denver area Meetup. I also gave attendees a little Valentine's Day prezzie...some of my famous butter cookies, some spiced snack chips made from low carb wraps and my favorite Dove low carb chocolates. I'm including my butter cookie recipe here for anyone to try, I'm constantly trying new things in the kitchen, and perfecting the perfect low carb cookie is a lifetime pursuit...these ones are good!

Bridget's Budda Cookies
1/2 c. butter, softened
4 oz. full fat cream cheese or ricotta
1/4 c. splenda or liquid sweetener equivilent
1/2 c. vanilla soy protein powder (available at Whole foods or GNC, check label for sugar additives, should have 0 carbs)
1 egg
1/2 c. almond meal/flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp xanthum gum (binder/thickener available at whole foods or on line)

Chocolate topping:Melt your favorite low-carb chocolate bar (i like Dove individual meltaways in regular, mint or raspberry chocolate flavor) and drizzle on top of cookies, or dip tops of cookies in melted mixture. Melt chocolate bars in the microwave on half power for 1 minute at a time until soft and "stir-able". Add appropriate carb counts for the type and quantity of chocolate you use...a little goes a long way flavor-wise.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream butter and cream cheese or ricotta with splenda. Add beaten egg to butter mixture and combine well until light. Sift together protein powder, almond meal baking powder and xanthum gum...sift well to distribute/combine evenly, then mix into butter/egg batter. Roll small portions of dough into balls, then "squish" flat onto baking sheet with your thumb (you can press in a whole almond, pecan or walnut now to decorate/flavor). Alternatively, you can use a pastry bag and large tip to pipe out shapes, or a cookie press with this dough. Cookies do not rise or spread, so they can be placed close, and the shape will remain the same once baked. Bake until lightly browning (start checking after 12 minutes) cookies will remain firm, but soft. Storage in an airtight container will make cookies soft, open air storage keeps them crispier. Yields approx. 2.5 doz. cookies 1.5 inches in diameter or so. Recipe without additions yields a total of 20.5 grams of carb, calculate individual servings according to portion size.

'Caulimash' Cauliflower Puree Recipe

I thought it would be appropriate to make my first entry one of my favorite recipes...cauliflower puree (I call this Caulimash, since it tastes so much like mashed potatoes!). Once you've tried this, you'll forget all about mashed potatoes...I don't even crave them anymore! Vegetable purees are a great way to add variety to your sides, try adding different spices and flavors to some old standards like squash, eggplant, zucchini, etc...try experimenting with different combinations and tastes! Cream cheese, butter, sour cream, or ricotta adds "mouthfeel" that makes the puree taste smoother and "richer". It's up to you to figure out how much, if any, of these you prefer and/or fit into your nutritional plan...enjoy!

Cauliflower Puree - makes approx. 6 half-cup servings

1 head fresh cauliflower or 1 large bag frozen

2 oz butter

2 cloves fresh garlic chopped fine or 1 teaspoon from jar

2 green onions chopped fine, white and light green parts only

2 oz cream cheese, softened

Salt and pepper to taste

Steam cauliflower until very tender (stovetop or microwave). Chop cauliflower into small pieces, using only florets and upper parts of stems, set aside. Melt 1 Tbl butter and saute garlic and onions until browning, but not burnt. Add garlic/onion saute, remaining butter, and cream cheese to warm cauliflower. Whip in blender, standing or hand mixer, or immersion blender (my preference) until smooth. Add additional butter, salt and pepper to taste. Experiment with different flavors, adding some chopped bacon and shredded cheddar at the finish is a great option with barbecue!