Recommended: Mark Bittman's Roasted Chicken Parts

This recipe is a winner. You get crispy, golden skin and a wonderful flavor. Here is his recipe:

http://markbittman.com/recipe/roast-chicken-parts-with-olive-oil-or-butter/

Now for my comments.

I've tried it with butter and with olive oil. Most recently, I used a combination I have, saved from previous oven fried chicken batches. I started with grape seed oil, but with each iteration, the chicken has added its own fat to the mix. I strain it and refrigerate it in a covered container between uses. I couldn't taste the butter when I used it, so why waste that lovely stuff?

Now, as for those fresh herbs he calls for, I don't usually have them around. I've been using Paula Deen's House Seasoning instead. Today I tried that, plus a good sprinkle of Penzey's Mural of Flavor, a salt-free seasoning I like. The result was really good.

And I usually use a nice, cheap package of chicken thighs.

Try this recipe, and let me know what you do, and how you liked it. I'm always up for a new twist on an old favorite.

Bacon and Egg Quiche

Quick, easy, low carb, and delicious. Good for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. What more could you ask for?

I made this with cheddar cheese, and I didn't measure the bacon or the cheese. (I was using up leftovers.) I think I may have added more of both than called for. Baked in a 10" pie pan, we took it out after 25 minutes, and it was already borderline overcooked. I think 20 minutes might have been better. Since I made virtually no changes, here is the site I found it at:

http://www.food.com/recipe/low-carb-bacon-and-egg-quiche-256210

Basic Hamburger Stir Fry

I adapted this recipe from one that called for steak. My budget runs more toward the hamburger end of things, and this allows me to splurge on the grass fed beef my doctor prefers for me. I love that this recipe is very flexible. Use whatever LC vegetables tickle your fancy, or whatever is on sale. It should turn out great, regardless. I limit the amount of vegetables to cater to my digestion. If you can handle more, and can afford the carbs, pile them on!

Ingredients:

1 lb. grass fed ground beef, or lean meat of your choice
1T. light olive oil, or other good oil
1/2 medium onion, quartered and sliced
2-4 cloves garlic, minced
4 oz. mushrooms of your choice, cleaned and sliced
1 1/2 to 2 cups pea pods or other low carb vegetable(s), cut to whatever size you prefer

Sauce:
1/2 c. low sodium soy sauce
1/2 c. dry sherry
1/4 t. powdered ginger
4 drops EZ-Sweetz = about 4 t. equivalent sweetener - substitute at will
1 t. Thick-It-Up Low Carb Food Thickener

Stir together soy sauce, sherry, ginger and thickener.

Brown meat in oil in a large skillet or wok. Add onions, garlic, and pea pods and stir fry a few minutes. Add mushroom slices. Stir sauce mixture one more time, and add to pan. Cook until the vegetables are done to your liking.

That's it! Serve and enjoy.

Note: I don't know how many carbs to count for the sherry. I am assuming that since it is dry, and most of the alcohol cooks off, there aren't too many by the time it hits the plate.

My Go-To Chopped Salad

I learned this basic Technique from Adelle Davis in Let's Cook It Right. She recommended that we quickly toss our salad in oil to stop oxidation and loss of nutrients. It doesn't take much if you are watching calories; you just toss it a few more times to make sure it all gets coated. then you add your vinegar or lemon juice and seasonings and toss again. You basically are making your dressing right in the bowl while minimizing vitamin content loss. Pretty clever! I have done my salads this way since the 1970's. I have settled on olive or other good oil plus red wine vinegar and garlic salt to taste. That combination makes me happy. As for you, the sky's the limit! Experiment. No two salads need to be the same. Mine never are.

These days, I love a good chopped salad that has everything BUT lettuce or other greens. That way, leftovers don't get limp and soggy. You can always add greens right before serving if you want them. Here's what I do.

Chopped "Kitchen Sink" Salad

Chop up a selection of low carb vegetables. Add oil early on and toss periodically if you want to maximize nutrient protection. Here is a list of possibilities to get you started.

celery
a small amount of carrot
cucumber
fennel
jicama
mushrooms
peppers, green or colored (red peppers have twice the vitamin C of green peppers)
radishes
kohlrabi
sweet onion
tomato
snow peas
cauliflower
broccoli stalks or florets
cabbage
bok choy

For a what I call a hearty salad, a complete meal in a bowl, add some proteins in any combination

meats - ham, chicken, turkey, beef, tuna, crab, shrimp, leftover steak, etc.
cheeses - cheddar, Swiss, colby-jack, feta, etc.
chopped up hard boiled eggs

Toss with oil, then the acid of your choice as described above. I wonder how lime juice would do?

Make your salad more interesting by adding

olives
artichoke hearts
water chestnuts
a few nuts or seeds
crumbled bacon
herbs you like
a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese

If you can afford the carbs, try adding a little chopped apple or pear to the mix. My husband loves it this way.

Season to taste with salt and pepper or Mrs. Dash or whatever you like. Toss gain thoroughly and enjoy.

I make this in big batches and happily eat this on two or three successive days. The veggies just get more marinated with time.

For Liverwurst Lovers Only!

My devious mother kept serving me liverwurst until I learned to like it. It was many years later that she admitted to me that she, herself, didn't care for the stuff! Well, I learned to love it so much that in junior high, I invented the liverwurst and dill pickle sandwich, a combination I still adore to this day. I remember taking it for lunch for about three weeks straight, and getting my mom to buy me kosher baby dills. Or was it Polish baby dills? Whichever it was, they were nice and crunchy.

I recently tried this and another spread recipe in an attempt to find more low carb ways to enjoy liverwurst. This one was by far the winner in my opinion. I thought we had sugar free pickle relish in the pantry, but apparently I was mistaken. So what could I do but turn to my old friends, the crunchy little baby dills. My intent was to stuff it into celery ribs, but I ended up eating it straight up with a spoon over a number of days.

Here is the original recipe. Just substitute the dill for the (sugar free) sweet pickles or relish to try it my way. When I get the sweet relish, I'll make a batch and let you know what I think.

POOR MAN'S LIVER PATE, low carb version

1/2 lb. liverwurst (chunk) (you might want to leave it out to soften or nuke it briefly) 3 tbsp. chopped (sugar free) sweet pickles or relish (or dill baby gherkins, finely diced) 1/4 c. chopped onions 1/4 c. salad dressing or mayonnaise (I used Duke's mayo, which is made w/o sugar) 2 tsp. prepared mustard 3/4 tsp. Worcestershire sauce 1/2 tsp. Tabasco sauce Season to taste with salt. Mix into ball and chill thoroughly. Take out 1/2 hour before serving. Serves 6 to 8.

 adapted from http://www.cooks.com/recipe/kt0fc9cs/poor-mans-liver-pate.html

Addendum:
Okay, I made this recipe as written, using sweet onion and sugar free relish. Admittedly, I didn't measure, just assembled it by eye, but my eye is pretty good after 50 years of cooking! I find it too sweet for my taste.

It's still surprisingly good, and many people may prefer it with the sweet relish, but next time I make it, I'll start with about a tablespoon of the relish, see how I like it, and go from there.

I will say that after all this time eating low carb, my taste buds are extremely sensitive to sweetness. I can taste it in certain brands of mayonnaise, and most recently, I tasted it the first time I made this (with the dill pickles). Why? It was in the Worcestershire sauce! I checked the label, and there it was.

Once I get the sweet relish ratio right and satisfy myself about that, I suspect I'll go for the dill pickle version most of the time. Either way, though, it's good stuff.

Low Carb Pork Chops with Creamy Vegetable Sauce

I recently invented this, and we loved it.  This is how I made it.

Ingredients

4 pork chops
Paula Deen's House Seasoning, or your favorite seasoned salt to taste
4 T. butter

I medium onion, quartered and thinly sliced
1 cup red radishes, diced
about 6 baby carrots, sliced thin (adds a little color)
1.5 cups celery, sliced thin (include the leaves if you have some, for extra flavor)
2-3 cloves garlic, minced (adjust to your taste, more or less)

1/2-1 cup half & half or cream (I had some half & half to use up)
3/4- 1 t. chicken base
1 pinch savory
1 pinch thyme
salt and pepper or seasoned salt if needed, to taste

Season chops and cook in butter in a large skillet that will hold the vegetables in the next step.
Remove when nearly done, set aside.

On medium-high heat, add onion, sliced vegetables and garlic to butter in pan. Stir often, and scrape the brown goodness off of the bottom of the pan when and as you can. Add half & half or cream and chicken base. Stir to dissolve the base and add the savory and thyme. Add pork chops if they need more time, and let it cook down, stirring, until a little sauce remains and has thickened a bit. No other thickener is needed. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. If you didn't add the chops earlier, add them now and allow them to reheat before serving.

Note: You want the radish cubes to be thoroughly cooked so they lose their radish "bite." When they do, they make a pretty passable substitute for little red potatoes.

Eggplant Lasagna, Low Carb Tomato-Meat Sauce

These two recipes were so good, I didn't have to tweak them at all. So in all fairness, I need to send you to the site they came from. They are worth the trip: delicious, satisfying, they store well in the refrigerator or freezer, and reheat like a dream.

Yes, they involve a little more investment of your time, but you get enough leftovers and eating satisfaction to more than make it worth your while. I did the sauce and baked the eggplant slices on one day, and mixed the cheese and assembled the lasagna on the next. I have enjoyed it every time, and so has my non-low carb husband.

Eggplant Lasgana:
http://peaceloveandlowcarb.com/2013/09/eggplant-lasagna-with-meat-sauce.html

Low Carb Tomato Meat Sauce:
http://peaceloveandlowcarb.com/2013/05/tomato-meat-sauce-recipe-and-my-new-spirelli-spiral-slicer-low-carb-paleo-gluten-free.html

Like Flavor in Your Water?

If you are the one of many who find it easier to drink your water if it has a little flavor to it, check out the products by Stur. It's a liquid you can squirt into your beverage, but the great thing is, it is all natural, made with natural fruit flavors, color from fruit and vegetable juices, and sweetened with stevia.

And it's a family business, which I love to support. There are several varieties for you to check out. Here are a few for starters:



Try it and see what you think. I don't use it a lot, as I generally like my water or seltzer plain, but there are times when it makes whatever I am stirring into my water easier to swallow. I came across it pretty much by accident, so I thought I'd get the word out about this healthier alternative to the better known water flavoring drops.

Gay’s Low Carb New England Clam Chowder

This is an approximation, based on the chowder my mom used to make, though she used salt pork. And potatoes, of course! The radishes make a pretty darn good substitute. They lose their bite when cooked long enough.

I usually use the huge can of clams from the warehouse store and make enough for several meals. It stores well in the refrigerator for several days.

Ingredients 

1-2 T. bacon grease (Or cut up some bacon into small pieces and fry it, remove from fat and reserve to add later. Don’t have bacon? Use butter. My mom used a piece of salt pork.)

½ cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped celery

½ cup zucchini or yellow summer squash, cubed

¾ cup radishes, cut into small pieces

¼ c. carrots, optional but add some nice color

1 clove garlic, minced or pressed

Paula Deen’s HouseSeasoning, or salt and pepper to taste

3 cans clams, 6.5 oz. each, juices drained and reserved

1 cup heavy cream, light cream, or half and half  (approximation)

Directions 

Saute the vegetables in the bacon grease or butter until almost tender. Season as you go with Paula or salt and pepper.

Open the cans of clams and add the clam juice. Simmer until the vegetables are done.

Add the clams and the cream or half and half. Stir in bacon if you have it. Taste and adjust seasonings. Don’t cook it further, just heat gently and serve when hot.

Item Recommendation:

I have two of these now: One to store bacon grease for future use, and one to store and reuse the mixture of grapeseed oil and chicken fat from my weekly batch of baked or oven-fried chicken thighs. The built-in strainer is a wonderful feature, and they fit nicely in the refrigerator. Very convenient and easy to use, and so much better than the old cans I made do with for years! It's a nice little item I am glad I acquired.

Baked Sour Cream Chicken

Makes about 8 servings

Ingredients:

8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs or breasts
salt & pepper (or Paula Deen's House Seasoning, or your favorite seasoned salt or salt substitute)
1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

Sauce Ingredients:

1 can cream of chicken soup (see below for a low carb version you can make)
1 cup sour cream
1/2 cup regular mayonnaise

1 T onion powder
1 T poultry seasoning
1 T fresh lemon juice (or equivalent True Lemon powder)
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350F/175C. Trim all visible fat and unwanted parts from chicken, then cut each into bite sized pieces.

Spray 9 x 13 inch glass or crockery casserole dish with nonstick spray and arrange chicken pieces in a single layer. Season chicken to taste.

Combine the cream of chicken soup, sour cream,  mayo, onion powder, poultry seasoning, lemon juice, and 1 cup of grated cheese to make the sauce. Spread sauce mixture over the chicken, cover the pan with foil or a tight-fitting lid, and bake 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, use a fork to separate the chicken pieces so the sauce runs down between them, cover again, and bake for about 20 minutes more.

Then remove the foil, top with 1/2 cup reserved cheese and bake 15-20 minutes more, until cheese is melted and top is slightly browned. (You can use the broiler if you want to speed it up a little, but watch it carefully!)

Serve over cabbage noodles, spaghetti squash, French cut green beans, or another low carb vegetable of your choice.

Adapted by Gay Griffin from a recipe at KalynsKitchen.com.

Cream of Chicken Condensed Soup

makes a little over a cup, equivalent to one can of soup

3 tablespoons butter
½ t. Dixie Carb Counters Thick It Up Thickener
¾ cup chicken stock (or water with chicken base or bouillon)
¼ cup heavy cream = 1.68 g.
Salt and pepper 

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Whisk the thickener into the liquids then add to the pan. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick. 

Remove from heat and season to taste with salt and pepper and any herbs you might like.

Muffin in a Minute: Cinnamon Flax Meal Muffin

I find many flax meal muffin in a minute recipes to be dry.  Most recipes only call for 1 teaspoon of butter, but encourage slathering butter on the muffin afterwards.  That seems to defeat the purpose of having a nice moist muffin.  I have solved that problem by increasing the butter to a whole tablespoon.  Beyond making the muffin nice and moist, it is easy to precut a stick of butter into tablespoon sized servings for future use.

I know that a full teaspoon of cinnamon seems like a lot, but it isn't too strong and helps add flavor to the flax.  The cinnamon flavor reminds me of the Lotus brand Biscoff cookie.  Biscoff is a European cookie that is delicious, but not very sweet.  They are great with coffee or tea.  Even my coworkers find them addicting.  Unfortunately, they are high in carbs!  I am hoping to create a low carb baked good that I can use as a substitute.

Muffin in a Minute: Cinnamon Flax Meal Muffin

Number of Servings: 1

Ingredients
3 Tbs. (1/4 cup) Flax seed meal
1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Splenda or sweetener of your choice
1 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
1 large egg
1 Tbs. Salted Butter

In a mug or small bowl  (a 1 cup sized bowl works perfectly), add the 1 Tbs. of butter and melt it in the microwave.  The time will differ with the strength of your microwave.  I have a 1200 watt machine, so it usually takes 20-30 seconds.

While the butter is being melted, put all the dry ingredients in a small bowl and stir together.
Make sure to break up any Baking Powder clumps.

Add the egg to the melted butter and stir together.  Next, add your dry ingredients and stir until the mixture is moist.  Microwave for 1 minute.

This makes a good sized muffin that is tasty and moist.  Enjoy!

Nutrition Info:
Calories 281
Fat 23.6 grams
Carbs 9.3 grams
Fiber 7.2 grams        Net Carbs 2.1 grams
Protein 10.6 grams

Swill

This is really good stuff. It's kind of like a deconstructed cabbage roll without the rice. Fiddle with the seasonings as you like. I'm sorry I don't have a source for the recipe I adapted this from. Swill is what their family called it! 

1 lb ground beef

1/2 lb bacon, cut into small pieces

1 28oz can diced tomatoes with liquid or stewed tomatoes, chopped up (original author said you can reduce this to 14 oz. for induction)

1/2 medium head of cabbage

salt & pepper to taste (or Paula Deen’s House Seasoning)

1/2 t. onion powder

1/2 t. garlic powder (or use garlic salt as part of your salt and pepper mix)

1/2 t. crumbled rosemary 

1/2 t. marjoram

a little sweetener to take the acidic edge off of the tomatoes 

Brown the ground beef and bacon in a large pot or dutch oven. Sprinkle with salt, pepper & onion powder and herbs. Cut up the cabbage and spread the pieces over the ground beef.  Pour the tomatoes with the liquid over the top of everything. Cover the pot and bring to a boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for 45 min. to an hour. Give it a stir to mix everything together then simmer uncovered for 15-30 minutes more. The cabbage should be tender. 

6 servings approx 2 cups each

9 carbs

3 fiber

6 net carbs

with 15 oz can of tomatoes

7 carbs

2 fiber

5 net carbs

 
_________________

Useful Site for Printable Low Carb Lists

I'll make this short and sweet. Check out this site. I have found it very useful.

http://lowcarbediem.com/

That's it!

Where Have You Been All My Life?

This may sound crazy, but when I got this tool last January and tried it out, that is exactly what I said.  "Where have you been all my life?'

The picture looks so...unprepossessing...that I had my doubts when I ordered it, but once I used it, and saw how it worked and why it was designed that way, I was sold. It has been my go-to utensil for breaking up and browning ground beef, sausage, etc. ever since.

So take my word for this: If you cook ground meat, you want one! I only regret the years I spent making family meals without this baby. It makes the job of breaking up the clumps of meat so much easier! (Lisa, would you like one for Christmas?)

Kathryn's Amazing White Clam Sauce (for pasta)

My mom made this once in a while during my childhood. I don't know where she found the recipe; I have never seen a similar one anywhere. All I can say is, she never made it often enough! It is that amazingly good. This goes back way before microwave ovens, so we melted the cream cheese in a pot over low heat on the stove. Nowadays, the microwave can make it even faster and easier. 

8 ounces cream cheese

1-2 cans clams depending on how thick you want it (my mom just used one, a neighbor liked it better with two)

1 pinch basil

Melt the cream cheese, slowly add clam juice and stir until smooth, add clams and basil and heat gently.  Serve over your choice of low carb pasta substitutes. 

I recently discovered kelp noodles, and want to try this on them some time soon. When I know more about them, I will post here. So far I believe they soften nicely if simmered in a liquid. They have literally no flavor, so they will take on whatever flavor they are simmered in or otherwise exposed to. I'm thinking that simmering the kelp noodles in clam juice might be just the ticket for this dish. 

I have, at times, added sautéed onion or other veggies to the sauce, but they are completely unnecessary.  I also think this has potential as a really unusual dip. 

Low Carb Lemon Curd

Simple and Easy Low Carb Lemon Curd

1/2 cup = 120 ml freshly pressed lemon juice
3 extra large organic eggs
1/2 cup = 120 ml = 100 g erythritol crystals
7 tablespoons = 100 g unsalted butter
10 drops Sweetleaf Vanilla Stevia 

Directions

1.    Put everything in a saucepan and heat over low heat whisking all the time until the mixture is thick.

2.   Store in the fridge in an airtight container.

***Gay's Note: This made about 2 cups. I didn't have extra large eggs or unsalted butter, so I used 4 large eggs and regular butter. It came out fine. Possibly addictive! The vanilla stevia and erythritol you can find at Amazon. The stevia drops come in a lot of interesting and possibly useful or fun flavors. I am just beginning to explore them. This vanilla one, I am already finding useful. See links below for more information. 

Nutrition information	Protein	Fat	Net carbs	kcal
The whole batch:	25.1 g	99.7 g	4.1 g	1014 kcal
Per portion if 4 portions in a batch:	6.3 g	24.9 g	1.0 g	254 kcal
Per portion if 6 portions in a batch:	4.2 g	16.6 g	0.7 g	169 kcal
Per portion if 8 portions in a batch:	3.1 g	12.5 g	0.5 g	127 kcal
Per portion if 10 portions in a batch:	2.5 g	10.0 g	0.4 g	101 kcal
Per 100 g lemon curd:	5.7 g	22.7 g	0.9 g	230 kcal
Per 1 tablespoon lemon curd:	0.86 g	3.41 g	0.14 g	35 kcal

original recipe found at: http://www.lowcarbsosimple.com/simple-and-easy-low-carb-lemon-curd/

Green Chili Bacon Breakfast Casserole

 Good! But I don't think it is just for breakfasts. 8-2015

Ingredients:

• 1 package of Cooked Bacon, broken or chopped into chunks
• 12 eggs
• 2 small cans of green chilies
• 2 cups shredded cheese, your choice (I chose cheddar or colby jack)
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• salt and pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Cook bacon - don't burn it! Put bacon pieces on the bottom of a 9X13 baking dish.

In a bowl scramble eggs with green chilies and salt and pepper.

Then stir shredded cheese and melted butter into egg and chili mixture.

Pour mixture over bacon and bake for 40 minutes (or until set).

Cut into squares and serve.

This easy egg breakfast casserole is a fantastic breakfast to make on Sunday, and grab a square and reheat in the microwave throughout the week for a hot and nutritious breakfast.

http://www.deliciously-thin.com/easy-breakfast-casserole.html

I'm betting this would be good with breakfast sausage substituted for the bacon, and possibly a few low carb sautéed veggies stirred in. 

Cabbage Noodles

This is another one that is almost too simple to be called a recipe. But here is the gist of it:

Ingredients:

raw cabbage
butter
Seasoned salt (I usually use Paula Deen's House Seasoning)

I cut the cabbage in wedges and remove the core. Then I slice it into roughly half inch slices, or the width of a wide egg noodle. You may slice it any width you prefer.

I usually fill a microwave steamer with the cabbage and add a little water to the bottom, and nuke it until it's tender. You could also steam it on the stove-top. It may take several rounds to cook it all, depending on how much you are making.  I haven't tried it in a pressure cooker, but I just may.

While still hot, remove the cabbage noodles to a bowl and season generously with butter and seasoned salt to taste.

That's it! Easy, versatile, delicious.

You could also season with bacon grease or chicken fat for another good version.

Addendum: Last night, I made this with olive oil, Paula, and True Orange Orange-Ginger Powder, I had some extra vegetables that needed to be used, so I threw in half of a yellow pepper and half of a green pepper, and an onion, all sliced into bite-sized pieces. It turned out great, too.

Rich Cheddar Cheese Sauce

Rich Cheddar Cheese Sauce

I made this in quantity and stored it in the refrigerator. It has been very useful on steamed vegetables, and stirred into a Mexican dish that came out too spicy for us. I like to use a sharper cheddar for more flavor, but I just learned recently that extra sharp cheddar can give you an odd, grainy texture. I wondered why that happened!

Ingredients: 1 cup heavy cream 1/2 cup water 1 lb cheddar cheese 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt 1 teaspoon mustard 1/4 teaspoon paprika 1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce Use a double boiler or place saucepan into a larger pot of boiling water. (I had great luck using a temperature controlled induction burner set at medium low or 175 degrees.)  Add all ingredients, stirring very frequently until smooth (usually about 10 minutes.) Serve warm. This sauce is great over vegetables — especially cauliflower and broccoli. Or add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to make a cheesy sauce for fish! Makes 16 servings. 0.8 net grams of carbohydrate per serving.

http://www.lowcarbluxury.com/recipes/recipe-sauce05.html

1-7-16 Note: I made a big mistake the other day. I made this lovely sauce, intending to use it for a cauliflower and leftover ham faux mac and cheese concoction. All went well until I added the diced ham, cold from the refrigerator. The cheese congealed around the cold ham pieces and could not be coaxed back into the sauce. I ended up with this weird, lumpy soup with a delicious broth and large, chewy lumps of ham and cheese. Next time, I'll heat the ham first, add it to the hot cauliflower, and then pour the sauce on slowly as needed, and stir. 

Simple Shrimp Salad

Gay’s Simple Shrimp Salad

Created 6/4/15

Feel free to add seasoned salt, herbs, etc. if you like. You won't hurt my feelings! 

12 oz. frozen medium shrimp, thawed

½ c. diced celery

¼ c. diced green or colored pepper

3-4 T. green onion, finely chopped

5 T. Pecans, chopped

½ C. Duke’s Mayonnaise

Remove tails from shrimp if necessary. Chop coarsely. Add chopped vegetables and pecans, stir in mayo. Chill and serve.

Makes about 2.5 cups, or 5, ½ cup servings.

281 calories, 24.6 g fat, 2.9 g saturated fat, 118 g cholesterol, 233 mg. sodium, 57 mg. potassium, 2.5 g carbohydrates, .6 fiber, .6 sugar, 14.6 g protein

Vitamin A 6%, Vitamin C 18%, Calcium 5%, Iron 7%

Sweet and Tangy Soy Sauce Marinade for Pork Chops, Plus

adapted by Gay Griffin July 3, 2015, from the June, 2015 issue of Better Homes and Gardens magazine

I marinated thin pork chops in a double batch of this overnight, then layered them in a slow cooker with shredded cabbage, sliced onion and colored peppers. Poured the marinade on top. About three hours on high, and we had a tasty dinner!

4  6 to 7 oz. bone-in pork chops (I used more, thin ones for more flavor penetration)

1/2 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
6 T. lime juice (Now I use True Lime Powder. I don’t think the amount of maltodextrin is enough to matter much. I got tired of throwing away unused limes.)
¼ c. sugar equivalent sweetener (I have used Splenda and stevia drops)
2 T. flavorless oil of your choice
2 T. apple cider vinegar
1.5 – 2 T.. grated fresh ginger
freshly ground black pepper to taste

Whisk together the marinade ingredients. Taste and adjust seasonings to your preference.

Pour over pork chops. A zip type plastic bag works well. Let them marinate at least 20 minutes. (I’d marinate them a lot longer than that, especially if using thicker chops.)  

Cook the chops however you like. 

Beef or Chicken Fajitas

INGREDIENTS:

1.5-2 lbs skirt steak or other beef or chicken easily cut into strips

1 medium onion, sliced, or 15 medium scallions (green onions) - same amount of carb!

2 large Bell peppers, sliced - two different colors is nice

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup lime juice (or reconstituted True Lime powder)

1 teaspoon chili powder

2 Tablespoons oil

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Yield: 5 servings

PREPARATION:

Combine soy sauce, lime juice, chili powder, and oil. If grilling, save a couple of Tablespoons aside to toss with the vegetables.

Slice the meat into about 1/2 inch slices. If using skirt steak, flank steak, or other meat with an obvious grain (lines through the meat), be sure to cut perpendicular to the grain, or you will be chewing a very long time. (Think about it - you want to create a lot of short fibers, not a few long ones.) 

If cooking in a skillet, marinate everything together in a bowl or plastic bag (a zip-type works well). If grilling, marinate the meat and veggies separately. Even a few minutes helps, up to 2 hours is great.

If grilling, remove from marinade and grill.

For cooking in a skillet (preferably regular, not nonstick), cook the meat first (it will probably take two batches, depending upon your pan). Add a little oil to the skillet and get it very hot (the oil will shimmer). If you don't get it hot enough (or crowd too much meat in), the meat will steam instead of browning. When the meat is browned, remove and add veggies. When they begin to soften, return meat to skillet to heat through.

Serve with salsa, sour cream, cilantro (if desired) and guacamole. If low-carb tortillas are available, that is a nice addition, but a fork works fine.

Serves 5

Nutritional Information: Meat and vegetables, with 1.5 pound skirt steak and green onions, make 5 servings, each with 4.5 grams of effective carbohydrate and 2 grams of fiber (6.5 grams total carbohydrate), 28 grams of protein, and 307 calories per serving.

The marinade could add as much as 1 gram of carb (the whole recipe has 5 grams), but obviously most of it doesn't make it to the table.

From: http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/maindishes/r/beeffajitas.htm