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.