Sorcha's Scribblings

Low carb products for trying times

My favorite thing in the world to eat is sandwiches. When I was India, the one thing I craved was a really good chicken salad sandwich, to the point that I think all the Stateside people I was e-corresponding with while I was there probably got tired of hearing it. (The one I had right after walking in the front door and before falling into bed to sleep off jet lag is one of my most vivid food memories. That sucker was every bit as good as I had anticipated.)

Anyway, sandwiches are more or less off the menu, at least in the quantities I liked to consume them. They are also one of the things I miss the most. I include in the category of "sandwiches" things like quesadillas and turnovers, by the way.

I have not yet found a way to replicate what is maybe my favorite food of all time (the turnover made with yeast dough, ground beef, onions, black pepper, and cheese, possibly but by no means necessarily mushrooms). However, there are two good products that make me feel a lot less deprived, at times when my brain hunger threatens to overtake my stomach hunger. Both are bread-like.

First off, Orowheat Light 100% Whole Wheat Bread. This stuff is no panacea -- a standard sandwich will set you back 22g of ECCs. However, when nothing will do but a grilled cheese sandwich or a chicken salad sandwich, this is my go-to saviour. Compared to my previous favorite (Orowheat Oatnut Bread), which clocks in at 40g of ECCs, this is a big enough win that I can justify an occasional sandwich.

More recently, I've discovered Mission Carb Balance Tortillas and Mission Carb Balance Whole Wheat Tortilla, which clock in at 11g and 4g of ECCs, respectively. The whole wheat ones are great for wraps (no soy taste like other low carb wraps I've tried), and the non-whole-wheat ones make a dandy quesadilla. What's more, I only need to use one tortilla to make a meal-sized quesadilla, where I need two slices of bread to make a sandwich.

Most of the time, being low carb is mostly a matter of getting into the habit, and stocking the pantry right, but every once in awhile, the brain hunger part of me starts screaming for BREAD! When it does, I can't hand it a beef turnover, but I can hand it a sandwich. Meeting it halfway is better for me than falling off that low carb wagon altogether.

Meatloaf: more musing than recipe

I love old fashioned meatloaf. My mother makes a great version, and I've been making variations on it since I was about 13. Unfortunately, it's untenable for a low carb diet. Her ratio is 1 cup breadcrumbs to bind 1 lb ground beef. No can do.

So I started playing around with meat loaf, and I learned some stuff. This post is about what I learned finding a pattern for making a great loaf out of meat that doesn't leave me all saggy and craving mashed potatoes an hour later.

Peanut Butter Crisps

Here'a recipe that makes great Peanut Butter cookies (thin and crisp, not thick and chewy like traditional ones, but they taste really good, and they are only about 1.5g each):

Makes 40 cookies

1/2 c chunky, no sugar PB
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 c coarsely chopped peanuts
2 Tbsp egg protein powder
2 tsp vanilla
6 crushed cyclamate tablets (or, if you don't live in Canada where this is legal, 6 tsp-equivalents of sweetner)
1 tsp baking powder

Mix everything together. Beat with a wooden spoon for about 5 minutes. It will get really thick (at first, it will be really runny, and you will wonder how it can even be dropped onto a cookie sheet). Use a NONSTICK cookie sheet and lightly oil it before each batch. Drop by teaspoons (scant ones;  the dough spreads as it cooks and you need to get 40 cookies  in order to make the carb count be 1.5g).

Bake 10 minutes or until the edges are crispy brown. Place the sheet on a cookie rack and let it cool for about 3-5 minutes, until  the cookies will come off without falling apart.

Orange-Peel Chicken

When I first stopped eating carbs in "normal" amounts, I found there were a few things I really missed. Oddly, desserts were not among them (the cakes and ice cream recipes I developed to assuage other sweet tooths -- sweet teeth? -- in my life). What I really missed was Chinese food.

Well, you can simulate a lot of stuff, by using reduction methods to make silky smooth sauces (remove the food from the wok when it's just cooked, make the sauce, reduce it, then toss the food in the reduced sauce), but that doesn't help with my craving for those fried-chewy sauced dishes like sesame beef and orange peel chicken. I knew I had to give up dumplings and rice (and congee!), but I wanted to see if I could find a way to achieve a decent effect with the orange peel chicken. This is pretty good, and not too hard to do.

Normally, the meat for this kind of dish is prepped by mixing egg white and cornstarch. To eliminate the cornstarch and still get a decent crispy-chewy texture, you can whip the egg whites. It still doesn't do quite the right thing unless you also pound the chicken very thin. Doing both gives a similar effect to the traditional method without the use of cornstarch.

Orange Peel Chicken

1 1/2 pounds chicken (use boneless thighs if you possibly can)
6 scallions, cut in 1-inch pieces (about 1/2 cup)               3.5

Marinade:
 2 egg whites, beaten to soft peaks                                    0.6
 2 T soy sauce                                                                         3
 2 T pale dry sherry                                                               1.2
 1 clove garlic, minced                                                          1
 1 Tbsp ginger, grated                                                          0.9
 1 tsp sesame oil                                                                    0
 chile oil to taste                                                                   trace
 couple grinds black pepper                                               trace

Seasoning:
 2 Tbsp fresh orange zest                                                   3
 3 dried chile peppers                                                         0
 1 clove garlic, minced                                                        1  

Sauce:
 1 cup chicken broth                                                           3
 2 T soy souce                                                                      3
 1 T pale dry sherry                                                            0.6
 1 t black Chinese vinegar                                                 0.5
 1 tsp sesame oil                                                                 0
 1/8 cup orange juice                                                       3.4
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Total                                                                                   21.7

Pound the chicken until it is about 1/8" thick. (This is a crucial step for getting the texture right.) Cut the pounded chicken into pieces about 1"x1". Toss with the beaten egg whites. Add the rest of the marinade ingredients then let rest for 30-45 minutes in the fridge.

Deep fry the chicken and set aside. (It should be dark golden brown and crispy on the outside.)

In a little tiny bit of peanut oil, fry the seasonings for 30 seconds. Add the six scallions and toss for another minute. Add the sauce ingredients and boil until greatly reduced and nearly syrupy. Toss the chicken in the sauce.

I ended up adding one tsp-eq of cyclamates to the sauce because I had quite a sour orange.

Four 5.4g servings.

Cake!

Nut carbs are ECC (in other words, [total carbs] - [fiber carbs] = ECC).

Nut Roll

6 eggs, separated                                                                     7.2
3/4 c ground nuts  (use either hazelnuts or pecans)        9
1 tsp baking powder                                                                trace
36 tsp-equiv sweetener                                                          1.2 (but this will vary)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total                                                                                          18.4

Beat the yolks with the baking powder and sweetener. Add the nuts and stir to mix. whip the egg whites to stiff peaks and carefully fold in the nut mixture. Spread in a jellyroll pan that is lined with parchment and greased. Bake at 350F 20 minutes. Cover with a damp cotton towel and chill overnight. Remove the towel and the parchment paper and finish in one of the two ways decribed below.

Simple Nut Roll

1 nut roll                                 18.4
5 tsp-eq sweetener                  0.2
1 cup whipping cream            6.6
vanilla to taste                      trace
----------------------------------------------------------
Total                                       25.2


Whip the cream and add the flavourings. Spread on the cake and roll up the cake. Chill for at least 2 hours.

a 1" thick slice of this is 2.52g
a 1/2" slice (more realistic) is 1.26g

Chocolate Nut Roll

1 nut roll                                18.4
5 tsp-eq sweetener                0.2
1 cup whipping cream           6.6
1 oz baking chocolate               4
1 Tbsp nut liqueur                    4
1/2 cup whipping cream      3.3
2 oz baking chocolate               8
20 tsp-eq sweetner                0.8
----------------------------------------------------------
Total                                        45.3

Whip the one cup cream and melt the 1 oz chocolate. Mix these together along with the liqueur and 5 tsp-eq of the sweetener. Spread it on the the cake and roll it  up. Place it on a serving plate, seam side down.

Grate the two oz chocolate. Combine the 1/2 c cream with the 20 tsp-eq  sweetener. Heat this mixture over low heat until it just starts to bubble. Pour it over the chocolate and whip until you have a nice glossy brown mixture (it will look gross at first, but don't worry about that, just keep stirring.)

Pour the mixture on top of the roll and spread it around. Chill for at least three hours.

1" slice: 4.53g
1/2" slice: 2.57g

Cauliflower Pancakes

These taste so much like potato pancakes that I can't believe it. They smell a little like cauliflower while they cook, but they taste like potato.... When I cooked  them for the low-carb people for a holiday family breakfast, the carb-eaters ate them all and I had to make more.

Carb grams *include* fiber.

Cauliflower Pancakes

1 cup small cauliflower florets                    5.6g
1/4 small onion                                             1.2g
1 tsp baking powder                                     2.0g
1 Tbsp soy flour                                            0.5g
1 egg                                                                0.6g
1 tsp minced chives                                 
three grinds black pepper
oil for sauteeing
--------------------------------------------------------
Total:                                                             9.9g   

Put the cauliflower and the onion in the food processor and process until very finely chopped (around the coarseness of matzah meal is about right...). Mix with the other ingredients.

Heat a no-stick frying pan over med-high heat. Add a small amount of oil to the pan (warning: butter does not work -- the pancakes tend to fall apart if you use butter; bacon fat is okay, but I prefer peanut oil). Put 1/8 of the batter in the pan. Press it down just a little bit.

Cook it until the bottom is on the dark edge of golden brown. Do not try to turn it until the first side is completely cooked!

When you like the shade of the first side, turn it over and cook the second side.

You can certainly cook more than one pancake at the same time once you see how they cook. You can also double the recipe with no problems at all.

Serve with sour cream. If you want to salt them, do it after they are cooked; salting them before they are cooked draws water out of the vegetables and dilutes the batter.

Makes eight medium-sized pancakes, at 1.2g each.

Ice Cream!

Things to note about low carb ice creams:

• If you want super low carb, you have to make it with heavy whipping cream (light cream, milk and half-n-half all have too many carbs)
• When you make ice cream with heavy cream, then it freezes up really hard when you store it, so you should freeze it in scoops and soften them in the microwave before you eat it
• Eggs and artificial sweeteners do not make good custards, so you have to make raw-egg ice cream; if you are worried about the quality of your eggs, you can use pasteurized eggs and you will get good results
• Mix the ice cream in a blender before you freeze it; this whips the cream a little and makes really smooth ice cream, and it also helps a little with the freezing hard problem

These recipes even have carb counts. A "tsp-eq" is whatever amount of your favorite sweetener is the equivalent of one tsp of sugar. All the sweeteners tell you this on their package.

These recipes all yield a little over a quart.

Vanilla

3 cups cream                              19.8
2 eggs                                           1.2
insides of one vanilla bean      trace
30 tsp-eqiv sweetener              depends
------------------------------------------------
Total                                            21

Blend this in a blender until well-mixed. Put into the ice cream maker and freeze.

An extremely generous 1 cup serving is 5.3g carbs.

You really want the vanilla bean for this. Because of the artificial sweeteners, using liquid vanilla seems to give it a really chemically taste.

Coffee

Basically the same, but replace the vanilla bean with 1/3 c espresso. If you want decaf, use that, but I find that regular espresso works fine and has very little effect.

The carb count is only 1 g higher for the whole quart than the vanilla.

Chocolate

2 cups cream                            13.2
1 cup whole milk                      11
2 oz melted chocolate             16
2 eggs                                         1.2
1/8 tsp salt (do not omit!)      0
30 tsp-eq sweetener
-----------------------------------------------
Total                                          41.4

Melt the chocolate and add the milk. Whip it until smooth and dark. Add to the eggs, salt and cream and the sweetener in a blender. Blend to mix, then freeze.

Chocolate Peanut Butter

A frozen Reeses Peanut Butter Cup!

3 cups cream                                                    19.8
2 eggs                                                                 1.2
1 oz melted chocolate                                     8
1/2 cup creamy, no-sugar peanut butter   20
pinch salt (unless the PB is salted)             0
30 tsp-eq sweetener
---------------------------------------------------------
Total                                                                 41

Mix the chocolate with 1 cup of cream and whisk until smooth and dark. Put chocolate cream, cream, salt, sweetener, eggs in blender and blend. Remove 1 cup of the mixture and whisk with the peanut butter. Return to blender and mix until smooth. Freeze.

You can also get good results with hazelnut and almond butters.

Low Carb Chicken Cordon Bleu

One of the things I miss most when not eating lots of simple carbs is breaded fried foods. I haven't found a LOT of substitutes, but there is this one. No carb count here, I'm afraid.

Here's what you need for one person's worth. It's easy to double or quadruple or whatever....

1 half boneless chicken breast, pounded until it's about 1/4" thick
1 slice of really good prosciutto
1 slice of really good swiss cheese, cut into two pieces
some dijon mustard
1 egg, beaten with a little water
that grated parmesan that comes in the green round box in the pasta section of your store, mixed with dried italian herb seasoning, salt and pepper
oil and butter

Turn the chicken so the smooth side is down. Spread it with a little mustard and lay the ham over the mustard. Put the two pieces of cheese on top of the ham. Roll the whole thing up sort of like a burrito. Make sure that the ham and cheese are totally covered by the chicken meat. Refrigerate for about one hour.

Dip into the egg wash, then in the cheese mixture. Let sit for at least ten minutes. Dip it in the egg and then the cheese again. Let it sit this time for about 20 minutes. (Use the refrigerator for these "sittings" if your kitchen is not quite chilly.

Heat a 50-50 mixture of oil and butter. Roll the chicken in the fat until it is golden brown on all sides. Place in a 350F oven and bake for about 20 minutes, until the chicken is cooked all the way through.

Notes: I like to make a wine and herb cream sauce to eat with this, possibly spiked with mustard if I'm in the mood for lots of mustard flavour. This is what I usually serve for dinner when I have non-low-carb and low carb people at the same table. Some friends of mine refused to eat it because they did not believe it was low carb. But it is.

Note that this trick really needs the ham and cheese and mustard to work. When I tried making fried chicken like this, you can taste the cheese in the coating and it's kind of gross. The fillings have just enough flavor to hide that cheesiness.