Don't Hate Me Because I'm a Leftover

Today was one of those days. You know, you hit the ground running, get drenched in the rain, have to deal with insufferable people, somehow forget to eat. Wow. I can't believe I just said that. I have never been the type to forget to eat. What gives? I really wasn't hungry, partly due to an absence of cravings, partly due to an overly full schedule. So just how do days like this fit in with the 24/7 Low Carb Diner system?

First off, we did still have breakfast goodies waiting in the fridge, I just didn't get around to eating any. I packed hubby's lunch, but never made my own. That was just a problem with timing. I left the higher carby kid on his own today, since I was away.

What about dinner you ask? Usually, I make a Multiply Meal on Thursday evenings. I already had an important meeting to attend tonight, so I knew to rearrange that on my weekly menu. I'll cover that later. Besides, once you have a stocked freezer, it is okay to skip a week here or there. I left my hubby with instructions for a George Night--that is an EZ Fix meal on the Foreman grill. He was obedient there. When I dragged home from my meeting,I was coming down from an incredible adrenaline rush. The leaders of the meeting got stuck at the airport, I was left to entertain and educate the audience for 35 minutes, unplanned. Just a bit stressful. When the excitement wore off, the hunger pangs were becoming real. One might have thought my wonderful boys would have grilled a steak for me, but... umm...no.

So what to eat? A quick check of the freezer inventory showed a single serving of my yummy rutabaga beef stew, affectionately called Stew-a-baga. See the blog post here for the recipe. I added a salad--so glad that is always waiting in the fridge. Dinner was served. Who knew leftovers would create the most comforting moments in my day? I had an Advil for dessert! Sometimes that is just how life works.

Purple Passion

I have had a bag of frozen mixed berries from Sam's for quite some time now. Guess I was uninspired. Then, the other day, I made a yummy fruit smoothie with them. That got me thinking about trying another dessert. On a family trip to Silver Dollar City a few years ago, I tasted a fabulous blackberry ice cream. I wondered if I could duplicate that flavor with one of my low carb staples--cream cheese, and one of my new experimental ingredients--chia seeds. So, off I went. I gotta say, the husband is happy. We had been feeling ice cream deprived after that birthday party.

Now this list of ingredients is a little odd for an ice cream dessert. I don't know what to call it. It is not a sherbet, not a granita, not a sorbet. Any one of those would sound better, but what I came up with defies description. So here goes.

Purple Passion

3 teaspoons of whole chia seeds
1/8 cup DaVinci Raspberry sugar free syrup
1 cup frozen berry mix (mine has blueberries, blackberries and raspberries)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons of cream cheese
sweetener to taste (I used about 4 drops of liquid sucralose, the equivalent of 3-4 teaspoons of sugar)

First, mix the chia seeds with the syrup, cream and water. Let stand about 10 minutes. Put this mixture into a blender. Add the frozen berries, cream cheese and sweetener. Blend until smooth. Pour this mixture into a bowl and place it in the freezer. Stir every 15 minutes until it is set up. If it freezes too hard before you plan to eat it, let it thaw a bit on the counter and stir again.
Serves 2


I couldn't tell the chia seeds from the blackberry seeds, but it was delicious no matter what. The chia seeds give the mixture a gelled consistency which may have kept it from forming huge ice crystals. That might have been helped by the creaminess of the cream cheese too. I am certainly no kitchen chemist. Since the berries were already frozen, this didn't take long at all to set up. I don't have the patience to drag out the ice cream maker, though I suspect it would work well there, if the recipes was doubled or tripled. There was no need to use it for this treat, a couple of stirs as it was freezing, and we were set to go. Good and good for you.

Ultra Chicken Casserole

I have blogged about the wonders of Ultra Chicken before. Last time I highlighted Ultra Chicken Cacciatore. Tonight, we enjoyed Ultra Chicken Casserole. It uses the chicken breast marinated in Michelob Ultra, or any low carb beer, which is then baked or grilled and used in several recipes during the week. Tonight's casserole was rich with cream cheese and broccoli. Comfort food at its best. With a simple salad on the side, the casserole goes together quickly. It seems to disappear quickly too.

Tonight I played around with a triple berry frozen dessert. I'll put that in another blog, since I am still eating it now. Aren't you jealous? Don't be...I still need to do the dishes.

Wafflewich!

My guys always loved waffles when they were little. My hubby, who usually manages to avoid kitchen duty, always volunteered to make waffles. He even got a Belgian waffle maker as a gift one Christmas. For years, we have made enough waffles to freeze. It was easy to grab one out of the freezer, pop it into the toaster oven and add some breakfast meats and cheese. Ham or sausage Wafflewiches were always a hit.

Low carbing doesn't mean giving up waffles, just getting a bit more creative. This recipe is from the ebook. Savory Wafflewiches, which is our "muffin" for the week, goes great with ham and cheese. This morning, I used canned luncheon loaf from Aldi. So quick!

Wafflewich Breakfast Sandwiches

This is one of the recipes included in my new cookbook project, Low Carbing Among Friends.

This recipe is available in the book, along with over 60 additional 24/7 Low Carb Diner recipes. By ordering the book, you get more than 300 favorite gluten free recipes from four other well known low carb cooking experts…Jennifer Eloff of Splendid Low Carbing cookbook fame, Kent Altena, the Atkins Diet Geek and You Tube star, nutritionist and author Maria Emmerich of Maria’s Nutritious and Delicious Journal, and popular blogger and food stylist, Carolyn Ketchum of All Day I Dream About Food. Unlike any other cookbook you may own, this one is a compilation of mini cookbooks featuring the talents of these well known low carbers. Think of it as a “best of” project.

Low Carbing Among Friends also features recipes from numerous other talented low carbing friends and recommendations from the medical community who recognize the health benefits of low carb, gluten free living. To preorder your copy, visit http://www.amongfriends.us The official release date is 11/11/11, so pre-order now for a discount.

Maple's Meatballs Deluxe

An old favorite is better than ever. After my success with adding Chia seed meal to my meatloaf, I tried it in one of my favorite Multiply Meals recipes--Maple's Meatballs. I gotta say, this makes these meatballs moister and more tender. The taste is still that wonderful savory and sweet combo that my family adores. I am the one who always dipped her sausage into the pancake syrup when I was little. I always found pancakes a bit too sweet for me, but the taste of the meat with the maple was to die for good. That is what this recipe is all about. Now with chia meal, it is even better! I know I made enough for three meals plus a few snacks, but if I don't control myself right now, they may not make it to the freezer.

Maple's Meatballs

3 pounds ground chuck
2 pounds breakfast sausage
2 teaspoons maple flavoring
1 cup Splenda or equivalent sweetener
3 tablespoons chia seed meal

Mix all the ingredients until well blended. Form into balls. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Cool and package in large freezer containers. Remove what you need for breakfasts or to use for snacks.

Serves 18 410 calories 1 carb

3 Minute Chocolate Cake Trifle...yeah right

The name of this endearing little flourless chocolate cake may be the 3 minute cake, but given my "ingenuity" in the kitchen, I have managed to turn an easy recipe into an hour long chocolate experience. It really started innocently enough. I was baking a birthday cake for my brand new 16 year old and the living room full of his friends. That started smelling pretty darn good. So, I ran over to one of my favorite websites for low carb desserts and side dishes, Linda's Low Carb. I remembered an easy microwave cake made in individual servings. That seemed quick. That seemed simple enough. I decided to use Kahlua flavored DaVinci syrup instead of the vanilla in the recipe. Yum.
http://genaw.com/lowcarb/3minute_flourless_chocolate_cake.html

While the aroma of a German Chocolate cake wafted from the oven, a deep dark chocolate cake emerged from the microwave. Hmm. That was easy. Now I could have a cake while the teenagers had theirs. But what about my hubby? So, with all the ingredients out, I made another for him. Not wanting to dirty even more dishes, I took the original cake out of the bowl I microwaved it in. That gave me an idea. I had purchased a cute little straight sided bowl at the Dollar Tree last week, planning to use it for layered salads or desserts. If I wanted to make these chocolatey cakes into a trifle, I would need some frosting. I had some whipping cream and a packet of Swiss Miss cocoa mix. I think that mousse recipe is from Linda as well. For color, I threw in some cut strawberries. Unfortunately, I ran out of mousse and had to whip some more cream. While all this was going on, I noticed the layers were beginning to melt a bit in the heat wave we are having here. So I popped the dessert into the freezer to chill. I would not recommend trying this recipe in the heat if you want the layers of the trifle to stay separate and beautiful.

It is funny though, the kids keep wandering into the kitchen saying, "OOOH, is that for me?" I get to laugh and say, "No, this is diet food!" Our dessert looks better than theirs!

Chinese Chicken Salad

My history class is studying ancient China this week, so I celebrated with Triple Play Chinese Chicken. Today was our third meal, Chinese Chicken Salad. This is a gourmet salad, with some unusual choices for the greens. This time I used a Romaine heart, coleslaw shreds and some left over bok choy stems from earlier in the week. They added a nice crunch. To that, I added the pre-made Chinese Chicken and a quick Asian dressing. My original recipe calls for almond slices, but I was out. Today, I substituted peanuts. They are wonderful in this salad.

Having a flavorful meat ready to add to greens is the secret of great salad entrees. With the meat already prepared, the rest goes together so quickly. This Chinese salad adds variety too. It is definitely not a boring meal.

Tonight, we are having Hobo Dinners made with beef and all the fixins. I have a crowd coming over for movies, so the dinner will have to be good if I am to survive without eating popcorn. I may make some cheese crisps for those of us who low carb. Have a great weekend.