Monte Cristo Waffles

Here I go again with the sweet and savory combo. Here I go again with a kitchen electric. Do love my gadgets and love sweet ham too. Today's menu used some leftover ham cubes I had from my stacked salad in a jar from the August Diner News. Granted, I took the cheater's way out this time. I purchased some pre-formed ham cubes. They are a bit higher in carbs, but the serving size is small enough that it doesn't cause us problems. If you have some quality ham and some extra time, by all means chop away. I am sure that would be amazing.

I am happy to get to work from home this week, so I wanted to make a special breakfast for my guy. He gave me a thumbs up. Such a great breakfast makes the salad for lunch more realistic. Sometimes it is hard to fill these guys up!

These waffles, which I made into waffle sticks, are light and not too crisp. The flavors of the ham blend so well with the coconut flour and raspberry topping. Very much like the Monte Cristo sandwich that inspired them.  The Count would be proud. These waffles are a low carb treasure unto themselves.

Monte Cristo Waffles

4 eggs
2 tbsp cream or half and half
1 tbsp coconut oil
liquid stevia to equal 2 tsp sugar
1/4 cup coconut flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
2/3 cup ham cubes, divided use
3 tbsp sugar free raspberry jam
1 tbsp powdered erythritol

In a medium bowl, beat eggs with cream and coconut oil. Add stevia. Stir in coconut flour and baking powder. Mix well by hand to break up lumps or process with an immersion blender. Stir in 1/2 cup ham cubes by hand. Reserve the remaining cubes for garnish. Pour batter into a pre-heated waffle iron. Bake 3-4 minutes or until golden brown and slightly crisped.

While waffle are baking, heat the jam in a microwavable bowl for 30 seconds. Spoon liquefied jam over the waffles and sprinkle with powdered erythritol. Top with remaining ham cubes. 

serves 4 at    153 calories  6.2 carbs

This recipe filled my waffle stick maker twice, giving me 12 waffle sticks. Yours may vary. If you don't have raspberry jam, just use any sugar free syrup and the waffles will still be great.

Get more great recipes at the Low Carbing Among Friends Facebook Page:               https://www.facebook.com/LowCarbingAmongFriends

Order our books at: 

http://amongfriends.us/24-7-LCD.php

Love the recipes I share on this blog? My ebook helps you plan and prep to stay healthy 24/7.   http://www.247lowcarbdiner.com

Croque Madame Cups

When I travelled in Europe as a teen, I fell in love with the street vendor food, Croque Monsieur. Those are really ham and cheese sandwiches, grilled. The ones I ate had the cheese melted on top. To make it a Madame version, the fried egg was added. I was never a huge fan of the feminine version. Til now.

I made the amazing little cups as a recipe for the Diner News. I like them so much that I can't help but share this recipe with all the blog followers too. The newsletter is also filled with plans to make lunches ahead of time for smooth stressfree brown bagging during the week. Still lots of good info and ideas there.

Croque Madame Cups

6 eggs, divided whites and yolks

1/2 cup unflavored whey protein

4 oz cream cheese, softened

4-6 oz thinly sliced ham

2 tsp Dijon mustard

1/2 cup soft cheese, Gruyere or another

Begin by making some “bread” to stand in for the bread in the traditional sandwich. Beat egg whites until very stiff. Gently stir in the whey powder and the cream cheese. Make three small loaves shaped like sub buns by mounding the mixture on a non stick silpat liner or parchment paper. Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes, Remove the buns and set two aside. You may use these for sandwiches for another lunch. Cut one bun into strips and return the strips to the oven for an additional 5 minutes. This will make them extra crispy. When cool enough to handle, cut the strips into small cubes.

Using two shaved ham slices, line 6 muffin cups with the ham. You may use papers if you choose. Divide the cheese among the cups. Place 2-4 bread cubes in each cup. With a spoon, drop an egg yolk into each cup. You may keep them whole or break the yolk to help fill the fold in the ham slice. Bake for 15 minutes or until egg is just set. Top with a squirt of Dijon mustard.

Eat right away or wrap with plastic wrap for lunches or breakfasts.

231 calories    20 g protein   14 g fat   2.1 g net carbs

These are pretty as is, or would be even fancier with cupcake wrappers. Great for showers or parties.

When making lunches, this recipe is great, since you get a couple of buns to use for other meals too. I used a recipe similar to many of Maria's recipes, so the inspiration is hers. I wanted something light and airy for the bread component in the cup. Excellent results.

Love the recipes I share on this blog? My ebook helps you plan and prep to stay healthy 24/7.   http://www.247lowcarbdiner.com

Get more great recipes at the Low Carbing Among Friends Facebook Page:  https://www.facebook.com/LowCarbingAmongFriends

Order our books at: 

http://amongfriends.us/24-7-LCD.php

Porky's Bento

Yesterday was a full day! It was one of those days, that if you can stay low carb through this schedule, you can do it anytime. We were out the door early for classes, managed to be home for dinner just an hour before teenagers invaded our home for a movie night and sleepover (little to no sleep involved).Although I do admit to succumbing some carby snacks from time to time, I was able to keep my diabetic hubby on the straight and narrow. After all, he wasn't the one who had to pop the popcorn and bake the pizzas for the teenagers. I promise to get back my discipline today.

Yesterday's bento lunch was so yummy, and easy to put together in a snap. I used canned luncheon meat--okay almost like Spam, just the Aldi brand. I have heard that Spam is really popular in Hawaii. So I took that lead and made a wonderful little pineapple sauce to go with it. That was just mayo and pineapple DaVinci syrup stirred together. It was great with the ham chunks and with cubes of butternut squash too. Besides those dippers, I took along a low carb brownie and a hard boiled egg. The egg was especially good with the piggy theme, since it was a bacon stuffed egg. I just made a deviled egg as usual, but added bacon bits to the yolk mixture, and sprinkled it with bacon salt. Tasty stuff.

With all the teenagers on their way in the evening, I was so glad that I already had a casserole prepared in advance. We feasted on a Mama Mia chicken casserole from the Multiply Meals section of the e-book. It is rich and good. Amazingly, dinner went from fridge to plate is less than ten minutes. On days like that, my meal planning system is truly a survival tool!

Food Snobs Beware, Comfort Food Deluxe

I remember way back to my 17th Christmas. I came down with chicken pox on Christmas day. I missed my Aunt Gladis' broccoli and rice casserole--the dish I loved the most. They saved some for me, along with her world's best chocolate cake. That is the first food I ate after I was able to eat again. It still means comfort to me.

When my boys were little, I had to cover almost all vegetables with cheese sauce to get them eaten. No bother, I loved them the same way. I recall my two year old Pearson chanting for "broccy cheese" at the buffet we used to frequent. Good times.

This dish is embarrassingly easy--too simple even to put in the e-book, but it tastes just like my aunt's casserole. I just steam/boiled the frozen broccoli. Drained it and added some white American/Swiss cheese slices. They melt completely and don't need to have other ingredients added in, so that is a super simple step. Then, I just opened a can of "luncheon loaf" from Aldi...Spam by any other description. Don't razz me too much. It lists 0 carbs, but I'm assuming there are some carbs there. Not too many, though. It is worth it for the convenience of a pantry stable meat for an E.Z. Fix meal. I just added that in for us, and dinner was served.

Well, not quite. I made a pot of rice for my boy. One pot will last him several meals. I will just bag the cooked rice up in individual bags. Those, I can pull out when he needs a rice base for our meats and sauces. No extra work on my part. For us, I added just half a slice of Braum's Carbwatch bread. It is still carby, about net 6 1/2 carbs per slice, so we only ate half a slice each. It is a nice ingredient for those who can do some gluten and some grain. After all, this is a forever way of eating for us, and the occasional bread makes it feel less like a diet. The Braum's bread is reduced in price once in a while to just a bit over a dollar per loaf. My mom spots it and brings it by from time to time. It is also the best choice for the son who carb balances his meals rather than strictly cutting carbs. Of course, he is away at school now.

I add another class to my schedule tomorrow, so it will be a crockpot night for sure.

Kahlua Pig Stir Fry

I planned for Waikiki Stirfry as my third meal of the Triple Play meals this week. But, as life often goes, things got messy, and I found I was out of pineapple DaVinci syrup. I planned on picking up some pineapple flavoring at the grocery store, but none could be found...even at two stores. So I changed up some ingredients and made a brand new dish. Still very "islandy"--is that a word? Who cares.

I did have some Kahlua flavored syrup. I did have some coconut milk. The beginnings of inspiration. I threw various veggies in the skillet--you can put in whatever you have. This time, I added about 3/4 a pound of frozen snow peas, 1 cup of coleslaw mix, 1/4 zucchini, and some red bell pepper. Once they got going, I mixed half a can of coconut milk, about 1/4 cup DaVinci Kahlua syrup, 1/2 teaspoon of ground ginger and a half teaspoon of xanthan gum. I whirled this around in the bullet blender to really mix in that thickener. Next, I added the already cooked and chopped ham to the veggies. Once that was hot, I stirred in the coconut milk mixture and let it thicken up for a minute or so. I served it up and sprinkled some chopped peanuts on the top for crunch.

The boys sneared at it as "Chinese" food. They don't share my passion for snow peas. I think it is wonderful. We'll see if John likes it. It is packed in his lunch bag. I am eating mine for brunch. Once it was cooked, it smelled too good to pass up. The Breakfast Bonanza muffins I microwaved can be my snack later! Flexibility can be the mother of invention too, I guess. Aloha!

Ham it Up

How would you like to spend the afternoon at the movies and come home to this meal? If you have prepared a ham for your prep day, the main course is ready to serve. 4 out of 5 of us love oven baked ham. The other one is just weird. Tonight, I made some brussel sprouts with melted cheese to go along. The carby boys got some instant mashed taters as well.

The leftovers will go into a casserole and Monte Cristo crepes later this week.

Smokey Okie Breakfast Casserole

Just a minute out of prep day to show you our breakfast casseroles we made today. I made a casserole which is not in the e-book, but is similar to the Three Little Pigs Casserole. Today's choice features the smokey flavors my guys crave at breakfast time. It is loaded with bacon, ham and even a bit of extra hickory flavoring. Yum.

Smokey Okie Breakfast Casserole

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.

Fry bacon. Crumble when cool. Place a bit of bacon grease in the bottom of two casserole dishes, and divide the bacon crumbles between them. Distribute the ham cubes and the cheese over the bacon. In a large bowl, combine eggs, softened cream cheese, cream, mustard and spices. Blend well with a hand mixer. Gently pour the egg mixture over the meats. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until set. Store one casserole for breakfasts this week and wrap the other well for the freezer.

I'm also using ham for our Triple Play meals this week. That super cool little baking stone I bought is also proving to do great things with those Pick a Flavor Cookies. Now I have a few more things to do in the kitchen...

Legal New Year's Eve

I really didn't want to go to the grocery store today, so I stayed with my theme of inventing new recipes. Tonight is New Year's Eve and my family and guests will get to feast on these little beauties. I happen to adore honey mustard...especially with ham. I diced the leftover honey kissed ham we had from Christmas Eve dinner, and this is what I ended up with. While these have no honey, they definitely are "kissin" cousins.

Honey Kissed Ham Mini Quiches

2 cups chopped fully cooked ham
8 eggs
8 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup cream
1 cup cheddar cheese
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon hickory salt
1/4 cup prepared mustard
1/3 cup Splenda or equivalent sweetener

Dice the ham. I chopped mine coursely then used an immersion blender on the batter. You may choose simply to chop the ham finely.

Add the remaining ingredients and blend well. Spoon into mini muffin cups and bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

These would be really good for breakfast too.

Hamming it up

Food Pyramid had hams on sale this week. We always eat Turkey for Thanksgiving, but since hams are cheap...

I went to buy a fully cooked ham for $1.49 a pound. But, as Food Pyramid always seems to do, they had better prices on some meats than they were advertising on others. I got a shank portion ham for just $1.19 a pound. Best thing is, they sliced it for free. Yep, even raw ham--sliced. This makes it an awesome find for Triple Play recipes. Last night we had it plain. I just fried up some slices. John went nuts. He must have told me he loved me five times. Freshly cooked ham does have a different flavor. The rest, I roasted in the oven for about an hour and a half.

My poor dogs were tortured. I gave them some fat scraps which they devoured. Then, the aroma of roasting ham in the house was incredible. My poor baby pitbull just couldn't help drooling all evening. He couldn't sleep like usual. John had a bit of a late night snack, and trimmed a bit more fat. The dogs were all about that! I am saving the bones for broth, and now I have at least 4 more pounds of delicious meat for casseroles and Monte Cristo sammies. I'm also going to make some Slices with Spices while I have the pumpkin pie spice out. I am thinking this is a better deal than the spiral sliced hams costing much more, and there is no pesky sugar curing or injections to ruin the carb count. Be on the lookout for good deals at your grocery store.