It’s the 4th of July and I was thinking about something Low Carb and in keeping with the holiday and our American traditions. What could be more American than a Hot Dog on a Stick??

For this recipe I used Oscar Mayer Bun length Angus Beef Hot Dogs. Reportedly, they are less than >1 net gram of carbs per Dog.

The “bun” a is version of the Fat Head Pizza crust with a few minor adjustments.

Check out my Fat Head Blog post here > TheLowCarbBlog.com/2017/07/03/fat-head-pizza/ .

The adjustments are as follows:

1) I went with a sweet spice profile – which worked out REALLY WELL. I put 2-3 drops of QuickSweet in with the beaten egg and then a couple of drops in the actual dough as I was mixing it at the 1 min mark.

2) I added some Garlic powder, Onion powder and Paprika to the dough mix.

3) When forming the dough (be sure and follow the logic I laid out in the Pizza post), I did it in half batches and formed a long “ribbon” loaf, then worked it into a pretty symmetrical piece. Use two pieces of parchment, a couple of shots of cooking spray – wet hands, etc, etc, etc…

Once I had it laid out as shown, I rolled each dog up carefully. Once it was fully encased, I cut the dough and moved the finished dog over to a cooking sheet lined with parchment paper. I repeated this process until I had 7 dogs done. With a little effort I might have gotten all eight in the batch. Oh well.

I measured the sticks – cut them and soaked them in water (to prevent burning) for a few minutes before inserting them into the dog. Once I had them to this point – I rolled the dogs up in the dough.

I “docked” the dough before rolling the dogs and added a few more holes after they were set into place on the cooking sheet.

I put them in the oven at 400F with the timer set for 15 min. With about 6-7 minutes left to go, I took them out and put a quick egg wash on them. The wash was 1 whole egg and a little light cream (HWC would work too) – well beaten. I put them back in the oven to finish up. I kept a close eye on them toward the end and reset the timer once. I was looking for just the right color. Probably about 18-19 min. total cooking time.

I took them out – let them rest a minute. Dusted them with just a little more Paprika for color and Oh MY GOODNESS!! These things were RIDICULOUSLY GOOD. I had a couple of sauces ready – none needed. They were PERFECT just the way you see them.

The sides were Avocado Lime Angel eggs (the other Avocado egg!!) and a Bacon Jalapeno Cream Cheese ball. I’ll cover these two recipes soon. I was feeling a little light on my fat intake lately. Ha HA!! Problem solved.

If you like this recipe – share it with your friends!! Enjoy!!

Fat Head Pizza

For this pie – I did a BBQ / Smoked Pork rendition. I had some leftover Homemade BBQ sauce and some Smoked Pulled Pork I had just done…

I mixed what BBQ I had left with some Rao’s Red sauce, added some Garlic, Basil and Oregano to the sauce – BOOM. BBQ Pizza Sauce. Next topping was some Spinach… then the Smoked Pork. I used a mix of three cheeses – Mozzarella, thick grated Parmesan and a bit of Fontina Fontal (a delicious white melty cheese). Just UNREAL FLAVOR. I painted the crust with a pass of Garlic butter right before the final cook off.

Crust Ingredients:

1 3/4 C shredded mozzarella
3/4 C almond flour (or 1/4 C Coconut flour??)
2 T cream cheese
1 egg – beaten
Pinch salt (or to taste)
Garlic powder to taste (or other spice profiles)

Instructions:

Cube up the cream cheese before melting with the Mozzarella. Mix both Cheeses. Microwave for 1 min, mix well. Add Almond flour, stir then microwave on HIGH for another 30 seconds.

Add Egg, Salt, Rosemary or other flavorings – mix gently.

Quick tip: Use Parchment both top and bottom when forming it. A tiny shot of cooking spray on the paper (both pieces – won’t hurt).

Place in between 2 pieces of parchment paper and work into a circular pizza shape.

Remove the top sheet of parchment paper.

If the mixture becomes difficult to work with, pop it back in the microwave for 10-20 seconds to soften again. Not too long or you cook the egg.

Make fork holes all over the pizza base to ensure it cooks evenly.

Slide the baking paper/parchment with crust, onto a cookie tray and bake at 425F for 12-15 minutes, or until brown.

To make the base crispy and sturdy, flip the crust over (onto baking paper/parchment) once the top has browned.

Once cooked, remove from the oven and add all the toppings you like. Make sure any meat is already cooked as this time it goes back into the oven just to heat up the toppings and melt the cheese. Bake again at 425F for 5 minutes.

Options:

Rosemary, Garlic or other spice profiles optional. I’ve done Red Neck Tacos – and even Corned Dogs with this recipe!! Get creative!!

Tom’s additional tips:

If you like a thinner Pizza – make it that way in the forming process (under
sprayed paper). Take care – thin crust will carry less in toppings well, be judicious.

If you like a crispier pie… cook on a plain cooking sheet (pan) – NOT A STONE!! I use my stone for presentation only. Before you add toppings, cook on one side – in the oven for 5-7 minutes… just until it just starts to get a tiny bit brown. Take it out and flip it over. Go
another 5-7 minutes.

Take it out and add toppings – cook a few more minutes. Basically long enough for the cheese to melt. 5 min at 425F.

If you are going to make a smaller pizza (when I make a batch – I usually split the dough in half and save one for later) cook one – freeze the other.

Cook the one for freezing about  5 min per side, take out, let cool and put in a Ziploc bag in the freezer. It won’t last long. You will remember where you put it.

BTW – if you like it crispier, the smaller size is much easier to flip and handle. It is not so awkward.

Good news… your next Low Carb Pizza will be done in like 5 minutes!!

(left overs – the next day. A wonderful college breakfast!!)

Extras:

Fat Head pastry can also be made by replacing the almond meal/flour with 1/4 cup (4 tbsp) coconut flour.

If you enjoy this recipe – share it with others.

This gem of a meal was a couple of slices of Low Carb Almond Bread seared off in a buttered skillet. A smear of our Low Carb Creamy Horsey Sauce topped off with an egg, some Pepper and Scallions. This is very quick, easy and 5 star TASTY!!

I had the Bread made up and in a Tupperware container in the fridge. I did the egg in the microwave. The Horsey sauce was made a couple of days ago (and very quick – even then). Searing the bread off in butter took longer than anything (maybe a minute??). The whole process was done in less than 5 minutes.

A while back several of us were debating the merits of “cheat meals”, “cheat days” and “carb cycling”… I guess I got sucked into the wrong train of thought. I am wholly against such ideas. There are always other ways to go about results. I guess it boils down to one simple idea. We were asking the wrong question…

Why would I ever want to go back? Why would I want to eat anything but the way I do? In the event there is something outside my current set of standards – there is most often a creative way to get there.

I have tried a lot of Low Carb breads, tortillas, recipes and substitutes. I have a few very good – “Go to” Low Carb / Keto “bread” recipes. However, this is FAR AND AWAY the best Low Carb Bread – EVER!

The Best Low Carb Bread – EVER

Best Bread Recipe

Ingredients:

1/2 C Melted Butter
2 T Coconut Oil
7 eggs (I used 8 – a few were small. They were our farm eggs)
1 t Baking Powder
2 C Almond Flour
1/2 t Xanthan gum
1/2 t Salt
6 drops QuickSweet

The above is a great version. It works really good for searing or in another recipe. However…

I highly encourage some creativity with a flavor profile for your bread and going all the way with it.

For instance – Garlic powder, Rosemary and Thyme?? Or Cheddar…

Or Cinnamon, Pumpkin Spice and QuickSweet.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350*

Beat Eggs on high a full minute (or more?), add Coconut oil and melted butter – beat another minute.

Add additional ingredients and 1/2 the Almond flour – continue beating – add last half of the Almond flour. Continue beating. It will be thick.

Scrape into loaf pan lined with parchment paper. A quick shot of cooking spray on the bottom and sides won’t hurt a thing either.

Bake 50 – 60 minutes. I have found 45 minutes wasn’t even close to enough bake time. Mine turns out done and a nice medium color at 55 minutes.

Let stand a few minutes. Carefully pull parchment sides up. Gently remove loaf – it should come out with little coaxing. Let cool – cut with bread knife. It will be soft, moist, warm and have an INCREDIBLE bread texture. Enjoy.

I have been able to store in Tupperware for a few days while using it – but I have no clue how long it will last. Because it never makes it long enough to find out. It’s usually gone in a few days.

Keto wisely my friends!!

This was Quickie Bread, butter, a Low Carb Horsey sauce with some eggs and cheese on top we had for breakfast… Quick, easy – delicious.

Here is the recipe for the Quickie Bread – it’s a bit of a take-off from the 3 minute Chocolate Cake. This is a VERY versatile and usable bread alternative.

Quickie Bread

3 T Almond Flour
1 egg (beaten)
1/4 t Baking Powder
1 1/2 T Butter (melted)
2 Drops Quick Sweet (liquid sucralose)
Pinch of salt

Melt the butter – then mix all wet ingredients. Mix dry ingredients and mix them well. Add the dry to the wet mixture and mix well again. I like to do all this in a separate bowl and then pour in the one I’m using to Microwave in. Quick tip – smooth the top of the batter a bit (if it isn’t already) – if it is uneven, once it gets cooking, it only gets more so. No need to add additional cooking spray. There is plenty of butter in it and it will come right out.

Wrap bowl in a cooking wrap and vent the top. Set microwave for 1:30 – One minute and thirty seconds. Once it is done…

Unwrap, turn over and give a gentle tap – it should come right out. It might need a little coaxing. I like to let it rest and start to get a little firm. This might take a couple of minutes.

For this meal I then cut the bun in half with a bread knife and gave it a quick sear in some butter on a skillet. WOW!!

There are NUMEROUS of different variations you can do with this recipe. For instance, swap the sweet for more salt, Garlic and add some Cheddar Cheese – you’ve got Red Lobster biscuits!!

Be creative – and enjoy!!

This is IT!! The best Low Carb Biscuits and Gravy you’ve EVER EATEN!!

Obviously, we were showing off a little with this setting. The whole idea behind this blog and format is real recipes, real pics, real low carb food. However, I’ve done these often and they are a really nice – LOW CARB treat. I really have no desire for biscuits and gravy anywhere else – low carb or not, these are my favorites. I hope you like them.

When we do the “full biscuit and gravy thing” – we usually tag team. I do the biscuits and Arlyne does the gravy. She does awesome gravy. In fact, she does a lot of stuff really well. Breakfast is her specialty though.

For the one above we used our Low Carb Biscuit recipe (see below), while she was doing the gravy she reserved some of the sausage off to the side for topping. Once the biscuit was cut in half, we added some butter on each half. We then spread a generous portion of gravy all over it. We topped it with the reserved sausage crumble. Next we tossed a “quickie microwave egg” on there and covered with with some shredded Cheddar. A little Salt and Pepper – and this meal deserved a BLOG POST IN HISTORY!!

We don’t normally go to those lengths. Usually – it looks like this…

Normally – these are getting eaten so fast – no one has a chance to bother taking pictures – ha ha!!

Tom’s Low Carb Diet 7-UP biscuits

2 C CarbQuick – I added 1/2 t Baking Powder to the dry mix (for a low sodium version – you can leave the Baking Powder out – no problem)

1/2 C Sour Cream

1/2 C Diet 7up or Sprite Zero (I have used both…) – I added 3 drops QuickSweet to the pop in a separate bowl

1/4 Cup melted butter

1. Preheat oven to 450 – Toss the butter in either a deep pie pan or a 9×6? pan and let it melt in the oven for a few while the oven preheats (5 min??)

2. Cut Sour Cream into dry mix (fingers).

3. Stir in Pop – working dough some more.

4. Sprinkle counter with a little dry mix (I use Coconut flour – it tastes GREAT, is dusty for folding and kneading and gives the biscuits a great finish).

5. Knead and fold – doesn’t take that much… I worked the dough to about 1″ thick (or more) and used a pretty big glass to cut them out… rework the dough and do it again. This makes 4 Cat Head biscuits (because they are as big as a Cat’s HEAD).

5.a. In another recent twist on this recipe… I bought a giant Muffin tin at Bed Bath and Beyond. It is a 6 holer and the biggest one I could find. Each hole is 3-3/4in across. I make this recipe x 1 1/2. 1 1/2 is the perfect size batch for 6 big biscuits (fills up my pan).

I make the whole batch – roll it into a log – cut it in half… then work each half a little, form them up and cut them into thirds. In the muffin pan I put a pat of butter in the bottom of each port. While the oven is pre-heating I let the butter melt in the oven for about 5 or 6 minutes. Once I take the butter out and the oven is pre-heated… I add the six biscuits to the pan.

6. Put biscuits on top of butter and bake for 12-15 min… they will soak up the butter and be AWESOME!!

Pro Tip: These biscuits tossed in Tupperware and refrigerated keep really, really well. They might even be better the second day than the first. Maybe not, but in any case – they are really good.

7. The Sausage gravy is pretty normal – use 1 lb Sausage and 2-4 T of Carbquick instead of flour – use Heavy cream, Light cream or Half and Half instead of milk.

Final comment: These biscuits work for all kinds of things. Breakfast, lunch, dinner – any day that ends in “y”!! Enjoy.