Ingredients:

6-8 slices of Low Carb Bread (I had a few slices from the Great Low Carb Bread Co. left in my freezer. It was time to clean it out. Only about 4 net grams for this ingredient). One could easily use some of The Best Low Carb Bread – EVER as the base for this. This  adaptation would make this recipe ENTIRELY Keto friendly.

1/2 C Melted butter (1 stick)
2 C Half & Half (or Heavy Cream)
1/2 t Salt
1/2 t Dry Mustard
5 eggs
1 package Sausage (I used a Mild Sage)
8 oz Cheddar Cheese
4 oz canned Mushrooms

Directions:

Brown the Sausage – reserve, and for HEAVEN’S SAKE!! SAVE THE GREASE!! You can make gravy and pour it over my Diet 7-up Biscuits or some Keto Bread!! Melt butter – soak bread (or tear it up into pieces) on bottom of a 9×13 casserole dish. Beat eggs – add all other ingredients and mix well. Add most of the Cheese – except maybe 1-2 oz. Add everything over the first layer. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.

Bake at 325* for 1 hour. Remove – let rest for 10 min… top with remaining cheese, a dusting of Paprika and Pepper (if you like).

Enjoy!!

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!!

In an homage to Aunt Meg and Bill Paxton from the movie Twister, this is a T-Bone and eggs for breakfast in ULTIMATE Keto and Low Carb fashion. You can eat this way, right?!? So why not? It is so quick, easy and awesome.

Here are the details…

I started with pretty decent cut of T-Bone. I let it age a few days in the fridge.

I took it out – lightly brushed it with Olive Oil (both sides). I put a slight dusting of Garlic powder – Kosher salt and Pepper to taste (both sides).

I preheated the grill to near high (on my grill). I grilled this steak for 9 min total – 5 min. on the first side and 4 min. on the second (move them 45 degrees 1/2 way thru each side makes those nice sear marks).

This grill time gave me a really nice medium to medium/rare for this cut of meat. Once it comes off – let it rest under a cover for several minutes. While it’s resting make the eggs.

Two eggs in butter in the skillet and right at the end put a bit of water in a cover to firm up the tops… same seasoning – Garlic, Salt, Pepper (LIGHT).

I started in a very civilized fashion – cutting it with a knife (about twice)… then realized it would just pull apart in my fingers. I didn’t even need a fork.

This T-Bone tasted like meat flavored butter!! Perfect medium/rare…

It wasn’t long before I just picked it up and went to gnawing at it – no remorse…

Comments??  Too much egg, right??

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!!

We’ve been making Avocado Eggs for years. They are a great Low Carb / Keto breakfast.

I’m sure you will find a number of different renditions for them out there – this is ours.

Ingredients:

2 Avocados
4 fresh eggs
Garlic Powder
Cayenne
Pepper
Cheddar
Scallions

1) Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

2) Slice the Avocados in half, and take out the pit (cool trick you can look up on You Tube – once you have the Avocado cut in half – in a smooth, but forceful downward motion “set” the edge of your knife into the pit and give a little twist – comes right out). Spoon out some of flesh from the center of the Avocado, just enough so the egg will fit snugly in the center.

Save this spooned out flesh for later – goes great as a snack with dip… or a mini-batch of Guac!!

One of two things should happen here – take out enough flesh to fit the egg, or use small eggs. Lately we’ve been using pullet eggs. These are eggs from our young hens… they fit right in a smaller cavity and leave a lot of Avocado for the final dish.

3) Place the Avocados in a small baking dish. I have used a oven safe dish, pie pan (as shown) – another great method is to use a muffin tin… this holds the Avocados in place nicely. They have a tendency to want to roll a little and let some egg run over once you get the egg in them.

4) At this point, I like to put a slight (very slight) dusting of Garlic powder, Cayenne, maybe even Onion powder across them – be sparing here. Let the Avocado and the Egg be the stars!!

5) Crack an egg into each Avocado half. Try your best to crack the yolk in first, then let the egg whites spill in to fill up the rest of the shell.

6) Place in the oven and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. Cooking time will depend on the size of your eggs and avocados. Me, personally – I go about 14 – 15 min… I like a juicy egg. If you like a firmer egg – just go a little longer, make sure the egg whites have enough time to set.

Remove from oven, add some cheddar on top, let them sit a minute to cool giving the cheese a bit to melt. They will be VERY HOT – so be careful.  Season with pepper, top with a sprinkle of Scallions or garnish of your choice and enjoy!

I picked up some frozen chicken tenderloins at Wal-Mart the other day… I was kind of curious how they would do in this dish.

I took 5 tenderloins out early in the morning to let them thaw so we could get started as soon as my Sweetie got home from Church. With about an hour to go (around 10 O’Clock or so), I put them in a big Zip Lock bag and added some Kosher Dill Pickle juice as a marinade/brine (for the last hour).

They had thawed enough to take some of it on.

I then whisked 1 egg as a wash. I would (normally – see notes) bread in the following:

My Chicken Nugget/Strip Breading:

1 T Almond Flour
1 t Baking powder
1 T Paprika
1 t Onion Powder (that’s a SMALL t – for teaspoon)
1 t Garlic Powder (that’s a SMALL t – for teaspoon)
Plenty of Salt and Black Pepper (a little Cayenne might not hurt)…

Note: However, I skipped the above step because I had a left-over batch of CarbQuick in the fridge already seasoned correctly – lots of Salt, Pepper, Garlic and Cayenne.  Well – it was close enough!!

Take it straight out of the Pickle Brine, into the egg wash and dredge in the coating…

Listen – don’t freak out over CarbQuick. Is it grain – Yes. Is it Low Carb – YES. It only has a carb count of 3 net grams per 1/3rd Cup. Is it something you should use as a staple – probably not. In fact, I don’t use it that much. In lot of things, it just doesn’t do so well.

I use it in CarbQuick in three primary ways – ONLY.  As an easy breading for Fresh Oysters, for Shrimp (if I need a coating)… and in the Diet 7-up biscuits.

That’s it… so you might see a CarbQuick recipe out of me from time to time. This only means we eat a tiny bit of this “slightly sketchy” Low Carb product about once every other month or so. No biggie. We also carefully monitor how it affects us. We weight every morning.

I really like the Pickle Brine routine. I think it adds to the plump, juicy factor.

On another related note – Chicken Nuggets, depending on their size are more like in the 4-6 minute range – mine are usually perfect at 5 min… same oil – same temp.

For the Waffles I did a Pecan Protein Waffle – VERY low carb count.

Protein Waffles

2 eggs, beaten
1 Scoop Quest, unflavored, all – purpose mix (1 gram – natural Carb count)
¼ t Baking Powder
2 T Kosher Philly Cream Cheese (softened in microwave)
Cinnamon, a splash of Sugar Free Vanilla flavoring – a couple of drops of liquid Sucralose and a splash of Maple extract…

Whisk thoroughly – if it gets too gooey just add a little water, won’t hurt a thing.

Next add about a half a hand full of chopped Pecans in the batter – not too many, the lid won’t shut right.

Preheat the Waffle iron – give the Waffle maker a shot of cooking spray, pour the mix in and 3 minutes later – Boom. Waffle!!

Trim it – plate it… add a pat or two of butter in the middle, stack the Chicken – then douse it with “Sweet and Sassy” topping.

Sweet and Sassy Waffle topping

½ C Sugar Free Syrup – the kind you would find at most grocery stores
¼ C Valentina hot sauce (Salsa Picante)
Pretty generous portion of Cinnamon
1 T Maple Extract
Whisk together…

(this was enough for two full servings)

And there is our Epic Low Carb Sunday Brunch…

The End

Low Carb Smoked Pork Quiche

So yesterday – I was making a quiche with some left over Smoked Pork Tenderloin as the meat… a while back I had smoked off a bunch of different meats. Ribs, Pork T-Loins, Fish, etc, etc…

This stuff was about at the end of it’s “usefulness” so I thought – “what the heck”? Why not throw it in a quiche for breakfasts? I start trimming it up a little better… then I tossed it in my little processor…

As I was standing over this bowl – I was overcome with the incredible aroma of the smoke… WOW!! I was rolling all kinds of ideas around in my head about what I could do with this stuff. Stay strong – stay strong… just make the quiche’ and WALK AWAY!!

Low Carb Quiche recipe:

6-7 eggs
1 C Meat (in this case I used the processed Smoked Pork Tenderloin)
1 C grated Cheddar Cheese
8 oz Cream Cheese (if you like on the moist side – cut this down to 4 oz and add 4 oz of Sour Cream).
2 T of the spice base leftover when storing it…

NO CRUST – Just cooking spray, pour it in and GO!!

Note: Depending on what “version” I’m up to I will add a spice profile to match. For instance, with a more Spanish/American meat version I might toss in a packet of Sazon to amp things up a little.

Mix all ingredients well. Shoot a pie pan with some cooking spray. Pour ingredients in… bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 min. I start checking at about 30. I finished this one off with a little Smoked Paprika and just a little shredded cheese on top.

This worked out REALLY WELL.

However, when I got done processing it – I realized I had something like 3 1/2 cups of this stuff!! SCORE!! I took one cup to make the quiche – and it had CRAZY FLAVOR. Then I took the other 2 1/2 cups and decided to make a version of ham salad since it as already finely chopped.

Easy Pork Salad Recipe

2 1/2 C processed Smoked Pork Tenderloin
1 1/2 heaping T of Mayo
3 t No Sugar Sweet Pickle Relish
2 T of the Smoke Spice base left over in the storage container.
3 drops QuickSweet

Whip it all together.

Whoa… really, really good.

This was last nite. After this “Smoked Pork Salad” had a chance for the flavors to really come together over night, it was JUST UNREAL how good this was. This was our third meal/snack. All gone…

Moral to the story – don’t be afraid to be creative!!

The end

So I woke up the other day and I’m was thinking about doing a bunless egg sandwich, I kind of had a taste for the Guacamole on there (as shown in the video). However, I was not at all excited about prepping a full batch of Guacamole for one of two bunless egg sandwiches – BLAH!!

Then I got to thinking – “I have a couple of Avocados that need to be used…” – and… “I have about half a container of fresh Pico in the fridge…”

My “thinker got rolling” – now go with me here…

This Pico, from Pancho’s in Spring Hill, TN – has a very similar flavor profile as the spicing of some Guacamole recipes… except that it’s fresh (unlike spice packets).

It has a little onion (not too much – that can get “carby”), a little tomato (same issue – be careful), and plenty of lime. There is a little cilantro in there, which I wouldn’t normally put in Guacamole – AND none of the prep time. Just dump it in. Let’s try this…

I dressed my 3 Avocados – quick!! I added some of the Pico (as show in the pics) to the Avocados in my little food chopper – and BOOM!!

5 minutes or less – I had a LEGIT Guacamole. First thing in the morning. The profile wasn’t perfect, so I added some powdered garlic and more lime juice… and we were OFF!! This is gonna’ be my new “quickie” Guacamole!!

Bunless Egg Sandwich

(Not my recipe – but we’ve used it a few times…)

Here are some thoughts on this recipe – it is NOT – BY ANY STRETCH, a “finger food”. We like it. It looks good. It tastes good. However, plan on using a knife and fork. This is the difference between “virtual reality” and REALITY. Enjoy.

Pro Tip: This recipe made plenty of Guacamole – note the Guacamole added to the Smoked Fish Taco below – wrapped in a Mission brand Low Carb Tortilla. All for a grand total of less than 5 net grams of Carbs… and FLAVOR – WHOA!!

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.

Here’s a couple thoughts. Even though we’re doing this for TheLowCarbBlog.com and documenting it – a consistent meal review and weigh-in is not a bad idea. For a long time now – we have talked over what we ate, what we’ve going to eat and weigh-in early every AM (same time – keep it consistent). The idea is to get an “unvarnished” look at what your diet really is. A lot of times you will miss some stuff – and it’s a great time to communicate (Ha!!).

Breakfast:

For breakfast yesterday (around 7:30AM) – after a couple of cups of coffee, Community Coffee w/Chicory and some heavy cream – we had a Cottage Cheese/cereal… very fresh – good stuff.

A base of a handful of Pecan pieces, in a fairly small serving dish (any size will do though), somewhere between 1/4 and a 1/2 Cup of Reg. fat Cottage Cheese (beware all the Low Fat stuff – READ LABELS), a slight dusting of some powdered Splenda (or something along those lines) and topped with a large, sliced Strawberry.

Very fresh tasting, kinda’ fills the cereal gap and is good for you. While we are pretty serious about carb counts and it’s important to be realistic – we don’t obsess over fractional carb counts. This one is probably under 5 total grams. Not bad for breakfast.

Stir this up a little and ENJOY!! There are tons of different variations on this theme – just don’t go crazy with the fruit. Just enough for a little added flavor.

Why don’t you guys sound off on what we should even call this??

Lunch:

We had some leftover Garlic and Onion soup (the Bayona’s of New Orleans recipe) and a Smoked Fish Taco pretty filling and DELISH…

I had a full bowl of the soup. Can I say WOW?!? You wouldn’t think it but Garlic and Onions done this way is really VERY flavorful. While it’s a pretty AMP’ed up Low Carb taste, it’s not the odor repellent you would think. Good taste – even for left-overs.

(this was an earlier version of the same soup – lighter, creamier and probably lower carb count. The one referred to here was darker, chunkier and fortified with some Great Low Carb Bread Co. slices – not the carb problem. The MASSIVE ONION AND GARLIC amount was the issue)

However, we started working up some numbers on the twist on the Bayona’s recipe we went with. EPIC CARB FAIL!! We’ve done this one several different ways. I’ll do another version and record the amounts and let you all know how it tastes (BTW – we’ve done different versions of this that were actually better). This version was probably around 20+ grams per serving. Not good!! Mistakes happen – keep on keeping on.

This makes an important point I talk about a lot. We can’t afford to be delusional about what’s actually in the food. No matter where it comes from. One reason we cook a lot of our own meals (not all – but a lot) is I have very little faith in what gets put in our food when we aren’t looking.

For instance, the same goes for those on a Low Sodium Diet. It is VITAL one takes ownership of diet and ingredient choices and even then – there will be bumbles. We’ve been doing this (a Low Carb Diet) successfully for a long time and this still happens to us once in a while.

I am so amused when I hear someone tell me they had a carb-free day. Ummmmmm – no. Not possible. Low carb? Maybe – no carb? Can’t happen. Be diligent. Be real about it.

The Fish Taco was really, really, REALLY good too. The smoked fish seems to be the under dog of “Smoke-A-Palooza 2017” (more editions of “Smoke-A-Palooza” to follow)…

I started with about a half a filet of the smoked fish topped with some butter (I’ll cover this in a “Smoke-A-Palooza” post soon) and microwaved for about 30 sec…

Pro Tip: While that was working – I was toasting off the low carb tortilla – this one was the smallest size Mission brand. About 3 net grams apiece. To toast them off – just toss it on a skillet or flat-top with no sauce and let it warm up a bit. It should develop just a few dark spots – then it’s nice and toasty. Don’t leave it on either side too long. That’s no good.

Then add a little shredded cheese…

Then spoon on a little of my Sweet Sriracha Lime Mayo dressing… OUCH!! Roll this baby up and enjoy the FLAVOR. This was a ride on the FLAVOR TOWN EXPRESS!! I cannot stress enough when I say this – it is very difficult to find a dish anywhere with this kind of flavor. Really good stuff here.

Supper:

“Supper” was more like around 4:30 pm and I really just had a few snacks. I was still in recovery from lunch… a little flavor overload.

Easy enough to figure out – a couple of hard boiled eggs (we keep these on hand – we’ve got chickens), some kind of hoity-toity pepperoni roll I picked up at Kroger’s and some cheese (I’m sure there were some Pork rinds lurking around in the background too – just begging to dive into that dressing). I’m gonna’ have to track that cheese down again for you. It was good. That is more of my Sweet Sriracha Lime Mayo up in the corner… could there have been left-overs of that??

Sweet Sriracha Lime Mayo recipe:

3-4 heaping TBSP of my home-made whole egg mayo (I mean HEAPING)

a generous squirt on Sriracha sauce

a couple of good squirts of Lime juice

3-4 drops of Quick Sweet

Wisk thoroughly and enjoy. This stuff has a life-expectancy of about 14 minutes… Be very careful. Almost anything close to it has a tendency to get dragged through it and eaten. ANYTHING!!

I’ll do an official recipe on this soon – it’s a GO TO… I don’t normally do it that way, but I’ll really focus and put one together soon.

Exercise:

For exercise – I was pretty light. No cardio and I basically just did 50 push-ups (in sets of 5 – relax, it’s not that hard). Exercise is what I can get – with my schedule…

I try to do something everyday – doesn’t have to be much. Just something.

P.S. Quick teaser – the Monday review is gonna’ be Smoked Ribs Day (for lunch). Tune in and check the meal review out!!