Maggie and Wilson

Zucchini Pepperoni Bites

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Blueberry Popsicles

This is based loosely on a recipe from the Atkins website.

  Ingredients

* 1 Cup Frozen Blueberries - Thawed
* 1/2 Cup Water
* 1/4 C. Sugar Free Raspberry Syrup
* Juice of 1/2 of a Lime
* Pinch of Lime Zest

Directions

Place all ingredients in blender and blend until smooth. (Leaving a few chunks of fruit can be a good thing though.) Pour into popsicle molds and freeze.  Makes 4 popsicles.

Each popsicle has 4-5g net carbs.

Low Carb Lunchbox Ideas

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Here are some ideas to help get you started. 
The two columns are independent of each other,
I don't necessarily recommend the combination of
main dish/side as it's listed in the chart... 

I would love to hear what others do!

 

 

Main Dishes	Sides
Ham & Swiss Wrap Ham, Swiss Cheese, Mustard, Lettuce	Pickles
BLT Wrap/Salad (Heavy on the bacon!) A low Sugar Ranch dressing goes well with this.	Black Olives
Smoked Turkey, Provolone, Bacon Wrap, Mayo	LC Tortilla Chips (make your own using Mission LC tortillas)
Pecan Salad: Chicken, Strawberries, Raspberries, Pecans, Raspberry Vinaigrette, Feta Cheese, Baby Spinach	"Pita" Chips Cut LC Flatouts into triangles and deep fry. Store in a loosely sealed bag or they will get soggy.
Italian Salad: Lettuce, Baby Spinach, Salami sliced into bite size pieces, black olives, green olives, artichoke hearts	Parmesan Cheese "Crackers" (shred fresh Parmesan Cheese, place small mounds on parchment paper and bake until golden. Cool on glass/ceramic plate)
Soup in a thermos (hot)	LC Yogurt
Egg Salad wrapped in Butter Lettuce Leaves	SF Jello
Broccoli Salad: Fresh broccoli – chopped fine, crumbled crisp bacon, shredded cheese, `tossed with dressing of mayo, salt, pepper, a dash of vinegar and a packet of stevia	Jicama "fries": Slice peeled jicama into matchsticks, (not too thin or they will break). Sprinkle with chili powder and lime juice
Tuna Wrap (with lettuce or LC Pita)	String Cheese, Cheese Cubes
Pinwheels	Celery with Cream Cheese or Peanut Butter
Fajita Salad/Wrap: chicken, lettuce, green pepper, avocado (wait to slice until lunch if you can), lime juice, salsa,	Macadamia Nuts, Pecans, Almonds: Don't limit yourself to just the plain ones! Try the flavored ones and the cocoa almonds.
Hot Wings Wrap/Salad: Leftover chicken, hot wing sauce, mayo, lettuce	Extra Dark Chocolate Square
Spinach-Bacon Salad: Baby Spinach, Crumbled Bacon, Feta Cheese, Raspberries	Cottage Cheese
Asian Wrap/Salad: Chicken tossed with 1 teaspoon SF apricot jelly, a dash of: vinegar, olive oil, chili powder and chopped cilantro, spinach or lettuce, green onions, sunflower seeds or sliced almonds	Fresh Cauliflower & Ranch Dressing
Meatballs in a thermos (hot)	Deviled Eggs
Brisket in a thermos (hot)	Atkins Bar
Green Beans with Sautéed Almonds in a thermos (hot)	Beef Jerky
BBQ Chicken or Pork in a Thermos (hot)	Lower sugar fruit: strawberries, blueberries, cantaloupe
	Coleslaw

Low Carb Yogurt

 
With all the "light" yogurts that are out there you would think it would be easier to find some that were low carb.  This is as close as I've found, with 3g/serving.  The only problem is that vanilla gets kind of boring after a while (not a big fan of strawberry yogurt).  This morning I added about 1tsp. of Raspberry SF syrup to my yogurt and put it in the freezer for about 10 minutes.  It made the yogurt a little thicker and the flavoring made it a little less sour. It's supposed to be 103 this afternoon.  I think I might have another one for lunch.

Nachos

Chips: Low Carb Tortillas, cut and fried in 1" of Grapeseed Oil.  Drain on paper towel and salt.  (These will be more flaky than "normal" tortilla chips, but they are quite good!)

Filling:

• About 1 pound of lean hamburger
• 1 can of Rotel tomatoes with chiles
• 2 cloves of garlic
• Salt, pepper and a pinch of oregano.  

Brown meat then add rest of ingredients.  Allow to simmer for about 15 minutes on low heat.  Put desired serving size of meat on a microwave safe plate, top with habañero cheese and heat in microwave just until cheese melts.  I'm trying to get away from using shredded cheese because they put some kind of chemical/wax to keep it from clumping together. 

Super Sandwich!

Have random pieces of cheese, meat or lettuce left in your fridge?  Well clear off the counter and pull all of that out!  There really is no exact science to this idea.  This is what I used:

• Hormel Smoked Turkey (Nitrate Free)
• Hormel Smoked Ham (Nitrate Free)
• Pepper Bacon
• Spinach (I think I would have liked lettuce too, but it was slimey.....)
• Artichoke Hearts
• Provolone Cheese Slices
• Swiss Cheese Slices
• Salami
• Mayo
• Italian Dressing
• Sun dried tomato pesto sauce
• Flat Bread

Take two large slices of your favorite flat bread or large low carb tortilla (or bread, if you can find it!).  Spread the mayo and pesto on one side of each piece.  Pile on the ingredients!  I used 2 layers of everything but the bacon and spinach because I didn't have enough. 

After your sandwich is built, wrap the entire thing very tightly in cling wrap and chill for about 8 hours.  It's even better the next day.  I cut mine up at 4 hours because I couldn't wait any more.

Carb count will vary depending on the exact ingredients you use and how big you cut the wedges.  I estimated that each wedge of the one I made has between 2-3g effective carbs. (Mostly from bread and artichoke hearts)

Chimichangas

I originally set out to make flautas, using low carb tortillas.  They were ok, but nothing to write home blog about.  Had a package of Flatouts sitting on the counter so I made a flauta with one of those too and let my husband decide which he liked better.  He overwhelmingly liked the Flatout version, but said they were more like chimichangas because they are flaky.   This will be part of our dinners frequently, diet or no diet!

• Shredded Chicken (I used the HEB brand, prepared shredded chicken.  No carbs in this brand - be sure to read labels if you don't make your own!)
• 1/2 C. Shredded Cheese
• 2 T. Chopped Green Chiles
• 3 Flatout Lights, cut in quarters
• Oil to fry in - Grape Seed Oil is a good choice because it burns at a much higher temp than olive oil

While oil heats, mix chicken, cheese, chiles in a bowl.  Scoop a spoonful of chicken mix into each quarter of a wrap and with pointy end pointing towards you, roll from side to side (not from top to bottom).  Fry until golden on both sides.  Add salt, pepper and salsa. 

The reason for cutting the wrap into quarters and making smaller chimichangas instead of one big one is so that when you roll it the bready part isn't overlapping more than it has to.  The idea is to get as much chicken rolled up into as little bread as possible.  If you want to serve them as appetizers, cook them first, and then slice into smaller pieces with a sharp knife.

Each piece has roughly 2 - 2.5g (net) carb depending on the exact ingredients you use.

Santa Fe Mushrooms

Ingredients

• 8 Mushrooms
• 1 T Canned Diced Green Chiles
• 2 T Cilantro
• 1/2 C. Cheddar Cheese
• 1/4 C. Parmesan Cheese
• 1 Egg White
• 1 Clove Garlic, minced
• 2 T Butter

Directions

Put butter and garlic in microwave dish and heat until butter melts.  Brush garlic butter on mushrooms.  Mix all remaining ingredients, except Parm. cheese.  Stuff mushrooms, then top with Parm. Cheese.  Bake for 15-20 minutes at 375 until cheese is bubbly and mushrooms are softened.  If you wish to brown cheese a little more turn broiler on for about one minute. 

Entire recipe has about 6g net carbs.

Artichoke Dip

I had two artichoke dip recipes and couldn't decide which one I liked better.  I took what I liked best from each one and made my own:

Artichoke Dip

• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1.5 C shredded Parm cheese (the fresh stuff works best!)
• 1/2 C mayo (you can use light if you want, but it usually has more sugar)
• 1 jar chopped artichoke hearts with 1/4C. juice
• 1/2 t. basil
• 1t. pepper

Whip cream cheese, Parm cheese and mayo together, then add artichoke hearts. Mix, and pour into pie plate.  Top with additional Parm cheese. Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes.

Served with low carb tortilla chips or Flatout "chips" that you make yourself, or veggies.  (Fritos for those who don't mind the carbs) 

Quick Breakfast or Snack

           Somehow I aggrivated an old neck injury yesterday and was up most of the night because I couldn't get comfortable.  The last thing I was in the mood for this morning was unloading the dishwasher and cooking something for breakfast, but I needed something in my stomach so I could take my pain medicine.  A perfect morning for coffee and donuts, right?  We all know that things we eat when we are in pain don't count!  (If that were true I would be kicking kitchen cabinet every morning right before I grabbed the box of CocoKrispies....) 

This is what I had instead:  

• Coffee with cream, cinnamon, 2 drops of vanilla extract and Stevia
• Cranberry Almond Atkins bar

     Rather than stand in the corner of the kitchen and stare at the dirty dishes while I ate, I forced myself to go sit out on the patio and enjoy it.  Robins and Bluejays make much better breakfast companions than dirty dishes!