The Changeover

I love to cook.  I always have, to be honest.  When I was a teenager, I started cooking for my mom because she worked long hours.  I wasn't exactly a great cook back then, but I was learning.  When I moved in with Chad, I continued cooking, and as I got better, I started to develop my own recipes.  It was very exciting!

Now that I'm low carb, I've pretty much given up hope for my old recipes.  Which is a shame, because I have a whole book full of them.  But a couple of weeks ago, I decided I'd buy myself a pretty new recipe holder and start the long (but fun) process of converting my old carby recipes into delicious new low-carb recipes.

In with the new, out with the old.

I'm going to make it a point to try to convert one recipe a week, at least.  So hopefully soon, you'll see some new recipes from me!

Low Carb Shepherd's Pie

I love shepherd's pie.  Do you?  I ate it a lot when I was younger, but had to stop once I became a vegetarian.  Then when I moved in with Chad and was doing all the cooking, I made vegetarian shepherd's pie a lot.  I used lots of vegetables and a can of cream of mushroom soup for the bottom layer, and lots of creamy mashed potatoes for the top layer.  It was pretty good, at least to my taste buds at the time.

I don't eat potatoes anymore.  And I don't eat canned soup.  But I still love shepherd's pie.  So what's a girl to do?  Why, check Linda's Low Carb, of course!

Linda currently has two recipes for low carb shepherd's pie, but one in particular looked scrumptious to me.  The problem is that I didn't have exactly all the ingredients the recipe called for, but that's ok; I tend to tweak recipes even when I do have all the ingredients.  So here's how I made my shepherd's pie:

Filling:
1 pound ground beef
1/2 medium onion
1 large carrot, chopped
1/2 cup frozen green beans
1-2 tbsp coconut flour
1 cup beef broth
1 tablespoons low carb bbq sauce
1-2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper

Topping:
1/2 large head of cauliflower
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp sour cream
sprinkling of garlic powder
lots of salt and pepper
2/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese

I don't keep xanthan gum on hand, mostly because I haven't done any research on it and I don't feel comfortable using it.  Also because I have no idea how best to use it.  The coconut flour worked quite well, though.  I got that idea from Dr. Davis' Wheat Belly Cookbook, where he uses coconut flour to thicken gravy.... or am I thinking the Cooking with Coconut Flour cookbook?  Hmmm... Anyway, I got the idea from somewhere!  I don't know exactly how much I put in.  I just sprinkled it in until it was thick to my liking.  I also don't know exactly how much Worcestershire sauce I put in, because I just kept adding more (I like it a lot).

Also, I have this problem where I get caught up in the process of shredding cheese, and then suddenly notice that I have cheese mountain.  So there was more cheese than I planned on having, but it turned out pretty well anyway.

You'd think that the coconut flour would be distracting in the gravy; it's a little grainy and of course tastes like coconut.  But actually, it works super well in it.  I'm certainly going to remember that trick the next time I need to thicken something.

Anyway, it was a fun experiment!  And it reminded me of how much I love to cook!

Grain-Free, Sugar-Free, Low Carb Granola!

I love granola.  I've always loved granola.  I ate granola bars when hiking, on road trips, when camping, or just as a delicious snack.  I even got into making my own granola bars at one time, which is when I found out how bad granola actually is for you.  It's literally oats and nuts stuck together with a ton of honey or sugar with what I thought at the time was an ungodly amount of butter. 

I miss granola, though.  Even though I no longer eat oats or sugar, I sometimes long for the simple pleasure of eating a sweet and salty crunchy mix.  So I decided I would just jump in and make some granola, low carb style! 

My intention was to make granola bars, but there wasn't enough of a stickiness factor, and so instead it's just loose granola.  I'll try again another day with more xylitol (the sticky part) and see if I can't make bars.

For a first try, though, it came out pretty amazing.  I'll keep working on it.  Until then, here's the recipe!

(P.S. This stuff is addicting!  Make sure to dish yourself out only a little at a time, or you may eat the whole thing!)


Low Carb Peanut Butter Granola

1/2 cup dry roasted almonds
1/4 cup dry roasted peanuts
1/4 cup unsweetened flaked coconut
1/4 cup raisins (optional)
2 tbsp peanut butter
1 tbsp xylitol*
1 tbsp vanilla coffee syrup (such as DaVinci)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Add the nuts and coconut to a food processor and pulse several times until no large chunks remain.  Or, if you don't have a food processor like me, hand chop the nuts until they're roughly the size of oats.  I left in some big chunks for variety.  Add raisins and set aside.

Mix xylitol and syrup in a microwave safe cup.  Microwave on high for 15-30 seconds, or until syrup is hot.  Stir mixture until all the xylitol dissolves. 

Add the peanut butter and the syrup mixture to the nuts at the same time, and stir well until all ingredients are incorporated.  Spread granola mixture evenly on the bottom of a greased 8x8 dish.  Cook in oven for 10 minutes; remove and stir mixture.  Return to the oven and continue cooking for another 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown.  Remove from oven and allow to completely cool.  Store in a resealable bag or plastic container.

*Don't try to substitute this with Stevia or Splenda.  The xylitol has similar properties to sugar, and in this recipe, it acts as a sticky binder.  You might be able to use erythritol with no problem, though, or even plain sugar if you don't mind eating a little bit.

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Nutrition facts with raisins:

Six Servings:
Calories: 200
Fat: 15g
Protein: 6g
Carbs: 13g
Fiber: 3g
Net Carbs: 10g

Eight Servings:
Calories: 150
Fat: 11g
Protein: 5g
Carbs: 10g
Fiber: 2g
Net Carbs: 8g


Nutrition facts without raisins:

Six Servings:
Calories: 180
Fat: 15g
Protein: 6g
Carbs: 8g
Fiber: 3g
Net Carbs: 5g

Eight Servings:
Calories: 135
Fat: 11g
Protein: 5g
Carbs: 6g
Fiber: 2g
Net Carbs: 4g

Adventure!

Becoming a meat eating, paleo/primal/low-carb person has really expanded my diet.  Along with the conventional meat that I'm now eating, like beef, chicken, and bacon, I'm also finding myself getting more and more adventurous.  First I tried ground lamb (I won't be trying that again; too gamey), then beef liver.  A couple of weeks ago, I picked up goat meat at the farmer's market! 

And then, last Friday, I saw something I knew I had to try.  Strolling through the farmer's market, in the same stall that had the goat meat (I went back to pick up more!), I saw....  this.

....Duck eggs?  I mean, I know they're birds.  I know other birds lay eggs.  I know theoretically you can even eat those eggs.  But I've never actually seen anything but chicken eggs.  I knew I had to get them.  But first, I had to ask the guy behind the counter what they tasted like.  In the same beat, both the seller and my mom said "they're richer".  Later on, I found out my mom had kept ducks and chickens when she lived in California as a young wife.  Jealous!

For $2 a half dozen, I figured I had nothing to lose.  So I brought them home.  They look similar to chicken eggs, but.... different, too.  The shells are slightly translucent in spots.  And they're a little bigger than the farm eggs we buy (which I think are jumbo sized).

It got really interesting when I cracked them open.  The membranes under the shells are much thicker, so you really have to pull the shell apart to get the egg out.  And then the white was incredibly thick.  Like....  I don't even know how to describe it.  If I tried, I probably could have gotten the egg white to stretch several feet.  The yolks were quite large, and they were very dark. 

Out of curiosity, I cooked two chicken eggs along side two duck eggs.

Chicken eggs on the left, duck eggs on the right.

It surprised me to see that the duck egg whites are much whiter than chicken egg whites.  Once they were fully cooked, the duck eggs where pure white, whereas the chicken eggs were more ivory.

As for taste?  There honestly wasn't that much different.  The duck eggs were a little more sturdy in texture, and the yolks tasted a little yolkier.  Bot otherwise, they were eggs.  And they were delicious.