Do it Daily …. because all those Calories you Cook up have to be Burned Off!
Category Archives: Atkins Diet Meals
Atkins Diet Meals
Low Carb High Protein Fruit and Nut Bites
You know how you get that craving for something sweet but you don’t want to undo all your good work by loading up on empty carbs and way too much sugar ie: Cookie Monster Time! I decided to give Low Carb Sweets another look. And I will continue to do so for the rest of January 2013 just to see what I come up with and determine whether or not LC will fill the void.
I entered Low Carb High Protein cookie recipes into google and had a browse through the first few hits. I liked the look of Healthy No Bake Protein Cookies because I almost always have protein powder on hand these days, love peanut butter and always have dried cranberries, dates, raisins and a variety of nuts on hand.
How I made them:
6 ounces Peanut Butter
2 ounces Tahini Paste
1/3 cup Splenda Brown Sugar
1 1/2 Scoops Vega One Protein Powder
1/4 cup chopped Dates
1/4 cup dried Cranberries
1/4 cup Raisins
1/2 cup Sliced Blanched Almonds
Fine Coconut – about 1 cup
Melt the peanut butter and tahini paste over low heat until melted, stirring constantly to discourage scorching and eliminating all lumps.
Remove from heat and stir in protein powder and Splenda brown sugar.
Stir in dates, cranberries, raisins and sliced almonds until well incorporated.
Use a #2 Pampered Chef scoop to scoop portion dough into even sized balls, roll between your hands to attain even form then drop into coconut and roll around to coat.
Yield: About 24 cookies
What I would do different next time:
I just happen to have Splenda Brown Sugar on hand…I almost threw it away but considering how much I paid for it, I thought I better use it up. When the Splenda BS is gone I will use Honey, but not the cup stated in the original recipe; I will probably use 1/3 of a cup.
I will make them with all Peanut Butter; I have Tahini Paste in the pantry for when I make hummus but I don’t make it that often and hummus doesn’t call for much of it! A shame to have the Tahini Paste going stale in the pantry so this was a good opportunity to unload a bit of it.
I will add a splash of vanilla.
I will grind the almonds rather than using sliced…sliced almonds made the rolling process too difficult.
My dear husband says the only thing I should do different next time is to dip them in Chocolate!
Low Carb Beef Stew
After not getting dinner on the table until 8:30 pm Monday night I decided to take another tack for today; I took meat out of the freezer last night, defrosted it then threw together a Beef Stew in the Crockpot at 6 am this morn….voila! Dinner on the table with zero effort on my part at the time of day when I am at my worst!
Stewing Beef
Can of Tomatoes
1 1/2 cans of Water
half a can of Tomato Paste because I used half a can the night before making Pizza Sauce
1 Turnip, cut into chunks
handful of mini carrots
2 Leeks, coz I had them in the fridge
3 stalks of Celery, cut into chunky bits
A bit of Thyme
A bit of Sage
3 Bay Leaves
Some Paprika
Salt and Pepper
1 McCormicks Beef Boullion cube
A splash of Worcestershire sauce
Turned the slow cooker onto high heat, left it going all day long, came home at 3 45, took the lid off, left it on high heat to let it cook down a bit while Luke and I took Bear for a walk.
Served it up with a MIM (Muffin in a Minute) and a Salad.
Low Carb Pizza
Jamie, over on Your Lighter Side posted a link to a low carb pizza crust ages ago which I had been meaning to try but never got around to it. It seemed to labour intensive for the amount of energy I have at the moment (zilch!!) so I kept putting it off. When I got home from work today I did the unthinkable…I had me a lil lay down!!! I think I may have even closed my eyes!
Rejuvenated, tonight had to be the night to finally make that pizza! I had the energy and the ingredients and besides, I was craving pizza! Now normally one would make this with meat but, like I said, _ I _ was craving pizza, so that means no meat was going to be on this culinary delight. I used Yves Ground Chicken in place of the meat and I had a gazillion different cheeses hanging out in the fridge so I pulled out Oscar Senior and got to work shredding cheeses: Cheddar, Monterey Jack and Mozzarella. I dumped the cheeses into a bowl and loaded the “chicken” into the processor, ground it up a bit, added the cheese and mixed the two together; I then pressed the mixture into a lightly oiled 9″springform pan, popped it into the oven for 18 – 20 minutes.
After baking for 18 – 20 mins, I pulled the crust out of the oven and let it cool while I was making a salad.
Next I spread about 2 ounces of Tomato Paste on the cooled crust, sprinkled generously with Italian Seasoning and a bit of garlic powder.
Then came the toppings:
Mushrooms, sliced
Tomatoes, diced
Green Pepper, diced
Spinach
Yves Ham Slices, cut into strips
Lotsa mozza!
Some more Italian Seasoning
Put it into the 375F oven for 18 minutes, turned the heat up to 425F and continued baking for another 8 minutes.
Pulled it out of the oven, let it set for about 10 minutes while I finished cleaning up all my prep dishes.
Served it up with a salad.
Low Carb Curried Shrimp on Mock Rice
So Mother Hubbard’s Cupboards are still a bit on the bare side and coming up with a meal is getting to be a bit challenging! To add to that, whatever I do make? It needs to be Low Carb. Now you have to understand that prior to January 31, 2012 I just cooked whatever I wanted: pasta, rice, potatoes…oh, Potato Soup and Bannock! Home made Mac and Cheese! Spanish Rice with Enchiladas…Burritos and Mexi Fries! Carbs were not so much an issue but expanding waist lines were beginning to be.
I digress. But the point remains that I can cook up a high carb meal pretty easily because I still have heaps of ingredients in the cupboards and freezer. And low carb is a whole new way of thinking for me too. I can no longer just think about what to make for dinner and head to the kitchen, thought processes ticking; now I rely on a recipe of some sort even if it just to follow basic guidelines.
Alright, so last night as I lay in bed I began thinking about what I was going to cook for dinner tonight (because that is how it works when the cupboards are bare and I am changing the way I cook) so I borrowed my iPad from my husband and started scanning for a low carb recipe using 1.5lbs of shrimp, because I had that in the freezer, and came across Jennifer Eloff’s Curried Shrimp recipe; as I read the recipe and each ingredient got a “Yup, got that” I was relieved to have part of the meal prepared. I had a look at Jennifer Eloff’s Mock Rice but didn’t like the looks of it alongside my lovely Curried Shrimp. I recalled seeing numerous posts about Jamie’s Mock Rice on Your Lighter Side and hopped over to Jamie’s recipe for Mock Fried Rice. The perfect accompaniment to the Curried Shrimp!
1.5 lbs Large Frozen Shrimp, pre-cooked
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1 medium Onion, chopped
2 cloves Garlic, minced
1 1/2 Tablespoons Curry Powder
1/2 teaspoon Salt
Dash of Pepper
1 teaspoon ground Cumin
1/2 teaspoon Chili Flakes
3/4 cup Coconut Milk
In colander thaw frozen shrimp under cold running water and drain completely; set aside.
In a saucepan heat oil over med-high heat and add onion, cooking until slightly softened; add garlic and continue cooking until onion is soft and translucent.
Stir in curry powder, ground cumin, chili flakes and salt and pepper.
Gradually add coconut milk, stirring constantly.
Bring to a boil, stirring often.
Add shrimp, continue stirring and cook until heated through.
Serves 4 – 6
1 large head Cauliflower
2 cups Water
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 teaspoon Onion Powder
Salt and Pepper, to taste
Cook whole, large cauliflower in a pot with a tight fitting lid; bring to boil, reduce heat to med-high and continue cooking for about 10 minutes.
Remove from heat, drain and cover cauliflower with cold water; drain that off, repeat.
Fill pot again with cold water and let sit while preparing the Curry Sauce.
Once sauce is simmering (do not add the shrimp until 5 minutes before ready to serve.) come back to the cauliflower.
Drain cauliflower.
Cut into chunks that will fit into the feeder tube of your food processor.
With the grating attachment, put cauliflower through the processor.
Once all the cauliflower is processed, heat olive oil in a large pan over high – medium heat and add half the cauliflower.
Season with half the onion powder, some salt and pepper and cook for 6 – 8 minutes, stirring often.
Plate, the repeat with the second half of the cauliflower.
Serves 6