Getting Sauced

I love my grill. It is an easy way to make flavorful foods, and the flavor itensifies due to the searing from the high heat (plus the slight "charring" effect).

So, the recent "snowmageddon" that buried us under four feet of snow wasn't particularly welcome.

As such, I'm sitting here with some decent steaks, and no access to the grill. Time to resort to searing them in a skillet and finishing them in an oven. All well and good, but now I've got this skillet with all of this nice bits of flavor. I can't let that go to waste, can I?

Now, how to make a sauce without jacking up the carb count? I can't use flour or cornstarch, for obvious reasons. I don't want to use ThickenThin, because that will be more like a gravy. Hmmmm... what's left?

Heavy cream. That will do the trick nicely.

First things first, though. The skillet needs to be deglazed. A splash of wine will get all of flavors released.

Then add cream. Really, I don't measure stuff like this. A lot depends on how much you're making. Probably 1/4 to 1/2 cup. Add some salt and pepper to taste, and stir frequently over medium to medium high heat until the cream thickens.

As decadent as it sounds, add in about 1-2 tablespoons of butter and stir it in as it melts. This will keep the sauce smooth.

Now, all of this gets you a basic sauce. You can experiment from there, adding flavors. For example, I've added hot sauce with the cream for a more peppery flavor. Another time, I sauteed some garlic in the pan drippings before adding everything else. The sky's the limit!

Blueberry Muffins

Similar to the pancakes, this changes a few of the "wet" ingredient proportions, and, of course, adds in the blueberries.

1 c. carbalose flour
1/4 c. flax seed meal
1/4 c. coconut flour
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
4 eggs
1 t. sugar-free vanilla
2 T. fiber fit (or other liquid sweetener equal to 1 c. sugar)
1 c. Hood's Calorie Countdown milk (or, 1/4 c. heavy cream plus 3/4 c. water)
1/2 c. blueberries

Mix all except blueberries, making sure to avoid any lumps, as unlike regular flour, these will not "cook out". Fold in blueberries and bake in a muffin tin at 350 for about 25 minutes.

Makes 12 muffins at approximately 3 net carbs per muffin.

Pancakes

I've been playing around with a variety of flour substitutes, trying to find something that will work pretty much as well as regular flour, without having any unpleasant or otherwise undesirable tastes to it. I think I've come up with a pretty good mix, as illustrated by this pancake recipe:

1 c. carbalose flour
1/4 c. flax seed meal
1/4 c. coconut flour
1 T. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
4 eggs
1 t. sugar-free vanilla
1 t. fiber fit (or other liquid sweetener equal to 2 T. sugar)
2 c. Hood's Calorie Countdown milk (or, 1/2 c. heavy cream plus 1 1/2 c. water)

Mix all together -- thoroughly, as the coconut flour likes to "lump up" - and let sit for a couple of minutes before placing on the griddle. It may thicken up, so add small amounts of water, as needed, to thin it out to pancake batter consistency.

The entire recipe has approximately 33 net carbs.

Nice milestone...

I was going through the closet over the weekend, looking for any spring-weight and summer-weight clothes to possibly take on vacation to Florida next month. And I ran across an old pair of jeans -- size 54, which was my lowest point on the first time 'round, before our first son was born. Since I've been wearing slacks in a size 58, and they've been quite loose, I thought I 'd check to see how close I was to wearing the jeans.

And they fit.

As did another pair right beneath them on the shelf. Now, to be fair, these are "relaxed fit" jeans that have already been broken in, but hey, it means I must be getting reasonably close to my low point, and I still seem to be dropping size steadily. In 13 months (to the day), I've dropped from a 66 to a 54.

That said, a very nice sports coat/slacks combo in the same size is still too tight to wear (I could get away with it in a pinch, but I'd look like someone who was squeezing into his clothes after putting on 15 or so pounds), and the dress shirts have a way to go -- they were always a bit snug, being "tall" sizes, which taper in the middle, and they're quite snug at size 18 1/2, whereas my "big" size 19 shirts fit quite nicely at the moment.

So, given that my low was about 330, and I was pushing 500 last January, I'm going to estimate a total weight loss of about 140 pounds in 13 months. It'll be nice when I drop down to the point I can actually track my weight with a normal bathroom scale, but for now, I'll let the fit tell the story.

Valentine's Day Dinner

Okay, it may be a little late for Valentine's Day planners looking for something to do, but this can still give a good idea of how to make a special, even somewhat fancy, special occasion meal without breaking the carb budget.

Last night's special dinner included:

• Appetizer: low-carb cheese pizza; cutting the tortillas into heart shapes before topping and cooking
  
• Main course: Grilled ribeye steak, seasoned with salt and pepper; with horseradish dipping sauce
• Side: Mushrooms sauteed in butter, salt, pepper, and a splash of white wine
• Side: Asparagus sauteed in butter, salt, pepper, and nutmeg; with a Dijon hollandaise sauce
• Dessert: Homemade, sugar-free chocolate truffles

All things considered, the hollandaise sauce didn't work too well (though it was very naturally low-carb), but everything else came out very nicely. Watch this space for the dipping sauce and truffle recipes.

Pizza!

This is a very simple way to make personal-sized pizzas, or at least a reasonable facsimile thereof. Don't expect a thick crust or deep dish here, but it does satisfy the occasional pizza craving!

For each pizza, you will need:

1 Low-carb tortilla (I use Mama Lupe's, and the carb count reflects this)
2 T. Pizza sauce (Ragu PizzaQuick works great)
1/4 c. Mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 T. Parmesan cheese, grated
Pinch each of dried Basil and Oregano

Preheat oven to 450. Line a baking sheet -- or better yet, a pizza tray (if you have one) -- with parchment paper. Put the tortilla on the paper, spread the the sauce evenly over the tortilla, close to (but all the way to) the edge. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese evenly over sauce and then top with the Parmesan and herbs. Bake for 7-8 minutes, until the cheese is browned.

1 serving, 6 net carbs.

Notes: Naturally, you can add whatever toppings you like -- just bear in mind the size and thinness of thebase pizza that you're working with, and of course to include the extra carb cost of anything you add. Also, I like this best cut into 4 slices; each slice is therefore 1.5 net carbs and can be used as a low-carb "finger food" appetizer.

Tip: Snack portion control

Buying single-size servings of snacks (such as 1 oz. packets of peanuts, a favorite of mine) makes book-keeping much easier, but they are more expensive than buying bulk foods, and of course, you can't use that method for your own creations.

So, what I do is very simple. I get the "snack size" zip-top bags, portion the snack item into the bags, zip them closed (removing as much air as possible), and then use a permanent marker to write the carb count for the portion size on the bag. (If you're making up a whole bunch in advance, putting the date on there might not be a bad idea.)

It solves two problems for me -- 1) the portion control issue of knowing how much I'm having at one time, and 2) somewhat related, what I call the "open container syndrome", which is the tendency of finishing off a container of something once the package is opened. Tackling the mental issues with the physical ones at the same time is what makes this tip really useful.

Cinnamon Nut Mix

Cinnamon Nut Mix

1 c. Almonds, whole
1 c. Walnuts, pieces
1 c. Pecans, halves
3 T. Butter
4 T. Cinnamon, ground
3/4 c. Splenda
2 T. (appx.) Water

In a large non-stick pan or skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the nuts and stir to coat. Add cinnamon and Splenda, turning to coat completely. Add water a tiny bit at a time until the cinnamon and Splenda completely dissolve. Spread mixture over a baking sheet (lining with parchment paper is a good idea) and let cool completely.

Makes appx. 10 servings of 1/4 cup each, 3 net carbs

Note: It is vital that you do not add too much water -- you want the Splenda to simply dissolve, not turn into a syrup.

General party food tips

There are many simple foods that you can lay out for your own party or have at someone else's affair that are generally low in net carbs. While you'll need to avoid chips, crackers, anything with a sauce (due to sugar and/or cornstarch), there's several common party items that are generally safe, such as:

• Cheese (not cheese speads, but actual cheese)
• Salami/sausage/pepperoni slices
• Veggie trays (be careful of the dips, and remember that carrots can add up!)
• Deli meats (figure roughly 1 carb per ounce unless you know for certain otherwise)
  

When making your own party or tailgate food, you have additional options:

• You can make your own dips (using sour cream and flavorings) and make sure to omit any sugar or starches
• Use low-carb tortillas to make sandwich wraps, and then cut into slices; alternatively, cut the tortillas into wedges, fry, salt lightly, and serve with salsa
  
• Sizzle up some (sliced) Italian sausage with peppers and onions
• Bratwurst works nicely, too, along with most of the common toppings (but not a sandwich roll, of course!)
• Hot dogs are classic stadium food, and chili (no beans!), prepared mustard, and/or salsa make excellent low-carb dog toppers
  

Superbowl "Tailgate" Recipes

With the "Big Game" right around the corner, it's time to share my favorite game day recipes. Look for articles with the "tailgate" and "recipe" tags.

Teriaki Wings

Teryaki Wings

Per 2 lbs. of wings:

1/4 c. Soy sauce
1/4 c. Rice wine vinegar
2 T. Splenda
1 clove Garlic, minced
1 t. Ginger
2 t. Sesame seeds
(to taste) Red pepper flakes

Mix all ingredients together and add to marinading container with chicken wings. Place in refrigerator at least 4 hours before cooking, up to 24 hours.

Place wings and marinade in a shallow baking dish and cook uncovered at 325 for an hour. Remove wings from marinade and refrigerate if not using immediately. Right before serving, broil (low setting) until nicely browned (time depends on your oven... keep an eye on 'em!).

2 portions, appx. 7-8 wings, 1 net carb.

Note: Since the marinade does not use real sugar, it doesn't get syrupy when it cooks. If you'd like a thicker sauce on the wings, add 1/2 t. ThickenThin to the marinade ingredients above.

Hot Wings

"Hooters"-Style Hot Wings

Coating:

1/2 cup Carbquik bake mix (or soy flour, but this negatively affects the taste)
2 t. Paprika
1 t. Cayenne pepper, ground

Sauce

4 oz. (1 stick) Butter
1/2 Hot sauce (such as Crustal's)
(to taste) Garlic powder
(to taste) Cracked black pepper

Mix all coating ingredients in a zip-top bag; add 2 lbs. chicken wings. Toss to coat completely.

Fry in batches (I use a deep fryer at 360 for 10 minutes, 5-6 wings at a time) until cooked thoroughly.

In a small saucepan, combine all ingredients over medium-low heat until completely melted.

Using two bowls, one slightly smaller than the other, add the wings and sauce to the larger bowl, cover with the smaller bowl, and shake to coat. Serve immediately.

2 servings, appx. 7-8 wings each, for 2 net carbs.

(For a zero carb option, simply fry the wings without the coating -- this will require half as much sauce, as less will absorb into the "breading".)

Carbohydrate Addiction

Ever since I first tried Atkins, I've realized that I was intolerant of carbohydrates; that is, they tend to do pretty bad things to me. Weight gain, of course, but also lethargy and being more susceptible to illness and allergens.

What I've come to the far more recent revelation about, however, is that for me, carbohydrates represent a true addiction. I've noticed this during some of my recent "cheat meals", where once I start, I have a hard time stopping -- knowing I'm going overboard and I still can't stop. Worse, while it's a treat and a pleasure to do so, after a while, I start feeling miserable while doing so... and I still can't stop.

Maybe it's not a clinical definition, but it has certainly served to convince me that carbs are simply something I'm going to have to continue to fight with myself about for the rest of my life. The good news, as with any addiction, the first step to overcoming it is recognizing the problem. This past weekend was my wife's birthday, and we used our cheat meal to celebrate that. Now, I'm certainly not going to say I didn't have "too much", but I was able to recognize the signs of an oncoming binge and I was able to stop myself before getting that far.

Will I be able to do so next time? (Especially with it likely being for Thanksgiving!) Who knows. But at least I know I can do so, which is some encouragement.

Also encouraging is the fact that I've lost roughly 100 pounds since January. Still quite a long way to go, but I've lost eight inches on my waist, and I can start to see signs that I'm getting close to my smallest size in the last 15-16 years. Hopefully, this time I'll stick with it and keep that weight off plus drop some more.

Review: Mama Lupe's Low-Carb Tortillas

Product: Mama Lupe's Low-Carb Tortillas, 7"
Purchased From: Netrition.com
List Price: $3.69 for 10 tortillas
Store Price: $3.19 minus volume discounts

Summary: Highly recommended -- and quite indispensable, in my opinion.

Mama Lupe's tortillas are a staple on my low-carb diet. Weighing in at only 3 net carbs, these are the perfect companion to a meal. The two most common ways we use them are as sandwich wraps (simply heat for 20-30 seconds in the microwave first), and, for a quick and dirty side, "cheeseadillas", which is a simple quesadilla-style side that is made by melting cheese on top of the tortilla, folding it over, and cutting it into wedges.

Cut into 6 wedges, the plain tortillas can also be deep-fried and lightly salted to act as tortilla chips, which themselves can then be reused as a base in other recipes or simply to be eaten plain, or possibly with salsa (a nice low-carb condiment in and of itself).

Traditional Mexican-style dishes such as tacos, fajitas, and burritos (albeit, small burritos) are also obvious uses of these tortillas.

There really isn't much of a downside to these. They aren't quite as thick as traditional flour tortillas, but they essentially look and taste like whole grain versions otherwise. There really isn't much taste to them at all, but regular flour tortillas don't have much taste either.

Recipe: "I Can't believe It's Low-Carb" Cheesecake

In general, I find that mixing Splenda and sugar alcohols works well to control the net carb count and provide a sweeter taste while using fewer artificial sweeteners overall. As a result, this cheesecake uses about 1/3 less overall sweetener than the amount of sugar it would otherwise replace. Since maltitol and sorbitol tend to have nasty side effects, I prefer using erythritol and xylitol.

The taste is more "natural", too. Combine that with the nut crust (replacing a flour- or graham cracker-based crust), and you could could serve this to people who'd never know it was low-carb!

New York Style Low-Carb Cheesecake

Filling:

• 24 oz. cream cheese
• 2 cups sour cream
• 1 T. sugar-free vanilla extract
• 1 t. salt
• 1/2 cup Splenda
• 1/4 cup Erythritol
• 1/4 cup Xylitol
• 2 T. lemon juice
• 5 eggs

Crust:

• 1 cup shelled walnuts
• 2 T. butter
• 1 T. Splenda

Place a pan of water on the lower rack of the oven, and set the upper rack to about the middle. Preheat oven to 350.

Place a square of parchment paper over the bottom of a 9" springform pan. Place the pan "sides" over this, and close the latch. Trim off any excess parchment paper, and spray the sides of the pan with cooking spray.

Start with the crust. Chop the walnuts into crumb-sized pieces (use a food processor for this). Melt the butter, and mix with the nuts and the 1 tablespoon of Splenda. Press the mixture in the pan, and put in the refrigerator to set quickly.

In a mixer, start with the cream cheese, sour cream, and salt. Beat until smooth and creamy. Add the sweeteners, vanilla, and lemon juice. Mix thoroughly (and very carefully at first, or you'll have a "cloud" of sweetener in the air). Add eggs one at a time until fully blended. Pour filling into prepared springform pan and bake for 70-80 minutes, until set.

Let cool on a rack for 10-15 minutes before removing springform pan ring. Continue to cool to room temperature. Place a plate on top of the cheescake, flip the rack over, and peel off the bottom of the pan and the parchment paper. Flip the cheesecake back over, onto the serving/storage dish.

Makes 12 servings, appx. 5 net carbs (plus 9 grams of sugar alcohols) per serving.

Variation: Chocolate Cheesecake

Use the above recipe, except for the filling, remove the lemon juice and add 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder and, if desired, 1/8 to 1/4 cup sugar-free flavoring syrup (such as raspberry!). For the crust, the walnuts can be kept or replaced with almonds or hazelnuts.

This adds roughly 0.5 net carbs per slice.

Variation: Key Lime Cheesecake

Using the base New York style recipe, omit the lemon juice and 1 cup of the sour cream. Add 1/2 cup key lime juice.

Counting carbs... the easy way!

Ok, so, I'm an Atkins guy, which means book-keeping. My daily net carb limit (currently 25) means I need to track foods as I eat them to ensure I'm staying within that limit.

So, either I keep a daily diary (yuck), or I have to remember everything I've eaten and recalculate on the fly, right?

Nope.

The answer here is to use a mechanical or electrical counter, like a lap counter, stroke counter, or pitch counter found in any decent sporting goods store. I found a nice, cheap lap counter at Target -- it goes up to 9999, but I only need the first two digits, and it has a manual dial reset so I can bring it back to 0000 at the start of the day. Eat 1 oz of peanuts (3 net carbs)? Simply click the counter 3 times. Just carry it with you, click as you go, and you'll always have your daily count current!

My General Philosophy of Low-Carb Dieting

First and foremost, it helps to understand that not all diets work equally well for everyone. A "one-size fits all" approach to dieting simply doesn't take into account the fact that some people respond differently to different diets than others do. I'm not here to evangelize the low-cab lifestyle, but rather to provide tips to those who wish to try it or maybe incorporate some new ideas, information, and approaches.

At the same time, I don't expect lectures in return about the supposed "evils" of low-carb dieting. The fact is -- for me -- it works, and works well. I'm losing weight and feeling healthier in general, and doing an order of magnitude better than any other type of program I've ever tried.

Now, what I have found is that low-carb dieting tends to work well for those who are a) significantly overweight, and/or b) male. On the first point, I think that if you have managed to "balloon" up, odds are that other types of diets just don't work, for one reason or another, and so low-carb may just be the approach that works for you. On the second point, I'm guessing it's genetic, but my own observations indicate that men are more likely to have faster and more consistent (fewer "plateau" problems) results than women. That isn't to say that women won't do well, it's just a warning to not be too worried if your husband or boyfriend is losing weight faster than you are.

It's a Diet, Not A Prison

While any diet requires some form of dedication, there has to be some form of flexibility out there as well. It's not a low-carb world we live in, and there are going to be times when you're going to be in situations where you're going to be in a social setting where low-carb eating will be problematic. It's ok. As long as it's infrequent and you don't go overboard, you'll be just fine.

In fact, my wife and I have a reward/fallback program we call "cheat meals". Once a month, we allow ourselves a single meal where we ignore any low-carb dieting restrictions. We try to be on our best "diet" behavior immediately before and after this "cheat meal". This allows us to plan for parties or other gatherings, or even just a special occasion for the two of us (our next one is actually for my birthday and our anniversary at the end of the month).

The benefits here include not only the ability to mingle with "normal" folks once in a while, they also include an incentive or reward for sticking with the plan. It's a lot easier to pass on a donut in the break room if you know you're going to have pizza next Tuesday. Also, and this is purely subjective and anecdotal experience here, the occasional (and I mean occasional, not frequent!) high-carb meal seems to spur weight loss a couple of days later (of being "good").

The Low-Carb Plan For You

I've got nothing against South Beach and its variants. Personally, I'm an Atkins guy myself. The good doctor had a sound philosophy and the results bear out his theories. To me, South Beach isn't as sound, but it's a lot easier and mainstream in terms of what can be eaten. (On the whole, I think South Beach might be better for those trying to lose 20-30 pounds as opposed to those trying to lose 30+.)

That said, go back to the original statement at the top, and do what's best for you.