Slow Cooker Chicken Goulash - Gluten Free/Grain Free/Sugar Free

Slow Cooker Chicken Goulash

Today I wanted something easy to just stick in my crockpot early in the day and do very little prep work after work.  Sorry, this one is not dairy free, but I tasted it before adding the sour cream and it would be just fine if you left it out, it would just be more of a curry type of dish rather than a goulash.

3 large chicken breasts - I started with mine still frozen, just threw them in the crockpot
1 large onion (or 2 small onions) sliced into rings
1 pint canned tomatoes (I used ones I canned myself, you can use ones from the store)
3-4 pickled cherry peppers, cut in half.  You could use regular jar roasted peppers instead, I just really love cherry peppers.
1 C beef stock
2 T paprika - I used smoked, you can also use sweet paprika or hot paprika or a combination, depending on your taste.
1 1/2 C sour cream

Put the chicken in the crockpot, top with onions, tomatoes and peppers.  Mix the beef stock with paprika and pour on top.  Cook on low 6-9 hours, or on high 3-4.  When ready to eat, remove the chicken and chop into bite sized pieces.  Mix sour cream into the sauce in the crockpot and return chicken.

Normally this is served over egg noodles, but I didn't have time to make my normal substitution for egg noodles, which is thinly sliced zucchini or yellow squash (briefly steamed).  Instead I served it over leftover cauliflower "mock" mashed potatoes (see the post from May 9th).

Here's a picture of what it looks like when you start the crockpot, below what it looks like when served from the crockpot (I could put it in a serving dish, but why make one more dirty dish?)

Makes 6 servings - 320 calories, 9 grams carbohydrates, 1.5 grams fiber

Easy Sausage

 Easy Sausage

Today's post isn't a recipe, it's more of a suggestion.  Have you had a hard time finding ready to eat sausage without a lot of sugar and other additives?  Me too.  But for some reason, the ones you have to cook yourself without all that extra stuff are easier to find.  But cooking them one or two at a time is a pain.  So I found a way to "pre-cook" them in a large batch, freeze them and then they are ready to eat, just heating them up in the microwave or a pan.

Take the whole package, separate any that are still connected and lay them out spaced a bit apart on a baking sheet.  The one I have is a stainless steel pan called a half sheet "bun" pan by professional bakers.  It's also a great shallow roasting pan, jelly roll pan or cookie sheet.  I like stainless steel because it doesn't leave the dark dust that aluminum pans do.  They aren't as easy to find, but you can get them at specialty cooking stores or on line.
Bake these at 350 for around 10-15 min or until no longer pink in the middle.  If desired you can flip them over to get them brown on both sides or just turn on your broiler for the last couple of minutes.
Let cool and freeze.

Here's the label on the ones I found - gluten free and although dextrose is listed as an ingredient, it must not be much because carb counts are 0.  This one is 90 calories per link, no msg and very few ingredients.

Wheat Free French Toast - Gluten Free, Grain Free, Sugar Free - can be made dairy free

Wheat Free French Toast

Today I took the psyllium husk bread from the post on 6/4 and turned two of the slices into French Toast!  It was perfect, exactly like the French Toast I've made with regular bread.   I ate it with a bit of leftover steak and Nature's Hollow Raspberry Syrup.

1 egg
1 T milk (optional)
4 slices psyllium husk bread
1-2 t butter or coconut oil

Beat egg and add milk (if you are dairy free, you can use water or just leave it out and use just egg).  Heat 1-2 t butter or coconut oil in a large non-stick skillet on medium low heat until a drop of water sizzles.  Soak bread slices in batter while butter is heating up then brown on both sides, making sure insides are firm.

Makes 2 servings of 2 slices each.  Per serving (without syrup or steak), 310 calories, 22 grams carbohydrates, 16.6 grams fiber.

Easy Sunny Side Up Eggs

Sunny Side Up Eggs

Ever have trouble with Sunny Side Up Eggs?  Yellow part all hard, or top still not done?  Here's the easiest way I've found to do them.  Heat one teaspoon of butter in a non-stick pan.  Take a drop of water and test the pan, once it's hot enough it will "sizzle" when it hits the pan.  Crack eggs into the pan and add 1 T water and cover the pan.  Leave it for two minutes - don't be tempted to peek - empty your dishwasher or something.  The steam from the water will poach the tops of the eggs to get them done perfectly while keeping the centers soft.

I had mine with a strip of bacon and a slice of yesterday's bread, toasted.

Calories?
Two eggs cooked in about 1 t butter - 150 calories.  One slice of precooked, frozen bacon from Costco - 40 calories, 1 slice of bread 110 calories = 300 calories total.  Carbohydrate count is only from the bread - 10 grams carbohydrates with 8 of them being fiber.

Psyllium Husk Bread - Gluten Free/Wheat Free/Grain Free/Sugar Free/Dairy Free

Psyllium Husk Bread

I've had such hit and miss luck with psyllium husk bread, that for months I was hesitant to try baking it in a bread pan.  But I think I cracked the "code."  The trick is to weigh the almond flour and psyllium husk and also to never take it out of the oven too early.  It may look "done" but leave it in there the full time!  It turned out perfect by doing that.

This recipe is from Maria Emmerich (http://mariamindbodyhealth.com/amazing-bread/), basically the same recipe as the psyllium husk buns from April 29th, doubled and baked in a bread ban.

10 oz almond flour
90 grams psyllium husk (Jay Robb's psyllium husk ground in a coffee grinder work best)
4 t baking powder
1 t salt
5 T cider vinegar
7 oz egg whites
1 1/2 C boiling water

 Combine dry ingredients, add egg and vinegar, beating.  Add boiling water, beating until all the same consistency (to me it looks like cream of wheat cereal at this point).  "Plop" (I'd say pour, but it really is more like a plop) into an oiled bread pan.  I used parchment to line the bottom of the pan to make it easier to remove.
Bake at 250 degrees for 1 hour, 10 min - no less!

Cool and slice.

From Maria's website:  10 servings, 220 calories each, 20.7 grams carbohydrates, 16.6 grams fiber - yes, that fiber count is right.  If you need more fiber in your diet, this is a great way to get it!

Diet 7-Up Pound Cake - Wheat Free/Grain Free/Gluten Free/Sugar Free

Diet 7-Up Pound Cake

7-Up Pound Cake was one of those things that showed up at every Picnic, School Bake Sale and Church Social in the 1970s.  It has just the right amount of tartness and sweetness so I really wanted to try to recreate it.  This turned out so much like the old favorite that I bet you can't taste the difference!

Cake
1/2 C butter (one stick) softened or at room temperature
1/2 C Swerve or similar sugar substitute
1 t. lemon extract
3 eggs
1 1/2 C almond flour
1 t baking powder
1/4 C vanilla protein powder
1/3 C diet 7 Up

Glaze:
1 t lemon zest
1/3 C confectioners Swerve or sugar substitute, you can "powder" it by putting it in a coffee grinder.
1-2 T lemon juice - alternately you can use 1 t lemon extract and 1-2 T milk.

Beat the butter in a mixer, add sugar substitute, lemon extract and beat in eggs one at a time.  Combine dry ingredients and beat them in.  Pour in 7-Up (gently or it will foam all over your mixing bowl).  Continue mixing until smooth.

Coat a bread pan with coconut oil or coconut oil spray and line the bottom with parchment paper.  You really do need the parchment paper or you'll never get it out of the pan without it breaking up.  One of the difficulties with gluten free baking is the gluten acted like glue to hold stuff together, so gluten free recipes tend to fall apart and crumble easily.  Parchment paper helps with that.
I have no idea why Blogspot randomly likes to turn some of my photos sideways, but it's not worth fighting it.

Bake at 325 degrees for 35-45 minutes.  Test using a toothpick, the toothpick should come out with no crumbs or batter sticking to it.  Cool for 30 minutes in the pan.  Gently loosen the sides to make getting slices out easier, but you can leave it in the pan.  Mix the glaze by starting with the powdered sugar substitute.  Add the lemon zest and slowly add the lemon juice or lemon extract and milk until it's the right consistency.  It should be thinner than icing, but thick enough to drizzle, but not too drippy.  Spread evenly along the top of the pound cake.  Slice and eat!

This makes around 8 slices - 269 calories each, 5.6 grams carbohydrates, 2 grams fiber.  Bear in mind, I'm not counting any of the Swerve "sugar alcohols" as carbohydrates in recipes that call for that since most diets don't count it and it doesn't get processed into blood sugar like regular sugar does.  The "carb counts" in this are mainly from the almond flour.

Nacho Salad - wheat free/grain free

Nacho Salad

Lately I've been craving nachos - but because I've cut out corn as well as wheat and sugar, nachos is off my list (nachos are off my list?).  So I came up with an alternative - Nacho Salad.  Instead of the corn chips, I used romaine lettuce.  I also threw on some "spring mix" lettuce because I happened to have it, but they didn't hold their shape with the hot chili and cheese, but the romaine did great, still nice and crunchy.  So next time, I'd stick with just the romaine and not add anything else.

1 C Romaine Lettuce
1 C chili (see post from May 19th)
2 T salsa (I used pace medium)
1/4 C cheddar cheese, grated
5-6 pickled jalapeno slices
1 T sour cream - watch labels here, many sour creams are mostly other "stuff" like bean curd or guar gum.  Look for ones that have just cream in the ingredients.

Heat the chili in a separate container, meanwhile, loosely chop lettuce and layer it on a large plate.  Top with chili, salsa and cheese.  If the cheese doesn't melt from the heat of the chili, stick it back in the microwave for a few seconds (not too long, or the lettuce will wilt).  Dot the top with jalapeno slices and sour cream.

The chili had 211 calories (including beans) with 17 carbs.  Adding the rest of the ingredients here brings it to a total of 377 calories, 22 carbs, 3 grams fiber.