Queensland Chicken and Shrimp (Outback Steakhouse Inspired)

Long time no talk, Blogspot! So I've been sorta back on the low-carb bandwagon, and have some pretty tasty new recipes to share. One of my favorite menu items from one of my favorite restaurants, Outback Steakhouse, was their Queensland Chicken and Shrimp. I'm not entirely sure that this even exists on their menu anymore, but it was delish. In my copy-cat recipe, I naturally took out the pasta, and serve the chicken and shrimp over vegetables. I've had it over green beans, broccoli, and mixed vegetables. Really, whatever you feel like, it'll be great. The chicken and shrimp are cooked in a sorta-spicy, heavy cream sauce. I modified an "inspired" recipe by Stephanie Lynn in order to make this recipe more low carb friendly.. I also found that adding a dash of cayenne pepper really helped to bring out the flavors (and added that familiar kick that I loved so much from the original dish).

Ingredients

• 3 chicken breasts, sliced into strips
• 1 lb of shrimp, de-veined and peeled
• 2 tbsp. olive oil
• 3/4 pint of heavy whipping cream
• 2 tbsp. butter, salted
• 1 heaping tbsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning (I used McCormick's Original Chicken)
• 1/4 tsp. ground pepper
• 1/4 tsp. white pepper
• 1/4 tsp. onion powder
• dash or two of cayenne pepper (or more, depending on your personal preference).
• 1/3 cup of Vermouth cooking wine
• Parmesan cheese
• Vegetables

Instructions

• Cook chicken and shrimp in olive oil until done. Drain any excess liquid. Set aside. (I used my wok for this)
• Mix spices (garlic powder, poultry seasoning, ground pepper, white pepper, onion powder, and cayenne pepper). Divide in two.
• In a separate pot, melt butter, and stir in heavy whipping cream and 1/2 of the seasonings. Bring to a slight boil and reduce heat, stirring regularly.
• In the wok (or the pot that you used to cook the chicken and shrimp), raise heat, add Vermouth and the other 1/2 of the seasonings, and saute. 
• Add cream sauce, stir.
• Serve chicken and shrimp over vegetables of your choice.
• Top with Parmesan cheese

Spaghetti Squash, Yellow Squash, and Spinach

I'm not quite sure how to title this dish, but let me tell you, that my Super Bowl dinner was amazing. And the Ravens won. So, it was a great night. I had more success cooking my spaghetti squash this time than I did last week... it really tasted pretty darn close to pasta, especially when I smothered it in a low carb jarred sauce. I topped my spaghetti squash with yellow squash and spinach, sauteed in olive oil, garlic, basil, crushed red pepper, and almonds... Finished off with a little Parmesan cheese... And eek, it was REALLY good. This would probably also be great as a side dish with whatever your protein of choice is, but... it also was delicious all on its own! 

Ingredients

• 1 spaghetti squash
• salt and pepper
• olive oil
• 6 cups fresh spinach
• 1 yellow squash, chopped
• 2 cloves crushed garlic
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper
• 1 tbsp. dried basil
• ¼ cup slivered almonds
• Sauce of choice (I used Classico Sun-dried Tomato Alfredo)
• Parmesan cheese

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 400 F
• Cut spaghetti squash down the middle. Scoop out seeds. Brush with olive oil, and season generously with salt and pepper. Bake, cut sides up, for ~50 minutes.
• Meanwhile, you can prepare your yellow squash and spinach. Add a little bit of olive oil and two cloves of crushed garlic to a pot. Heat.
• Add spianch leaves, and cook until wilted.
• Add chopped yellow squash, saute.
• Add red pepper, dried basil, and slivered almonds. 
• Set aside.
• When the spaghetti squash is fully cooked, remove from oven, and allow to cool enough for you to handle.
• Take a fork, and begin scooping out the "spaghetti" strands, placing them in a pot. Add 1-1.5 cups of a no sugar added pasta sauce of your choice (Alfredo sauces are usually pretty safe, but red sauces often have added sugars--read the label!) Heat and mix the spaghetti squash and sauce.
• Serve yellow squash and spinach over the spaghetti squash and sauce. Top with Parmesan cheese.

Orange Cranberry Muffins

Clearly, my "low carb" baking is going to get me into trouble, especially when I start incorporating small amounts of honey and fruit in my recipes.. But ahhh, I have such a sweet tooth! I guess I sorta see it as a challenge to create yummy things without using sugar and flour, but I really should be more careful with honey and fruit. Regardless, these were tasty. This was my first successful experiment using coconut flour (I failed at making coconut flour cupcakes a few days prior to this... I think it might have been because I used light coconut milk instead of the real deal? Oh and I burned them... lucky for ya'll, I don't post about my failed recipes!)

Ingredients

• ½ cup coconut flour
• ¼ cup almond flour
• ½ cup + 1 tbsp. Splenda
• 2 tbsp. Smart Balance Butter Spread, melted
• 4 eggs
• 3/8 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1 tbsp. honey
• ¼ cup of dried cranberries
• 2 tsp. orange extract
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 F
• Combine dry ingredients (coconut flour, almond flour, splenda) in one bowl.
• In another bowl, beat eggs. Add melted butter, cream, honey, orange and vanilla extracts.
• Combine the wet and dry mixtures, stir together.
• Fold in cranberries.
• Spray muffin cups with cooking spray (I didn't do this and they stuck to the paper), and fill muffin cups with batter.
• Bake for 17 minutes.

Pecan Sandies

So, I mentioned a week or so ago that I ordered myself some Carbquik. In all honesty, while it's low carb (and pretty much all dietary fiber), I am skeptical when I look at the ingredients... Maybe someone will prove me wrong and convince me that I shouldn't be worried about eating things like "enzyme-enriched wheat", "vital wheat gluten", and "unbleached patent wheat flour"... so yeah, I probably will be cutting down on the recipes that I bake that use Carbquik. If that didn't scare you away, this recipe for Pecan Sandies which I found on the Carbalose website, uses Carbquik in relative moderation. I thought that they were pretty tasty--a little dry, but... They're Pecan SANDIES. Of course they're dry. I really did enjoy them though. I used half vanilla extract, half almond extract (caramel extract sounds like it would be delicious though).

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup almond flour
• 1/4 cup Carbquik 
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans
• 1 egg white 
• 3 tablespoons butter, melted 
• 2 1/2 tablespoons Splenda or liquid equivalent
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla or caramel extract (I used vanilla + almond) 
• Dash cinnamon 

Instructions

• In a small bowl, mix all ingredients well. 
• Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper and drop dough in 24 small mounds. Place baking sheet in freezer 5-10 minutes to firm up the dough. 
• Remove from freezer and roll dough into balls; put back on baking sheet making sure to space them evenly.
• Cover the balls with plastic wrap and with the bottom of a cup, and press down firmly over each ball of dough. Be sure to press all the way down to the baking sheet. Peel off the plastic wrap and repeat until all the cookies have been shaped. 
• Bake at 325º 20 minutes, or until golden brown. 

Kelp Noodle Alfredo

Clearly I am missing pasta a bit because as soon as I finished my leftover Eggplant Parmesan with Spaghetti Squash, I found myself wanting more noodles. This time I decided to do a low carb twist on Fettuccine Alfredo using kelp noodles in place of pasta. I even made the sauce from scratch! (original recipe can be found here) Now I have sooo many dishes to clean. I really need to find myself a man who can tolerate my cooking, and who doesn't mind doing dishes... Hell maybe he will even do laundry--then I would truly be living the dream! Next time I might add a little red pepper or something to give it some kick, but all in all, for eating a plate of seaweed, it was delish! I served this with chicken (seasoned with McCormick's Original Chicken Seasoning) and spinach sauteed in olive oil and garlic. 

Ingredients

• 1 package Sea Tangle Kelp Noodles
• 2 tbsp. butter (I used Smart Balance Original Buttery Spread)
• 2 cloves of minced garlic
• 1/4 tsp. white pepper
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 tsp. parsley
• black pepper to taste

Instructions

• Add package of kelp noodles to boiling water--let cook for 15-20 minutes
• In a small saucepan, melt butter.
• Add heavy whipping cream, garlic, and white pepper, and bring mixture to a simmer--stir often.
• Add Parmesan cheese, and simmer sauce for 8-10 minutes, or until sauce has thickened and is smooth.
• Add mozzarella and stir frequently.
• Stir in parsley and black pepper.
• Drain kelp noodles, add sauce, and stir well. Simmer on medium-high heat until noodles have softened (stir often so that sauce does not burn).

Like I said, I served this with chicken and spinach. The Kelp Noodle Alfredo would be great all by itself, or with any combination of protein (chicken, sausage, steak) and/or vegetable (spinach, broccoli, squash, eggplant). Be creative!

Eggplant Parmesan with Spaghetti Squash

I had a very bad experience cooking eggplant once, and to be honest, I have avoided it like the plague for years. Recently, I was inspired by a friend to give eggplant a second chance, and tonight was a success! I think the trick is to bake, grill, or fry it before actually dressing the vegetable up to cook. I suppose the only way that the eggplant could have been any better is if it were breaded and deep fried, but hey, you win some, you lose some! Fair warning about the amount of ingredients that I used... I sorta "Rachel Ray'd" it, and didn't measure anything. As long as your eggplants are covered in sauce, and then covered in cheese, you really can't go wrong with this awesome vegetarian dish!

Ingredients

For spaghetti squash:

• 1 spaghetti squash
• 2 tbsp. butter
• 2 cloves crushed garlic
• 1 tsp. basil (or other desired seasoning)

For eggplant:

• 1 eggplant, sliced in ~1/2 inch thick slices
• salt and pepper
• olive oil
• 1 cup tomato sauce (I used Classico Tomato and Basil.. I'm a fan of this brand because there aren't any added sugars)
• 6-8 oz shredded mozarella cheese (I used shredded mozarellan and provolone)
• 3-4 oz shredded parmesan cheese
• Italian seasoning to taste

Instructions

For spaghetti squash:

• Preheat oven to 375 F
• Take a fork and pierce the spaghetti squash a few times.
• Place in a baking dish in the oven for 1.5 hours (I only cooked mine for 1 hour, and my squash was still a little crunchy.. so give it the full 1.5 hours)
• When the squash is tender, remove from oven. Let cool.
• Meanwhile, melt 2 tbsp. of butter in a pot, and add 2 cloves of crushed garlic.
• Slice squash in half, and discard center with the seeds. 
• Scrape the spaghetti squash flesh with a fork, creating long strands--Add these to the melted butter and garlic mixture, and saute.
• Add dried herbs of your choice (I used basil).

For eggplant:

• Preheat oven to 375 F (your spaghetti squash will already be cooking at this temperature)
• Slice eggplant into ~1/2 inch thick slices
• Season slices with salt and pepper and brush with olive oil.
• Heat frying pan to medium-high heat, cooking slices of eggplant until slightly brown on each side.
• Place these slices in a single layer on a 9x13 baking pan (these can also be layered in a smaller baking pan between sauce and cheese)
• Season with italian seasoning.
• Top the eggplant slices with spoonfuls of tomato sauce.
• Spring a layer of mozarella cheese, followed by a layer of Parmesan cheese.
• Bake in oven for about a half hour, or until the cheese just begins to brown.
• Serve over spaghetti squash.
• Top with additional Parmesan cheese if desired.

Pancakes

Last weekend I placed my first order with netrition.com, and was very pleased with the prices (minus Atkins bars, those were a bit pricey compared to Walmart), shipping costs ($4.95 flat rate shipping!), and speed of delivery (as promised, my order arrived in two business days). I ordered two 3 lb boxes of Carbquik, and 10 bags of Kelp Noodles! So exciting. It's been a while since I have had a box of Carbquik handy, so naturally, I have been experimenting, and all I can say is that these pancakes are GOOD! I followed the recipe on the side of the Carbquik box (adding about a tbsp. of Splenda, and a tsp. of vanilla extract), and wow! I served them with Sugar Free IHOP Syrup, but if you're avoiding sugar alcohols, these pancakes are buttery and delicious plain.

Ingredients

• 2 cups Carbquik
• 1/8 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup water (or use 3/4 cup half-and-half instead of cream and water)
• 1 stick butter (melted) --I used Smart Balance Original Buttery Spread
• 1 egg, beaten
• 2 tablespoons water
• Vegetable oil sprays
• 1 tbsp. granulated Splenda
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• Sugar Free IHOP syrup (optional)

Instructions

• Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Adjust water as needed to make a smooth, pourable batter
• Mix just enough to combine all ingredients. Do not over mix. 
• Ladle portions onto sprayed griddle or frying pan heated to medium high heat. 
• Flip when bubbles form and edges are cooked.
• Serve with sugar free syrup if desired.