Gluten Free Low Carb Chicken “Noodle” Soup

First make Chicken Broth in Pressure Cooker or other Big Pot

2 chicken thighs with skin and bones

6 cups of water (just fill until about 3” from top of pot)

1 chopped white onion

2 cups mushrooms (sliced)

2 cups celery (chopped)

½ cup minced garlic

4 bay leaves

1 tbsp. tarragon leaves

1 tbsp. chives

1 tbsp. cilantro leaves

1 tbsp. basil leaves

1 tbsp. thyme leaves

2 cups chopped spinach

2 tbsp. *Himalayan Pink Salt (or sea salt, or iodized salt)

1 tbsp. black pepper

Cook for 1-2 hours.  Remove bones and skin throwing the good meat back in.   

Use a potato peeler to shave 4 zucchinis into ribbons, peel and all.  Put them in the broth and boil for about 15 minutes until soft and they match the texture of noodles.  

Add more salt and pepper to taste.

*Himalayan Pink Salt contains 84 natural minerals and elements found in the human body. This form of salt has also been maturing over the past 250 million years under intense tectonic pressure, creating an environment of zero exposure to toxins and impurities. 

Stacy Pessoney

February 26, 2013

Stacy's Copy Cat Chili's Chicken Tenders

I LOVE Chili's Chicken Tenders!  I accidentally discovered this copycat recipe while making fried chicken yesterday.  One bite and I screamed, "OH MY GOD! THESE TASTE JUST LIKE CHILI'S!!!"

Mix the following together in a bowl:

1 cup milk

2 tbsp. hot sauce

1 tbsp. honey (or 1 tsp. sugar)

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. pepper

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 tsp. red pepper

1 tsp. Tony Chachere’s Seasoning (or seasoned salt if you don’t have it)

1 tbsp. parmesan cheese

Add 6-8 chicken breast tenders.  I cut mine up into nugget sizes.

Let marinate for a few minutes.

Add about a cup of plain flour and stir.  Lumpy is okay.

Keep adding flour until thick and sticky (about ½ cup more), just sticky enough that it’s hard to get a piece of chicken out with a fork.  You don’t want it dry, but you want a lot of batter to stick to each piece.

Heat oil in skillet and add one piece at a time.  I have to pick the chicken pieces out with my fingers.  I also added a blob of batter to the tops of each piece while the first side was frying!  YUM!  Cook for about 4-5 minutes on each side.  It should be LIGHT brown. 

Stacy Pessoney 2-14-2013

Roulage Low Carb Version

This was my favorite cake growing up and I crave it pretty much every day.  Now that I'm trying to be a "Hot Mom", I have to count carbs and (*blech*) DIET.  I'm impatient and never want to be hungry (I might die of mild discomfort), so I took the fast track to weight loss, which is Atkins for me.  However, I am a CHOCOHOLIC. Since artificial sweeteners give me migraines and make me gain crazy weight, I get pretty limited in the dessert department.

I knew that this special Roulage recipe was flourless, so I got to thinking, "How can I make it low carb and still good?"  I experimented a little, replaced the chocolate chips with cocoa powder and butter, lowered the sugar down to almost nothing, and IT WORKED!  This cake doesn't need much sugar and the whipped cream is unsweetened because the cake is sweet enough.  REALLY GOOD.

This cake has NO GLUTEN, 6 GRAMS NET CARBS per slice, and tastes like CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM.  You can even lower the carb count if you like dark chocolate, just use less sugar.  But I determined that the amount in the recipe below makes it come out PERFECT.  Now I have my favorite cake, which tastes so much like the original that I can barely tell the difference, EVERY DAY while I lose weight.  I hope you enjoy it! I included a single serving recipe at the bottom if you just want to try it.

Low Carb Roulage

Preheat oven to 350.

½ cup butter (melted)

Whisk in ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Whisk in 7 egg yolks (put aside whites)

Whisk in ¼ cup sugar (or less)

Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.

Fold chocolate mixture into egg whites.

Pour on 10x15 baking sheet lined with parchment paper or wax paper if you don’t have parchment.

Bake for 15-17 minutes (15 minutes makes moist cake, 17 minutes makes fluffier cake. 15 minutes is pictured).

Remove from oven and take off of hot pan to cool.  If you used wax paper, you'll need to turn hot cake upside down on a hand towel and pull off wax paper to cool.

You can let it cool directly on the parchment.

Beat heavy whipping cream until stiff peaks form.

Spread on cake (adding strawberries or other toppings if you’d like, but it will add to the carbs).

Roll up and place on a plate.  If you used parchment, you can just roll it with the parchment on the outside so you don't get too messy.

Cut into 10 equal slices.

6 grams net carbs per slice.

Single Serving Recipe

1 tbsp. melted butter

Whisk in 1 tbsp. cocoa

Whisk in 1 egg yolk

Whisk in 1.5 tsp. sugar

Fold into 1 egg white, beaten until stiff peaks form.

Bake at 350 on parchment or wax paper for 8-10 minutes.

Remove wax paper and cool on towel.  Remove from pan if on parchment.

Beat whipping cream and spread on cool cake.

Roll up and eat.

Stacy "Hot Mom" Pessoney