Hawaiian Chicken Salad

                                 Recipe and photo by 24/7 Low Carb Diner (order her book!)

The cream cheese in the dressing base makes this really creamy. I got that idea from a similar salad on Allrecipes. Of course, to make this low carb, we must do without real pineapple and other fruits. This would be wonderful with some extra fresh fruit stirred in if you can afford the carbs. I think some jicama would make a nice crunch too.

This is simple to put together using Freezer Favorite chicken cubes. I used pineapple flavored Da Vinci sugarfree syrup, but you could easily sub some sweetener and a drop or two of pineapple flavoring. I used to have a bottle but haven't found it in the stores lately. Pineapple DaVinci is one of the flavors I like to keep around because it is great in sweet and sour sauces too. If you can't do sucralose, you should seek out an alternative flavoring.

Hawaiian Chicken Salad

2 cups precooked chicken cubes, thawed or cooled if freshly cooked
3 ounces cream cheese
3 Tablespoons mayonnaise
1/4 cup Pineapple sugargree Da Vinci syrup
1/4 cup dried unsweetened coconut
1 diced celery rib
1/4 cup diced red bell pepper
1/4 cup chopped nuts--walnuts, almonds or macadamia nuts

Warm the cream cheese and stir in the mayonnaise and the syrup until well blended. Add the coconut. Dice the celery and bell pepper finely. Add them to the chicken cubes. Stir the dressing in until everything is well coated. Chill for half an hour. Place chilled salad on lettuce leaves. Serves 4 as a light lunch or 2 hungry islanders.

Bacon and Lettuce Wraps

This recipe and photo are from the 24/7 Low Carb Diner website - You will want to visit her and like her on Faceobook!  Lots of great recipes on there  - this is a teaser so you know she knows what's good... bacon... cream cheese... yum!

Oven baked bacon is easiest to crumble into salads too. Even the fatty parts crisp up. I get the edge pieces since I prefer crisp. The aforementioned husband gets the bendable slices from the center of the pan. The kids get whatever. They are not as picky.

This time I was successful in getting three dishes from a pound of bacon. First, I made a wonderful scramble with bell pepper, mushrooms and spinach. (And duh, the eggs and bacon of course.) We also added a sprinkle of Jack cheese to melt on top. Next, I made the roll ups for my guys' lunch.

The fun thing with these is trying to get the lettuce to stay rolled. For my bottom leaf, I was using iceberg lettuce. It was thick and already curly. I roll in the direction of the curl. There is no arguing with lettuce. Over that, I put some fresh from the herb garden specialty lettuce leaves for color and a few more vitamins. Then a layer of cream cheese. I put one down the center, then a blob on the edge to act like glue. This morning, I put these wonderful tiny grape tomatoes in a line down the roll. Then, on with the bacon slices. Roll 'er up and use the extra cream cheese to glue the lettuce together. I admit one worked better than the other. But then one roll up was actually two leaves, so it fought me a little bit. All ends up the same in the tummy they say.

I had just a couple of bacon slices left over, so I made a broccoli salad. I love adding a tablespoon of the bacon grease to my mayo dressing. I also sweeten our dressing a tad, and add dehydrated onion flakes. Seriously delicious, even though John is not a huge broccoli fan. Bacon makes most anything better. Good thing since I have two more pounds in the fridge. Ah, the joys of the wholesale club!

Don't forget... visit her website and Like her page on Facebook.... and thank her for sharing... we're all in this together!

CHICKEN STRIPS WITH MEXI-CALI DIP

Another recipe from Jennifer Eloff

Spicy chicken strips with a cool, creamy Mexican-style dip. Very good. 

1 lb chicken breast halves, (0.454 kg) cut into thin strips
1 tbsp olive oil (15 mL)
1 tbsp hot pepper sauce (15 mL)
2 tsp butter (10 mL)

 In large skillet, fry chicken strips in olive oil, stirring frequently, until chicken is tender and cooked through, about 7 to 10 minutes.

Add hot pepper sauce and butter right at the end and stir just until butter melts. Remove skillet from heat.

Serve hot chicken with dip.

Mexi-Cali Dip:
3/4 cup sour cream (175 mL)
1/4 cup medium or mild Salsa (50 mL)
1/4 cup grated Cheddar cheese (50 mL)
1 green onion, chopped

 In medium bowl, combine sour cream, Salsa, cheese and green onion.

 Yield: 6 servings 1 serving 147.3 calories

  19.1 g protein      6.6 g fat        2 g carbs

Favorite Low Carb Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is from Jennifer's Low Carb blog - http://low-carb-news.blogspot.com/2008/08/free-low-carb-bake-mix-recipe.html

If you have some granulated erythritol too, that makes these cookies super awesome. You don't have to count the carbs with erythritol - no impact on blood sugar. FAVORITE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES These cookies will totally surprise your friends who are not into low-carbing! 1 and 1/2 cups SPLENDA® Granular (375 mL) 1 cup butter, softened (250 mL) 1 egg 1 tsp molasses (5 mL) 2 and 1/2 cups Low-Carb Bake Mix (625 mL) 1 tsp baking soda (5 mL) 1/4 tsp salt (1 mL) 2 cups sugar free chocolate chips (500 mL) 1 cup chopped pecans, OR (250 mL) Walnuts, Or mixed nuts In food processor or in bowl with electric mixer, combine SPLENDA® Granular, butter, egg and molasses; process. In medium bowl, combine Low-Carb Bake Mix, baking soda and salt. Stir into wet ingredients (dough will be fairly stiff). Stir in nuts and chocolate chips. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls (20 mL) onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in 375°F (190°C) oven or until light brown. Cool slightly. Place cookies on wire rack to cool completely. Nutritional Analysis: 52 cookies, 1 cookie per serving 103.7 calories, 2.7 g protein, 8.2 g fat, 1.9 g carbs Helpful Hints: These days I like to replace a little of the Splenda with powdered erythritol which I purchase from Netrition.com Low-carb Bake Mix can be found on her web site: www.Low-Carb.us

Low Carb Snack Ideas

Low Carb Pizza - Atkins

1/2 Cheddar 1/2 Mozzarella baking mix 1/3 cup butter, melted 1 egg white whisked

Atkins Mock Danish

Low Carb Pound Cake (Lemon)

Grilled Turkey Burger

 by Bill Deegan  (Medi Weightloss Clinics)

• 1 lb Ground turkey meat 99% fat free
• 1/4 cup Egg beaters
• 1/2 tsp Black pepper
• 1 tsp Onion powder
• 1 tsp Garlic powder
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbsp Grated parmesan cheese
• 1 tbsp Pimento cheese
• 1 yellow onion

• In a mixing bowl combined turkey meat, egg beaters, black pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, Worcestershire sauce and Parmesan cheese. Mix well with hands and portion in to 4 equal parts.
• Form 4 patties and sprinkle with light salt & pepper.
• On a pre-heated grill which should be sprayed with cooking spray. Grill temperature should be 350-375 degrees. Cook 3-4 minutes per side or till temperature reaches 160 degrees. Let burgers rest for a few minutes to retain juices.
• Top turkey burger with 1 tbsp of pimento cheese spread and caramelized onions.

Parmesan Crusted Pork Chops - Low Carb

 by Holley Wade (Medi Weightloss Clinics)

Ingredients
• 4- Lean Pork Chops 2oz size
• ½ oz crushed pork rinds
• ¼ cup Egg Beater
• 2 tsp. Parmesan Cheese
• 1 tsp Tony Chaceres Seasoning

Directions
• Combine all dry ingredients in bowl except for cheese. Dip the pork chop in the egg and roll pork chop in dry ingredients and place on cookie sheet.
• Bake on 350 degrees for about 20 minutes and remove from oven sprinkle the top with the cheese and place back in oven for additional 15-20 until golden brown.

2oz. Pork Chop 110 cal 0 carb 6 fat. ½ oz crushed pork rinds 80 cal 0 carb 5 fat. ¼ cup Egg Beater 35 cal 1 carb 0 fat. 2 tsp Parmesan Cheese 20 cal 0 carb 1.5 fat. 1 tsp Tony Chaceres Season. 0 cal 0 carb 0 fat.

The ingredients are enough to make 4- 2oz. Pork Chops, so I add everything together and divided by 4. 1 – Pork Chop is 143.75 Cal <1 Carb. 8 Fat

Basil Vinaigrette Grilled Chicken - Low Carb

by AnnMarie Pastor Perkins - from the Medi Weightloss Clinic

• 2 Tbsp. Dijon mustard
• 2 tsp. lightly cracked coriander seeds
• 2 Tbsp. light extra- virgin olive oil
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
• Kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 4 tsp. fresh lemon juice
• 3 Tbsp. roughly chopped fresh basil

Directions
• Prepare a medium-hot grill fire.
• In a small bowl, whisk the mustard and coriander seeds.
• Whisk in 1 Tbs olive oil.
• Season the breasts with salt and pepper and rub them all over with mustard mixture.
• When grill is ready, grill chicken until one side is nicely browned and grill marks appear, 2 to 3 minutes.
• Turn grilling the other side the same, continue until meat is done.
• Transfer to clean cutting board, cover loosely with foil and let rest for about 5 min.
• Meanwhile whisk the remaining olive oil with the lemon juice, basil, 1/4 tsp. salt and a few grinds of pepper.
• Slice Chicken on an angle and serve drizzled with the vinaigrette.