I think it’s because it’s such a tedious process.  Boil the eggs – cool them off … shell the eggs.  Sigh … I always manage to mess up a few that now look pitted and diseased with big chunks out of them.  Then I can’t stand it when the inside of the egg whites are wet, so I have to dry them out and I must pipe the yoke filling back in once it’s made – so there’s more mess that has to be cleaned up.

But they taste so darned good ………

You know, it never occurred to me that I could just make a dip with the same ingredients and it  would taste just as good with much less effort.  DOH!

I  found the recipe in a magazine I bought for myself recently, the Food Network Magazine – Jan/Feb issue.  It was in a pull-out section that I almost threw out thinking it was an advertisement.  Here’s the dip with my modifications.  Enjoy!

Deviled Egg Dip

• 8 eggs, hard boiled
• 1/4 cup heavy mayonnaise
• 1-2 slices bacon, fried crispy & crumbled
• Paprika, Salt & Pepper, to taste
• Fresh chives

Puree eggs with mayo and add paprika, salt and pepper.  Garnish with more paprika, chives & sprinkle with crispy bacon bits.

For those doing low-carb:  Serve with celery sticks and cucumber slices
For those doing mainstream:  Serve with veggie / roasted garlic crackers or pretzel chips

Enjoy!

Well, doing low-carb meant no more visits to the bakery for me!  I was missing coconut macaroons, so I tried this recipe and it’s really good.

The trick is to find unsweetened coconut – you can’t use the regular coconut from the grocery store.  That stuff is loaded with sugar.

I found unsweetened coconut at one of our local health food stores – so start your search there and you can always buy it online if your local search comes up empty.

Coconut Macaroons – Low Carb Style

• 2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
• 4 egg whites from large eggs (should be about ½ cup)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 to 1 cup pourable splenda
• about 2 Tablespoons water

1) Heat oven to 375 F. Line baking sheet with either parchment paper on a silicone mat.

2) Measure egg whites. If they aren’t quite ½ cup, add a little water to reach that level. Then add the vanilla.

3) Mix pourable Splenda in with unsweetened coconut.

4) Mix dry and wet ingredients together. The mixture should just hold together. Let set a minute or two and you’ll be able to mold the macaroons better.

5) Roll into balls a little bigger than an inch in diameter. Slightly flatten and put on baking sheet (whatever shape you put them in is how they will stay, so this is your chance). Put at least half an inch apart.

6) Turn down the oven to 325 F, and bake for about 15 minutes, but start checking them a couple of minutes before. You want them golden brown on the bottom, and just barely starting to brown on top (though if you like them a little crispier, bake a couple of minutes longer).

Makes about 14 cookies, but yield will vary based on size of the cookies.

When I’m craving a BLT, I discovered that if I use lettuce leaves to roll up the other ingredients, the sliced tomato combined with the washed lettuce made everything too wet and drippy.  Tasted good – but I felt like I needed a bib!

So, instead, I decided to make it into a salad instead.  I’ve left the amounts of each ingredient very vague.  Hey, I have no idea how hungry you are – or how many people you plan to feed.  You want the bacon & tomato mixture to resemble a chicken or tuna salad – so make it as wet or dry as you prefer.

BLT Salad

bacon slices – cooked and diced
tomato – diced
romaine lettuce, cut for salad
mayo (I recommend Dukes because they don’t use any sugar in theirs)

Combine bacon & tomato with mayo and mix thoroughly.  Spoon mixture on lettuce and serve!

This Baking Mix can be used in place of Bisquick, Jiffy Mix or Carbquik.

Low Carb Bake Mix

1 2/3 cup almond flour
2/3 cup Designer Whey vanilla protein powder
2/3 cup vital wheat gluten

Mix and store in air-tight container.  Use measure for measure in place of other bake mixes.
Makes 3-1/3 cups at about 10 carbs per cup.

The recipe can easily be doubled … I have to double the recipe so that I have enough cookies left over after I finish baking them – to make it through the week for both my husband and myself! 

Cheesecake Cookies

16 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup pourable Splenda

Beat softened cream cheese with the egg.  Add in the vanilla and Splenda until thoroughly mixed.  Drop by spoonfuls onto a lined or greased cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 until the edges are browned.  Start at 15 minutes … my oven requires 15 minutes for foil-lined pans and 22 minutes for parchment-lined pans.  The cookies brown easier using foil but they come out “fluffier” using parchment.  They will puff, then fall, when they begin to wrinkle on the top, they are ready.

Remove from cookie sheet and place onto cooling racks. Try not to eat as you cook or do what I do and make a double-batch. IF you have any leftover, store in an airtight container.

Recipe makes about 60 cookies.
Carb count for each cookie:  0.43 g

With that in mind and considering I’m a plain cook, I’ve decided to start a category for simple – but tasty – recipes that include no more than 4 ingredients.

Here’s the first installment:

Bacon Wrapped Pork Loin

1 pork loin roast
1 package bacon

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.

Clean the roast with water and do not pat dry.

Wrap roast with bacon strips – overlapping ends & edges until wrapped well.  The bacon slices will “stick” to the wet roast.

In a very hot frying pan, sear bacon wrapped roast until bacon is crispy on all sides of roast.

Place roast in the oven for 30 -45 minutes.   At 30 minutes, the roast will still be just pink in the center and at 45 minutes, it will be done but very juicy.

Slice and enjoy with a green salad!

This is a zero carb, per slice, recipe. (Minescule carb count in bacon – .07 carbs per slice)