Category: Low-carb Recipes

Recipe: Bacon, Pork, & Brussel Sprout Tacos (plus other variations)

Left – Bacon, pork, & brussel sprout taco. Right – Chicken, shredded cabbage, and salsa taco.
Bacon, pork, & brussel sprout taco filling.

I’m doing a series of tests on low-carb prepared foods and finally found tortillas that taste good and don’t spike my blood glucose. The La Tortilla Factory flour tortillas, in particular, are shockingly similar to regular tortillas and I only need an additional unit of insulin for two tortillas. 

Excited to have something I can use for tacos & wraps, I started playing around with different recipes. I wanted something really quick and simple that I could use for weeknight dinners and that incorporated both meat and vegetables. 

I first just tried ground pork with shredded brussel sprouts, but the pork was too lean and the overall mixture was dry and not too flavorful, even with added seasoning. To add both fat and flavor, I added bacon, first rendering out the bacon fat, then using that to cook both the ground pork and the brussel sprouts.

The end result was fantastic and extremely customizable. I’ve since tried it with a variety of meats (turkey, beef, chicken, and pork, both ground and cubed), vegetables (brussel sprouts, cabbage, broccoli), and sauces (salsa, crema, etc.). 

To make it ultra simple, I’ve also made them directly from frozen ground meat and vegetables. Doing that, you can’t get browning on the meat, so it doesn’t taste as good, but works in a pinch.

Recipe below if you want to try them yourself.

Hope you enjoy it!

– QD

Low-carb Tacos

Yield: ~10 tacos

Author: QD

Prep time: 5 MinCook time: 15 MinTotal time: 20 Min

Ingredients

  • 10 Low-carb tortillas (La Tortilla Factory is my favorite and has the smallest effect on my blood sugar)
  • 4 slices thick-cut bacon, chopped into ~1 cm (~0.5″) pieces
  • 450 g (1 lb) ground pork (can substitute with whatever ground meat you like)
  • 350 g (1 lb) shredded brussel sprouts (can substitute with whatever vegetable you like, but it works best with something that has a lot of volume, like shredded cabbage or chopped broccoli)
  • seasoning to taste (I like salt, pepper, garlic powder, and chili flake)

Instructions

  1. Add bacon to a cold skillet and heat on medium heat until the fat has rendered out and the bacon is crisp
  2. Transfer the bacon to a bowl, leaving the fat in the pan.
  3. Add the ground pork, season with salt and pepper to taste, and cook until browned, but not cooked through, ~1 min.
  4. Add the shredded brussel sprouts, remainder of seasoning (to taste) and continue cooking until the meat is cooked through and the brussel sprouts are at your desired texture. This takes 3-5 min. for me, but depends heavily on how soft you want your brussel sprouts.
  5. While the filling is cooking, heat the tortillas in a non-stick pan over medium heat until warm and browning begins to occur (~3 min).
  6. Serve

Notes:

This recipe is extremely customizable. I’ve tried it with a variety of meats (turkey, beef, chicken, and pork, both ground and cubed), vegetables (brussel sprouts, cabbage, broccoli), and sauces (salsa, crema, etc.).

To make it ultra simple, I’ve also made them directly from frozen ground meat and vegetables. Doing that, you can’t get browning on the meat, so it doesn’t taste as good, but works in a pinch.

Nutrition Facts (per taco)

Calories

251

Fat (grams)

13.8

Carbs (grams)

13.2

Fiber (grams)

7.3

Net carbs

5.8

Protein (grams)

17.4

Macros calculated per taco and using La Tortilla Factory Flour tortillas, Safeway thick-cut bacon, ground pork, and brussel sprouts.

Recipe & Product Review: Fruit Vinegar-Flavored Water, the Closest Drink I’ve Found to Fruit Juice

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Left to right: Apple cider vinegar, date vinegar, and raspberry vinegar.

Before I got diabetes, I used to love fruit juice. It’s one of the things I miss most and there really are no good zero-carb substitutes. I’ve found a few kombuchas that I like, but all have at least a few carbs per cup. Not too bad, but not really worth taking medication for. 

Recently, though, I found that I could add apple cider vinegar to water to get a really great sour apple juice flavor. I tried searching for other fruit vinegars, but everything I found had significant amounts of sugar, until u/ChezLuc, on Reddit, pointed me to Supreme Vinegar. They have a huge range of different kinds of vinegars, including 12 fruit vinegars. I e-mailed the company and all have “almost no residual sugar,” except for pineapple (1 g/15 mL). I tested my blood sugar after drinking ~50 mL of the raspberry and didn’t see any rise, so I’m pretty sure they’re telling the truth.

Here’s my thoughts on the raspberry and date flavors (rest were out of stock) and a couple recipe ideas:

  • Raspberry: I really like this flavor. Basically tastes like berries with the sugar removed, though more like blackberry than raspberry. The flavor is very strong (about twice as strong as apple cider vinegar for the same ratio). Surprisingly, it wasn’t very acidic compared with the apple cider vinegar I get from Costco, even though both claim to be diluted to 5% acidity. Maybe there’s something else in the apple that makes it more sour? 
  • Date: This tasted exactly like dates with the sugar removed and was also not very acidic. Personally, I don’t love dates, so this wasn’t my favorite. If you do like dates, though, this would probably be pretty good. 
  • Recipes:
    • Basic: 
      • 20:1 volume ratio of water to vinegar
      • Mix and serve
    • Sweetened: 
      • 20:1 volume ratio of water to vinegar
      • Sweetener to taste. I use 2 drops liquid sucralose or 10g allulose

Overall, I’m really enjoying these and have been drinking a ton of the raspberry vinegar-water over the last week. I’m definitely going to order the rest of Supreme’s flavors once they’re back in stock. I’m especially looking forward to the peach.


– QD

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Recipe: Salted Caramel Toasted nuts

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I’ve been confined to my house for the past couple weeks due to the Bay Area’s “shelter-in-place” order, so I’ve been experimenting with different recipes.

I always liked caramel flavored deserts, so I decided to see if I could get the same effect with allulose.

The experiment was successful The allulose browned & caramelized just like sugar. By adding butter and salt, I got a pretty good approximation of salted caramel. I tried it mixed in with toasted walnuts and pecans. The sweet/savory and soft/crunch contrast was fantastic. I personally preferred the walnuts, but you could put it over whatever you’d like.

I also tried just pouring the caramel into molds and topping with flaky sea salt. Quite good, but I prefer it over the nuts.

Over medium heat, allulose melted, then caramelized, just like sugar.
Plain salted caramel with flaky sea salt

I’ve included the recipe below if you want to try them yourself.


Hope you enjoy it!

– QD

Toasted Nuts with Low-Carb Salted Caramel

QD
Toasted Nuts with Low-Carb Salted Caramel
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 1 minute
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 11 minutes
Servings 6 50g portions
Calories 413 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 300 g nuts
  • 100 g allulose
  • 45 g butter
  • 60 g heavy cream
  • ½ tbsp kosher salt

Instructions
 

  • Toast nuts in a skillet over medium heat until fragrant. Set aside.
  • Add allulose and stir with a wooden spoon or heat resistant spatula. The allulose will clump up, melt, foam, and then brown to form a thick, amber liquid.
  • Add the butter, stirring continuously until it’s completely melted. Then slowly drizzle in heavy cream. Note: the mixture will bubble vigorously.
  • Stir in salt, then add the nuts and mix until combined.
  • Transfer to a bowl to cool and serve!

Notes

3.8g net carbs/serving
Nutrition information calculated by adding up macros of the individual ingredients and using walnuts for the nuts. Allulose not included in total or net carbs.

Nutrition

Serving: 50gCalories: 413kcalCarbohydrates: 7.3gProtein: 7.8gFat: 42gFiber: 3.5g
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was in the comments

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Recipe Battle: French Toast Rolls Family Recipe vs. Food52

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Food52 vs. Family Recipe for French Toast Rolls

Now that I have a maple syrup I like, I’m on the hunt for ways to use it.

Growing up, one of my favorite holiday dishes was my aunts French toast rolls, cream cheese filled rolls with a crispy, cinnamon sugar coating. No matter how many she made, they were always gone by the end of the night.

Just last week, I ran across a similar recipe on Food52, Pati Jinich’s French toast rolls (youtube, print). The main difference between the two was that my aunt’s recipe was baked and used a butter-based coating, while the Food52 version was pan-fried and used an egg & milk based coating.

Both sounded great, so I decided to compete them against each other.

The first step was to modify the recipes to be low-carb. To do that, I made the following changes:

  • Replaced white bread with Chompie’s multigrain bread (any absorbent low-carb bread will work. Recently I’ve been experimenting with Diedre’s low-carb bread, which is amazing).
  • Replaced sugar with allulose (1:1 by weight)
  • Replaced milk with almond milk
  • Changed the cinnamon:sugar ratio to 1:4 (I prefer a stronger cinnamon taste)
  • Increased baking temperature to 400 °F to get a crispier outer layer.

Then I made the recipes, using the same batch of cream cheese filling (full recipe below). Both turned out fantastic. The sweetened cream cheese contrasts really nicely with the slightly savory bread and then the layer of crispy/sweet/cinnamon outer layer.

Detailed notes

  • Cooking:
    • The most labor intensive step was flattening the bread. Both recipes call for using a rolling pin, but I think a grill press would be a lot faster.
    • I overfilled the cream cheese, which led to some of the rolls unraveling during cooking. Still tasted good, but not as visually appealing. You really need only a thin layer of cream cheese (2-3 mm).
    • Low carb bread doesn’t absorb liquid as fast as regular bread. To adjust, just dip longer.
  • Convenience:
    • Both recipes were fairly easy to make, but the Food52 recipe cooks faster (~5 min. in the pan), while my family recipe is less labor intensive, especially in large quantities (~15 min. in the oven, but you can bake a lot at once).
    • My family recipe can be frozen before cooking, so you can make it ahead of time and then just bake right before serving. I tried this and it tasted exactly the same as fresh.
  • Taste & Texture:
    • The two recipes are similar, but my family recipe adds the cinnamon sugar before cooking, giving it a more intense flavor and a crispier texture.

Overall, I significantly prefer the family recipe, both for taste and convenience, which I’m sure will make my aunt happy.

The winner! Zoomed in because they look great.

I’ve included both recipes below if you want to try them yourself.


Hope you enjoy it!

– QD

Low-Carb French Toast Rolls (Stovetop & Oven Baked)

QD
Two low-carb french toast roll recipes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings 16 rolls
Calories 97 kcal

Ingredients
  

Main

  • 1 loaf low-carb bread (e.g. Chompie's or Dierdre's)
  • 1 tbsp butter (for stovetop only)

Cinnamon "Sugar"

  • 10 g cinnamon
  • 60 g allulose (or 1:4 by volume)

Cream Cheese Filling

  • 226 g cream cheese, room temperature
  • 12.5 g allulose
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Stovetop Coating

  • 1 egg
  • 120 g almond milk
  • ¼ tsp vanilla
  • 1 pinch salt

Baking Coating

  • 2 sticks butter, melted
  • ½ tsp kosher salt

Instructions
 

Main

  • Trim the crust from the bread and flatten with a rolling pin or grill press.
  • Mix sugar, cream cheese, and vanilla until homogeneous.
  • Spread ~1 tsp. of filling on each bread slice, roll tightly into a cylinder, cut in half, and set aside.
  • Mix together allulose and cinnamon to make the cinnamon “sugar.”

Stovetop

  • Whisk together egg, almond milk, vanilla, and salt.
  • Melt buter in a skillet over medium heat. Soak the rolls in the milk mixture until fully coated, add to the skillet, and cook until golden brown on all sides.
  • Toss each roll in the cinnamon mixture and serve warm.

Oven Baked

  • Heat oven to 400 °F.
  • Dip each roll in the melted butter, then roll in the cinnamon mixture. Rolls can be frozen at this stage until ready to bake.
  • Bake for 12-15 min., until heated through and browned.

Notes

0.7g net carbs per roll.
Nutrition information calculated for the oven baked recipe by adding up macros of the individual ingredients.  Stovetop recipe is ~60 cal and 3.8g fat/roll, same carb and protein count.

Nutrition

Serving: 1rollCalories: 97kcalCarbohydrates: 1.7gProtein: 2.5gFat: 86gFiber: 1g
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was in the comments

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Maple Syrup Taste Test: 4 Home-Made vs. 4 Store-Bought, all Low-Carb

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Following up on my French Toast post, I wanted to try find a good zero-carb maple syrup to go along with it. On Reddit, u/botrock22 recommended All-u-Lose; I also found several other brands on Amazon that looked pretty good. I also did a search for low-carb or keto maple syrup recipes and found a couple that looked promising.

To figure out which I liked best, I decided to do a taste test.

Contenders:

I assessed each syrup on the following factors:

  • Calories
  • Net carbs
  • Ingredients
  • Cost
  • Taste
  • Texture

Here’s the results:

Note: After I bought it, I noticed the Sweet-Like-Syrup brand uses isomaltose as the sweetener. Isomaltose is not low carb (GI = 35), so I didn’t try it.

For me, homemade version #2 (24 wt% water) was the clear winner, probably because it was adjusted to my taste preference. It had a strong maple flavor, was thick enough to cling to the french toast while still spreading easily, and didn’t have any unpleasant aftertaste. It was also extremely easy to make and cheaper to boot. I’m going to start keeping a batch around for French toast, pancakes, and other deserts.

I’ve included the recipe below if you want to make it yourself.


Hope you enjoy it!

– QD

Low-Carb Maple Syrup

QD
A simple low-carb maple syrup
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 1 minute
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 36 minutes
Servings 500 mL
Calories 1 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 250 g allulose
  • 5 g molasses
  • 80 g water
  • 2 tsp maple extract
  • ½ tsp vanilla extract

Instructions
 

  • Combine allulose, molasses, and water in a pot. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer.
  • Cover and simmer for 15 min., then let cool for 20 min. and stir in the maple and vanilla extracts.
  • Transfer to a sealable container and serve or store.

Notes

0.2g net carb/tbsp.
Nutrition information calculated by adding up macros of the individual ingredients. Allulose not included in total or net carbs.

Nutrition

Serving: 1tbspCalories: 1kcalCarbohydrates: 0.2g
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was in the comments

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– QD

Low Carb Maple Syrup

Yield: ~500 mL

Author: QD

prep time: 1 Mcook time: 35 Mtotal time: 36 M

 

ingredients:

 

  • 250 g allulose
  • 5 g molasses
  • 80 g water
  • 2 tsp. maple extract
  • 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

 

instructions:

How to cook Low Carb Maple Syrup

 

  1. Combine allulose, molasses, and water in a pot. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer.
  2. Cover and simmer for 15 min., then let cool for 20 min. and stir in the maple and vanilla extracts.
  3. Transfer to a sealable container and serve or store.

Calories

1

Net Carbs(grams)

0.2

Calculated per tablespoon.

Created using The Recipes Generator