1001 Low-Carb Recipes: Hundreds of Delicious Recipes From Dinner to Dessert That Let You Live Your Low-Carb Lifestyle and Never Look Back (31 page)

cup (80 g) almond meal

cup (35 g) oat bran

¼ (25 g) wheat gluten

½ cup (50 g) wheat bran

½ cup (50 g) wheat germ

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup (120 ml) coconut oil

¼ cup (50 g) granular polyol sweetener

¼ cup (6 g) Splenda

1½ teaspoons blackstrap molasses

½ cup (120 ml) Carb Countdown dairy beverage

In a mixing bowl, combine the protein powder and the next 8 ingredients (through salt). Stir to evenly distribute the ingredients. Set aside.

Using an electric mixer, beat the coconut oil with the granular polyol sweetener, Splenda, and molasses until the mixture is fluffy. Now beat in the dry ingredients and the Carb Countdown gradually, alternating which you add.

When all the dry ingredients and milk are beaten in, scrape the dough into a ball and refrigerate overnight. (This does something magical to the texture. I don’t understand it, myself.)

Okay, the next day you can pull your dough out of the fridge. Let it warm up for 15 or 20 minutes—while that’s happening, you can preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C, or gas mark 4).

Divide the dough into two equal parts. Cover a cookie sheet with baking parchment or a Teflon pan liner and place one of the dough balls on it. Cover it with another sheet of baking parchment or another pan liner. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough between the two layers of parchment or liner, just a little thinner than a commercial graham cracker. Peel off the top sheet and use a pizza cutter or a sharp, thin-bladed knife to score into squares. Prick each cracker 3 or 4 times with a fork.

Repeat this with the second dough ball and with a second set of parchment or pan liners (you can use the same top sheet for both).

Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes or until browned a bit around the edges. Let cool, rescore, and break apart. Store them in an airtight container.

Yield:
36 crackers

Each with 6 g protein; 3 g carbohydrate; 1 g dietary fiber, 2 g usable carbs. Carb count does not include polyol sweetener.

These have a great, crunchy texture and a wonderful flavor.

1 cup (225 g) raw, shelled sunflower seeds

½ cup (50 g) grated Parmesan cheese

¼ cup (60 ml) water

Preheat the oven to 325°F (170°C, or gas mark 3).

Put the sunflower seeds and Parmesan in a food processor with the S-blade in place and process until the sunflower seeds are a fine meal almost the consistency of flour. Add the water and pulse the processor until the dough is well blended, soft, and sticky.

Cover a cookie sheet with a piece of baking parchment. Turn the dough out onto the parchment, tear off another sheet of parchment, and put it on top of the dough.

Through the top sheet of parchment, use your hands to press the dough into as thin and even a sheet as you can. Take the time to get the dough quite thin—the thinner, the better, so long as there are no holes in the dough. Peel off the top layer of parchment and use a thin, sharp, straight-bladed knife or a pizza cutter to score the dough into squares or diamonds.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until evenly browned. Peel the crackers off the parchment, break along the scored lines, and let them cool. Store them in a container with a tight lid.

Yield:
How many carbs are these per cracker? It will vary with the size and thickness of your crackers. I get about 6 dozen.

Each with just a trace of carbohydrates, a trace of fiber, and 1 gram of protein. But you can eat the whole batch for just 13 grams of usable carbohydrates, so who’s counting?

1 cup (225 g) sunflower seeds

½ cup (50 g) wheat germ

¼ cup (25 g) wheat bran

¼ cup (25 g) oat bran

½ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon (1.5 g) Splenda

¼ cup (60 ml) canola oil

¼ cup (60 ml) water

In your food processor with the S-blade in place, grind the sunflower seeds until they’re a fine meal. Add the wheat germ, wheat bran, oat bran, salt, and Splenda and pulse to mix. Now pour in the oil and pulse to mix that in. Finally, add the water and pulse to make an evenly blended dough.

Cover a cookie sheet with baking parchment or a Teflon pan liner. Turn the dough out onto this. Cover with another sheet of parchment or another pan liner. Now roll the dough out through the top sheet, making it as thin as you can without making holes in it. It’s really worth the time to make this seriously thin.

Using a knife with a thin, straight, sharp blade or a pizza cutter, score the dough into squares or diamonds. I make mine about the size of Wheat Thins.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until evenly golden. Rescore to help you separate the crackers without breaking them. Store them in a tightly lidded container.

Yield:
About 6 dozen small crackers

Each with 1 g protein; 1 g carbohydrate; trace dietary fiber; 1 g usable carb.

1 cup (225 g) raw, shelled sunflower seeds

½ cup (60 g) sesame seeds

½ teaspoon salt, plus additional for sprinkling

¼ cup (60 ml) water

Preheat the oven to 325°F (170°C, or gas mark 3).

In a food processor with the S-blade attached, grind the sunflower seeds to a fine meal.

Add the sesame seeds and salt and pulse the food processor just long enough to combine. (You want the sesame seeds to stay whole.) Add the water and pulse to make a dough.

Cover a cookie sheet with a piece of baking parchment. Turn the dough out onto the parchment, tear off another sheet of parchment, and put it on top of the dough.

Through the top sheet of parchment, use your hands to press the dough into as thin and even a sheet as you can. Take the time to get the dough quite thin—the thinner, the better, so long as there are no holes in the dough. Peel off the top layer of parchment and use a thin, sharp, straight-bladed knife or a pizza cutter to score the dough into squares or diamonds. If you like, you could sprinkle a little salt over the surface and gently press it into the dough before scoring the crackers.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until they’re a light golden color. Peel the crackers off the parchment, break along the scored lines, and let them cool. Store them in a container with a tight lid.

Yield:
About 6 dozen small crackers

Each with 1 gram of carbohydrates and about 0.5 gram of fiber, for a total of 0.5 gram of usable carbs and 1 gram of protein.

Do you miss Cheese Nips? Try these.

1½ cups (340 g) raw, shelled sunflower seeds

1½ cups (180 g) grated cheddar cheese

½ teaspoon salt, plus additional for sprinkling

¼ cup (60 ml) water

Preheat the oven to 325°F (170°C, or gas mark 3).

In a food processor with the S-blade attached, grind the sunflower seeds to a fine meal.

Add the cheddar and salt and pulse the processor six to eight times to blend. Add the water and pulse until a dough ball forms.

Cover a cookie sheet with a piece of baking parchment. Turn the dough out onto the parchment, tear off another sheet of parchment, and put it on top of the dough.

Through the top sheet of parchment, use your hands to press the dough into as thin and even a sheet as you can. Take the time to get the dough quite thin—the thinner, the better, so long as there are no holes in the dough. Peel off the top layer of parchment. Sprinkle a little salt over the surface and gently press it in into place. Use a thin, sharp, straight-bladed knife or a pizza cutter to score the dough into squares or diamonds.

Bake for about 30 minutes. Peel the crackers off the parchment, break along the scored lines, and let them cool. Store them in a container with a tight lid.

Yield:
About 6 dozen crackers

Each with 1 gram of carbohydrates and 0.5 gram of fiber, for a total of 0.5 gram of usable carbs and 1 gram of protein.

Thanks to the cheese, these crackers come with a bonus: 21 milligrams of calcium!

Tired of paying through the nose for fiber crackers? These are similar to Fiber Rich or Bran-a-Crisp except that they’re thinner, crispier, lower-carb—and a whole lot cheaper. Plus they’re great with dips, patés, and tuna or egg salad.

1½ cups (150 g) wheat bran

½ cup (65 g) rice protein powder

1 teaspoon salt

1½ cups (360 ml) water

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C, or gas mark 4).

Combine the wheat bran, protein powder, and salt, stirring them together well. Stir in the water, making sure everything is wet, and let the mixture sit for about 5 minutes.

Cover a cookie sheet with baking parchment and turn the dough out onto the parchment (the dough will be very soft). Using the back of a spoon, pat and smooth this out into a thin, even, unbroken sheet.

Bake for 10 minutes and then use a pizza cutter or a knife with a thin, sharp blade to score the sheet of dough into crackers. Put the sheet back in the oven and bake for another 20 minutes.

Turn the oven to its lowest temperature and let the crackers sit in the warm oven for at least 3 hours until they’re good and dry and crisp.

Break apart and store them in an airtight container.

Yield:
3 dozen crackers

Each with just over 2 grams of carbohydrates and 1 gram of fiber, for a total of about 1 gram of usable carbs and just a trace of protein.

This is a good “crumb crust” for savory dishes, like quiche.

1
cups (200 g) almonds