French Dip Sandwich or Roast Beef Sandwich Au Jus

French Dip Sandwich or Roast Beef Sandwich Au Jus

1 T chopped or minced garlic
1 beef bouillon cube
1 T rosemary
3 bay leaves
3/4 c - 1 cup soy sauce  (I use approximately 1 cup, give or take)
about 6 cups water
1 beef roast (chuck is affordable and tastes the best)
buns
provolone cheese

Put all ingredients in a Crock-pot or slow cooker.  The size of your roast can be anything from 3 pounds to about 4 or 5 but 3-4 is best for the amount of juice left for dipping.   Cook on high 6-8 hours until tender and falls apart easily when you pull with a fork.

Remove roast from slow cooker and shred with two forks, pulling all the pieces apart.  Remove the bay leaves from the juices in the slow cooker.   Place the shredded beef back in the crock pot and keep on 'warm' setting until needed.  Open a roll, spoon meat on and cover with a slice of cheese.   Broil in the oven just until the cheese is melted.  Spoon liquid into small cups on the side for dipping.

Birthday Brownies - Sugar Free Cake Mix Brownies by Pillsbury

One of the problems you face when you bake all the time, is deciding what to make for birthdays.  Especially when you've been doing a detox of sugar and have been trying all sorts of 'fun' recipes.   Our freezer is currently hosting a nice variety of protein chocolate brownies, cheesecake, half a chocolate cake with marshmallow frosting, cookies and 2 slices of Italian Cream Cake with Lemon Filling.  All low carb, no flour and sugar free.  We have all the baked goods we could want, right?  But yesterday was my husbands birthday and I wanted to make something different.

It just so happens I had a box of Pillsbury Moist Supreme Sugar Free Devil's Food Cake Mix in the cupboard.  Now this mix is not low carb as it does have flour in it.  However, I saw it at my local grocery store a couple weeks ago and picked it up to give it a try in the future.  It's hit or miss whether your local stores want to carry these;  I've seen them one shopping trip but then they are gone the next.  I've heard some Walmarts carried them, although my local store did not.  I found mine at Publix and had to pay $3.49 for the box.  Not something I would normally purchase or keep on hand since I love to bake from scratch, but it was fun to try a new product.

In the end, we loved it.  Some people have gas and bloating issues because of the sugar alcohols.  My husband, our 17 year old daughter and I had no issues at all.   Pillsbury has a sugar free yellow cake mix, chocolate cake mix and a sugar free brownie mix.  I had bought the cake mix, but I used it in my regular recipe for brownies made from a cake mix and adapted it.

You can find my true, Sugar Free, Low Carb, No Flour Brownie here.

Here is the original recipe for brownies starting with a cake mix that I adapted to make sugar free for my husbands birthday.


Homemade Caramel Brownies 

1 chocolate cake mix of your choice
1 c chopped nuts (optional - I love them, my son and husband hate them)
1/2 c (1 stick) butter, melted
1 c Evaporated Milk (not sweetened condensed milk)
35 caramels - unwrap
2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips, milk chocolate, etc. (up to you)

Preheat the oven to 350. Combine the cake mix with the nuts, butter and 2/3 c evaporated milk in a bowl. Beat with a wooden spoon - the batter will be very thick. Spread half the batter into a 13X9 inch ungreased pan. Bake 15 minutes. In the meantime, unwrap the caramels and add the remaining evaporated milk. (Sometimes I add all the milk to the chocolate batter and just use a few teaspoons of water to thin the caramels instead).   Drizzle the caramel mixture over the brownies and drop the remaining batter over the caramel by heaping teaspoons.

Bake for 25 minutes more. Cool in the pan before cutting into bars.



ADAPTED:

Use a sugar free cake mix, dry
Nuts are optional
1 stick butter, melted
1/2 c original, unsweetened almond milk
1/2 c half and half or heavy cream
sugar free chocolate chips (like Hersheys) are optional
sugar free caramels are optional - I did not use

Mix the melted butter, cake mix, almond milk and half and half in a bowl with a wooden spoon until blended.  Pour into a greased 9X13" pan and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 30 minutes or until the center is set and the brownies start to just pull away from the edge of the pan.  Let cool in the pan.  Cut into squares.  Serve with sugar free whipped cream (sweetened with your favorite sweetener) or use a spray can of sugar free whipped cream.  (I also have some awesome sugar free frosting recipes posted!  Just use the search bar on the right side of the page and search for sugar free frosting.  I'd suggest the 7 minute version or buttercreme!). 




Pillsbury Sugar Free Devils Food Chocolate Cake Mix Facts;
Amount Per Serving

Calories 120
Total Fat 3.5g
Saturated Fat 1.5g
Trans Fat 0g
Cholesterol 0mg
Sodium 260mg
Total Carbohydrate 28g
Dietary Fiber 2g
Sugars 0g
SugarAlcohol 14g
Protein 2g
Calcium 4%
Iron 10%

Not a significant source of vitamin A and vitamin C. *Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

Low Carb, Sugar Free and So Good! Spinach, Feta and 'Sugared' (not) Almond Salad with Balsamic Dressing

Spinach Salad with 'not' sugared almonds, feta cheese and Balsamic dressing... Mmmm

Quick and easy to throw together as I had a few items already hand to work with.  I had a bottle of  Maple Grove Farms Sugar Free Balsamic Vinaigrette I had found at my local grocery store but any version and brand will do.

Back in 2010 I showed you how to make "sugar free"  sugared almonds here. 

Throw this salad together in the amounts YOU like.  More or less feta, more or less dressing, more or less almonds, onions... if you can use them in your way-of-eating, raisins or craisins are excellent in this - but not if you are doing real sugar free.

Here is the basic 'idea' - make it your own.

Spinach Feta Salad

Fresh spinach leaves, washed
'Sugared' almonds (see above link on how to do that sugar-free)
Feta cheese, crumbled
Sugar free balsamic vinaigrette
Red onion - sliced into thin rings
Brown Sugar or any other sweetener - optional
Strawberries - optional if your way-of-eating allows them

I didn't want to wait to make my 'un' sugared almonds - I was too hungry and in a hurry - so I made the quick-and-sticky version by roasting the almonds over medium high heat, adding about 1 1/2 Tablespoons brown sugar substitute and a little water.  I cooked them until it got thick and caramelized, poured them out onto a piece of lightly greased foil, let them cool a bit before adding to my salad. 

Toss the spinach with the rest of the ingredients and drizzle the dressing on just before serving.  I tasted the dressing, loved it, but for this salad, wanted it to be just a bit sweetened.  I mixed about 2 teaspoons of  sweetener into 3/4 cup dressing and taste tested it.  It had just the sweetness level I personally liked, so I drizzled it over all.  Adjust to your personal taste.

Caramelizing the almonds with brown sugar sweetener

I used Maple Grove Farms brand and Ideal brands - you can use whatever you personally like

Lots of Valentine Cookie Ideas!

I'm a Mom of three... with a blog I've had since 2006.  Yes, I've posted more than a few cookie recipes.  So, this morning as I sipped my coffee and got ready to open a new posting window I realized I really should just draw your attention to the traditional cookies our family tends to make;  already posted!

Anti-Valentine Cookies for my daughter

Actually, they are traditional for us, but probably not for you.

You see, starting in 2008-ish, I started to make anti-valentine's day cookies as well as my 'cute' cookies.  

You can read the story in the link below - how I needed 'manly' cookies that year.  And by then I also had a teenager in the house.  With teenagers come ex-boyfriends so my manly cookies also turned into anti-valentines cookies, that I've continued to send her packages of at college, as her roommates and friends love them!  Even those with boyfriends.






IDEAS FOR VALENTINES DAY COOKIES AND CANDIES

Anti-Valentine Cookies for the year my daughter broke up with her boyfriend
When I needed 'manly' Valentine Cookies for my husband
Quick and easy cake balls with no baking! 
Cute little Valentine heart cookies for my daughter back in 2006
Meringue Kisses - two sealed with chocolate!
Almond Truffles - so pretty and so good!

Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing that hardens for travel or goodie bags

Cookies:

3/4 c sugar
6 T butter
1/3 c shortening
1 large egg
1 T milk
1 t vanilla
2 c flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
Dash of salt

Cream the sugar, butter and shortening. Add the egg, milk and vanilla. Add the flour, baking powder and salt then mix just to blend. Chill dough for at least 2 hours. Roll about 1/4 inch thick on a lightly floured surface and cut into shapes. Bake on parchment lined cookie sheets for approximately 8 minutes at 370 degrees.

Cool.
Decorate however you want!


A 'Royal Icing' recipe you can use if you would like (what I used on the cookies I made in the photo above) must be kept covered when not in use as it dries quickly, and on the finished product, dries hard. This works great for travel and stacking, or in children's Valentines goodie bags as I made for my daughter.

Frosting

4 c confectioners' sugar
3 large egg whites
1/2 t cream of tartar
1/2 t vanilla
1 T water

Beat 6 minutes on high
(add more or less water depending on stiff it is and how stiff you want it).  Decorate as you wish. I also used 'edible' food color markers to make the hearts and write on them after the base layer of icing was dry.

Cute cookies I took to the office

Low carb, sugar free biscuits

A low carb, sugar free biscuit

This post was made in February of 2013.  This is an update in January 2019 -  For my best, updated and much loved biscuit please check out this one!  Homemade Low Carb, Keto Cheddar Biscuit

It's unfortunate many low carb products are so high priced because when you cook and bake low carb and sugar free, it's a lot of hit or miss final products.  Even recipes that work one time, can be completely different the next time based on using a different brand or straying in the measurements.  One of the biggest differences I've found lately is the almond flour.  After years of either grinding my own almonds or using Bob's Red Mill, I finally gave in and ordered the Honeyville brand.  I had to talk myself into it as the smallest size is a 5 lb. bag and although regular all purpose flour can sell at $2.50 for a 5 lb. bag, almond flour is a bit more dear.  $32.  Ouch.

Well, the difference is worth noting.  It's most like flour as it's a much finer mill than I have ever been able to get using a food processor or blender.  It's an even finer mill than Bob's Red Mill brand.  I do love it... but I don't love when a product doesn't turn out (like a regular coffee cake recipe I tried to make low carb this week and failed).  These biscuits however?  Not a fail.  I thought they were pretty good, and my husband thought they were great.  I served them with fried chicken and gravy (all low carb versions).  The honey in them made them not completely sugar free but I only used a teaspoon for the whole batch.

Also updated for January 2019: I stopped using Honeyville brands around 2014 because their prices were just unjustifiable.  I almost exclusively use Bob's Red Mill Almond Flour - because I can find it almost everywhere, including Sam's Club.  I am thrilled with my biscuits made with it (see the post I referenced above for my January 2019 cheddar garlic biscuit).    

If you were to increase the sweetener in this (the erythritol) or add a few drops of a liquid sweetener, these would be very yummy as a 'sweet' biscuit - similar to a shortbread cookie.  Putting that idea in my back pocket to try at a future date.


Almond Flour Biscuit

1/4 c real butter, melted
2 1/2 c quality blanched almond flour
2 eggs
1/2 t apple cider vinegar
1/2 T xylitol
1/2 T erythritol
1 t honey
1/2 t salt
1/2 t baking soda

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.  Make a well in the center, add the wet and mix until combined.  Scoop into walnut sized servings and gently press down to form a biscuit shape.  Bake on greased or lined baking sheets at 350 for 12-15 minutes until golden. 

The dough - pretty yummy

Ready to go in the oven

Fresh baked biscuits from the oven

You might be interested in almond flours;