Fat Frog Diary

Mayonnaise and Salad Dressings are some of the staples of the American dieter’s repertoire. Without a salad for lunch or the ubiquitous tuna sandwich, the American dieter is lost in a sea of pre-packaged and tasteless frozen dinners.   Perhaps the most feared alternative is –oh, the horror!—raw vegetables with nothing to flavor them but the forbidden cream cheese or peanut butter. However, the mayonnaise available on most grocery store shelves has many flaws, not the least of which are high carbs and an overwhelming amount of unpronounceable chemicals and preservatives. There is an alternative. Surprisingly, it’s easy to make one’s own mayonnaise with a few simple spices, two eggs, two cups of cooking oil, and two tablespoons of an acid liquid such as vinegar or lemon juice. By combining these ingredients in various ways, the humble mayonnaise can become a sublime catalyst to elevate even the humblest salad to stardom. The same thing has happened in the salad dressing marke...

Easy Chicken Rarebit Prep: 20 minutes Cook: 4 to 5 hours (low) or 2 to 2 1/2 hours (high) omg - this sounds soooooo good - for summer crockpot users: cook on back porch to keep heat out of kitchen and house cooler!   Ingredients 1-3/4   pounds  skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (Yeah, I'll just use cheap thighs, thanks) 1   14- to 16-ounce jar  cheddar cheese pasta sauce 1   tablespoon  Worcestershire sauce 1   large  onion, halved crosswise and thinly sliced 6     pumpernickel or rye buns, split and toasted, or 6 slices pumpernickel or rye bread, toasted and halved diagonally Lower the carb count by skipping the bread. Serve on romaine lettuce rollers. 4     slices bacon, crisp-cooked, drained, and crumbled (optional) 1     tomato, chopped (optional)     Kosher dill pickles (optional) Directions 1. Cut chicken diagonally into 1/2-...

While I think these are good, the author swore they were addictive and that's why she gave them the name. I'll grant they are a treat, and the batch I made served me lunches for quite awhile. I recommend cutting off the wing tips and throwing them immediately into a small crock pot of water, celery tops you've saved for this, onion, a little salt, pepper, and a little poultry seasoning for easy homemade chicken broth. Then make the wings and know you've not wasted a bit of your precious money. After the broth has cooked, strain out the used veggies and bones. Let it cool in a bowl on the counter, stick it in the fridge, skim off the fat that hardens at the top, and measure into one cup increments. Store in the freezer until needed. I put them in 1 quart ziplock bags and freeze in square storage containers. That way, I can remove the storage containers after they're hard, and they still stack nicely in a corner.

Many folks act like we dieters can never have a snack again. Wrong. We can we just need to adjust our thinking. These delicious marinated cukes take a matter of a few minutes to make and stay for weeks in the fridge. Save a pickle jar and keep these around instead. IMHO, skip the sugar and use Splenda. I've not tried the creamy version. I was after a recipe for "refrigerated pickles" when someone recommended the Marinated version. I've been hooked ever since.

Today's quickie post. Do try kale, if you haven't. This recipe is not only relatively easy, but also good for you. While the lentils do add some carbs, they are also high fiber. The tiny bit of flour isn't going to kill you, but I'd definitely consider purchasing Wondra flour (in the bright blue can) for this. Wondra is made to be used in soups, gravies, and sauces and therefore less likely to create lumpy messes.

I've been playing with this one a little, and I've found that the tuna alternative is just as tasty! How inexpensive can you get? Next, I think I'll try a can of tiny shrimp, or maybe I'll even splurge just a little and get a bag of frozen shrimp. That'll make several pies.

You don't have to have an egg salad SANDWICH. You can just have egg salad, or use a tomato cup. Remember that the carb counts below include the bread. Take that away and the carb count becomes very good indeed! Plain old white bread slices can be 70 calories and a whopping 13g of carbs EACH. Pita isn't any better at  130 calories and 30g of carbs. Nope, not even the so-called "healthy grains." Forget it. Eat it without the bread and save yourself the carbs. If you don't, you may as well just superglue the bread directly to your hips.

Don't discount this because it's meatless. This is good!!

Yeah, I've posted this one before, but this bears repeating. This is a fast and easy quiche with no crust. You can mix and match the meat, cheeses, and veggies to anything you want! My fave substitution is a classic-- make this into Quiche Lorraine by substituting pre-cooked (you do bake your bacon and save it, right?) bacon and Swiss Cheese. Don't be afraid to toss in some frozen veggies! I've been known to raid the freezer for the remainder of a bag of frozen green beans, a few broccoli tops, and about a cup of bell pepper strips for stir fry. This is one of those recipes that also makes a superb leftover for the lunch box. While I do prefer mine warmed in the microwave for a minute, it doesn't have to be. Cool the pie in the fridge overnight, then cut into 1/6 slices. Wrap them up in foil or zip-top bags, and freeze. I gave up making just one pie at a time. I make two and take the remainder of the second one as lunches for later days. If you need more similar rec...

I made a few changes to this recipe, I admit. First off, I used cut up cooked chicken from my stash of leftovers instead of the expensive boneless skinless chicken breasts. I did manage to find andouille sausage, but it wouldn't hurt my feelings if I had to substitute another kind. This is a Cajun recipe, and they're famous for making do with what they have. My chicken broth was homemade, and you don't get much more "reduced sodium" than that. (That's what I do with all those leftover bits like the pointy wing tips, necks no one wants, and the occasional "sale meat" that is a bargain only if you stew it to death. Grin) Also, here's a little trick to gladden the heart of any cook-- You can make your rice in the slow cooker too! Just use the "converted" rice (I use Uncle Ben's) and it cooks up just fine. (This is why I have two crock pots, and I'm thinking about getting another.) I'll make the jambalaya in the big pot, a...

I was surprised to learn there are people in the world who don't know how to make this ubiquitous lunch food, or worse, who stir together canned meat, mayo, maybe a little instant minced onion, and call it good. Then again, I used to be one of them, until I found this recipe and made it, just to be different. I will never go back to plain old chicken salad ever again! I found Nirvana. Then I looked at the variations. YUM-OH!

Who says life must be dull and flavorless? Who says we can't have delicious low carb desserts? Whoever THEY are, they're WRONG! Dead wrong. I use and recommend both DaVinci Sugar Free and Torani Sugar Free Flavored syrups. http://www.worldpantry.com/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/ProductDisplay?prmenbr=2926001&prrfnbr=3048730 Both can be found on the links section of this blog. Come on!! Are you craving ice cream or yogurts? You can have a very reasonable substitute in flavoring cottage cheese and plain yogurt. Go ahead. Mix up a pina colada yogurt using pineapple and coconut syrups and adding a sprinkle of Splenda.Add nuts. Almonds are low carb, too! Do you miss your Starbucks? Why don't you mix your own? I can have a sugar free White Chocolate coffee anytime I want using the syrup. Did you know whipping cream has even less carbs than milk? Go ahead and indulge in that morning brew. Just make it yourself and pocket what you didn't spend at Starbucks. Flavored teas? S...

In the same way as my comments on Feb 4 concerning mayonnaise, the same thing has happened in the salad dressing market. The so-called "diet" dressings can be higher in sugar and carbs because they're supposed to be lower in fat. Yet at the same time, the "regular" dressings are so loaded with chemicals and preservatives as well as carbs, the choices are very limited unless you like vinaigrettes. I happen to like creamy dressings, though I've learned that dipping my fork into a small cup of 2 T of dressing (average serving size on bottled dressings) and then stabbing a forkload of salad means I get a much tastier mouthful than pouring the dressing over the top and hoping it's still around when I get to the last fork full. Imagine having fresh dressings to dip your veggies into, and I don't mean just for a bowl of salad. Imagine taking a small sealed container of this with some celery, green pepper strips, and fresh broccoli when you need a snack. Y...

First, an explanation and elaboration. I love Baked Eggs, aka Shirred Eggs. They're easy, first and foremost. I keep a pile of custard cups around, as well as some cheap Corningware coffee mugs just so I can make baked eggs whenever I like. Custard cups work best, but when feeding a crowd, sometimes my little six cups just aren't enough! Thank goodness for Corningware! Now take your basic Baked Egg recipe and put on your thinking caps. How do you like your eggs? Me, I like a little meat, a little broccoli, a little bell peppers, and a whole lot of cheese with my eggs. DH likes onion, hash browns, cheese, and peppers on his. Dante likes his with a whole lot of veggies and a little deli turkey or ham.. DD3 likes hers Mexican style with chilies, olives, and Monterrey Jack cheese. Drag out those leftovers, wield your chopping knife, and add what you want to your cups the night before! Put the egg in the cups in the morning, and throw them in the oven in the steam bath. Bake t...

This recipe comes from the Food Network and Giada De Laurentis. They did not provide a calorie or carb count, so I made a guess at approximately 93 calories and 10 carbs per serving. I also substituted sour cream for the creme fraiche. (Sorry, Giada honey, not all of us are rich.) Also, I HIGHLY recommend you grind up the rosemary extra, extra fine, especially if you have to use the dried version like I did. Picking rosemary out of your teeth is never a cool look.

Deviled Eggs are a staple on my low-carb diet. They're easy, quick, and the stuffing can be made a ton of different ways to add variety. Below is my basic deviled egg recipe, plus a couple of variations for fun. I'm too lazy to pipe in the filling! Two spoons or my melon baller scoop up plenty. LOL!

Okay, if you're on a low carb diet, I'm sure you've now seen that regular old mayonnaise is lower in carbs than the so-called "light" mayo. (Hey, they took out the fat, so they had to put sugar in to compensate.) Perhaps this is why when I followed slavishly the "diet rules" and ate only "diet foods" I actually gained weight! Making my own mayonnaise to eliminate all those interesting and unpronounceable chemicals the commercial producers put in seems like the logical next step in my freedom from fat. Here's my recipe for mayo, done with several common kitchen appliances. (I'll be using the food processor, but you can use what you have, okay?) I can't wait to try these!

Nothing like the good old red and white Better Homes and Gardens Cookbooks when I need a simple, old-fashioned recipe for the classics like stuffed mushrooms. Here's some goodies guaranteed to make a great bandster lunch. Imagine this on a portobella mushroom!   You may want to make your own mix, and don't forget to substitute ground up fried pork skins for the bread crumbs for even less carbs. I find bags and bags of the pork skins on the same aisle as potato chips, and they're so useful to keep around! I've been known to measure out a serving just to have a bit of crunch while everyone else snacks, so I don't feel deprived. However, their best use is when you grind them in the food processor and keep them around to replace those carb-laden bread crumbs. 

This reminds me of the old "Sunday dinner" scenario, where you might have a large meal at noon after church. I saw many a housewife hop in the car and zoom home to attend to the Sunday dinner while the men hung around to talk to the preacher. Eventually, the husband whose wife drove off would get a ride with his son or father back to the house, just in time to pull off his tie and sit down to a huge feast. However, a little reversal here and change of timing, and you might find this delicious roast on your dinner table some night. Prime rib rarely needs more than salt, and maybe a dash of pepper.

For the low-carb version, skip the toast and just sprinkle shredded cheese right on top of the soup. If your band is very, very new or you've just had a fill, cool the soup completely then whirl it all up in the food processor before heating and eating.