Category Archives: Low Carb Dinner Recipes

Easy Gluten Free Low Carb Stuffed Bell Peppers: Mexican Style

April 2, 2016 GF Down Home Leave a comment

Gluten Free Low Carb Stuffed Bell Peppers WITHOUT Rice!

So I was craving me some Mexican the other day and didn’t know what to fix. I had already bought ingredients for stuffed bell peppers because it was on my menu for the week. I didn’t want to go to the store, so I decided to be a domestic diva and work with the ingredients I had on hand.

Ta da! Low carb stuffed bell peppers Mexican style was born. Minus the rice and beans, of course.

Stuffed Bell Peppers? Mexican Anyone?

My husband isn’t a fan of Mexican food, but I could eat it every night of the week. He loves me though, so he doesn’t fuss when I fix Mexican every couple of weeks. He’ll eat it, just for me. But I think I won him over with this recipe, though. I had to fight him over the leftovers the next day.

Making my stuffed bell peppers recipe Mexican wasn’t really all that hard. I added Mexican spices to the hamburger, and replaced canned tomatoes with a jar of homemade salsa. I’m not going to be all cliche and say I had a fiesta going on in my mouth, but I’ll let you be the judge when you taste your own stuffed bell peppers, Mexican style. 🙂

How to Make Mexican Stuffed Bell Peppers

Preheat the oven to 350 F. This recipe makes four to five stuffed peppers, depending on how big your peppers are. You can use red, yellow, or green peppers. I personally like the red because they’re so bright and pretty.

Cut the tops off of the peppers and remove the seeds and white membranes. Rinse and turn upside down on paper towels to drain.

Fill a large pot with water and bring it to boil. Add the peppers and set a timer for five minutes. Remove and turn upside down on paper towels to drain.

Brown 1 pound hamburger, 3 cloves of minced garlic, and a finely chopped onion in a large skillet. Add 1 8oz jar of your favorite chunky salsa, 2 tsp cumin, and 2 tsp chili powder. Or add two teaspoons of Mexican blend spice instead.

Remove from heat and add 1 cup of shredded sharp cheddar cheese. Stir until melted.

Put the peppers into an oven safe non-stick skillet and fill with the hamburger mixture. Cook in a 350 F oven for 12-15 minutes, or until heated through. Remove from oven and top with shredded cheddar cheese and return to the oven. Bake for 5 more minutes or until the cheese is melted.

Top with sour cream and more cheese. (There was never such thing as too much cheese, right?)

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Low Carb Dinner Recipes

Gluten Free Low Carb Homemade Pizza Pockets

March 9, 2016 GF Down Home 6 Comments

Make your Own GF Low Carb Homemade Pizza Pockets

One of the things I love best about gluten free and low carb cooking, is that you can take a basic recipe, use some imagination, and, viola, you have a yummy new treat. I used my homemade low carb pizza crust recipe to make low carb homemade pizza pockets.

I admit I get jealous watching my son pop one of those store bought pockets out of the microwave. I really want instant food, too. But store bought convenience foods are unhealthy, wheat laden and full of carbs. But with a little work on the front end, you can enjoy easy “fast food” on the back end. So that’s why I wanted to rework my pizza crust recipe.

I doubled the recipe, rolled it out and sandwiched pizza sauce, toppings, and cheese in the middle and baked. I got four good sized low carb homemade pizza pockets. I ate one, and froze the others. Turns out this recipe freezes really well.

Now when I am craving a quick pizza snack, I can take it out of the freezer, pop it in the microwave for a few minutes, and I can enjoy me some hot pizza pockets!

Gluten Free Low Carb Homemade Pizza Pockets Recipe

First, make the crust. I doubled my homemade low carb pizza crust. This is the adjusted recipe below:

3 cups mozzarella cheese
4 tbsp cream cheese
1 1/2 cup certified gluten free almond flour
2 tsp xanthan gum
2 tbsp unflavored protein powder

Melt mozzarella cheese and cream cheese in the microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring each time. When you have a glob of gooey cheese, you’re good.

Let cool slightly and add the remaining ingredients. Mix really well. The dough is really stiff, and I mix it with my hands to get it fully incorporated.

Now let’s make us some pizza pockets!

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Pinch off a 3-4 inch ball of dough and, using your hands, press into a rectangular shape.

Your crust should be about 1/4 inch thick. Make seven more rectangles. The dough will be soft, so be careful when you handle them. If the dough gets a hole in it, just press it back together, it is very forgiving.

Spread pizza sauce to within a half inch of the edges. Next, add your toppings, such as cheese, pepperoni, mushrooms, etc. Keep toppings away from the edge, too, and don’t pile it too high so the dough won’t tear or be too short.

Place the top crust over the bottom half of your pocket. Using a fork or a pastry crimper, crimp the edges. Make sure to seal the dough ALL around. You don’t want any pizza goodness oozing out in the oven.

Bake at 350 F for 25 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy your low carb homemade pizza pocket!

For freezing, let the pockets cool completely, and wrap in saran wrap, and then place in a Ziploc bag. I’m not sure how long they’ll stay good in the freezer. Mine has never lasted for more than a week or two in there because I eat them pretty quick. 🙂

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Low Carb Dinner Recipes

How to Make a Deliciously Easy Low Carb Crock Pot Roast

December 10, 2015 GF Down Home 5 Comments

Thanks to Alice for the Best Slow Cooker Pot Roast Recipe!

One of the things I love most about food, it’s the relationships it can represent. Just like certain foods can remind you of a certain family member or moment in time, recipes can also represent a bond between friends.

Alice and I have been friends since I was about four I think. I was probably more of an annoying kid sister when she used to babysit me, but we’ve managed to stay friends through various moves, marriages, a three-hour distance gap, and 30 plus years. She even came up for my wedding last year two days in advance to help me get ready. On the right there is Alice helping me get ready for my wedding and being, well, Alice. 🙂

More than likely I’m probably still that annoying little sister when we’re able to get together, but we love every minute of it!

A few years ago when she was coming up to get her mother’s house ready for sale, my son was over helping her out. One day she made him her famous pot roast. He came home raving about it. It’s been years, but my son still talks about that dang roast.

I went looking not too long ago for a really good low carb crock pot roast recipe. I remembered a conversation we’d had a few weeks before and she had told me she was making roast for dinner that night, so I sent her a text asking her for her recipe. It literally was the easiest beef roast recipe for a crock pot I had seen in a while. I had to tweak her recipe a little bit to make it a gluten free beef roast, but it still tastes just as yummy and comforting as her best slow cooker pot roast recipe. (per my son!)

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The Anatomy of a Gluten Free Beef Roast

Alice’s original recipe was one packet ranch dressing, one packet Italian dressing, and one packet brown gravy mix. Hidden Valley Ranch packets are gluten free and low carb, so I was able to keep that. However, the Italian and brown gravy mixes are not gluten free. I realize you can buy gluten free brown gravy, but they can be higher in carbs.

I know the purpose of the gravy mix is to thicken the roast juices into a yummy beefy tasting gravy. But in low carb cooking, the easiest way to thicken a gravy is to use an immersion blender. (My go-to appliance in the kitchen!) To add the extra beefy taste, I used beef base.

After slow cooking in my crock pot for seven hours, I tasted the most tender, scrumptious roast I’ve had since my mother stopped cooking.

Make your Low Carb Crock Pot Roast: Step by Step

First, the basics. Place a one to two pound roast into your crock pot. The cut doesn’t really matter. Today, I used a chuck roast because it was on sale.

Dissolve the beef base in one cup boiling water. Add the ranch dressing packet, salt, pepper, and spices.

Whisk well and pour over the roast. Add another cup of boiling water to the crock pot.

Now it’s veggie time! Add your favorite vegetables to the top of the roast. Yeah, I know carrots aren’t exactly low carb, but sometimes I just want a carrot, okay?

Cook on low for six to eight hours. If you want to thicken the juices and make a low carb gravy, remove the roast and most of the vegetables.

Use your immersion blender and blend in the remaining vegetables until the broth is thickened. Return the roast and vegetables and serve your family the best gluten free beef roast they’ll ever eat!

Gluten Free Dinners, Low Carb Dinner Recipes

Low Carb Salisbury Steak and Homemade Gluten Free Gravy

October 27, 2015 GF Down Home 4 Comments

Why Down Home Cooking is Considered Comfort Food

I think the reason why comfort food is called, well, comfort food, is because it takes you back to being a kid. If you were to start naming off different dishes, I could tell you who each one of those reminded me of. Cornbread stuffing reminds me of my grandma. Aunt Shirley makes an awesome apple pie. My Aunt Dorothy? Peas and dumplings. I could go on and on.

My momma could make some mean hamburger steaks with mushroom gravy from scratch. On the rare occasion that I got asked what it was I wanted her to fix for dinner, I’d always ask her to make homemade salisbury steak. With gravy, of course!

Comfort food has taken on a whole new meaning to me lately. I know comfort food is called comfort food becuase it’s food you grew up on. But for me it reminds me of those powerful women in my family who are no longer with me. I haven’t tasted my mother’s cooking for years.

For the past three years, she suffered from a rare disease that causes dementia. One of the early clues to me there was something wrong was her cooking became inedible. I didn’t know why at the time, but she had just plain forgotten how to cook. My mother passed away a few months ago, and it’s made me miss all the everyday things about her, such as her cooking, even more.

Yes, Low Carb Salisbury Steak and Gravy can be Comfort Food!

That’s why her salisbury steak and gravy was one of the dishes I decided to remake. It was a no big deal to make low carb salisbury steak. I just had to skip fillers like bread or cracker crumbs and I was good to go. The gravy was a different story. I’ve tried out a lot of gluten free gravy recipes, but not too many of them, frankly, tasted like it was a keeper.

I’ve also tried several gluten free gravy mixes. They were good, but sometimes you just want something homemade, ya know? I went on a personal quest to find the perfect homemade mushroom gravy recipe.

So I was thrilled when I was watching a cooking show one day, and I saw them make gravy by reducing cream. I’m like, voila! I can make me some gravy. Even better, I can make low carb gravy because whipping cream has zero carbs, and a whole lot of healthy fat.

I have been having an obscene love affair with mushrooms lately, and how can you NOT have salisbury steak without mushroom gravy? So I made sure this recipe is chock full of mushrooms. If you’re not much of a fan, you can use less or leave them out altogether and you will still have an awesome low carb salisbury steak and homemade gluten free gravy.

Let’s get to cooking!

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Low Carb Salisbury Steak and Mushroom Gravy from Scratch Recipe

First, patty out your hamburger. I didn’t add anything to my meat, but you could add 1/2 cup chopped onion for extra flavor. Salt and pepper them as much as you’d like.

Cook your hamburger steaks until they’re nearly done. Don’t worry if they’re not completely cooked, because we’re going to put them back in the gravy to finish cooking.

Remove the cooked hamburger patties to a plate and cover to keep warm. Pour out the hamburger grease, but don’t get rid of the crispy, meaty bits. That’s flavor that’s sticking to your pan!

Melt butter, and add the onions and mushrooms.

Cook them on medium heat, stirring occasionally, until they’re golden brown and soft, about 20 minutes. It may seem like a long time, but it’s waaaay worth it to use raw mushrooms instead of canned.

Add the whipping cream and stir off and on until it starts to thicken a bit, about 5 minutes.

Place the hamburger steaks back in the gravy and turn them over to coat. Simmer on low covered until the steaks are done and the gravy is thickened. Stir occasionally to keep it from burning. Serve with mashed cauliflower, or mashed potatoes if you’re not worried about carbs.

Contains 7 carbs, 19g fat, and 3g protein per serving.