Recipe: Beef & Creamcheese Pinwheels

This is one of my favorite holiday recipes and very BFC friendly.

Ingredients

• 1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened

• 1 tablespoon grated onion

• 1 teaspoon horseradish

• Dash Worcestershire sauce

• 2 packages (2 oz. each) Buddig Sliced Beef

Directions

Combine cream cheese, onion, horseradish and Worcestershire until well blended. Separate sliced meat, laying two slices in a row, slightly overlapped. Spread with cream cheese mixture. Roll up and fasten with a wooden pick. Repeat with remaining meat and cream cheese. Refrigerate, covered, at least 2 hours. Just before serving, cut into 1-inch slices. NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION: Calories per serving (one 1-inch piece) 23; Calories from Fat 19; Total Fat 2g; Saturated Fat 1g; Trans Fat 0g; Cholesterol 8mg; Sodium 55mg; Total Carbohydrate <1g; Dietary Fiber 0g; Protein 1g PREP TIME: 20 minutes CHILL TIME: 2 hours Makes approximately 3-1/2 dozen pinwheels.

S/C: 0/0

Product: Tumaro's Garden Vegetable Low-in-Carbs Gourmet Tortillas

I found these at my local Kroger's today. They are sold in the Mexican Food section and do not need refrigeration before opening. I came home and used one to wrap my turkey & swiss cheese in for lunch. It tasted good and the texture was soft and pliable. Check out the web site by clicking on the title above. They come in 3 other flavors besides Garden Vegetable (Green Onion, Multi Grain, and Salsa) and all have between 4-7 g of carbs and each one has 8 g of fiber. For complete nutrition information on all 4 flavors, click here.

Pros:  low carb, hi fiber, widely available
Cons: 1 g sugar
Cost: $3.29 for 10
S/C: 1/1

Product: Trader Joe's Double Roasted Salsa

This salsa with an S/C value of 0/0 would be a favorite, even if it wasn't a 0/0. It's heat value is advertised as medium hot but to my burnt out taste buds, it's pretty mild. It's got great flavor, though, brought on by the double roasted anaheim peppers and cilantro. The TJ's Fire-Roasted Salsa, also shown, may sound better but has sugar so doesn't get the 0/0 S/C rating.

Pros: no sugar, great taste
Cons: none that I can see
Cost: $2.49 for 12 oz jar
S/C: 0/0

Product: Almond Meal/Flour

I recently went shopping for almond meal/flour for my low carb cranberry nut bread recipe (which I still haven't made yet) and came home with Bob's Red Mill Almond Meal from my local health food store. It was a whopping $11.99 a pound! Today I was shopping in Trader Joe's (good old TJ!) and came across their brand, Trader Joe's Just Almond Meal. At $3.99 a pound, I think I know what I will be buying when a recipe calls for almond flour. The nutrition info is just about the same on both brands and the S/C value is 1/1 per 1/4 cup serving. After testing both almond meals on the same recipe, I think I prefer the lower priced Trader Joe's. It's a bit darker in color and not ground quite as fine, but in the cranberry bread recipe I tested, the Trader Joe loaf seemed to hold together better.

Recipe: Green Drink known as 'Bug Juice'

In the Jorge Cruise Belly Fat Cure he advocates drinking the following concoction:






Ingredients
2 1/2 cups of water, separated
1 Tbsp chia seeds
2 medium stalks celery (about 85g)
1 medium cucumber, with peel (about 300g)
2 c spinach leaves (about 45g)


Preparation
Stir the chia seeds in 1/2 cup of water and set aside. Pour the other 2 cups of water in a blender jar. Cut the celery and cucumber in chunks and add to blender. Turn blender on highest setting to turn the contents into a juice. Add the spinach and juice again. When all is combined add in the chia seeds in water which has turned into a gel and blend once more. Your drink is now ready!


Nutrition Info
Makes 1 serving approx 136 calories
Sugar         3 g
Carbs         21 g   
Fiber          13 g
Sodium      111 mg
Fat              5 g
Protein       6 g

S/C: 3/2

Product: Rainbow Light Protein Energizer - Chocolate

I bought this protein powder because it had no added sugar and it was one of the few that also had high fiber, 7 g per serving. Unfortunately, the fiber comes with carbs, 8 g per serving in this case. And even though it has no added sugar, all of the other ingredients bring the sugar rating to 1.3 g per serving. But if you are aware of the carbs and sugar you may be able to fit it in within the allowed servings to add the necessary fiber to your diet. Complete nutrition info can be found by clicking on the title above. I made this as usual in my "bullet" blender with a little crushed ice and water to make 8 oz. I also added 2 tsp of Benefiber to add even more fiber so the final carb count for MY drink was 12 and the fiber count was 10. The texture was a bit of a pleasant surprise, it came out more like pudding so could be used as a sugar free mousse type dessert with a spoonful of whip cream on top.

Pros: high fiber, lots of  "green" food ingredients
Cons: carbs, sugar
Cost: $11.99 for a 1 lb pkg (about $.80 a serving)
S/C: 1/1

Product: Spiru-tein Simply Natural Unsweetened Protein Powder

I tried two more flavors of this in the last couple of days, Peaches & Cream and Strawberry. Both had great flavor and texture. As with my other protein shakes, I mixed them in my imitation bullet blender with crushed ice and water to make 8 oz. Now, these are unsweetened so I add stevia to taste to the blender. Both of these have the same nutrition info. They are a little high in carbs at 5 g per serving so you will have to count it as a serving but if you want to get away from the usual vanilla and chocolate flavors, these both have pretty true fruit flavor.

Pros: flavor, unsweetened

Cons: counts as 1 carb serving

Cost: $1.19 for 1 serving envelope

S/C: 0/1