The Perfect Roast

A roast really is one of the least labor intensive items to cook. I often get a call from one of my girls..... "Mom, tell me exactly how to cook this particular roast again". So our family loves meat....and goes crazy over a good roast.
If you have read very many of my posts you may have come across the fact that we lived on a farm and raised our own meats. So when we sent our beef out to the butcher to hang for 21 days and cutting and wrapping we made sure to have lots of roasts cut. I was taught early on how to roast a perfect big prime rib or one of our favorite growing up was the rump roast. It is often referred now as a bottom round these days. We always prefer the bone in. It may be trickier to slice but gives much more flavor while cooking. Of course to get bone in these days, you often will need to special order.

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The flavor of the "Rump Roast" is amazing although it is more economical as it is a bit tougher than the rib roast due to much less fat running through it because it is from the area of the beef that gets exercise more while walking and running. However growing up my father knew that cutting against the grain and slicing very thin resulted in fabulous servings of great taste.We didn't have time to special order a "standing rump roast" (often referred to today as a botton roast) today so grabbed a nice rib roast. We try to find one that has a nice fat cap on top that will baste the roast as it cooks. This is not a roast for you if you are on a calorie restricted diet (go for the Rump) but for those of us adhering to low carb, either is perfect. 

The Perfect Roast
Rib, Rump, Bottom Round, Sirloin Roast
Olive Oil
Garlic puree
Preferred Seasoning-(I use Jocko's)
or kosher salt, pepper, garlic powder
Rosemary-to taste (optional)
If you have time, season the night before or a few hours before, cover and place in fridge. Not critical however will allow seasoning to penetrate. Then bring out to room temp 60 min before roasting.

• Preheat oven 400 then turn down to 325 (after 20 min of cooking turn down to 325)
• Smear olive oil over roast then smear garlic puree all over. Season with your seasonings. Sprinkle with rosemary if using it.
• Insert a "leave in meat thermometer" into center of roast, not near a bone where you will be able to see it through oven glass while roasting. (Do not use an instant read so you do not have to keep opening the oven door to check temp).
• Place in roaster with low sides on a wire rack to provide even airflow. Do not cover.

Rule of thumb

5lb Rib Roast

20 minutes pr pound for med rare (however since ovens cook differently check meat thermometer).

130-very rare

140-med rare

150-med

160-med well

170-very well
 

Take roast out 7-10 degrees from your desired temp as it will continue to cook after it comes out of the oven.

Let roast rest for 20 min before slicing as the meat molecules will reabsorb the juices that they have let go of during cooking. This will result in much juicier slices of meat instead of loosing all the juices onto the cutting board. 

Another Rule of thumb

Bone in Roasts

  1lb pr person

Boneless Roasts

  1/2 lb pr person

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We used to serve this fabulous meal with twice baked potatoes and a nice green slaw or salad. Since we are cutting the carbs we now serve it with twice cooked baked cauliflower. It truly tastes almost exactly the same. Not one person misses the potatoes. I will post the twice cooked cauliflower next my next post.

 

Fall Gingerbread Scones

Yesterday my daughter came over and we did some baking experiments for the fall. She has a blog as well, featuring Organic, Gluten Free, Sugar Free, Clean eating. Check it out here The Girl Cooks Clean. Similar to The LC Kitchen although not quite as low carb.  Amber has some great recipes as well as research information that is very useful with this lifestyle of eating.

Since we created and baked together, and then I took the photos while Amber helped style and prop we thought it fitting to share on both blogs.

We wanted to bake something that launched fall for us here in the desert. Even though we have bright sunny days here right now, it has just turned to a crisp nip in the evening and mornings. I SMELL FALL!!!!
We landed on trying a gingerbread scone that we have seen several different recipes for. We made a couple of batches that were just not great when finally we landed on the tweaks we thought were amazing. The final combination was moist and had that wonderful gingerbread aroma and flavor. Not sure if a scone is supposed to be considered moist, but I gotta tell you, these are fabulous. You could of course make them round and turn them into cookies if you like. Either way, they make you envision "golden maple leaves floating in the air while you walk down the street wearing your favorite fall boots". I think there's a song in there somewhere.....
Cinnamon Coffee and Gingerbread. What could be better to launch the fresh fall season.

Ingredients

2 -1/8 cups almond flour/meal*
1/4 cup Swerve (or your choice of sweetener)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3/4 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 cup vanilla protein powder
1 large egg
1/4 cup butter, melted
3 TBS heavy cream
1 TBS Just Like Brown Sugar (or 2 tsp molasses)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

 

*if dough is too wet then add 2 or 3 more TBS of almond meal/flour

 

Frosting:

2 TBS butter, soften

1/4 cup powdered swerve (OR your choice of sweetener)

1/4 tsp vanilla

4 oz cream cheese

 

 Preheat 325 / Servings 8

• Whisk together almond flour, swerve, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, salt, and cloves in a large bowl.
• Add eggs, butter, cream, brown sugar, vanilla, and stir until dough comes together
• Form a ball out of the dough and turn out onto parchment-lined baking sheet and shape by hand into a rough circle (7-8 inch diameter).
• Using a pizza cuter or knife, slice 8 even wedges and seperate carefully, then space evenly around the baking sheet.
• Bake 18-20 minutes, or until scones are firm and lightly browned. (keep eye on the bottoms to make sure they don't burn)
• Remove from oven, transfer to a wire rack and let cool.

Frosting:

• For the frosting, mix butter, powder swerve, vanilla, and cream cheese.
  Spread over COOLED scone.



Jimmie Jan's Jalapeno Poppers



Cream Cheese Bacon Poppers

Mark and I had a sleepover at my sister's house a few days ago. She and her husband Rich live in Yelm, WA where you may remember we relocated my mother to a care facility a few months ago. I am able to go visit her and often stay at my sister's beautiful home. She is quite the Martha Stewart and is a LC'er as well, so we hang great together. 
When we got up in the morning she was in full swing cutting up Jalapeno peppers for a little breakfast snack. Jalapeno popper with cream cheese wrapped in bacon. Then while they were in the oven cooking she whipped together some homemade jam sweetened with our beloved Swerve. 
See, I told you....Martha Stewart.
These were a great morning treat and made the house smell fabulous. Could hardly wait for them to come out of the oven. I just had to do a little photo shoot, her kitchen has amazing light.

Ingredients:
12 fresh Jalapenos-halved & seeded
8 oz cream cheese-softened
1 pkg bacon-slightly thick




Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350°.
Cut and seed Jalapenos. It's a good idea to wear kitchen gloves for this.
Fill halved Jalapenos with cream cheese. Wrap with bacon.
Bake 45-60 minutes to desired crispness.

 Jimmie Jan will be launching her own blog soon showcasing her dishes made from an amazing all natural freeze dried product line she represents and uses to develop recipes. I'll keep you posted.

Eggplant Lasagna

As a low carber one of the types of foods we may lament over is pasta dishes. Our very favorite place to spend time away from home is Italy. I've told you already about Mark's favorite meal of all being meatloaf, well neck and neck with that is LASAGNA.... so I had to join the ranks of coming up with a great noodleless make over. I have made several versions of lasagna that were good but when we sat down to this one..... heaven opened, a great light shown, and angels sang!!! ok, ok I'm back.
 I love it when recreating a dish comes out with nothing lacking from the original version. This recipe I developed from merging several others together.
 I think what made a big difference here is I found a great marinara sauce at Wholefoods that is SF, GF, and very LC.
 Rao's Homemade Vodka Sauce. It is kind of like a pink sauce instead of the dark red. I'm sure you can add a little cream or sour cream to another jarred sauce to get the same effect. It simply softened the flavor a bit which added to that velvety feel.
The best thing about lasagna is not just the flavor but those layers that meld together and give that luscious feel in your mouth. I can feel it even now.
You will get every bit of that and seriously, if you did not know there was not a noodle in this dish, it would simply be the best lasagna recipe without question all on it's own. You will never have to apologize with this dish that it does not have the beloved noodle in it. You will only get oooooz and ahhhzzz!!
As with almost any casserole dishe, the leftovers the next day are actually the best, so make extra. Mark and I actually had the leftovers for breakfast. Did I say we are also kinda weird. Now you have it.


China worthy

Ingredients:
2 lg eggplants, 1/2 slices
  olive oil spray
2 cps mozzarella cheese-shredded-(to top it off at end)

Sauce
1 lb ground chicken thighs
2 tsp dried fennel
1/2 lg white onion-diced
12 oz crimini mushrooms
2 24oz jars marinara sauce
1/4 cp red wine
1 TBS garlic powder
1TBS onion powder
1 TBS Italian seasoning
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp crushed red pepper




Ricotta Mixture:
1 15oz ricotta cheese
1/2 cp Parmesan/Romano cheese
1 cp mozzarella cheese
3 lg eggs
3 TBS fresh basil-chopped
 salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven 400

• Add fennel to ground chicken. Squish with hands to blend well. In a sauce pan brown meat, 1/2 way through add onion. Add the marinara sauce and all of the rest of the sauce ingredients. Simmer while making the rest of the dish.
• Slice eggplant in 1/2" slices. Easiest with a mandolin slicer. Sprinkle eggplant with salt & pepper. Spray both sides with olive oil spray. Place in 2 large baking sheets and bake until soft 10-15 min. Turn slices halfway through.
• In bowl combine all ricotta mixture ingredients.



Pike Place Market Eggplant

• Lower oven temp to 350.
• In 9x13 baking dish spread pasta sauce on bottom. Layer eggplant, ricotta mixture. Repeat. Finish with a layer of eggplant & sauce and top with a layer of mozzarella cheese.
• Cover with foil. Bake for 20 minutes. Take off foil. Bake another 20-30 minutes. Let rest 15 minutes or more to set up.  

Adapted from: A Pinch of Salt and verious other recipes over the years

Corn Dogs-Firstborn, Firstborn

We went to the Puyallup Fair a couple of weeks ago. I grew up going to this fair and my kids grew up going also. I have probably bought every gadget they have hocked there over my 38 yrs of marriage.

Firstborn, Firstborn
(my firstborn with his firstborn)

A few years ago I even took Peoples Choice 1st place in the international photography competition. I wasn't even able to go that year but sent in my entry.  I hadn't told anyone outside Mark and the kids that I had entered the competition. You send the entry in so long before the judging that I had actually forgot about it. All of a sudden one day I started getting phone calls from friends telling me  "You have a great big 1st place ribbon on your photo"...they actually recognized my son in this photo. (I did not intend on sharing about this photo, however the memory came flooding back as I wrote about the fair....nice memory). Now that we are in the desert more I often miss getting to go.

I digress.....Back to the fair...
Of course every year we ate our way across the fair. One of the treats I looked forward to, of all things, THE CORN DOG!!! I shutter now, although I must say seeing them walking  by got my mouth salivating.
My husband is in Honduras right now, so I am home for a few days on my own. Since the corn dog would not be his treat, I decided to ravage the Internet to see if I could find something that would come close and still be LC, SF, GF.
Many of the online interpretations for LC didn't come close to something I would recommend. Then doing a search on one of my favorite sites....Score!!! Maria always has great recipes she has developed. The  reason she would have a corn dog is because.....she has kids. My kind of house. We always have one, two, three or all four grand kids here so I refer to her site often.
I see that there is a corn dog gadget made specifically for corn dogs. Didn't have one of them lying around BUT...I do have a little Baby Cakes gadget that I got around Christmas last year. Bought them for all the women in our family during one of those blow out sales at Kohl's.                   
Voila!!! Let's try it...

Of course me being me I had to tweak Maria's recipe just a bit.

The Process

Ingredients
2 TBS coconut flour

2 TBS almond flour

2 eggs

4 TBS beef broth

1/2 tsp gelatin

2 beef dogs-(all natural, no nitrites or nitrates)

Preparation:
Heat beef broth & add gelatin, stir to dissolve. Mix all other ingredients except hot dogs. All broth/gelatin mixture, mix well. Set aside to thicken up a minute or two. Cut hot dogs into 1" lengths or however long your procedure accommodates.
Turn on what ever cooking gadget you are using .
When your unit is hot, fill 3/4 full of batter, push corn dog down into middle. Close lid, cook for 4 to 5 minutes depending on the darkness you like.
You can try cooking these in simply oil in a skillet as well. I have not used this method, however I'm  sure it would work with practice
Take out serve with ketchup & mustard or toppings of your choice.

Results: The Baby Cakes gadget worked beautifully. There are many other little gadgets along the same line that would work as well. Experiment with whatever you may have. Of course the "ol skillet with a bit of oil" will work I'm sure.