Foodie Friday: Low Carb Guacamole & Chips

I've been waylaid by work and asthma attacks. But that hasn't stopped me from eating or thinking about food. If you are participating in this week's recipe swap, Mr. Linky awaits your permalink. New participants can find information about Foodie Friday on the sidebar (look for the white cupcakes).





It seems like I've been dieting for the last two thousand years, and during that time I strictly avoided avocados. Supposedly they had calories galore and would pack layers of fat upon an unsuspecting dieter's hips.


Now, of course, low carb dieters everywhere enjoy avocados. You can slather on mayonnaise and oil without fear.
But what to use for dippers?

Low Carb Tortillas

Spray a non-stick pan with Pam. Turn up the heat and add a low-carb tortilla. Cook on both sides till crispy. Remove to a platter. Using a pizza cutter, divide the tortilla into "chip" like wedges.

Rinse, later, repeat until you have a whole bunch of chips.

Guacamole

3 ripe avocados-- peeled, pitted, and mashed

mayonnaise

garlic salt

pepper

Tabasco

extra virgin olive oil (about 1 cap-full)

Thanks for participating in Foodie Friday!
XX00

The Quest for Low Calorie "Q"

Welcome to Foodie Friday, Foodies! Let's play a game this week. Visit two links ahead of your entry and two links below it. Are you ready? Mr. Linky awaits your information. If you are joining FF for the first time, you can read a tutorial Here.

Barbecue (or "Q" as foodies call it) isn't diet friendly. Sweet, rich sauces with buttery bases can add hundreds and hundreds of calories. But if you're willing to sacrifice a tiny bit of taste, you can have your pig and eat it, too.

Start with a dry rub. No oil (I know).

If you've been to the Rendezvous in Memphis, then you know about their Q. I found their "Famous Seasoning" at Publix. I'm sure it's available online, too.

Rinse roast and pat dry. (My oldest son Trey is a chef, and he says to do this to ALL meat. Trust him on this!). Now, add seasonings to the pork roast. Sprinkle them all over the surface (except the fatty bottom). Don't worry about measuring. The idea is to cover every possible surface of the roast with seasoning. If you can't find the magic "R," you substitute Hungarian paprika, onion powder/salt, garlic powder, Kosher salt, chili powder, pepper--whatever strikes your fancy.
Then rub it into the meat.

Cover with foil and place into a large roasting pan (spray bottom with PAM). Roast at 250 degrees for 6 hours. During the last 30 minutes, remove foil and brush Williamson Bros Bar-B-Q sauce over the roast. This sauce doesn't have a corn syrup base. At 35 calories per 2 T, it's the dieter's best friend. Plus, it's delicious.

Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo of the finished product, but trust me it was devoured, except for a few scraps.

Bandwidth cut the meat, and I shredded it with a fork. Two forks, actually.
Place Q into a baking dish, add a little Williamson's, and heat about 15 minutes. The idea is to warm it, not cook, so keep an eye on it.
While the Q is heating, make slaw. I used Marzetti's All Natural Lite Slaw Dressing (90 cal per 2 T).
Assemble your Q sandwich, adding a dollop of slaw.

A Reminder About Foodie Friday

2nd Photo Contest

Dr. Big got a kick out of the fantastic photo entries, but it was very difficult for him to pick a winner.We wish we could give every single one an award...well, maybe someday! We enjoyed seeing food and nature captured by our blogger friends. Each photo is unique. If you are looking for inspiration, check out the galleries (links below).

1st Place: Butter Yum

*****

2nd Place (Runner Up)

2nd Place (Runners Up)

2nd place wins either tablecloth weights or Le Crueset prep cups.

Rettabug

Natasha in Oz

Please email your addresses so I can mail your prizes. For the runners up, please let me know if you prefer tablecloth weights or the Le Creuset prep cups. (This applies only to 1st place and runners up.)

******
Here are a few of the Honorable Mentions. Alas, no prize for this category, but the beauty of the photographs speak for themselves. You can find more beautiful pictures in the galleries along with blog-links:

Inspired to Cook


The Country Cook

Butter Yum

Bit of Butter

Sidewalk Shoes

Gretta J

Bramasole at Home

Natasha in OZ

The Country Cook

Cuisine Kathleen

A Little Bit of Everything

Mondragon

A Little Bit of Everything

NYCLQ

High Tide, Low Tide

Scrap Addict

Contain it (check out the great organization ideas)

You can find links to these blogs and more photographs at:
FF Gallery

Everything Else Gallery

3rd photo contest, same prizes, is for MOSAICS only. Identify each submission with PHOTO CONTEST ENTRY. Contest ends April 30.Looking forward to your mosaics! Here's one by Bit of Butter:
Thanks to everyone who participated!

Foodie Friday

I'm the world's worst when it comes to diets. I love to eat but have very little willpower. However, the battle of the bulge can be fought valiantly, and deliciously, with spring rolls. They're baked rather than fried, which makes them heart-healthy as well as guilt free.

There are many recipes for spring rolls, but when I'm dieting, this is my tried-and-true favorite.

You can mix-and-match ingredients (and you won't go wrong). I like: bean sprouts, water chestnuts, carrots, peppers, cabbage or romaine, leftover rice, green onions, and ginger. I found broccoli in the fridge and broke it into tiny pieces (or tiny trees, as Bandwidth used to say).

Saute the vegetables in Pam and a little sesame oil. Add a pinch or two of Kosher salt.
Cook till the peppers, carrots, and onions are tender. Then fill the wraps. Spoon the veggie mixture into the center of the "diamond".

Fold edges of the diamond and seal the edges with water.
Starting at the lower, "open" end of the diamond, start rolling toward the other open edge. The first roll won't touch the filling--it'll be all wrap--but keep rolling and you'll get there. Seal the edges with a little water.
Set on a Pam-sprayed pan. Be sure to spray the rolls with Pam.
Twenty minutes later, supper is ready--or you can serve them as appetizers.

Each Nasoya wrap has approximately 56 calories. You're dividing the filling into 20 rolls, so it's very low cal(bean sprouts = 45 calories for the whole can and water chestnuts, 90 calories/can), even with 2 T sesame oil (45 calories/T). Romaine, carrots, broccoli, peppers, and onions --not even going to count them! I refuse. The soy sauce and chicken stock will add a few calories, too, but not many. Best I can figure (and I am horrid in math, so beware), each spring roll has 70 Gollum calories.

For a more substantial (but still reasonably low-cal) entree, add leftover rice (just use 1/2 cup if you are strictly watching calories), chicken, shrimp, pork, or ground beef.
Of course, the rolls can be fried, too, but I have to whisper that word around here or my fat cells will awaken and attack.

My mother used to save leftover rice and green peas, and the next day, she'd make these rolls for me, the Mistress of Pudge, and my skinny, salad-eating brother.

If you can find rice paper wraps, you'll save even more calories (3 rice paper wraps have 100 calories vs 3 for 170 calories in egg roll wraps).

Low Calorie Spring Rolls
Nasoya Egg Roll Wraps (1 lb or approx 20 sheets)
La Choy bean sprouts 1 14 oz can, drained
Reese sliced water chestnuts, 1 can drained and chopped
1 head romaine, chopped -- or cabbage
1 c grated carrots
1 chopped red bell pepper
3 green onions, chopped
1 c white rice, cooked
***
Spray Pam in the bottom of a non-stick pan. Add 2 teaspoons sesame oil. Heat on medium high and add vegetables. Add fresh grated ginger, if you've got it. 2 T soy sauce. 2 T chicken stock. Saute. Remove from heat. Salt and pepper to taste. Add Tabasco or hot red pepper flakes, if desired. Optional: onion salt, garlic powder--just eyeball it, just a pinch of each). Add 2 packets Splenda (I tried to get by with one. No luck).
At this point, you'll want to taste the filling (as you would cornbread dressing) to see if needs more soy sauce, salt, pepper, or chicken stock. Mine was very bland until I added Splenda and chicken stock.
Preheat oven: 400 degrees.
After your filling passes the taste test, you can make the rolls. Pour an inch of water into a small bowl. You'll need this to seal the edges of the rolls.
Find a large cutting board or spread waxed paper onto your counter. One at a time, peel back an egg roll wrap and set on the board. The wrap will resemble a diamond. (Note: the wraps are very thin and fragile and will tear.) Spoon in a tablespoon or two of filling in the center of the wrap. Roll once, maybe twice (depending on the filling's girth), then fold the sides, dabbing water on the edges so they'll seal--and all you need is a dab.

Continue rolling. Add water on the final edge and seal. Set roll in pan. Continue filling, folding, sealing, and rolling. The package will make 20 spring rolls.

Spray rolls on all sides with Pam. Bake 20 minutes or until golden. You can turn them over (I didn't), and the wrap will have a crunchier (harder) texture.

You can eat four wraps with low cal dip, salad (use the 1 calorie per spritz dressing), 1 cup (halved) strawberries (45 calories), 2 T. sugar free Cool Whip (20 cal), and you've got a meal for 300 Gollum calories.

Dips are delicious with wraps but they're filled with empty calories. Make your own sauce with reduced sugar jam (apricot or peach). Add dashes of soy sauce, hot pepper flakes (if you like your dip hot), rice vinegar, and salt. I love Captain Rodney's Hot Caribbean salsa (10 calories per 2 T)because it's fruity-hot like a traditional spring roll dip, but those tablespoons add up, so you might want an alternative.

Thanks to everyone who sent get well wishes to my husband. He had minor surgery today and is feeling much better this evening (though he's not quite ready to eat a spring roll!).

I had tremendous fun reading the answers to the "strawberry quiz." Mister picked the winner, who will receive a $25 Bed, Bath, & Beyond gift card.

And the winner is....

Carol in Indian Springs Village, for her answer to the quiz "the last time I bought strawberries":
"The last time I bought strawberries, I had a red ring around my mouth from sneaking them out of the package. And I thought of my late grandmother who, even when she broke out in a rash, would eat strawberries every day she could get her hands on them!"
More fun awaits as soon as I get my sweet husband back on his feet. Until then, the winners of the 2nd photo contest will be announced Sunday. Thanks to everyone who participated. The photos are awesome!

The 3rd contest starts at midnight tonight. This time we'll be doing mosaics. You can submit as many photo mosaics (any theme) as you like to the Foodie Friday Gallery and the Decorating Gallery.

The deadline is April 30th.

Mr. Linky awaits your Foodie Friday recipe. If this is your first time to participate and you aren't sure how to link, the Foodie Friday Info Page will explain. If you need more help, send me an email and put "URGENT--Foodie FRIDAY" in the header.