Mom's Easy Crockpot BBQ Pork

It's snowy outside, which means it is cold. And dreary. And slushy. On days like this, who doesn't want a delicious, easy, warm meal that has been cooking all day so it is ready when you get home? My point exactly.

My mom has this fabulously easy recipe that I have been craving lately. You literally put ribs in the crockpot with a bunch of BBQ sauce and let it cook all day. Yum.

Lynn's Easy Crockpot Ribs

Ingredients:
2.5 lbs pork ribs, boneless, country style
Bottle of your favorite barbecue sauce (around 12-16oz)
1/2 cup chicken stock

Directions:
Place the ribs in the crockpot and add enough barbecue sauce to cover them. Add some chicken stock so that the ribs will be moist and the sauce is like au jus consistency. Mix it around a little to make sure everything is covered. Put the lid on and cook on low for 8-9 hours. (Mine were in for 9 hours and not dry) I served them with broccoli and baked sweet potato fries. Enjoy!

Sassily yours,
Aubs

Two Of My Favorite Things

Now don't get me wrong my favorite thing in the world is chocolate, well chocolate and bacon. As much as I would like to only eat those two things for the rest of my life, I'd also like to live past 30 so I don't. The hardest part of low carb for me is the desserts being gone from my life. I can pass up pasta, or bread but not dessert. Skeptically I tried a new recipe tonight and with a few tweaks, it was amazing! Even my non low carb eating best friend loved them.

My inspiration was the Low Carb Raspberry Cream Cheese Bars from I Breath, I'm Hungry's blog. (http://www.ibreatheimhungry.com/2012/10/low-carb-raspberry-cheesecake-bars.html) But eating low carb is expensive so I try and do without speciality items and purchase in bulk. This led me to make some changes to the recipe and so Low Carb Red Zinger Bars were born.

Low Carb Red Zinger Bars

Coconut Cookie Crust
1/2 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. splenda
1/4 c. almond flour
1/2 c. coconut flour
1/2 tsp. coconut extract
1/2 tsp. baking powder

Cream Cheese Filling
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/3 c. splenda
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1/2 cup unsweet frozen raspberries, defrosted
2 tsp splenda

Cream together the butter and sugar substitute. 

Add the almond flour, coconut flour and baking powder, mixing until thoroughly combined.

Press into a lightly greased 9 x 9 pan and set aside.

Beat the cream cheese and sugar substitute together until smooth. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix until thoroughly combined. Pour mixture over the crust. 

In a small bowl, mash the raspberries and sugar substitute together with a fork. 

Drop by spoonfuls over the cheesecake mixture and then swirl it gently with the fork until distributed over the entire top – don’t over mix. This is key because I definitely over mixed. 

Bake in a 350 degrees (F) oven for 20 minutes. Remove and chill before serving.

Sassily yours, 

Evan 

Comfort Food Revisited

Kansas has been slammed with about 2. 5 feet of snow in the last five days. That has left me with a lot of time to cook, and huge comfort food cravings. I've really wanted mac and cheese but knew I needed a protein to go with it. So I created a healthy version of Tuna Noodle Casserole, a favorite of mine but one I don't often think to make. Maybe its because every time I mention making it, my grandma talks about how thats all her family ate it for every meal during the war. Either way it ended up being delicious and about 6 carbs a serving ( a very large serving mind you, I only got 8 servings out of the 9 x13 pan).

Low Carb Tuna Noodle Casserole 

1 small clove garlic, minced
1/2 red pepper, minced
1/4 white onion, minced
1/4 c. Parmesan cheese
1 c. cheddar cheese
1 cup chicken broth
2 tbsp heavy whipping cream
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 can Progresso Recipe Starters Cheese Soup
2 12oz cans of Tuna
1 box Dreamfields Low Carb Penne Noodles

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine all ingredients together and mix well.
3. Top with 1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese and 1/2 cup cheddar.

Don't skimp on that cheese!

I added a little butter to help the cheese get crunchy. 

4. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until the casserole is bubbling and the noodles are done.

It's good to be back, 

Evan 

We're Back!

When Aubrey and I started this blog, we did it because we love to cook and we wanted to share our low carb life. As you can tell we fell off the blogging bandwagon for a bit. I'd love to make excuses for us, but really life just happens. Luckily we haven't fallen off the low carb or foodie bandwagon. Thanks for sticking with us.  We promise to be better!

Fun Blog and Delish Lent Recipe

I love how I felt on Atkins; the low carb really works for me because I have no self control when you mix flour and sugar together in things like cupcakes or brownies, so it's best for me to avoid them.  Inevitably, I got bored and missed fruit, plus substituting Atkins bars and shakes for meals wasn't really great since it wasn't real food and has a lot of sugar alcohols.  Ew.  So, I decided to stick with the low carb and try a Paleo diet.  It definitely allows more freedom in some areas, but less in others.  

In researching Paleo recipes, I found this blog: paleomg.com.  This lady is funny and has good food...win-win.  The other day, she posted this recipe for Artichoke Lemon Pesto Chicken Pasta.  This recipe has changed my life-it was so easy and versatile.  It was amazing.  If I didn't know better, I would have thought it had cream or cheese or both in it.  I made this recipe on a Friday in Lent, so I substituted shrimp for the chicken.  Also, I don't remember putting lemon in this, so I think it's safe to say that I forgot that part.  But I bet it would be even more delicious.  Go, make it!  Let me know what you think!

Sassily Yours,

A

Hello Fall!

It's officially my favorite season. I love the colors of Fall, the football, the sweaters, but most of all I love pumpkin. On the first cool autumn day I spent a good portion of my day pinning pumpkin recipes. When I came across this Pumpkin FroYo recipe I knew I had to try it. I added a little sass to make it low carb but here is the link to the orginal recipe from Family Kitchen.

http://blogs.babble.com/family-kitchen/2011/10/22/skinny-halloween-treat-4-ingredient-homemade-pumpkin-frozen-yogurt/

And here is my version...

Sassy Low Carb Pumpkin FroYo
1 cup low carb spice cake flavored yogurt
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tablespoons Splenda
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 teaspoon cinnammon
2 tablespoons cream
1 teaspoons vanilla
dash of salt 

Mix it all together and put it in your ice cream maker. Or if you are like me and don't have an ice cream maker put it in the freezer and stir every thirty minutes until frozen.

It makes 4, 1/2 cup servings, at 4 carbs per a serving.

Happy Fall,
Evan 

Refridgerator Dinner

My mom is the queen of making something delicious out of ingredients and leftovers in the fridge. When it's 7 oclock at night and I am beyond hangry I am always really thankful for the "fridge skills" I have inherited. The most recent refrigerator dinner creation Meatball Vegetable Ragu.

The great part of this meal is the veggies that go in it are flexible so you can just use what you have.

Meatball Vegetable Ragu
1lb ground beef
1 medium eggplant
2 zucchini
1 medium onion
1 large red pepper
1 small jar of spaghetti sauce
3 tsp. onion powder
2 tbls. garlic poweder 

1. Make the ground beef into mini meatballs. If you don't want to take the time to do this, just brown the hamburger.
2. Dice the eggplant, red pepper, and onion, and them to the pan
3. Sautee until the veggies are soft but not over done.
4. Add the sauce, and garlic and onion powder, and let the veggies and meatballs just simmer.
5. Slice the zucchini into 1/4 thin strips. Then add them to the sauce. The serve as the noodles in this meal, no need to wait for noodles to boil.
6. Let everything simmer together, on med-low heat, until the zucchini is soft.
7. ENJOY!!!

Sassily Yours,

Evan