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

Happy Birthday Julia

  "If you are afraid of butter use cream." - Julia Child

Today would have been Julia's 100th birthday.  Happy Birthday to a woman who made us laugh, taught us about the world, and inspired numerous generations of women to peruse their dreams, culinary or otherwise. She certainly always approached life with a "sprinkle of sass."


Sassily yours,

Evan

Tuesday Treats: Zucchini Brownies

Hey hey hey!

Today is Tuesday.  It was a long day.  Almost like a Monday.  You know how you have those days that you have planned, but then something happens and there goes your day?  Well, I had one of those days.  It wasn't bad, just busy and long.  Now, some people might choose to sit on their couch and veg out after a day like that, but I like to bake.  I don't know when this started, but I like to get in the kitchen and create.  Tonight, I wanted brownies, but I wanted to make something healthy.

Thanks to Google for pointing me in the direction of The Redeeming Table and the Paleo Zucchini Brownie Recipe!

Here is the cast:

All natural, well, except the chocolate chips, but they are delicious, so go with it!

I admit, I was skeptical of the zucchini and it looks funny when you mix it:

I promise, this ends up tasting yummy.

Here is the delicious end product:

Zucchini Brownies

Please, do yourself a favor: go buy a zucchini and make these!  Delicious and healthy!  Find the recipe from the original blog post at The Redeeming Table here.

Sassily Yours,

Aubs

Indiana State Fair

Oh hey there!

I hope y'all had a great weekend!  I spent it with friends and cleaning my apartment.  Cleaning is not so fun, so instead of focusing on that, let's talk about my two visits to the Indiana State Fair last week!  I won't apologize for all the carbs in this post, but I will at least warn you.  Spoiler alert:  This posts contains lots of carbs.

First, since my brother was in town and it was Evan's last weekend in Indianapolis, we went to the state fair.  Nothing says celebration like deep fried food!

We started with an Elephant Ear.  If you aren't familiar, don't be ashamed; I had no idea what they were until I moved here.  Anyway, they are basically a large piece of fried dough with cinnamon and sugar all over it.

Elephant Ear

I like them, but I prefer the doughiness of funnel cakes.  Elephant ears have some crunchy spots that aren't as good, at least to me.

Next, we moved on to the Indiana Pork tent.  We had pork burgers, BBQ pork, and a pork chop.  YUM!

The other white meat.

Pearce enjoyed his first Pork Burger.  It's a thing here.  If you want to read more about a lovely hot dog festival and my first pork burger, please visit my blog here.  So, having had some food and feeling at least partially satiated, we moved on to some actual fair displays.  

Thank goodness I found this.

Peppers!

Zinas!

After a short storm passed through, we began the great search for the Fried Girl Scout Cookies.  When I say great search, I mean we wandered around the fair for like an hour trying to find this delicacy.  We got sidetracked by the kids rodeo events.  And literally asked 10 people, who were minding their own business, where to find these things.  We probably looked like deranged people looking for a sugar fix.  Finally, on the way out, we found the information booth and asked.  Apparently, they were hiding them in the Midway.  Weird.  Good news is that we finally found them and they were worth the wait.  Well, Allison didn't think so because she doesn't like coconut.  (How are we friends?)

Deep fried Samoas.  Or Carmel Delights, depending on where you are from.

So after Evan and Pearce left to go back to the land of Oz, my friends and I decided to partake in the $2 fair night.  Sadly for you, I was too consumed by my food to take photos.  What was the best thing I had Tuesday?  Deep Fried Cookie Dough.  Yes, I'm sorry, I put it out there.  If you ever come across it, please do you yourself a favor and try it.  It tastes like cookie dough, but is warm like a freshly baked cookie.  There were some other highlights, but I want to leave you with that.  You're welcome.

Sassily yours,

Aubs

Homemade Fruit Snacks

 

I understand that as a senior in college fruit snacks should no longer be one of my primary food groups but I can't help it. Fruit snacks are my guilty pleasure. I know that fruit snacks have no obvious nutritional value, so I've been on the lookout for a recipe that would be low or no carb. I finally found a version I could make my own. Homemade fruit snacks sound weird but, they are an awesome little treat when you need something sweet. (I worked on making that rhyme for a really long time) These taste just like the real thing.

Here is the super easy (and quick) recipe.

2  1/4 oz. packages unflavored gelatin
1  .3 oz package of sugar free flavored Jello (the smaller box)
1/3 cup of water

1. Sprinkle jello and gelatin over water.

2. Heat over medium high heat until the gelatin is completely disolved.

3. Spoon warm mixture into candy molds.

4. Let set for at least 20 minutes or until completely cooled.

5. ENJOY!

Store in an air tight container. They don't have to be refrigerated!

Sassily yours,
Evan 

Monday Munchies

For me one of the hardest parts about eating healthy is finding low carb snacks. I want salty, sweet, crunchy, and I want it to be easy. I need a snack I can throw in my bag in the morning and forget about it until the middle of the afternoon when I am bored and need to curb some hanger. Cue my newest snack obsession, Habanero BBQ Almonds. They are so good it just doesn't seem possible they are healthy. Go ahead make a "bold" move and try some for yourself!

Sassily yours, 

Evan

Mexican Chicken Casserole

So a couple weeks ago, Evan and I made a new recipe, Mexican Chicken, which she found on Pinterest (You can follow Evan here and me here).  It was super delicious, but being as we can't just leave well enough alone, we decided to try it again, with a few tweaks.

First, we made our own taco seasoning with garlic powder, onion powder, cumin, chili powder, and Cavender's.  If you haven't every used Cavender's Greek seasonings, shame on you!  It is delicious on everything and just a good, all around, seasoning.  We used George to cook the chicken.

Second, we used way more cheese than suggested because, well, you can't have enough cheese.  Also, you can see that we used the Kroger enchilada sauce.  It is delicious and low in carbs per serving.  The most carbs in this recipe come from this sauce and then the vegetables we added.

Here is the finished product:

So, here is what we did:

Ingredients:

1 package of boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I say a package because they are really more like 1.5 lbs, not just 1.)

1 can (10 oz) Enchilada sauce

1 can diced green chilies

1/4 to 1/2 of a red pepper, diced

1/2 sweet onion, diced

3-4 cups of Shredded Mexican cheese

Garlic powder

Onion powder

Cumin

Chili powder

Cavender's Greek seasonings

Instructions: 

1. Pre-heat oven to 350° F.
2. Dust the last 5 ingredients (the spices) over one side of each chicken breast.  Put the spiced side  down onto a George Foreman (or whatever heating element you choose).  Dust the spices over the naked side.  
3. Grill the chicken until each side is seared, but don't cook it all the way through.  Unless you like over-cooked, dry chicken.  If you are into that, you should cook the chicken all the way though, but you can't blame me if it is dry.  
4. Cut the chicken into cubes and throw it into a food processor and pulse a few times until it is shredded.  You can leave it in cubes, but if you shred it, it soaks up more of the sauce.
5. Throw the now shredded chicken into a glass 9x13 pan.  Toss the diced red pepper, green chilies, onion, and the enchilada sauce in.  Mix it all together.  Add 2 cups of shredded cheese.  We used the Mexican Blend, but you could use cheddar, too.
6. Flatten the mixture out with a spatula and then cover with the remaining cheese.
7. Bake for 10-20 minutes, until bubbly and the cheese is melted.  It is even better if you let the cheese brown a little bit. 
8. Dish up and enjoy!

We like comments and we like to know any changes you make!

Fending off hangry one recipe at a time!
Aubrey

Welcome to our Kitchen

Well hello there!

Thanks for visiting us!  Food has always been a big part of our family-grilling out in the summer, eating Grandma's roast in the winter, and brownies with every meal.  Whether we are in Hoosier or Jayhawk country, we continue this tradition.  

Most of our recipes will be low carb, but, don't worry, we will be sure to share some of the other treats that we create!  We hope you enjoy this as much as we do!

Evan and Aubrey