Almond Thins

One of the hardest parts of eating a low carb, paleo diet is the lack of convenience foods available. I’m often running behind in the morning so I need to be able to grab something for lunch quickly, and pre-packaged foods used to be a common solution. I could just grab a box of crackers or a bag of chips, throw some food in a zip lock and be on my way.

My new eating habits definitely require a bit more planning and preparation. I can still have my grab-and-go lunch foods, I just need to prepare them in advance. One of my favorite options are the Almond Thins from Linda’s Low Carb. They are very easy to make and are way more nutritious than the boxed versions from the store. I always make a double batch so there is plenty to go around for an evening snack with cheese or to throw into my lunch in a hurry.

A terrible picture, but an example of how thin your dough should be.

Almond Thins

From Linda’s Low Carb

3/4 cup almond flour
2 teaspoons granular Splenda (You can use liquid, but it doesn’t blend as well. I’ve found a few extra sweet crackers as a result)
1 egg white
3/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon onion powder

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Mix everything together well in a small bowl

Rip out two sheets of parchment paper. Lay one piece down on the counter, and coat the second piece with oil. Almond flour dough is incredibly sticky, and without the oil you won’t be able to peel off the parchment paper without taking your crackers with it. Place the dough in the middle of the unoiled parchment paper and place the oiled piece on top. Using a rolling pin, spread and level out the dough to about 1/8” thickness. Remove the top piece of parchment paper and using a greased pizza cutter, cut squares into the dough.

Place the parchment and dough onto a cookie sheet and bake for 10-20 minutes until the crackers are golden brown. They all finish at different times, so you’ll want to keep a close eye on them after 10 minutes. I often have to take a few crackers off using a spatula and continue baking the rest several times throughout the process.  Break them apart on the score lines and let cool. They will keep for over a week in an airtight container.

Brasato al Barolo

After a whirlwind Christmas weekend, my husband and I were looking forward to a quiet New Year’s Eve at home. Making a special meal together sounded like the perfect way to celebrate. We took a trip down to the local butcher and found a nice looking bone-in chuck roast. With the help of the internet, it didn’t take long to figure out what to do with it.

The recipe I found was almost a year old but had just shown up in my Google Reader as one of The Beantown Baker’s top recipes of 2011, and it’s clear why it made the list. One sentence of the description stood out: “Cooking some beef in red wine for four hours couldn't possibly have bad results.” She was right.

In place of the Barolo wine called for in the recipe, I chose a large bottle of Yellowtail Cabernet, with the added bonus that there was extra for drinking while the roast cooked. We were also missing a few ingredients and had to improvise a bit.

After spending a few hours cooking in the wine, the roast had taken on an impressive purple color but the meat was somewhat bland by itself. The deep, rich flavor of the finished dish all comes from the sauce. It’s quite sweet but not overpowering. Despite the name of this blog, we served it with a side of mashed potatoes, an occasional treat for us in an otherwise mostly Paleo diet.

Brasato al Barolo (Beef Braised in Wine)

adapted from The Beantown Baker, originally from Emeril

Serves 4-6 

1 (3-pound) beef chuck roast
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 slices bacon, diced
1 yellow onion, chopped into fingernail size pieces
15 mini carrots, halved
4 celery stalks, chopped same as onion
5 cloves garlic, minced
4 1/2 cups (1 1/2 bottles) Cabernet Sauvignon, or other dry red wine
2 cups chicken stock
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
1/4 teaspoon dried crushed bay leaves
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons rice flour

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

In a large Dutch oven (oven safe), cook the bacon until done. Remove with a slotted spoon leaving the grease in the pot. Sprinkle the roast with salt and pepper, and place it in the pot and cook, turning every couple minutes to brown on all sides. Remove roast from the pot. Put the onions, carrots, celery and a pinch of salt into the pot, adding more bacon grease or other cooking fat if needed. Cook the vegetables until softened a bit and starting to brown, about 15 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Return the bacon and beef to the pot and add the wine, stock, rosemary, bay leaves and cinnamon. Bring the liquid to a simmer over medium-high heat, then cover and transfer the pot to the oven.

Cook in the oven, turning the roast once midway through, until fully tender and meat is starting to fall apart, this took about 3 hours for ours. Remove the meat from the pot and tent with foil to keep warm.

Place the pot over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Cook about 10 minutes. Ladle some of the hot sauce into a small bowl. Whisk in the rice flour then stir the slurry back into the pot. Cook another 10 minutes or until the sauce has thickened. Adjust the seasoning to taste and turn the heat off.

Place meat onto a platter and thinly slice or shred. Serve the beef ladled with the sauce.