Lasagne

Different versions of pasta recipes have been going around the Scandinavian blogosphere for a while now, and today I decided it was time to try it out. I was a bit sceptical before I started and found it a bit hard to believe that a ‘’pasta’’ based on eggs, cream-cheese and psyllium-husk could actually taste like the real thing. But it did! At least when it was combined with loads of yummy pasta-sauce and cheese. Previously I have been using zucchini in stead of pasta sheets. That tastes quite alright as well, but this recipe here really had that lasagne-feel that I had been missing.

Pasta:

3 eggs

100 g (softened) Philadelphia cheese

50 ml (15 grams) psyllium husk

Beat eggs and Philadelphia cheese. Add psyllium husk. Let stand to thicken for around ten minutes. Cover a baking tray with baking paper. Place the pasta mass onto the baking paper, and place another baking paper on top of it. Use a rolling pin to spread the mass into quite a thin layer. Then bake on 150 degrees C for 10 minutes, with the baking-paper still on top. Then remove the top baking paper and part into little squares resembling lasagne sheets. Let it cool down.

Sauce:

500 g minced meat

1 onion

1 garlic clove

1 jar of tomato paste

1 1∕2 jar of cottage cheese

Spices (I used salt, Trocomare, pepper and oregano)

Grated cheese

Brown the mince and add garlic, onion, tomato paste and spices. Let simmer for a few minutes. Place half the mince into an oven safe tray. Then add a layer of lasagne sheets followed by a layer of cottage cheese. Now comes a second layer of minced meat, then lasagne sheets and cottage cheese. Finish with a layer of sprinkled cheese and bake on 200 degrees C for 30 minutes. Serve with a salad.

I got the inspiration from www.ingridsblogg.no, who again has found inspiration from www.fotballfrue.no I also found a similiar pasta recipe on www.lilalife.no. 

Tip: Instead of lasagne sheets, you can actually use the recipe to make tagliatelle. Then you first sprinkle the cooked pasta mass with some olive oil (avoids clumping), roll the cooked pasta mass up, and cut it thinly using a knife. For a photo, see http://www.matblogg.net/2012/02/03/er-det-pasta-mon-tro/ I haven’t made it yet, but it will definitely be my next project. 

My favourite stir fry

YUM! This is the best stir fry I've ever made! All thanks to Ingrid from  www.ingridsblogg.no, who shared this wonderful recipe.(I've found so many delicious recipes and tons of inspiration on her blog). The recipe makes an enormous portion, so I'm already looking forward to tomorrow's dinner :-D


Here it goes:

600 g chicken fillets
oil
about 1\3 cup of soy sauce
1 tsp. green curry
1 1\2 tbsp fish sauce (Squid brand)
2 tbsp chilli sauce
1 can coconut milk
1\3 of a ginger
1 chilli with seeds removed
2 cloves of garlic
1\2 bag of cashew nuts (approximately 125 g)
1 bunch of broccoli
1 tray of ready chopped carrots and beans
1 tray snow peas
2 capsicums
1 can of baby-corn 
1 red onion


Chop broccoli, capsicum and read onion. Add baby corn, snow peas, carrots and beans. Heat oil in the wok and stir-fry the veggies in three portions to avoid the wok going cold. Then remove the veggies and stir-fry the chicken. Chop the garlic and the chilli and grate ginger. Roast the cashew nuts slightly, then quickly fry garlic, chilli and grated ginger. Then add in the meat, stir, then add all the veggies. Now it's time to add the soy sauce, fish sauce and the chilli sauce and let it sit in the wok for a couple of minutes while stirring. Add coconut milk and the green curry. Let simmer for 5-8 minutes, then serve. 


Voila! So healthy and so yum! 

LCHF and the environment

A low carb diet is often criticised for being bad for the environment. Do I agree with this statement? Yes and no. Like with  most other topics, I feel that there isn't a black and white answer to this. First of all, I don't think my meat consumption has increased much, if at all, after I started a low carb lifestyle. But, in general my consumption of animal produce has gone a bit up: For example, I have scrambled eggs on most mornings. In my life b.lc. (life before low carb) I bought max 1 packet of eggs each month. An increased egg production can be bad for the environment, and definitely for the poor hens that are spending their life as egg-producing machines in tiny cages. But our eggs come from happy, Australian backyard hens that get  to roam around in plenty of space outside every day of the year, get treated really well and are fed food-scraps from the family that owns them. Even the cartons we get the eggs in are reused: When we have eaten the eggs, we take the cartons back to the family and get our new portion of eggs in the same ones. I believe that since my low carb way of life leads to me using more eggs in my cooking, the least thing I can do is to make sure all my eggs comes from a source that's both good for the animals and for the environment.

Another thing about my low carb lifestyle is that I drink less milk than I used to and use more cream in the cooking. It's a wellknown fact that the production of cream is a lot more resource-consuming than milk. However, the amounts of cream that I use are quite small, and I reckon that when I'm not buying litres and litres of milk, at least I am saving the environment all the milk cartons. 

Saving of packaging materials is a big plus for the environment with a low carb lifestyle: A true LCHF'er goes past all the aisles in the super market devoted to packaged cookies, crackers, potato chips and sugary drinks like juices and sodas. An average Aussie's consumption of all those items should add up to quite a few truck loads per year I can imagine. I feel that by not consuming any sodas or juices and the other items I can do quite good things for the environment. 

When we are talking about cookies, chips and other convenience food, there's another important point to mention: Palm-oil. A lot of processed food that's a no-no for a low-carber contain palm oils. I've seen the plantations on Borneo where they cut down the rain-forest to grow palms for palm-oil extraction - and it's a tragic sight... Needless to say, chopping down vast areas of pristine rain forest is not a good thing for the environment. I would estimate that I get minimal amounts of palm oil through my diet these days, so in that regard I'm doing good things for mother nature.

This next point may not be as relevant for Aussies as for us Scandinavians though: In Norway most fruits have to be imported from the opposite side of the planet, or grown in energy-intensive greenhouses. I eat very little fruit now, so at least if I were back home I would be doing a great thing for the environment. In Australia we are so lucky to have such opportunities for producing fruits and veggies locally. A great thing we can do to weigh up for our ''low carb sins'' is to try and eat only stuff that is in season in our local communities. 

It's been claimed that the earth could never sustain all it's inhabitants consuming  low carb foods. Therefore it follows that eating low carb is an egotistical act. Yes, it's true about the sustainability I think. BUT I don't believe that everyone on the planet needs to or should eat low carb. We are all such different individuals with different genetic make-up, metabolisms and levels of activity. I believe every one of us would benefit from cutting out all sugar and sugary drinks from our diets. And that everyone benefits from choosing nature-rice  instead of more refined products. But ''extreme low carb'' is perhaps only necessary for people who are obese or have ''unfortunate'' genetic make up, like myself. As well as people that have a range of other health-problems where cutting sugar and starch has proven beneficial. But then again, a larger percentage of people following low carb principles could lead to less diabetes and obesity in the first place...

What do you think? Is a low carb lifestyle bad for our planet? Or, perhaps you've got examples of other aspects of low carb eating that are actually good for Mother Earth?

Blueberry muffins

Even though I'm normally happy with my three (large) main meals, it can be practical to have a snack handy. Last weekend I baked these yummy blueberry muffins:

4 eggs

4 dessert spoons erythritol

vanilla extract after taste (I use a sugar free brand)

1 tsp baking powder

100 ml coconut flour

100 ml cream 

100 ml of blueberries 

You can use any kind of berries, and change the quantity after taste. 

Whip eggs and erythritol fluffy. Then add coconut flour, vanilla and baking powder. Lastly, whip in the cream, then add the blueberries.Scoop into muffin trays using a spoon. 

Bake on 175 degrees C in the middle of the oven for 30 minutes. 

The recipe is from the delicious baking-book by Cecilie who has the blog  www.fristendelavkarbo.no  

I REALLY hope her book will be available in English soon! 

What causes heart disease

WORD!

http://preventdisease.com/news/12/030112_World-Renown-Heart-Surgeon-Speaks-Out-On-What-Really-Causes-Heart-Disease.shtml 

Fish-bake with whiting

I used to love a typical Norwegian fish bake-dish with lots of macaroni inside and with bread crumbs on the top. Naturally, this dish is not on the menu for me any more, and I was so happy to find a recipe for a dish just as good, but healthier.  Whereas I used to find it ready-made in the freezer in my local store at home, I had to make this dish from scratch. And surprisingly, it’s not much more time-consuming than buying the ready-made dish. Changing to a low carb lifestyle meant that I had to learn how to cook from ‘’scratch’’ rather than relying on ready-made food full of preservatives and cheap ingredients. And time after time it has surprised me how easy it actually is to cook healthy, using whole foods. Coming from someone who used to be a fast-food queen and who hated spending more than 5 minutes in the kitchen, it's quite a change... Well, enough rambling on, here is the recipe:

600 g white fish (I used whiting)

2 onions

4 eggs

200 ml cream

Salt, pepper, dill, other spices to  taste

Grated cheese

Chop the onions while you boil the fish. When the fish is well-cooked, mix fish with onion in an oven-safe tray. Beat the mixture of eggs, cream and spices lightly. Pour it over the fish. Sprinkle cheese on top and put the dish in the (pre-heated ) oven. Bake on 225 degrees C for around 25 minutes.  

Voila!

Let me know if you have got any suggestions on how to spice this dish up a notch: With other vegetables or perhaps some interesting herbs. I often find that plain fish can be a bit boring, but by making a fish-bake like this I ''camouflage'' the fish with lots of good stuff, so I trick myself into eating fish more often. 

This recipe is inspired by the wonderful Lena Beatrice who has the blog  www.lenabeatrice.net Unfortunately for the English-speaking world, it's in Norwegian... But google translator is improving day by day, so it's worth trying the translator function to see if it's making any sense. 

An excellent low carb book

Yay! This is SO exciting: The excellent low carb theory book by Norwegian doctor Sofie Hexeberg is now available in English, and can be bought on amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Scandianvian-Diet-Scandinavian-ebook/dp/B007IMHCDQ/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1331380060&sr=8-6.

This is the book that had me convinced that low carbohydrate diets are actually good for our health.
The book is called The Scandinavian Diet. Getting healthy with low carb. If I remember correctly, the book has  recipes as well as excellent scientific explanations about the way we are meant to eat.
Dr Hexeberg has a clinic where she treats obese and diabetic patients (among others) with low carbohydrate diet - with amazing results!

(I've linked to the kindle edition, but it should be available on paper as well)

Chocolates with goji-berries

Goji-berries are super-healthy super foods, however with 65 grams of carbohydrates per 100 grams they aren't low carb. So if you are still in a weight-loss phase, you might want to skip these, or just have ONE...

Here is the recipe:

100 grams 70 % chocolate

2 tbsp liquid coconut oil

100 ml hazelnuts

100 ml goji-berries

Melt the chocolate and add coconut oil. Stir. Chop the hazelnuts and add to the melted chocolate. Add the goji-berries and stir. Spoon into ice-cube silicone moulds or special chocolate moulds. Keep them in the fridge, because the coconut fat makes them go runny in few minutes in room temperature. 

PS: I had to use peanuts, because I didn't have any hazelnuts.

Once again, this yummy recipe is from the delicious book Fristende Lavkarbo by Cecilie Theiste-Bratli who writes a blog with the same name: www.fristendelavkarbo.no   (Changed slightly)

Pecan chocolates

Sometimes I just love coming home on a Friday after a long work week, and lock myself in the kitchen - baking. An ice-cold glass of sauvignon blanc by my side and some Bon Iver songs playing on my laptop, and I'm relaxing.

Getting ready for a night of baking, with my low carb
baking book by my side 

Today I decided to make a few different things, and I started with this pecan nut chocolate recipe. It is easy to make and quick. I used 85 % chocolate (from Black and Gold's), but 70 % chocolate can also be used. Using 70 % chocolate makes the recipe more ''child-friendly''.

100 grams of dark chocolate
1 ∕ 2 cup pecan nuts

2 tbsp liquid coconut oil
1 ∕ 2 tsp sea salt

Melt chocolate and stir in coconut oil. Chop pecans roughly and add to the chocolate. Add sea salt that you have crushed in a mortar.  Spoon into confectionary cups\ paper cups or mini muffin cups. And that's it. Let cool in the fridge. Also, coconut oil plus room temperature is a bad idea, so make sure you store the chocolates in the fridge.

The recipe comes from the beautiful low carb baking book ''Fristende lavkarbo'' (Tempting low carb)by Cecilie who has the wonderful blog with the same name, www.fristendelavkarbo.no

First Iherb order

Yay! I got my first package from Iherb today. This is what I ordered

- Now Healthy Foods Erythritol
- 3 different stevia-extracts with different tastes.

I will definitely order from Iherb again. It is a lot cheaper than buying stuff from health food stores in Australia. 1 pound (454 grams) of erythritol costs 7 US$, compared with around 10 dollars for 250 grams at my local health food store... It took almost three weeks from I ordered untill I got the package, but I chose International Airmail. I heard there is another mailing option that is quicker, and quite cheap if you buy for more than 80 dollars. I will try that next time.

Low carb bread

Scandinavian people definitely eat lots of bread. Norwegian health authorities actually advice people to eat bread three(!) times daily. However, this is whole-grain bread with a lot more good stuff than even the healthiest bread we can get here in Australia. For example, the bread my mother bakes is heavy as a brick and fills you quite a bit.  Perhaps because  Scandinavians are so addicted to their breads, low carb blogs and forums are full of recipes for yummy low carb breads. What I love about low carb baking is that it's so easy: No hour-long waits for the bread to rise, just mix the ingredients together and pop it in the oven. Here is the recipe for my favourite low carb bread. One reason that I like this recipe is  it demands no mysterious ingredients that you have to venture to a health food store to get.

Recipe for one bread:
4 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
150 grams Creme Fraiche
60 grams natural bran
40 grams linseed
50 grams sesame seeds
50 grams sunflower seeds

 Mix ingredients and pour into a bread tray covered with baking paper.
Bake at the bottom shelf on 180 degrees (C) for around 50 minutes

Enjoy it for example with butter and brie, cheese with some ham and capsicum. Or with peanut butter and sugar-free jelly (if you can handle the extra carbs from peanut butter). Super-healthy and leaves you full and with a stable blood sugar for hours and hours.

PS:  I had to make a few changes when making the bread that's on the photo. I didn't have linseed, so I used LSA instead. And I added pumpkin seeds. In addition, my kitchen scales are broken, so I just had to improvise. I'm normally one who follows recipes strictly, but this time I actually had to play with the ingredients - and it worked!

Iced coffee

I love iced coffees, but I haven't had one since I started my new, sugarfree life over a year ago.  That was untill I came across this recipe on "lchf-bloggen" (the lchf blog) today:  http://lchf-bloggen.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/lavkarbo-iskaffe.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed:+Lchf-bloggen+(LCHF-bloggen)
I can't believe I hadn't thought of this myself!

Of course I had to try it, and it was SOOO yummy! It will definately not be the last time I make this. I had a day of home-office today, so I enjoyed a huge glass of this on our front veranda during a break.
I changed the recipe slightly from the blog-recipe, adding 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla powder.

2 heaped tsp Nescafe espresso powder
3 tsp erythritol (the finely ground, icing sugar type)
1/2 tsp vanilla powder
50 ml boiling water
200 ml cold water
100 ml cream
lots of ice cubes

Dissolve the coffee powder and erythritol in the boiling water. Add vanilla powder and stir. Let cool a little, if you have the patience for it... Put plenty of ice cubes in a shaker. Pour the coffee mixture, cold water and cream in the shaker and shake well. Taste to check that it's sweet/strong enough for you and that the water/cream-balance is right.
Pour the iced coffee and the ice cubes into two glasses  - or 1 big glass, like I did (see picture)

Enjoy!