Once I got on to using crepes (and/or tortillas, depending on your preference) for so many things (advice from DJ Foodie of Low Carbing Among Friends), I went crazy! There are literally dozens of things to do with crepes (savory or sweet) and/or tortillas—low carb or other!

(So if you are not a low carber but just trying to make things more healthfully for your family, read on….using healthy crepes and torts is a great way to reduce white flour and high carb/starchy use and feed your kids healthier options without their knowing it! 🙂 )

Making things with crepes or torts as the base is an amazing find for the low carber because these are either (1) easy to make (in the case of the crepes) or (2) easy to find (in the case of buying low carb tortillas). (Here are two of my faves to purchase: Mama Lupitas (they are brownish but I like them best—and I usually prefer “white”—they have a more nutty taste and make better tort chips and crackers imho and Mission (available in local stores too)—these are more acceptable to my teen sons.)

Low Carb Pizzadillas!

I will be sharing the dozens of ways I use the crepes and torts (see using crepes as noodles here)  on the blog in the future, but today I bring you a super alternative to frozen pizza for your family! (My teen and college sons will eat this readily for a party/movie night—that is a really good sign!)

You cannot pick this dish up like you can pizza or even quesadillas simply because it is too chock full of yumminess. But it is worth all the messiness and utensil-needing!

Here’s the scoop (very loosely!)

•Crepes or tortillas

•Pizza or marinara sauce

•Pizza ingredients: cheeses, veggies, meats (precooked)…whatever you like

1. Place one crepe or tort on a baking dish sprayed (and I use parchment…always parchment…no time for messy dishes!).

2. Put sauce on that crepe (according to how saucy you like your pizza).

3. Put pizza ingredients on top of sauce.

4. Top with another crepe or tort.

5. Bake at 375 for about 15 to 20 minutes convection (20 to 25 regular) until filling is gooey and crepes are golden.

6. Remove from oven and slice with pizza cutter into fourths. Serve with forks! 🙂

Recipe Labels and Variations

Low Carb (LC): With the homemade low carb crepes, this is an extremely low carb dish. I would guess that with those, a full double-crepe pizzadilla (which would be a lot of food!) to be one-twentieth of a personal pizza carb count! They are extremely low carb and quick to make. Depending on which low carb tortilla you use, the carb count on the torts alone (two per huge double tort pizzadilla!) would still only be between six and twelve net carbs. Technically, depending on how full you fill the crepes/torts, a full pizzadilla (with two crepes/torts) is probably two servings anyway….very filling. So yes, very low carb!

Family-Friendly Low Carb (FFLC): This is one of my MOST family-friendly low carb recipes—especially with store bought, slightly higher carb torts (Mission). It is still going to be probably one tenth of a personal pan pizza carb-wise, so the carbs are still low even with the store bought, white torts. But the real kicker here is how “un-low-carb” this dish tastes. (Yes, that is a word when you are trying to feed teen and college boys!) Nutshell: low carb and kids love these!

Store-Bought-Stella (SBS): You Stellas are in business here….you can quite literally buy everything in this dish and simply spend ten minutes assembling a bunch of them! Low carb tortillas; pre-cooked crumbled or link sausage; pepperoni;  pre-chopped onions, peppers, and mushrooms; shredded cheeses; jarred pizza sauce. Go make this!

Homemade Hannah (HH): For you Homemade Hannah’s out there, try the homemade low carb crepe recipe! It is a homemade treat that gives homemade cooks a lot of homemade options! (Emphasis on the “homemade” there!)

 Freezer Cooking (FC): I definitely use my freezer cooking skills to do prep work for this. In other words, I always have these things for this dish in my freezer: crepes (just make and stack in a plastic bowl with parchment between…always parchment…) and freeze; pre-cooked hamburger or ground turkey; pre-made sausage patties or links that I cut up for dishes like this one; and more. Other variations of this use other freezer items I have on hand: taco meat for tacodillas (!); shredded chicken and pre-cooked chicken chunks for Alfredo-dillas (okay, getting a little carried away here!); etc. Somehow I always dovetail all new recipes with my long-term-love-affair with freezer cooking!

 Oldie Goldie Family Recipes (OG): While this is not an Oldie Goldie recipe, it is a whole lot easier than my OG homemade pizzas!

 Trim Healthy Mama (THM): This is a definite S entrée for THM’s. And depending on which base you use and what your fillings are, you could probably even make it an E—with low fat meats, low fat cheeses, and the right fat count base. I could see making this an easy E with shredded chicken, veggies, and Laughing Cow cheese.

 Cycle Cooking (CYC):  Just like my Freezer Cooking, this is not in a “cycle,” so to speak, but I do the various meats and even the torts in my cycles. Ground beef and taco meat are in my crumbled beef cycle. Shredded chicken in my Shredded Chicken Cycle; chicken chunks in my Chicken Breast Cycle; and the crepes in my Basic Flour Mix Cycle. Cycle cooking, along with Freezer Cooking, makes everything faster!

 Sugar Free (SF): No sugar in the crepes or torts to speak of. Definitely choose a low sugar pizza sauce or marinara (i.e. not the luscious, sugar-laden Prego!). My experience has been that lower sugar sauces are often found in glass jars (i.e. often more expensive, lesser known brands) and generic brands. Check them out!

 Gluten Free (GF):  The gluten-free option for this recipe is to make the crepes using the Basic Flour Mix Gluten-Free option. Very doable!

 Low Carb Mixes (LCM):  The crepes are made using the Basic Low Carb Flour Mix. Love my Low Carb Mixes!

DISCLOSURE: I am an affiliate for these products that I recommend. If you purchase these items through my links, I will earn a commission, but you will not pay more when buying a product through my link. 🙂

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Low Carb Cole Slaw—just in time for grilling season. We had this last night with grilled pork chops and strawberries and dip. My hubby loved it!
Cabbage is one of those foods that I never dreamed I would be buying almost weekly! I use it chopped and sprinkled in layers that would potentially have had pasta. I use it for Egg Roll Skillet (recipe coming soon), also known as egg roll in a bowl in many circles, and I use it without the meat at all in stir fried cabbage (sort of Egg Roll Skillet with no sausage). Gone are the days of smelly boiled cabbage that nobody would eat. Cabbage is now cool!

And so today, I bring you Low Carb Cole Slaw. This recipe actually began as a sugar-laden, high-carb KFC Cole Slaw knock off. I can’t attest to its tasting like KFC cole slaw now because we haven’t had much KFC, but I do know that my guys liked it a lot—and with the All Purpose Seasoning Mix, it is super easy!

There are options to not make it as low carb (but why not, right?). Oh, this is not a creamy slaw (though I guess it could be with more mayo or liquid). It is more of a crispy, barely-coated slaw, which my family likes better. (It is also good to put on sausage tacos, also made low carb—sort of like the Won Ton Tacos that they make at Applebees, which my guys crave!)

Low Carb Cole Slaw

½ cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup creamy, milk-like liquid (see Note below)
1 ½ TBSP apple cider vinegar
2 TBSP lemon juice
1/3 cup bulk sugar-free sweetener (Swerve, erythritol, xylitol, a blend, or Splenda)
1/2  to 3/4 tsp All Purpose Seasoning Mix (may just use salt & pepper here, but this is so much more flavorful!)
½ tsp celery seed
16 ounce bag shredded cole slaw mix

Note: The original recipe called for buttermilk. I would say that you can use any “milk” that your family is used to. I used half and half. (See Labels for Recipes below for more info.)

Recipe Labels and Variations

Low Carb (LC): This is a very low carb recipe if made with the no-carb bulk sweeteners suggested and by using your normal low carb “milk” subs. I used half and half. Very low carb folks might want to use cream. Others might want to use almond milk or other non-dairy milk substitute in order to keep the carbs low.

Family-Friendly Low Carb (FFLC): With half and half, regular mayo, and sugar-free bulk sweetener (I used Splenda), my family loved this. If you don’t mind adding a few carbs, you could use whole milk and low fat mayo. This version would probably not be low enough for an under-forty grams low carb diet, depending on how much you eat, but would definitely work for FFLC.

Store-Bought-Stella (SBS): If you want to save money, you could use Splenda rather than one of the other more expensive bulk sweeteners suggested. I’m all about simplicity where possible (while still cooking and baking low carb and homemade), so I used the bagged slaw mix—a great SBS tip in general for veggies if your budget allows them.

Homemade Hannah (HH): Of course, this could be made more homemade if you do your own mayo and buy cabbage and carrots whole and shred them.
Freezer Cooking (FC): Don’t freeze this—or fresh salads in general (except for some fruit salads).

Trim Healthy Mama (THM): This can definitely work in an S setting very well with grilled meats and more! I would think you would be a little challenged to get it low enough in fat to use in an E setting—maybe use fat free mayo (is that allowed?) and almond milk or skim milk (?). Just some thoughts.

Sugar Free (SF): Sugar-free and healthy sweetener options! See ideas for sugar-free sweeteners here!

Gluten Free (GF): No reason to add gluten to this. Use my All Purpose Seasoning Mix, and you’ll be covered!

Low Carb Mixes (LCM): This recipe uses my All Purpose Seasoning Mix, a combination of amazing spices that is a great seasoning for meats, veggies, fish, salads, and more!

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I have been trying to develop a seasoning mix that can be used in meats, fish, vegetables, and salad. I think I am finally there!
If you are low carbing, you will want to be careful of seasoning mixes and packets. Many have thickening agents (i.e. arrowroot or cornstarch); others have anti-clumping properties, which can add carbohydrates to the total. Of course, many of us home cooks have been doing many homemade things for years and years—including sauces, seasoning mixes, and more—in an effort to either save money or be able to put into our foods exactly what we want (and know what that is!).

Regardless of your reason for using homemade mixes and seasonings, I think you will like this All-Purpose Seasoning Mix. I have been sprinkling it on frying meats, stir it into crock pot concoctions, and adding it to soups and salads.  I love to sprinkle it over the olive oil and beef broth mixture that I just sprinkled over vegetables for roasting! (The small amount of moisture from the olive oil/broth combination helps the seasoning to stick to even slick vegetables like zucchini better!)
I just tweaked a cole slaw recipe using this seasoning—even though it contains seasonings that we do not traditionally think of with cole slaw, my guys loved it! (Update:  click here for cole slaw recipe!)
Let me know what you think—or if you tweak it, please share your tweaks with me and why you like it better. I’m always into learning!

All Purpose Seasoning Mix

3 tsp. salt
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 ½ tsp paprika
1 tsp pepper (black or white; I like black because with the paprika, this seasoning mix is pretty!)
¾ tsp oregano
½ tsp ground bay leaves
½ tsp basil
Optional: 1 tsp red pepper powder or 1 tsp chili powder!

1.    Combine all thoroughly.
2.    Store in airtight container.
3.    Use liberally!
4.    If you don’t want the pepper powder or chili powder in it all the time, you can omit it (like I did), and when a dish seems like it would benefit from it, just add a pinch of it with each teaspoon of All Purpose Seasoning Mix!

Note: To use this mix in recipes that call for other seasonings, if you are one to experiment (!), just add the total number of teaspoons of the seasonings your recipe calls for that are similar to the ones listed here and use that amount of All Purpose Seasoning Mix (while still adding in other seasonings that your recipe might call for, such as celery seed, ground mustard, etc.).

Recipe Labels and Variations

Low Carb (LC): This is a very low carb recipe with no added carbs.
Family-Friendly Low Carb (FFLC): Great in many of my FFLC recipes!
Store-Bought-Stella (SBS): While there are many seasoning combinations out there for SBS’s, be sure that if you are concerned about carbs (and you don’t’ choose to make this one!) that  you read the labels carefully.
Homemade Hannah (HH): This is very homemade! You can make this completely whole-foods as written above—or make it even more homemade by using your own dried herbs.
Trim Healthy Mama (THM): These could be used in an S setting or an E setting—no real carbs and no fat! Use it on all of that protein in both meal types!
Sugar Free (SF): Sugar-free and healthy option!
Gluten Free (GF): No fillers so no concern about hidden gluten.
Low Carb Mixes (LCM): This is one of over two dozen of my low carb mixes that I will be bringing to the blog this summer (after fifteen months of testing them!). While the mixes say low carb, they have family-friendly options, gluten-free options, and just “regular” options. Mixes fit all cooking styles—I’ve been using mixes for twenty-five years this month!

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Low Carb (LC): Many of my recipes (especially the newer ones that I have been creating over the past year and that I am putting up as of Spring 2015) are low carb or else have low carb options. Generally speaking, when a recipe has the LC label, it means that a serving (or more!) of that recipe would fit well into a low carb eating plan, such as one that is fifty net carbs per day or fewer. Many of the LC recipes are very, very low carb, meaning that they would be appropriate for a twenty net carbs or fewer diet.
 

Family-Friendly Low Carb (FFLC): Because I have been trying to tweak recipes to appeal to my teenage and college age sons, as well as my husband, some of my recipes have the FFLC label. This means that I am giving an option to up the carbs a little bit (for example, to use Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Flour or Bob’s Red Mill Quinoa Flour or Oat Flour for part of the “flour” {rather than all almond flour, coconut flour, wheat fiber, etc.}) or to add oats to a baked good. Additions or changes to a recipe to make it FFLC often make the product more welcomed by family members who are not used to completely grain-free foods—but still make each serving seventy-five percent—plus less carby than traditional recipes of that same dish (due to partial use of low carb flours, low carb liquids, and sugar free/zero net carb sweeteners).

Store-Bought-Stella (SBS): Some people would never dream of using canned soups or Splenda or sugar-free jello mixes in their kitchens. Others are okay using some non-homemade or “less healthy” products in their cooking and baking. If something could be made easier by purchasing something pre-made, the SBS label will be used, indicating that there is a way or ways to make the recipe given easier with store-bought helps.

Homemade Hannah (HH): There are many healthy cooks who desire to make as many things from scratch as possible—and definitely would not use a store-bought cake mix or sugar-free pudding, etc. When a recipe could be made more “homemade” by doing it yourself or has healthier options, the HH label will be given, along with suggestions on how to keep that particular recipe as homemade as possible.

Oldie Goldies (OG): The Reish family is a family of thirty-plus years of home cooking! Raising seven children on one income for twenty-five years caused me to learn how to cook—and how to cook large amounts in easier ways (whenever possible). Because of all of those years in the kitchen, I have more recipes, menus, and tricks than one can imagine. When a recipe is an old family favorite (or a new family favorite that I think other families would enjoy), the OG label will be given, along with a note or two about how we used that recipe, what we liked to have with it, etc.

Freezer Cooking (FC): I began “mega” cooking via freezer cooking, mix making, cooking sessions to prep fruits and veggies, and more in 1990 while preparing for the birth of our fourth child (who, coincidentally, was “Colic Kara”—and boy was I happy to have so many things made ahead of time!). It is not uncommon for me to have fifty to one hundred freezer entrees, starters, and more in my freezers at any given time. And I love to help Moms learn how to freezer cook since it has been a huge blessing to my family for the past twenty-four years—and has been an amazing way for us to bless and help others through the years too. The FC label will show up when I give an option to “mega” cook something and put a few entrees in the freezer.

Cycle Cooking (CYC): Once my freezer cooking (described above) was well underway, I developed even more shortcuts and helps to get meals in the freezer. My most time-saving method was using what I called “cooking cycles.” In this approach, I would cook up a certain type of meat and make all of my entrees during that cooking session out of that type of meat. This turned out to be such a great help that I still do this type of cooking nearly every week to this day! When you see the abbreviation CYC (along with a link to that particular type of meat prep—crumbled ground meat, shredded chicken, etc.), you will find ideas on how to “cycle” cook that recipe.

Trim Healthy Mama (THM): You would be hard-pressed to be on FaceBook and not find a friend who is eating the Trim Healthy Mama way. This method of eating/weight loss program is a low-grain, no-sugar approach in which the “dieter” eats protein with each meal but then chooses to either have fat OR carbohydrates with that protein (but not both at the same time). Many (if not all) of my low-carb and family-friendly low carb recipes are perfect for the THM eating style. I do not have a lot of E recipes on here because of my carb intolerance/pre-diabetes, but I will indicate if one would fall under an E meal.

Sugar Free (SF): Recipes on this blog will indicate if they are NOT sugar free (such as Oldie-Goldie Chocolate Chip cookies, graduation recipes, etc.). To learn about healthy, low-carb/no net carb sugar substitutes, check out my post “Low Carb Baking & Treats: What I Wish Someone Would Have Told Me.”

Gluten Free (GF): Most low carb baked good recipes on this blog are also gluten-free since they utilize almond flour, coconut flour, oat fiber, golden flax, protein powder, etc. The lowest carb gluten-free flour that I have found is Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Flour. This flour has under eighty carbohydrates per cup while many others have well over a hundred carbs per cup.

Low Carb Mixes (LCM): I have been working on making over a dozen mixes low carb—trying to re-create my Make a Mix Cookery days but with low carb, sugar-free ingredients. Finally (as of May 2015!), after a year-plus of testing and re-testing my mixes, I am ready to start sharing those! When you see the LCM label, there will be a link to the “master mix” that is used in that recipe. If the thought of making and using mixes is overwhelming to you, just try one of them! Make some things from that one mix, and you will discover the ease of cooking with mixes!

DISCLOSURE: I am an affiliate for these products that I recommend. If you purchase these items through my links, I will earn a commission, but you will not pay more when buying a product through my link. 🙂

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I made the kids blizzards the other night–even though it was zero degrees outside! Did you know that a Bosch can mix like a gallon of ice cream at one time?

These were by far the simplest ice cream treats I have made the kids. Not sure if it was because the Bosch held so much at one time or that it mixed so thoroughly so fast, or what. But it was way faster than the Bullet or the Ninja–one or two treats at a time.

Here are some “fluid” tips/steps:

1.  Crunch up ahead of time whatever you want in your Blizzard (candies, cookies, etc.). I got candy out of our class teaching tub (!), took orders, and crushed things individually in my mini chopper.

2.  If ice cream is too hard, you can soften it in micro on defrost setting. However, be careful of getting it too soft as the mixing will soften a lot too.

3.   Put ice cream in the Bosch (tons of it!) and blend. Add half and half and a little chocolate syrup to it.

4.   Once it is Blizzard texture, remove some from it, transfer to another large bowl, and mix in Blizzard ingredients with wooden spoon.

5.  Continue doing this for each Blizzard type.

6.  Note: If I were making one type, I would do all of the mixing in of the goodies right in the Bosch bowl with the beaters.

7.  Serve!

Donna

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Hopefully, you have enjoyed the ease of my shredded chicken method! It is so simple to put chicken in the crock pot overnight or in the morning and come up with a speedy meal when it is done cooking. There are actually times in which I put the chicken in without even knowing for sure what I will do with it the next day since I know I have so many options that I can turn to at the last minute. (Plus, having it cooked forces me to do SOMETHING with it!) If nothing else, I can pour some bottled BBQ sauce over it and have BBQ chicken sandwiches!

Did you try the Arroz Con Pollo? Jonathan and his new bride are here for two weeks on spring break while Jonathan works at the factory and Maelynn does her junior practicum at a local middle school. I will probably be making that Arroz Con Pollo next week for them!

In addition to the BBQ chicken mentioned above, when all else fails, I know I can pull out some chicken broth, enrich it with chicken base (always!), boil some packaged noodles in the broth, and come up with a pot of chicken noodle soup in no time flat. Here is how I do that quickly.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients:

• Boneless, skinless thighs and/or breasts

• chicken base or bouillon granules

• chicken broth

• Bag of uncooked homestyle noodles

• seasonings as desired: parsley, garlic, pepper, basil

• stir fried tiny pieces of celery, carrots, and (optional) onions

Directions:

1. Cook chicken according to instructions in the general section. 

2. Shred and set aside.

3. Cook noodles in chicken broth until al dente.

4. Optional: Stir fry celery and tiny pieces of carrot (or carrots that you shredded with a potato peeler) in skillet or in micro with butter.

5. To cook aromatics in micro, just put them finely shredded in small microwaveable bowl with a TBSP or two of butter. Cover and cook until tender. You don’t want the celery or carrots to be crunchy.

6. Add chicken, aromatics, seasonings, and more base back into noodles and broth. It is ready! Don’t keep on low as noodles will continue to cook and get grainy.

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I have been working on recipes for my newlyweds–Jonathan and Maelynn (son and daughter-in-law married in August 2014) and Will and Kara (daughter and son-in-law married in January 2015). I like to categorize my recipes just like I have done with all of my mega-cooking/freezer cooking recipes for the past twenty-five years…according to type of meat/main ingredients. For freezer cooking, this is ideal because I can cook up twenty, thirty, or forty pounds of that type of meat and put a lot of entrees together quickly.

So….I thought I would share on the blog some ideas and recipes that I have been putting together for my kids. So….here is the general information for Shredded Chicken. Watch for recipes soon!

(1) You can cook boneless, skinless chicken thighs and/or breasts in a variety of ways. My personal favorite is putting breasts and thighs in the crock pot overnight (an hour on high then the rest of the night on low) then when I get up in the morning, I take two forks and stir/shred all the chicken. I often put some of the chicken back in the crock pot and make one of the entrees below. (You can also put the chicken in before work/school then do the shredding and use part of the chicken that evening.) The rest of the chicken I put in zip lock quart bags and label. I like to put a half a cup to one cup of broth in the zip-lock bags to keep the chicken moist. (If you don’t need the broth when you make your meal with the meat later, you can drain it and pitch it.) Oh, I put a half a cup to one cup of broth in with the raw chicken when I cook it in the crock pot.

Use shredded chicken for chicken noodle soup!

(2) You can boil your chicken to use in shredded recipes, but I never do this as I’m always afraid it will boil the taste out of them. Others do though. You can also prepare your chicken three other ways: “poach” it in the oven with lots of broth covering it–be sure you check it with a meat
thermometer if you do this as you don’t want to overcook it; microwave it–kind of poaching it like in the oven–again, don’t overcook and in this case, be sure the chicken is completely covered with broth and plastic wrap so it doesn’t have tough edges.

Important Note: If you do not shred your chicken while it is warm (after it gets cold or after it is refrigerated), it is ten or twenty times or harder to shred– and will take a lot longer (and will probably need cubed, not shredded). It is a five min job if you do it while chicken is warm.

(3) Shredded chicken is good in tons of ways–I will list some below. It used to be a staple for me when the olders were little–in chicken tetrazzini, chicken lasagna, hot chicken sandwiches, chicken rice casserole, soups, etc. It is an inexpensive way to make a meal because it
is not very expensive to start with AND it is often used as part of a dish rather than the main entrée.

(4) A lot of recipes call for chicken or mushroom soup–it is better if you can make your own, but I would start out just buying it and using it as is. It helps make a lot of meals really fast. A lot also call for chicken broth. I use chicken base to make my broth, but you can buy cans of broth and then make it richer by adding some chicken base or granulated chicken bouillon.

Watch the blog for upcoming shredded chicken recipes, including chicken noodle soup, chicken strata, arroz con pollo, hot chicken sandwich filling, BBQ shredded chicken, chicken tacos, and more!

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