Dinner for Three...

I got a Kitchenaid Professional 600 Series stand mixer for Christmas from Brandon and OMG, is it GORGEOUS! I have been wanting one of those bad boys forever. It is a color called Meringue....a lovely pearlescent white....so beautiful...so huge! It can make 13 dozen cookies or 8 loaves of bread at a time; Now, I seriously doubt I will EVER be making that many baked goods, but it's nice to know it will definitely be big enough to make anything I could ever want to mix up.

I have been dying to try the mixer since I got it, but haven't had the time nor the recipe to try. Today seemed like a good day to try out the beauty and do some serious cooking.....and cooking isn't fun unless you share the results, so I invited Mom and Dad for dinner tonight. I made apricot almond chicken with snow peas for the main course and espresso chocolate chip brownies for dessert...all low carb, and all pretty dang good!!

I made up the recipe for the chicken and was really happy with the result...makes 4 servings at 6.5 carbs per serving.

Apricot Almond Chicken
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 cup water
1tbs lime juice
2tbs sugar free apricot preserves
1tsp red pepper flakes
1/2tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp ginger
8 chicken breast tenders
1/3 cup slivered almonds
1 1/2 cup snow peas

In a large bowl, whisk together apricot preserves, water, soy sauce and lime juice. Add  red pepper, garlic, and ginger. Stir well. No salt is needed for this recipe because the soy sauce with add more than enough; however, if you are using low sodium soy sauce, you might want to add a little salt, but it really isn't necessary. Place thawed chicken in the bowl and cover. Allow to marinate for 2+ hours. While the chicken is marinating, place the slivered almonds in a small skillet. Using medium high heat, toast the almonds, stirring often, until they are a golden brown. Set aside.

 Pour the chicken and all of the marinade into a large skillet. Cook, covered, on medium high until the chicken is cooked through.

Cube the chicken. Add the snow peas and cook, covered, for another 3 minutes. Remove the lid and stir in the almonds. Turn the heat down to medium low and continue cooking until the water cooks off and the sauce gets thick. This can be served with rice, but rice is definitely not low carb and actually isn't even necessary....this chicken is filling and tasty all on its own! I would have a picture to show you of the finished product, but we were so hungry I forgot to snap a pic before we gobbled it all down.

I have not done nearly enough baking in the low carb world to be able to wing it on my own baked goods recipes, so I used a recipe from a book called 1001 Low Carb Recipes by Dana Carpender....she is a low carb genius!

Espresso Chocolate Chip Brownies
1 cup Splenda
1/2 cup vanilla whey protein powder
1/4 cup almond meal
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1tbs instant coffee crystals (decaf or regular)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
2 large eggs
1/4 cup water
6 ounces sugar free chocolate chips or sugar free chocolate bars chopped to chip size in the food processor

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix splenda, protein powder, almond meal, cocoa powder, coffee and salt. Cut in butter until well combined. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Add water and mix thoroughly. Stir in chocolate chips. Spray an 8x8 glass dish with cooking spray and spoon in the batter evenly. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

The brownies can be cut into 25 pieces at 2 carbs per brownie, or 16 pieces at 3 carbs per brownie. I cut mine into 16 pieces; 25 pieces make for some small brownies! The brownies are not as sweet as normal brownies (duh) and taste more like dark chocolate than milk chocolate. I like the coffee flavor, but I think the full tablespoon was too strong; for me personally, I would like them better with about half the amount of coffee. I served it with a tablespoon of whipped cream (1 carb) for a pretty tasty dessert with total of 4 carbs.

The sweetness of the cream helps the flavor a lot, so I would definitely suggest using it. All in all, I don't think you will find a much better brownie for that low of a carb count....yum!