Best of Austin Low-Carb

Jimmy John's

I had been long looking forward to arriving into Austin, the first stop on our US road trip. Known for having a large hippie population, and a load of hipsters to boot, there was bound to be plenty of food alternatives for the difficult-to-accommodate diner.

JJ Gargantuan Unwich snatched from www.jimmyjohns.com

First stop Jimmy John's, one of Samantha's favourite sandwich bars and home to the 'Unwich' – essentially all the goodness of any of the bread rolls on the menu, but minus the roll. I had been saving some of my protein up for the meal but, unaware that full nutritional information was available on their website, I went a little overzealous and ordered the JJ Gargantuan unwich which turned out to be a bad decision when I saw that it contained 5.5 grams of carb and and a lot more protein than I had to spare.

Although a teaspoon or so of coconut oil would still be needed to supplement the fat content of this meal, what I should have ordered was the Club Lulu unwich and an extra serving of mayonnaise:

fat:  54.4g, protein:  25.4g, carb:  2.8

ratio: 1.9:1

The nutritional information on this website is fantastic, so try putting together your own perfect unwich!  For instance, the JJBLT unwich is perfect if you have lower protein needs.

Leaf

On day two we were keen to visit a place we had been reading about called Leaf which had been receiving rave reviews for its healthy salads, composed primarily of fresh, locally-sourced ingredients. With so many good choices on the menu, it was hard to choose which salad to go for, but I opted in the end for the Capitol City Cob (comprising grilled chicken, a hardboiled egg, blue cheese, roma tomatoes, black olives, bacon and avocado – served with blue cheese sauce), removing the tomatoes and the tasteless black olives, and replacing the blue cheese sauce with a healthy dose of extra virgin oil. Whilst we cannot provide exact figures for the salad, it tasted great and we are sure it could not have been very far off the mark when supplemented with a tablespoon of coconut oil to ensure I hit my 63g fat for the meal.

Leaf menu board

Tasting Savory Spiced Pecans

Savory Spiced Nuts

I have always believed that a big part of being a good cook is having a good eye for picking out other people's recipes.  So, this post is all about what an awesome job I did scouring the internet for the perfect savory spiced pecans.  I was two for two with these babies, and sometimes you've got to pat yourself on the back for the little things when you're cooking for a diet which will inevitably include a lot of failures.

My first success was with the Crankin' Kitchen!'s savory spiced nuts.  Tristan and I like plain salted macadamias, and raw brazils are his favorite, but we both agree that pecans just need a little something extra to pass as a snack food.  

snatched from crankingkitchen.wordpress.com

I love the herby natural flavor of these nuts.  I originally chose it because it used egg white to bind the herbs, something I was familiar with from making sweet versions (expect a future recipe review).  You could probably use butter instead and get even better numbers than what I got (below).  It says to use three different types of nuts, but we used all pecans.

per 55 g serving:

fat:  39 g, protein: 6.5 g, carb:  2.5 g

ratio:  5:1

 Savory Spiced Pecans

After my first success, I jumped straight into round two (we bought a really big bag of pecans).  I was in love with the flavor combination I was seeing and was willing to give a buttery version a try.  

snatched from www.thekitchn.com

I can see a definite addiction coming on in the Kitchn's savory spiced pecans. One of my favorite snacks is making chex mix from the recipe on the chex box.  These have a similar flavor, but I look forward to devising my own perfect mimic of 'chex mix' flavored pecans.  My only minor alteration to the recipe was adding 6 T butter rather than 5 1/3.  Once they have fully cooled, they absorb all of the butter, fantastic!  

per 60 g serving:

fat:  43.8 g, protein:  4.4 g, carb:  2.5 g

ratio:  6.5:1

Mexican Chorizo and Avocado Scrambled Eggs

I mentioned having avocado at every meal right?  Yep.  The perfect way to mexi-fy breakfast, add Mexican chorizo and avocado.  Around these parts, this would all get wrapped in a flour tortilla to make a 'breakfast taco' and if your diet allows it, certainly give it a go, but it is equally delicious as a stand alone dish.

Ingredients:

55 g chorizo - we used HEB chorizo gringo

10 g 40% (heavy whipping) cream

120 g (about 2.5) eggs

30 g butter

50 g chopped avocado

Mexican chorizo is a spiced sausage.  Cook this first on medium heat in a frying pan squeezing it out of the casing and crumbling it in the pan as you cook.  It releases a lot of fat, so no need to add any to the frying pan.

Whip the next 3 ingredients together in a bowl.  Whip in the butter by melting it, then allowing it to cool so that it does not cook the eggs.  I find this helps incorporate as much fat into the eggs as they can take.

Once the chorizo has cooked, lower the heat and add the eggs scrambling with the chorizo.  You can throw the chopped avocado in the pan at the last minute or just top your scramble on the plate.

fat:  62.3 g, protein:  23.1 g, carb:  3 g

ratio: 2.4:1

Notes:  Chorizo can be very carb-y, so check the label of the brand you buy.  We found the HEB brand to be lowest of our options.  Also, this meal is quite greasy.  It is unclear to me if nutrition labels include the rendered fat in this case, so it may actually have more fat, but our attitude is the more fat the better anyway!  (It took me a couple of very greasy scrambled eggs for me to realize this about bacon.)

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

ice cream after a night in the freezer

Ice cream, emphasis on the cream, sounded like the perfect keto dessert, but as soon as I began to read up on it, I got worried.  As it turns out, regular ice cream is not made entirely from cream, and copious amounts of sugar are actually what give it its creaminess.  

I decided to give a shot anyway, and what a success!  It does freeze up quite hard but not impenetrable, and straight out of the ice cream maker it has a lovely soft-serve texture.

I had also read that because it can freeze up hard and quick, free standing ice cream makers just weren't up to the task.  It was no match, however, for the motor on my kitchenaid mixer with ice cream freezer attachment.  I highly recommend it if you're serious about making ice cream!

My first flavor choice was mint chocolate chip because I thought mint was the perfect mask for the aftertaste of sugar replacements.  The addition of chocolate contributes significant carbs, so a basic vanilla ice cream would drop the carb count even lower!  I have big plans for this ice cream making formula, so expect to see more in the future.

Ingredients:

480 g (2 cups) 40% heavy whipping cream

45 g truvia

5 g vanilla

60 g unsweetened almond milk

76 g (about 4) egg yolk
5 g pure mint extract

20 g coconut oil

7 g cocoa powder

Combine 1 cup cream, truvia, vanilla, and mint in a small saucepan and heat slowly on a low heat.

Combine remaining 1 cup cream and almond milk in a separate bowl.

In another separate bowl, whisk egg yolks.  Add steaming cream to the egg yolk in small amounts, whisking, to temper the eggs.  

Add tempered eggs to the saucepan, and cook the custard until it becomes thick and reaches about 160 F.

*If you are not an experienced custard maker (like me) you may end up with some bits of cooked egg in your custard.  Do not fret!  Take your custard off the heat, and pour through a strainer to remove the bits of cooked egg.  It is likely due to bits of egg white that made it in with your yolks.

Add reserved cream and almond milk to the cooked custard and refrigerate overnight to fully chill.

Pour into your ice cream maker as directed and remember that it will freeze up faster than normal ice cream.

To give it little flecks of chocolate, melt coconut oil and stir in cocoa powder to create a pourable chocolate syrup which you then drizzle into the ice cream maker near the end of the ice cream making process.

makes 7, 100 g servings:

fat:  33 g, protein:  3.3 g, carb:   2.9 g

ratio:  5.5:1

Tristan gets 85 g for dessert, and he says it is his favorite yet!

Edit:  I came back to this recipe to make more ice cream for Tristan, as he has been looking forward to this the whole trip, and I realized I forgot to include the mint!  Oops!

Avocado Chicken Salad

Spring in South Texas means the weather is already hot, so perfect weather to be eating lots of cold salads.  Couple that with the proximity to Mexico, and it would be a crime not to have avocado with every meal!  So we have.

Ingredients:

50 g diced celery

10 g chopped green onion

0.3 g garlic powder

100 g diced, grilled chicken breast

65 g Hellman's mayo

70 g chopped avocado

This is an easy one, just combine all ingredients together in a bowl! Cutting the chicken into small bites makes it easier to add the necessary amount of mayo and the celery gives it a nice crunch.

fat: 64.1 g, protein: 25.1 g, carb: 3.1 g

ratio: 2.3:1

Whataburger: Just Like You Like It

 Samantha had spoken at length about her family's love for 'Whataburger', the local fast food chain which was established in Texas and remains its primary home. McAllen has dozens of these joints and any trip outdoors results in the inevitable drive-by together with lyrical waxings about the craveable cuisine on offer. 

Having missed out on a visit during my first trip to Texas, I suspected that my new culinary limitations would mean that I would never get to sample the gourmet fare on offer at this fine local establishment. Unfazed by the peculiarities of my diet, I decided to join the family for a Saturday evening visit to the 'best burger joint in Texas', opting for a bun-less 'Bacon and Cheese Whataburger' add jalapenos. I asked for my meal to be served with extra lettuce and a tub of mayonnaise to boost the fat content. 

My meal was served on a plastic tray and I was able to make use of the handy plastic knives and forks on offer in the restaurant. I ate a sizeable heap of lettuce and the two slices of tomato with mayo, enjoying the traditional Whataburger patty with a slice of cheese, two rashers of bacon and a generous serving of pickles and mustard. The meal was delicious! Too good in fact, I thought - there must be some hidden carbs in there that I do not know about ... The investigation began …

Good news, actually there weren't ... as the following website demonstrates.

fat:  25.2g, protein:  24.8g, net carb:  3g

Note:  This does include american cheese, so lose the cheese for less protein and doesn't include mayo so load it up for more fat!  Also not included were the add-ons of bacon and jalapenos.  I chose not to eat the included onions and have jalapenos instead.