Free Low Carb for the Holidays by Sharon Wertz

 
 About the Ingredients

    There are many different artificial sweeteners on the
market. These recipes can be made with any of them. My sweetener of
choice is liquid sucralose, which is zero carbs. Powdered Splenda,
Equal, etc. contain about 24 grams of carbs per cup of sugar
equivalent because of the dextrose used to make up the powder that
carries the sweetener. Liquid sucralose or other liquid artificial
sweeteners avoid the extra carbs in the powdered sweeteners. Stevia
is another popular sweetener available in both liquid and powdered
form.
     
    Sugar alcohols, such as malitol and erythritol are
also available, but can cause intestinal distress in sensitive
individuals. Use them with caution until you find out if they upset
your system. In general, erythritol is less likely to cause
problems than are the other sugar alcohols, but they can all have a
laxative effect on some people, or if consumed in excess. Malitol
will caramelize like sugar, and can be cooked to soft crack and
hard crack stages. (If you have dogs, avoid xylitol…it is highly
poisonous to dogs.) For brown sugar substitutes, use malitol brown
or Natural Sweet Brown. Warning : Splenda Brown is half real
sugar!
     
    If you can't find the brown sugar substitute, you can
use any artificial sweetener and add one teaspoon of blackstrap
molasses to the recipe. The blackstrap molasses has a very strong
flavor and one teaspoon will flavor a cup of artificial sweetener
to taste like brown sugar while only adding 4 grams of carbohydrate
to the whole recipe. Be sure it is blackstrap molasses. It
is much stronger flavored than regular molasses. A teaspoon of
blackstrap molasses will give as much flavor as an ounce of regular
molasses.
     
    Another ingredient I use a lot is polydextrose
(polyD.) It is classified as a fiber by the FDA. Unlike other
fiber, however, it has the cooking characteristics of sugar. You
can cook it to soft ball to make caramels. You can cook it to hard
crack to make hard candies and peanut brittle. It keeps baked goods
moist, and adds "chewiness" to brownies. It makes foods made from
Carbquik less crumbly. It is slightly sweet…about 10 percent as
sweet as sugar, so you need to add sweetener in addition to the
polyD in sweet recipes.
     
    Sugar free pancake syrup can be used in recipes to
replace corn syrup or honey. Sugar free honey is also available. It
is actually a honey flavored malitol syrup.
     
    Tova Industries’ Carbquik and Carbalose flour are
also staples in my kitchen. Carbquik is basically a low carb
biscuit mix similar to Bisquick. It has 2 grams net carb per
serving, and 14 grams of fiber. You can basically take almost any
Bisquick recipe and convert it to low carb using Carbquik.
Carbalose is the flour used in Carbquik. Use it when you don’t want
the baking powder and fat that are in the Carbquik. It is one of
the flours used in making low carb pasta.
     
    Nuts and nut meals are used in many baked goods and
breads to add texture, flavor and body to many recipes. You can buy
almond meal in most grocery stores, (Bob’s Red Mill is a well known
brand,) or you can grind it yourself in a blender or food
processor. I use pecan and walnut meal most often, since they are
lower carb than almond meal. Pecan meal has the lowest carb
count.
     
    Flax seeds are used both whole and ground into meal
in many recipes. I recommend golden flax rather than brown flax
because of its mild nutty flavor. You can grind your own seeds in a
blender, or buy flax meal already ground. Keep it in the
refrigerator or freezer, since it goes rancid at room
temperature.
     
    I make my own low carb pasta, but if you don’t want
to make it you can use a tofu/shirataki noodle blend made by House
Foods. (Use their spaghetti to make faux rice.) You can get it
online or at an Asian market. Some supermarkets are carrying it
now, and it is available at Sprouts markets. Look for it near the
tofu. It comes in angel hair, fettuccine, spaghetti and macaroni
shapes,