Make your own sugar-free craisins!

7 carbs per cup of fresh cranberries - measure before you start if you want a good carb count after they're dry.

1 cup water
1/2 cup xylitol
1 package whole fresh cranberries

Wash the cranberries and cut them in half. Boil the water and xylitol until the xylitol is dissolved. Turn off the heat and add the cranberry halves. Let them soak for 30 minutes for tart craisins, soak for several hours for sweet craisins. (I soaked mine overnight.) I stirred them about every half hour for the first little bit, then they shrunk down and were all submerged in the syrup. Put them in the dehydrator for about 8 hours. jBe careful or they will fall through the grids. Use the small grids.

They're beautiful! This is a bit tedius, so be prepared. But it will be worth it to have a raisin replacement!

This is a short video.

No Arms No Legs No Worries

Saw this online and it looks delish! We can replace the flour with porkskins, but what about the lemon juice and wine - would vinegar work for the lemon juice to reduce the carbs? I guess the wine would be ok?

4 boneless chicken breasts
 1 egg
 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
 1/4 teaspoon salt
 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
 6 tablespoons butter, divided
 2 tablespoons olive oil
 2 tablespoons shallots, finely minced
 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
 1/2 cup lemon juice (about 2-3 lemons)
 1/2 cup chicken stock
 1/4 cup dry white wine
 2 tablespoons capers, drained and rinsed

1. Pound the chicken breasts to an even thickness, less than half an inch. For very thick chicken breasts, butterfly them by cutting in half.

2. In a small bowl, whisk the egg with 2 tablespoons of water to make an egg wash. Pour the egg wash on a rimmed plate. On another plate, mix the flour, salt, and pepper. Dip both sides of each chicken breast piece in the egg wash, then dredge in the flour mixture until coated.

3. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of the butter and 2 tablespoons of olive oil and allow to heat.

4. Place the coated chicken breasts in the hot skillet. Allow the chicken to cook on the first side until golden. Turn, and cook the second side until also golden and the chicken is cooked through.

5. Place the finished chicken on a heat tolerant plate, and place in a 200°F oven to keep warm while the other cutlets are sautéing and while the sauce is made.

6. In the skillet, sauté the shallots for 1 minute. Add additional olive oil for sautéing the shallots if needed. Add the garlic and sauté an additional minute, or until the garlic is fragrant.

7. Add the lemon juice, chicken stock, and white wine to the skillet. Stir and scrape up the browned bits. Reduce heat to a simmer and allow the juices to reduce by half.

8. Whisk in the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter. Add the capers.

9. Plate the warm chicken breasts and ladle the sauce on top. Garnish with lemon slices.

Wahoo! My NETRITION order has finally arrived! I didn't even remember what all I ordered. What FUN! The oat fiber came in FOIL - Space Age - wrappers. It MUST be good! Sauces, Smaps, sf honey, beanit butter... It's just like Christmas around here!

Today I was going out for lunch and went looking for a long-sleeved top to wear. Ho hum. Same-ol', Same-ol', then I remembered a really cute long-sleeved top that my daughter gave me 5 years ago, that I've never been able to wear. It's a 'large' and at the time I was wearing 2X, so I put it in a drawer and forgot about it except when I would run across it now and again. Anyway, I tried it on this morning and IT FIT! I cut the tags off (at least I hope I got them all!) and wore it! It's even loose in the boobs! It must be an oversized large because I'm sure I couldn't fit in a regular large, but I was just tickled! And the SCALE isn't budging!

Umpa, a recipe that I found online to convert - in your spare time! (or do we already have this recipe and I missed it?):
 
Samoas

Batter:
1 cup butter , softened
½ cup sugar
2 cups flour (Gluten-Free)
¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
sweet rice flour, for dusting

Caramel-Coconut Topping:
3 cups shredded sweetened coconut
12 ounces caramels (I used Milk Maids)
¼ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons milk
8 ounces semisweet milk chocolate

Directions:
Cream together butter and sugar.
Mix in flour, baking powder, salt and xanthan gum at low speed.
Stir in vanilla. If dough is too dry, add milk 1 tbsp at a time. If dough is too sticky, add flour 1 tbsp at a time. I ended up adding about 3 tbsp extra flour.
Roll dough to slightly less than 1/4" thick between two pieces of well floured parchment paper (I used sweet-rice-flour).
Using a circle cookie cutter about 1.5-2" in diameter, make rounds out of the flattened dough. Use a knife to cut out the center of each round. The end result should look kind of like a flat doughnut.
Reroll left over dough and continue making rounds until no dough remains. Keep rolling surfaces well floured.
On a parchment lined baking sheet, bake cookies in preheated oven at 350F for 10-12 minutes or until the edges start to brown.
When removing them from the oven, it is very important that you do not break them. They will be very fragile until they cool. Allow to cool completely before topping with caramel coconut mixture.
Lower oven temperature to 300°F Spread coconut evenly on parchment lined baking sheet and toast for 20 minutes. Stir every 5 minutes until coconut is evenly browned. Cool on baking sheet.
Unwrap caramels and place in a large microwave-safe bowl with milk and salt. Cook on high for 3-4 minutes, stirring every 45 seconds or so until well combined.
Fold in shredded coconut.
Using a high quality silicone spatula, spread caramel mixture even onto cooled cookies. You may break the cookies doing this, but do not worry, the caramel will hold it all together when cooled. Reheat caramel mixture as necessary while spreading.
Allow caramel mixture to set.
Melt chocolate in microwave, stirring every 40 seconds or so to prevent scorching.
Turn cookies upside down on parchment paper and spread a thin layer of chocolate on bottom of cookies. Transfer cookies top-down to fridge to harden chocolate before proceeding to next step.
Using the remaining melted chocolate (or melt more), pipe topping onto cookies. I used a plastic bag with a small hole cut in the corner.
Allow chocolate topping to harden before storing in airtight container.

I was just thinking about my favorite Chinese dish, Honey Walnut Shrimp... do you think shrimp dipped in egg and dredged in pork rinds and fried then coated with sugar free honey and walnuts would work, or would sf syrup be better? I don't have the sugar free honey but have seen it in the store and it seems like it had kind of a high carb count. What you think?