low carb restaurant rec (nyc)!

I had the best dinner last night with my friend Ilyssa at Banc Cafe. Ilyssa somehow found out about this place a few months ago and I absolutely LOVE it!! The concept is very cool; it used to be a bank and is now converted into a bar and restaurant. I also love that they have a great happy hour and you can sit at a table and still order from the happy hour menu- this is key! Most places do NOT honor happy hour prices if you are sitting down to dinner so that is always exciting. Plus the happy hour specials are beyond the usual cosmos/appletinis. Yesterday I had a sugarless cucumber martini and it was great! It's on 32nd and 3rd.. would highly recommend if you are in the area.

So, I was a little bummed because I couldn't have my favorite meal there (angel hair pasta in vodka sauce with chicken, peppers and spinach) - SO good. I decided to ask the waitress if she could give me the same dish with steamed broccoli instead of pasta. She was so nice about it and IT WAS AMAZING!!! AMAZING!! And hardly any carbs at all! The vodka sauce there is very thin - not heavy at all - so I'm sure it's probably not that bad calorie wise, either.

Oh, and more info about the cupcakes below- they are about 100 calories per cupcake and 2-3 grams of fat each. So maybe 2 points on weight watchers if you are doing that.

delicious mini lemon cheesecakes!

(Note: I can't figure out how to make the pictures bigger.. you can click on them for a close up view though).

RATING: 5 out of 4 stars! THIS WAS FANTASTIC!! I had made the cheesecakes before (and really liked them) but I used cinnamon to flavor them instead of lemon. Tonight I just happened to notice lemon juice in the fridge and wondered what they would be like lemon flavored, so I made three of them this way. The only problem was that they were so good, I really wanted to eat another one and it was hard to stop myself. The cinnamon ones are still really good too and I'd recommend making them, I think it's just a matter of preference.

INGREDIENTS:

8 oz. low fat cream cheese

3 eggs

Splenda

Butter (optional)

Almond Meal (optional)

Lemon juice or Cinnamon to flavor

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Put 12 muffin liners in a regular sized muffin pan.

3. If you want a crust (I'd recommend it), mix almond meal with melted butter and splenda to taste. This is not an exact science. I melted two tbsp butter and just put enough meal inside until it became thick (a pasty consistency) and added enough splenda to make it sweet.

4. Spoon the crust into each muffin liner. Press down into each one so that an even "crust" is formed.

5. Use a hand mixer to mix the cream cheese, eggs, and 1/2 cup splenda (Note: I have noticed that not all sugar substitutes are the same. You substitute 1/ cup splenda for one cup sugar, but other substitutes are cup for cup, so you would need a full cup in this recipe. Basically, you want the equivalent of a cup of sugar). Mix until it is a liquidy consistency.

6. Spoon the liquid into each muffin liner.

7. If you want cinnamon cheesecakes, sprinkle cinnamon on top (generously) and swirl with a fork. If you want lemon cheesecakes, squirt lemon juice (generously) into each cheesecake and swirl with a fork.

8. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

9. When 30 minutes is up, turn oven off and open it a few inches. Leave cheesecakes in the oven for an hour so they can cool this way. Otherwise, they will crack as they cool.

10. Remove and refrigerate. I store them in ziplock bags and put four cakes in each bag. They last about a week in the refrigerator and who knows how long in the freezer. I froze about half of them and when I had finished the refrigerated ones, I moved the frozen ones to the refrigerator to defrost.

baked apple

RATING: 3/4 stars - not my best low carb recipe, but it definitely hit the spot when I wanted some sweet comfort food! I prefer the low carb cheesecakes (recipe to come) for dessert, but if you want to make something quick and have apples on hand, this is perfect! Plus, with the fiber, etc in the apple, this is definitely more nutritious than the cheesecake.

INGREDIENTS:

Apple

Splenda or sugar substitute

Butter or butter substitute

Cinnamon

Vanilla

Nutmeg (not necessary but a nice touch)

Sugar Free cool whip (not necessary but a nice touch)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. Take a knife and cut out the core of the apple, while still leaving the bottom of the apple intact. Make sure you don't cut all the way through the apple or you will ruin it.. but you do want to make sure you get all of the seeds out.

3. Fill the center of the apple with a tbsp of splenda, a few shakes of cinnamon and nutmeg and a dash of vanilla. Put a tbsp of butter on top.

4. Bake for 30 minutes in a cake pan or casserole dish.

5. Top with cool whip if you have it on hand (I didn't) and enjoy!

Welcome!

As we were sharing low carb recipes earlier today, Emily and I decided to make this blog as a way to share our finds with each other and everyone else! We are both people that eat out a lot, so we can also share some good restaurant meals to order if you are trying to eat low-carb.

I decided to cut out starches and sugars as my new year's resolution, and have really enjoyed this new way of eating. I don't count calories or carbs; instead, I just do everything I can to avoid sugars and starches. Not only have I lost weight, but I feel so much healthier and have much more energy than I did before I started this new way of eating. It is amazing how your cravings really disappear once you get rid of the "bad" carbohydrates from your diet. As long as I eat three meals a day, I'm hardly ever hungry and I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything.

Stay tuned!