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![]() 11-03-03 - Product Recommendation & Review: ![]() We first reviewed Keto Ketatoes back in November of 1999. (Seems like a long time ago, doesn't it?) And we've been creatively using them ever since... as time's gone by, they've changed the label (a few times) and changed the formula. They just keep improving. And in September of 2000, they introduced the first new flavor variety of Ketatoes Bacon and Chive. Now, they've improved them once again and added three new flavors! Keto now brings us potato mixes in Sour Cream and Cheddar, Garlic Parmesan, and Sweet Ketato. The label instructions now offer water and butter mixing instructions, but include a way to make them even creamier. They make very nice side dishes on their own, but when you get a little creative, they really shine. First off, we still like the idea of mixing the Garlic Parmesan variety with well-whipped cooked cauliflower. Then add additional parmesan or even a little shredded Swiss cheese to melt down through. For the Sour Cream and Cheddar, don't be afraid to add extra cheese... and it doesn't have to be cheddar. Adding Monterey Jack and some diced scallions made these a real winner. And make them with 4 Tablespoons of cream cheese per each 2-serving batch. They'll be super creamy and scrumptious. ![]() And don't forget the original flavors Plain and Bacon & Chive. If you haven't tried Ketatoes lately, you haven't tried Ketatoes! They're available from The Low Carb Connoisseur. 08-19-03 - Product Recommendation & Review: ![]() Looking for something quick, easy, portable, and well... instant? That's not always an easy find when you're low carb. We recently tried the new low carb instant soups from Alpine Aire. They keep their promise... they're low carb (between 4 and 6 effective carbs per serving) and are really quite good. Very flavorful, and very easy to make. And they don't even contain artificial preservatives, colors, or flavorings! No hydrogenated oils either... No sugar, no flour. Just really healthy ingredients, from veggies to sweet cream. They come in four great varieties: Bay Shrimp Bisque (6 carbs), Beefy Vegetable Soup (4 carbs), Broccoli Cheddar (5 carbs), and Mushroom Chicken (4 carbs.) If you have access to hot water, you're good to go! A great hot lunch item that you can keep in your desk at the ready! And they're only 70 calories apiece also! Alpine Aire Foods Low Carb Instant Soups are available online from The Low Carb Nexus. 08-03-03 - Product Recommendation & Review: ![]() The folks at Southwest Dairy who brought you LeCarb Frozen Desserts and LeCarb Dairy Drink have debuted a new product that we believe you're going to want to try! It's called LeCarb YoCarb Cultured Dairy Blend, and we think it's a yogurt you can fall in love with. Coming in at 3 to 4 grams of carbohydrate per serving, this Splenda sweetened yogurt is creamy and delicious. It's the lowest carb yogurt available anywhere and comes in seven flavor varieties: Blueberry, Strawberry, Plain, ![]() Each comes in 1/2 cup (4 oz) single serving plastic containers, and carry calorie counts of 45 to 50 each. They contain active yogurt cultures and NO Sugar alcohols. Without a doubt, everyone's favorite flavors were Blueberry and Strawberry-Banana. But each is good in its own right. And if you like to keep a little plain yogurt onhand for cooking, or for flavoring and sweetening yourself with DaVinci syrups, the YoCarb Plain is just the ticket. YoCarb contains half the calories of regular low-fat yogurt, and has the lowest combination of carbs, fat and calories of any yogurt-like cultured dairy blend. The complete line of LeCarb products is available in Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi in Brookshire's, Super 1 Foods and Ole Foods Stores. We'll update as new outlets for LeCarb products are announced. 05-07-02 - Product Recommendation & Review: ![]() For cooking, baking, frying, and in salads, macadamia nut oil boasts the most favorable ratio (1:1) of Omega 3 to omega 6 fatty acids of all the Culinary oils including olive and canola. Great news in the continuing quest to avoid heart disease and high blood pressure. Countering the difficult to avoid Omega 6 fats by adding or replacing them with healthy amounts of Omega 3 fats, it's beneficial to our HDL/LDL ratio ("good" vs. "bad" cholesterol). ![]() And macadamia nut oil has a lofty smoke point of 389 F! This high smoke point provides an extra margin of safety and stability for the full range of cooking temperatures and doesn't turn to dangerous trans fats as it heats. It has a pale golden color and a rich flavor that doesn't overpower your cooking. Plus the superior coating properties of macadamia nut oil means a little goes a long way. Once opened, many other polyunsaturated cooking and salad oils need to be protected with refrigeration. Healthy macadamia nut oil is stable and safe for months after opening, even at room temperature. If refrigerated, macadamia nut oil lasts for years. Of course, it is so tasty you'll use it well before then! Oils Of Aloha Macadamia Nut Oil is available at netrition. 04-25-02 - Product Recommendation & Review: ![]() When we first heard about these, we assumed that since they're marketed to fight garlic, onion, coffee, tobacco, and morning breath, they might be pretty ineffective with keto-breath. Yet they do seem to work quite well. The majority of our group found them to be effective when they were in ketosis. Their directions suggest you take 2 to 4 gelcaps in the morning, but we found you do need to take 4 gelcaps to get good results. And if you have an event, guests, or a special evening planned, it couldn't hurt to take a couple more late afternoon. But they did work well enough that we felt they deserved a recommendation here. And they can make a world of difference in your confidence levels! They contain very safe ingredients Parsley seed oil, chinese spearmint oil, sunflower oil, coloring and gelatin. Crystal Breath is available to order online from The Low Carb Zone. 12-20-01 - Product Recommendation & Review: ![]() At its simplest, simply follow the directions on the package to make a chocolate pudding with cocoa, water, cream, and sweetener. Or jazz it up by adding other flavors, colors, DaVinci sugarfree syrups, chopped nuts, or coconut. It's an amazing base mix that is nearly carb free after fiber, so you just count the carbs YOU add. If you add a little cream or coconut milk, and sweeten with liquid sweeteners or DaVinci, you'll have a dessert with the barest of carbs. Make it softer and keep it warm and you have a sweet custard-y sauce to pour over low-carb almond poundcake or another favorite dessert. Served this way, it's great to add sweet butter and egg yolks, plus plenty of vanilla (ground vanilla beans are great here!) Don't miss this one. It comes in resealable 5-oz packages that make 38 servings. Expert Foods Wise CHOice Cook-it-Up Pudding Mix is available at The Low Carb Dieter's Page, CarbSmart, and The Low Carb Connoisseur. 03-06-01 - Product Recommendation & Review: ![]() I know it seems like 19 flavors is a little much to list here, but I just have to as they totally bowled us over! Here are your choices: Pina Colada, Raspberry, Strawberry Banana, Tropical, Bananas Foster, Blueberry, Strawberry Kiwi, Lemon Chiffon, Mixed Berry, Vanilla Creme, Strawberry, Black Cherry, Peach, Key Lime Pie, Black Forest, Coconut Creme Pie, Cherry Vanilla, Orange Creme, and Pineapple Orange Banana. ![]() We've found them in all the Wal*Mart supercenters we've tried, so we suspect they have nation-wide distribution there, but we know they are in a lot of other groceries too. You can visit the Blue Bunny website to learn more or to call (1-800-331-0830) for a grocer in your area that carries them. They were very helpful when we first called. And if you have to drive a bit out of your way to get them, it's worth the trip stock up! 02-27-01 - Product Recommendation & Review: ![]() The little packets come in the following varieties: Chicken, Hearty Beef, Vegetable, Chicken Noodle, and French Onion. We found the chicken to be the best "plain", but it was quite good when we added a pat of butter, a sprinkle of onion powder, and a few seasonings. The others were all good as bases for soups -- just add your favorite leftover low-carb veggies and meats for a fast lunch. Or get more creative like we did... We found that the chicken and the hearty beef made good add-ins when making our Mock Mashed Potatoes or Family Style Mashed "Potatoes". Both the beef and the french onion gave extra zing to our Midwest Chili & Beans. And the french onion also makes a very tasty dip - (mix with half softened cream cheese and half sour cream, then allow to sit covered and refrigerated for at least 3 hours.) But don't stop there. Add them into sauces, low-carb gravies, chowders, even add them into your ground beef before making burgers (the veggie and the french onion are best for this.) Use the chicken to mix with a bit of butter over most hot veggies as well. In short, they're little packets of concentrated flavor! Use them as such. They contain no transfats and no sugar. Royal Gold Ribbon Soup mixes are available online at Low Carb Nexus. 01-29-01 - Product Recommendation & Review: ![]() Here's a review that's long over-due. We first tried these versatile ![]() They come in Banana, Chocolate, and Vanilla (but the vanilla can be made into nearly ANY flavor with extracts and food colorings!) First, we made a banana creme pie with the ![]() And the Chocolate Pudding? One of our reviewers had a great idea. We made the Chocolate Cake recipe from the site (made from the Keto Chocolate Cookie Mix (reviewed earlier) without the icing. We made and heated the ![]() Of course we also tried all three flavors just as pudding. The taste is almost the same as traditional Jell-O sugar-free pudding mix, but at half the carbs and no aspartame! We should note, it makes a glossier, thicker pudding than traditional, so if you like a lighter pudding, add a bit more water or half-n-half. We also found some of us liked them better with a smidge of extra sweetener (we used liquid to avoid adding to the carb count.) We call this a winner! You can order online at The Low Carb Connoisseur, The Low Carb Dieter's Page, or Life Services. 01-27-01 - Product Recommendation & Review: ![]() ![]() ![]() First, let me make it clear that the differences are in the LABELS and not in the product. We had spoken with their R&D department and had related to them that when we'd mixed the Ketato mix in with our Mock Mashed Potatoes recipe, we'd really loved the results. They took the idea and ran with it, and in its next incarnation, the label now calls for making the Ketatoes exclusively with the cauliflower mix. People that didn't want to make them that way, or that didn't want to use cauliflower, started writing us here at Low Carb Luxury, asking what the deal was. Okay, so here's the skinny: There are two really excellent ways to make them for great mashed "potatoes" (of course many of our recipes here use them for other dishes, as well, but for regular family-style mashed...): First, you can make them with the cauliflower. Either follow the directions on the [new] can, or use the recipe here. The other way is quicker, if a bit less elegant. But it fits the bill if you don't want to use cauliflower and prefer to use Ketatoes more like "Instant Mashed Potatoes": Add 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) butter and 4 ounces of cream cheese to a microwave safe casserole dish. Semi-melt in microwave for approximately 40 seconds (microwave times vary, so adjust as needed.) Remove from microwave and whisk (not stir -- you need a real whisk here) to fully mix the cream cheese and butter. Add 3 Tablespoons heavy cream and whisk again. Add seasonings at this point -- to your personal tastes (salt and pepper, onion powder, a dash of garlic, etc.) To this mixture, add 1/2 cup Ketato Mix and whisk with enough very hot water to reach your desired consistency. You can make them thick or thin this way -- your preference. Start to finish, it takes less than 5 minutes to make them this way. My own preference? If I have the time, I make them the cauliflower way according to my recipe above. If I am rushed, I make them the "quickie" way and still enjoy them. Either way, Ketatoes can bring potatoes back into your life without the high-carb side effects of the "real thing". Our household would never be without them! You can order online at The Low Carb Connoisseur, The Low Carb Dieter's Page, or Life Services. 12-26-00 - Product Recommendation & Review: ![]() About a year ago, I started buying and using the Cottee's Gelatins in place of America's classic sugarfree Jell-O because I was trying to reduce the amount of aspartame (NutraSweet) my family and I consume. In a short while, it became simply habit to reach for the Cottee's, and I was using it in many of the recipes calling for gelatin here at the site. When making a gelatin based dish with the group a couple of weeks ago, one of our members remarked that they didn't think we'd reviewed the Cottee's as yet, and they certainly seemed worthy of a review. Indeed they do, and indeed we had not as yet reviewed them. So we'd like to write a few words of praise for them now. ![]() Cottee's sugar free gelatins come in Lime, Raspberry, Orange, Lemon, and Strawberry. Try mixing one packet of lime and one packet of lemon with sparkling water! Or layer the flavors and top with whipped cream for a very easy, yet creative looking dessert for company! Cottee's Gelatin is available from The Low Carb Connoisseur. UPDATE November 2001: As far as we have been able to determine, this product is no longer being imported. If we hear of a change of status, it will be posted here. 11-01-00 - Product Recommendation & Review: ![]() Later, Mother was more "enlightened" and used nothing but shortening. In the beginning I recall seeing her use something called "Swift'ning" (a shortening made from animal fats that was more similar to a lard.) Then the "evils of animal fats" came out and she switched to only Crisco for everything. And that's what I was brought up on and what I believed was healthy. Of course it wasn't until the last couple of years that I began to learn about trans fats and their dangers. Trans fats can raise total cholesterol, raise LDL (bad cholesterol), and actually lower HDL (good cholesterol.) The more you read about trans fat, the further you want to stay away from them! However, by the time I'd learned all this, I had an arsenal of recipes that used shortening. Many of them could be switched for butter or lard, but some just didn't come out the same. So we were very pleased to discover a new product that solves this dilemma for me and will let me use shortening again! It's the new Smart Balance Vegetable Shortening. And it's 100% Trans Fat Free! We tried this shortening out to see if it would perform just like its unhealthy cousin, Crisco. We made three "shortening classics": First up -- Fried Chicken: It fries great! We dipped chicken legs into beaten egg then rolled in seasoned crushed pork rinds and fried 'em up. Fabulous! Next we made Low Carb Biscuits. Yum! They were actually flaky! And last, we made our basic Low Carb Pie Crust (filled it with sugar free chocolate pudding and topped it with whipped cream) -- another winner. So we feel good about recommending the new Smart Balance shortening for use anywhere you'd have used regular shortening before. Look for it at your local grocery, and if you can't find it, ask them to order it for you! Or call Heart Beat Foods at 201-568-9300 and ask where you can find it in your area. 09-20-00 - Product Recommendation & Review: ![]() ![]() So it seemed a natural evolution for the Keto folks to develop their newest entry in the "healthier potato" category Bacon & Cheddar Chive Keto Ketato mix. When you first open the vacuum sealed can, take note of the aroma of the mix. I assure you, it will get your mouth watering. Years ago I used to enjoy a local brand of potato chips that were their Bacon & Chive flavor. These smell just like them. The new Ketatoes are a rich, silky mixture that blend easily with traditional "mock mashed potatoes" (whipped cauliflower) and offer a true potato taste and texture. But don't be shy about adding extras of any of the flavors you most like crisp crumbles of real bacon, shredded cheddar or jack cheese, broccoli flowerettes, or even sunflower seeds for an added crunch and taste. ![]() You can order online at The Low Carb Connoisseur, The Low Carb Dieter's Page, or Life Services. 11-27-99 - Product Recommendation & Review: * * SEE REVISED REVIEW DONE ON JANUARY 27th, 2001. * * Have you tried the new Mashed Potato clone from ![]() ![]() You can order online at The Low Carb Connoisseur, The Low Carb Dieter's Page, or Life Services. |
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