Atkins Food Porn

[aguamenti22]

Originally Posted by dietcokeaddict

Hi all...I am brand new, just wanted to say I found this forum by searching for low carb recipes and I'm glad I did. Lots of good ideas here and I'm looking forward to making a bunch after a quick Wally World trip today. Looking forward to spending some time here as well.

[dietcokeaddict]

Thanks for the welcome.

Now, down to business...what the heck am I doing wrong with these oopsies? My first batch turned into a flat mess (didn't fold in enough maybe?) and my second didn't puff up enough or come off the pan well despite cooking spray, but wasn't runny.

BTW, I can cook...really. :blush:

[Madam De Leon]

Originally Posted by dietcokeaddict

Thanks for the welcome.

Now, down to business...what the heck am I doing wrong with these oopsies? My first batch turned into a flat mess (didn't fold in enough maybe?) and my second didn't puff up enough or come off the pan well despite cooking spray, but wasn't runny.

BTW, I can cook...really. :blush:

Cleo has illustrated instructions on her site, and there's a video of them being made by Avenue Girl.

If that doesn't help, I wrote a troubleshooting guide a while back that might help you figure out what's going wrong (I know you said you can cook, so don't take any of this as an insult. This was written so simplistically, so that even novice cooks would have detailed information on how to make a successful batch of oopsies):

Let's go through a little checklist, to see if we can troubleshoot the problem:

- You need two bowls: A larger one for the egg whites, and a slightly smaller one for the yolk mixture.

- When separating the eggs, make sure you don't get any egg yolk mixed in with the whites, or else the whites won't whip up properly.

- Make sure your egg white bowl and beaters are scrupulously clean - any greasy/oily residue could prevent your egg whites from whipping up properly.


Start with the egg whites

- Make sure that you're not trying to whip the egg whites using beaters contaminated with yolk and cream cheese residue.

- Add the cream of tartar to the egg whites - it helps them whip up stiffer and maintain their volume better.

- Do not attempt to whip your egg whites using a blender, because they will not get stiff enough! An electric mixer works best, but you could also use a rotary egg beater or a whisk - they just take a lot longer.

- Whip the egg whites on high speed until they form very stiff peaks. This will take several minutes.

- Stop the mixer and lift your beaters out of the egg whites. There should be peaks that look like this: ||| not like this: ((( And certainly not like this: ~~~

- Additional test for stiff egg whites: Turn the entire bowl of beaten egg whites upside down. If they don't move at all, they're stiff enough. Do this only after first checking for stiff peaks, otherwise, you're likely to end up with your egg whites all over the floor!


Once the egg whites are stiff, you're ready to do the yolk/cream cheese mixture:

- Mix the egg yolks and cream cheese in a different bowl from the whites.

- You don't need to wash the beaters after whipping your egg whites, just scrape off most of the excess stiff egg whites into the egg white bowl.

- Don't soften the cream cheese. It will mix into the egg yolks just fine straight out of the fridge. (You can let it sit at room temperature while you do the egg whites if you want though)

- Just mix away until there's no obvious chunks of cream cheese left.

- The cream cheese does NOT need to be blended into the yolks perfectly smoothly. It's OK to still have some little bits of unmixed cream cheese in the yolk mixture.

Folding the yolk mixture into the stiff egg whites:

- NEVER use a mixer or blender of any kind to fold in the yolk mixture (Not even if it has a setting that says "fold" - that's still too fast, and will still break down the egg whites, giving you a pan full of "flopsies", instead of oopsies.)

- Don't try to fold in all the yolk mixture at once.

- Pour about half the yolk mixture over the egg whites.

- Fold the yolk mixture in by hand, using a long thin spatula/spoonula or a long thin teaspoon

- Cleo recommends folding the yolk mixture in by gently moving your long handled spoon back and forth across the bowl of egg whites in a sine wave (S pattern).

- Turn the bowl 90 degrees (1/4 turn) and make another sine wave (S pattern) back and forth across the bowl.

- Repeat this process with the 2nd half of the egg whites.

Problems with this step and what to do:

- If yolk mixture just drops to the bottom of the bowl without mixing in, I find that I can usually drag it back up to the top with my spatula, by scraping directly down the side and up in the middle of the bowl.

- Don't obsess with getting every bit of the yolk mixture evenly mixed into the stiff egg whites though, because every stroke with your spatula/spoon will cause the egg whites to lose a little more volume - there are ways to compensate

- It's ok for the finished mixture to be streaky after folding - stiff whites with yellow streaks of yolk mixture through it is just fine.

Into the Oven

- Spray your pan thoroughly so that the oopsies don't stick to it.

- OR you can cover your baking pan with a sheet of parchment paper.

- OR you can use a sprayed muffin top pan.

- OR place sprayed mini wilton cake pans on a jelly roll pan.

- Start by scooping a spoonful into 6 piles on the baking pan (parchment/muffin top/mini cake pans)

- Pile more oopsie batter on top of those piles

- If you find that you have unmixed yolk mixture at the bottom of the bowl, make a "well" in the piles of oopsie batter (just like making a well in mashed potatoes to hold gravy), and scoop the runny yolk mixture into them, so that it doesn't run all over.

- Bake at 300 F for 30 minutes.


What to expect:

- The oopsies will puff up as they're baking, before flattening out somewhat.

- These are not 1-1/2" high white flour hamburger buns! Mine always settle down to less than 1/2" high.

- It will take two oopsies to make a sandwich - one on the top and one on the bottom, because they're not thick enough to slice.

- If your oopsies are crumbly, check the recipe.
->The original Atkins Rev Roll only used 1 Tbsp of cream cheese per egg, resulting in a roll that was hard and crumbly when first baked (like a meringue), but when stored in an air tight container overnight, would soften.
->Cleo's Oopsies use 1 oz (2 Tbsp) cream cheese per egg. All that extra cream cheese means they're soft and pliable as soon as they come out of the oven.

- If you've checked the recipe and they're still crumbly when they come out of the oven, or if they don't appear to be done after 1/2 hour, your oven temperature may not be accurate.

- If you live in a dry climate, your oopsies will probably dry out enough to store them in a plastic bag within a few hours.

- If you live in a humid climate, they may become more moist the longer they sit out. What I do in this humid area is to bake them at a slightly higher temperature (just under 325F) to dry them out a bit more in the baking process. Then as soon as they're cooled, and are no longer moist feeling on the bottom, bag them and refrigerate.

[dietcokeaddict]

Thanks for all the tips Madam. All I can think is that I really need to beat the eggs whites even more. I have already watched the video (and she said a minute if I recall and I beat for 4 minutes), as well as Cleo's action figure illustrations. I'm attaching a pic here so you can all see what not to do.



Note the Amazon box in the background. UPS brought my Just the Cheese bites today.

[Martini72]

I would eat those...LOL

[cleochatra]

Originally Posted by dietcokeaddict

Thanks for all the tips Madam. All I can think is that I really need to beat the eggs whites even more. I have already watched the video (and she said a minute if I recall and I beat for 4 minutes), as well as Cleo's action figure illustrations. I'm attaching a pic here so you can all see what not to do.



Note the Amazon box in the background. UPS brought my Just the Cheese bites today.

Hey, those look fine! They're a little flat, but so was I as a teen.

[Madam De Leon]

They look fine to me too!

The oopsies really don't end up being some kind of big puffy sky-high bun. They may puff up pretty big in the oven, but they always flatten out a good bit.

Mine are a bit more brown than yours, simply because I bake them at a slightly higher temperature to dry them out a bit better.

The only thing I can see that might indicate that you're not beating the whites long enough is the thin edges - When the whites have been beaten stiff enough (and you don't happen to have any yolk mixture that didn't get mixed in and ends up around the edge of the oopsie), the edges of the oopsie will be a bit more rounded.

The shape (round, square, oblong, rectangular) is controlled by how you shape the batter on the baking pan. I tend to do a lot of sculpting on the pan so that they end up the shape I want them to be. Or you could just follow Cleo's suggestion of mini-cake pans for perfectly shaped oopsies, just the right size for burgers. Wilton makes mini-cake pans, but you might still be able to find some silicone mini-cake pans at the Dollar Tree too. (I picked up some mini-bundt pans there - to make oopsie donuts!)

But that's just technical tweaking to make them "prettier" - they'll still work just as well with the flat edges when you use them as sandwich bread, buns, or to make french toast, etc.

~~~~~~~~~~

I have to tell you this story though - It gets unbearably hot and humid here in the summertime (and we don't have central air! *swelter*), so I was trying to figure out a way to make oopsies without having to heat up the oven in an already sickeningly hot kitchen, and thought hey, maybe I could make them in the microwave...

EPIC FAIL!

They poofed up really pretty while they were cooking, then fell flatter than flat and spread all over the plate! I suppose they could have been used in place of flat bread or tortillas, but they were so thin and flimsy that I don't think they could have stood up to being filled. I can't recall what I used them for - I may have just pretended they were really flat pancakes. (I really try not to waste food, not even my epic failures!)

I couldn't see myself going through the entire summer with no oopsies though, so I ended up just baking enough oopsies to last through the long hot summer and froze them. They thaw out just fine, and I had lots of chicken salad sandwiches, burgers and hot dogs on oopsies during the summer.

[dietcokeaddict]

Originally Posted by cleochatra

Hey, those look fine! They're a little flat, but so was I as a teen.

They actually improved overnight. I ate two last night as a roast beef sandwich.

I will try again soon and beat the egg whites into submission (but definitely not in the micro madam!).

[aguamenti22]

Deluxe fried "rice"





Chicken Salad Melts

[Madam De Leon]

Originally Posted by dietcokeaddict

Question... Can we have Laughing Cow cheese on induction? It has zero net carbs and I think it would make a good celery filling or dip.

ETA: looks like you can (I should have searched deeper). Here's a neat recipe. Has anyone tried this?
Slim Chip Dip! | The Laughing Cow

That particular recipe seems to be calling for their low fat cheese - most Low Carbers don't put such stringent limits on dietary fat (ETA: Especially during induction), but if you have a full fat version of the cheese (or need to seriously limit your fats for some reason), it sounds fine.

[Monkee]

Your chicken salad melts look so yummy, Agua. I used to make them all the time when I first started. Thanks for the reminder. Now I know what I am having to eat next week. Yummy.

[aguamenti22]

Originally Posted by Monkee

Your chicken salad melts look so yummy, Agua. I used to make them all the time when I first started. Thanks for the reminder. Now I know what I am having to eat next week. Yummy.

Monkeeeee! There you are! It's been a while that I haven't "seen" you! Thanks for the compliment they were really tasty!

[Lucy1425]

This thread is absolutely fabulous! Thanks for the links to the blogs. I have made them icons on my ipad. I can't wait to try so many of the recipes. I think I will stay away from the dessert ones for now, though because I have definite portion control problems.

[Monkee]

Originally Posted by aguamenti22

Monkeeeee! There you are! It's been a while that I haven't "seen" you! Thanks for the compliment they were really tasty!

I am still here.
I check the thread daily but don't always post. I am waiting for your food pics since you're my food porn dealer!

[aguamenti22]

Originally Posted by Monkee

I am still here.
I check the thread daily but don't always post. I am waiting for your food pics since you're my food porn dealer!

I'm a dealer!

[happylabs]

Here are a couple things I made this week. I have been hooked on hot sauce and foods with garlic in them.

This is ham heated in a pan with butter and then provolone melted onto it. After I took the ham/cheese out of the pan and put it on a Mama Lupe's wrap, I added some hot sauce to the butter in the pan and then poured it onto the wrap.


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Spaghetti Pie made with Dreamfields Pasta.

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[happylabs]

I have no idea why my post above shows two pictures of each???

[cleochatra]

Because they're dishes so nice they posted twice?

[Martini72]

So I each of my eyes has their own picture!!!! That spaghetti pie ...OH MY!!!

[Monkee]

Happylabs - That spaghetti pie looks really yummy. Cheesy and delicious.

Originally Posted by aguamenti22

I'm a dealer!

LOL you sure are! You give me a quick fix!

[happylabs]

Originally Posted by cleochatra

Because they're dishes so nice they posted twice?

Originally Posted by Martini72

So I each of my eyes has their own picture!!!! That spaghetti pie ...OH MY!!!

Originally Posted by Monkee

Happylabs - That spaghetti pie looks really yummy. Cheesy and delicious.



LOL you sure are! You give me a quick fix!

Oh my ladies I had a leftover slice of this warmed up for lunch and it was even better! It is basically a quick fix for lasagna if you want a little low carb pasta and lots of cheese! Wow, I wish I had brought 2 pieces for my lunch now!!!

Oh, BTW, the recipe called for tomato sauce but I used a can of fire roasted diced tomatoes and drained the juice. I use the fire roasted diced tomatoes in a lot of my italian-type dishses.

[watcher513]

Originally Posted by happylabs

Oh my ladies I had a leftover slice of this warmed up for lunch and it was even better! It is basically a quick fix for lasagna if you want a little low carb pasta and lots of cheese! Wow, I wish I had brought 2 pieces for my lunch now!!!

Oh, BTW, the recipe called for tomato sauce but I used a can of fire roasted diced tomatoes and drained the juice. I use the fire roasted diced tomatoes in a lot of my italian-type dishses.

Recipe, please! FINALLY getting DH to go lower carb. He needs to as he's diabetic and has some other cholesterol things going on and I'm trying to keep him off statins. Not on them now but was and it messed with his arm muscles - it took us 3 months to figure out what the heck caused it until I read about it somewhere. His doc wants him back on them and saying nooooooooo.

[cleochatra]

I just ate cottage cheese. Not sexy enough for this thread, I considered dressing it in a bikini, but it kept falling out of the cups.

[happylabs]

Originally Posted by watcher513

Recipe, please! FINALLY getting DH to go lower carb. He needs to as he's diabetic and has some other cholesterol things going on and I'm trying to keep him off statins. Not on them now but was and it messed with his arm muscles - it took us 3 months to figure out what the heck caused it until I read about it somewhere. His doc wants him back on them and saying nooooooooo.

Originally Posted by cleochatra

I just ate cottage cheese. Not sexy enough for this thread, I considered dressing it in a bikini, but it kept falling out of the cups.

LOL. Too funny! I think you should take a picture of the cottage cheese in a in a pretty bowl and post it!

I got the recipe from recipe.com.

Are we allowed to post links?

Spaghetti Pie

I used ground beef instead of the turkey and whole eggs instead of the egg whites. I also used ricotta because that is what I had in the fridge. I didn't put in the mushrooms and green peppers because I didn't have any. Also, instead of using tomato sauce with spices I used a can of fire roasted tomatoes drained. I tried putting this into the recipe calculator website but it came out way high on the carbs so now I am confused.

[cleochatra]

This was my Birthday cake last year: Three layer cheeseburger cake with mashed cauliflower frosting.

Random, yes. I just found it on my computer.

[happylabs]

Originally Posted by cleochatra

This was my Birthday cake last year: Three layer cheeseburger cake with mashed cauliflower frosting.

Random, yes. I just found it on my computer.

That is beautiful!

[cleochatra]

Thank you! It weighed about as much as a bowling ball. I ended up turning it into a makeshift shepherd's pie. It was super beefy.

[happylabs]

Low Carb Pasta Salad made with Dreamfields Penne and Rotini, cheese, ham, broccoli, Marzetti Rach Dressing and Newman's Italian Dressing.

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I still do not understand why my photos are posting twice!

[Monkee]

Yummy! That salad looks good Happylabs.
Double pics is not a problem. Just more delicious food to drool over. Hee hee.

[graciejean]

I agree with Monkee,just more to wish for,lol