The better part of my weekend was spent developing no-carb recipes for a client who is assembling a cookbook. This was a tough project for me as guidelines called for essentially zero carbs other than vegetables. The allowed foods list contained a fair amount of meats, dairy, nuts, seeds, and oils along with limitless non-starchy veg. Fruits? Lemons, limes, berries, and apples, and then only “in moderation.” Even dried beans were given the cold shoulder and limited to occasional consumption. Whole grains? Not even on the Allowed list. (Quinoa and a few others were occasionally acceptable, but anything wheat-related was a no-no.)
While I was up for the challenge, it hurt to shun grains, legumes, and fruits as they add variety to a daily diet and have so much to offer nutritionally. But working for a client, I pushed personal feelings aside and stepped up to the no-carb plate. While I made some progress (Venison-stuffed bell peppers? Salmon salad? Winners both.), there were a few recipes I just couldn’t like. (Talking to you, spinach bread and kale smoothie.) More tweaking lies ahead, but by the end of the weekend my kitchen needed some carb karma.
Oatmeal cookies seemed a good choice, so I put together a batch using a recipe clipped from the newspaper years back. Chocolate chips were replaced by a handful of leftover red and pink m&m’s, another small amount of red “chocolate” chips (must have hit the day-after-Valentine’s rack at the grocery store), and a much larger amount of pretzel m&ms. The cookies were fantastic and loved by all; just by baking them I started feeling better about my no-carb recipes.
oatmeal m&m cookies
My husband, a willing if wary no-carb taste-tester, must also have been scarred by my project as he announced today that he was going to bake bread. While not completely out of character for him, it’s been ages since he’s made bread and his declaration cracked me up. He, too, must have sensed the kitchen’s need for carbohydrates. His chosen recipe was a no-knead oatmeal loaf and when time came to put the dough into pans, he happened upon my new loaf pan. Sold as a three-slot lasagna pan, this “kitchen toy” was recommended by a friend who uses it to bake multiple types of quick bread at once. Hubby’s bread dough filled two of the three slots, giving us two spectacularly amazing soft, fragrant, and golden loaves of carbohydrate bliss.
dough starting to rise
doesn’t get much better than just-baked bread
golden homemade oatmeal bread
I get that consuming excess carbs can pack on the pounds. I get that protein and fat satiate in ways that carbs cannot. But I also believe that there’s room in a healthy diet for carbs–especially the whole grains that provide fiber and lots of B vitamins. While I’m not fond of the mantra “everything in moderation” (everything? really? there goes the moderation, then), it does apply to most food situations. No-carb diets may be important for folk in critical health situations and may also help jump-start weight loss. But I’m all for including some of (almost) everything in what I eat. Kale and spinach. Cookies and bread. I’ll gladly make room for all of it. If you feel likewise, here are two rock star carb recipes.
Oatmeal-Candy Cookies
adapted from Cookies for Kids’ Cancer: Best Bake Sale Cookbook by Gretchen Holt-Witt
- 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 cups m&ms (the pretzel variety is an especially fun cookie stir-in)
Heat oven to 325°F. Coat baking sheet with cooking spray.
In bowl, beat together butter and brown and granulated sugars with electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Add egg, yolk, and vanilla, beating until combined.
In separate bowl, combine flour, oats, baking soda and powder, and salt; mix well. Add to butter mixture; beat on Low speed until blended. Stir in m&ms.
Drop tablespoons of dough at least 2 inches apart onto baking sheets. Bake 13 to 16 minutes or until cookies just begin to brown at edge. Cool briefly on baking sheets; transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Makes about 60 cookies.
No-Knead Oatmeal Bread
adapted from a recipe found in 2010 Minneapolis Star Tribune Taste
- 2 cups boiling water
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1/2 cup honey or light molasses
- 1/3 cup butter, softened
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 2 (1/4-ounce) packages active dry yeast (4 1/2 teaspoons)
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 4 1/2 cups bread flour
In large bowl, combine boiling water, oats, honey, butter, and salt; cool to lukewarm. Add yeast, mix well. Blend in eggs. Add flour until well blended yet still a soft dough. Place dough in greased bowl; cover. Refrigerate until needed, at least 2 hours.
Grease 2 (9×5-inch) loaf pans. On well-floured board, shape dough into 2 loaves. Place in pans; cover. Let rise 1 hour or until double. Bake at 350°F 1 hour or until loaves are golden brown and sound hollow when removed from pans and tapped on the bottom. Makes 2 loaves.
food for fun 
Those cookies look tremendous. The banana bread, by the way, was phenomenal. My dad ate about 2/3 of it, felt very sick, but was a very happy man 🙂 Thank you!
Banana bread good enough to make you sick? Sounds like a tagline to me 🙂 Appreciate you stopping by and reporting back!
I would love some home made cookies like those right now!
How ’bout we trade cookies for one of those grasshoppers you were making yesterday? Have been dreaming of that pillow of whip cream topping the drink ever since seeing the photo.
Haha that sounds like an excellent idea!
I’m impressed that you could survive cooking with all those limitations. I would have needed a carb fix after that too! I love me some no knead bread, and I might try this one for breakfasts this week. Thanks for the recipe!
Work is work, so I forged ahead. All the while thinking that it’s be nice to add a banana to the smoothie etc. I think I could like a kale smoothie–just don’t like what I’ve come up with so far.
Oh, the neighbors that bring us food dropped off FOUR bags o’potatoes yesterday. Should I make Hasslebacks?
You should make buffalo chicken casserole! It’s probably too spicy for your girls, but you are good at tweaking recipes. Maybe you can invent a good mild version and share with the class. So good!
http://wearychef.com/2013/02/03/easy-weekly-dinner-menu-2-fire-up-the-slow-cooker/
Those cookies look amazing! And I love the coloured m&ms that you used, they’re perfect for spring. So glad that the balance has been restored to your kitchen – a girl can’t live on spinach alone!
Only Popeye could do that. I love love love how the big pretzel m&ms made their presence known. What with your poutine and star-studded banana bread and my cookies and bread, there was much feasting this weekend!
There sure was! 🙂
Those cookies are adorable! 🙂
Thanks, Lilly Sue! They taste mighty fine, too 😉 I can’s see that beer and cookies would be a great match, but is there any type you’d recommend?
It depends on the cookie but definitely porters, stouts and brown ales can be paired with desserts 🙂 Of course, I also love milk so it’s a hard toss up 😉
Seems like something about carbs are good for mental well being. Love the oat recipes. Pretzel m&ms in the oatmeal cookies–great idea! Though I make no-knead bread often, I admit I haven’t experimented with it much. I think the next step is for me to make your oatmeal no-knead recipe. 🙂
give it a go and let me know if you like. It’s soft and slightly sweet–addictive, really. And thanks for the cookie compliments–they really are tasty. Amen to carbs being good for well-being!!! You should see the doozy of a carb recipe I just put up on facebook. (thinking you can link from this page–if no, give me a holler and I’ll show you via email. borrowed a recipe from another blogger and you might find very interesting. It involved chocolate 🙂 ) Love seeing you here!
Spinach bread and kale smoothie?? Eek — sounds terrifying! But those cookies look great. They are totally making me hungry! And in not-at-all-surprising news, I just bought some “spring” colored M&Ms last weekend and was planning on baking cookies this week. Looks like I found my recipe!
heehee–imagine that on the m&m purchases. lol I just received another plush puff shipment (only my third, really). I am such an addict 0-:
I really want to like the kale smoothie, J. You’re the juicer–can you help? I asked my client if I could just use one banana or maybe a handful of green grapes, but got a negatory on that 😦 Thinking maybe coconut milk? Maddening! The spinach bread is indeed truly awful.
Yum, it all looks too delicious!!
Thanks–gotta love the carbs! Still have your pistachio bread on my to-make list :-0
Looks absolutely delightful!!! Yummmmm
Thanks, Maggie. That is especially high praise coming from you 🙂
My husband is doing the low carb thing, and the cookies and breads are calling to me. Yum. And I like the oatmeal additions.
You shouldn’t be reading this, then, Rilla 😉 Good luck with the low-carb diet. At some point my client will have a whole cookbook of no-carb recipes put together. I’ll give a shout-out when she does! Thanks for coming by–appreciate your visit very much.
Well, I was going to make those muffins yesterday but then realized we were suffering from acute ingredient shortage – so I ended up with these cookies instead. Good choice! We didn’t have any M&Ms lying around so I swapped in some dried cranberries and pecans instead. I know you’re not a raisin person so hopefully that’s not too sacrilegious a solution. All I can say is, they were good and now they’re all gone somehow!
yay yay yay–Arto made a deLiz recipe 🙂 Love that you switched ingredients out per what you had on hand. Drives me nuts when folks think they can’t make something because they don’t have exactly what’s called for. What you did is what makes cooking fun and an adventure. Thanks for sharing your success 🙂
Exactly! I generally object to going to the store to pick up stuff for a specific recipe too – plus, it’s much more fun to experiment and see what works. I haven’t much advertised it but I actually love to cook, so I’ll definitely be trying one of your other recipes too!
Your secret about loving to cooking is safe with me 😉 Let me know what you try. I always invite folks to post deLiz recipes on the deLizious facebook page, too.
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Bookmarked this bread – it looks so fluffy and flavorful, Liz! Delicious!
Liz, I am in the first stage of making this bread. Is the dough very wet before it goes into the fridge? Thank you! 🙂 Shanna
Shanna, love that you’re making this bread. My husband is the one who put this together, so I just don’t know. Would advise you to go with your instinct, as that seems to do you well in the kitchen. Will ask hubby when he gets home later, but maybe too late for you? Thinking you’ll pull it together nicely.
Hi, Liz,
I do enjoy making your recipes. I guess I should keep you posted more. I made a version of your bacon bourbon Brussels sprouts at Thanksgiving, actually. The bread turned out great. I did some reading on the subject, and these no-knead yeast doughs are fine wet – or you can add a bit more flour. I also bake at altitude, but it was delicious.
Best regards and thanks for sharing,
Shanna
glad you did your research for the bread and glad it turned out well! Those granola bars are amazing. Loving the cardamom and nutmeg. Looking forward to trying once they’re cooled, too, but you were spot on that it’s hard (make that impossible) to wait!
Thanks for connecting on the recipes 🙂
Hi, Liz,
It was nice to connect with you via the granola bars (that you inspired!). We should do it more often. I am happy to hear that you liked them! 🙂
Take good care,
Shanna
sent to your Other box via facebook. Hope you can collect.
I will check it out now, Liz. Warmly, Shanna
Liz, I am not seeing anything yet…. Hmmmm…..