I’m a sucker for the combination of coffee and chocolate. My first ever sip of a Dairy Queen Moolatte sent my tastebuds into orbit. Sadly, it sent my blood sugar soaring as well. Coming back down from that high was not pleasant at all, not to mention it’s counter productive to weight loss and good health. Many times I have tired to find a substitute for my beloved Moolatte,  only to end up with less-than-acceptable copies.  Thankfully I came across a product from Big Train that will work in place of this high-sugar favorite.

Big Train Low-Carb Blended Ice Mocha Mix is euphoria with a straw in it. I whipped up a batch for my family and we all gave it a try. After several minutes of slurping sounds from straws and quickly emptied glasses, we declared this product a keeper. It has a nice smooth texture which reminds you of ice cream. The taste is fantastic with just the right combination of coffee and chocolate. It’s pretty much perfect.

This does contain sugar alcohols, but thankfully it’s erythritol and not maltitol. Each 16 ounce serving contains 14 carbs, with 1 gram of fiber and 11 grams of erythritol, which leaves a net carb count of 2 grams. If you prefer to play it safe and count half of the sugar alcohols in your carb allotment, you have a carb count of about 7 grams, which is still considerably less than most full sugar iced coffee blends, which run around 82 carbs per 16 ounce serving. Even if you counted the full 11 grams of erythritol, you are still getting a carb bargain. And since these iced mochas are made with the much less socially offensive erythritol, most people won’t have to deal with the fear of running off all their friends – or at least it worrying about who to blame for all the weird noise coming from their nether regions. After all, “the dog is gassy” and “That was the mating call of a rare barking spider!” will only work so many times. With Big Train Blended Ice Mocha Mix you can even share it with your friends and keep the gas masks in the bomb shelter until the next time you make bean dip.

Big Train Blended Ice Mocha Mix is available in single serve packets (5 to a box) and is also available in Vanilla Latte flavor.  You may also purchase a 2 pound tub in Mocha, Vanilla Latte and Carmel Latte.

Nutritional info per packet:

Calories: 90

Total Fat: 5 g

Cholesterol: 0 g

Soduim: 190 mg

Total Carbs: 14 g

Fiber: 1 g

Sugar Alcohols: 11 g

Protein: 6 g

As always, remember that this is the kind of thing you have on occasion.  It’s not a daily treat. This would not be acceptable for those using Atkins induction, but you could probably sneak it in during ongoing weight loss if you really felt you needed something to keep you from feeling deprived. Ideally this would be best in pre-maintenance or maintenance. That being said, I’ve personally enjoyed a glass of this here and there during weight loss phases and never had a problem. Your milage may vary, so always gauge your reaction and adjust accordingly.

Disclosure: I was provided this product free of charge in order to review it. It in no way effected my opinion of the product.

This great recipe, from my friend Karen Rysavy (Truly Low Carb), is a favorite in our household. While certainly not something you’d want to eat often, due to a few ingredients that are more suited to maintenance, it’s most certainly the recipe I use for special occasions. As a matter of fact, I make this for myself during birthdays so I won’t be tempted by cake. Karen has been kind enough to allow me to share it with you today.

Behold... the Chocolate Whoopie Pie!

WHOOPIE PIES

1-1/2 cups mayonnaise

1 cup SF syrup (any flavor desired, I use Davinci)

1 tsp. vanilla or other extract/flavorings

and/or 5 Tb. cocoa powder (optional)

and/or 1/4 cup nut butter (optional)

1 cup oat flour

1/2 cup vital wheat gluten

1 cup protein powder (any flavor desired)

2 tsp. baking soda (1-2/3 tsp. @ high altitude)

1/2 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or grease very well and dust with protein powder. Whip mayonnaise, sugar free syrup, and liquid flavorings, if using, until smooth. Sprinkle cocoa powder (if using) over top of mixture,

followed by remaining dry ingredients. Blend until smooth. Divide into 32 small mounds. (I like to use a disposable pastry bag to pipe the batter out, but you can spoon out dollops, too.) Bake 8-10 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool briefly before filling.

FILLING:

8 oz. softened cream cheese

2 Tb. hot water

1 cup granular Splenda™

1-2 tsp. vanilla extract or other flavoring

2 Tb. cream

While batter is baking, beat cream cheese on low until smooth. Slowly add remaining ingredients, then beat on high speed until fluffy, scraping sides as needed.

Spread flat side of one mini-cake with generous amount of filling, then top with an additional cake. Wrap each sandwich individually in plastic wrap and refrigerate. They won’t last long, and do freeze well. You just may find that half of one of these at a time is plenty.

16 servings – per each: 359 cal, 29 g fat (6 g sat), 9 g carb (1 g fiber), 9 g protein

Just some FYI: If you freeze these after assembly, then later only slightly thaw them just before eating, they are a lot like an ice cream sandwich. Or if you want to go that route, you can make the cookie parts and put low-carb vanilla ice cream between them instead of the cream cheese filling.  :) Just remind yourself to eat responsibly!

For more great recipes from Karen, or to purchase one of her great cookbooks, check out her website at www.cookingtlc.net.

At first glance the GG Scandinavian Bran Crispbreads don’t look like much. They are brown, flat and resemble the chipboard my dad used to pick up at the lumber yard when I was a kid. They seriously look like they should taste like cardboard.  Thankfully they don’t. They actually remind me of the All Bran cereal I used to love, minus any sweetness. They have that cereal texture too.  While pretty dry by themselves, these little babies are a tasty way to transfer some of your favorite toppings.

If you like crackers and cheese, these will do nicely. Add some sliced meat and you have a nice little snack. (Keep in mind these are not going to be like your average saltine or buttered cracker. ) When I was a carb addict, I used to love peanut butter and jelly on toast.  I tried the same mixture (sugar-free of course) atop one of these little crackers and was pleasantly surprised at how close it was to my old favorite.  Right now my favorite way to enjoy these is with a little Nature’s Hollow Sugar Free Strawberry Preserves.

Other uses for these crackers could include serving them with soups, homemade cheese spreads, hot dips, sour cream or cream cheese based dips, and salsa – pretty much anything you would use a regular cracker or chip for. Granted the texture is a bit different and might take some getting used to, but if you really are jonesing for a cracker substitute, I think this will work just fine.

One whole, somewhat large, cracker gives you seven carbs, with five of those being fiber. That’s two net carbs per slice since fiber isn’t digested by the body.  These servings are filling too. With all that fiber it won’t take much to tame the snack monster. And fiber works as a natural laxative, so if constipation is an issue for you, this is another option for handling that.

Each slice contains 12 calories, 0 fat, 0 cholesterol, 30 mg of sodium, 7 carbs, 2 fiber, and 1 gram of protein. Each package will give you 10 slices. The ingredients in these crispbreads are pretty simple: unprocessed wheat bran, rye flour and salt. It nice to see a product without lots of crazy chemicals added that we can’t even pronounce, let alone understand without looking them up on Google. Do keep in mind this is not the kind of product you’d eat on induction, or most other low-carb beginning phases. These should most likely be saved for pre-maintenance and up, depending on what is allowed on your chosen plan. Since some people are less tolerant than others with grains, this is certainly an item you want to gage your personal reaction to. The saying your-mileage-may-vary definitely applies here, so be smart about it.

Over all I give this product a thumbs up. With your favorite additions or condiments, it makes a nice treat. If you are missing that crunch in your snacks, these should fit the bill.

Disclosure: I was provided this product free of charge in order to review it. It in no way effected my opinion of the product.