Jamie Van Eaton: A New Low-Carb Superstar In The Making

Jamie is taking her unique writing style to the next level

Move over all you wanna-bes because there's a new low-carb sheriff in town and she's getting ready to make some major tidal waves like we haven't seen before. Okay, maybe that's a bit hyperbolic, but at least I have your attention now. If you haven't heard about Jamie Van Eaton just yet, then pretty soon you will. She's the brand new columnist at Examiner.com and they've given her a bold and exciting feature of her own called "Low-Carb Examiner."

Jamie, aka Cleochatra from "The Lighter Side Of Low-Carb" blog (which is one of the most hilarious and informative low-carb blogs I've ever seen!), has been featured at my blog previously for her low-carb Italian recipes using cauliflower (see #12) and her now world-famous Oopsie rolls recipe which is royally screwed up the first time before FINALLY reaching Oopsie nirvana last week after two failed attempts. And they were so good for that bacon and cheese sandwich. Mmm mmm!

What was I saying (I got distracted by Oopsies because I'm so hungry on the first day of my intermittent fast!)...oh yes, Jamie! Oh my gosh, what an opportunity she has now to reach so many more people with the positive message of livin' la vida low-carb. This is a golden chance for a real voice of reason to show others that low-carb is so much more than a simple "fad" diet that is only about weight loss. Jamie understands this is about a total lifestyle change that transforms your weight and health to new heights you could never imagine before.

Take a look at some of her posts which already appear at Examiner.com:

Why Low-Carb, and Who is That Chick with the Cool Hair?
Great Low-Carb Blogs (although it was missing at least one! Hee hee!)
Want Supple, Gluten-Free Buns?
Carl's Jr.: A Little Bowl For Your Soul
Mama, Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Anorexic (an ode to the Kimkins diet scam)
Help Fix The Food Pyramid (which I blogged about last week)

She is already establishing herself as quite the prolific writer and I say the more she writes the better! This is an entirely new audience of readers who have probably never been exposed to the low-carb lifestyle quite like this before. Jamie Van Eaton is the perfect ambassador for low-carb because she's smart, funny as all get out, writes better than most people I know, and is a fervent supporter of this way of eating we all love and appreciate.

Go visit the "Low-Carb Examiner" page and subscribe to this feed TODAY! And while you're there, leave Jamie comments at each of her posts to let her know how much you support her in this new endeavor. Let's give her the enthusiastic reception she deserves for being willing to put herself out there where not everyone will necessarily be in full agreement with what she writes about. That's alright, she's planting seeds with each new post, so you never know what impact the work she is doing will have.

Send Jamie some encouragement and congratulate her on this opportunity she now has to reach people. Her e-mail address is cleochatra@gmail.com. I couldn't think of a nicer woman for this happen to and I see a new low-carb superstar in the making with Jamie Van Eaton. YOU GO GIRL!!! We are all so proud of you and wish you nothing but success with the doors that keep opening for you. So, before you become too big, can I have that podcast interview with you now? :D

Jimmy Moore's Uh-Oh Oopsie Low-Carb French Toast

When I messed up the Oopsie, I made something even better!

I love experimenting in the kitchen with new ways to spruce up my low-carb lifestyle. It's one of the things that I enjoy about livin' la vida low-carb the most--making it interesting by coming up with new recipes and food combinations that suit my sugar-free, low-carb life. When you put a little creativity behind it, there is no limit to what you can come up with.

Just look at the Oopsie phenomenon, for example. Created by Cleochatra from "The Lighter Side Of Low-Carb" blog, this neat little recipe for making a low-carb "bread" replacement using some rather simple low-carb ingredients is a prime example of ingenuity at work. The possibilities for recipes are truly endless with these Oopsies.

So, being the gung ho cook that I am, I finally decided to gather all the ingredients to make the Oopsie for myself to see what all the fuss is about. I headed down to my local grocery store on Monday afternoon and immediately went searching for the cream of tartar in the spice aisle. This little itty bitty container of it cost $3.50 and I was thinking, "This had better be good if I'm gonna pay that much money on something I only need a 'pinch' of!" :D

Next, I headed for the refrigerated section to get the cream cheese and you can't buy the off brand--you gotta get the good stuff, so that means Philadelphia cream cheese. I already had the Splenda, eggs, and salt at home, so I went to the checkout and went on my merry way to go make some Oopsies. With all the stress of the past couple of weeks, it was time to relax and unwind the cares of this world in an Oopsie kind of way. I was rip-roaring ready to go.

Following the basic recipe for making an Oopsie and doubling it, I did as instructed and separated the six egg whites from the egg yolks. In the bowl with the egg yolks, I added a block of cream cheese, 2 packets of Splenda, and two dashes of salt. Meanwhile in the other bowl with the egg whites, I added the obligatory two pinches of cream of tartar. So far, so good, right?

Welllllll...then I made my uh-oh. Rather than whipping the eggs white mixture until "stiff," I whipped it to oblivion and it was a big bowl full of foam. EEEEEK! What a dopey thing to do, Jimmy! Hoo boy. I didn't realize my mistake until I read in the instructions about carefully folding in the egg yolk mixture so you won't "break down the whites." OOOPS! Too late. Now what?

I went ahead and used my mixer to blend the egg yolk mixture and carefully tried adding it to my egg white foam. The bowl was getting too full, so I got an even bigger bowl and just poured both the egg white and egg yolk mixtures together and stirred 'em all up. What was supposed to be this nice thick batter for making the Oopsie rolls was more like a very, very thin pancake batter. HOO BOY! What can I do with this?

My oven was already preheated to 300 degrees, so I decided to go ahead and try to cook this concoction in the oven for the required 30 minutes to see what would happen. Obviously I wasn't gonna be making Oopsie rolls, but I decided to pour it in a pan to see if some sort of cake would develop. At the last minute, I decided to add some cinnamon and erythritol to the mixture to give it some flavor in case it turned out well. Worst case scenario, I would have some really tasty cinnamon-flavored goo! :P

But, like my accidental low-carb "magic shell" recipe last year, this recipe actually turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Little did I know just how amazing this uh-oh was gonna turn out to be. When I pulled it out of the oven, the pan appeared to be filled with a cinnamon cake of sorts. I pressed my finger against it and the top was spongy, so that was a good sign.

After a few minutes of allowing it to cool, I decided to take a bite for myself. OH...MY...GOSH!!! This tastes unbelievably good! I ran and got my wife Christine to take a bite and she couldn't believe it either. Could lightning strike again on one of my kitchen disasters and turn it into something extraordinary? Yep, it sure can and it did! This is always a unique moment for cooks when they stumble upon something new.

I commented to Christine that it sorta tasted like French toast with the cinnamon, so I cut a slice on a plate, put some butter on top, poured a little sugar-free pancake syrup on top of that, and then scooped a dollop of whipped cream for the finishing touch. It was so rich and yummy, you'd never know it was basically cream cheese and eggs for the "bread." INCREDIBLE! My wife said, "If you have a sweet tooth, then this sure will take care of it." Indeed.

After experiencing this uh-oh in the kitchen while making the Oopsie roll, there was really no thinking about what to call this recipe:

JIMMY MOORE'S UH-OH OOPSIE LOW-CARB FRENCH TOAST

6 large eggs
2 packets of Splenda
2 dashes of salt
2 pinches of cream of tartar
1 8-ounce box of cream cheese
Cinnamon to taste
Sweetener to taste
Butter
Sugar-free pancake syrup
Whipped topping

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

In a bowl, mix the eggs, Splenda, salt, cream cheese, cream of tartar, cinnamon, and the sweetener of your choice (I used erythritol, but any sweetener--besides SUGAR!--will do) together with a mixer until blended and creamy.

Spray a baking pan (I used a 10 X 7) with non-stick spray and pour the mixture into the pan. Bake for about 30 minutes until it resembles a cake. Let cool for a few minutes and then cut into squares. Put desired amounts of butter, sugar-free pancake syrup, and whipped topping on top and ENJOY!

Serves 6-8 and the net carb counts per serving are around 4-6 grams.

The moral of this story is when life gives you a foamy mess, you can turn around and make French toast out of it. Okay, so it's not as snazzy as making lemonade out of lemons, but you get the idea. THANKS again Cleochatra for sharing your amazing low-carb discovery with us. I'll be back in the kitchen again soon trying to make the REAL Oopsie recipe. In the meantime, I've got me some Uh-Oh Oopsie Low-Carb French Toast to chow down on. Yummy! ;)

Cleochatra's Amazing Low-Carb 'Oopsie Rolls' Recipe Is To Die For

Nope, this ain't no Egg McMuffin. It's an Oopsie--seriously!

Some of the best food creations to come out of my kitchen have happened almost by accident. Just when you think you've totally messed up the perfect recipe and you're kicking yourself for not following it by the letter, along comes a pleasant surprise to totally blow you away. Of course, you really MEANT to do that, right? *wink wink*

Remember this low-carb "magic shell" recipe that sorta fell in my lap last Fall. I couldn't believe it when I saw it because all I was trying to do was come up with a nice chocolate syrup sauce for my low-carb ice cream. But lo and behold, looky what happened when I poured it on top of my ice cream--a sweet, delicious hardened topping just like that magic shell stuff. OH MY GOSH!!! What an amazing find that was--despite it being an "oops."

Well, today I have another "oops" recipe for you from a wonderful low-carb blogger I told you about on Monday (see #12 under this post) named Cleochatra who runs the fantabulous blog called "The Lighter Side Of Low-Carb." If you haven't already bookmarked this blog, then DO IT NOW! She is one incredibly funny and entertaining writer and a pretty awesome low-carb cook, too, if you like recipes (and who doesn't?!).

But even the best sometimes experience the trials and tribulations that hit our inner Paula Deen where we're a whole lot close to Paula Abdul instead! Ah, but never fear because fate always has a way of turning that lemon into lemonade and the birth of a new and exciting recipe awaits. Or, something like that.

In the case of Cleochatra, that lemon would be the appropriately named "Oopsie Rolls." It's obvious why she named them this because they were supposed to be one thing and ended up another. But the flexibility of these oh-so-yummy low-carb bread roll thingys is quite evident in a series of recipes I'll share in just a moment. First, let me show you this neat little recipe compliments of Cleochatra.

CLEOCHATRA'S BEST EVER REVOL-OOPSIE ROLLS

3 large eggs
1 packet of Splenda
A dash of salt
A pinch of cream of tartar
3 ounces cream cheese (not Tbsp!) Do not soften!

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Separate the eggs and add Splenda, salt, and cream cheese to the yolks. Use a mixer to combine the ingredients together. In a separate bowl, whip egg whites and cream of tartar until stiff (if you're using the same mixer, mix the whites first and then the yolk mixture).

Using a spatula, gradually fold the egg yolk mixture into the white mixture, being careful not to break down the whites. Spray a cookie sheet with non-stick spray and spoon the mixture onto the sheet, making 6 mounds. Flatten each mound slightly.

Bake for about 30 minutes (You want them slightly softer, not crumbly). Let cool on the sheet for a few minutes, and then remove to a rack and allow them to cool.

Storage and freezing:

I store them in a Ziplock bag with the bag open partially (this way they breathe and don't get too moist) and keep them in the fridge after the first day. Then, when you want to use them, take them out and set them on the counter for 15-30 minutes or until they are room temperature. This makes them more "dry" and less sticky.

As for freezing, I tried freezing and they do freeze. This time you want to close the Ziplock when storing (I only store two per bag). To thaw, let them rest on the counter until room temperature in the bag with the bag open. When they're close to room temperature, set them outside of the bag so that they can "dry" out slightly for use.

Makes 6 "Oopsie Rolls"
Calories 85 each
Carbs Less than 1g each (WOWee!!!)

So there you have it--the world-famous "Oopsie Rolls" (not to be confused with the high-carb copycat candy known as Tootsie Rolls). Oopsie mania is sweeping the nation now, so do you wanna see some fabulous recipes using the "Oopsie Roll" as the centerpiece? SURE YOU DO! Check these out:

Oopsie French Toast

Oopsie Waffles

Oopsie BLT and Pizzas

Oopsie Gourmet Valentine Pizza

Oopsie Panini

Oopsie Pita with Lamb Gyro with Tzatziki

Chocolate Almond Oopsies

Oopsie Almost Tiramisu

Oopsie Birthday Cake

Oopsie Boston Cream Napoleon

Oopsie Chocolate Eclaire Cake

Oopsie Cream Puffs

Oopsie Pizzelles and Canoli

Think you can come up with an "Oopsie" recipe to add to Cleochatra's collection? Post it in the comments section below and Cleo might just share your recipe with her readers at her blog in the very near future. "Oopsie" mania is running wild! AAAAAAAAAACK!!!!!