Jimmy's Chocolate-Covered Low-Carb Bagels

Look what I made experimenting with my fave low-carb foods

When I blogged on Sunday about the low-carb breads available from Francis Simun Bakery in Dallas, Texas, I knew there would be a lot of interest from people wanting to try this amazing new product. Quite literally hundreds of you have contacted them so far to place an order or to inquire more about the bread. Yep, it really is low-carb and tastes delicious!

As I promised, my wife Christine and I have each come up with an original recipe using these Francis Simun Bakery breads with low-carb friendly ingredients that will make you want to give it a try for yourself. First up is MY recipe which involves my favorite low-carb dark chocolate bar on the planet--CHOCOPERFECTION!!! I couldn't believe how good this was going to be until I took one bite for myself. WOW, this is incredible for less than 5g net carbs each. ENJOY!

JIMMY'S CHOCOLATE-COVERED LOW-CARB BAGELS

2 Francis Simun Bakery Low-Carb Bagels
1 ChocoPerfection Milk or Dark Chocolate bar
1/4 stick butter

Break up ChocoPerfection bar (I LOVE the dark chocolate best!) in a small microwavable bowl and cut butter on top. Microwave on high for 30 seconds and then stir. Microwave on high for another 30 seconds and then stir again until smooth. If there are still chunks of chocolate that are unmelted, then microwave for an additional 15 seconds and stir until all the clumps are gone. Set aside to slightly cool.

Microwave frozen or refrigerated bagels for 30-45 seconds on high or until warm. Take one of the bagels and dip in right into the chocolate (leave it in there for a minute to let the chocolate stick to it better). Completely submerge it in the chocolate mixture and even use a spoon to completely cover the bagel with chocolate. Flip the bagel and do the same on the other side until well-covered.

Place on a plate and serve immediately. Repeat with the second bagel and spoon out any excess chocolate drizzling it on top of the bagels. Oh man, this is so incredibly good!

Servings: 2
Net carbs: 4.65g carbs

Freshly Made Low-Carb Bread Now Available From Francis Simun Bakery

Francis Simun Bakery serves outstanding low-carb bread

One of the most frequently asked questions I receive from my readers is this: "Where can I buy some good low-carb bread?" It seems the attempts to make a low-carb version of something that is traditionally shunned on the low-carb lifestyle have fallen way short of the mark. I've searched and searched to find a bakery who can not only make bread that is low-carb, but also moist, tasty, and enjoyable.

Well, you can look no further than the Dallas, TX-based bread company called Francis Simun Bakery to fulfill your low-carb bread needs from now on. Their marketing slogan is "Be Happy...Eat Healthy" and that's exactly what you'll be doing when you add this to your low-carb plan.

Had I not tasted their incredible breads for myself, I never would have believed this stuff was low-carb. But it is, it REALLY is! I took a bite, and then another, and then another before I finally let it sink in that low-carb bread CAN actually taste incredible! Francis Simun Bakery has convinced me of that.

Take a look for yourself at all the variety of breads Francis Simun Bakery has to offer people who are livin' la vida low-carb:


Click on the image above to see this low-carb bread up close

In addition to the Original Low-Carb Sliced Bread that's great for sandwiches, there are crunchy Low-Carb Bagel Chips for the perfect afternoon snack, Low-Carb Seasoned Croutons that'll go great on any low-carb salad or on top of green bean casserole, Low-Carb Breads Crumbs for homemade stuffing or as a coating mix, Low-Carb Bagels which taste incredible toasted with some full-fat cream cheese spread on them, Low-Carb Tortillas which are so versatile, Low-Carb Hot Dog Buns and Low-Carb Hamburger Buns when grilling out, and Low-Carb Pizza Crust for a quick and easy oven-baked low-carb pizza!


All the low-carb breads at Francis Simun Bakery Are Handmade

One of the things you'll immediately notice about these handmade breads are how fresh they are. That's because they don't bake the bread until you place an order for it. That way you can be confident that your low-carb bread is the highest quality of freshness it can possibly be when it is delivered to your home. Keep 'em in your freezer for a while so you can enjoy delicious and nutritious low-carb bread anytime.

Another distinctive characteristic of the Francis Simun Bakery low-carb breads is the rich signature aroma that will fill your kitchen when you warm them up! Whether it is French toast for breakfast or a grilled cheese for lunch, that unmistakable smell that fills the air from these remarkable breads will remind you that you have chosen the best possible low-carb breads for you and your family to enjoy.

The superiority of the ingredients in the Francis Simun Bakery low-carb breads is part of the secret to what makes them as wonderful as they are. These are what constitutes the basic recipe for these incredible breads:

Organic wheat gluten, yeast, filtered water, garbanzo flour, black bean flour, canola oil, golden flax seed, wheat germ, molasses, onion, and sea salt.

You'll notice the bread is high-fiber to make the net carb counts very low--less than 2.5g net carbs per slice of the Original Low-Carb Bread! That's a substantially lower number of carbohydrates from what you find in traditional white flour-based breads. And the taste comparison is unmatchable!

So how can you get your hands on this low-carb bread? If you live in the Dallas, TX area, then simply drive down to the Francis Simun Bakery located at 3106 Commerce Street in the 75226 zip code and pick up some during regular business hours.

But for the rest of us scattered all across the United States and Canada, they'll gladly take your order over the phone at 214-741-4242 or 214-742-5210, via fax at 214-744-7656, or by using their convenient online customer order form. Their friendly and efficient customer service team will quickly assist you with processing your order and getting it delivered to you promptly.

The hours of operation for the Francis Simun Bakery are Monday–Thursday from 9:00am-5:30pm, Friday from 9:00am-5:00pm, Saturday from 9:00am-2:00pm, and closed on Sunday. Contact them TODAY and let them know you want to try some of that fantastic bread Jimmy Moore from "Livin' La Vida Low-Carb" was raving about! Believe me when I say it is low-carb bread FINALLY worth writing home about!

Visit the Francis Simun Bakery web site to learn more about this bread company catering to people on the low-carb lifestyle! My wife Christine and I both came up with original recipes using this new low-carb bread which I will be sharing with you this week. You're gonna LOVE 'em!

Smuckers Axes Aspartame, Switches To Splenda

Smuckers Sugar-Free Jam is now made with Splenda

I went out shopping last night to pick up a few groceries since my wife was in the mood for some raw cauliflower, broccoli and carrots with ranch dipping sauce. Mmmm, a low-carb dieter's delight for a meal since all of those veggies are EXCELLENT when you are livin' la vida low-carb. Since that is what Christine was craving, I was happy to take care of making sure my beautiful darling got what she wanted. Ain't I such a good hubby-wubby?!

I, on the other hand, also enjoyed a delicious and healthy low-carb dinner: a barbecued rotisserie chicken! Mmmm, that bad boy was off-the-chain! Oh, sorry, that means it was good in the vernacular of kids these days. Yep yep!

Anyways, as I was going up and down the aisles looking for any new products that may have come out appropriate for the low-carb lifestyle, I caught something out of the corner of my eye that was way down on the bottom shelf of the jellies and jams section. What was it that I saw? THE SPLENDA LOGO!


I look for the "Sweetened With Splenda Brand" all the time

When I bent down to pick up this glorious "new" product to see what it was featuring Splenda, imagine my surprise when I saw the product was made by Smuckers. Yep, the same Smuckers jams, jellies and preserves that have long been made with the artificial sweetener Nutrasweet or aspartame (my new name for it is nasty-tame)!

See for yourself the old packaging:


Nutrasweet pervaded the entire Smuckers line of products...until now!

Now it seems the manufacturers of Smuckers have been listening to the complaints we have been making about the questionable-for-your-health Nutrasweet even as other companies are REMOVING Splenda from their products! This is especially a BIG concern of mine in the soft drink industry where all the marketing dollars are going to support aspartame-infested products like this one while very little support has been given to superb Splenda-sweetened products such as this.

Hooray for Smuckers!!! FINALLY, somebody is listening!!!

The store I shopped at had four flavors available: Apricot Preserves, Strawberry Preserves, Seedless Blackberry Jam, and Concord Grape Jam. Each teaspoon serving size has just 50 calories and 5g carbohydrates (ZERO sugar!). They are made with REAL fruit which only add a trivial amount of natural sugars rather than the gobs of man-made sugar (aka high-fructose corn syrup) generally poured into most jams and jellies these days. These Smuckers jellies are an EXCELLENT product for diabetics and low-carbers alike to use as part of their healthy lifestyles.

I was so excited about trying these Smuckers jams for myself, I decided to dab some on a ZERO carb cinnamon bagel available from Viva Low-Carb along with some real full-fat Philadelphia-brand cream cheese.

Holy cow, look how good this breakfast I had turned out:


A bagel with cream cheese and jelly with about 5g carbs

As gorgeous as it looked, the taste was even more phenomenal! I cut the bagel in half and toasted it in my toaster for about a minute. Then spread a layer of cream cheese and then added the Smuckers. Oh...my...goodness!!! That was an amazing experience and I was thrilled to be able to taste Smuckers jams again without all the nasty-tame in it. YEAH!

My only advice to you if you find a "Sweeted With Splenda" logo on the front of a product is to check the ingredients list on the back. If sucralose or Splenda is not the primary or only sweetener listen, then you might want to put it back. Some companies (not Smuckers, thank God!) put substances like stomach-busting sugar alcohols such as maltitol as their top sweetening agent while sucralose is near the bottom of the ingredients.

What is most sickening is how they so proudly display that Splenda logo like it means something. To me, that is nothing mroe than just false advertising and food companies should be compelled to stop deceiving the public! We should demand truth in labeling on sugar-free products so that others don't fall prey to this marketing gimmick!

The sugar-free companies STILL need a wake-up call and I'm so glad to see a leading industry name like Smuckers serving as an example for adding Splenda to their jams and jellies now. I hope they continue to extend this to their other product lines, such as the hot fudge topping, caramel topping, etc. as long as they avoid the maltitol. We will hope for the best and see.

Are there any other companies ready to axe the aspartame, too? If you are a company that has products that contain Splenda or if you run across a product that has not previously been sweetened with Splenda and would like for me to highlight it here, then please e-mail me this information. I want to share with my fellow low-carbers these excellent options for them to use while they are livin' la vida low-carb.