Happy Sandwich Tuesday! Lily's Adventures in Low Carb Cooking and Baking

Hello LilyOnTheLam.com Readers - Yes, there are TWO blog posts today.  It is my Tuesday gift to you!  And yes, you're welcome!  Feel free to send me a "thank you" card!


The first Tuesday blog post was my adventures with dyeing my hair green (read more about it here).  The second Tuesday blog post is this one (no need to click any thing!)      


If you read Monday's LilyOnTheLam.com, you will know that I am dipping my toe in the pool that is "low carb cooking and baking."  This second post is my first documented adventure in low carb baking.   (No humans were harmed in the making of this blog post. ;-) ). 


I decided to start slow, easy and uncomplicated.  To avoid a wheat belly feeling I have been trying to shy away from sugar and starches - bread, pasta, rice, potatoes - all the foods I love.  But every now and again, you just want a sandwich!  Not a naked burger patty.  Not a lettuce wrap.  A sandwich!  


When I saw a recipe on the blog 24-7 Low Carb Diner for Bacon, Avocado Grilled Cheese Sliders on Two Minute Coconut Bread, I seriously started salivating!  Now THAT was a sandwich!  Unfortunately all of the avocados at my grocery store were rock hard.  They needed a few more days to ripen.  My trying the bacon, avocado grilled cheese slider recipe would have to wait.  But never fear, 24-7 Low Carb Diner had another option for me ...  Piccolo Panini, Italian Sliders.  It utilized a different version of a microwaveable coconut flour "bread" than the other slider recipe.  I checked my pantry and had all ingredients on hand.  Time to cook!


Side Note:  My personal philosophy is that unless I created a recipe, significantly modified a recipe or have prior permission; I will not post another person's recipe on my website.  I believe recipes are personal property of the owner.  Some bloggers spend a lot of time developing recipes which they later use as their source of income.  I was surprised during my recipe research to see how many people do not respect other people's copyrighted recipes and freely post other people's developed recipes without payment, permission and in some cases not even credit to the developer.  If you like a recipe I have posted on LilyOnTheLam.com, I hope you will do me the courtesy of following the instructions on my home page - Please reference my blog as the author and provide a link to my website versus copying my recipe and posting it on your website or any other mode of public transmission (eBook, etc.)  Any other use requires prior written consent from yours truly.  Thank you!


Second Side Note:  If you like 24-7 Low Carb Diner's recipes, check out the cookbook that five food bloggers (including the author of 24-7 Low Carb Diner) have compiled called "Low-Carbing Among Friends.")  Many, many, many great low carb recipes!


Now back to our story of Lily and Her Lunch ...


I broke dieting rule #1 - I didn't eat breakfast and then went to work out.  Needless to say by the time I arrived home, I was STARVING!  And also extremely sweaty.  I took a shower first before making by that time what would be lunch, so I was even more ravenous by then.  


Thank goodness, 24-7 Low Carb Diner's recipe for Piccolo Panini - Italian Sliders is fast and easy to assemble.  I have never used coconut flour before and wasn't sure what this faux "bread" was going to taste like.  I followed the recipe with one exception.  Instead of using regular olive oil, I had used a homemade chili oil (olive oil plus cayenne pepper and red chili flakes allowed to meld over at least a few days) to add more flavor.  I mixed the ingredients and let the batter rest.  You then "bake" the batter in a straight-sided coffee mug in the microwave.  This is a very versatile "bread" recipe.  You can make it sweet or savory with the addition of sweeteners or herbs.    


24-7 Low Carb Diner's recipe did not indicate whether you should oil the mug before adding the batter.  I had read on a different blog that coconut flour is particularly sticky and when you're baking in a conventional oven you should use greased parchment paper.  The author of that blog was so adamant about this in her recipes that I wanted to rename her blog: "For the Love of Jesus, Use Parchment Paper.com."  I decided to use spray olive oil to "grease" the mug before pouring the batter in.


The recipe suggests 1 min 20 seconds of cooking in the microwave, but it depends on the microwave.  This is what I pulled out of the microwave.

It seemed so tiny!  This was supposed to give four slider sandwich-size pieces of "bread." In later tests, I found that my results are better when I use a little more baking powder than the recipe requires - just a smidge more.  A heaping measure versus one that is exactly the correct amount.  Also my microwave does better with 1 min 30 seconds for this recipe.  It's surprising what an additional 10 seconds can do!


Thanks to the spray olive oil, the "bread" slid out of the mug easily after I ran a knife around the edge.

Since I was starving, I cut the still very warm bread into the 4 slices as indicated by the recipe.  However I would recommend three things - 1) eat breakfast before you work out so you're not so hungry that you'd eat anything and everything and 2) let the bread cool before you use it.  It's easier to slice that way.  3) Next time I make this, I would actually try slicing the "loaf" into thinner pieces - 6 or 8 slices versus the 4 in the recipe.


However I didn't follow any of my recommendations.  Since the "loaf" was warm, I was lucky that I was able to get four pieces sliced.  You can see in the picture that I had knocked off a little piece when I slid the knife around the mug.

To add my own spin to 24-7 Low Carb Diner's recipe, I decided to make a basil lime mayonnaise to go with my Italian Slider.


I have one small grocery store in walking distance from my house.  I call it "The Soviet Publix" because it always seems to be out of things that I would consider staples at most grocery stores.  One such item was fresh basil.  However, they did offer this basil in a tube pictured below.  I have never used this brand before, but it was pretty good.  I would have liked to have fresh basil because not only would I have used it in the basil lime mayo, but I would have tucked in a few leaves in the panini itself.  I also didn't find any fresh garlic at my Soviet Publix, so I bought a jar of minced garlic.

LilyOnTheLam.com's Basil Lime Mayonnaise:


- 2 Tablespoon good quality Mayonnaise (since Florida is technically "The South," I went with Duke's Mayonnaise, supposedly a southern staple.)
- 1 Teaspoon of Basil Puree (if using fresh, mince 3-5 basil leaves or more if you'd like)
- 1/2 clove fresh garlic (I used 1/4 tsp. minced jarred garlic - use less garlic or omit if you're not a garlic lover)
- 1 packet of True Lime crystallized lime juice (I prefer using True Lime for this recipe versus fresh lime juice because it gives an intense lime flavor without making the mayonnaise watery.)
- Fresh ground pepper (I did not add any salt to this recipe and do not believe it needs it.  Fight the urge to over-salt your food!)


Mix all ingredients well.  I would recommend letting it sit in the refrigerator overnight before using, to let the flavors blend.  However I used mine right away and it was great too.  The strong lime and the basil really make this mayonnaise pop.  I highly recommend you try this recipe if you like light, fresh citrusy flavors.


I am in love with the True Lemon and True Lime line of products.  Read more about them in my blog post here.   


Here's a picture of the finished mayo - needless to say I am not a food stylist.  I don't put a lot of mayo on my sliders, so this amount for me could be used for at least 6-8 slider sandwiches.    

The recipe suggests using butter to toast the bread and cook the sliders, but I used more of my homemade chili olive oil on my panini press instead.  I took the coconut bread and grilled all four slices on one side on an open panini maker (using the bottom panini grill pan but not closing the grill).  Information on the Cuisinart Griddler I use can be found at the bottom of this post.  


I then flipped over two of the "bread" pieces and topped the toasted side of two slices with a light amount of basil lime mayonnaise.  I took one slice of mortadella, one slice of hard salami and a 3/4 ounce slice of mozzarella cheese and put it on one piece of "bread" and topped it with another slice of "bread" (grilled side toward the meat) that did not have basil lime mayo on it.  I did the same with the remaining two slices of "bread" with another slice of mortadella, salami and cheese.  I then closed the panini maker so that the grill plates were grilling the top and bottom of the sandwich at the same time.  


My panini maker didn't get a very good sear on both piccolo (small) panini.  I had turned one slider around and then closed the panini grill again, so if you see in the picture below the panini in the back of the picture looks like a mini waffle top. 

Because I am such a horrible food stylist, I tried to throw a prop in the picture of my Piccolo Panini-Italian Sliders.  Nothing says "Italian Slider" like a Chinese dragon head, right?  Right?

Lily's Recipe Review:  My version of the piccolo panini- Italian slider does not look as good as the ones in the 24-7 Low Carb Diner's photo.  This was my first interaction with low carb homemade bread.  I know alternative flour bread is not going to taste like regular wheat bread, but my brain was thinking a sandwich on a panini grill would be crunchy.  The coconut flour bread was thick and spongy - like eating a sandwich on pieces of cake or a thick pancake.  The taste was rich but bland, if that makes any sense.  

In the future, I'd make the "bread" in advance and try to dry it out a little more to try to counteract some of the cake-like consistency.  I also should have toasted the bread in my toaster oven before putting it in the panini maker.  I think this would have also helped with the texture. 

My hunger had gotten the best of me and I wolfed down both of these sliders.  The "bread" to meat ratio was way off on my sandwiches, which was my fault.  I was thinking of how many calories this coconut bread has and I didn't want to put on a ton of meat and cheese as well to raise the calories.  Regardless if you're low-carb, low-fat, low-sugar ... no matter what your diet plan, 3500 calories = 1 pound of fat whether its 3500 calories of broccoli or 3500 calories of chocolate cake.  I didn't want to eat more calories than I should.    

The 24-7 Low Carb Diner recipe does not list the calories for this recipe, but using online calorie counters I estimated it is around 355 calories, 5.4 g carbs, 8.7 g protein and 33 g fat for the 4 slices of coconut bread toasted in 1 tablespoon of butter.  (Yeah I know, the well beaten into me "fat is evil" mindset did a tiny scream when I calculated the fat content.)  

Then I looked at the nutritional information on the ingredients I was using and saw that some of them had less calories than what I found online, so check what ingredients you are using for the most accurate calorie count.  

I also used less oil to grill the paninis, so calorie-wise and fat-wise my meal was probably less.  But the estimate on the amount of meat (Boar's Head mortadella and hard salami), cheese (Publix brand mozzarella) and basil lime mayo I used plus my earlier calculations from the internet, my two sliders (meat, cheese, "bread" and condiments) were most likely around 648 calories total, 8 g of carbs.  More calories than I normally like for a lunch entree, but I have to say the two sliders were very satisfying.

For both calorie-consciousness and for taste, I would have let the coconut bread cool, sliced the pieces thinner and loaded the panini with more meat (although 3/4 ounce of mozzarella was more than enough for me, so I would not have added more cheese).  The "bread" is very rich and dense.  If I didn't have a thinner slice of coconut bread, I probably would have preferred an open-faced sandwich.  It was just too much coconut bread for me.  

I could not taste the homemade chili oil that I put in the batter, so I was glad I had added the basil lime mayo on the sandwich to add more flavor to the "bread."  The tart citrus taste of the basil lime mayo also cut through the fatty flavor of the mortadella and hard salami.  Next time, I would add more types of seasonings to the batter before "baking" the bread.

In retrospect, I would have eaten only one slider instead of two, because the coconut flour is very filling.  (324 calories for lunch is a lot better than 648 calories, in my opinion as well.)  Unfortunately, I was so hungry post-workout that I wolfed down both sliders without thinking nor waiting to see how full one slider would make me.  With two sliders in my belly, I felt full and satiated without feeling uncomfortable.  The coconut flour definitely filled me more than a wheat bread slider roll would have.

With modifications noted above, I would definitely make this low carb recipe again.  Thank you 24-7 Low Carb Diner!  Your recipe has inspired me for future recipes, such as: 

Suggested Variations:

1)  Faux McDonald's McGriddle:

Because the "bread" was more spongy and soft, it reminded me of eating a McDonald's McGriddle Breakfast Sandwich.  (Speaking of McGriddles, if you would like to make one at home - check out this hysterically funny 55 step recipe at HolyTaco.com).  I think it would be a great idea to play up the McGriddle-like quality of the bread by adding maple extract, cinnamon and 1-2 packets of sweetener in the bread batter before baking in the microwave.  I would then slice the "loaf" in the original 4 pieces in the recipe to capitalize on the thick sponginess.  I would make two "faux McGriddles" with a quality maple-flavored sausage patty and a fried or poached egg (cheese optional).  I am definitely going to have to try this idea sometime because I think it would be pretty darn tasty!

2) Faux Polenta topped with Chicken Parmesan:

The texture of the coconut bread also reminded me in a weird way of polenta.  I would like to take one thick slice of the "bread," toast it and then use it as a base for a grilled chicken breast topped with fresh basil leaves, no sugar added marinara sauce, parmesan and mozzarella cheese (a piece of water packed mozzarella would be great) and then broil it until the cheese is lightly brown and melty.  I think that would be a hearty, Italian-style dinner.  

3)  Grilled Faux Polenta Cakes with Carmelized Onions and Goat Cheese (Hold the Honey!):

I'd also like to try the coconut bread in place of polenta in this Food52.com recipe for Griddled Polenta Cakes with Carmelized Onions, Goat Cheese and Honey.  (Although I'd probably skip the honey to keep it lower carb.)

4)  Faux Arepas de Queso:

One more variation, I would make the batter in a large coffee mug so that instead of a cylinder of "bread," I'd have a thinner larger round.  I would then slice the "bread" in half and grill the two pieces with several pieces of white farmer's cheese or mozzarella and perhaps some diced jalapeños in-between.  I would fry the sandwich like I would a grilled cheese sandwich.  I believe the results would taste very much like an arepa de queso (cheese corn cake) without the starchy corn.   

5)  Different Seasonings:

Last but not least ... this easy low carb recipe has definitely inspired me as you can see above.  I have several ideas for seasonings for the "bread" and sandwiches to pair with it.  Stayed tuned to "Sandwich Tuesday" for the next several Tuesdays on LilyOnTheLam.com to learn more about how I have modified this coconut flour bread recipe and to find out if my culinary experimentation was a hit or a miss!

Google Affiliate Ads:  This is the panini grill I use.  I love it and it's very easy to use and clean.