Almond Meal Bread

O . . . M . . . G. It's me. I can't believe it has been so long since I've blogged. I have a ton of photos I've taken of the food I've made over the past few months, but just haven't sat down long enough to write anything.

Despite the last few blog posts you see for cupcakes and frosting, I have been sticking pretty well to my low-carb diet. And that's part of the problem. Chicken and vegetables is not an exciting thing to blog about. But what IS exciting to blog about is that I've lost 34 pounds (since June 2009)!!! And if you count the last 8 pounds that I've lost over and over since Thanksgiving, I've probably lost 237! :) Just this past Thursday I hit my goal weight and I've decided to lose ten more. I went from a size 14 to a size 8, and I'm even wearing a pair of size 6 jeans. In addition to the low-carb diet, I'm doing at least 30 minutes of cardio just about every day, plus some simple hand-weight lifting.

I'm still staying away from bread, pasta, rice, sugar, and potatoes. But I saw a few recipes lately using Almond Meal or Almond Flour. Almond Meal is finely ground almonds and Almond Flour is the same but with the oil removed. I've read that they are pretty much interchangeable. I picked up a bag at Trader Joe's and I wasn't quite sure what I was going to do with it, until I saw this recipe.

ALMOND FLOUR BREAD

-3 1/2 cups Almond Flour (I used Almond Meal)
-3 eggs
-1/4 cup melted butter
-1 tsp. baking soda
-1 cup yogurt
-1/4 tsp. salt

Mix all ingredients together. Bake in 350 F oven for about 45 min. (I think I went closer to an hour). Let cool almost completely in pan to ensure it stays together.

I served it with this:
HONEY BUTTER
4 Tbls. Butter (softened)
1 Tbls. Honey

Mix together well. Serve on bread or vegetables.

Well I don't have a carb count for either of these, but I know that the bread has WAY fewer carbs than regular bread, and the honey is the butter is all carbs. So unlike some of those ways that I've tried to replace carbs with look-a-like carbs (like spaghetti squash for spaghetti), this was REALLY good. The bread was moist and nutty. I used almond meal that included the almond husk, which you can see in the bread. If you can find it, shelled and unblanched almond meal will make a lighter colored bread.

I've got a couple more low-carb posts coming your way. But then I'll have no choice but to blog about king cake and brownies. :)