Nana's Little Kitchen: Grain Free Cream Gravy (Cream Sauce (S)

For many of us, the Trim Healthy Mama diet is about more than losing weight, it is about developing a lifestyle of good, healthy, eating that will last a life time. It was with this idea in mind that I took on the quest to find a good cream gravy recipe, because as a Southerner I remember that ultimately it will be very hard for me to be faithful to a diet, long term, without a really good gravy! But, as a THMer I remember that it will be hard to keep that "trim" while eating the traditional fat/carby gravy! Below, I'm also sharing the two links for the gravy recipes that helped me develop the THM version of the gravy recipe I make now.

This first one is a real doozie! It actually has bacon fat in it and I will definitely indulge sometimes and make this recipe, because it really looks fantastic:

http://fluffychixcook.blogspot.com/2014/01/low-carb-cream-gravy-southern-elixir-of.html

The second one looks equally yummy to me:

http://www.cutthewheat.com/2014/01/southern-style-sausage-biscuits-low.html

What do both of these recipes have in common, besides looking so good that I could just drop everything and run for my skillet right now? They are both very high in fat, because both of these bloggers are on diets that emphasize the use of one fuel, which is fat and to varying degrees avoid carbs. Because of this, they can have more of the one fuel that they do eat! As Trim Healthy Mama's, we still get to eat our beans and cornbread or beans and rice, or chicken and rice, etc but we do not need to load up on either fuel; we just eat to our satisfaction. So our daily meals, while they should be very filling and satisfying, should not focus on being fat laden to the extent that the some
of the low carb recipes for other plans will be. Our body needs to be able to burn through whichever fuel we eat in 2 to 2 1/2 hours and start using up some of our stored fat before our next meal if we want to lose weight consistently. If we have stuffed it with fat, for most of us slower weight loss will result! So I said all that to say....Here's my THM'd cream gravy, still with lots of yum, but a little more moderate on the fat.

2 cups chicken broth (I have also used good quality veggie broth with success)

Bring the broth to a boil then reduce the heat to low and add:

1 tablespoon coconut flour

Gently parboil this for 5 minutes of so to soften the fibers and then remove from heat and add in:

2 tablespoons cream cheese (softened works best)

2 tablespoons cream, as needed

Whisk this in thoroughly and taste to adjust seasonings. At this time you might want to check for thickness. It should be a little less thick than you want it to end up; as cooling will thicken it further just like it does a "normal" gravy. Now remove the hot broth from the stove and add in
1/8 - 1/4 tsp. xanthan gum (or more)- go easy on this because a little goes a very long way

** Make sure you add the xanthan gum or THM glucomannan (I do not recommend the NOW brand
at all) to the mixture while it is very HOT, but at this point I just whisk it in well and do not continue to boil or simmer it to avoid it getting a little too--thick!

Now most who have read this far know that cream gravy is usually slightly sweet. The cream cheese lends tartness to this gravy, but it can be well masked by adding in any and/or all of the following.

1 or 2 pinches of truvia (optional)
1/8 - 1/4 tsp garlic powder(not garlic salt and not optional for me)
1/8 - 1/4 tsp onion powder (not onion salt)
1/4 tsp - or more of Tony's or other cajun seasoning is very good in this but if you are adding gravy to a spicy mixture (like ground, browned sausage) you might want to wait to add it in till you see if it is
needed.

Now add in:
salt and pepper more or less Depending on whether or not you added the cajun -aka nuclear- option (which I usually do ;-)

So this is the basic gravy but I'm telling you this sauce has so many applications. For instance, I steamed some cauli in 2 cups of vegetable broth this weekend to make a loaded cauliflower dish for our steak. When I removed the cauli from the skillet I noticed there was about a cup of very flavorful liquid still in that skillet. So, I added some fresh lightly chopped mushrooms to the skillet and sprinkled enough of the gravy ingredients to make a 1/2 batch of gravy for our chuck steak. Wow! It was just wonderful. My husband tasted it and just looked at me and said these magic words. "You're back!" All the flavor of the old days :-) ! Trimming, healthy, happy Mama!!