1001 Low-Carb Recipes: Hundreds of Delicious Recipes From Dinner to Dessert That Let You Live Your Low-Carb Lifestyle and Never Look Back (36 page)

1 clove garlic, crushed

½ cup (40 g) diced red onion

1 small tomato

First, cut your cauliflower into ½-inch (1.3-cm) chunks—don’t bother coring it first, just trim the bottom of the stem and cut up the core with the rest of it. Put your cauliflower chunks in a microwavable casserole dish with a lid, add a few tablespoons of water, and cook it on high for 7 minutes.

When your cauliflower is done, drain it and put it in a large mixing bowl. In a medium-size bowl, whisk together the mayo, mustard, and lime juice; then pour it over the cauliflower and mix well.

Cut the jalapeño in half, remove the seeds, and mince it fine. Add it to the salad along with the cilantro, garlic, and diced red onion (don’t forget to wash your hands!); mix again.

Finally, cut the stem out of the tomato and cut the tomato into smallish dice. Then carefully stir it in. Chill the salad for a few hours before serving.

Yield:
6 servings

Each serving will have 3 grams of carbohydrate and 1 gram of fiber, for a usable carb count of 2 grams; 1 gram protein.

I think this would be great with grilled or barbecued lamb, myself.

½ head cauliflower

5 scallions

4 hard-boiled eggs

½ cup (120 g) mayonnaise

1 tablespoon (15 ml) spicy brown mustard

1 teaspoon curry powder

1 dash salt

1 dash pepper

Chop your cauliflower, including the trimmed stem, into ½-inch (1.3-cm) bits. Put it in a microwavable casserole dish with a lid, add a couple of tablespoons of water, cover, and cook it on high for 7 minutes.

Meanwhile, slice your scallions, including the crisp part of the green, and chop up your hardboiled eggs. Next, measure the mayonnaise, mustard, curry powder, salt, and pepper into a bowl and whisk them together.

Okay, the cauliflower is done now! Drain it, put it in a mixing bowl, and pour the dressing over it. Stir it up well so the cauliflower is coated with the dressing. When it’s had a chance to cool a little, add the scallions and eggs and stir it up again. Refrigerate until a half hour before dinner. Remove from the fridge and let it warm up a little before serving—this is good at room temperature.

Yield:
4 to 5 servings

Assuming 4, each will have 3 grams of carbohydrate, with 1 gram of fiber, for a usable carb count of 2 grams; 8 grams protein.

This recipe originally called for cooked rice, so I thought I’d try it with cauliflower “rice.” I liked it so much, I made it again the very next day.

½ head cauliflower

½ pound (225 g) bacon, cooked until crisp, and crumbled

2 medium tomatoes, chopped

10 to 12 scallions, sliced, including all the crisp part of the green

½ cup (115 g) mayonnaise

Salt and pepper

Lettuce (optional)

Put the cauliflower through a food processor with the shredding disk. Steam or microwave it until it’s tender-crisp (about 5 minutes on high in a microwave).

Combine the cooked cauliflower with the bacon, tomatoes, onions, and mayonnaise in a big bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste and mix.

This salad holds a molded shape really well, so pack it into a custard cup and unmold it on a plate lined with lettuce; it looks quite pretty served this way.

Yield:
5 servings

Each with 6 grams of carbohydrates and 2 grams of fiber, for a total of 4 grams of usable carbs and 15 grams of protein.

Just like the Bacon, Tomato, and Cauliflower Salad, this originally called for rice, but it works great with cauliflower. Make your own pesto or use store-bought, whichever you prefer.

½ head cauliflower, run through the shredding blade of a food processor

15 cherry tomatoes, halved

15 strong black olives, pitted and coarsely chopped

pound (150 g) mozzarella, cut in ½-inch (1.3-cm) cubes

1 tablespoon (10 g) finely minced sweet red onion

2 tablespoons (30 ml) olive oil

¼ cup homemade or purchased pesto

1 tablespoon (15 ml) wine vinegar

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

Cook the cauliflower “rice” until tender-crisp (about 5 minutes on high in a microwave). Let it cool.

When the “rice” is cool, add the tomatoes, olives, mozzarella, and onion and toss well.

Whisk together the olive oil, pesto, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Pour the mixture over the salad and toss.

Let the salad sit for at least a half an hour for the flavors to blend; overnight wouldn’t hurt.

Yield:
5 servings

Each with 6 grams of carbohydrates and 1 gram of fiber, for a total of 5 grams of usable carbs and 9 grams of protein.

This is rich and filling. The texture is quite different depending on whether you use shredded or cubed cheese, but they’re both good.

1½ cups (175 g) shredded or diced mozzarella

¼ cup (25 g) sliced scallions

½ cup (60 g) diced celery

¼ cup (60 g) mayonnaise

2 tablespoons (30 ml) wine vinegar

½ teaspoon oregano

½ teaspoon basil

Combine the mozzarella, scallions, and celery in a mixing bowl.

In a separate bowl, combine the mayonnaise, vinegar, oregano, and basil. Pour the mixture over the salad, stir to combine, and serve.

Yield:
2 servings

Each with 6 grams of carbohydrates and 2 grams of fiber, for a total of 4 grams of usable carbs and 20 grams of protein.

This makes a very unusual egg salad! Avocados are not only delicious and low carb, but they’re the best source of potassium on the planet!

1 stalk celery, diced

2 scallions, sliced, including the crisp part of the green shoot

½ black avocado, diced

3 hard-boiled eggs, chopped

¼ cup (30 g) crumbled blue cheese

3 tablespoons (45 ml) vinaigrette dressing (I like Paul Newman’s Olive Oil and Vinegar.)

This is very simple. Just combine the vegetables, eggs, and cheese in a mixing bowl. Add the dressing and toss. Serve on a bed of lettuce.

Yield:
2 servings

Each with 14 g protein; 7 g carbohydrate; 2 g dietary fiber; 5 g usable carbs.

This recipe is completely different from any egg salad you’ve ever had and quite wonderful! It is actually a French tradition.

8 ounces (225 g) bagged European style salad*

2 scallions, sliced

cup (80 ml) bottled balsamic vinaigrette (I like Paul Newman’s.)

Salt and pepper

¼ cup (20 g) shredded Parmesan cheese**

1 tablespoon (15 ml) vinegar

4 very fresh eggs

First put 1 inch (2.5 cm) of water in a largish saucepan and put it over medium-high heat. Ignore that for a minute while you put the greens and scallions in a big salad bowl. Pour the vinaigrette over the whole thing, add salt and pepper as desired, and toss well. Set aside.

Spray a microwaveable plate with nonstick cooking spray and spread the Parmesan on it. Microwave on high for 1 minute.

While the cheese is cooking, let’s get back to that water. It should be good and hot by now; turn it down to barely a simmer, add the vinegar, and poach the eggs in it. It helps to break each egg into a small cup or dish first to make sure that it’s good and fresh and that the yolk doesn’t break. (If it does, keep it for something else and use another egg for poaching.) Then slide each egg gently into the water and poach to the desired degree of doneness.

While the eggs are poaching, remove the Parmesan from the microwave—it will now be a crispy, lacy sheet. Break it up. Pile the salad on 2 serving plates and top each one with crispy Parmesan bits. Lift the now-poached eggs out of the pan with a slotted spoon, place 2 on each salad, and serve.

Yield:
2 servings

Each with 10 grams of carbohydrates and 4 grams of fiber, for a total of 6 grams of usable carbs and 20 grams of protein.

* The mixture should include some frisée, so read the label! If you can’t find one with frisée, you can still make the salad, but it will be less authentic.

** It is very important to use good-quality shredded (not grated) Parmesan with no additives. Regular Parmesan in the round green shaker won’t work; the cellulose in it messes it up for this.

This is my standard coleslaw recipe, and it always draws compliments. The tiny bit of onion really sparks the flavor.

1 head green cabbage

¼ sweet red onion

Coleslaw Dressing (page 176)

Using a food processor’s slicing blade or a sharp knife, reduce your cabbage to little bitty shreds and put those shreds in a great big bowl.

Mince the onion really fine and put that in the bowl, too.

Pour on the dressing and toss well.

Yield:
10 servings

Each with 1 gram of carbohydrates, a trace of fiber, and 1 gram of protein.

Did you just get invited to a picnic and are short on time for making something that’ll feed a crowd? This recipe makes a veritable bucketful, and it’s a wonderful side dish to almost any plain meat, including chops and chicken. If you like, you could even use bagged coleslaw from the grocery store and just add my dressing; I promise not to tell!

The colors in this slaw are so intense, it’s almost too beautiful to eat.

1 head red cabbage

1 small carrot, shredded

¼ sweet red onion, finely minced