1001 Low-Carb Recipes: Hundreds of Delicious Recipes From Dinner to Dessert That Let You Live Your Low-Carb Lifestyle and Never Look Back (41 page)

Yield:
6 servings

Each with 35 g protein; 8 g carbohydrate; 4 g dietary fiber; 4 g usable carbs.

When I tried this recipe, I didn’t eat much else till it was gone!

½ head cauliflower

8 ounces (225 g) cooked ham, cut in ¼-inch (6 mm) cubes

8 ounces (225 g) Swiss cheese, cut in ¼-inch (6 mm) cubes

¼ cup (40 g) finely diced red onion

¾ cup (75 g) chopped dill pickle

¾ cup (60 g) snow pea pods, cut in ½-inch (1.3-cm) pieces

cup (80 g) mayonnaise

1 tablespoon (15 ml) brown mustard

1 tablespoon (15 ml) white wine vinegar

1 teaspoon dried tarragon

First chop your cauliflower into ½-inch (1.3-cm) chunks—include the stem. Put it in a microwaveable casserole dish with a lid, add a couple of tablespoons of water, and cover. Cook it on high for 7 minutes.

Use the time while your cauliflower is cooking to combine your ham, cheese, onion, and pickle in a big mixing bowl.

Then pinch the ends off of your snow pea pods and pull off any strings. Cut into ½-inch (1.3-cm) pieces and put those in a microwaveable bowl. Add a tablespoon (15 ml) of water and cover. When the cauliflower is done, pull it out of the microwave and uncover it immediately—both to stop the cooking and to let it cool. Put your snow peas in the microwave and cook them on
high for just 1 minute. When they’re done, uncover immediately, drain them, and add them to the mixing bowl.

While your cauliflower is cooling, combine the mayo, mustard, vinegar, and tarragon in a small bowl and stir together well.

When the cauliflower is cool enough to not melt the cheese, drain it and add it to the ham and cheese mixture. Add the dressing and toss to coat. This is good right away, but it’s better if you let it sit in the fridge for at least a few hours to let the flavors blend.

Yield:
4 servings

Each with 28 g protein; 8 g carbohydrate; 1 g dietary fiber; 7 g usable carb.

Always read the labels and buy the lowest-sugar ham you can find—they vary quite a lot in carbohydrate content. This recipe assumes ham with 1 gram of carbohydrate per 3-ounce (85 g) serving.

5 ounces (140 g) cooked ham, diced

1 stalk celery, diced

2 tablespoons (20 g) diced red onion

¼ cup (30 g) chopped pecans

2 tablespoons (30 g) mayonnaise

2 teaspoons low-sugar apricot preserves

1 teaspoon spicy brown or Dijon mustard

¼ teaspoon soy sauce

Mix together the ham, celery, onion, and pecans in a mixing bowl. Combine the mayonnaise, preserves, mustard, and soy sauce and pour this over the ham mixture. Mix well and serve. This is really nice on a bed of lettuce.

Yield:
1 serving

15 grams of carbohydrates and 4 grams of fiber, for a total of 11 grams of usable carbs and 29 grams of protein.

This salad is rich and more filling than some others in this book. Serve it with a lighter grilled dish—maybe a seafood kebab or grilled chicken.

1 can (14 ounces, or 400 g) artichoke hearts, drained

2 ounces (55 g) prosciutto or good-quality deli ham, thinly sliced

½ cup (50 g) chopped kalamata olives

1 medium tomato

¼ cup (10 g) chopped fresh basil

3 tablespoons (45 ml) extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon (15 ml) white wine vinegar

1 clove garlic

½ teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon Splenda

Coarsely chop the artichoke hearts and throw them into a mixing bowl. Cut the prosciutto or ham into strips about 1 inch (2.5 cm) long and
½ inch (6 mm) wide and throw that in, too. Chop the olives and add them; then dice the tomato and put that in. Finally, throw in the chopped fresh basil.

Mix together everything else and pour it over the vegetables. Stir. Let it marinate for several hours before serving.

Yield:
4 servings

Each serving will have 7 grams protein, 10 grams carbohydrate, and 1 gram fiber, for a usable carb count of 9 grams—but a lot of the fiber in artichokes is in the form of inulin, which has a very low glycemic index, so this is considerably easier on your blood sugar than that 9-gram figure would suggest.

Here’s a salad with everything you’d find in a great submarine sandwich—except the bread! If your grocery store deli doesn’t have some of these cold cuts, substitute your favorites. Except bologna. One slice of bologna, and you’ve lost your East Coast sub shop accent.

8 cups (160 g) shredded lettuce, loosely packed

1 ounce (30 g) prosciutto or boiled ham

1 ounce (30 g) capacolla

1 ounce (30 g) mortadella

1 ounce (30 g) Genoa salami

1 ounce (30 g) provolone cheese (smoked provolone if you can get it!)

1 ounce (30 g) mozzarella cheese

medium red onion, sliced paper-thin

3 tablespoons (21 g) roasted red pepper, diced

4 fresh basil leaves, minced

½ small tomato, sliced in thin wedges

2 tablespoons (30 ml) olive oil

½ clove garlic, crushed

1 tablespoon (15 ml) red wine vinegar

1 dash pepper

1 dash salt

Make a bed of lettuce on each of two serving plates.

Slice the meats and cheeses into strips. Arrange artistically on the beds of lettuce. Top that with the onion, diced red pepper, and chopped fresh basil. Add the tomato wedges, too. Now mix together the oil, garlic, vinegar, pepper, and salt. Drizzle it over the salads and then serve.

Yield:
2 servings

Each with 18 g protein; 13 g carbohydrate; 5 g dietary fiber; 8 g usable carbs.

This makes a great meal, all from deli roast beef! Feel free to use leftover steak in this instead if you have that.

8 cups (160 g) bagged European or Italian blend greens

¼ cup (40 g) thinly sliced sweet red onion

¼ medium green pepper, sliced into small strips

3 tablespoons (45 ml) extra-virgin olive oil

½ teaspoon minced garlic or 1 clove garlic, crushed

1½ tablespoons (23 ml) balsamic vinegar

½ teaspoon spicy brown or Dijon mustard

¼ cup (30 g) crumbled Gorgonzola

4 ounces (115 g) sliced deli roast beef

2 tablespoons (18 g) toasted pine nuts

Place the greens, onion, and green pepper in a large salad bowl. Combine the oil and garlic, pour over the salad, and toss well. Stir together the balsamic vinegar and mustard and set them aside.

Crumble the Gorgonzola (if you didn’t buy it precrumbled) and add it to the salad. Slice the roast beef into strips and throw it in there, too. Pour the balsamic vinegar mixture over the whole thing and toss very well. Pile onto 2 serving plates, top each with a tablespoon of pine nuts, and serve.

Yield:
2 servings

Each with 19 grams of carbohydrates and 9 grams of fiber, for a total of 10 grams of usable carbs and 27 grams of protein. You’ll also get 1,153 milligrams of potassium and 247 milligrams of calcium, plus almost three times your daily requirements of vitamins C and A, and 100 percent of your daily requirement of folacin.

Gorgonzola is the Italian version of blue cheese. It is a bit milder and creamier than most blue cheeses. If you can’t find it, substitute any blue cheese you like.

No, this is not that sweet, tomatoey stuff that somehow has gotten the name “French dressing.” No Frenchman would eat that stuff on a bet! This is a classic vinaigrette dressing.

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon pepper

¼ to
cup (60 to 80 ml) wine vinegar

½ teaspoon Dijon mustard

¾ cup (180 ml) extra-virgin olive oil

Put all the ingredients in a container with a tight lid and shake well. Shake again before pouring over salad and tossing.

Yield:
12 servings

Each with only a trace of carbohydrates, fiber, and protein.

The French Vinaigrette and Italian Vinaigrette Dressing recipes make approximately enough for two big, family-size salads, but feel free to double them and keep them in the fridge.

Add a little zip to the French Vinaigrette, and you’ve got Italian Vinaigrette.

cup (80 ml) wine vinegar