1001 Low-Carb Recipes: Hundreds of Delicious Recipes From Dinner to Dessert That Let You Live Your Low-Carb Lifestyle and Never Look Back (90 page)

1 tablespoon (15 ml) sugar-free jarred pizza sauce

2 tablespoons (15 g) shredded mozzarella cheese

Cook the burger by your preferred method. When it’s almost done to your liking, top with pizza sauce, then mozzarella. Cook until the cheese is melted and serve.

Yield:
1 serving

With (depending on your brand of pizza sauce) no more than 2 grams of carbohydrates, no fiber, and 28 grams of protein.

One of the lowest-carb nationally distributed brands of spaghetti sauce is Hunt’s Classic. It has 7.5 grams of carbs per ½-cup (120-ml) serving, of which 4 g is fiber, for an effective carb count of just 3.5 grams.

This is spaghetti without the spaghetti, as it were.

1½ pounds (680 g) ground beef

1 small onion, diced

1 clove garlic crushed

1 green pepper, diced

1 can (4 ounces, or 115 g) mushrooms, drained

2 cups (480 ml) low-carb spaghetti sauce

Brown and crumble the ground beef in a large, heavy skillet. As the grease starts to collect in the skillet, add the onion, garlic, green pepper, and mushrooms. Continue cooking until pepper and onion are soft.

Pour off the excess grease. Stir in the spaghetti sauce and serve.

Yield:
5 servings

Each with (if you use the lowest-carbohydrate spaghetti sauce) 11 grams of carbohydrates and 4.6 grams of fiber, for a total of 6.4 grams of usable carbs and 25 grams of protein.

This is a good supper for the family, because again, it’s easy to add carbs for those who want them—you eat your very meaty meat sauce with a good sprinkling of Parmesan cheese, and you let the carb-eaters have theirs over spaghetti. Serve a big salad with it, and there’s dinner.

1 pound (455 g) ground beef

1 medium onion, diced

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 can (4 ounces, or 115 g) mushrooms, drained

1 teaspoon liquid beef broth concentrate

2 tablespoons (30 ml) Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon paprika

¾ cup (180 g) sour cream

Salt or Vege-Sal and pepper to taste

Brown and crumble the ground beef in a heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic as soon as there’s a little grease in the bottom of the pan and cook until all pinkness is gone from the ground beef.

Drain the excess grease. Add the mushrooms, broth concentrate, Worcestershire, and paprika. Stir in the sour cream and then add salt and pepper to taste. Heat through, but don’t let it boil. This is great as-is, but you may certainly serve it over noodles for the non-low-carb set.

Yield:
3 servings

Each with 9 grams of carbohydrates and 2 grams of fiber, for a total of 7 grams of usable carbs and 28 grams of protein.

When your family starts agitating for the “normal” food of yore, whip up this recipe.

1 pound (455 g) lean ground beef or ground turkey

½ cup (75 g) chopped green pepper

½ cup (80 g) chopped onion

½ cup (60 g) diced celery

2 cans (8 ounces [225 g] each) tomato sauce

2 cloves garlic, crushed; 1 teaspoon minced garlic; or ½ teaspoon garlic powder

½ teaspoon Italian seasoning

2 cups (220 g) shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese, divided

1 box (about 1¾ ounces, or 50 g) low-carb pasta

cup (80 ml) water Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the broiler.

In a large, oven-safe skillet, brown the meat with the pepper, onion, and celery. Drain off the grease.

Add the tomato sauce, garlic, seasoning, 1 cup (110 g) of the cheese, pasta, water, and salt and pepper to taste. Cover and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes. Turn on the broiler to preheat during last the few minutes of cooking time.

Stir well. Spread the remaining 1 cup (110 g) of cheese over the top and broil until the cheese starts to brown.

Yield:
6 servings

Each with 11 grams of carbohydrates and 2 grams of fiber, for a total of 9 grams of usable carbs and 36 grams of protein.

1 pound (455 g) ground round or other very lean ground beef

2 tablespoons (30 ml) oil

1 medium onion, sliced

2 cups (140 g) sliced mushrooms

2 stalks celery, thinly sliced on the diagonal

½ green pepper, diced

½ teaspoon minced garlic or 1 clove garlic, crushed

2 cups (100 g) bean sprouts

cup (80 ml) soy sauce

½ teaspoon liquid beef bouillon concentrate

In a wok or large skillet over high heat, start browning the beef in the oil and breaking it up. When it’s about halfway browned, add the onion, mushrooms, celery, green pepper, and garlic. Continue breaking up the meat while stir-frying the vegetables. When all the pink is gone from the beef and the vegetables are almost tender-crisp, add the bean sprouts, soy sauce, and beef bouillon concentrate. Continue stir-frying until the bean sprouts are just barely starting to wilt and then serve.

Yield:
4 servings

Each with 8 grams of carbohydrates and 2 grams of fiber, for a total of 6 grams of usable carbs and 24 grams of protein.

This looks like a lot of instructions, but it actually goes together rather quickly. It’s good when you’re missing Chinese food, which is generally full of added sugar and starch.

1 pound (455 g) ground beef

2 tablespoons (30 ml) soy sauce, divided

3 tablespoons (45 ml) dry sherry, divided

1 or 2 cloves garlic, crushed

Peanut oil or other bland oil for stir-frying

½ cup (60 g) coarsely chopped walnuts

2 cups (300 g) frozen crosscut green beans, thawed, or 2 cups (500 g) frozen broccoli “cuts,” thawed

1 medium onion, sliced

1½ teaspoons grated fresh ginger

Remember the Law of Stir-Frying: Have everything chopped, thawed, sliced, and prepped before you start cooking! In a bowl, combine 1 tablespoon (15 ml) soy sauce, 1½ tablespoons (23 ml) sherry, and the garlic. Add the ground beef and with clean hands mix the flavorings into the meat.

Heat 2 to 3 tablespoons (30 to 45 ml) oil in a wok or large, heavy skillet over high heat. Put the walnuts in the skillet and fry for a few minutes until crispy. Drain and put aside.

Using the same oil, stir-fry bite-sized chunks of the ground beef mixture until cooked through. Lift out the beef and drain.

Pour the oil and fat out of the skillet and put in a few tablespoons (30 ml) of fresh oil. Heat it up over high heat and then add the green beans, onion, and ginger. Stir-fry until the vegetables are tender-crisp.

Add the beef back to the pan and stir everything up. Stir in the remaining soy sauce and sherry and another clove of crushed garlic if you like.

Serve without rice for you and on top of rice for the carb-eaters in the family. Sprinkle the toasted walnuts on top of each serving and pass the soy sauce at the table for those who like more.

Yield:
3 servings

Each with 19 grams of carbohydrates and 6 grams of fiber, for a total of 13 grams of usable carbs and 34 grams of protein.

Here’s a dish for all you pizza-lovers, and I know you are legion. Just add a salad and you have a supper that will please the whole family.

1½ pounds (680 g) ground beef or ¾ pound (340 g) each ground beef and Italian-style sausage

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 teaspoon dried oregano or Italian seasoning (optional)

8 ounces (220 ml) sugar-free pizza sauce

Parmesan or Romano cheese (optional)

8 ounces (225 g) shredded mozzarella

Toppings (peppers, onions, mushrooms, or whatever you like)

Olive oil (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C, or gas mark 4).

In a large bowl and with clean hands, combine the meat with the onion, garlic, and oregano or Italian seasoning (if using). Mix well.

Pat the meat mixture out in an even layer in a 9 × 12-inch (23 × 30-cm) baking pan. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and set broiler to high.

When the meat comes out, it will have shrunk a fair amount because of the grease cooking off. Pour off the grease and spread the pizza sauce over the meat. Sprinkle the Parmesan or Romano cheese on the sauce (if using) and then distribute the shredded mozzarella evenly over the sauce.

Top with whatever you like: green peppers, banana peppers, mushrooms, olives, or anchovies.
I love broccoli on pizza, and thawed frozen broccoli “cuts” work perfectly. You could also use meat toppings, such as sausage and pepperoni, but they seem a little redundant, since the whole bottom layer is meat.

Drizzle the whole thing with a little olive oil (if using; it’s really not necessary).

Put your Meatza! 4 inches (10 cm) below a broiler set on high. Broil for about 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted and starting to brown.

Yield:
6 servings

Each with about 5 grams of carbohydrates per serving, only a trace of fiber, and 27 grams of protein. (This is based on using sugar-free pizza sauce and only cheese, no other toppings.)

If you haven’t been able to find a pizza sauce that doesn’t have sugar, you might combine an 8-ounce (225 g) can of tomato sauce with a crushed clove of garlic and some oregano.

This is our favorite one-dish skillet supper. It’s flexible, too; don’t worry if you use a little less or a little more ground beef or one more or one fewer egg. It’ll still come out great.

1½ pounds (680 g) ground beef