The Low-Carb Diabetes Solution Cookbook (12 page)

By now the microwave has beeped. Go stir your beans and give 'em another 3 to 4 minutes.

When your beans are tender-crisp, drain and add to the skillet along with the lemon juice. Toss everything together, season with salt and pepper to taste, and serve.

A simply amazing accompaniment to steak or a burger. It also makes a killer omelet filling, so you might want to make extra.

8 ounces (225 g) sliced mushrooms

1
1
/
2
tablespoons (22 g) butter

1
1
/
2
tablespoons (22 ml) olive oil

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1
/
4
teaspoon ground black pepper

2 tablespoons (30 g) sour cream

YIELD:
3 servings 93 calories; 8 g fat; 2 g protein; 4 g carbohydrate; 1 g dietary fiber per serving

Start sautéing the mushrooms in the butter and oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.

When they've gone limp and changed color, stir in the cumin and pepper. Let the mushrooms cook with the spices for a minute or two, then stir in the sour cream. Cook just long enough to heat through, and serve.

What's better than bacon and pine nuts? Still, remember green beans are higher in carbs than some veggies, and stick with a
1
/
2
-cup portion.

2 slices bacon

1 pound (455 g) frozen green beans, French cut

1
/
4
medium onion

1 tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil

1 teaspoon butter

1 teaspoon dried marjoram

1
/
4
cup (35 g) pine nuts, toasted

2 tablespoons (28 ml) balsamic vinegar

YIELD:
8 servings 73 calories; 5 g fat; 3 g protein; 5 g carbohydrate; 2 g dietary fiber per serving

First lay your bacon on a microwave bacon rack or in a glass pie plate. Nuke it for 2 minutes on high, or until crisp. Remove from the microwave, drain, and reserve.

While the bacon's cooking, put your green beans, still frozen, in a microwavable casserole dish with a lid. Add a couple of tablespoons (30 ml) of water, cover, and when the bacon is done, put 'em in the microwave for 7 minutes on high.

Cut up your onion; you want it finely minced. Now coat your big skillet with nonstick cooking spray, put it over medium heat, and add the olive oil and butter. When the butter's melted, swirl it into the olive oil, then add the onion. Sauté for just a few minutes, till the onion is translucent. Stir in the marjoram. Turn off the heat if the beans aren't done yet—it's better than burning your onion!

When the microwave beeps, stir your green beans, and give 'em 3 more minutes. You want them tender, but not overcooked.

(If your pine nuts aren't toasted, you'll need to do that, too. Spread them in a shallow pan and give them 7 or 8 minutes at 325°F [ª°C, or gas mark 3] —you want them just turning golden. A toaster oven is perfect for this—who wants to heat up the oven for a little job like this? But many stores carry pretoasted pine nuts.)

Okay, your beans are done. Drain 'em, and throw 'em in the skillet with the onion—if you've turned off the heat, turn it back on to medium-high. Stir it up. Now crumble the reserved bacon into the skillet, sprinkle the pine nuts over everything, and stir it up again. Add the balsamic vinegar, stir one more time, and serve.

Oh, come on, you have to make this! Just looking at the ingredients in the title, you know you'll love it. Have this with a steak, and tell your friends how virtuous you are, sticking to your nutritional plan.

4 slices bacon

8 ounces (225 g) sliced mushrooms

1
/
2
teaspoon minced garlic or 1 clove fresh garlic, minced

1
/
4
cup (15 g) diced sun-dried tomatoes—about 10 pieces before dicing

2 tablespoons (28 ml) heavy cream

1
/
3
cup (33 g) shredded Parmesan cheese

YIELD:
4 servings 113 calories; 8 g fat; 6 g protein; 5 g carbohydrate; 1 g dietary fiber per serving

Chop up the bacon or snip it up with kitchen shears. Start cooking it in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat. As some grease starts to cook out of the bacon, stir in the mushrooms.

Let the mushrooms cook until they start to change color and get soft. Stir in the garlic and cook for 4 to 5 more minutes. Stir in the tomatoes and cream and cook until the cream is absorbed.

Scatter the cheese over the whole thing, stir it in, let it cook for just another minute, and serve.

This simple dish has a country twang and an old-fashioned feel. I like it with a pan-broiled pork shoulder steak.

3 slices bacon

4 cups (280 g) shredded cabbage

2 tablespoons (28 ml) cider vinegar

12 drops liquid stevia (English toffee)

YIELD:
4 servings 46 calories; 3 g fat; 2 g protein; 4 g carbohydrate; 2 g dietary fiber per serving

In a heavy skillet, cook the bacon until crisp. Remove and drain.

Add the cabbage to the bacon grease and sauté it until tender-crisp about 10 minutes.

Stir together the vinegar and stevia. Stir this into the cabbage. Crumble in the bacon just before serving, so it stays crisp.

This hot stir-fried cabbage is fabulous. If you didn't think cabbage could be exciting, try this! Have the exhaust fan on or a window open when you cook this—when the chili garlic paste hits that hot oil, it may make you cough. It's worth it!

1 head napa cabbage

1
/
4
cup (60 g) chili garlic paste

2 tablespoons (28 ml) soy sauce

2 teaspoons dark sesame oil

1 teaspoon salt

12 drops liquid stevia (plain)

2 tablespoons (28 ml) peanut or canola oil

2 teaspoons rice vinegar

YIELD:
4 servings 175 calories; 9 g fat; trace protein; 3 g carbohydrate; trace dietary fiber per serving

I like to cut my head of napa cabbage in half lengthwise, then lay it flat-side down on the cutting board and slice it about
1
/
2
-inch (1 cm) thick. Cut it one more time, lengthwise down the middle, and then do the other half head.

Mix together the chili garlic paste, soy sauce, sesame oil, salt, and stevia in a small dish, and set by the stove.

In a wok or extra-large skillet, over the highest heat, heat the peanut or canola oil. Add the cabbage and start stir-frying. After about a minute, add the seasoning mixture and keep stir-frying until the cabbage is just starting to wilt—you want it still crispy in most places. Sprinkle in the rice vinegar, stir once more, and serve.

Reader Karen Sonderman has a large asparagus bed in her yard, the lucky stiff, so she gets a metric boatload of fresh asparagus every spring. She sent this recipe for
500 More Low-Carb Recipes
, and says that this is her very favorite way to prepare it. Julie McIntosh, who tested this recipe, says, “My seven-year-old son scarfed down almost the whole batch. I had to fight him for a sample for myself! He's never liked asparagus before, but he begged me to buy more asparagus and make this again tomorrow night! This was amazing.” Julie urges you to use fresh ground coarse sea salt, or kosher salt, instead of regular table salt, along with fresh ground pepper. And let this recipe serve as a lesson: Most vegetables take well to high-temperature roasting. If you're not sure what to do with a vegetable, consider roasting it.

3 pounds (1.4 kg) asparagus, all about the same thickness

1 tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil

Salt and ground black pepper, to taste

YIELD:
10 servings 29 calories; 1 g fat; 2 g protein; 3 g carbohydrate; 1 g dietary fiber per serving

Preheat oven to 450°F (230°C, or gas mark 8).

Gently bend each asparagus stalk until it snaps, or breaks. Toss the part that was below the break.

Pour the olive oil into an ovenproof dish or shallow baking pan large enough to accommodate the asparagus. Add salt and pepper—freshly ground is best—to taste.

Place the asparagus in the olive oil and roll it in the oil and seasonings until it is well coated.

Place in the preheated oven and roast until just tender—5 to 7 minutes for thin spears, 8 to 10 for medium, 10 to 12 for thick.

Remove and serve immediately.

You can easily top the asparagus with favorite sauces or melt butter until golden brown and pour over the top, but it is delicious just as is! Adjust the amount of oil and seasonings for larger or smaller quantities of asparagus.

What is it about asparagus? It's delectable just steamed and buttered, yet it inspires such gilding of the lily.

1 pound (455 g) asparagus

1
/
4
cup (55 g) butter

2 tablespoons (15 g) chopped walnuts

1 teaspoon curry powder

1
/
2
teaspoon ground cumin

9 drops liquid stevia (English toffee)

YIELD:
3 servings 189 calories; 19 g fat; 3 g protein; 5 g carbohydrate; 2 g dietary fiber per serving

Snap the ends off of the asparagus where they want to break naturally. Put in a microwavable container with a lid, or use a glass pie plate and plastic wrap. Either way, add a tablespoon or two (15 to 28 ml) of water, and cover. Microwave on high for 5 minutes. Don't forget to uncover as soon as the microwave goes beep, or your asparagus will keep cooking and be limp and sad!

While that's cooking, put the butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. When it's melted, add the walnuts. Stir them around for 2 to 3 minutes, until they're getting toasty. Now stir in the curry powder, cumin, and stevia, and stir for another 2 minutes or so.

Your asparagus is done by now. Fish it out of the container with tongs, put it on your serving plates, and top with the curried walnut butter.

Serve this with fish for a fast and elegant company meal. It's super-easy to double or even triple.

1 pound (455 g) asparagus

1
/
2
cup (115 g) mayonnaise

2 teaspoons soy sauce

1 teaspoon dark sesame oil

1
/
4
teaspoon chili garlic sauce

1 scallion

YIELD:
3 servings 298 calories; 33 g fat; 3 g protein; 4 g carbohydrate; 2 g dietary fiber per serving

Snap the ends off the asparagus where they want to break naturally. Put them in a microwave steamer or a glass pie plate. Add a couple of tablespoons (28 ml) of water, cover, and nuke on high for 5 minutes.

In the meantime, combine everything else in your food processor with the S-blade in place and run until the scallion is pulverized.

The standard way to serve this is to give everyone a puddle of sauce to dip their asparagus in. The fancy way is to spoon the sauce into a baggie, snip a teeny bit off the corner, and pipe artistic squiggles of sauce over your plates of asparagus.

By the way, if you nuke the asparagus earlier in the day and then chill it, this makes a nice salad.

Pepperoncini are those little hot salad peppers you sometimes get in a Greek salad. Look for 'em in the pickle section of your grocery store. If you're skittish about hot food, be aware that these are a lot milder than a jalapeño.

1 package (10 ounces, or 280 g) frozen chopped spinach, thawed

1
1
/
2
teaspoons olive oil

2 pepperoncini peppers, drained and minced

1 clove garlic

1 tablespoon (15 ml) lemon juice

YIELD:
3 servings 47 calories; 3 g fat; 3 g protein; 5 g carbohydrate; 3 g dietary fiber per serving

Put your thawed spinach in a strainer, and either press it with the back of a spoon or actually pick it up with clean hands and squeeze it—you want all the excess water out of it.

Give your medium skillet a shot of nonstick cooking spray, put it over medium-high heat, and add the olive oil. When it's hot, add the spinach, pepperoncini, and garlic. Sauté, stirring often, for about 5 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice, let it cook another minute, and serve.

Spinach is native to Asia, so this preparation is a natural. It's a quick- and-easy dish that goes well as a side with a simple fish dish.

1 tablespoon (8 g) sesame seeds

1 tablespoon (14 g) coconut oil or peanut oil

1 pound (455 g) fresh spinach

2 tablespoons (28 ml) soy sauce

YIELD:
4 servings 72 calories; 5 g fat; 4 g protein; 5 g carbohydrate; 3 g dietary fiber per serving

Put the sesame seeds in a small, heavy skillet over medium-high heat, and stir or shake them until they're golden brown and toasty. Remove from the heat and reserve.

If you have a wok, use it for this dish. If not, coat your large, heavy skillet with nonstick cooking spray. Either way, put the pan over high heat and add the oil. When the oil is hot, add the spinach, and stir-fry till it's just barely wilted. Stir in the soy sauce, and transfer to serving plates.

Sprinkle
3
/
4
teaspoon of the toasted sesame seeds on each serving, and serve.

Try this as a side dish, smothering a chicken breast, or as an omelet filling. I can't think of a bad way to serve this.

1 ounce (28 g) sliced pepperoni

2 tablespoons (30 ml) olive oil, divided

1 pound (455 g) sliced mushrooms

1 bunch scallions, sliced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 bag (5 ounces, or 140 g) baby spinach