1001 Low-Carb Recipes: Hundreds of Delicious Recipes From Dinner to Dessert That Let You Live Your Low-Carb Lifestyle and Never Look Back (119 page)

¾ teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon oregano

½ teaspoon pepper

¾ cup (180 ml) lime juice

¼ teaspoon orange extract

Just measure everything and whisk it together. Use it to marinate and baste chicken.

Yield:
Makes just over ¾ cup (180 ml), or enough to marinate 1 good-sized cut-up chicken

Assuming 5 servings, each will have 4 grams of carbohydrate, with a trace of fiber and protein—if you manage to consume all the marinade, which you won’t.

cup (80 ml) lime juice (Bottled is fine.)

cup (80 ml) water

3 tablespoons (45 ml) tequila

1 tablespoon (1.5 g) Splenda

1 tablespoon (15 ml) soy sauce

2 cloves garlic, crushed.

Combine the ingredients and store in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Yield:
Roughly ¾ cup (180 ml)—enough for a dozen boneless, skinless chicken breasts or a couple of pounds of shrimp

In the whole batch there are 13 grams of carbohydrates and 1 gram of fiber, for a total of 12 grams of usable carbs and no protein, but since you drain most of the marinade off, you won’t get more than a gram or two of carbs total.

This marinade is named after its combined Italian and Chinese influences. It’s wonderful for steak, but try it on chicken, too! It’s also good on vegetables.

1 cup (240 ml) bottled Italian salad dressing

¼ cup (60 ml) soy sauce

2 teaspoons grated ginger

2 tablespoons (3 g) Splenda

4 drops blackstrap molasses

Just measure everything and stir it together. Use it to marinate or season whatever you like!

Yield:
1¼ cups (300 ml), or 5 servings of ¼ cup (60 ml)

1 g protein; 6 g carbohydrate; trace dietary fiber; 6 g usable carbs. However, you can drop this lower by using a seriously low-carb Italian dressing—and anyway, since you use this as a marinade, you’re unlikely to consume anything like ¼ cup (60 ml) of this at a time.

It’s great for ribs or kind of any pork!

1½ (360 ml) cups water

12-ounce (360-ml) can light beer

1 teaspoon blackstrap molasses

¼ cup (6 g) Splenda

1 tablespoon (4.2 g) dried thyme

1 tablespoon (18 g) salt

1 whole bay leaf

½ teaspoon pepper

Combine everything in a nonreactive bowl or pan. Marinate the meat in a big resealable plastic bag or shallow pan large enough to hold the meat. Either way, let it marinate for several hours before cooking. Don’t forget to discard the bay leaf.

Yield:
Makes about 3 cups (710 ml)—double it if you need to

18 grams of carbohydrate in the whole batch, with 2 grams of fiber, for a usable carb count of 16 grams; 1 gram protein. But remember, this is a marinade, so you won’t consume anything like the whole batch. I’d count only 1 or 2 grams of carb per serving.

Jerk is a Jamaican way of life. Make it with one pepper if you want it just nicely hot or with two peppers if you want it traditional—also known as take-the-top-of-your-head-off hot.

1 or 2 Scotch Bonnet or habanero peppers, with or without seeds and ribs (the hottest parts)

½ small onion

3 tablespoons (45 ml) oil

1 tablespoon ground (5.7 g) allspice

2 tablespoons (12 g) grated fresh ginger

1 tablespoon (15 ml) soy sauce

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 bay leaf, crumbled

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon (1.5 g) Splenda

2 cloves garlic, crushed

Put all the ingredients in a food processor with the S-blade in place and process until the mixture is fairly smooth. (You’ll get a soft paste that looks like mud but smells like heaven!) Smear this over the meat of your choice and let it sit for a day before cooking. Remember to always wash your hands after handling hot peppers!

Yield:
Enough for about 4 servings of meat

Each serving serving of Jerk Marinade adds 4 grams of carbohydrates and 1 gram of fiber, for a total of 3 grams of usable carbs and no protein.

If you just can’t take the heat, you can chicken out and use a jalapeño or two instead of the habaneros or Scotch Bonnets, and your jerk marinade will be quite mild, as these things go. But remember: There is no such thing as a truly mild jerk sauce.

I invented this for my Easter leg of lamb, but there’s no reason you can’t use it on pork and chicken, too—anywhere you want a hit of sweet-and-hot flavor.

½ cup (80 g) minced red onion

¼ cup (60 ml) canola oil

4 cloves garlic, crushed

½ cup (120 ml) red wine vinegar

½ cup (160 g) low-sugar apricot preserves

2 chipotle chiles canned in adobo

5 tablespoons (7.5 g) Splenda

2 tablespoons (30 ml) lemon juice

In a saucepan, sauté the onion in the oil until it’s soft. Add the garlic and vinegar and whisk in the preserves. Bring to a simmer and let cook for 5 minutes or so.

Let it cool for a few minutes and then pour the glaze into a blender and add the chipotles, Splenda, and lemon juice. Whirl until the chipotles are ground up. Use to baste meat or poultry that’s roasting or grilling.

Yield:
12 to 14 servings

Assuming 14, each will have trace protein; 4 g carbohydrate; trace dietary fiber; 4 g usable carbs.

It’s common to glaze a roasting ham with brown sugar, honey, or the like—but we all know what that does to the carb count! Here’s a glaze that’ll impress your family and friends, while leaving your diet intact.

½ cup (120 ml) sugar-free pancake syrup

¼ cup (60 ml) lemon juice

1 teaspoon Splenda

¼ teaspoon orange extract

1 tablespoon (15 ml) brown mustard

1 tablespoon (14 g) butter

Simply combine everything in a small saucepan over low heat and simmer for five minutes. Use to baste a ham during the last hour of roasting time. You can also use this to glaze a ham steak for a much quicker supper!

Yield:
Enough for a good-sized ham

The whole batch has 2 g protein; 6 g carbohydrate; trace dietary fiber; 6 g usable carbs. Carb count does not include the polyols in the sugar-free pancake syrup.

Many store-bought seasoning blends include sugar or cornstarch—my food counter book says that several popular brands have 5 grams of carb in 2 teaspoons! This is very easy to put together, and it tastes great. It’s even cheaper than the premixed stuff.

2 tablespoons (15.6 g) chili powder

1½ tablespoons (9.5 g) cumin

1½ tablespoons (9.5 g) paprika

1 tablespoon (7.2 g) onion powder

1 tablespoon (8.4 g) garlic powder

teaspoon cayenne pepper (mild) or ¼ teaspoon cayenne (a bit hotter)

Simply combine all ingredients, blending well, and store in an airtight container. Use 2 tablespoons (18 g) of this mixture to 1 pound (455 g) of ground beef, ground turkey, or chicken.

Yield:
This makes about 8 tablespoons (70 g), or 4 batches’ worth

Using 2 tablespoons (18 g) of this seasoning will add just under 2 g carbohydrate to a 4-ounce (115 g) serving of taco meat.

This is wonderful sprinkled over a chicken breast before grilling or as a table seasoning for any poultry. (It’s also great sprinkled over whole or cut-up chicken before roasting.)

3 tablespoons (55 g) salt

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon curry powder

½ teaspoon black pepper

Combine all the ingredients thoroughly and store in a salt shaker or the shaker from an old container of herbs. Simply sprinkle over chicken before roasting; I use it to season at the table, as well.

Yield:
Makes just over ¼ cup (30 g)

In the whole recipe there are only 7 grams of carbohydrates and 1 gram of fiber, for a total of 6 grams of usable carbs and no protein—so the amount of carbohydrates in the teaspoon or so you sprinkle over a piece of chicken is negligible.

This sprinkle-on seasoning will liven up chops, steaks, chicken, fish—just about anything!