1001 Low-Carb Recipes: Hundreds of Delicious Recipes From Dinner to Dessert That Let You Live Your Low-Carb Lifestyle and Never Look Back (57 page)

½ cup (100 g) canned water chestnuts, sliced or diced, drained

1 clove garlic, crushed

¼ cup (60 ml) chicken broth

1½ teaspoons soy sauce

Guar or xanthan

Heat the oil in a skillet or wok over high heat. Add the green beans and water chestnuts and stir-fry until the green beans are tender-crisp. Stir in the garlic, chicken broth, and soy sauce and let simmer for a couple of minutes; thicken the pan juices just a little with guar or xanthan and serve.

Yield:
3 servings

Each with 2 g protein; 10 g carbohydrate; 3 g dietary fiber; 7 g usable carbs.

Southerners will be shocked to know that I never tasted green beans slowly cooked with bacon until I moved to southern Indiana, but I liked them right off. Around our house, this recipe is jokingly referred to as The Sacred Masonic Vegetable, because my husband’s never been to a Masonic banquet that didn’t feature beans cooked this way!

4 cups (600 g) frozen green beans, unthawed

cup (50 g) diced onion

¼ cup (30 g) diced celery

4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

1 tablespoon (15 ml) bacon grease

½ cup (120 ml) water

Place the beans in the slow cooker and stir in everything else. Cover the slow cooker, set it to low, and let it cook for 4 hours.

Yield:
6 servings

Each with 3 g protein, 7 g carbohydrate, 3 g dietary fiber, 4 g usable carbs.

If you’re having a roast, simplify your life by serving this dish—it can cook right alongside the meat.

1 bag (1 pound, or 455 g) frozen Italian green beans, thawed

2 cans (8 ounces, or 225 g each) tomato sauce

¼ small onion, minced

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 teaspoon spicy brown or Dijon mustard

Pepper

½ cup (60 g) shredded mozzarella

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

Put the beans in an 8-cup (1.9-L) casserole dish.

Combine the tomato sauce, onion, garlic, mustard, and a dash of pepper in a mixing bowl; stir into the beans.

Bake for 1 hour or until the beans are tender. Then top with mozzarella and bake for another 3 to 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted. Serve.

Yield:
4 servings

Each with 12 grams of carbohydrates and 4 grams of fiber, for a total of 8 grams of usable carbs and 6 grams of protein.

If you’re not serving a roast and you’d like to slice a half-hour off the baking time for this dish, microwave the beans until they’re tender-crisp before you combine them with the sauce.

4 cups (600 g) frozen green beans, unthawed

¼ cup (40 g) chopped onion

¼ cup (30 g) chopped green bell pepper

¼ cup (60 ml) cider vinegar

2 tablespoons (3 g) Splenda

teaspoon black pepper

Combine everything in your slow cooker. Stir to distribute evenly. Cover the slow cooker, set it to low, and let it cook for 5 hours.

Serve with a pat of butter and a little salt.

Yield:
4 servings

Each with 2 g protein, 12 g carbohydrate, 4 g dietary fiber, 8 g usable carbs.

2 tablespoons (30 ml) olive oil

½ small onion, finely minced

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 bag (1 pound, or 455 g) frozen, cut green beans, thawed

½ cup (120 ml) diced canned tomatoes

¼ cup (60 ml) beef broth or bouillon

¼ cup (60 ml) dry white wine

Heat the oil in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and sauté for a minute or two.

Drain the beans and add them to the skillet, stirring to coat. Sauté the beans for 6 to 7 minutes, adding another tablespoon (15 ml) of oil if the skillet starts to get dry.

Stir in the tomatoes, broth, and wine. Turn up the heat to medium-high and let everything simmer until the beans are just tender-crisp and most of the liquid has cooked off (about 5 minutes).

Yield:
4 servings

Each with 11 grams of carbohydrates and 3 grams of fiber, for a total of 8 grams of usable carbs and 3 grams of protein.

You know that green bean casserole that mom serves every holiday? The one with the mushroom soup and the onion rings? It’s pretty high carb. I’d rather have beans amandine, myself. But for you green bean casserole diehards—and I know that there are more than a few of you out there!— here’s the new, decarbed version.

1 medium onion

¼ cup (30 g) low-carb bake mix or rice protein powder

¼ teaspoon salt or Vege-Sal

¼ teaspoon paprika

Oil for frying

4 cups (600 g) frozen green beans, cut style

1 can (4 ounces, or 115 g) mushrooms

2 tablespoons (20 g) minced onion

1 tablespoon (14 g) butter

1 cup (240 ml) heavy cream

½ teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

½ teaspoon chicken or beef bouillon concentrate

1 teaspoon soy sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

½ teaspoon guar or xanthan gum

Slice the onion thinly and separate into rings. Mix together the bake mix or protein powder, salt or Vege-Sal, and paprika. “Flour” the onion rings—the easiest way is to put the “flouring” mixture in a small paper sack and shake a few onion rings in it at a time. Heat about ¼ inch (6 mm) of oil in a heavy skillet over medium heat and fry the
“floured” onion rings, turning once, until golden brown and crisp. Drain on absorbent paper. You can do this part well in advance, if you like.

When you’re ready to make your casserole, preheat oven to 350°F (180°C, or gas mark 4) and start your green beans cooking—I like to microwave mine on high for about 7 or 8 minutes, but you can steam them if you prefer. While that’s happening, drain the liquid off the mushrooms and reserve it. Sauté the mushrooms and the minced onion in the butter until the onion is limp and translucent. Now add the cream, the reserved mushroom liquid, the Worcestershire sauce, the bouillon concentrate, and the soy sauce and stir. Then add salt and pepper to taste.

Now you have a choice: you can either pour this mixture into a blender or use a hand blender. Either way, sprinkle the guar or xanthan over the top and run the blender just long enough to blend in the thickener and to chop the mushrooms a bit—but not to totally purée them; you want some bits of mushroom.

Okay, we’re on the home stretch. Drain your cooked green beans, and put them in a 1½ -quart (1.4 L) casserole dish that you’ve sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Stir in the mushroom mixture and half of those fried onions. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes and then top it with the rest of the fried onions and bake for another 5 minutes.

Yield:
6 servings

Each with 11 g carbohydrate and 4 g of fiber, for a usable carb count of 7 g; 6 g protein. For the record, this comes to just over half of the carb content of the original recipe—and just about the same calorie count.

28 ounces (785 g) frozen green beans, unthawed

1 cup (100 g) chopped mushrooms

¼ cup (35 g) roasted red pepper, diced

¼ cup (40 g) chopped onion

2 teaspoons dried sage

1 teaspoon salt or Vege-Sal

1 teaspoon pepper

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 cup (240 ml) beef broth

1 teaspoon beef bouillon concentrate

½ cup (120 ml) heavy cream

Guar or xanthan

¾ cup (95 g) slivered almonds

1 tablespoon (14 g) butter

Combine the green beans, mushrooms, red pepper, and onion in a slow cooker.

In a bowl, mix together the sage, salt or Vege-Sal, pepper, nutmeg, broth, and bouillon. Pour the mixture over the vegetables. Stir the whole thing up. Cover the slow cooker, set it to low, and let it cook for 5 to 6 hours.

When the time’s up, stir in the cream and thicken the sauce a bit with guar or xanthan. Re-cover the slow cooker and let it stay hot while you sauté the almonds in the butter until golden. Stir them into the beans.

Yield:
8 servings

Each with 7 g protein, 12 g carbohydrate, 4 g dietary fiber, 8 g usable carbs.

Bacon, cheese, and garlic—if these three things won’t get your family to eat green beans, nothing will. Another great recipe from the
Low Carb Success Calendar
by Vicki Cash, this has enough protein to be a main dish.

7 to 10 thick strips of bacon

1 teaspoon olive oil

½ small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 bag (1 pound, or 455 g) frozen green beans

6 eggs

3 tablespoons (45 ml) cream

½ teaspoon red pepper flakes

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

Salt and pepper

¾ cup (75 g) grated Parmesan cheese

Fry the bacon slices in a large, nonstick skillet over medium heat until they’re not quite crisp. Drain on paper towels. Sauté the onion and garlic in the remaining bacon grease until brown.

Place the green beans in a 2-quart (1.9-L) microwave-safe bowl with 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of water. Cover and microwave on high for 10 minutes, turning bowl halfway through cooking.