1001 Low-Carb Recipes: Hundreds of Delicious Recipes From Dinner to Dessert That Let You Live Your Low-Carb Lifestyle and Never Look Back (92 page)

1 teaspoon salt

Start the ground beef cooking in a heavy skillet over high heat; spread it out to cover the bottom of the pan so it cooks quicker.

While the ground beef is browning, chop the onion and crush the garlic. Plunk them in the pan with the ground beef and stir it up using a spatula to turn it over and break it up so that it cooks evenly. Cover the pan and let it continue cooking.

Meanwhile, chop the cabbage coarsely. Stir this into the beef mixture a bit at a time—it will come close to overwhelming your skillet, unless yours is bigger than mine. Again, take care to turn everything over to keep it cooking evenly. Re-cover the pan.

Continue to stir the meat mixture to keep it cooking evenly, covering in between stirrings. When the cabbage is starting to wilt, stir in the tomato sauce, lemon juice, pepper, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt. Re-cover, let the whole thing simmer for 5 minutes, and then serve.

Yield:
5 servings

Each with 7 grams of carbohydrates and 2 grams of fiber, for a total of 5 grams of usable carbs and 25 grams of protein.

1 pound (455 g) ground chuck

2 tablespoons (15 g) oat bran

1 egg

¼ cup (60 ml) vegetable juice, such as V8

¼ cup (40 g) minced onion

½ cup plus 1 tablespoon (135 g) Dana’s No-Sugar Ketchup (page 463), divided

3 teaspoons spicy mustard, divided

½ teaspoon salt or Vege-Sal

¼ teaspoon pepper

3 tablespoons (4.5 g) Splenda

½ teaspoon blackstrap molasses

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

Plop the ground chuck, oat bran, egg, vegetable juice, onion, 1 tablespoon (15 ml) ketchup, 1 teaspoon spicy mustard, salt, and pepper into a big mixing bowl and use clean hands to smoosh it all together really well. Pack it into a loaf pan to mold it and then turn it out onto the broiler rack. Bake for 1 hour.

Twenty minutes before it’s done, combine the remaining ½ cup (120 ml) ketchup, the Splenda, blackstrap molasses, and the other 2 teaspoons of mustard. Brush over the meat loaf to glaze and return to oven to finish baking.

Yield:
4 to 5 servings

Assuming 5, each will have 19 g protein; 8 g carbohydrate; 1 g dietary fiber; 7 g usable carbs.

1 pound (455 g) ground beef

1 pound (455 g) mild pork sausage

1 cup (80 g) crushed plain pork rinds

1 can (4½ ounces, or 130 g) diced mild green chilies

1 medium onion, finely chopped

8 ounces (225 g) Monterey Jack cheese, cut into ¼- to ½-inch (0.6- to 1.3-cm) cubes or shredded

¾ cup (195 g) salsa (mild, medium, or hot, as desired)

1 egg

2 or 3 cloves garlic, crushed

2 teaspoons dried oregano

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon salt or Vege-Sal

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

Combine all the ingredients in a really big bowl and then with clean hands knead it all until it’s thoroughly blended.

Dump it out on a clean broiler rack and form into a loaf—it’ll be a big loaf—about 3 inches (7.5 cm) thick. Bake for 1½ hours.

Yield:
8 servings

Each with 5 grams of carbohydrates and 1 gram of fiber, for a total of 4 grams of usable carbs and 28 grams of protein.

Do chop the onion quite fine for your meat loaves. If it’s in pieces that are too big, it tends to make the loaf fall apart when you cut it. The Mexicali Meat Loaf may crumble a bit anyway because it’s quite

FOR THE MEAT LOAF:

1 pound (455 g) ground chuck

¼ cup (30 g) minced green bell pepper

¼ cup (30 g) shredded carrot

cup (55 g) minced onion

1 egg

2 tablespoons (30 ml) Dana’s No-Sugar Ketchup (page 463)

1 teaspoon chili garlic paste

2 tablespoons (15 g) oat bran

¼ teaspoon dried oregano

¼ teaspoon dried basil

½ teaspoon salt or Vege-Sal

¼ teaspoon pepper

FOR THE GLAZE:

¼ cup (60 ml) Dana’s No-Sugar Ketchup

1 tablespoon (1.5 g) Splenda

¼ teaspoon blackstrap molasses

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil

½ teaspoon chili garlic paste

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

To make the meat loaf: First, put the pepper, carrot, and onion in a big mixing bowl. Add the remaining meat loaf ingredients. Using clean hands, smoosh everything together until it’s all very well mixed. Pack it into a loaf pan to mold it and then turn the meat loaf out onto a broiler rack. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes.

To make the glaze: Combine the glaze ingredients in a small bowl. About 20 to 30 minutes before baking time is up, take the meat loaf out of the oven and spread the glaze over it. Return it to the oven until it’s done.

Yield:
4 to 5 servings

Assuming 5, each will have 19 g protein; 8 g carbohydrate; 2 g dietary fiber; 6 g usable carbs.

I adapted this from a recipe that had a whole pile of bread crumbs and a cup of milk in it. I simply left them out, and I’ve never missed them.

2½ pounds (1.1 kg) ground beef

5 ounces (140 g) Swiss cheese, diced small or grated

2 eggs, beaten

1 medium onion, chopped

1 green pepper, chopped

1 small rib celery, chopped

1 teaspoon salt or Vege-Sal

½ teaspoon pepper

½ teaspoon paprika

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

With clean hands combine all the ingredients in a large bowl until the mixture is well blended.

Pack the meat into one large loaf pan or two small ones. Turn out onto a broiler rack. Bake a large loaf for 1½ to 1¾ hours. Bake two small loaves for 1¼ hours.

Yield:
8 servings

Each with 3 grams of carbohydrates and 1 gram of fiber, for a total of 2 grams of usable carbs and 30 grams of protein.

I turn the loaf out of the pan and onto a broiler rack to bake so the excess fat runs off—not because I’m afraid of fat, but because I like it better that way. If you like, though, you could bake yours right in the pan, and it would probably be a bit more tender.

The inspiration for this meat loaf was a recipe in an Italian cookbook. The original recipe was for a “zucchini mold,” and it had only a tiny bit of meat in it. I thought to myself, “How could adding more ground beef be a problem here?” And I was right; it’s very moist and flavorful.

1½ pounds (680 g) ground beef

3 tablespoons (45 ml) olive oil

2 medium zucchini, chopped (about 1½ cups, or 190 g)

1 medium onion, chopped

2 or 3 cloves garlic, crushed

2 tablespoons (7.6 g) snipped fresh parsley

1 egg

¾ cup (75 g) grated Parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon pepper

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

Heat the olive oil in a skillet and sauté the zucchini, onion, and garlic in it for 7 to 8 minutes.

Let the vegetables cool a bit and then put them in a big bowl with the beef, parsley, egg, cheese, salt, and pepper. Using clean hands, mix the ingredients thoroughly.

Take the rather soft meat mixture and put it in a big loaf pan, if you like, or form the loaf right on a broiler rack so the grease will drip off. (Keep in mind that if you do it this way, your loaf won’t stand very high—it’ll be about 2 inches [5 cm] thick.)

Bake for 75 to 90 minutes or until the juices run clear but the loaf is not dried out.

Yield:
5 servings

Each with 3 grams of carbohydrates and 1 gram of fiber, for total of 2 grams of usable carbs and 29 grams of protein.

Okay, my grandma used egg noodles instead of spaghetti squash, but it tastes good this way, too. This is handy for potlucks and such.

1 pound (455 g) ground beef

2 tablespoons (28 g) butter

1 clove garlic, crushed

1 teaspoon salt

Dash pepper

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

6 scallions

3 ounces (85 g) cream cheese

1 cup (230 g) sour cream

3 cups (675 g) cooked spaghetti squash

½ cup (60 g) shredded cheddar cheese

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

Brown the ground beef in the butter. Pour off the grease and stir in the garlic, salt, pepper, and tomato sauce.

Cover, turn the heat to low, and simmer for 20 minutes.

While the meat is simmering, slice the scallions, including the crisp part of the green, and combine with the cream cheese and sour cream. Blend well.

In the bottom of a 6-cup (1.4-L) casserole dish, layer half the spaghetti squash, half the scallion mixture, and half the tomato-beef mixture; repeat the layers. Top with the cheddar and bake for 20 minutes.

Yield:
5 servings

Each with 15 grams of carbohydrates and 2 grams of fiber, for a total of 13 grams of usable carbs and 23 grams of protein.

This is one of those meal-in-a-bowl sorts of things that just somehow seem comforting. I’ve found that slow cooking really brings out the best in turnips. They end up remarkably like potatoes.

1½ pounds (680 g) ground round

1 tablespoon (15 ml) oil

1 medium onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, crushed

4 stalks celery, diced

1 cup (240 ml) beef broth

1 teaspoon beef bouillon concentrate

½ teaspoon salt or Vege-Sal