300 15-Minute Low-Carb Recipes (30 page)

My friend Debbie told me that she loved tuna mixed with cottage cheese, and “lots and lots of chopped dill pickles.” So I tried it, and it made a really nice, simple lunch. This would travel well in a snap-top container, along with a baggie full of vegetables for scooping.

1 can (5 ounces, or 140 g) tuna, drained

1/2 cup (115 g) small-curd cottage cheese

1/4 cup (60 g) chopped dill pickle

1/4 cup (40 g) diced sweet red onion

1 tablespoon (14 g) mayonnaise

Celery sticks, pepper strips, and/or cucumber rounds

Simply mix together the tuna, cottage cheese, dill pickle, red onion, and mayonnaise. Refrigerate until you're ready to eat it and then scoop the tuna-cottage cheese salad up with the veggies!

Yield:
2 servings. Exclusive of the vegetables used for scooping, each serving will have 5 grams of carbohydrates and 1 gram of fiber, for a total of 4 grams of usable carbs and 26 grams of protein.

Crabamole Salad

Even if you're making the
Guacamole Dressing
right then, this is incredibly quick and easy. Feel free to substitute the seafood of your choice for the crab—flaked, cooked lobster or small salad shrimp would work well. Just don't use fake seafood, such as “Delicaseas”—the stuff has a whole pile of added carbs.

24 ounces (680 g) bagged mixed greens

1 pound (455 g) cooked lump crabmeat

1 batch
Guacamole Dressing
(see
page 298
)

16 cherry tomatoes

Arrange the mixed greens on 4 serving plates. Top each with crabmeat and then top that with the
Guacamole Dressing
, letting it run artistically down onto the greens. Cut the cherry tomatoes in half and arrange them around each portion. Serve.

Yield:
4 servings, each with 17 grams of carbohydrates and 8 grams of fiber, for a total of 9 grams of usable carbs and 28 grams of protein.

There's also 1479 milligrams of potassium and 344 milligrams of calcium in each serving of this salad!

Thai-Style Crab Salad in Avocados

Short on time, I got my pal Julie McIntosh to try out this recipe for me. She loved it the way I'd conceived of it, but suggested a little more cilantro, plus a little scallion, so that's what we did. Thanks, Julie!

1 ripe avocado

3 tablespoons (45 ml) lime juice

1 can (6 ounces, or 170 g) crabmeat, or 6 ounces (170 g) cooked lump crabmeat

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/4 cup (60 g) mayonnaise

2 tablespoons (2 g) chopped cilantro

1 scallion, thinly sliced

1/4 teaspoon pepper, or to taste

Salt, if desired

Split the avocado in half, remove the seed, and sprinkle the cut surfaces with

1 tablespoon (15 ml) of the lime juice to prevent browning.

Combine the crabmeat, remaining lemon juice, mayonnaise, cilantro, scallion, pepper, and salt in a mixing bowl and mix well. Stuff into the avocado halves, piling it high. Garnish with extra cilantro, if desired, and serve.

Yield:
2 servings, each with 9 grams of carbohydrates and 5 grams of fiber, for a total of 4 grams of usable carbs and 20 grams of protein.

This salad also provides 932 milligrams of potassium and 110 milligrams of calcium.

Smoked Salmon and Blue Cheese Salad

This salad is super easy but elegant enough for an alfresco summer company lunch. It's also very simple to double or even triple.

1 pound (455 g) bagged romaine mix

1/3 cup (80 ml) bottled Dijon vinaigrette dressing

8 ounces (225 g) smoked salmon, flaked

3/4 cup (90 g) crumbled blue cheese

6 scallions, sliced

1/4 cup (25 g) chopped Smokehouse almonds

Put the romaine mix in a big salad bowl and toss well with the dressing. Pile the greens on 3 plates, top with the salmon, blue cheese, scallions, and almonds, in that order, and then serve.

Yield:
3 servings, each with 10 grams of carbohydrates and 5 grams of fiber, for a total of 5 grams of usable carbs and 26 grams of protein.

Shrimp and Spinach Caesar Salad

Traditionally, Caesar Salad is made with romaine, but raw spinach is delicious, fabulous for you, and makes a pretty contrast with the shrimp and the eggs. If you don't have hard-boiled eggs on hand in the refrigerator, feel free to leave them out. (But why don't you have hard-boiled eggs on hand in the refrigerator?)

1 pound (455 g) bagged, triple-washed baby spinach leaves

1/3 cup (80 ml) bottled Caesar dressing

8 ounces (225 g) cooked, peeled, bitsy little shrimp, either canned (drain first) or frozen (thaw them!)

2 hard-boiled eggs

3 tablespoons (15 g) shredded Parmesan cheese

Place the spinach in a big salad bowl, pour the dressing over it, and toss with reckless abandon until every square millimeter of every leaf is coated. Pile the spinach on 3 serving plates.

Divide the shrimp between the 3 plates, piling them in the middles of the beds of spinach.

Peel and slice the eggs and arrange the slices around each pile of shrimp.

Scatter 1 tablespoon (15 g) of Parmesan over each salad and serve.

Yield:
3 servings, each with 7 grams of carbohydrates and 3 grams of fiber, for a total of 4 grams of usable carbs and 27 grams of protein.

You'll also get 238 milligrams of calcium and a whopping 821 milligrams of potassium!

Not-Quite-Middle-Eastern Salad Plus