300 15-Minute Low-Carb Recipes (12 page)

Yield:
1 serving, with 22 grams of carbohydrates and 13 grams of fiber, for a total of 9 grams of usable carbs and 33 grams of protein.

This burrito also packs 680 milligrams of potassium and 582 milligrams of calcium!

When we first discussed this project, my editor, Holly, and I discussed recipes that simply wouldn't work for the 15-minute framework. Holly brought up meat loaves. “Hah!” I said. “I'll just make them as burgers.”

And that's what I've done. Here, for your quick-cooking, low-carbing pleasure, is an astonishing variety of interesting burger recipes, not a few of which originated as high-carb meat loaf recipes.

All of these recipes assume that you have an electric tabletop grill—you know, the George Foreman kind of thing. Since these grills cook from both sides, they cook very rapidly. If you don't have one, no worries—there's no reason you can't cook these burgers in a skillet or even broil them—it'll just take an extra 5 minutes or so, and you'll have to flip them.

By the way, you'll find a number of burger recipes here that use pork. If you don't eat pork, I don't see any reason why ground turkey wouldn't work in these recipes. It would taste different, but should still taste good. If you do this, chop all of your other ingredients in a food processor and then add the ground turkey and pulse just long enough to combine.

Beef, Sausage, and Spinach Burgers

These are superb, and of course they have enough vegetables in them that you don't really have to eat anything else with them if you don't want to take the trouble—but some bagged Italian salad mix with Italian or Creamy Garlic dressing would sure go well!

1 pound (455 g) ground beef

1/2 pound (225 g) Italian sausage, hot or mild

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

1 teaspoon minced garlic or 2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 teaspoons Italian seasoning

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

2 tablespoons (12 g) oat bran

1 egg

3 tablespoons (15 g) grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (123 g) no-sugar-added spaghetti sauce

2 tablespoons (18 g) sliced ripe olives

Extra Parmesan cheese for topping

Preheat your electric tabletop grill.

Dump the ground beef, sausage, spinach, garlic, seasoning, red pepper, oat bran, egg, cheese, and salt into a big bowl. (If your Italian sausage came in casings—mine did—slit them and squeeze out the meat, discarding the casings.) Using clean hands, smoosh everything together very well; you want the flavors of the two meats completely blended.

Form into 5 burgers, each about 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick. Slap 'em on the electric grill and set a timer for 6 minutes.

While the burgers are cooking, combine the spaghetti sauce and olives in a microwaveable bowl and nuke for 1 minute at 70 percent power.

When the stove timer goes off, stick a burger with a fork. If the juices run clear, they're done. If they're pink, give the burgers another minute. When they're cooked through, transfer them to serving plates, top each with the spaghetti sauce and olives, plus more Parmesan if you like, and serve.

Yield:
5 servings, each with 9 grams of carbohydrates and 3 grams of fiber, for a total of 6 grams of usable carbs and 26 grams of protein, not counting any extra Parmesan you may put on top.

This recipe's a good source of calcium and vitamin A, too!

Apple Sausage Burgers

Feel free to make these with turkey sausage, if you prefer.

1/2 medium onion, peeled and cut in a few chunks

1/2 Granny Smith or other crisp, tart apple, cut into a few chunks (no need to peel it)

1 1/2 pounds (680 g) bulk pork sausage, hot or mild

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon dried sage

1 teaspoon pepper

Preheat your electric tabletop grill.

Put the onion and apple in a food processor with the
S
-blade in place and pulse until they're chopped to a medium consistency. Add the sausage, thyme, sage, and pepper and pulse until it's all well-blended.

Form into 4 burger and put them on the grill. Cook for 7 minutes or until the juices run clear.

Yield:
4 servings, each with 7 grams of carbohydrates and 1 gram of fiber, for a total of 6 grams of usable carbs and 20 grams of protein.

Apple Cheddar Pork Burgers

What can I say? I think apples and pork are a terrific combination.

1/2 Granny Smith or other crisp, tart apple, cut into a few chunks (no need to peel it)

1/4 medium onion, peeled and cut into a couple of chunks

1 pound (455 g) boneless pork loin, cut into 1 1/2-inch (3.8 cm) cubes

2 tablespoons (12 g) oat bran

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon salt or Vege-Sal

2 teaspoons prepared horseradish

2 ounces (55 g) cheddar cheese, shredded

Preheat your electric tabletop grill.

Put the apple, onion, pork, oat bran, egg, salt or Voge-Sal, and horseradish in a food processor and pulse until the meat is ground and everything is well-blended. Add the cheese and pulse just long enough to blend it in—we're trying to keep some actual shreds of cheese here.

Form into 4 burgers and slap 'em on the grill. Cook for 7 minutes or until the juices run clear.

Yield:
4 servings, each with 5 grams of carbohydrates and 1 gram of fiber, for a total of 4 grams of usable carbs and 25 grams of protein.

Cranberry Burgers

Someone anonymously posted a recipe for burgers with cranberry jelly in them to the Internet. It was clearly high-carb, but it looked so tasty that I had to figure out a way to adapt it. Here it is! Don't panic at this list of ingredients because this really is quite quick and easy—you just dump stuff in the food processor and run it.

5 slices bacon

1 small onion, peeled and cut into chunks

1/3 cup (34 g) whole cranberries

2 cloves fresh garlic or 1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/4 green pepper, core and seeds removed, cut into a couple of chunks

1 stalk celery, cut into a few chunks

1 pound (455 g) ground beef

2 tablespoons (12 g) oat bran

1 egg

1/4 cup (6 g) Splenda

1/2 teaspoon grated gingerroot

5 ounces (140 g) cheddar cheese, in slices

First, begin cooking the bacon in the microwave using either a microwave bacon rack or a glass pie plate. In my microwave, 5 minutes on High (1 minute per slice) is about right, but microwave power varies.

Preheat your electric tabletop grill.

Put the onion, cranberries, garlic, pepper, and celery in your food processor with the
S
-blade in place and pulse to chop everything to a medium consistency. Add the ground beef, oat bran, egg, Splenda, and gingerroot and pulse again to combine. Form the mixture—it will be pretty soft—into 5 burgers. Put them on the grill and set a timer for 6 minutes.

While the burgers are cooking, go check the bacon. If it's still a little flabby, give it another minute or so; it should be crisp. Drain the bacon if needed and break each strip into 2 or 3 pieces to fit on top of the burgers.