300 15-Minute Low-Carb Recipes (33 page)

So there I was, with a whole bunch of lemons and a huge pile of fresh basil. What's a girl to do? I came up with this dish.

1/2 teaspoon chopped garlic

1/2 cup (120 ml) extra virgin olive oil

1/2 head cauliflower

1 small diced red onion

8 jarred pepperoncini peppers

12 ounces (340 g) canned artichoke hearts

1/2 cup (20 g) fresh basil

1/2 cup (30 g) chopped fresh parsley

3 cups (420 g) diced turkey

1 lemon

1/3 cup (45 g) pine nuts

Crush the garlic clove, put it in a measuring cup, and pour the olive oil over it. Let it sit.

Trim the leaves and the very bottom of the stem off your half of a cauliflower, whack it into big chunks, and run it through the shredding blade of your food processor. Put the resulting cauli-rice in a microwaveable casserole with a lid, add a couple of tablespoons (28 ml) of water, cover, and nuke on high for 6 minutes.

Don't bother wiping out your food processor, just swap the shredding blade for the S-blade. Halve and peel your onion, cut it in a few chunks, throw it in, and pulse to chop fairly fine. Dump into a big salad bowl and put the bowl back on the base. Add the pepperoncini (cut off the stem ends first), pulse once or twice, and then throw
in the drained artichoke hearts and pulse a few more times to chop to a medium consistency. Dump all that in the salad bowl, too.

Somewhere in all this chopping, your microwave will beep. Take out the cauli-rice and uncover it to stop the cooking. Let it cool while you finish chopping.

You can chop your basil and parsley in the food processor too, if you like, but I find a kitchen shears easier. I measured the first time, but from here on out I'd probably just snip right into the bowl and eyeball my quantities.

Finally, cube your turkey. I used a big hunk of deli turkey breast, but this would be a great way to use up Thanksgiving leftovers. Cut it in 1/2 inch (1.3 cm) cubes and throw it in the bowl, too.

Drain your cauli-rice, add it to the salad, and stir it all up.

Dump in the garlicky olive oil and halve and squeeze the lemon over the top (pick out any seeds first!). Add the pine nuts, toss one final time, and serve.

Yield:
5 servings, each with 451 calories, 32 grams fat, 26 grams protein, 18 grams carbohydrate, 6 grams dietary fiber, and 12 grams usable carb.

Club Sandwich Salad

This is all the flavors you loved in a club sandwich in a filling salad. The limiting factor in this recipe is your microwave—I assume you have only one! There just wasn't quite enough time in fifteen minutes to nuke both the cauliflower and the bacon sequentially. That's why I've specified precooked bacon. If you don't mind your recipe taking a few minutes more, go ahead and microwave your own bacon; it's cheaper and fresher. This is a great make-ahead, by the way.

1/2 head cauliflower

2 cups (280 g) diced turkey—leftover, or deli turkey

1 romaine lettuce heart, cut crosswise in 1/2 inch (1.3 cm) strips (about 4 cups [228 g] lettuce)

2 medium tomatoes

10 slices precooked bacon

2 tablespoons (28 ml) cider vinegar

2 tablespoons (28 ml) lemon juice

1 teaspoon spicy brown mustard

1/2 cup (115 g) mayonnaise

salt and pepper

Trim the leaves and the very bottom of the stem off your half of a cauliflower, whack it into chunks, and run it through the shredding blade of your food processor. Put the resulting cauli-rice into a microwaveable casserole with a lid, add a couple of tablespoons (28 ml) of water, and nuke on high for six minutes.

In the meantime, cube your turkey—I used deli turkey and had the guys at the deli slice it a full half-inch (1.3 cm) thick, which made for nice cubes. Throw it in a big salad bowl. Shred your romaine, dice your tomatoes, and throw them in too.

Somewhere in here your microwave will beep. Pull out your cauli-rice and uncover it to stop the cooking. Let it cool a few minutes so it won't cook your lettuce and tomatoes! It will cool faster if you drain it and stir it now and then.

Measure and whisk together your vinegar, lemon juice, mustard, and mayonnaise.

Use your kitchen shears to snip the bacon into the salad; cut it every 1/4 inch (6 mm) or so. Now add the cauli-rice, pour on the dressing, toss well, and serve.

Yield:
5 servings, each with 353 calories, 29 grams fat, 19 grams protein, 7 grams carbohydrate, 3 grams dietary fiber, and 4 grams usable carb.

Warm Chicken Liver Salad

You will like this if you like chicken livers, and you won't like it if you don't. Mmmmm. Chicken livers...

6 large chicken livers

2 tablespoons (28 ml) olive oil

Salt or Vege-Sal and pepper

8 ounces (225 g) bagged mixed greens—European or Parisian blends are good.

1/2 ripe avocado

1-inch (2.5 cm) wedge of a large sweet red onion, sliced paper thin

1/3 cup (80 ml) bottled Dijon vinaigrette

Cut each chicken liver into 3 or 4 pieces. Spray a large, heavy skillet with nonstick cooking spray and put it over medium-high heat. Add the oil and the livers. Sauté the livers, turning them frequently, until juices run clear and no pink spots show on the outsides. (Take care not to overcook the livers! They get tough if you overcook them.) Turn off the burner when they're done and if you have an electric stove, remove the pan from the warm element. Salt and pepper lightly.

Pour the bagged greens into a big salad bowl. Use the tip of a spoon to scoop bits of avocado out of the shell and into the salad bowl. Add the sliced onion, pour the dressing over it all, and toss well. Divide the salad mixture between 2 plates.

Top each salad with half of the livers and serve.

Yield:
2 servings, each with 15 grams of carbohydrates and 6 grams of fiber, for a total of 9 grams of usable carbs and 21 grams of protein.

This recipe is truly healthy. It gives you 892 milligrams of potassium and well over your daily requirement for vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin B2, vitamin B12, and folacin, not to mention half of your daily requirement for niacin, B6, and iron, and good doses of calcium, zinc, and B1. Indeed, I toyed with the idea of calling this
Big Pile of Nutrition Salad
. It's got to be the most nutritious recipe in the book.

Chicken Liver Salad with Warm Bacon Dressing

I love chicken livers, and despite dire pronouncements about it being
the filter of the body
, liver is about the most nutritious food there is. This is a snap to double, by the way, should you have another liver-lover in the house.

2 bacon slices

2 tablespoons (16 g) coconut flour

1/4 teaspoon salt or Vege-Sal

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground allspice

3 chicken livers

1/2 teaspoon chopped garlic

1 tablespoon bacon grease (15 g) or olive oil (15 ml)

3 tablespoons (45 ml) sherry vinegar

1/8 medium red onion, sliced paper-thin

3 cups (170 g) mixed lettuce

1 cup (20 g) arugula

Put a biggish heavy skillet over medium heat and use your kitchen shears to snip the bacon into it. You want it to wind up in bacon bits. Let the bacon fry.

In a cereal bowl, mix together the coconut flour, salt, pepper, and allspice. Go stir your bacon.

Use that same kitchen shears to snip each liver into 2 to 3 pieces, right into the seasoned coconut flour. Toss them around until they're coated.

Put your lettuce and arugula in a big bowl and slice your onion and have it standing by.

By now your bacon should be crisp. Fish it out with a slotted spatula (slotted because you want the grease to stay in the pan) and throw in your floured chicken liver chunks. Fry them quickly until they're just browned all over. The juice should still be running pink. Fish those out and put them on the plate with the bacon bits.

Throw the garlic, the extra bacon grease or olive oil, and the vinegar in the skillet and boil it for a second or two, scraping up all the yummy browned bits. Pour this over the lettuce and toss. Top with the red onion, liver, and bacon bits, and eat.

By the way, you can pile your greens on a plate if you want, but I ate mine out of the salad bowl I tossed them in. It's easier.

Yield:
1 serving, with 462 calories, 26 grams fat, 26 grams protein, 31 grams carbohydrate, 14 grams dietary fiber, and 17 grams usable carb.

Warm Chicken Liver and Artichoke Salad

I adapted this from a recipe that wanted you to start by cooking artichokes and trimming out their hearts, then marinating them. Starting with marinated artichoke hearts seemed a lot simpler and it certainly tastes good.

3 tablespoons (45 ml) olive oil, divided

1 tablespoon (15 ml) sherry vinegar

2 drops orange extract

1/4 teaspoon spicy brown or Dijon mustard

1 pinch Splenda

1/8 medium onion

1/4 teaspoon chopped garlic

3/4 cup (225 g) marinated artichoke hearts, quartered—Buy them that way!

4 chicken livers

3 cups (90 g) fresh baby spinach