300 15-Minute Low-Carb Recipes (44 page)

This is great for all of you who miss Rice-a-Roni and similar products. And it's terrific with a simple rotisseried chicken.

1/2 head cauliflower

1/2 medium onion, chopped

2 tablespoons (28 g) butter

1 tablespoon (6 g) chicken bouillon concentrate

1 teaspoon poultry seasoning

1/4 cup (60 ml) dry white wine

1/4 cup (23 g) sliced or (28 g) slivered almonds

Run the cauliflower through the food processor using the shredding blade. Put the cauliflower in a microwaveable casserole, add a couple of tablespoons (28 ml) of water, cover, and microwave on High for 7 minutes.

While that's cooking, sauté the onion in 1 tablespoon (14 g) of butter in a large, heavy skillet over medium-high heat.

When the cauliflower is done, pull it out of the microwave, drain it, and add it to the skillet. Add the chicken bouillon concentrate, poultry seasoning, and wine and stir. Turn the burner down to low heat.

Let that simmer for a minute or two while you sauté the almonds in the remaining tablespoon (14 g) of butter in a small, heavy skillet. When the almonds are golden, stir them into the “rice” and serve.

Yield:
5 servings, each with 4 grams of carbohydrates and 1 gram of fiber, for a total of 3 grams of usable carbs and 2 grams of protein.

Beef and Bacon “Rice” with Pine Nuts

1/2 head cauliflower

4 strips bacon

1/2 medium onion, chopped

1 tablespoon (15 ml) beef bouillon concentrate

2 tablespoons (31 g) tomato sauce

2 tablespoons (18 g) toasted pine nuts

2 tablespoons (8 g) chopped fresh parsley

Run the cauliflower through the food processor using the shredding blade, put it in a microwaveable casserole, add a couple of tablespoons (28 ml) of water, cover it, and nuke it on High for 7 minutes.

While that's cooking, cut the bacon into little pieces—kitchen shears are good for this—and start the little bacon bits frying in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. When a little grease has cooked out of the bacon, throw the onion into the skillet. Fry them until the onion is translucent and the bacon is browned and getting crisp.

By now the cauliflower should be done. Drain it and throw it in the skillet with the bacon and onion. Add the beef bouillon concentrate and tomato sauce and stir the whole thing up to combine everything—you can add a couple of tablespoons (28 ml) of water, if you like, to help the liquid flavorings spread.

Stir in the pine nuts and parsley (you can just snip it right into the skillet with those kitchen shears) and serve.

Yield:
4 or 5 servings. Assuming 4 servings, each will have 3 grams of carbohydrates and 1 gram of fiber, for a total of 2 grams of usable carbs and 4 grams of protein.

Alfredo in a Flash

This is so easy and so good! I figure this for two servings as a side dish, but with this carb and calorie count you could eat the whole thing. I like this for a hot snack.

1 package tofu shirataki, fettuccini width

1/4 cup (50 g) chive flavor whipped cream cheese

1 tablespoon (5 g) grated Parmesan cheese

Snip open your shirataki and dump them in a strainer. Give them a rinse, snip across them a couple of times with your kitchen shears, and plunk them in a microwaveable bowl. Nuke on high for a minute.

Pull your noodles out of the microwave and drain them again. Nuke a second time for a minute on high and drain again.

Stir in the chive cream cheese; it should melt into the hot noodles, but if you need to you could give the whole thing another 30 seconds in the microwave.

Stir in the Parmesan and serve.

Yield:
2 servings, each with 81 calories, 8 grams fat, 2 grams protein, 1 gram carbohydrate, trace dietary fiber, and 1 gram usable carb.

Sesame Noodles

Have you got a Chinese food jones? Here's your dish! This serves four as a side dish, but it makes a nice, light supper for two. And there's no law against halving the recipe if it's just you—but if you make the whole thing, you'll have leftovers to reheat tomorrow, you know.

2 packages shirataki noodles, spaghetti width

2 teaspoons chopped garlic

2 tablespoons (28 ml) coconut oil

2 tablespoons (32 g) natural peanut butter

4 tablespoons (60 ml) rice vinegar

4 tablespoons (60 ml) soy sauce

2 tablespoons (28 ml) dark sesame oil

2 tablespoons (3 g) Splenda, or the equivalent in liquid Splenda

1/2 teaspoon chili garlic paste, or to taste

Drain and rinse the shirataki. Snip across them a few times, put them in a microwaveable bowl big enough to eventually toss them in, and nuke them for 1 minute 30 seconds.

In the meantime, combine everything from the garlic through the chili paste in a small saucepan over low heat.

When the microwave beeps, re-drain the noodles, put them back in the bowl, and give them another 1 minute 30 seconds on high.

Whisk your sauce over low heat until it's smooth and thick—it won't take long.

When the microwave beeps again, drain the noodles one last time and put them back in their bowl. Pour on the sauce and toss.

Slice up the scallions really quick. Serve the noodles with the scallion scattered on top.

Yield:
4 servings, each with 205 calories, 18 grams fat, 4 grams protein, 9 grams carbohydrate, 3 grams dietary fiber, and 6 grams usable carb.

Not-Quite-Middle-Eastern Salad

Here shredded cauliflower stands in for bulgar wheat instead of rice. This salad is incredibly delicious, incredibly nutritious, and quite beautiful on the plate. Plus it gets better after a couple of days in the fridge, so taking an extra few minutes to double the batch is definitely worth it.

1/2 head cauliflower

2/3 cup (93 g) sliced stuffed olives
^*

7 scallions, sliced

2 cups (60 g) triple-washed fresh spinach, finely chopped

1 stalk celery, diced

1 small ripe tomato, finely diced

4 tablespoons (16 g) chopped parsley

1/4 cup (60 ml) olive oil

1 teaspoon minced garlic or

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tablespoon (15 ml) red wine vinegar

2 tablespoons (28 g) mayonnaise

Salt and pepper

^*
You can buy sliced stuffed olives in jars.

Run the cauliflower through the food processor using the shredding blade, put it in a microwaveable casserole, add a couple of tablespoons (28 ml) of water, cover the dish, and nuke it on High for just 5 minutes.

While that's cooking, put the olives, scallions, spinach, celery, tomato, and parsley in a large salad bowl.

When the cauliflower comes out of the microwave, dump it in a strainer and run cold water over it for a moment or two to cool it. (If you don't care about your salad being ready to eat in 15 minutes' time, you can let the cauliflower cool, uncovered, instead.) Drain the cauliflower well and dump it in with all the other vegetables. Add the oil, garlic, vinegar, and mayonnaise and toss. Salt and pepper to taste, toss again, and serve.

Yield:
6 servings, each with 5 grams of carbohydrates and 2 grams of fiber, for a total of 3 grams of usable carbs and 1 gram of protein.

Cauliflower Parmesan

This is wonderful with a simple broiled or grilled steak and easy to make while that steak is cooking.

1/2 head cauliflower

1/2 cup (120 ml) heavy cream

1/2 cup (50 g) grated Parmesan cheese

Salt and pepper

Run the cauliflower through the slicing disk on your food processor. Put it in a microwaveble casserole, add a couple of tablespoons (28 ml) of water, cover, and microwave on High for 4 minutes. When the cauliflower comes out of the microwave, drain it and put it in a large, heavy skillet you've sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Reduce the heat to low. Add the cream and Parmesan, stir, cover, and let the whole thing simmer for 5 minutes or so. Salt and pepper to taste and then serve.

Yield:
4 servings, each with 2 grams of carbohydrates, a trace of fiber, and 5 grams of protein.