Looking for VERY low carb whole food recipes

[gr8fulmom]

My dh has just started the Atkins diet again and I am looking for some new low carb recipes... the lower carb the better! I do not want to end up needing processed or Atkins replacement products (many of which aren't found here in Canada anyway) as much as possible and would strongly prefer to use whole foods....


here are some recipes we have tried and enjoyed from the Atkins website:

chicken with lemon caper sauce

marinated shrimp salad (reminds me of cerviche)

tukey breast with sage crust

lemon parmasean turkey cutlets

[Attached Mama]

check through the traditional foods thread on here. Lots of recipes for nourishing old fashioned foods, which were traditionally low in carbs and high in protein.

[gr8fulmom]

recipes from another (tribal) thread

the Atkins web site actually has some good recipes too. Just look for ones without proprietary products and artificial sweeteners. I love the recipe that is on there for pumpkin-ginger-chicken soup with tomatoes. It's about 6 g carb/cup. You use canned pumpkin (or very well cooked) and grated raw ginger. No exact proportions here, I don't follow recipes very well.
Save-on Foods also carries low-carb wraps sometimes. Not organic. I cannot remember what they are called. They sell out quickly, though. They aren't the Weight Watchers kind - those aren't actually too low in carbs. Silver Hills flax bread and squirrelly bread are also fairly low in carbs. Not low carb, but definitely lower than other brands.

Palak paneer (spinach, cottage cheese, curry, onions) is also low carb and very yummy
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My new fav lowcarb veggie is celery root!

Quote:
Originally Posted by Karen Barnaby, "The Low-Carb Gourmet"

Celery Root: Where Taste Exceeds Glamour

One of the more unusual vegetables that you may cross paths with is celery root - also known as celeriac. It's bumpy and a little hairy looking. Although it seems to be available year-round, it's best in the fall, when it's fresh. It tends to get a little soft when stored too long, so squeeze it before buying to check for firmness and inspect for soft spots.

To use, peel it deeply cut it in half and remove the spongy core.

The carbohydrate count for an average 1 lb root is 28g of effective carbs, or around 8g per raw chopped cup.

Celery root can be diced and used in soups and stews. It's great roasted. It makes an excellent puree when combined with cauliflower or can be used raw in salad. (It can be a little tough when raw, so grate it or cut it into fine matchstick strips.) Celery root discolours quickly, so todd it with a little vinegar or lemon juice to preserve its whiteness.
YUM!! I've recently made 2 recipes with it (au gratin casserole and a soup below) from Low Carb Vegetarian by Celia Brooks Brown.

Curried Celery Root Soup with Cilantro Oil

2 tsp coriander
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp chili flakes
2 tbsp butter
2 tsp turmeric
1 large onion, chopped
1 in piece of fresh ginger, chopped
4 tbsp ground almonds
750g celery root (BIG ONE!!), diced
5 cups veggie stock
salt and pepper

For the Cilantro Oil:
1 sm garlic clove
1/2 tsp sea salt
handful of cilantro leaves
4 tbsp olive oil

4 tbsp whipping cream, to serve

Serves 6

Melt the butter in a soup pot over low heat. Add the coriander, cumin, chili and turmeric and cook for about 1 minute. Add onion, cover and cook for about 5 mins, until translucent. Add the garlic, ginger and almonds and cook for 1 min. Add celery root and stock and bring to the boil. Simmer for 20 mins, until the celery root is tender, then puree the soup with a handblender or food processor until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Make cilantro oil (YUM!!) by combining ingredients in a spice grinder or food processor.

To serve, ladle the soup into a bowl and garnish with cilantro oil and cream. The cilantro oil rises to the top and looks so pretty -- don't skip it!

Per serving:
carbs: 6g, protein:4.5g, calories: 237, fiber: 6g, fat 21g

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I am really into sprouts, too. I often have salad for dinner, but a nice salad, with fried mushrooms and cheese and dressing and chickpea sprouts and tempeh and all sorts of good things.

Remember that strawberries, raspberries and blackberries are also fairly low-carb because of all of the seeds. I have a lot of raspberries.

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how about lettuce wraps? fried ground beef mixed with lime juice, chopped cilantro, chopped green onions, and a bit of soy sauce, wrapped in lettuce.

or Cambodian rolls:


This dominican chimichurri burger recipe is AMAZING and would adapt really well to being served as a wrap because of the toppings and sauce: just change the shape of the burger and use a thin tortilla instead of a bun, preferably a healthy tortilla.

Another great make-ahead type of lunch is a hearty turkey & veggie soup with whatever "legal" root veggies. Always braise the meat first and use the bones for a stock. My tips are to make a yummy homemade stock AND to add good quality organic bouillon cubes :. Also 1/4 tsp of dried crushed chili peppers really brings out the flavour without being spicy.

What about chili? My best chili was making a vegetarian chili and adding some ground venison :.

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for low carb, I found there were tons of recipe books at my library. Pretty pictures motivate me . I really liked Against the Grain: 150 Good Carb Mediterranean Recipes but there are low carb cookbooks for every cuisine now. What I find the most useful approach is to make a "normal" meal, but change the proportions. For example, for a meat and potatoes meal, reduce the meat, skip the potatoes, and a make stunning large salad or vegetable side dish. One does get used to it and I've made lots of great meals that way. Also, wraps and rolls are pretty low carb. Epicurious is wonderful because you can see ratings and reviews of dishes, and in the search engine you can click the low carb option and use keywords as well to find recipes for specific ingredients. Paper cookbooks are almost obsolete unless you really love one author's style. There are lots of gluten-free blogs and recipe sites which will have many low carb recipes - one is Cindalou's Kitchen Blues. I have learned so much about food and cooking since we started tinkering with our diets two years ago

[Ruthla]

Mashed cauliflower makes a great substitute for mashed potatoes, either as a side dish or for use in recipes such as shepard's pie.

[krankedyann]

You can also shred cauliflower with a steel blade in the food processor, and cook it brliefly in a little oil and salt, and use it as rice.

[gr8fulmom]

mmm I'm liking the cauliflower ideas

what about snacks? and dessert cravings!!?

[gr8fulmom]

[Ruthla]

Originally Posted by gr8fulmom

mmm I'm liking the cauliflower ideas

what about snacks? and dessert cravings!!?

For snacks I always keep nuts in the house (mostly almonds and pecans). I'm not much of a "dessert person" but when I'm craving something sweet I make some hot cocoa with cocoa powder, coconut milk (heavy cream works as well, but I can't have dairy), hot water, and stevia.

[mgilleran@earth-co]

DH & I went on South Beach today. It is similar to Atkins. I did a search on recipezaar.com for South Beach & got several recipes. You could probably do the same thing with Atkins.

Snacks - cheese, hummus with veggies, nuts, natural peanut butter

dessert - there is a recipe on recipezaar for mocha ricotta creme. It can be made lemon flavored also. We can have sugar free jello also, I bet you can on Atkins too.
The cauliflower is a life-saver!

[Lilcrunchie]

nak-
I low carb for pcos. This site has helped me a lot!

http://genaw.com/lowcarb/

[cristeen]

I love mashed cauliflower. I mash it with cream cheese for a creamier texture.

I also love it roasted. Sliced thin then roasted until it turns dark brown around the edges... the two of us can wipe out a whole head in one sitting.

Brussel sprouts and asparagus and eggplant are also fabulous roasted. Just a bit of oil and some s&p is all they need.

There are lots of your regular recipes that can easily be low carb. Roast chicken, any stir-fry, most any curry (without potatoes), any piece of meat or seafood, salads. Generally speaking, where you'll find the hidden carbs is in the sauces. BBQ sauce and ketchup, a lot of salad dressings, have TONS of carbs. Learn to use mayo and mustard instead (read the labels of both though, some are not so good), or experiment with making your own.

To give you an idea, some favorites around here, when we first started Atkins:
Buffalo Wings with homemade blue cheese dressing and raw broccoli
Fried chicken
Sloppy Joes or Chili w/o beans (I think I've posted both these recipes here)
Hamburger salad (I still have this once a week... a bacon cheeseburger with all the trimmings on a bed of lettuce instead of a bun)
Broccoli Salad
Cream of soups (crab, clam, mushroom, broccoli, asparagus, tomato, etc.)
Jalapeno Poppers (jalapenos stuffed with flavored cream cheese, wrapped in bacon and broiled)
Meatballs and spaghetti squash
Meatloaf and mashed cauliflower

Once you get the hang of it, you'll discover that with minor changes, a lot of recipes are still useable (I'm not talking about baked goods recipes, though).

If you'd like the recipes for any of the above, let me know. I even have 3 recipes for crackers.

Something to think about though is what he's going to do for sweet. I don't know anyone that can cut everything sweet out of their life and stick to it. Whether you use Xylitol or honey or applesauce or stevia, etc. is up to you.

I do have some LC recipes for desserts, once you've decided on a source of sweet... custards, cheesecakes, pound cake (made with almond flour), etc. Let me know if you want recipes.

[Lilcrunchie]

For a bread sub (works as pizza crust, etc. too), I really like the recipe for "Oopsie Rolls" (you can google this probably). The Lowcarbfriends site definitely has the recipe. Basically it is eggs, cream cheese, and a few other ingredients, and you can use them as rolls (easy to do if you have a stand mixer, especially). They can hold a hamburger, can be topped w/ pizza stuff, can hold a regular egg, bacon, and cheese for a low carb egg-mcmuffin type of meal, etc.

Much better in terms of taste than a lot of the low carb bread alternatives I tried years ago. I like that you can make them at home. They can be frozen (haven't tried this yet though), and no soy or weird "protein isolate" types of stuff in them as compared to most commercial breads.

They don't have much flavor, but are a nice vessel for holding stuff, kwim?

[poppymum]

I had to eat very low carb while pregnant to avoid insulin shots. I really liked ground flax seed (almost all fat and fiber-almost no digestible carbs) cooked in water like oatmeal for breakfast, with stevia and cream.

Also, you can soften 3 oz of cream cheese, add 1 beaten egg and some stevia to taste, and a pinch of cinnamon and then bake for 15 mins or microwave for 2 mins to make something like the filling in a danish. I know it sounds weird but it's so good. And then brown some almond slivers in butter to pour over top. Delicious!

[Lilcrunchie]

cauliflower pizza crust

nak-
haven't tried it yet, but thought of you today. On lowcarbfriends.com, there is a recipe for cauliflower pizza crust that is very whole foods It is under the menu/recipe help board I think (not sure if I'm allowed to link to it). I haven't tried it yet, but the originator usually has some good recipes, so I'm putting this on my to-try list I'm so glad when I can find non-frankenfood low carb recipes

[beaner&tiegs]

Hey Jen!

How's the low-carb thing going? I haven't really researched low-carb so much, but am on a bit of a restricted diet from the natropath for Rye and I that seems to be low-carb. No wheat/grains, no dairy, no sugar, no soy, no root veggies, etc. Wow, what a shock to my way of eating!!! I'm finding sweets and snacky stuff the hardest (for meals I have meat and veggies, soups, salads, bean salads, hummus and veggies, etc) A couple of things that I've started eating that I'm actually LOVING - for breakfast, some fried steamed kale and then one or two fried eggs on top. Surprisingly good!!! I also made a coconut milk, strawberry and oj smoothie but can't have that too much as too much sugar in the fruit. As for snacks, a couple of favourites right now are sliced cucumbers and tomatoes with Salt Spring sheeps cheese on top (basil one!), and then almond/cashew balls with coconut. I'm also curious to try out recipes with coconut flour for my afternoon tea sweet cravings - have you heard of it, or even better, found it in Vancouver?!!!!!!

Hope you guys are well!!!

[mgilleran@earth-co]

We went back to low carb about 3 weeks ago. Last week I made something that really hit the spot. I was starting to feel deprived, & this was delicious. Didn't feel "diet" at all. I made beef burrito meat, seasoned with chili powder, cumin, garlic, salt & paprika. I cooked black beans & smashed them with a little olive oil, salt & garlic. Then we made soft tacos with Whole wheat tortillas (5 carbs each) We put tons of lettuce & low fat cheese on them with the beef & beans. They were sooooo good. We can have some beans on South Beach. I cant remember if you can on Atkins or not. The next day I had a salad with leftover taco meat on it. I loved it. Other than that we have a lot of chicken with stirfry veggies, chicken with grean beans & salad, etc. I want to make chili this week, maybe chicken chili. I am losing well, so I'm going to stick with it. Can hubby have garbanzo beans? You can roast those & season & they taste like corn nuts!

[zicki]

I enjoy this LC blog.. has some great recipes and tonnes of humour:

http://cleochatra.blogspot.com/

She's just posted a great pizza crust made from cauliflower.

Previously, I've loved the deep dish pizza with an egg crust from "Donald":
http://www.foodreference.com/html/do...zza-quich.html

and kevinpa has tonnes of recipes, but not often whole foods:

http://forum.lowcarber.org/showthrea...hreadid=337646