300 15-Minute Low-Carb Recipes (10 page)

Egg and Cheese Pancakes

I admit it, getting all of these done with the 15 minute deadline will take a big griddle. But you can easily have the first round done in a big skillet finished within that time.

1 cup (225 g) creamed cottage cheese

4 eggs

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup (31 g) coconut flour

1 tablespoon (1.5 g) Splenda, or liquid sucralose to equal 1 tablespoon in sweetness

First, put the biggest darned skillet or griddle you can find on to heat over medium-high burners. (If it can span two burners, so much the better!)

Now simply assemble everything else in your blender and run until you have a smooth, thick batter.

Cook as you would any pancake, turning when the edges look dry and the bubbles that pop leave holes. Serve with butter and low sugar jelly or mixed Splenda granular or erythriltol and cinnamon.

Yield:
Makes 15 pancakes, each with 50 calories, 2 grams fat, 4 grams protein, 4 grams carbohydrate, 2 grams dietary fiber, and 2 grams usable carb.

Chipotle-Bacon Breakfast Burrito

This dish is super-tasty and filling enough to be a quick supper. A little fresh cilantro would be nice here, too, but it's hardly essential.

2 slices bacon

1 tablespoon (10 g) diced onion

1 chipotle chile canned in adobo

1 tablespoon (15 g) bacon grease

1 low carb tortilla, 6-inch (15 cm) size

3 eggs

2 tablespoons (30 g) sour cream

1/4 cup (29 g) shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Lay your bacon on a microwave bacon rack or in a Pyrex pie plate and nuke it on high for two to three minutes.

In the meantime, dice your onion and chop up your chipotle. Start sautéing them in the bacon grease over medium heat.

When the bacon is crisp, pull it out and drain it. Lay your tortilla on a microwaveable plate and scatter the cheese evenly over it. Nuke for 1 minute—70% power is right in my microwave; you're just melting the cheese.

In the meantime, break your eggs, scramble them, and pour them over the onion and chipotle. Stir until set.

Okay, it's time to assemble your burrito: Pull your tortilla with the melted cheese out of the microwave. Arrange the scrambled eggs down the middle, top with a teaspoon or two of the adobo sauce from the chilies, and then dot with the sour cream. Top with the cooked bacon, wrap, and devour!

Yield:
1 serving, with 610 calories, 49 grams fat, 34 grams protein, 15 grams carbohydrate, 9 grams dietary fiber, and 6 grams usable carb.

Vedgeree

Kedgeree is a traditional dish made with rice; flaked, smoked mackerel or halibut; and hard-boiled eggs. I wanted to decarb it, but smoked mackerel and halibut are hard to come by, and I refuse to include impossible-to-find ingredients. Then I found a recipe for “Vedgeree,” a vegetarian take-off, so I decarbed it, and it was yummy. This recipe will make a satisfying one-dish meal out of a couple of hard-boiled eggs. You do keep hard-boiled eggs in the fridge, don't you?

1/4 head cauliflower

1/2 cup (25 g) frozen cross-cut green beans

1/4 cup (40 g) chopped onion

1 cup (70 g) sliced mushrooms

1/2 tablespoon butter

2 hard-boiled eggs

Salt and pepper

Run the cauliflower through the shredding blade of a food processor. Put the cauliflower in a microwaveable dish, put the frozen green beans on top, add a couple of tablespoons (28 ml) of water, cover, and microwave on High for 7 minutes.

While the cauliflower and beans are cooking, sauté the onion and mushrooms in the butter until the onions are limp and translucent and the mushrooms have turned dark. Peel the eggs, quarter them lengthwise, and set them aside.

When the cauliflower and beans are done, pull them out, drain them, and stir them into the mushrooms and onions. Salt and pepper to taste. Place the hard-boiled egg quarters on top of the vegetables, turn the burner to low, cover the pan, and let the whole thing cook for just another minute or two to heat the eggs through. Serve.

Yield:
1 serving, with 14 grams of carbohydrates and 4 grams of fiber, for a total of 10 grams of usable carbs and 16 grams of protein.

Microwave-Baked Eggs with Mushrooms

Finally! I microwave-baked eggs and they came out right! They were super-tasty, in fact. Don't worry about the teeny bit of wiggly-ness in the whites when these come out of the microwave; it'll cook as you stir the egg in with the mushrooms.

5 mushrooms

1/4 onion

2 tablespoons (28 g) plus 1 teaspoon (5 g) butter

2 eggs

Throw the mushrooms and onion in your food processor and pulse to chop medium-fine. Scrape this mixture into a microwaveable bowl, add the 2 tablespoons (28 g) of butter cut into bits, cover, and nuke on high for a minute.

Spoon the mushroom mixture into two ramekins, about 3 inches (7.5 cm) across and 2 inches (5 cm) deep—big custard cups will do, too. Break an egg into each one and use a sharp knife point to just barely pierce the yolk on each one. Salt and pepper and dot with the remaining butter.

Cover the two dishes loosely with paper toweling, nuke on high for 2 minutes, and then serve. (The time may be a little different depending on the power of your microwave. My whites were mostly set, my yolks still soft.)

Yield:
2 servings, each with 201 calories, 18 grams fat, 7 grams protein, 4 grams carbohydrate, 1 gram dietary fiber, and 3 grams usable carb.

Yes, there are low-carbohydrate tortillas! They're made by La Tortilla Factory, and they're loaded with fiber, which is why they're low carb—each tortilla has 12 grams of carbohydrate and 9 grams of fiber, for a total of just 3 grams of usable carbs.

As the popularity of low-carb dieting has increased, these low-carb tortillas have become easier to find in stores—I know a couple of places that carry them here in Bloomington, Indiana, and it's not like we're the retail capital of the universe. Look around. If you can't find them, consider asking a local health food store to special order them for you—most health food stores are really helpful about special orders, and if enough people ask for the tortillas, the store may start carrying them as a matter of course.

If even that fails, go online and do a search for “low-carbohydrate tortillas.” You'll find plenty of e-tailers happy to ship them to you.

Low-carb tortillas are not exactly like either flour or corn tortillas; they have a flavor and texture of their own. We really enjoy them, and they sure are versatile! With a package of low-carb tortillas in the house and some cheese in the fridge, you've got a quick meal, any time.

I have tried making low-carb tortilla chips by cutting low-carb tortillas into wedges and frying them. The results were edible, but not great—tough, and a bit cardboardy. Feel free to try it if you'd like. Me, I'd rather have nuts or fiber crackers or something.

Since I didn't like the low-carb tortilla chips, I haven't tried frying these low-carb tortillas to make taco shells or tostadas. I think the low-carb tortillas are best left in their original soft-and-pliable state. This chapter will teach you a few ways to use them.

Quesadillas

Is there anyone left who hasn't tried this Mexican version of the grilled cheese sandwich? If you'd like to make a single-serving quesadilla, use a single tortilla, cover half of it with cheese, and fold it over. Heck, you can use this method for all your quesadillas if you like; I just find the sandwiching method easier.

2 low-carb tortillas

4 ounces (115 g) cheese, sliced or shredded

* Mexican Queso Quesadilla is the classic choice, but Monterey Jack, jalapeño jack, and cheddar are all great, too.

Put one tortilla in the bottom of a large, heavy, dry skillet over medium heat. Spread the cheese over it, and place the other tortilla on top. Let it cook a few minutes until the cheese is starting to melt. Carefully flip the whole thing and let it cook on the other side until the cheese is well-melted. Remove from the skillet, cut the quesadilla into quarters—a pizza cutter works well—and serve.