300 Low-Carb Slow Cooker Recipes (3 page)

You can skip the cauliflower if you like. Or you can substitute tofu shirataki noodles.

By the way:
If cauliflower (or another suggested garnish or side dish) isn't mentioned in the ingredient list, it's merely suggested and it's not included in the nutritional analysis for the dish. If it is in the ingredient list, it has been included in the analysis.

•
Chili garlic paste
—This is a traditional Asian ingredient, consisting mostly, as the name strongly implies, of hot chiles and garlic. If, like me, you're a chile-head, you'll find endless ways to use the stuff once you have it on hand. Chili garlic paste comes in jars, and it keeps for months in the refrigerator. It is worth seeking out at Asian markets or in the international foods aisle of big grocery stores.

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Chipotle peppers canned in adobo sauce
—Chipotle peppers are smoked jalapeños. They're very different from regular jalapeños, and they're quite delicious. Look for them, canned in adobo sauce, in the Mexican foods section of big grocery stores. Because you're unlikely to use the whole can at once, you'll be happy to know that you can store your chipotles in the freezer, where they'll keep for months. I just float my can in a bowl of hot tap water for 5 minutes till it's thawed enough to peel off one or two peppers and then put it right back in the freezer.

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Erythritol
—This is one of the polyol or sugar alcohol sweeteners, and the one I use most often. Unlike maltitol, which is widely used in commercial sugar-free sweets, erythritol has very little gastrointestinal effect. It also has the lowest absorption profile of all the sugar alcohols, so it has virtually no usable carbohydrate, while I generally count half a gram for maltitol. My local health food stores all carry erythritol, but again, you can buy it through CarbSmart.com or Amazon.com if you can't find it locally.

You can substitute xylitol, another polyol rapidly growing in popularity. Be aware, however, that it is profoundly toxic to dogs, so don't let your pooch sneak a bite.

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Fish sauce or nuoc mam or nam pla
—This is a salty, fermented seasoning widely used in Southeast Asian cooking, available in Asian grocery stores and in the Asian food sections of big grocery stores. Grab it when you find it; it keeps nicely without refrigeration. Fish sauce is used in a few (really great) recipes in this book, and it adds an authentic flavor. In a pinch, you can substitute soy sauce, although you'll lose some of the Southeast Asian accent.

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Garlic
—I use only fresh garlic, except for occasional recipes for sprinkle-on seasoning blends. Nothing tastes like the real thing. To my taste buds, even
the jarred, chopped garlic in oil doesn't taste like fresh garlic. We won't even
talk
about garlic powder. You may use jarred garlic if you like—half a teaspoon should equal about 1 clove of fresh garlic. If you choose to use powdered garlic, well, I can't stop you, but I'm afraid I can't promise the recipes will taste the same either. One quarter teaspoon of garlic powder is the rough equivalent of 1 clove of fresh garlic.

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Ginger root
—Many recipes in this book call for fresh ginger, sometimes called ginger root. Dried, powdered ginger is
not
a substitute. Fortunately, fresh ginger freezes beautifully. Drop the whole ginger root (called a hand of ginger) into a resealable plastic freezer bag and toss it in the freezer. When time comes to use it, pull it out, peel enough of the end for your immediate purposes, and grate it. Ginger grates just fine while still frozen. Throw the remaining root back in the bag and toss it back in the freezer.

Ground fresh ginger root in oil is available in jars at some very comprehensive grocery stores. I buy this when I can find it without added sugar, but otherwise, I grate my own.

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Granular Sucralose
—Since
15 Minute Low-Carb Recipes
was first published, sucralose, best known by the trade name Splenda, has gone off-patent. There are now dozens of knock-offs and store brands, and there's no reason not to use them instead of the name brand. Do look for one that measures cup-for-cup like sugar. Be wary of brown sugar blends and other sucralose blends; these have sugar in them. And remember that because of the maltodextrin used to bulk it, granular sucralose has about 24 grams of carbohydrate per cup—the
0 carb
figure is an artifact of the teeny serving size listed on the label.

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Guar and xanthan gums
—These sound just dreadful, don't they? But they're in lots of your favorite processed foods, so how bad can they be? They're forms of water soluble fiber, extracted and purified. Guar and xanthan are both flavorless white powders, and their value to us is as low-carb thickeners. Technically speaking, these are carbs, but they're all fiber—nothing but.

Those of you who read
500 Low-Carb Recipes
know that I used to recommend putting your guar or xanthan through the blender with part or all of the liquid in the recipe to avoid lumps. You may now happily forget that technique. Instead, acquire an extra salt shaker, fill it with guar or xanthan, and keep it handy. When you want to thicken the liquid in your slow cooker, simply sprinkle a little of the thickener over the surface
while stirring
, preferably with a whisk. Stop when your sauce, soup, or gravy is a
little less thick than you want it to be. It'll thicken a little more on standing.

Your health food store may well be able to order guar or xanthan for you if they don't have them on hand. You can also find suppliers online. Of the two, I slightly prefer xanthan.

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Ketatoes
—Ketatoes, a low-carb instant mashed potato substitute, has sadly passed from our midst. However, at this writing there is a similar product available called Dixie Carb Counters Instant Mashers that works exactly the same as Ketatoes in my recipes, at least the ones I've tried it in.
Anywhere you see “Ketatoes” in this book, think “Dixie Carb Counters Instant Mashers,” and you'll be fine.
You can get ‘em through the low carb etailers, and even through Amazon.com. I get mine from CarbSmart.com. Yes, I have a relationship with them. No, I will not get a kickback if you order some Instant Mashers.

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Low-carb tortillas
—These are becoming easier and easier to find. I can get them at every grocery store in town. If you can't buy them at a local store, you can order them online. They keep pretty well. I've had them hang around for 3 or 4 weeks in a sealed bag without getting moldy or stale, so you might want to order more than one package at a time.

I use La Tortilla Factory brand because they've got the lowest usable carb count of any I've found, just 3 grams. They're mostly made of fiber! Beware: I have recently seen “low-carb” tortillas with deceptive packaging. The listed serving size turned out to equal only half of one tortilla. That's not a serving, as far as I'm concerned!

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Low-sugar preserves
—In particular, I find low-sugar apricot preserves to be a wonderfully versatile ingredient. I buy Smucker's brand and like it very much. This is lower in sugar by
far
than the “all fruit” preserves, which replace sugar with concentrated fruit juice. Folks, sugar from fruit juice is still sugar. I also have been known to use low-sugar orange marmalade and low-sugar raspberry preserves.

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Splenda
—Be aware that Splenda granular that comes in bulk, in a box, or in the new “baker's bag” is different than the Splenda that comes in the little packets. The Splenda in the packets is considerably sweeter. One packet equals 2 teaspoons granular Splenda. All these recipes use granular Splenda.

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Sriracha
—This is a Southeast Asian hot sauce, and it's taking over the world—
Bon Appetit
magazine declared it The Ingredient of the Year for
2010. Find Sriracha in the international aisle of big grocery stores or in Asian markets—look for the bright-red sauce with the rooster on the bottle.

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Sugar-free imitation honey
—This is a polyol (sugar alcohol) syrup with flavoring added to make it taste like honey. The two brands I've tried, one by HoneyTree and the other by Steele's, are not bad imitations.

Sugar-free imitation honey is becoming more and more available, and it is a useful product. I can get sugar-free imitation honey here in Bloomington at Sahara Mart, my favorite source of low-carb specialty products, and I've heard from readers that Wal-Mart now carries it. For that matter, many of the low-carb e-tailers carry Steele's brand of imitation honey. It shouldn't be too hard to get your hands on some.

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Sugar-free pancake syrup
—This is actually easy to find. All my local grocery stores carry it—indeed, many have more than one brand. It's usually with the regular pancake syrup, but it may be shelved with the diabetic or diet foods. It's just like regular pancake syrup, only it's made from polyols (sugar alcohols) instead of sugar. I use it in small quantities in a few recipes to get a maple flavor.

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Tofu Shirataki
—Finally! There's a genuinely low carb noodle. Shirataki are a traditional Japanese noodle made from a root called kojac or
konyaku
, sometimes mistakenly translated
yam
or
yam bean
. The konjac root is a rich source of a fiber called glucomannan, and it is that glucomannan fiber that forms the bulk of shirataki noodles.

Shirataki come in two basic varieties: traditional shirataki and tofu shirataki. Traditional shirataki are translucent and gelatinous and very . . . well, Asian. They're good in Asian dishes but pretty weird in Western-style recipes. Tofu shirataki are white, considerably less chewy, and good in a wide variety of applications. My local health food stores carry them in three widths: fettuccini, spaghetti, and angel hair. I keep the fettuccine and spaghetti widths on hand.

Shirataki come pre-hydrated in a pouch full of liquid. This makes them perfect for our super-quick recipes because you don't have to cook them, only drain and heat them. Snip open the pouch and dump them in a strainer in the sink. You'll notice the liquid smells fishy; you'll want to rinse them. After that, I put them in a microwaveable bowl and give them 90 seconds on high. More liquid will cook out of them, so I drain them again, heat for another
90 seconds, and drain yet a third time; then I add whatever sauce I like. This keeps the liquid cooking out of the noodles from diluting the sauce.

Shirataki keep up to a year in the fridge, so feel free to stock up.

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Vege-Sal
—If you've read my newsletter,
Lowcarbezine!
, or my previous cookbooks, you know that I'm a big fan of Vege-Sal. It's a salt that's been seasoned, but don't think “seasoned salt.” Vege-Sal is much milder than traditional seasoned salt. It's simply salt that's been blended with some dried, powdered vegetables. The flavor is quite subtle, but I think it improves all sorts of things. I've given you the choice between using regular salt or Vege-Sal in many recipes. Don't worry, they'll come out fine with plain old salt, but I do think Vege-Sal adds a little something extra. Vege-Sal is made by Modern Products, and it is available in health food stores.

chapter one
Slow Cooker Snacks and Hot Hors D'oeuvres

Slow cookers are mostly used for cooking dinner while you're out of the house, but they have other uses, such as keeping hors d'oeuvres and dips hot through your whole party! Plus your slow cooker will do the best job of roasting nuts ever. Here are some ways you can make your slow cooker the life of the party.

Glazed Chicken Wings

Put out a pot of these and a big ole pile of napkins and watch your guests eat!