300 Low-Carb Slow Cooker Recipes (38 page)

This is a great company dish, and it feeds a crew.

5 pounds (2.3 kg) leg of lamb

Olive oil—a few tablespoons (45 to 60 ml) or as needed

1 large onion, sliced

1 carrot, shredded

1 bay leaf

1 cup (235 ml) beef broth

1/2 cup (120 ml) dry red wine

6 cloves garlic, crushed

1 teaspoon chicken bouillon concentrate

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 1/2 tablespoons (5 g) dried rosemary, or several sprigs fresh

Salt and pepper to taste

In your big heavy skillet, over medium-high heat, start searing the lamb in the olive oil; you want it brown all over.

In the meantime, slice your onion and put half of it in the bottom of the slow cooker. Shred the carrot and put all of it in there. Add the bay leaf, too.

When the lamb is browned on all sides, transfer it to the slow cooker and put it on top of the onion and carrot. Now mix together everything from the broth through the rosemary and stir until the bouillon concentrate is dissolved. Pour this over the roast. Make sure at least half of the crushed garlic winds up in the bottom of the pot, but you do want some on top of the roast, too.

Scatter the remaining onion over the roast. Cover the pot, set to low, and cook for a good 6 to 7 hours.

When it's done, fish out the roast and put it on a platter. Use a slotted spoon to pile the cooked onion from the bottom of the pot on top. Thicken the pot juices with your guar or xanthan shaker, salt and pepper to taste, and serve as gravy.

Yield:
8 servings or more; Assuming 8, each will have: 549 calories, 38 g fat, 42 g protein, 4 g carbohydrate, 1 g dietary fiber, 3 g usable carbs.

Caribbean Slow Cooker Lamb

Lamb and goat are very popular in the Caribbean, and this is my slow cooker interpretation of a Caribbean lamb dish. Look for tamarind concentrate in a grocery store with a good international section. I found it in a medium-size town in southern Indiana, so you may well find it near you! If you can't find it, you could use a tablespoon (15 ml) of lemon juice and a teaspoon of Splenda instead. Your lamb will be less authentically Caribbean-tasting, but still yummy.

2- to 3-pound section (0.9 to 1.4 kg) of a leg of lamb

1/2 medium onion, chopped

1/2 teaspoon minced garlic or 1 clove garlic, crushed

1 teaspoon tamarind concentrate

1 tablespoon (11 g) spicy brown mustard

1 cup (180 g) canned diced tomatoes

1 teaspoon hot sauce—preferably Caribbean Scotch Bonnet sauce—or more or less to taste

Guar or xanthan (optional)

Place the lamb in your slow cooker.

In a bowl, stir together the onion, garlic, tamarind, mustard, tomatoes, and hot sauce. Pour the mixture over the lamb. Cover the slow cooker, set it to low, and let it cook for a good 8 hours.

When it's done, remove the lamb to a serving platter, thicken the pot juices with the guar or xanthan if it seems necessary, and add salt and pepper to taste.

Yield:
6 servings, each with: 357 calories, 26 g fat, 27 g protein, 3 g carbohydrate, 1 g dietary fiber, 2 g usable carbs.

Greek Stuffed Peppers

This is really a one-dish meal since it has so many vegetables in it. Feel free to use this method of cooking with any stuffed pepper recipe.

4 large green bell peppers

1 small onion, chopped

1 1/4 (570 g) pounds ground lamb

1 cup (150 g) crumbled feta cheese

1 can (14 1/2 ounces, or 410 g) diced tomatoes, drained

2 cloves garlic, crushed

2 teaspoons dried oregano

1/4 cup (15 g) chopped fresh parsley

1 teaspoon salt, or to taste

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Whack the tops off the peppers. Scoop out and discard the cores. Trim the useable flesh from around the stems and throw it in your food processor with the
S
-blade in place.

Peel your onion and cut it in chunks; throw it in the food processor, too. Pulse to chop everything medium-fine.

Throw the chopped pepper and onion in a big mixing bowl. Add the lamb, feta, drained tomatoes, garlic, oregano, parsley, salt, and pepper and use clean hands to mash everything together really well.

Stuff this mixture into your peppers, mounding it a bit on top. Settle them down into your slow cooker, cover, and set to low. Cook for 5 to 6 hours and then serve. You can crumble a little extra feta over the tops, if you like, but it's not essential.

Yield:
4 servings, each with: 575 calories, 42 g fat, 31 g protein, 19 g carbohydrate, 3 g dietary fiber, 16 g usable carbs.

chapter seven
Slow Cooker Fish and Seafood

I don't generally think of fish when I think of long, slow cooking, and indeed who wants to leave fish in a slow cooker all day? But the gentle, even heating of your slow cooker, used judiciously, can yield fish and seafood that's remarkably moist and tender. When you don't need to have dinner waiting, try these recipes!

Or as in a few of these recipes, you can cook everything else all day and then just stir in the seafood for the last little bit of cooking time. It doesn't take long to cook fish or seafood through!

Lime-Basted Scallops

My seafood-loving husband thought these were some of the best scallops he'd ever had.

1/4 cup (60 ml) lime juice

3 tablespoons (45 g) butter

2 cloves garlic

24 ounces (680 g) sea scallops

Guar or xanthan

1/4 cup (4 g) chopped fresh cilantro

Put the lime juice, butter, and garlic in your slow cooker. Cover the slow cooker, set it to high, and let it cook for 30 minutes.

Uncover the slow cooker and stir the butter, lime juice, and garlic together. Now add the scallops, stirring them around to coat them with the sauce. Spread them in a single layer on the bottom of the slow cooker. (If the sauce seems to pool in one or two areas, try to cluster the scallops there. In my pot, the sauce liked to stay around the edges.) Re-cover the pot, set it to high, and let it cook for 45 minutes.

When the time's up, remove the scallops to serving plates. Thicken the pot liquid just a tiny bit with guar or xanthan and spoon the sauce over the scallops. Top each serving with a tablespoon of cilantro.

Yield:
4 servings, each with: 233 calories, 10 g fat, 29 g protein, 6 g carbohydrate, trace dietary fiber, 6 g usable carbs.

Scallops Florentine

This is a simple creamed spinach recipe with scallops. This would make a nice romantic dinner since it serves two.

10 ounces (280 g) frozen chopped spinach, thawed

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/4 cup (60 ml) heavy cream

1/4 cup (25 g) grated Parmesan cheese

1 tablespoon (7 g) Old Bay seafood seasoning

12 ounces (340 g) sea scallops

Dump your thawed spinach into a strainer and press it really well to get out all the water—you could even pick it up with clean hands and squeeze it hard. Just drain it really well. Then dump it in your slow cooker.

Add the garlic, cream, Parmesan, and Old Bay seasoning. Stir this mixture together well. Cover the pot, set to low, and let it cook for 30 to 45 minutes until the spinach mixture is getting hot.

Lay the scallops in a single layer on top of the spinach, re-cover the pot, and let the whole thing cook for an hour. Serve the scallops on a bed of the spinach.

Yield:
2 servings, each with: 334 calories, 16 g fat, 37 g protein, 11 g carbohydrate, 4 g dietary fiber, 7 g usable carbs.

Lemon-Mustard Salmon Steaks

This is so simple and classic. The salmon comes out tender and moist.

2 tablespoons (28 g) butter

1 tablespoon (15 ml) lemon juice

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 pinch salt or Vege-Sal

2 salmon steaks (totaling about 1 pound, or 455 g)

2 tablespoons (8 g) chopped fresh parsley

Combine the butter, lemon juice, mustard, and salt or Vege-Sal in your slow cooker. Cover the slow cooker, set it to low, and let it cook for 30 to 40 minutes. Stir together.

Now put the salmon steaks in the slow cooker and turn them once or twice to coat. Re-cover the slow cooker and let it cook for 1 hour. Spoon some of the pot liquid over the salmon and sprinkle with the parsley before serving.