| Cooking
Easy Low Carb Creations
by Michael Russell
It's kind of hard to beat cooking
a big juicy steak on the grill and having a nice fresh
salad to go along with it. But there are times when
low carb dieters want something a little gooier. It's
not hard to do with a little creativity.
This article is not designed to
give you specific recipes, but to inspire you to become
more creative in your low carb cooking. Having a good
idea of foods that go well together can give you a whole
new perspective when preparing your meals.
The first step is to think of obvious
foods that go well together; meat and cheese, meat and
onions, meat and cabbage, meat and peppers, etc. I use
ground beef a lot because it's very versatile and goes
well with a lot of things.
Gooey
and Filling
When I want something gooey, I will
take ground beef and brown it with chopped onions, salt
and pepper. After it is browned I add shredded cheese
and mix it well. It's very filling, very satisfying
and very fast.
For
Mexican Food Lovers
If you are a lover of Mexican food
and miss it due to low carbing, brown the ground beef
without putting the cheese in it. Then put the meat
over some crisp chopped lettuce and top with shredded
cheese and a little picante sauce. This makes a great
low carb taco salad.
Another great tasting Mexican food
dish is a low carb chilli relleno casserole. Brown some
ground beef with onions, salt and pepper. Whisk 3 or
4 eggs well and add 12 to 16 ounces of half and half
or heavy cream. Layer a square baking pan with whole
green chilies (a couple 10 ounce cans with seeds cleaned
out). Put the beef over the layered chillies then add
the egg mixture until it's just about at the top of
the meat. Sprinkle a generous amount of shredded longhorn
cheese over the top and cook in a slow oven 30 to 40
minutes. Watch to make sure the cheese doesn't get too
brown. Let it sit for awhile after cooking to thicken
(if you can resist it long enough).
For
Pasta Lovers
Do you miss having pasta on your
low carb diet? Cook a nice casserole using thin slices
of zucchini. Brown some ground beef and make 2 or 3
layers of beef alternated with the zucchini. Add some
mozzarella cheese to each layer and some crushed tomatoes.
Top this off with more cheese and cook on low heat for
60-90 minutes. This is absolutely delicious. You can
even add pepperoni to each layer to help kill the craving
for pizza.
Another variation of this crosses
over the lines of Italian and Mexican foods. For this
recipe I recommend Mexican tomato sauce. It's lower
in carbs and adds a little heat and zest to the dish.
Any low carb tomato sauce, or even crushed tomatoes
will work.
Parboil some cabbage leaves then
cut into bite sized pieces. Brown some ground beef with
onion, salt and pepper. Then, mix the cabbage in with
the beef and add the tomato sauce. Cook in a slow oven
30 to 45 minutes.
These pasta lover dishes are good
to eat and good for cleaning out your system.
Summary
The idea is to come up with ideas
to put more variety into your low carb cooking. I don't
use recipes, I shoot from the hip. If I want to make
a meat loaf, I throw some ground beef into a bowl, throw
in an egg or two, maybe some crushed pork rinds and
some chopped veggies, a little Worcestershire sauce,
dry mustard, salt and pepper and go. I go through the
refrigerator and the cupboard to see what I have. If
it's low carb and I think it will work in my recipe,
I put it in.
If I'm craving a certain food, I
try to think of a way to make it low carbohydrate so
I can have it. Use your creativity and you'll not only
be looking forward to eating, you'll be looking forward
to cooking.
Michael Russell
Your Independent guide to Cooking
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Michael_Russell
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