Low Carb Szechuan Broccoli

Low Carb Szechuan Broccoli


Serving Size: 4

Preparation Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1/2 tsp splenda
1 tbsp sesame seeds
2 tsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp red pepper -- crushed
1/2 tsp ginger
2 garlic cloves
1 1/4 qts broccoli

Directions:

Combine soy sauce, rice wine and splenda in bowl and set aside. Heat (medium) skillet, and add sesame seeds. Cook for 1 minute. Remove seeds and set aside. Add oil, red pepper, ginger (crushed) and garlic (crushed) for 30 seconds. Add broccoli for 1 minute. Add soy mixture. Cover and cook for 2 minutes. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.


Per Serving (excluding unknown items):

64 Calories; 4g Fat (45.9% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 6g Carbohydrate; 3g Dietary Fiber; 0mg Cholesterol; 282mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain (Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 1 Vegetable; 1/2 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.


More delicious low carb Chinese food recipes are available in Nicholas Zhou's cookbook "Real & Healthy Chinese Cooking".

Cooking Easy Low Carb Creations

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

Low Carb BBQ Sauce

Is there such a thing as low carb bbq sauce recipes? The answer is yes! You can enjoy all that barbequing has to offer with several different low carb barbecue recipes.

The main item in BBQ sauce that causes the high carb levels is of course sugar, so you should look for recipes that do not have any sugar or substitute the sugar with a substitute like Splenda. You can make your sauces sweet if you like, but not all barbeque sauces have to sweet to be delectable.

Try this one on. You will need:

1 minced onion,
1 small can of tomato sauce,
2 cups of water,
¼ cup of apple cider vinegar (one with no sugar),
¼ cup of Worcestershire sauce or soy sauce,
paprika,
chili powder,
cinnamon,
cloves,
salt and pepper all to taste.

Place all of the ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil. Then lower the heat and simmer for around 15 minutes. All done and you have a low carb barbeque sauce that everyone at your dinner party is sure to love.Of course you can adjust if you are serving seafood, beef, pork, chicken or plain hamburgers.

For any barbacue sauce you will need some type of tomato product such as tomato sauce, ketchup, or a combination of tomato puree and tomatoes. Then all the other ingredients are pretty much taste.

You can add onions, green pepper, red pepper, jalapeno peppers, orange juice, pineapple juice, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce or anything else to enhance the flavor and aroma of your barbeque sauce. But, to keep it low in carbs stay away from sugar or any items that have sugar added. Some ketchup’s have sugar added, so be sure to read the label before you purchase the items to prepare your BBQ sauce.

Enjoy your low carb cookout!

You are free to publish the above article in your ezine or website, provided credit in the form of an (HTML clickable) hyperlink is given to the author.

Hans is author of http://www.steaks-guide.com/ and the barbeque and grill section of http://www.patio-furniture-ideas.com/

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Hans_Dekker

Low Carb Rice

Yes, you read that right! Low carb rice. I was checking out some free low carb recipes and found a low carb rice recipe using cauliflower, kinda like my last post about low carb mashed potatoes!

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

1/2 head raw cauliflower, (grated to make 3 1/2 cups)
3 green onions
1 garlic cloves, minced or 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ginger
3 Tablespoons soy sauce
3 eggs, beaten
Olive Oil
Cooked Chicken, Beef, Pork, Shrimp, Ham, Turkey, etc. - Any mixture, your choice.

Directions:

In a wok or large flat skillet, heat enough oil to cover the bottom. Fry minced garlic (or garlic powder) with finely diced white part of onions for approximately 1 minute. Add grated cauliflower and fry for 4-5 minutes, stirring constantly. Add soy, ginger, diced green onion tops, and pre-cooked cubed meat or baby shrimp. Stir to mix well and brown a bit. Push mixture to one side of pan. Add more oil if necessary and scramble eggs in empty side of pan until done but still moist. Stir eggs into "rice" mix and remove from heat.5-7 carbs per serving. Stores and re-heats beautifully.

NOTE: For an additional 6 grams of carbs for the entire recipe, try adding 1/2 cup frozen green peas (about 2 minutes after adding cauliflower.) It adds great flavor and richness to the dish!

Source: "Real & Healthy Chinese Cooking" - Nicholas Zhou's cookbook with 500+ low carb and low fat recipes with 170+ colorful pictures. Based on a master chef's 40 years of cooking practice and 4 years of writing and research, it has helped 12,800 people worldwide improve their health.