Ideas for Every Day
Published on: Saturday, 13 August 2011 14:50:00.
We've been living low-carb for about a year, and if you've read this far you might think that we spend all our time in the kitchen. We don't, of course!
If you're short on time or just don't feel like cooking an elaborate meal, you can stick to the traditional low-carb ingredients, meat, sausage, and cheese, while avoiding salad and vegetables.
There are also a number of simple, traditional side dishes that are filling but contain very few carbs. I'll explain them here.
Rhubarb Steak
Published on: Nov 23 2013, 21:24
My parents have a large garden, and each year one corner of it is home to a flourishing rhubarb plant. In early summer, when rhubarb is ready to harvest, we used to have rhubarb compote once or twice a week. Sometimes my mom would also make rhubarb crumb cake. But those were the only uses for rhubarb that we knew of. It's actually amazing that such a sour ingredient is only ever used in desserts - and then, of course, you have to add lots of sugar. So I was very surprised recently when I encountered…
Tuna Salad
Published on: Nov 21 2013, 19:00
On the list of best low-carb travel destinations, Greece and especially Crete take first place. A lot of the appetizers and main courses in most of the restaurants were already low in carbs. And even if the menu did include a few potatoes (which were pretty tempting, especially when cooked with olive oil and fresh herbs), it was no problem to substitute vegetables or salad. We were always satisfied. The best part is the quality of the ingredients used: eggplant, tomato, zucchini, peppers, and okra,…
Bacon Dumplings
Published on: Apr 08 2013, 22:08
When I claim that I've been eating low-carb for three years, that's not entirely true. There are exceptions, especially when traveling; the chance to try new foods in foreign countries is just too exciting. My wife is much more consistent since her blood sugar can go haywire if she eats more carbs than usual. She had problems with hypoglycemia before going low-carb, leading to situations where she needed to eat right away but had no food on hand. That no longer happens now that she's on a low-carb…
Veggie Rolls
Published on: Apr 08 2013, 22:02
Many people say that low-carb diets are too heavy on meat. That can be true, but it doesn't have to be. My wife and I have long debated whether to include vegetarian dishes here on Delicious Low Carb. My arguments against it were more instinctive, so my wife's logic won out. I have nothing against vegetarians, even if they're a bit fanatical - I'm certainly fanatical about my low-carb lifestyle sometimes. But I don't take the moral high ground or - even worse - try to force it on anyone else. Unfortunately,…
Bean Puree with Smoked Pork
Published on: Apr 05 2013, 17:16
It's amazing how different preparation methods can change the flavor of a food, not only with the spices and other ingredients used but with the overall texture. Green beans are usually boiled, seasoned with bacon, or used in soup or salads. But we tried making a puree with green beans, and it tasted fantastic - not heavy or earthy like you might expect, but light and fresh. Green beans are very good for a low-carb diet. They actually contain a high percentage of carbohydrates, but most of these…
Pumpkin Croquettes with Mediterranean Tenderloin
Published on: Apr 05 2013, 16:38
My wife had the idea of making pumpkin for dinner tonight - "But not soup; that's too boring!" While brainstorming over breakfast, I realized that pumpkin could be used to make something like falafel. I also wanted to use a recent discovery of ours, coarsely-ground flaxseed flour. With this in mind, we went to the grocery store. There was a great selection of pumpkins. We decided on an especially aromatic variety. Then we went to the butcher's counter. I couldn't pass up the pork loin. We hadn't…
Bujurdi
Published on: Apr 05 2013, 15:48
When the woman who would be my wife came to visit me for the first time, I made a recipe that I'd gotten from a Greek friend: bujurdi. Not many people know it by that name; it's usually just called "baked tomatoes". Despite its simplicity, bujurdi has a bold and surprising flavor. It was originally meant to be a starter but can make a satisfying main course - especially if it's a hot summer evening, or if you're newly in love. Bujurdi to serve 2 4plum tomatoes 1onion 2cloves of garlic 200…
Chic Lasagna
Published on: Apr 05 2013, 15:24
Last week we organized a painting and cooking event at our art club. It was very interesting to see what artists can do with food. And at the end, we ate the art. Besides various edible "paints" we provided vegetables, which are well-suited to creating works of art. At the end we had four beautiful stalks of chicory left over. Chicory leaves are white and tender, but also thick and fleshy, which reminded me of lasagna noodles. Thus, an idea was born: a "chic" low-carb lasagna. Chic Lasagna…
Coconut-Almond Broccoli
Published on: Mar 20 2013, 21:19
Browsing the shelves at the grocery store today, I picked up a can of coconut milk. It turns out that coconut milk is only 1.3% carbohydrates. Coconut milk is usually found in Asian cuisine or desserts, but when I saw the beautiful heads of broccoli at the farmers' market, I had an idea: wouldn't the slight sweetness of coconut milk go well with this vegetable? And what about the flavor of almonds? There was only one way to find out, so we coated the tender broccoli florets with a batter of coconut…
Stir-Fry Variations
Published on: Mar 06 2013, 01:22
It seems like one of the first dishes ever low-carb fan attempts is a vegetable stir-fry. Good olive oil, tomatoes, pepper, green onions, zucchini...it's delicious even without sauce. But if you eat it too often, it will get boring. That's what happened to us, and so stir-fry gradually disappeared from our menu. After two years on our low carb diet my wife said she missed it, so we went back to eating stir-fry. The problem was, I found it a little boring to cook, too. The compromise: I was allowed…
Peter + Peter Bean Stew
Published on: Feb 24 2013, 22:12
Im Sommer ist die Zeit der Bohnenernte. Während rote und weiße Bohnen nur so von Kohlenhydraten strotzen, sind die frisch geernteten grünen Bohnen für die Low Carb Ernährung gut geeignet (ca 6%). Für dieses Wochenende stand so die Entscheidung fest, dass es Bohnen geben sollte. Doch was dazu? Auch einen Eintopf haben wir in Erwägung gezogen, doch meine Frau meinte, dass sei doch eher ein Wintergricht! Ich habe lange überlegt, doch erst auf dem Wochenmarkt, als vor mir ein Bündel Petersilie mit Wurzeln…
Hearty Cabbage Stew
Published on: Feb 24 2013, 21:35
A while back I saw a news story about an eccentric Scottish earl. He lived in a castle and wore a kilt. Despite the stereotype of Scottish thriftiness, he had one special luxury: he'd hired a famous chef to be his personal cook! The story then revealed a secret about his kitchen: on an old wood stove, there stood a 50-liter pot that was always full of simmering beef bones. The resulting stock was the basis of most of his meals. For our cabbage stew, it's worth the trouble to leave the bouillon…
Stir-Fry with Oomph!
Published on: Feb 17 2013, 22:53
My wife always jokes that I cook like Max Inzinger, a famous TV chef from the 1970s. One of his peculiarities was that when he cooked he had hundreds of little jars arranged in front of him. The jars contained all the ingredients he needed, already cleaned and chopped and ready to use. If he needed diced onions: Ta-da! There's the onion jar! It made cooking look easy and even relaxing. I do the same thing. First I get all my ingredients ready, and then I put them in separate containers. It makes…
Farmer's Breakfast
Published on: Feb 09 2013, 21:56
From a culinary perspective, winter is the season of cabbage and turnips. Last year we discovered that rutabagas are a great low-carb ingredient, which gave my wife the idea of making rutabaga fries. I had some doubts about this since our attempt at making beet chips failed spectacularly. Frying just doesn't work that well with root vegetables. We compromised and decided to try making a farmer's breakfast. With a hearty base of onions and bacon, we were able to recreate the taste of fried potatoes,…
Albondigas
Published on: Oct 28 2012, 20:29
Meatballs are meatballs are meatballs. Or so you might think - until you've had albondigas. A Spanish chef taught me his secret: it's in the sauce. And not just because the sauce tastes good. Albondigas are actually prepared in very little sauce. At first this was hard for me to believe. If a sauce is good, I want to use a lot of it. But a very small amount of intensely flavorful sauce makes the difference. It creates an exchange of flavor between the meatballs and the sauce, making albondigas…
Classic Asparagus
Published on: Oct 28 2012, 19:30
A friend recently asked why I hadn't put a recipe for asparagus with Hollandaise sauce on the site yet. I thought there were already enough good Hollandaise recipes out there, but a Google search said otherwise. It's not easy to find a recipe that tastes good and is fairly certain to work. This is partly because of all the low-fat versions out there. You can also buy Hollandaise at the grocery store instead of making your own, but that's out of the question: store-bought Hollandaise is more than…
Almost-Traditional Lamb Pudding
Published on: Oct 28 2012, 18:49
A few years ago I traveled to Nottingham and the English Midlands on business. Naturally I wanted to experience traditional English cuisine, but it wasn't easy - almost all the restaurants were serving Indian or Italian food, or at least English versions of them. I finally found an old inn called the Royal Children, and ordered the most exotic-sounding item on the menu: "Lamb pudding!" In the Midlands, the word "pudding" is used for a variety of dishes. It always describes foods with a consistency…
Yassa
Published on: Oct 27 2012, 19:40
My hometown, Offenbach, is a leader in German multiculturalism. People from more than 100 countries live here, and every June there's a large street fair that celebrates our city's diversity - especially the culinary kind. The Offenbacher Mainuferfest is undoubtedly the nicest local festival in the Rhine-Main region. Unlike its counterpart in nearby Frankfurt, it isn't commercialized at all. Sports teams, musical groups, and artistic and cultural associations host our festival. The prices are reasonable…
Falafel
Published on: Oct 27 2012, 18:57
One of my best friends lived and worked in Cairo for a few years. When I traveled there to visit him, I had the opportunity to get to know Egypt "off the beaten path". If you go there on a package tour, you might not realize that Egypt is one of the most fascinating and hospitable countries in the world. I felt safer in Cairo than I have almost anywhere else. When some money fell out of my pocket, a young boy who'd been watching ran after me to give it back. And I've been spontaneously invited to…
Schepp-Kreppel Pancakes
Published on: Oct 27 2012, 18:22
You're probably wondering what this funny-sounding name means. In Germany, "Kreppel" is a nickname for people from Berlin. People from the Hesse region (where these pancakes are a specialty) claim that the "Kreppel" can't get the recipe right, so all they can manage is a "schepp" (phony) version. Another explanation is that "schepp" comes from the word for "to ladle". Scheppkreppel are yeast pancakes that you form by ladling batter into the pan! I decided to try a low-carb version of this…
Chinese Cabbage
Published on: Oct 18 2012, 00:35
Hurra, es ist Frühling! Wir haben heute unsere erste Mahlzeit auf der Terasse eingenommen. Aus diesem Anlass hatte ich mir vorgenommen, ein komplett neues Gericht zu erfinden. So bin ich über unseren schönen Offenbacher Bauernmarkt geschlendert, um für diesen besonderen Tag eine besondere Idee zu bekommen Bei unserem Stamm-Gemüsestand gab es Chinakohl-Köpfe. Da diese vom Bauern einer neben dem anderen aufgestellt worden waren und so wirklich toll aussahen, kam mir die Idee, den Kohl bei der Zubereitung…
Committee Casserole
Published on: Oct 18 2012, 00:14
My city, Offenbach, has been suffering from the expansion of the Frankfurt Airport. Everywhere else in the world, airports are built where they will affect the fewest people, but our Hessian government approved a runway about 500 meters closer to the densely-populated area of the city. Since October, the pilots have been thundering over downtown Offenbach - right over my head! Fortunately, the citizens are working together to protest the government's disregard for their interests and health. One…
Schneider's Pizza
Published on: Oct 15 2012, 21:36
The recipe I want to introduce today goes back to Adolf Schneider, a village butcher from the Westerwald mountains. According to my aunt, he was a big influence on my life. When I was a baby my mom often took me shopping with her. Whenever Mr. Schneider the butcher waited on her, he would give her an extra little piece of beef. "Inge, that's for the little one, because he always has such a nice smile!" Pizza dough for 6 portions: 750 g_(1 1/2 pound)ground beef 3eggs 250 g_(10 oz)almond…
Borscht
Published on: Oct 15 2012, 21:00
If wars were fought with good food instead of weapons, world history would have gone a lot differently. The Cold War between the USA and the USSR would have been much less significant to world politics. Russia would certainly have had the advantage over the USA, because it has come up with some hearty and tasty dishes. The most well-known is undoubtedly borscht. Many people have heard of it, but very few here in Germany have eaten it or tried making it themselves. This is too bad, because many variants…
Savoy Cabbage Pie
Published on: Oct 15 2012, 20:30
Christmas is over and everyone is ready to go back to simple cooking, so today I want to introduce a cabbage pie. Actually it's a casserole, but for weeks I kept thinking about how to make a cabbage casserole that's both delicious and pleasing to the eye. It should be sliced like a pie, incorporate the pretty shape of a head of cabbage, and still be crisp and tasty. Nobody likes overcooked cabbage. Savoy Cabbage Pie to serve 4-6: 750 g_(1 1/2 pound)ground beef 1head of Savoy cabbage(approx.…
Low-Carb and Vegetarian
Published on: Oct 15 2012, 19:58
Our local newspaper, the Offenbach Post, often reports on people or initiatives that make the town special. We thought they might be interested in Delicious Low Carb, so we sent the editor a brief press release. We promptly got an e-mail back saying that an editor would like to talk to us. When we spoke on the phone to make an appointment, I had an idea: "Why don't you come over for lunch on Monday?" The nice young lady agreed, but revealed a hitch in our plan: "I don't eat meat or fish." Of course,…
Meatball Casserole
Published on: Oct 14 2012, 21:52
Last week we gave a lot of thought to what we would cook on the weekend. Now that autumn is here, there is a huge selection of cabbages and other vegetables. My wife wanted Brussels sprouts, and I was thinking about how to use them in a low-carb dish. My inspiration came from listening to a soccer game on the radio. Our team won (yay!) and then the announcer quoted the great Sepp Herberger's explanation of how soccer works: "The round thing_(ball) has to go into the square thing_(goal)!" And that's…
Serbian Cevapcici, Djuvec "Rice"
Published on: Oct 14 2012, 21:05
Djuvec is the national dish of Serbia. If you've ever been to a Balkan restaurant, you probably know it as the popular side dish "Djuvec rice". After our success using cauliflower as a rice substitute, it made sense to try preparing Djuvec "rice" in a similar way. To go with it we made cevapcici, a traditional grilled meat dish from the Balkans, and green beans with bacon. Cevapcici with Djuvec Cauliflower and Green Beans to serve 4: Cevapcici 500 g_(1 pound)ground beef 75 g_(3…
Dumplings
Published on: Oct 13 2012, 19:57
One of my wife's favorite foods is Hungarian goulash. A fine goulash with sauerkraut is a perfect low-carb dish, but she wanted dumplings to go with it. Of course, she knew that all my attempts at dumplings had failed. Either I couldn't get the dumpling taste right, or else they disintegrated while cooking. Then she said it: "You're usually so clever!" And I knew that I would have to use all my cooking expertise to rise to the challenge. Practice makes perfect! When you make our almond…
Rice Pudding
Published on: Oct 13 2012, 19:24
Finding a genuine low-carb rice substitute is hard. The things that have recently been sold in stores as low-carb rice don't convince me; they're mostly made of thickening agents. But real basmati rice is loaded with carbs, so it's not on the menu. Recently, though, I read about a great idea for rice pudding and had to try it out immediately. In this recipe, the rice is replaced with grated cauliflower. Rice Pudding to serve 2: 1head of cauliflower 400 ml_(2 cup)cream 5…
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