The War on Flavor - Low-Carb, great tasting foods.

[Miss Esa]

~*~ The War On Flavor ~*~

Just because I am on a low-carb diet doesn't mean I have to give up food that tastes good. With some simple substitution and research it's easy to come up with good tasting, low carb meals. Please feel free to share your low-carb recipes, tips, or even struggles that you have faced.

I am not here to convert you to a low carb diet, that is a decision for you and your nutritionist to make. I am here looking to share with others who are on a low-carb or who have been on a low-carb diet in the past for any reason.

* Please do not come in here and bash the low-carb diet. This thread is for sharing recipes only.
* You may not come in here and tell people that there are better dietary choices. Some people have a low-carb lifestyle due to medical reasons.
* Please don't spam/flame this thread.
* Don't post any rude, harsh, or disrespectful things.
* Please don't advertise, bump, or post anything unrelated to this thread.

[Miss Esa]

Baked Chicken Parmigiana
Ingredients:
1/3 cup(s) bread crumbs or topping
1/4 cup(s) cheese, Parmesan, grated
1/4 teaspoon pepper, black
2 cloves of copped garlic
2 tablespoon olive oil
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
cooking spray
1/2 cup(s) sugar free spaghetti sauce

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 425°.
2. Heat a large baking sheet in oven for 5 minutes.
3. Combine first 3 ingredients in a shallow dish.
4. Place garlic and oil in a small glass bowl, and microwave at HIGH 30 seconds or until warm and fragrant.
5. Dip chicken in garlic oil; dredge in breadcrumb mixture or topping. Coat preheated baking sheet with cooking spray, and place chicken on pan. Coat chicken with cooking spray.
6. Bake at 425° for 25 minutes or until done and golden. Serve with pasta sauce.

Low Carb Topping - There are two ways to pull this off. You can either use pork rinds or low carb bread.

Pork Rinds -
1 bag or pork rinds, crushed

Low Carb Bread -
4 slices, toasted until hard, crushed

[Miss Esa]

Corned Beef and Cabbage
Ingredients:
3 pounds corned beef brisket with spice packet
5 carrots, peeled and cut into 3-inch pieces
]1 large head cabbage, cut into small wedges

Directions
Place corned beef in large pot and cover with water. Add the spice packet that came with the corned beef. Cover pot and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer approximately 50 minutes per pound or until tender.
Add carrots, and cook until the vegetables are almost tender. Add cabbage and cook for 15 more minutes. Remove meat and let rest 15 minutes.
Place vegetables in a bowl and cover. Add as much broth (cooking liquid reserved in the Dutch oven or large pot) as you want. Slice meat across the grain. Enjoy.

[Miss Esa]

Roasted Artichokes
I like to make these with the Baked Chicken Parmigiana

4 Artichokes
1 lemon
2 garlic cloves , minced
2 -3 basil leaves , chopped
1 -2 tablespoon olive oil
sea salt & fresh ground pepper , to taste
½ cup chicken stock or ½ cup vegetable stock

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Combine the olive oil, basil, minced garlic, lemon zest and juice, sea salt and fresh cracked pepper in a bowl. Mix until it becomes a paste.
With kitchen scissors, trim all the sharp ends off of each leaf. Wash the artichoke well in cool water. Slice down the center to form two halves.
Clean out all the fuzzy hairs and smaller leaves with a spoon then immediately rub all the cut areas with the zested and juiced lemon.
Coat the baking dish with olive oil.
Rub the paste all over the artichoke halves and inside the leaves.
Place each artichoke half top side down in a baking dish.
Pour the stock in the dish and cover with a lid or tin foil.
Bake for 45-50 minutes or until soft and tender.

[Miss Esa]

Roasted Zucchini Parmigiana

1 – Zucchini
2 tbsp – Parmesan cheese grated
a sprinkle of a spice of your liking
Non-stick cooking spray

1 serving = 1 cup – 4.8 net carbs

Turn your oven to broil. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and then coat with some non-stick cooking spray. Place the zucchini slices out on the pan, then spritz with them with the butter spray or you can drizzle oil over the vegetable. Sprinkle on the parmesan cheese, add the spice of your liking (I used pepper flakes because we love heat in this place) and then pop it in the oven. Broil for a few minutes – until the cheese starts to brown. Enjoy it while it’s warm!

[Miss Esa]

Lunch Meat Roll-Ups

This is one of my favorite lunches ever, and its so easy to make
What you will need:
Sliced lunch meat
Cream cheese

How to make:
Lay lunch meat slice out and spread with cream cheese.
Roll up the lunch meat.
Enjoy.

I tend to use salami when I make these because the salami holds together quite well, and is damn good with cream cheese.

[Miss Esa]

Low-Carb Crust
Ingredients:
1 cup Almond Meal
2 Tbsp Butter
2 Tbsp Artificial sweetner
Preparation:
Blend ingredients. press into bottom of greased pan.

Low Carb Cheesecake

This is a pretty basic cheesecake recipe.
Ingredients:
3 packages of room temperature reduced fat cream cheese
4 eggs preferably room temperature
1 and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 and 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 and 1/3 cups of artificial sweetener (Slpenda)
1/4 cup sour cream
Foil Pie Pan

Preparation:
Heat oven to 375 F.
Mix together cream cheese, Splenda, and extracts. Then add eggs and beat until creamy.
Pour into the greased foil pie pan.
Bake for 35 minutes at 375°F or until cracked and golden brown.

[Miss Esa]

Peanut Butter Protein Balls

1 cup sugar-free peanut butter
1-1/3 cups whey protein powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1½ cup sugar equivalent/Artificial sweetener

Preparation:
Put all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix all at once. A mixer works great for this, but a food processor would probably be fine as well, or just a spoon. Then roll into balls. If you like, roll in crushed nuts.

Makes approximately 16 balls about one inch in diameter.

[Miss Esa]

Orange Smoothie

Ingredients
1 cup sliced carrots (cooked and drained)
1/2 cup water
1/4 tsp. unsweetened orange Kool-aid mix
1 packet of sweetener (Sucralose recommended)
1 1/2 cups ice cubes

Directions
Put the well cooked carrots, water, Kool-aid and sweetener in the blender. Blend until smooth. Add ice cubes and continue blending until smooth. Serve in chilled glasses.
Additional Information
You can change the amount of sweetener or orange flavor drink mix as you like. I kind of like the carrot note you get from this, but you could disguise it with the flavor mix. Also, I like mine really thick like a sorbet but you could add more water for a thinner shake.

You can add a few tablespoons of cream to yours and it is like an orange julius.

Servings:2

[Shay Straylight]

Chocolate... covered... bacon? That is both the most wonderful and horrifying thing I have ever read.

[Anghared Starwing]

Miss Esa

Lunch Meat Roll-Ups

This is one of my favorite lunches ever, and its so easy to make
What you will need:
Sliced lunch meat
Cream cheese

How to make:
Lay lunch meat slice out and spread with cream cheese.
Roll up the lunch meat.
Enjoy.

I tend to use salami when I make these because the salami holds together quite well, and is damn good with cream cheese.

A friend of mine makes these with dried beef, and makes the guys in our house eat them during the summer when they are doing things outside. It's pretty salty, so it makes them drink more liquids when they need it.

My mother is diabetic, and her favorite low-carb recipe is 'Egg Burgers'. It's basically just hamburgers stacked with mushrooms and/or sauteed onions, and a fried egg, with no bun.

[Afreaka]

If you're on a low-carb diet then you should not be using any type of artificial sweeteners.

Simple carbs (refined sugars, sucralose (which was mistakenly created instead of insecticide) and all the bullshit in splenda) is worst for you than any high-carb diet. If you want something to be sweet, you should consider organic grade A honey or maple syrup.

If you're going for low-carbs then you want complex carbs.

Also, when you buy things are are marketed as "sugar free" a lot of times they contain aspartame, corn syrup, or sucralose; both ingredients are terrible for your diet and terrible for weight loss.

[Miss Esa]

Red Radish and Greens Salad

Makes four servings.

Ingredients:

Dressing
1 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp orange juice
1 tbsp white balsamic
vinegar (or red
wine vinegar)
3 tbsp walnut
or olive oil
1 tsp Dijon mustard
¼ tsp pepper
dash of salt

Salad
4 cups mixed greens
1 cup thinly sliced red radishes
1 large apple, quartered, cut into julienne strips
1 orange, peeled, membranes removed and separated into sections
½ cup shredded carrots
½ cup jicama, peeled, cut into
julienne strips
¼ cup coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted
¼ cup feta cheese

Directions
1. Place dressing ingredients in a large bowl, whisk together, and set aside.
2. Combine greens, sliced radishes, apple strips, orange sections, shredded carrots, and jicama strips in a large salad bowl.
3. Toss salad with dressing and place on four plates.
4. Garnish each plate with walnuts and feta cheese.

Per serving: 248 calories, 5 g protein, 8 g carbohydrate, 18 g fat (3 g saturated fat), 8 mg cholesterol, 5 g fiber, 13 g sugar, 175 mg sodium. Calories from fat: 62%.

[Miss Esa]

Shrimp Salad

8 oz. cooked shrimp
1/2 cup green peppers, chopped
1/2 cup red peppers, chopped
1/2 cup yellow peppers, chopped
1/2 cup onions, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tsp fancy Dijon mustard
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

Cook shrimp according to the direction on the bag (if using frozen). Chop green, red, and yellow peppers and onion then add to the skillet that you have your cooked shrimp in. Cook together for a couple of minutes and then pull off the heat.

To make dressing mix olive oil, vinegar, and Dijon mustard together in small bowl then add shrimp and peppers. Toss together and grate fresh Parmesan cheese over

Serves 4 – 4.4 net carbs per serving.