De-Carbing Strategy #3: Leave It Out!

I still owe you more posts on strategy #2, especially on subbing for flour, but with my desktop computer at the doc's -- it has a nasty virus -- I'm stuck working at my dining room table, on my netbook, hardly ideal ergonomics. I figured I'd do something a tad less complex, before my back yells at me.

Another useful low carb strategy is to simply leave something out. Ask yourself "What function does this high carb ingredient serve? Is it essential to the flavor of the finished dish?" Since starches, in particular, are notoriously bland, often the answer is "no." Often, in these cases, you can just leave that ingredient out.

For example: Back when I first started experimenting with de-carbing recipes, I found a good-sounding meatloaf recipe. The only really high carb ingredients in it were a cup of bread crumbs and a half-cup of milk. As I looked at the recipe, it seemed to me that those ingredients were mere filler, meant to stretch the meat, and that the milk was there to moisten all those breadcrumbs, while the breadcrumbs were there to soak up all that milk. I figured if I left 'em both out, I'd be fine. So I did, and I was, and the meatloaf was very tasty without them.

Flash forward to last week -- I found a soup recipe that sounded good, but along with a lot of flavorful, low carb ingredients, it called for a can of beans -- I forget which type, kidney or something. Reading through the recipe, it seemed to me that those beans just weren't going to add a lot to the flavor, but rather were more there for a textural contrast. I left them out (and made some other changes, some to easier-to-find ingredients). The soup was sensational.

Obviously, you won't want to leave the bread out of a bread pudding recipe, or the beans out of baked beans. But if a high carb ingredient seems incidental rather than integral, consider leaving it out entirely.