Recipes

When I posted this evening that we were going to have Joe for supper, I was pretty sure that someone would say, "Joe?!" Sure enough. So here I am to explain.

Joe is one of the easiest and best -- and quickest -- low carb one-dish meals. Based on an old San Francisco favorite called Joe's Special -- I've also seen it called "Casual Joe's Special" -- it's been around for quite a while, and inspired a lot of variations. The immutable basics are:

Ground beef -- I use ground chuck, 1 pound will make about 4 servings

Just a heads-up: My Chocolate Chocolate-Chip Pudding Cake recipe is now posted at CarbSmart. So go get it!

I made a big pot of chicken bone broth this weekend, and strained it out tonight, so soup for dinner was a no-brainer. Got started kind of late, so I didn't want to do anything complicated. Fortunately, one of our very favorite low carb soups is dead simple, yet rich and luscious. I didn't measure, but trust me, you can eyeball this one:

Remember I said I hadn't written down the first slow cooker pumpkin bread recipe? I did! And I found it after I sent in the manuscript with the second recipe, also great. So I can give you this one now, and you can have the other one when the book comes out in the autumn.

This calls for a big, round slow cooker -- my biggest Crockpot(tm) just exactly fits a bundt pan hanging from the rim. If you don't have a slow cooker that fits a bundt pan, you could bake this at 350 for about 50 minutes, maybe an hour. Why bother baking it in the slow cooker? Several good reasons:

Tuna-Noodle Casserole

8 ounces mushrooms -- coarsely chopped
21 ounces canned tuna in water -- (3 cans) drained well
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon beef bouillon concentrate
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt or Vege-Sal
2 ounces cream cheese
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 cup frozen peas, `NOT thawed
2 packets tofu shirataki -- fettuccini style

A great side dish with any simple meat -- roast pork, lamb, or beef, some simple pan broiled chops, or a steak. Do take the time to slowly brown the onion; it lends a wonderful flavor.

Fluffy, Savory Pumpkin

1 large onion, chopped
4 tablespoons butter
29 ounces canned pumpkin (That's 1 pound, 13 ounces -- I had a can exactly this weight.)
2 eggs
3/4 cup ricotta cheese
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon salt or Vege-Sal
1 tablespoons Splenda or erythritol, or the equivalent in your choice of low carb sweetener
1/2 teaspoon pepper

You may think I'm nuts, but these are really good. Try 'em before you make up your mind. If you're a chocolate-peanut fan, I'm betting you love 'em. And they take all of about 5 minutes to put together. The only reason they're not going in the new edition of 15 Minute Low-Carb Recipes is because there's no way to speed up the chilling time. Even in the freezer, they go past the 15 minute mark.

I got the okay from my publisher to post a couple of recipes per month from the new ones I'm coming up with to expand 15 Minute Low-Carb Recipes. This morning's smoothie was so wonderful I had to share!

Mexican Chocolate Smoothie

The combination of chocolate, vanilla, and cinnamon is classically Mexican, and enchanting. Try this!

3/4 cup cottage cheese
1/4 cup sugar-free vanilla syrup
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup vanilla whey protein powder
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
4 ice cubes

The best perk of my job is that people send me free stuff, and in particular free food. They hope, of course, that I will say nice things about it in print. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. This time -- holy gee. "Nice" ain't even about to cover it.

I wrote this column last spring, right around this time. Eggs should be cheap again within a week or two, so a reprint seemed in order. You'll notice this isn't a strictly low carb column, but the recipe sure is, if you use the recipe for Almond-Parmesan crust:

As I write this, I have a dozen cartons of eggs in my refrigerator. Why? Because they were three cartons for a buck. At that price, we can eat a lot of eggs! We like them fried, scrambled, and in omelets. But to turn eggs into supper, there's nothing like quiche.

Thanks to the French name, and the 1980s book "Real Men Don't Eat Quiche," quiche has a reputation as foofy girly food. Hah! Quiche is simply egg-and-cheese pie, often with ham or bacon thrown in. That's some solid eating. It's easy to make, infinitely variable, and reheats well. What's not to love?

It's spring! Okay, it's almost spring. Still, you're going to need recipes for festive holiday dinners, what with Easter and Passover coming up and all. This undeniably spring-y starter is very easy, delicious, and tastes great.

I have to add: Last year I ran a Passover recipe that included mayonnaise, and drew a very angry response from someone who was furious that I would run a Passover recipe that "wasn't kosher." Since I'd run that recipe by Rabbi Hirsch Meisels, (www.friendswithdiabetes.org) I was comfortable that it was, indeed, kosher. So no angry email, okay? There's kosher-for-Passover mayonnaise out there.

This is the best meatloaf recipe I've tried in a long time! It's got something of a French accent, which is why we call it...

Frenchified Meat Loaf

1 pound ground chuck
1/2 pound mild bulk pork sausage
2 slices low carb bread, whole grain, in fine crumbs
1/2 cup chopped onion, fairly fine
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup dry red wine
1 egg
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard (spicy brown will work if that's what you've got)
1/2 teaspoon dried savory
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon ground dried rosemary

I made this the other day when I had a batch of truly wonderful chicken broth in the house. You'll see in the instructions I mention that the quality of your chicken broth is essential to this recipe. Use good, strong, flavorful (not just salty) broth, and the flavor of this soup will be balanced just exactly between chicken and cheese. Mmmm.

Cheesy Chicken Soup (or is it Chickeny Cheese Soup?)

6 cups chicken broth
2 cups milk
8 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
guar or xanthan to thicken
3 cups frozen chopped broccoli (optional)

True to my word, I've been trying new recipes. Wouldn't you know it, this is when my Master Cook program decides to hiccup and swallow my new results! I'll reconstruct them; the new meatloaf I tried, in particular, was too good not to pass on. But in the meanwhile, here's one from The Every Calorie Counts Cookbook.

Picadillo

This is my version of a dish that's popular all over Latin America - think of it as South American Sloppy Joes.

1 1/2 pounds ground round
1 large onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1/3 cup green pimiento stuffed olives, sliced

I came up with these pancakes one lazy Sunday morning when pancakes and bacon just seemed like the thing. They worked out perfectly the very first time; my husband rated them a perfect 10. Four grams of non-fiber carb per pancake may seem a little high, but look at that protein count - one pancake has as much protein as three eggs! Between that, the fiber, and the healthy fats, these suckers will fill you up, and keep you full for hours and hours.