Substitutions

Here are some ideas for foods that you substitute for higher calorie versions:

Fat Free cottage cheese - a great high protein snack for me
Soy Milk or Skim Milk - instead of 2% or whole
2% cheese or Fat Free cheese (depends on if we want it to melt or not)- instead of full fat cheese
Whole grain breads - instead of white bread
Veggie burgers - instead of hamburgers
Egg beaters - instead of whole eggs
Unsweetened shredded wheat - instead of frosted mini wheats
Light Sour Cream -instead of full fat
2% milk instead
Laughing Cow cheese wedges or light whipped cream cheese - instead of full fat
1 pt 45 cal bread - instead of regular white
Boca Burgers - instead of hamburgers
Portion Controlled snacks - instead of big bags of chips / cookies / etc.
Turkey Burger or Beefalo - instead of beef
97% fat free hot dogs - instead of full fat
Light Mayo with olive oil - instead of regular full fat
Light soups instead of regular canned soup
Lower cal cereals - instead of anything over 100 - 150 calories per cup
Plain quick cooking oats - instead of pre-sweetened oatmeal
Chili and a Side Salad - instead of the Big Bacon Classic at Wendy's
Brown rice - instead of potatoes
water with meals - instead of calorie ridden drinks
ground turkey or chicken - instead of ground beef
cube steaks -instead of cubes made from lean pork rather than beef.
Land-o-Lakes Lite (half butter w/canola oil) instead of butter, can also switch
more salmon and boneless, skinless chicken breast filets and Less beef

Great Quotes

1) My advice is to go into something and stay with it until you like it. You can't like it until you obtain expertise in that work. And once you are an expert, it's a pleasure.
Milton Garland

2) You've got to say, I think that if I keep working at this and want it badly enough I can have it. It's called perseverance.
Lee Iacocca

3)Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could; some blunders and absurdities have crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; you shall begin it serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

4) There are three types of people in the world. 1. Those who see a problem. 2. Those who are the problem. 3. and those who solve the problem. The first two are a dime dozen. What you have to ascertain is this, which one are you.
Paul Stanley

5) To live by another's opinion of you is to make the absurd assumption that only in someone else's mind are you real.
Anonymous

6)Inside some of us is a thin person struggling to get out, but they can usually be sedated with a few pieces of chocolate cake."
Anonymous

7) The world of achievement has always belonged to the optimist.
Harold Wilkins

LOW CARB Fried "apples"

I have heard that a mix of fried cucumbers (peeled and seeded) mixed with a little alpine cider mix (sugar free ) makes a pretty good fake for fried apples. The texture is a bit firm so slice a bit thinner than you would apples. Add the cider mix after everything is cooked because it contains sweeteners that are at their best when not cooked for long. Isn't apple pie but it might be a good jumping off place for an experiment or something. If nothing else it makes a dandy side dish with ham!

Almond Milk

Almond milk can be made in a blender. What I have heard works best is to soak the almonds in the water overnight, then puree in blender and strain through cheesecloth or coffee filter. The leftover ground almonds are good in recipes, too.

There is also the quick and dirty version: shake or blend almond butter and water until smooth. Good on cereal.

You can also make nut milk with almost any nut or seed.

Wine

Some recipes call for wine, sometimes only 1/2 or 1 cup. Instead of opening a new bottle (while that may be GREAT for YOU! - HA!), I freeze leftover wine in ice cupe trays. When a recipe calls for it, I can just throw in 2 or 3 cubes.

Cooking conversion chart for crock pots

This chart that converts regular oven times to crockpot equivalents.

Oven cooking time // Crock pot cooking time

15 - 30 minutes //1.5 -2 hours with high heat or 4 - 6 hours with low heat
30 - 45 minutes// 2 - 3 hours with high heat or 5 - 8 hours with low heat
45 minutes to 2 hours // 4 - 5 hours with high heat or 8 - 15 hours on low heat

How To Make a Crustless Quiche

Making a crustless quiche is not much different than making a regular quiche. Actually it's easier, as there is one less thing to fiddle with. You do need some fat in the recipe to make it easy to remove from the pan, but unless you are making a super-low-fat version (using fat free milk, for example), you don't need to worry about greasing the pan.

Here's How:

1. Prepare the solid ingredients - sauté and season any raw meats and vegetables. About 1 to 1½ cups of these work well for one quiche - more if there is no or little cheese. About 1½ to 2 cups total solid ingredients for a 9" pie pan is about right.
2. Spread meats and vegetables into a deep-dish pie pan.
3. Spread shredded cheese on top of the other ingredients.
4. Make the custard, using either a bowl with whisk, or (my favorite) a blender. A standard quiche might use 4 eggs to 1 and 1/2 cups of liquid, and this amount works well for a deep-dish 9" pie pan. You can use cream, milk, unsweetened soy milk, or a combination. Include seasonings as desired. I usually use salt, pepper, an herb or two if not already in the pan, and perhaps some dried mustard powder.
5. Pour the custard over the solid ingredients, and put onto center rack of 375 F. oven for 30-45 minutes.
6. Begin checking at half an hour. You want the outside to be done (a knife inserted comes out clean), but the center will be soft. (It will continue to cook after removing from oven.)
7. Remove from oven. The center will cook in a few minutes. You can eat it warm, cold, or room temperature.

Tips:

1. Make sure all ingredients other than the egg are fully cooked before adding to the pan.
2. When layering ingredients, heaviest go in first, and cheese last.
3. If top is browning too fast, cover with foil.
4. Sprinkling the top with paprika is a nice touch.

What You Need:

• 9" pie pan (Pyrex works well, or dark metal. Shiny metal isn't as good.)
• Whisk or blender
• Eggs
• Other ingredients as desired

Special Low-Carb Ingredients for Cooking and Baking

Although anyone can follow a low carb way of eating with no special ingredients at all, there are certain ones that are helpful in cooking and baking

• Almond Flour/Almond Meal
  A very versatile low carb flour. It can be used for cakes, muffins, quick breads, biscuits, and more. (You can make this out of roasted almonds put through a food processor, but watch that it doesn’t turn to nut butter.)

• Flax Seeds and Flax Seed Meal
  This is a high-nutrient, high-fiber, low carb alternative.

• Coconut Flour
  Very high in fiber and requires different amounts of other ingredients than other nut flours.

• Other Nut Flours
  Hazelnut and walnut flours have their place.

• Vital Wheat Gluten
  This is just the protein part of the wheat, so it is low carb.

• ThickenThin Thickeners
  This, and similar Expert Foods products, can be useful. StarchNOT is popular.

• Liquid Sucralose/Splenda
  This contains zero carbs and can be used in almost anything in place of powders.

• Artificial sweeteners of your choice

• Erythritol
  This sugar alcohol has almost no impact on blood sugar. It works really well with chocolate. Be sure to get the powdered type if you can, rather than granulated.

• Good, unsweetened chocolate (quality really makes a difference.)

• Cocoa powder

• Powdered Egg Whites
  Help give structure to certain baked goods. Least expensive form is as "Egg White Protein Powder" such as NOW brand.

• Gelatin (plain)

• Xanthan or Guar Gum
  These are useful for thickening and binding.

• Unsweetened Soy Milk
  This contains fewer carbs than any other milk and is neutral in taste.

• Carb Counters Instant Mashers
  A versatile ingredient for binding crab cakes, making latkes, and even gnocchi.

• TVP
  You serve as a substitute for rice in casseroles, bread crumbs in meatloaf, and even be a hot breakfast cereal.

• Whey Protein Powder

• Extra Virgin Olive Oil

• Coconut Oil

• High Oleic Safflower or Sunflower Oil
  I use olive oil whenever possible. But for high-heat cooking, or baking that requires a more neutral taste, these are my favorite oil choices. These are specially bred to be high in monounsaturated fat, and have a relatively high smoke point. Saffola is one brand. You must be certain to get the high oleic types, as most of these oils are high in polyunsaturated fat, which is not what we want.

• Better Than Bouillon

O Pasta, Where Art Thou?

The fear of pasta deprivation is one of the things that turns people away from low carb diets. The cries ring out: “I can’t live without my pasta!” Fear not. There are many low carb alternatives to pasta, and at least one good low carb pasta on the market.

The Role of Pasta

There are some true hard-core pasta-lovers. These people would just as soon sit down to a serving of plain pasta as anything they can think of. But for most of us, plain pasta doesn’t cut it – it’s the sauces and toppings we want most. For us, pasta is mostly a vehicle for other flavors. So we need to find a different vehicle to fill that role.

Enter: Vegetables

Many vegetables are bland enough to use as a “blank canvas” for pasta sauces, and most of them are far more nutritious than pasta ever thought of being. Take the classic, spaghetti squash. Cup for cup, it has fewer than 25% of the calories and carbs of regular spaghetti (even whole wheat) – AND beats out the pasta in most nutrient categories. Calorie for calorie, it simply leaves pasta in the dust, nutritionally speaking. It’s delicious with pesto, creamy sauces, you name it. It can also be used in casseroles, like Turkey Tetrazinni. If you've never cooked spaghetti squash before, have no fear; it’s easy.

Other veggies that serve as good “beds” for pasta sauces:

• Zucchini or other summer squash, shredded, julienned, or just cut into ribbons with a peeler.
• Cauliflower “Rice”
• Cabbage - shredded and sautéed (nice with a little sliced onion in it)
• Bean sprouts – lighted sautéed on their own, or throw them in with the cabbage for the final minute.
• Use your imagination – many veggies have compatible flavors with sauces, such as green beans with pesto sauce or eggplant strips with marinara.

Low Carb Asian Noodles

You may have to do some looking for these - or then again, maybe not. They are great for making Asian noodle dishes, and other dishes as well:

Shirataki Noodles – More and more widely available, (the Safeway near me carries it, as well as health food stores) this stuff is something of a miracle food. The noodles are made from a plant called different things in different languages - you might see it called “yam noodle” or “Konnyaku”. The great thing about these noodles is that they are almost completely fiber – they hardly have any calories or carbs at all – plus there is some evidence that they may have other health benefits, such as lowering cholesterol and blood sugar. It comes packaged in liquid, which you rinse off. If you run it under the hot water tap, it’s all ready to eat – no need to cook further!

Tofu Noodles – I can only find these in Asian stores. Make sure that tofu is the only ingredient. Again, these come already cooked. I just put them in a strainer and run them under the hot water faucet while I separate them with my fingers. I use them for almost any pasta application, including pesto.

How to Cook Spaghetti Squash

You've heard spaghetti squash is a great substitute for pasta, and you've lugged one home from the store. Now what do you do?

Just about any way you can think of to apply heat can be used to cook spaghetti squash. The big question is: to cut or not to cut before cooking? You can do it either way. Here are the pros and cons of each.

Cutting Up Spaghetti Squash

Advantages to cutting the spaghetti squash up before cooking: It cooks faster.
Disadvantages: Like any winter squash, hacking it up takes muscle and a sharp knife or cleaver. It's also a bit more work to scrape out the seeds and pulp when they are raw.

Method: Just get in there and cut it in half (lengthwise) or quarters. You don't want to cut it up too small unless you want short strands. Scrape out the seeds and pulp as you would with any squash or pumpkin.

Bake rind side up about 30 to 40 minutes at 375 F.
Microwave 6 to 8 minutes (let stand for a few minutes afterwards)
Boil 20 minutes or so.

Separate strands by running a fork through in the "from stem to stern" direction.

Cooking Spaghetti Squash Whole

Advantages to cooking the squash whole: It�s easier.
Disadvantages: It takes longer to cook, and you need to watch out for burns when removing the pulp and seeds.

Method: Pierce the squash several times with a sharp knife. (Do this especially if you're microwaving it, or you may end up with a "Squash Explosion.")

Bake about an hour in the oven at 375 F.
Microwave 10 to 12 minutes, then let stand for 5 minutes or so afterwards to finish steaming.
Boil for half an hour or so.
Slow Cooker/Crock Pot: Put it in with a cup of water and let it go on low all day (8 to 10 hours).

When done, cut open �at the equator,� remove seeds and pulp (I use tongs and an oven mitt -- it is HOT) and separate strands with a fork.

Did You Know? Any squash seeds can be roasted just like pumpkin seeds (pumpkin is a kind of squash). They are low-carb, nutritious, and delicious: How To Roast Pumpkin or Squash Seeds

Spaghetti Squash Storage Tip

Like pumpkin and other winter squashes, whole uncooked spaghetti squash is best stored between 50 to 60 degrees, and will last up to six months this way. If you have a room in your home that isn't well-heated, maybe you can use some space in it as a "root cellar" to store onions, squash, apples, and the like. Our guest room often has vegetables on the bed in the cooler months of the year. On the other hand, spaghetti squash will keep several weeks at room temperature.

How to Make Cheap Steak Taste Good

• Skirt steak works great when it's marinated for several hours. Either have your butcher cut it in strips (make sure against the grain) or cut it yourself, before or after grilling -- again, against the grain. It is delicious and a classic in fajitas.
• Flank steak is often mentioned as an inexpensive cut. But where I live, it's sort of mid-range in price. Like skirt steak, it has a pronounced grain and works well with a marinade, and cut across the grain, as in Korean-Style Beef.
• Flank steak and skirt steak are best medium-rare, or, most, medium. This happens quickly since the steaks are thin. These meats also cook more evenly if they are flipped more often -- once every minute or so.
• Top sirloin is one of the least expenisve steaks, but it can easily get that livery flavor. In one experiment, four different pieces of top sirloin were put in two identical pairs. In each pair, one of each was marinaded for 4 hours in a standard steak marinade and the other one was salted in a technique found on The Steamy Kitchen Blog. The marinaded ones looked better, but surprisingly: The salted ones far exceeded the marinaded ones, both in texture and flavor. They were delicious.

  To do the salt technique, take the steaks out of the refrigerator about an hour before cooking, and heavily salt them with kosher salt. If you'd like, you can rub other seasonings on as well. Some juice will be pulled out of the meat -- don't worry about this. Before cooking, rinse the steaks (really), and pat dry. You can add pepper at this point, but no more salt. They will be perfectly seasoned. I have also seen instructions to leave the salt on them for up to 3 hours.

• All Inexpensive Steaks: Make sure steaks are at least room temperature before you cook them, as fast cooking makes them less likely to develop the myoglobin. Warming the meat before cooking produces the best results. You can either by put the meat in a zippered-type bag which is submerged in warm water, or for thick cuts (from Cook's Illustrated Magazine) cooked in a warm oven (275 F. for 20-25 minutes). When the steaks are warmed up, they only need quick cooking in a very hot pan or on a grill to finish them.

How to Make Low-Carb Gravy

Sometimes cooks are in the middle of making a low-carb meal, seemingly with no problems, only to become stumped by gravy. How much carbohydrate is in gravy? Although some commercial gravies have a lot of added starch, it's quite easy to whip up a homemade gravy that works fine for those who are cutting carbs. Here are the basics of gravy-making, with considerations for low-carb eaters.

What is Gravy?

Gravy is a sauce made from the pan drippings of roast meat. If there aren't drippings, it isn't "real gravy" -- it's technically just a sauce.

The 3 Basic Ingredients of Gravy

You can use all kinds of fancy ingredients for gravy, and some of them are delicious, but all you really need are three basic ingredients:

1. Pan drippings (usually with most of the fat removed)
2. Liquid (usually stock or broth; milk gravies include some milk)
3. Thickener

What are "Drippings"?

Drippings are what's left on the bottom of the pan when you're done roasting a piece of meat. They include the fat from the meat, juices left from the meat and vegetables cooked along with the meat (if any), any basting liquid used in the process, and, most importantly, the brown stuff stuck on the bottom of the pan.

The Basic Procedure for Making Traditional Gravy

1. Remove the meat and vegetables from the roasting pan.
2. Pour off the drippings, ideally into a fat separator. My favorite one has a strainer on top that sifts out larger pieces.
3. If you can put your roasting pan on the stove, this is ideal. Heat it and deglaze the pan with chicken broth or stock, stirring to dissolve all the brown bits. If you are using flour to thicken the gravy, add it now, with about the same amount of fat from the drippings as flour. Stir for 1 to 2 minutes (this is to remove the "raw" taste of the flour.)
4. Whisk in the rest of the drippings (not the rest of the fat, which would make the gravy too greasy). A whisk helps avoid lumps.
5. Whisk in more broth or stock, if needed. If you want to use alternative thickeners (see below), this is the time to add them.
6. Bring to a boil. Cook for about 5 minutes -- longer if you want to reduce the gravy more.

   The gravy will have some salt and seasonings from the meat, but you may need to adjust amounts.

What About Low-Carb Gravy?

The only potentially problematic part of the gravy for people who are cutting carbohydrates is the thickener. There are a few alternatives here. I have included links to some low-carb gravy recipes around the net using the various thickeners.

Consider just reducing the sauce with no thickener.
This is called "au jus" rather than gravy. The nice thing about gravy is that you don't need as much thickener as some other sauces, since a certain amount of gelatin-like substances are in the drippings. Just boil the sauce down until it is the thickness you want.

Consider whether you really care about the carbs in flour.
One tablespoon of flour will thicken a cup of gravy, and adds 6 grams of carbohydrate. So ¼ cup of gravy thickened with flour has about 1½ grams of carbohydrate. This just might not make that much of a difference when you come right down to it.

But there are alternatives:

• Cornstarch- Cornstarch has a little over 7 grams of carb per tablespoons, and that tablespoon will thicken about 1½ to 2 cups of gravy. The gravy won't be as opaque, and will be glossier.
• Arrowroot - Arrowroot has the same carb count as corn starch, and about a teaspoon will thicken a cup of gravy. Again, the sauce will be clearer and glossier.
• Reduced Cream - Some recipes use cream to thicken, and then the mixture is reduced. Cream has 6.6 grams of carb per cup.
• Sour Cream - Some low-carb recipes suggest whisking in sour cream to thicken the gravy. Sour cream has about 10 grams of carbohydrate per cup.
• Vegetable Gums - Xanthan gum, guar gum, and proprietary products made from them, such as ThickenThin not/Starch, are thickeners with no carbs (and they contribute fiber). You have to use the plain xanthan or guar gums with care because you can easily go too far and get a sort of slimy mess. If you sprinkle it slowly and stop at the right time, however, gums can be effective. ThickenThin is less tricky, in my experience. These products can also produce a somewhat "slick" texture that bothers some people more than others.

Low-Carb Thickeners

When making a white sauce or other sauce, stew, or soup requiring a thickener, many low carb cooks are unsure of the best approach, since traditional thickeners are starches. Sometimes if you are only using a little starch for a recipe that makes several servings, it may not matter. However, if you are cooking a thick sauce or soup, you might want to consider some lower carb alternatives. Here are some of the ins and outs of sauce thickeners. Feel free to mix and match according to the effect and carb level you are going for.

Traditional Starch Thickeners

Regular Flour - White flour is the most common thickener used in sauces. In some recipes, you might be fine using it. There are 6 grams of carbohydrate per tablespoon of regular flour. This will thicken one cup of a gravy (which has some thickeners from the meat), or a thin sauce. It takes two tablespoons of flour to thicken a sauce of medium thickness, and three for a thick sauce. Whole wheat flour has 4.5 grams effective carbohydrate plus 1 gram fiber per tablespoon. It takes slightly more to thicken a sauce than white flour.

When you use flour to thicken a sauce, you can't add it directly, as it will create lumps. The best way to add it is in a roux, where you heat it with a fat like oil or butter and cook it for a minute or two (stirring constantly) to get rid of the raw flour taste. Then whisk in the liquid. A roux will slowly get darker the longer you cook it, and some recipes will call for darker rouxs, however, their thickening power decreases as you cook them, so for low carb purposes, a white roux is best.

Other ways to add flour to a sauce are a slurry, where you stir or shake up the flour with cold water and then add to the sauce, or a beurre manié, where you mix the flour and butter into a paste and add it bit by bit. You can also add the flour to vegetables or meat as you are browning or sauteing them.

Cornstarch - Cornstarch has 7 grams of carb per tablespoon, but more thickening power. According to the corn starch manufacturers you only need half as much cornstarch as flour, but experts seem to vary on this point. Sauces thickened with cornstarch are less opaque and glossier. Cornstarch is generally added to cold water and then to the sauce. You don't have to worry about cooking it first.

Arrowroot - Arrowroot is similar to cornstarch and used the same way, except it makes a totally clear sauce and lends a glossier appearance. Stands up to acidic liquids better than cornstarch.

Making a Low-Carb White Sauce

To make a low-carb white sauce (Bechamel sauce), you can use any dairy product (see carb counts), or unsweetened soy or almond milk (check the ingredients carefully to make sure no sweetener is added), with any of the thickeners on this page.

Alternative Thickeners

If you want to avoid starches altogether, there are quite a few alternatives. Which one you choose will depend a lot upon what you're making.

Reduction - Simply simmering the sauce until enough water evaporates that the sauce is thicker works in some cases.

Vegetable gums - Yum! They may not sound really appetizing, but vegetable gums are just a type of fiber that absorbs water to make a sort of gel. They are often used as thickeners in commercial products. The most common are guar gum and xanthan gum, which can be purchased at most health food stores or online.

To use vegetable gums to thicken sauces, sprinkle them into the sauce while whisking. Often it only takes a small amount, so go slowly. Too much will overthicken and/or give the sauce a "slick" feel.

An alternative to plain vegetable gums are products based on them which are a little easier to use. Expert Foods makes several of these products for different uses. I particularly like the not/Starch.

Pureed vegetables - This is especially good for creamy soups, but works for other sauces as well. Almost any cooked vegetable can be blended and used to thicken a soup or sauce (think broccoli or pumpkin soup). Tomato paste is a great thickener. Eggplant, zucchini or other squash, cauliflower, or the lower carb root vegetables are all excellent choices when you don't want the vegetable to add too much flavor.

Cream - Cream will thicken as it reduces, so if you add cream to a sauce and boil it, the sauce will thicken more than reducing without the cream.

Sour cream is already thickened - whisk it into a sauce.

Cream cheese is thicker than sour cream, although it obviously has a distinctive flavor.

Butter - If you add cold butter at the end of cooking a pan sauce, it will have a thickening effect

Egg Yolk - Think of mayonnaise - at it's heart, it's nothing more than oil and egg yolk. Or think of hollandaise sauce. An egg yolk can really bring the right kind of sauce together, especially if there is oil or fat in it. Don't add the yolk directly to a hot sauce or it will scramble. To avoid this, "temper" the yolk(s) by adding a small amount of the sauce to the them to gradually bring them up to temperature. Then add the tempered eggs to the sauce.

Nuts and nut butters - Ground nuts were traditionally used to thicken sauces in olden times. Nut butters (peanut, almond, etc) work even better.

Flax seed meal - Flax seed meal does thicken liquids, but it's so grainy that I haven't found it to work well in many sauces. I like it to thicken shakes, though.