Category Archives: Main Dish

Beef, Main Dish, Mexican/Spanish Recipes, Recipes, Soups and Stews

Pumpkin Adds A Twist to Chile

Again, this was the hint of a recipe I spotted over the weekend in a “what to do with your leftover pumpkin” article from Bon Appetit magazine. Being adventurous and having some pumpkin left over in the ‘fridge, I thought I would try it. The original recipe uses spicy sausage but I happened to have some left over stewing beef after making soup about a week ago that needed using, so this is a beef chile. I noticed when adding the pumpkin that, like adding tomato sauce to spaghetti sauce, the chile thickened up immediately. The recipe also didn’t give any amounts, so I added the amounts for mine. The result is a very tasty chile that I will definitely make again.

Spicy Pumpkin and Beef Chile

1 pound Beef, round steak, or stewing beef, cubed**
1 cup chopped Onions*
1/4 cup Carbquick flour (or other low carb flour)
1 tablespoon Red Chile Powder
1/4 teaspoon Seasoning Salt
1/2 cup sliced Bell Peppers *
1 cup Canned Pumpkin Puree
1 15 oz can Mexican style Fire Roasted Tomatoes
1 teaspoon Cumin
Pinch of Red Pepper Flakes
1/4 teaspoon black Pepper
1/1 teaspoon Garlic
1 tablespoon Olive Oil

*For a quicker version, you can use the same amount of frozen onions and bell peppers.

** You can also use 1 pound of lean ground beef for a quicker version

Mix flour with seasoning salt in a pan and dredge the meat into it. Heat olive oil in a large pot and brown the meat. Add garlic and onions and sauté until just starting to get tender. Add chile powder, bell peppers, tomatoes, cumin, pepper flakes and black pepper and mix well, then stir in the pumpkin puree. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to simmer. Cover and cook for about 1 hour until meat is completely done. Add any additional salt or pepper to your preference.

Serve with a dollop of sour cream, cheddar jack cheese and chopped chives or green onions on top, if desired.

Makes 4 servings.

Nutrition Info (without toppings):
Calories: 303.4 Net Carbs: 10 g Protein: 42.3

Posted on 11/28/2012

Beef, Main Dish, Mexican/Spanish Recipes, Recipes

Super Tamale Pie Not Perfection…

…but it’s getting close. I expect I will be refining this recipe over the next few months, but I’ll go ahead and share it now for anyone else who wants to try a low carb version. When I was a kid, I loved my grandmother’s tamale pie. It was completely encased in a cornmeal crust — tops, sides and bottom of the pan– that is absolutely impossible to recreate in a low carb version. I looked at several recipes that others have tried when I started to make mine. Using a few ideas from these, I came up with this recipe. It has a thin corn meal and almond meal crust that gives the tamale pie flavor without adding many carbs to the dish.

Rene’s Super Tamale Pie

I used Dynasty canned baby corn, which has a very low carb count. Corn is not on the weight loss phase of Atkins, but eaten rarely, it isn’t a real problem.

Crust:
1/3 cup Carbquick
1/3 cup Almond flour
2 tablespoon whole grain Corn Flour
1 tablespoon Shortening
1 Egg
1/2 teaspoon Chili Powder
1/2 teaspoon Tumeric
1 cup Cheddar/Jack Cheese mix

Filling:
1/2 cup Onions, chopped
1 teaspoon minced Garlic
1 1/2 pound Ground Beef, lean
1/2 cup Sweet Peppers, chopped
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
2 tablespoons Red Chili Powder
1 (15.5) oz can Tomatoes with green chilies
2 tablespoons Black Olives, chopped
3 oz. Baby Corn, canned, drained and chopped (look for lowest carb count)

Preheat oven to 365 degrees F.

Prepare the filling first. In a large cast iron or oven proof skillet, sauté the onions and chopped peppers in a bit of olive oil until the onions are just translucent. Remove. Add the ground beef to the pan and cook until it just turns brown. Then add the tomatoes, red chile powder, olives and chopped corn. Mix together well and cook until bubbly. Stir onions and peppers back in. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix Carbquick, almond flour, corn flour, and seasonings. Cut in shortening, then add egg. Add enough water to make a spreadable batter. Stir in 1/2 the cheese. Spread over the top of filling mixture, covering as much of the surface as possible. The layer will be thin. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until the crust is almost done. Spread the remaining cheese over the top and return to oven for another 5 minutes until the cheese is melted. Serve with sour cream if desired.

Makes 8 servings:
Nutrition Info:  Calories 363.6  Net Carbs: 6.9 g  Protein: 21.8 g

Posted on 01/17/2013

Beef, Main Dish, Mexican/Spanish Recipes, Recipes, Soups and Stews

Tex-Mex Chile With Bite

As the weather is beginning to turn colder, my thoughts turn to chile, soups and stews. These are so comforting and warming on cold, rainy or snowy evenings in late Fall and Winter.

I’ve used this Tex-Mex Chile recipe for at least three decades. When I first started making it, I used diced jalpeno chilies in the recipe. Now days, my stomach prefers not quite as much spice, so I’ve started using a medium hot green chile. You can also make it with mild green chilies. This is a meat only chili, so it is a satisfying meal and you can serve a nice salad and pinto beans on the side if you like. I tend to avoid beans due to the high number of carbohydrates in them, so a salad or my Tex-Mex Spanish Cauli-rice work as good side dishes.

2 lbs. Beef Stew Meat
1/2 cup Low Carb Flour
1 large Onion raw
1/2 cup Chopped Green Chiles
1 tablespoon red Chili Powder
1 tablespoon minced Garlic
2 cups Stewed Tomatoes (1 lb can)
2 teaspoons Seasoning Salt
1 cup Beef Stock
Additional Salt and Pepper to taste
Shredded cheddar cheese for topping

Cut stew meat into bite sized pieces. Heat 3 tablespoons oil in a cast iron or heavy stewing pot. Dredge meat in flour, then put into stewing pot and lightly brown. Excess flour will fall off the meat into the pot and that is ok. Remove the meat to a plate, then add more oil if needed. Add the garlic and the onions and cook until the onions are just tender. Add beef stock, seasonings and stewed tomatoes and chopped chiles. Mix well and add the beef back to the pot. Stir it up, bring to a boil, then lower the heat to a simmer and cover the pot. Let stew for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally until the meat is tender and the broth is thickened.

Serve in a bowl, top with shredded cheddar cheese and sour cream, if desired, and warm tortillas. (There are several brands of low carb flour tortillas available at the market.)

Makes about 6 servings. Nutrition per serving:
Calories: 243 Net carbs 7.6 g, Protein: 36.3 g
Posted on 11/16/2012

Main Dish, Recipes, Seafood

Shrimp Kohlrabi Curry, A Bit of Bite


I love curries! Some folks aren’t too crazy about the spices, but I really relish them! While I use the powders, I really prefer the caked curry, like Golden Curry Sauce mix. You can use either one in this recipe. I think the caked curry gives a smoother, more blended taste. However you make it, this delicious curry will leave you wanting more, unless you don’t like curry, in which case you might as well go away now. This recipe is not for you.

Major ingredients for the curry, clockwise from bottom left: peeled and cleaned shrimp, tomatoes, onions, kohlrabi, curry sauce mix, chicken broth, and chopped beet greens.

Shrimp Kohlrabi Curry

3 cups Kohlrabi, diced (or a combination of kohlrabi, daikon and/or turnips)
2 tsps Ginger-Garlic Paste
1 medium Tomato, diced
1/2 cup Onions, chopped
1 teaspoon Brown Sugar Substitute (0 cal, 0 carbs)
3/5 of package of Golden Curry sauce mix
1 cup Chicken Broth
1/2 cup Water
1 lb. Shrimp, raw
1/2 cup Beet or kohlrabi greens, chopped (optional)
1 teaspoon Olive Oil or Coconut Oil
1/2 cup Coconut Milk
1/2 teaspoon dried crushed Red Chiles

Put kohlrabi and turnips in a microwave safe bowl and cook for about 5 minutes until they are just tender. Or put in boiling water and cook for about 10 to 15 minutes until they are fork tender. Drain.

In a deep skillet, heat oil a few minutes over medium heat Add ginger-garlic paste and onions and cook until the onions begin to turn translucent. Add vegetables and curry powder. Stir until vegetables are cooked, adding a little water if it gets too dry. Then add coconut milk, shrimp and greens. Stir together and cook until shrimp turn pink, about five minutes.

Serve over riced cauliflower or with a low carb tortilla in place of Nan. This is also good over shredded raw cabbage. You can also top with a sprinkling of chopped peanuts. If you like chutney with it, you can make a sugar free version. Try this recipe for a cranberry chutney.

Makes 4 to 6 servings

Nutrition Info (4 servings):
Calories: 268 Net Carbs: 10.4 g Protein: 26 g
(6 servings)
Calories: 178 Net Carbs: 6.9 g Protein: 17.4 g

Posted on 2/26/2013

Main Dish, Recipes, Seafood

Easy Poached White Fish With Sauce

3 Comments


Last night I decided I wanted to poach the white fish that I had thawed out. It was unmarked, but I believe it was Pacific cod — it came in a pack individually frozen in pouches from Wal-Mart or Sam’s Club and I didn’t mark the bag with the type of fish. But that’s okay, it was about a half inch so it would poach easily. I admit, I have never poached fish before. I am not a big fish eater and usually I grill, fry or bake it. How hard could poaching be?

Well, several recipes with many steps later, I was revising my opinion when I ran across one that sounded pretty easy and that’s the one I adapted for my fish. It came out pretty fantastic, although I think I overcooked the fish a little, forgetting that the fish would continue to cook once it comes out of the oven. Yes, oven. This fish is poached both on the stove, then in the oven.

I added a steamed vegetable medley with a cheddar cheese sauce and a cooling cucumber and tomato salad with rice wine vinegar to complete the meal. It made a great summer dinner.

2 White Fish filets (any type), about 1/2″ thick
1/4 cup Onions, sliced
2 tablespoons Low Carb Flour for thickening
1 tablespoon Butter
Heavy Whipping Cream, .5 cup, whipped
White Wine, 2 fl oz
Lemon Juice, .5 fl oz

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter a baking dish that can go from stove to oven. I use a 1 quart cast iron or cast aluminum pot with a lid. Layer the sliced onions on the bottom, then put the fish fillets on top and dot with butter. I also sprinkled about a tablespoon of dried chives on top. Cover the fish with the white wine and water. Bring to a simmer. Cover with a lid or heavy aluminum foil and cook in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes.

Remove the fish fillets to a place or tin and cover with foil to keep warm while you prepare the sauce. If the fish isn’t quite done, it will continue to cook while it rests.

Make the sauce in the pan you baked the fish in. Mix flour and butter together to make a paste, put in a little of the juice and mix until it is smooth, adding more liquid as needed until you can easily add it to the juices in the pan. Add cream, then cook and stir until the sauce thickens. (If it won’t thicken, use a little low carb thickener like Thick It Up, or guar powder or a teaspoon of cornstarch.)

Spoon the sauce over the fish and serve. Makes two servings (and a bite or two for the cat or dog).

Nutrition Info: Calories: 287 Fat: 18.3 g Net Carbs: 2.9 g Protein: 22.3 g

POSTED BY RENE AVERETT AT 7/21/2013 3:06 PM