On hot summer nights, you don’t want to spend too much time in the kitchen cooking and you don’t want to turn on the oven. Here’s a quick stir fry recipe that just fits the bill. You can prep the meal in the morning or the night before and store in the ‘fridge until you’re ready to cook. It has a great sweet and spicy taste from low carb honey and brown sugar substitute combined with Chinese style chili sauce. Just enough bite to give it zing and not too sweet. Add cauli-rice to serve and a nice green or cucumber salad to complete the meal. By the way, this recipe also works great with the other white meat – chicken!
Sweet & Spicy Pork
1 tablespoon Brown Sugar Substitute
2 tablespoons Sugar-free honey
1/4 cup Soy Sauce
2 teaspoons Ginger Paste
2 teaspoons chopped Garlic
2 tablespoons Chinese Chili Sauce
salt and pepper to taste
1 pound boneless Country Pork Ribs, cut into 1″ cubes
3 Green Onions, cut into 1/2 -inch pieces
1 tablespoon Oil (Olive or Coconut or Canola)
In a small bowl, combine the brown sugar substitute (I use LC Foods), sugar-free honey, soy sauce, ginger paste, garlic and hot sauce. Cover with a plastic wrap until ready to use.
Lightly salt and pepper the pork cubes. Slice the onions, using most of the green sections as well as the bottoms.
Heat the oil in a large skillet or wok over a medium high heat and add the onions. Cook and stir for about three minutes, then add the pork and brown the pieces on all sides. Takes about 4 to 5 minutes total. Pour the sauce over the pork and simmer until the sauce thickens, about 8 to 10 minutes.
Serve over 1/2 to 2/3 cup Cauli-rice for a fabulous meal. As an alternate to the cauli-rice, you can also serve over 1 cup stir-fried shredded cabbage or even mix the two for added flavor.
Nutrition Info per serving (pork dish only): Calories: 365 Fat: 25.5 g Net Carbs:1.6 g Protein: 28.3 g
Tip: If you can’t find sugar-free honey, you can use 1 tablespoon regular honey. It will increase the net carbs to 6.4 g and calories to 385 per serving.
Just about anything with bacon is a winner for me. I love it and I love the over 100 years-old woman who claimed her longevity came from eating bacon every day. I’m in for that! A BLT sandwich is really great also and I have finagled a couple of ways to eat one on a low carb diet with low carb breads that are very tasty. But when I saw a recipe come across on Facebook for a BLT Pasta salad, I knew I had to figure an adaptation for low carb. Pasta is one of those things that you don’t eat or eat very sparingly when trying to maintain the lc lifestyle, so I turned to my favorite substitute item for pasta, potatoes, and rice — cauliflower.
So with just a few adjustments and a little enhancement, I present the low carb version of the …
Bring a pan of water to a boil and add the cauliflower. Let cook for about 10 minutes until it is tender. Cut into bite-sized pieces if it is too big. Drain. Put into a large mixing bowl and set aside.
Chop the tomatoes into bite-sized pieces.
Pan fry the bacon or cook in the oven until it is completely done. Remove to a paper towel to drain. Put 2 tablespoons of bacon grease into a skillet and add the garlic, then add the tomatoes and thyme. Cook for about five minutes until the tomatoes are warmed, but not cooked. Crumble the bacon into pieces. Reserve 1/4 cup for garnish.
Add the tomatoes and bacon to the cauliflower and toss together. Add the shredded cheese and lettuce and toss again.
Mix together the mayonnaise, sour cream, and yogurt and add the cumin, chives. salt, and pepper. Pour over the salad and toss to mix it in and coat it. Garnish with reserved bacon and chives. Serve warm. You can add slices of avocado or a tablespoon or two of guacamole if you wish. (Not included in the nutrition info.)
Refrigerate leftovers.
Makes 4 servings.
Nutrition info per serving: Calories: 330.5 Fat: 24.1 g Net Carbs:5.6 g Protein: 21.4 g
If you’d like you can add more lettuce to the salad with only a little more in the carb count.
TIP: This can be a very versatile base salad. Instead of bacon (or in addition for real bacon lovers), substitute in tuna, ham, chicken, or taco meat. The possibilities abound.
Let me know how you like this salad in the comments.
I have a fairly good-sized prickly pear cactus growing in my yard that arrived there by bird farmers or some other means and it has yielded a few pears over the past two years. Our neighbor’s desert tortoise is particularly fond of the pads and she often snacks on them. The Mexican name for this cactus is nopal or nopales and it is a source of food, nutrition and, possibly, medicines for humans.
Nopales are native to Mexico and spread over the Southwest in general. The root species is the Opuntia cacti. There are actually 114 known species of this cactus family and the leaves of all of them are edible. In Mexico, the cactus pads are popular in many foods dishes, using both raw and cooked pads. In the spring, the cacti produce beautiful, colorful flowers that mature into prickly pears or tunas, a seedy fruit that can be made into jam, jellies and juices or eaten fresh. The taste is described as a blend of watermelon and strawberry, but I haven’t noticed it so much. I tasted the uncooked pad and found a similar taste to watermelon with just a touch of sweetness.
Using Cacti
When dealing with this cactus, you need to take care to avoid the many little spines that inspire the name prickly pear. Gloves or tongs are very useful in handling these items. In order to use the pads or the pears in cooking, you need to carefully remove the spines. Here’s a video from Rivenrock Gardens, a company that sells Nopales, on how to clean the pads. Cleaning Pads
The pears are equally as tricky to work with, but there is a quick trick to peeling them and using them without stabbing yourself. Using tongs or forks to handle the pear, you follow the basic directions in this video from The Produce Guy for cutting the pear, just being careful not to touch them with your hands. It helps to wear gloves. If you buy them at the grocery, they are probably already cleaned of the spines so they are safe to handle.
Here’s a tip: If you do get one of the spines in your hand, use white glue to remove it. Simply spread the glue over the sore spot, let it dry and pull it out. It will grab the hair fine spine with it.
Health Benefits
At this time, many of the possible health benefits are being researched, but it is believed to be of use in treating type 2 diabetes. It is high in fiber and pectin, which can reduce sugar absorption in the digestive tract. It is also rumored to be good for treating colitis, obesity and high cholesterol. As more research is done, it will be interesting to see if this is an effective food.
Nutrition information for 149 g (about 1 cup)
Calories:22 Fat:0 g Net Carbs:2.0 g Protein:2 g
I have only used Nopal a few times in the past couple of years, but here is a recipe from this site:
1 young Nopales Pad, cleaned trimmed, and cut into strips
1/2 cup Pico de Gallo
1 Serrano Pepper, chopped
4 large Eggs
1 teaspoon Mexican Oregano
1 teaspoon Chile Powder
1/2 cup Chorizo sausage
1/2 cup shredded Cheddar Jack Cheese
1/4 cup Queso Fresco
4 Low Carb Tortillas, 7 inch
Cook strips of nopalitos in water with 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon oregano. Drain when they are tender.
In a skillet, heat one tablespoon oil, then add the nopalitos for a few minutes. Add the Pico de Gallo, Mexican oregano and Serrano peppers and continue to cook until the onions are almost done. Remove to a bowl.
Add a little olive oil to the pan, then add chorizo sausage and stir fry until it is lightly cooked. Add the vegetables back to the pan and add chile powder.
Beat eggs in a bowl, add a bit of salt and pepper and a little more oregano. Add eggs into the mixture, continuing to stir as they cook. Sprinkle cheddar jack cheese over the top and remove from the heat.
Warm up tortillas over the burner or in the oven. Serve eggs and sprinkle a little Queso Fresco over the top.
Serve with tortillas. Makes 4 servings
Nutrition Info per serving Calories: 339 Fat: 24.1 g Net Carbs: 6.9 g Protein: 23.3 g
* If you can’t find tortillas, you can eat them with a low carb flat bread or pita bread or without bread. Low Carb tortillas are 3 nc per tortillas, so that would be 3.9 nc for the meat and vegetables.
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Just about everybody who does low carb blogs, and then some, has a version of this wonderful cauliflower cheese casserole. I’ve made this numerous times and in various ways. My version has a few added ingredients. At this time of year, I like to take advantage of the asparagus that’s reasonably priced at the market. You can also use broccoli or Brussels sprouts in it. No matter how you make it, this is an incredibly delicious alternative to Macaroni and Cheese.
While this is a smaller version than some of the ones I’ve seen, it serves 4 with a nice-sized portion or 2 really hungry people and still give you a small net carb amount.
Cauliflower, Bacon, Asparagus and Cheese Casserole
1/4 head Cauliflower
1 cup shredded Cheddar Cheese
2 tablespoons Mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Ricotta Cheese
1/2 cup Asparagus or 1/2 cup Broccoli, chopped
4 slices Thick Bacon
1/2 cup diced Ham
2 tablespoons chopped onions
1 teaspoon garlic
1 tablespoon Heavy Cream
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 teaspoon Italian Seasoning
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Steam cauliflower until tender. (Microwave in a glass bowl about three minutes.) Cut the asparagus into bite sized pieces.
Cream together 1/2 of the shredded cheese, ricotta cheese, mayonnaise, garlic, onions and seasonings in a small bowl. Add cauliflower, asparagus pieces, bacon and ham to a casserole dish and mix in the cheese mixture until it is evenly distributed.
Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top and cover with aluminum foil.
Bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 10 minutes until cheese is lightly browned and bubbly.
Makes 4 servings
Nutrition Info per serving: Calories: 260 Fat: 20.4 g Net Carbs: 3.1 g Protein: 14.4 g
About this time of year, I see several recipes for breakfast casseroles to serve for the holidays and with New Year’s Day coming up, you might be looking for one you can make ahead and just put in the oven the morning after. For a low carb lifestyle, the main problem with most egg casseroles is that they include bread. This spicy dish doesn’t have any bread in it, but it is loaded with sausage, cheese and Pico de Gallo for a bit of bite. It goes together quickly. It can be partially cooked so you can put it in the refrigerator then finish cooking it in the morning or just prepare the filling, put it in the ‘fridge in a bowl, then mix up the eggs and finish it the next day. What could be easier?
Spicy Egg Casserole
8 large Eggs
1/2 pound Country Seasoned Pork Sausage
1/2 cup Sweet Bell Peppers , diced
1/2 cup Pico de Gallo
1 cup Cheddar Jack Cheese
1/4 cup Queso Fresco, crumbled
1 teaspoon Dried Mexican Oregano
2 teaspoons Italian Seasoning
4 tablespoons Sour Cream
2 tablespoons Green Onions, chopped
Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F.) Prepare a deep dish pie tin or an 8’x8″x2″ cake pan by buttering the bottom and sides or spraying with cooking spray.
In a skillet, add 1 tablespoon butter and saute the bell peppers until just tender, stir in the Pico de Gallo and cook a minute longer. Remove from pan. Add the sausage, crumbling with a spatula until lightly browned. Sausage should be in small pieces. Remove from heat. Spread mixture over the bottom of the prepared pan. Crumble the Queso Fresco on top, then add 1/3 cup of cheddar jack cheese over the top.
In a bowl, mix eggs and seasonings together along with 2 tablespoons of water. Beat by hand until completely mixed together. Add salt and pepper to your preference. Pour over the sausage mixture, then top with 1/3 cup of cheese.
Bake for about 30 minutes until the eggs are set and the top is golden brown. Add the remaining cheese and cook until it is just melted.
Cut into pieces and serve with sour cream and chopped green onions.
Makes 4 to 6 servings
Nutrition Info: 1/4 of recipe
Calories: 519 Fat: 40.5 g Net Carbs: 5 g Protein: 34.5 g
Nutrition Info: 1/6 of recipe
Calories: 346 Fat: 27g Net Carbs: 3.3 g Protein: 23 g
Tip: To prepare ahead, go right to step two and make the peppers, pico and sausage mixture, then put into a plastic container or bowl and cover with plastic wrap, then put it in the ‘fridge until the next morning. Then simply warm it up in a microwave for a minute, then spread it into your baking dish. Mix the eggs and bake.
Alternately, you can prepare the casserole and bake it for 20 minutes. Then pull out, cover with plastic wrap, put it in the ‘fridge. Pull the casserole out the next morning, put it back into a 350 degree oven and bake for another 20 to 30 minutes to finish cooking, then add the top layer of cheese and bake 5 more minutes to melt it.
