Category Archives: Pork

Beef, Main Dish, Pork, Recipes

Celebrate Spring With Pasta & Sausage


While some of you may still be waiting for Spring to arrive or be preparing for Autumn, in my neck of the woods, it is definitely Spring. I admit to waiting for a freeze to come along soon since that is the weather at the foot of the Sierras. But spring vegetables have definitely arrived at the supermarket and among them is on sale and tender stalks of asparagus. This is one of my very favorite vegetables so I try to catch it every time it’s on sale.

Chorizo Pasta with Spring Vegetables

This pasta dish uses asparagus and Swiss chard along with sweet peppers and spicy chorizo sausage, the Basque type, to make a celebration of the season. If you don’t like chorizo, you can substitute in another firm sausage.

As you can clearly see in the photo, I used rotini pasta when I made this before it came out that Dreamfield pasta isn’t lower in carbs.  When I make this again using one of the vegetable options for pasta or making my own low carb pasta, then I will post a new photo on this page.

2 tsps Ginger-Garlic Paste
1/2 cup Onions, chopped
1/3 cup Sweet peppers, cut into strips
1 cup Swiss Chard, chopped
1 cup Asparagus, cut into pieces
2 links Chorizo, (Basque style)
1 tablespoon Better Than Bouillon, Chicken broth
1/2 cup Water
1/2 cup Heavy Cream
2 cups thinly sliced or shredded Zucchini or Spaghetti Squash
1/4 teaspoon Seasoning Salt
1 teaspoon thickener or Cornstarch
1 tablespoon Olive Oil or other oil

Cook the thin strips of zuchinni in boiling water until al dente, just about 5 minutes.  Drain.  If you’re using spaghetti squash, either cut it half and bake in face down on foil covered pan in a 400 degree (F) oven for about 30 minutes or put it face down on a microwavable plate and put it in the microwave for 5 to 8 minutes until the spaghetti strands are soft and separate easily.  Discard seeds and separate strands into a bowl.

While pasta is cooking, peel the casing from the sausage. Slice into 1/4 to 1/3 inch pieces.

Heat oil in a large, deep skillet. Add garlic ginger paste and onions and sweat the onions. Add the peppers, asparagus and Swiss Chard along with a little water and continue to stir cook until the chard starts to wilt. Add the chorizo and 1/2 cup of water. Mix bouillon with another 1/2 cup of water and add to the skillet. Stir well and cook for a few minutes.

Mix thickener with enough water to make a paste and add to the skillet, stirring it in. Add the cream and seasoning salt. Stir it well, then add the drained squash and cook a few more minutes until sauce is thickened and to make sure everything is hot.

Serves 2 large portions or 4 half-sized portions (pictured).

With zucchini
Nutrition Info for 1/2 sized portion – double for full portion.
Calories: 212 Fat: 17.9 g Net Carbs: 7.0 g Protein: 9.5 g

With spaghetti squash
Nutrition Info for 1/2 sized portion – double for full portion.
Calories: 218.4 Fat: 18.1 g Net Carbs: 8.6 g Protein: 9.5 g

Posted on  3/27/2013

Beef, Main Dish, Pork, Recipes

Hungarian-Style Kohlrabi Rolls

So, follow my logic here. Greek dolmades use grape leaves to make a leaf-wrapped meat roll similar to a cabbage roll. Out in my garden were about a dozen beautiful kohlrabi plants with nice big leaves. I found a recipe that sounded good and adaptable to low carb for Hungarian cabbage rolls. Kohlrabi is part of the cabbage family and the leaves are edible. So, grape leaf to cabbage leaf to kohlrabi leaf. It should work.

Well, I tried it and it does work! It doesn’t taste like cabbage or grape leaves, for that matter, but the taste is pleasing and the filling and sauce are awesome. If you like cabbage rolls, give this a try. This is based on a recipe by Diana Ratay at About.com. All changes to make it low carb are mine.

16 large Kohlrabi leaves or 16 large leaves of Cabbage
boiling water
1/3 pound Ground Pork
3/4 pound lean Ground Beef
1/4 cup chopped Onion
1/2 cup riced Cauliflower
1/4 cup riced Daikon Radish
1 Egg, beaten
1 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Pepper
2 teaspoons Paprika

Sauce
1/2 cup Pasta Sauce or Tomato Sauce
1/2 cup Water
1/2 cup Sour Cream

Preparation:

Drop leaves into boiling salted water; cover and cook for 3 minutes or until pliable. Drain well.

Blanched kohlrabi leaves draining in a colander. Look at the beatiful dark green color.

For filling, combine ground beef, pork, riced cauliflower-daikon mixture, onion, egg, and salt, pepper, paprika, and water. Mix well and divide into 8 portions. Use half of each portion for each leaf.

Place a half portion of the ground beef mixture into the center of each leaf. Roll leaf around filling; fasten with toothpick. Place in a baking dish. You may have to make long, thin rolls of the meat to fit it into the leaves.

For sauce, combine tomato sauce, and 1/2 cup of water and pour over kohlrabi rolls.

Rolled leaves are covered with sauce and are ready to be covered and cooked.

Bake tightly covered in a preheated 350° oven 40 to 45 minutes. Remove the kohlrabi rolls and discard toothpicks.

Mix 1/2 cup of pan sauce with 1/2 cup sour cream and add a tablespoon full over each serving. These reheat well so leftovers are great.

Makes about 16 rolls.

Nutrition Info: 2 per serving
Calories: 271 Fat: 8g Net Carbs: 4.1 g Protein: 17.9 g

3 per serving
Calories: 380 Fat: 26.1 g Net Carbs: 4.5 g Protein: 25 g

Posted on  6/16/2013

Main Dish, Pork, Recipes

Kohl– what? Kohlrabi and Ham Casserole

I have a friend to thank for pointing me to kohlrabi. I had barely heard of it, certainly hadn’t tasted it and hadn’t a clue that I would love it. After I posted my recipe for the turnip and butternut squash mash, she mentioned that kohlrabi would work well in place of the turnips. That sent me on a quest for it and luckily, I found the root vegetable on my first try at the supermarket. It’s a nice green bulb about the color of the vegetable it tastes a bit like, broccoli stalks. But it also has a texture and taste that is a bit like potato. Delightful! You can also get purple kohlrabi, tastes the same, I hear, but I haven’t seen it yet.

So, I went hunting for recipes using kohlrabi and found one for a dish that is from a German cookbook. Can I make anything the way it is written? Of course not, I added to it and changed it slightly, adding turnips, onions and other ingredients to create this tasty casserole dish. So I offer this recipe for those who might enjoy the combination. If you don’t like turnips, just double up on the kohlrabi.

2 Kohlrabi, peeled and cubed
2 Turnips, peeled and cubed
8 oz Ham, cubed
1 Onion diced
2 cloves Garlic, minced
1/2 Leek, sliced thinly
1 cup torn Baby Spinach leaves (optional)
1 tablespoon Butter or Olive Oil
2 Egg yolks
1 cup Heavy Cream
1 tablespoon Carbquick or other low carb flour or thickener
1/4 teaspoon Mace
1/4 teaspoon Garlic Pepper
1/4 teaspoon Salt

Put cubed kohlrabi and turnips into a pan, add enough water to cover and boil for about 20 minutes until fork tender. Meanwhile, sauté onion, garlic and leek in 1 tablespoon butter or olive oil. Drain.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a bowl, mix egg yolks, cream, Carbquick and seasonings together. Blend the flour in well until it is smooth.

Spray an 8×8 inch casserole dish with cooking spray. Return kohlrabi and turnips to pan and mix in the onion mixture. Spread 1/2 of this mixture on the bottom of the casserole. Spread the diced ham on top and spread the spinach leaves over the ham. Top with the remaining kohlrabi mixture. Pour the cream mixture over the top, distributing evenly over the casserole.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes until the cream is set.

Serves 4 hearty appetites or 6 regular servings.

Nutrition 4 servings: Calories 355 Net Carbs 11.3 g Protein 11 g
6 servings: Calories 236.7 Net Carbs 7.5 g Protein 7.3 g

Main Dish, Pork, Recipes, Vegetarian

Legal Ham and Mac Casserole

This is a low carb variation on an all-American comfort dish, macaroni and cheese with ham. Any time I have left over ham, it just calls for a pasta and cheese. But to do this on a low carb diet requires some variation and a low carb pasta.

How do you keep pasta legal on a low carb diet? Well, there are a couple of ways to approach this. You can use vegetables for the pasta, such as cutting zuchinni into thin flat slices like a lasagna noodle or making it like spaghetti in long slices cut into 1/4″ to 13 inch strings. Or you can use chopped cauliflower. Or, if you’re like me, a combination of the two. Or you can use spaghetti squash.

Initially, I used Dreamfield rotini in my pasta since it was supposed to be a low carb pasta, which has since been proven not to be.  Oddly, it didn’t impact my weight loss when I used it, but it could be problematic for other people and for anyone who is needing low carbs to control diabetes.  When I did, and probably will again, use the pasta, I combined it with some added cauliflower and broccoli which makes this dish even more flavorful as well as colorful and filling.   Net carbs (without the pasta) are about 6 grams per serving and about 233 calories.

For a vegetarian version, simply omit the ham and add another cup of broccoli or Brussels sprouts, if you like.

Ham and “Mac” without the Mac 

1 cup Cheddar Cheese, shredded
1/2 cup Jack Cheese, shredded
1/2 cup Heavy Whipping Cream
1/2 cup Water
2 tablespoons Butter
2 tablespoons low carb Flour
1 tablespoon minced Garlic
1/2 teaspoon ground Pepper
1/4 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
1/2 cup Ricotta Cheese, whole milk
1 cup Cauliflower, chopped
1 cup Broccoli, chopped
2 cups cooked Spaghetti Squash
2 cups Ham, diced

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Use cooking spray to coat a large casserole dish or baking dish (about 9 ½ x 11 inches).

Microwave the cauliflower and broccoli for about 3 minutes to give them a head start on cooking or you can drop them into boiling water for about 5 minutes, then drain.

In a medium-sized pot, make the roux by melting the butter and adding the low carb flour and stir to make a paste. Add whipping cream and water, then the garlic, ground pepper and cayenne pepper and stir well until the mixture begins to thicken. With the low carb flour, it may not thicken much but it will thicken more when the cheese is added. Reserve about ¼ cup of cheddar cheese, then add in all the cheeses, including the ricotta, stirring in as you add each one. Turn off sauce when all the cheeses are mixed in and melted.

In a large mixing bowl, add the vegetables and the ham. Pour half of the cheese mixture into the bowl and mix well with a large spoon, being sure to get all of the pasta and vegetables coated with sauce. Add the remainder and mix it in well. Top the dish with the reserved cheddar cheese.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes until the cheddar topping is melted and a light brown. Makes 6 servings.

Nutrition Info:
Calories: 4.2.4 Fat: 31.7 g Net Carbs: 7.8 g Protein: 21.1

POSTED BY RENE AVERETT AT 9/4/2012 6:03 PM

Beef, Main Dish, Pork, Recipes

Pizza On the Menu – Yes!

When you’re eating low carb, you automatically assume that there are some foods you just can’t eat… like pizza. Wrong! You just can’t eat pizza from Papa Murphy’s or Papa John’s or Pizza Hut or … you get the picture. The real culprit is the bread crust. You can either order a pizza with lots of meat and vegetables on it and just eat the toppings, or you can make your own at home with several options for a low carb crust.

Over at Your Lighter Side, there is a really good chicken crust. Yep, odd as that sounds, ground up cooked chicken mixed with mozzarella cheese and Italian seasonings fills in remarkably well for bread. In fact, it almost tastes like bread. I really can’t improve on the recipe there, except to say that I add in the seasonings when I am processing the chicken and cheese in the food processor.

If you like, or at least don’t mind, cauliflower, it can also be processed to a rice-like consistency with mozzarella cheese and pressed into a pan to become a very good crust. I like it and it is sturdy enough to stand up to the pizza toppings. Again, the recipe is on Your Lighter Side for cauliflower pizza crust.

I also use a flax meal crust, which is more of a bread made from flax meal and almond flour. This version is mine and is on this blog, so find it here.

Now for the toppings — here’s where you can get creative! I recently found a product called Montana Redneck Cottage Bacon that is a smoked bacon from the shoulder butt and it is delicious. It is similar to the bacon you find in England and Ireland, which is more like Canadian bacon, only it’s in strips. So I used this to create my great bacon pizza. If you can’t find it at your stores, use thick sliced bacon instead. I used Classico Alfredo Sauce for the base sauce to make a delicious white pizza. There are other low carb Alfredo sauces, so just check for the lowest carb one you can find.

Bacon with Alfredo Sauce Pizza

1 8″ pizza crust (chicken, cauliflower or flax)

2 slices of Montana Pork Shoulder Bacon or thick sliced bacon
2 oz Italian pork sausage
1/4 cup bacon bits
1/2 cup onion, diced
1/4 cup mushrooms, chopped
2 tablespoons chopped black olives
1 tablespoon butter
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1/2 cup fresh Spinach leaves, torn
1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
2 tablespoons Parmesan or Reggiano cheese, shredded
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
1/2 cup Classico Alfredo Sauce

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (F). Prepare your favorite low carb pizza crust and partially cook it as stated in the recipe for that crust. Let crust cool a bit while preparing the toppings. I use a cake pan with parchment paper on the bottom to spread the crust on and it makes a nice size for 4 slices.

In a skillet, melt butter and add onions. Cook and stir until they are tender. Add the mushrooms and cook a couple of minutes longer. Remove to a paper towel. Add the bacon to the skillet and cook it. If you’re using pre-cooked bacon, you can skip this step. Crumble the sausage into small pieces and brown in the skillet. Break the bacon into smaller pieces.

Spread the Alfredo sauce over the pizza base evenly and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon of Italian seasonings. Sprinkle the onions and mushrooms over the sauce, then add the sausage, followed by the bacon pieces, then the bacon bits and olives. Spread the spinach leaves over the top, then cover them with the mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle the Parmesan cheese and pepper flakes, if you are using them, on last.

Bake for 25 to 35 minutes until the cheese is lightly toasted. Let sit for about 5 minutes to set, then cut into 4 slices and serve.

Nutrition Info 1 slice (toppings only)
Calories: 270.8 Fat: 14.7 g Net Carbs: 4.3 g Protein: 14.3 g

Posted on 4/1/2014 2:09 PM