Category Archives: Vegetables & Salads

Recipes, Vegetables & Salads

Butternut Turnip Mash is a Treat

While looking for a yummy side dish to go with my sirloin pot roast left over, which I reheated on my Foreman grill, I found a recipe for a Sweet Potato Turnip Swirl on AllRecipes.com. It sounded great, but sweet potatoes have a pretty high carb count. This is an adaptation of that recipe from Robyn Webb. I replaced the sweet potato with butternut squash and just mashed them instead of doing a puree. The result is a delicious alternative to mashed potatoes or mashed sweet potatoes.

2 medium Turnips, peeled and cubed, about 2 cups
1 cup Butternut Squash, peeled and cubed
1 teaspoon minced fresh Ginger Root
1 tablespoon Butter
1 tablespoon Sugar Substitute
1 teaspoons Orange Extract
1/2 teaspoon grated Orange Zest

Put the turnips and butternut squash in a saucepan over medium high heat, add enough water to just cover. Bring to a boil and cook until soft, about 15 to 20 minutes. Drain and mash in the pan.

Add the ginger, butter, sugar, and orange and mix well. Cook on low heat for a few more minutes to melt the butter and blend the flavors in.

Makes 6 servings.

Nutrition Info per serving: Calories: 46 Net Carbs: 4.9 Protein: .7

Posted on 1/10/2013

Recipes, Vegetables & Salads

Potato Pancake Substitute Is Great!

My last post of 2012… Wow, where did the last year go? When I was a kid, it seemed like time went by way too slowly, especially during the weeks when we were in school, but then the summer seemed to fly by. That’s kind of how it is now, the days just seem to go by so quickly and there is so much undone at the end of the day that I had hoped to do. Work days never seemed to go this quickly.

So, anyway, here’s the last recipe I’m offering for 2012. This is a simple substitute for a potato pancake that is made with left over smashed turnips with leeks. I’ve pictured it with a BBQ beef sandwich on an Oopsie Roll (Your Lighter Side’s web site) and a small salad. The BBQ beef sandwich is easily made from leftover roast beef and sliced onions warmed up in a skillet with Walden Farm’s 0 calorie, 0 carb Honey BBQ Sauce. (Carried at some grocery stores or order from Netrition.com.)

Turnip and Leek Pancakes

1 cup leftover Smashed Turnips with Leeks
1/4 teaspoon Seasoning Salt
1/4 teaspoon Ground Pepper
1/4 cup Carbquick or other low carb flour
1 Egg
1 tablespoon Butter

Mix all ingredients in a bowl until smooth. Heat skillet or griddle until hot and spray cooking spray or melt butter in the pan. Put 1/4 of batter mixture in the pan and spread to about 1/3 to 1/2 inch thickness. Repeat with as many cakes as the pan can hold and still allow you to turn easily. Cook on medium heat for about four minutes then carefully turn. Be sure to slide the pancake turner under the entire cake to support it so it won’t break apart. Cook on the other side about another four minutes. Cakes should be nicely browned.

Makes 2 servings of 2 cakes each.

Nutrition Info: Calories: 209.2 Net carbs: 8.1 g Protein: 7.4 g

POSTED BY RENE AVERETT AT 12/31/2012 6:54 PM

Recipes, Vegetables & Salads

A Smashing Hit: Smashed Turnips with Leeks


I trust everyone had a great holiday, whatever event you were celebrating. There are many winter holiday events, some religious and some not, but the one thing we really celebrate in the winter is food! We come up with some fabulous ideas for cookies, cakes, pastries, main courses, appetizers… it’s an “eat” occasion!

Personally, I feel like I’ve been eating non-stop since the middle of last week. There are cookies and cinnamon rolls that look like donut holes, lasagna, tiramisu, a fabulous sirloin roast and pumpkin pie. Almost everything was low carb, but still… I expected to pack on a few pounds from all of this. So you can imagine my surprise when I weighed in today to find I not only had not gained anything, but had lost about a pound! This kind of brings into focus the advice from Atkins to keep your burner stoked. Once the fat burning starts in the morning, those little snacks, a small lunch and more snacks, keep the burner going. I have gradually learned that I lose pounds more consistently when I eat three good meals with two or three little snacks along the way. And I am full all day long, not sitting around with a growling stomach, but actually enjoying a low carb candy bar and feeling good about it.

So, speaking of the holidays, I had a great Christmas dinner with the aforementioned roast sirloin, butternut squash with butter and cinnamon, cranberry sauce and smashed turnips with leeks. It was awesome. I’m sharing the recipe here for the turnips. I know this isn’t the most popular vegetable, but it is a great low carb one and mixed with other flavors, it’s really a good substitute for potatoes. Somebody must be buying turnips besides me though, because all the local grocery stores seem to keep a pretty good supply of these lovely globes. I look for 2 1/2 to 3 inch roots that are fresh so that they won’t have gotten bitter. Peel the skin off… it does taste bitter unless the vegetable is very young and fresh. If the skin is tough, you’ll want to peel down until you reach the softer part of the root.

My secret ingredient in this recipe is mashed potato flakes. This is not on the Atkins approved list unless you’re in maintenance, but I don’t use much and it adds both a little flavor and thickens the mixture so it is more like potatoes. You can omit them and the dish is still very good.

Smashed Turnips with Leeks

6 Turnips,  cut into 1 inch cubes (2 1/2 to 3 inches in diameter)
2 cups Cauliflower, frozen chopped or equivalent in fresh cauliflower
1 Leek, cleaned and sliced (all but the very tough part of the top)
1/3 cup Mashed Potatoes flakes
2 tablespoons Butter, divided
2 tablespoons Heavy Cream or Sour Cream
Bacon Bits (optional)
Salt and Pepper to preference
Garlic salt or garlic powder

In a 2 quart pot, add turnips and enough water to cover. If using fresh cauliflower, add that at this time also. Boil until the turnips are almost soft (about 20 minutes), then add the frozen cauliflower. Add more water as needed during cooking. Cook until vegetables are fork tender and break easily. Pour off most of the water, leaving about 1/3 cup in the pan. Using a heavy spoon, hand masher or spatula, smash the turnips and cauliflower into a lumpy mash or use a mixer to blend them to a smooth mash.

In a small skillet, melt 1 tablespoon of butter and lightly sauté the leeks to bring out the flavor and cook them until tender. Add to the turnips and cauliflower. Add potato flakes and stir in well, cooking a little on low heat to keep warm. Add remaining butter, seasonings and heavy cream or sour cream and mix well.

Serve with extra butter or a low carb brown gravy.

Makes 8 servings (1/2 cup)

Nutrition Info per serving:
Calories: 89.2 Net Carbs: 7.3 g Protein: 2 g

Leaving out the potato flakes will reduce the net carbs by about 2 carbs per serving.

Store and reheat leftovers or make into Turnip Pancakes as a breakfast or lunch side dish
Posted on 12/28/2012

Recipes, Vegetables & Salads

Rich and Comforting Cauliflower Cheese Casserole

I love the richness of this cauliflower dish with ricotta cheese added in. It’s like the best part of a lasagna dish, but it’s made with Cheddar Jack cheese instead of mozzarella. The flavors blend well and it is a beautiful side dish.

Ricotta Cauliflower Casserole

2 cups Cauliflower, frozen
2 tablespoons Butter
1 cup Ricotta Cheese
1 large Egg, fresh
1/2 cup Cheddar jack shredded cheese
2 tablespoons Green Onions
1/4 cup Mushrooms, pieces or slices
3 tablsepoons Parmesan Cheese, shredded or thinly sliced
1/4 cup Heavy Cream
1 tsp Italian Herb blend
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Heat the cauliflower in a microwave (or drop in hot water for a couple of minutes). Put in a small casserole dish , add butter and mix. In a bowl, mix ricotta cheese, egg, chopped green onions, mushrooms, seasonings and heavy cream. Add a pinch of salt. Stir in half the cheddar jack cheese. Add to the cauliflower and mix well. Spread Parmesan cheese over the top, then sprinkle the remaining cheddar jack over the top.

Makes 4 servings

Bake in 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes until the cheese is melted and the top is a golden brown. Let it set for about ten minutes before serving.

Nutrition Info: Calories: 310 Net Carbs: 4.2 g Protein: 15.5 g

Posted on 12/8/2012

Recipes, Vegetables & Salads

Tex-Mex Spanish Cauli-rice

From my LJ Blog on July 18, 2012.

Last week, I printed my recipe for Chile Rellanos and I made a pan of eight of them. With only two of us to eat them, it meant that we had leftovers. What a pity! So, for dinner last night, I planned the rellanos, but then I started thinking about the side dishes you usually get at Mexican restaurants with this type of dish. Namely rice and beans. I loved my grandmother’s Spanish rice. It wasn’t like the Mexican rice, but a Tex-Mex version, I would guess. I don’t know where Grandmother got her recipe, but she was from a long-standing Texas family, apparently several generations in west Texas. Like my grandfather, she had grown up on a ranch and the food she cooked was good working man fare. Anyway, her rice was filled with wonderful flavor and canned tomatoes rather than just the pale pink sauce you see on Spanish rice.

So I wanted to adapt this to a low carb version, which is pretty impossible using rice. So I turned to cauliflower, riced it, added one tablespoon of rice and made the recipe with the ingredients and spices that my grandmother used. It was awesome! PK and I loved it and I am happy to share this recipe here. Hope you enjoy. Let me know how you like it.

Grandma’s Tex-Mex Spanish Cauli-rice

This recipe is based on my grandmother’s Tex-Mex recipe for Spanish rice. There is one tablespoon of rice to give the rice flavor and the rest is cauliflower that has been riced to give a lower carbohydrate dish. You can omit the rice completely if you prefer not to put it in your diet. Not induction friendly, but good for Phase II on.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon dry White Rice
1 12 to 16 oz package Cauliflower or start from fresh and parboil it, about 3 cups
15 oz can Diced Tomatoes
¼ cup Sweet Peppers*
½ cup chopped Onions
1 tsp minced Garlic
1 teaspoon Chili Powder
1 teaspoon Seasoning Salt or to taste
1 tablespoon Oil or Butter

Using a food processor or a cheese grater finely cut the cauliflower to rice-sized pieces. Don’t worry if you have a few larger chunks.

In a large pan, sauté garlic and onion in a tablespoon of olive oil or butter. Add canned tomatoes, about 1/4 cup of water and cauliflower and stir well. Add the chopped peppers and seasoning then cover the pan and reduce the heat to a simmer.

Let cook on low heat until the liquid is reduced and the rice is tender, between 20 and 30 minutes.

Makes about 6 servings, calories: 42, net carbs 6 (estimates)

*A few months ago, PK came home with a bag of sweet mini-peppers – red, yellow and orange, which we have pretty much kept in stock since then. They are wonderful stuffed with cheese and broiled for a snack, cut up in salads and added to any dish that would benefit from a touch of sweet chili.

This Spanish style cauli-rice dish can easily become a main dish by adding ground beef or diced chicken to it. Roll it up in a low carb tortilla and it’s a delicious snack or light lunch.