Tag Archives: low carb recipes

Beef, Main Dish, Mexican/Spanish Recipes, Recipes, Vegetarian

Mexican Food Twist – Enchilada Crepes

Mexican food has been almost a staple in my life. I love it! It’s spicy, it’s tasty and it’s oh-so-loaded-with-carbs. What seems like a healthy choice when you look at all the filling ingredients in an enchilada turns out really high in carbs when you add the corn tortilla. What to do to make this work on a low carb diet? I had an inspiration. Crepes! They are mostly an omelette and only a little flour in them. Granted, they can be a bit of a challenge, but they are worth the effort. So I present my newest – and first – Mexican French dish, Enchilada Crepes – low carb, delicious and with added vegetables. While they don’t taste exactly like an enchilada with a corn tortilla or even one of the low carb wheat flour tortillas, the taste is very close.

If you’d prefer the vegetarian version, just add about 2 cups of squash, a whole onion and 2 bell peppers to replace the meat. I am thinking that a winter squash would also be excellent in this, so you might try 2 cups of butternut or acorn squash in it. Wait! Why am I telling you this now when I can make it that way next time and put it out as a new recipe?! Because it sounds great and I’d like you to try it. When I make a winter squash vegetarian version, I will add pictures and any additional instructions.

Red Enchilada Crepes

Crepes:
3 eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup Carbquick baking mix or other low carb flour mix
1 tablespoon wheat germ or flax meal
1/2 teaspoon red pepper powder (cayenne)
Salt, pinch
1 1/2 teaspoon oil
1/2 cup water

Filling:
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup zucchini or other summer squash, chopped
1 small bell pepper, diced
1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar jack cheese
1 teaspoon cayenne or red pepper
1 1/2 teaspoon bullion paste or granules
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 tablespoons of olive oil
10 oz can red enchilada sauce (I used Las Palmas, but La Victoria or Old El Paso are about the same carb count per 1/4 cup. )

Prepare the crepes:
Mix all the crepe ingredients in a blender or food processor until they are well mixed. Heat a small crepe or omelette skillet on the stove burner on medium high heat. You want one that has about a 5 or 6 inch flat bottom. When a drop of water skittles on the pan, spray it with cooking spray then pour in a little less than 1/4 cup of the batter in the middle and tilt the skillet if necessary to spread it evenly around.

Cover and cook for 1 minute. Remove the cover and check to see if the crepe is completely set up. If not, let it cook a little longer. Carefully slip a flat, thin spatula under the crepe to make sure it is loose, then flip it over. Let it cook for another minute. Remove to a foil lined pan.

Repeat this process until all the crepes are made. If the heat is too high and the crepes are getting too dark, lower it a little. If they aren’t getting browned within a little over a minute, then raise the heat a little. Crepes are trial and error sometimes, do if one doesn’t come out well, make adjustments and try again. Stir your batter each time before pouring a crepe to ensure no ingredients have settled on the bottom.

Wrap crepes in foil until you are ready to assemble the enchiladas.

Makes 10 or 11 crepes (allowing for one that doesn’t come out in one piece.)

About 1 carb per crepe

Make the filling:
In a large skillet, heat the olive oil, then add the garlic and onions and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the squash and bell pepper and cook for about 10 minutes until the squash is fork tender. Remove squash from pan.

I used both crookneck and zucchini in my mix.

Add the ground beef to the skillet and break into small pieces with your spatula. Stir in the seasonings and beef bullion mix. No need to add any salt. Cook until the beef is browned, then add the zucchini mix back in and stir it together, cooking just a few minutes longer.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Assembly:

In a baking pan that will hold all10 enchiladas pretty closely to each other, put 1/4 cup of the enchilada sauce and spread it around with a spoon. Warm the crepes in the microwave for a minute to soften. Put one crepe on a plate, put about 1 teaspoon of the sauce on it and spoon about 1/10 of the filling down the middle. Sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of cheese on it, then roll and carefully slide into the baking pan. Repeat with the next one.

 

 

 

 

When all the rolled enchilada crepes are in the pan, spoon the remaining enchilada sauce over the tops and sprinkle the rest of the cheese over them.

You might notice that a couple of my crepes broke through. It’s okay. Just roll them and slide into place. The cheese will conceal these problems.

Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes until the cheese is melted and the sauce is bubbly. Serve with shredded lettuce and sour cream.

Makes 5 servings of enchiladas, 2 per serving

Nutrition Info for serving of 2:
Calories: 544.4 Fat: 42.9 Net Carbs: 7.5 g Protein: 31.8 g
For 1 enchilada
Calories: 272.2 Fat: 21.5 Net Carbs: 3.8 g Protein: 15.9 g

If you want to keep the calories and carbs a little lower, you can eat one enchilada and a big side salad with it. Using less hamburger will lower the calories, but not the carbs in this.

TIP: If you have leftover filling, put it in the fridge and use it as an omelette filling. Delicious.

Beef, Main Dish, Recipes

Stuffed Taco Peppers and Zucchini

My modest little garden is yielding a few decent-sized zucchini and bell peppers and one way both of these are part of a delicious main dish is by stuffing them. Usually, the stuffed peppers or zucchini have an Italian leaning in the seasonings, but this one is a little different.

This takes your standard stuffed zucchini or stuffed bell pepper and put a Mexican flavored twist on it so that it tastes more like a taco than an Italian dish. I used two zucchinis and 2 bell peppers so that I had a variety in the vegetables. With two for dinner, this gives us three meals and a bit of variety. The extra pieces of both the squash and the bell pepper are mixed into the meat. Of course, you can use all zucchini or all bell peppers, but the mix is very nice.

  

Stuffed Taco Seasoned Peppers and Zucchini

1 pound Ground Beef
1 packet Lawry’s Taco Seasoning,
1/4 cup Onions, chopped
1 Egg, large
1 cup Diced Tomatoes
2 medium Zucchini Squash
1 medium Sweet Bell Peppers

Prepare the zucchini and bell peppers

Trim the ends of the zucchini, then cut down the middle lengthwise. Cut out the middle of the squash to form a boat. (Use a paring knife to cut in about 1/4 inch from the edge and down almost to the bottom, then use the knife to carefully cut under the center portion and remove it. Chop the part removed into small pieces and set aside.

Cut the top off the bell peppers and chop the pepper part off the top around the stem. Set aside. Clean the seeds out of the pepper. Put the pepper into a microwaveable pan, add about 1/2 inch of water and put in the microwave for about 2 minutes to steam the peppers and partially cook them. Repeat with the zucchini.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix the filling

In a bowl, mix together the ground beef, egg, onions, chopped up zucchini and chopped bell pepper tops. Add the taco seasoning and mix well.

Stuff the vegetables

Separate the filling into the six portions. Fill each of the zucchini halves with a portion of the meat. Use the last two portions to stuff the bell peppers. Put in a baking pan with a little water in the bottom.

Bake for 30 minutes until the meat is completely done. Warm the tomatoes in a sauce pan and serve a tablespoon or two over the top of the stuffed vegetables.

You can add sour cream or a couple of tablespoons of shredded Mexican cheese to the top, if you wish.

For a side dish, I used roasted kohlrabi, eggplant and turnips with the zucchini and I used Cauli-rice Risotto with chicken broth, bell pepper and onions with the bell peppers. Wonderful!

Nutrition Info:
Zucchini – Calories: 270.2 Fat: 21 g Net Carbs: 3.8 g Protein: 15 g
Peppers – Calories: 286.9 Fat: 21 g Net Carbs: 7.2 g Protein: 15 g

Original Post on 9/15/2013

Beef, Main Dish, Mexican/Spanish Recipes, Recipes

Tex-Mex Taco Pie

You don’t need a special occasion to have a taste of Tex-Mex food on the menu.  This is a simple to make pie with taco toppings on it.  I served it with a side of cauli-rice made with green enchilada sauce and onions, plus the lettuce, pico de gallo and cheese on the side.  Add a little sour cream and guacamole and you have a great meal.

A quick mix taco pie that has just a bit of cornmeal in the crust to give it that corn tortilla taste without adding too many carbs. The cornmeal is optional. To make a lower carb version, omit the corn meal and add 2 more tablespoons of ground flax meal.

1/2 cup Low Carb Flour *
1 tablespoons ground Golden Flax Meal
1 tablespoon Corn Meal
1 Egg
1/4 cup  Heavy Cream
1/2 cup Water
1 teaspoon red Chili Powder
1/2 teaspoon Garlic Powder

1/4 cup Onion, chopped
1/2 cup Cheddar Jack Cheese, shredded
1 cup Ground Beef, lightly browned
1/4 cup Mexican Chorizo
2 tablespoons fresh Cilantro

1 cup chopped or torn Lettuce (iceberg or Romaine)
4 tablespoon Pico de Gallo (onion, tomato, cilantro and jalapeño chopped)
4 tablespoons Guacamole or 1/2 sliced Avocado

* use the flour of your choice, but if you use coconut flour, then only use 1/4 cup and add an extra egg

Heat oven to 425 degrees F. Spray a pie plate with cooking spray or lightly butter, if you prefer.

Combine the cream and water in a cup and mix. In a small bowl, mix flours, egg, seasonings and 1/2 the cream mixture. Stir well or beat with an egg beater to remove lumps. Add the remaining cream and 1/2 the cheese and mix together. Pour into the pie pan. Bake for 20 minutes.

While the crust is baking, prepare the topping. In a skillet, lightly brown the ground beef. Don’t let it get too cooked, just enough to brown it a little. Remove and drain on a paper towel. Cook the chopped onions in the skillet until just softened. Remove to paper towel with the meat. Put the chorizo in the pan and cook until it is melted and slightly cooked. Turn off heat. Add the ground beef, onions and cilantro back to the pan and mix together.

Remove tin from the oven and top with the meat mixture then sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top. Put back in the oven for another 15 minutes or until the cheese is lightly browned.

Cut into four slices and serve with lettuce, pico de gallo and guacamole over the top or on the side.

Serves 4
Calories: 376.2 Fat: 27.9 g Net Carbs 7.1 g Protein: 22.1 g

Without cornmeal (4 tbls flax meal)
Calories: 380 Fat: 28.9 g Net Carbs: 4.3 g Protein: 22.6 g

Main Dish, Poultry, Recipes

Oven BBQ Chicken Breasts with Roasted Turnips

Originally posted on May 31, 2012 on my LiveJournal blog. Transferring it here.

Nothing like a week of vacation to totally ruin a good diet, is there? Actually, I was doing fine in New York and managed to keep on a low-carb regime the four days I was there. It was when I went to Vermont to cheer a friend on in the New England marathon that things went downhill. I admit that booking the Doubletree was putting temptation in the immediate pathway as I was handed a warm, chocolate chip cookie upon check-in. Did that say 38 carbs or 58? Either way, a lot of carbs in that cookie, but it was delicious. Still,it was difficult to avoid the carbs although I continued to try. The last day, the one when I had to fly back home, proved the most difficult. I had to take a bus in the wee hours of the morning to the Manchester, NH airport where I arrived at 6:00 am. No restaurants were open, only the bagel bar that sold yogurt, with berries and granola, so there was another herd of carbs. Still waiting for my flight at the airport at lunch time, I found a vendor that sold a lobster roll and, sorry to say, I ate the bread part as well.

So back home now, I am going back to a very strict low-carb diet until I lose the pounds that I know I gained on this trek. I am not even going to weight for about a month, but just assume that it will take me about that long to get back to pre-NY weight.

With this in mind, I made a delicious low-carb dinner that was an oven BBQ flavored crisp chicken breast. For the coating, I used crushed chicharonnes (fried pork skins), which can be found in most grocery stores. Served with roasted turnips, pan fried zuchinni and a simple salad of cucumber slices and pico de gallo, this made a wonderful and filling meal.

Oven BBQ Chicken Breasts with Roasted Turnips

Makes 2 servings

1 large Chicken Breast, skinned and cut into four strips (about ½ inch thick)
½ cup of crushed BBQ flavored Chicharonnes
¼ teaspoon BBQ Rub – I used a mesquite, applewood flavored rub
2 medium sized Turnips, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces.

Preheat oven to 365 degrees.

Wash the chicken and pat dry. In a plastic bag, crush the chicharonnes with a rolling pin or the heel of your hand until bread crumb sized. Add the BBQ rub and mix well. Pour the crumbs into a shallow pan and roll the chicken into the crumbs until they are evenly covered.

Spray a shallow baking pan with olive oil cooking spray and place the chicken on the pan. (I like to use a silicon baking mat to prevent sticking.) Spray the top of the chicken with spray olive oil.

Pour about a teaspoon of oil into a plastic bag, add seasoning, then add the turnips to coat with mixture. Arrange the turnips on the pan around the chicken.

Bake for about 20 minutes, turn the turnips and chicken and bake an additional 20 minutes. Check the chicken to make sure it is done through but still juicy and the turnips are tender.

Net carbs in the chicken are <1, turnips about 5.6

POSTED BY RENE AVERETT AT 9/10/2012 12:10 AM

Main Dish, Mexican/Spanish Recipes, Pork, Recipes

Tasty Pork Carnitas at Home

I love carnitas! They are tender, wonderfully spiced and so delicious. You don’t need to go out to a Mexican restaurant in order to get these to enjoy. You can make them easily at home.

Carnitas are simply little bites of meat that have been cooked in seasoned liquid until it dries or you fry or bake them until they have a nice crisp exterior. Serve with sour cream, salsa and guacamole and you have a delicious meal. Luckily, not all recipes have to be adapted for a low carb lifestyle and this is one that requires no special ingredients. This also adapts well to a slow cooker. The picture at the top shows them with the standard condiments and a serving of my Tex-Mex Spanish Cauli-rice.

2 pounds pork butt or 1.5 pounds of cubed pork
1 medium onion, sliced
1 large clove garlic minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon herb seasoning
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1 cup chicken or beef broth
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt or garlic salt, to taste

Cut pork butt into large cubes. In a three quart saucepan, combine pork, onion, garlic, seasonings and broth. Add enough water to cover. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for about two hours until the pork is tender and breaks apart easily. Check the water a couple of times to make sure it hasn’t all boiled out before the pork is tender.

If you are cooking in an oven, heat the oven to 300 degrees F. during the last 10 minutes of cooking. Remove the meat, draining any excess water off and place in an oiled roasting pan. Sprinkle with garlic salt or any other preferred seasoning.

Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes, turning the meat once. If your meat isn’t thick, it may take less time to brown and crisp, so check a couple of times. Remove from oven, cut large chunks into smaller, bite-sized pieces or pull apart with two forks for a shredded meat.

If you prefer to fry the meat, cut into bite-sized pieces (about 1″ cube) and heat the oil in a heavy skillet (I prefer cast iron for this.) Add preferred seasonings, then fry the meat until it is lightly crisped.

Serve carnitas with grated cheese, sour cream, salsa and guacamole. User a tortilla to make a burrito or to just pick up pieces for dipping in the condiments. I use La Tortilla Factory flour tortilla, which are 3 net carbs per tortilla, but you can use any brand you choose.

This recipe serves 6.

 

Nutrition for just the carnitas per serving:
Calories: 334 Net carbs: 1.3 g  Protein: 28.9 g

POSTED BY RENE AVERETT AT 10/3/2012 3:31 PM