I’m sure many people have found ways to improve on some of the basic low-carb recipes. Let’s hear about your secret ingredients!
Here’s my variation of whey protein pancakes. I actually like these better than the originals made with flour. The addition of the melted butter makes them melt in the mouth, and the carbquick makes them hold together better.
1 T melted butter
1 T carbquick (or other low-carb baking mix)
1/4 cup ricotta cheese
2 T vanilla whey protein
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 T - 1/4 cup blueberries
2 T chopped walnuts
Melt the butter in the microwave in a medium bowl.
Cool slightly and stir in the other ingredients except for nuts and berries.
Drop about a tablespoon of batter at a time onto a hot, buttered pan.
Sprinkle blueberries and walnuts onto each pancake.
When the pancakes start to set, (about 2 minutes), gently flip them over.
Cook another minute or two until nicely browned.
This makes two small servings with about 8-10 carbs depending on how many blueberries you use. I like them plain, but you can add sugar-free syrup.
I would love to hear more recipes for lentils.
My favorite recipe given to me by a friend who is middle eastern.
Lentils and brown rice.
cook one or 2 large onions in olive oil
add some garlic at the end of the cooking time-I like LOTS-5 or more cloves
cook 1 cup brown rice, have ready
to the onion add the rice,
the brown rice-however much it cooked up to
one can imported italian tomatoes
one cup dry lentils or one package trader Joe’s cooked lentils from the refrigerated section
one can artichoke hearts, halved/drained
one jar kalamata olives/drained/cut in 1/2
one jar drained sun dried tomatoes
one jar roasted bell peppers, drained and chopped
one can hearts of palm sliced/drained
hot sauce to taste-siracha is good
some veggie or chickenstock
cook for one hour or so
I eat this cold for breakfast nearly every morning. My daughter eats it for dinners heated up.
You can vary the veggies, but this combination is the one I prefer and the imported Italian tomatoes are so much better than american brands- I did a comparison and use the imnported now
enjoy
Flavia
Flavia,
I used to love lentils and brown rice before my diagnosis. Now I can’t eat them because they are so high in carbs and make my blood sugar go very high. I would then get a huge secondary insulin release and end up with hypoglycemia. I am trying to keep my blood sugar in the normal range so that I can preserve my beta cells and my own insulin production for as long as possible.
This cake uses normal sugar, no sweeteners, and still clocks in at only 120 grams of carbohydrate per WHOLE, BIG CAKE. That’s right, not per slice…. per CAKE. And I get about 8 big servings of cake out of the sucker, which makes it 15 GRAMS PER BIG SERVING. Sorry for all the caps, I just really, really love this cake.
The recipe is not mine. I orginally found it on Nigella.com, but I’ve modified it a bit for the diabetics, and I’ve clocked exact carbohydrates for ya, assuming you use the exact ingredients I do.
The cake is called Chocolate Cloud Cake, and is essentially a flourless (score!) fallen chocolate souffle. It takes a bit of effort, but if you are willing to put forth the effort, you will be rewarded with an incredible, rich, dark chocolatey, warm, light-as-air miracle of a desert. All you looking for something you can actually eat on your birthday (and today is my birthday, so I’m very grateful for this cake), here’s your answer.
I’m not posting pics, as it’s not really that gorgeous, and I’m lazy.
Cake:
9 ounces of dark chocolate (Lindt Excellence 70% Cocoa Dark Chocolate. Comes in bars, usually in the dessert or baking aisle. 9 ounces is 2.25 bars.)
1/2 cup butter
6 eggs (these get separated, etc, so read through the recipe before making)
1/4 cup superfine or baker’s sugar
Melt the chocolate in a microwave. When it is beginning to melt, add the stick of butter and melt until completely melted.
Get out two bowls for the eggs. In one bowl, put two whole eggs, and four egg yolks. In another bowl, put four egg whites. Make sure there is no yolk in the whites bowl, or it will not beat properly.
Beat the egg whites with an electric mixer on high. Add the sugar after a minute or so, and continue beating until the egg whites form dairy-queen-ice-cream like peaks when you insert and remove a spoon.
Stir the chocolate / butter into the egg yolks bowl.
Add a glob of egg whites to the chocolate / butter / egg yolk bowl, and mix it up.
Fold in the rest of the egg whites carefully, until well mixed.
Pour into a greased 12″ round pan or a square casserole or something of similar volume, and bake at 350 degrees for 30 + minutes. The cake is done when you jiggle the pan and the center does not jiggle. The top will be cracked, and the cake will have risen a bunch. It will mostly fall again when you take it out of the oven.
Whip the cream, add the sugar and vanilla and serve big, fluffy heaps of cake (it’s easiest to scoop it out, rather than worry about slices) topped with cool vanilla whipped cream.
YUM. Seriously.
And…
Potato and Green Bean Salad
(also pasted from my blog)
This salad was the first real food we cooked in our new apartment. Five ingredients makes it simple, healthy, and a super alternative for traditional potato salad, which is higher in carbs and fat and calories.
This recipe is one of my favorites because:
I. I LOVE potato salad.
II. By replacing half the potatoes with green beans, we cut the carbs by 10g per cup (1 whole cup of this salad is 20g carb :15g potatoes, 4 grams green beans, 1 gram garlic), and add a yummy crunch and vitamins.
III. By replacing the mayonnaise with olive oil, the potato salad becomes more awesome.
IV. It just tastes good. And unlike mayonnaise salads, it keeps on tasting good for days.
V. It’s inexpensive.
Potato and Green Bean Salad
Ingredients:
4 cups potatoes (I use a mix of the little red ones and the little yellow ones)
4 cups green beans
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons pressed garlic
1 teaspoons salt
Directions:
Cut up the potatoes into uniform, bite sized pieces, and boil until soft. Drain them.
Cut the green beans into 1 inch pieces, and steam them un
This chocolate cake recipe is AMAZING!!! It actually turned out cake like (I thought there was no way without the flour!). Thank you SO much for sharing it Beth. My mom’s birthday is on Saturday and I have type 1 and my dad has type 2… so we were looking for a way to have a cake that my mom wouldn’t have to eat by herself!! I love it! and it is well named indeed
This isn’t an improvement to a recipe… but I love pancakes and I found a low carb pancake mix… It’s Maple grove farm Sugar Free pancake mix. It’s about 6 net carbs a pancake, I put a little splash of vanilla extract in and it’s a perfect pancake. I’ve seen it in shoprite but you can also get it on their website.
Spicy Citrus Tilapia
Sorry for the link, but it’s a long recipe. Not terribly complicated, but I talk too much. (heh)
The tilapia recipe itself has no carbs. It does have sugar from the orange juice and/or peach cider. Used as just a marinade, OJ shouldn’t really spike your sugar level. If you do make the glaze, just go easy on it.
On the same page are my Crispy Roasted Potatoes. I use red potatoes for less starch per spud. You can have them as long as you keep the portions small. Cook a batch in the oven and save leftovers to go along with a breakfast omelette. They reheat well & stay crispy.
To get your greens, serve the tilapia with a spinach & arugula salad. It’s easy to make your own balsamic vinaigrette with just a little olive oil & balsamic vinegar whisked together. Add your favorite herbs, and save yourself from all the nasty chemical preservatives that are in pre-made dressings. Much lower calorie count, much better flavor.
