Introduction

A re you hankering for some new horizons for cooking low-carb? Well, you’ve come to the right place. This book is fun, and I’ve developed and de-carbed some pretty awesome recipes for you to incorporate into your daily low-carb lifestyle whether you’re cooking for one, two, or an entire family. Low-carb never tasted so good!

Regardless of the meal or food you have in mind, I think you’ll find a recipe that hits the spot here. From breakfast to soup, salads, sides, and main courses, I have you covered with these recipes, which are all about variety, great flavors, and healthy meals that don’t take forever to prepare. But it only gets better from there: I also include recipes for desserts (including some sweet surprises), fresh wraps, and snacks. I give you slow cooker recipes so that your low-carb meal is ready for you when you walk through the door, and I provide ideas for dishes to cook in a hurry (on days when you haven’t used your slow cooker!). And did I mention that there are veggies galore that are great for your health and will please your tummy, too? I hope you enjoy preparing these recipes as much as I have enjoyed putting together this book just for you. A majority of the recipes contain less than 10 grams of net carbs per serving.

About This Book

So what’s this book all about? It’s a mix of low-carb lessons that I’ve learned the hard way along my low-carb road, plus a ton of recipes that will satisfy your comfort-food cravings and your low-carb sweet tooth — a mix of comfort-food cooking sprinkled with my California-cuisine influences and a heavy serving of low-carb variety and healthy eating. The simple cook in me likes to get things on the table in a very timely manner and you’ll see that influence in the recipes in this book.

I grew up in a small Midwestern farming community on good, old-fashioned comfort food, and that’s what I learned to cook — three squares a day and plenty of desserts. Then, about 20 years ago, I moved to California, and my entire eating lifestyle changed. Even though I’d grown up eating veggies fresh from the garden and canning every year, the word fresh took on a whole new meaning for me when I was introduced to California cooking. Grilling became a year-round sport. Fruits and vegetables became even more prominent. And fish — even though I’d caught and cooked my fair share of freshwater fish in the Midwest, being able to walk down to the dock and buy seafood right off the boats was a treat beyond measure. (And let’s not forget exercise: I became a runner and ran the beach almost every day. I was one healthy California girl.)

But I had a dream of opening a bed and breakfast, and Branson, Missouri, and the Ozark Mountains beckoned me on a journey that became yet another culinary experience. My breakfasts at the Inn at Fall Creek reflected an interesting mix of my Midwest comfort-food cooking and the California cuisine that I had learned to love. I looked at the interior design of my B&B as country — my guests called it California County — and saw that the mix was clear both in the décor and in the food. I tried for comfort food and folded in the healthy with a splash of laughter and grand presentation.

I gained some weight while at the B&B — not from a lack of running around 24/7 but from eating late at night and irregular meals. It was then that my best friend steered me to a low-carb diet. It wasn’t all about weight even back then — it was about my health, which was deteriorating — and my friend was concerned. I literally shrieked when she introduced me to the low-carb diet, “What do you mean I can’t have white bread and sugar?” We laugh about it to this day, and we both support each other on our continuing low-carb lifestyle paths.

I continued the low-carb diet and dropped some major pounds. And I moved back to California. I discovered that if I ate sugar I was out of whack for days. So I decided that it wasn’t on my list of things to eat any more — not just for a few weeks but for a lifetime. I’m not telling you that I won’t have a small slice of birthday cake at my grandchildren’s birthday parties, but I am telling you that sugar is off my grocery list for good. And so low-carb became a lifestyle for me that worked and still does today.

It’s not just about the recipes. I have a sincere desire to help you be successful with your low-carb healthy lifestyle. I’m a health advocate and a low-carber of ten-plus years who has fallen off the low-carb wagon many times; dusted myself off and sheepishly climbed back on; been through my share of stalls, confusion, and boredom; and finally discovered the truth about controlling my carb intake. For me, it means not only looking at my carbs but looking at my calories and taking calories seriously too — as seriously as I take my carbs. I’ve blended my carb and calorie intakes to find what works for my body. The other biggie is moving my body more; I use a pedometer to count my steps every day and try my best to meet my daily goals and keep increasing my daily steps.

I can think of no greater joy than sharing with you what I know works through this book. My goal is to help you become more aware of carb and calorie counts, find out more about nutrition, become motivated to move your body more, and cook up a storm with mouthwatering low-carb recipes. Applying the ideas in this book to your healthy low-carb lifestyle will help you lose weight and keep off those pounds for the rest of your life and encourage you on the road to health, longevity, and wellness.

Conventions Used in This Book

I present the recipes in this book in a conventional style, listing the ingredients, the preparation time, the time it takes to cook the recipe, the amount of time the dish needs to be refrigerated before serving, and the number of servings to divide the finished product into. Some of these recipes are so good that you’re going to want to eat the whole thing. (But remember, although the phrase low-carb means that you can eat until you’re satisfied, you still have to keep track of those carb counts.)

A nutritional analysis at the end of each recipe gives you the total carbohydrates, the amount of fiber, and the net carb counts per serving, along with other important nutrition information to apply to your low-carb healthy lifestyle.

I’ve tried to keep things simple in the ingredient lists for these recipes. So, unless otherwise stated, you can assume the following:

Butter is unsalted.

Eggs are large.

Salt is regular ol’ table salt.

Pepper is freshly ground black pepper (believe me, the fabulous flavor more than makes up for the extra ten seconds it takes to grind it yourself).

Vegetables and fruits are washed under running water.

And here are some other recipe-related issues to keep in mind as you dive into the fabulous low-carb foods in this book:

If you’re looking for vegetarian recipes, look for this tiny little tomato — — in front of the recipe name in the Recipes at a Glance section toward the front of this book, in the list of Recipes in This Chapter on the first page of each chapter in Part II and Part III, and next to the recipe name on the little recipe-card tab that begins each recipe.

Some of the sidebars I include (those little gray boxes) contain starter ideas and variations of other recipes found in the chapter. In those cases, I provide you with some basic ingredients and preparations and let you take it from there. I promise that none of them are rocket science, but they’re pretty tasty, so have a look-see. What I think you’ll find is the amazing dietary variety and opportunity for improvisation that healthy low-carb lifestyles can provide.

And now for a few non–recipe-related issues:

Italic is used for emphasis and to highlight new words or terms that are defined in the text.

Boldfaced text is used to indicate keywords in bulleted lists or the action parts of numbered steps.

Monofont is used for Web addresses. When this book was printed, some Web addresses may have needed to break across two lines of text. If that occurs, just know that no extra hyphens have been added. So, when using one of these Web addresses, just type in exactly what you see in this book, pretending as though the line break doesn’t exist.

Sidebars are shaded gray boxes that contain text that’s interesting to know but not necessarily critical to your understanding of the chapter or section topic.

In Chapter 4, I cover all the low-carb conventions I use in the recipes.

What You’re Not to Read

I give you extra added attractions to the subject at hand in the sidebars in this book. It won’t ruin my day (or yours) if you don’t read them.

Foolish Assumptions

All authors have to make a few assumptions about their audiences, and this low-carb lady is no different. If any of these descriptions hit the mark, you have the right book in your hands:

You’re a low-carb fan with some basic knowledge of the low-carb world, and you’re looking for a ton of fabulous recipes that fit your lifestyle.

You’re considering lowering the carbohydrates that you consume on a daily basis, you’ve heard a little about low-carb dietary plans, and you want to know a little more about how they work and get an idea of all the great foods you can eat and the easy recipes you can prepare.

You’re looking for quick snacks and munchies that make the adjective easy seem like an understatement.

You have basic cooking skills — you know what “preheat the oven” means, you can measure ingredients, and you can keep your fingers out of the beaters on your mixer.

How This Book Is Organized

I start this book out by talking to you about diets in general, suggesting that you throw away your diet yo-yo, and basically explaining what’s involved in adopting a healthy low-carb active lifestyle — everything from grocery shopping to table presentation. I cover topics ranging from fiber to phytochemicals to pedometer walking. But I focus on the food and the recipes — bunches of great low-carb recipes with variations.

This book is divided into five parts for basic organization, with chapters by subject in each part for easy access for you. Here’s an overview of what you find in each part.

Part I: Creating a Healthy Lifestyle Counting Carbs

A lot of smart people are confused about counting and controlling carbs — bad carbs, good carbs, and no carbs. In this part, I clear this matter up for you, setting you on the straight and narrow of your choice of a great healthy low-carb lifestyle. You’ll decide to throw your diet yo-yo in the ocean forever and aim directly for a lifestyle of health, wellness, and longevity. Along the way in this part, I accompany you to the grocery store with a prepared list of basic low-carb staples. While cruising the aisles, you’ll become an expert at label reading and looking for hidden sugars and carbs. I teach a couple of short classes — one on net carb math and another on low-carb nutrition and the glycemic index. But don’t worry: You don’t have to take any written tests. I also show you how to become an amazing grazer, grazing your way to weight loss along with moving more with the help a new friend, a pedometer, to count your steps for you everyday. In between all of this serious stuff, I expect you to at least grin a few times because I wrote this book so you can have fun leafing through its pages.

Part II: Low-Carb Cooking Made Easy

This part will whet your appetite, and I have a feeling that you just won’t know which recipe to try first. I separate the recipes into chapters by categories, making it easy to choose an entree in one chapter, go to another chapter for a side of veggies, and then hop over to the desserts chapter for a perfect sweet ending to your low-carb meal.

Part III: Expanding Everyday Low-Carb Cooking

In this part, I give you some easy options for whipping up great low-carb snacks and dips, rolling up recipes for fun and tasty low-carb wraps, getting your low-carb meals on the table almost effortlessly with a slow cooker, and preparing quick recipes with 5 carbs or less.

Part IV: Eating Low-Carb on the Town and on the Run

I know that you won’t cook all your own meals, so in this part I offer you ideas on how to dine out and still stick to your low-carb lifestyle. I also provide suggestions on packing a low-carb lunch and include a special recipe to tote with you. Finally, I give you ideas about cooking low-carb in hurry with recipes for quick, tasty meals.

Part V: The Part of Tens

This part starts with a chapter on strategies to simplify your carb-counting cooking. Next, I list 10 foods that you can eat more of and lose weight at the same time. Finally, I give you ten great Web sites to visit online for free low-carb information, e-zines, and great nutritional information.

Icons Used in This Book

I want to give you a heads up about the icons that I use throughout the book, or you may just miss something important. Here’s a list of all the icons I use:

You’ll see a lot of these as you flip through the pages of this book. I give you tips galore on everything. The tips are little extras and embellishments to help you on your low-carb lifestyle path.

Think of the remember icon as just a little help from your friends about some things that are important to your low-carb lifestyle. I wouldn’t want you to forget them.

The warning icon is meant to raise a red flag to you about something important in your low-carb lifestyle or the recipe you’re about to prepare, so please take heed when you see it.

Sometimes I lapse into the technical realm about nutrition and other techie elements of your low-carb lifestyle. I use this icon to alert you where this information is. If it’s not your thing, skip it.

When you see this icon, you’ll know that I’m suggesting ways to take the information I provide and head off down your own culinary path. Try some of these lip-smacking good suggestions marked with this icon.

Time in a bottle? Unfortunately not — you can’t buy it in a bottle. So I use this icon throughout the book to flag some areas in your low-carb healthy cooking where you can save some time.

This icon accompanies all recipes that have less than 5 grams of net carbs per serving — and there are a bunch of them.

This icon helps you immediately find the recipes that have less than 10 grams of net carbs per serving — and there are a bunch of these too.

Where to Go from Here

The recipes and other info in this book are all so good that you may just want to close your eyes and start reading from wherever you happen to open the book. And if you want dessert, go immediately to the dessert chapter and get cookin’. For Dummies books usually tell you that you don’t have to remember anything you read, and this book is no different — it’s designed so you can easily find what you need if you forget something that you read earlier. I do have one favor to ask of you: Remember when you cook something great from this book, will you?

If you ask me (you didn’t, I know), I suggest reading all of Part I first and then jumping to whatever recipe chapters interest you the most. Wherever you start, please have some fun browsing through these pages while preparing and eating some great low-carb food!