The low-carbohydrate diet is working for me, but I’m getting tired of meat, salads, and low-carb bars. Fresh vegetables get boring even more quickly.
I happened to catch part of a segment from Torino that showed a number of antipasto dishes that looked good and looked as if they’d fit the bill. And I’ve really been missing Italian food, which is one of my faves. I do make tilapia with onions, garlic and capers cooked in olive oil. (Okay, so I made up the recipe myself and I don’t know if it’s Italian; and the onions have sugars in them, but half an onion isn’t going to hurt.) But that gets boring too.
So how about posting some low-carbohydrate, easy-to-make Italian recipes?
Chicken Cacciatore: basically chicken stewed with tomatoes and onions.
Take 4-5 chicken parts (thighs, legs, breasts, whatever you prefer) and brown over medium heat in a little olive oil.
Slice an onion into 1/2" in rings and toss those in there to sautee. Chope 3-4 cloves of garlic coarsely and toss those in there too.
When onions are brown, take a can of whole tomatoes (double check label for High fructose corn syrup!) break the tomatoes into chunks with your fingers or coarsely chop, and add everything including juice. Cover and simmer on medium-low heat for 20-30 minutes, turning once or twice until chicken is cooked through. Serve with green salad or steamed broccoli.
LC Chicken parmesan
-Take chicken breasts, pound to 1/2" thickness if very plump.
scramble an egg, dunk breasts in egg then “bread” in parmesan cheese
Fry until browned in olive oil over medium heat.
Pour a car of favored tomato sauce or seasoned diced tomatoes in juice (double check label for High Fructose corn syrup. EVIL!) over cutlets. Cover and simmer 20 minutes on medium-low heat.
Sprinkle grated mozzarella cheese over each cutlet, cover and simmer another 10 minutes or finish in 350F oven.
Enjoy!
Lots of antipasto is low-carb, for instance marinated mozarella knots, marinated artichokes, roasted red peppers in olive oil and many kinds of olives (as long as there is no sugar in the cure). Even melon & Proscuitto is good if you are at the point of eating Melon. If you live near a Trader Joes there is loads of stuff along these lines you can buy ready-made. I also often take a head of cauliflower, chop it into bite-sized pieces and marinated it in 1 part olive oil, 1 part white vinegar (don’t use balsamic), a few sprinkles each of basil, oregano, red pepper flakes, black pepper, salt and garlic powder.
Hope this gives you some inspiration! Truthfull many Italian dishes which are not pasta based are easily adapted to LC eating.
Those sound good! I never thought of ‘breading’ chicken in parmasan. One thing I saw on the segment was sliced celery, a cheese I haven’t heard of, chopped hazel nuts, salt, pepper and olive oil.
Sadly, Everett (the nearest TJ’s) is 80 miles away. (Actually, that’s just as well. Oh, those Cocoa Almonds!)
You can bread practically anything in egg & parmesan cheese – its the only way I’ll eat zuchini!
You can also use parmesan as the binder in meatloaf (although that maybe falls under the heading of “too much meat already”). I make mine with sauteed celery and diced onions, so it already contains vegetables.
One time in Italy I had a luscious but very simple meal of veal sauteed gently in butter with wilted arugala. It was divine! The veal is buttery and the arugala is sharp and tangy. drool
George Stella has a show on Food Network (Low Carb & Lovin’ It) and a couple of books.
He’s Italian and has some great recipes available on the Food Network website. Some of his techniques have already been discussed here, like the spaghetti squash.
I recommend the Eggplant Rolatini and the Famliy-Style Chicken
The Dreamfields brand pasta is quite good, and I found that if I kept my portions under control, I would still lose weight (good idea to pump it full of veggies so you can still feel like you are eating a big dish of pasta). I also did a thing once with italian sausage, zuchinni, yellow squash, mushrooms where I basically melted some butter in a pie pan, put a layer of parmesan (grated cheese) on the bottom and then sauteed the veggies and sausage, mixed it up with some marinara and then added alternate layers of the veggies/sausage and mozzerella/parmesan cheese. Baked in the oven for 30 minutes or so and got a very, very delicious low carb dish (too good and better to share so you don’t eat it all!)
Sorry not more specific but honestly just threw it together.
I discovered years ago, by accident, that vegetables are better than pasta in every case. I use any vegetables on hand and just cut them into “pasta-like” pieces. For instance for spaghetti I use long thin strips of zuchini, pumpkin, chinese greens, eggplant, carrot, sweet potato or a mixture of these, steamed. Topped with whatever sauce I would have used on pasta it makes a far more filling meal. I use the same method as hamwater for baked dishes.
I discovered years ago, by accident, that vegetables are better than pasta in every case. I use any vegetables on hand and just cut them into “pasta-like” pieces. For instance for spaghetti I use long thin strips of zuchini, pumpkin, chinese greens, eggplant, carrot, sweet potato or a mixture of these, steamed. Topped with whatever sauce I would have used on pasta it makes a far more filling meal. I use the same method as hamwater for baked dishes.
Lately I have been buying Mueller’s Reduced-Carb spaghetti from Big Lots. It comes in 12-ounce boxes and they mark it down to 25 cents each, a great deal when compared to the supermarkets that occasionally put the 16-ounce boxes of spaghetti on sale for 50 cents each. I don’t know how much healthier the Reduced-Carb stuff is, but it takes longer to cook and doesn’t taste quite as good. However, I can tolerate it, as long as I add the right sauces, meats, cheese, or veggies.
They’re long enough. You cut it in half, take out the middle bits (seeds and goo) then cook it, and the “spaghetti” part is the flesh - you scrape it from the rind.
It comes out sort of like roughly cut up spaghetti. Thin strands of varying length.
Make a nice sauce out of butter, cream and garlic, toss on a ton of parmesan cheese…mmmmm…
or for something quicker, use marinara sauce.
The squash doesn’t really have a “taste”. It’s pretty neutral. More like a sauce-serving vessel.
You don’t need to buy spaghetti sauce. Especially if you can’t find a good low-sugar one. Get a can of tomato sauce or stewed tomatoes or tomato paste - some sort of tomatoes in a jar - heat it up and add garlic and “italian seasoning” to your tastes. If you want pizza sauce, put in some Splenda.
For alfredo sauce, you use heavy cream, butter and garlic (there’s recipes online) and put in some parmesan while it’s hot. Put that on your spaghetti squash. mmmmm.
I tried the chicken ‘breaded’ in parmasan. (The chicken was ‘breaded’, not me.) It was good, but it needed sauce. I only had one piece, though; so there’s plenty more for after I go to the store!
(Actually, that’s just as well. Oh, those Cocoa Almonds!)