Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Cracker Barrel - Country Chef Salad


Another day, another salad. You really should like salads if you embark on a low-carb journey. I eat salads only on days that end in "Y". It could be worse; I could be scraping the last crumbs out of my lean cuisine tray and/or wondering how many Weight Watchers points I'd burned. Whatever works for you. 

On this occasion I had the Country Chef Salad at Cracker Barrel. 



From their website

"Our Fresh salad greens are topped with hearty slices of oven-roasted turkey breast, sugar-cured ham, and hickory smoked bacon, along with slices of English cucumber, grape tomatoes, and a wedge of Colby cheese. Comes with two traditional deviled eggs, and our own sourdough croutons."

Look at all that bacon. No croutons, of course, and go easy on the tomatoes. The sugar amount in the "sugar-cured ham" is negligible. I enjoyed this salad with some vinaigrette dressing.

Total carbs: Probably not many

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Firehouse Subs - Turkey Chef's Salad

If you've been to Firehouse Subs, you know that they do things right. Before I eliminated carbs from my diet, I would go here often for their delicious subs. The fact that kids eat free on Tuesdays is even better. 

Luckily, their salads are just as good and HUGE. Here is the turkey salad: 


You can see that there's plenty of turkey, bell peppers, cheese, a hard-boiled egg, and other goodies. Check their dressings carefully; the vinaigrette and ranch are the best choices. You can shave off a few carbs by leaving off the tomatoes. 

Firehouse also has one of the Coke Freestyle machines, which means that I get my cherry mello yello zero or diet cherry ginger ale. 

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Dark Chocolate - Part II

So, Amazon.com had some great prices on dark chocolate and I stocked up. Make hay while the sun shines! One or two squares of this every day will satisfy your sweet tooth and won't break the carb bank. 

Those who saw my previous post about dark chocolate are already familiar with this.



Here are some links to get you started; this is what I got:

Ghirardelli Chocolate Squares
Ghirardelli Chocolate Bars

The sea salt bars are for Mrs. Low-Carb; it has quite a bit more carbs per serving. 

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Low-Carb Gumbo

Cooler weather plus great college football calls for some hearty meals. Gumbo is a southern favorite, and it can surely be enjoyed by the low-carb diner. 



Ingredients: 

1.5 lbs shrimp
1 lb dark lump crab meat 
2 green bell peppers
2 onions
4-5 stalks celery
3 cups frozen okra
8 oz. can tomato sauce
Liquid crab boil (to taste) 
Gumbo file powder (to taste)
Olive Oil
Water

Of course, gumbo is as much an art as a science, and everyone does theirs a bit differently. To bring it into low-carb territory, this recipe does not use a flour-based roux. As always, this just a rough guide; feel free to vary it to taste. 

Chop the onions, celery, and bell peppers (we used a food processor, but whatever works), then stew them over medium-high heat in your gumbo pot with some olive oil for a few minutes until combined. Add the okra along with just enough water to cover.

After the okra has softened, take the back of your spoon and mash it. The okra will help to thicken the mixture. Did you know that the word "gumbo" supposedly comes from an African word for okra? 

Stir in the tomato sauce and boil until thickened. Add water at this point to reach your desired consistency. Add the seafood (it's okay to add it frozen -- break it up with your spoon as it thaws) and continue boiling for a few minutes to make sure the seafood is cooked. Then reduce to a simmer, add your seasonings (file powder and crab boil, or whatever you want), and cover. Simmer for 15-20 minutes. Eat.

Wait a sec, what about rice or crackers? Nope. 

Instead, send some cauliflower through the food processor until it's roughly the consistency of rice, then boil and drain it. Presto! There's something you can shamelessly pour that low-carb gumbo over.

Total carbs: Not many




Monday, November 4, 2013

Tacky Jack's - Grilled Mahi Mahi

Your local LCD had a great lunch yesterday at Tacky Jack's on the causeway. 

Here's the grilled 8 oz. mahi mahi with "double" mixed veggies. 



It was a beautiful day to eat lunch out on the porch!

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Lindas Low Carb Menus & Recipes

Here's a site I found with gobs of low-carb recipes. I will be trying some of them for sure! First on my list will be the low-carb protein bars...

LINDA'S LOW CARB MENUS & RECIPES

If any of these work out for you, or if you have any other recipes to share, please post them! Thanks!