Non-Low Carb Cookbooks

[2big4mysize]

Re: Non-Low Carb Cookbooks

2BIG runs in with eyes closed so as not to even think about those high carb cookbooks out there saying her your a goalie you casn try us now to say

Megs you are either a very strong willed Atkineer or not a carboholic. just readying those recipes and I'd be drooling and sugar swiinging.

[not2late]

Re: Non-Low Carb Cookbooks

lol 2Big.

I look at the ingredients to those recipes and I avoid certain sections that are definitely not low carb, like the pastries and bread sections.

Surprizingly the noodle/pasta sections can have good ideas! Those pasta dishes with vegetable-based "sauces" are great because if you nix the pasta, and double the veg recipe, you have a great veggie side dish. I found that alot of Asian noodle dishes are just very well-flavored stir-fries with noodles toss in. So I look at those recipes, see how they are combining flavors and I get terrific stir-fries.

But seriously, Bittman's book has some really tasty looking stews that would be great for the cooler months.

[dotsamantha]

Re: Non-Low Carb Cookbooks

"How to Grill" by Steven Raichlen is a great grilling how-to for newbs. Of course it isn't low-carb, so the sauces have to be tweaked but there are great tips and loads of recipes.

[not2late]

Re: Non-Low Carb Cookbooks

I agree. How to Grill is a terrific book. The sauces can be adjusted and so could some of the rubs, but the rest of it....

One of the local supermarkets is selling a gallon of milk for 99 cents (with coupon and savings card and you have to have a minimum purchase of $10). Gourmet magazine a couple of months ago had a recipe for making your own ricotta cheese using milk and heavy cream. I'll probably try that over the weekend. That cheese-making recipe is something I've never have seen in the low carb cookbooks I've looked through.

Here's the recipe:

2 quarts whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Special equipment: large sieve, fine-mesh cheesecloth

Line a large sieve with a layer of heavy-duty (fine-mesh) cheesecloth and place it over a large bowl.

Slowly bring milk, cream, and salt to a rolling boil in a 6-quart heavy pot over moderate heat, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching. Add lemon juice, then reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring constantly, until the mixture curdles, about 2 minutes.

Pour the mixture into the lined sieve and let it drain 1 hour. After discarding the liquid, chill the ricotta, covered; it will keep in the refrigerator 2 days.

Makes about 2 cups.
Gourmet (magazine) April 2006

[2big4mysize]

Re: Non-Low Carb Cookbooks

wasn't ricotta cheese one of your trouble foods Megs?

[not2late]

Re: Non-Low Carb Cookbooks

I can eat 1 brand---an inexpensive supermarket brand. National brands of ricotta don't mix well with me. I could never figure out if it was a preservative or additive to those ricottas because they all have the same ingredients.

That's why experimenting with my own ricotta might be a better option. If I can tolerate the home-made stuff, where I have more control over additives and preservatives, then I won't be as dependent on that single brand.

[2big4mysize]

Re: Non-Low Carb Cookbooks

hope it is an additive. but what if it is cause they don't have the addative that one has?
so if we don't see a post Monday AM we will know the reicotta got you.

[not2late]

Re: Non-Low Carb Cookbooks

Me eating it will all depend if this recipe works. I can see how it works, but I can also see a BIG mess if it doesn't. I'll probably do a half recipe and see what happens. Half a recipe makes 1 cup, so it's not like there will be gallons of the stuff hanging around my frig.

I wonder if the low carb milk can be used for this...........

[2big4mysize]

Re: Non-Low Carb Cookbooks

so how did it go. DIdn't see any I fell off the wagon topics from you so I'm gueessing you didn't have cravings that overcame you.

[not2late]

Re: Non-Low Carb Cookbooks

I guess it IS the additives in those store brands afterall!

The recipe is dead easy, so looks like I'll be making instead of buying from now on.

But back on topic about the non-low carb cooks...

The New Spanish Table by Anya von Bremzen is fantastic! Lots of naturally low carb vegetable, meat and egg dishes. The gazpacho and paella chapters are not-so-low carb, but for the people on non-Induction phases, low carb bread could be subsituted for the bread in the gazpacho recipes. For the paella chapters, take a leaf out of my mom's book and don't add the rice---you'll get really wonderful stews. (Long story short: Mom and Dad, newlyweds, Mom read paella recipe in newspaper and wanted to surprize Dad with it. Ooops! Mom didn't realize she had no rice in the pantry. Served the rice-less paella to Dad, who liked it and it's now a part of our Christmas Eve supper.)

[2big4mysize]

Re: Non-Low Carb Cookbooks

sounds good I've been trying to add some of my other grains to recipes calling for rice after I got to rung 9 and since i never had the recipe to taste before i never know how much the other grains effect the taste.

[not2late]

Re: Non-Low Carb Cookbooks

Depending on how "soupy" you like your seafood stews, you might need to adjust the spices, and the amount of water/stock you add. Mom's mistake evolved over the years, so it now has less tomato than most paella recipes and less water (most of the water in a regular paella recipe is for cooking the rice).

editing to add...the "less tomato" is because one year Dad bought the wrong size can of tomatoes and we liked it better with that way.

[not2late]

Re: Non-Low Carb Cookbooks

Another cookbook The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook.

For low carbers this book is terrific!

The recipes include dips, salad dressings, slow-cooker, and grilled. Sections on seafood, poultry and meats. Also there is a section on appetizers.

The ingredients are not exotic and can be easily found in supermarkets. And the recipes are very basic from mayonnaise to creamy cesar dressing to roast beef and Cobb salad.

There are also color photos of some dishes and foods. For example there is a "dictionary" of salad vegetables, complete with a description.

There are sections for the usual--pastas, grains, desserts. But there is also a fresh fruit section (something most cookbooks do not contain!)


Very good comprehensive cookbook for anyone who likes making and eating fresh foods.

[Jerzaka]

Re: Non-Low Carb Cookbooks

I'm a cookbook junkie too! I scour yard/garage sales looking for old ones. I have a bookcase in my kitchen devoted just to them.

Thanks for the suggestions. I'm going to look for them. It always amazes me what people get rid of!

[not2late]

Re: Non-Low Carb Cookbooks

Many regular cookbooks have terrific recipes for naturally low carb dishes. I hate it when folks come here thinking "OMIGOD! I n.e.e.d. to get a low carb cookbook, so I can cook low carb food!"

The America's Test Kitchen cookbook is a perfect example of a regular cookbook with naturally low carb recipes: The Baked Crab dip, for example. The only ingredient that isn't low carb is the milk which can be substituted with cream or water. But if you double the crab or add a mild tasting fish and shrimp, that "dip" will become a baked seafood casserole!

And like I said, there are no weird ingredients you have to buy on-line or in health food stores for many of these naturally low carb recipes. That's the one thing I can't stand about the "low carb cookbooks". I remember reading one low carb cookbook's recipe for a salad dressing. It called for guar gum to thicken it. Then I remembered there was a similar recipe in one of my regular cookbooks. That recipe didn't contain any gum thickeners and the carbs were comparable. When I made it, the texture was fine! So I had a dressing that didn't require me to look around the world for a "specialized" ingredient. I saved two very valuable things: my time and my money!

And ethnic cookbooks are terrific because they are packed with ideas. I found an egg recipe in a Lebanese cookbook---saute chopped garlic in a frying pan, then crack an egg on top and cook it like you would any fried egg. Really simple, really delicious, especially if you're a garlic lover. If I limited myself to "low carb cookbooks", I would have never read nor tried that recipe.