Dr. Atkins' Cookbooks?

[carey24]

Hi!

I'm wondering if anyone has either "Dr. Atkins' Quick and Easy New Diet Cookbook" or "Dr. Atkins' New Diet Cookbook" (not very creative with titles, was he?) I tried his "Gnocchi" and peanut butter cookies from the latter (the cookies I tried to make BEFORE induction to see what I could eventually do on this WOE, no, I wasn't cheating!). The Gnocchi didn't set at all and I just ended up with ricotta scum at the top of my pot and the cookies were HORRIBLE! All I could taste was bitter soy flour, and my friend's dog even refused to eat them. Has anyone had success with these books at all? Any recipes in particular that you like? Or should I just give up experimenting? I can't figure out if its me or the book....

Thanks in advance!

[sallyseachange]

Re: Dr. Atkins' Cookbooks?

I don't have either of these but I have to admit most of the recipes in the other books either don't appeal to me or I can't get the ingredients here in Italy. Have you tried Linda's site? Her recipes are terrific. The ones with the asterisk are induction friendly.
Here's the link:
http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/index.html

[not2late]

Re: Dr. Atkins' Cookbooks?

For the gnocchi, the ricotta has to be very, very, very well drained for it to work (as in boiling it.) I found that you can make the gnocchi, but rather than boiling it, put it into a buttered baking dish, bake it until it is set, cool it, slice it and you have gnocchi---warm it up before serving.

I mainly used the recipes in those books as starting points....ideas. Since I'm not a sweet carb fan, I typically just use regular cookbooks for meat and veg recipes. I've found the low carb cookbooks are only useful if you want to to low carb baking or make low carb sweets. Otherwise, some of the steps they recommend are unnecessary and you get better how to do instruction from regular cookbooks.

[carey24]

Re: Dr. Atkins' Cookbooks?

Thanks Sally, I have, and her recipes are WONDERFUL! Hmmm, maybe I'll try the gnocchi again the way you make it Megs when I'm up to the dairy rung. I was in university when I tried it and I think my kitchen skills have vastly improved since then.

[Keith48]

Re: Dr. Atkins' Cookbooks?

I have spent a lot of time at Linda's getting my grocery list together for the first time. What an awesome resource!

[liv]

Re: Dr. Atkins' Cookbooks?

I have read some of those cookbooks but I don't think they are very good. At least for me they were dishes I would never make.
I have a few favourite low carb cookbooks
Dana Carpender (anyone of her books - sensible recipes that a person can use) The 500 low carb recipes is my favourites
Karen Barnaby's The Low Carb Gourmet (great book)
Eades' Low carb comfort cookbook is another one of my favourites

But most of the recipes in the two last ones especially will require some owl climbing.

[Babs]

Re: Dr. Atkins' Cookbooks?

hi, I have the cookbook, ~Dr. Atkins' Quick and Easy New Diet Cookbook, Companion to DANDR~ It's all I had when I started the Atkins', and I lost my first 67 pounds eating from this book. I also made dishes from the Atkins New Diet Revolution (DANDR). I had not tried many desserts in the book other than the cheese cake--my husband and I loved this treat. But like I said, it's all I had.

Here's what I made and liked from the cookbook. I put a star next to my favorites...looks like most of them, heh.

*Artichoke hearts wrapped in Bacon
Two-cheese Spread (It was alright, but not bad)
French Onion Soup
Blue Cheese and Bacon Soup
*Stir-Fried Shrimp with Ginger and Mushrooms
*Crab and Avocado Salad
*Creamed Chicken with Mushrooms (this really does taste like a meat pie, minus the crust-very good)
*Cornish Game Hens with White Wine Sauce
*Stir-Fried Pork with Water Chestnuts (also used chicken and snow peas for variety)
*Barbecued Spareribs
*Rib-eye Steak with Red Wine Sauce
*Meat-izza (crustless pizza)basil Pesto
*Peanut Dipping Sauce
*Quick and Easy Salad Dressing
*Smoked Salmon Dressing
*Crustless Cheesecake
*Homemade Ginger Ale
*Chiles-Rellenos
Warm Spiced Cocktail (non-alcoholic beverage)

If you like sauces for meat, this book has good recipes; I think so anyway.

[cleochatra]

Re: Dr. Atkins' Cookbooks?

I don't like how so many cookbooks don't lay flat (including the Atkins ones). Try using a novel for a cookbook while you're juggling ingredients and the book keeps fighting to close. It's not fun.

I've found it's better to use online sites where you can print the recipes and keep them in loose leaf binders... or buy cookbooks which have binders that allow books to lay flat. OR (third option) type out recipes you plan to use from the books.