300 15-Minute Low-Carb Recipes (40 page)

Okay, I admit it—none of the recipes in this chapter is done in 15 minutes. But that doesn't keep them from being just as convenient—or even more so!—than the recipes in the rest of the book, since they cook happily by themselves while you're out having a life.

With these recipes, the 15-minute limit is on preparation time, not cooking time. All of these recipes require no more than 15 minutes hands-on time, both before cooking and after cooking combined. No spending a half-hour dredging little bits of meat in flour and browning them before you can get your dinner in the slow cooker and your butt out the door, and no coming home from a long day's work to a houseful of hungry people, only to have to add things to your slow cooker meal and then wait an extra half hour. Nope, all these recipes truly are fast and simple—and tasty!

By the way, it's good to know how to speed up or slow down slow cooker food, should you need to: If you want to cut a good hour off your slow cooker recipe, put everything in the crockery liner, put the crockery liner in your microwave oven (this assumes, of course, that your crockery liner lifts out of the electric base, and fits in your microwave—mine does both), and microwave it on 50 percent power for 5 to 10 minutes—just long enough to warm everything through. Then put the crockery liner in the base, cover, and set as per the recipe. To slow a recipe down, you can put the meat in frozen! This will add a good 2 to 3 hours to your cooking time.

3~Minute Slow Cooker Pot Roast

This recipe is very 1965, but it's still incredibly easy and it tastes great. Puréed cauliflower “fauxtatoes” are nice with this—they give you something to put the gravy on.

8 ounces (225 g) sliced mushrooms

2 to 3 pound (0.9 to 1.3 kg) boneless chuck pot roast

1 envelope French Onion soup mix

1/2 cup (120 ml) dry red wine

Guar or xanthan

Dump the mushrooms in the bottom of your slow cooker and plunk the roast on top of them. Mix together the onion soup mix and wine and pour it over the whole thing. Slap on the lid, set the slow cooker to Low, and forget about it for 8 hours.

When you come home, fish out the roast (carefully—it will be very tender) and use the guar or xanthan to thicken up the juices in the slow cooker. Serve this gravy with the pot roast.

Yield:
Assuming a 2-pound roast (900 g), this will yield 6 servings. If you eat every drop of the gravy, each serving will have 6 grams of carbohydrates and 1 gram of fiber, for a total of 5 grams of usable carbs and 25 grams of protein.

Pepperoncini Beef

Pepperoncini are hot-but-not-scorching pickled Italian salad peppers—you'll find these in the same aisle as the olives and pickles—and they make this beef very special.

2 to 3 pounds (0.9 to 1.3 kg) boneless chuck pot roast

1 cup (225 g) pepperoncini peppers, with the vinegar they're packed in

1/2 medium onion, chopped

Guar or xanthan

Salt and pepper

Slap the beef in the slow cooker, pour the pepperoncini on top, and strew the onion over that. Put on the lid, set the slow cooker to Low, and leave it for 8 hours.

When it's done, fish out the meat, put it on a platter, and use a slotted spoon to fish out the peppers and pile them on top of the roast. Thicken the juices in the pot with the guar or xanthan, salt and pepper to taste, and serve with the roast.

Yield:
Assuming a 2-pound roast (900 g), this will yield 6 servings, each with 3 grams of carbohydrates, a trace of fiber, and 24 grams of protein.

Caribbean Slow Cooker Lamb

I buy whole legs of lamb and have the butcher at the grocery store cut them up for me—a smallish roast from each end and steaks from the middle. They never charge for this service, and this gives me lamb roasts small enough to fit in my slow cooker. The problem ingredient here is the tamarind concentrate—look in a grocery store with a good International section. I found it in a medium-size town in southern Indiana, so you may well find it near you! If you can't find it, you could use a tablespoon (15 ml) of lemon juice and a teaspoon of Splenda instead, and your lamb will be less authentically Caribbean-tasting but still yummy.

2- to 3-pound (0.9 to 1.3 kg) section of a leg of lamb

1/2 medium onion, chopped

1/2 teaspoon minced garlic or 1 clove garlic, crushed

1 teaspoon tamarind concentrate

1 tablespoon (11 g) spicy brown mustard

1 cup (160 g) canned diced tomatoes

1 teaspoon hot sauce—preferably Caribbean Scotch Bonnet sauce—or more or less, to taste

Guar or xanthan

Salt and pepper

Place the lamb in the slow cooker. Stir together the onion, garlic, tamarind, mustard, tomatoes, and hot sauce and pour over the lamb. Set the cooker on Low and let it cook for a good 8 hours.

When it's done, remove the lamb to a serving platter, thicken the pot juices with the guar or xanthan if it seems necessary, salt and pepper to taste, and serve.

Yield:
Assuming a 2 1/2-pound (1.1 kg) section of a leg of lamb, this will be 6 servings, each with 5 grams of carbohydrates and a trace of fiber (if you eat all the gravy—fewer carbs if you don't), and 27 grams of protein.

Slow Cooker Chicken Guadeloupe

This isn't authentically anything, but it borrows its flavors from the Creole cooking of the Caribbean.

1 cut-up broiler-fryer chicken, about

3 1/2 pounds (1.6 kg), or whatever chicken parts you prefer

1/2 medium onion, chopped

2 teaspoons ground allspice

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 cup (60 ml) lemon juice; bottled is fine

1 can (14 ounces, or 400 g) diced tomatoes with chilies

1 shot (3 tablespoons, or 45 ml) dark rum

Guar or xanthan

Salt and pepper

Just throw the chicken, onion, allspice, thyme, lemon juice, chilies, and rum in the slow cooker, set it to Low, and let it go for 5 to 6 hours. Fish out the chicken carefully—it'll be sliding from the bone! Thicken up the stuff in the pot with the guar or xanthan, salt and pepper to taste, and serve over the chicken.

Yield:
5 or 6 servings. Assuming 5 servings, each will have 6 grams of carbohydrates and 1 gram of fiber, for a total of 5 grams of usable carbs and 35 grams of protein.

Sort of Ethiopian Chicken Stew

Again, the slow cooker method is hardly authentic, but the flavors come from an Ethiopian recipe—except that the Ethiopians would use a lot more cayenne! Increase it if you like really hot food.

1 cut-up broiler-fryer, about 3 pounds (1.3 kg)

1 medium onion, chopped

1 teaspoon cayenne

1 teaspoon paprika

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon grated gingerroot

2 tablespoons (28 ml) lemon juice

1/2 cup (120 ml) water

Guar or xanthan

Salt and pepper

Throw the chicken, onion, cayenne, paprika, pepper, gingerroot, lemon juice, and water in your slow cooker and set it to Low. Leave it for 5 to 6 hours. If you'd like to make this really stewlike, you can pick the meat off the bones when it's done (which will be very easy), thicken the gravy with guar or xanthan, and then stir the chicken back into the liquid. Or you can just serve the gravy over the chicken. Take your pick.

Yield:
5 or 6 servings. Assuming 5 servings, each will have 3 grams of carbohydrates and 1 gram of fiber, for a total of 2 grams of usable carbs and 35 grams of protein.

Chipotle Turkey Legs