Faux Pasta Time!

Faux Pasta Time!

So, it's time for some legitimate Faux-Pasta. Why the end of sentence capitalization? Because it's just that tasty. Let's face it, spaghetti and meat-balls is an eternal meal. From the age of 2 to 102 it's something that just about everyone can agree with. It's a great food to give to picky children. It's the easy choice at most Italian restaurants, and there are as many variations on this dish as there are places to order it. It's one of those heavily romanticized dishes, from Lady and the Tramp on we get to see couples coming together over this dish. So why miss out on it just because you're following a low carb lifestyle?

Now, please be aware of one thing, this is a fairly carby meal. At about 8 net Carbs per cup of spaghetti-squash, it's very easy to run up a massive amount of carbs. Either plan your day around this carb-heavy meal, or do this the true Italian way and allow the pasta to be a side dish as opposed to the Olive Garden style gargantuan main dish of pasta. Another thing to consider is the fact that your tomato sauce is also going to have it's fair share of Carbs in it. In other words, not till pre maintenance or maintenance.

Spaghetti Squash

1 Spaghetti Squash

Cut off the top most portion where the vine connected, and then split the squash in half length-wise and proceed to remove the seeds.

Pre-heat oven to 350

Place both halves of squash face down on a baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, flip them face up and bake 5-10 more.

Here's where things get tough, you two choices, serve your spaghetti squash like this, using it's shell as a bowl. You can place your sauce and meatballs directly onto this and then just scoop the squash out with some sauce/meat as you go with your fork. It's definitely a fun way to show the dish off as it's fairly unique.

Your other choice is to use a fork, and with long steady strokes remove the squash in noodle like shapes. Depending on the done-ness of the squash it'll have a near al-dente like texture and will form long noodles. This is definitely the better way to prepare for multiple people/keeping your carbs in check.

But at the end of the day the choice is yours.

Now for what to put on the squash. Im going to give you two suggestions.

First is my favorite, a good spaghetti-sauce and scallops.

Cooper's pasta sauce of super uniqueness

1 jar low carb spaghetti-sauce

3 cloves garlic

1 zucchini

thyme

basil

red pepper flakes

Pour Spaghetti-sauce into a large pot and turn the heat to medium/medium high. Slice Garlic and put into pot.

Slice the zucchini into small triangles and place into pot.

Sprinkle a tsp or so of thyme/basil/red pepper flakes into pot, and let it heat thoroughly/until the zucchini/garlic are cooked in.

Mix this with meatballs of choice, and pour over your spaghetti squash and enjoy. Here are two forms of meatballs, first is the aforementioned scallops, second will be my version of an italian meatball.

Scallops-

5-10 large Scallops

1.5 Tbs Butter

1.5 Tbs White cooking wine

in a frying pan heat the cooking wine and butter together on medium-high till the butter is completely melted. Place thawed scallops onto pan and cook a couple minutes, and then flip. The Scallops should have turned a slight golden brown around the edges on the face down side that's just a tiny bit crispy. Repeat on the other side, and they are ready to eat! tasty.

Cooper's vaguely italian meatballs

Another choice is these vaguely Italianish meatballs. Tasty, and slightly more traditional in the Americanized-Italian-food sense.

1lb Ground Beef

1lb Ground Pork

Grated Parmesan (The cheap stuff in the green canister)

Salt

Garlic powder

pepper

1egg

oregano

Basil

First thing you notice here is I didn't give you any measurements on anything beyond the meat and the egg. Why's that? Well, as I always say "Cooking is more of an Art than a science" This here is all about the flavors you like. I love a lot of pepper and garlic, some people don't. I can pick up on a faint hint of oregano and basil, some people can't. Do what you think tastes best.

Mix the meats together in a bowl so you have some bastardized pow or kig meat concoction. And the season it as you wish, mix the egg in, and lots and lots of Parm. At least 1/4 cup if not more as the Parm is acting as your bread crumbs. Once everything is thoroughly mixed together mold the mix into small golf-ball sized balls and place onto a baking sheet that's been lightly oiled/buttered.

Pre heat oven to 350 and bake for 25ish minutes, or just put these meatballs in with the squash, and pull them out when the squash is finished, that's what I do. Oh, and with meatballs it'll look something like [IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b293/kouper/008.jpg[/IMG]

Ground beef and Eggplant.

Ground beef and Eggplant.

So, for the many of you out there who don't know (and yes, there are that many of you that I say many) I lived in Hong Kong for 2 years. I won't go into why I lived there here, perhaps on a different blog, but it was an amazing time in one of the single most amazing cities on the planet.

Hong Kong truly is amazing, you have this massive range of architecture, from the sleek ultra modern HSBC headquarters building in Central, to the (insert traditional temple from all over the place here) right on to the multi century old walled cities in the new territories.

In just a few minutes walk you can go from a dense urban center with 40 story tall high rises to suddenly finding yourself in open fields of rice patties and other farms with just 3 story multi family homes with families working in the fields in traditional garb.

A city where you only drive if you wish to for pleasure or have to as a work duty, the public transportation is fabulous and a model of what the US should be using. Even still on any given day you can see a variety of cars as diverse as the people. Citizens and ex-patriots from all over the world reside here. Bringing with them their own cultures.

While the city isn't as much a melting pot of cultures as New York is, I'd still say it's the single most incredible place I've ever been in all my long hard years on this planet. It's beautiful in all sorts of ways, as I said before the man made creations are great, you've got beautiful jungles and mountains and the ocean near by, beautiful people (minus a snaggletooth or ten.) and amazing food.

Seriously, the food is amazing. One of my favorite things I've ever eaten was here, it's called in Cantonese -Yu Heung Kehji Faahn- or fish fragrant eggplant rice. Yep, that's an amazing translation there that tells you nothing. It's an eggplant dish in a sauce made of tomatoes, ground fish or beef or chicken (I've ordered it at dozens of places and gotten all sorts of variants for the ground meat) some onions and miscellaneous spices and rice. So freaking tasty.

So tonight after a long drive home from Sun Valley I decided I'd try and make it. Sadly I used some of the wrong ingredients and failed miserably, though I did enjoy what I made. Feel free to serve it as a soup/stew/chili thingy mabobber, or over the cauliflower faux rice we've posted.

1lb ground (beef/chicken/fish of some sort, preferably a darker tasting fish/tofu

1 white onion, cut into strips

1 large eggplant (Chinese preferred but normal eggplants work as well.)

1 can diced tomato

1 can diced tomato with chili seasoning (yep, this was my mistake)

3 cloves garlic

1tsp ground ginger/diced ginger

2tbsp dark soy sauce

1/2 cup shao xin cooking wine (I substitute a dry sherry for this for other dishes, unsure here)

small chili peppers to taste

In a large wok Sauté the onions and then add the beef. Once the beef is mostly done add every thing else. For the eggplant, just before you put it in, slice it into thick sticks 2-3 inches long and maybe 1 inch squared, the second it's sliced toss it in so you don't have to watch it turn that nasty brown eggplant does when it oxidizes.

From here, let it all boil a bit with a lid over it till the meat is cooked through and the eggplant is soft and squishy. Serve, eat, marvel at how tasty your food is.

I must say, it wasn't the dish I wanted to make, but it was still quite tasty, not the prettiest, feel free to green it up with some zucchini or a little cilantro added last second. Please feel free to change it around, cooking is more of an art then a science, what strikes you may not strike me but as long as it's not poisonous/burning your house down/inflicting napalm.... never mind. If it's not causing harm and you like it you're doing it right.

Shepard's Pie..... the Cooper way (ish)

Shepard's Pie..... the Cooper way (ish)

Let's see, what do we have here? Beef, fauxtatoes, cheese, some green chili and garlic as well as some random veggies? Yep must be a man meal. Basically, it's male comfort food, good hearty winter grubbin here. A most excellent way to make use of some tasty ground beast. Let's face it, it's a crustless, large, beef pot pie and it's awesome, basically

2lb's Ground Beef

1 can diced tomatoes

half bag (8oz) green beans

2 cloves garlic

1 small can green mild chile's

1 onion

large mushrooms, I used 8 or 9

2 packages frozen cauliflower for fauxtatoes,

cheese. Your choice, however freaking much you want. (cheese is good! but no more then 4 oz per person per day of course)

Preheat oven to 350

in sauce pan sate mushrooms/onions then add beef. Once the beef is mostly cooked through add your can of tomatoes, the green beans chilies and garlic. Let this cook a bit till whatever liquid was added cooks out (should be fairly thick)

While you are doing this, prepare your fauxtatoes the way you like best.

Once both are finished move the beef mixture into a casserole, and then pat the Fauxtatoes down on top so it looks like a fauxcrust (HA! see what I did there?)

Sprinkle cheese on top of fauxtatoes, place in oven for 10-15 minutes (cheese should brown just a little on top)

Withdraw from oven, let cool a few before attempting to serve.

Devour the tasty beastmixture and rejoice.

Greek Chicken + Bonus Dish

Greek Chicken + Bonus Dish

Cooper here, likely posting on my wife's behalf for the foreseeable future.

So, here is where I should ramble on about this beautiful trip I took to Greece. Truly a beautiful country, a remarkable history, and wonderful people. I could tell you about all the delicious food and the amazing sights the ancient ruins and the beaches. And of course I couldn't leave out the women. Lets face it, Mediterranean women in general are fairly attractive and Greek women? Damn.

I would also tell you about how one evening this beautiful woman invited me home, we had this amazing chicken that she'd baked up. It was cooked with lemon and oregano and basil and feta cheese with a hint of garlic. The chicken was tender perfect, the herbs building up while the acid in the lemon cut straight through and balanced out the sharpness of the feta. She served it with a side that was comprised of sliced tomatoes, doused in an artichoke vinaigrette dressing topped with Feta cheese and then baked till the top of the cheese was crispy. This meal in particular was something to include in a story I could tell you about my trip to Greece.

Unfortunately I can't tell you about my trip to Greece as I have never been, the story I tell you would likely be a complete and utter fabrication, a work of poorly devised fiction designed to build up some meal that I cooked here in snowy Utah where the oldest building is less than 150 years old and the nearest ocean side beach is more then 600 miles away. Though the part about hot Mediterranean women and Grecian women in particular being hot? Totally true. And the attractive Greek girl baking this meal for me? Also true as my wife has made it several times, and is of Greek descent.

Greek Chicken

4 Boneless Chicken Breasts

2-3 Lemons

Oregano

Basil

Feta Cheese

Capers

Preheat oven to 350

Rub a little butter/olive oil/pam/whatever other semi flavorful-lubricating substance on bottom of a medium to small sized casserole

Slice 1-1.5 lemons into small rings and place them on the bottom of a casserole dish

Pat both sides of Chicken breasts with the oregano and basil, then place in casserole dish ontop of lemon rings

Slice up one more lemon (maybe just a half, this is all to your own taste anyway) and put a couple rings on each breast, and squeeze out maybe a half lemon onto the chicken breasts.

Sprinkle feta and capers onto chicken, more is always better. (in my opinion of course)

Let the chicken bake for 25-30 minutes. Since all ovens vary, your altitude and the alignment of the moon and planets will vary as well this may change for you personally. (though seriously, 30 minutes should be about perfect for moist amazing chicken)

Remove from oven, check to make sure your chicken is cooked properly (I like my beef and fish rare, but uncooked chicken is just nasty.... and dangerous) Now serve alongside the ground up cauliflower like rice, or maybe some fotatoes and the usual large helping of rabbit food + a boring dressing!!!!!

...... You could serve it like that, and it'd still be delicious. Or you could go the extra mile and whip up the little tomato dish I described.

Baked Tomato and feta side thingy!

5 large tomatoes

Feta cheese

The tasty vinaigrette of your choice

preheat oven to 350

Butter/oil up a small pie dish

Slice tomatoes into thin rings spreading them all around the dish and on top of each other.

Douse in dressing, but don't drown them

Sprinkle feta on top to taste

Put in oven on very top rack for 5-10 minutes. I did it for last 10 of the Greek Chicken dish and it was perfect.

Pull out, serve, and enjoy in how tasty a simple 3 ingredient combo can be!

Parmesan Baked Egg

Parmesan Baked Egg

You know those lazy Saturday/Sunday mornings (or whatever day of the week you have extra time in the morning) where you want breakfast, but you want something more than the usual egg scramble? That is what this dish is for. I love it, you get cheese, butter, cream and eggs cooked in a fashion that you don't see often. Carbs are practically none existent here and in their place is loads of taste!

Using ramekins as serving and cooking dishes fill each with

1 Egg

2Tbs Cream

2Tbs butter

2Tbs Parmesan cheese

Heat oven to 350 and place the ramekins in another dish/pot/pan filled with enough water to come half way up the ramekins. Once the oven is preheated, let them cook for 30 minutes and they should be done. To be honest I've only ever done four at a time, so your time may vary. They should look as pictured the egg will be fully cooked but soft and submerged in that tasty goopy melted butter. Depending on how many Carbs you are consuming per day you may wish to serve this with grilled asparagus, a sliced up tomato (oh so tasty) or other options. If you happen to be serving them for someone who can consume more carbs, or just plain doesn't care this goes great with toast or an English muffin.

Product Rave: La Banderita Low Carb Tortillas

Product Rave: La Banderita Low Carb Tortillas

So to me, lots of Low Carb Tortillas Whole Wheat Tortillas taste a lot like....um...well... cardboard. Even in my all about whole grains/whole food/whole wheat craze, I still bought the white flour tortillas because I could stomach their taste....

Not These.

These tortillas are so awesome! I found La Banderita Low Carb Tortillas at my normal Kroger grocery store. They come in packages of eight and they are 5 NET CARBS each (9g total carb, 5g Dietary Fiber) with ZERO sugar, and 5 grams of protein.

Basically, they are pretty awesome. I have so far made beef burritos (man, have I MISSED these!), had one toasted on the stove with butter and salt as a snack, and one for lunch with peanut butter and low carb grape jelly. mmmm.... They are quite versitile. And DELICIOUS. :) Go get some!

Double Chocolate Muffin in a Minute

Double Chocolate Muffin in a Minute

I woke up this morning wanting chocolate cake.

"What do you mean I can't have a 58 net carb serving of molten chocolate cake for breakfast today!?"

That is pretty much what my brain yelled at me this morning. But then I got to thinking... I bet I could make a chocolate muffin in a minute, and if I add sugar free chocolate chips, I can get a similar molten effect!

mmmm..... chocolate cake for breakfast. (kinda)

............................

Double Chocolate Muffin in a Minute

3.9 NET carbs

1/4 cup flax seed meal

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon Splenda (or low carb sweetener of your choice)

1 tablespoon Sugar Free Chocolate Chips

1/2 tablespoon cocoa powder

1 egg

1 tablespoon butter (plus more for spreading if wanted)

1 -2 tablespoons Sugar Free Chocolate Syrup for drinks, such as DaVinci or Torani

Mix your dry ingredients together in a mug along with your chocolate chips. Add your egg and your butter and mix. Microwave on high for 1 minute. Serve and enjoy! :)