*LO CARB* XV 6-Pack: Fauxtatoes, Chili Pumpkin, Skillet Cabbage, Saltimbocca, Polynesian Pork, Chicken Carbonara!! 🌞

Last edited Tue Nov 11, 2025, 12:12 PM - Edit history (1)

Nancy O'Connor's
Creamy Garlic-Chive Fauxtatoes

Miss baked potatoes with sour cream and chives? Try this.

4 cups (600 g) fresh cauliflower
1/2 cup (115 g) cream cheese with chives
2 tablespoons (30 g) butter
1 clove garlic, crushed
Salt and pepper to taste

Put your cauliflower in a microwaveable casserole with a lid. Add a couple
of tablespoons water, cover, and nuke it on high for 8 minutes or so, until
tender.

Blend cooked cauliflower in food processor with the cream cheese, butter,
and garlic. Salt and pepper to taste, then serve.

Yield: 3 servings

Each with: 236 calories; 20 g fat; 5 g protein; 10 g carbohydrate;
3 g dietary fiber; 7 g usable carbs.

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Chili Lime Pumpkin

It's such a shame fresh pumpkin is available for only a couple of
months in the autumn; it's so wonderful. This side dish is a tad
high in carbs, but it's so unusual and so good I had to include it.
Don't try shelling the seeds from the pumpkin you're cooking to
complete the recipe-it's a tedious task! Just roast them and salt
them as is, and snack on them later.

1 little pumpkin, about 2 pounds (1 kg)
2 tablespoons (30 g) butter
1 tablespoon (15 ml) oil
'/2 cup (120 g) shelled pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
1 teaspoon chili garlic paste
2 teaspoons lime juice

Whack your pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds. Peel off
the hard rind, then cut the flesh into slices about 1/4" (6.25 mm)
thick.

Put the butter and the oil in your big, heavy skillet over medium
heat. Swirl them together as the butter melts. Now, lay the slices
of pumpkin flat in the butter/oil mixture, and saute until lightly
golden on both sides, and tender, yet still al dente. You'll need to
do this in more than one batch; keep the stuff that's done
warm on a plate under a pot lid.

While this is happening, toast your pepitas by stirring them in a dry
skillet over medium-high heat until they swell a bit-about 4 to 5
minutes. Remove from the heat when they're done.

When the pumpkin's all cooked, put it all back in the skillet. Mix
together the chili garlic paste and the lime juice, and gently mix it
in, coating all of the pumpkin slices.

Lay the pumpkin slices on serving plates, top each serving with a
tablespoon of toasted pumpkin seeds, and serve.

Yield: 8 servings

Each with: 89 calories; 5 g fat; 2 g protein; 10 g carbohydrate;
1 g dietary fiber; 9 g usable carbs.


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Susan Higgs's Skillet Cabbage

Our tester, Julie, calls this "Good stuff."

6 slices bacon
1 medium onion, chopped
3 stalks of celery, finely chopped or sliced
1 head green cabbage, finely chopped, sliced, or shredded
(my family likes it sliced)
2 tablespoons (30 g) butter, optional
Salt and pepper to taste

In your big, heavy skillet, fry the 6 slices of bacon up crisp,
then remove from pan to cool. Add the onions and celery
to the hot bacon grease in the pan. Cook these until almost
caramelized-certainly till they're a bit browned.

Add the cabbage and give it a good stir, and add the 2
tablespoons (30 g) of butter if you think you need it. Cover
the pan and let the cabbage cook down until crisp-tender
(or whatever doneness your family likes). Taste for seasonings
and add salt and pepper to your desired taste. Crumble bacon
and add back to the cabbage mixture, giving it a good stir. Serve.

Susan's notes: "Optionally, you can add apple cider vinegar or
soy sauce to change the flavor of this dish depending on what
you are serving it with. For example, I'll do the apple cider vinegar
add-in if I'm using this as a side dish for ribs or pulled bbq pork,
or the soy sauce if it's an accompaniment to an Asian main dish.
Sometimes when I'm making this as a main dish, I'll include
chopped green pepper with the celery and onions as well as a
15-ounce (420 g) can of diced tomatoes with their juice with the
cabbage. During the winter, I occasionally also add garlic, a quart
of chicken stock, and some bouillon to turn it all into a soup
(including the green pepper and tomatoes). I think its versatility is
what makes this an awesome recipe for folks who cook for their families."

Yield: 4 main dishes or 6 side dishes

Each of 6 servings will have: 82 calories; 7 g fat; 2 g protein;
3 g carbohydrate; 1 g dietary fiber; 2 g usable carbs.


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Saltimbocca

Who says all Italian food involves pasta?

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/4 pound prosciutto or good boiled ham, thinly sliced
40 leaves fresh or dry sage (fresh is preferable)
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup dry white wine

1. Place a chicken breast in a large, heavy, zipper-lock bag
and, using a hammer, meat tenderizer, or what-have-you,
pound it until it's 1/4 inch thick. Repeat with the remaining
chicken breasts.

2. Once all your chicken breasts are pounded thin, place a
layer of the prosciutto on each one, scatter about 10 sage
leaves over each one, and roll each breast up. Fasten with
toothpicks.

3. Melt the butter with the olive oil in a heavy skillet over
medium heat. Add the chicken rolls and saute, turning
occasionally, until golden allover.

4. Add the wine to the skillet, turn the burner to low, cover
the skillet, and simmer for 15 minutes.

5. Remove the rolls to a serving plate, and cover to keep warm.
Turn the burner up to High, and boil the liquid in the skillet hard
for 5 minutes, to reduce. Spoon over rolls, and serve.

Yield: 4 servings, each with 2 grams of carbohydrates,
no fiber, and 37 grams of protein.



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Polynesian Pork

4 or 5 large pork chops, 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick
1/2 cup soy sauce
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1/3 cup Splenda
1/2 teaspoon blackstrap molasses
1 1/2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F.

2. Put the pork chops in a large zipper-lock bag.

3. Combine the soy sauce, garlic, Splenda, molasses, and
ginger, mixing them in a blender for a second or two, if possible.

4. Pour the mixture into the bag with the pork. Seal the bag, and
let it sit for 20 minutes or so, turning once.

5. Remove the pork from the marinade, reserving the marinade
in a small bowl. Place the chops in a shallow roasting pan, and
bake for 60 to 90 minutes, or until done through. Brush once or
twice with the leftover marinade while cooking.

Yield: 4 or 5 servings.

If you were to eat all the marinade, each serving would have
7 grams of carbohydrates, but you don't, so figure 2 or 3 grams
of carbohydrates, a trace of fiber, and 25 grams of protein.

~ This marinade works well with a pork roast, too, but of course
it will take longer to roast.


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Kristy Howell's Chicken Carbonara

Here's an easy Italian-style dish.

1 1/2 pounds (680 g) boneless chicken thighs or breasts,
cut into thin strips (this is easier to do with partially frozen
chicken)
2 tablespoons (30 ml) olive oil
3 eggs
1/2 cup (75 g) grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons (30 ml) milk or cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
8-10 slices cooked bacon, crumbled

In your big skillet, saute chicken in oil until done. Combine eggs,
cheese, milk, salt, and pepper. Pour over chicken. Cook and stir
over low heat 1 to 2 minutes. Stir in bacon and serve.

Yield: About 5 servings

Each with: 372 calories; 22 g fat (53.9% calories from fat); 41 g protein;
1 g carbohydrate; trace dietary fiber; 1 g usable carbohydrate.


All the above from "500 Low-Carb Recipes"
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/302587.500_Low_Carb_Recipes


I was hypoglycemic (on a blood-sugar yo-yo) for virtually decades!!
Not anymore!




https://eathealthyisgood.com/news/latest-research-news/7-proven-benefits-of-a-low-carb-diet/]