Category Archives: Salads and Soups

Holly’s Chopped Salad

Posted in Lunch, Salads and Soups by

This is my sister’s recipe and it is a big hit in our family.  It takes a little while to make because there is a lot of chopping involved but it is absolutely delicious.  The ingredients can be altered to suit your own personal taste preferences.  The key is that ALL ingredients must be chopped in SMALL pieces.  It can easily feed 6-8 people.

INGREDIENTS:

  • Two heads of lettuce (two varieties) (or 2-3 bags), chopped
  • 1 cup of spinach, chopped
  • 1 cup cauliflower, chopped
  • 1 cup broccoli, chopped
  • Red bell pepper, chopped
  • Yellow bell pepper, chopped
  • Cucumber, chopped
  • Tomatoes, 2-3, chopped
  • Avocado, chopped
  • 3-4 hardboiled eggs, chopped
  • 3-4 cooked bacon slices, crumbled
  • 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
  • 1/4 cup sunflower seeds
  • Pepper

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl.  Add pepper and dressing (we use Marie’s ranch dressing).

Enjoy!

Amish Broccoli Salad

Posted in Lunch, Main Dishes, Salads and Soups by

This is a delicious, healthy and sweet salad which can be a main dish or a side dish.  The recipe comes from http://low-carb-news.blogspot.com.  This dish claims to yield 12 servings but it is so delicious it yields around half that in my house.  1 serving = 4.1 net carbs.  There are variations to the recipe that I will add to the bottom.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 lb chopped broccoli
  • 1 lb chopped cauliflower (chopped into very small chunks)
  • 1/2 lb bacon, fried and crumbled (about 7 slices)
  • 2 cups grated Smoked Gouda OR cheddar cheese, divided
  • 1 cup mayonnaise
  • 1 cup sour cream
  • liquid sweetener to equal 1/2 cup sugar (or 1/2 cup sugar substitute OR to taste)
  • 1/2 tsp salt OR to taste

DIRECTIONS:

  1. In large salad bowl, combine broccoli, cauliflower, bacon and 1-1/2 cups Smoked Gouda or cheddar cheese;
  2. In medium bowl, combine mayonnaise, sour cream, sweetener and salt.  Stir the creamy mixture into the broccoli salad.  Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top. Cover the salad bowl with plastic wrap and chill before serving.

Variations:  Leave out the cauliflower and use only broccoli.  Add some chopped or sliced red onions.  Replace the cauliflower with diced cooked chicken.  Maybe add in some chopped, hard boiled eggs.

Tuscan Cauliflower Soup Recipe

Posted in Salads and Soups by

Another recommended recipe from my friend Jana.  It comes from http://www.tasteofhome.com.  I’m not a big soup person but I love this recipe.  There are 6 net carbs in 1-1/4 cups.  Enjoy!!

INGREDIENTS:

  • 4 cups fresh cauliflowerets (about 14 ounces)
  • 2 cans (14-1/2 ounces each) reduced-sodium chicken broth
  • 2 cups water
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 pound bulk Italian sausage
  • 1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1/4 teaspoon pepper
  • 1/2 pound bacon strips, cooked and crumbled (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

  1. In a large saucepan, combine cauliflower, broth, water and garlic; bring to a boil.  Simmer, uncovered, 12-15 minutes or until cauliflower is tender.
  2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook sausage and mushrooms over medium heat 6-8 minutes or until sausage is no longer pink, breaking up sausage into crumbles.  Remove with a slotted spoon; drain on paper towels.
  3. Add sausage and mushrooms to cauliflower mixture; return to a boil.  Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, 5 minutes. Stir in cream and pepper; heat through.  Serve with bacon (optional).  Yield: 8 servings (2-1/2 quarts).

Almond Chicken Salad

Posted in Lunch, Main Dishes, Poultry, Salads and Soups by

This is a great, healthy low carb recipe based on the ingredients, but I do not have the carb count for this one.  This recipe is great just as a meal or with a green salad.  The recipe comes from alt.support.diet.low-carb, although I have made a few changes.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 4 cups cooked chicken (I used a rotisserie chicken from Fry’s)
  • 1 cup chopped celery
  • 3/4 cup sliced green onion
  • 3 hard boiled eggs, chopped
  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/4 cup sour cream
  • 1 tbsp. prepared mustard (I used spicy Dijon)
  • 1 tsp. salt (or salt substitute)
  • 1/2 tsp. pepper
  • 1/4 tsp. onion pepper (I did not have so I used garlic pepper)
  • 1/4 tsp. celery salt
  • 1/8 tsp. dry mustard
  • 1/8 tsp. paprika
  • 1/2 cup slivered almost, toasted (I forgot to toast, but it was still great)

DIRECTIONS:

  1. In a large bowl combine chicken, celery, onions and eggs.
  2. In another bowl, combine the next 9 ingredients; stir until smooth.  Pour over chicken mixture and toss gently.
  3. Stir in almonds and serve immediately, or refrigerate and add almonds right before serving.

Chicken Caesar Salad

Posted in Lunch, Main Dishes, Salads and Soups by

This is an easy recipe adapted from djfoodie.com.  D.J. uses his own Caesar dressing, but I just used Marie’s Creamy Caesar.  I also skipped the grilling of chicken step in this recipe as I already had some cooked chicken leftovers.  🙂  Servings: 6.  Net carbs: 2.58 per serving.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 3/4 cup Caesar salad dressing
  • 6 cups romaine lettuce, washed and cut into ribbons
  • 1 1/2 cups garlic croutons (see recipe)
  • 1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
  • 2 tablespoons light olive oil for grilling
  • 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
  • salt and pepper, to taste

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. PREHEAT a grill.
  2. In a large salad bowl, mix together the salad dressing, romaine lettuce and croutons.  Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.
  3. Coat your chicken breasts with the oil and evenly season with salt and pepper.
  4. Grill the chicken until cooked through
  5. Divide your salad onto 6 plates.
  6. Slice your chicken and place on top of each salad.
  7. Garnish with grated parmesan cheese.
  8. Serve!

 

Garlic Croutons

Posted in Lunch, Main Dishes, Salads and Soups by

This is another great recipe from djfoodie.com.  While D.J. used his own low-carb bread recipe, I cheated and used Chompie’s low-carb bread.  These came out great!  Servings total 12, and there are .96 grams of net carbs (using D.J.’s low-carb bread).  I think it would be very close to the same carb count using Chompie’s.  I added these little cubes of deliciousness on Chicken Caesar salad (another djfoodie.com recipe that I will be adding to my blog).

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1/4 cup butter (half a stick)
  • 4 each garlic cloves, minced
  • 3 cups low-carb bread, cut into cubes
  • salt and pepper, to taste

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Over medium-low heat, melt the butter in a saute pan.  While the butter is still melting, add the minced garlic.  
  2. Add the bread and saute, seasoning with a little salt and pepper.
  3. Saute until the bread is nice and golden brown.
  4. Once they are golden brown and cooked to the desired doneness, remove them from the heat and spread them on paper towels.  Spread them evenly, so they don’t steam one another.
  5. Let them cool completely, before using or packaging.  

Chicken Salad

Posted in Lunch, Main Dishes, Salads and Soups by

image

I love chicken salad so I spent a lot of time looking for a great low-carb recipe.  This one is great and comes from djfoodie.com.  The serving size is 4 and it has 3.79 grams net carbs.  Please note that the highest carb count item is the almonds so if you want lower carbs, cut the amount of almonds.

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 1/2 pounds of cooked chicken meat, diced
  • 1/2 small red onion, diced
  • 1/2 cup celery, diced
  • 1 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/2 cup slivered almonds, toasted
  • 1/2 cup real bacon bits
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 1 tablespoon celery seed
  • salt and fresh cracked pepper, to taste

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. MIX the stuff in a bowl!
  2. EAT!

We put this on toasted low-carb bread for lunch.  It would also be great on lettuce or just as is!!!

Ginny’s Taco Salad

Posted in Beef/Pork, Main Dishes, Salads and Soups by

While my family does get a little sick of salad, this recipe is great and everyone loves it.  One of the ingredients is “2 cups of Black Soy Bean Chili” (which is a recipe I had previously posted).  Another great (and easy) recipe from George Stella.  Please note this recipe only yields 2 servings.  They are large servings though!

  • 4 cups shredded iceberg lettuce (or 50-50 mix)
  • 2 cups Black Soy Bean Chili (previously posted)
  • 1 cup shredded Colby Jack cheese (you may substitute any cheese you prefer)
  • 2 tablespoons chopped red onion
  • 1 Roma tomato, diced
  • 2 tablespoons sour cream
  • 1 tablespoon sliced black olives
  • 1 tablespoon sliced green onion (scallion) tops (this one is option, in my opinion)
  1. DIVIDE the shredded lettuce between 2 bowls and pile it high.
  2. IF the chili isn’t hot already, warm it in the microwave.
  3. TOP each bowl of lettuce with 1 cup chili and 1/2 cup shredded cheese.
  4. TOP the salads with the tomato, sour cream, sliced olives and scallion tops.  Serve immediately, while the chili is hot and the salad is cold.