Michael Van Cise

What is better than finding a new food that you either have not tried or did not previously like? My newest revelation is beets. Yeah, yeah, I know, it seems hard to get excited about beets unless maybe you're checked in to a retirement home.

I never ate beets growing up. Even though my mom grew fresh vegetables in our backyard garden, she does not like beets so they never crossed my lips. I may have tried some beets on a salad bar growing up, but I mostly eschewed beets.

I recently "discovered" beets in ordering beet salads. I found that with mixed greens, the addition of the soft yet slightly firm and almost crunchy beet was a nice addition to a salad. Beets are a little bit sweet, but with an earthiness that you don't find in a sweet vegetable like sweet potatoes or parsnips. Beets are a little like carrots in the way that a carrot has a litttle "bite" to tone down the sweetness. But, I really despise cooked carrots, so the comparison only goes so far.

Although I've eaten beets (both red beets yellow beets--apparently there are some other kinds too), I have never cooked them. The cooking of the beets has sold me on them. I followed the instructions from my well-used Joy of Cooking cookbook. All you do to cook beets is rinse the beets, cut the greens off leaving a little bit of the stem, and boil the beets (increasing the time with the size of the beet; I voiled mine about 30 minutess); you don't peel them (i.e., very low . Once the beets are tender when pierced (just like you'd check the doneness of a boiled new potato) you drain off the water and put the cooked beets in cold water. Here comes the really cool part: the cookbook said to "peel" the beets at this point. I pictured myself with a vegetable peeler "peeling" the beets like you would a raw vegetable. "Peeling" the cooked beets, however, can be done with your hands. You apply a little pressure to the skin and it comes right off! It doesn't really slide off in one big chunk, but it's easy to quickly remove the peel. Even the bit of the stem that you've left on just slides off.

When I compare the beet and the ease of cooking against another vegetable I "discovered" recently, the sun choke, the beet is far easier to prepare. Sun chokes require peeling when raw and have lots of crevices (kind of like ginger root or a really funky potato). This ease of preparation is a big plus and will probably mean that I have beets on the plate or in my salads with some frequency.

The carb-count on beets isn't super-low, but beets have about 2/3 the carb count of the equivalent amount of parsnips and are well below potatoes or onions in terms of carbs.

I know there isn't much of a recipe here. Tonight I just boiled the beets in some salted water, then sliced one of the beets into cubes and ate it as a side with my grilled asparagus and blue cheese filled hamburger patty. Super simple, but tasty.

My wife and I always look forward to the holiday season, partly for the availability of egg nog. The cool, thick, flavorful drink is wonderful. Since I prefer it without any alcohol, it's sweet and dessert-like.
Most storebought versions are loaded with sugar and therefore not a good option for someone trying to limit his intake of carbohydrates. In fact, egg nog doesn't fall on anyone's diet because for those following the American Heart Association, American Cancer Society, and U.S. Government recommendations, the high fat content is a no-no.
Mark Sisson's website, "Mark's Daily Apple" supplied a recipe that isn't AHA, ACS friendly, but falls more closely within the law carb lifestyle. You'll find his post, including pictures here.
My wife and I made it with a can of coconut milk, heavy cream to round out the two cups, a teaspoon of maple syrup, and the three egg yolks.

The result is thick and creamy, as egg nog should be. The use of the coconut milk instead of a dairy product probably removed it from closely resembling egg nog in anything but color, thickness, and texture. In other words, it did not taste like egg nog. That being said, it still had all the things I like about egg nog: slightly thick, cool, and refreshing.

I had my first taste right after we cooked it and chilled the drink. After about a 20 hour fast (read more about fasting here and here) I had my second tasting. Perhaps it was because of the fast, or maybe the time in the fridge allowed the flavors to meld together, but the drink was more flavorful and dynamic. The cinnamon and nutmeg topping recommended at Mark's Daily Apple

Ingredients

• two tomatoes
• pesto sauce (storebought)
• monterey jack cheese (shredded)
• three green onions
• small amount of bacon fat to grease pan

Cooking Instructions
Slice the tomatoes in half. Remove the seeds from the tomato by gently squeezing the tomato, or by using a knife or spoon to scoop out the seeds. Place the tomatoes flat-side down on a paper towel to allow the tomatoes to drain. Pre-heat your grill (I used a gas grill) to a medium/medium-high heat. Slice the white part of your green onion and a little of the tops of each one.
Mix the pesto, grated cheese, and sliced green onion together in a bowl shallow and small enough that you don't have a lot of waste on the sides, but open and large enough that you can mix the ingredients together. (I used the teaspoon sized measuring spoon that I used to scoop out the pesto sauce to do the mixing to reduce cleanup afterwards).
After the tomatoes have drained for a few minutes, grease a small square baking tin (I used bacon fat, but you could use olive oil or coconut oil) place the tomatoes cut-side up and salt and pepper the tomatoes.
Next, place the pesto-mixture on top of the tomatoes, using about an equal amount on each tomato half. Then place the pan on the grill and cook the tomatoes with the top down for 12-15 minutes until the cheese is melted and the tomatoes are warmed and the outer skin is starting to peel back and wrinkle.

Comments
This is a fairly simple and quick low carbohydrate side dish that is sure to please. The bright red of the tomato set against the green of the pesto is visually appealing. The flavor of roasted tomato alone is wonderful, and when paired with the pesto-cheese mix is even better. I find pesto can sometimes dominate a dish, but the monterey jack cheese cuts the pesto flavor a little and allows the tomato to come through.
This dish could very easily be cooked in the oven as opposed to on the grill. I tried it in the oven at 350 degrees and cooked the tomatoes for 12 minutes. This was not long enough, not hot enough, or both. Although when I first posted, I suggested using a 325 degree oven, I now think that 375 or 400 is probably a more appropriate temperature unless you extended the cook time to closer to twenty minutes.

I used Alessi pesto. It contains: olive oil, basil, pecorino romano cheese, pine nuts, salt, garlic, white balsalmic vinegar, and some preservatives. It's a little pricey, but I like it for its flavor and the fact that it does not contain any soy oil or corn oil and has minimal preservatives. If you have more time, you may wish to make your own pesto. I've never made it myself, but understand that it's not too difficult.

My mom makes a similar dish in the oven which is also quite wonderful, but her dish calls for bread crumbs. In mom's roasted tomatoes, you take Roma tomatoes (as opposed to full-sized tomatoes in this recipe) slice them in half (don't remove the seeds), line them up on a baking sheet and top each tomato with bread crumbs, salt, basil (I think), and a pat of butter. Cook them in the oven (350 degrees) until the butter is melted, the tomatoes are warm and soft, and the breadcrumbs have browned slightly. You may need to use the broiler to finish the tomatoes if they don't brown on their own. You could try using coconut flour or flakes (see my post on "fried" chicken using coconut flakes here) but the coconut flavor might ruin the dish.

I apologize for not including a picture, but I had company and was more concerned with getting the food on the table and eating it than I was with photographing it. My wife liked the dish and even said, "we should make it again," so I hope to add a picture in time.

I found this recipe in The Big Book of Easy Suppers by Maryana Vollstedt. The subtitle of the cookbook is "270 Delicious Recipes for Casual Everyday Cooking." I have found it to be an excellent cookbook that delivers what it promises: very tasty dishes that don't take a lot of preparation, don't have a long list of ingredients, and are pretty easy to make. It's not a primal or lowcarb cookbook, but one I'm glad I own.

Links to Simple, Low Carbohydrate Dinner Recipes

• Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin over Apple and Onion
• Roast Chicken with Onion and Eggplant

• Coconut Crusted Chicken (low carb 'fried' chicken)

Links to Simple, Low Carbohydrate Breakfast Recipes

• One pan sausage and egg breakfast (fried cheese variation)
• One pan sausage and egg breakfast
• German Farmer's Breakfast

My wife had read about coconut flour here and found a recipe for coconut coated chicken at the same site. This is an excellent recipe that is quite easy and very tasty. If you're like me and you really enjoy fried chicken, this is an outstanding low-carb alternative to the deep fried, flour-coated stuff you might find at Publix, KFC, Bojangles, Mrs. Winners, Church's, Popeye's, Zaxby's, Guthrie's, or any self-respecting southern cooking establishment.

Ingredients

• 2-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1-2 lightly beaten eggs
• coconut flakes (e.g., Bob's Red Mill medium shredded unsweetened coconut)
• coconut oil
• salt & pepper

Cooking Instructions

Place the chicken breasts between saran wrap and beat the breasts flat. I typically use my fist or the palm of my hand, but, alternatively, you could use a mallet or a large spoon. Salt and pepper both sides of each chicken breast. Lightly beat one egg for two breasts or two eggs for four breasts in a shallow bowl. Heat 1 to 2 tablespoons of coconut oil in a large skillet (medium heat). Next, spread coconut flakes on a plate or flat surface and coat the chicken breasts in the coconut flakes. After coating the "dry" breasts, dip each breast in the egg and then dredge the egg coated chicken in the flour. Place the coated chicken breasts in the hot skillet.
Brown the chicken on both sides until the chicken is cooked throughout.

Comments

I was very impressed with this dish. To my surprise, the chicken is not overly sweet and not overpowered by coconut flavor. I have found that cooking certain things in coconut oil can leave the dish tasting like coconut. For example, cooking summer squash or onions in coconut oil is a bad idea unless you like coconut flavored squash/onions. This chicken, on the other hand, tastes a great deal like the fried chicken my mother would make. The coconut flakes are not sweet or overpowering. Unlike the coconut I was accustomed to: sweetened coconut like you'd find on a coconut cake or in Almond Joy candy, the coconut flakes are rather mild and complement, rather than dominate, the chicken. Similarly, the coconut oil allows you to nicely brown the chicken, but unlike the dominance it exerts over vegetables, it heightens the flavor of the chicken and almost replicates the juicy deliciousness of quality fried chicken.

I am a fried chicken fanatic and converting to a low carbohydrate diet just became much more palatable now that I have found what I believe to be a near replacement for traditional fried chicken.

Please note that Mark's Daily Apple suggests using coconut flour (a more finely ground version of coconut meat that resembles wheat flour in consistency) as the first coat. Because my wife and I were unable to locate coconut flour in our local Whole Foods grocery store, we just used the coconut flakes in both steps. Overall, the result was fantastic.

Links to Other Simple, Low Carbohydrate Dinner Recipes

• Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin over Apple and Onion
• Roast Chicken with Onion and Eggplant

Links to Simple, Low Carbohydrate Breakfast Recipes

• One pan sausage and egg breakfast (fried cheese variation)
• One pan sausage and egg breakfast
• German Farmer's Breakfast

Reducing carbohydrates in your diet will cause your body to flush out water and therefore cause you to lose weight.

Gary Taubes writes,

In 1919, Francis Benedict, director of the Nutrition Laboratory of the Carnegie Institute of Washington, described it this way: "With diets predominantly carbohydrate there is a strong tendency for the body to retain water, while with diets predominantly fat there is a distinct tendency for the body to lose water." The context of Benedict's discussion was the weight loss that occurs in the first few weeks of any calorie- or carbohydrate-restricted diet, adn particularly the latter. As Benedict pointed out, thi sweight loss is to a large extent water, not fat, which has to be factored into any discussion of the apparent benefits of a reducing scheme. In the late 1950s, a new generation of investigators rediscovered the phenomenon, and it was then used to rationalize the popularity of carbohydrate-restricted diets as due not to the ease of losing fat, but entirely to the water lost in the first few weeks of the diet.

What do we glean from this? First, that if you wanted to drop a few pounds maybe to make weight for a wrestling match, boxing match, or some other event where scale weight matters, cut back on carbohydrates, and maybe on calories too. Reducing salt would also help since salt causes the body to retain water. Second, that the quick weight loss experienced by cutting calories or cutting carbs is mostly water weight, and therefore not getting us where we want to be (unless we're a wrestler or boxer) because we probably care more about how we look and how much fat our bodies retain, as opposed to how much we weigh on a scale.

Taubes goes on to say,

[T]he water lost on carbohydrate-restricted diets is caused by a reversal of the sodium retention that takes place routinely when we eat carbohydrates. Eating carbohydrates prompts the kidneys to hold on to salt, rather than excrete it. The body then retains extra water to keep the sodium concentration of the blood constant. So, rather than having water retention caused by taking in more sodium, which is what theoreticlaly happens when we eat more salt, carbohydrates cause us to retian water by inhibiting the excretion of the sodium that is already there. Removing carbohydrates from the diet works, in effect, just like the antihypertensive drugs known as diuretics, which cause the kidneys to excrete sodium, and water along with it.

I think this is an interesting piece of information that I have never heard--or at least not heard explained in this way. I think it is important to understand the above if one is to be able to defend a low-carb lifestyle, but also to be able to explain why people have so much success in the first few weeks of the Atkins diet or similar low carb diets, or even with calorie restricted diets.

Ingredients

• 1/4 lb. sausage
• 4 large eggs
• about 1/4 cup heavy cream
• about 1/4 cup of cheese

Cooking Instructions

Turn your stove to medium heat and place a skillet over the heat. Add the sausage and fully cook the sausage, breaking it up with a spatula or spoon. While the sausage cooks, scramble four eggs in a bowl. Next, add the heavy cream to the eggs and mix the egg/cream mixture. Once the sausage is fully cooked and broken into small pieces, add the cheese. Try to break up the cheese as it melts, but it will be sticky and begin to glob together. Once you have added all the cheese and allowed it to fry for a moment (15 seconds or so) turn the heat to low and add the egg mixture, stirring and turning to prevent the eggs from burning. Once the eggs are done, serve. This dish serves two with generous portions.

Comments

I was inspired to try this variant on the One Pan Sausage & Egg Dish after watching Tom Naughton's Fat Head. Tom Naughton says that one of his favorite low carb dishes is shredded cheddar cheese fried in coconut oil. I wondered if frying the cheese before adding the scrambled egg & cream mixture to the dish would be tasty.

Cooking the cheese first gives the cheese a stronger flavor and does not allow the cheese to mix with the eggs in the same way as if you finish cooking the eggs as the cheese melts (i.e. add the cheese after the eggs and mix in the cheese as the eggs finish cooking). The cheese chunks together and sticks to the sausage, so you end up with sausage-cheese-clumps in your eggs. I prefer the way I usually cook the dish, but this was worth a try. If you are like Naughton and really like fried cheese, you may prefer this variant on the recipe.

I have been eating two eggs scrambled with cheese and two to three strips of bacon for breakfast (or dishes such as one-pan sausage and egg breakfast) for over three months. I also eat a good deal of red meat and pork. I also try to consume saturated fat, such as coconut oil and lard (for example, I'll cook onions or brussel sprouts in bacon grease) when possible. I have been limiting my intake of carbohydrates and try to avoid breads, sweets, and starchy vegetables thereby obtaining a higher percentage of my calories from fat. I do eat a lot of vegetables such as brussel sprouts, asparagus, broccoli, lettuce, spinach, and bok choy.

I have been interested to see how this has affected my blood cholesterol levels. In past tests, taken when I was eating a "healthy" diet with whole grains, low fat, little red meat, etc., etc. my numbers were as follows:

In 2001, my total cholesterol was 115. I don't have the HDL/LDL breakdown, but I recall that my HDL (the "good" cholesterol) was below the acceptable range, which is bad.

On May 26, 2006, a blood test showed my total cholesterol as 126. My HDL was 35 and my LDL, 75. Again, my HDL was below the desireable range of 40 or greater.

In September 2006, the blood test I took when applying for life insurance showed the following: total cholesterol of 125, HDL 41, and LDL 59. The report showed my total cholesterol as being "abnormal" since it is below the "usual clinical range" of 140-199.

I wanted to go ahead and get these numbers posted so that when I get a post-low carb/high fat diet reading, the baseline will have been established.

Studies seem to indicate that saturated fat consumption increases HDL cholesterol in your blood, therefore, my prediction is that my total cholesterol will be significantly higher, but my HDL/LDL ratio will be improved and my HDL will be in the normal range, or at the high end of the range. I do not have a blood test scheduled yet, but I'll share the results once I have them.

Link: http://www.fageusa.com

My wife and I have been eating a low carbohydrate diet for a few months now. We were sold on the health benefits of this way of eating by my brother-in-law, Justin Owings. I was most impressed with his success in shedding body fat and gaining muscle in a short period of time.
One of his latest recommendations is to eat fermented foods.
I was pleased to hear this from him for a few reasons. First, it made me feel less guilty about drinking beer; a carbohydrate-full food. Second, and what I'll discuss here, is that I have enjoyed yogurt both for its taste and for the helpful bacteria. Once I started reducing my carbohydrate intake, I abandoned yogurt because most of what you can pick up on the grocery store shelf is loaded with sugar.
One nice thing about the low carb diet is that fats are desirable, and, according to some, actually good for you. Contrary to "popular" belief, saturated fats are good for you and should be a part of your diet. Thus, if you can find a food that is high in protein, high in fat (even if the fat is saturated fat), and low in sugar, then you have found something healthy and nutritious.
In the organic dairy section of my local Publix grocery store, I recently discovered "Greek yogurt". According to one source, Greek style yogurts are creamier and higher in fat that most yogurts (even whole milk yogurt) found in the United States. Fage Total yogurt provides 20 grams of fat for a 200 gram (7 ounce) serving. Of those fat grams, 16 grams are saturated fat. Based on the daily values for a 2,000 calorie diet printed on the label, this one 200 gram (7 ounce) serving of yogurt will deliver 80% of your recommended saturated fat intake for the day. Of course, the way I eat assumes, contrary to what the food pyramid says, that a greater percentage of your caloric intake should be from fat.
I am also trying to avoid foods that have unnatural ingredients such as preservatives and high fructose corn syrup. The ingredient list for Fage total yogurt is as follows: "Grade A Pasteurized Milk and Cream, Live Active Yogurt Cultures."
Regarding the taste of the yogurt, it is creamy and somewhat more sour tasting than the yogurt I used to eat. However, eating it with some fresh Florida strawberries eliminated the "bite" and was fabulous. I recommend trying the yogurt for both the taste and the health benefits.

I recently read this post about cooking with high fat yogurt at the food Blog Tigers & Strawberries. I found the post helpful in explaining why low-fat yogurts tend to curdle when heated. You'll also note that the blog's author suggests Fage to be the brand available to her most regularly.

For me, I initially found Fage Total at Publix, but have since not been able to get it there. Target carries it, as does Trader Joe's and Whole Foods Market.