500 LOW-CARB RECIPES - by Dana Carpender

Tell us which recipes you've tried from this book and what you thought of them, whether they were great or duds. Don't post the actual recipes here because of copyright issues. If you've tweaked one of the recipes to come up with your own version, feel free to post it in the recipes section at the top of this forum.

NOTE: Let's use a separate thread for each cookbook that we review.

Hot Dog Scramble - page 110

I ended up tweaking this. Her version made one very large serving, but it was a bit carby for me at 7 net carbs so I came up with a 2-serving version using less onion and a couple less eggs. The servings are still quite large. If you really like hot dogs and eggs, you'll probably like this. I can take or leave both, but this made a satisfying breakfast. I rated it 3 out of 5.



UnPotato Salad - page 227

This is my favorite faux potato salad and I make it a lot. However, I have tweaked it a little. I thought that 2 cups of mayonnaise would have been way too much dressing so I cut all of the dressing ingredients in half. There was more than enough dressing using half. I also used less celery, but kept the amount of onion and eggs the same as Dana's recipe called for. Also, Dana's carb counts are much too low. There are actually a little more than double the amount per serving than she states. I rated this a 4 out of 5 on my site but I may change that to a 5. It's that good.

Sunflower Parmesan Crackers - page 149

I used the ingredients she called for, but I made them using a different method and only made half a batch. I dropped the dough in about 20 small piles on a parchment lined baking sheet, then pressed the mounds to compact the dough a little. Next, I covered them with plastic wrap and flattened them with the bottom of a baking powder can. I baked them about 17-18 minutes.

There is something missing in this recipe, namely salt and flavor. They don't taste very good and they're very bland. The only way I made them edible was to spread a little Boursin on them to give them some flavor and saltiness. I'm not sure if these are worth tweaking. I rated them a 1 out of 5.

Hoisin Sauce - page 403

I tried this one twice because I'd never tasted real hoisin sauce before I made this the first time. I still didn't care for it the second time. It wasn't because it didn't taste much like hoisin sauce, I just didn't care for the flavor.



Burger Scramble Florentine - page 310

Dana attributes this to "Dottie". Dottie happens to be a moderator at Low Carb Friends and this is her recipe. I've tweaked Dottie's method a little on my site but the ingredients are pretty much the same. This is a dish that I've made over and over and never get tired of it. I gave it a 4 out of 5.



Ellen's Noodleless Lasagne - page 304

This is a very easy and tasty dish. It's sort of a combination of lasagna and pizza. You may want to add a little salt and pepper to the ground beef as it cooks. I also added a little garlic powder. Since I didn't want to end up with 2 ounces of cheese left, I used a full 8 ounce package of mozzarella. I cut back on the Italian seasoning in the filling. After adding 1/2 teaspoon, that seemed like plenty and 1 1/2 teaspoons seemed like an awful lot. There's no way that 25 slices of pepperoni would cover the surface of the dish twice, as you can see in the photo. I had to use 32 slices. Dana says that this makes 4 servings. That would be 4 whopping servings! I ate about 1/8 of the dish and that was plenty for me. Even 6 servings would be generous. Also, the carb count is a bit higher than the book states. I rated this 3 out of 5. After I made this the second time, I added this update:

I found some giant pepperoni that works great for this recipe. It's made by Hormel and comes in 4 1/2 ounce packages. The slices are 3 1/2" in diameter and you'll need 9 of them for each layer. Since there will only be about 4 slices remaining in the package, you might as well throw them on too. I thought the top of the "lasagne" would look kind of funny just covered with pepperoni, so I sprinkled a couple tablespoons of parmesan cheese over it. Here's a photo of the updated version:





Green Bean Spaghetti - page 311

This was quick and easy to make and I liked the green bean "pasta". I did think that the sauce could use a little more cooking time for a deeper flavor. I rated it 3 out of 5.



Cream Cheese Frosting - page 462

Although this tastes very good, it's not as thick as real cream cheese frosting. It's more like a cream cheese flavored whipped cream. I rated this a 3 out of 5.

I LOVE the "Baga Fries" receipe. I tweaked it by microwaving the fries in a bowl of water for about 4 minutes then drying them off before frying them. I also like to fry them in bacon grease or olive oil instead of butter. Then I dip them in a little Low-carb ketchup. Wonderful!

As you can tell, I love simple dishes. The "Buttered Snow Peas" are such a simple wonderful treat. No tweaking needed.

I bought this book today when I saw it in the book shelf, and it looks fantastic. I cant wait to cook out of it. I have her bbq book too.

ScrappyKat, please let us know which recipes you try and what you think of them.

I will as I cook them. I'll even try to remember to take photos of the dishes.

On Halloween we always had pizza for dinner. So I started looking through the book. I found the recipe for Meatza!

I didn't have mozzarella so I just used provolone and did not put any kind of toppings on it, just the sauce and cheese. Other than that, I followed the recipe as written.

It was ok-good. I think next time, I will definately be adding some mushrooms, pepperoni etc for toppings. I think this would also be good if you used ground turkey or chicken with an alfredo sauce and spinach, mushrooms etc. (if you have the carbs to spare)

>>Burger Scramble Florentine >>

This actually goes nicely in a stuffed pepper.

I have had this book for a couple of years . . . . I think it is time I actually look at it! I also have 15 Minutes Low Carb Recipes by Dana Carpender and Splendid Low Carbing as well as More Splendid Low Carbing by Jennifer Elofft.

Boo, the Meatza look yummy!

SJM, I love stuffed peppers . . . . . not I know what I can stuff it with!