300 Low-Carb Slow Cooker Recipes (41 page)

This is simple, but it's hardly boring! Because meat loaf takes at least an hour in the oven, many of you may have given up on it as a weeknight dinner. Baking it in your slow cooker works remarkably well, although it doesn't brown much.

1 pound (455 g) ground round

1 pound (455 g) pork sausage

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 medium green pepper, finely chopped

1/4 cup (24 g) oat bran

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt or Vege-Sal

2 tablespoons (28 ml) Worcestershire sauce

2 eggs

1/2 cup (60 g) pork rind crumbs (Run pork rinds through your food processor or blender.)

Place all ingredients in a big mixing bowl and use clean hands to smoosh everything together until it's well blended.

Put a rack or a collapsible basket-style steamer in the bottom of your slow cooker. Fold two squares of foil into strips and criss-cross them on the rack or steamer and up the sides of the slow cooker. (What you're doing is making a sling to help you lift the loaf out of the slow cooker.) If the holes/slots in your rack are pretty big, put a sheet of foil over the criss-crossed strips and pierce it all over with a fork.

Place the meat mixture on top of this and form into an evenly-domed meat loaf, smoothing the surface with dampened hands. Cover the slow cooker, set it to low, and let it cook for 9 to 12 hours.

Use the foil strips to lift the meat loaf out of the slow cooker.

Yield:
8 servings, each with: 438 calories, 36 g fat, 23 g protein, 6 g carbohydrate, 1 g dietary fiber, 5 g usable carbs.

Morty's Mixed Meat Loaf

The combination of meats makes this loaf unusually tasty.

2 slices cooked bacon, crumbled

1 pound (455 g) ground round

1 pound (455 g) ground pork

1 pound (455 g) ground turkey

3 stalks celery, finely chopped

1/2 cup (30 g) finely chopped fresh parsley

1/2 cup (120 g)
Dana's No-Sugar Ketchup
(see recipe
page 332
) or purchased low-carb ketchup

1 teaspoon hot sauce

2 eggs

1/2 cup (60 g) barbecue-style pork rind crumbs (Just run them through your food processor.)

2 tablespoons (28 ml) Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon dried marjoram

1 teaspoon salt or Vege-Sal

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Put a rack or basket-style steamer in the bottom of your slow cooker pot. Fold two squares of foil into strips and criss-cross them on the rack or steamer and up the sides of the slow cooker. (What you're doing is making a sling to help you lift the loaf out of the slow cooker.) If the holes/slots in your rack are pretty big, put a sheet of foil over the criss-crossed strips and pierce it all over with a fork.

Place all your ingredients in a big bowl and using clean hands, smoosh everything together really well. Form it into a round loaf on the rack in the slow cooker. Cover the slow cooker, set it to low, and let it cook for 8 to 10 hours.

Use the strips of foil to lift the loaf out of the slow cooker.

Yield:
8 servings, each with: 453 calories, 30 g fat, 37 g protein, 7 g carbohydrate, 2 g dietary fiber, 5 g usable carbs.

Louisiana Meat Loaf

I totally made this up out of my head. I just threw in all the Louisiana flavors I could think of, starting with the holy trinity of onion, green pepper, and celery, and it came out great.

1 pound (455 g) ground chuck

1 pound (455 g) pork sausage or turkey sausage

1/2 medium onion

1 celery rib, including leaves

1/2 green bell pepper

1 can (14 1/2 ounces, or 410 g) tomatoes with green chiles, drained

3 cloves garlic, crushed

1 tablespoon (1 g) dried basil

4 teaspoons (12 g) Creole seasoning (I used Tony Cachere's.)

1/2 cup (60 g) pork rind crumbs

1 egg

This is your basic meat loaf procedure: Dump your meat in a mixing bowl. Throw your onion, celery, and green pepper in your food processor with the
S
-blade in place and pulse until they're chopped medium-fine. Dump them in with the meat.

Add everything else. Smoosh it all up really well with clean hands.

Take two pieces of heavy-duty foil, long enough to reach down into your slow cooker, across the bottom, and back up the other side and fold each into a strip about 2 inches (5 cm) wide. Put your basket steamer in the slow cooker and criss-cross the foil strips across it, going around the stem in the middle.

Dump the meat in the slow cooker and form it into a nice, even loaf on the steamer. Cover the slow cooker, set to low, and let the whole thing cook for 6 to 7 hours.

Use the foil strips to lift the meat loaf out onto a platter and serve.

Yield:
6 servings, each with: 588 calories, 49 g fat, 28 g protein, 7 g carbohydrate, 1 g dietary fiber, 6 g usable carbs.

Pub Loaf

Why is it Pub Loaf? It's because I imagine this is the sort of thing you might get in an English pub. Never having been to England, I can imagine anything I like. Plus, it's got beer in it!

4 slices bacon

4 ounces (115 g) chopped mushrooms

1 pound (455 g) ground chuck

1 pound (455 g) ground turkey

1 medium carrot

1 celery rib

1/2 medium onion

1 cup (115 g) shredded Cheddar cheese

2 teaspoons salt or Vege-Sal

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1 cup (120 g) pork rind crumbs

1 egg

1/2 cup (120 ml) light beer

In your big, heavy skillet, cook the bacon until crisp. Remove from the skillet and reserve.

Start the mushrooms frying in the bacon grease. In the meantime, put the meats in a big mixing bowl. Shred your carrot and chop your onion fine and add them, too, along with the cheese, salt, pepper, pork rind crumbs, and beer. When the mushrooms are soft, throw them in, too. Use clean hands to smoosh it all together really well.

Take two pieces of heavy-duty foil, long enough to reach down into your slow cooker, across the bottom, and back up the other side and fold each into a strip about 2 inches (5 cm) wide. Put your basket steamer in the slow cooker and criss-cross the foil strips across it, going around the stem in the middle.

Dump the meat in the slow cooker and form it into a nice, even loaf on the steamer. Cover the slow cooker, set to low, and let the whole thing cook for 6 to 7 hours.

Use the foil sling to remove your meat loaf from the slow cooker, place it on a platter, and serve.

Yield:
8 servings, each with: 333 calories, 23 g fat, 26 g protein, 3 g carbohydrate, 1 g dietary fiber, 2 g usable carbs.

Tuscan-ish Meat Loaf

Okay, I haven't been to Tuscany any more than I've been to England. I'm provincial, so sue me. But I saw a recipe for a Tuscan meat loaf, and it looked good, so I whacked out the carbs and subbed for some hard to get ingredients, and it was tasty, so here it is. And I'll start thinking of tax deductible ways to get to Europe. I could jot down ideas for recipes, right?

1 pound (455 g) ground chuck

1 pound (455 g) pork sausage

1 pound (455 g) ground chicken

3 eggs

1 1/2 medium onions (or one big one)

1 large carrot

1 large celery rib, leaves included

4 cloves garlic

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 1/2 teaspoons salt or Vege-Sal

1/2 teaspoon pepper

3/4 cup (75 g) grated Parmesan cheese

1 cup (120 g) pork rind crumbs

Throw all your meats in a big mixing bowl, along with the eggs. Chop your veggies fairly fine and throw them in, too, along with everything else. Use clean hands to smoosh it all up really well.

Take two pieces of heavy-duty foil, long enough to reach down into your slow cooker, across the bottom, and back up the other side and fold each into a strip about 2 inches (5 cm) wide. Put your basket steamer in the slow cooker and criss-cross the foil strips across it, going around the stem in the middle.

Dump the meat in the slow cooker and form it into a nice, even loaf on the steamer. Cover the slow cooker, set to low, and let the whole thing cook for 7 to 8 hours.

Use the sling to lift the meat loaf out of the slow cooker to a platter and serve.

Yield:
10 servings, each with: 510 calories, 37 g fat, 36 g protein, 4 g carbohydrate, 1 g dietary fiber, 3 g usable carbs.

Pizza-ish Meat Loaf

Here you've got your pizza sauce, you got your cheese, and you got your Italian sausage and onions and peppers. I do not, however, recommend trying to throw it in the air.

1 pound (455 g) ground chuck

1 pound (455 g) Italian sausage, hot or sweet, as you prefer

1/3 cup (40 g) pork rind crumbs

1 tablespoon (6 g) Italian seasoning

1 cup (245 g) no-sugar-added pizza sauce, divided

1 medium onion, chopped fairly fine

1 medium green pepper, chopped fairly fine

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

4 cloves garlic

1 egg

1/2 cup (60 g) shredded mozzarella cheese