7 Low-Carb Simple Recipes for Summer Catherine Newman

Unfussy, speedy, and low in carbs, these seven summery recipes are winners all around.

My 18-year-old son and I can spend hours drooling over online tasting menus from fancy restaurants we will never visit. The Barracuda Crudo with Fennel-Walnut Foam and Chive-Blossom Petals! Bee-Pollen Flan with Candied Kumquat Peels! But the truth is, I don’t even want to eat it as much as look at it. In fact, I am somewhat famous for once identifying one specific unadorned plum as “the single best thing I have ever eaten in my life.”

Here’s what I’m trying to say: I’m fascinated by all kinds of high-end food, but I am unfancy in my cooking and eating. I like things to taste delicious and be filled with nutrients, but this doesn’t translate into fussiness.

These recipes pretty much guarantee simplicity, ease, and speed. Plus, they are low in carbohydrates and high in flavor, which is a great combination as far as I’m concerned. They’re foods to eat and feel good about, and you won’t even curse me while you’re making them.

1. Tempeh

Marry spicy, vinegary peppers, crisp raw onions, and salty feta cheese, and you’ve got an anytime salad that’s guaranteed to please virtually anyone.

2. Cottage Cheese Pancakes

My daughter and I would basically eat these every morning – and sometimes, for weeks at a time, we do. It’s mostly only running out of cottage cheese that slows us down.

 

 

3. Caprese Salad

This simple combination of tomatoes, basil, and fresh mozzarella is a dead-simple summer classic. Although it’s traditionally served as an appetizer or light lunch, on especially hot days we eat it for dinner (which might sound like not enough food, but we eat a lot of it).

4. Zucchini Noodles With Meat Sauce

While it’s true that spiralizing vegetables, or slicing them into spaghetti-shaped strands, is kind of a food trend, zucchini noodles are light and delicious, naturally low in carbohydrates, and naturally packed with fiber and nutrients.

5. Zippy Egg Salad

If you’re not in the habit of making egg salad from scratch yourself, give it a try, because it’s a wonderful treat, which is kind of amazing considering how easy, cheap, and full of protein it is.

6. Celery Salad With Tuna

This is like tuna salad, but with the ratio flipped: celery plays a starring, rather than a supporting, role here. In fact, if you’re low on tuna, you can use only one can, and this will still be good. My 20-year-old son, who is usually more interested in food that is either hot from the deep fryer or has a gigantic bone sticking out of it, will eat and eat this salad, directly from the bowl, until it’s gone. It multiplies well and also halves easily, and you can stretch it with a can of drained white beans, if you like (recalculate the carbs if you do).

7. Asian-Style Lettuce Wraps

Try a new twist on taco night with fragrant and customizable Asian-style lettuce wraps made with either ground beef or ground turkey. They’re fun to assemble, and with no added sugar and lettuce leaves as a shell, they’re naturally low in carbs, too.

Credits:

Catherine Newman |

7 Low-Carb Simple Recipes for Summer

Photo credits: iStock (Caprese salad); Catherine Newman (all others).