Main Dish Recipes

Tonight's meal, featuring Italian Marinated Flank Steak, is a simple meal. It goes together quickly with a minimum amount of fuss, and leftover steak is wonderful to munch on for breakfast or lunch, and it is also a terrific addition to a simple salad to turn it into a main dish meal.

The Asparagus Omelet in tonight's menu fulfills both requirements for me, and it has another plus: any time I have asparagus I feel rich. There's something about asparagus that always spells ""extravagance"" to me.

Certain foods "go together" in my mind; for example, pork and apples are one of my favorite combinations. The Johnny Appleseed Pork Chops in tonight's menu are a luscious change of pace from savory pork chops.

Tonight's meal is both versatile and satisfying on a cool, damp autumn evening. Low carbers can serve their Swedish Burgers on lettuce leaves or just place them on the plate and eat them with a knife and fork, omitting the lettuce leaves. Non-low carbers can have their burgers on buns if they want to.

CarbSmart Complete Low Carb Thanksgiving Dinner Recipes includes Zesty Roast Turkey, Molded Gazpacho Salad, Cranberry Treat, Company Cauliflower Casserole, Decadent Spinach Casserole, Holiday Spaghetti Squash Casserole, Di's Chocolate Mocha No-Bake Cheesecake.

Next week the infamous "Mideast Feast" is scheduled for the 6th graders of Rapid Run Middle School. They're studying the Mideast, you see, and the teachers and parents provide the feast as an extension of their lessons. I remember my son participating in this when he was in the 6th grade; now it's my daughter's turn.

I was looking back through previous Low Carb Cooking 101 lessons, and I was amazed that I had only shared one pork recipe with you. Autumn and winter aren't the only times I serve pork, for crying out loud. We have pork for dinner at least once every ten days or so, usually pork roast, pork chops, or pork steaks. But I really do like pork most in the fall and winter.

Some writers call this world's most decadent dish, but I don't think decadent even comes close. It smacks of eating little hummingbirds by the gross, like the Romans did. Voila: "Uncle Zack's Low Carb Modified Halloween Turducken."

There's something to be said for seasonal eating. We can take advantage of the various foods that are in season, perhaps saving a little money in the process. In addition, we can "rest our palates," rotating different dishes in and our of your daily menus on a seasonal basis so that we don't get tired of any particular dish.

Tonight's Low-Carb Lesson includes Fiesta Fish Fillets, Plain Ol' Broccoli Flowerets, and Simple Romaine Salad recipes from CarbSmart Low Carb Cooking 101.

Once in a while, the kids fly the coop and range about the city doing whatever kids do. In my case, that means that Chris is at his "other family's" house for dinner and the evening. (His girlfriend's mother is thinking of declaring him a dependent on their income tax return.) Judy is usually off to spend the night with a friend.