15 Minute Low-carb Recipes: Instant Recipes for Dinners, Desserts, and More!

by Dana Carpender

A new book by the author of 500 Low-Carb Recipes introduces readers to the joys of low-carb, high-taste eating with more than two hundred recipes for everything from Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo to Mocha Mousse. Original.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, Diets, Food, Nonfiction, Adult

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

About the author

Dana Carpender started her writing career as a self-published author. In 1995, after years of creative low fat cooking featuring whole grains and other “healthy” carbohydrates, and despite five step aerobics classes per week, she found herself a size 20, and gaining! Worse, her blood pressure was rising, and she was left dragging by energy swings. Dropping carbs long before it was fashionable, Carpender lost 40 pounds with no hunger, achieved normal blood pressure and excellent blood lipids, and found herself with more energy in her forties than she’d had in her teens.

Carpender lives in Bloomington, Indiana with her husband, two dogs, and a cat, all of whom eschew junk food. When she’s not cooking, writing, or reading the latest nutrition research, she power-walks, read mystery novels, and is an enthusiastic Toastmaster, taking the occasional trophy.

From the author's website.

Reviews

[Tami Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started cooking with this book. The ONLY complaint I have is lack of photos. There are so many gorgeous recipes, though, there's no way they could have taken enough pictures to suit me.

If you are just starting out cooking and you are looking for HEALTHY meals, start here, I beg you.

These are EASY, QUICK, and I know "low-carb" is becoming less fashionable these days, but because it's low carb, it's also low sugar and low flour and HIGH in veggies and fruits and proteins.

I learned how to make an omelet from this book, that's how basic my (lack of) knowledge was when I got started. I also have a TON of recipes that are house favorites now (and a few we can't have any more, like the new fangled farm fry, which has bacon and cheese and cauliflower and turnips, of all things).

Love love love this book. Quick, simple, delicious recipes.

[Jennifer Heise · Rating 4 out of 5]

*We're on the hunt for recipes that will work with my partner's ultra-low-carb health diet.*

Things we were looking for:
- appetizing recipes
- nutrition counts
- minimal pseudo foods, but not too many recipes with carby ingredients (like honey or flour)

This is a selection of recipes from a much larger collection, chosen for quickness of prep. That doesn't exclude some slow-cooker recipes, though, since quick prep and slow cook is the Crockpot claim to fame.
Despite its no-pictures style, this cookbook has a lot going for it. It includes carb and fiber information, along with pretty clear serving sizes. The recipes are low-carb, but do include both dairy and other non-paleo ingredients. All of them sound interesting. But the best part of this cookbook? The section at the back that gives low-carb recipes for sauces, condiments and rubs (I bought a secondhand copy just for the low-carb teriyaki recipe). There are 22 pages on eggs, and the usual selections of cauliflower-dressed-as-starch and salads, but there are also recipes for meat and vegetables without meat. The author's style is folksy and encourages the reader to experiment, giving basic ideas and suggesting other ideas for variations.

[Kimberly Ann]

I didn't finish this....so I'm not going to rate it. But it is one of the most terrible cookbooks I have come across. How it was rated here on Shelfari under: Subjects/Cooking/Food & Wine/Healthy is light-years beyond my comprehension.

It is printed on cheap newsprint using regular font, the pages yellowed. There are no photographs.....

DISGUSTING: Almost all the recipes call for Guar or Xanathan and several call for "Splenda"..... Better to use non-GMO corn starch or flour!

[Mary Chambers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read several Low-carb cookbooks and Dana Carpender's is the best. I will be looking for her others.

[Dana Cordelia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not too bad for a low carb cookbook; Ms. Carpender uses a few obscure ingredients which I don't usually do, but several recipes in here are nice, easy, and very tasty!

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

15-Minute Low-Carb Recipes offers many quick, easy and tasty recipes that can easily be adapted for a gluten-free diet.

[Holly · Rating 4 out of 5]

This has saved me many nights when I didn't know what to make!