Servings: 6 Prep: 15 min Cook: 15 min Total: 30 min
PASTA!!! STIR FRIED NOODLES!!! YAY!!!!
This dish feels like cheating. Pasta is a big no no, when your way of eating is low carb. However, there are low carb pastas available. They are of varying quality and impact on blood sugars. This is one where “your mileage may vary”. However, if you’ve got some low carb spaghetti lying around, and some of my sweet teriyaki in the fridge, you’re in for a real treat! This tastes something like the fried noodles you get at the local Chinese restaurant, except these are a little sweeter and total legal for this way of eating!
This dish would be great with any number of low carb pastas. Zucchini noodles would work, as would shirataki noodles. Also, if you want to bulk this out, you can use a little less pasta and add some thinly sliced cabbage, in place of the pasta. Sauté it with the peppers.
Thoughts on Pasta: I’m using Dreamfield’s pasta in this recipe. It looks, tastes and cooks just like any other dried pasta that you may have used. They use some kind of fiber coating miracle matrix that keeps people from digesting the carbs. I don’t want to claim that this product is perfect or that everyone reacts to it in the same way. I have read reports from diabetics stating that it DOES impact the blood, but that it’s a slower release than most other pastas (meaning the rise and peak occurs later than it normally would, so … check your blood levels several hours after eating it). Reports vary. Other diabetics have zero issue with it. Some low carbers claim it causes cravings for them, and others do not. Some claim it stalls them, others do not. My personal stance is that eating less than 2 servings at a time is acceptable and that it should be cooked as directed on the box, or even a little less. DO NOT OVER COOK (this breaks down the protective matrix … which may be why some of the diabetics report changes to their blood sugar. These folks may have overcooked it). I almost always undercook it, by about 2 minutes. Then, after straining it, I cook it in sauce for roughly one minute. I also suggest eating only occasionally, no more than once a week. I have found that eating this about once every 2 weeks is perfect. I have been able to eat this and continue losing. However, if I eat it more than that, I tend to start developing cravings for it, which … is never good. A well maintained low carb way of eating should result in very few cravings, if ever. This is a product that can, in my experience, cause cravings … if abused. I very much feel that this is a great product and has never held me back from continued losses, however it’s technically for maintenance and is a very high rung on the Atkins ladder (grain level). Eat with caution … but also … ENJOY IT. IT’S DELICIOUS!
Dreamfield’s Nutrition Disclaimer: Due to the magic of the fiber coated matrix, a single 56 gram portion is shown as having 5 grams of digestable carbs. However, my recipe system isn’t designed to display their nutrition information in the magical way in which they’ve been able to. As a result, I’m fudging the numbers to show 41 grams of carbs, with 36 grams of fiber. Technically, this isn’t true, but it’s the only way to have the math display numbers that match Dreamfield’s claims.
Stir Fry Sesame Ginger Beef and Noodles
Print RateIngredients
- 6 portions low carb spaghetti or angel hair pasta
- 1/2 lb green string beans ends and string removed and cut lengthwise into thin strips
- 1 1/2 lb beef tenderloin sirloin or ribeye, cut into thin strips
- 1 small red bell pepper cut into thin strips
- 4 whole green onions (scallions) cut lengthwise into thin strips and divided
- 1/4 cup sugar free teriyaki
- 1/4 cup sesame seeds toasted and divided
- 2 tbsp hot chili or sesame oil divided
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the box (or bag, as the case may be), in salted water (unless it's shirataki noodles, in which case you would wash thoroughly, then sauté with some light oil in a non-stick pan, for about 5 minutes, to dry it out).
- I personally suggest undercooking the pasta, as it will be tossed in the sauce for a minute, where it will continue to cook.
- When the pasta has about 3 minutes cooking time remaining, add the green beans to the water (or shirataki, if drying out the noodles ... you can add the beans to the noodles, during this step of the process).
- Once the pasta and green beans are cooked, toss with a little sesame oil. Then, set aside in a warm place while you quickly sauté the rest of the ingredients. (I tend to do this at the same time as I cook the pasta)
- In a bowl, mix the raw sliced beef, sliced bell peppers, half the sesame seeds and half of the hot sesame oil together with a little salt and pepper.
- In a large hot sauté pan, over high heat, sauté the beef and pepper mixture. Saute for about 3 minutes. Add the thinly sliced green onions, pasta and green beans. Toss to combine the ingredients.
- Add the teriyaki sauce and toss and cook for 1 more minute.
- Serve! Garnish with the remainder of the sesame seeds, sesame oil and thinly sliced green onions.
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* Learn More: More about this recipe and nutrition …
2 oz. of Dreamfield’s cooked, mixed with enough cooked spaghetti squash,to fill a
7×11" pyrex dish and then covered in LC marinara, tossed, topped with cheese.
I swear you will think it’s chock full of pasta.
—Reply posted by DJ on 4/12/2015
Kathy, everything you state is true … this is an old post written before that lawsuit. I keep it because, like you … I also lost a lot of weight while enjoying Dreamfield’s on rare occasions. While I do suspect it’s very slightly lower in carbs than the real deal, following their serving sizes, bulking it up with other things like zoodles, undercooking it, never re-heating, etc. all helped me understand serving sizes at a deeper level. So … while I was eating carbs … I was managing the serving sizes … and it helped! For better or for worse, Dreamfields is actually a positive part of my story. I eventually had to phase it out, but … for a good long spell, it was there to serve as a wonderful crutch, while I learned and weaned myself off of some pretty sinister habits … Thanks for the comment! 🙂
—Reply posted by Kathy on 4/11/2015
Since this is an older post I’m sure you’ve learnt by now that Dreamfields is NOT low carb. I noticed that they changed all their boxes so they no longer say “5 grams net carbs”. I understand their was a lawsuit for false advertising. Too bad because I loved Dreamfields and it’s a wonder I lost weight at all using it.
I’m sure! I can’t get Spaghetti Squash, down here. However, I use all sorts of things (mostly zucchini noodles) to add "bulk" to my pasta. It does come acrossed as very pasta-like! Thanks for the tip, Barbo!