1 medium tomato, halved
1 ounce goat cheese
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped (Optional)

1. Preheat broiler in oven with rack adjusted to the top.
2. Season tomato halves with salt and pepper and top with the goat cheese.
3. Place tomato halves on a baking sheet and place in the oven.
4. Broil just until cheese browns and then remove, garnish with parsley if desired and serve immediately.

Makes 2 servings

1/2 small red onion, sliced
1/2 small red pepper, sliced
1/4 cup butter
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons cream
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
salt and pepper

1. Melt butter with oil in a skillet over medium heat.
2. Sauté onion and pepper until just tender.
3. Stir in cream and cook until slightly thickened, about a minute.
4. Add chopped parsley and season with salt and pepper.
5. Serve as a side dish or on top of a steak.

Makes 2 servings

2 eight ounce beef cutlets
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and black pepper

1. Season meat liberally with black pepper.
2. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.
3. Fry beef cutlets until cooked through to center, flipping as necessary, about 10 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and season to taste with coarse salt. Serve with Red Onion and Red Pepper in Butter Cream Sauce.

Makes 2 servings

1 small artichoke, outer edges removed and stem trimmed
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon lemon juice
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
3 tablespoons butter
water

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add garlic and artichoke and reduce to a simmer.
2. Cook covered until artichoke heart can be easily punctured with a fork, about 25 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, combine lemon juice, mayonnaise and butter in a small dish.
4. Remove artichoke from water and allow to cool slightly.
5. Serve whole with dip or halved drizzled with sauce.

Makes 2 servings

Tonight's dinner yields about 8 net carbs per plate. I'm 5 days into this low-carb dinner thing and I haven't repeated use of a single vegetable. There are so many options available to you, even in the introductory phases of a low-carb program, that there should be no reason to get bored with your choices in the first 2 weeks. Experiment! Try different vegetables, different herbs and different cooking methods. There has to be at least 14 different ways to cook broccoli if that's the only vegetable you like. Don't deprive yourself of vegetables!

In the spirit of experimenting, I decided to buy an artichoke. I've bought and prepared an artichoke twice in my life. Tonight was my third time. The artichokes we get typically aren't very good (at least by what I've learned makes a good artichoke) and are the same price as an entire jar or can of artichoke hearts, so I've never really seen the point. It's a novelty item. It's quite pretty and a bit of a delicacy, I suppose, but it's a pain in the ass to eat and more expensive than it's actually worth as food. Kind of like what lobster would be like if it were a flower. Just like lobster, I can't picture eating an artichoke with anything other than lemon, garlic and butter. So, Whole Artichoke and Lemon Butter Mayo Dip might make it onto my plate more often if it were faster to eat and less expensive. It tastes good, but not good enough to warrant so much of my time and money.

I wish I'd taken the time to fire up the grill for the Beef Cutlets because it's just not the same on the stove top. Still, topped with Red Onion and Red Pepper in Butter Cream Sauce gives it a nice flavor and the meat was quite tender. It also gave me a chance to try out one of the selection of gourmet salts I picked up for myself last week. I'm still under the impression that this will make a difference over standard table or sea salt, but in this case it was salt, but crunchier. Like biting into a peppercorn that tasted like salt instead, in one instance.

Of course, I'm partial to goat cheese and we still have some leftover from Valentine’s Day (how, I don't know) so I decided to use it up before it went bad. Broiled Goat Cheese and Tomato, you're every bit as good as broiled goat cheese and [insert other food here] and more.