Vegetarians can go low-carb

• Perhaps it is because I have spent a lifetime watching my weight (and all too often watching it go in the wrong direction) by counting one thing or another --- first calories, then fat, always cholesterol, sometimes salt.
• How many servings does a half-gallon if ice cream make?
• Then the low-carb craze hit and amid swimsuit figure-ready promises we were inundated by products and recipes to help us count yet another food molecule.
• Trouble is, carbohydrates seem to be in everything.
• Especially for vegetarians, cutting carbs can mean eliminating vital food groups, not the least of which include ice cream, pasta and chocolate covered fruit.
• So it was with some trepidation that I looked at Robin Robertson's ''Carb-conscious Vegetarian'' (Rodale, 2005, $18.95).
• And I noted with dismay it does have a recipe for the dreaded mashed cauliflower.
• Regardless of your stance on carbohydrates, Robertson's recipes are appealing.
• Jalapeno hummus with jicama, mushrooms stuffed with spinach and pine nuts, a salad of roasted Japanese eggplant and walnuts.
• Ultimately, this reads like a vegetarian cookbook that just happens to leave out the bread and pasta.
• She suggests serving them on a bed of shredded lettuce, as a topping to spaghetti squash, in pita pockets or on whole grain bread.
• As further testament that Robertson succeeded in avoiding that low-carb feel, during testing I forgot the recipe was low-carb and served it on a bulky roll with bread and butter pickles.
• Robertson's recipe replaces meat with a package of vegetarian burgers thawed and finely chopped.
• Plan three or four medium to large mushroom caps for about two cups.
• Also, the recipe calls for a low-carb sweetener, which I left out entirely with no noticeable effect on taste.