Low Carb Eating

[Jessica_Morris]

Anyone in here eat Low Carb? If so what are some of your favorite things to cook?

 

[Andy M.]

Hi, Jess. My SO has just started a low carb diet. She's in the first stage so carbs are severely limited. So far I've been cooking meats/fish/poultry and veggies/salads to cover the dinners. As she progresses, I plan to make a faux chicken parm with unbreaded chicken with cheeses and tomato sauce.

She is eating eggs, tuna, and clod veggies like cukes for lunches and breakfasts.

As time passes, menus will expand. Sorry I can't be more help. I'm sure someone will chime in.

 

[Steve Kroll]

I've been on a strict low carb regimen for two years now, and have dropped a ton of weight. There are quite a few of us here on DC.

As far as meal ideas, we have a topic that was started sometime ago. Although it was created for people following the keto diet, it really applies to low carb in general.

http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f12/low-carbing-with-the-keto-team-92360.html

 

[Kayelle]

Hi Jessica. I found your last post was about a year ago with the same question...
http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f17/iso-low-carb-menu-items-94271.html

Did you have success with it last September? I've used the goal of limiting my carbs to under 50g a day for all of the last year and it's worked well for me.

 

[Aunt Bea]

Most of the time it is meat, fish, cheese, eggs, salad and cooked green vegetables.

It helped me to make a list of the allowable vegetables and use it as a guide when I wanted to make a soup or casserole.

My crutch foods have been natural peanut butter, nuts and sugar free almond milk with sugar free Hershey's chocolate syrup.

Good luck!

 

[GA Home Cook]

I found these helpful
Kathryn's Low Carb Kitchen
Dinner
Linda's Low Carb Menus & Recipes - Home

 

[pathrunner]

I've had a low carb lifestyle for several years. Here are a few things I do, Hopefully some of my tips will help you as well. I will do each one as it's own post simply because otherwise this post will be too big.

 

[pathrunner]

Zucchini.

Zucchini makes an awesome substitute for many foods.

Pasta:

A cheap spiral cutter is great for thin and thick cut spiral noodles. You can bake them at 450 degrees for 30 minutes to give them good tooth.
You can put them in salted boiling water for 6 minutes for a more tender noodle. The heavier the salt, the more they loose their zucchini flavor and become more neutral.

A mandolin allows for thin cuts which is perfect for lasagna directly in the oven. If you sauté them for a few minutes to soften them, you can use them as pasta shells and stuff them with your favorite goodies.

Chips: The mandolin can also slice zucchini thin enough that you can either fry them up in a frier, broil them in the oven, or even spray a plate with non-stick spray, lay them out in a single sheet, and microwave them for 7-8 minutes. The key is to place the slices between layers of paper towels and salt them to dry them out. If you have a food dehydrator, you can use it as well; but you have to highly season them before putting them in the dehydrator or they taste a bit overly zucchini.

French Fries:

I cut my zucchini with a french fry cutter that you can pick up for under $20 on Amazon. Place the strips onto a paper towel one layer at a time and microwave them for 1-2 minutes until you see steam coming off them. Let them cool down before you fry them in a pan, in the oven, or in a fryer.

Hashbrowns:

Shred the zucchini with a cheese grater, food processor, or grating attachment on your kitchen-aid. Place them in small thin layers between several paper towels and press out all of the liquid you can before frying them up as you would normal hashbrowns. I personally love mixing in some shredded parmesan cheese in them as well for some amazing flavor.

 

[pathrunner]

Cauliflower:

Mashed Potatoes:

Cut up two heads of cauli into small cubes and place them into a pot of boiling water. The water should be twice the volume of the head Boil it for 9-12 minutes or until the largest piece is tender. Smash them up with a masher, large spoon, or ricer. Add butter, sour cream, salt, and paper to taste. The sour cream helps keep the mash stay stiff where milk makes it too runny. You can also add some bacon and cheddar cheese for more of a twice baked flavor.

Tortillas:

I love these things. Took me ahwile to get them right, but now I can make them with my eyes closed.

First thing I do is chop them up in the food processor until they are no bigger than the size of rice. Use a cheesecloth or a towel and place the cauli in the center, close up the cloth and twist the ever living life out of it. You literally want as much liquid out as possible. Heads up, not a great smell, so doing it over the sink where you can rinse it out is always helpful.
Next, lay out the cauli onto a sheet of wax paper and put it in the oven at 375 degrees. Bake it until you just start to see a little browning and all the moisture that is on the bottom of the sheet is gone.
Let it cool down just enough for you to be able to handle it, but warm enough to melt butter, and then in a bowl mix the cauli with a stick of butter. Mixing seasoning into the mixture is an option, and personally, garlic salt and parsley are my favorite.
Place the mixture in the fridge and chill it until the butter has re-solidified in the mix.
Pull out the bowl and while the mixture is cold, separate them out into golfball sized balls for corn tortillas size, and 2 inch balls for larger flour size tortillas.

Heat a skillet to 400 degrees. Spray a thick coat of non stick spray on the pan and place down the balls, one at a time. Smash them down with a spatula until they are as thin as you want. At 2 and a half minutes flip the tortillas and cook for another 2 and a half minutes. Place completed tortillas in a warmer or in between damp towels in a warm oven. They taste great when seasoned and made right and you will never miss the carbs.

Baked-Flowers

This is one of my favorite side dishes with a main dish. It's easy and amazing.

Cut up a flower into individual bite sized florets. Place them into a ziploc bag and add salt, pepper, ground cumin, two cloves of smashed garlic, and two tablespoons of vegetable oil or olive oil. Personally I choose vegetable oil because I like it better than the nutty taste olive oil brings.

Pour the flower out onto a pre-coated baking pan in a single layer and bake it at 450 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Add parmesan cheese over the top of the cauli and turn the oven to broil. Keep an eye on cauli and pull it when it becomes golden brown.

 

[pathrunner]

I can add more later if you want. Real life is calling.

 

[Addie]

This past year I lost more than 40 pounds by cutting way back on the carbs. I bought a one pound box of Angel Hair pasta at the beginning of July and still had enough left over to make one helping this past week. Will probably buy another box next month. I do not like bread, so that is never a problem for me. But maybe every six months I will make two slices of plain white bread into French Toast with a light sprinkling of sugar. The rest of the loaf goes into breadcrumbs. I eat rice about two, maybe three times a year. Sometimes I will have a baked potato with butter.

I don't really miss the carbs. I would rather have a big bowl of a green veggie any day.

 

[pathrunner]

I don't really miss the carbs. I would rather have a big bowl of a green veggie any day.

Wish I could say the same. My wife bakes bread, half the time I have to leave the house.

 

[Addie]

Today I had a lobster salad. Ate the whole dang thing all by myself. So glad no one was around to ask for a bite, or I would have had to commit murder and mayhem!

 

[PrincessFiona60]

Due to interest and a number of our members who are on LCHF/Ketogenic Diets, this sub-forum has been added under Health, Nutrition and Special Diets If you have a thread already started, report it for me and I can get it moved to the new sub-forum.


Thanks, JanetH for making this come about!