Low carb diet food ideas without cooking!?

by | Jan 29, 2013 | Low carb diet, Recipe | 0 comments

Another comment I made at Yahoo Answers about low carb recipes

 

From Sara:

I am on a low carb diet….I have gone on them several times in the past to lose weight and have always been successful and kept off the weight. I eventually gained it back each time due to getting pregnant twice and quitting smoking once….so I’m hoping once I lose all the weight I want this time I will transition to a healthy diet like I have in the past and keep it off for good! Anyway, in the past it’s been much easier for me to make roasts and scrambled eggs and different things to eat for this diet. This time however I just don’t want to! I have a husband that is NOT on a diet and wants the normal food I make (pastas, casseroles, stuff like that), and I have a VERY picky 3 year old that no matter what I make my husband, if I want him to eat at ALL I am making frozen pizzas or spaghetti or pancakes or anything that he will eat. I am not going to make my family suffer because I am on a diet so I continue cooking for them but I am NOT going to cook for myself as well! Yes I make a nice roast dinner once a week and I just eat the meat and some broccoli or something, and I will make myself some eggs in the morning on occasion….but for the most part…I just eat super easy things. Every morning just about, I wake up and heat up an entire package of OM microwave bacon (about 12 slices) and I munch on that for about an hour with my coffee….for lunches I either eat bologna cut up with mustard, or I make a nice big salad with lots of romaine lettuce, chicken, cheese, and caesar dressing, or I’ll have a couple hot dogs (sick of those so I don’t eat them often) or I’ll have a 4 or 5 tbsp of peanut butter….just stuff like that…..dinner I either have lunchmeat and veggies or i’ll make a ham or roast and have that with a veggie or deviled eggs…for snacks I do A LOT of sugar free jello with some whipped cream or a spoonful of peanut butter (peanut butter has about 4g of carbs for 2 tbsp and about 200 cal per 2 tbsp so when I eat that I definitely factor that in with my daily intake)…anyway, I buy the precooked steak strips and will throw that in a salad or just heat it up and eat it plain…..I am VERY much trying to be on this diet for a couple more months and just have it be as easy as possible without having to really cook special. Depending on the day I take in about 1200-2000 calories (you are not supposed to count calories on this diet…but with all the fat I’m eating I don’t want to accidentally be taking in 4000 or something crazy and not lose weight) and anywhere from 10-30 carbs a day. I have been on it for about 6 weeks and so far lost about 32lbs. I am very happy with the results. My MAIN goal is to lose another 56lbs…but I look good and feel good at a weight that I would have to lose 30lbs. (I just really have dreams of being where I was when I got married and looked at my BEST…but if I lose 30lbs I still look thin and feel ok)…anyway….if I meet my ultimate goal of 56 lbs….I would probably be on this diet for another 6 months…and I’m just trying to see if anyone has any other options so that it’s not the same thing every day that I’m eating…but without me having to cook a whole special thing just for me to eat. Any ideas?

 

My comment:

Hi Sara,

Yes I understand your dilemma totally. Being in a house where you are the only low carber does have its difficulties but they are not insurmountable. I think the best thing that you can do is look on various low carb websites and go to the recipe section. You’ll find hundreds if not thousands of ideas there certainly far more than I could list in the reply on Yahoo Answers anyway.

Hope that helps,

Mark

Low Carb Pasta Sauce

by | Jan 10, 2013 | Food Choices, Low carb diet, Recipe | 0 comments

This is actually a post where I shared one of my delicious and healthy low carb pasta sauce

mdanziger’ request:

I was in the grocery store last night and I wanted to get some pasta sauce to use with my miracle noodles as well as my pork rind chicken parm.  Anyway, I must have looked at more than 50 jars, from store brand to gourmet ($7.99 per bottle), plain, flavored, marinara, pizza sauce, organic… every conceivable kind.  The net carbs per serving ranged from 4 to 14 grams.  Of course the lowest carb count was in the most expensive sauce.  Even the plain “pizza sauce” had 5 net carbs.

I tried the Walden Farms sauce, and found it inedible.  I was never a fan of sweet tomato sauce, so it amazes me how much sugar companies put in their sauce.  I never made my own “gravy” (as my Italian friends call it) before, but I am thinking that might be the way I have to go.  Can someone please recommend a good, low carb pasta sauce?  Thanks.

What I shared:

Here is a recipe that I use quite often. Actually, I had to stop and think about what ingredients went into it because I just make it as in when I need to. It’s really versatile. You can use it over most things that you would use any type of pasta sauce over such as shredded cauliflower, zucchini or whatever you fancy.

Recipe ingredients

Knob of Butter

200g smoked straky bacon, roughly chopped

Small onion finely chopped or shallots if you prefer

2 egg

2 eggs yolks

3 garlic cloves, very finely chops

1/2 cup thickened cream or Creme Fraiche

100g parmesan cheese, finely grated or in paper thin slivers

To Prepare:

Simply put the melted butter in a large pan. I prefer a nice cast-iron skillet over a medium heat. Add in the onions or the shallots if you prefer. Let them start to cook and then after 2 or 3 minutes, throw in the bacon as well. Continue cooking until the onions are nicely done and the bacon is well cooked, almost to the point of being nice and crispy. Note: Drain off the excess fat if you’re bacon is a bit fatty as you don’t need that much of the fat in the sauce.

In a clean bowl,  whisk together the eggs and the egg yolks, add in the cream and about half of the parmesan so that they are all nicely combined and then season with a bit of salt and pepper as you like to taste.

Drain off whatever you are going to have with it such as your cauliflower or your noodles but leave them in the warm saucepan.

Add to the warm saucepan, the cooked bacon and onion. Then pour over the egg and cream mixture and combine until all is nicely mixed and warming through gently over a low heat.

This actually makes a very versatile sauce base as you can add curry powder and fresh coriander for use with lamb or something like that or you can swap out half of the bacon and add in 200 grams of finely-chopped mushrooms and use it as a fish sauce.

Quick, simple, delicious and cheap.

Now, I feel a need to go off and cook something.

Hope that helps,

Mark