Blood sugar diet recipe thread and menu planner

[thenewaveragebear1983]

As a sister thread to our fabulous long running BSD thread which you can find here:
Blood sugar diet thread 12http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/fasting_diet/3322467-blood-sugar-diet-thread-12
here’s our recipe, menu ideas, and ‘model days’/800 calorie days thread. Please feel free to post any meals (include the calories/carbs if you can) and any whole day 800 calorie menu plans.

Also- any shop bought items that are BSD compatible, or pre-prepped foods in shops, or chain restaurants that you have tried and enjoyed.

Please post any questions/comments regarding the diet itself on our main thread to keep this one simply for food ideas.

Bolognese with mascarpone

Beef mince, onion, tinned tomatoes, balsamic vinegar, basil, mixed herbs, garlic - etc etc.
Make your bolognese as per own preferred recipe.
Add a generous dollop of mascarpone cheese (or any soft full fat cheese will do) and a good grating of Parmesan, and stir into the tomato to make a creamy sauce

Serve with butternut squash noodles or I like the barenaked konjac noodles (18 cal per portion)- mix them into the sauce until they are all coated.

Aubergine bake
800g aubergine thinly sliced
60g parmesan
1 tub ricotta cheese
Garlic
Basil leaves
500g tomatoes peeled and chopped
1 egg
150ml double Cream
3 tbsp oil

Fry the aubergine in the oil and blot to remove excess oil
Fry tomatoes and garlic until thickened
Mix ricotta, cream, egg, half the parmesan and Salt and pepper.
Put layer of 1/3 of the aubergine in oven dish cover with 1/2 the tomato sauce, basil leafs and a sprinkling of parmesan. Repeat as above and top with remainder of the aubergine.
Pour the ricotta mix over the top and bake.
I also topped it with a few sun dried tomatoes, a bit of leftover mozzarella and a spoonful of pesto.
Serves 4 as a main course and was blooming lovely and rich

Bumping as I want to restart. Will check MFP from when I did this before and add some recipes.

Haven't done the calculations to figure out cals and macros for this, but it's pretty BSD-compliant and absolutely delicious. I add a tiny bit of brown sugar rather than a whole tsp of white; use shallots instead of yellow onions; and use whatever slightly fancy cheese I have handy.

Basically, it's like french onion soup, but with spiralized courgette and baked with cheese on top. Superyum.

French onion courgetti bake

@thenewaveragebear1983 Do you happen to know the calories for the fish cakes and how many it should make . They sound absolutely delicious?

No, but they are in joe wicks book so it might be online, I'll check

Oh gosh I have one of the Joe Wicks books I'll have a look to see if it's in there .
Thank you

Fish cakes made for dinner tonight and they were absolutely delicious. Thank you @thenewaveragebear1983 for the recipe . I worked mine out to be roughly 331 calories for two using salmon.

They are yummy aren't they?! So moist compared to claggy old mashed potato ones! I have to admit I wasn't hugely impressed with JW's book, everything was a bit bland, but those were delicious.

I like Jamie Oliver's books, the 15 and 30 mins book has some good ideas in that can be easily modified.

I'm going to batch cook a lentil and butternut bake tomorrow which I'll post the recipe for once it's done.

There's another fishcake recipe which I was actually thinking of, it's also joe wicks. It used prawns and salmon all blended up but no butternut (probably lower in carbs?)

www.panmacmillan.com/blogs/lifestyle-wellbeing/joe-wicks-recipe-salmon-fishcakes-fat-loss-plan

Link to our latest thread
Blood sugar diet thread 13 www.mumsnet.com/Talk/fasting_diet/3437086-blood-sugar-diet-thread-13

Here was my Week 1 Menu Plan. It wasn't perfect - some meals I had already prepared (*) before deciding to do this, but it was quite satisfying and tasty. Recipes from the book are marked b, and discussed at the bottom.

Mon : B tea L Chicken pasta (*) D Japanese Omelette (b)
Tues: celery stick w cream cheese, L veg lasagne () D pak choi, cocktail sausages and a sandwich at a party ()
Wed: boiled egg L egg and spinach pot from Tesco D Chicken pho (b)
Thur: B tea L low carb cauli cheese with boiled egg D chicken w mushroom sauce and cauli rice
Fri: B seed crackers (b) w avocado L egg salad D chicken and fennel bake (based on piri piri chicken (b))
Sat: B Greek yoghurt and nuts L pear and blue cheese salad D pork aubergine and pak choi
Sun: B boiled egg L leftover pork D roast cod and mediterranean veg.

Overall I've felt strong and positive.

(b)
Japanese Omelette p55 was a very tasty variation on a staple, with chilli garlic and sushi ginger.
Pho dish p65 I made with leftover chicken. Even DH loved this, very quick and easy to make.
Seed crackers p75 - not as crispy as I'd have liked, but really flavoursome with the marmite added.
Piri piri chicken p 141 - bit vague on the ingredients. Is the chicken whole or in pieces? One red pepper - what size? Definitely needs 50 minutes to cook the veg. I used a pink grapefruit marinade that I already had, rather than the spicer one.

I have had...
Breakfast - about 90g full fat Greek yoghurt with most of a small banana (I gave about a 1/4 of it to my beggar of a 5 year old!), two big strawberries, 20g mixed nuts and a tiny drizzle of honey (350cals)

Lunch - a hard boiled egg, two slices chorizo, two slices Milano salami, two slices Gouda cheese (all from a multi-pack from Sainsbury’s), a carrot, a chunk of cucumber, a heaped tablespoon of hummus, and 3 Aldi thin salted crackers. (Approx 430 calories)

Dinner is going to be a small portion of leftover chicken and chorizo paella. I have no idea the calorie content of that.
I have also had 2 cups of tea with a small amount of semi skimmed milk in each. I will probably have a satsuma later.

I’m trying so hard!

Hmm, I wrote on the wrong thread, sorry!!

Week 2 menus:

Mon: B tea L avocado egg salad D cod and med veg S pear with laughing cow
Tues: B frittata L cheese and pickle salad D chickpea chilli (b) S celery sticks
Wed: B frittata L tofu salad D fishcakes (b) w parsnip fries S blueberries and almonds
Thurs: B yoghurt and nuts L smoked salmon salad D chickpea chilli
Fri: B leftover fishcake L chilli D coq au vin (b) w mashed swede
Sat: L mac cheese (off limits!) D carrot ginger soup and garlic prawns
Sun: B Bacon egg and mushroom L carrot soup D tuna and prawns with roast cauliflower and swede

Book recipes:

Michael's fishcakes - very tasty indeed, will be making again!
Coq au vin - haven't had this in ages and it was delish
Chickpea Chilli - the recipe says serves 2, but I made a huge vat of it AND that was without any kidney beans.

The carrot soup was from an Atkins recipe book, and was lovely and warming with ginger and turmeric.

Week 3 plan:

I was trying for TRE, so there are no breakfasts during the week. Book recipes are marked (b) and discussed later.

Mon: L coq au vin D courgette crisps and veg stirfry
Tues: L works do, half a sandwich which turned out to have raw onion in D green eggs pizza (recipe and picture below)
Wed: L veg curry D lentil stuffed peppers (b) and daughter salad (see note below)
Thurs: L prawn linguine, tiny portion D tarka dahl and naan
Fri: L lentil and feta salad D butternut squash curry
Sat: B poached egg with feta, avo and cherry toms (gorgeous!) L squash curry w chickpea flatbread (b) D veggie haggis neeps and a wee bit tatties.
Sun: B boiled egg L pot noodle (dont judge!) D turkey burger (b) w roast cauli and kim chi

See Note (said in the voice of Miss Adelaide in Guys n Dolls, a role which daughter made her own in an am-dram performance a few years back....)

Daughter salad had the usual suspects, but also a very finely chopped bit of green chilli, and 2 really finely chopped celery sticks which gave a burst of zing and freshness.

Green eggs pizza - saute some greens in a frying pan - I used courgette, spinach and spring onion. Add 2 beaten eggs and turn the heat down. As the base cooks, dot with pizza toppings - I used feta, artichokes, anchovies, mushrooms, and a good grating of paremsan. Finish under the grill to crisp the cheese. It'll depend on toppings, but I reckoned about 250-300 calories.

Book recipes:
Spicy stuffed red papper p 123. These were really good, but I'd pre cook the pepper shells for 10 mins in the oven first.

Chickpea flatbreads p183 These sounded really promising! And I was able to find gram flour very easily in Tesco (also seen it in Sainsburys). But I wasn't totally clear how runny to make the batter? So mine are a bit more like pancakes than wraps or flatbreads. But they freeze well, and I will be experimenting more.

Turkey burger p85 I used dates instead of apricots, which made them very sweet. The halloumi goes a bit melty when cooking. I made some extra in little meatball size, to have for lunch next week.

My go-to veg dish is a cauliflower cheese bake: just use cooked cauliflower, a tub of full fat soft cheese, grated Parmesan or other cheese (or both. In fact ALL THE CHEESE), I like to add crispy bacon as well. Goes brilliantly with any meat, use as a cottage pie crust, or on its own or with a roast. The soft cheese is fairly high calorie but it goes a long way so one tub can stretch through at least one, maybe two heads of cauli.

Also celeriac- cut a celeriac into cubes, and pan fry them til they are half cooked, then add a pint of stock to the pan and simmer it all down til the celeriac is cooked and the liquid is very thick (almost gone) then mash with a potato masher. Again, serve with meats or as a topping for a cottage pie or in place of mash potato.

Mushy peas- peas. Butter. Yummy. We call it Hulk Mash in our house. Amazing with fish. We had it with lamb steaks and goats cheese the other day and it was fab.

Courgette noodles- use a potato peeler to ribbon a courgette (or use a spiraliser). Fry gently in a pan with spring onion. Then either add soy, ginger, lime, chilli. Or, add cream, garlic, mushrooms, Parmesan, cooked peas, prawns or chicken. Or pesto and chicken? You have to be quick or they turn to mush so get all your ingredients prepped and pre-cooked.

And my absolute fave: sliced mushrooms, pan fried in butter, with garlic, cream, Parmesan and white wine (if you want it) or I find a tiny splash of wine vinegar also gives a similar taste. Again, amazing with any meat, or on its own.

This is really helpful all, please share more!

Week 4 plan:

I'd don well on no-breakfast last week, but took a dizzy spell on Monday afternoon, so I've added breakfasts back in.

Mon: tea L: turkey burger and salsa, boiled egg D roast cauliflower soup
Tues: date porridge L: cauli soup and chickpea wrap w cream cheese and cucumber D: cauli frittata
Wed: yoghurt flaxseed berries L: cauli frittata D: skinny veg lasagne (b)
Thursday: flatbread avo goats cheese L: carrot ginger soup D: veg lasagne
Fri: egg muffin L: rainbow layer salad w cottage cheese D: meal out!
Sat: porridge pre run L poached egg avo toasted flatbread D salmon broccoli asparagus
Sun : boiled egg w asparagus dippers L soup D: veg stir fry w cauli rice

Book recipes:
Skinny veg lasagne p 146
This was aggressively tomatoey and the aubergines were still a bit crunchy. Needs more cheese too!

Best meal was the rainbow salad.

Week 5 menu Plan:

Mon: b yoghurt flaxseed berries L cottage cheese salad D brocolli haloumi mushroom stirfry (gorgeous!)
Tues: b scrambled egg L ratatouille and soya noddles D Out - smoked fish with poached egg, and my guilty passion, sticky toffee pud
Wed: b porridge and berries L veg lasagne D prawn stirfry
Thurs: b yoghurt and berries L veg soup D mushroom omelette
Fri: b yoghurt L egg and tomato w chia ryvtia D indian curry (takeaway)
Sat: b crumpet w marmite L veg flatbread D mushroom leek pie
Sun: b smoked salmon crumpet L leftover indian curry D roast chicken w cabbage

I make an aubergine bake. Chopped aubergine. Tin of
Tomatoes...2 teaspoons of harissa paste and then top with mozerella. Lovely.

Week 6 menu plan:
This was a bit rubbish cos there we're 3 training days with sandwích lunch. And by Saturday my digestive stem was complaining loudly!

Mon: mini croissant More training L chickpeaa chili D egg sandwich, poached egg
Tues overnight oats L salad w blue cheese yoghurt dressing D asparagus smoked salmon poached egg
Wed scrambled egg smoked salmon spinach L sammitch D sardine and cabbage
Thurs scrambled egg mushroom L sammitch D mushroom omelette
Fri yoghurt and berries L sammitch d spicy prawn and greens
Sat yoghurt and berries L boiled egg D kegreree w greens
Sun cinnamic raisin muffin l kegere d cauli cheese and fish fingers

Spicy Mexican eggs

In a frying pan sauté an onion, a stick of celery, some garlic, slices red and yellow peppers and a small courgette all cut into small pieces. Add some chilli flakes to taste, and smoked paprika. Add a tin of tomatoes, a cup of water, a slosh of balsamic and simmer it down until all the veg is cooked and the sauce is thickening. Make little holes in the Tom sauce and crack eggs in (either one or two per person, the sauce serves 2). Continue to cook until the eggs poach in the sauce. Serve with either avocado, sour cream and grated cheese, or halloumi.

Ideal as a generous breakfast/brunch or a main meal

Thanks for directing me to this thread @thenewaveragebear1983

I had Thai green curry for dinner tonight, it was delicious and super satisfying (and speedy to make).

Chicken breast, cut into bite size pieces (250g)
Blue dragon Thai green curry paste (50g)
Coconut milk (200ml) I used full fat buy you could easily bring the calorie count down here if you use reduced fat
Baby corn
Sugar snap peas
Asparagus tips
Optional: fish sauce, kaffir like leaves and a lime

Saute the curry paste until it releases oils, add chicken and sauté until cooked. Add coconut milk (fish sauce, kaffir like leaves and lime zest if using). Simmer on low for 5/10 minutes for flavour to develop. Throw in the veg and cover so they steam (3/4 minutes). Add lime juice to taste, serve. I can't abide coriander so don't add it but if you like it a big handful at the end would add a nice flavour punch.

This served 2 and came in at 510 cals each. It could easily stretch to 3 portions or even 4 if everyone was having rice and small portions.

Cream of Asparagus soup (otherwise known as veggie stalks soup!)

Quick, easy and satisfying! (And uses up all your veg stalks) Serves 2

1 tsp olive oil
1 medium onion
2 cloves of garlic
Asparagus stalks (chopped)
Cauliflower stalk (chopped)
Broccoli stalk (chopped)
Veg stock cube
Cream/marscapone/cream cheese/creme fraiche
Salt and pepper to taste

Sauté the onion and garlic in oil until soft, add the veggie stalks and sauté a further 5 minutes. Add a litre of water and stock cube and simmer for 15/20 minutes until veggies are soft. Blitz with a blender and add cream and season to taste.

My version came out at less than 250 cals per serve but it would depend on what you use for the creamy addition at the end so calorie count accordingly (I used 2 tbsps marscapone).