High protein/low carb meals?

[notasize10yetbutoneday]

Hi

Recently for financial reasons all our meals have been very carb heavy and its not done my waistline any favours.I now have a very snug bridesmaid dress to get into in 4 weeks so I am looking for some meals that are low carbs but that DH and I can still eat/cook together without it being some crazy diet.

I have come up with so far:
-'fried breakfast'- (not really fried) bacon, eggs, mushrooms, tomatoes etc

• teriyaki salmon and stirfry veg

• gammon and cauliflower cheese

• aubergine and tomato bake

• omelettes

Then I got a bit stuck. Does anyone have any other ideas?

TIA

marinated chicken with salad

pork chops with mashed cauliflower

Roasted chicken breasts wrapped in parma ham with roasted tomatoes and butternut. (wrap each breast in parma, throw in roasting dish, tuck veggies around. Drizzle with oil and toss in some cloves of garlic. Cook for around 30 minutes. Serve with as much or as little couscous as you need)

some sausages,chipolatas are low carb too

exccellent ideas already, thank you!!!!

Of course, I love chicken in parma ham, can't think why I didn't think of it.

I did forget to add:

marinaded chicken legs with ratatouille.

Bling, is couscous classed as a carb, do you know, in the sense should I avoid it if I want to lose the poundage?

3Blondeboys, the mashed cauliflower sounds a good alternative, is it as simple as it sounds? does it not go all watery?

Thanks

no its surprisingly good and an alternative to potato!! i add butter and season well....

i think cous cous is a bit too carby. i've cut it out....and watch tomatoes as they are apparently a bit high

as a snack i like celery,with cream cheese spread in the grooves with a little paprika on top!

Really, you wouldnt think of tomatoes being a carbohydrate, would you! When I think about it though thats been our stock fodder of late- going through tinned tomatoes and pasta like theres no tomorrow.

Love that snack idea aswell.
What do you have for breakfast? I won't have time to make eggs on weekday mornings.

Smoked salmon and scrambled eggs is a favourite of mine, especially if served with griddled asparagus and parmesan [bliss]

Ooh yummy Ava, I love smoked salmon. I can see our shopping bills sky-rocketing!

cooked turkey with raw broccolli thinly sliced ( tis yummy honestly!) dressed with Mayo (full fat Hellmans) and mustard, squeeze of lemon and tarragon. lovely and filling too.

eggs, eggs and more eggs!

prepare large salad - salad leaves, nuts, avocado, cherry tomatoes, red pepper, croutons, whatever you like really

Cook a steak or a duck breast, rare (only need 1 between 2 of you)

Slice into strips and add to salad

dress salad (oil and lemon juice with a bit of honey works well) and stir, then eat

yum!

Teriyake beef, with beansprouts rather than noodles. Chuck in some pak choi/baby corn/snowpeas/peppers/whatever you want.

(marking place too as have more ideas but don't have time to type them out)

Oh - don't use flour to make your cauliflower cheese sauce, use cream instead (someone must have a recipe?)

I was thinking creme fraiche with grated cheese added to it as I use this as a quick cheese sauce anyway when I don'thave time to be stirring flour etc.

Some really great ideas here for healthy, non-faddy meals which is just what I was after.

Oh yes, use lots of beans and lentils too. (Yes they are carb-y but they are more filling and low GI so much better for you).

Eg how about this:

fry up some chopped bacon, celery, carrots, mushrooms
add lentils
pour over water plus stock cube
simmer till lentils are firm but not crunchy

eat...

Or, how about tacos with chilli con carne? or fajitas? pretty low carb as the taco/wrap isn't very substantial

Well I am flabbergasted. I can't believe it. Last night for dinner I had an omelette, grilled mushrooms and salad. Woke up this morning and my tummy feels flatter than it has in ages! I thought maybe I was kidding myself but then now i am wearing trousers that were too snug last week?! After only two days of cutting out pasta, rice and potatoes I just can't believe the difference.

chilli or stew and you can serve up rice to the rest of the family but not have any yourself.

Roughly chop peppers of all colours, red onions, courgette, toss with olive oil balsamic and thyme, pop some nice sausages on top, into the hot oven. About 10min before the lot is ready, toss in a box of cherry tomatoes. Yum.
Tomatoes are fine, you are not going mad on Atkins or similar, so cutting out the white four - potatoes, rice, pasta and bread will show great results and will be so much easier to maintain in the long run.
Thai steak salad is fab, get a bag of rocket, add bean sprouts, julienned cucumber, fried crispy shallots toasted peanuts. Grill a nice steak, slice thinly; dressing is lime juice, brown sugar and fish sauce.

That's sunday dinner sorted rollmops- sausages and roasted veg sounds delicious.
Saturday night is curry night so as Trixy suggsted mine will be sans rice. Might have beansprouts or something instead? Or is that wierd with Madhur Jaffey's chicken tikka masala?

Pollock or other cheap white fish simmered in a homemade tomato sauce (that you've made runny, with loads of onions and garlic in it) and served with cauliflower.

Boil in the bag fish in sauce are quite low in sugars, carbs ect, and nice with fresh or frozen veg for a standby.

Also cottage cheese can be mixed with stuff like salsa, garlic and herbs ect and eaten as it is with some raw veggies for dipping, quick and easy. And for something sweet I actually like it with some berries or splenda, pure protein really and so yum!

I love a good quality corned beef, which you can cook and serve with hot veg or slice up and have on salad, coleslaw ect.

Baked eggs are lovely - place some spinach leaves, a bit of chopped up ham or cooked bacon in a ramekin, then crack an egg over it and grate on some cheese, then bake till the egg is cooked but runny yolk, about 10 minutes on high (sometimes more)... serve with extra spinach and french dressing!

OP "Woke up this morning and my tummy feels flatter than it has in ages! I thought maybe I was kidding myself but then now i am wearing trousers that were too snug last week?! After only two days of cutting out pasta, rice and potatoes I just can't believe the difference."

Is it possible you have a wheat intolerance? Close friend of mine isn't coeliac, but goes up almost a size if she eats refined carbs.

It is amazing the difference that cutting out carbs can make. If you want to go all the way, try unsweetened soya milk instead of milk and avoid all sugar (including the honey in the salad dressing above) and v carby veg eg peas and sweetcorn.

One of our favourite low carb meals is burgers with all the trimmings except the bun and chips, ie bacon, cheese (cheddar or blue are both delicious), fried mushrooms, avocado, finely sliced red onion, tomato, lettuce or baby spinach. It also works well as a salad if you leave out the burger.

To give you an idea of some daily menus, today I am eating: sausages and mustard; asparagus and goats cheese frittata with salad; steak with enchilada seasoning, with griddled asparagus and homemade guacamole, followed by cheese. Tomorrow it will be bacon, tomatoes and mushrooms; antipasti (parma ham, mozzarella, pesto, sundried tomatoes, salad - maybe asparagus if there is any left over, or griddled peppers); broccoli with poached eggs and anchovy butter.

Good luck with the dress!

PS - you can use cauliflower as a substitute for rice and potatoes if you are eating something that you feel has to be served with rice (eg chilli or curry) or mash (eg shepherd's pie, sausages).

Cauliflower rice: grate raw cauliflower into a microwavable dish. Do not add water. Cover with microwavable clingfilm and pierce it a few times. Microwave for between 3 and 6 minutes depending on how much you're doing. You might need to stir half way through to stop it catching.

Cauliflower mash: steam the cauliflower then let the water evaporate off. Blitz with some double cream, salt, pepper, and nutmeg if you like. It will be quite sloppy but delicious.

Hello all!

I honestly CANNOT believe the difference after just 4 days. I mean really cannot believe. Today for work I am wearing both a skirt and blouse that were too tight two weeks ago (when I last depressed myself by trying them on.) Jareth I really think you copuld be on to something about a wheat intolerance because it isn't just that I feel (and obviously am) slimmer, I literally feel a 100% better in myself. I have more energy, Im not getting hungry between meals, I wake up earlier and easier on a morning...I sound like some kind of crazy atkins devotee but I am just stunned.

Anyway...even more yummy sounding recipes to try, thank you everyone! Even DH is getting into the spirit of things and made a quiche (withour pastry base) at the weekend.

I haven't had avocado in ages so I must get some Thereistheball. I'll also be getting some BIB fish for emergency suppers- when I would have normally thrown some pasta on.

Thank you so much again everyone- with this thread I won't run out of ideas for ages!

Am loving these ideas, am drooling over the keyboard..

Roasted veg with goats cheese melted on top;

Roast sweetish veg like red onion, green pepper, fennel, sweet potato (more veg than carb iyswim and medium gi unlike potato) etc. 10 mins before the end put a round goat's cheese on top.

Serve with brown wholegrain basmati rice (medium gi).

I have been following a GI diet for 3 months now (for health not weight loss)and have also been amazed how slim I feel, yet when I have weighed myself I've only lost about 2 pounds. I think it's partly due to wheat and bloating but I also read somewhere (some Sunday supplement) that sugar and refined carbs cause fat to accumulate around the waist.