Bootcamp - the questions thread

[BIWI]

From experience of past Bootcamps, in the first few weeks the chat threads move really, really quickly and it's difficult sometimes to see/answer everything.

So this is a place to post any questions that you might have. Those of us who are old hands at low carbing will check this thread regularly and make sure that we answer you as soon as we can.

Try soured cream or creme fraiche as an alternative to yogurt. Tesco do a little pot (single portion yogurt size) which is very convenient. Waitrose own-brand is much nicer than the Tesco one, but only comes in bigger pots. Which would be fine if I had any self-control!

Anyone got any soup suggestions? I like to make a giant soup & a slow cooker stew to save cooking on weekdays. My go-to soups have sweet potato or pumpkin as a base apart from my Fabulous Chicken & Veg Soup which involves a Lot of Chopping.

I'm after a minimal chop then blend low carb soup or two. No need for a recipe as I'm confident with making things by guesswork.

Any ideas?

Cream of mushroom soup is a good one, Seri!

Yum, mushroom soup sounds good.

The husband wouldn't eat it though so bring on more ideas. He also won't eat cheesy sauce so broccoli and cheese soup is not an option.

Every night he's not at home for dinner I eat a whole cauliflower with cheese sauce .

seri broccoli and Stilton with a dollop of cream is to die for ....... Yummy !

I don't let my DH at my mushroom soup! tis just for me. Not because he doesn't like it, either - but it's mine.

Does he not like cream in soups then? or you could try cream of tomato soup (I don't know if toms are allowed, I don't eat thebuggers so haven't checked)

I make a spicey soup with a leek-onion-garlic base, tinned tomatoes/passata/sundried tomato paste (ie whatever I have available), Middle East spices, and minced beef or lamb. Just before I serve I add greens: small broccoli florets /sliced green beans/whole spinach. They go in the pot, carby veg like sweetcorn or peas would be handed separately. I add a blob of mayo to my plate instead of peas

i had never heard of lupin flour. this suggests 1g net carbs per 30g (so about 3g per 100g) - i am assuming it is the american way of listing carbs so subtracted the fibre

so it looks like it's ok. i do find though that with the high fibre wheat flour substitutes (coconut flour, milled flax) they can make me stall and give me a bit of a dodgy tummy so i tend to avoid, but i'm sure most people are fine

what does the back of your pack say thumbwitch?

Forgot to say that I don't blend it afterwards. It's a very liquid soup, and the sliced veg add texture. But, apart from slicing up the leeks etc, there's no more slicing until just before you serve.

the american way of listing carbs so subtracted the fibre

What do you mean?

He prefers putting chilli sauce in soup instead of cream.

The spicy soup also sounds good, will try that one too.

Do you think broccoli and bacon soup would be nice? That way chilli or cream/cheese can be added at the end according to taste.

american nutrition labels list carbs including fibre, then 'of which' fibre separately, so you have to subtract the fibre from the carbs to get the 'net carbs'. the fibre listed is the insoluble fibre so it goes straight through you and doesn't enter the blood stream. the net carbs do.

so e.g. an american label might say:

per 100g
carbs 12g
fibre 11g

so you have to subtract fibre from carbs to give you 1g net carbs

for UK labels the fibre is already subtracted and you're already looking at net carbs, so the same label would say:

per 100g
carbs 1g
fibre 11g

this is why you have to be very careful using a logging site like myfitnesspal because if someone has uploaded the american figures you might get a fright thinking you've eating many more grams of carbs than you thought - actually many were insoluble fibre so your net carbs is ok. on the other hand, be careful not to assume that you ARE looking at american values so it's ok once you subtract the fibre, because it may be that you are looking at the UK values and the net carbs are what is listed - otherwise you might be eating more carbs than you think

iyswim

Thanks.

Lupin flour seems to have 11.1g carbs, but only about 1.2g sugars. Australian labelling is like UK labelling, fibre is a separate component (but have been looking at another forum where it's confused the hell out of the Americans! "How can the fibre content be higher than the carbs? " )
Maybe lupin flour is an Aussie special... and on googling it appears it may be. Australian Sweet Lupin is the source; the "peas" of it are used. Of course lupin peas in the UK are toxic, because of the alkaloids they contain, so don't try making your own!

The carbs are not starchy according to wiki, and it's sold as a low GI/high protein flour, so FX it will be ok. I'm not baking with it, just using it to coat my turkey breasts/fish before crumbing with parmesan; and to hold my parmesan crackers together. :)

sadly it's the overall carbs that count (rather than the 1.2g sugar), but if you're only using a very small quantity spread across several portions it's probably fine - if you find it's causing you problems you can just stop using it anyway

i don't know whether you can get it in the uk. the only thing i can find when i google 'lupin flour uk' are warnings about allergy risks due to lupin being a legume so close to peanuts!

Have you tried almond flour / ground almonds instead of lupin flour Thumbwitch?

God no, stuntnun - can't imagine using ground almonds on a turkey schnitzel, that sounds bad enough, worse for fish! [blech]

ThatYoghurt - this is true. Lots of cross reactivity with peanut allergy, apparently.

Only using about between a tsp and tbsp of it, depending on how much sticks to the meat/fish, and only 1tbsp across 15 parmesan crackers, so not a huge amount. Won't use it for anything else. (It's quite a startling yellow!)

I don't know Thumbwitch, DH made baked brie by coating brie in buttermilk (I can't eat eggs) then ground almonds and it was lush.

Brie and almonds, no problem, I could do that. Just can't quite take the idea of it with fish or turkey. It would probably be ok with turkey, but no, still can't face it with fish.

I really like the sound of it over the brie though - was it a whole brie? how long did it take to bake it?

I will have to refer you to Mr Stunt ThumbWitch but it's probably quite non-technical: cut a piece of Brie into four, dip in egg (or buttermilk) then ground almonds, bake at 180 until the cheese is starting to lose its shape.

Thanks StuntNun - sounds like lunch to me!

Thumbwitch I had salmon coated with linseeds the other night which was good, not sure if that is maybe another option?

ThumbWitch Mr Stunt says 5-10 minutes for the baked Brie but you want it to be starting to go soft but without melting so you need to keep an eye on it.

Thanks MrStuntnun - read that just in time for lunch! Although sadly I have discovered that my stock of ground almonds is gone, so will have to go out and get some. Lunch tomorrow then.

Sayra - I think that would be ok for me, I like linseeds, but I can't see DH or the boys eating it, and I CBA to do 2 sets of coatings for one meal. I will try it when it's just me though, thanks!