Evening/morning all (depending on what time you’re reading this!)
As ever, here’s the link to The Spreadsheet of Fabulousness.
We now enter week 5. Hopefully we’re through the doldrums of weeks 3 & 4, and you should start to see the scales moving for you again. Remember that we’re still doing strict Bootcamp during the week (you are, aren’t you? 
), only relaxing things a little at the weekend.
I’m also hopeful that by now this WOE is becoming more of a habit for you – if you’re new to low carbing – and that you’re enjoying it, rather than feeling that you’re on a deprivation diet. (If ever you’re wondering about this, just pop over to any of the low calorie threads in the weight loss section, and see just how different the posts/themes are on those – very rarely are they about enjoying delicious food!).
If you haven’t already done so, please go and check out the recipe threads, which are stickied at the top of the Low Carb Bootcamp topic. There are some fantastic recipes there, and even if you don’t choose any of them, they should give you some inspiration for your own cooking.
For this week’s recipe, I’ve chosen something very comforting. I’ve been reading various weather forecasts which say we’re in for some cold weather over the next couple of weeks, so this seemed appropriate:
Low Carb Shepherd's Pie
serves 6
3 large/5 small leeks (about the number you will get in a pack from Sainsbury) sliced
1/2 head of celery, sliced
500g beef mince (not lean - go for a high fat mince)
1 OXO cube
1 whole celeriac, peeled and chopped into chunks
2 banana/echalion shallots (Sainsbury's sell these - long and thin rather than round - but I guess ordinary shallots would be fine - you need around 75g)
Grated cheese
- Fry your beef first, in olive oil in a large frying pan, and season with salt, pepper and when browned, crumble in the OXO cube
- In a large saucepan, fry the leeks and celery in butter with a splash of olive oil (Adding the oil helps to prevent the butter from burning)
- When softened, add the mince and then cover with water and simmer for 30 minutes, with the pan lid on
- After 30 minutes, take the lid off and reduce the amount of liquid (it needs to be reasonably dry - but do this to your own taste)
- While the meat is cooking, boil your celeriac in a large pan of salted water, till tender - this will take 20-25 minutes
- Drain and mash - either by hand or with a stick blender.
- Thinly slice the shallots and fry gently till nicely browned, in butter with a splash of oil, then mix into the mash
- Put the meat into an oven-proof dish and spread the mash on top of it. Top with the grated cheese and bake for around 20 minutes in a hot oven until the cheese is browned.
32g for the whole thing; 5.4g carbs per portion if serving 6 people.
The specific weights of the veg I used, if you want to be really anal about carb counts (!) were:
leeks - 427g
celery 213g
celeriac - 596g
shallots - 78g
and an OXO cube is 1.8g carbs.
One final thing
I always make a plea, at the start of each Bootcamp, that posters read all the posts on the thread. Not only is it poor thread etiquette not to, but it’s also very frustrating when people post or ask about things that have been written about, or linked to, earlier in the thread.
I’m not going to name any names (yet!) but it’s very obvious when this happens. And also, by not reading all the posts you miss out on so much key information!
Anyway, that’s it from me. Over and out, and here’s wishing all of us a good, satisfying and tasty low carb week 