Week 2 - Jan 22 Low Carb Bootcamp Thread

[BIWI]

As I'm doing more and more often, I'm starting the next week's thread on a Sunday evening.

This is because, since I've retired, I am no longer controlled by the tyranny of my alarm clock, and so will often sleep too late on a Monday morning for all the keen Bootcampers!

I love the first post of week 2, because for all those who are new and/or are sceptics about low carbing, this is the point at which they may realise just how effective a low carb WOE can be.

Anyway, here is the spreadsheet, and I really look forward to seeing everyone's progress

for us all

@Jezzballs2000 I slice and steam in the microwave for a minute or two and then slather in butter. I like it really finely shredded and eaten raw, it's really good as an alternative to spaghetti or pasta with a tomato sauce (white cabbage is good, sweetheart cabbage even better).

@Jezzballs2000

I am seeing a lot of white cabbage talk on here, can anyone recommend a basic way of cooking it? I've got one staring beadily at me in the fridge.

I stayed at my mum's today and had greek yogurt for breakfast, garlicky greens and hot smoked salmon for lunch and my friend is making me monkfish wrapped in prosciutto with lemon garlic butter and a FTGV! I'm loving this style of eating.

I'm struggling to drink the last half litre of my 3.5L in the past few days but i did buy some electrolyte drops to add to my water bottle and I feel like it's helped some of ny weird heart palpitations. Also completed the tax return! Woohoo

Woo hoo for the tax return @Jezzballs2000! I bet you feel much better now that's done

My favourite way of cooking white cabbage is to braise it, with lots of butter, black pepper and lemon juice:

Slice or chop your cabbage (your preference!) and boil in salted water for about 5 minutes, then drain in a colander.

In the same pan, melt a large knob of butter - around 50g - and then add some sliced shallots (if a whole cabbage, I'd do 4-5 echalion shallots - if half, then 2-3) and fry them gently. (If it's a large cabbage, I'd probably add more butter)

When they're softened, and starting to brown, add the cabbage back into the pan. Stir into the shallots, turn up the heat, and cook for a few minutes. Season with salt and black pepper. Add lemon juice - use half a lemon for half a cabbage or the juice of a whole lemon if using the whole cabbage - then turn the heat right down, put a lid on the pan, and leave it to braise for 30 minutes or so. Longer isn't a problem.

Had a nightmare day with DS (terrible twos) culminating in him tantrum-thrashing about so hard he knocked out my earring (sentimental, expensive, birthday gift) Seriously hoping the store cleaners find it, or it’ll be an insurance claim.

Somehow I managed to keep my cool and had a big mug of builders tea when all I wanted was to dive headfirst into a bag of Haribo (which is odd, aa my usual crave is salty crisps)

Appetite is through the floor, but made myself eat and felt much better for it. DH is much better than me at identifying my meh-ness as hunger, need to work on recognising my own cues.

B creamy coffee
L courgetti with tomato sauce, diced sausages and glugs of EVOO
S vat of tea
D spicy lamb curry, saag paneer and cauli rice

Tomorrow is another earringless day. Onwards!

To a PP up thread, I'm surprised too that my facial skin is looking smoother and better than before starting this bootcamp.

For a white cabbage recipe, but for next week when we can add a little alcohol, I do mine the same as BIWI just described but instead of lemon, I put in a slug of dry white wine . I also add plenty of pieces fried chopped smokey bacon. I cook it all together very gently and for a long time. It's delicious!

Spent a while today back-tracking as far as last week's thread. I'd remembered someone had explained how to make pork scratchings at home. It took me a while, but finally I found it ! Thanks @StuntNun ! I'm ooking forward to trying that out soon.

Just finished a lovely meal of duck and roasted pumpkin. The duck was cooked slowly overnight last night, Usually I have cheese after. But, I was so full I had to give that a miss. Looks like my appetite might be getting smaller. I'm taking that as a NSV.

@ShangPie - sorry about the earring. Hope the store finds it for you and that you'll get good news tomorrow.
In the meantime, well done for haribo-dodging. You can do this !

I've returned from London and did ok! Lunches were salmon salad from Pret - absolutely delicious and had 2 eggs with spinach yesterday and some pork puffs brought from home today.

Dinner was at an Indian restaurant. I had fried scallops to start and then tandoori mixed grill with 2 side salads (someone didn't want theirs 😄) and brindi Bhaji. I did have a G&ST and 2 glasses of wine but if this is to be sustainable I don't want to feel completely deprived (I am on wk 3 so that's my alcohol for the week). Hotel breakfast was two fried eggs with mushroom and spinach.

I was hungry on the train on the way home so had a small packet of salted peanuts - not brilliant but the best option available. Came home and had a Thai salmon broth.

So, all in all not too bad for boot camp light BUT all my food was delicious and I didn't have any food envy and had a bloody nice time to boot!

Back to being well behaved tomorrow!

@Jezzballs2000 this, seriously, is fantastic. I’ve done it without the onion and ginger before, and it’s still amazing. You really do have to dry fry the cabbage for more than feels comfortable to get the browning/caramelising effect before adding the crea,

Eeek, posted half way through…
food52.com/recipes/7533-suspiciously-delicious-cabbage

@Jezzballs2000 my favourite thing with cabbage is to make a sort of kedgeree (cabbegeree). I whizz the cabbage in the food processor (to make cabbage 'rice'). Add it to fried shallots with mild curry spices, cook until soft. Top with flaked smoked fish and chopped hard boiled egg.

@WitchWand how do you cook your duck? Is it a whole bird? It sounds delicious and I love duck...

Well done @SummerSazz one of the things I like about this woe is being able to travel away from home, and with a bit of thought and care, still make it work - and to love the food along the way.

Dh decided to cook breakfast this morning - sausages, eggs, mushrooms, a small bit of black pudding. He had potato scone. Served with creamy coffee.
L - avocado on slc bread after my recent post, but my order arrived today, and it's all in the freezer, except one wee slice... Actually I'm not sure I enjoyed it, I thought it was a bit tasteless and textureless
D - ham with left-over swede, cabbage, cheese and mustard bake

@BIWI I don’t normally use our huge dinner plates as they’re 10” across, but last night I did just to fit all the veg and salad leaves. It did feel gluttonous so I’m definitely going to be more mindful of portion size. I guess I just got a bit overexcited 😀

Hello have a bit still to read, but here for accountability. Went slightly off piste over last couple of days (snacking rather than meals, a few nut incidents, not enough green stuff or water) as work got hectic, but am back on it now and no major harm done, I think.

Cooked up a storm tonight: pork belly slices slowly roasted with olive oil, chilli flakes, fennel seeds. Then turned oven right up at end for a baking tray of sprouts, quartered, with dash of olive oil. Felt quite frou-frou for zero effort and leftovers, yay.

In the meantime I procrastinated on my admin by listening to radio 4 and cooking a mushroom stroganoff type thing for the next few days.

Liking the cabbage recipes.

Today:
B: Coffee & cream
L: cheese ham celery cucumber
D: sausage & leek & celeriac mash with spinach.
Most of the water

I've slipped into 2 meals per day. Big late breakfast - eggs, veg, cheese. Delish. Around 11.
Then dinner around 4 when the children come in from school. Then the last few days I haven't been hungry later on. It looks weird now, writing it, but I didn't eat after that.

@mirpuppet for the meatballs could you do some sort of creamy curry, maybe coconut milk based? Check the carb count though as they seem to vary a lot. Or if you don't mind red pesto, the sauce recipe a PP mentioned (sorry, I don't remember who it was) may work.

@BIWI I have screenshot that cabbage recipe and will try it next week. I never buy white cabbage as I tend to choose savoy or sweetheart and stir fry them.

@AllTheBlackCoffee I could have written your post. I'm still KOKO but just had a few days of struggling with mood, energy levels and not drinking the water. I was fine with it the last few weeks, so accepting it as a brief blip.

I'm a bit sulky as I had work on my day off yesterday, but I do have Saturday off which hasn't happened much in the last 6 months, so I'll have a proper weekend. This means I will have time for cooking and meal planning, so I'll be sure to get ahead for the week.

Dinner today was Sprouts air fried with chorizo and Chili oil and eaten mixed with mayo. So good.

I’ve just caught up. Lots of good ideas to try. I’ll be making soup this weekend and also looking for those seed thins from M&S.

I’m not showing much of a loss so far this week, but happy with last weeks wish still and I’ve noticed my bras are fitting more comfortably.

Menu for today
B ham and cheese omelette and a few left over asparagus spears.
L chicken and avocado salad with Mayo dressing
D chicken tikka from a takeaway and grilled aubergine (and maybe another veg) that I’ll do myself.
And water water water. I’m getting better at it, but still need to up what I’m drinking and make it more consistent throughout the day.

Woosh not wish!

Thanks for the chicken cooking ideas, I didn't end up cooking it yesterday and s I wasn't hungry so will be having it today. Looking forward to it.
Yesterday I put henna on my hair for 4 hours expecting beautiful glossy red hair, the henna was from the back of my shelf and probably a year or so old. Anyway it stripped all the colour out of my hair and turned it blond which is very weird. Will have to re do it today with some fresh. Very annoying.
@DarkCorner I have one of those lunch boxes with loads of little sections in it. I make sure each section has something different in it so salad, a meat, cheese, yoghurt etc and that usually works for me, plus people are always saying how lovely my lunch looks.

@RagzRebooted do you have an actual air fryer? Would you recommend it, I keep considering one as I love fried chicken. What sort of things catch you do in it?

Morning all. Thanks for the chicken and cabbage recipes, I've saved them all in my mammoth set of low carb notes that I'll almost certainly never get to the end of yesterday was fine from a food point of view but had a bad evening in terms of mental health. I'm going to make an effort to be kind to myself today. Hope you all have a lovely day!

Posting here to cheer you all on! I haven't joined the bootcamp but will be following along for the next 3 weeks (going on holiday, COVID willing, on 18 Feb) and I love the lean, clean feeling I get from low carb. Bootcamp is great for the accountability and discipline, thanks for all the inspiration!

Morning all. I have finally caught up after my weekend away skiing. Have been at least a day behind all week. Managed good low carb on my trip and am doing well since I came back although I have a tendency to overeat Greek yoghurt. Interesting how low carb friendly French restaurants were and when I asked for a salad substitute it was mega proper salad not a paltry garnish.

This evening I am going out with friends for a meal at a pop up. It’s a tasting menu and I am already going for their offered alternative as I won’t eat meat. Don’t want to be difficult just want to enjoy good company and good food as a one off.

@venusandmars really sympathise with your PIL problems. We are struggling with similar issues here. I get the frustration.

I’m really impressed by the losses this week. Great cabbage tips. Last time I cooked white cabbage my poor MIL said she could eat any more onion. If you thought it was onion it would have benn extremely unappetising.

B IF
L tuna and caper Mayo on lettuce cups
D going out and hoping to do my best- no alcohol however.

KOKO everyone. Glad to be back!

Couldn’t not could

I cook my white cabbage like I do my shoogled sprouts: sliced quite thinly and then microwaved in butter. And then well seasoned (can take a surprising amount of seasoning), including some freshly ground nutmeg.

That's when I'm just having it as an accompaniment to whatever my meat dish is.

Morning all.

@ditavonteesed we bought ourselves a ninja foodi max grill (grills, air fries, roasts, and dehydrates) in November, and we love it. Fantastic crispy chicken, perfect steaks, plus lots more. I keep meaning to make some jerky with the dehydrate function but keep forgetting. I was worried it would be an expensive gadget that hardly got used, but we use it several times a week, and it’s easy to clean.

Some great ideas with cabbage here! My favourite is a sweetheart cabbage cut into wedges and roasted. I usually brush mine with flavoured oil or a mustard/oil blend first.

@BestIsWest - those salads sound amazing! Unfortunately, my local M&S only seem to do salads that have some type of carb in them.

@Baystard - mini pate sounds great!

@prettybird - the shepherds pie looks absolutely amazing!!

@ditavonteesed - Oh, I love those lunch boxes. I think DS has one that he doesn’t use anymore so I’ll dig that out.

Loving all the inspiring food, especially the cabbage suggestions. I’m off to the supermarket at lunch time to stock up on a few bits for the weekend.

In terms of the low carb bread discussion, I tend to find when low carbing that it’s best not to try and replace carby processed foods as what I actually like about them IS the carbs and I end up disappointed. When I was LCing before Christmas I bought some low carb mint chocolate brownies to keep in the freezer. But they just weren’t the same without the sugar hit and I ended up throwing them (such a waste but I have a tiny freezer!).

I’ve been very good and brought a big chicken salad with olives and oily dressing (also made with my new low carb posh apple cider vinegar to replace my beloved balsamic!) to work. Also have a huge bottle of chilled water with me and drank a pint when I woke up this morning. Feeling good though as a pair of jeans that were pretty tight are now actually comfy! I’m wearing them today to clear the office out as we’re moving (so that’s exercise sorted too with box shifting!).

Today is:

B - black coffee (long term IFer)
L - chicken salad with olives and oil and mustard vinigrette.
D - roasted veg with crispy skinned chicken thighs and mini cooking chorizo. I may add buttered cabbage.