Jan 23 Low Carb Bootcamp - Week 6 - just three weeks left!

[BIWI]

Morning all. Sorry for posting the thread late, but I slept in this morning. The perils of being retired!

As ever, here's the link to the spreadsheet

I hope you enjoyed the vegetarian meal challenge - I certainly did, and I loved making the aubergine, spinach and paneer curry inspired by @mimosa1.

So now we're in the last three weeks. Hopefully things have been going well, since we left behind weeks 3 & 4, and you've settled into a good routine, and have found different ways to deal with the temptation of the carbs.

This week, I'm after fish recipes. We don't tend eat much fish, which is something I feel bad about - but it's driven mainly by a poor choice in our local supermarket. So I tend to fall back on to salmon - which is fine, but I need a bit more inspiration. We do have a Waitrose not too far away, which has a fresh fish counter, so will look forward to any ideas!

Good luck for the next week

@FinallyHere i would love a whoosh so I do hope you’re right. I will crack on with the water and keep everything crossed!

Not cheesy potato mask like me...😱
I have made it with celeriac before too (with cheese) and that is delicious. Kids like it too.

Always cauliflower mash for me. Love it! Haven't made for ages actually. I think there are a few recipes for it on the fish thread. I like eggs tucked under the mash and leeks in with the fish.

@BIWI I didn't realise tom puree was so carby! I used a dessert spoon of normal flour, honestly didn't think 🫢

A dessert spoon shouldn't really be too bad - probably around 7.2g carbs if it was a 10g measurement. But the thing is it's the combination with the other elements too that risk increasing the carbs

Thank you for all the fish pie topping suggestions!
I have decided to go with a celeriac/leek/cheese mash as we seem to be overdosing on cauliflower rice and DH looked so deflated when I mentioned mashed swede…

I love mashed swede! However, I think (personally) it's probably a bit too strongly flavoured for a fish pie.

(And make sure your DH isn't thinking of mashed swede from his school dinner days - made properly, with lots of butter and mashed really smoothly it's a dish of beauty!)

Sorting out my wardrobe today and I've got an unexpectedly huge bag for the charity shop. I avoid giving away things that were previously worn frequently just because they're too big (in case I regain a bit). However I realise that I'd been keeping some things assuming that I just needed to lose weight to be able to use them when in reality style/my age/drastically different contemporary work dress codes mean that they're still not being worn even though now they fit. I guess that styles might change and some of these might come back in but they might not be suited to my age at that point. Black stretchy trousers that are tight through thigh and bum but very flared - I'm looking at you.

@Baystard I really need to have a clear out as well. I've just given my SIL a tonne of maternity clothes, and my children are almost in double digits!

I have just bought a pair of jeans today. I haven't worn any for years - very easy not to confront the fact one's putting on weight when everything one owns is stretchy...

Keeping fingers crossed for a decent weigh in tomorrow after the holiday.

I'm considering chucking the vegetable/rapeseed oil I have in the cupboard. I used to thing one shouldn't cook with olive oil for vague smokepoint / cancer reasons ?? But realise that wasn't particularly well founded, and the more I read about omega 6 oils, the more i think I need to cut them out. Has anyone else done similar?

@Baystard but not as flared as in the 60s The changing fashions then were a godsend for hard up parents. When my straight legged trousers were getting too short my Mum cut the seam and put in a triangle of contrasting material to turn them into flares, with a piece of the same round the bottom to make them long enough as I grew.

The orange trousers with the brown and orange paisley pattern insert were my favourites. I must have looked a sight! I probably wore them with my favourite hand knitted torqoise cardigan too 😱

My friend's husband is coming to stay tonight - I've known him since I was 13, making him my second oldest friend. There's a leg of lamb in the slow cooker but it's not looking very appetising at the minute and it's already been in for 4 hours. Please someone reassure me that it will eventually become tender. I've only ever done casserole type things with lamb. We'll have it with green beans, and cauliflower cheese, and the men will have baked potatoes. Lemon posset for pudding.

@mimosa1 yes, I got rid of all the sunflower oils some time ago. My dsis was horrified that I cook with olive oil and I'm equally horrified at the cooking oil in her kitchen.

@mimosa1 also if I'm ever tempted by biscuits (as I was in the shop this morning) I read the ingredients label, recoil at the use of palm oil and put them back on the shelf. In my defense I was looking for something to go with our lemon posset, I've decided on a few raspberries.

@mimosa1 i cook with extra virgin olive oil and butter as standard. Have lard and beef dripping too for the odd occasion. I do keep a bottle of veg (rapeseed) oil to use in the very rare event that I want to deep fry something but it’s once or twice a year now at the most. I also have avocado oil and in the spring/summer months I love walnut oil for salads. I’m going to get some coconut oil too, I think, just to take the overall omega 6 in my diet down even more.

@venusandmars the lamb should be fine! You could always give it a quick blast in the oven at the end of cooking time if need be, just to break it down further. But lamb loves low and slow.

Those flares sound fabulous @venusandmars 😍

@mimosa1 I've ditched the rapeseed oils. I mainly use olive oil, butter or beef dripping. I like olive oil for bread making and roasting veg/potatoes, butter for omelette or mushrooms, and beef dripping for shallow or deep fat frying.

@venusandmars might be worth trying these if you have the ingredients in

Low Carb cantucci biscotti

They are on my list to very definitely try soon!

(Apologies if that’s a long-standing BC recipe and you already know of it - it’s impossible for me to keep track of where I’ve seen things or if someone else has linked them to me on here!)

Thanks @TangledWebOfDeception almond biscotti it is. And I'll go ala Tom Kerridge and add fennel seeds.

It's interesting that I've got ground almonds, coconut flour, fennel seeds etc in the cupboard, but if visitors come and want sugar in their tea, we're struggling to find it. Last time we had to get a sachet from our camper van!

@TangledWebOfDeception - I was just about to link to the same recipe for @venusandmars

I've tried the lemon posset from that recipe (I'd add even more lemon juice and double the recipe as there is not nearly enough - when it says "shot glasses", it means shot glasses ) but I haven't tried the cantucci yet.

Ah @prettybird i had a feeling it might be the one you had linked! I really want to make the cantucci but I’ve not got any of the sweeteners/other supplemental ingredients, so I’ve got to get those first. Might have to wait ‘til next month as I have already spent a fair bit of this month’s budget on extras.

Just catching up on the 60's fashions; definitely my era. My mum was a fabulous dressmaker. I had green hotpants, puffed sleeve blouses with a tank top, wide flares, shift dresses with mandarin collars and zips down the front. Heaven. Good day, today. Bike ride in lovely spring sunshine, picky lunch of crispy bacon, chicken and cheese. Beef stew for dinner with cauliflower. Another vote for mashed swede and grated cheese topping for fish pie, here.

@mimosa1 since joining bootcamp I also threw away all my vegetable oils. I now cook only with olive oil or butter (a tip I was given on here is to add a slosh of olive oil to butter to stop it burning)

We've just had mackerel for dinner. I cooked it last night as it was delivered with a very short use by date and served it cold today. I wasn't sure how it would go down cold but my toddler ate practically an entire fillet to herself which is a definite win! And yet she wouldn't eat a chicken nugget earlier today....

My mum used to make my clothes. Another hotpant child. Orange with big white buttons for the 'braces' bit.
I had home made gingham flares too

Roast pork with all the crackling, cauliflower, celeriac roasted
With meatjuice/cream gravy.

I was hoping the celeriac batons would crisp like roast potato but they stayed soft.

I’ve swapped to olive oil, duck/goose fat and coconut oil. Should really throw the others out instead of just shoving to the back of the cupboard.

Cauliflower soup tonight, a pleasant surprise as I had to adjust the recipe and had low expectations. I fried Leek, celery and garlic until v soft and then boiled it all with a cauliflower, tsp thyme and a bay leaf. Blended with a tin of coconut milk and lemon juice. Served with crispy chorizo bits on top.

Mmmm duck fat! Forgot about that, and goose fat! I’ve just finished a jar. When we have goose for Christmas (my favourite) the best part is the big jar of fat that lasts us about six months!