normal meals that can be adapted to be low carb?

[Sammy1888]

Planning on doing a low carb diet but don't have time can't be bothered to make completely different meals for DP and DD. Are there many family meals that can be easily adapted to be low carb for me?

So far I have roast chicken/ pork/ beef/ lamb, potatoes and veg but think that will get boring for them pretty quickly. They like pasta. Could do meatballs but not sure if the tomato sauce would qualify as low carb? Will do them chicken salad etc occasionally but DP is a boxer and has quite a manual job so needs a bit of sustenance.

Make your own tomato sauce from passata, shallot, garlic & herbs, and make spaghetti from strips of courgette, it is actually tasty! Tesco even do tubs of ready made courgetti. I just do normal meals but replace the potatoes with either swede or celeriac for myself (and now some of my kids, they prefer it to potatoes!). So shepards pie topped with mashed buttery swede, chicken stuffed with cheese and wrapped in bacon with celeriac chips etc.

That's a great idea! I've heard of courgetti but thought I would have to wait a couple of weeks until I could afford one of those fancy spiralizers. But just picked some up from tescos. Thanks!
Do I just cook the celeriac like potato? Only ever heard of 'celeriac purée' on master chef

I don't low carb as such but try to avoid refined carbs. One of my favourite swaps (which I must credit the Hairy Bikers for) is shredded cabbage instead of spaghetti. Sounds ridiculous but is really very good. Try it!

Ok great! Have a cabbage in the fridge at the moment. Boiled?

Yes, lightly boiled or steamed

I like cauliflower "rice" but some people don't. I think it goes well with chilli or curry.

The Range have spiralizers for £9.99 :) brilliant for veg- we've used it for parsnip, carrot, sweet potato and beetroot as well as courgette so far

I love courgetti! Watching with interest as I want to do low carb too, but would rather adapt our main meal than cook separate meals.

Mince is actually good as it's very easy to just do steamed veg or salad for you alongside whatever the others are having.

I do chicken breasts wrapped in Parma ham and roasted/ baked with slices of butternut and cherry tomatoes. Throw some whole garlic cloves in and some
Olive oil and roast for about 45 minutes. For the family serve with potatoes, rice or couscous and just give yourself extra veg. Does take up space so need a really big roasting dish or two smaller ones.

Roasted veg with goats cheese. Again, with couscous for he family (or pasta). Include tomatoes to create a little sauce. If the kids won't eat goats cheese, use feta (my kids won't eat this though as the veg are too obvious!!)

Curry. Serve yours over boiked cabbage or cauliflower instead of rice.

Thanks for this thread. Dh and I want to do some better eating after Christmas and it's a good reminder.

Ditto stew instead of curry but I would eat extra carrots rather than cauliflower.

Make moussaka with a flourless topping using just cream and some eggs and cheese. Shepherd's pie with mashed cauliflower instead of spuds. Steak with a sauce made from pan juices, chopped mushrooms, cream, black pepper and Parmesan. Chicken tikka with a yoghurt, cucumber and mint raita, rice for carb eaters, shredded lettuce for the non carb eaters. Oven baked spiced salmon with steamed broccoli plus boiled spuds for the carby ones. Pizza omelette (just an omelette base with pizza toppings). Eggs mornay (sauce made with grated Cheddar, cream and Parmesan, poured over halved hardboiled eggs, topped with a sprinkling of smoked paprika and more grated cheese, baked until golden and bubbly). Chicken paprika (casserole of chicken, strips of green and red peppers, a can of tomatoes, paprika, seasoning, sour cream added at the end) with pasta for non-dieters, courgette spirals tossed in garlic oil and briefly pan fried for low carbers. HTH :)

Some amazing ideas here! Feeling even more motivated!

Go and have a look at the Bootcamp topic - there's a recipe thread stickied at the top there which has some fab recipes that will suit the whole family.