When I did my rather extreme 8 week blood sugar diet, my solution to low carbing was to cook what I normally cooked but add extra vegetables, and then miss out the starch element in my serving. So I ate home cooked curry without rice, meatballs in tomato sauce without pasta, lots of stews without potato, etc. This meant our family meals were undisrupted. I still do this for most of the weekday meals me and Mr Heavenly have.
I'd find it hard to have curry without rice or some substitute. The cauliflower rice was pretty good, although I did cheat by buying it in a microwaveable sachet. When I was doing Slimming World I tried making it myself and the kitchen ended up covered in bits of cauliflower. I am taxed in my mind about what to do as a noodles substitute for our Saturday night stir fry but will make inquiries at our local health food shop tomorrow. Not sure there is much to be done about the accompanying prawn crackers...
I too think I want to move in with @Firenze, but that's more to do with the interesting alcohol they seem to drink, which I guess wouldn't be that good for me.
Have you tried meal boxes @nenya? We have a box from Mindful Chef (other companies are available) once a month. We have three meals in our box and they are always interesting and low calorie. We have the vegan options but they do do veggie and meat/fish options too. The best thing about those sort of meals is it gives you ideas for what else you can cook.
Just to counter the impression of a healthy Eden, I'm thinking of The Pan for Friday (bacon, egg, black pudding, fries) and steak'n'kidney'n'mushroom in puff pastry on Saturday.
Have you tried meal boxes @nenya? We have a box from Mindful Chef (other companies are available) once a month.
The Nenlets use meal boxes (Nenlet2 and his husband I believe have a very regular delivery) but I haven't heard of Mindful Chef. It does look like an interesting and helpful option, both for my low-carb focus and for Mr Nen's gluten-intolerant stomach. I thought at first you had to become a subscriber but I see there's an option to order a one-off box. Thank you.
@Doublethink and @Heavenlyannie , when you cook cabbage for stir fry do you simply boil or steam it, or do you fry it? I did obtain a spiraliser and try courgetti spaghetti in my Slimming World days, didn't get on with it at all.
The alcohol is going to be a bit of a challenge as I'm apparently permitted a glass of wine (preferably a dry red) which is very good news; the not-so-wonderful news is that it's a "medium" glass of 150ml, which is a tiddler by the standards of the Nen Chateau. I think I'll have to find a small glass so at least I feel I'm getting a full one.
Hope you like the Mindful Chef box @nenya. My brother swears by Hello Fresh and he cooked us a meal from them when we dropped in to see him last month, and another friend was talking about Gusto when we saw her yesterday, so maybe try a few.
I am no fan of beansprouts, but thank you for the idea.
I believe the Nenlets have all tried both Hello Fresh and Gusto and prefer Gusto.
Thank you for the reminder about gin and tonic, @Heavenlyannie . I find gin gives me a headache these days, but I do have non-alcoholic gin in the cupboard and it does have that nice gin taste so that could be an option, with lots of ice and lemon.
I've also found a low-carb recipe book on my shelves which has clearly been languishing there for some years...
Mr F having managed to break an entire front tooth (and no dental appointment until 5/11) it's Cuisine Squidge for the foreseeable. So that'll be mushroom omelette tonight, and something with lamb mince and aubergine tomorrow.
As for stir fries, Fuchsia Dunlop is my go-to. Typically hers are aromatics (chilli, garlic, ginger) protein (chicken, prawn, tofu) plus veg, sometimes nuts, and sauce. Noodles are a whole different category.
At our local health food emporium yesterday I bought a pack of no-carb noodles and one of no-carb rice (buy one get the second half price) so am interested to see what they're like. The noodles will be sampled with tomorrow night's stir fry.
I'm sorry to hear about Mr F's tooth but am sure that even Cuisine Squidge at Casa Firenze is delicious.
Amazing what you can find on the interwebs. Two things needing to be used up in the veggie drawer are lettuce and cauliflower - and yes, there is a recipe for lettuce and cauliflower soup.
My mum used to make lettuce soup; I think it was adapted from the Watercress soup recipe from the Food Aid cookbook (which may or may not have been contributed by the late Princess of Wales). IIRC it was rather good, in a green sort of way.
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Unfortunately, the intersection of "the diet I enjoy" and "the diet that will cause me to lose weight" is virtually a null set.
Have you tried meal boxes @nenya? We have a box from Mindful Chef (other companies are available) once a month. We have three meals in our box and they are always interesting and low calorie. We have the vegan options but they do do veggie and meat/fish options too. The best thing about those sort of meals is it gives you ideas for what else you can cook.
And as @Sarasa notes, quite a lot of alcohol.
@Doublethink and @Heavenlyannie , when you cook cabbage for stir fry do you simply boil or steam it, or do you fry it? I did obtain a spiraliser and try courgetti spaghetti in my Slimming World days, didn't get on with it at all.
The alcohol is going to be a bit of a challenge as I'm apparently permitted a glass of wine (preferably a dry red) which is very good news; the not-so-wonderful news is that it's a "medium" glass of 150ml, which is a tiddler by the standards of the Nen Chateau. I think I'll have to find a small glass so at least I feel I'm getting a full one.
Yes, when I did my strict diet I occasionally had a small glass of wine. Gin with low cal tonic is very low on calories.
I believe the Nenlets have all tried both Hello Fresh and Gusto and prefer Gusto.
Thank you for the reminder about gin and tonic, @Heavenlyannie . I find gin gives me a headache these days, but I do have non-alcoholic gin in the cupboard and it does have that nice gin taste so that could be an option, with lots of ice and lemon.
I've also found a low-carb recipe book on my shelves which has clearly been languishing there for some years...
And about as filling as air.
As for stir fries, Fuchsia Dunlop is my go-to. Typically hers are aromatics (chilli, garlic, ginger) protein (chicken, prawn, tofu) plus veg, sometimes nuts, and sauce. Noodles are a whole different category.
I'm sorry to hear about Mr F's tooth but am sure that even Cuisine Squidge at Casa Firenze is delicious.