Support and ideas for those on low-carb diet

Hope you don't mind me joining in. I'm interested in your way of eating too.

I am veggie also like Wilma (no fish) and have tried low carb in past. It did work, I lost weight well, but I couldn't keep on with it long term. I was eating cream cheese a lot and other high fat items.

I too am not a cook, I am overweight because I eat rubbish food.I need to lose weight for my health.

I do love home made soups, so was thinking of which soups that would be filling and low carb to make. Could I just do lentil and veg? Thanks for any ideas.

Oh yes, loads of lentil soups eaten here. Lots of people strain it, I think you should keep it all and whizz it. Yes, just fry an onion and veg (all veg soups need onion or leek and garlic in my opinion), then add lentils and veg stock or water, and boil for a few minutes, simmer for maybe 25, then blitz. Soups that are too watery can be simmered for longer to reduce them, water added if too thick.

Thanks. I presume I must avoid potato which I usually use as it thickens well. But could use celery, carrot, kale etc?

Oh yes, for me the aim is to avoid using just potato or flour and to incorporate as many different veg as possible, to get maximum nutrition but avoiding very dense carbs. So at first parsnips and carrots also were avoided, but when you grow your own veg, and it's winter, that is harder to avoid.

I have found far more ways to use apples though, we do have potato mash, but it's likely to be half apple, or half butternut squash, celeriac, kohl rabi or some other veg, even chunks roasted in with roasted mixed veg. We never have just roasted potatoes anymore, it will be chunks of carrot, onion, leek, squash, tomato, pepper etc. After a while it becomes habit.

Diced mixed veg with just a little potato is also nice. Fry it all until cooked, add spicy seasoning and herbs and break eggs into it. A variation of huevos rancheros, so cheap and easy but tastes wonderful with a little grated cheese on top. Potatoes become just another veg rather than the main item on the plate.

Lentils are not great for low-carbing, especially not if you are in a strict phase of an LCHF diet. Vegetables that grow above the ground are best. There are lots of lists of carb values in food on the internet. I can see that it is difficult as a vegetarian to find protein sources beyond egg, fish and nuts though.

Cross-post! Like stillhere we have a big veg garden so all sorts of veg get eaten. Yesterday's Jerusalem artichoke soup was delicious but afterwards.......

We don't have any home grown veg. That's a useful point about avoiding veg that grow below ground, thanks.

I really love omlettes, with a little cheese and herbs, (plus fried potato in the past). Will try the mixed veg idea.

We have loads of cooking apples, never thought of mashing it with other veg.

I think quorn is ok as low carb, so can make curries etc with it.

I love falafel, not sure if the ready bought ones are OK. Need to do a lot of homework and buy new ingredients for this way of life.

Another lower carb we use a lot is chickpeas. The chickpea fritters are the first recipe posted in this thread, I make chickpea biscuits to eat with cheese and have made stillhere's farinata or chickpea bread. All delicious.
Home grown veg not important, just that it tends to guide what we eat a bit.

Would this book help? I have used Rose Eliot's recipes in the past and they have been good.
www.amazon.co.uk/The-Vegetarian-Low-Carb-Diet-vegetarians/dp/074992649X

I bought that when Mamie recommended it and it does have some lovely things.

Yes, chickpeas are now a huge part of our lives, I have always used chickpea flour/gram to make onion fritters (bhajis) and sort of expanded to try other things. Now (I am coeliac) I add it to GF flour to add colour, and the recipes are better with, than without it. Cooked whole chickpeas are lovely in a salad, sadly they don't often get that far because I like them so much.

A small bowl of hummus with a load of veg fingers makes a wonderful snack, or lunch.

Could you post the onion bhaji recipe? Love them!

Mamie I nearly bought that book the other day and then it occurred to me I may already have bought it, so need to check that out LOL!

I'm a lacto-ovo vegetarian which means I eat dairy and eggs. The chickpea fritters is the first one I copied from this thread. I honestly can't remember the last time I fried anything, it's always been the grill because it's supposed to be healthier. Some things will take getting used to, but I am looking forward to trying out new things and thankfully so is my DH, otherwise it would be hard to get on.

I quite like chickpeas and if you cook them on a baking tray in the over, they make a nice snacks a bit like nuts. IIRC I think you spray them with cooking oil, so you can flavour them with flavours like garlic. I'm going to be reading labels a lot more, especially the ingredients!

seacliffe it sounds like we are about in the same place, ready to make changes.

Appreciate the help from everyone

Yep, I do have the Rose Eliot book - bought it in 2013!

Think I posted a veggie recipe for broccoli muffins somewhere on this thread. They make a great low carb high protein lunch. I'll back track and see if I can find it.

Broccoli muffins serves 2-3 (2 count as 1 of your 5-a-day)

Heat oven to medium heat. Use muffin tins or Yorkshire pud tins lightly greased.

Steam a medium head of broccoli until soft and mash and season.
Divide between tins - should line 6.

Beat together 3 eggs, a large handful of grated cheese and a slosh of whipping (or other) cream. Season with black pepper (and a dash of that JO stuff mentioned earlier if you have it).

Pour over broccoli (grate a bit of Parmesan on top if you like) and bake in oven till just browning. Leave for a couple of minutes so you don't burn fingers.

Slide out and eat (using fingers) with a dip of mayonaisse.

More veggie ideas. The Hairy Bikers stuffed peppers (mushroom, nuts and feta) is great.

Lunch; slice a cooked beetroot, top with slices of goats cheese and grill till golden and bubbly.

This is very similar to the recipe I use for onion bhajis.

deep-fried.food.com/recipe/indian-restaurant-style-onion-bhaji-deep-fried-onion-fritters-288345

You won't need to use the rice flour, you can just use normal flour, I used to use self-raising. I have never used black onion seeds, although I used to save chive seeds and use them at one time.

We had the broccoli muffins (lovely!) with poached eggs and salad.

Love the broccoli muffin idea and it would be good for DH to take to work for lunch.

Well, blow me if I can find the Rose Elliot book. We do have a lot of books, but they're mainly in order so it's a bit of a mystery. I have come across several other useful cook books though including one about bread products for low carb dieting. Will probably try some recipes from that. I can see now how bread can be high in protein. Will share the results.

DH found the Rose Elliot book in the garage. Apparently I have a pile of stuff in there I didn't know about (or forgotten).

OK. I am now in possession of an avocado, a lemon, a lime, a bit of ginger root and a garlic bulb.

How do I use the avocado and lemon to make a spread please? Is there a good ratio or something else I should know?

Sounds like that telly programme when they were given a few ingredients to make a meal, Wilma. I think about a teaspoon of lemon juice and mash the avocado with salt and pepper.
Have you tried roasting garlic? If you roast it in the oven until brown and sqeeze out the flesh, it is much gentler. Otherwise I need a side order of Gaviscon.
To keep the menu ideas coming; we had a mixed vegetable tagine (carrot, squash, onion, garlic, tomatoes, aubergine, courgette and green beans, with cumin, raz-al-hanout, cayenne and saffron), served with yoghurt last night. Tonight is an OH special of fish, spinach and cream. Lunch today was cheese (Lidl's Italian week cheeses) tomato and cucumber with a couple of chickpea flour crackers and Friday was egg mayo salad.

Good heavens - we too have had fish and spinach and cream tonight, but with some cheese added as well! Except our spinach was really chenopodium, but you would never know the difference once it's cooked.

Fish and spinach and cream sounds lovely. Recipe anyone?

Ours is - fry the fish quickly until browned on both sides, in olive oil with garlic and pepper and then turn off the heat, add a splash of lemon juice and pop on a lid, let it carry on cooking in the residual heat.

Microwave the spinach, I do two large bowls full which reduces to enough for a portion each, for 2 mins per bowl. Drain in a colander and chop with scissors as it drains.

Fry an onion in olive oil, add the spinach and a teeny bit of nutmeg, salt and pepper, stir around a bit and add as much cream as you want, or even greek yoghourt, I often use up small amounts of cheeses at this point.

Place on warmed plate and plonk fish on top.

These actions do not necessarily take place in this order!

Mamie when I saw Ainsley on Strictly tonight I remembered the show was called Ready Steady Cook!

Helloooo......can I join you please. I am eating low carb, paleo, clean eating and have lost over a stone since the end of June.