It is probably only the rare person who didn’t have “losing weight” on their New Year’s resolutions list. I have learned that when it comes to losing weight the healthy way, limiting your carbohydrate intake is definitely where it’s at. (And decreasing the grains in general is good for your overall health, too.) Read how I usually go about all this in a recent low-carb post, and I’m also posting sporadic Twitter updates on my progress.
HOW TO LOSE WEIGHT SUCCESSFULLY BY WATCHING THE CARBS:
To do that successfully, first you have to plan ahead, and then do some food shopping so you have everything you need in the house. But even before you can do that, you need good LOW-CARB MEAL IDEAS!
That’s where the first REAL FOOD WEDNESDAYS FOOD CARNIVAL comes in.
From now on, each Wednesday Ann Marie/”Cheeseslave” and I will take turns hosting a blog carnival on various REAL FOOD topics. This first week is my turn, and obviously, we’re asking for YOUR low-carb meal ideas…or snack ideas, breakfast ideas, beverage ideas, etc. (Next week at Cheeseslave’s blog look for REAL FOOD ON A BUDGET – this will be our 2nd Real Food Wednesday topic! Read more specifics about Real Food Wednesdays.)
We’re hoping you’ll do one of two things:
1. If you don’t have a blog, add your low-carb ideas and recipes in the comments below!
2. OR if you do have a blog, use “Mr. Linky” below to add a link to your own low carb ideas post, keeping these rules in mind:
- Be sure to add a link in your post back to this post so your readers can get all sorts of other good ideas, too.
- Also, only use Mr. Linky to link to your specific post, NOT to your main/home page, otherwise in days or weeks to come, no one will be able to easily find your post on that topic.
I can’t wait to get new ideas from all of you so I can stay motivated!
You’ll want to try CHEESESLAVE’S LOW-CARB recipe for bacon, egg & cheese biscuits – yum!
Read more of my LOW CARB ramblings, including a link to Sally Fallon’s weight loss suggestions. I also talk there about my own personal goals.
YOUR TURN (and feel free to copy the logo above to use at your blog):
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{ 29 comments… read them below or add one }
cheeseslave 01.06.09 at 11:52 pm
Hi, Kel! Congratulations on getting this started! I can’t wait to see all the great low-carb recipes!
Henriette 01.07.09 at 4:14 am
My blog is in Danish… so I just thought I would post here
I write about Low carb/high fat diet -inspired by some great Swedish websites- added a bit of my own experience with blood type diet and Nourishing traditions.
This is a not bad substitue for blinis/pancakes – I find them easiest to bake in a blinis skillet
Flax cottage cheese pancakes:
Evening before:
In a foodprocessor
mix 3 large eggs
100 ml/3.38 fl oz whipping cream
100 gram /3.52 oz dry cottage cheese
2 tbl flaxseeds- ground
little salt – maybe vanilla
serves 1-2
Next day fry in a blinis skillet in lots of butter/ghee or virgin cooconut oil serve with berries – or if not too low carb maple syrup
I use the flax since I can´t get coconut flour here- and flax is pretty good for you.
Another favourite is bacon spinach muffins:
5 eggs
2 fl oz full fat( 38 %) organic pastured cream
2 oz full fat cottage cheese ( drained)
3,5 oz organic pastured gouda cheese ( other types will work.
1 large tbl freshly ground flax
Herbs, chili, pepper, maybe a little seasalt whatever you fancy.
optional :
bacon ( cut in thin slices fried lightly)
spinach – just fried to reduce wetness.
Process all ingredients in food processor
- put in 6-7 well buttered muffinpans or ramekins
and bake at 175 C/347 F to golden brown- 15-20 min.
I made two versions
Some with bacon in and some with spinach and oregano.
The spinach ones were very good with smoked salmon
I like them best luke warm – but they are all right cold as well.
Kelly 01.07.09 at 8:58 am
Mmmm, thanks Henriette!!
Beth 01.07.09 at 9:35 am
A simple but tasty alternative to mashed potatoes: cauliflower. I cook until very, very soft, then treat like potatoes (mash,add butter, add salt to taste).
I just found this link with lots of cauliflower info.
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=13
I can’t wait to see all of the links/responses – I REALLY need some motivation/ideas for this.
Beth
Son of Grok 01.07.09 at 10:39 am
Hi Kelly,
I have a number of fun, healthy easy recipes on my site (too many to list here) as does Mark Sisson over at his http://www.marksdailyapple.com
I recommend giving them both a look.
The SoG
Kelly 01.07.09 at 11:11 am
Beth, that link is FULL of great info!
Son of Grok, looking forward to checking those out, thanks!
nonegiven 01.07.09 at 11:38 am
Last night we had a venison roast with nuked broccoli and leftover canned zucchini
Ben Moreno 01.07.09 at 1:02 pm
Hello All.
I followed the Atkins diet and was able to lose 30 pounds in a month. Although playing basketball everyday helped a lot, lowering your carb intake makes a huge difference. The key is to watch the fat intake as well.
You need to eleminate one or the other. Also, don’t think that any fat is ok. You need to still eat lean meats such as fish and chicken. Don’t think that throwing the buns away from fast food burgers is good for you because it’s not.
Lyn 01.07.09 at 1:56 pm
Here’s a couple recipes that are low-carb. Also, just tried Kelly’s Cilantro ancho-chile lime mayo on the ham/brocolli roll up and they were delicious!!
Fettuccine Italiana
8 oz uncooked fettuccine (of course, I won’t eat the noodles)
1 pkg. (14oz) smoked sausage, thinly sliced (I just use Italian sausage)
2 C. green beens (recipe actually calls for asparagus)
1 C. sliced fresh mushrooms
1/4 C. chopped onion
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tsp. thyme
1 T. olive oil
1 T. cornstarch (arrowroot)
1 C. chicken broth
1/4 C. parmesan cheese
Cook fettuccine. Saute’ sausage, green beans, mushrooms, onion, garlic and thyme in oil until vegetables are tender. Combine arrowroot and broth until smooth and stir into sausage mixture. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 1-2 mins or until thickened. Sprinkle (or in my case, douse) with parmesan cheese. Serve over noodles for the kids.
This one is so fresh and good, I especially love it in the summer:
Cucumber salad
1 cucumber, peeled and cubed
3 roma tomatoes, cubed
1-2 green onions
1 T. parsley, fresh & chopped (I use cilantro)
juice of 1 lemon
drizzle olive oil on top
1/4 – 1/2 C. water
**I like to eat it with a hard boiled egg tossed in**
Donielle @ Naturally Knocked Up 01.07.09 at 2:45 pm
I wish I had some low carb recipes.
We’re kinda bread people over here, although looking at going gluten free for awhile.
Kelly 01.07.09 at 2:54 pm
Thanks for the great ideas everyone!
Ben, great job on the weight loss! While I agree with you that just throwing the bun away on a fast food burger doesn’t help anything (it’s still crap, who knows where they got that burger or what is mixed in with it!), I disagree with you on the fat issue. We need to get rid of the rotten fats like soybean, canola, or other vegetable oils (and trans fats obviously), but coconut oil, butter, meat from healthy sources, etc. are healthy fats, contrary to what we’ve been told for years.
Cutting out bad fats and carbs (especially refined carbs) is always good, but cutting out healthy fats is a recipe for illness. Read more here: http://www.kellythekitchenkop.com/2008/04/does-fat-make-you-fat-dieting-answers.html
Kelly
Brian Cormier 01.07.09 at 3:14 pm
http://lowcarbdudecom.blogspot.com/2008/09/recipe-brians-to-die-for-low-carb-maple.html
This is by far my favourite recipe… a low-carb peanut butter fudge recipe that I tweaked into something else. It’s addictive, delicious and decadent. Click on the “recipes” label at the bottom of the post to find other recipes on my site at http://www.lowcarbdude.com!
Laura Bargwell 01.07.09 at 3:49 pm
HI Kelly, The Carnival seems to be picking! I have a good low carb meal.
beef stir fry with bok choy – fast and easy
1.5 lbs flank steak
2 tablespoons dry sherry
1.5 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar substitute
1.5 tablespoons ginger
1 bunch of bok choy
Cut steak in bite size pieces. Combine sherry, soy sauce, ginger and sugar sub. Add the beef and stir to coat. Marinate at room temp for 15 minutes.
Chop bok choy into 1″ pieces – rinse and spin dry.
Heat a large skillet over high heat. Add Olive Oil. Add beef and cook approx 5 minutes. Add bok choy and continue to cook until wilted. Season with additional soy sauce and serve hot.
Have a great day!
Kristen 01.07.09 at 4:13 pm
Thanks for hosting this Kelly! I just posted a snack I created for my kids and I
Henriette your recipe sounds so tasty! I’m loving all the low-carb ideas that will let me get in more nutrition for my kiddos and myself and help my hubby shed some of those pounds he wants to lose!
Kelly 01.07.09 at 5:21 pm
Hi Laura! That sounds so tasty & healthy! My only suggestion is to use fermented soy sauce/”Tamari” – it’s just like soy sauce only healthier.
Thanks, Kristen, I just checked out your post – looks great, I hope I can figure out where to get some bone marrow!
Brian Cormier 01.07.09 at 5:39 pm
http://lowcarbdudecom.blogspot.com/2008/09/recipe-brians-to-die-for-low-carb-maple.html
This is a recipe for some delicious low-carb fudge made with hazelnut butter, cream cheese, butter and vanilla protein powder. Excellent stuff!
niki 01.07.09 at 6:16 pm
Looking forward to seeing everyone’s recipes! I low carb too.
Kelly 01.07.09 at 6:24 pm
Brian, I’m curious, in the recipe you linked to, have you ever tried it with “Crispy” nuts or seeds? (http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2008/02/recipe-for-crispy-nuts-healthy-snack.html)
The fudge sounds dreamy! I wonder if it would turn out if I replaced the last 3 ingredients with a t. (or 2) of vanilla extract and some real maple syrup? I’m not a fan of protein powders or artificial sweeteners, so I’d like to give this a try…wouldn’t be all that low-carb anymore then, though, would it?! Maybe down the road when I allow myself a rare treat! If I try it, I’ll let you know.
Thanks for sharing your yummy recipes!
Brian Cormier 01.07.09 at 6:32 pm
Kelly – The protein powder gives it “substance”. I don’t think it would hold together without it. It’s quite a soft creamy fudge. Real maple syrup would work if you combine it with vanilla. I just thought the maple extract was a nice change. Haven’t tried it with crispy nuts, but will definitely try them!
cheeseslave 01.07.09 at 8:00 pm
Kel – if you are trying to avoid Splenda, perhaps stevia would be a good choice? It’s low carb and natural.
Henriette 01.08.09 at 1:36 am
Well I don´t like any artificial sweetners…
But I tasted some low carb cakes made with erythriol and they wew very good and the product sounds promising – but we can´t get it here yet.
http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/products/p/erythritol.htm
Kelly 01.08.09 at 2:31 pm
Hi Henriette,
Another place to read more about erythritol – I did a post on it a while back: http://kellythekitchenkop.com/2008/04/xylitol-safety-other-sugar-alcohols.html
Thanks, Kelly
Henriette 01.09.09 at 4:46 am
Interesting – thanks
I am a honey – maple syrup girl myself
I keep bees so I have enough honey.
But the interesting thing is that my taste-buds seem to have changed,
I don´t need much honey/maple syrup to be satisfied.
Kelly 01.10.09 at 5:40 am
Thanks, Kelly!!! I love your website, very informative and interesting!!! Lookin’ forward to Wednesdays.
Kelly 01.10.09 at 6:06 am
It’s me again…..I forgot to tell you that “I’m new”!!!! I hope I’m doing this thing right!!!!!
Kelly 01.10.09 at 1:29 pm
Kelly, I just checked out your recipe and my mouth is watering. You did it right!
Thanks for joining in!
Christine Kennedy 01.10.09 at 3:20 pm
Hi Kelly,
With that fudge recipe, you could maybe do a couple tablespoons of the honey or maple syrup for flavor, and a few drops of stevia to get it to the right sweetness. To substitute the protein powder, what about using coconut milk powder? Would that be low carb?
I made peanut butter balls for my kids a little while back with natural peanut butter, coconut milk powder, and some raw honey. I also rolled them in shredded coconut. They LOVED them! I’m not sure that is really low carb though.
Kelly 01.10.09 at 3:58 pm
Hi Christine, I’d say it’s not necessarily low-carb, but not as high as some treats, and super nutritious, though!
Kelly 01.11.09 at 12:06 pm
I posted this comment at Ann Marie’s site, but wanted to tell my readers this, too:
I just made the bacon, egg & cheese muffins above, and they were SO GOOD! The whole family scarfed them down.
I figured out the carb content: only 1g/muffin! Even less, if you make them a bit smaller like I did (I didn’t know how much they would puff up, next time I’ll fill them almost all the way to the top) – a double batch made 17.
I figured the comparison if you were to make it with whole wheat flour or white flour. The coconut flour makes it 6g net carbs/batch, whole wheat would be 15g, and white would be 19 1/2/batch – a big difference!
BTW, I didn’t feel like getting my food processor out, so I just crumbled the bacon small and used my shredded raw cheddar. Also, in my oven they took 19 minutes.
Last thing: I’m learning to like coconut very slowly, so I was wondering if I would notice a coconut taste in these, but I didn’t AT ALL! I think with the bacon grease and enough other ingredients, it becomes unnoticeable. Yay!