Recipe: Low Carb "Regime" and Cookbook

More than 10 years ago my husband and I went on a Low Carb regime (I dislike "diet", sounds like suffering is involved!).  It worked very well, very quickly and the weight was kept off for many years until we went on a cruise...and well, we slowly gained it back.  It didn't help either that the first few years in France we took any and every opportunity to savor a croissant or sweet!  So, here I am in 2014, and ready to do all over again. (The "regime" that is!)

First thing I did was pull out my favorite LowCarb CookBook by Dana Carpenter.  It has 500 recipes and they are easy to prepare, but most importantly, the meals are delicious.  It makes no difference if you are counting carbs or not, because the dishes are great.  But first, a month for me with no wine, no starches, no fruit and (almost) no sugar (I need a bit in my 1 cup of coffee a day!).  So far, one week into the plan and all is well.  My breakfasts are either a lo-carb bar or eggs and lunches have been salads, chili, tunafish, or a lo-carb bar for lunch (provided we did not have one for breakfast).  Dinners are fairly simple: we cook up a meat or fish, lots of veggies.  I snack twice during the day:  some cheese, some veggies.  I drink lots of water, too.  I do remember during the last "regime", we were missing our potato chips - and I found a solution:  I dropped pinches of greated parmesan cheese (or already grated cheddar) into a dry hot fry pan and they cooked up into wafer thin crisps.  It was easy, tasty and satisfied the need for a 'munchie'.

Here are just two of the items we've had for dinner this week:

Pan fried steak cooked with a gravy made with Grand Marnier and heavy cream.  We had "mashed potatoes"....it was really caulflower!  (We cooked small pieces of cauliflower* in boiling water - with 2 cloves of garlic sliced - until tender, drain, place cauliflower & garlic slivers into a blender, add 2+ tablespoons butter, 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. Blender on high and whip it to a delicious looking "mashed potato"...and with the "gravy" from the steaks, it was sooo good!) * 1/2 head cauliflower or an 8oz box of frozen should be enough for 2 people

"Breaded" pork chops - my version of a low carb: 1/2 cup almond flour plus 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, salt & pepper to taste.  Dip pork chops into egg mixed with seasonings of your choice (oregano, cayenne, salt & pepper etc), cover in the almond flour mixture, using 4T olive oil, pan fry on both sides until golden, place frying pan with chops in preheated 325 degree oven and cook for 30 minutes.  Chops are juicy and the carb count is about 3g per person!  We had a huge salad on the side.

My favorite low carb cookbook!

The Low Carb CookBook by Dana Carpenter is a great resource for me - maybe it will be for you as well.  In the meantime, during the week, I will experiment with a few new creations and, should they turn out well, I will share them!

Fifi