Food ideas with photos

[Jodee]

Tried to search to see if I had already posted but nothing came up so hope this is not something I already posted... Chicken, Chilli with Turkey mince, veg soup and Moroccan Lamb stew I am cooking a turkey mince stew for tonight with veg using my Instant Pot so quick to do.

 

[Felinia]

Well, I'm back from my holiday where I was self catering in order to manage my diabetes. I took out food for breakfast and lunch, but there was a handy supermarket on the complex. Mostly I was good but I did go out in the evening. Lots of salads. Now it's back on the straight and narrow!

1193 cals, 83.9gm carbs of which 35.0gm sugars (includes daily extras of Benecol and milk)

B: Vanilla almond shake (9.2gm carbs)
L: Poached egg, bacon, baked beans (14.0gm carbs)
D: Lemon sole, new potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots (43.9gm carbs)

 

[Felinia]

I weighed in today and actually lost weight on holiday! Onwards and downwards!

813 cals, 76.4gm carbs of which 34.3gm sugars (includes daily extras of Benecol and milk)

B: Vanilla almond shake (9.2gm carbs)
L: Poached egg, baked beans, toast (22.9gm carbs)
D: Roast beef, new potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots (27.4gm carbs)

 

[rebrascora]

I psyched myself up to cook something last night after a couple of days of just picking at things and I really enjoyed it, although not worthy of a photo as presentation wasn't great. 🙄

Basically it was a bubble and squeak made with onion, sweet potato, cabbage and mushrooms and served with black pudding and green beans, to which I added pickled gherkins which really gave it some extra flavour and some piccalilli which added zing. I was initially going to have pickled beetroot with it but then I spotted the jar of gherkins. I rarely have sweet potato or potatoes in general because they are high carb, but they were on special offer when I did my shopping so I got one and kept the portion small, plus they are a great source of fibre and vitamin C I believe. Anyway, I have enough left over for another meal today. Then I must get to the shops tomorrow as I am out of essentials.

The cabbage that I used was the very last of a massive sweetheart cabbage I bought at least 3 weeks ago and it has been incredibly versatile, kept well and done me loads of different meals and I have enjoyed every bit of it, so will be buying another one of those.

 

[Jodee]

Well done and congratulations @Felinia

Good job @rebrascora I love bubble and squeek and sweetheart cabbage is my favourite too. Sometimes adding mustard to the egg mix and cheese improves flavour too but definitely so does pickles and gherkin on the side 🙂

I think I ate too much fruit and veg yesterday as woke with funny tummy this morning. could have been the smoothie and veg quiche that did it.

For any one that wants to try the smoothie, a good way to get extra nutrients into the body here is what I did;

I went into the garden and gathered:

small leaf of Kale
Small leaf of spinach
Small leaf of red veined chard
Small leaf of comfrey
small leaf of nasturtium

The above I lined the bottom of my bullet container. I then added;

About a desert spoon of ready cooked frozen black eye beans
3 segments of orange and half large banana.
knob of fresh root ginger.
Pinch of black pepper
sprinkle of turmeric, cayenne and cinnamon
half teaspoon of coconut oil
1 dessert spoon of live yogurt
I did have some yogurt whey so I added a little of that too
topped it all up with almond milk

Blitz for a few seconds (I had this for breakfast and finished rest for lunch)

I did follow that with a heavily buttered slice of multi seed sourdough loaf with jam and a cuppa. 😛

delicious - try it --- may work a treat for a good clearout too 🙂

 

[rebrascora]

I stopped using my Nutribullet at diagnosis. I find chewing is satisfying (the crunchier the better for me) and it helps me to eat less. Blitzing foods also enables the body to access the glucose more quickly. I can't deny your smoothie is full of nutrients though. Very impressive! @Jodee

 

[Elenka_HM]

I stopped using my Nutribullet at diagnosis. I find chewing is satisfying (the crunchier the better for me) and it helps me to eat less. Blitzing foods also enables the body to access the glucose more quickly. I can't deny your smoothie is full of nutrients though. Very impressive! @Jodee

I agree with you. Solid foods are more satisfying and even if some smoothies or meal substitute shakes can be very nutritious I wouldn't feel like I had a meal if I'm not chewing anything! I get they can be practical for some other people though.

 

[Leadinglights]

I agree with you. Solid foods are more satisfying and even if some smoothies or meal substitute shakes can be very nutritious I wouldn't feel like I had a meal if I'm not chewing anything! I get they can be practical for some other people though.

Years ago I tried the Cambridge Diet which was basically soups and shakes with a snack bar or packet of pretzel like biscuit. I found it did work to loose weight but my teeth and jaw became really sore from not chewing and it was so boring.

 

[Jodee]

I stopped using my Nutribullet at diagnosis. I find chewing is satisfying (the crunchier the better for me) and it helps me to eat less. Blitzing foods also enables the body to access the glucose more quickly. I can't deny your smoothie is full of nutrients though. Very impressive! @Jodee

Yes I agree, its not a regular habit of mine but I just felt like I needed the injection of nutrients for instant revving, mowed two lawns thereafter

 

[Elenka_HM]

I was just thinking something else that would put me off from making a smoothie is the noise of the blender. Are they all as loud and unpleasant as the ones I'm used to?

Moving on, I actually have a meal to show. It doesn't look great, but the important part is the taste, right? Well... that's not great either but it was a first trial of a recipe from my Poundland low carb cookbook. Even though is good to try new things you won't always like all of them. This is a kind of bean soup, the recipe called for madras curry powder but that sounds too spicy for me so I put the closest thing I had: garam masala. Still turned out a bit hot for me but was edible mixed with some yogurt and at least I'm getting some veg and pulses in.

Looking forward to cook again, next time probably a safer/familiar meal 😉

 

[rebrascora]

I love that you are experimenting @Elenka_HM and your sense of humour is so funny! Better luck with your next new recipe attempt!

I managed to snap a photo of my leftover black pudding and bubble and squeak meal. Still not pretty but thankfully it did taste really good and feeling decidedly but comfortably full now!

 

[rebrascora]

Today I had...

B. Creamy natural Greek style yoghurt with about 12 blueberries, mixed seeds and cinnamon. Coffee with butter because I am out of cream 🙄
L. Tikka flavoured chicken breast with a massive plate of salad leaves dressed with plenty of balsamic vinegar, cucumber a small tomato and a bit of yellow pepper and a big dollop of cheese coleslaw. A dried fig (7g carbs) for afters as my levels dropped and were hovering in the low 4s.
D. Low carb cottage pie made with minced beef, onion, mushrooms some diced carrot, some garden peas, stock cubes and thickened with psyllium husk, chia seeds and a sprinkle of oat bran (no flour) There might have been a good dash of Worcestershire Sauce and a dessert spoon of tomato puree found it's way into it too. Topped it with mashed cauliflower with a good teaspoon of wholegrain mustard and a big dollop of cream cheese mixed in and plenty of grated red Leicester and black pepper on the top. Had intended to do some roasted butternut squash to have with it and perhaps some cabbage or broccoli but I got an unexpected visitor, so in the end I just made do with the Cottage Pie and it was enough and very tasty. Will do the roasted squash and cabbage another night as there is plenty left for several more meals.

It amazes me how well chia seeds and psyllium husk and oat bran thicken stews and sauces without adding any appreciable carbs (or flavour) and in some respects easier than traditional flour because they don't go lumpy so you can just sprinkle and stir and they add lots of wonderful beneficial soluble fibre. It is a win/win situation.... provided that you have them in the cupboard of course. Prediagnosis I had never heard of chia seeds.... How did I live without them??

Photo of Cottage pie.... minus my portion...

 

[Elenka_HM]

Today I had...

B. Creamy natural Greek style yoghurt with about 12 blueberries, mixed seeds and cinnamon. Coffee with butter because I am out of cream 🙄
L. Tikka flavoured chicken breast with a massive plate of salad leaves dressed with plenty of balsamic vinegar, cucumber a small tomato and a bit of yellow pepper and a big dollop of cheese coleslaw. A dried fig (7g carbs) for afters as my levels dropped and were hovering in the low 4s.
D. Low carb cottage pie made with minced beef, onion, mushrooms some diced carrot, some garden peas, stock cubes and thickened with psyllium husk, chia seeds and a sprinkle of oat bran (no flour) There might have been a good dash of Worcestershire Sauce and a dessert spoon of tomato puree found it's way into it too. Topped it with mashed cauliflower with a good teaspoon of wholegrain mustard and a big dollop of cream cheese mixed in and plenty of grated red Leicester and black pepper on the top. Had intended to do some roasted butternut squash to have with it and perhaps some cabbage or broccoli but I got an unexpected visitor, so in the end I just made do with the Cottage Pie and it was enough and very tasty. Will do the roasted squash and cabbage another night as there is plenty left for several more meals.

It amazes me how well chia seeds and psyllium husk and oat bran thicken stews and sauces without adding any appreciable carbs (or flavour) and in some respects easier than traditional flour because they don't go lumpy so you can just sprinkle and stir and they add lots of wonderful beneficial soluble fibre. It is a win/win situation.... provided that you have them in the cupboard of course. Prediagnosis I had never heard of chia seeds.... How did I live without them??

Photo of Cottage pie.... minus my portion...
View attachment 27855

That looks absolutely amazing, Barbara! I'm thinking of making a vegetarian version, I know it won't be the same but I've got soya mince at home and it makes a decent alternative in bolognese, so might try it in a different recipe for once 🙂 about the "thickeners", the one I have is chia seeds, bur they are the ground ones. Do you reckon that would work?

We just had a couple rather summery days down here in Devon, so not quite the weather for cottage pie, but that will probably change shortly 😛

 

[rebrascora]

That looks absolutely amazing, Barbara! I'm thinking of making a vegetarian version, I know it won't be the same but I've got soya mince at home and it makes a decent alternative in bolognese, so might try it in a different recipe for once 🙂 about the "thickeners", the one I have is chia seeds, bur they are the ground ones. Do you reckon that would work?

We just had a couple rather summery days down here in Devon, so not quite the weather for cottage pie, but that will probably change shortly 😛

The milled chia seeds should work fine. The only thing I have found with them and why I now always buy them whole, is that crushing them exposes their oil to oxidation over time and gives them a slight cod liver oil flavour to me (might be just me but I loath cod liver oil as we were made to have a spoonful of it every day when we were children because they hadn't developed capsules then, YUK!!), but it is only slight and shouldn't be obvious in a recipe that has plenty of other tasty ingredients.

 

[rebrascora]

B. Usual creamy Greek style natural yoghurt with mixed seeds, a few blueberries, a sprinkle of nutty granola and a dusting of cinnamon. Coffee with cream.
L. Half an apple and some smoked cheddar followed by a few roasted peanuts.
D. Some of my cottage pie from the post above, with savoy cabbage and butternut squash and a dollop of piccalilli.

Feeling nicely full after that plateful

 

[rebrascora]

Yesterday's food...

B. Usual breakfast of berries and seeds with Greek style natural yoghurt and cinnamon. Coffee with cream x 2
L. Chicken Tikka coated breast meat with a huge plate of salad including various salad leaves, a small tomato, cucumber and some yellow pepper dressed with balsamic vinegar and served with a large dollop of cheese coleslaw.


I also had a few dry roasted peanuts in the afternoon.
I didn't have an evening meal as such, I just had a few mixed olives with some feta and manchego cheese and a tub of feta stuffed peppadew peppers. I may also have had a cheeky G&slimlineT with the olives.

 

[Elenka_HM]

As I mentioned, I made a different meal with pulses, going for more familiar choices. I just sauteed some onion and carrot, added cooked chickpeas, a tin of tomatoes, pinch of cumin and a bunch of paprika. Simple but satisfying. Could do with some salt but I'm learning... 🙂

 

[Leadinglights]

As I mentioned, I made a different meal with pulses, going for more familiar choices. I just sauteed some onion and carrot, added cooked chickpeas, a tin of tomatoes, pinch of cumin and a bunch of paprika. Simple but satisfying. Could do with some salt but I'm learning... 🙂

View attachment 27888

You could also add some chopped peppers, aubergine, butternut squash.

 

[rebrascora]

B. Usual yoghurt, berries, seeds, cinnamon. Coffee with cream.
L. I had the left over Tikka breast meat with some mayonnaise as it wouldn't keep another day and I didn't fancy a salad today, followed by a few olives and cheese.
Supper. Cauliflower and Halloumi curry with chick peas and butternut squash served on a bed of my favourite cabbage.... savoy...microwaved for 3mins with a knob of butter

I haven't bolused for it as it wasn't a big portion (only really the chick peas, butternut squash and tomato and onion providing a few carbs) and my levels were mid 5s so if this takes me up to 8 or 9 I should wake up on 6 or 7.... maybe.. 🙄

 

[rebrascora]

Well, I caved in at 11pm and injected 1.5 units for the above meal when my levels hit 8.9 with a sloping upward arrow and that turned out to be perfect as I woke on 5.6.