Does anyone know any low carb dinner recipes suitable for a family?

[Starfish18]

I'm a newbie so still getting my head around lchf so looking for dinner recipes to try that my whole family will enjoy. 2 members are not massive cheese fans otherwise we'll try most things.
Tia.

 

[briped]

I'm a newbie so still getting my head around lchf so looking for dinner recipes to try that my whole family will enjoy. 2 members are not massive cheese fans otherwise we'll try most things.
Tia.

Any meat, really ... How about chicken drumsticks? Those eating LC can have a salad as a side, and the others spuds or whatever.

 

[Mr_Pot]

We approach this from the opposite direction. The family have a "normal" meal and I adapt mine to be lower carb. Either by having more veg instead of carb or substituting swede for mash, Oomi noodles for normal ones, cauliflower for rice etc.

 

[Starfish18]

We approach this from the opposite direction. The family have a "normal" meal and I adapt mine to be lower carb. Either by having more veg instead of carb or substituting swede for mash, Oomi noodles for normal ones, cauliflower for rice etc.

That's what we do normally everyone else has rice for eg and I have cauliflower rice. I'm just lacking inspiration atm

 

[briped]

We approach this from the opposite direction. The family have a "normal" meal and I adapt mine to be lower carb. Either by having more veg instead of carb or substituting swede for mash, Oomi noodles for normal ones, cauliflower for rice etc.

Exactly. That's what we do too, even if we're only the two of us. My husband gets his spuds or rice, and I often get ... Well, just the meat, more often than not. Right now this is in the oven https://www.dietdoctor.com/recipes/keto-pimiento-cheese-meat-balls, but @Starfish18 has family members who're not too keen on cheese, so no go.

 

[xfieldok]

Cottage/shepherds pie with celeriac topping.

 

[Starfish18]

Cottage/shepherds pie with celeriac topping.

Thank you. We're a bit apprehensive about trying celeriac as we've never had it before. But I guess we'll never know if we don't try it

 

[xfieldok]

Thank you. We're a bit apprehensive about trying celeriac as we've never had it before. But I guess we'll never know if we don't try it

It does taste of celery! Peel cube (it's tough) boil like potato, then roughly mash with loads of butter and black pepper. Top the meat and bang in the oven until it starts to brown with crispy bits. Husband prefers it to spuds now.

 

[Starfish18]

It does taste of celery! Peel cube (it's tough) boil like potato, then roughly mash with loads of butter and black pepper. Top the meat and bang in the oven until it starts to brown with crispy bits. Husband prefers it to spuds now.

I think it's definitely worth a try

 

[MangosteenElbow]

Pizzas ...

First, I start the reduction of fresh tomatoes while everything else is going on. While toms have carbs, this way avoids extra carbs from prepared sauces and it tastes better. Towards the end of the reduction, add ground pepper or garlic or both. I don't bother skinning or pushing through a sieve.

Once that is underway, I then start to make a keto pizza base mix (plenty of recipes on the web).
Get the right recipe and cooking technique for your oven and this will be light and fluffy and tasty.
Basically, the right ingredients for the base just go all at once into the mixer and it is thoroughly blended - no fuss involved.
I line two large rectangular trays (maximum pizza for the oven) with baking paper then fill with the mix and flatten evenly (I use a bottle to get to the edge of the pans, using a sheet of baking or "lunch wrapper" paper on top of the base just for this step).

I first cook the pizza base without any covering - about 10 minutes or so - then retrieve from the oven to add toppings and then cook more.

The two main "combos" are these:

• tomato base topped by chorizo (sliced thinly - a fatty, soft sausage unlike salamis and pepperonis) + (shredded or chopped) basil + cheese(s) (mozzarella or blue or packaged shredded "4 cheeses"); some areas on the pizza have sliced mushrooms and some without
• a bed of smashed avo with some good oil (macadamia? walnut?) - aiming for more omega 3 than olive oil's omega 6, probably smashed with ground pepper, maybe garlic, maybe chilli spice, then topped by (uncooked) prawns then drizzled very little with olive oil (also basil?)

mix it up a bit - some prawns atop the tomato base (by now a paste consistency); some chorizo atop the avo base; some areas without any cheese topping
salt to taste

try your own (low carb) variations, maybe using leftovers: shredded (roast?) chicken; tandoori chicken pieces; raw egg (it gets baked); good ham, chopped; other herbs; splashes of tatziki ...

Very few carbs
good fats and opportunity to enhance the omega 3s (I can add freshly milled flaxseed)
yes, takes more time in prep, but it is good time, can involve family members responsible for parts of the preparation (smashing the avo, slicing the chorizo and mushrooms)
also, cooking time is less, and is more forgiving in the oven than flour-bases
allows family members with different tastes to stake out their "territory"
not a lot of kitchen mess to clean up; can clean up a lot of it while the pizzas are cooking

 

[DCUKMod]

Slow cooked casseroles or curries with the mix of vegetables or spices of your choosing.

Places like sugarfreemom, ditchthecarbs, twosleevers, or lowcarbyum (these are merealy examples) have lots of aggregated posts for "LC one pot dinners", or LC for everyone type stuff.

 

[Listlad]

Slow cooked casseroles or curries with the mix of vegetables or spices of your choosing.

Places like sugarfreemom, ditchthecarbs, twosleevers, or lowcarbyum (these are merealy examples) have lots of aggregated posts for "LC one pot dinners", or LC for everyone type stuff.

I tend to cook these quite frequently, largely out of convenience, essentially time restriction. I found the other week that some casserole type mixes can be surprisingly high carb and others more acceptable. So I check the packet / jar now before buying and using.

Unfortunately my wife doesn’t particularly like this form of presentation so I can only get away with it a couple of times a week.

 

[DCUKMod]

I tend to cook these quite frequently, largely out of convenience, essentially time restriction. I found the other week that some casserole type mixes can be surprisingly high carb and others more acceptable. So I check the packet / jar now before buying and using,

I didn't say anything about packets. Casserole mixes simply don't happen in our house, and never have. It's much easier just to throw a few herbs and spices in and go for it.

Packet mixes almost always have a thickener too, which is often gluten based, out for me.

I make my own veg stock paste, and our own curry spice mixes - either powdered or as pastes. Made will they keep well in the fridge or can be frozen, provided there isn't too much salt in the concoction which inhibits a hard freeze.

 

[Listlad]

I didn't say anything about packets. Casserole mixes simply don't happen in our house, and never have. It's much easier just to throw a few herbs and spices in and go for it.

Packet mixes almost always have a thickener too, which is often gluten based, out for me.

I make my own veg stock paste, and our own curry spice mixes - either powdered or as pastes. Made will they keep well in the fridge or can be frozen, provided there isn't too much salt in the concoction which inhibits a hard freeze.

Agreed. But I simply do not have the luxury of time or the culinary prowess to do any different, so whilst I make the slow cooker casseroles, my best nod to catering for me as someone with a propensity to T2 diabetes is to use a lower carb ready made sauce mix. I have been doing a lot of jar checking recently. Some are lower than others.

Maybe when I retire or when my daughter can get her own breakfast and ready for school, I will have the time to go from scratch. As it is I barely have time to throw everything in the pot.

I did use a curry paste the other week but put too much in. So am learning there.

One thing I am beginning to notice is that I am eating less than I used to before adjusting my diet. So on the one hand a jar of Sainsbury’s Beef and Ale casserole stew sauce is about 7.6 grams per hundred. On the other hand I am eating far less than I was before, so overall carb grammage intake is less.

 

[DCUKMod]

Agreed. But I simply do not have the luxury of time or the culinary prowess to do any different, so whilst I make the slow cooker casseroles, my best nod to catering for me as someone with a propensity to T2 diabetes is to use a lower carb ready made sauce mix. I have been doing a lot of jar checking recently. Some are lower than others.

Maybe when I retire or when my daughter can get her own breakfast and ready for school, I will have the time to go from scratch. As it is I barely have time to throw everything in the pot.

I did use a curry paste the other week but put too much in. So am learning there.

One thing I am beginning to notice is that I am eating less than I used to before adjusting my diet. So on the one hand a jar of Sainsbury’s Beef and Ale casserole stew sauce is about 7.6 grams per hundred. On the other hand I am eating far less than I was before, so overall carb grammage intake is less.

To be honest, I'd say going from scratch is simpler, and each one tastes different. Some better different, and some less brilliantly different, but it keeps the variety going.

The recipe can be as simple as browning the meat, lobbing in whatever veg you fancy, with some stock, salt and pepper.

 

[Brunneria]

In terms of LC friendly meals for all the family, I think that my natural laziness in the kitchen stands me in v good stead.

I have NEVER understood the thinking behind cooking mince, cooking and mashing potatoes, then combining them in an oven dish and cooking them both AGAIN to get a cottage pie.
What an unnecessary phaff!
Cook the mince. Cook the potato. Combine them on the plate. Less time. Less washing up. And just as nice.

So when going LC it was/is even simpler. Cook the mince and don't have the mash. Or cook everyone the same mash, but make it out of lower carb veg like suede.

Same principles apply to all my cooking.
Lasagne is red mince and pasta. Doesn't matter what shape that pasta comes in. Nor what type of pasta it is. I use oomi noodles, which are LC.
Moussaka is red mince, aubergine and potato. So it is just a case of subtracting the potato and replacing with more aubergine or courgette.

As for ready made sauces... the only ones I use are the good quality curry pastes and occasionally a dry rub. And I usually supplement those, too. Extra garlic, or ginger, or paprika, or whatever. The bought sauces are usually gloopy and horrible. Or sickly sweet. Or tasteless. I would agree that it takes no longer to sprinkle a few herbs and spices over the meat, than it does to open a jar, pour it out, scrape it out, and then rinse the dratted thing before putting it into the recycling.

 

[bulkbiker]

I'd go so far as to say that every low carb recipe is suitable for all the family?

 

[Resurgam]

I was just going to say the same - all low carb recipes are fine for a family - I often used to have the same basic meal as the rest, but would substitute cauliflower for potatoes or remove my portion from the pan before final additions to the mixture. It did sometimes mean one or two extra pans were used but nothing drastic.

 

[PerfectStorm]

I’m fortunate that my son will eat most things so these are some of the things we have:

A big crustless quiche cut into slices with potatoes and salad for some and just salad for you. Or even chips and beans for some and salad for you.

Or cauli rice paella. It has all the flavours of paella but just much lighter than when made with rice. My DH and DS eat this with me, so no messing around with a carby version for them

Chicken and chorizo stew with some beans in it. I just eat a few of the beans. The hardest part of this is not having the crusty bread to go with it

Salmon on a bed of cabbage and bacon with a splash of cream mixed in. Could have another green veg with it.

 

[Listlad]

To be honest, I'd say going from scratch is simpler, and each one tastes different. Some better different, and some less brilliantly different, but it keeps the variety going.

The recipe can be as simple as browning the meat, lobbing in whatever veg you fancy, with some stock, salt and pepper.

You probably take your own cooking skills for granted.

It can take a while to build them up. If I did as you suggested then it probably would end up unpalatable and my two fussy girls in the family will soon let me know if it tastes yucky.

In time I will no doubt build up some cooking skills.