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LC and veggie for February, meal ideas please :)

Engineer88

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,130
Location
Wales
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Pump
Morning all,

I decided to sign up to no sugar February for Cancer research UK, however this being far to easy (!?) I decided to go low carb/veggie as more of a challenge.

https://fundraise.cancerresearchuk.org/page/low-carb-to-lower-cancer

So far I have:
Curries
Gosh ready dinner
Cauliflower Pizza
Battered Veggies
Stir fry
Omelette
roast dinner
stuffed peppers
onion soup
slow cooker tofu
quorn chilli
Broccoli Quinoa Casserole
Quorn Chicken in pb sauce
English Pea Salad
kale and lentil burgers

Can anyone suggest more?
 
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Hi @Engineer88 What a great idea! Will your list be gluten free too? To keep it veggie, you would need to avoid the fishy creatures on your list. I will get my thinking head on after work.
 
Avocado Sevenfold said:
Hi @Engineer88 What a great idea! Will your list be gluten free too? To keep it veggie, you would need to avoid the fishy creatures on your list. I will get my thinking head on after work.
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Hey @Avocado Sevenfold yes that's an absolute must - Gf. I thought some veggies eat fish or maybe I'm just kidding myself!!
Any help gratefully received
 
Engineer88 said:
Hey @Avocado Sevenfold yes that's an absolute must - Gf. I thought some veggies eat fish or maybe I'm just kidding myself!!
Any help gratefully received
Click to expand...
In my mind, fish live in the animal kingdom so should enjoy immunity from being eaten by a vegetarian The biggest thread on this sub-forum defines a vegetarian as "someone who lives on a diet of grains, pulses, nuts, seeds, vegetables and fruits with, or without, the use of dairy products and eggs. A vegetarian does not eat any meat, poultry, game, fish, shellfish or by-products of slaughter." I think that sums it up very well.

I think you will do very well on this challenge as you will already be a genius at label reading! Perhaps you could clarify what "sugar-free" involves. Some people, like Davina McCall classify sugar-free to mean any food that does not contain the white stuff, but includes any food slathered in maple syrup, agave nectar or honey. Are you looking to low carb as well as to cut sugar? Where do you stand on sweeteners?

Your list looks good so far. When I started low carbing, I found it is useful to think of low carbing within a certain cuisine. It helped to focus. So for example, I would plan a meal in the style of Indian, Mexican, Middle Eastern, Italian etc.

It is also useful to not think of protein as having to be a slab of something. Last night I had a big salad with a dressing. It had - veg for carbs, fibre, vitamins and colour. Edamame beans for protein. Peanut dressing protein and fat.

If you like cauliflower, you can turn it into so many veggie dishes - rice (Thai or Mexican), couscous, tabbouleh, risotto, popcorn, mash, you name it. Courgetti is a good, quick meal too - with pesto and lots of roast Mediterranean veg. Celeriac, cauli or turnip mash to go on top of your mince for a shepherdless pie.

How are you with chickpeas, beans and lentils? I have some good recipes for falafels and hummus if you fancy those.

Nuts, seeds, nut butters, nut pates, nut cheeses. All tasty sources of fat and protein.

Do you like avocados? Make some guacamole to go with your chilli
 

Many thanks @Avocado Sevenfold, all of the above is really helpful!

I've low carb'ed before with the staple of meat and fish, it will be a hell of a shock without I think!

Re sugar and sweeteners; I will have sweeteners because without which I cant drink tea and that will make life utterly miserable!! Sugar is a bit vague to be honest, I will not add any for sure and I tend to low carb at max 50g of carbs a day which very much limits eating any products with it in... is that enough?

I'm trying to remember this has to fit around life as well as making it challenging!
 

I think your biggest shock will be how easy it is!

I think veggie @Enclave use to eat very low carb and was fine on it. I am more of a carb avoider than a carb counter. I guess you are spinning a lot of plates there being a T1 coeliac so just go as low as you need to stay healthy and happy. Plant protein is generally higher in carbs that animal protein though so you might find yourself having more carbs.

Good you have sweeteners. Means you can have puddings!
 
Thanks!

I'm terrible at counting non root veg carbs so generally I don't bother. They don't hugely affect my bg so I'm afraid I follow the DAFNE rule and count them as free.
 
Completely unexpected but very much appreciated
@Avocado Sevenfold

Thanks for your donation, I'll keep an update on the thread I created going forward

Hope you're well tried to send you a message but forum said no!
 
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How many carbs are you looking for per meal as "low carb"? I have some 30g ideas but that might be too high?
 
@Engineer88 I asked because I don'low carb and didn't want to end up with the '30g is more than my daily...'

Falafel and salad
Kale and lentil burgers (mush up lentils or beans with chilli, garlic, kale and an egg)
Sainsbury's do an Oh My Goodness Cougetti pot with some grains (do not know if freekah and quinoa are celiac friendly) that is 31g
Miso soup with whatever veg you fancy
Various quorn things, depends if you do processed...
Lasagne made with squash or courgette instead of the pasta and filled with beans
 
I'm going to give the kale and lentil burgers a go for sure - have you made them? do they keep or do they have to be eaten straight away?
Sainsburys is a pita to get to unless I'm traveling somewhere so cannot guarantee that, but lasagna could be good depending on how dolmeo sauce is... thank you!
 
I have made them. You can keep them in the fridge uncooked for a day or two or freeze and use as needed. Or cook and they make a handy next day lunch.
 
 
May I suggest you research what Quorn is. It was developed from waste mould that could be stretched to fake meat like textures by ICI and Rank Hovis McDougal, the trade mark brand has now been sold on many times since. As a veggie I stick to real food.
 
Lots of people avoid it. I find it useful occasionally, after all I regularly eat mould in the form of mushrooms....
 

That's great, I've got maybe 2 meals over a month though so I'm not hugely worried
 
You can make an endless variety of soups and green smoothies. A different one every day, if you want.

Soup is basically veg and water, with any added stock and (in your case) dairy/protein, if you want.
So start by sweating an onion in a pan with a little oil, then lob in any veg you like, add water/stock and simmer til cooked. Season or spice... blend as necessary. No need for any recipe.

Some of the most fabulous soups are voyages of discovery!
I particularly LOVE
spinach, rocket and smoked cheese,
red pepper and goats cheese
broccoli and stilton
tofu and mushroom
aubergine and hummus (yes, as a soup)

If you want to reduce dairy, then blending in a handful of cashews or macadamia nuts will give a beautiful creamy texture.
 
Engineer88 said:
Could you give me an idea of quantity for the goat cheese and red pepper please @Brunneria
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Haha! Well, I kind of guessimate... cos I make it up as I go along.

I tend to dredge the fridge for veg and then design a soup around it.

Let's say you want the soup as a main meal, OK?
So how much veg do you want? A whole red pepper per person? Half an onion ea? If that isn't enough, maybe lob in a courgette too? A carrot would add a bit of sweetness, aubergine would add a smooth velvety texture. Get creative.
As for the cheese?
I usually buy these
http://www.tesco.com/groceries/product/details/?id=258061140
which come in 125g packs.

If I was using the soup as a starter, I would think 25-30 g of cheese would be fine per person.
But for a main course, I would use half a pack per person.

Sweat the onion in butter or oil til translucent
throw in chopped pepper and courgette
pour in stock (one stock cube usually makes 500ml of stock), again, thinking about size of final portion, say 3-500ml of soup per person, but you can vary it how you like. Cans of soup are usually around 400ml, so that will give you a good guide.
Then simmer til veg just soft. Say 5-10 mins.

Then blend (or not) as your preference. I just put a stick blender into the pan as it stands on the (switched off) hob.
The more stock you used, the thinner the soup.
season to taste. black pepper or paprika would go nicely. probably enough salt in the stock already.
Serve in bowl with the goats cheese floating like a little iceberg...
 
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