Low Carb Menu (plus food for the family)

[HeatherFeather]

I am going to share my menu for the next week or so in the hopes that I will actually remember to make everything I planned. My BF and DD will still be eating their regular foods, so I am going to include what I plan to serve them as well. Ideally, most meals will be something we can all enjoy, but that isn't always possible.

Breakfasts:
avocado halves stuffed with smoked salmon & cream cheese
scrambled eggs, bacon, tomato slices, sauteed mushrooms
breakfast sausage, fried egg, tomato slices, cauliflower patties
soft boiled eggs w/asparagus
low carb leftovers from dinner for breakfast
Eggs Benedict w/low carb multi grain English Muffin half (or just without the muffin)

For the rest of the family, they also have homemade waffles, cereal, oatmeal, English muffins to choose from. I will probably bake some banana muffins for them as well.

Lunches:
Squash Soup w/side salad and some slices of deli meats/cheese rolled up
Nicoise Salad (with green beans, lettuce, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, cheese, hard boiled eggs, vinaigrette dressing, tuna)
Veggie or Cheese Omelette w/side salad
Salmon Fish Cakes w/sauteed cabbage (or just a homemade coleslaw) or Salmon Salad Sandwiches (using lettuce for mine instead of bread)
Chef's Salad

For the rest of the family, they also can have PBJ or deli meat sandwiches, ravioli, other types of soup/ramen.

Dinners:
Marinated Steaks w/Asparagus and a small side salad
Roast Chicken with Gravy, Broccoli, Boiled or Mashed potatoes (for them), rolls (for them), corn
Chicken Breasts with Basil Cream Sauce, with mashed cauliflower and a small side salad
Indian Style Chicken & Vegetable Curry w/cucumber raita, Naan bread (for them) w/basmati rice (for them)
Fish w/tomato & cucumber salad (Chicken Sandwich for my BF)
Personal Cottage Pies (using mashed cauliflower instead of mashed potatoes on my portion)

Sometimes the meals will get repeated (especially for breakfast and lunch) but that is the basic plan I follow to get me back on track. I avoid diet soda, drink water & unsweetened iced tea mainly, as well as hot coffee (with cream, no sugar) and green or herbal teas (nothing added).

I am never totally strict about every carb, because it just isn't realistic. I just try to make my meals as reduced in carbs as I can, without loading on too much excess fat (although I stick to whole, real versions of things like butter and other dairy). Meats are always lean/skinless when possible and the meat fat gets drained.

I will try to eat this menu over the next two weeks, then add in some other dishes so we don't get bored. I vary the way each dish is made when it gets repeated, such as using a different seasonings/herbs/vegetables, but keeping to the basic menu ideas.

[Dissie]

Heather that is what I do, Make meals for the rest and then try to eat what part I can eat. I try to make meals that we can all eat, but my family likes to eat carbs. So it restricts me. Salads are great. I make up salads ahead, like cucumbers and tomatoes, vinegar dressings to keep it low carbish.

[HeatherFeather]

Heather that is what I do, Make meals for the rest and then try to eat what part I can eat. I try to make meals that we can all eat, but my family likes to eat carbs. So it restricts me. Salads are great. I make up salads ahead, like cucumbers and tomatoes, vinegar dressings to keep it low carbish.

Yes, mine loves carbs too. I also love to bake, so at least I can still do that and know the others will usually devour the baked goods. Hard to resist eating some, but I am trying really hard to just make it for them and leave it alone.

Salads are so great - I can use up every veggie in the house if I need to, and it is easy to add some protein by adding cheese, nuts, an egg, or some cooked meat. Simple and nice during the hot weather. The others usually have a sandwich or something if I have a salad.

[Dissie]

I haven't been as good as I should lately. I hate a burger with a bun, beans with syrupy tomato sauce, chips, hotdogs with buns....Oh yeah, potato salad!

But I did make a lovely delicious soup yesterday and still eating it today. No potatoes, but yes it does have tomatoes, but still relatively low carb considering what I had been chowing down on!

[HeatherFeather]

Thought I would update what we ended up having, as it always somewhat varies from whatever gets planned:

For my breakfasts, I mainly had the planned egg options as listed, except no Eggs Benedict. I did not have the other options yet. One day I skipped being low carb entirely as we had donuts from the local bakery on the weekend and pizza for dinner. I don't mind skipping one day a week as long a I don't go overboard.

For lunches, I mainly ended up eating leftovers because there were so many. I did have a lunch salad one day and also had the squash soup another day.

For dinners, we had the marinated steaks meal, the roast chicken meal turned into boiled chicken (which was made into chicken & dumplings) which we ate one night and had leftovers the next, pizza delivery one night, pizza leftovers another night, the fish meal, and tonight will again be something to use up the rest of my leftover chicken meat (a casserole).

So overall, I didn't really end up sticking to my low carb plans as well as I had hoped to. I am planning to make the rest of the meals from my menu plan this week, but am allowing myself a planned "carbs, shmarbs" day.

I did cut way back on my diet soda and was very, very good about drinking loads of water and unsweetened iced tea. Snacks were peanut butter stuffed celery stalks and small handfuls of peanuts. I also had a small bit of fresh fruit in place of any desserts I might normally have been tempted to eat.