low carbs

We’ve had a request for carb-free*, low calorie recipe ideas over at Six-Pack for Girls on Facebook – so…here are a few!
If you have a question, or would like some suggestions about a certain topic, then ask away – either post it over on our Facebook page, or fill in the form on the ‘get in touch page’ and drop us a line.
* meaning starchy carbs.  Vegetables are carbs too – fibrous ones, and you want to be eating LOTS of those!
 

Beef Stir Fry with Red Peppers and Green Beans

The ingredients in this are very simple:

• Thin strips of beef
• Peppers (they don’t have to be red)
• Green Beans
• Onions
• Baby corn
• Bean Sprouts
• Mushrooms
• Mustard (English)
• Splash of olive oil and water
• Other spices and seasonings to taste – experiment!

The great thing about this if you’re cooking for an entire family – you can cook noodles for the others and just not have any yourself.
Experiment with the veg’ too: cabbage, broccoli, julienned carrots and courgettes – all of them work really well, the trick is to make sure everything is roughly the same size.
You don’t have to have beef either – chicken works just as well – and if you want to know exactly how much protein you’re eating, just weigh and cook it separately; sorted.
 

Baked Stuffed Mushrooms

The mushrooms pictured here were stuffed with ham, spring onions and cheese, but you can swap the stuffing for absolutely anything that you wish (anything healthy for YOU!)

• Cut out the stalk of two Portabello mushrooms (any large flat breakfast mushroom will do)
• Smear a little bit of tomato puree around the inside of your mushrooms
• Stuff with whatever you fancy: mixed veg with some grated cheese on top would be fab!  You could even crack an egg into it and have a baked eggs and ‘shrooms (if you try that, please let me know how it turns out!)
• Season with herbs and spices
• Bake in the oven at 200C for 10 to 20 minutes, depending on how big your mushrooms are and how you like them

Serve as a snack, or as a side dish with some sort of protein.
 

Dave Ruel’s Crispy Chicken Nuggets with Stir Fried Veg

Dave Ruel – aka The Muscle Chef – deserves a medal for coming up with his Crispy Chicken Nugget recipe – they’ve become a real family favourite! (There are some carbs in this recipe).
My youngest son, Edward, loves this (he’s six-and-a-half), my teenage daughter loves them (she’s 17), my mum loves them (I’m not telling you how old she is but, historically, she’s NOT a chicken nugget fan!) and my darling husband loves them too.
They’re dead simple to make, taste AMAZING and you can have the recipe for free – along with these nine others, from Dave’s cook book ‘Anabolic Cooking’ just click this link  ——> Dave Ruel’s Crispy Chicken Nuggets, and nine other recipes!
and either bookmark it, or save the PDF somewhere on your computer (it’ll open in a new window for you).

• Blueberry Oatmeal
• Apple & Cinnamon High Protein Muffins
• Dave’s Famous Turkey Meatloaf
• Baked Crispy Chicken Nuggets
• The MusleCook’s Chilli
• Beef & Broccoli Stir Fry
• Tuna Melt Patties
• High Protein Fudge Bars (these are seriously good!)
• Lemon Cheesecake
• Banana Bread Shake

Awesome recipes!  To try them, is to love them – you’ll see what I mean once you’ve tried them 🙂
 

Omelette Pizza

THIS particular recipe came about because my daughter, Elise, had a sudden craving for pizza; neither of us were about to stray off our nutritional path, so we came up with this rather fabulous omelette pizza.

• Make an omelette – you can use whole eggs if you wish, egg whites only, some and some, or egg whites with oats – if you want/need to add some starchy carbs
• Add toppings of your choice to the UNCOOKED top of the omelette before it sets too much – this will stop your ingredients falling off later! (Anything like broccoli, will need to be cooked first)
• Sprinkle on a little grated cheese – weigh it before you put it on, it’s very easy to get carried away with grated cheese and blow your calories right out of the water
• Sprinkle with herbs and spices – my current favourite herb is Sweet Basil, we’re having it on just about everything!
• Place the pan under a hot grill until the cheese has melted
• Slide out of the pan onto a plate, cut into wedges and serve with salad

This recipe is great for getting kids involved with cooking and eating healthy food.  Let them help you beat the eggs for the base and give them free reign to design their own top from a range of bits and pieces in bowls – I can guarantee a omelette pizzas with smiley faces will be made in kitchens in countries around the world!
 

Thai Fish Soup with Julienne of Carrots and Courgettes

I could happily eat fish all day, every day and not get bored, I love it!  If you don’t, just switch the fish for something that you do like 🙂
This Thai Fish Soup with Julienne of Carrots and Courgettes is just SOOO scrummy and so quick and simple to make.

• Gently poach the fish of your choice in a little bit of water (or cook your chicken, beef, whatever)
• In the meantime, julienne some carrots and courgettes – I use a julienne peeler like this one, it’s seriously awesome and seriously sharp —–> Julienne Peeler.  (TOP TIP – if you get one: stick a fork into the end of the veg you’re going to julienne, that way you won’t julienne your fingers as well!)
• Finely chop a red and green chili (wear gloves!)
• Add 500ml of water to a pan and an appropriate stock cube – depending on whether you’re using fish, chicken or beef
• Add 1 tsp of Smoked Paprika
• 1 tsp of Ground Corriander
• 1 tsp of Ground Cumin
• 1 tsp of Turmeric
• Varying amounts of the green and red chili – depending on the degree of heat you like.
• Skim off any ‘scum’ from the water you poached your fish in, add to the water (obviously you can’t do this if you didn’t use fish!), then bring to the boil
• Flake your fish/slice your chicken or beef and add to the pan of water, along with the julienned veg’
• Turn the heat down, simmer for two to three minutes
• Serve in a bowl, with a sprinkle of Smoked Paprika on the top to make it look pretty 😉

 

Baked Fish with Onions and Tomatoes in Tin Parcels

Another fish recipe that’s simple – it takes a little while to bake though, so make sure you allow enough time.
I’ve only tried this with fish, but I imagine it would work just as well with chicken and beef…

• Lay your protein of choice in the middle of enough tin foil to be able to wrap it over the top in a tent-like parcel
• If using chicken or fish: smear some tomato puree over the top – if using beef: you could try using some mustard
• Pile thinly sliced red onions and halved cherry tomatoes over the top
• Drizzle some olive oil over the top and then add some herbs and spices of your choice
• Bring the edges of the tin foil together to form a loose tent – you want steam to be able to gather inside, so you need space.
• Bake in a pre-heated oven (200C) for 30 to 40 minutes – depending on what you’ve used and until it’s cooked through (the time will be less if you want your beef rare!)
• Cook some veg and serve with your protein (LEFT IN the tin foil opened out to form a ‘bowl’) on a plate.

 

A few more ideas…

Take a look at the pictures at back at the top of this post – we’re sure you don’t need to be told how to create these, everything’s pretty self-explanatory from the pictures 😉

Low Carb Recipe Books

If that’s whet your appetite and you’d like some low-carb cook books, there are TONS over at Amazon (in whichever your local Amazon is!) – here are some suggestions for you:

Cindy – I hope that’s helped you out a bit!