Need ideas - low-carb, easy dinners w/out fancy ingredients?
erkerns
Posts: 27 Member
Hello everyone! I'm looking to reduce my carbs (not eliminate - reduce) and I find that I generally eat a lot of carbs at dinner. My dinners always feature rice or pasta. I need some ideas for low-carb dinners that are easy-ish to prepare and don't require a lot of fancy ingredients - I live in Mexico and I've found that I can't even find things like brown rice, provolone cheese, etc... so if your recipes require something more exotic like quinoa or tzatziki sauce, I won't be able to find the ingredients. I also have a small kitchen, a busy life, and I don't own anything fancy like a food processor. Any ideas?
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Sheesh obviously I know how to google...
I'm looking for ideas that have worked and continue working for you, the real people... I just did a long google search and came up with stuff like "feta-stuffed turkey meatloaf with tzatziki sauce..." not gonna work.0 -
Easy low carb recipe;
1) four chicken breast
2) 12 strips of bacon
3) onion powder and paprika
Wrap each breast width-wise with three strips of bacon
place the wrapped breast in a crockpot, sprinkle with onion salt and paprika and set on low for six hours
Each breast has
315 calories
14.5g fat
47g protein
0 carbs!
Add some sauteed mushrooms and asparagus and your set
Keep it simple!0 -
Salmon, salt, pepper, lemon juice. Place all ingredients in a foil packet and seal. Place in a 375 degree oven for about 20 mins. Serve with a a side of roasted asparagus or baby bellas sautéed in coconut (or olive) oil and fresh basil.0
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Omelette/Frittata is my go to low carb meal. Couple of eggs, bit of chopped veg and chillis, ham/bacon/chorizo. Cook it all up, throw into a couple of beaten eggs and pour back into small pan. Couple of minutes each side and om nom nom.
Takes about 10 minutes start to finish, comes in at around 300 cals with a bit oil for frying the ingredients in.0 -
Check on Pintrest. There are a ton of meals on there that are cheap, easy, and low carb.
I am in the same boat as you as far as a busy life/small kitchen.. and Pintrest has saved my life.
I do chicken salad with light ranch and buffalo sauce and then a cup of soup pretty often. You can make an easy soup or you can use canned soup. If you are able to find "Progresso Light" canned soup.. it is the lowest in calorie and they are actually really good.0 -
Yay, ideas already! Thanks guys! I have to run away from the internet for a while but I'll check back later.0
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My low carb lunches are usually some protein (leftovers from the night before) with 200g of frozen veg. I don't miss the carbs if the vegetables contain some starchy varieties, such as beans or peas.
I don't always avoid carbs, but if I am not having them at dinner I will pair a lean protein (grilled prawns, steak or chicken) with vegetables. Again I don't miss the carbs if I have a selection which includes some fibrous or starchy stuff such as roast asparagus, roast carrots and sauteed spinach.
Tonight I had roast chicken and a greek salad with tomatoes, onion, feta, olives and vinaigrette.0 -
Lettuce wraps are great too. Same as a taco just instead of the tortilla use lettuce to cup it.0
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Chop up a bunch of root vegetables, including lots of onion and mushrooms, saute up with some ground beef/meat, add some oregano, thyme or basil if you'd like and sprinkle with some soy sauce or just salt and pepper....yummy, easy and lots of leftovers! Also very good with tofu or tempeh in place of the meat. The smaller you cut the veggies the quicker they'll cook!0
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This might be more simplistic than you were looking for, but one of my favorites is grilled meat: Chicken, steak, pork, you name it.0
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I've had a lot of success with replacing rice with sautéed cabbage, and I love spaghetti squash, but if I can't find that at the store I make noodles out of zucchini. I've also bought a box of carbquick it's a bit like bis quick, but lower carbs.0
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Try baked chicken/pork/beef/fish with roasted broccoli and cauliflower (or other similar vegetables) and a fresh salad or sliced cucumbers:
http://farmflavor.com/oven-roasted-broccoli-cauliflower/
6 cups small, bite-size fresh broccoli and cauliflower florets, mixed
2 to 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
2 garlic cloves, finely minced
¾ teaspoon crushed red pepper
Learn to make Mole using local ingredients to put on meat.
Here is a version of a mole but there are many others:
http://www.momswhothink.com/dinner-recipes/easy-mole-sauce-recipe.html
Easy Mole Sauce Recipe
This mole sauce recipe is an easy version of the Mexican mole sauce; a type of gravy with chiles, chocolate and seasonings. Mole is tasty on smoked beef (as suggested in this recipe) but works equally well on enchiladas or chicken.
Ingredients:
2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 cup water
3 large dried chilies
2 onions; chopped
2 cloves minced garlic
2 cups tomato sauce
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1 oz. square unsweetened baking chocolate
Directions:
1. Combine salt, pepper, water, chiles and onions in a saucepan. Simmer for 30 minutes on low.
2. Add garlic, tomato sauce, sugar, cinnamon and chocolate.
3. Stir until heated through and chocolate is melted, then serve on smoked beef. Garnish with fresh cilantro.0 -
If you can get a favorite fish or say a piece of chicken (boneless) then I suggest a French style parchment paper purse. Here is what you do:
Tear off a large piece of parchment paper, fold in half to crease then open and set aside. Season your protein source and place in center of paper. Cut up a pile of any vegetable and put in a bowl. Season with salt, pepper, some olive oil to toss and any other seasonings that you want. Add veggies on top of protein choice and then bring two opposite corners together and start to roll while bringing in the other two corners to close the whole thing up. Place on a cookie sheet and bake 20-30 minutes in a 350 degree oven. There will be liquid inside so serve in a shallow bowl and enjoy.
Here is one of my favorite combinations:
salmon, lemon slices, asparagus, mushrooms, fennel, shallot, salt and pepper.
Arrange as follows: salmon, lemon slices, veggies, lemon slices, veggies, lemon slices. Fold and bake as described.
This makes for virtually no clean up, fast and nutritious, low carb (based on your veggie choices) and delicious.0 -
The first 2 years I changed my eating habits I lived on stir-frys for dinner. I like variety and everyday I could make something different and it was easy. I would buy a ton of different vegetables ahead of time and cut them all up and put them in containers. I would buy protien and pre pakage it out (chicken, steak, turkey). Then when it was time for dinner I grabbed the veggies and meat I wanted threw it into the pan and added a little sauce ( I kept like 10 different kinds in my fridge lol) and in 1 pan and not a lot of time preparing it I had a healthy dinner 0
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Definitely add my vote to the stir fry, lettuce wraps, fritattas and spaghetti squash, all super yummy!
My favorite is meatballs…I love meatballs!! I try to always have some in the freezer, we buy the BIG thing of grass fed beef and I make a whole bunch at a time for freezing. Then just get a roasting pan, throw in some of the frozen meatballs and veggies and roast it all together. It cooks while you do something else! I think our favorite is meatballs, brussels sprouts and carrots. Also really good with sweet potatoes and apples, a few more carbs there, but at least they're good carbs! (I usually eat sweet potatoes on lifting days.) Add whatever herbs you like, or just s&p, and whatever veggies you happen to have on hand…we eat variations of it all the time! I do the same thing with italian sausage too, I grill the whole package at once and then slice the leftovers to do this with.0 -
Just cook less carbs and more vegetables?0
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This is one that the family calls Taco Chicken, not sure if you would be interested in Mexico.
Chicken breasts tossed in "taco seasoning" (I make my own because of sodium)
In roasting pan put sliced Jalapenos on top of breasts. Cover with salsa or just diced tomatoes for taste preference. Cover with low fat shredded cheese and bake.
I serve it with a side salad and beans. The husband has rice with his. 0 -
My go-to dinners .......
Grilled meats ..... grilled vegetables with a sprinkle of cheese ...... and sometimes grilled fruit :drinker:0 -
Easy low carb recipe;
1) four chicken breast
2) 12 strips of bacon
3) onion powder and paprika
Wrap each breast width-wise with three strips of bacon
place the wrapped breast in a crockpot, sprinkle with onion salt and paprika and set on low for six hours
Each breast has
315 calories
14.5g fat
47g protein
0 carbs!
Add some sauteed mushrooms and asparagus and your set
Keep it simple!
Dusting off my crock pot and trying this today!0 -
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chicken and veg easy0
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Thanks so much guys! These are all great ideas! I'm going to try a couple of them this week. Going to the grocery store today 0
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This is one that the family calls Taco Chicken, not sure if you would be interested in Mexico.
Chicken breasts tossed in "taco seasoning" (I make my own because of sodium)
In roasting pan put sliced Jalapenos on top of breasts. Cover with salsa or just diced tomatoes for taste preference. Cover with low fat shredded cheese and bake.
I serve it with a side salad and beans. The husband has rice with his.
Oh that sounds really good! I'm going to try that this week.0 -
Beef chilli
500g of beef
Tin chop toms
Tom purée
Diced onion
Cinnamon power
Cumin powder / or seeds
Chilli powder (hot)
Fresh chilli's (but only if you like it real hot)
Salt
Pepper
Easy - prep and cooking no more than 20 minutes.
Total carbs is about 20 grams0 -
Bump. Good ideas.0
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We typically do a meat and a veggie for dinner.
Roasted chicken thighs (skin on and bone in) seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika) Roasted cauliflower- cut the cauliflower into decent sized florets, toss with some olive oil, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and roast it at the same time as the chicken.
Baked salmon with sautéed broccoli. Bake the salmon with your choice of seasoning at 400 degrees for 15-20 mins. Saute the broccoli in olive or coconut oil with garlic and a little soy sauce.
Grilled pork chops with yellow squash. Marinade the chops in a mixture of Worcestershire sauce, pepper, and mustard. slice the squash into 1/4" thick ovals. Marinade in olive oil with salt, pepper, garlic. Grill it all.
It's really not that hard to come up with stuff once you get into the groove. Experiment and see what you like.0 -
If I need a fairly quick low-carb meal, blackened chicken salad is my go to meal. I usually vary what I put in the salad; tomatoes, avocado, celery, cheese, olives and top it with cubed, chicken blackened with your choice of seasoning. Sometimes I cook the chicken in olive oil and sometimes in coconut oil. yummy0
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