Support and ideas for those on low-carb diet

The recipe is Mechoui lamb from Persiana, but I mucked about with it a bit, so apologies to the wonderful Sabrina Ghayour.
I started with butter, cumin, coriander, crushed garlic, thyme, paprika, cayenne, salt, black pepper, mixed into a paste. Leg of lamb, (2.5 lbs) poked here and there with a knife. Rub the paste all over, especially into the holes. Bung in cooking bag and cook for three hours in a low oven by which time it will fall off the bone. Probably 130 in most ovens but about 100 in our Lacanche which is too bloody hot.
Use the juices in the bag as gravy, having got rid of the fat.
Tomorrow will be cold lamb and ratatouille and Tuesday will be spicy shepherd's pie with celeriac mash on top.

Thanks, sounds brilliant- got a leg in the freezer that needs using up- so will try this week- must remember to buy oven bags though- going to HyperU tomorrow. Merci

Mamie - I agree with you comments on the french health system. They're very efficient and get everything done quickly, our MT is very kind, but are slow to take on new ideas and research. His father is still in the practise, in his 80s, and his favourite antiseptic is gentian violet (it works too.)
Sorry for thread drift.

Well, I've come to the end of week 1 and feeling Pretty Damned Pleased with myself. No broken the 'eating plan' except for just night when I hit the whisky bottle.

Note to self; don't run out of red wine.

Good to have support and ideas on this thread

just last.

It is helpful isn't it. And I shall continue with this diet that involves eating good, fresh ingredients, lots of veg, natural fats and a complete absence of sugary and processed food. It has sustained me well and given me gentle and consistent weight loss over the course of a year.
Breakfast and then a morning chopping and hauling in the garden!

Merlot, sincere apologies- last thing I want to do is 'pick your posts apart'- but the whole point of the diet if LOW or NO carbs, and HIGH fat- so comments and analysis should relate to those principles in this thread.

I am very interested- and plan to do a gently version of this as OH has to limit protein intake- and also very fast changes and weight loss can actually put a lot of strain on his heart too. He has done so well since the electroshock (artificially stop heart to regulate arythmia) and his kidneys are stable- so do NOT want to do anything drastic.

Arctic again today, so will wait for sunshine to return than switch all carbs to veg and cut down portions. We did switch to low GI carbs a few years back, new potatoes instead of baked (much less starch), aldente basmati and wild rice instead of risotto (much less starch) and always wash pasta in cold water when cooked and then re-heat (m l s), and often eat a small portion of barley instead (sold in yellow packs as Ebly- great for stir fries and salads instead of couscous) and bulgur. But will attempt to cut them all altogether instead of just trying to cut portion size. Thanks for the inspiration.

I think this is probably ny fault for putting LCHF in the title instead of just low carb. We certainly have small portions of all of those low gi carbs in our diet Granjura, but probably only one of them about once or twice a week. One of the reasons for starting the thread was because I was struggling a bit with finding a way of maintaing my weight rsther than continuing to lose it, though I hadn't raised it here yet. It certainly wasn't meant to be bootcamp - there is a very good thread on Mumsnet for that.
Do people want me to ask GNHQ to edit the title or can we agree that it just loosely covers support around low-carbing?
Sorry again for causing confusion, I just used LCHF as a kind of shorthand.

Perhaps see if GNHQ will just chop off the high fat bit? Otherwise we might give the wrong impression and spend too much time fending off skeptics

But I'm not really bothered.

Raspberries and cream for breakfast now, sitting out in the sun (with a jumper on).

I don't think I'll bother with this thread any more....Sorry Mamie. I'm sick of being spoken to like a dim-wit by granjura and the anti-diet clever dicks police on other threads are getting on my nerves.

I know I'm losing weight. I've gone down a size (in tops) and I know this diet works for me. I'm not obese, I only need to lose a stone and I'm a grown up so it's my choice how I do it.

Actually, it would be better if the title of this thread was Low Carb-High Protein and just not mention the F word.

Good luck everyone!

How can a sincere apology and explanation (eg this thread is about low or no carb and not about low fat) = being spoken to like a dimwit?!? What a shame.

Oh dear. I hope we can just let the dust settle a bit and then carry on supporting each other.

Buggar!

And where's that recipe for fennel gone? I wanted to do that tonight

I think Anya's leek and cheese pie sounds delicious. Will do it tomorrow, but I will use half fat cheese, extra whole eggs instead of cream, and - maybe not necessary but I will do it anyway - substitute the butter for olive oil margarine. And use half and half flour (wholewheat and plain).

Lunch today was salad leaves, avocado, tomatoes, cucumber, beetroot and smoked salmon in an oil and balsamic vinegar dressing, followed by apple and orange.

Rose I have a wonderful recipe for cake using no flour, no sugar and Orange Cream Cheese Frosting all over it! I'm saving that for Easter! I'll send you the 'how to do' on the Cheese & Leek Tart when you've lost your 7lbs sunshine
Anya you can send it whenever you like - I promise not to cheat!

I haven't even opened the DGD's Easter eggs!

Braised Fennel (with baby carrots if you are back to eating root vegetables)
Rose Elliot - Veggie Chic

About 750g baby carrots
400g fennel
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
3 tbspns olive oil
large knob of butter
200mls water
100mls white wine
freshly squeezed lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
chopped parsley to garnish

Serves 4

Just scrub the carrots if they are young - peel them if they are older but leave them whole.
If the fennel is young and tender just trim the tops. Slice larger fennel into wedges.
Put the carrots and fennel into a saucepan with the olive oil, garlic, water, lemon juice and wine.
Bring to the boil - cover and cook gently for about 30 mins, checking now and again to make sure they're not sticking. They're done when they're tender to the point of a knife.
Remove the lid and reduce to a syrupy golden glaze.
Season and serve with chopped parsley.

I use a small wok for cooking this and plonk any old lid that fits on top.

Just leave out the carrots if you are in the early stages of the diet.

Thank you very much. I was sat here in my kitchen looking at this fennel bulb and wondering where to start

cheese and leek.

Roll out pastry thinly (instead of flour for non sticking try a sprinkling of ground almond, works a treat)
Bake blind for 15 minutes then remove blinding stuff and bake for another 5

Meanwhile chop leeks finely (after usual washing palaver) and cook in butter or whatever you like! for 5 minutes till soft.
Beat together eggs, cream.
Add the cheese and throw in a tspoon of thyme if you like (I do)
Add leeks and season
Pour into flan case (if you're feeling decadent grate a bit of Parmesan on top first)
Bake about 30-35 mins at Gas 4, 180oC or 160oC fan or till you think it's done.

Trying out low carb cake later this week. If any good will post it Rose

jingl if you want to substitute the cream, try crème fraiche instead. I use that in my spinach gratin or Pain Epinard as my DD likes to call it and it works a treat. Not tried it in the flan though.

PS dry the leeks between two sheets of kitchen paper or whizz dry in a lettuce dryer.