We all have favorite foods that are off-limits to our low-carb lifestyle. I would like for you to share what your favorite tempting high carb foods are and the closest low carb substitutions you have found for them!

Something I really USED to miss is a loaded baked potato. Then I learned about loaded broccoli! I haven't even thought about a baked potato since!

Steamed broccoli with butter, bacon bits, sour cream & grated cheddar cheese! Add a piece of grilled salmon & there's a feast!

Chris

My favorite high carb food was brownies! The (flourless) 3 minute cake makes a great substitution!

Cauliflower!

Cauliflower substitutes for both rice and mashed potatoes.

I also recently learned about pork skins (the big fluffy ones) in place of flour/meal for pancakes.

My friend The Diet Detective Charles Stuart Platkin calls these carbohydrate bargains. What an excellent thread! Anybody else got any carb bargains?

I like rutabaga as a sub for potatoes as fries, hash, roasted, etc.

karishma--I'm a big fan of rutabagas myself---I use them and turnips in my chowders ---they are also good cooked with a beef roast with carrots, onions and celery

I am getting to the point in my journey that I no longer try to find substitutions for my old high carb favorites---I am trying to define my own new "normal" way of eating---not morn what I used to eat---alot of good they did me---I ended up morbidly obese----

I try to enjoy a certain food because it is that food---not because it replaces something else----does that make sense???

I love dessert in general. I now substitute sf gelatin or mixed berries with whipped cream for my desserts. I also now have the 3 min flourless choc. cake as an option since I found out about it here. I don't really miss starchy sides because I love veggies as a side and raw in salads.

You all have an advantage over me, since you can figure out substitutes. Since I do not know how to cook, I have had to take the approach of finding what fits into my life, since my old eating habits made me fat. So most of what I eat now is completely different that what I ate before.

There are a few things I really miss though, including Chinese food, fried seafood, and biscuits. The biscuits are a pretty big thing for me, because where I live everything comes either on or with a biscuit I also miss fried chicken, hashbrowns and grits.

I am trying to learn how to cook, so maybe I can come up with some good carbohydrate bargains. I think part of the reason I re-gained weight was because when I reached goal, I had the mindset that I could eat all the things I had been missing. I don't advise anyone else making this mistake

Spaghetti squash is AMAZING, too! We couldn't believe how sweet it tastes, too!

Hey Si - Melodie uses rutabagas to make hash browns. I made them the other day and they are really nice. Her recipe is below. Also, you can still have your fried seafood - I make coconut crumbed prawns (see recipe section of this site) and instead of using breadcrumbs to coat seafood or chicken for frying you can use almond meal. Linda has a great looking recipe for crumbed chicken recipe you could look at.

Mel's Rutabaga Hash Browns
"I do them two ways. I peel and cut the rutabaga into about a 1/4" dice and partially cook them in the microwave or parboil them. I like onions so I chop a few of those too. Sometimes I will dice up a couple of slices of bacon. When the bacon begins to brown and release the fat, I add the rutabaga and onion and salt and pepper to taste. They will brown up faster than potato so you have to watch them. If you don't want to use bacon then sometimes I use butter instead and even melt cheese on them occasionally. You see what I mean about my fat tooth. LOL"

Did you get your new pots and pan yet?????

And Robin posted this in another thread -

Hi Melodie,

Just wanted to give you a BIG "Thank you" for the almond flour suggestion. I've been reading the various forums, and I've seen you mention it a few times. I tried it this weekend to "low-carb-orize" a Barefoot Contessa recipe, and it came out better than the original. Oh, so tasty.

In case anyone's interested and because I'm so proud of it : Coated chicken breast cutlets (or tenders) in almond flour, then an egg wash, then grated parmesan. Pan fried a few minutes on each side in a little butter and olive oil.

I'm all about the almond flour now, so thanks again!

robin

What a great thread! I have begun ordering my fave Chinese and forgoing the rice. I also make chicken fried rice without the rice part--its just as good, really...

My talent was always baking, so I supposed I am going to have to do some research on substitutions in that area....

Cauliflower is great, not only as a potato substitute, you can also use grated cauliflower in place of rice.

I also bake with flaxseed meal, as well as almond flour, coconut flour, and a little soy flour. I buy whole flax seeds and grind them up as needed since the flaxseed meal goes rancid quickly. Laura Dolson has a good brownie recipe made with flaxseed meal.

http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/desserts/...clebrownies.htm

Expert foods makes some good thickeners, Not Starch and Not Sugar. The Not Sugar is intended to give you the texture of sugar that you don't get with splenda or other sweeteners. The Not Starch is good for gravy, sauces, etc. - anywhere you'd use flour or corn starch. You can get it chapter at netrition.com.

http://www.expertfoods.com/thickenthin.php

Thanks renegade! You know--I've thought about the cauli option but have been chicken to try it! Thanks for the links--I will definitely give it a whirl!

SJM I have checked out Linda's website. Most of my problem is that I do not even own pots and pans. I have ordered some online, they just have not arrived yet. Thanks for the suggestion about the cookbooks. I was looking at Dana Carpenter's crockpot cookbook, and thinking of buying that, but I have shelled out so much dough lately, I am having to wait until payday. As for the chinese, I know there are things out there, I just don't like them. My chinese primarily consisted of crab rangoon, eggrolls, sesame chicken, and sweet and sour. I have gone to restaurants and found things to eat, they were just not good to me.

Vee - No pots or pans yet, but when I checked the tracking number, it says in transit, so I am hoping they get here soon. I had to send them to my mom's house, because I didn't know when they would be herre, and whether or not I would be home, so if they come in this week, it will probably be Sunday before I get them.

Thanks for the suggestion abou the hashbrowns I will have to try those. The fireguys have made rutabegas, but what they made smelled like funky feet, and was more of a mash. I'm a sucker for corned beef hash with fried eggs, and have been missing that.

I forgot to mention spaghetti squash as a sub for pasta. I've even used it for lasagne instead of noodles.

If you use tomato sauce, watch the label closely for added sugar. Most commercial pasta sauces have added sugar. Ragu makes a "light" pasta sauce with no added sugar.

It's also good with alfredo sauce, which is naturally low carb. Well, at least home made alfredo is. Some commercial versions have added starch or sugar. It's realy simple:

1 stick of butter, 1 cup heavy cream, 3/4 cup grated parmesan cheese. Melt butter (you can also sautee onions, garlic, spinach, etc.), add cream, heat until hot, add cheese and stir until melted.

Wow, I'm getting some great suggestions here that I would never have thought of on my own! Keep 'em comin' y'all!

As for chinese...I go to a chinese buffet that has a mongolian grill and fill up a bowl with all the meat and veggies I want then have them cook it to my specifications. Lotsa garlic and spice...and its FRESH. Even better than the carb laden stuff on the regular food bar.

I don't know if any of you live or work near The Cheesecake Factory (it's a chain of restaurants/bakeries). I eat there every once-in-awhlie and I usually leave with a piece of their low-carb Cheesecake in hand (6 carbs per slice). It honestly tastes as good/rich as their traditional cheesecake.

I'm pretty new to this but I hope I'll have more to offer in the future.

Hey renegade - excuse my aussie ignorance but what's a stick of butter weigh?????

Welcome Harry - love the kitty. We have a cat lovers thread you should visit in the Free for All forum : )

And bread??? I don't need no stinkin' bread. I do just fine wrapping my sandwich fixins in a big leaf of romaine lettuce or red or green leaf lettuce. It even works good for hamburgers.

Thanks LindaSue

This has been my mission since day one. I LOVE to cook. These are my quick and easy subs.

Dessert
-I make no bake cheesecakes in a cupcake pan (2 8oz packages of cream cheese, 1/2 cup sour cream, 1 4 oz package of SF jello, 1 cup water, 1 tbsp vanilla exptract. Disolve jello in boiling water, then add cream cheese, then other ingredients. best is lemon & lime) and make crust out of 2 tbsp ground flaxseed, 1/2 tablespoon butter, & 1/2 packet of splenda. Microwave it for 1 1/2 minutes in a ramakin, let it sit in there for 5 minutes, plop in the cheesecake and BAM..a cheesecake for 4 carbs give or take. (cheesecakes are less than 2 carbs, since I make 12 servings)

-Whipped cream-ice cream. 2 cup heavy whipping cream, Da Vinci SF Vanilla syrup to taste & 1 tbsp coco powder. Whip it up, put in dishes (it makes me 6 coffee cups. Stick in the freezer. I get 9 net carbs or 1.5 per serving, so I always round up to 2 net carbs. (I also make just the plain whip cream and but berries in it)

Pizza
-I make a portabella pizza, the recipe is in the recipe section.

Spagetti
-I also use spaghetti squash, had it last night. I sautee it in olive oil, garlic powder, a little salt and pepper and use either pork sausage or chicken and top with parmesan cheese.

Faux-taters
-Every thanksgiving my mom makes Super-Duper Potatoes. This has been on my mind lately. Saturday I made and easy version, but this weekend I am going to make the full blown baked version. I just boiled califlower 30 min, mashed it, put in butter, sour cream, salt & pepper, cheddar cheese. Put it into a dish, spread more cheese on the top and microwaved it so the cheese melted. Non LC friends LOVED it. I will be using heavy cream & baking it like my mom does with hers this weekend.

-I use pork rinds as chips for dips

This was a great idea...I never thought of loaded broccoli!!!

My newly discovered secret from Dr Gullo's "The Thin Commandments"

GG Scandanavian Crisp breads. 0 net carbs per peice, or 3 carbs if you don't count NET.

The are like crackers and I top them with egg salad or sandwich toppings and YUMMMY! Kills my sandwich cravings.

Are we allowed to have almond flour on induction?? That fried tenders recipe sounds AWESOME!

Oh the crisp breads I get at Whole foods. I assume any healthfood or organic store will have them.

OMG this was totally WRONG thread to read. I am so craving EVERYTHING now. I am a Kimkins Refugee and not sure where I am going, or what I am doing.

But, the one substitution I LOVE is parmesan crackers. I spray pam on a plate add as much parm as I need to the plate, spread it out and microwave it for 1 min. My kids hate the smell of it, but I love the crunch and light texture.

Amy

One thing I really like that satisfies my cravings for chocolate is a Lindt 85% cocoa chocolate bar. One square is around 2 grams of carbs. It isn't for the faint of heart, however. This chocolate isn't very sweet at all, but a little goes a long way with me. That is what I like about it. It has this deep, rich dark chocolate flavor, but it isn't something you would be tempted to over-indulge in.

Hi Folks! I've been working with Low Carb (on and off ) for about 3 years now and have gotten tired of the weight yo-yo. At least I keep getting back on the horse! I love Laura Dobson's Miracle Brownies already mentioned in an earlier post. But I'd love to know everybody's favorite pork rinds. Ritmeyer, what are yours???

Welcome to my forum StayLean! It's GOOD to have you here. You might want to chime in over at the Recipe forum to see what my moderator Linda has to say about pork rinds. She uses them in so many wonderful recipes, too! THANKS for being here!

The first time I went to the movies with friends, I was worried because I knew they would be eating buttered popcorn, so I prepared ahead and sliced 8 stalks of celery into small pieces and tossed a big baggie full of them in my purse. By having a bag of something to keep my hands busy and buying a King sized diet Coke to sip on, the popcorn did not even tempt me and I had enough celery to keep me chewing for amost the whole movie. Not sure how you men are going to sneak it in, but a big purse worked for me.

I love spaghetti squash with meat sauce. When I make pasta for the family, I use a low carb tomato sauch with ground beef and then I make spaghetti squash for myself. And I love it with just butter too, no sauce! MmmmMmmm