Home-cooked low carb heaven!
Posted by: Hoboken411 at 02:27 pm on January 31, 2012
Living low carb is tasty, and easy to prepare at home
Here is a great example of a fantastic low-carb dinner for two that you can make for around $25.
It consists of filet mignon, baked cauliflower and creamed spinach.
- Step 1 – One giant cauliflower (any supermarket will do): Carefully snap the heads of cauliflower, and try to make the pieces as similarly sized as possible (for uniformity while they cook). Dump in bowl, and coat with olive oil and season to taste (we used salt, pepper, garlic and cayenne pepper). Massage in the oil and spices, then arrange on a single layer baking sheet. Cook at high temperature (400 degrees or higher), and bake till they brown evenly – turning maybe once or twice. As it browns darker (caramelizes), you get a sweeter taste, so cook to your preference.
- Step 2 – Creamed Spinach (any frozen variety): Boil in bag until hot. So easy a caveman can do it.
- Step 3 – Filet Mignon (from Truglio’s Meat Market): Get a cast iron skillet nice & hot. Season your steak to taste (salt & pepper usually good enough). Cook in liberal amounts BUTTER for about 4 minutes per side, then tent in foil until you’re ready to eat.
Ahhhh, low carb living rocks!
January 31st, 2012 |
If you heat the skillet enough, you don’t need to use liberal amounts of butter. Add the fat of your choice (butter or olive oil) AFTER the skillet is heated to just coat the bottom of the pan. Saves you a significant number of unnecessary calories. Just because a low-carb diet says you can have fat doesn’t mean you need to. An even better alternative is to use a non-stick grill pan. I still use some oil or butter for flavoring.
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January 31st, 2012 |
Forgot to agree with you completely about the cauliflower. My fiancee made this for me twice in the last few weeks (she sprinkles a little parmesean cheese as well as olive oil, salt and pepper on it), and it is excellent.
In response to Spurs in Jerz who said:
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January 31st, 2012 |
The low-carb plan I’m on is quite fat-intensive.
65-70% Fat
25-30% Protein
5% or less of Carbs
There comes a point where too much protein will also raise your blood sugar, and enable you to gain weight (fat stores). Plus the fats actually satiate you better than protein, and you end up eating less automatically, and feel full for much longer.
Butter, oils, and other fats are not our enemy whatsoever, it’s the carbs & sugar that are. But society has collectively been brain-washed by the negative karma that fats have had over the past few decades. Oh well!
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January 31st, 2012 |
I agree they are not our enemy. I assume your diet is based on an ultimate number of calories; ie, a 2500 cal diet with 65-70% of your calorie intake coming from fat. Fats are 2.25x the caloric content, gram for gram, of protein and carbohydrates. I remember gluconeogenesis from med school, but will plead ignorance to the details (it also brings back bad memories). However, what I do remember is that it is such a small level of glucose produced that your body is going to use it up anyway, since you will be in ketogenesis. The only way to produce enough glucose to ultimately lead to adipose tissue is to consume gargantuan amounts of protein. By the time you do something like that, your kidneys will likely be going into failure. I saw this once with a teenage weightlifter who avoided fats and carbs; he went into renal failure because he was on a very strict, high-protein diet.
My point was, if you are going to use fats, use your fat allowance wisely. Why use butter when olive oil will provide the same calories for more beneficial fat content, in a calorie-to-calorie comparison? Also, save money and get a better (read, more-marbled) steak and avoid filet. They are usually cheaper and provide a lot more meaty flavor. Get more fats, get more flavor, save more money.
In response to hoboken411 who said:
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February 1st, 2012 |
Me, I’d rather go with a ribeye steak. More fatty, tastes better. You can make some herbed butter to go on top of it, after cooking it in butter, yum yum. And why not make your own creamed spinach, it’d be much better than the pre-made boil in a bag kind, and probably better for you (not sure what’s in that pre-made stuff!?).
I’ve done lots of things with cauliflower but I haven’t tried baking it like that. I’ll give that a go soon, thanks!
Btw, for the ultimate steak experience, you need to get some grass-fed beef, season it, add some beef fat, cook it in a sous-vide machine for several hours, then sear it in butter. Yowsa!
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