Right now, I’d say I’m limping along on living low carb. I suppose that, as stated previously, a bad day on low carb for me, with the goal of ketosis in mind, isn’t a bad day on low carb in general.
So perhaps I’m failing in my short-term goals (20 grams per day of carbs) while succeeding in my long term goal (a general low carb lifestyle).
How’s that for a rationalisation?
Anyhow, I started the day looking for some ideas for stuff to cook over the weekend, using some ingredients I had on hand. I was inspired by one of the comments from a previous post to try something with cauliflower, so I nuked a large bag for 10 minutes, then added 1/2 stick of butter, some cayenne pepper, and tarragon (a spice I know nothing about and never use, but it was mentioned in the comment).
I mashed this up with an immersion blender, and it smelled pretty good, had the texture of mashed turnips, and reminded me of Thanksgiving. Even my older daughter mentioned Thanksgiving. She reluctantly took a taste when I saw an opening, and ate solemly. I asked her: “Yum or yuck?” Her lack of response signaled the latter.
I also tried making meatballs. I wanted to do some sort of Italian casserole, and figured I could make the meatballs today, and put them in the casserole I make tomorrow.
The meatballs were a great example of what not to do.
I mixed the ground beef with parm cheese, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, basil, oregano, and 2 eggs, then put my meatballs in a round casserole dish. There were too many, so they went in piled on top of one another.
400 degrees in the oven they went – I figured an hour – what do I know? I checked after 40 minutes, and the juices had come out of the meat, and the top meatballs were browned nicely, while the lower meatballs were sickly grey.
I took them out of the meat soup, put them on a baking sheet and finished them off for 20 minutes.
Now they were dry. Ugh. I put the juice back on them, which reconstituted them somewhat.
It was late morning, and hungry, I tried the meatballs with the cauliflower – yum! they went together well. This ended up being breakfast and lunch.
The cheating today was a small bit of the kid’s pasta, some fresh baked tomato bread, which was wonderful. My rationalization here was: I usually avoid it the first day, when it’s fresh and still warm. I weaken after it’s a day or two old, and then eat stale bread – why not just eat it now and get it over with?
Yep – that strategy is gonna get me lean and mean, eh?
I also had some 5-layer bean dip on pork rinds. I don’t consider this a cheat of any great severity, as it’s very low carb, but I would avoid this if I was trying for ketosis – which I’m most definitely not anywhere near attaining as of late.
Weight is up again – 209.8 – and I am trying to find that reset button in me that will allow me to tear in to some of these pounds.
Low Carb Confidential 
Your meatballs & cauliflower actually sound quite yummy! I think I’ll be making cauliflower for lunch today.
Have you tried ground lamb instead of ground beef? Every week or two I fry up some 2-3 ounce lamb patties (minced lamb, different fresh herbs, curry paste). I just keep them in the frig to have available when I need a hit of protein.
Another thing I do with cauliflower or broccoli is a quick stirfry. A cup of either is about 5 carbs and is very filling.
Hang in there! Remember this is a JOURNEY to better health and it simply takes time. You’ll MAKE IT!!!
i really enjoyed reading about your low carb diet. i’ve been doing it for about a year now, maybe longer. i’m down about 22 lbs and stuck because i have lost my motivation. seems like i can do the 20 carbs a day for about two weeks and then my willpower leaves me. my mom makes the cauliflower like mashed potatoes. she cooks it so its soft (1 head) adds about 1/2 stick of butter and a little half and half, salt and pepper. she uses the electric mixer and it even looks like mashed potatoes. its really good. i have to say that this low carb diet is alot easier than the hundreds of other diets that i’ve tried and really works if you stick with it. i am 44 years old and am in really good health even though i am still about 30 lbs over weight. i roasted a chicken in the crock pot last week and it was moist and fell apart nicely, delicious…i use olive oil and fresh lemon juice from one lemon to dress the salad for my family. so i make meat of some sort salad and a low carb vegetable at dinner time and they don’t even know that i am feeding them low carb. i am the only one in my house that is overweight, so there’s not alot of support here. unless you struggle with your weight it seems like you don’t understand………beth
I 2nd what Sybil said about Lamb – and I tend to see it at our local market even more in the fall/winter. The other night I did some lamb (‘stew’ cut) in the crockpot with just a little water, a small amount of chicken stock, salt, pepper, rosemary and a tiny bit of mint. It was very satisfying with some green beans and a large salad. I thiiink it might freeze OK too.
As for the bread, I’m sorry to be an enabler, but I think between bread newly baked and bread old-ly stale, I’d rather indulge in the slice of newly baked. Better yet would be to have the family conspire to keep your triggers out of the house, but I’m betting that you may have already suggested this and lost? =(
I guess it would depend on how big you make your meatballs. Definitely use sheet pans, fry them or a combo of both. That’s how I do mine. Once I switched to low carb the hard part was keeping them moist without the bread crumbs and flour absorbing the fat and moisture.
I usually use a mix of ground beef and ground pork. If I do add pork I use a leaner beef. If all beef, a little fattier blend. About 1.5 pounds of ground meat. Let’s see…Italian seasoning, oregano, garlic powder, red pepper seeds, egg or two, some grated parm and almond meal (prob 1/2 cup each?). If baking then 350 for about 45 minutes depending on the size.
I think the combo of a fattier meat than if adding flour and bread crumbs and the parm and almond meal help them stay moist. When I first tried it the old method, just without the carbs, it came out too dry.
Problem is I never measure anything and have just started writing it down recently so my wife can have a clue how I make stuff. Me too for that matter because next time it would probably have onion pwdr, plus some other stuff.
I make my low carb meat balls with lamb mince, parsley, feta, few chopped black olives, egg. Then i fry them in a pan. The secret to them coming out so juicy is the tomato sauce. Fry some onions, garlic, seasoning, add a bit of tomato paste and a can of chopped tomatoes and let the meat balls simmer in the sauce for about 45mins….yum yum