Side dishes are a problem
 

I’m Type 2 Diabetic so side dishes can be a problem for me. I limit potatoes, pasta & other starch but hard to avoid altogether. I steam a lot of vegetables (boring). Tonight we’re having Broccoli-Corn Bake (corn is starch I know)

Cook 1 10 oz package chopped broccoli enough to separate. Drain & squeeze water out. In bowl, combine broccoli, 1 can cream style corn, 1 beaten egg, 1 Tblsp minced onion, 1 Tblsp melted butter & dash of black pepper. Put in small sprayed oven dish. Combine 1/2 cup crushed saltines with 1 Tblsp melted butter & spoon on top. Bake 350 uncovered for 40 minutes. Chopped spinach works in place of broccoli. This can be mixed up & refrigerated to bake later.

Any side dishes you wish to share here ?

I have a problem as well, I just love rice and pasta and grains and bread and cake and all that -- but I really have to watch what I eat or my glucose levels get out of control. Beans do have carbs but are low gylcemic index. Most of what they don't want us to have is in the corn, but this is a manageable amount.

For a summer side dish, black bean salsa/salad: Rrinse can of small black beans, add 1-2 ears corn (raw, slice the kernels off the cob, you can parboil just a bit but best on the less cooked side), chopped onion to taste (I use sweet onions and use quite a lot up to a whole one, you would most likely do a full bunch of green onions, or half or less of a strong onion). Some colorful green, red, yellow peppers cut up into confetti. If you want to add some hot peppers here's your chance, again to taste. Finely chopped cilantro. Finish with some crumbled cotija (or feta or similar hardish salty non-melty type cheese) Squeeze a couple of limes over everything, add an optional tablespoon or two of oil, stir it and call it good. It stays nice for several days.

When I had to change my eating style, I had to look at things differently. When I was a working single mom, I didn't have the time to chop up vegetables but was too cheap (and the offerings are much more plentiful now) and such, now I buy a lot of the pre-prepped things. Like right now in the fridge that I need to use up in next couple of days is some zucchini turned into noodles, and a bunch of cut up peppers. I have found that I don't want to rice cauliflower (although don't mind eating it as a potato substitute at all), or make vegetables into noodles myself. Sometimes when I'm dealing with my various issues, like a bad stretch of depression, the amount of work (which at other times seems minimal) involved in prepping my ingredients meant that if I didn't do them as soon as I came home, chances were about 50/50 I wouldn't actually use those vegetables and I would waste money by throwing them out limp and sad. I decided that if I had to spend a little more to not give myself the excuses to end up with fast food, that was a better way to spend my money and probably less of a hit buying prepared fresh ingredients than I was letting perfectly good things go to waste.

I make a bean corn salad but this has nice variations so I’m looking forward to trying it. Thanks for this !

I think someone on this Board posted this recipe:I like English cucumbers but any will work. This goes good with beef.

Remove most of peeling from 2 cucumbers & slice. I like them thin but not super thin. Layer with sliced onions.

Heat to boiling 1/2 cup white vinegar & 1/4 cup white sugar to dissolve sugar. Add salt & pepper
Pour over cucumbers & onions. Refrigerate a day or two then serve.

Sweet potatoes make a good side - mashed or baked. No carbs. I've also made a sweet potato salad that was a nice side. Cole or veggie slaw is nice in summer. I don't use mayo for that but just a vinaigrette.

I agree that these make a good side. However, if you google the nutrition, it says about 15g of carbs per 39g serving, which is less than 1.5 oz... I could never limit myself to a serving that small. :)

Cauliflower rice is awesome. I purchase the frozen bags and microwave them but there are recipes where you can make your own. I have totally substituted it for real rice in recipes. It works great.

one of my favorite things to do with "sides" is to add them to my main dish...for example if I decide just to do scrambled eggs for dinner....I throw in veggies too...like onion, red and green peppers, cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, spinach….whatever I have on hand....I find it really a good idea to keep frozen veggies on hand to make this easy....I like the mixed type best but do try to pick out the lower carb mixes. If I am making something that calls for a vegetable to be added, I try to add more vegetables then it calls for. I am lucky that I like plain foods so I can microwave frozen veggies and just add them in or leave them as a side with a little butter, salt, and pepper. I am growing thyme, oregano, cilantro, chives, tarragon, parsley and mint this summer so will be adding those to the veggies too to change things up a bit.

Instead of steaming veggies, I often do a quick stir fry. Throw in some garlic, ginger and a bit of soy sauce and I don't even miss the potato or rice.

Great ideas here to try !

Some of the changes I've had to make are because I can't be trusted to eat my proper portion size, and trust me, a half cup or so of cooked rice is not a serving as far as I'm concerned! I'm better off just not having any than setting off the desire. I've been doing a lot of these eating changes for a number of years and I still crave my bad-to-me foods as much as I ever did, so I just don't bring it in the house.

Our local Franz bakery makes a Keto suitable bread that has made a nice addition to our life. While yes, still expensive compared to regular bread, for us it is easily bought at Costco and not too bad. Sandwiches are nice after 5 years or so without! For me, one tortilla is all that is allowed at a time, corn or flour. And that's the small size or two of the little street taco size - no big extra thick burrito wraps. There are also the thin buns that were all the rage a few years ago, still available nowadays even if you have to look a bit.

I mentioned in the other post about the prepared vegies and how because I am inherently cheap I didn't used to get them but now I do...

Last night we had some pork cut into strips, I "dry season" (basically add my spices to the raw meat and let sit a bit, last night was basically fajita seasonings), and I used the package of precut bell pepper strips along with an onion. First I browned the meat (it was super lean pork loin) in a little oil, then took it out and did the peppers in the same pan.

My hubby is keeping detailed records of his eating, along with getting doctor visits and dexa scans and stuff. So he is still tracking his break down of carbs/fats and such and actually weighs things. I would typically put everything back together for the final cook, but he prefers to weigh it out separately. So then I slip out the onions and peppers and finish/warm back up the pork and serve while both are hot.

I really like grilled peppers and onions, about zero carbs and just watch how much oil you use. Heat pan, then oil, then add ground pepper, garlic, sliced onions. You don't want pan so hot to burn the garlic, for me that's about 3/4ths around the dial not full heat. When the onions are about half cooked, add the peppers. Or at least that's how I do it.

Tonight we are having the zoodles (zucchini "noodle" strings). A friend of his at work said he bought a shoulder of beef, and would we like the fat trimmings. We said sure, expecting like a 2" fat cap to render down, but got what I would call "meat trimmings" the sort you need to add fat to in order to make sausage... I chopped it down into little bits, browned and then simmered into some lovely meat for chili or something like that. Poured off the cooking liquid cooled overnight, and removed the minimal layer of fat yesterday. Hubby suggested I turn it into stroganoff (we even happen to have sufficient sour cream in the fridge) and we will have that over the zoodles tonight.

It's sold out from Costco now, but a real favorite of ours in low-carb eating is Ground Lupin. I have a thread here on it.
https://www.quiltingboard.com/recipe...n-t309223.html
Lupin (related to the blue flowers) is awesome stuff!
https://carringtonfarms.com/about-lupin/

Will try this “new to me” lupin.

We are being a bit stingier as we are down to our last bag, but typically we use the lupin several times a week in one form or another. Sometimes hubby makes a dessert/oatmeal sort of version with a little more water than the package directions and mixes in his daily nut butter and piece of dark chocolate and calls it "his frosting".

Not sure if I mentioned the "keto stuffing" in the other thread, first you make the microwave version of the lupin. While it is cooking, you chop up some celery and onions and your basic parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme and cook until the onions are translucent. If you want to add sausage/seasoned meat of whatever variety (pork, turkey), cook that up too. Probably first in the pan that you then cook the onions in. Mix up everything -- you can roast in the oven a bit with a light sprinkle of the lupin for a crust. I usually call it good enough, but if we have some nuts around (we usually do) I like a bit chopped for a little texture.

Gravy is actually a pretty good way to get a lot of mileage out of a few carbs -- the secret is to serve it over something like green beans or fish, and not over potatoes.

I think when you are first transitioning to healthier forms of eating, some of us are really missing some particular mouth feel. It gets better, but yeah, I'd still rather have noodles and egg noodles at that instead of zoodles... but zoodles aren't so bad. I have gone from being managed by metformin to put on insulin and now am largely diet controlled. I have to keep in mind I have greater issues and desires than mouth feel. :p

If you like celery, celery and apple salad. You can use mayo in it or Miracle Whip. I have been known to add walnuts or pecans and 1/4 cup of dried celery. I use about 4 stalks of celery, cut into bite size pieces, one apple, cored and cut into small chunks. I don't personally like mayo, so use Miracle Whip Light - two tablespoons.

This is an appetizer more than a side really. Look for Shishito Peppers in the veggie section. They usually come in a plastic bag. Heat up some canola oil in a cast iron, frying pan and add the peppers, stems and all. Cook them over a high heat until they start to blister and brown. Remove them from heat and place them in a bowl, toss them with sea salt and maybe a little sesame oil. Serve them with a bit of Ranch dressing for dipping. Really good!

~ C