Please Help!! Menu planning for guests "on Atkins" needed!

[VictoriaL]

In a couple of weeks, my SIL and her husband are arriving for a 3-day visit. They are very heavy "into" the Atkins diet and, since DH & I never met a carbo we didn't like, I need help planning menus for 2 breakfasts, 2 dinners, and a lunch that will provide a filling meal for all. Any suggestions? I don't want to make 2 separate meals, since I feel as though all I do when we have guests is cook and clean, anyway. Any help/advice would be appreciated!

[lbrisch]

You need to find out what their CCLM is - Critical Carbohydrate Level for Maintenance, assuming they're in maintenance mode. So if they can eat 40 grams of carbs a day, at least you know what you're limit is. I hope you have MasterCook or some other cooking software with nutritional info.

If you need help, you can email me. I just put together some Atkins type dinner menus for a cooking class I'm doing.

I subscribe to Lauri's Low Carb Cookbook on Allrecipes.com. If you want, I can find you some recipes for breakfast and lunch.

I don't eat this way (love those carbs!) but I cook dinner for people who eat this way.

Lisa

[wallycat]

Eggs are always good for breakfast...poached, scrambled, etc...
Not sure if you want to splurge on any meals---if so, lox would be wonderful.

Lunch could offer those La Tortilla factory low-carb tortillas and some lunch meats or tuna salad. Even diced chicken breasts or peanut butter would work.

Dinner should be easy if you're a meat/fish eating family. A spinach salad and any meat you are having should work.

This is off the top of my head and I"m sure you'll get lots of other ideas here. You may also want to check out Atkins website to see other suggestions they make.

[lonetree1353]

Vicci:
try this site: www.lowcarb.ca/recipes.html

This shows low carb readers' recipes with carb values. Hope this helps.

Maureen

[sunberst]

"on atkins". sounds funny. like they are on some sort of drug. ;)

my boyfriend's 15 year old cousin is on the atkins diet & we recently had a get-together at their house featuring atkins friendly dishes.

there was a potato salad, which really didnt have any potatoes in, but instead cauliflower. i think her mom got most of the recipes off of the atkins website. i can check on that one if you are interested.

[rmg_CA]

The CL Spinach and Artichoke dip is pretty Atkins friendly but with the following alterations:
Use regular sour cream, fat free has more carbs; and use only one block of 1/3 less fat cream cheese, again, fat free has more carbs and I always leave that whole ingredient out since ff cream cheese is so gummy!

Serve with veggies for dipping like celery or pork rinds (0 carbs) instead of tortilla chips.

Here's the original recipe but with the mods, it's gotta be less than 18g/svg.

Spinach-and-Artichoke Dip

INGREDIENTS
2 cups (8 ounces) shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
1/2 cup fat-free sour cream
1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese, divided
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 (14-ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
1 (8-ounce) block 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, softened
1 (8-ounce) block fat-free cream cheese, softened
1/2 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained, andsqueezed dry
1 (13.5-ounce) package baked tortilla chips (about 16 cups)

INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine 1-1/2 cups mozzarella, sour cream, 2 tablespoons Parmesan,and next 6 ingredients (2 tablespoons Parmesan through spinach) in a large bowl, and stir until well-blended. Spoon mixture into a 1-1/2-quart baking dish. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup mozzarella and 2 tablespoons Parmesan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown. Serve with tortilla chips.

YIELD: 5-1/2 cups (serving size: 1/4 cup dip and about 6 chips).

NUTRITIONAL INFO
Calories 148 (30% from fat); fat 5g (sat 2.9g, mono 1.5g, poly 0.5g);protein 7.7g; carbohydrates 18.3g; fiber 1.5g; choelsterol 17mg; iron 0.6mg; sodium318mg; calcium 164mg

[lhall]

DH always has eggs and bacon or sausage for breakfast. Atkins calls for a salad for lunch. DH has his with a low-carb dressing (basically most full fat stuff) and some meat (deli or canned).

Find out how many carbs they are allowed per day, or how much they allocate for dinner and then start your planning.

Leigh

[sneezles]

There are tons of websites out there with lo-carb recipes. The potato recipe that Sunberst referred to is even better with the addition of sour cream, cheese, chives and bacon bits (real ones) and then baked like twice baked potatoes. Casseroles would be very difficult for someone on Atkins to eat. Green beans, asparagus, broccoli, cauliflower, mushrooms, all salad greens, cucumbers, peppers are Atkins friendly.
The tortillas that wallycat talks about are delicious!! So if you can find them then fajitas would be a great meal (the tortillas have only 2 carbs each). They are also available on-line.
Splenda is the sweetener of choice by Atkins so you might have some of that in the house.
Desserts are difficult (if you're use to serving them) but cheesecake is a good choice. And the websites have some good recipes.
Nature's Own brand of bread makes Sugar-free bread and hamburger buns (I've not seen hotdog buns). They also make a Low-Carb bread but it's not as good as the Sugar-free (I forget the exact counts but the low-carb is chewier and I don't care for it). It was nice to have French toast once in a while using this bread.
Butter rather than margarine (trns-fats) and Land O' Lakes now makes butter mixed with canola oil that is spreadable from the fridge (no trans-fats either).
If you have any questions just ask.

[tbb113]

I frequently have cottage cheese for breakfast. The brand at Trader Joes is 3 carbs per 1/2 cup. My lunches are usually some form of salad: chef, cobb, etc. Dinner I eat a plain protein (fish, steak, chicken, etc), green salad, plain vegetable. Remember the twist of Atkins is that FULL fat is good...so butter on the veggies is fine. If they have been doing Atkins for a while...they should know what they can eat fairly easily. My hardest thing is fruits, melons and berries are good choices. Surprisingly nectarines are twice the carbs as peaches. Apricots are also relatively low.

Tyra

[tbb113]

I just remembered that for our August Supper Club I came up with an Atkins friendly menu. All recipes are from May and June 2003 with one exception. We are 10 people and we each bring one item...number in () is the net carb that Atkins counts. Maybe you can use some of these as a starting point?

Appetizer
Guacamole with Chipotle Tortilla Chips (6.6) - May 2003
White Bean Dip (4.8) - June 2003

Salad
Mesclun Salad with Cucumbers and Feta (2) - May 2003
Roma Salad with Capers, Olives and Mozzarella (7.5)- June 2003

Main Course
Chicken with Lemon and Fennel Seeds (1.1) - June 2003
Garlic Rosemary Lamb Chops (.8) - May 2003

Vegetable
Zucchini Custards with Tomato and Basil (8.8) June 2003
Fashoulakia (12.1) May 2003

Dessert
Mascarpone-Stuffed Apricots (7.6) June 2003
Vanilla Roasted Strawberries (13.7) June 2002

Tyra

[VictoriaL]

How wonderful you all are! :D
I've found something in every reply to work with! Since DH and I eat a diet of no red meat, but lean chicken and fish, lots of fruits and veggies, all lowfat items, and whole grains (which are a large part of our diet)this is going to be difficult. I really don't like them enough to make special meals or change the way we eat, so I will incorporate all suggestions (with a tweak here and there)into my master plan. I'm trying not to sound mean about it, but they have visited before and couldn't have enough of my meals, and now all I hear is how they eat "strawberries with lots of whipped cream" for dessert after their meals of steak, bacon, sausage, etc. My arteries clog up just hearing about it all! :rolleyes:
Thanks again for all of the suggestions, links, etc. I will have to find out what their CCLM is, and fortunately I do have MasterCook!

By the way, BIL says that, since he started this diet (January or Feb) he, a Type 2 diabetic, no longer has to take insulin. Can this be true? Does anyone know?

[wallycat]

Victoria, it depends on how much insulin his body is still producing. If his type II was aggrevated by weight gain and he's lost weight, that in and of itself may have helped...
you can PM me if you want more info...not sure how many ae interested for a post on it.

[sunberst]

Originally posted by VictoriaL
I really don't like them enough to make special meals or change the way we eat...well tell us how you really feel vicci! ;)

[Mamasue]

wallycat....don't be afraid to post info about Atkins...I would love to hear about it. A gal that I work with follows Atkins but she mainly believes in Suzanne Sommers book and quotes her alot. She did make the American Cheesecake at Atkin's web site and brought a tasting. The cheesecake was really delish and I loved the crust which was made from macadamia and pine nuts. ;)

[wallycat]

Originally posted by Mamasue
wallycat....don't be afraid to post info about Atkins...I would love to hear about it. A gal that I work with follows Atkins but she mainly believes in Suzanne Sommers book and quotes her alot. She did make the American Cheesecake at Atkin's web site and brought a tasting. The cheesecake was really delish and I loved the crust which was made from macadamia and pine nuts. ;)

You are so sweet.
I wasn't so much concerned with Atkins info as I was boring people with diabetes info and how blood sugar works with food intake :o :D

[Mamasue]

Originally posted by wallycat


You are so sweet.
I wasn't so much concerned with Atkins info as I was boring people with diabetes info and how blood sugar works with food intake :o :D

You are too sweet too....info about anything to do with sugar, fat, etc. etc. is always good to know. :D

[VictoriaL]

Originally posted by sunberst
well tell us how you really feel vicci! ;)

Oh, Beth, you made my day because I really needed a laugh!

This is becoming old (just said bye to our latest guests-- lactose intolerant!!!) and I' working on the Atkins menu. I hope to post it later this week for all to add their input. Apparently, BIL's carb limit is 40g per day.

Also, does anyone know about the correlation between this diet and how he has been able to discontinue his insulin shots (for his type 2 diabetes)? I don't know if he's kidding me because I've never heard of this.

[swquilts]

Victoria, if a diabetic eats too many carbs it jacks their blood sugar up. Carbs turn into sugar.

[semmens]

Any carbs affect blood sugar (fat does not and protein has a minimal effect). Many Type 2 diabetics could wean themselves off medication with the right diet (and I don't mean the processed-carb heavy Food Pyramid) but doctors assume that no one wants to be bothered eating right, so they hand out meds instead. The same thing happens with cholestrol lowering medication; many doctors don't even ask the patient to try altering the diet (again, losing the processed carbs) but write out a prescription for Lipitor.

Laura
off my little soapbox now ;)

[dlaboriel]

Victoria, check the recipes at this site

http://www7.addr.com/~atkinsdi/

[VictoriaL]

Such a fountain of information this is!!! :D
THANKS!!!