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Weekly Dinner Plan for October 25-31: Low-Carb Style

Oct 25-31 features roasted chicken, beef & broccoli, chicken soup, zucchini lasagna, and shrimp

By Barbara Evangelista, Publisher October 21, 2020


See below for links to previous meal plans


This past week, my focus was Macaroni Kid's annual Meet Up, our national conference of publishers.  We participated online this year instead of our normal gathering and socializing, but it was still fantastic -- so many ideas, so much sharing, so much to learn!  One of our keynote speakers was Lauren Matera, who is an activation coach.  I've heard of life coaches, business coaches, career coaches, but never an activation coach.  Her title is such a perfect summary for what she does.  No matter what you need to get done -- whether it's personal, work, kids -- Lauren will get you going and keep you focused.

One of Lauren's messages that really struck home for me was "Your business won't be successful UNTIL YOU CHOOSE IT. 99% of the time the problem isn't the execution, it's the follow-through and the commitment."  Note that the same applies whether it's your business, or your health, your weight, your relationship, etc.  I cannot emphasize enough how true this is.  As I mentioned last week, I changed to a low carb way of eating in May 2019.  I've started diets and tried to change my lifestyle so many times since I was a teenager.  Literally decades and probably 1000 false starts.  Many times I wasn't able to stick with it for more than 2 days.  I've been so frustrated and angry with myself for not being able to change my eating, especially when important outcomes were dependent on me getting healthier (like starting a family) or losing weight (like my self-confidence at college or out in the working world).  I don't know what was different this time; I guess I was ready.  I was finally able to choose to make a complete change and actually stick with it.  I went to the library and got every keto book I could find and spent a weekend reading them all and looking over recipes; I also found www.dietdoctor.com to be very helpful. I went shopping for the low carb basics and then went "cold turkey" -- boom, no more sugar, pasta, bread, flour, rice, potatoes or starchy vegetables.  I think all of the reading and immersing myself in the information really helped me to choose to just do it. I also find that support groups on Facebook are quite helpful. Somehow I'm now able to ignore all the carby foods that the rest of my family still eats; I've made the choice that those items are simply no longer part of my food choices.  The difference in my thinking and my ability to stick with this way of eating is astonishing to me after years of struggle, but as Lauren says -- YOU MUST CHOOSE IT and own it 100%.  No matter what "it" is, you can do it.  

This week's dinner plan includes more hearty Fall dishes.  I try to vary the type of protein I serve so we're not eating chicken or beef every single day.  I occasionally do a vegetarian day but am not able to do any vegan meals; it's just not feasible (at least for me) when trying to eat low carb and fairly high protein.


October 25-31


Herb Roasted Chicken 

This recipe is based on George Stella's recipe in the book The Complete Low-Carb Cookbook, which is packed with excellent recipes.

1 whole chicken, cut up into 8 pieces (either cut it up at home, or purchase it already divided, sometimes called "country style chicken".  Sometimes I will flatten it instead, which involves removing the backbone only and then flattening the whole chicken in a roasting pan).  Do not remove skin.
Juice of 1/2 lemon, or 2 tablespoons
1 tablespoon thyme
1 tablespoon oregano
1 tablespoon parsley
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon poultry seasoning

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place chicken pieces (or flattened chicken) in a greased roasting pan and drizzle with lemon juice.
Sprinkle all herbs and seasonings evenly over chicken.
Cover pan with foil and bake 1 hour.
Uncover, baste and bake 1 more hour.  If desired, add vegetables such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, onions and carrots, chopped into large chunks, for the last hour.
Chicken should be brown, crispy and falling off the bone.


Instant Pot Beef & Broccoli (click through to recipe)

This is an easy and delicious version of Beef & Broccoli.  It's very fast -- the beef cooks in the Instant Pot for only a few minutes. The recipe says 4 minutes but I prefer to cook for 6 to 8 minutes to ensure the beef is really tender.  (Note that the ramp up and cool down time for an Instant Pot can take a while, so add at least 20 minutes to your cooking schedule.)
For low carb, be sure to use Coconut Aminos instead of soy sauce.  Coconut Aminos are available in the Asian food section of most grocery stores.  
Note that Xantham Gum is weird to work with.  I mix it with water before mixing it into the sauce.  It will have an odd gummy texture.  Just remove the beef from the sauce, mix in the xantham gum and water mixture, and stir, stir, stir.  It will blend in and will thicken the sauce.
Serve with rice for the carb eaters or cauliflower rice.


Chicken Soup

We always have a ton of leftover chicken from the Herb Roasted Chicken recipe.  Load it all up in a stock pot, cover with water, add salt and savory vegetables, such as celery and onion, if you like (it's not necessary though), and simmer for several hours.  Strain the broth into a large soup pot, shred and add the chicken meat, check and adjust the flavor (I use Better than Bouillon to enrich it), and add lots of chopped vegetables, such as celery and onion.  If you're making a low carb version, add 1/2 of a green cabbage, sliced thin and chopped.  For a regular version, add chopped carrots and potatoes, noodles or rice.  (Don't be tempted to put in too much uncooked rice; keep it to 1/2 cup, maybe 3/4 cup.  I always add too much and end up with chicken and rice stew!)  Simmer for 30 minutes until vegetables are tender.  Taste and add salt and pepper if needed.


Zucchini Lasagna (can be made vegetarian)  (click through to recipe)

I use a cheese slicer to thinly slice the zucchini.  Feel free to use jarred spaghetti sauce; just ensure that it does not have sugar added.  Simply omit the ground beef if you would prefer to make this vegetarian.


Shrimp Scampi (click through to recipe)

My family loves this simple recipe from The New York Times, which is easy and fast.  To make this more hearty, I sometimes add asparagus or broccoli.  One critical step that the recipe does not include is to simmer the shrimp shells in a cup of water in a small pot for 15 minutes or so.  Remove and discard the shrimp shells and continue simmering the broth until it's reduced to 1/2 cup.  Use this for the broth in step 1 (we prefer it versus the wine).  

Serve with pasta or cauliflower rice.


Shopping List

1 whole or cut-up chicken
1-2 lbs inexpensive steak, such as London Broil or top round
1 lb ground beef
2 lbs medium or large shrimp (I get the 26-30 count shrimp, usually $5.99 a lb at Market Basket)

Rice or cauliflower rice

Frozen broccoli florets

2 lemons
Tube of grated ginger (look near bagged salads)
Celery
Onion
3 zucchini
Green cabbage
Optional for soup: potatoes, carrots

28 oz can crushed tomatoes (or jarred spaghetti sauce)
Parmesan cheese
Coconut aminos

Small container ricotta
4 cups shredded mozzarella
Egg


From the pantry/fridge

Thyme
Oregano
Parsley
Paprika
Poultry seasoning
Basil
Red chili pepper flakes
Better than Bouillon -- chicken and beef
Olive oil
Sesame oil (absolutely critical for beef and broccoli recipe -- get some for the pantry if you don't already have)
Butter
Minced garlic (I always have a large jar in the fridge)
Xantham gum (look for Bob's Red Mill brand in spices aisle)
Sweetener such as Monkfruit (Lakanto) or Erythritol (Swerve)



Links to past plans:

Oct 18-24 Meal Plan:  Introduction, low-carb recipes and shopping list for chili, baked salmon, chicken fajitas, shrimp jambalaya, and ham, potatoes & beans