How about grilled chicken burgers topped with melted cheese & a huge salad? A few sliced strawberries are OK on most all low-carb diets...just have to watch the quantity. Three berries, sliced & fanned out on the plate would look very pretty & not have enough carbs to matter.

Lettuce wraps are also good. Fill with chicken & lots of veggies.

Chicken salad also works.

I'm a carnivore so I can't think of anything that doesn't have meat. :)

Big salad topped with a piece of grilled salmon (or tuna) is always great. You can use a few almonds & mandarin orange slices in the salad unless she's strictly on "no carbs".

Omelets are also a good standby. Fill them up with cheese, onions, green/red peppers, etc.

Oh, I know...here's a recipe for a crustless quiche that's good:

INGREDIENTS
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
5 eggs, beaten
3 cups shredded Muenster cheese
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9" pie pan.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are soft. Stir in spinach and continue cooking until excess moisture has evaporated.

In a large bowl combine eggs, cheese, salt and pepper. Add spinach mixture and stir to blend. Scoop into prepared pie pan.

Bake in preheated oven until eggs have set, about 30 minutes. Let cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Can't help with the cocktails...

Have fun!

/tricia

When I bother to try (not often!!!!) to eat healthier, I've found just making it prettier makes me feel like I'm not getting gipped. Like putting the cocktails into actual cocktail glasses and garnished even though it is not a typical "liquor" drink (sorry, mixers are loaded with carbs). As for cocktails, if you use one liquor, like say rum or vodka, mixed with crystal light or other sugarfree drink, it'll get you by. For instance, a lower carb cuba libre: lime, diet coke, and shot of rum. No, it's not a typical one, but it'll be the company she shares that makes it fun ;D Putting all the vegetables she can load up on onto a tray, arranged as though you're on a cruise ship. Berries are ok fruit. Any berry. Avoid grapes, apples, pears, oranges and bananas. Here's a carb chart (the melons are looking quite reasonable too):

apple (1) - 17.3g
applesauce - 6.2g
apricot (1) - 3.1g
avocado (1) - 0.5g
banana (1) - 21.2g
cantaloupe - 3.0g
cherries - 4.2g
coconut - 1.3g
cranberries - 2.0g
grapes - 6.7g
honeydew - 3.6g
kiwi - 6.5g
lemon (1) - 3.8g
mango - 6.3g
orange (1) - 12.9g
peach (1) - 8.9g
pear (1) - 21.1g
pineapple - 4.3g
plantain - 12g
plum (1) - 7.6g
raisins - 31.0g
watermelon - 2.6g

I just joined weight watchers and this is a great site!

Use the "category list" on the left to look around!

The pasta recipes aren't going to be low carb obviously, but they are made with whole wheat pasta so a little healthier.

Deanna

Here is a link that might be useful: Low fat, low carb recipes

Congratulations to your friend, it's not easy. Here is one of my favorite sites. Great recipes, pics, and reviews.

Here is a link that might be useful: Healthy eating site

Oh yeah, omelettes are always good and can be filled with whatever low carb veggies you have. Green salad on the side is nice, and nearly all greens are low fat and low carb, I just love greens in nearly any form.

Now, who had that spicy chicken burger recipe? It sounded good and I've never tried it yet.

Cocktails? Funny you should mention that, I just got a "hungry girl" email today with these low cal martinis. It's National Martini Day, you know. (grin)

Orange Creamsicle Martini

PER SERVING (entire recipe, 1 martini): 109 calories, 0g fat, 69mg sodium, 2.5g carbs, 0g fiber, 0.5g sugars, 0g protein -- POINTS value 2*

This low-calorie cocktail tastes EXACTLY like those sherbet 'n ice cream bars you used to eat as a kid... Mmmmmmmm!

Ingredients:
4 oz. diet orange soda, room temperature
1.5 oz. orange-flavored vodka (like Smirnoff Twist of Orange)â¨
1.5 oz. Torani Sugar Free Vanilla Syrup
1 tbsp. Cool Whip Free
Place all ingredients in a martini shaker, but DO NOT shake (or the carbonated soda will explode!). Mix thoroughly with a spoon until mixture is mostly lump-free. Add about 1 cup ice (crushed, if you've got it), and stir until mixture is cold. Then place the strainer on top and pour into a large martini glass. Enjoy!

MAKES 1 SERVING

Mounds Bar Martinis

PER SERVING (half of recipe, 1 martini): 112 calories, 0g fat, 80mg sodium, 2.5g carbs, 0.5g fiber, 1.5g sugars, 1g protein -- POINTS® value 2*

Creamy... chocolatey... coconut-y and deeeeeeeelicious. This recipe will rock your world!

Ingredients:
3 oz. vodka (80 proof)
1 packet Diet Swiss Miss Hot Cocoa Mix (the 25-calorie one)
2 oz. Torani Sugar Free Coconut Syrup
2 tbsp. Fat Free Reddi-wip

Fill a martini shaker halfway with ice (preferably crushed). Combine cocoa mix with 2 oz. hot water, and mix well. Then add 2 oz. cold water, and pour the mixture into the martini shaker. Add the vodka, syrup and Reddi-wip, and cover the top of the shaker. Shake for about a minute, or until the liquid is cold. Then strain into 2 martini glasses.

MAKES 2 SERVINGS

Kickin' Key Lime Pie Martini

PER SERVING (entire recipe, 1 martini): 129 calories, 0g fat, 21mg sodium, 7g carbs, 0g fiber, 4g sugars, 0g protein -- POINTS® value 3*

This one tastes even better than a slice of key lime pie! Don't believe us? TRY IT!!!

1.5 oz. lime-flavored vodka (like Finlandia Lime or Smirnoff Twist of Lime)
1 oz. Torani Sugar Free Vanilla Syrup
2 tbsp. pineapple juice
1 tbsp. lime juice
1 tbsp. Cool Whip Free

Place all ingredients in a martini shaker with 1 cup ice (crushed ice works best). Cover the top of the shaker, and shake thoroughly. Strain into a martini glass and enjoy!

MAKES 1 SERVING

Have fun, whatever you decide. Then again, you could just try to find some Meyer lemons and make those Lemon Drops that you and I had when you came here!

And, completely off topic, the cherry crop here was completely destroyed but the u-pick strawberries are just starting and I'll be picking next week. Wish you were here....

Annie

Thankfully the gardens and farms around here are starting to produce. I love fresh fruits and veggies anyway, so hopefully we'll manage. Thanks for all the great tips!! Everything sounds yummy this time of year when it is hot and I want to eat light.

Here's what I'm planning:

Sat. lunch
Homeade spring "green" minestrone with some produce I have languishing in the fridge and that I got from my friends' CSA last weekend.
Crab stuffed endive from Ann T's recipe collection. Total splurge for me as I never buy crab or endive, too much $$.
Fresh pineapple - that will also be one of my splurges!!

Sat. dinner
Appetizer of lowfat artichoke spinach dip on wasa bread
Sugar-free mojitos (I have a ton of Splenda and mint, so we'll see. We had great ones last weekend but they weren't made with artificial sugar)
Herb baked chicken using a Moosewood recipe for herb baked fish
Coleslaw
Italian style green beans or asparagus, or both!!
Fruit soup for dessert - a recipe I have always wanted to try, featuring strawberries and G-d willing, fresh raspberries from my garden, at least a few. I don't know how the recipe will go made with Splenda. I relies on cornstarch to thicken, and I don't know or if it works with Splenda. I think I may go half Splenda and half sugar.

Veggie tray with dill dip for snacking.

Sun. brunch
Lowfat apricot bran cakes, a recipe I have been wanting to try.
Swiss mushroom omlettes
Fake sausage

Sun lunch
Mediterranean chicken salad (with chopped salad and olives and chickpes, maybe low fat feta or goat cheese)
Wasa with the artichoke dip if there is any left.
Kiwi pineapple smoothies

So how did it go? I'm dying to know. Any update?

I wondered if anyone would like an update. We had a BLAST! As for the food, I bought WAY too much and now have a ton of healthy stuff. I love healthy stuff, but it is really difficult for me to find time during the week to prepare and eat it.

Crab stuffed endive was not that great. I bought canned crab and I don't think I got the right kind at all. It was all ground up and watery. It tasted OK though. Later, I mixed up lettuce with chopped endive and served the crab salad on top, was better.

Mojitos made with artificial sweetener, fresh limes and fresh mint ROCK!!

I did not have time to make either fish or chicken, which was a drag because now I have a bunch of chicken in the freezer to use up. I got a fresh pineapple which I have some left, and I wanted to try a recipe in the crockpot for chicken with pineapple salsa. Calls for fresh pineapple, fresh hot peppers which I have from the garden, lemon juice, parsley and ginger, etc. Sounds good but we didn't have our act together to make it. Too many mojitos.

Fresh pineapple is a fantastic treat for someone on a diet.

Berry kissel made with fresh berries from the market and artificial sweetener was a big disappointment. I just do not like sucralose. And it didn't get very thick. I don't know if that is because artificial sweetener doesn't gell as much with cornstarch, or if the cranberry juice I subbed for grape juice was too acidic to gell. I dunno, but the fruit kissel was a waste of good berries. Better to serve them fresh with some non-fat yogurt.

So instead of the fish or chicken, I made scallops with pesto. That was out of this world. Not lowfat, but somewhat healthy. That with lowfat coleslaw and steamed green beans tossed with some seasoning salt and fake bacon bits made a fantastic, low carb meal.

I still have a bunch of veggies for the chopped salad left over, and an eggplant and cantelope!! And a ton of spring minestrone that I will be having for lunch from now until eternity.

We both cried when it was time to go and wished it could have lasted longer. Nothing like quality time with your best girlfriend!!