Wow, I give you credit for hanging in there for 13 weeks!

Is this a medical directive or lifestyle change for better overall health?

I recently got one of those vegetable spiralizers along with a cookbook, "Inspiralized", to get ideas for reducing pastas and starches.

I've also been replacing the bulk of my potato consumption with vegetables such as cauliflower, squash and root vegetables, and a little bit of sweet potatoes and I make puree to replace mashed potatoes.

I've been working off and on on special diet foods for people around me. I find it's helpful to list not what is out but what is in.

Some more information, please: When you say you can't have fruits, does that mean only sweet fruits? You said you had squash, so I'm thinking yes? You can have tomatoes, cucumbers, etc., if they're not high in sugar? What about the boeuf bourguignon? The wine is from fruit and has both sugar and alcohol which metabolizes as sugar, right?

Are you allowed to have sweet roots like onions and carrots?

Frankly, even though I don't eat a lot of sugary things, I'd be fainting if I had to fight so hard to see a metabolized carbohydrate.

So can you please tell us more about what's in the yes column? In the meantime, based on what you've said, how about turkey roulades? I just made it as a test for holiday company. It's not hard, looks good, and is fun. :) You'll need butcher's string and know how to tie a roast OR one of those net bags they use OR silicone "rubber bands" (which I find easiest and they go in the dishwasher).

Make a paste out of something sticky and anything else you want. For instance, you could throw some unroasted unsalted sunflower seeds in the FP and process until it's pasty (or use sunflower seed butter), add some herbs, seasoning, maybe a few of the nuts you're allowed, some very crisp bacon, and maybe a raddish or something, with a little tasty olive oil and a drop of wine to wet it and make it all stick together.

Lay some parchment paper on the counter or a meat board, and a piece of plastic wrap, then center half of a boneless skinless turkey breast on it, and lay another piece of plastic and another of parchment on top, and whack with a heavy mallet or rolling pin to flatten and square up the meat as best as possible. The parchment is just for keeping things clean. The plastic contains the juice and fibers that may be pounded out. When it's ready, peel off the top sheet of plastic and spread your paste evenly over the whole thing. Use the bottom plastic to lift the thinner end (there will be one even though you've pounded, unless you did fancy work with a filleting knife first to slice and unfold the thick end). Roll the whole thing up and secure with the string/net/bands. You can rub the outside with oil or butter or some kind of sauce or dressing, if you want.

Cook on a roasting rack, fleshy side up, in a moist environment (put a pan with water or wine in the pan) the same way you usually would cook a turkey breast (e.g., 325° F for 1.75-2 hrs.). Let rest for at least five minutes before you slice. Remove binding. Use a long knife to slice half inch thick rounds.

junco,

Thank you!

mimipadv,

It's little bit of both. I've struggled with my weight. I also have autoimmune issues. I've tried conventional medicine and wisdom with little success. I can tell you the menu change has made a huge difference and I want to stick with it because I feel great. I'm just bored to tears with my menu.

Google paleo food blogs.

pillog,

Yes to onions, tomatoes (yes I know it's a fruit), carrots, turnips, parsnips, peppers, green peas (limited quantity once a week), beets, cucumbers, green or wax beans, celery, artichokes, avocado, olives, garlic, shallots, summer squashes, winter squash (limited amount), spinach, lettuces, kale, collards, pumpkin in limited quantities, wine from Europe only limited to 6 oz. once each week or I can have 1-2 oz. of potato vodka or cognac once a week. I can have animal protein (no processed meats except no nitrate bacon or sausage from pastured hogs), limited dairy i.e. raw heavy cream and raw cheeses as well as wild seafood. Also can have cultured grass feed butter and ghee, organic EVO (non heat processed), coconut oil, sesame oil, coconut amminos, cider vinegar with active mother, organic lemon or lime juice in very limited quantities, herbs and spices, sea salt, pepper.

The Turkey Roulade sounds wonderful. Thank you!

meyerk9,

I have done some of that but haven't found an inspirational one yet. LOL

Oops and yes to broccoli, kohlrabi, cauliflower, cabbage and brussel sprouts.

I have a wonderful recipe for braised Savoy cabbage (you can use regular green, too). It requires a little dairy, but that goes a long way.

Adapted from Molly Stevens

1 head Savoy cabbage, cored and sliced

1-2 bunch scallions, chopped, green and white (to your taste)

2 tbsp butter

S+P

1 1/2 cup chicken stock

1 round St. Marcelin cheese (you can sub another "stinky" runny cheese)

Melt butter in pan. Add cabbage and scallions and saute over med-med. high heat to get some browning (this REALLY boosts flavor). Add s+p as you brown and saute.

This takes about 6-8 minutes.

Add chicken stock and simmer on low, covered, for 10 minutes.

Place in preheated 325 degree oven for 40 minutes. Remove lid and continue cooking for 15-20 minutes.

Remove from oven, increase heat to 375 degrees, and add torn St. Marcelin cheese on top.

Return dish to oven and cook until cheese is melting, gooey and a bit browned.

The flavor that develops from the browning, braising and cheese (which is not a lot-a crock is about 3 oz.) is amazing.

What I do with leftovers is make an egg casserole, which further extends that cheese!

Can you use arrowroot? You could use it for dredging.

Along with paleo recipes, be sure to check low-carb recipes.

Most of the things I make with coconut flour end up tasting more like eggs than coconut due to the number of eggs in the recipes. This recipe for coconut pancakes could also be used as a sandwich wrap.

COCONUT FLOUR PANCAKES
(source: Cooking With Coconut Flour by Bruce Fife, N.D.)

2 eggs
2 T. coconut oil or butter, melted
2 T. coconut milk or whole milk (I think water would also work.)
1 t. sugar (just leave it out or add stevia)
1/8 t. salt
2 T. sifted coconut flour
1/8 t. baking powder
Blend together eggs, oil, coconut milk, sugar and salt. [Grainlady note: be sure eggs and milk are at room temperature, or a little warmer, or the coconut oil will solidify.] Combine coconut flour and baking powder and thoroughly mix into batter. Heat 1 T. of coconut oil in a skillet. Spoon batter onto hot skillet making pancakes about 2-1/2" to 3" in diameter. Batter will be thick but will flatten out when cooking. Makes about 8 pancakes.
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Can you use flax?

FLAX SANDWICH BUNS (gluten-free, low-carb., grain-free)
(source: adapted from an on-line recipe at SparkPeople)

1/2 c. plus 1 T. flax meal
1/4 t. salt
3/4 t. baking powder
drop or 2 of stevia
3 eggs
1-1/2 T. water
1-1/2 T. olive oil (coconut oil will also work)

Mix the dry ingredients; add eggs, water and oil. Pour the batter into the 6 greased openings on a (shallow) MUFFIN TOP pan. Bake in a preheated 325°F oven 15-20 minutes. To serve, split the buns horizontally to make two halves using a long, thin knife.
[Grainlady note: I place the "buns" in a plastic lid from a large yogurt container (or an oatmeal box - or something similar) that is approximately 1/4" deep and use the lid as a cutting guide to slice these buns with a serrated bread knife. You could also add some seasonings to this recipe.]
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-How about a version of Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps?

-Along with cauliflower pizza crust, you can make cauliflower "rice" and mashed cauliflower.

CAULI-RICE
(source: Digestive Health with Real Food - by Aglaee Jacob, M.S., R.D.)

1 heat cauliflower
3/4 T. ghee, coconut oil, duck fat, or olive oil
To taste: seasonings

Remove leaves around the cauliflower.
Grate the raw cauliflower by hand using a cheese grater or a food processor. The grated cauliflower (on the large hole of the grater) will resemble rice grains.
Put aside in a large bowl.
In a skillet, heat your fat under medium temperature.
Add the cauli-rice to the skillet and cook for five to 10-minutes until soft. You may need to do more than one batch and add more fat as needed. Season to taste.
Will keep in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-If you make your own bone broth, do a reduction and make a pan sauce with a little broth brought to a simmer/boil and add a tablespoon of butter to thicken.


-COCONUT "Oatmeal"
(source: Digestive Health with Real Food)

One serving:
1/4 c. unsweetened dried coconut
coconut milk (make your own to eliminate unwanted ingredients found in commercial brands)
pinch of salt
to taste: vanilla, cinnamon, pumpkin seeds....

Put the dried coconut and coconut milk in a small saucepan. Heat under medium heat until it thickens slightly. Combine with the different seasonings. Tip: Add 1/2 T. coconut flour at the first step to thicken your coconut "oatmeal" if desired.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-Grain-Free, Sugar-Free CARROT CUPCAKES
(source: Digestive Health with Real Food)

4-5 eggs
1-1/2 to 2 cups carrot puree
2 t. cinnamon (or more if desired)
1/4-1/2 c. coconut oil (optional)

Beat the eggs. Add the carrot puree and cinnamon. Mix well. Add the melted coconut oil if desired. Pour the batter in a greased muffin tin (or use silicone muffin cups). Bake at 350°F for about 20-minutes or until golden. Let cool and serve spread with coconut oil or butter. The cupcakes can be kept in the fridge for a few days.
TIPS: Replace the carrot with grated zucchini or pureed butternut squash.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

-Grainlady

Take a look at the JJ Virgin recipes on line and on pinterest. Not sure how they deal with fruit, but I think a lot of it would fit in your plan.

Also, try using raw collard greens as sandwich wraps...they are very tasty.

Be careful with eggs every day. Both DH and I were doing that many years back and ran into acid stomach and reflux issues. We are both better since we cut back on the eggs. Seems they have long-chain proteins which can be hard to digest and lead to inflammation. GF does eggs daily and has no problem, so it depends on your system

Also look up 0 carb muffins...they may not be terrific, but better than nothing.

Okay, that sounds doable. So glad you're feeling better!

There are lots of sweet things on your list of okay things. You could make beet chips and carrot crackers to have sweet crunchy things, for instance.

Fun to eat are kale chips. A friend just passed thanks back to me she passed my recipe (which is a version of Melissa D'Arabian's) to a friend who hadn't had any success with higher temp/lower time recipes.

Kale Chips
1-2 bunches curly red kale
......(or curly green kale--dino kale and other varieties are a different recipe)
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper

Wash the kale and air dry until very dry. Sit in a comfy chair with a good conversant or interesting TV show and use herb sheers, kitchen scissors or a knife you won't cut yourself with to remove the heavy stems, including the biggest from the branches, and cut the leaves into 1"-2" pieces, with a bit of curly edge on each. They can be unusual shapes. :)

Preheat oven on convection bake or bake to 250°.

Line a baking tray or two with parchment paper. Put the cut kale in the middle, drizzle sparingly with oil, season lightly with salt and pepper, and toss gently to distribute. Repeat the drizzle, season and toss, then spread to form an even single layer across the sheet. It's okay if the pieces overlap, but try to keep them from being stacked.

Bake for 20 minutes. Use flat tongs to quickly scoop and turn the kale chips. The point is as much about letting out the moisture from underneath as actually turning them over, so don't worry about precision. Bake for another 20 minutes. Test. They should be all air and crispness. If there's any moistness or chewiness, put them in for another five minutes and test again.

--------------------

How about a summer squash souffle? If you put a little salt in the eggwhites they'll stabilize and you won't need flour.

Can you have mushrooms? If so, I bet you could use dried mushrooms instead of breadcrumbs in a lot of dishes like meatloaf, where they'd also be a welcome flavor.

I'm thinking it might be helpful to set up a standard week. It doesn't have to be if it's Tuesday it must be potroast, but it could be that once a week you make a chicken dish, a ground meat dish, a meatless dish, a steak, fish or seafood, a soup or salad, etc. Then have a few simple fallback recipes that you really like to be the go-to when you're not feeling creative. Roast chicken, grilled steak, scrambled eggs, hamburgers, grilled fish with lemon. More interesting:

Chicken: You could make ersatz chicken and dumplings, with roasted roots subbing for the dumplings. You could use an egg yolk to thicken the gravy instead of starch or flour. Roast carrots, turnips, rutabaga if it's on the good list, pearl onions, etc., then stew them a little with the gravy.

Ground meat: Kafta

Meatless: Eggplant parm. Dry the eggplant well and flash fry both sides instead of breading.

Steak: Buy skirt steak and make fajitas. If you're good with a very sharp knife, you can carve sheets off long vegetables, like making a veneer from a log, by rotating the veg and holding the knife in place. Zucchini is probably the easiest. Parsnip is the tastiest. Then you can toast the sheet like a tortilla to eat with your fajitas. If not, shred up a hard veg like carrot and make a pancake by combining with an egg.

Seafood: Cioppino

Spinach salad with whatever tasty meat you want to use up, chopped eggs, big mushroom slices if allowed, chopped bell pepper if allowed, quick fried shallot slices for crunch, poppy seed vinaigrette dressing.

Borscht.

I'm on a similar diet (Cruise Control Diet). One of the weekly dishes I make is Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches without the bread. I high-heat roast red, green, yellow bell peppers and onions. I use frozen shaved beef because it's usually BOGO. I serve the beef topped with the roasted veggies, topped with provolone cheese.

I use a lot of organic ground dark meat turkey. Mix with onion and garlic and stir in Pasta sauce and spinach and serve over zucchini noodles and top with parmesan cheese.

Do you use Pinterest for suggestions? Paleo Mom has recipes too. Are you on Auto Immune Paleo?

I had to do something similar and I got sick of it but luckily I figured out what my trigger foods are and do pretty well now just avoiding them. For fruit I can have blueberries, pears, watermelon and green apples, bananas and dates, although I don't much care for dates. Truth be told I eat all fruits because I found out none of them bother me, but I eat mostly apples and bananas anyway, due to not wanting to eat or being able to afford out of season fruits. I also have to limit dairy and carbs, but I would really go mad without my beans! But anyway, some of the things I liked:

You can make "pizza" tasting thingies out of those large portabella mushroom caps, grilled. Scoop out the gills and fill them with your favorite pizza toppings and then you can grate a little approved cheese on them. I mostly eat goat cheese and parmesean cheese.

I made spinach/artichoke dip soup out of spinach, artichokes, roasted red peppers, some onion and then chicken broth and chicken. Season with garlic and italian seasoning and then add some of that heavy cream for flavor. Can top with grated parma or not.

I make gratin out of butternut squash slices and tomato sauce, seasoned however you like. Also soup out of butternut squash mixed with chicken broth and then seasoned with red onions and chard, plus either chard stems or celery. You can use spinach instead of chard if you can't get chard. I season either with italian style seasoning or Indian, like ginger based curry. I guess you could add meat to that, I make it with white beans.

I like salad made out of kale, quinoa, almonds, goat cheese and a honey mustard vinagrette. You can add other veggies to this and green apples. Not sure how this would taste with stevia, I can't stand the stuff and it doesn't agree with me. Not sure it would be good without the sweet/sour elements, but I also make tabouleh with quinoa, seasoned with parsley, scallions, cukes, and celery or tomatoes in a mint/parsley, evoo and lemon juice dressing. You could sub some other kind of vinegar for the lemon, but I dunno, Fresh squeezed lemon juice isn't very inflammatory and can be used in just a smidgen. You could add kale to this kind of salad too.

Your diet sounds similar to an anti yeast diet, which is what I have gotten a lot of recipes for. There are lots of good web sites with recipes for that.

No or low cheese pesto made with basil, garlic and sunflower seeds over zucchini noodles? I mash in some well cooked cauliflower to sneak in an extra veggie for my grandson and that could sub for the cheese to give it some body. Add some sun dried tomatoes for variety. You could make arugula pesto, artichoke pesto, etc.

I've made a really good salad out of chopped raw asparagus with red onion and Pecorino cheese (if you can use a small amt, it adds to it, but you could sub raw cauliflower for the contrast and just salt the salad a bit more) dressed with red wine vinegar (you can sub that if not allowed- some paleo diets seem to, others say no) and olive oil. Raw asparagus tastes a bit like fresh peas and I'd never eaten it until I found this recipe.

Raw Asparagus Salad

I've posted this recipe before, but it is SO good and different and fresh tasting. If you can use lemon, I'd just eliminate the orange juice...or just the zest if that's allowed...or a drop or two of orange or lemon extract, if allowed.
Raw beet, fennel, carrot salad

Oh my gosh...THANK YOU all for your help. I feel rejuvenated! I truly appreciate the help.

Grainlady, I knew you would have some great no grain recipes! I never thought of using arrowroot for breading. I can have a small amount so I'm definitely going to try it. I need a crunchy coating!

Annie D, Thanks for the tip re: JJ Virgin looks interesting.

Pillog, Great idea to do a weekly menu! I used to always plan my meals but recently have been overwhelmed and got out of the habit. Thank you for putting me back on track.

Mustang, Shaved steak and cheese with lots of veggies is one of the few meals everyone in the house will eat. I love the leftovers in an omelet!

Compumon, I did check Pinterest but I'm not a big fan. I'm a text vs. pic kind of gal. I get overloaded with all those pics. LOL

lpinkmountain, I guess you could call it anti-yeast. I think of it more as no grains. We are working on what my triggers might be but as you know it is a long process. I do find by eating organic, pastured and grass fed items, I eat significantly less. It's funny because even my family is eating less and no one is complaining. DH said as long as I don't take away his Oreos he is fine. I tried the Newman O's for him and they were a huge flop.

Olychick, Those salads sound wonderful. I can't wait for my asparagus patch to start producing. Right now it is still under 3' of snow!

Really great thread - I'll have to copy some of these ideas when I have the time! As you are realizing, rotation is the key. Grainlady is right that lots of recipes with coconut flour don't really have a strong coconut taste. For breakfast, you could rotate your eggs/omlettes with things like chia pudding (combine chia seeds with water if you don't want to use coconut milk and can you add plain cocoa powder, a little vanilla extract, cinnamon? It would taste like chocolate pudding) and some breakfast ideas like Grainlady suggested - pancakes, coffee cake, etc using coconut flour, or those carrot "muffins" without it. For lunch, you could rotate soups vs, salads and really alter the taste with spices so they taste quite different each day. I've been making a healthy "Asian" inspired chicken soup using bone broth, carrots, celery, onion, ginger, garlic, scallions, coconut aminos, a little "heat," and a tad of sesame oil at the end. Another day your soup or salad could be more "Mexican" inspired, etc. And rotate some beans for vegetarian protein like lentils, chick peas in soups or salads. Dinners almost sound the easiest - you already had some great ideas, and there are more above. Again, maybe thinking "dinner around the world" so one night flavors from India predominate, which will taste quite different from your Italian inspired menus, etc. Good luck! I'm considering trying gluten/cow dairy free for a little while at least. Just debating whether I could give it a go before my youngest heads to college in Aug. She is a picky eater, and it is very hard for me to resist when she or my husband brings a pizza home!

I love the leftovers in an omelet! Leftover shaved steak and roasted veggies in an omelet is exactly what I made the HG for breakfast this morning; he loves it too.

I don't much care for coconut milk, but it is good to give a creamy consistency to pastas and soups. Here's a Thai pumpkin curry I like that uses it. Does call for a wee bit of sugar but maybe could sub stevia. The amount of sweetener I use in a recipe depends on what else I have eaten or plan on eating that day. Thai pumpkin and chicken curry from Williams and Sonoma

There are many interesting flours in an Asian store.

Water Chestnut flour, tapioca flour, bean flour, sweet potato flour, papaya flour, ------.

dcarch

Can you eat buckwheat? It has great flavour.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/23/buckwheat-recipes_n_3795721.html

Llpink, Not a fan of coconut or pumpkin BUT the recipe sounds interesting. I might try it but make a couple substitutions i.e heavy cream for coconut milk and squash or sweet potato for pumpkin.

dcarch7, I never thought about the Asian grocery. I think maybe I will try to find some of those flours but in organic.

Islay, No I can't have buckwheat.

I don't like pumpkin either, I always sub some other type of squash when I make the dish. It has no discernable coconut flavor, but you could easily sub heavy cream. Also could make "Italian" version using tomato sauce instead of coconut milk, and italian seasonings. Italians often sub squash in for some type of pasta or meat. Which BTW reminds me of another favorite food of mine--hubbard squash. If you can find one that isn't huge, you might like to make some dishes with that. If I can ever find a football sized one, I do stuffed squash with it.

You can make all kinds of things with bean flours, but I don't know how much of that you can eat.

Thanks lpink. I'm limited on beans. I can have maybe a 1/4 cup once a week.

I love Acorn squash stuffed! I used to make it with a sausage, apple and bread stuffing. When I harvest them in the Fall, I will work on adapting that recipe. It's hard because my family are very picky eaters which has always posed a challenge. They hate squash of any kind. However they have been very supportive and are eating more of what I can eat so at least half the week I am not cooking 2 separate meals for dinner.

Moosemac, I recently made a roasted red pepper cauliflower soup with no dairy, but the cauli, when blended with my stick blender, turned the soup into one you would have sworn was a cream soup. So maybe instead of milk or coconut milk in some recipes, you could sub well done cauli and blend it smooth.

Olychick, Great idea. I'm working on incorporating cauliflower into my diet more.

You can make all kinds of puddings with mashed up root vegetables or squashes and eggs. Here's one example, Quinoa and carrot kugel recipe from the New York Times.

Great tip, Olychick! I was thinking about how to replicate a carrot cream soup I had recently which was delicious but too much like eating spiced cream. Since I don't do coconut, I was contemplating nutmilks but they're just as rich as c;ream. I'd be much happier with cauliflower!