leslies low carb meal plan

Leslie's Low Carb Dinners
These are most of the dinners that we eat on a weekly basis and we don't really deviate that much
from this except when we have pizza night once in awhile or go out to eat. Sometimes I will make just
baked chicken and veggies or sometimes we will get a rotisserie chicken and have veggies when I
don't want to cook.
INGREDIENTS
LESLIE'S VEGGIE SOUP
1 lb of 85% or 80% lean ground beef or ground turkey
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 package of frozen baby Lima beans
1 package of frozen mixed veggies (peas, carrots, corn)
1 onion (optional)
2 medium or 1 large potato
5 beef boullion cubes or 6 cups beef
stock
6 cups water ( if using stock omit water)
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons italian seasoning
2 teaspoons minced onion or onion powder
2 teaspoons pepper
1 teaspoon salt
2 dashes of hot sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
INSTRUCTIONS
Select instant pot setting brown/ sauté and brown ground beef fully for about 15 min
Meanwhile, chop onions and add to pot to sauté with ground beef
Peel and chop potatoes.
Once meat and onions are cooked add canned tomatoes, boullion or stock, and water if using
boullion. **Do not drain
beef fat for added flavor. Add in frozen vegetables and Lima beans . Turn instant pot to stew mode and
lock. Will
take approximately 45 minutes to cook. Lots of fiber and moderately low in calories and
carbohydrates. Serve with a
green salad.
* Can also be cooked in the crock pot 4 hours on high or 8 hours on low.
• Stovetop method will take 2 hours approximately, or more if you want a slow simmered taste.
SAUSAGE AND CABBAGE SKILLET MEAL
INGREDIENTS
1 package of turkey kielbasa precooked sausage (brands we like are butterball or jenny-o)
½ of a small cabbage (You may substitute cabbage with frozen cauliflower rice, or any non starchy
vegetable that you like.

1 can of diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon of tony cachere's creole seasoning
1 tablespoon of vegetable oil or butter
1 onion (optional)
Steps:
Enjoy!
1) Dice sausage and brown in butter or oil. Once sausage is cooked, remove from pan and add
diced cabbage to pan. Add onion if using at this time. Add a little more oil or butter to the pan
and saute the diced cabbage for 10 minutes or so. Next add the diced tomatoes and add the
sausage back in. Simmer on low for about 15 minutes. This can be done in the instant pot as
well, using the brown/saute function.
TACO NIGHT
You can still enjoy tacos on a low carb diet. Simply buy low carb tortillas (mission makes a great one
as does Target brand market pantry). and enjoy your taco night as you normally would. You can also
still have hard taco shells, just limit them to no more than 2 and make a taco salad on the side or
something. Just limit the amount of rice that you have. Enjoy refried beans,, fiber is good for you!
ZOODLES AND MEATBALLS
This is one of our favorite weeknight meals and is super easy. For this you will need a vegetable
spiralizer. We bought a very affordable one off of amazon for like $7. If you don't have that you can
serve your meatballs with vegetables, cauliflower rice, or cabbage ,or you can buy zoodles already
sliced from Harris Teeter or Publix but they are kind of expensive.
Ingredients:
1 package of your favorite frozen meatballs
1 jar of low sugar pasta sauce such as Prego No Sugar Added
2 to 3 small zuchinni or other non starchy vegetable
**If you really want pasta you can buy Dreamfields pasta which is a lower carbohydrate pasta. It's sold
at Harris Teeter and Publix sometimes Walmart also has it.
You can also make your own low sugar pasta sauce very easily. Here's the recipe for that:
1 large 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
16 oz of tomato sauce
1 6 oz small jar of tomato paste
1 tablespoon of olive oil or other oil
1 tablespoon of italian seasoning
1 tablespoon of garlic powder
Steps:
In the instant pot simply pour the meatballs in and add the sauce. Cook on high manual pressure
setting for 7 minutes then release the pressure and serve. If you use the crock pot express cooker You

can use the beans/chili setting and just change the time to 7 minutes.
The stove top method is usually listed on the back of the bag of meatballs but you just add your sauce
and meatballs into the pot and cook for about 15-20 min on a simmer. I think you can also do them in
the microwave. They're super easy and quick.
LOW CARB OVEN “FRIED” CHICKEN
3 LBS of bone in skin on chicken pieces such as thighs, or drumsticks. You can also use breasts but
they will not be as juicy.
2 Tbsp BAKING POWDER
1 tsp SALT
½ tsp ONION POWDER
1 tsp GARLIC POWDER
1 tsp PAPRIKA
STEPS:
1) Pat chicken pieces dry with a paper towel and set aside
2) Combine the baking powder and seasonings in a bowl and mix together well
3) Toss the chicken pieces in the baking powder and seasoning mixture
4) Arrange the chicken pieces on a wire rack over a baking pan and place in oven preheated to
425 degrees F
5) Cook for 60 minutes, turning every 20 minutes until crispy and done.
Some notes:
This plan works, and I've managed to lose 60 lbs doing low carb and intermittent fasting combined.
This is just a simple meal plan that works for me and I hope it will work for you.
If you don't like some of the ingredients listed feel free to play with it and make it your own. Leave stuff
out, add stuff in, just don't eat starchy vegetables very often. Starchy vegetables are corn, potatoes,
and carrots. You can have these in moderation but don't eat a lot of them. I've included a list of nonstarchy
vegetables , you can have however much you want of these.
Breakfast: Breakfast can be done low carb and doesn't have to take forever. Boil eggs on your day off
and have those for breakfast with a small piece of fruit or 1 piece of toast, just don't go crazy with
bread. If you want to have something like grits or oatmeal or cereal just have a very small amount.
Lunch: Lunch can be done very easily, just pack vegetables and lunch meat and cheese, small
amount of fruit, small amount of bread. Just avoid really starchy foods like french fries or regular
sandwiches with lots of bread. Have low carb wraps or salad instead, or just one piece of bread, or
some soup without a lot of starch in it.
Overall notes: Make sure you eat enough calories and enough fat and protein. If you don't eat enough
fat and protein you're going to be hungry. Don't overdo it on the fat though because this can be
unhealthy.
Intermittent Fasting: This is something I do a lot and it works for me, and has helped me to lose weight
more quickly and especially get rid of belly fat. If you would like to try it, you can. You don't have to do
this to lose weight though. I recommend starting slowly and working your way up to it. I only eat

etween the hours of noon and 10pm and I stop eating by that point. I usually only eat 2 big meals a
day, sometimes only one. Don't do this every day though, I usually take a break on the weekends. I
cheat sometimes on the weekends but I am careful about it and I don't overdo it. YMMV.
Non-starchy veggie list:
Amaranth or Chinese spinach
•Artichoke
•Artichoke hearts
•Asparagus
•Baby corn
•Bamboo shoots
•Beans (green, wax, Italian)
•Bean sprouts
•Beets
•Brussels sprouts
•Broccoli
•Cabbage (green, bok choy, Chinese)
•Carrots
•Cauliflower
•Celery
•Chayote
•Coleslaw (packaged, no dressing)
•Cucumber
•Daikon
•Eggplant
•Greens (collard, kale, mustard, turnip)
•Hearts of palm
•Jicama
•Kohlrabi
•Leeks
•Mushrooms
•Okra
•Onions
•Pea pods
•Peppers
•Radishes
•Rutabaga
•Salad greens (chicory, endive, escarole, lettuce, romaine, spinach, arugula, radicchio,
watercress)
•Sprouts
•Squash (cushaw, summer, crookneck, spaghetti, zucchini)
•Sugar snap peas
•Swiss chard

•Tomato
•Turnips
•Water chestnuts
•Yard-long beans