I get a lot of great tips from low-carbers in e-mail and love to be able to then share them with all of you! Thanks so much to my visitors that send in so many creative ideas! We're incorporating many of them into our own daily plans here.

Make your own TV-Dinners!

One of the things we hear so often is that people miss being able to pop a frozen dinner in the microwave or oven when they get home from a long day, or have only a small amount of time to grab a lunch or dinner. One great answer, is to place an order with Home Bistro Low Carb Meals, and stock up the freezer. But if that's not an option, perhaps you want to consider starting to make your OWN TV-Dinners!

You'll need to set aside some time one or two weekends or evenings each month. Make some simple-type dinners, but make them in quantity. Some ideas are below, but just like a regular TV Dinner, you'll want to include a meat or main dish item, and a side dish. If you have gotten into the habit of having low-carb desserts, you might want to add one of those as well.

You'll also need some divided plates or pre-used TV Dinner holders with compartments. Depending on how you'll be re-heating, you'll want to chose what's most appropriate for both your "base" and your "cover", so go for divided foil containers and foil for the top if you will be using a regular oven. And conversely, use paper and plastic if you'll be using a microwave. Since you can't "heat seal" your top like the food companies do, you might want to secure your freezer plastic cover with a strong rubber band.

Some ideas for meats or main dishes:

• Slice a low-carb meatloaf into approximately 1/2" slices and place two slices into your meal-dish. You can include a little broth and/or butter around the meat to keep it moist as it re-heats.
• Chicken Either BBQ'ed (with homemade sugarless BBQ sauce or Steel's Splenda sweetened sauce), or baked with your favorite seasonings.
• Ham Slices Great with a splash of DaVinci sugarfree Cherry syrup and maybe even a teaspoon of Keto Pineapple Jam. Or a ginger butter sauce.
• Grilled white fish in lemon butter. Remember to slightly undercook the fish so it will complete cooking when reheated in your TV-Dinner.
• Turkey Slices. Bake a full or half turkey breast (use plenty of butter and broth to keep it moist!)
• Grilled Salisbury steaks or chopped steaks.
• Sliced Pork loin. Make slices no more than 1/2" thick for adding to your meal-dish.

Many of the above meats will inspire their side dishes without prompting (for example, mock mashed potatoes with a drizzle of low-carb gravy thickened with cream, not/Starch, guar gum, etc.) These are especially great with the Turkey Slices. If you want to have some meatless meals, the Mac-a-foni & Cheese (made with tofu) or some pre-made Keto Macaroni & cheese are good choices. Or perhaps a squash casserole. Be sure to reference the site for many of these recipes.

As for side dishes:

• Cauliflower with cheese sauce.
• Broccoli with cheese sauce or butter.
• Asparagus with hollandaise or mornay sauce.
• Seasoned green beans.
• Cooked buttered cabbage shredded and seasoned.
• Zucchini Gratin.
• Creamed mushrooms.
• Mock mashed potatoes (made with cauliflower) or Ketatoes (buttered and seasoned.)
• BBQ Black Soy Beans

And for dessert:

You might consider doing what they do with the Kids' style Swanson dinners make up a batch of your favorite cake, muffin, or brownie batter (from our low-carb recipes of course!) and pour the batter into the smallest compartment of your meal-dish. Pre-bake only slightly to make the batter have "shape". (This step is not absolutely necessary but it keeps from having spill-overs pre-freezing.)

We suggest you make 3-4 kinds of meals, but make less if it seems a daunting task and more if you feel adventurous. You'll be glad later when you can grab a pre-cooked low-carb meal from the freezer like the rest of the Lean-Cuisine world can do! Cover tightly; freeze well; and use within 4-6 weeks tops.



And now, some Mini-Tips:

• Whenever you have leftover broth (chicken or beef) either in the can or from scratch, pour it into an ice cube tray and freeze. Then transfer the frozen cubes into a baggie. Later when sauting veggies, making soup, or adding moisture to a roast pot, you can add a cube or two for extra flavor and depth!



• Have days when you feel like a failure? Head it off! When you're having an especially GOOD day, take the time to create a pretty little jar (like a decorated Mason Jar) and write out "positive affirmations" and place them in the jar or container. Then when you have "one of those days", just pull one out to help you get through the tough times and remind you how good you CAN feel and let it bring you back to reality! You can be your own best cheerleader!



• When trying to get an idea of the difference you might feel losing weight, or when demonstrating it to others, use the following illustrative example:
  
  While grocery shopping, pick up a 5-pound bag of flour. Then pick up 3 more bags to see what 20 pounds feels like. Carry the four 5-pound bags around the store for at least five minutes (ten is better.) You'll be amazed at how burdensome just an extra 20 pounds can be! You'll feel it in your legs, your feet, your back... Obviously, it's a great relief when you return the flour (what a great symbol) to the shelf!

Make life easier for Mom in the kitchen this week! If you have been missing gravy and soups, The Low Carb Chef's Thicken-It will bring these long forgotten treats back into your low carb life! The Low Carb Chef Thicken-It is a new zero-carb substitute for corn starch. Use it to replace corn starch or flour thickeners for gravies, soups, and sauces. Thicken-It mixes instantly in any liquid and does not add any flavor of its own, but makes smooth gravies, velvety sauces, and rich cream soups. Thicken-It is better than cornstarch, but has the same great taste in finished products! You can find this great new addition in the Low Carb Chef, or Mixes Areas. Atkins' Answer Series Available Now! Have you ever wished that you had seized the opportunity to visit with Dr. Atkins at the Atkins Center in New York but the opportunity never presented itself? If this is the case, the Atkins' Answer series of tapes and books are for you! When putting this program together, Dr. Atkins and his staff knew that there people out there who were limited in their ability to visit the Atkins Center so they agreed to create the Atkins' Answer series for folks just like you! Set in Dr. Atkins office at the Atkins Center, Dr. Atkins and his staff come as close to a "one on one" counseling session where they lay out the Atkins way of life in an easy to watch and listen to series of tapes, supported by manuals and guides to his successful way of living! These tapes and manual go beyond the "diet book" and give you an opportunity to get answers to the questions that Dr. Atkins and his staff were presented with most often when counseling at the center. You will not be disappointed with this series! Quantities of this series are currently limited in their availability, but not for long - get yours now! Only at The Low Carb Dieter's Page: Designed with the PRACTICAL low carb dieter in mind!