O'Flynns Meatballs & Celeriac Pasta

Ugh, Monday. At least tonight's dinner was super easy and super tasty!

I popped into the English Market and picked up 12 gorgeous pork and beef meatballs (with oregano, basil, garlic and chilli) from O'Flynns for €5 and then grabbed a celeriac from Superfruit to make the 'pasta'. 

I've posted here before about this awesome low carb pasta replacement and I'm really enjoying finding new ways to use it!

I covered the meatballs in Marks & Spencer's slightly spicy Arrabiata tomato sauce and baked in the oven for 40 minutes at 180C/355F. That M&S sauce contains an incredible 4g of net carbs for the whole 340g jar- compare that to over 8g of carbs per 125g of Dolmio's Original Sauce!

For the last five minutes of cooking, sprinkle some grated cheddar cheese on top so it's all melty and delicious.

For the celeriac pasta, peel that alien-looking vegetable and slice into 1cm strips. A little less than half an average sized celeriac does the two of us nicely. At about 7g net carbs per 100g, it's a really great low carb option.

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and add the celeriac. It'll take about 15 minutes to become al dente- which I like- give it another few minutes if you'd prefer it slightly softer.

Serving two people, this whole delicious and comforting meal came in at under €10 and under10g of carbs each. Bargain!

Sausage and Egg McMuffin Sandwich

For Sunday brunch, S made this awesome sausage and egg sandwich from the Keto-fied! cookbook. With a great selection of recipes, it's a cookbook I'd highly recommend to anyone interested in eating a low carb diet. You can buy the PDF and kindle version here for about €9.

This tasty sandwich is really simple to put together and perfect for a lazy Sunday brunch. I picked up a set of two ring molds in Delia's Kitchen on Carey's Lane for €11 and have been getting loads of use from them so far.

Chicken, Pancetta & Mushroom 'Pasta'

I love pasta dishes. When I went to college I could whip up a surprisingly good pasta bake with pretty much anything I found in the cupboard. Lasagne, ravioli, tagliatelle... I love it all and it's been one of the hardest things to cut out.

I've been making this chicken & pancetta dish for years and with the recent cold weather I seriously needed some familiar comfort food. This time, instead of pasta, I used thinly sliced and boiled celeriac to hold onto the sauce and bulk up the dish.

Celeraic is a great vegetable, mild in taste and low in carbohydrate (there's about 7g net carbs per 100g).  I'm looking forward to figuring out some other uses for it!

Ingredients (Serves 2 Hungry Low Carbers)

4 Diced Chicken Fillets
100g Diced Pancetta (you can use regular bacon rashers if you prefer)
250ml Double Cream
1 Diced White Onion
6 Sliced Mushrooms
1 Chicken Stock Cube (Kallo do a great gluten and lactose free one!)
50g Grated Parmesan
Garlic Granules
Salt & Black Pepper To Taste

100g Celeraic, peeled and sliced into 1cm strips

Method

1. Fry the pancetta in a small amount of oil (I use coconut oil) over a high heat until it's just about to turn crispy, then set aside.

2. Turn down the heat to medium. Using the grease from the pancetta, fry the onion until translucent. Add the mushrooms and fry until slightly soft. You'll be letting the whole dish simmer later so you don't want to overcook at this stage. Set aside.

3. Still using the same frying pan (you might need to add a little more oil at this stage),  add the diced chicken and begin to fry over a medium heat. Crumble in the chicken stock cube and continue to fry until the chicken begins to brown.

4. Add your pancetta, onions and mushrooms back into the pan and fry together for 5 minutes, stirring all the time.

5. Turn the heat down low and pour in the double cream. Mix well and allow to simmer for a minute.

6. Add in the parmesan, garlic granules and salt and black pepper to taste. If you want to use fresh garlic instead of the granules, add half a crushed clove when frying the onion. Stir well so the cheese melts into the cream.

7. Let the whole mixture simmer over a low heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.

8. Now for the 'pasta'. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to the boil and add in the celeriac slices. Bring it back up to the boil and allow to simmer. I think it works best when the celeriac is slightly al dente- that takes about 10 minutes.

9. Drain the celeraic slices and toss with the chicken and pancetta so they are well coated with sauce. Serve!

This is a low carb dish, but I'm not your momma- if you're trying to control your net carb count do your own math!

Dinner At CoqBull

Last night I had dinner with my family at Coqbull on French Church Street in the city centre. It's a great place for low carbers to eat because you can easily order without seeming awkward or fussy and the food is really great.

I ordered the half rotisserie chicken, with a caesar salad instead of chips and a side of coleslaw. The meat was really juicy, the skin was crispy and the coleslaw was really tasty.

They also have the option of ordering a burger without the bun (no pics, sorry!), which comes wrapped in a giant lettuce leaf and with a tasty burger sauce. They also ask how you like your burger cooked, which is how it should be.

There is a great list of salads on their menu, I'll have to pop in there for lunch some day and report back.

You can visit their website here, follow them on Facebook here and on Twitter here.

Lunch At Perry Street Market Cafe

I recently had lunch at Perry Street Market Cafe and really enjoyed it. The salads on their menu board all seemed to have potato or some other carbohydrate so I just asked for a mixed plate of meat and salads and the staff were happy to oblige. I got chicken breast and a choice of three salads and everything was delicious and very fresh.

My only complaint would be that the plate was HUGE and there was far too much food- I ended up leaving almost half the salads after me. Including a drink, this lunch was a little on the pricy side at about €12 so it really was a shame to have to leave so much behind.

You can see their TripAdvisor reviews here and follow them on Facebook here.

Muffin Love

I was excited to see my yummy breakfast muffins pop up at the top of this post over on allday.com, featuring inventive ways to use your muffin tin!

There are some great ideas there- particularly these Mini BLT Bowls.  I'm going to have to up my muffin tin game!