Monday, May 14, 2012

Mother's Day for Non-Low-Carbing Parents

Sunday, my husband and I had my mom and dad, my in-laws and my sister-in-law over for Mother's Day lunch.  Nobody in our respective families is low carb except Paul and me, but fortunately they're used to (and, thankfully, really enjoy) our low carb cooking.  So I let my mother-in-law pitch in some of her wonderful deviled eggs, and my mom brought some French bread for the bread eaters among us.

I slow-cooked a beef brisket overnight in the oven, while my crockpot was occupied by a ham slow cooking in hard cider.  Those were big time savers.  I'd also made ahead a big bowl of cauliflower salad, and marinated some unfortunately out-of-season and rather flavorless strawberries in rum, Splenda and a little splash of lemon juice overnight too.

Sunday morning I assembled a broccoli casserole, prepped the homemade whipped cream and chocolate muffin in a minutes for the dessert, and now I could make my famous turnip greens, which call for the cooking liquid from the ham and a little bit of chopped ham, too.  Not that much work to get everything ready for the parental invasion!

We all pretty much gorged ourselves on delicious, healthy low carb food.  Dessert was what I call "grownup strawberry shortcakes," with the chocolate muffin in a minutes, topped with the rum-marinated strawberries and plenty of homemade whipped cream.

It wasn't until we'd already eaten that I realized I'd completely forgotten to set out the ginormous bowl of cauliflower salad that was taking up an entire shelf of the refrigerator.  We all had a good laugh about it, but thankfully there was more than enough food anyway, and everybody took some home with them, among other care packages of leftovers.

At any rate, it is possible -- even easy -- to feed non-low-carb family and friends on healthy low carb food, and yes, they can indeed enjoy it.  If they'll feel bereft without bread, then let somebody pitch in some bread, but chances are, they'll never miss it.

Start introducing your family and friends to your low carb cooking by pitching in to their get-togethers.  Bring several dishes to ensure that you've got plenty of low carb food for yourself.  Nobody is crazy enough to turn down pitch-in dishes, particularly if they're worrying about pleasing a guest on a restricted way of eating.  When your family and friends have tasted some of your masterpieces and realize how delicious they are, then nobody will so much as blink at the low carb feast when they dine at your house.

Do be sure to serve a low carb dessert, even if you don't often eat desserts yourself (Paul and I very rarely do).  Most non-low-carbers will focus on the lack of dessert, with a number of possible negative outcomes.  One, they'll pitch in a dessert themselves, which means some sugary, carby concoction that everyone is eating there in front of you.  Second, they think you're living an overly monastic, deprived life and start trying to coax you to "Enjoy life, have just a LITTLE" of some sugar-laden thing.  And/or third, they just plain won't enjoy eating at your house, knowing that just because you don't eat sugar, they're being deprived of dessert.  Having company over is a great occasion for you to whip up low carb desserts, knowing there will be plenty of people there to help you eat it up, so it won't be lurking there in the refrigerator for days.

Bon appetit!

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