Hey there lovely Lollipop community! We've recently gone very low carb in our household so I wanted to share with you some of the 'recipe hacks' that I use for my fave lollipop recipes and for eating low carb in general.
Spaghetti: I sub this for courgetti, you can buy it ready made in packets but I find that unless you use it same day it can be a funky smelling and tasting. I make my own with a really simple hand held spiraliser. Its much better fresh and whole courgettes keep much longer. My fave Lollipop recipe for this is the smokey bacon pasta, you don't have to recook the courgetti, just dump it in for a couple of minutes at the end and its easy - actually makes the whole thing a one-pot dish, so less washing up - win win! If you're serving a sauce with beef, savoy cabbage spaghetti works really well. Remove each leaf, and them remove the stalk from the middle (you can roast the stalks, they make a good snack!), then roll the leaf halved and chop into fine slices for long pieves of cabbage that can be quickly cooked in boiling water or in a pan with butter or olive oil.
Parpaddelle and ribbon noodles: You can make a great substitute for parpadelle pasta or ribbon noodles from carrots, you'll need to get yourself one of the veg peelers that looks like a pencil sharpener. You can cook them in boiling water for a couple of minutes to soften them, or just throw them into a pot.
Rice: Cauliflower rice is a great substitute and the bags of it ready prepared are brilliant, you can make it in a food processor with a whole cauliflower which is a cheaper alterantive, but I don't becasue I don't generally have the time.
Toast: I do miss eating bread, but last year I learned about sweet potato toast, you literally put a slice of sweet potato in the toaster. Not technically that low carb...but worth it for a treat!
Wraps & tacos: when I need wraps for lunches I just soak equal amounts of red or yellow lentils and water in the fridge over night. Next day, blend in an egg and some salt and pepper to make a smooth paste, then in a non stick pan, make a what looks like a pancake, smoothing the paste out with a spoon. Flip it when you see the bubbles on the surface. These cook in a couple of minutes and keep for 3 days in the fridge. They are a great substitute for tacos in any of the taco Lollipop taco recipes.
Chips: Oven chips made of swede are amazing. You can roast them in the oven at 190 for 25 minutes, spritzed with a bit of oil, or you can cook them in an air fryer if you have one. There's no ready made option for these but they are worth your time to prepare them.