Gourmet Diet Food

[msacuisine]

I have gotten back into cooking again, much to the delight of my family. However, my penchant for rich dishes and haute cuisine has lead us to decide to follow a Zone Diet-inspired meal plan 4 days out of the week, so that we don't all become blobs.

Basically, the diet we will follow on our "diet" days seeks to reduce simple carbohydrates--above all simple sugars, but grains and starches as well, and pair large servings of low glycemic index carbohydrates with moderate servings of proteins, preferably lean, and a small amount of monosaturated fat.

Within these guidelines, I want to continue to produce gourmet meals that are varied, flavorful, and satisfying. I see this as a challenge to my culinary creativity and an excuse for experimenting and developing new techniques. I just got a great new Japanese gyoto, so I am also looking at all of the vegie work as a challenge to improve my knife skills. I am looking to really push the envelop and avoid the 4 oz hunk of meat with enormous salad or mass of steamed vegetable monotony that this diet easily falls into.

Some of the things I am considering are: roasting or frying thin slices of different vegetables and/or vegetable skins and using them as pasta replacements; micro-dicing different vegies into grain-sized pieces; saucing with various purees and stock reductions. I am inspired by nouvelle garnishes and sauces as well as Chinese and Japanese vegetable carving techniques, though sadly I must admit I don't know much about either of these areas.

Does anyone have any experience with these types of techniques? Anyone have interesting or creative ideas along these lines that I might try?

I'd really appreciate some help brainstorming. And if there is interest, I will post the results of my experiments.

Michael

[prasantrin]

Check out the Weight Watchers and Low-Carb threads for many, many ideas on eating well while trying to lose weight.

[K8memphis]

Also, the Southbeach Diet book has many recipes developed by named Soutbeach Miami Florida chefs. I never cooked so good as when I followed those recipes.