I'm having a visitor on Tuesday. He knows I'm on a low-carb diet but I want to be able to cook foods that he enjoys while not sacrificing my diet. He's very skinny, definitely doesn't need to lose any weight and loves home-style "country" foods like meatloaf, mashed potatoes, biscuits, etc. He also eats a lot of fast food so I'm expecting to eat out a lot.

Does anyone have any ideas for food I can cook or low-carb options? I was thinking something like

meatloaf, no bread crumbs w/ salad and mashed potatoes (not for me)
tacos, I could make a taco salad but make taco shells/rice/beans for him
hamburgers, his with bun mine with lettuce
my mom's vegetable soup (I think he would love this, and I can eat it. Maybe add potatoes to his.)
lasagna-- a real lasagna, plus a small zucchini lasagna for me

We will probably be going out to restaurants a few times (he'll be here for a week) so that's a whole other battle. Does anyone else have any cooking ideas for things that I can modify to eat too? I don't want to have to make two different meals.

Barbecue chicken on the grill, a big salad, a baked potato for him. Scott's Barbecue Sauce if you can find it or Kraft's Original Light Barbecue Sauce - just measure yours. He won't be able to tell the difference.

Cook a big pot roast; cook it with potatoes, carrots and onions. You eat the pot roast and onions, pick out the taters and carrots. Green beans and/or a salad, rolls for him. The link to pot roast on "Recipes from 'What's for Dinner?'" is an excellent recipe. The Greek seasoning makes it special.

And enjoy your guest!

When my bf was here I made a stuffed pork loin (ricotta and spinach) and served a spinach salad and grilled slices of peaches. He loved it. I just had one slice of peach and called it 6 carbs. The rest of the dinner was pretty low so overall I just ended up at about 12 for dinner which was fine because I had planned at done really low the rest of the day.

Good luck!

Also - I have a really impressive dish that happens to be low carb. Men love it.

You get two large chicken breasts (the kind from the meat counter, not the prebagged).

Butterfly. Preheat oven to 400

In a separate pan sautee pancetta till crispy. Remove from pan. On med low heat sautee 3 tbs chopped onions till translucent. Mix pancetta, onions, 3/4 cup whole fat ricotta, salt and pepper in a bowl. Add 2 handfulls raw spinach. Mix till spinach is coated.

stuff chicken breasts. wrap chicken breasts diagonally with a slice of bacon. cook in oven for 20-30 minutes. I usually end up removing at about 25 mins.

serve with spinach salad.

lentil soup with your fav low carb veggies. or your fav. beans and greens soup as rachael ray would say. she has lots of great ideas for beans and greens soup and also many different kinds of salads.
what about hummus? you could both dip veggies, pita chips optional for him.
or salsa. you could make your own or use a low carb version.

i would just add a baked potato or rice for him at meals and call it a day.

Sandy, the pot roast is an amazing idea, plus it's easy to make. I'll keep that in mind!

Readyfreddy, I like the sound of your chicken dish too. I'm not sure if either of us would go for the pork loin but the chicken sounds great.

Thanks for the ideas...I've also come up with a few others of my own.

Also, when eating at Mexican restaurants, what options are there for low-carbers that isn't a plain salad? I could order salad as a last resort but unless it has filling toppings on it I'm usually still hungry. I don't eat seafood either, by the way. I was thinking a taco salad without the beans/shell, but I'm concerned about how the beef would be seasoned-- do you think it'd be a big enough deal to worry about?

could you maybe have them make the tacos in a romaine leaf instead of tortilla?

I have no idea what Mexican restaurants you're thinking of, but almost all major chain restaurants have full nutritional information, including total carb counts, available online.

When I know I'm going out, I check the restaurant menu out by googling "name of the restaurant nutrition information." Then I can decide ahead of time what are the best choices for me.

http://www.thedailyplate.com/nutriti.../on-the-border

http://www.chipotlefan.com/index.php...ion_calculator

Sandy, most of the good Mexican restaurants around here are local and don't have anything like that, unfortunately .

I think you should just cook fairly normally for you, and add carbs. Do some rice or potatoes for him. Toast with breakfast etc. Knowing you are on your way of eating he is choosing to visit with you, no need to change your life for him. adding carbs is pretty easy, and messing around too much may divert you, and I am sure he doesn't want to do that to you.
I just cook normally for us all, and the rest of the family adds their carbs in. We add the dressing at the table, so if someone wants lower fat stuff they can manage with a different dressing etc.

I made this dish last week, and it was so delicious that I'll be making it again tonight!

Broiled Tilapia Parmesan:

http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/broile...an/Detail.aspx