Planning Meals
First, let's select your carbohydrate. This is usually the first step to planning meals but for this one we'll take the work out of it and make it really simple. That way it's very easy to tell what should go with which and still have whatever was made taste relatively good without a whole lot of extra work involved. While we're already here, let's take a look at the options we have.
Rice
Tortillas
Bread
Lettuce
No Carbohydrates
Beans
Meat
Grains
Potatoes
Next, we will need to pick out other ingredients to add to the main dish either by cost or by availability. Some things cost more than others when found in the store. That's why we might need to shop around to get things at the cheapest possible price. Other times, certain foods like ducks or say chickens are simply too expensive to be found. That's why we'll stay away from things we can't say afford for now. Sure, going out to eat is always great but wouldn't it be nice if the food had the same taste without paying half the rate. With this neat little guide, it will. That and the use of some additional imagination, that is if you can afford. The rice comes first. The basics of the dish or meal will look a little bit like this. If you have only one or two things to add to it, it's fine. Let's start off very simple and from there the sauce will make it taste the best. Try not to add your whole kitchen cupboards into the dish at once. That's the best way to break the bank and make a dish that guaranteed not everyone will like. There is sure to be food left over too or worse yet nothing left.
Veggies
Fruit
Meat
Sauce
All veggies go well in a rice dish. Things like broccoli, carrots, peppers, peas, and bamboo shoots go great. Other things that don't go so well include stuff like greens. That's a different dish if you don't mind, one that goes without the rice. Other sorts of fruits include pineapple and oranges. Please try to avoid adding certain fruits like apples and mangoes to the dish without first trying your creation. Berries in these dishes largely are not tested. If you can't stand to eat it, the same goes for someone else. Rice dishes are not especially heavy on the meat, so please try to avoid adding in a lot. Beef, pork, chicken, and fish go really well with rice, especially once broken down into smaller pieces. Then comes the sauce which really makes up the dish. You can't go wrong with either a good oil-based sauce or even a simple flour and milk sauce if you want to make it light. Then again you could just skip the sauce and eat it plain. Either way, it'll still taste very good but the sauce will make it right.
Tortillas
Tortillas come next with all their appropriate associated sides. No, I'm sure I don't mean a taco Tuesday night although it might be appreciated at times. I'm talking about using tortillas in place of the main side. What can you think of that goes well with them?
Meat
Veggies
Rice
Beans
Sauce
Dairy
Some meats to use along with the tortillas include beef and chicken. Seafood can also be used in limited amounts more rarely. Veggies are limited to peppers, onions, tomatoes, lettuce, and things of that nature. Cucumbers, broccoli, carrots, peas, and other garden variety vegetables are out of the question. The main reason for that is because tortillas when fried, have a rich full earthy taste. These other veggies on the other hand neither complement nor add flavor. Therefore, their presence detracts from the tasteful presentation of enjoyment in a dish. Rice and beans, while other types of carbohydrates and protein substitutes can also be added or used by themselves. Remember what I said earlier about not emptying the contents of your kitchen cabinets into the dish. Sauce as always is what brings it all together. You can either use salsa as a base or else a nice dairy side. Speaking of dairy, cheese pairs very well with this as something that brings flavor, adds texture, and pulls it out as one. You can't go wrong with cheese whatever you decide to add to it.
Bread
Bread comes next as the main staple of life. It should be recognized right off the large amount of carbohydrates that bread contains because of the greater relative density compared to that of other substances like say potatoes or lettuce. The only other issue besides this to be considered is how would you like it. Sure, you could have it by itself but that's awful plain and boring don't you think. Let's try adding something to it like cheese, jam, peanut butter, or even just plain butter. That tastes a little better sure. The bread though feels relatively unappetizing by itself though. Let's try toasting it first whether popped in a toaster or just stuck in an oven. Next, let's choose our other sides to go with. There's
Meat
Veggies
Soup
Stew
Rice
Potatoes
Beans
Grains
Alright, let's not get carried away. That's a bit too much carbohydrates to have all at once. You can get metabolic disorders that way in addition to gaining too much weight. Eating bread with rice and potoe dishes are probably not a good idea, although technically it can be done. That's just the trouble though isn't it. The bread makes everything else taste okay. If that's the case, perhaps you really ought to look at what else it is you're eating. There's the meat first. Eggs and sausage taste amazing on bread along with a bit of cheese. I won't to you about that. So does having bread with small amounts of meat mixed in with other veggies in say a soup or a stew. If done sparingly, it won't waste hardly any food at all. Then again, you could just mix and match. At the end of the day though, you really have to remember your total carbohydrate calorie counts. Not that it really matters all that much though. Total calories were ever only just a suggested guide when compared to muscle mass and the amount of physical activity. You could have sandwiches with it too, which is all beside the point right about now. Don't forget about your budget though being careful of the amount of food you use. Some people also use bread as the basis of stuff like say pudding or even cake. That's desert though, for special occasions and having a little at a time. There, now that we got all that sorted out, let's see what comes next.
No Carbohydrate
Carbohydrate free meals are those things like
Lettuce
Meat
Eggs
Peanut butter
Dairy
Vegetables
Fruits
And the list goes on. The whole goal of carbohydrate free diets are to somehow reduce the risk of weight gain or promote muscle growth. It's done for a number of reasons, the very first of which is for keeping in shape. The issue with it though is you need enough of what you plan to eat. Doing without carbohydrates can keep you hungry for awhile. Lettuce is good to use as a wrap in place of bread. Just put it on the bottom or the top, use it as a sandwich and roll it up. Then again, there's the meat, eggs, beans, and peanut butter that all are forms of protein. These can be used in case you don't want to say eat meat. There's fish, dairy, eggs, peanut butter, nuts, and other meat substitues in that case. Still, it isn't advised due to the risk of anemia and other iron deficincies. Basically these help hold fluid in the proper spaces in the body and carry oxygen to the cells. Vegetables and fruits also are very important but you don't want to have too much. Everything in it's proper place will do you just fine and also keep you in good health. Let's say I did want to make a sandwich. Just where would I start?
Lettuce
Thinly sliced meat of choice
Cheese
Tomato, Onion, Cucumber
Olive oil, balsamic vinaigrette
Here's a basic list, try and adjust it for your taste. How dull a life without carbohydrates can be, but trust me,, it can be done. Other substitutes in place of foods that have more are things like potatoes. These are known to have more starch in them and not so much of a carbohydrate.
Grains
Grains all taste wonderful cooked up with plenty of water in the form of a stew. Not too much is known to go with grains, other than they're being a good breakfast food. Other than that, grains can be used in all sorts of ways. They taste really good with plain, simple ingredients added thereunto. Some different forms of grains include oats, quinoa, grits, and a hots of other things. Technically wheat and corn are grains too, although the vegetable class likes to keep a couple of them, particularly the latter. As deceptive as they may appear, these are still technically carbohydrates, the lot of them. The only difference is they're one step closer to the source, as these are grown in the earth. Grains can be toasted, roasted, boiled, or made into a sort of mash like a stew. These are the reason that alcohol is so fattening and so dangerous. What other foods would taste good when paired with grains? Are there some that would complement the others and go well together? If not, what would offset it?
Potatoes
Potatoes come in two different flavors, white potatoes, red potatoes, and sweet potatoes. The issue with sweet potatoes though is that they're built different. Thus, the taste just isn't the same anymore. It's more earthy and quite possibly a tad bit more bitter. That's why I suggest using something sweet like sugar or honey to break the taste. Potatoes can be used as a side for any dish. You can mash them, boil them, or even eat them whole. When cut up and fried, they may something known as French fries or chips. It all depends on how much or how thinly you slice it. Then again, you can add almost anything to them as a topping within reason. Dairy and seasonings along with some meats usually enhance the taste by a good deal. Some things that don't go well with potatoes include other veggies and quite possibly some fruits. What do you think? Normally we'd have something that looks a little bit like this:
Cheese
Dairy sauce
Meat (sprinkled)
Seasonings
The same goes for all no matter how the potato is cooked. Obviously, the rules change a bit when it comes to the sweet potatoes due to their texture and taste. These though taste wonderful when cut up into a pudding along with honey, nuts, fruit, and a few other things.