Yesterday was Independence Day here in America, which is a huge holiday often centered around food.
It also happened to be Day 4 of our 2-Week KISS Low Carb Challenge – “kiss” meaning: keep it super simple.
I didn’t manage to keep my meals to 3 Ingredients Or Less (3IMAX), but I let that slide just a bit for the holiday 🙂 while still keeping my meals super simple and very low carb.
I only had two meals yesterday, but that’s because I slept in a little, had a late breakfast / early lunch, and then had a big dinner with friends that evening.
My first meal was “on the go” as I got up and showered, then hit the road for 3 hours to meet up with friends. It being July 4th, I decided to try the “All American Thickburger” from Hardee’s. Low Carb Style of course. 🙂
See: Hardee’s Low Carb Most American Thickburger
This meal was 4 ingredients instead of 3 (hamburger, hot dog, cheese, pickle).
I didn’t count the iceberg lettuce or mayo.
Dinner was a traditional July 4th Cookout…
Ricky and I decided on the meal (which made it easier!) so we took stock of what we had and what everyone else was bringing. Tabitha was grilling fresh corn, her mother was bringing homemade potato salad, and there was a ripe tomato and some yellow squash on hand.
You have to love fresh garden veggie season. 🙂
A quick trip to the store for meat, zucchini, cucumbers & feta cheese (and BBQ sauce for the carbivores) and we were able to put a quick meal together!
I quartered the zucchini & squash, salted them, and they went on the grill topped with butter and wrapped in foil.
That’s Ricky’s hairy arm – not mine! lol
My main contribution to the meal was my “Easy Peasy Cucumber Salad”: fresh cucumbers cubed & salted, a diced garden tomato, feta cheese & mayo.
It’s super simple, but so very delicious! I often leave out the tomato, and sometimes even the feta cheese. Just salted cucumber & mayo makes a great side dish or quick “salad”. You can get creative with it – add nuts, use strawberries & feta instead of tomato, or dress it up however you like!
This dish does NOT last in my house, or anywhere, EVER.
I haven’t met anyone yet that doesn’t LOVE it. 🙂
The guys manned the grilled, and made country style ribs and BBQ chicken – along with the quartered veggies. I just requested mine to be “buttered and salted only, please”. 🙂 It helps when you do it with a smile, lol.
The barbeque sauce looked and smelled delicious (at 18 grams of sugar per serving – YIKES). And yes, they make low carb sugar free bbq sauce. I have gotten to a point where I love “just salt” on my meats, as it brings out the delicious natural flavor of the meat itself. It’s amazing what you can taste when you just eat food… as it comes!
I skipped the potato salad too, which looked and smelled fabulous btw, and still ended up with more than I could eat. Especially after having a second helping of the cucumber salad!
Again, more than 3 Ingredients – which is the point of our current challenge, I know – but it WAS a holiday. 🙂 And my holiday dinner was all fresh veggies, real food, and still “super simple”.
Here’s how I entered my dinner:
The totals for the day at the bottom include my low carb burger for lunch, and my coffee creamer. Again, entirely too much coffee. *sigh* lol.
Still… not bad:
1,196 Calories
18 Net Carbs
21 Total Carbs
70% Fat / 24% Protein
What about you?
How was YOUR low carb Fourth of July holiday? 🙂
Best,
Lynn Terry, aka @LowCarbTraveler
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