Well for some unknown reason I volunteered to host the family 4th of July picnic at my house this year. The last time I did this was when I invited almost 20 people over for Thanksgiving. At least my house gets a good cleaning when I know everyone is on their way over. I am embarrassed to say that I had to remove a few straggling Christmas decorations from the dining room.

Anyway, this is the food that is going to be here and I was hoping to get a bit of advice from ya'll on what I should pick and choose.

Okay, I have 3 pounds of lunch meat - roast beef, turkey and ham. I have 1/2 pound of provolone and 1/2 pound of cheddar. I also have bread and rolls but I am not even going to touch that because I got wasa crackers for me.

There will be a tossed salad made by mom (the best kind) which I am fairly certain is okay carb wise. There is also a big ol' fruit salad coming which I plan on staying away from. Here's the stumper for me: a veggie tray.

I made the dip out of reg sour cream but which veggies are the best choice for me? carrots, celery, radishes, green peppers and cucumbers. Are all these okay veggies?

I hope ya'll have a great 4th of July and thanks for reading my post.

Katy

Hi Katy

Visitors are a wonderful wonderful motivation for focussing the mind on getting my home spotlessly clean and tidy. I get done in a day or two things I have been meaning to do for months and a whole lot more. For that I will always love and be grateful to my visitors.

But here I am at 3am tucking into an illegal plate of high-carb rice and potatoes which are some of the left-overs. I made the meal very simple. Lots of chicken curry which of course has to have the traditional accompaniment of saffron rice. I deliberately cooked just short of half the amount of rice I would normally have cooked in the hope there would be none left over.

We spent all day walking - me showing off my little town to my visitors - till we were ready to drop. Wonderful fun day.

The boiled eggs and potatoes were for our picnic lunch. We (all 15 of us) didn't get through 8 boiled eggs (I ate three for my lunch) and half the potatoes. Everybody brought some food for the picnic which I was very good at resisting and which thankfully went back with the visitors!

I wish you luck in sticking firmly to your diet. I've obviously failed the test. Oh but this safron rice tastes like heaven on earth after two months of low-carbing. Hope I'll be able to curb any resulting cravings and return to the lowcarb after this

First time I've REALLY cheated BIG TIME. Until now I thought giving in to a handful of cornflakes was cheating.

My advice to you is to make sure any carbs leave with your visitors.

Let us know how you get on.
Take care.

You invited people over for Thanksgiving on the 4th of July? Gee, I knew things are done different south of the border, but quelle surprise!!!

Your veggie tray sounds great, Katy, except for the carrots! Carrots are quite high in sugar. But you don't have to eat any of those yourself. You could also put out some raw cauliflower, mushrooms, or lightly steamed and chilled asparagus and/or brocolli. Yum!

Rachel

Sounds like a great event!

I usually put out sturdy slices of cucumber and daikon radish, crisp baked rounds of grated cheese and pork rinds as a meat and cheese vehicle for myself and fellow LC'ers when I have a party.

IMHO, Wasa crackers would not be the best idea. From the USDA Database, one Wasa cracker has 8.220 grams of carbohydrates and 1.650 grams of fiber. So two of them would be a bit over 13 grams. That doesn't leave much left for the rest of the day and you want to have fun eating!

Karen