Hi.
I want to make the Chicken and Mushroom ‘Pie’, but I’m a veggie so want to substitute the chicken for something else. I was thinking about chestnuts, but I am really bad at working out how many carbs are in things. Would chestnuts be a good substitution? I would be very grateful for any replies.
Lulu

Chestnuts are monstrously high in carbs and calories. One cup has 350 calories, 69 grams net carbs, 15 of them sugar. You can add TVP or some other fake meat substitute. There are some decent soy-based sausages out there that might work, but do not buy them without checking the nutritional panel first. Vegetarian substitutes tend to use a lot of high carb fillers. Why bother with any sub at all? I’d just bulk it up with a greater variety of mushrooms.

There’s no challenge to calculating the nutritional contents of food, by the way. There are many, many apps and websites where all you have to do is plug in the name of the product, brand or generic, and it’ll fill in all the information for you. I use MyFitnessPal. A lot of other people here use FatSecret because it has a UK specific site with British brands. Even a simple Google search for “x nutrition” will show you all the information in a panel on the side.

Hi Esnecca.
Thank you so much for the information.
Blimey! I had know idea chestnuts were so carb and calorie heavy.
I think I will do as you suggested and bulk up on mushrooms as I don’t like meat substitutes.
I have downloaded the FatSecret app, thanks for the heads up.
Best wishes.
Lulu