Weekly Low Carb Wrap Up - Week 3

     Darn it! I have to get better at this! I've been doing this low carb wrap up for a few weeks now and I'm not getting any posting done during the week. I think I'm going to have to start posting this stuff on a daily basis for two reasons: 

1. It will make for more posting throughout the week. 
2. I forget what stuff I made during the week and comments I wanted to make on it.

     I'll do the best I can during the week since it is American Idol season and I love them and won't miss it for anything in the world!

     Have you all been hearing about the health benefits of Kale? I know I have, and aside from the health benefits I've been told that Kale Chips are the next best thing to Tortilla Chips. May I just tell you right now that is  a big fat lie  a bit far-fetched! Yuk! Kale Chips are not the thing for me! Now those of you that love them, don't hate me, they are just not for me, just as Seaweed Chips are not for me even though I know those that love them.

     The photo above is where they are all washed and dried and seasoned and ready to be baked. I used the recipe from the very excellent low carb blog, I breathe...I'm hungry...

     I'm pretty sure it's not the fault of the recipe or the blog or the blog creator, Mellissa Sevigny, it's just that kale chips are not for me, just like I don't like mushrooms, it's just a matter of personal taste.

     I baked them just as she instructed and tasted the ones that burned a little bit and tasted the ones that were perfectly crisp and nope...not for me. I want to think that maybe it was the Soy Sauce or the Sriracha Sauce so I am going to try to make it one more time with a different recipe that just calls for olive oil, salt and pepper. I'll let you know what happens.

     One new item I did try this week is the new Atkins Frozen Meals. I tried the Crustless Chicken Pot Pie. I gotta say, it wasn't bad. It didn't taste like a pot pie, but the chicken was fresh and delicious white meat with a very nice tenderness, not dry at all. The veggies were pretty good and the sauce was rich and gooey. It didn't seem like a lot at first and I didn't know if I was going to get full, but it was very filling due to the fact that there was quite a bit of chicken and the pieces were pretty big. I would definitely recommend this and I will be buying it again. Right now Wal-mart is the only store carrying them and of course, they don't carry them at the store I go to!

     Atkins has a whole line of them and I also purchased the Italian Sausage Primavera which I will probably try for lunch tomorrow. You can see their whole line on the Atkins website. 

     I tried another new thing this week, I tried making Buffalo Roasted Cauliflower. I used a recipe from a new blog I've found via Pinterest. The blog is called Closet Cooking because the blog owner, Kevin is "Cooking in a closet sized kitchen".

     Again, I don't blame Kevin for my not being thrilled with the recipe, I think that I just don't like roasted Cauliflower. I love Cauliflower, but just not roasted. I may try it steamed as I did like the flavor of the buffalo sauce.

     I served the dish alongside a favorite dish of mine that my mom makes, you can see it below. She chops up steak and pan fries it in oil and when it's done she adds chopped tomato and jalapenos and it's almost like a steak fajita except there is no onion as mom can't stomach onion (I love, love, love onion!). See those burnt parts on the cauliflower? Those parts are supposed to have a delicious nutty taste, they just tasted burnt. You can't see the buffalo sauce very well, I actually added more later.

     That night I went to bed wondering what to do so I wouldn't waste the rest of that cauliflower. Voila! Overnight a wonderful idea came to me, why not fry it up with some scrambled eggs? Hence is born my Scrambled Egg Buffalo Roasted Cauliflower! 

     The egg really cut down on the burnt taste and the marinating overnight of the cauliflower with the Franks Red Hot Sauce made for a spicy delicious breakfast. It made enough for two servings and I put it in plastic containers and enjoyed it two mornings at work. The office smelled awful, but we opened the door and aired it out and it was ok. I recommend this dish if you love spicy. Just make Closet Cooking's Buffalo Roasted Cauliflower and chop it into bite-sized pieces and heat it in a pan with some butter and olive oil, then throw uncooked scrambled egg in and cook to your desired egg consistency. Yum!

     Now...let's see, what else did I try this week that was new and exciting? Oh yeah! I made a pork tenderloin that was to die for!! I almost killed my mom making it but she said the flavor was almost worth it. I used a cast iron skillet on the stove top and seared the whole tenderloin while it had the dry rub on it. Because of the Cayenne Pepper in the dry rub, it makes it noxious to breath. It didn't bother me but it drove poor mom out of the house!

     I've actually made this dish before and blogged about it here. My daughter found this recipe a while back and asked me to make it for her. The original recipe was adapted by a recipe from the blog, Little B Cooks: Chronicles from a Vermont foodie, quite a title!

     The first time I made it I used the exact recipe as Little B posted on her blog, but when I went to go get the recipe out of my little personal cookbook where I write down recipes I like, I noticed that I had jotted down some notes. I said my family didn't care for the cinnamon and to leave out the glaze if making low carb as it does have brown sugar....so I did that, it was smack your mama delicious! I believe I served steamed broccoli with it, but I don't remember now.

     And my co-worker, who loves to cook and try new low carb dishes made a tasty little dessert for us and she brought them to work and we had one every day for our 3pm break. They are these delicious  creamy little bites of heaven! It's called No-Bake Jello Cheesecake and it has just 3 carbs each! Really satisfies a sweet tooth! She found the recipe on a really excellent low carb website, Linda's Low Carb Menus. I love this site!

         Can you believe they are made with just 4 ingredients, one of them being water? Unbelievably delicious!

       So that was my week! Hopefully I can do even better in trying out new things this next week. I'm also going to try to cut down on my carbs from 20 -24 to 17 -20 carbs per day as I'm stalled right now and haven't lost any more weight. I feel lighter and my clothes fit better. Health wise I feel great! No indigestion or that yucky bloated feeling after eating, but it's always nice to see that scale drop too. So wish me luck and if you have any low carb ideas for me, I'd love to hear them!

     Oh yeah...my co-worker and I also started walking during our lunch hour. She can walk for miles, but then again she's the same age as my daughter. I made it almost a mile and then told her she had to go get the car...hahaha. No I made it back to the office but I guess I bit off more than I can chew and need to ride my stationery bike more before I tackle a mile again...but it's a start!

     Have a great week all!