Weekend Low Carb Wrap Up - Week Eleven

Welcome to week eleven! It's been a good week! I've only lost one pound but I had been stuck on the same weight for the past two months, so any loss is a win in my book! Been doing excellent in staying on track and watching carbs. 

I recently joined a group of people that are trying to lose weight. Some are doing Atkins Low Carb - High Fat, some are on Weight Watchers, some on Skinny Fiber, some counting calories, but the point of the group is the support that we are all receiving from each other. The tips and ideas are great too. 

I mentioned how I was stalled and not losing any weight and what I was eating and how frustrated I was and several told me that I was not eating enough fats. I explained that I really don't like fats, yuk! I like lean meats and always remove the fat on my chicken but told them I was willing to try eating more fat. I never thought I would purposely eat more fat, but I did and I did lose 1 pound. I will continue throughout this next week and see what happens. 

My co-worker Angie was nice enough to make a recipe we've been seeing all over the web called "Fat Bombs", see the picture below. These yummies consist of coconut oil, almond butter, liquid Stevia, cocoa powder and melted butter. She found them on the website My Low Carb Road to Better Health - High Fat, Moderate Protein, Low Carb. 

Let's see, what else did I eat throughout the week? One thing was a tried and true friend...my Cajun Chicken Drumsticks and Broccoli Slaw. I love these and could eat them morning, noon and night! And now I am even eating the skin so it's a good thing that the rub I use on it gives it such great flavor!

Oh...one of the members in the group asked all of us how we "Latinize" our low carb foods. Well my mom cooks for me pretty often and all she needs to do is add jalapeno and tomato and it's Mexican food for me!

Here she takes steak and cuts it into bite size pieces instead of strips and makes her version of steak fajitas. She also makes this wonderful dish that she has made ever since I was a little girl. She takes Anaheim Chile Peppers and roasts them over an open flame, peels the skin off and then stuffs them with Monterey Cheese and microwaves them for a bit to melt the cheese. Kind of a Chile Rellano without the breaded outside. I love them! All I add is a salad. 

Earlier today my sister accompanied me to do my weekly grocery shopping. We were on our way to eat at Applebees and we saw that right across the street there was a Farmers Market going on so we went over to check it out. And it was a good thing we did because we found these yummy baked veggies! 

They had all kinds. In the picture below are Beet Chips and Carrot Chips with Garlic. They had samples and it's a good thing they did or we never would have tried them!

I also bought a bag of Okra Chips, which I didn't take a picture of because earlier today I went to go visit my dad for Father's Day and I took them to him and he was in Okra Heaven! He loved them and in a couple of days I will take him the beet ones and then later the carrot ones. I'm sure he will love these as well. They are baked by a company called The Kloster Company, but I could not find a website for them.

We bought some other goodies at the Farmers Market. One of the items was a Raspberry Pomegranate Vinaigrette so tonight for dinner I made myself a refreshing summer salad of Romaine Lettuce, Avocado, Cucumber, Strawberries and Red Onion and topped it all with the Vinaigrette and some cracked black pepper. It was one of the most delicious salads I've ever had!

And lest you think that I didn't have any fats today, this is what I had for lunch at Applebees!

I asked our server to bring me some butter and he was kind enough to bring me about 1/4 cup of melted butter which I drizzled all over the veggies and on the steak. I ate every bit except for the carrots!

As I said...it's been a great week and I feel fabulous and I know I look much better and my clothes are feeling looser. It is only one pound I've lost on the scale, but it's not just about the scale. It's about feeling better and feeling better about myself!

Photo Courtesy of Trains Fitness

 

Weekly Low Carb Wrap Up - Week Eight?

Notice my little question mark after the title? The last wrap up I did was April 15th and that was week seven. I went a bit AWOL after that last one. BUT...I have kept my low carb lifestyle going. It's not a diet, it's a way of life so there's no turning back now! So that's about three weeks of low carb goodies I have to show you. 

To be honest, I have not had a lot of time to try new recipes. I have pinned several in Pinterest that I will be trying out in the future, but for right now my priority is being with my dad. I mentioned a few posts ago that he had taken a fall and broken his pelvis. He's in an assisted living facility and I try to visit him at least once a day, sometimes twice. On the bright side he is getting better and his break has healed enough that this next week he will be beginning physical therapy! 

Dad and I. Celebrating his 82nd Birthday!

Just yesterday we celebrated his 82nd birthday and he was in a wonderful mood. Happy and talkative, enjoying his family and eating Nopales (cactus) which is his favorite dish. My sister made them for him and now that I think about it, Nopales are low carb, I sure wish I liked them but unfortunately I don't like them or mushrooms either.

My dad holding his containers of Nopales (Cactus) cooked with scrambled egg and onion.

One new thing that I have found and tried and really like are Persian Cucumbers! I love any kind of cucumber but especially these as I am not really fond of all the seeds in the middle and hate scooping them out before I slice them. With the Persian Cucumbers I found I didn't have to. They are super crunchy and I like to dust them with Pico De Gallo powder, which is very spicy and then drizzle them with a bit of lemon. So delicious and low carb. Really satisfies that craving for chips and salsa!

Another new item I tried was courtesy of my co-worker and co-partner in this low carb lifestyle, Angelica. She made the most delicious low carb lasagna! Yes, you heard right, low carb lasagna! But Alicia, you say...pasta is very high in carbs! I know, I know! But not when your pasta is made from Zucchini! This photo doesn't do this dish justice, but trust me it was fabulous!

Low Carb Zucchini Lasagna!

In previous low carb wrap ups I've done I've mentioned the Easy Cajun Drumsticks that I've made and I love them, but I decided to try to make them with boneless chicken breast. My son loved them and I thought they were delicious, but I really love them as drumsticks much better. They are just more flavorful and not as dry. Served them with a drizzle of lemon to cut the spiciness a bit and steamed some broccoli. I love eating low carb!

Easy Cajun Skinless Chicken Strips

One of the things I do miss eating on a low carb lifestyle is burritos and tacos. But I found a great new way to kinda/sorta eat a burrito and/or taco. Use a leaf of lettuce! In the photos below I show you several different fillings that I've tried and they were all 100% delicious!

Shredded Beef Romaine Lettuce Taco with Green Beans and Roma Tomatoes

Beef Carnitas Romaine Lettuce Tacos

Chicken Salad Romaine Lettuce Tacos with Slices of Cucumber

Didn't those all look delicious? And so easy. Almost anything you can wrap in a tortilla you can wrap in a lettuce leaf. 

This next dish tastes much, much better than this photograph would lead you to believe. The original recipe calls them Buffalo Balls. They are from an awesome low carb website, I Breathe...I'm Hungry!

I followed her recipe almost to the letter, the only thing I changed is that I added Parmesan Cheese as I didn't have and don't particularly like Blue Cheese. They were really delicious and my co-worker/friend/co-low carber Angelica really loved them as well. You use Frank's Red Hot Sauce...this stuff is fabulous! Meatballs are a really easy way to eat low carb.

And last but not least...a low carb tip for you. A quick and easy Breakfast or mid morning or mid afternoon snack are hard-boiled eggs. I usually just peel two in the morning, cut them up and put them in a plastic container, add a dollop of mayo and some salt and pepper and head out the door. At snack time I just open up the container, mix everything up and eat. Easy, tasty, flavorful!

So there you go. Hopefully I redeemed myself from missing previous low carb wrap ups and we will see what this next week hold for me. Have a good one!


 

Weekly Low Carb Wrap Up - Week Seven

My weeks are still jam-packed with trying to take care of and spend time with my dad, but that hasn't stopped me from continuing to eat healthy. 

 I unfortunately don't have a lot of time to try new things so I'm sticking with the tried and true, meaning I made those delicious Cajun Chicken Drumsticks again. I made a whole pack of them, which was sixteen! And that is pretty much what I ate every day. 

But that's ok because they are little morsels of deliciousness like no other! And....they are only $4.54 for the whole pack!

I ate them with salad and with green beans and with avocado, something different each day and yet they never did get old.

I have another whole pack thawing out right now that I plan to bake tomorrow. So bear with me while I help to get my dad healthy and back on his feet again and then I'll definitely be trying new things during the week.

 

Weekly Low Carb Wrap Up - Week Six

Ha! Bet you thought I forgot to do my weekly low carb wrap up right? Never fear, I'm just a little bit late. What with taking care of my dad and all I'm getting a little bit behind. But I am still trying to stick to my new way of eating. So while I didn't try a whole bunch of new things, I did try two.

But first, thanks to everyone who wished my dad well and prayed for him and my family. He's getting better and stronger every day and I'm hopeful he's going to heal well and be able to go back to his little home where he has his independence.

So this week I did get industrious one night and I made stuffed bell peppers. I checked out a whole bunch of different recipes that I had pinned on Pinterest. I love Pinterest, it makes it so easy to save things you want to find later!

Aren't these beautiful? I used a recipe from Linda's Low Carb Menus and Recipes. She has more delicious low carb recipes than you can shake a stick at! I used her recipe for Make Me Stuffed Peppers! I tweaked it a bit because I had way too much hamburger meat and in order to get my son to eat what I didn't use in the bell peppers I had to make sure I didn't cook it with onion. So I browned the ground beef in a pan with salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder, then took out what he was going to eat and added raw red onion and Roma tomatoes in the meat left in the pan.

I also had tons of Monterey Jack cheese in the fridge, so I used that instead of Cheddar and....I used red bell peppers! I'm such a rebel! So here they are after I've boiled the peppers in water for three minutes, then stuffed them, placed them in the pan and topped them with cheese.

Here they are, fresh out of the oven. All warm and gooey. Don't they look good? I think next time I will sprinkle some diced green onion when they come out of the oven, just for flavoring.

The night I made these I ate them with a simple green salad with ranch dressing and it was so good. It's nice to have a comfort food and these definitely were that!

I took some to work the next day and my co-worker and fellow low-carber Angelica ate one and she loved it! She's not a big fan of bell pepper but she loved these and said she is going to try making them. I'm excited to see what she does cause as I've said before, she's an outside the box thinker and I'm sure she'll put her own little spin on them!

Here is the bell pepper just nuked in the microwave for lunch. A healthy, delicious and filling lunch!

That night when I got home dinner was easy because I had all these stuffed bell peppers, so I just made a quick pork fried cauli-rice (rice made from riced cauliflower...it's delicious!) My second new thing I tried this week. You take your riced cauliflower and saute it in a pan with some olive oil and butter, season it with salt and pepper and cook for a couple of minutes. I added diced up ham and cooked that another minute then I moved the whole concoction over to the side for a bit and scrambled a couple of eggs in a bowl and cooked them in the side of the pan until they were set then blended them with the rice, sprinkled green onion, a shot of soy sauce and sesame seed oil and a healthy shot of Sriracha Sauce cause I love me some spiciness. See my beautiful little stuffed pepper in the background there? Yum!

Because I am so good at eating left overs I can make a whole bunch of these and eat them non-stop morning, noon and night until they are all gone. In fact I ate one again today at lunch!

So that was it for new things this past week. Bear with me, I have tons of new recipes I will be trying and I may even invent a few of my own. But until my dad gets better and gets back home, I will be spending at least a couple of hours every day after work with him, making sure he eats and that he's not too lonely and that he know how very much I love him.

Have a good week!





 

Weekly Low Carb Wrap Up - Week Five

     This has been a tough week for me! But even with all that has happened this week which I'll detail more about in another post to follow later this week, I managed to lose one pound! Yay!!! 

     I know, it's not a lot, but imagine if you were to lose one pound per week? How many pounds would you lose in one year??? I can see you all doing the math. Let me make it easy for you...it would be 52 pounds!!! Amazing when you realize slow and steady wins the race!

     The bad thing about deciding to lose weight and eat better is that as human beings, we are a very impatient bunch! We are used to getting everything now! We don't stop to think that we didn't put on 30 extra pounds in a week, it took us a good 6 months to a year or more, so what makes us think we can lose it in a week?

     That is my mantra...slow and steady wins the race. I'm not just learning how to lose weight, I'm also learning how to cook and eat delicious food that can be eaten by me and my whole family alike. As I get older and realize that I want to avoid diabetes, which runs in most families, I know the only way to do it is to eat better and exercise.

     With that being said, let me tell you that while I stuck to my eating plan this past week, I really didn't have much time to try new things. But thank goodness for my co-worker, who decided to try to make a cookie using almond flour and coconut. I believe she found the recipe on the blog, I Breathe...I'm Hungry. These cookies are called Almond Joy Cookies and they are low carb and gluten free. 

Almond Joy Cookies

     We both discussed the fact that they were good, but could have used a little more Splenda to make them sweeter. We realize that would have upped the carb count, but as long as we are only going to eat one every once in a while it really wouldn't kill us. She too felt that maybe it would have helped to add some cinnamon for flavoring, but all in all, they were pretty good and went well with our morning coffee. She also made some cheesecake which I forgot to photograph.

     I usually like to try to make a nice meal on Sundays. It's a throwback to my mom and dad who always used to BBQ on Sunday. They would make enough food to feed an army! Last Sunday I made another Pork Tenderloin, but this time I made it the way my sister does, kind of like a pot roast. I loaded it with veggies. It look beautiful and tasted pretty good, but my familia is not big on the baked veggies and I myself like them only slightly steamed and still crunchy. But it's a pretty dish, don't you think?

     For this pork tenderloin I used a very simple dry rub, just salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder, then I braised it in a cast iron skillet, added the raw veggies and into the oven it went.

     This Sunday was Easter Sunday. I was going to BBQ but it was windy in our neck of the woods and a bit chilly, so I decided to just make my famous (well famous to my family) Taco Bell Teriyaki Hamburgers with Guacamole for my son and daughter, and then for myself I decided to try a couple of new recipes that I've pinned on Pinterest. 

     The first was an Easy Cajun Chicken from...you guessed it, I Breathe...I'm Hungry! I just love her blog, so many wonderful recipes that are super easy to make. So easy that even I can do it!

     I did it exactly like her recipe except that I did not have any dried thyme so I just didn't use it. I had bought a huge pack of chicken drumsticks at the store the day before and I washed them, dried them, rubbed them with olive oil and then made the dry rub of salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder, cayenne pepper and dried oregano and tossed them in that, placed them on a foil lined cookie sheet and baked them at 400 degree oven for about an hour. 

     They were soooooooooooo good! The skin was crispy and spicy as heck! And the meaty part of the drumstick was juicy and delicious. I made the whole pack which was about 5 pounds so I will have plenty of leftovers to carry me through the week.
     

     To go along with it, I tried another Pinterest recipe which I found at Linda's Low Carb Menus and Recipes called Broccoli Slaw. This was very similar to my Broccoli Salad  except it didn't call for bacon and onions, so I improvised a bit and added onion salt and when I served the slaw on my plate I added bacon bits. 

     I also added some guacamole that I made for the burgers. I froze some of the guacamole as a test as I have been seeing on Pinterest that you can freeze avocado and they are really inexpensive right now. I bought these for 50 cents each! So here was my Easter Sunday Dinner...yummy no?

     So that's it for this week's wrap up. I didn't get a chance to exercise as I had hoped, but I did stay busy doing other things, which again I will post more about later this week. I'll try to exercise this week, but again...not sure it's going to be possible since I'm a pretty busy gal lately. Have a great week!

 

Weekly Low Carb Wrap Up!

     It's that time again! Time to prove to myself that I did well sticking to a low carb lifestyle and that I'm not eating the same old thing day after day. 

      Last Sunday, after I posted my first Weekly Low Carb Wrap Up, I was feeling motivated and decided to make a little treat for myself and my co-worker for the next day. I've made this dessert before and I had pinned the recipe from sheknows.com. 

     Recipe

* 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
* 4 teaspoons Splenda
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder
* Sugar-free Cool Whip (optional)
     
     Directions
1. Place whipping cream, Splenda, vanilla and cocoa powder in a blender or a bowl if you want to use a mixer as I did.
2. Blend or whip until creamy and smooth.
3. Spoon mixture into serving dish, or plastic container for travel to the office as I did.
4. If you want, top with Cool whip and sprinkle with cocoa powder.
5. Enjoy...delicious!

     Monday evening when I got home I had expected to marinate some chicken for about a half hour but my mom had made Pork Carnitas. I love Pork Carnitas. Usually when she makes them we have them in tacos. 

     She fries corn tortillas in oil until crispy but not crunchy, then we add the carnitas, lettuce, cheese, salsa and cotija cheese. But since I can't have the corn tortillas I made myself a Pork Carnita Salad. 

     See...almost the same thing as the tacos, just no fried corn tortillas. Did I miss the fried tortilla shells? Yes, I have to be honest, I did. But was I satisfied with this salad? Yes...and low carb. Lots of crunch even without the taco shells since I added yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced radishes, finely chopped celery and topped it all with some sour cream and about a tablespoon of my mom's salsa. I didn't even use any kind of dressing.

     I went ahead and marinated my chicken in this great product I was introduced to by my co-worker. McCormick's Grill Mates. 

     You just mix with some oil and water and then place your chicken in there and leave it for 30 minutes or more, I left it overnight and then in the morning before I left for work I wrapped it well in foil on a cookie sheet and when I got home I just popped it into the oven! 

     I almost had a catastrophe! See...it popped up too much. I've never had this happen, wondering if maybe it was the marinade that made this happen. Found out from my co-worker the next day that it's best to not cover it before putting it in the oven, so can't wait to try it again. 

     Here's the end result, it was so good! Moist and tender and very flavorful. Served it with some steamed broccoli and then I made a salad of bell peppers and Roma tomatoes marinated with a little Italian dressing and some dehydrated onion as I didn't have fresh. It was such a great meal!

     I had the left over chicken and broccoli for lunch the next day and it was even better!

     Also this week I had a great steak my mom made along with some zucchini squash she steamed and some green beans with tomato. I had some of the bell pepper and Roma tomato salad left so I threw it on top of my steak like a relish. Another great meal! I can't believe how easy and delicious it is to eat low carb!

     Friday I had not planned for as my sister and I usually go out to dinner on Friday nights and get caught up with our week. But this week she was suffering from allergies, plus she had a birthday party to attend. So I stopped at Von's Grocery Store for their 5 for $5 fish meal. I added the left over zucchini ..I love left overs. My mom and daughter don't eat left overs but I think food gets better the next day. I also purchased a great e-book and made my own home-made low carb Tartar Sauce. 

     I couldn't believe that homemade tartar sauce would be so good but it was much better than store bought. The e-book I bought was from Mellissa Sevigny from ibreatheimhungry.com. 

     So simple to make too!

* 1/4 cup mayonnaise
* 1 tablespoon dill relish
* 1 teaspon prepared mustard
* 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Combine in a small bowl and serve alongside your fish..mmmmm! I highly recommend buying the book! It's called The Gluten Free Low Carber and you can buy it HERE. 

     Last week I also mentioned I was going to try to make the low carb crackers with Pepper Jack Cheese and I'm so glad I did, they are delicious !! Really satisfy that craving for chips and/or crackers! And you have those tiny little bits of jalapeno in there. These took a little bit longer to cook in the microwave  American cheese took 60 seconds but I had to cook these an additional 60 seconds. 

     So lets see what new things I can try this coming week or what old things I can reinvent low carb. Have a good week everyone!

 

The Story of the Spoons and other delightful objects

The other day my daughter April and I went to dinner and shopping after work on a Friday. We went to one of our favorite places, Jake's Tex Mex. She had Tri-Tip and I had the Salad Lite, which is so Un-lite it's not even funny. You have to go through a cafeteria line at Jake's and you pick and choose what you want on your salad. I started out with their wonderful shredded chicken. They put this chicken which is all white meat into a bowl and it's a lot of chicken, let me tell you. Then you tell them what you want in your salad. You can have either Pasta salad or Broccoli salad plus the lettuce and stuff. I wanted Pasta. Their pasta is awesome, it's made with these little round noodles. So then you have chicken and pasta salad and lettuce in the bowl and I picked ranch dressing, sunflower seeds and tortilla strips. They hand toss them over and over and over again in a bowl til it's all mixed together and tasty and then they toss shredded Parmesan cheese in. It's totally enough to feed two people! I ate half and brought half home which my son devoured when he got home from work.


So then we went to Marshalls and we looked around and I picked up some stuff and then would put it back, then pick up something else, then put it back. Finally I picked up these spoons, and there is a story behind these spoons. (Oh, by the way...if you click on the spoons and wait for the picture to open up to normal size you will see ME reflected in the spoons...thats what the pink dot on the spoons is, it's me!)




So the story is that right after Christmas, my mom and I went shopping at TJ Maxx after getting our nails done. I found these spoons and fell in love with them. And my mom just didn't see what the big deal with these spoons was. She said they were totally impractical! And I told her, "But mom, look at how beautiful and precious they are. Don't you just want to get up every morning to have your morning coffee knowing you can stir it with these beautiful little spoons?" She just didn't see it. :o(


So I put them back and we wandered around some more. Then I thought, "No dammit, I deserve to have happy mornings! I ask for so little in life, just pretty little nothings!" So I told her I had to have those spoons and she laughed at me and I went back to go get them and THEY WERE GONE! I was devastated! I came back and told my mom and she said, "No way!" I think what she really meant was, "Is there someone else as ridiculous as you in this world that can't get through the morning without stirring their coffee with ridiculously jeweled spoons?" I guess there is someone like that out there and dammit! they took my spoons.

So that day that my daughter and I were at Marshalls and I found the spoons I knew it was "kismet"...it was meant to be! So I bought them and they came home with me. Along with this beautiful Jasmine scented Reed Diffuser...



and this lovely Butterfly plate

that I hung up on the empty wall on my bathroom.

My bathroom has sort of a butterfly motif thanks to this picture...
that I stole from my daughter and this shower curtain...
which I've had forever and I love cause when I take my shower in the morning it's like a spring rain in a field full of butterflies...(hey, whatever I need to make it through the day ok?)

And I wanted to show off one more "pretty". A salsa bowl that my daughter brought back from the beach for me. I love it! I can't wait til spring so we can sit out on the patio with some Margaritas and Chips & Salsa. Yummy!