Weekly Low Carb Wrap Up - Week Nine

I have to be honest, I had a lazy week, ate some things I shouldn't have eaten but all in all tried to stick with the program. I think it's just the fact that the weather has gone crazy here! Can you believe it's almost 100 degrees today, Mothers Day! And it's only May! That doesn't bode well for the rest of the summer!

I had thought to try to BBQ today for Mother's Day but since I knew it was going to be 100 degrees I instead made a Doritos Chicken Casserole. Trust me, this is in no way a low carb dish, but I made it for my son as a special request, cause isn't that what moms do?

Photo Credit: blogchef.net

Doesn't that look yummy? Trust me it was. I have to admit I had a bite, ok...more than a bite but less than the whole casserole dish...promise. It is Mother's Day after all!

Back to the wrap up though. Early on in the week I made those wonderful Easy Cajun Chicken Drumsticks and that's pretty much what I ate for lunch the whole week. I also ate a lot of hard boiled eggs and Foster Farms Chicken Wieners for snacks. I ate some avocados and steamed zucchini and roasted asparagus throughout the week, so I stayed in the eating plan, I just didn't make anything new and exciting. 

But I do want to have something interesting to blog about especially for those of you that may be following my weekly wrap-ups just to get ideas on what else you can eat low carb. Many of you who follow me on facebook thank me for sharing these recipes so let me tell you now that they definitely are not my inventions! As I've said before when it comes to cooking I am strictly a "cook by the recipe" kind of cook. I may occasionally tweak a recipe here and there but I've never truly invented a low carb dish.

Lucky for me there are dozens of great low carb bloggers out there that share wonderful recipes, tips and ideas and I always give them credit in my posts but today I want to list a few for you so you can go visit them, show them some love and if you want to tell them I sent you that would be just great!

1. I Breathe...I'm Hungry  - This is one of my favorites for great recipes that are easy and do-able and I usually have the ingredients for. I found the recipe for the Easy Cajun Drumsticks on her blog! Mellisa Sevigny is the brains behind this blog and I love her recipes so much that I bought her online cookbook, The Gluten Free Low Carber! At $9.95 it's a deal and a steal!

2. Linda's Low Carb Menus - You can't be a low carber and not have heard of this amazing blog! I have made many of her recipes, her Make Me Stuffed Peppers, her Broccoli Slaw, and my co-worker has made her No-Bake Jello Cheesecake many times! Her website is very well organized and has photos which I always love to see so I know how close I am to the original when mine is done.

3. Living Low Carb One Day At a Time - Really this is what I do, just take it one day at a time and if I mess up I don't beat myself up, I just continue on...one day at a time! My co-worker made her Tuscan Chicken Soup and it was wonderful! Everything a soup should be, hearty and filling and comforting, yet low carb. I have pinned lots of her recipes to try in the future but you can just head on over there and try some for yourselves...don't wait for me!

So there you go, three great websites to visit if you are interested in eating healthier, low carb, paleo or gluten free!

Hoping the weather cools down so I will have the energy to try some new recipes this week but I'm not promising anything because not only it is going to be hotter than hell around here this next week but my co-worker will be on vacation the whole week and that means double the workload for me, so I'm going to be one busy and tired and hot little puppy!

Hope you all have a great week! Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mothers out there including my own wonderful mother and my little sister Lisa!

My sister Lisa, my mom and ME!

 

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!



 

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!