#Lowcarb Boredom - Meal Ideas - 9/26-29

I don't recall what I made on Wednesday (9/26), now, and apparently I didn't blog it on Thursday - but I had a really REALLY busy call day (I work 9-5 taking calls/scheduling for a pest control service) plus was trying to get ready to leave.

Thursday we were leaving for downstate soon after I got done with work. Pete grilled up some hot dogs and steaks, and that's what we ate. We snacked on popcorn in the morning.

Friday and Saturday we were on the road and ate mostly at restaurants, but Friday night I did make supper: Chicken breasts with deep pockets sliced into them, stuffed with sausage and mozzarella, stood on the side - pocket up - in a baking dish (so the stuffing wouldn't melt out) and roasted for about 45 minutes...then I drained off most of the fat from the mozzarella and poured spaghetti sauce over them, sprinkled the tops with parmesan, and put them back in the oven for about 20 more minutes. One the side we had my lovely coated green beans. Heat up some butter and olive oil in a frying pan on high; add frozen green beans; season heavily with onion powder, and some sea salt; stir around as the beans thaw, give off steam, and finally cook through as the onion powder forms a coating on them and absorbs the fats. They are amazing! (I do variations of this, sometimes using only olive oil, or something adding some garlic powder also, or whatever.)

Tonight we were home and I cooked supper for us: chicken breasts (with skin and bones) brushed with olive oil and sprinkled with seasoned salt, because I'm exhausted from the whirlwind of the last 48 hours. And we finished up the last of the daikon casserole with it.

While we were downstate I took the opportunity to go to Aldi's to stock up on mostly dairy (saving a full 50% on some items, compared to our local prices!) and to Horrocks for excellent quality produce that is mostly at LEAST 25% cheaper than buying it here, and much of it - actually about half of what I bought - between 50-75% cheaper! I also picked up a few ham "ends and pieces" for $1.79/20 oz pkg and a big package of chicken breasts for $1.19/lb. there. We are STOCKED now! I spent $99-something between those 2 stores, and packed the trunk of the car FULL plus half of the back seat!! SO STOKED! We will be eating such lovely meals with this bounty that the Lord provided!!

#Lowcarb Boredom - Meal Ideas - 9/25

Yesterday was a really delicious day!

For lunch I had "oatmeal" - I use 1/4c oatmeal, 1/4c finely chopped pecans, and 1/4c unsweetened shredded coconut mixed with enough water to cover it in my bowl, and then some - maybe ua cup and a quarter? Then I nuke it 2 minutes, covered, and let it sit another couple of minutes until the water is all absorbed. I like to eat it with LOTS of butter and cinnamon, a little brown sugar sub, and half'n'half. (I'd use cream in this, and in many other things, if it weren't twice the price of half'n'half!)

For supper I made some spicy-sweet meatballs and a "potato" casserole. Here are the recipes:

Spicy-Sweet Meatballs
This uses a Thai Sweet Chili Sauce that I found at a discount store for a buck. It's pretty carby @ 3 per tsp, but has a STRONG flavor. I use very little of it.
1 - Cooked 1/2 of a large onion in a frying pan in olive oil until browning; I did this on med-low heat which takes longer but tastes better.
2 - Mixed 1# of ground beef with an egg, 1/4c each of ground porkies and parmesan cheese, 1/2t of garlic powder, 2t of worchestershire sauce, and 1 tsp. of chili powder
3 - When onions are just browned, I moved them to side of the pan; formed meatballs (mine were walnut-sized) and added to pan; covered and let cook through. (This didn't take very long with small meatballs, about 4-5 minutes.)
4 - Added 2T chili sauce over the meatballs and tossed with the onions and pan drippings.

This made about 4 servings.

Fauxtato Casserole
1 - I finely diced (using a gadget I have for the purpose) a daikon radish and half of a large onion, and boiled the daikon in salted water for about 5 minutes just to soften slightly.
2 - Into my 9x13 glass baking dish I tossed the drained daikon, the onion, 1c of shredded colby-jack cheese, 1c of mozzarella cheese, about 1/2# of chopped cooked bacon, and a 24 oz container of sour cream.
3 - Baked 45 minutes @ 350, then topped with another 1/2c or so of cheeses and a sprinkle of parmesan for browning/crispiness on top, then returned to the oven for another 15 minutes or so.

This made about 10 servings, certainly enough for a few days' worth of leftovers. In fact I just had some for lunch, with the rest of the leftover bacon!

Both this casserole and also my roasted cabbage dish make a complete meal when I add a bunch of bacon, sausage, or ham to them, and serve with a salad of some sort (not necessarily using lettuce or greens) on the side.

#Lowcarb Boredom - Meal Ideas - 9/24

Yesterday for lunch I had 2 hot dogs with a spoonful of chili sauce and some cheese melted over each. (The chili sauce I buy has 18gN per can, I probably ate 1/8 of the can.)

Supper was roasted country pork ribs that I had rubbed with a packet of ranch dressing mix then roasted. I also roasted some whole baby green beans with it, that I'd just tossed in olive oil and sprinkled with a little seasoned salt.

For a snack I had some Wasa "crackers" (fairly low carb but don't remember exact count) schmeared with cream cheese.

Also please note that I drink a mug of coffee for breakfast (20 oz) and I load it up with good fatty half'n'half plus a scoop of protein powder most days. That staves off hunger until mid-afternoon, usually.

As you can see we eat very simply, but always enjoy everything we have. I typically purchase only a few different types/cuts of meat but fix them in different ways to maintain variety, but I always have at LEAST a dozen kinds of veggies in the house as well, so we have a lot of variety with those.

#Lowcarb Boredom - Meal Ideas - 9/21-23

Such a busy weekend, I don't know what I ate when, and we did eat out a couple of times, but here are some dishes I made:

I guy English roasts or chuck roasts from my favorite butcher shop - Steve's Meats in Harrison, MI, and these beef roasts are at least a couple of inches thick, with LOTS of great healthy fat! One of the meals I made, I sliced half of one of these roasts horizontally to make 3 "steaks" out of it, which I fried in lard, seasoned with sea salt, garlic powder, and onion powder. Meanwhile I roasted some thin-sliced sweet potato in a single layer in coconut oil at 425, seasoned with just sea salt, in the oven. That was a great meal!

Another meal I made was for potluck at church this morning. I finely diced a big daikon radish and half of a Michigan Candy Onion (they're HUGE) and browned them in my big deep electric chicken fryer in lard. Then I added a pound of ground sausage and a pound of ground beef (both from Steve's of course!), and crumbled them as they cooked. I seasoned it with simply sea salt, chili powder, and garlic powder. Then I chopped 3 scallions (because I needed to use them up, why not?) and a great big meaty tomato, stirred that into the mix...then about a pound of frozen chopped spinach...then a half dozen beaten eggs and pressed it all down into the pan with the lid on. Once it was all cooked through and the eggs were cooked, I put about 2c of shredded colby-jack cheese on top and turned the heat down just until it was melted. This was very convenient for travel (wrapped in a massive beach towel), for keeping warm, and for serving at the potluck. AND I got a lot of rave reviews and requests for the recipe :).

Just a couple more meals I've prepared this weekend...hopefully will help with the boredom factor :).