#Lowcarb Boredom - Meal Ideas - Oct. 18-20

(Just a reminder that this blog will be moving to its new home at the end of this year.)

Well first, Thursday night I didn't end up making supper. Pete slept all evening and wanted to get up as late as possible before work, so there was no point in cooking. I just ate leftovers.

Friday - yesterday - the 19th - we went out for our Friday night fish supper as always. Earlier in the day we nibbled on some smoked sausages that were in the fridge.

Since I'm sick again, I didn't feel like cooking much today so for lunch we just had some Dreamfield's spaghetti and for supper Pete went out and got a pizza. Feeling even worse now of course, after eating the carbs, but this too shall pass...

We're down to our last few packages of meat in the freezer, one pork and 2 beef, I'm thinking it'll be beef tomorrow. And now that my seasonal job has ended for the season and my weekdays are free, it will be off to Steve's on Monday to restock the freezer!

Changes Coming!

I am going to be setting up this blog elsewhere, and will be completely "moved out" of blogger by the end of the year. This blog will be archived into a single PDF file, which will be available for download at the new site by then. And I will be spending a lot of time copying/pasting my recipes from this site to the new one, which unfortunately doesn't import from blogger. But there are so many advantages to it, and I'm really simplifying most of my online activity by moving there.

Meanwhile I will continue to post as usual here, with a notice/link to the new site accompanying each post.

#Lowcarb Boredom - Meal Ideas - 10/17

Yesterday was a delicious day!

My grandson wanted pancakes for lunch, so I made some up. This is the first time that my pancakes actually looked and tasted like pancakes! In the past, I've always called them crumblecakes :). I'm going to write the recipe here, more for my own future use than anything else!

Whip up 2 eggs, 2Tbsp full fat sour cream, a dash of vanilla, 1/2tsp each of baking powder and baking soda until frothy and smooth. Add 2Tbsp coconut flour, mix until smooth. Add 1/4c fine almond flour, mix until smooth. Stir in 1/2tsp cinnamon and 1 drop sucralose (or sweetener of your choosing, equals 2tsp); mix well. I fry mine on an elderly cast aluminum electric griddle with coconut oil.

For supper last night I wished I liked peppers - would have made the dish so much prettier! I chopped and fried a couple of onions in olive oil until browning, then added 3 yellow squash and 2 zucchini squash, sliced on a diagonal so they were about 3" long, 1/2" thick, and an inch or so wide, so they wouldn't overcook. Then I did the same thing with a 2# package of smoked sausage, and once the squash was getting soft, I tossed the sausage in as well. Then I tossed in about 2Tbsp of balsamic vinegar, put the cover back on (I made this in the huge Farberware electric chicken fryer that belonged to my Gram, it's probably at least a couple of decades old!) and let it all cook together about 200 for another 15 minutes or so, tossing it around a couple of times during that time.

See why I wished I liked peppers? Wouldn't they have been a beautiful addition to this dish? Anyway, it made a huge amount, so far 4 massive servings and probably 3-4 servings left - YUM!

I had some popcorn with a half-stick of butter as a snack.

Today I had leftovers (the pork/onions/brussels sprouts from night before last) for lunch, sprinkling a little balsamic vinegar over it before I heated it up. It was almost better today than it was on Tuesday!

Not sure what I'll be making for supper tonight. Maybe that delicious puffy egg dish I made the other day, maybe with some bacon and other stuff added...? Will have to let you know tomorrow!

YOWSER! Today's #Lowcarb Lunch - YUM!

I don't even know what to call this - all I know is that it is SO GOOD! Love the moist bready-ness of it all...anyway, I will get on with the "recipe" -

Important: have everything ready before you start. You want a crust on the bottom but not a layer of burnt egg!

In a bowl lightly scramble a half-dozen eggs. Into another bowl shred about 3/4c of your favorite cheese. (I used colby-jack - if you are into spicy, a pepper jack would probably be great, can't wait to try a really sharp cheddar too!) In a 3rd bowl, mix a cup of CarbQuik, 2Tbsp of sour cream, a Tbsp of oil (I used olive), and about 1/4c of cream. Obviously this will be too dry to mix well - start adding hot water, a little at a time, until you achieve biscuit-dough consistency. Then add some more to thin it out a bit; don't turn it into a batter, but you want it a little bit spreadable.

Now, melt a half-stick of butter (not fake, the real thing!) in a saute pan, then set the heat to a titch below medium - I used my 10" pan. Once it is melted, there should be about 1/8" or a little more in the bottom; add the eggs, then most of the shredded cheese spread evenly over the eggs, then the thinner-than-biscuit-dough, spread as evenly as possible over the cheese. (If it isn't perfect don't worry!)

Cover, and walk away. In about 12 minutes, uncover to check the biscuits - you will see that they rose (thank you, sour cream!) and spread more evenly across the entire top. If they are done or almost done quickly sprinkle with the remaining cheese, some dark smoky paprika, and some parsley (or herbs of your choice); re-cover the pan to retain the heat, turn off the burner, and walk away again. In about 5-7 minutes, it will all be done.

If it all went according to plan, you will return to find a lovely fluffy moist biscuit covering a layer of gooey cheese over a layer of lovely egg atop a nicely browned buttery egg crust on the bottom. I just ate seconds (which I never do!) of this delight, and am already thinking of how I can beef it up even more! Right now thinking about chopped (pre-cooked) bacon and fresh spinach, maybe some green onion or well-drained/patted-dry tomato pieces, fresh mushrooms, (pre-cooked) ground sausage...I would think that just about anything (not too wet!) would sit well on top of those eggs and under the cheese! My only hesitation would be if the cooking time were increased by much, the lovely bottom crust would become a layer of black char on the bottom of the pan! So I'm thinking "go light" on any additions.

#Lowcarb Boredom - Meal Ideas - 10/12-15

I didn't cook much over the weekend. Of course Friday evening we went out for our fish dinner - Saturday we were down in the Midland area and ate there for lunch with leftovers for supper. Sunday we had a potluck after church.

Sunday night I did cook though. We had some catfish in the freezer that needed to be used up, so I made fish cakes with it. Having never used catfish for those before I wasn't sure how they'd taste but we both really liked them! After thawing, I put the filets in the food processor with an egg, some seafood seasoning, some CarbQuik, some parmesan, and some golden flax meal. Then I formed loose patties and dropped them into hot oil in a frying pan (medium-high setting), frying each side until crispy. They were delicious! I fixed my onion-coated fried green beans with them.

Yesterday I ate some sweet potato for lunch. I had bought 3 heads of cauliflower when we were down in Midland Saturday for $1.19 each (less than half of what we pay here!), so I cut off all the florets and roasted those last night with just some olive oil and sea salt. I fried some sliced chuck roast in butter and olive oil (just like fried steak), and we had some of the cauliflower with it; I tossed the cauli with some onion and garlic powders, and parmesan cheese. It was a wonderful meal!

Today I'm about to fry up some eggs for lunch, maybe make some toast with one-minute bread. For supper I have some country pork ribs defrosting, I'll cut them into chunks, coat them with a packet of ranch dressing mix/CarbQuik, and fry them up with a couple of onions; when I was roasting the cauliflower last night I also roasted a squash since I had the oven on anyway - we'll have that with the pork and onions. I may throw some brussels sprouts in too, since we love the combination of pork/onions/sprouts so much. Yeah, I think I'll do that...

We are getting low on meat now, so time to get down to Harrison to Steve's and load up! The 36# of meat we bought on Sept 8 will have lasted us about 6 weeks. Maybe Saturday I'll get down there...until then we have another package of pork, another chunk of chuck steak, and a couple packages of smoked sausages...we won't starve by any means :).

OH OH OH OH!! I just thought of what I'll make for supper tomorrow, can't wait, it'll be so great...I have a few summer squash left, I can slice those up (on a diagonal of course, for nice wide slices) with some of the smoked sausage (also sliced on a diagonal) and toss in some other veggies from the freezer, a chopped onion...fry it all up together...and I'll make some biscuits - probably just with Carbquik but will load 'em up with shredded cheese and chili powder - to go with. Doesn't that sound great???

I get so excited about shopping and cooking and eating - but moreso than even eating it is one way I show love for the people for whom I'm creating and cooking!