Why I Hate Weight Loss #lowcarb #diet

I've lost over 100# now. And I hate the way I look. Seriously. When I'm standing, the excess skin and remaining fat is hanging all over me. When I'm sitting, it is piled all around me. I didn't realize how awful I looked when I was sitting until my husband took a photo of me sitting on the couch. I'm posting it below so that you can see what I mean.

When I'm fat, I'm fat, and nobody expects anything less. Now that I've lost - and am losing - so much fat, my body is uglier than it was before. It makes me sick.

Don't write and tell me about exercise. For a whole lotta reasons, that's not the answer. What I have hanging on me isn't going away with a few push-ups...or a lot of whatever everybody does now.

Anyway, yeah - there is a down side to losing weight. Just thought you should know...

Today's Netrition Order

This is today's haul from Netrition! I typically order from them twice a year or so, and spend $100-200 each time. But this time it was only about $60 because I didn't get any of the flavored syrups that are typically included in my orders.

Carbquik - $11.99 for a 3# box - I haven't bought any of this in probably 5 years, as I've learned or devised other ways of doing the things I used to do with Carbquik. But I decided to order some to simplify my life at times. Seriously, isn't it easier just to mix in a little water and oil to make the occasional biscuits? And, when seasoned, I always enjoyed it as a coating for fish. So I'm buying my once-every-5-years box.

Peanut Flour - $4.79 for 1# - I've never bought this before. But I have seen some recipes that use it, so I purchased it more out of curiosity than anything else.

Erithrytol - $7.59 for 1# - This is much pricier than the xylitol I have always used. But I have a couple of dogs that I love, a toddler grandson, and a mother with dementia; both spend a lot of time at my home and both allow the dogs to eat people food (by dropping or offering) in spite of my "no people food!" rule. Better safe than sorry, I'd hate to lose a dog because I was too cheap to get the more appropriate polyol. That it is also better for low carbers is just a side benefit.

EZ-Sweetz - $6.99 for 0.5 oz - I got 2 of these because I use it a lot. Each has the sweetening power of 5.9# of sugar. It's cheaper to buy it this way than one 2 oz bottle (not as potent) for $13.99, with the sweetening power of 10# of sugar.

PolyD Fiber - $2.39 for 1# - I use this in baking sweets sometimes, mostly in muffins, cupcakes, and cakes. This bag will last a long time; I bought 5# the last time and it took me several years to use it up.

Wheat Protein Isolate 5000 - $4.79 for 1# - I bought 2 of these, as they make up a goodly portion of my bread machine bread. I also plan to use it for pizza crusts.

I also have some Vital Wheat Gluten on order through Amazon.com, and I will have to pick up more golden flax seeds the next time I'm at the health food store. I have plenty of nut flours on hand that I buy locally (or buy the nuts and make the flour myself), corn bran, oat and wheat bran, and oat flour. I use my mill for oat flour and garbanzo bean flour as the oats and chickpeas are much cheaper when bought whole.

Since the bread machine bread is SO SO SO delicious I will continue to make it at least weekly, my husband loves his sandwiches in his lunch for work, and I like my occasional slice of toast. I look forward to lots of good baking through the next few months!

#lowcarb Shopping at Sav-a-Lot, Part 1

I haven't focused much on the "cheap" part of "cheap'n'easy" lately. I used to post my shopping receipts, and occasionally I still do post the cost of the recipes; I really need to do that ALL of the time, but usually I'm either so excited about a recipe, or in a time crunch, so I don't bother to do the math. But if I'm as serious about the "cheap" part - and I am! - then I need to commit to that...

Anyway, one of the ways I keep the grocery budget in check is by shopping at Sav-a-Lot. Yes, their prices are also rising as are everyone else's but they're still the best deal in town Let me take you on a "shopping trip" with me around the store, so I can show you what I buy there...

Our store starts out with the produce aisle. I pick up whatever looks good to me at the time, because their selection varies. But I often grab stuff for salads (either bagged mixes or head or romaine lettuce, depending on if there are red stickers for discounted produce on them), rutabagas and/or turnips when they have some, onions, tomatoes, occasionally potatoes (for company but I indulge occasionally in a well-buttered baked potato), a sweet potato or 2 (for my grandson and parrots), and squashes. What I choose is dependent upon prices/sales/discounts, what I already have at home, and my own mood. Sometimes I go for several weeks without wanting salads, for example. So yeah, my mood comes into play here.

Next is dairy. I have been getting a gallon of milk each trip for my grandson, although I will probably start getting powdered instead due to radiation levels in milk; always 3 dozen eggs since we go through them quickly, full-fat cottage cheese, yogurt (they only have low fat so I don't buy it often, or only if they have plain to use as starter for my own batches), ricotta cheese, cheddar/italian/colby-jack/swiss cheeses either in blocks or shredded, full-fat cream cheese, butter. I have to say their butter has no junk in it, just dairy butter - more than I can say for most brands.

On to the meat department - past the processed meats where I toss a package or 2 of smoked turkey breast for hubby's lunches for work, and he occasionally grabs a package us hot dogs or smoked sausage. I must say that Sav-a-Lot has great meats! I have prices in my head that I won't go beyond: $1/lb for chicken, $2/lb for pork, $3/lb for beef or fish. But most times I find meats with the red discounted price sticker on them, and buy it all. (In fact, at any supermarket except Walmart, whose preservative-injected meats I don't like, I will buy their entire stock of red-stickered meats if they look decent, and are a true value.) And I can almost always find meats that fall under my personal spending limits at Sav-a-Lot!

Then the frozen foods: mostly we get fish and vegetables here. Sometimes they have "deals" on chicken parts that I will get, and sometimes something else will appear in the freezer that I pick up (as a treat, for example, pricey egg rolls will come home with us - at 9gN per, they're not an overly carby treat, but since they contain things I don't typically eat they aren't everyday fare)...but I don't spend a whole lot of time in frozen foods. But also on this aisle are the porkies in several flavors, and the peanuts which my husband likes.

Lastly I will go up a couple of aisles to pick up some other things I like to have around the house: SF pudding mix, canned tomatoes/paste/sauce, ranch dressing, mustard, mayo (but I'm probably going to start making this myself), SF jelly, spaghetti sauce, coffee, bottled water, Ole wraps, and occasionally a spice or seasoning.

As you can see, I get the bulk of my groceries from Sav-a-Lot. And if that was the only store I could use, I'd do just fine staying low carb and having lots of variety. I'd miss a few things (such as heavy cream) but could make do.

In the past I have had Sav-a-Lot's prices memorized on the things I typically buy there. But now that the prices are changing (rising!) from month to month I can't quote the prices out of my head anymore. So the next time I go to Sav-a-Lot I will take notes and post part 2 :).

Simply Amazing Squash Casserole #lowcarb

I had about 10 smallish yellow squashes in the fridge that needed to be used up, so yesterday I read a bunch of recipes for various casseroles and other dishes using it, just for ideas. Of course many were carby but that didn't matter because I'm so used to converting recipes that when I see the words "bread crumbs" I think "crushed porkies and parmesan".

This was GREAT as it was but next time I think I will mix yellow squash and zucchini, just for the color since it looks a little bland. I also might add some diced tomato (with the seeds and juices squeezed out) for more color - wouldn't that be LOVELY? And if I added some sort of meat - sausage or bacon or ground beef - it would make an excelent one-dish meal as well!

Anyway, here's what I came up with to go with the meatloaf (ground beef and sausage, egg, onion, seasonings, pork rind binder), and we loved it SO MUCH that we're going to plant some yellow squash this year! Yeah, really!

10 small tender yellow squash, washed and cubed
1 medium onion, cut into smallish chunks
1 c. mozzarella/provolone crumbles (from GFS)
S & P to taste
1 tsp garlic powder
1 egg
1 c. full-fat sour cream
1/4 c. heavy cream
"bread crumbs" (2 parts ground porkies/1 part parmesan out of the can, plus 1/2 tsp. dried thyme)

Toss together the first 3 ingredients in a large, well-greased casserole dish; add S & P and garlic powder, toss lightly, and set aside. (NOTE: I salted this fairly heavily with sea salt.)

In a small mixing bowl whisk together the next 3 ingredients until well-blended; pour over the squash mixture evenly; cover.

Bake in a 375 oven for 1 hour; remove, lower heat to 350, uncover, top with "bread crumbs" and return to oven, uncovered, for 15 minutes more for some of the liquid to evaporate, and "bread crumbs" to brown. Remove from oven and let stand 5 minutes before serving.

This is my first - but definitely not last! - time making this, and I'm looking forward to tweaking the recipe a bit with the additions I mentioned above. If you try it and tweak it, I'd love to know what you do and how it turns out, so I can try it too :).

REALLY?!?!? #lowcarb

Um...NOT! This is part of a diabetic recipe video from the Texas Diabetes Institute, Universal Health System on YouTube. Which makes it even...well, sadder...

"Dookies!" #lowcarb #recipe

That's what my grandson (who is 2 years old today!) calls the cookies he and I make :).

I've mentioned that I never follow a recipe for our cookies, so they're probably always a little different. We got 27 out of our batch today; I've learned to make small batches because if there's a big pile sitting there, we have more of a tendency to eat several at a time instead of just 1-2.

Mixed until smooth:
1/2c xylitol
1/2 stick butter
1 tsp vanilla

Added in and beat until well blended:
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon

Mixed in:
1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder
1/2c almond flour
1/2c oat bran
1/4c coconut flour

Dropped by tablespoons (well, not actual tablespoons, I used a cookie drop - these are really swell, if you've never used one, they are great!) onto a greased cookie sheet and baked at 350F until the edges started to brown.

VERY good!

(I would typically use half Diabetisweet Brown Sugar sub and half Xylitol but I'm out of the former at the moment, and didn't want to mess with the jar of molasses.)

Great Supper! #lowcarb #recipe

Oh YUM! Wanted something easy tonight, I had a busy day, I was tired, and my spine (arthritis) was killing me. I'd gotten a package of sausage (Sav-a-Lot's own) out of the freezer this morning, not knowing what I was going to do with it, so this was a quick, flying-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kinda meal.

I made a sorta meatloaf. Into a bowl I put the pound of thawed sausage, to which I added about a cup of frozen chopped spinach, thawed, plus an egg, and a generous handful of finely shredded colby-jack cheese, and I mixed it all together. The beauty of sausage is that I didn't have to even think about seasoning. I patted it down into an 8" round casserole dish, and baked it at 350F for 50 minutes; it was fairly loose when it first came out, but tightened up nicely within 10 minutes or so...probably when the melted cheese within cooled.

The side dish is just frozen yellow squash, thawed under warm water. I melted some butter in a frying pan with some olive oil. I chopped and cooked a slice of onion (about 3/4"x2.5") until translucent, then added the squash which I had squeezed as dry as I could. On high, I stirred it around to keep it from burning until I got the color on it - and the onions - that I wanted.

This was a REALLY good dinner, very filling, low in carbs and high in fat, and most of all it was delicious!

The package of sausage was about $2.00. The spinach came from a 2.5# bag that cost $2.59; not sure how many cups in the bag, but I used maybe 1/10th of it...we'll say 30c just to be generous. The cheese was 1/4 of a $2.89 bag, so 75c there...and the egg was 11c. I had 7 onions in the bag for $2.99, and I used about 1/3 of one of them (let's see...21 goes in 3 about 1.5 times...) so we'll say 15c worth. 1T of butter @ $2.88/lb is less than a dime; hard to compute 2T of olive oil out of a gallon jug that I paid $24 for. Under $3.50 for the entire meal. 4 servings of "meatloaf" and 3 servings of squash - we will have the leftover meatloaf for lunch tomorrow, in low carb tortillas it will be great!

Cheap'n'easy low carb meal for sure! AND delicious :).

White Lasanga #lowcarb #recipe

Typically I use eggplant for my "noodles" in lasagna but I was making this to take to a potluck tomorrow so I decided to use Dreamfield's instead. I am hoping that all of the protective layer that inhibits carb digestion wasn't removed - or won't be as it is stored overnight in the fridge - but it if does...well, I can't do anything about it now I guess :). I'm the only one who eats lowcarb though, so it won't matter to anyone else. (There are diabetics but they are obediently watching their fat intake and counting their calories and taking their drugs...)

It's mostly about the sauce anyway. A low carb sauce for white lasagna is indeed an art! OK, maybe not, but it needs to be rich without being overpowering, and flavorful without detracting from the lovely vegetables within.

I have some frozen roasted, seasoned chicken breast strips that I cut into bite-sized pieces, along with broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and mushrooms. I can't tell you exactly how much of each, I just poured some into the bowl until it looked about right, salted it, and tossed it together with my hands.

For the sauce I whipped up 2 eggs until they were very light. Then I added two 16 oz. cartons of whole-milk ricotta cheese, 1c of heavy whipping cream, a couple dashes of nutmeg, and about a tsp each of rosemary, thyme, parsley, and marjoram. (I would have used tarragon as well, if I'd had any.) And I mixed it all together thoroughly with my stand mixer. Then I put in a cup of chicken broth to thin it down a bit.

For cheese, I used a shredded italian blend and some shredded mozzarella, plus some parmesan from the can.

I assembled it by starting with some sauce on the bottom of my 9x14 baking dish, then a layer of noodles, a couple handfuls of the chicken/veggie mixture spread on the noodles, a generous amount of sauce, and a layer of the shredded italian blend...then another set of layers like the first, then a layer of noodles, sauce, and the mozzarella, with the parmesan sprinkled on top for the crispness and browning. (As you can see from the photo, I didn't spread it very evenly - lol!)

Baked in a 325 oven for 45 minutes, and 350 for the final 10.

There was enough of everything left over that I also made an 8x8 one for Pete and I at the same time. We each had some and it was delightful, although possibly could have used a little more salt. With all that cheese I was wary of oversalting but people can always salt at the table if need be too.

Anyway, here is what it looks like, I can't show you what it tastes like so I guess you'll just have to make your own - lol!

(P.S. This wasn't cheap to make, and it is easy but time-consuming. Just doing the math quickly in my head, it is probably close to $20 to make these 2 lasagnas, but of course they will serve quite a few people, quite a few servings, so per serving it is much more reasonable. I will cut it into very small servings tomorrow but I'd probably do 12 servings in the big pan and 4 in the small one if it was just for us, so that's just over a buck a serving, not bad after all I guess!)

Tonight's Supper

Really though this is about my first time posting on Blogger from my new DroidX...and if all goes well my firtst time adding a picture I took with my new DroidX!

So let's  see what happens...gonna tap Publish now...excitement is building...

Cheesy Turnip Casserole with Bacon #lowcarb #recipe

I had 3 turnips in my crisper and needed something to round out a meal, so I peeled and cubed them, and boiled them until soft in heavily salted water that also had about a tsp of xylitol (something sweet mellows the "bite" that turnips can have). When they were drained I mashed them well, then mixed in about a half-cupful of finely chopped cooked bacon and a half-cupful of shredded colby-jack cheese, with about 2Tbsp of heavy cream. Topped it off with a generous layer of more colby-jack cheese, and put it in the oven at 350. About 10 minutes later the cheese was all melty and had started to brown in a few spots. This made about 6 servings, at approx. $0.70 per serving. (I will leave it in the oven longer next time, to get browner on top!)

I also had some asparagus (the frozen package of 8 oz. was $2.25 but I didn't buy it, my daughter brought it to me) that I sauteed in butter and olive oil (less than a quarter total, I'm sure!), and seasoned just with salt and a little onion powder. This served my husband and me, with one spear for my almost-2YO grandson, so that was $1.50/serving.

And I roasted 6 large chicken leg quarters (nearly 5# total!) that were on sale for $3.98, or 67c each. I brined them, and to the salty water I added powdered ginger, garlic, and onion in liberal amounts. Even if I count 25c/serving for the seasonings - and it wasn't NEARLY that much - the chicken was <$1/serving.

My own meal was less than $3 (but I wouldn't have bought that asparagus for that price, we'd have had a less expensive green vegetable instead), low carb, and extremely filling, healthy, and delicious! Hubby's meal was a little more, because he eats more than I do...but he also took some to work in his lunch, and had another meal of chicken and turnip casserole the next day. Now THAT's thrifty!

Great Week! And a GREAT Sandwich Roll Recipe! #lowcarb

I haven't eaten anything out of the ordinary this week but it all tasted so good! Probably my favorite meal was tilapia that I fried in butter on the griddle, and served with whole green beans that I'd sauteed in a frying pan with butter and olive oil, seasoned with onion powder and sea salt, plus some cubed roasted butternut squash. Was pretty too, all those colors on the plate...and cheap! Under $10 for the 3 of us.

I've been eying yet another lowcarb "bread" recipe for a while now but never made it. I cook by gut instinct, and don't follow recipes, but knew I could do something with this one. And a couple of days ago I found a lovely muffin top pan in excellent condition at our local thrift store for 50c (I'd been wanting one for several years but couldn't justify the expense) and was looking for an opportunity to use it, so I thought I would go for it with my revised (is it revised if you change almost everything in the recipe, one way or another?) version of the above-referenced recipe.

I made these earlier this evening, and just had a fried egg, ham, and cheese sandwich on 2 of them, and I am HOOKED! They don't fall apart, they aren't sticky, and most of all they are deliciously great! I will tell you how I made them, and if you want to further revise, please feel free, and let me know about it ok?

8 oz. soft cream cheese (full fat)
3 eggs
4 drops (equal to 4 tsp sugar) liquid sucralose
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2c low carb baking mix*
1/2c wheat protein isolate**
1/2c full fat plain yogurt

I mixed the cream cheese in the mixer until it was smooth, then added the eggs one at a time and let them blend in, scraping the bowl as needed. Added the liquid sucralose with the last egg. Stopped the mixer when it had become very smooth, and added the remaining ingredients in no particular order, then mixed on low speed until blended, and on medium speed until smooth and almost glossy.

Put a glob of batter into each WELL-GREASED well of the muffin top pan, and spread it from the middle to the sides; it filled the wells only halfway. (I did try a few more full but they made a heavier sandwich roll than I care for.) Baked them in a 325 oven for 10 minutes on the middle rack. (The fuller ones I tried took 13 minutes.) They puffed up to the top of the wells. Let them cool slightly - until they pulled away from the sides and unpuffed - before removing them to a cooling rack.

I got 14 out of the batch, but had made 4 heavier ones, so I probably could have gotten 16. And I will tell you that, as much as I have bragged about the lovely bread in the breadmaker, I like this much better for a sandwich! Not sure how they'd toast, I'll probably use the lovely bread for that, but I will go back to eating sandwiches now that I have these. They are DELICIOUS!!! (NOTE: I had my sandwich on 2 thin ones and I feel like I ate 3 sandwiches - very filling, you have been warned :).)

Oh yeah, about those asterisks...
* I have Bob's Red Mill, don't much care for it but I'm trying to use it up.
** I happen to have the 5000 on hand. Don't know if/how the 8000 would work.

About 2gN per, or thereabouts. (I always tell people to do their own math, there are variables in brands for example, so don't trust anybody else's math especially if your carb count needs to be exact.)

You gotta try these!

What I 8 Today - 3/20/11

Didn't eat before church so by the time I got home I was starving. Had some tuna salad, using Dreamfield's macaroni. No recipe really, just tuna and macaroni, hard-boiled egg, mayo, a squirt of mustard, some chopped green onions, and seasonings to my own taste - and a deviled egg. Several hours later at my daughter's new apartment I had a lovely salad, some roasted chicken, lots of asparagus with butter, and a small baked potato (scooped out most of the middle, the skin is the best part anyway!) loaded with butter. Wonderful afternoon there!

After I got home and took a nap, I ate a couple of deviled eggs, and made some chocolate bark. Again, no real recipe...melted down a couple of 85% cacao bars with some coconut oil and butter, roasted and chopped some raw almonds and some coconut chips and added them in, plus a mixture of xylitol and liquid sucralose, a dash of cinnamon, a touch of salt, and some oat bran (because I love oatmeal in my bark). It is cooling now.

I'm still hungry so I will probably eat something else, not sure what yet, but if I don't I will eat too much bark tonight! Right now I'm thinking a slice of buttered toast and a couple of fried eggs on top...guess I'd better go eat it before I get so hungry I eat too much!