Wednesday, August 3, 2011
My Simple Method to Make EXTREMELY WONDERFUL Yogurt :) #lowcarb
I thought that I had already posted my "how I make yogurt" method here a while back, but I'm not finding it now. I just wrote it up as a comment on another blog though, so if you are interested you can read that HERE.
Monday, July 18, 2011
Low Carb Meals to Beat the Heat!
Here in northern lower Michigan, we can usually count the 90°+ days on our fingers without even having to get toes involved. But the last couple of years have had more than our fair share of heat, and cooking is the LAST thing I want to do in my hot mobile home that doesn't have air conditioning! The GREAT thing about summer, though, is that there is plenty of food available - very cheaply! - that we don't even have to cook! Cold dishes are easy and tasty, and you can mix them up with just a few pre-cooked (before the heat wave hits, or in the cool of the early mornings or late evenings) foods to create complete meals!
Here are a few of my own ideas in the hope that they will trigger your imagination! Adapt these as you will, this is by no means an exhaustive list, but rather a jumping off point for your own creativity.
First, fill the fridge. Load up on raw veggies and dip, eggs, lunch meat/coldcuts (or whatever your diet allows), greens, cream, cheeses, berries, melon, torillas or wraps, pre-cut bagged cole slaw mix, etc. If it's cold, if it can be eaten without a standing at the counter doing a lot of prep work while your ankles swell, it's good! (A couple of other goodies I like to keep in the fridge are cottage cheese and yogurt, both of which mix with berries or top gelatin, as well as being good on their own.)
Second, prepare before the hot spell strikes, or pick an early-morning or late-evening that's a little cooler and commit to an hour of prep. During that time, hard-boil a couple dozen eggs, clean and wash your berries, slice and dice your veggies and melon, wrap some cream cheese with cold cuts, cook up some bacon, whip up some cream, mix your cole slaw, chop up a cooked rotisserie chicken or 2, clean, dry, and toss your greens & store them in a big zipper bag (or 2!), make up some SF gelatins, make up some tuna or chicken with mayo/celery/onion/pickes/whatever you use, and fill your ice cube trays. You will now be all set for your meals for several days!
With the above all ready to go, you can have some really great, filling meals! Here are some ideas:
- Chicken salad: peel, seed, and dice 2 cucumbers, half of a rotisserie chicken, 1/4 of an onion, and 2 HB eggs; toss with S&P, celery seed, mayo, and a short squirt of mustard
- Tuna unmelt: Flake 3 cans drained tuna into a bowl; add finely chopped onion and celery to taste; mix in 3T freshly-grated swiss cheese; toss with mayo. Serve in low carb wraps, or on a Sassy Sandwich Roll.
- Lay some greens on a Sassy Sandwich Roll, top with a scoop of tuna or chicken salad, and a slice of cheese.
- Toss chicken or tuna with your cole slaw, or apples (if your plan allows) and nuts, or cold cuts, chopped celery and mustard, or...? Cole slaw is a versatile starting point for several salad-type dishes, you can so many different things to it, and is also great to add with meats into wraps!
- Devil up some of those hard-boiled eggs. Just mash the yolks with mayo, a touch of mustard, S&P, and some onion powder. Then sprinkle with paprika and parsley for a festive look. Or fill your whites with your premade tuna or chicken salad and top with crumbled yolk! (You can use the rest of the yolks in other salads or add to the deviled eggs.)
- Use your greens, cold cuts, chicken, bacon, HB eggs, and veggies to make a Monster Salad on a big platter. Keep the salad bowls cold in the fridge so you can cool off and take care of your hunger at the same time.
- Serve your gelatin with berries and whipped cream as a snack or a dessert
- Toss together chopped raw cauli and broccoli florets, bacon, celery (or toasted walnuts!), and even an apple if your plan allows, and a dressing of mayo, cream, and your sweetener of choice - just enough so it doesn't taste mayonnaise-y.
- Toss together some cantaloupe, honeydew, and strawberries for a pretty summer salad.
Lastly, we are big coffee drinkers here, but iced coffee is easy and wonderful! Simply pour half a pot of cold coffee, 10 (or so) ice cubes, 1/2c cream, a couple tablespoons of your favorite SF syrup, and sweetener to taste to a blender. This makes enough for 6 servings for us, and stores for a day nicely in the fridge.
When it is hot out - and in! - I love to open my refrigerator door and see a slew of prepared dishes that I can just grab and serve - or eat on the spot. At suppertime, set out a combination of these dishes - such as your Monster Salad platter, a plate of deviled eggs, and some gelatin with berries and whipped cream - or a dish of chicken-cuke salad, some cream cheese roll-ups, and a bowl of melon-strawberry salad - and you can feast on summer's best, with very little effort! The whole point is to have a good stock on hand of cold foods, already prepared, that you can mix'n'match into various dishes for lunches, suppers, or snacks.
Here are a few of my own ideas in the hope that they will trigger your imagination! Adapt these as you will, this is by no means an exhaustive list, but rather a jumping off point for your own creativity.
First, fill the fridge. Load up on raw veggies and dip, eggs, lunch meat/coldcuts (or whatever your diet allows), greens, cream, cheeses, berries, melon, torillas or wraps, pre-cut bagged cole slaw mix, etc. If it's cold, if it can be eaten without a standing at the counter doing a lot of prep work while your ankles swell, it's good! (A couple of other goodies I like to keep in the fridge are cottage cheese and yogurt, both of which mix with berries or top gelatin, as well as being good on their own.)
Second, prepare before the hot spell strikes, or pick an early-morning or late-evening that's a little cooler and commit to an hour of prep. During that time, hard-boil a couple dozen eggs, clean and wash your berries, slice and dice your veggies and melon, wrap some cream cheese with cold cuts, cook up some bacon, whip up some cream, mix your cole slaw, chop up a cooked rotisserie chicken or 2, clean, dry, and toss your greens & store them in a big zipper bag (or 2!), make up some SF gelatins, make up some tuna or chicken with mayo/celery/onion/pickes/whatever you use, and fill your ice cube trays. You will now be all set for your meals for several days!
With the above all ready to go, you can have some really great, filling meals! Here are some ideas:
- Chicken salad: peel, seed, and dice 2 cucumbers, half of a rotisserie chicken, 1/4 of an onion, and 2 HB eggs; toss with S&P, celery seed, mayo, and a short squirt of mustard
- Tuna unmelt: Flake 3 cans drained tuna into a bowl; add finely chopped onion and celery to taste; mix in 3T freshly-grated swiss cheese; toss with mayo. Serve in low carb wraps, or on a Sassy Sandwich Roll.
- Lay some greens on a Sassy Sandwich Roll, top with a scoop of tuna or chicken salad, and a slice of cheese.
- Toss chicken or tuna with your cole slaw, or apples (if your plan allows) and nuts, or cold cuts, chopped celery and mustard, or...? Cole slaw is a versatile starting point for several salad-type dishes, you can so many different things to it, and is also great to add with meats into wraps!
- Devil up some of those hard-boiled eggs. Just mash the yolks with mayo, a touch of mustard, S&P, and some onion powder. Then sprinkle with paprika and parsley for a festive look. Or fill your whites with your premade tuna or chicken salad and top with crumbled yolk! (You can use the rest of the yolks in other salads or add to the deviled eggs.)
- Use your greens, cold cuts, chicken, bacon, HB eggs, and veggies to make a Monster Salad on a big platter. Keep the salad bowls cold in the fridge so you can cool off and take care of your hunger at the same time.
- Serve your gelatin with berries and whipped cream as a snack or a dessert
- Toss together chopped raw cauli and broccoli florets, bacon, celery (or toasted walnuts!), and even an apple if your plan allows, and a dressing of mayo, cream, and your sweetener of choice - just enough so it doesn't taste mayonnaise-y.
- Toss together some cantaloupe, honeydew, and strawberries for a pretty summer salad.
Lastly, we are big coffee drinkers here, but iced coffee is easy and wonderful! Simply pour half a pot of cold coffee, 10 (or so) ice cubes, 1/2c cream, a couple tablespoons of your favorite SF syrup, and sweetener to taste to a blender. This makes enough for 6 servings for us, and stores for a day nicely in the fridge.
When it is hot out - and in! - I love to open my refrigerator door and see a slew of prepared dishes that I can just grab and serve - or eat on the spot. At suppertime, set out a combination of these dishes - such as your Monster Salad platter, a plate of deviled eggs, and some gelatin with berries and whipped cream - or a dish of chicken-cuke salad, some cream cheese roll-ups, and a bowl of melon-strawberry salad - and you can feast on summer's best, with very little effort! The whole point is to have a good stock on hand of cold foods, already prepared, that you can mix'n'match into various dishes for lunches, suppers, or snacks.
Saturday, July 16, 2011
The "Cheap" Part: GREAT Shopping Trip Today! #lowcarb
Ooooh, yeah baby! Meat has been SO expensive, I've been unable to find beef (except ground) for under $4.00/lb locally in several weeks, and it is my favorite meat. I'm tired of pork and chicken, but pork as been over $2.00/lb, and chicken over a buck. Just last year, I got all of my chicken (we eat dark meat) for less than $1/lb...got all of our pork for < $1.50/lb, and beef for <$2.00/lb. In fact, those were my limits. I had no trouble finding meats that fit those prices, either on sale, or with "last day" red stickers on them. But this year with the sharp increase in food prices, no way!
Lately whenever I find beef for <$4.00/lb (other than ground), I buy it. I've raised my pork limit to $2/lb, but still <$1.00/lb for chicken with the except of the b/s breasts that I buy a couple of times a year. But beef is still my favorite, and I prefer to eat that several times a week than anything else. We also like our fish about twice a week...
(I'm speaking of our main meals above. Bacon is a staple for breakfast several times a week, or ham, and eggs just about every day. But for our main meal, we sometimes eat in the afternoon and sometimes before Pete leaves for work at night.)
Now, back to the subject at hand. Today I set aside $100 to buy enough meat for a month. We're down to our last few pounds of meat, and it's all "recipe meat" - meat that I use in other dishes, such as ground beef and sausage, or side pork, plus a single small steak and some all-beef patties...oh, and a couple of meals' worth of tilapia...
We went to my favorite place, Steve's Meats in Harrison. And we bought over 46# of meat, for $113 - about $2.24/lb overall! AND over half of it (27#) was BEEF! Totally exciting :). I got both brisket, a whole one which they cut into big chunks for me, and a bunch of chuck roasts (on sale for $2.99/lb). We slice the chuck roasts across to make them into 2 "steaks" which I broil or fry, and they are SO tender and flavorful, and so unlike the supermarket meat that we often pick up on sale. Very fresh. In total, I got
14.67# beef brisket
12# chuck roast
5# bacon (they have the BEST bacon!)
3# ham
11.75# pork chops - big fat ones!
We also stopped at our local produce market, Bart's, and got a bunch of produce from the "last day" cart (6 zucchinis, a couple pounds of grapes for my grandson and the parrots, a head of lettuce we'll use up tomorrow), and a massive fresh honeydew melon and some rutabagas. Oh, and a jar of yellow peppers for Pete, he likes them on his sandwiches. I'm still working my way through the frozen veggies I'd accumulated through the winter, still have about 20# of those in my freezer...but spent $16 today at Bart's.
So I'm totally excited about our meat haul today, and I wanted to share :).
Lately whenever I find beef for <$4.00/lb (other than ground), I buy it. I've raised my pork limit to $2/lb, but still <$1.00/lb for chicken with the except of the b/s breasts that I buy a couple of times a year. But beef is still my favorite, and I prefer to eat that several times a week than anything else. We also like our fish about twice a week...
(I'm speaking of our main meals above. Bacon is a staple for breakfast several times a week, or ham, and eggs just about every day. But for our main meal, we sometimes eat in the afternoon and sometimes before Pete leaves for work at night.)
Now, back to the subject at hand. Today I set aside $100 to buy enough meat for a month. We're down to our last few pounds of meat, and it's all "recipe meat" - meat that I use in other dishes, such as ground beef and sausage, or side pork, plus a single small steak and some all-beef patties...oh, and a couple of meals' worth of tilapia...
We went to my favorite place, Steve's Meats in Harrison. And we bought over 46# of meat, for $113 - about $2.24/lb overall! AND over half of it (27#) was BEEF! Totally exciting :). I got both brisket, a whole one which they cut into big chunks for me, and a bunch of chuck roasts (on sale for $2.99/lb). We slice the chuck roasts across to make them into 2 "steaks" which I broil or fry, and they are SO tender and flavorful, and so unlike the supermarket meat that we often pick up on sale. Very fresh. In total, I got
14.67# beef brisket
12# chuck roast
5# bacon (they have the BEST bacon!)
3# ham
11.75# pork chops - big fat ones!
We also stopped at our local produce market, Bart's, and got a bunch of produce from the "last day" cart (6 zucchinis, a couple pounds of grapes for my grandson and the parrots, a head of lettuce we'll use up tomorrow), and a massive fresh honeydew melon and some rutabagas. Oh, and a jar of yellow peppers for Pete, he likes them on his sandwiches. I'm still working my way through the frozen veggies I'd accumulated through the winter, still have about 20# of those in my freezer...but spent $16 today at Bart's.
So I'm totally excited about our meat haul today, and I wanted to share :).
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
What a Casserole Tonight! #lowcarb
It's been a while since I've stocked up on groceries, I always keep the equivalent of a small grocery store in the house so I can "shop" daily for our meals, but other things keep getting in the way and when I have the time I don't have the $, when I have the $ I don't have the time! So I'm using things I've bought on sale or at a great price even though I didn't have an immediate use for it - like all those packages of fresh (now frozen of course) ground sausage, for example...
I had no idea what I was going to prepare for supper tonight - none! So just started pulling out a few things from around the kitchen to put with my 1# package of ground sausage. I had 4 turnips, an onion, a big container of ricotta...hm...need something green...well there's about a cup of frozen chopped spinach left in the bottom of a 2.5# bag...and I have a load of different shredded cheeses (yes, I know they have a little starch in them to prevent clumping) from a sale...
I had pulled the sausage earlier in the day to thaw. I peeled and diced the turnips and put them in some sweetened (Truvia) water to soak for a while. Chopped the onion. Browned the sausage in a frying pan, breaking it apart with 2 forks. Buttered my 9x13 glass baking dish. When the sausage was done, I moved it to the baking dish and poured in the spinach to thaw in the heat of the sausage. Drained the turnips, and put them with the onions in the same frying pan, with the sausage drippings, covered and cooked until almost done.
While the turnips were cooking I mixed together about 1.5c of the whole milk ricotta, 1/4c heavy cream, and an egg. Once the turnips and onions were done I added them to the baking dish and tossed them with some sea salt, then mixed in the sauce and about a cup of sharp cheddar cheese, adding another 2c or so of cheeses (I used several different kinds) on top, and put it into a 350 oven until it was bubbling and the cheese on top browned.
It was AMAZING. Absolutely NO turnip flavor, tasted just like potatoes. All the flavors melded so beautifully...the spinach was just for the color, but I'd like to try kale or slivered brussels sprouts or cabbage sometime. I'd also like to try it with seasoned ground beef, mushrooms, and peppers. And with chicken and broccoli/cauliflower/carrots...very versatile, I think.
I figure just over 100gN of carbs in the whole recipe, which I cut into 12 pieces, so less than 10gN per piece. The cost of the dish was about $14 - not one of my cheaper dishes by far, but made enough for supper for 3 of us, Pete's lunch for work, lunch for 2 tomorrow, and Pete's lunch again tomorrow night (sometimes eating 2-piece servings) or roughly $2/meal.
And most importantly, WE LOVED IT!
I had no idea what I was going to prepare for supper tonight - none! So just started pulling out a few things from around the kitchen to put with my 1# package of ground sausage. I had 4 turnips, an onion, a big container of ricotta...hm...need something green...well there's about a cup of frozen chopped spinach left in the bottom of a 2.5# bag...and I have a load of different shredded cheeses (yes, I know they have a little starch in them to prevent clumping) from a sale...
I had pulled the sausage earlier in the day to thaw. I peeled and diced the turnips and put them in some sweetened (Truvia) water to soak for a while. Chopped the onion. Browned the sausage in a frying pan, breaking it apart with 2 forks. Buttered my 9x13 glass baking dish. When the sausage was done, I moved it to the baking dish and poured in the spinach to thaw in the heat of the sausage. Drained the turnips, and put them with the onions in the same frying pan, with the sausage drippings, covered and cooked until almost done.
While the turnips were cooking I mixed together about 1.5c of the whole milk ricotta, 1/4c heavy cream, and an egg. Once the turnips and onions were done I added them to the baking dish and tossed them with some sea salt, then mixed in the sauce and about a cup of sharp cheddar cheese, adding another 2c or so of cheeses (I used several different kinds) on top, and put it into a 350 oven until it was bubbling and the cheese on top browned.
It was AMAZING. Absolutely NO turnip flavor, tasted just like potatoes. All the flavors melded so beautifully...the spinach was just for the color, but I'd like to try kale or slivered brussels sprouts or cabbage sometime. I'd also like to try it with seasoned ground beef, mushrooms, and peppers. And with chicken and broccoli/cauliflower/carrots...very versatile, I think.
I figure just over 100gN of carbs in the whole recipe, which I cut into 12 pieces, so less than 10gN per piece. The cost of the dish was about $14 - not one of my cheaper dishes by far, but made enough for supper for 3 of us, Pete's lunch for work, lunch for 2 tomorrow, and Pete's lunch again tomorrow night (sometimes eating 2-piece servings) or roughly $2/meal.
And most importantly, WE LOVED IT!
Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Such a Delicious Day Today! #lowcarb
Breakfast: 2 eggs and chopped spinach fried in butter with cheese melted on top
Lunch: 2 burger patties and a slice of melted swiss between them
Supper: mixed greens with shrimp and ranch dressing
Snack: pork rinds dipped in full-fat sour cream
I made a loaf of bread this evening so I could make sandwiches for Pete's lunches for work. With the lovely smell of fresh-baked bread filling the house, I'm not sure I won't have a piece of buttered toast yet this evening. It may be only a few grams of carbs but I'd really not wanted to have grains of any sort these few days...my resolve is crumbling though...we shall see if I cave or not :). (Of course I simply can say no, and I realize that - I think I'm just torturing myself!)
Lunch: 2 burger patties and a slice of melted swiss between them
Supper: mixed greens with shrimp and ranch dressing
Snack: pork rinds dipped in full-fat sour cream
I made a loaf of bread this evening so I could make sandwiches for Pete's lunches for work. With the lovely smell of fresh-baked bread filling the house, I'm not sure I won't have a piece of buttered toast yet this evening. It may be only a few grams of carbs but I'd really not wanted to have grains of any sort these few days...my resolve is crumbling though...we shall see if I cave or not :). (Of course I simply can say no, and I realize that - I think I'm just torturing myself!)
It's Still July 5th Because I Haven't Gone To Bed Yet! #lowcarb
Per my earlier post today, I'm going all out!
Today for breakfast I had 2 eggs fried in butter, with cheese and full-fat sour cream.
Lunch was a large chicken leg quarter, with skin including all the fat deposits.
Supper was a salad made up of a bunch of different greens, with leftover tilapia, cheese, and ranch dressing.
Meal #4 was two 100% beef patties with butter and a little bit of "low sugar" ketchup.
Cost for today's good eatin': 22¢ for eggs, 89¢ for the 1# leg quarter, 80¢ worth of greens (bought on sale), $1.20 for the tilapia, $1.60 for the beef patties, plus the butter, cheese, dressing, sour cream, and Tbsp of ketchup...let's be generous and add a buck for all that, for a total of $5.70. Yup, cheap'n'easy! :)
Today for breakfast I had 2 eggs fried in butter, with cheese and full-fat sour cream.
Lunch was a large chicken leg quarter, with skin including all the fat deposits.
Supper was a salad made up of a bunch of different greens, with leftover tilapia, cheese, and ranch dressing.
Meal #4 was two 100% beef patties with butter and a little bit of "low sugar" ketchup.
Cost for today's good eatin': 22¢ for eggs, 89¢ for the 1# leg quarter, 80¢ worth of greens (bought on sale), $1.20 for the tilapia, $1.60 for the beef patties, plus the butter, cheese, dressing, sour cream, and Tbsp of ketchup...let's be generous and add a buck for all that, for a total of $5.70. Yup, cheap'n'easy! :)
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Weekend Splurge! #lowcarb
I haven't had a splurge in I-don't-know-HOW-long, but this weekend was it. And it was because we ate out more than usual. And if you've been reading my blog long, you know that my will power flies out the window at restaurants - sad, but true. So typically we only go to restaurants on Fridays for the fish fry a local eatery has. And I make no bones about enjoying it, especially since doing so has no effect on my weight - as long as it's just that once a week.
This weekend I not only went to the fish fry on Friday, but Saturday was the day we went to the city for our "big grocery shopping" for the month and went to a Chinese buffet for lunch; Sunday was the monthly potluck at church; Monday we stopped at a local restaurant on the way home from the Independence Day festivities over at our county seat, starved and not wanting to wait until we got home and took the time to prepare a proper meal.
4 splurges in 4 days is too much and I feel lousy. I'm up a few pounds on the scale but don't care so much about that as I do how I feel: logy, addle-headed, mildly achy and headachy...
So between now Friday evening's fish fry, I'm going all-out low-carb/mod.protein/high fat. NO grains, not even my Lowcarb Lovely Loaf, and of course no sugar. Butter and coconut oil on everything. This morning I had 2 eggs fried in butter with some shredded colby-jack cheese on top, and a generous dollop of full-fat sour cream. Lunch will be a huge chicken leg quarter that I baked this weekend, it has lots of fat deposits around the skin. And I have a box of frozen 100% angus beef burgers (not cheap!) in the freezer, I will fry them all up and put them in the fridge for some quick meals - reheated with butter and/or sour cream on top will be great! Lowcarb vegetables loaded up with butter and/or olive oil, and salads with shrimp or tuna...these will be my meals between now and Friday evening.
If I'm not back to normal after all of that, then I'll stick to it until I am. 'Cause this just ain't right!
This weekend I not only went to the fish fry on Friday, but Saturday was the day we went to the city for our "big grocery shopping" for the month and went to a Chinese buffet for lunch; Sunday was the monthly potluck at church; Monday we stopped at a local restaurant on the way home from the Independence Day festivities over at our county seat, starved and not wanting to wait until we got home and took the time to prepare a proper meal.
4 splurges in 4 days is too much and I feel lousy. I'm up a few pounds on the scale but don't care so much about that as I do how I feel: logy, addle-headed, mildly achy and headachy...
So between now Friday evening's fish fry, I'm going all-out low-carb/mod.protein/high fat. NO grains, not even my Lowcarb Lovely Loaf, and of course no sugar. Butter and coconut oil on everything. This morning I had 2 eggs fried in butter with some shredded colby-jack cheese on top, and a generous dollop of full-fat sour cream. Lunch will be a huge chicken leg quarter that I baked this weekend, it has lots of fat deposits around the skin. And I have a box of frozen 100% angus beef burgers (not cheap!) in the freezer, I will fry them all up and put them in the fridge for some quick meals - reheated with butter and/or sour cream on top will be great! Lowcarb vegetables loaded up with butter and/or olive oil, and salads with shrimp or tuna...these will be my meals between now and Friday evening.
If I'm not back to normal after all of that, then I'll stick to it until I am. 'Cause this just ain't right!
Monday, June 27, 2011
Oh. My. Goodness! What a Supper! #lowcarb
You know I'm all about Cheap and Easy - hence the name of this blog. But what good is cheap and easy if food isn't also flavorful? People who eat my food tell me I'm a fantastic cook - I know I love my own cooking :) - but this SUPER-SIMPLE chicken was soooo good...
All I did was brine the chicken pieces, as I usually do, with sea salt, and some onion and garlic powder, in the fridge overnight.
Today I pulled the pieces out of the liquid and rolled them (without rinsing or drying) in a coating of 2 parts peanut flour to 1 part coconut flour. I put it on a rack in a baking pan, sprinkled all sides with S&P, and baked it at 375F for an hour. That's IT! And it was soooo good! Just a hint of the peanut flavor to remind me of peanut chicken at the Chinese restaurant, a little sweetness from the coconut flour...and a nice crispy coating. Plenty of fat from the chicken skin - plus it was all dark meat - kept it from being dry.
I served it with whole skinny green beans sauteed in olive oil and butter, seasoned with garlic and onion powder and sea salt - a favorite of ours that we have a couple of times a week.
The dinner was about $4, considering the chicken was only $2.47 (with a "last day special" red sticker on the package), the amount of beans was less than a buck, and negligible amounts for the flours and oils and seasonings. I thought about making some biscuits (easy CarbQuik ones) but I'm glad we didn't, so we could eat more chicken! (No leftovers tonight, by the way...)
The only addition I might make, if I were feeding someone who liked a little spice, might be some red pepper in the coating. We don't like heat in our food though...
This was so good that I will probably use this coating on chicken breasts, cut into strips, for our church's potluck dinner this-coming Sunday.
All I did was brine the chicken pieces, as I usually do, with sea salt, and some onion and garlic powder, in the fridge overnight.
Today I pulled the pieces out of the liquid and rolled them (without rinsing or drying) in a coating of 2 parts peanut flour to 1 part coconut flour. I put it on a rack in a baking pan, sprinkled all sides with S&P, and baked it at 375F for an hour. That's IT! And it was soooo good! Just a hint of the peanut flavor to remind me of peanut chicken at the Chinese restaurant, a little sweetness from the coconut flour...and a nice crispy coating. Plenty of fat from the chicken skin - plus it was all dark meat - kept it from being dry.
I served it with whole skinny green beans sauteed in olive oil and butter, seasoned with garlic and onion powder and sea salt - a favorite of ours that we have a couple of times a week.
The dinner was about $4, considering the chicken was only $2.47 (with a "last day special" red sticker on the package), the amount of beans was less than a buck, and negligible amounts for the flours and oils and seasonings. I thought about making some biscuits (easy CarbQuik ones) but I'm glad we didn't, so we could eat more chicken! (No leftovers tonight, by the way...)
The only addition I might make, if I were feeding someone who liked a little spice, might be some red pepper in the coating. We don't like heat in our food though...
This was so good that I will probably use this coating on chicken breasts, cut into strips, for our church's potluck dinner this-coming Sunday.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
I'd Rather Gain a Few Pounds, Than...
...hurt or insult someone. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'm not a lowcarb nazi. I eat lowcarb for all but one meal every week (and that meal is what I'd call moderate, (less than 100gN, with very few, 10gN at most, the rest of the day). And I'm losing 1-2# every week now that I'm eating to lose again and in fact am now back to my over-20-years-ago weight!
I went downstate for a funeral earlier this week, and spent 2 days there. My step-mother, who is wonderful and not wicked in the cinderella sense at all, lovingly prepared a beautiful meal for our arrival with her rheumatoid-arthritis afflicted hands. And it was DELICIOUS! Chicken and pork chops, floured and breaded with panko bread crumbs, served with potato salad, applesauce, and bread and butter. I would never reject her offering just to save on carbs, or to avoid a temporary gain of a couple of pounds, the mere thought of that is hurtful to me. And I enjoyed every single bite without guilt!
The next day there was a lovely luncheon after my uncle's funeral, which included a pasta dish, scalloped potatoes, rolls, breaded pork chops, a roasted vegetable mixture, and salad. I started with a hefty helping of salad and a couple of spoonfuls of the veggies. Then I ate a little of each of the other dishes, and skipped dessert. It was my main meal - only full meal - of the day.
2 days of carbs have taken their toll on the scale, yes...to the tune of about 4# actually. I know it's mostly water bound to glycogen molecules and will be gone shortly, if not already. And I'm having bread cravings like crazy too, that I'm fighting with the help of my Lovely Loaf, and modified oopsie rolls that include a little flax meal to give them more body. I had a serving of the bread today, and will have a couple of rolls with supper later this evening. Tomorrow I'll just eat the rolls and skip the bread altogether, and should be past the cravings.
Would I have preferred to eat low carb? Of course! But given the options I had, I absolutely made the right choice for my situation. I'm blessed that I don't have a health condition that totally prohibits carb consumption, obviously that would be a different story - and you might have written the story differently if it were your situation as well :).
I have a gentler heart than many, perhaps...but as one who also shows her love for others through food, I can't imagine rejecting that, not even for a few pounds.
I went downstate for a funeral earlier this week, and spent 2 days there. My step-mother, who is wonderful and not wicked in the cinderella sense at all, lovingly prepared a beautiful meal for our arrival with her rheumatoid-arthritis afflicted hands. And it was DELICIOUS! Chicken and pork chops, floured and breaded with panko bread crumbs, served with potato salad, applesauce, and bread and butter. I would never reject her offering just to save on carbs, or to avoid a temporary gain of a couple of pounds, the mere thought of that is hurtful to me. And I enjoyed every single bite without guilt!
The next day there was a lovely luncheon after my uncle's funeral, which included a pasta dish, scalloped potatoes, rolls, breaded pork chops, a roasted vegetable mixture, and salad. I started with a hefty helping of salad and a couple of spoonfuls of the veggies. Then I ate a little of each of the other dishes, and skipped dessert. It was my main meal - only full meal - of the day.
2 days of carbs have taken their toll on the scale, yes...to the tune of about 4# actually. I know it's mostly water bound to glycogen molecules and will be gone shortly, if not already. And I'm having bread cravings like crazy too, that I'm fighting with the help of my Lovely Loaf, and modified oopsie rolls that include a little flax meal to give them more body. I had a serving of the bread today, and will have a couple of rolls with supper later this evening. Tomorrow I'll just eat the rolls and skip the bread altogether, and should be past the cravings.
Would I have preferred to eat low carb? Of course! But given the options I had, I absolutely made the right choice for my situation. I'm blessed that I don't have a health condition that totally prohibits carb consumption, obviously that would be a different story - and you might have written the story differently if it were your situation as well :).
I have a gentler heart than many, perhaps...but as one who also shows her love for others through food, I can't imagine rejecting that, not even for a few pounds.
Thursday, June 16, 2011
Fresh New Blog & YouTube Channel #paleo #lowcarb
She is delightful, adorable, smart, and does great basic cooking - from making cauli-rice to zucchini noodles, I've enjoyed reading this fresh new blog and watching her very informative videos!
Can I Talk Yet AGAIN About My Lovely Loaf? #lowcarb #bread
I just wanted to mention that I changed some amounts, and one ingredient, which has resulted not only in a consistently more beautiful, lighter, real "Bread-y" loaf, but also has reduced the total net carb count by nearly 25%! These small tweaks have been made, and marked on the last post I made about this bread as it has already been bookmarked by quite a few people. But changes have been clearly marked :).
Monday, June 13, 2011
Cheap'n'Easy - and Quick! Peanut Butter Cup-cakes #Recipe #lowcarb
I wanted to whip up something quick for my husband's lunch last night so I got out my hand mixer, a mixing bowl, and started adding things to it. Readers of this blog know that I don't measure anything, but I used a 1/4c measuring cup and a couple of measuring spoons for everything so I'd be able to repeat the recipe if we liked it. And we LOVED it! "Frosted" with a little sweetened whipped peanut butter, these are really really good!
Whip together
2 large eggs
2 Tbsp soft butter
Stir in
1/3c peanut flour (it was a rounded 1/4c actually)
1/4c polyD
2 packets Truvia
2 Tbsp erythritol
2 Tbsp xylitol
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
dash salt
tiny splash vanilla
Blend on high until smooth and creamy. Divide evenly among 6 well-greased cupcake wells and bake at 350F on center rack until a toothpick comes out clean; tip out on rack to cool. "Frost" with smooth peanut butter whipped with a little sweetening agent of your choice. (I used a drop of liquid sucralose.) (Note: you can add a little peanut oil or softened butter if your peanut butter is too stiff to whip.)
These were so fast and easy, I started them at 10:30 and by 11:30 there were 2 packed in his lunch bag!
(It is difficult to figure out the cost for these, the Truvia is the most expensive ingredient at 16c/packet, but these are EASILY less than Little Debbies with all of their sugars and additives!)
Whip together
2 large eggs
2 Tbsp soft butter
Stir in
1/3c peanut flour (it was a rounded 1/4c actually)
1/4c polyD
2 packets Truvia
2 Tbsp erythritol
2 Tbsp xylitol
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
dash salt
tiny splash vanilla
Blend on high until smooth and creamy. Divide evenly among 6 well-greased cupcake wells and bake at 350F on center rack until a toothpick comes out clean; tip out on rack to cool. "Frost" with smooth peanut butter whipped with a little sweetening agent of your choice. (I used a drop of liquid sucralose.) (Note: you can add a little peanut oil or softened butter if your peanut butter is too stiff to whip.)
These were so fast and easy, I started them at 10:30 and by 11:30 there were 2 packed in his lunch bag!
(It is difficult to figure out the cost for these, the Truvia is the most expensive ingredient at 16c/packet, but these are EASILY less than Little Debbies with all of their sugars and additives!)
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