Thrown-Together #Lowcarb Lunch - Another WINNER!

I had about 7-8 small zucchini in the fridge so I cut off the ends and scooped out the few little seeds that were in there, tossed them with a little olive oil and roasted them in the oven at 425 on the top rack until they were crispy on the edges.

Meanwhile I mixed together a leftover half-can of chili (the kind made for chili dogs, which we had over the weekend) with an equal part of shredded colby-jack cheese. When the zucchini were ready I spooned the chili mixture on top, the covered it with more shredded cheese and put it back in the oven for about 5 minutes - until the cheese was melty, and the part that had fallen on the pan was brown and crispy.

I used a big pancake turner to lift it out onto 2 plates, topped with a generous amount of full-fat sour cream, then the little crispy cheese bits.

Even though I just ate it, my mouth is watering just talking about it, it was SO SO SO good! I'd even say it was better than the chili dogs we had on Saturday...thinking next time I'll also roast some onion and, yeah, maybe put some hot dogs in it too!

Crispy Light #lowcarb TOAST!

There are lots of toasted bun recipes out there, and I'm sure they're all good, and mine is probably no better. But this was so good that I have to write it down so I don't forget how I did it, and what better place than here?

I don't pay much attention when I make the microwave bread anymore, I just toss in a little of this and a little of that and it usually turns out fine for a sandwich, and I have never toasted it.

This morning I wanted fried eggs on toast, so I greased a dish, blended an egg, added about 1/4t of baking powder, 1/4c of Carbquik, about a heaping Tbsp of golden flax meal, and a few drops of white vinegar. Mixed, it became a paste, so I drizzled in some half'n'half until it was the right consistency (like a cake batter maybe? thinner than peanut butter). I would have used heavy cream but I don't buy that too often anymore because it is so expensive.

Once I whisked everything together I put it in the microwave on high for 2 minutes.

(Note: I've started adding at least a little Carbquik to my microwave breads, just because I like the texture and taste of the end result. But certainly I've made it plenty of times without, and it's ok too. Just like it a little better with Carbquik - either a little, or a lot.)

When it was done I cut the "bread" in half and popped it in the toaster. Now maybe all of these other microwave breads would have been just as good, but I gotta say that the outside toasted crispy and almost like what I'd imagine panko crumbs would be like, before they were crumbed. And the inside was tender, almost fluffy. I've never had toast like this before!

I've been wanting more of this ever since this morning, but I try to eat the grain-based stuff twice a week or less. I may hold out until tomorrow...but in the morning, all bets are off, and I KNOW I'll be having more for breakfast!

WOOHOO! The Cupboards are full! #lowcarb shopping

Things were getting a little bare in my freezer, so I finally had to put everything else aside, bite the bullet, and go shopping! This first week in March I seriously needed to do some stocking up of just about everything (and still need to place a couple of online orders!), so it will be a big month for our food bill. It isn't often that I need to stock up on everything in the same month - thank God!

I started out at Steve's Country Market in Harrison, MI - LOVE that store! - where I spent $82.02 on over 33# of meat: chicken leg quarters were 79c/lb, pork chops (good fatty ones!) were $1.89/lb, bacon (ends and pieces, with LOTS of good big chunks!) was $2.19/lb, both tilapia and catfish were $1.99/lb, and the chuck roast was $3.19/lb! Overall, I paid less than $2.50/lb for my meats...and it's all (except the fish) FRESH and better than anything I can find in a local grocery store!

Then we went over to Cadillac where we enjoyed lunch at our favorite restaurant, and went to Meijer and GFS.

Meijer:
(2) rutabagas $1.73 ($0.79/lb)
6.62# squash $6.66 (lots of zucchini/yellow squash, 1 butternut @ $0.99/lb)
(1) daikon $3.18 ($1.39/lb)
(2) bundles of fresh asparagus $2.27 ($0.99/lb)
TOTAL - $13.73

GFS:
3# pollock "fish sticks" (for grandson) $6.99
(3) 2# frozen cauliflower $8.97
(2) 2.5# bags whole green beans $5.98
(1) 5# bag peanuts in the shell $8.99
(1) 2# frozen broccoli florets $3.79
(1) 2# frozen chopped spinach $2.99
TOTAL - $37.71

Then yesterday we had to go to Saginaw for an appointment, so we stopped at Aldi's for another big "stocking up" trip:
(2) 24 oz cottage cheese @ $2.29 ea
(2) 11.3 oz decaf coffee @ $2.79 ea
(1) 33.9 oz regular coffee $5.49
(4) 1# butter quarters @ $2.29 ea
(1) big can crushed tomatoes $0.99*
(5) cans diced tomatoes @ $0.59 ea*
(3) cans beans @ $0.55 ea*
(1) 16 oz processed american cheese slices $0.99
(1) 16 oz swiss cheese slices $1.79
1.87 lb ground beef $6.13*
(6) small cans mushrooms @ $0.59 ea
(2) 8 oz cream cheese @ $1.19 ea
(3) 15 oz sour cream @ $1.29 ea
(6) quarts half'n'half @ $1.79 ea
(1) 8 oz. can parm cheese $2.39
(4) bags pork rinds @ $0.89 ea
(1) jar mayo @ 2.19
(1) 100 ct sweet'n'low (their own brand) $1.19
(2) big bars dark chocolate @ $1.49 ea.
*I'll be making a big potful of chili for hubby and grandson (I don't care for it.)
TOTAL $72.15


So, the first week of March I've spent $205.61. By the time I place my online order for baking supplies I will probably be at, or above, the $300 mark, and will also need odds and ends between now and the end of March.

IMPORTANT POINT: Comparing last month's many mini-trips and how much they cost with this month's planned shopping, I've already gotten a LOT more food even though I've spent less so far.

My #Lowcarb "Dish to Pass" for Potluck at Church

I was rather at a loss what to make for today's potluck. Last week I had just bought a bag of potatoes, and since I'm the only low carber there I decided I'd just make seasoned potato wedges. They were great (I used the whole bag, and they were gone!), but nobody really brought a meat dish (which I usually bring, or a casserole containing meat)...so I will make sure to take one from now on.

Anyway, here's what I came up with, and it was really really good!

I sliced several yellow squash and several zucchinis on a bias so I got big slices, and also rough-chopped 3 onions, then I tossed them all with olive oil and sea salt and roasted them at 425 for about 25 minutes, tossing once.

Meanwhile I browned and crumbled about 2# of ground beef and ground turkey together.

In a bowl I mixed together 2 cans of drained diced tomatoes and a 15 oz. container of whole milk ricotta.

When the vegetables and meat were done I let them cool a bit, then tossed them with the tomatoes and cheese, and topped it all with some lowcarb bread crumbs and parmesan cheese. At the church the "food ladies" :) put it uncovered into the oven to heat, and brown the top.

I had 2 huge helpings (and a single spoonful of potato salad, and a slice of salisbury steak, and a small piece of pumpkin custard) and it was really really good! Got a lot of compliments on the dish too, it made a 9x13x2 pan full to the top!

I used about $3 of meat, $2.25 of squash, $1.18 of tomatoes, $1.59 of ricotta, and less than $1 of onions (got some out of the bargain basket yesterday). I'd say there were about 10 good helpings, for about $0.85 per helping. (Veggies, meat, and dairy all included!)

DEFINITELY something I will make again :).

Final February Food Costs #lowcarb

We ended up with more stuff from Sav-a-Lot on the 26th, then we went to Merchandise Mart where I found quite a low carb items including various crunchy snacks, crackers, and SF fruit juice. Great bargains included Dreamfield's spaghetti for $1.29 (I bought 5) and Miracle Noodles for $0.79 (I bought 2)! The total for these items was $20.46.

The total from Sav-a-Lot was $35.30 and included
(4) quarts Half'n'Half @ $1.99 ea
(6) individual pizzas @ $6.34 total (they were different brands)
(1) 12oz bottle of SF maple syrup @ $1.29
(1) head of cabbage @ $0.39/lb
(1) 24 pack of water @ $2.99 (our drinking water is awful here!)
(1) 12-pack diet cola @ $2.69 (for my mom when she's here) + $1.20 deposit
(1) 24 oz shredded mozzarella cheese @ $5.79
(1) 24 oz shredded cheddar cheese @ $5.79

So my grand total for February was $263.00.

March, I believe, will be a little higher, since I'm going to try to put in a netrition.com order for my baking supplies. I only do this 2-3 times a year, and it usually adds about $100 to the budget for that month.

So far this year I'm averaging under $60/week for groceries including snacks, or about $8.50/day! This makes me happy!

Thank You Jamie VanEaton! #Lowcarb Breadsticks

(Click on the title to be taken to this recipe in Jamie's blog, The Lighter Side.)

This will be short and sweet.

I tried these last night. My non-low-carbing daughter came in the house and said, "Wow, something smells GREAT in here!" So I offered her a freshly cut, still-warm breadstick. Hadn't even gotten out the dipping sauce yet. Said daughter took a bite, and her eyes got wide. "MOM!! These taste JUST like Little Caesar's breadsticks!!"

Just sayin'... :)

OH! MY! GOODNESS! My #Lowcarb Lunch

I know I've used the word AMAZING quite a bit in the past, but I didn't know what AMAZING was until I ate today's lunch. It was TRULY AMAZING. And cheap...and easy...so it fits perfectly into this blog :)



First I cut three 3/4"-1" slices of cabbage, brushed both sides of each slice generously with olive oil, seasoned with S&P, and put them on a baking pan in a 400* oven.

Next I chopped up 2 small yellow onions - no particular size or shape, just sliced them up and cut through each slice a couple of times. I put them in a hot frying pan with olive oil in the bottom, gave them a stir to coat, and let them cook over medium heat.

Then I pulled a breast and a thigh off of the chicken I roasted a couple of days ago, and diced up the meat. (As a side note, this makes meal #3 from that $4.40 chicken, and I still have the legs and wings left which will be a nice lunch for Pete at work.)

At this point I opened the oven and flipped the cabbage over, turning the heat up to 425* to get some browning action going on.

Then I added the chicken to the onions, which were now translucent and starting to brown, sprinkled in a generous amount of dark chili powder, S&P, and a can of diced tomatoes (with the juice - but there wasn't much juice). Stirred together, covered, reduced heat to medium low, and let heat together for 10 minutes.

To serve, I scooped a slice of cabbage onto the plate (arranging the wonderful crispy bits along the side), then the chicken mixture (using a slotted spoon so it wouldn't be runny), and topped it with a generous dollop of full fat sour cream which both balanced the spiciness of the chili powder and added some much-needed fat to the dish.

It was heavenly! The cabbage was tender but with some firmness to it, and so sweet from being roasted - you just don't get cabbage to sweeten up by boiling or frying! The outer leaves that came loose in the oven got dark brown and crispy, adding not only another texture, but also were even sweeter - they were like crispy candy! The slight spiciness of the chicken mixture blended with the sour cream just set off fireworks of pleasure in my mouth. I just can't begin to describe what a fantastic dish this was, and my husband is totally in awe of my skills in the kitchen - lol!

And, it was cheap. About $1.25 worth of leftover chicken, 59c for the can of tomatoes, half of a head of cabbage - or 50c worth, 35c worth of onion, and I'll add a generous 50c for the olive oil (maybe 4T in all?) and seasonings. This made 3 LARGE servings, and would easily serve 4. For about $3.20 TOTAL, plus maybe 25c worth of sour cream per serving.

THIS, ladies and gentleman, is what Cheap'n'Easy Low Carbing is about :).

Making #Lowcarb Flat #Breads (click title for #recipe)

I'm really sick with a nasty virus, and everything I do causes me to break out into a sweat and get all achy...but when you've gotta have 'em, you've gotta have 'em! However I just used up the last of my Wheat Protein Isolate 5000 and the last of my oat fiber. I'm down on almond flour too. So it's looking like I'll need to put in a netrition.com order soon - or else no more baking :(. Anyway, the ball of dough has been kneaded and is in the rising stage now. In the past I've always made about 16 six-inch flat breads but that is time-consuming and hard on my back. Today I think I will make 8 bigger ones, which should cut the rolling-out time in half if my math is correct :).

And now I am all stoked for a warm one, straight off the griddle, later tonight with melted butter, cinnamon, and a little splenda, then rolled up, with a good hot cup of (decaf) coffee! These are SO dreamy...

Bad News for the Grocery Budget! #lowcarb

This is a prime example of why I don't like going to the store too often. But as I've mentioned, I'm sick with a nasty miserable virus (the doc told me yesterday this one lasts THREE WEEKS! I'm on day 8, and was down with vertigo a couple of weeks ago) so I'm not doing the shopping/cooking like I usually would, depending on hubby who does a good job but not like I do it. And I'm over my $200 budget for the month already. I won't beat myself over the head about it, and some months - when I'm stocking up on a big meat sale, for example - I go over and don't give it a 2nd thought, and some months - like last month - I'm under budget. But this month it happened just because I didn't do a big shopping with my coupons or shop the sales, and this is the result. Hopefully you can at least learn from it :).

Sav-a-Lot (now that I've gone to Aldi's a few times, I'm really hating paying SaL's high prices!)

(3) pkgs shredded cheese @ $3.19 ea (4 oz smaller & $0.20c more than Aldi's)
(2) quarts half'n'half @ $1.99 ea ($0.20c more than Aldi's)
(2) lbs. butter @ $2.39 ea ($0.10 more than Aldi's)
(1) 4.54# whole chicken $4.40
(2) frozen pizzas (!) @ $1.79 ea
(1) 24 oz. fish $3.19
(100 ct.) sugar sub $1.19
(4) bags salad mix @ $0.29 each ($1 off each)
5# potatoes $2.29

TOTAL $34.34

TOTAL for month so far $207.24

A Delicious #Lowcarb Quiche! (& a couple more receipts...)

Whenever I slice my lowcarb bread it seems that I end up with a couple of slices that just aren't right. I dry these for breadcrumbs, or set them aside for another use. Tonight I used some of these pieces in my quiche.
I melted a half stick of butter in a 9" round pyrex baking dish, then I broke the bread into small pieces and put it in the dish to soak up the butter. While it was doing that I whisked together a half-dozen eggs with a half-cup of full fat ricotta cheese and a little S&P, and diced some ham into small dices, which I spread across the soaked bread. Then I sprinkled a few handfuls of frozen spinach (out of the big bag, it's pretty loose, like crumbles) on the ham, and poured the egg/ricotta mixture on top. Into a 350 oven for 30 minutes, at which time I removed it and sprinkled some shredded colby-jack cheese on top. After another 20 minutes in the oven it was lovely! And I do have to say that this is one of the best quiches I've ever made! Isn't it beautiful???

I've been sick all week, so today hubby went to the store to pick up a few things. Here are the receipts:

Walmart -
(1) rotisserie chicken $4.58
(1) Blue Bunny no sugar added ice cream $3.97
(because it would feel good on my swollen and painful throat)
(1) 20 ct. berry flavored teabags $2.38
TOTAL $12.16 (with tax)

Sav-a-Lot -
(1) lb butter $2.39
(1) box saltines $0.99
(1) 24 ct. decaf teabags $0.99
TOTAL $4.37

Then he stopped at Dollar General to pick up some Whales crackers for our grandson for another buck.

TOTAL today = $17.53

TOTAL for February so far $172.90

It really is a lot more expensive to go to the store more often and just buy a few things at a time! If nothing else, this month is evidence of that.

A Few More #Lowcarb Grocery Receipts

Seems like we're just going to nickel and dime our way through this month! That's what I get for not doing a "big shopping" to start with, I guess :).

Sav-a-Lot (Feb.5 - just found receipt):
(2) quarts half'n'half @ $1.99 ea
(2) frozen 14.34 oz. pizzas @ $1.79 ea
(4) packages SF pudding mix @ $0.50 ea.
(1) some kind of cheese on the receipt, don't remember now what exactly $1.49
TOTAL $11.05

Aldi (Feb.10)
(1) jar salsa $1.79
(1) 15 oz. sour cream $1.29
(4) quarts half'n'half @ $1.79 ea
(1) 11.3 oz can decaf coffee $2.79
(2) bags pork rinds @ $0.89 ea (They're $1.19 at Sav-a-Lot!!)
(1) pint carton liquid egg whites $1.89 (specifically for a recipe I want to try)
(2) cans diced tomatoes @ $0.59 ea.
(1) jar SF raspberry preserves $1.99
(1) jar peanut butter $2.29
(1) 3# bag of yellow onions $1.59
(2) 12 ct. large eggs @ $1.19 ea. (They're $2/dozen around here!!)
(2) cans tuna in water @ $0.59 ea. (They're $0.79 around here!!)
TOTAL $27.31

Then this morning before I got up my husband went to Walmart and got (4) frozen 9 oz. pizzas (!) @ $1.36 ea. and a 2# bag of popcorn for $1.48 - TOTAL = $6.92 (These were the small pizzas; for another $0.43 he could have gotten pizzas that were nearly 50% bigger, if he'd gone to Sav-a-Lot...which is also a lot closer, so less gas used...but he doesn't do things my way which doesn't make him wrong, just, well, more expensive :). )

So there are still 2 weeks left to the month and we've spent $155.37. Less than $45 left for the month in the budget (although I could spend more than that if I had to - I just do my best not to go over $200/mo.), I think we can do it...although since Pete bought popcorn, we'll be using more butter :).

Such a Yummy #Lowcarb Day! (How I Actually Use These Groceries!)

Before I forget, Pete ran to the store to pick up 3 bags of pork rinds, they were $1.19 each at Sav-a-Lot. (I will see what they are at Aldi, and perhaps stock up, the next time I'm in Saginaw.) So, adding $3.57 to our previous total, so far this month we've spent $113.66.

Today was so good! For late breakfast/early lunch I scrambled 4 eggs with full fat sour cream and a handful (about 1/4c) of shredded cheese; we had it with 2 sausage patties each. Late lunch/snack was pork rinds dipped in a mixture of salsa/sour cream; these are best if I first bake a layer of cheese onto the porkies but I was too hungry and didn't feel like it - and they were still really delicious!!

Supper - ooooh, supper...soooo good! I coated my tilapia fillets with a mixture of coconut flour and carbquik (2:1), and added some seafood seasoning and sea salt, then fried it in butter/olive oil until crisp outside and tender inside. Tilapia is great for this, it's thin enough to cook through quickly on higher heat so it can crisp up - high enough that the butter doesn't burn, but just barely. And I made the green beans we love (sauteed in butter/olive oil with sea salt and onion powder), and I have a bunch of 2c bags of cooked hubbard squash in the freezer - I got 4 hubbard squashes from friends this fall that I cooked and bagged - so we had one of those also, seasoned with butter, brown sugar sub, and cinnamon.

If I want a snack later I'll have some dark chocolate.

I'm going to get a pork roast out of the freezer tonight to roast tomorrow, and will make some fried cabbage with it. I'll make bacon for before church tomorrow, and will use some of the bacon fat, and some of the bacon, for the cabbage. I have 4 small potatoes left, so I'll bake those to go with it...