Low Carb Boredom - Meal Ideas - Nov.4-8

The week has gotten away from me! So I don't remember which day we had what. I do now that we went out to eat one day...Monday maybe? One day we had hamburgers and sweet potato medallions for lunch, then roasted pork country ribs with brussels sprouts for supper. One meal was simply Dreamfield's pasta with a simple sauce. Another meal was roasted chicken quarters with sweet potato medallions (trying to use my sweet potatoes!). Last night's supper was pork tenderloin slices browned in my big Farberware electric chicken fryer, then added chopped onions and cabbage, S&P of course, and let it all simmer in there for about an hour; the pan juices were more than adequate, although I did sprinkle some balsamic over it all for the last few minutes.

And that's about what we've been eating this week. Today we ate out at a buffet for late lunch/early supper so will probably have just a light snack this evening...popcorn or something. But Coyle's has their senior buffet for lunch on Thursdays, $5.50 for all we can eat (I don't eat that much but hubby can really pack it away - lol!) and now that we're down to one income for the winter, that will probably replace our weekly Friday night fish fry date.

#Lowcarb Boredom - Meal Ideas - Oct.30-Nov.3

Big clump of time covered in this post! But it won't be too bad actually. Because Tues., 10/30 I was gone all day, ate just one meal and that was at a Chinese Buffet.

Wed., 10/31 was also gone all day, but I took we took food with us so we wouldn't have to spend any money: Ham/cheese/lettuce/mayo sandwich on Maria's sub rolls, string cheese, cinnamon cookies (homemade), and sunflower seeds for snacks.

I was pretty miserable on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. My arthritis (spine, hips, knees, foot) was awful and I had full-body aches, vertigo, and a rotten headache. I didn't do much those days, but I can recall a couple of meals...one day we had salads with ham, tomatoes, cheese, and ranch dressing for lunch, and roasted chicken leg quarters with sweet potato medallions for supper. One day we had salads for supper, and hot dogs and hamburger (no buns) for lunch. One day we had broiled NY strips with some sort of vegetable (which one I don't recall).

So we've been eating ok, all is well, and definitely not bored with our meals.

The cookies I made for our trip on Wednesday I didn't write down how I made them, but I used mostly almond flour with some coconut flour, 4 eggs, a half-stick of butter, a lot of cinnamon, some baking powder and a spoonful of sour cream to work with it, some brown sugar sub, a few drops of liquid sucralose, and I think that's about it. They were very good, not too sweet (we don't like really sweet anymore) and wonderful with coffee!

Today I have some steaks out of the freezer thawing for supper, and plan to pan-fry some daikon and onions with it, and probably some green beans also. But that's just a guess; I may change my mind when I actually get into the kitchen! Not sure what's for lunch, am about to go into the kitchen and rustle something up :).

#Lowcarb Boredome - Meal Ideas - Oct. 27-29

Saturday the 27th we had popcorn - well-buttered (literally half a stick on mine, as usual) - for lunch. Supper was hamburgers. I made Maria's sub buns but shaped them as hamburger buns, brushed the tops with water, and sprinkled them with raw sesame seeds. They puffed up a LOT as they were baking, and the resulting hamburgers, served with fried onions and cheese, were AMAZING! I had been craving a good hamburger on a bun for a long time, and it more than satisfied me. I also made french fries from frozen (I have NO IDEA why there was a bag of frozen french fries in the bottom of my freezer!) but only ate about 4-5, myself.

Yesterday we munched on sausage and cheese slices on the way to church, and those tided us over through the afternoon until supper: roasted pork seasoned fairly heavily with seasoned salt and onion and garlic powders, with delicata squash (my favorite) with butter.

Today I was too busy to eat. Late afternoon - after 5:00 - I had a spoonful of peanut butter because I was starving. A couple of hours later I broiled a couple of steaks and cooked the bag of veggie mix I had bought (green beans, zucchini, yellow squash, carrots) quickly in a frying pan over high heat with butter and olive oil, seasoned with lots of onion and garlic powder, and sea salt.

And that's what we've been eating.

Tomorrow I will be out for lunch with my daughter; I will be too tired and painful too coo tomorrow night so it will be frozen pizza - yup, carbs. So be it :). I will eat a couple of pieces and that will be plenty, I'll be too tired to eat much anyway.

SHOPPING TRIP!!

You know I love to shop...and it's been about 7 weeks since I last did a big shopping, which I think was on September 8th - almost positive in fact. We haven't had to do any little grocery trips since then either, although of course have stopped for half'n'half when we've run out, and I did go to Bart's (produce) a couple of times and Aldi's once...but my last BIG Shopping Event was a long time ago...

Anyway, it was past due time, we had eaten our last package of meat and were down to just a couple partial bags of frozen veggies and half a box of Dreamfield's spaghetti.

And yesterday was our shopping day! I love seeking out the bargains, stopping at nearby thrift stores, lunch out, and most of all spending the whole day with my husband! We went to Steve's, my favorite meat store in the world, the Sav-a-Lot down in Harrison near Steve's (the Sav-a-Lot in our town could be renamed Spend-a-Lot and be more accurate), then on to Midland to go to Kroger's for their 10 for $10 sale, to Gordon's for the big bags of frozen vegetables, and finally to Meijer for daikon - and I was thrilled that they still had some delicata squash left! It is my favorite, and I hadn't seen any for sale anywhere since last month. I bought their last 4. We also picked up some Orville's because the last time we looked for it at Walmart they were out, and Orville's is the best of the best popcorn - half as much unpopped makes just as much popped as other brands.

We spent roughly $206. Of that, $108.89 was for meat:
- boneless pork loin @ $2.19/lb which they sliced free - I always get 3/4" slices
- 10 chicken leg quarters @ 59c/lb
- a boneless ham (without a bunch of junk in it!) for $1.99/lb
- a small slice of steelhead for $5.99/lb
- 10 polish sausages @ $1.78/lb
- about 5# of bacon @ $2.49/lb (Steve's has really wonderful fresh bacon!)
- country style pork chops for $1.49/lb
- 5# of ground beef for $2.29/lb (72/28)
- a whole NY strip loin (they sliced into 17 steaks, 3/4" each) @ $2.99/lb.
The meat averaged $2.22/lb, and it's high-quality meat too...I believe that's a great value by anybody's standards!

For fresh produce I just got the daikon, some tomatoes, some onions, a big napa cabbage, and the squashes. Frozen veggies - $28.20 - were broccoli, cauliflower, a vegetable blend, brussels sprouts, and whole green beans. They didn't have as much of a selection as some of the other GFS stores do, just one freezer section and most usually have two. But I got multiple packages.

I got mostly dairy at Kroger, so we have plenty of sour cream (YUM!) and cheeses. Plus some SF pudding mixes since the only ones we can get locally are chocolate and vanilla unless I want to pay over $1.00 for a small box of the name brand - which I most certainly do not! But I was able to get butterscotch and lemon, and only 59c for the Kroger brand.

And that was the food part of our day out shopping yesterday! I just love when I open the fridge and freezer and they're full...such a great feeling!

Low Carb Boredom - Meal Ideas - Oct. 26th

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

Actually, nothing to report for Friday. We were gone all day and I didn't cook at all. We went to a Chinese buffet for a late lunch/early supper (but lunch prices, just about $16 for both of us, that's $8 each for a whole day's food!) and that's all we had for the day. LOTS of shopping though...I'll write about that in another post :).

#Lowcarb Boredom - Meal Ideas - Oct. 24

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

Was given some ham bits and pieces today from carving a ham. We got the rind parts from the outside, and the bone. I don't do bean soup so not sure what I'll do with the bone - maybe just use it in some other kind of soup? Open for ideas.

So for lunch I just had bits of ham from the bag of pieces, dipped in dijon mustard.

Supper was chicken thighs. I had asked hubby to get some chicken thighs at the store, he bought boneless skinless - UGH! I was so disappointed, the crispy skin is the best part! Anyway, I slightly warmed (until soft) about 6 oz of full-fat cream cheese and mixed it with some horseradish mustard. After laying the 6 thighs in a baking dish I spread the cream cheese mixture across the top, then covered them with a couple of big pieces the ham rind (just for the flavor, not to eat). While that was roasting in the oven, I also roasted some broccoli; when it was starting to brown and time to turn it, I topped it with shredded cheeses - colbyjack and shredded cheddar - for the last 10 minutes or so.

I don't think I snacked on anything today - oh wait, I did have a dark chocolate square after supper - is that a snack, or dessert? Really when I eat plenty of fat and adequate protein, I don't have much of an appetite.

#Lowcarb Boredom - Meal Ideas - Oct. 23rd

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

Simple day today.

Lunch was the last of the sausage and summer squash dish from a few days ago. Supper was roasted pork country ribs that I had seasoned with a half-packet of ranch dressing mix, roasted sweet potato medallions (just with olive oil and sea salt), and buttered chopped spinach.

I had a dish of white rice - heavily buttered of course - as a snack this afternoon. (I have discussed white rice as part of my diet in a past post.)

Still sick - in fact worst day yet. So lots of sleep and not much meal prep. Just simple food.

#Lowcarb Boredom - Meal Ideas - Oct. 21-22 & Today's Easy Bread Recipe

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

Yesterday before church we had some good breakfast sandwiches. Using Maria's sub buns recipe, they were loaded with bacon, eggs, and cheese. This bread plus all the high-fat ingredients are REALLY filling. We didn't get hungry again for the rest of the day.

For supper yesterday I broiled the last of the steaks from the freezer so I'd have leftovers, and reheated the leftover squash and roasted cauliflower to go with it. Very good.

Today's lunch was toasted one-minute bread (my version below), heavily buttered, and topped with diced smoked sausage and fried eggs.

Supper will be a couple of onions, chopped and fried in olive oil/butter, a bunch of mushrooms, and the leftover steak, cubed. Will toss it with some full-fat sour cream for my favorite sauce/gravy, and serve it over mashed potatoes. Being sick, I want comfort foods.

Yes, I said mashed potatoes. When I find them cheap, I buy packets of instant potatoes, which sit in my cupboard for months at a time. Then once in a while I use some of them. There are 4 servings @ 16gN each; I will eat one serving. The carbs are definitely worth it to me when I'm sick and want comfort food with very little effort! Who wants to make fauxtatoes when they're sick, anyway?

Now, my version of one-minute bread which is actually closer to 5 minutes when I make it for 2 people (or make 4 slices) but worth it!
2 eggs
2T full-fat sour cream
3 drops EZ Sweetz (I like the sweetness of the bread in the same way I used to like the sweetness of Ritz crackers.)
1/4c CarbQuik
1/4c fine almond flour
2T golden flax meal
1 tsp. baking powder
I thoroughly mix together the eggs, sour cream, and sweetener until smooth; in another bowl I whisk together the dry ingredients until well-blended. Then I mix the dry into the wet, and pour it into a greased pyrex loaf pan; then I nuke it on high for 3 minutes, turn out onto a cooling rack, and slice into 4 slices.
It is good as-is, but I really love it toasted...with lots of butter!

#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.