#Lowcarb Boredom - Meal Ideas - 9/25

Yesterday was a really delicious day!

For lunch I had "oatmeal" - I use 1/4c oatmeal, 1/4c finely chopped pecans, and 1/4c unsweetened shredded coconut mixed with enough water to cover it in my bowl, and then some - maybe ua cup and a quarter? Then I nuke it 2 minutes, covered, and let it sit another couple of minutes until the water is all absorbed. I like to eat it with LOTS of butter and cinnamon, a little brown sugar sub, and half'n'half. (I'd use cream in this, and in many other things, if it weren't twice the price of half'n'half!)

For supper I made some spicy-sweet meatballs and a "potato" casserole. Here are the recipes:

Spicy-Sweet Meatballs
This uses a Thai Sweet Chili Sauce that I found at a discount store for a buck. It's pretty carby @ 3 per tsp, but has a STRONG flavor. I use very little of it.
1 - Cooked 1/2 of a large onion in a frying pan in olive oil until browning; I did this on med-low heat which takes longer but tastes better.
2 - Mixed 1# of ground beef with an egg, 1/4c each of ground porkies and parmesan cheese, 1/2t of garlic powder, 2t of worchestershire sauce, and 1 tsp. of chili powder
3 - When onions are just browned, I moved them to side of the pan; formed meatballs (mine were walnut-sized) and added to pan; covered and let cook through. (This didn't take very long with small meatballs, about 4-5 minutes.)
4 - Added 2T chili sauce over the meatballs and tossed with the onions and pan drippings.

This made about 4 servings.

Fauxtato Casserole
1 - I finely diced (using a gadget I have for the purpose) a daikon radish and half of a large onion, and boiled the daikon in salted water for about 5 minutes just to soften slightly.
2 - Into my 9x13 glass baking dish I tossed the drained daikon, the onion, 1c of shredded colby-jack cheese, 1c of mozzarella cheese, about 1/2# of chopped cooked bacon, and a 24 oz container of sour cream.
3 - Baked 45 minutes @ 350, then topped with another 1/2c or so of cheeses and a sprinkle of parmesan for browning/crispiness on top, then returned to the oven for another 15 minutes or so.

This made about 10 servings, certainly enough for a few days' worth of leftovers. In fact I just had some for lunch, with the rest of the leftover bacon!

Both this casserole and also my roasted cabbage dish make a complete meal when I add a bunch of bacon, sausage, or ham to them, and serve with a salad of some sort (not necessarily using lettuce or greens) on the side.

#Lowcarb Boredom - Meal Ideas - 9/24

Yesterday for lunch I had 2 hot dogs with a spoonful of chili sauce and some cheese melted over each. (The chili sauce I buy has 18gN per can, I probably ate 1/8 of the can.)

Supper was roasted country pork ribs that I had rubbed with a packet of ranch dressing mix then roasted. I also roasted some whole baby green beans with it, that I'd just tossed in olive oil and sprinkled with a little seasoned salt.

For a snack I had some Wasa "crackers" (fairly low carb but don't remember exact count) schmeared with cream cheese.

Also please note that I drink a mug of coffee for breakfast (20 oz) and I load it up with good fatty half'n'half plus a scoop of protein powder most days. That staves off hunger until mid-afternoon, usually.

As you can see we eat very simply, but always enjoy everything we have. I typically purchase only a few different types/cuts of meat but fix them in different ways to maintain variety, but I always have at LEAST a dozen kinds of veggies in the house as well, so we have a lot of variety with those.

#Lowcarb Boredom - Meal Ideas - 9/21-23

Such a busy weekend, I don't know what I ate when, and we did eat out a couple of times, but here are some dishes I made:

I guy English roasts or chuck roasts from my favorite butcher shop - Steve's Meats in Harrison, MI, and these beef roasts are at least a couple of inches thick, with LOTS of great healthy fat! One of the meals I made, I sliced half of one of these roasts horizontally to make 3 "steaks" out of it, which I fried in lard, seasoned with sea salt, garlic powder, and onion powder. Meanwhile I roasted some thin-sliced sweet potato in a single layer in coconut oil at 425, seasoned with just sea salt, in the oven. That was a great meal!

Another meal I made was for potluck at church this morning. I finely diced a big daikon radish and half of a Michigan Candy Onion (they're HUGE) and browned them in my big deep electric chicken fryer in lard. Then I added a pound of ground sausage and a pound of ground beef (both from Steve's of course!), and crumbled them as they cooked. I seasoned it with simply sea salt, chili powder, and garlic powder. Then I chopped 3 scallions (because I needed to use them up, why not?) and a great big meaty tomato, stirred that into the mix...then about a pound of frozen chopped spinach...then a half dozen beaten eggs and pressed it all down into the pan with the lid on. Once it was all cooked through and the eggs were cooked, I put about 2c of shredded colby-jack cheese on top and turned the heat down just until it was melted. This was very convenient for travel (wrapped in a massive beach towel), for keeping warm, and for serving at the potluck. AND I got a lot of rave reviews and requests for the recipe :).

Just a couple more meals I've prepared this weekend...hopefully will help with the boredom factor :).

#Lowcarb Boredom - Meal Ideas - 9/20

Yesterday we were on the road most of the day - well, for about 12 hours. Before we left we had pancakes (made with almond flour, eggs, vanilla yogurt, baking powder, and cinnamon) with SF syrup, and loads of bacon.

Suppertime we were on the road but found a restaurant, they happened to have a very extensive (like 8 pages!) menu, including greek food, so I got a moussaka, and a salad on the side. It was delicious! The menu said it contained seasoned meat, eggplant, cheese, and a bachamel sauce (which contains some flour, I know) and of course it would contain eggs and spices. It was served with rice, I had a couple of bites of the rice to cut the richness of the moussaka but that's it.

Snack yesterday was popcorn.

Higher carbs than most days but not horrible, and probably burned them off with all we did!

#Lowcarb Boredom - Meal Ideas - 9/19

Tomorrow will be a busy day so I'm posting tonight.

For lunch (late morning) I fixed hamburger patties which I served on top of thick tomato slice and a slice of cheese, with mayo and bacon on top. Hubby ate 2, I ate one. It was GREAT, with lots of great fat!

For supper (we ate late afternoon today) hubby bought a rotisserie chicken. I had the breast and wing, and saved the thigh and leg for this evening when I get hungry again.

I also had a snack of yogurt a couple of hours after I ate the chicken.

#Lowcarb Boredom - Meal Ideas - 9/18

Yesterday for lunch I had leftover pork and broccoli from the night before. (Hubby works nights, so I often eat leftovers for lunch if he's sleeping.) Since I'm sick with who-knows-what - never had anything like THIS before - hubby just made some Dreamfield's spaghetti with sauce for himself. I had a small dish of it (like, maybe a half-cup?) with butter and a sprinkle of parmesan. I don't think I ate any snacks yesterday, just didn't feel like eating. So it was a boring food day but they can't all be spectacular :).

#Lowcarb Boredom - Meal Ideas - 9/17

For lunch (I don't eat breakfast) I had the last of the leftover pork/brussels sprouts/onions from last week, with about a Tbsp of butter melted over it. The original dish was simply seasoned pork pieces that had originally been cooked in a crockpot; in my bit electric fryer I fried up some brussels sprouts, halved, and onion slices in olive oil and butter until browning, then added the shredded pork to it, covered, and let it cook together over medium-low heat for a while. It was amazingly delicious!

For supper last night I oven roasted some pork country ribs after rubbing them with olive oil and salting them. I roasted them at 325 for an hour, then 275 for a couple more hours until they fell off the bone. Removed them from the oven, turned the heat up to 425, and put a baking sheet with frozen broccoli that had been tossed with olive oil and salted on the top rack.

Because my back was bad I didn't want to make a batch of BBQ sauce for the ribs (plus that's more dishes to wash, and washing dishes hurts my back more than just about anything else), so I just put the ingredients on the pork one by one: onion, garlic, and chili powders, brown sugar sub, a sprinkle of liquid smoke, and low-carb ketchup.

By this time the broccoli was starting to brown around the edges so I gave it a toss, put shredded cheddar cheese on top, and returned it to the top shelf, then I put the pork on the middle shelf. Another 15 minutes or so and the cheese with browning on the broccoli, and lots of crispy bits in the pan to put on top...and the toppings on the pork had merged and gotten good and sticky.

We do eat a lot of pork in our house as it is less expensive than beef, and very versatile. We do love our beef also, and of course chicken which is the only cheap meat left in the store.

I also had some heavily buttered popcorn as an afternoon snack.

Anyway, that was what we ate yesterday.

#Lowcarb Boredom - Meal Ideas - 9/16

I got an email from someone saying that she gets bored with eating the same things over and over again, and asking me to post what I eat to maybe give her some ideas. I haven't done this in quite a while, so I told her I'd start posting what my meals.

I can tell you what I had yesterday, to start...after church we went to KFC for lunch and had the buffet. I ate 2 pieces of tender grilled chicken, a salad with bacon, cheese, and tomatoes on it with 1000 Island dressing (half packet is plenty, nasty stuff in it!), one spoonful of cole slaw, and one spoonful of potato salad.

For supper I made "steak" (we buy English cut beef roasts and slice them in half horizontally to make "steaks" out of them), fried in oil and heavily seasoned with garlic, onion, and chili powder and seasoned salt, and whole baby green beans (from frozen) that I cooked in a mixture of olive oil and butter with sea salt and onion powder.

Just an added note: About a week ago I noticed the pounds starting to creep up - just 3# but still... So I made sure to eat LOTS of fat last week and, in spite of my carby meal* on Friday night I lost the 3# plus 2# more as well.

*I usually have 1 carby meal each week. And if I'm not trying to lose, sometimes 2.

Tonight I will post what I had today.

Amanda's #Lowcarb Zucchini Bread #Recipe

Happy Birthday Amanda!

4 large eggs
½c granulated sugar sub
½c granulated brown sugar sub
1 tsp vanilla

Blend these together well, then add

½c coconut oil, softened
½c butter, softened

When thoroughly blended, add

1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
3 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp ginger

Continue mixing until fully incorporated, then add

1c almond flour
½c pecan flour
½c coconut flour

When mixed and smooth, add

1½c shredded zucchini
¼c full-fat sour cream

Continue mixing, on medium, and something magical will happen - it will puff up and take on the consistency of a light marshmallow fluff!!

Gently transfer to a greased/floured (I used coconut flour) a 10x10 baking dish and smooth with the tip of your rubber scraper. Bake at 350 until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean - that was about 43 minutes in my oven.

Let cool, cut into 16 pieces, and enjoy :).

(NOTE: this is a light bread, like a combination bread and cake; this is the way my grandmother made it, so that's what I was trying to emulate. And it worked I might add...if you are looking for a heavier bread, you might try omitting the sour cream and reducing the baking soda by half, although I haven't tried it that way...just have a hunch that will work :).)

Leftover Squash? Make Cookies! #lowcarb

I had about a cup of roasted (in chunks) butternut squash leftover. We've been eating a lot of squash lately since it's cheap right now, so I'm a little squashed out! I was going to make squash pancakes but then decided to do cookies instead. Here is what I did:

(Remember I don't follow recipes or measure anything, so all of these amounts are guesstimates!)

4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cloves
1/4c brown sugar sub
6 drops (= 1Tbsp) liquid sucralose (adjust to taste, I don't like too sweet!)
1 c winter squash, cooked
1/4 c pecan meal
1/4 c coconut flour
1/2 c unsweetened shredded coconut
1/4 c raisins, chopped
2 Tbsp coconut oil (or butter)

Whipped the eggs until they were about doubled in volume, then mixed in the next 6 ingredients with the mixer on low, then added the remaining ingredients, in the order listed. (I didn't want my coconut oil to solidify upon impact.) Mixed on low until the cookie dough - it's a fairly loose dough - was formed. Then I let sit for 10 minutes to make sure everything (not mentioning any names, Coconut Flour!) had absorbed liquid.

I baked these in walnut-sized balls (the 1st batch to go in) @ 350 until they were done; I forgot to look at the clock, my nose told me and my eyes and fingertips confirmed it. They were pretty browned just on the little bits that were sticking up. Anyway, I baked them on a stone, and learned with the 2nd batch it was better to grease it first...and I also smashed the 2nd batch into flatter discs.

I have no idea how many I made, it was a round baking stone and I kept losing count. And they aren't the lowest-carb cookies to ever leave my kitchen. But they are really REALLY good, I had 2 and even though they're just walnut-sized they really filled me up!

(I could have probably given them a little with rise but wanted something with some substance today. They aren't heavy by any means - the whipped eggs helped with that - and are just a really nice little snack. My 3YO grandson will love them, and they're healthier for him too!)

Up and Down!

For some reason the last month I've been wanting - and eating - more carbs. Don't know why. But I did. And last weekend was the worst, ate carbs for almost every meal! Sunday morning I was up 11#!!! Starting Monday I've been eating clean, all meats and veggies, some dairy, lots of fats. One day I had a bowl of popcorn, heavily buttered, but that's never affected me one way or another. (No, I don't test my blood sugar, but weight-wise it's never stopped loss when I was losing, never caused gain when I was maintaining - probably because - even though I eat a big bowl of the stuff - I have a half-stick of butter on it.) And this morning I was back down 8 of those 11 pounds. As always - when I eat lots and lots of fats, and totally eliminate grains (except popcorn, evidently!) and sugars - natural or otherwise - I lose very quickly. Now I'm considering losing a little more. I still dread doing it for the reasons I've mentioned in the past, but thinking I might. Maybe go down about 10# below what I was before that 11# gain. Just a thought.

#Lowcarb Squash Cake!

I had 3 small cooked delicata squash in the fridge that needed to be used, so I made a cake. Was going to do cupcakes - like muffins - but hate washing all of those wells in the muffin pan :). Anyway, here's what I did: To the delicata (about 3c total) I added 6 large eggs and beat it will, until smooth. Then I added 1/4c brown sugar sub, 1 tsp each baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon, 1/2c each walnut and pecan meal and shredded unsweetened coconut, 3Tbsp coconut flour, 1/2t salt, a tsp of vanilla, 1/2 stick soft butter, 2T plain full-fat yogurt, and 2T SF caramel syrup. (If I was a real baker, I'd mix the dry ingredients then add them to the wet, but I throw it all together and beat well with the mixer.) I just beat all of the above really REALLY well...then poured it into a 9x12 greased baking dish. It took nearly an hour in a 350 oven. But it was well worth the wait! :)