Rationalization and Talking to Myself

It’s funny how humans rationalize things for themselves. Or maybe it’s just me?

I watch what I eat.

I watch what I eat only so I can smack your hand if you try to take any of it! Ha! No, just kidding, I watch what I eat in order to try to lose and/or maintain my weight. I always have, it’s a curse that I was born short so there’s not a lot of room for the weight to spread itself out. Trust me; if I were 5 foot 6 inches tall I’d be svelte and sleek! Like a panther! Ha again!

Being that I watch what I eat I bought this box of Mini Ice Cream Drumsticks.

Photo Credit - Nestles

I love Drumsticks, the crunchy peanuts that go everywhere when you pull it out of the wrapper, the yummy hard chocolate coating, and the creamy vanilla ice cream and then the luscious sugary cookie cone that you can munch on to the end. But as much as I love them, I don’t love the carbs and sugar in them.

I try…mind you I said I TRY, to keep my carbs in check and not eat more than 20 to 25 per day. One regular size drumstick has 33 grams of carbs in it. That means if I ate just one regular size drumstick I couldn't eat anymore carbs for the rest of the day!!!

But these yummy mini drumsticks have 18 grams of carbs per each one. So I rationalized to myself that it wouldn't kill me to eat just one mini one, as a treat, one in a while. Right?

So I bought the box.

 Last night I went to eat one and didn't realize the box has both the chocolate fudge and the vanilla caramel in them. I’m not a big fan of chocolate and even less of fudge so when I took the wrapper off and found out it was the fudge one I was bummed out. But I hate to be wasteful so I told myself, “Self, eat the fudge one today, it’s already open and you don’t want to be wasteful, tomorrow you can eat the vanilla caramel one!” So I ate it.

Photo Credit - Nestles

It was good, but it wasn't vanilla caramel good. An hour or so later, I started talking to myself again and said, “Self, it wasn't your fault that you didn't realize it was a variety pack. You don’t like chocolate, but you were a good girl to not waste it and throw it away, you deserve the vanilla caramel which is what you originally wanted, so be good to yourself, get the vanilla caramel one!” So I did!

Photo Credit - Nestles

And here’s why I need to have a guard with me 24/7 so that I have someone to talk to other than myself because I again started talking to myself, or my SELF started talking to me and it said “Self, you know if you had eaten a regular drumstick it would have been the size of three mini ones, so if you eat one more mini one it’s almost like you just ate a regular drumstick and then don’t eat anymore for the rest of the week!” My SELF needs to gain some SELF control…hahaha! Because I ate a third one! And I have only my SELF to blame!

 

Birthday Goodies - Low Carb Style

I've been trying to post more often, ok…not really! What I've been doing is telling myself to try to post more often.

My sister and I use my blog oftentimes as a history of what we've done in the past and what day and where we went and what we did and what we served as food or what someone served us. But in the past year or so I haven’t been posting as I should and we’re losing track of our history.

So for my faithful readers, all two or three of you, some of these posts may be boring but they are bookmarks in time, so bear with me.

Last month my co-worker Angelica had a birthday. Angelica is not only my wonderful co-worker and friend, but she is my low-carb companion through and through. We help each other and share tips and tricks and encouragement.

During the time of my dad’s illness when I was spending every spare minute I had with dad in the hospital or at the nursing home, Angelica would fix an extra low-carb lunch to share with me every single day! I can never repay her kindness and thoughtfulness; she is a very special person.

For our birthdays, she and I try to make each other a special low-carb treat since we can’t do the traditional birthday cake and ice cream or donuts or cupcakes or whatever other things people do in normal non-low-carb offices.

We each put a lot of thought into what we are going to make for the other. For my birthday in July this year, Angelica spent the weeks before trying out different low-carb ice cream and cake recipes and she created this beauty! A low-carb Strawberry Shortcake with low-carb Vanilla Ice Cream. It was delicious!

So trust me when I say that I was stressing over what I could do to top that. But Angelica has the most powerful sweet tooth in the world! She loves herself some sweets, especially chocolate. That’s why I give her so much credit for sticking to a low-carb lifestyle.

So I knew that what I wanted to make for her was something sweet and it had to be fabulous! I hunted all over the Internet world for a low-carb recipe for Truffles. I must have pinned at least 20 recipes to my Pinterest board for low-carb recipes which you really should visit, I have some great things pinned in there.

I finally found a recipe that looked simple enough that even I couldn't possibly mess it up, so I went for it! So glad I did too as they were a big hit with Angelica and it made me so happy to see her eyes light up when she saw what I had created for her. Ok, maybe created is too strong a word, so she could see what I copied from someone else, just for her!

Now how about that?? Aren't those beautiful? And so easy to make using the recipe I found over at Your Lighter Side. Kimber, the blog creator calls them Mascarpone Choconutty Bites, which is a totally acceptable name, but since I was making these as a gift I wanted to give it a fancy name, so I call them Low-Carb Truffles. You can head over to Your Lighter Side and get the RECIPE HERE.

I did everything exactly as Kimber has in her recipe. The only thing I did different, besides change the name, is once the truffle balls were dipped in the chocolate, while the chocolate was still not set I dipped two in diced walnuts, sprinkled another two with the shaved coconut. Then I made a low-carb faux graham cracker mixture using a bit of almond meal, cinnamon and Splenda and sprinkled two with that mixture. I left two naked with just the chocolate dip on them and then "BAM" as Emeril Lagasse would say, I "kicked it up a notch" and sprinkled two with bacon bits!!! BACON and Chocolate? Have I gone mad?

Nope...I'm a genius! Those were the ones we tried first. Just take a gander! The inside was chewy and gooey and deliciously coconutty. The outside was crunchy chocolate covering and then you had that salty little bit of bacon! They were fabulous!

My co-worker/friend/life saver was thrilled! Thanks Angelica for being such a great person. I am the luckiest person in the world to work alongside you every single day, day in and day out for years upon years!!! Happy Birthday again!

 

Weekend Low Carb Wrap Up - Week Eleven

Welcome to week eleven! It's been a good week! I've only lost one pound but I had been stuck on the same weight for the past two months, so any loss is a win in my book! Been doing excellent in staying on track and watching carbs. 

I recently joined a group of people that are trying to lose weight. Some are doing Atkins Low Carb - High Fat, some are on Weight Watchers, some on Skinny Fiber, some counting calories, but the point of the group is the support that we are all receiving from each other. The tips and ideas are great too. 

I mentioned how I was stalled and not losing any weight and what I was eating and how frustrated I was and several told me that I was not eating enough fats. I explained that I really don't like fats, yuk! I like lean meats and always remove the fat on my chicken but told them I was willing to try eating more fat. I never thought I would purposely eat more fat, but I did and I did lose 1 pound. I will continue throughout this next week and see what happens. 

My co-worker Angie was nice enough to make a recipe we've been seeing all over the web called "Fat Bombs", see the picture below. These yummies consist of coconut oil, almond butter, liquid Stevia, cocoa powder and melted butter. She found them on the website My Low Carb Road to Better Health - High Fat, Moderate Protein, Low Carb. 

Let's see, what else did I eat throughout the week? One thing was a tried and true friend...my Cajun Chicken Drumsticks and Broccoli Slaw. I love these and could eat them morning, noon and night! And now I am even eating the skin so it's a good thing that the rub I use on it gives it such great flavor!

Oh...one of the members in the group asked all of us how we "Latinize" our low carb foods. Well my mom cooks for me pretty often and all she needs to do is add jalapeno and tomato and it's Mexican food for me!

Here she takes steak and cuts it into bite size pieces instead of strips and makes her version of steak fajitas. She also makes this wonderful dish that she has made ever since I was a little girl. She takes Anaheim Chile Peppers and roasts them over an open flame, peels the skin off and then stuffs them with Monterey Cheese and microwaves them for a bit to melt the cheese. Kind of a Chile Rellano without the breaded outside. I love them! All I add is a salad. 

Earlier today my sister accompanied me to do my weekly grocery shopping. We were on our way to eat at Applebees and we saw that right across the street there was a Farmers Market going on so we went over to check it out. And it was a good thing we did because we found these yummy baked veggies! 

They had all kinds. In the picture below are Beet Chips and Carrot Chips with Garlic. They had samples and it's a good thing they did or we never would have tried them!

I also bought a bag of Okra Chips, which I didn't take a picture of because earlier today I went to go visit my dad for Father's Day and I took them to him and he was in Okra Heaven! He loved them and in a couple of days I will take him the beet ones and then later the carrot ones. I'm sure he will love these as well. They are baked by a company called The Kloster Company, but I could not find a website for them.

We bought some other goodies at the Farmers Market. One of the items was a Raspberry Pomegranate Vinaigrette so tonight for dinner I made myself a refreshing summer salad of Romaine Lettuce, Avocado, Cucumber, Strawberries and Red Onion and topped it all with the Vinaigrette and some cracked black pepper. It was one of the most delicious salads I've ever had!

And lest you think that I didn't have any fats today, this is what I had for lunch at Applebees!

I asked our server to bring me some butter and he was kind enough to bring me about 1/4 cup of melted butter which I drizzled all over the veggies and on the steak. I ate every bit except for the carrots!

As I said...it's been a great week and I feel fabulous and I know I look much better and my clothes are feeling looser. It is only one pound I've lost on the scale, but it's not just about the scale. It's about feeling better and feeling better about myself!

Photo Courtesy of Trains Fitness

 

Weekly Low Carb Wrap Up - Week Ten

This should actually be week thirteen but I've been bad and not done a weekly wrap up for four weeks now! But I'm going to get better because as you can see from my previous post I'm killing my Sugar Crush addiction and focusing more on blogging and napping! My two favorite things!

But...just because I have not been posting a weekly wrap up does not mean I've gone off the low-carb wagon! Oh no...I've been doing good, well maybe not good but I've been trying.

I've always been a believer in only weighing in once a week on Friday mornings. For the past couple of months every single Friday I have weighed exactly the same! I was getting so frustrated because no matter what I did I wasn't losing weight!!!

So two weeks ago I decided I was going to weigh myself every day to see if I could detect a pattern...see how scientific I am? What I found out is that I was defeating myself. On Friday's I would weigh myself and then that evening I would go out an eat just a few chips with salsa (ok, maybe a whole bowl).  Then on Saturday I would go out shopping with my mom and I might eat a few more chips and salsa, maybe a frozen strawberry margarita, then Sunday I usually make a nice meal for my mom and my kids and I might have just a smidgen of mashed potatoes or some Doritos casserole.

I found that all those little cheats made me add 3 to 4 pounds by Tuesday and then even though I was good and ate low carb the whole week all I was really doing was losing the weight I gained over the weekend and therefore by Friday when I weighed in I was still at the same weight! Silly me! Defeating my own self! Grrrr!

So this weekend I have stayed true to my low carb plan and have not partaken of any carbs! At least not more than the 20 to 25 allotted during the induction phase of Atkins. This weekend we have had a heatwave, so yesterday morning, before it got too hot I made some tuna salad, some chicken salad, some guacamole and some turkey, cream cheese and pickle roll-ups  Plus I made some detox water. 

Turkey, Cream Cheese and Dill Pickle Rollups, Guacamole and red pepper strips for dipping! Recipe for the roll ups can be found at http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2011/02/easy-recipe-for-ham-and-dill-pickle.html

My son found this wonderful video for me, three ways to cook eggs in the microwave, here's a picture of the ones I made and the video is posted below.

Scrambled Egg in a Cup in the Microwave

I also mentioned that I made Lemon Detox Water yesterday and I've been faithfully drinking it today. It's so simple to make, just slice lemons into a pitcher and fill with water then let sit in the fridge overnight. I also added a lime and I wanted to add cucumbers and fresh mint, but I didn't have any. I found information on detox water at fitsugar, but I've seen it all over pinterest too! 

Again this morning before it got too warm I made a turkey roast tenderloin and a pork roast tenderloin. I buy the Jennie-O Turkey Roast Tenderloin, the Savory Roast flavor is below, they have several different flavors, the one I made today was Island Marinade and it had a sweetness to it that was excellent!

I cook it exactly as I do the roast tenderloin, you can go HERE to see how I do it. 

I hope that my detox water and careful planning of food and snacks for this weekend helps me to finally start showing some results! 

If you have any good low carb meals you make feel free to share them with me. I'm always looking for new things to cook. Have a great week everyone!

      

Weekly Low Carb Wrap Up - Week Nine

I have to be honest, I had a lazy week, ate some things I shouldn't have eaten but all in all tried to stick with the program. I think it's just the fact that the weather has gone crazy here! Can you believe it's almost 100 degrees today, Mothers Day! And it's only May! That doesn't bode well for the rest of the summer!

I had thought to try to BBQ today for Mother's Day but since I knew it was going to be 100 degrees I instead made a Doritos Chicken Casserole. Trust me, this is in no way a low carb dish, but I made it for my son as a special request, cause isn't that what moms do?

Photo Credit: blogchef.net

Doesn't that look yummy? Trust me it was. I have to admit I had a bite, ok...more than a bite but less than the whole casserole dish...promise. It is Mother's Day after all!

Back to the wrap up though. Early on in the week I made those wonderful Easy Cajun Chicken Drumsticks and that's pretty much what I ate for lunch the whole week. I also ate a lot of hard boiled eggs and Foster Farms Chicken Wieners for snacks. I ate some avocados and steamed zucchini and roasted asparagus throughout the week, so I stayed in the eating plan, I just didn't make anything new and exciting. 

But I do want to have something interesting to blog about especially for those of you that may be following my weekly wrap-ups just to get ideas on what else you can eat low carb. Many of you who follow me on facebook thank me for sharing these recipes so let me tell you now that they definitely are not my inventions! As I've said before when it comes to cooking I am strictly a "cook by the recipe" kind of cook. I may occasionally tweak a recipe here and there but I've never truly invented a low carb dish.

Lucky for me there are dozens of great low carb bloggers out there that share wonderful recipes, tips and ideas and I always give them credit in my posts but today I want to list a few for you so you can go visit them, show them some love and if you want to tell them I sent you that would be just great!

1. I Breathe...I'm Hungry  - This is one of my favorites for great recipes that are easy and do-able and I usually have the ingredients for. I found the recipe for the Easy Cajun Drumsticks on her blog! Mellisa Sevigny is the brains behind this blog and I love her recipes so much that I bought her online cookbook, The Gluten Free Low Carber! At $9.95 it's a deal and a steal!

2. Linda's Low Carb Menus - You can't be a low carber and not have heard of this amazing blog! I have made many of her recipes, her Make Me Stuffed Peppers, her Broccoli Slaw, and my co-worker has made her No-Bake Jello Cheesecake many times! Her website is very well organized and has photos which I always love to see so I know how close I am to the original when mine is done.

3. Living Low Carb One Day At a Time - Really this is what I do, just take it one day at a time and if I mess up I don't beat myself up, I just continue on...one day at a time! My co-worker made her Tuscan Chicken Soup and it was wonderful! Everything a soup should be, hearty and filling and comforting, yet low carb. I have pinned lots of her recipes to try in the future but you can just head on over there and try some for yourselves...don't wait for me!

So there you go, three great websites to visit if you are interested in eating healthier, low carb, paleo or gluten free!

Hoping the weather cools down so I will have the energy to try some new recipes this week but I'm not promising anything because not only it is going to be hotter than hell around here this next week but my co-worker will be on vacation the whole week and that means double the workload for me, so I'm going to be one busy and tired and hot little puppy!

Hope you all have a great week! Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mothers out there including my own wonderful mother and my little sister Lisa!

My sister Lisa, my mom and ME!

 

Weekly Low Carb Wrap Up - Week Seven

My weeks are still jam-packed with trying to take care of and spend time with my dad, but that hasn't stopped me from continuing to eat healthy. 

 I unfortunately don't have a lot of time to try new things so I'm sticking with the tried and true, meaning I made those delicious Cajun Chicken Drumsticks again. I made a whole pack of them, which was sixteen! And that is pretty much what I ate every day. 

But that's ok because they are little morsels of deliciousness like no other! And....they are only $4.54 for the whole pack!

I ate them with salad and with green beans and with avocado, something different each day and yet they never did get old.

I have another whole pack thawing out right now that I plan to bake tomorrow. So bear with me while I help to get my dad healthy and back on his feet again and then I'll definitely be trying new things during the week.

 

Weekly Low Carb Wrap Up - Week Six

Ha! Bet you thought I forgot to do my weekly low carb wrap up right? Never fear, I'm just a little bit late. What with taking care of my dad and all I'm getting a little bit behind. But I am still trying to stick to my new way of eating. So while I didn't try a whole bunch of new things, I did try two.

But first, thanks to everyone who wished my dad well and prayed for him and my family. He's getting better and stronger every day and I'm hopeful he's going to heal well and be able to go back to his little home where he has his independence.

So this week I did get industrious one night and I made stuffed bell peppers. I checked out a whole bunch of different recipes that I had pinned on Pinterest. I love Pinterest, it makes it so easy to save things you want to find later!

Aren't these beautiful? I used a recipe from Linda's Low Carb Menus and Recipes. She has more delicious low carb recipes than you can shake a stick at! I used her recipe for Make Me Stuffed Peppers! I tweaked it a bit because I had way too much hamburger meat and in order to get my son to eat what I didn't use in the bell peppers I had to make sure I didn't cook it with onion. So I browned the ground beef in a pan with salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder, then took out what he was going to eat and added raw red onion and Roma tomatoes in the meat left in the pan.

I also had tons of Monterey Jack cheese in the fridge, so I used that instead of Cheddar and....I used red bell peppers! I'm such a rebel! So here they are after I've boiled the peppers in water for three minutes, then stuffed them, placed them in the pan and topped them with cheese.

Here they are, fresh out of the oven. All warm and gooey. Don't they look good? I think next time I will sprinkle some diced green onion when they come out of the oven, just for flavoring.

The night I made these I ate them with a simple green salad with ranch dressing and it was so good. It's nice to have a comfort food and these definitely were that!

I took some to work the next day and my co-worker and fellow low-carber Angelica ate one and she loved it! She's not a big fan of bell pepper but she loved these and said she is going to try making them. I'm excited to see what she does cause as I've said before, she's an outside the box thinker and I'm sure she'll put her own little spin on them!

Here is the bell pepper just nuked in the microwave for lunch. A healthy, delicious and filling lunch!

That night when I got home dinner was easy because I had all these stuffed bell peppers, so I just made a quick pork fried cauli-rice (rice made from riced cauliflower...it's delicious!) My second new thing I tried this week. You take your riced cauliflower and saute it in a pan with some olive oil and butter, season it with salt and pepper and cook for a couple of minutes. I added diced up ham and cooked that another minute then I moved the whole concoction over to the side for a bit and scrambled a couple of eggs in a bowl and cooked them in the side of the pan until they were set then blended them with the rice, sprinkled green onion, a shot of soy sauce and sesame seed oil and a healthy shot of Sriracha Sauce cause I love me some spiciness. See my beautiful little stuffed pepper in the background there? Yum!

Because I am so good at eating left overs I can make a whole bunch of these and eat them non-stop morning, noon and night until they are all gone. In fact I ate one again today at lunch!

So that was it for new things this past week. Bear with me, I have tons of new recipes I will be trying and I may even invent a few of my own. But until my dad gets better and gets back home, I will be spending at least a couple of hours every day after work with him, making sure he eats and that he's not too lonely and that he know how very much I love him.

Have a good week!





 

Weekly Low Carb Wrap Up - Week Five

     This has been a tough week for me! But even with all that has happened this week which I'll detail more about in another post to follow later this week, I managed to lose one pound! Yay!!! 

     I know, it's not a lot, but imagine if you were to lose one pound per week? How many pounds would you lose in one year??? I can see you all doing the math. Let me make it easy for you...it would be 52 pounds!!! Amazing when you realize slow and steady wins the race!

     The bad thing about deciding to lose weight and eat better is that as human beings, we are a very impatient bunch! We are used to getting everything now! We don't stop to think that we didn't put on 30 extra pounds in a week, it took us a good 6 months to a year or more, so what makes us think we can lose it in a week?

     That is my mantra...slow and steady wins the race. I'm not just learning how to lose weight, I'm also learning how to cook and eat delicious food that can be eaten by me and my whole family alike. As I get older and realize that I want to avoid diabetes, which runs in most families, I know the only way to do it is to eat better and exercise.

     With that being said, let me tell you that while I stuck to my eating plan this past week, I really didn't have much time to try new things. But thank goodness for my co-worker, who decided to try to make a cookie using almond flour and coconut. I believe she found the recipe on the blog, I Breathe...I'm Hungry. These cookies are called Almond Joy Cookies and they are low carb and gluten free. 

Almond Joy Cookies

     We both discussed the fact that they were good, but could have used a little more Splenda to make them sweeter. We realize that would have upped the carb count, but as long as we are only going to eat one every once in a while it really wouldn't kill us. She too felt that maybe it would have helped to add some cinnamon for flavoring, but all in all, they were pretty good and went well with our morning coffee. She also made some cheesecake which I forgot to photograph.

     I usually like to try to make a nice meal on Sundays. It's a throwback to my mom and dad who always used to BBQ on Sunday. They would make enough food to feed an army! Last Sunday I made another Pork Tenderloin, but this time I made it the way my sister does, kind of like a pot roast. I loaded it with veggies. It look beautiful and tasted pretty good, but my familia is not big on the baked veggies and I myself like them only slightly steamed and still crunchy. But it's a pretty dish, don't you think?

     For this pork tenderloin I used a very simple dry rub, just salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder, then I braised it in a cast iron skillet, added the raw veggies and into the oven it went.

     This Sunday was Easter Sunday. I was going to BBQ but it was windy in our neck of the woods and a bit chilly, so I decided to just make my famous (well famous to my family) Taco Bell Teriyaki Hamburgers with Guacamole for my son and daughter, and then for myself I decided to try a couple of new recipes that I've pinned on Pinterest. 

     The first was an Easy Cajun Chicken from...you guessed it, I Breathe...I'm Hungry! I just love her blog, so many wonderful recipes that are super easy to make. So easy that even I can do it!

     I did it exactly like her recipe except that I did not have any dried thyme so I just didn't use it. I had bought a huge pack of chicken drumsticks at the store the day before and I washed them, dried them, rubbed them with olive oil and then made the dry rub of salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder, cayenne pepper and dried oregano and tossed them in that, placed them on a foil lined cookie sheet and baked them at 400 degree oven for about an hour. 

     They were soooooooooooo good! The skin was crispy and spicy as heck! And the meaty part of the drumstick was juicy and delicious. I made the whole pack which was about 5 pounds so I will have plenty of leftovers to carry me through the week.
     

     To go along with it, I tried another Pinterest recipe which I found at Linda's Low Carb Menus and Recipes called Broccoli Slaw. This was very similar to my Broccoli Salad  except it didn't call for bacon and onions, so I improvised a bit and added onion salt and when I served the slaw on my plate I added bacon bits. 

     I also added some guacamole that I made for the burgers. I froze some of the guacamole as a test as I have been seeing on Pinterest that you can freeze avocado and they are really inexpensive right now. I bought these for 50 cents each! So here was my Easter Sunday Dinner...yummy no?

     So that's it for this week's wrap up. I didn't get a chance to exercise as I had hoped, but I did stay busy doing other things, which again I will post more about later this week. I'll try to exercise this week, but again...not sure it's going to be possible since I'm a pretty busy gal lately. Have a great week!

 

Weekly Low Carb Wrap Up - Week Four

Since beginning my low carb eating regimen I've lost 12 pounds. I'm kind of stuck now or what is known as "being stalled" or "plateauing". Call it what you will it's really irritating!!!

Last week I did a little experiment on myself. I have been following the Atkins recommended 20-24 carbs per day and that is how I lost the 12 pounds, but I've been stuck at the same weight for about 3 weeks now. This week I stayed under 17 carbs per day. I know that sounds awful, but it really wasn't because you can still eat protein and fats to a point that you truly feel satisfied so it's not like when you count calories and you get to 1200 calories and you can't eat anything else the rest of the day. You will see in my wrap up that I continued to eat delicious food, just less carbs.

So I only lost 1/2 pound eating under 17 carbs and that bums me out. The reason it bums me out is because I think that in order to unstall myself I'm going to have to turn up the exercise and physical activity portion of my regimen..which doesn't require much since I've been doing literally nothing!

That is my goal for this next week. I'm going back to 20-24 carbs but I will be exercising every single day and we will see what the scale says on Friday morning...wish me luck!

So on to the food wrap up, I ate some of my normal things that I eat each week, my turkey salad, which I don't think I've pictured on my blog before. It's just ground turkey sauteed in a pan with some taco seasoning, then I make a gorgeous salad with every veggie we have in the fridge, bacon, shredded mozzarella cheese and ranch dressing and top with the turkey...I love it!

But I did try some new things and knowing that I would have to put something new in my weekly wrap up made me a little more energetic and inspired me to try something new.

First off though, my co-worker made a wonderful low carb soup last weekend and brought me some for my lunch on Monday. I love my co-worker, she's a doll!

Doesn't that look delicious? She got her inspiration from the Tuscan Chicken Soup recipe shared by Karen at Living Low Carb One Day at a Time. Angelica, my co-worker is one of those outside-the-box cooks that sees a recipe then adds her own spin, but me...I play it safe and follow the recipe to the letter! The soup was delicious and really hit the spot for a nice lunch. Thank you Angelica!

I wanted to make something new to share with her too, so one night when I was feeling especially energetic I decided to try to make Lemon Almond Shortbread, sounds delicious doesn't it? I saw the recipe on the blog, I Breathe... I'm Hungry! I followed her recipe to the letter and you can find the recipe on her blog HERE. 

If I'm going to be honest, I have to say that while it looks beautiful it was not as sweet as I had hoped. Next time I am going to put a bit more Splenda, even though it will increase the carb count and I am going to add some cinnamon, maybe some anise for flavoring. It has the most delicious crunch though!

Didn't it photograph perfectly? I'm in love with these pictures!

I also tried another Atkins Frozen Food, this time it was the Italian Sausage Primavera. I loved everything about it except the sausage  but I'm not a big fan of sausage. If you like sausage though you would probably like this meal.

The only other thing out of the ordinary that I ate this week was my lunch I had yesterday when I was out shopping with my mom.

She had been wanting to go to a restaurant called Famous Dave's. It's a BBQ place and it surprised me that she has been wanting to go for so long as she's not a big fan of BBQ  When we first got there I told the hostess that it was our first time there and they treated us special, they even gave us a free bottle of their BBQ sauce and a free appetizer next time we go there. Which may not be soon as mom didn't like it! Seriously! After all that time of her wanting to go she didn't even like it. But I did!

Because I had to stick with my low carb diet, I ordered their Southside Rib Tips which came with french fries, but I requested a substitution for their broccoli and they were more than willing to do that for me. I love them! I was a little bad in that they served us Bread and Butter Pickles. I adore Bread and Butter Pickles, but of course they have sugar, but I only ate at the most 6 pickle chips...Yum!

That was my week. I ate well, I feel great, my clothes are fitting better each and every day. If I can just get that stinking scale to move I will be happy.