Weekly Wrap Up - Week of January 15th

         Every week I tell myself to jot down little notes on highlights of my daily life for my weekly wrap up...and every week I do not do this! Someday I need to do a blog post about procrastination. 

 

Monday - This was Martin Luther King Jr day, so I had the day off.  Just got caught up on household chores and did some crocheting.

Tuesday - All I remember is this was a super busy day at work. I know that our customers don't understand that we were off 3 days so we already come into the work week one day late, but I wish they could be a bit more patient. My biggest pet peeve are the ones that send me an email, a text and then still call right after to see if I received the email and text!

    Wednesday - I took mom to Walmart in the evening. The Walmart we go to during the week is about eight miles away. We used to enjoy going to Kmart there until it closed. We would make an evening of it by having dinner first, but now it seems that all the restaurants we used to love have really bad food and even worse service, and they are so expensive it's not worth it to go and be treated badly just to eat horrible food. Most of the time we just grab a burger at Jack in the Box.

    Thursday - Just a typical day of just working, nothing exciting.

    Friday - I was never so happy to see a Friday, I was exhausted from trying to get caught up at work. I also knew that I had a nice weekend planned. My sister Lisa had planned a get together with our good friend Lupe. We had not seen her for quite a while, so I was really looking forward to the weekend.

    Saturday - Woke up to a drizzling rain outside, I wasn't sure my mom was going to be up to heading out to go shopping which is her favorite thing on Saturday...but she was ready. We headed out around 11 am and first stop was her favorite fabric store. I wish I had thought to take photos of the inside of this store, but here are some photos from their website. It's an amazing place!

I believe these are polyester. Look at all those bolts of fabric!

Check out those prices $2.99 a yard and $3.99 a yard! And that huge box of zippers!

It's just amazing to walk threw a row like this and touch all the fabric.

    As you can see; just rows and rows of delicious fabric; cottons, flannel, felt, satin, silk, polyester. Fabric for curtains, upholstery, quilting, dresses, wedding dresses, bridesmaids' dresses...anything you can think of. The prices are ridiculously inexpensive compared to fabric at JoAnn's or Hobby Lobby. They also offer buttons, zippers, thread and beads. The only downside is trying to slide a big roll of fabric from the bottom, they are so heavy. But they have lots of people roaming around offering help.

    Then we had lunch at Lorene's Coffee Shop. I don't really care for this place, but I may have to rethink it because I ordered the burger and fries on the senior menu and check this out! It was as delicious as it looks and the fries were perfection. Mom had the chicken-fried steak with mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli and garlic bread. I will definitely go there again whenever I want a good burger.

    But we weren't done yet. We went to another favorite store and again I did not get any pictures. Mi Hacienda Rustic Furniture store has the most amazing hand-crafted items by Mexican artisans. 

http://www.mihacienda.net/

    Mom and I are putting together a basket to be raffled at our family reunion in February 2024. We want it to be unique so that it will raise a lot of money. There was one special piece that we wanted to buy and we were lucky they had one in the color we wanted. I can't show it until after the raffle because it's top secret.

    Here are some photos of the items available. It is like visiting a museum, you could spend hours in there.

The little cats are so sweet. I love all the bright vivid colors.

I would love to have those teal vases, I'll have to check out the price next time I am there. Love the bowl with the green pears, that would be so pretty in my kitchen.

These two little guys would look lovely in a pretty garden and I adore the turquoise owl!

Now this is pure happiness right here. Can you imagine serving a frosty Margarita on the patio in the summer in one of these?

They also have custom leather saddles and purses.

    After that mom was about done. She gets tired really quickly. I made a quick stop at a grocery store to pickup up some strawberries and cream cheese for a special dessert I was going to make as I was going to a dinner at my sisters house with our friend Lupe. Lupe was spending the night, I was supposed to also, but my bed was only two blocks away and sounded much more comfy to me!

    Lisa had wanted to try a recipe she found on Facebook. It was a recipe for making Beef Stew, or was we call it in Hispanic households Caldo de Res. This was all she had for the recipe. She wanted to try it because we had never heard of putting apple juice and/or apple cider vinegar in stew before.

    This is how it turned out. It was actually very good. I really think the Apple Juice and Apple Cider Vinegar made a big different. 

    You are supposed to put it in a slow cooker I guess, doesn't really say, but even after 5 hours of cooking it was not done in the slow cooker. I was still practically raw, so she transferred it to her soup pot and it was done in 45 minutes. She also added cabbage because she loves cabbage. 

    For dessert we had the cheesecake stuffed strawberries that I made. Actually...these were made by Lupe because she wanted to learn how to make them so she could recreate them for her grandchildren. Recipe HERE if you would like to make them, they are low carb as I use Splenda instead of sugar. 

    We had a great playing the game Trouble, it's fun to play a game you used to play as a kid as an adult. Game took forever though. Remember playing this? What was your favorite board game as a child?

    Then we played Pon Uno, Pon Dos. I had never played this before, but we had fun. Pon Uno means put one, Pon Dos means put two, Toma todo means take it all. So you pull out all your change and you spin a top kinda like a dreidel and if you get Pon Dos, then you get to choose two of whatever coin you want. Say you put two quarters in the pot, then everyone puts in two quarters. When someone spins and gets Toma todo that means take it all, so they get to take everything in the pot. Cool little game, I enjoyed it.

    Then we sat around drinking wine and catching up. It had been a long time since the three of us were together. We used to go camping a lot, but Covid changed all that. Do you find that your friendships changed after Covid? 

    Sunday morning I got up and went back over to Lisa's house because I was supposed to be spending the night there. We had coffee and sat and chatted...why is it we never run out of things to talk about? Then I made us Chilaquiles. I didn't get a picture but mine are very similar in look to these.

    Chilaquiles are a traditional Mexican breakfast dish consisting of corn tortillas cut into strips and lightly fried, then you add scrambled egg. I did it differently this time, I fried the egg, then added crushed tortilla chops and shredded cheese and salsa. I've never had anything I didn't love if it had tortilla chips in it!

    Then I went home totally prepared to watch a great football game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills and promptly fell asleep. I woke up about halfway through the fourth quarter so I did get to watch a very exciting end of the game and I was very happy to see the Chiefs win, even though the Dallas Cowboys are my team.

    That's it for my weekly wrap up, I feel like I've written a book! For those of you that read every word and made it to the end...thank you!

More Low Carb Deliciousness and a Yummy Low Carb Valentine Day Delight!

Yes...I'm still living the Low Carb Lifestyle, although the last few days I have been suffering from either allergies or a cold but I've been miserable and my mom has been taking care of me. My mom's idea of taking care of me is feeding me nothing but carbs!!! I did gain a few pounds but I'm back on the straight and narrow and hoping I don't get sick again. Moms...gotta love them!

First a dish you can do as an appetizer or like me you can just make it and call it dinner. It certainly fit the bill for a light dinner last week. A Pepper-Jack, Avocado Quesadilla on a Low Carb Tortilla! Mmmm, makes me want one right now!

Super easy to make too, just heat a skillet, take a tortilla and on one half put whatever kind of sliced cheese you want, I used Pepper Jack but Monterey Jack or Cheddar Cheese would work just as well. Slice a ripe avocado and layer on the cheese then heat it in the skillet until the cheese is melted and the tortilla is browned!

A couple of weeks ago I made Turkey Burgers sans Bun! All of the deliciousness of a regular burger without the carb-laden bread.

The Turkey Burger itself is seasoned with a bit of Taco Seasoning and Salt Free Seasoning and just fried in a pan with a bit of oil. Then I placed the patty on a plate and melted a slice of American Cheese on it. I made an easy dressing with some mayonnaise, sugar free ketchup and a spoonful of Dill Pickle Relish which I mixed up and spread on top and then lettuce! I wish I had added some diced onion, but I forgot. This was so filling and satisfying! Not bad right? Definitely not diet food!

Yesterday I remembered I had two packages of cream cheese in the fridge that I had to do something with. I remembered reading in one of the low-carb groups I belong to on Facebook that you could make muffins by mixing 2-8 ounce packages of cream cheese with a 1/2 cup of Splenda, a 1/2 teaspoon of Vanilla and 2 eggs together then put into a lined muffin/cupcake pan and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Serves 12.

This is what you end up with...

For the photo I added a spoonful of sugar free strawberry jam, but you can eat it plain, it's sweet enough for that. I wouldn't say this is a muffin, more like a mini cheesecake and I think they would be perfect for a Valentines Day treat, don't you? It was delicious, I know because I always eat the props!

Looking forward to trying out more new recipes!

Weekly Low Carb Wrap Up - Week 3

     Darn it! I have to get better at this! I've been doing this low carb wrap up for a few weeks now and I'm not getting any posting done during the week. I think I'm going to have to start posting this stuff on a daily basis for two reasons: 

1. It will make for more posting throughout the week. 
2. I forget what stuff I made during the week and comments I wanted to make on it.

     I'll do the best I can during the week since it is American Idol season and I love them and won't miss it for anything in the world!

     Have you all been hearing about the health benefits of Kale? I know I have, and aside from the health benefits I've been told that Kale Chips are the next best thing to Tortilla Chips. May I just tell you right now that is  a big fat lie  a bit far-fetched! Yuk! Kale Chips are not the thing for me! Now those of you that love them, don't hate me, they are just not for me, just as Seaweed Chips are not for me even though I know those that love them.

     The photo above is where they are all washed and dried and seasoned and ready to be baked. I used the recipe from the very excellent low carb blog, I breathe...I'm hungry...

     I'm pretty sure it's not the fault of the recipe or the blog or the blog creator, Mellissa Sevigny, it's just that kale chips are not for me, just like I don't like mushrooms, it's just a matter of personal taste.

     I baked them just as she instructed and tasted the ones that burned a little bit and tasted the ones that were perfectly crisp and nope...not for me. I want to think that maybe it was the Soy Sauce or the Sriracha Sauce so I am going to try to make it one more time with a different recipe that just calls for olive oil, salt and pepper. I'll let you know what happens.

     One new item I did try this week is the new Atkins Frozen Meals. I tried the Crustless Chicken Pot Pie. I gotta say, it wasn't bad. It didn't taste like a pot pie, but the chicken was fresh and delicious white meat with a very nice tenderness, not dry at all. The veggies were pretty good and the sauce was rich and gooey. It didn't seem like a lot at first and I didn't know if I was going to get full, but it was very filling due to the fact that there was quite a bit of chicken and the pieces were pretty big. I would definitely recommend this and I will be buying it again. Right now Wal-mart is the only store carrying them and of course, they don't carry them at the store I go to!

     Atkins has a whole line of them and I also purchased the Italian Sausage Primavera which I will probably try for lunch tomorrow. You can see their whole line on the Atkins website. 

     I tried another new thing this week, I tried making Buffalo Roasted Cauliflower. I used a recipe from a new blog I've found via Pinterest. The blog is called Closet Cooking because the blog owner, Kevin is "Cooking in a closet sized kitchen".

     Again, I don't blame Kevin for my not being thrilled with the recipe, I think that I just don't like roasted Cauliflower. I love Cauliflower, but just not roasted. I may try it steamed as I did like the flavor of the buffalo sauce.

     I served the dish alongside a favorite dish of mine that my mom makes, you can see it below. She chops up steak and pan fries it in oil and when it's done she adds chopped tomato and jalapenos and it's almost like a steak fajita except there is no onion as mom can't stomach onion (I love, love, love onion!). See those burnt parts on the cauliflower? Those parts are supposed to have a delicious nutty taste, they just tasted burnt. You can't see the buffalo sauce very well, I actually added more later.

     That night I went to bed wondering what to do so I wouldn't waste the rest of that cauliflower. Voila! Overnight a wonderful idea came to me, why not fry it up with some scrambled eggs? Hence is born my Scrambled Egg Buffalo Roasted Cauliflower! 

     The egg really cut down on the burnt taste and the marinating overnight of the cauliflower with the Franks Red Hot Sauce made for a spicy delicious breakfast. It made enough for two servings and I put it in plastic containers and enjoyed it two mornings at work. The office smelled awful, but we opened the door and aired it out and it was ok. I recommend this dish if you love spicy. Just make Closet Cooking's Buffalo Roasted Cauliflower and chop it into bite-sized pieces and heat it in a pan with some butter and olive oil, then throw uncooked scrambled egg in and cook to your desired egg consistency. Yum!

     Now...let's see, what else did I try this week that was new and exciting? Oh yeah! I made a pork tenderloin that was to die for!! I almost killed my mom making it but she said the flavor was almost worth it. I used a cast iron skillet on the stove top and seared the whole tenderloin while it had the dry rub on it. Because of the Cayenne Pepper in the dry rub, it makes it noxious to breath. It didn't bother me but it drove poor mom out of the house!

     I've actually made this dish before and blogged about it here. My daughter found this recipe a while back and asked me to make it for her. The original recipe was adapted by a recipe from the blog, Little B Cooks: Chronicles from a Vermont foodie, quite a title!

     The first time I made it I used the exact recipe as Little B posted on her blog, but when I went to go get the recipe out of my little personal cookbook where I write down recipes I like, I noticed that I had jotted down some notes. I said my family didn't care for the cinnamon and to leave out the glaze if making low carb as it does have brown sugar....so I did that, it was smack your mama delicious! I believe I served steamed broccoli with it, but I don't remember now.

     And my co-worker, who loves to cook and try new low carb dishes made a tasty little dessert for us and she brought them to work and we had one every day for our 3pm break. They are these delicious  creamy little bites of heaven! It's called No-Bake Jello Cheesecake and it has just 3 carbs each! Really satisfies a sweet tooth! She found the recipe on a really excellent low carb website, Linda's Low Carb Menus. I love this site!

         Can you believe they are made with just 4 ingredients, one of them being water? Unbelievably delicious!

       So that was my week! Hopefully I can do even better in trying out new things this next week. I'm also going to try to cut down on my carbs from 20 -24 to 17 -20 carbs per day as I'm stalled right now and haven't lost any more weight. I feel lighter and my clothes fit better. Health wise I feel great! No indigestion or that yucky bloated feeling after eating, but it's always nice to see that scale drop too. So wish me luck and if you have any low carb ideas for me, I'd love to hear them!

     Oh yeah...my co-worker and I also started walking during our lunch hour. She can walk for miles, but then again she's the same age as my daughter. I made it almost a mile and then told her she had to go get the car...hahaha. No I made it back to the office but I guess I bit off more than I can chew and need to ride my stationery bike more before I tackle a mile again...but it's a start!

     Have a great week all!



 

Strawberries stuffed with Cheesecake - Yeah Baby!

A co-workers and I are trying to lose weight by watching our carb intake. We've both been doing really well. But then those pesky birthday's come up and you want to be able to celebrate with the other ladies in the office by partaking of some kind of delicious yummy something or other, right?

Well for my birthday in July, my co-worker Angelica made me a yummy low-carb cheesecake topped with strawberries.

So I knew I had to come up with something great for her birthday in August. Thank goodness I have the world at my fingertips and I googled until I found the perfect item!

Click on the picture to enlarge it and you will see they are yummy, sweet, juicy strawberries stuffed with cheesecake and topped with diced walnuts! *sigh* Heaven in a little bite!

My sister and I got together the night before and whipped these up. They are so super simple and look like a gourmet dessert that took hours and hours and a gourmet dessert chef to make them.

But no...if I can make these...you can make these. And I got to break out my beautiful cake plate that I hadn't used in years. It definitely added to the beauty of the dessert.

Ingredients:

20 whole large strawberries, hulled
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup Splenda (this is what made them low-carb, but if you want you can use 1/4 cup powdered sugar)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
2/3 cup chopped pecans
Directions: (Call your sister and pretend you need her help, then just let her do all the work :-D )
Just kidding...this is how you do it:

Cut a thin slice from the bottom of each strawberry so the berries stand upright. Place berries, cut side down, on a serving platter. Carefully cut the berries into 4 wedges, cutting almost to, but not through, the bottoms with a criss-cross cut. Fan wedges just slightly, taking care not to break them. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla until combined but still stiff. Using a teaspoon or pastry bag with decorative tip, fill the strawberries with the cream cheese mixture. Roll the stuffed strawberries in the walnuts. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.

Simple Simon right? Make some...now, go on, you won't regret it!