Breakfast, Lunch, Snacks, Dinner and Dessert on a Low Carb Way of Eating

The great thing about my Low Carb/High Fat (LCHF) way of eating (WOE) is that you don't ever have to be hungry. 

With LCHF I try to stick to 10 to 24 carbs per day. Once I get to 24 carbs, I can still eat, as long as I eat foods that have zero carbs. There are several things I can eat that have zero carbs, see a list of those things here. 

My usual routine in the morning is to prepare and drink my morning coffee at my desk at work. To my brewed black coffee I add 2 tablespoons of half and half creamer, 1 teaspoon of Splenda and 2 tablespoons of Coconut Oil. Coconut Oil helps me to get healthy fats into my diet and it also makes my coffee taste delicious and it fills me up until around 10am when I have my morning break and when I eat my breakfast. 

On days when I'm feeling lazy or I just didn't have time to prepare breakfast I drive through Mcdonalds and buy an Egg McMuffin with the Canadian Bacon. The McMuffin as is with the english muffin is 27 net carbs. I throw away the muffin and just eat the egg, canadian bacon and cheese. That drops the carb count to 4 net carbs. 

But most of the time I fry myself two eggs each morning and put them in a plastic container and I heat them up at work at 10 am and eat them with some bacon, or slices of ham. Sometimes my coworker and I share food and she made some egg salad last week which I ate alongside with my bacon.

Along with the coffee with coconut oil and these yummy breakfasts I don't even feel hungry in the morning. I also drink at least 44 ounces of water which helps to curb hunger as well.

Lunch is my favorite time of the day because I can eat so many different things.

I don't always have time to prepare lunch, but that's ok because you can create a super easy lunch. Go to your local grocery store and buy a package of ready made salad mix and buy a roasted chicken breast at the deli and you have a yummy Chicken Salad.

Another easy lunch and/or dinner is a Quarter Pounder with Cheese from McDonalds, just ask them to leave the bun off. With the bun and ketchup this sandwich has 39 carbs. Without the bun and ketchup (ketchup has sugar so I avoid it) it drops down to 4 carbs!!! Amazing right? We never realize how many carbs we eat per day.

During my afternoon break we sometimes get coffee from Starbucks. My coffee of choice at Starbucks is a Venti Breve Latte with One Splenda. I recently found out that it contains 25 carbs, so I'm having to switch and it's not easy because I really loved that coffee. I've been having a Grande Iced Sugar Free Vanilla coffee made with HWC (heavy whipping cream) which brings the carb count to 3 net carbs. But I do miss my latte!

When I don't have the coffee I sometimes eat a string cheese or some luncheon meat. 

Dinner can vary depending on whether I go out to dinner or my mom cooks or I cook. But either way I have a great dinner and I am never hungry!

I've also had to eat out a few times in the past few weeks. Sometimes I will just order a salad, but you don't have to just settle for salads.

This week I celebrated my son's birthday and we went out to dinner at a new restaurant in Bakersfield, Johnny Garlic's and then I went out to dinner with my sister on Friday and we ended up at Chili's.

I'm not a big fan of sweet, so when I do get a sweet tooth I usually have some strawberries.

I'm really looking forward to Fall getting here so that I can start trying out some of the low-carb recipes that I have been saving on my Pinterest Low Carb Thrills Board!

But so far, so good. I've lost a total of 10 pounds but the most important thing is that I can tell that I'm healthier, I feel lighter and thanks to the on-going walking exercises I feel stronger.

The weekends are hard for me, but so far I haven't strayed and that just gives me the incentive to keep on going.

                     

Don't Lose Your Loved Ones a Second Time

March 28, 2015 - I started this post on March 28th but never posted it. So sorry, but here it is.

"It's a little like Facebook meets Google Maps but for Dead People" - Pacific Coast Business Times

That's part of the advertising on the brochure for a company called tombfinder.com. And it really is like the quote above says. 

Photo taken at the Tombfinder.com Booth

This weekend my sister Lisa and I are in San Luis Obispo for 57th annual conference put on by the California Association of Public Cemeteries. We arrived on Thursday and that evening there was a "meet and greet" put on by the vendors, one of them being tombfinder.com. 

A hosted bar meant the wine flowed freely. There were sharply dressed waiters cruising the room with trays loaded with different delicacies, Pot stickers with peanut Sauce, Teriyaki Beef Sticks, Cheeseburger Sliders, Sausage and Vegetable Kabobs and Sushi. There was also a buffet table set up with assorted meats and cheeses, various fruits and veggies, a beautiful assortment of olives and guacamole and mini taquitos.

While we gorged on the delicacies so graciously provided by the vendors, we toured the room stopping at the various booths set up by the vendors with their wares. One of them was the one I've already mentioned, tombfinder.com.

What caught my attention about them was the brochure they had on a table for interested parties to take with them, and the catchy slogan that said, "you've already lost your loved ones once, don't lose them a second time."

Front cover of Brochure. Those pearly gates open up.

Inside of Brochure

Back of the Brochure with their contact info

I thought this brochure was so clever and eye catching and modern...most of all modern. Funeral Service as a whole has always been stuck in the dark ages as far as I'm concerned. Not a whole lot of technology has been applied, but that is all changing. Fresh ideas and young minds see things in a different way. Not that funerals shouldn't still be respectful, but they should be a celebration of life. 

It was great to be around people that understand that. There were those there that had been in funeral services for years and had lots to teach the young ones coming in of course, but they also learned new things from the young ones. It was a lot of fun as cemetery conventions go. (The great thing was that in this crowd Lisa and I were still considered kind of, sort of...young!)

Of course Lisa and I have fun no matter what whenever we are together. Even surrounded by a bunch of cemetery folk! After we took the picture below we had dinner and then we danced the night away! Well as much as you can dance the night away when the dance ends at 9pm, but we took advantage of it and danced every single one!

We had some great food! Wish I had taken pictures of everything, it was all so delicious, but I did take a picture of some of my favorite things.

This is my absolute favorite dessert in the whole world!

Creme Brulee - with lovely berries

Lisa invented a drink that everyone was calling "The Lisa", it was 7 and 7 with a splash of cranberry juice and a twist of lime. She loved it and so did everyone that she made try it!

And pardon me for taking a bite of this chocolate cake before taking a picture of it, but c'mon...you're lucky I didn't just inhale it with no picture!

Poor Lisa had to attend classes and seminars and I got to go shopping and wandering around.

Here we are the last night of the convention, Lisa is have "The Lisa" during the hotels happy hour and I'm having a margarita, just to switch it up from all the wine I had been drinking.

That night was a long dinner and presentation of the new officers of the board and awards presentations and by the end all we wanted was to go up to our room and go to sleep...so we did!

The last day we were invited to the Tap-It Brewery in San Luis Obispo. We sat outside on their beautiful patio enjoying the gorgeous sun and a slight breeze, sipping our craft beers and enjoying a delicious BBQ. A perfect way to end a perfect weekend! Thank you so much Lisa for taking me with you!

 

The Journey...not the Destination - Part Tres

A continuation of a post about a trip my sister Lisa and I took to Lake Tahoe in October...yes, I know, I'm a slacker, but life keeps going even when I just want to sit and write! This is Part 3 and you can read Part 1 HERE and Part 2 HERE and then you'll be all caught up! Ready to head back to October of 2014? Let's go!

When last we left our intrepid heroines, they were just getting to their hotel in Lake Tahoe after a pleasant dinner and a brisk walk and after a long day of travelling 358 mile from their small hometown to South Lake Tahoe, California. We were bushed! We called it a night early and went to bed.

Now this was not a pleasure trip for my sister, nope...this was work for her. So the next morning she arose bright and early to get ready to meet the rest of her group for breakfast and then meetings and classes all day. I arose a bit later, got ready at a leisurely pace and then went down to meet the wives of all the men in my sisters group for breakfast and then a morning of shopping with the ladies!

This was the first picture I took that day and I love it still! It was breathtaking, and this was just the parking lot!

The ladies and I had a great time shopping. It was nice to just take my time browsing the stores. I bought quite a few things that I didn't need but had to have. The morning went by way too quickly and soon it was time to head back to the hotel to rest and wait for the working part of our group to be done with their meetings so we could go out to dinner.

My sister Lisa had requested that we go to a restaurant there that she loves called Fire and Ice Grill. I had never been there but she had on previous trips.

Fire and Ice is a very unique restaurant in that you line up and grab a bowl and head to their "market". The market has all kinds of raw vegetables, pastas, and legumes. I wish I had thought to take photos of that area but I was busy trying to get the lay of the land, but here's a very similar picture.

Photo Credit - Trip Advisor

Once you've filled your big bowl with veggies, you head on down the line to the proteins section. You can choose from scallops, steak, pork, chicken, sausage, tofu...you name it and they had it. Then you choose a sauce from the myriad of sauces they had such as BBQ, Sweet Chile, Honey Ginger, so many I can't even remember.

I was bit confused and worried about putting raw meats on the vegetables that I was about to eat, but then Lisa guided me to the grill where the magic happened. Just watch this video and see the magic yourself.

It was so fun to watch and it tasted amazing. The only thing is that I put a ton of raw jalapeno on mine and of course when you cook jalapeno it just gets hotter....whoa Nelly that was some spicy stuff! I can't wait to go back again. I had scallops but I wasn't sure how they were going to get cooked and it just seemed wrong to throw a bunch of raw scallops on top of my veggies so I didn't get very many and they were so good that I could have had a whole plate of just scallops!

Here's one last photo of the grill. The cooks were amazing, how they kept track of every one's food just befuddled me! You can see all the different variations of veggies and proteins and that area smelled so good. If you ever have a chance to eat at a Fire and Ice Grill Restaurant I highly recommend it!

Again after that wonderful meal we took a long walk back to the hotel and went to bed. Hopefully I can write and post Part 4 before another couple of months go by.

 

Chicken Soup Made Easy - with Beans even!

So I've mentioned a million times in previous posts that I am not a natural born cook like my sister. My sister can open up her pantry and her fridge and see that she has six ingredients in there and she can whip up a meal just using those things!

I can be in the middle of a whole grocery store with tons of ingredients and I couldn't figure out how to boil water without a recipe in writing!

Luckily there are people, like my sister, that are great at being creative with food, and they actually have the good sense to write it down, with pictures and step by step photos! Not that my sister doesn't have sense, she just doesn't have time to write everything down!

So I've been hunting down soup recipes! I know that we're not in the middle of a freeze here in sunny California, but it does get cold people. At least cold for a transplanted Arizonian!

I found a great recipe and a great Chef. And you know why this Chef is so great? Because not only does he create these recipes and write them down, but darned if he doesn't do a video too!

Chef John is an online teaching Chef on the award winning food blog Food Wishes. I love this blog! He has so many recipes and tips and ideas and you know what else? He is damned entertaining. Such a creative, droll, sarcastic sense of humor! Just love him!

The recipe that I tried and loved is Chef John's White Bean and Chicken Breast Chili. This is a photo of his version. Doesn't that look great? Plus I really love the white bowl, that bowl just screams "Soup's on!"

Photo Credit - Food Wishes

This soup called for quite a few ingredients I didn't have on hand, so I had to stop by the store. Is it just me or do you have the experience that you can stop by the grocery store to pick up a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread and you end up at the register with a full shopping cart of $200 in groceries? Every single time!

Here's my version. I made it a bit more soupy as I wanted a soup, not a chili. Verdict? Loved it! So rich and spicy.

Some of the ingredients that Chef John had me get were things I had never tried before, but then again I had never tried making a soup before either. I had to get powdered Ancho Chili and powdered Chipotle Powder and Corn Meal. I had also always wanted to try Cannellini Beans so as long as his recipe called for white beans I bought them, they were good, very meaty.

My peeps are not very fond of onions, but I decided it was time they grew up and ate like real adults and not like five year old kids that can't abide onions, so I did just like Chef John instructs in his video and started out by caramelizing the onions. My peeps loved it! You can taste the onion with all the other ingredients but the onion is almost invisible, just a translucent little gem in there, like you can see in the picture above.

Here's Chef John's video, watch it if you have a chance he's so funny!

***Chef John's Ingredients, watch his video above for instructions***

Ingredients for 4 portions:

2 tsp vegetable oil

2 or 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts, about 1 1/4 lbs

salt and pepper to taste

1 large onion

4 cloves garlic

1 tbsp ancho chili powder

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp chipotle chili powder

1/4 tsp dried oregano

1 tsp flour

about 3 cups chicken broth or stock, divided

1 tsp fine cornmeal
2 cans (15oz) white beans

cayenne to taste

1/4 tsp sugar or to taste

1/3 cup chopped green onions

sour cream and cilantro to garnish

I used the toppings he recommended, cilantro, sour cream, chopped green onions and I added chopped jalapenos. I am loving making soup! More soups to come!

 

Arroz Con Leche - Mexican Rice Pudding

I am Posting this recipe simply because I need to have this recipe in my life. My children need to have this recipe in their lives, my nieces and nephews need this recipe in their lives...for this is our childhood. A dish my mom would make when we were sick, sad, cold or just because she wanted to show us how much she loved us. Today mom is sick with the flu. Nothing sounds good to her...nothing! Well she's not starving on my watch! I set to making some Arroz con Leche (Rice with Milk) for her and I need to post it so I always have this recipe.

Mom is sitting over there in her chair at the kitchen table telling me step by step how to make this. First, fill the pot with water. This pot probably holds about 8 to 10 cups of water. Place it on the stove and wait for it to boil. *COMPLETE RECIPE BELOW*

Once it is boiling, add 1 1/2 cups of white rice. Mom uses Mahatma rice, but any rice you use is ok, but don't use the instant Uncle Ben rice or anything like that.

Then you add one can of Carnation Evaporated Milk...very important...please SHAKE THE CAN! Mom made it abundantly clear that all the good stuff has settled to the bottom, (by good stuff she probably means carbs!) so SHAKE YOUR CAN MAN!

Now add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, you can add more later to taste but I found that 1 teaspoon was more than enough, and I love cinnamon!

Add 1 cup of sugar, again you can add more to taste later but C'MON!!! One whole cup of sugar? Yikes! You know this stuff is gonna be good!

Then you give it a gentle stir because you didn't use a big enough pot and you don't want to make a big mess! You stir making sure you get all that cinnamon dissolved in there. Is this a beautiful picture? Minus that alien looking thumb with the thumbnail stained from peeling pomegranates!

Once it comes to a boil, and watch it carefully as it will over-boil in a second, turn down the heat and continue stirring every once in a while just to make sure that you get everything mixed in well. I would say it took about 20 to 30 minutes for it to be cooked to mom's satisfaction! See...needed bigger pot.

Check this out! Not quite done yet, but getting there. You can't imagine how wonderful and homey my house smells right now! See those little flecks of cinnamon? So pretty. You can taste it at this point and adjust the sweetness by adding more sugar and/or cinnamon. Also take a bite of the rice to see if the rice is soft enough for you. Mine wasn't...yet!

If it's not quite done, just keep stirring, just keep stirring and then you can even wonder in amazement about people from my mom's generation. That generation that let nothing go to waste. See what I found in one of my kitchen drawers? Do you know what this is? This is all the twisty-ties from bags of bread, bagels, tortillas. My mom has saved them and tied them together so she has them available to tie up a bag of rice or whatever. She's amazing! That was a wonderful, caring, thrifty generation!

Reminds me of a colorful Grasshopper!

So still stirring every once in a while, just bubbling gently. I'm making sure not to let it over flow, look at all that beautiful scented steam rising from the pot! Mmmmmmm, can't wait! Just so you know, I didn't eat any of this. There are two million carbs in this! I did taste a spoonful and felt my waist expand an inch! *sigh*

It's 57 degrees outside, and I know the sun is shining in through my kitchen window, but it's still cold to us Arizona folk transplanted here in sunny Southern California so this warm bowl of loveliness just warms the cockles of our heart and the rest of our body too!

My Kitchen with the sun shining through the window

And Voila! The finished product. So creamy and sweet with that lovely cinnamon taste. It just makes everything feel right. Mom ate about a cup of this, which is fabulous for her! So make this for someone you love on a cold, dreary day, or on a cold, sunny day, or any day, you will be glad you did!