Kitchen Organization - Just Start Small

Last week Lynn of Traveling Low Carb invited us on Facebook to a kitchen organization party. I obligated myself to join in. Then life happened. I forgot it was my son's birthday weekend and I had promised him a day trip to Santa Barbara on Saturday. 

But it's never too late and I was feeling really guilty about letting Lynn down and even though today is going to be 106 degrees outside, I was feeling energetic and decided to clean and organize my little bakers rack that my son gave me for Mother's Day one year. It's sort of a catch-all.

As you can see the drawers are just stuffed with junk and bills and little bits of paper. I store all my bowls here and because they are so close to the floor they tend to get really dusty. We all know that when we use one of them we have to wash it before we use it, but if a visiting friend or family goes to get one they probably think I'm a slob! 

Close-up of the drawers. I found cookbooks, warranties for appliances I don't even have anymore, photos, garden gloves, picture hanging materials, screwdrivers...all kinds of random items. And see, someone thought this would be a perfect place to store hamburger buns! I tell you...a catchall!

Here's some of the stuff I pulled out. I used to be addicted to buying those little recipe books that are at the checkout area. My little impulse buys. But I don't think I've ever actually made anything from any of these books and now that I'm low carb I know I never will so it was time to clean house and I put about 50 of them in a bag to go to Goodwill.

Here's the bakers rack all cleaned out. I went after all that wrought iron with soapy water. It was super dusty. Sorry it's sort of leaning, I must have been tired already! Oh and FYI, while I was doing all of this I wore my iPhone because it tracks my steps. While doing this I logged in 1,027 steps!

And pictures during...

The kitchen table covered in bowls, books, mom's radio and little odds and ends...

The dish drainer with some of the bowls I've washed and set aside to dry...

And the other side of the sink with more bowls washed and ready to be dried and put away again...

Here's a picture of all the items that I'm taking to Goodwill tomorrow. I am so my mother's daughter. She just walked by and said "You're going to throw all this away!", and then she started going through everything!

Here are the finished drawers, quite a bit different right?

Drawer one. I only kept the cook books for low carb and that little broken key chain of my son sitting on Santa's lap years ago :)

Drawer two. I organized my mom's Cd's as she likes to listen to music while she putters around in the kitchen in the morning. 

And here is the completed bakers rack. Organized and dust free! I put the bowls my mom uses on the very top so she can reach them easier without bending down. I had to leave her radio there, that was non-negotiable! She also had a beautiful set of cornflower blue Corningware, so now I'm displaying it next to my pink KitchenAid mixer that my daughter bought me several years ago for being a Cancer Survivor!

Here are the before and after. Doesn't seem like much difference until you see it side by side. I even cleaned all that clutter that was next to the rack on the right side.

Mission accomplished! I'm going to go and post this on Lynn's Facebook page and now I think I've earned a nap!

Happy cleaning everyone!


 

Frazier Park Fiesta Days - Small town fun!

We decided this weekend to get out of the valley heat and head up to the mountains. Frazier Park was celebrating their 48th annual Fiesta Days and we thought we would head up the mountain and check it out. 

Picked up my sister and noticed how beautiful her Arizona Plant is this year. It's huge and just gorgeous and I am so jealous!

Her plant gets sun constantly and these types of plants love the sun. My plant is next to a huge tree and it doesn't get but a few hours sun a day so it's no where near as pretty as hers. I'm going to have to move it next year.

So we left Lisa's house and headed to pick up our friend Connie who went with us and headed towards Frazier Park which is about 45 minutes south of Bakersfield.

We found the park and we were surprised how nice an event it was. The weather was great, about 77 degrees with a nice breeze. It wasn't too crowded and they had lots of great vendors.

One vendor had what she called "hand made sandals" for $20 and we all bought a pair. I really don't think they were hand made but they were adorable! I bought a red pair even though they weren't practical and I can't wear them with everything, but I just loved the way they look and red is my mom's favorite color.

There were also lots of food vendors. I was a bit worried about going because I wasn't sure what I was going to eat. They had Kettle Korn which is something that I always buy, but I didn't. They had regular yellow corn on the cob with lots of different toppings, but it is filled with carbs and something that is not on my list of foods I can eat.

Finally I decided on a Bacon Wrapped Hot Dog. I requested it without the bun and they were nice enough to put it in a little cardboard tray and then they added onions and bell peppers. It was delicious and minimal on carbs. Where there's a will, there's a way!

We walked around the whole event twice to make sure we didn't miss anything. I also purchased some green olives stuffed with jalapenos and they are delicious. I'm sure I will be eating them often throughout the next few weeks when I am craving salty chips!

My gorgeous sister Lisa bought a flower garland. I should have taken a picture from the back as it had long curling ribbon trailing all the way down her back. She looked so cute!

She also took this great picture in a real race car. Those things are hard to get in and out of!

After a great time we decided to drive around the small town and see what it was like. Lisa made me pull over because she wanted to get a picture of a "tin man". It was kind of cute that most of the houses had home made decor like this. It was a very quaint little city.

So all in all we had a fun time, we all now have cute shoes and great memories and then today I got to see Baby J and I had bought her a Little Nemo Bubble Gun and she loved it and me for buying it for her :)

A Letter to Lynn at Traveling Low Carb

A Letter to Lynn at Traveling Low Carb

Hi Lynn,

I read your post today and I smiled, laughed and shouted (quietly in my head) “I get ya my low carb sista!” 

See today I feel “blah”. Everything is great in my life, eating well, exercising regularly, clothes fitting better and better each day! Yet I’m feeling “blah” and feeling heavy. The joints in my legs feel sore, my legs and arms feel like I’m wearing 10 pound weights on them. 

For the past 4 weeks, I’ve been getting to the office early each morning and doing a 1 mile walking video by Leslie Sansone. It’s getting easier and easier every day, but today I felt like I was back at square one! I felt clumsy and heavy and unorganized and finally gave up at only half a mile. Poor Leslie tried to motivate me but it just didn’t work! 

So I sat down at my desk to drink my coffee and get ready for my day and I started thinking about why I feel this way physically and mentally. I went over in my head wondering what I did differently yesterday that might have caused this and guess what I think it was? National Root Beer Float Day! Yep, National Root Beer Float Day was yesterday and I found this great little recipe on making a low carb root beer float using diet root beer and heavy whipping cream. 

It was a super easy recipe and I really enjoyed the float and did a blog post on it right away to make other low-carbers aware of how you can make simple adjustments in your life to still have some of the goodies regular folks enjoy. 

 I don’t know if it was the chemicals in the diet root beer, or the fat in the heavy whipping cream but it made me super sluggish today. Ha! Never thought about the word sluggish, but that’s exactly how I felt this morning, like a slow moving, heavy slug! 

 Once I realized that, I told myself “Self, no more low carb root beer floats!” And then I figured the best way to start feeling better was to start drinking water like crazy to flush all the toxins out of my body, so that’s what I did and by 10am this morning, after about 44 ounces of water, I was able to do my 5 minute walking video by Leslie Sansone without quitting early and I actually felt better, lighter, more energetic. Is it all in my mind? Maybe, but sometimes the mind has to be mightier than the body! 

Then reading your post I realized that you might be feeling the way you mention you are feeling because of the “crutch foods”. You’ve been doing this such a long time that you realize that it is the “crutch food”, but a lot of people that are newbie’s to this way of eating use those “crutch foods” and they never learn to lose the cravings for sweets or carbs and therefore give up. 

Will I never have another low-carb root beer float? Of course I will, but they will be a special treat, once in a blue moon. I won’t train my body to start craving sweets again! 

So Lynn, in closing I just want to say that you have made a big difference in the way I do low carb. You make it so much easier by posting your food because I see ideas that I never would have thought of before. I’ve done low carb on and off for the past 10 years, but this time I feel so much more motivated and I understand that this is not a diet, it’s not a short term thing, this is the way I want and need to eat for the rest of my life. So thank you for making it easier, for motivating me, for sharing not only your high points, but also the low points…like you did today! 


 

National Root Beer Float Day - Low Carb Root Beer Float

I love Root Beer Floats! Who doesn't right? 

But the ice cream, the root beer...those carbs add up! Here's the nutrition info on a real root beer float made with vanilla ice cream and regular A & W Root Beer.

See the carbs? 77.6!! You then subtract the fiber to end up with net carbs of 76.6! Yikes...that is almost 4 days worth of carbs when you are trying to limit yourself to only 20.

But I have to celebrate National Root Beer Day, after all I celebrated National Tequila Day and National Margarita Day! I can't discriminate! We live in the age of political correctness.

I remembered seeing a recipe for a low carb Root Beer so I googled and I found it on Low Carb Slow Carbs website. And I had all the ingredients so I was good to go!

First I whipped up 1 cup of Heavy Whipping Cream using my electric hand mixer. After about 30 seconds I added 1 teaspoon of Vanilla Extract and 1 tablespoon of granulated Splenda. Then I continued whipping/beating until it was set.

See how thick and creamy it is? All ready for some ice cold A & W Diet Root Beer!

I don't really have any clear see-thru glass glasses. My mom is on blood thinners so rather than have her cut her hand on broken glasses we only have plastic glasses, but my friend Lupe gave me this beautiful glass mug on a girls camping trip a few months ago, and it was perfect for a root beer float.

I added about a cup of the heavy whipped cream which you can see in the cup.

Then I slowly added the diet root beer. Check that out! Doesn't it look exactly like a root beer float? It actually tasted delicious too!

When I make this again I will add crushed ice!

And here is the carb count for my low carb root beer float. 4 Carbs....FOUR! What a difference right?

So I'm going to go and enjoy my float and read my book. Happy National Root Beer Float Day!


 

Foods I Eat on Low Carb Way of Eating - No Starvation Diet Here!

Been doing the LCHF diet for almost a month now and I'm doing great. I haven't lost as much weight as I would like but I can definitely feel it in the way my body feels and in the way my clothes fit.

The great thing is that I haven't had cravings for Cheetos or chips and salsa. You do lose the cravings to carbs eventually. 

I know when I explain this way of eating (WOE) to people the first thing they say is "Oh no, I could never give up pasta/tortillas/pie/ice cream, etc (insert carb of choice)". We all feel that way in the beginning, but it is worth it, and you can...if you really want to.

Eating this way and exercising in 5 minute increments throughout the day makes me feel awesome. Those normal aches and pains that I had in my knees and shoulders are gone. I can get up out of a chair or my car after a long drive without limping. I sleep great and I feel like even my disposition is better. I'm more focused at work and life just seems a little brighter each day.

And look at the great foods I get to eat. Ground turkey cheeseburger without the bun. Flax seed muffin in a mug with butter and sugar free strawberry preserves, Taco Salad, Pork Carnitas with Scrambled Egg, Strawberry and Pecans as a  snack.

I like to take random pictures of my food. Some of the LCHF foods I've eaten I didn't get a chance to photograph and the pictures aren't Foodie Blog worthy because they're just iPhone shots, but gives you an idea of the variety of foods you can eat.

Chicken with broccoli slaw, Chile macho and sliced avocado; chicken drenched in vegetarian Chile Verde with queso fresco, Cucumber-Tomato and Bacon Salad with Mayo, Blackberry Yogurt Popsicle (home-made) and Chicken with the same cucumber-tomato and bacon salad.

You would think that celebrating a special occasion would be a good reason to go off this WOE, but actually no. See that yummy strawberry topped cheesecake? That's low carb. See the slice with the chocolate crust? Also low carb. And it's so much fun trying to make new varieties of salads. Salads are my go-to food, I love them and I find eating a huge salad fills me up and satisfies me. Chicken and Bacon on Romaine, Chicken Salad on Romaine and I even went to a favorite Mexican restaurant and had the Chicken Avocado Salad which was delicious! Sure...I had to bypass the Chips and Salsa, but looking good in my clothes sure makes it worth while!

No time to make big elaborate meals or plan and organize menus for the week? No problem, most restaurants will lettuce wrap a burger for you. Or you can just buy a regular burger, like the Quarter Pounder with Cheese pictured below, and throw away the bread. The funny thing is I don't even miss the bread and in fact I can taste the meat and fixings much better without the bread over powering everything and filling me up. Couple of snacks are pictured, crushed fresh strawberries with cottage cheese, slices of avocado wrapped in oven roasted deli turkey slices (this was yummy by the way) and more cottage cheese made like a parfait with crushed berries and a few cashews for crunch. Plus my old stand by- chicken on romaine lettuce with ranch dressing!

I even took a trip to the coast and kept it low carb by ordering bacon wrapped shrimp, they were fabulous. I dipped a fork in that sauce but you could tell right away that it was packed with sugar so I didn't touch it. Shrimp didn't even need it! On National Tequila Day I made myself a low carb margarita using a sparkling lemonade water and tequila, zero carbs! I also bought a little kitchen gadget that makes zucchini noodles. I made some and microwaved them and tossed them with some cooked ground turkey and added 2 tablespoons of cream cheese and they were creamy and delicious and felt like comfort food. Some days you want something warm and not just a salad.

I've also been enjoying a new brand of deli meats called Healthy Ones. the Oven Roasted Turkey Breast is lower in carbs and sodium that the regular brand I used to buy.

One day I was really wanting a scrambled egg sandwich with mayonnaise, cheese and lettuce, so I just made one without the bread. It was super good. You can LC most foods and I'm learning new ways to do so all the time.

So that's a quick wrap up of what I've been eating. As you can see I definitely have not been starving myself. I'm feeling really good about this new WOE. I'm not worried about what the scale says as long as I feel good and my body feels good.


 

July was a Great Month!

July is my birthday month and this year it was an especially fun month, even though it has been dreadfully hot and humid!

For my birthday, my sister and our friend Lupe planned a day trip to Monterrey, California. We left home early, around 7 am and arrived right around noon. First thing we did was something that has almost become a tradition for the three of us. We hit Ross Dress for Less. We love to shop at Ross!

After that we headed for Fisherman's Wharf where we took a ride on a glass bottom boat. Unfortunately due to the algae in the ocean we couldn't see anything but green and every once in a while some seaweed. 

But we were able to see some pretty cool harbor seals just lounging around sunning themselves on rocks.

We had a great dinner at El Torito Restaurant. I had bacon wrapped shrimp and Lisa and Lupe both had Vegetarian Fajitas.

Then the highlight of the trip for me, the 17 mile drive.

17-Mile Drive is widely recognized as one of the most scenic drives in the world. The famous coastal landmark runs through Pacific Grove to Pebble Beach, from the dramatic Pacific coastline to the majestic Del Monte Forest. The awe-inspiring vistas and legendary sites can easily fill an entire day with exploration and discovery, although visitors with less time should not miss the opportunity to experience this wondrous journey as well.

This whole drive is so beautiful. Unfortunately we got there pretty late and it was almost sunset so we couldn't lolly-gaggle as much as I would have like too, but we still enjoyed it.

One of many stops along the way - 17 mile drive

Another stop - 17 mile drive, my sister Lisa and I

Me on the Beach - 17 mile drive

Magical Sunset - 17 mile drive

It was a great day and a long drive home but well worth it. Next time we go though we will definitely make it an over night trip and take our time on the 17 mile drive.

Then my dear friend and co-worker Angie provided a special treat she made just for me. Low Carb even!

She gave me a beautiful silver ring with a purple stone, she bought me Starbucks and she made a low -carb cheese cake with a beautiful strawberry design on top. This cheesecake even had a chocolate crust!. She also invited a lady that works next door that has become a good friend, Maria. It was a very special way to start my birthday, even though I chose to work that day (our employer give us our birthday off, I'm save it for something else).

Then last night we went to a surprise birthday party for my niece Sarena. She is my baby brothers oldest child and she turned 25. We got to dress in costume and had a lot of fun with family and we danced til we dropped!

Lisa and I with our niece Sarena

My sister Lisa, me and our brother Jaime with our mother

The today was a Baby J Sunday! Yay! Love this precious little girl and the older she gets the more fun and funny she is!

So July was a very good month for me! A very busy month. Not sure what August has in store as I don't have any plans but time will tell.


 

Low Carb Cheeseburger - Not Your Average Quarter Pounder with Cheese!

One of the hardest things about eating LCHF (low carb, high fat) is eating out at restaurants, but it can be done!

Today I want to share a tip about eating at fast food places. McDonald's has always been one of my favorites. 

Photo Credit - McDonald's.com

At McDonald's my favorite was the Quarter Pounder with Cheese! The whole meal with fries and a drink. Of course you have to buy the meal, it's cheaper that way...that's where they get you!

The other day I woke up and was exhausted and couldn't even begin to imagine what I was going to take to the office for my lunch. So I didn't take anything. Lunch time rolled around and I had the bright idea to go to McDonald's and get a burger and bring it back to the office and throw away the bread. 

That's exactly what I did, I bought just the burger, took both the buns and threw them in the trash and ate just the meat, cheese, onions, pickles, mustard and ketchup. It was delicious, you could really taste the meat and condiments, whereas before I just tasted bread.

So I've been trying the bun less burger at other restaurants. The great thing is to order it bun less, or lettuce wrapped, that way you don't waste food by throwing away the bun...it killed me to throw away the bun!

When I got home from work today, I was wondering what I could have for dinner. I had made some ground turkey with taco seasoning last night. 

So I thought maybe I could mimic the quarter pounder with cheese using the ground turkey and no bun. Check out this beauty!

I heated up my previously cooked ground turkey in the microwave. While that was heating I sliced up some iceberg lettuce, dill pickle and onion and took out a cheese slice. 

I put down a layer of the lettuce, then the cheese slice and then the hot ground turkey. I plopped on a dollop of mayonnaise and liberally topped it all with yellow mustard. Put down my pickles and onion and Voila! 

I have to tell you it was delicious! I ate it with a spoon and it was easier than eating it wrapped. Since the turkey was already ground and not cooked as a patty it was easy to just pick it up with a spoon so I was sure to get a great bite in every spoon.

The whole thing was LCHF, as you can see from the nutrition info from myfitnesspal.com food diary that I enter information into.

The first column is calories, then carbs, then fat, protein, sodium and fiber, giving me a total net carb of 5. When I'm trying to stick with 20 to 24 carbs per day that is pretty great for just one meal, one very filling and satisfying meal. I think I'm having this for lunch tomorrow!

Just for he sake of comparison, below I have the nutrition info for a quarter pounder with cheese with the works, as it comes straight from McDonald's, as I used to eat it. See that? 42 carbs!

Nutrition Info  - McDonalds.com

Here's the nutrition info without the bun and without ketchup, as ketchup has sugars in it and increase the carb count and I prefer mustard on a burger anyway. Is that crazy? 5 whole carbs and if I subtract the 1 gram of fiber my net carb is 4!

Nutrition Info - McDonalds.com

McDonald's website has a "make your meal" tool where you can take off or add items and it will give you the same info I posted above. Very handy and makes it easier to customize foods if you plan on eating at McDonald's. 

So you can eat out on a LCHF way of eating, you just have to plan and become familiar with nutrition info on various foods. Myfitnesspal.com is a great resource for that and I love it!


 

Low Carb Bread or Muffin in a Cup

I have a new favorite low-carb website. The reason I love Lynn's website Traveling Low Carb, is that she's like me, she's not a big lover of cooking and loves to keep things simple. So I've been getting lots of great ideas on how to keep this WOE simple.

One of the most basic breakfast items you can eat with a LCHF diet is eggs. I've tried them as an omelet, fried, scrambled with veggies, scrambled with bacon, all kinds of ways and while they are delicious I have to admit I'm a little tired of them.

The other day I saw on Lynn's blog a post about low carb bread sold by Great Low Carb Bread Company. Each slice of their plain bread has 1 net carb! One slice of the Rainbow Brand White Bread I normally buy has 27 net carbs. I try to stick with 20 carbs per day, but no more than 24. I would go through my carbs for the day with just one slice of plain bread!

This sounded like a great alternative, but I held off buying it because the price is $7.99 per loaf plus $5.99 shipping for a total cost per loaf of bread of $13.98! The shipping is a flat cost so I figured I would wait for the weekend and shop the Netrition.com website to see what other low carb items I could order. 

I felt it this bread would be a great alternative to eggs in the morning. I could toast a slice and slather it with avocado, easy and I would get the healthy fats I need for my WOE.

This morning I remembered that I used to make a muffin in a cup with flax seed and looked up the recipe and made it so I would have something "bready" to accompany my coffee.

Easy Peasy and only 1.8 carbs per half a muffin! Each muffin has 3.6 carbs per muffin using the ingredients I will list below, but I cut it in half and ate two slices with my coffee, adding a pat of butter and 1 teaspoon of Smuckers Sugar Free Strawberry Preserves per round which would be roughly 3.6 carbs. 

It was just as satisfying to me as an Entenmanns Strawberry Cream Cheese Danish which has 58 carbs per serving! I didn't even think about it, but I probably could have used cream cheese mixed with the preserves as a topping! Will have to try that next weekend. 

Later in the morning for my actual breakfast I took the last two rounds of this bread and topped it with some homemade guacamole made with tomato and jalapeno and garlic salt. 

Not the prettiest of pictures, but trust me, this was delicious! Much better than my usual eggs breakfast! 1.8 carbs for the muffin and I estimate 1.6 for the guac for a total of 3.4 for my breakfast!

I'm thinking that I'm going to make a muffin in a cup instead of buying the $14 bread! Plus flax seeds are high in fiber and rich in Omega-3 essential fatty acids which are "good" fats that have been known to have heart-healthy effects. 

Here's the recipe for the Muffin in a Cup:

• 1 teaspoon coconut oil (I buy Trader Joe's Organic Virgin)
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/4 cup Flax seed ground (I buy Bob's Red Mill brand)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1 packet Truvia or Splenda (more if you want it sweeter)

Mix ingredients well in a microwaveable coffee mug and cook for 50 to 60 minutes in the microwave. Slips right out of the mug, simply enjoy! You could also add some diced walnuts or slivered almonds.