Food boredom be gone!

I get bored with my food fairly easily. I don't think it's because I eat low carb most of the time so much as I'm often tired when I get home from work and don't feel like cooking much so I eat stir fried vegetables or eggs and veggie bacon. Again. That's great for the blood sugar but it gets a bit old for the taste buds, you know? So when I saw the picture and recipe for Loaded Roasted Cauliflower Salad on my favorite blog, I knew it was a must try.

Since I don't work today, I made it this morning. I didn't have quite six cups of cauliflower but the recipe turned out just fine with almost five cups. And since I didn't have chives I added a bit of onion powder. Oh, I also forgot that some of the bacon was to be used to top the dish so it was all stirred in. And I used a blend of several cheeses rather than just cheddar. It turned out fantastic, even with my changes, and there's enough left for me to enjoy it again several times. For me, it needs a little more zip but I'm not sure yet what that zip is.

I'll definitely make this again and probably play with it a few times before I hit on just the right combination that makes it absolutely perfect for me. I think some colorful bell pepper would be a nice addition but that remains to be seen.

If you make this, let me know what you think and stop by Your Lighter Side to let Jamie know what you think, too.

Fauxtato soup success!

Ohh, long time no blog, friends! Life has been crazy but in a good way and I haven't had much time for blogging. However, I made something so delicious I just have to post about it here. Trust me, you'll be glad I did, especially if you're a low carb eater who misses that good ol' comfort food we know as "potato soup"!

For years I've heard of using cauliflower to make something akin to potato soup but none of the recipes I'd found appealed to me. Until last night, that is. I received email with a recipe for a simple but delicious sounding baked potato soup and as I read the recipe, I realized I had all the ingredients to turn it into fauxtato soup, including the cauliflower. I was very excited and started the dish last night before I headed to bed.

Here's a picture of the delicious but easy to make soup I ended up with.

Uh huh, makes your mouth water, doesn't it? Trust me, it's as beautiful to the taste buds as it is to the eyes!

And it's very easy to make. In a nutshell, I put one head of chopped fresh cauliflower, some chopped onion, about 3/4 of a package of onion soup mix combined with 2 cups water (since I didn't have broth on hand and wasn't making any for a few days), several whole cloves of garlic, and some spices in a slow cooker and left it all night. In the morning I mashed about a third of it with a block of cream cheese and put that back in the cooker. When the cheese was melted and incorporated well, I put some in the bowl and topped it with chopped green onion, crispy beef bacon, cheddar cheese, and a bit of fresh cilantro. If you leave the beef bacon out, it's vegetarian deliciousness in a bowl.

That's it! A little bit of chopping, a tad of mixing, throw it in the slow cooker and leave it all night, a little mashing up of stuff in the morning, and voila, delicious fauxtato soup!

This will definitely be on my menus as our weather cools. I hope it's on yours, too.

Worthy of a comeback - Fire Roasted Tomato Soup!

Not for the soup but for me! It's been way too long since I posted on this blog. Really, I should be a winner of the Worst Blogger Award if there is such a thing. However, today I made Fire Roasted Tomato Soup for the first time and it was so good I just have to share!



I had fire roasted tomato soup for the first time a few months ago at Newk's Express. It was incredibly good and I hunted for a recipe that I thought would give me a dish close to theirs. None that I found seemed to be right, though, so today I just experimented and came up with my own version. It's not quite as good as the soup at Newk's but it's darn close and a little more playing with it should give me a just as good fire roasted tomato soup.

If you like the look of the soup and want to try it, here's my recipe so far:

1/2 Tablespoon olive oil
1/2 an onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 cans fire roasted diced tomatoes, undrained
12 ounces chicken stock
1 Tablespoon dried whole rosemary
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
a few red pepper flakes
1/4 cup crema mexicana

In a skillet or wok heat the olive oil until it's hot but not smoking. Add the onion and garlic and cook until onion is tender. Reduce heat to a simmer and add the tomatoes and stock. Simmer about 15 minutes then add herbs and black pepper. Reduce heat a little more and very slowly add the crema mexicana and red pepper flakes, stirring constantly. Cook and stir for about five minutes. Serve topped with sour cream or more crema mexicana and whatever cheese you like. I used sour cream and a little parmesan this time but plan to really play with cheeses for this dish.

I think this soup could easily be adapted and a version with black olives, cilantro, chili powder, and cheddar or pepper jack would help make a great fiesta inspired tomato soup. Watch for more experiments with this basic recipe. I promise there will be some!

March 21st - 27th Menu

I haven't blogged much lately because between work, the dietary restrictions, and life in general the menu has been pretty dull. But I really need the accountability of posting entries here (and judging by the emails sent to me some of you really miss me! lol) so I've planned a menu of meals that require a little more work on my part but should help alleviate some of the boredom in our diets.

Last night I worked until after 8 and when I got home I was famished so I whipped up a quickie chili with Laura's Lean Beef, some no salt added canned diced tomatoes,  dark red kidney beans, a little green onion, and some spices. It was very good topped with a little shredded cheddar and there's enough for our lunch today. It isn't as low in carbs as I wish, thanks to the kidney beans, but all in all it's a healthy dish.

Tonight we're having Mexican Chicken from The Everyday Low-Carb Slow Cooker Cookbook made with Sanderson Farms chicken breasts. I don't know if that brand is available where you are but if it is, you really should try it. The chicken is always juicy, meaty, and tasty without having added hormones, additives, and other garbage. And the breasts are huge! One is usually enough to feed the two of us and trust me, we can put away some chicken! We'll have this savory-sounding dish with some leftover Chipotle Cauliflower and low carb tortillas.

The rest of the week we'll have, in no particular order:

Vegetable stir fry with riced cauliflower

Triple decker vegetable omelets (from The Low-Carb Bible but also found online) served with zucchini fries

Salt-Baked Rosemary Chicken (modified from the original recipe to use less salt), steamed green beans, and tossed salad

Breakfast burritos made with low carb tortillas

You're On Your Own (YOYO) night when we clean out the fridge, eat leftovers, or go out for dinner.

And that's it for this week's upcoming evening meals. Some of them are a little more interesting than our usual fare and that's a good thing. I hope your culinary week is a great one and join us over at Menu Plan Monday for more great recipes and menu plans!

March 7th - 13th menu

This week promises to be a busy one for me so most of our dinners will be easy to prepare. Because it simply needed to be done and to make things easier on myself, today I took some time and reorganized the pantry shelves. They were a mess and it was hard to tell what we had and what we need so now not only does it all look better but I should have an easier time making my shopping list and keeping up with what's in inventory.

I was determined to thoroughly clean the refrigerator, too, but didn't succeed in that although I did eliminate almost all the leftovers in it. Tonight's dinner was soup made from some of the leftovers. In the fridge I found about a cup and a half of leftover homemade vegetable beef soup, part of a can of diced tomatoes and most of a can of Rotel tomatoes. I dumped all of that in the wok, added a handful of Dreamfields elbow macaroni, a smidge of garlic salt, and some freshly ground black pepper and set it on low and a few minutes later our revamped soup was ready. It was excellent and there was just enough to feed us both so we're starting the week with very few leftovers.

If you'd like to learn more about meal planning please take a look at Menu Plan Monday, hosted by Laura and visited by hundreds!

So, on to this week's menu!

Monday night's dinner is seasoned turkey tenderloin with steamed spinach, edamame, and tossed salad.

The rest of the week we'll have:

Leftover turkey tenderloin with low carb gravy, with wild rice and steamed green beans

Chipotle chicken with tossed salad and buttered carrots

Cauliflower Leek Soup with Carbquick bread sticks

Stir fried vegetables with beef

YOYO (You're On Your Own) night when we eat leftovers, sandwiches, etc.

And that's it! Short, sweet, and not a lot of intense cooking going on this week. But it's all healthy, low in carbs, and thrifty. It works for us!

Spicy Chicken and Avocado with a Colby Jack "Wrap"

You know how sometimes you have a little bit of roast chicken leftover from a meal but there isn't enough to feed the whole family? Well, today the man person didn't want chicken but I had a skosh of last night's delicious chicken and this was the perfect opportunity to make good use of it.

I dug through the fridge, found a few ingredients and came up with this:


The picture isn't great (not sure why but my pictures are blurry lately) but this turned out to be a delicious lunch today and I thought I'd share the 'recipe' (cough) with you.

1/2 cup cooked chicken, cut into bite size pieces
1 green onion, sliced
a few cloves of roasted garlic 
3 or 4 thin strips of bell pepper
2 Tablespoons Rotel tomato
freshly ground black pepper
garlic powder
chili powder
chipotle pepper seasoning
1 thick slice Colby Jack cheese
1 avocado

In a skillet or wok, quickly cook the bell pepper on high heat until soft but not limp. Lower heat and add sliced onion, garlic and pepper. Add cooked chicken and cook until heated through and pepper is cooked to your liking. I like mine crunchy so it doesn't take long at all. Add the Rotel tomatoes and let simmer. Quickly mash avocado and add whatever spices you like. I prefer to add just a little pepper and garlic. If you want to add chopped tomatoes and onions, that would be tasty, too.

Place cheese on a plate and top with the hot chicken mixture. Spread avocado mixture over all and sprinkle with chili powder and chipotle seasoning. You can eat this like a taco, roll it like a burrito, or do as I did and use a fork to get every scrumptious bite. Mmmm!

Strange food combination and I'm such a lamer!

I slept in a little this morning, until about 8 AM. I wasn't hungry when I got up and my fasting blood sugar was 125 (too high) so I shot 5 units of Novolog and enjoyed my morning coffee while checking email and playing on Farmville and Cafe World. I finally got hungry at about 10:30 but waited until 11:30 to do something about it. I wanted eggs but didn't want breakfast meat with it. I wanted some kind of bread but just a tad, not much. I also wanted to eat the veggie fries from last night. So, I made scrambled eggs with mushroom, yellow bell pepper, and a little colby jack cheese and ate it with 1/2 an english muffin and the leftover veggie frites. It was actually very good though it was a little weird.

I had errands to run today;bank, Drug Emporium, grocery store, etc. and while I was out I bought a cooked whole chicken. I don't do that often - jiminy, I have chickens in my freezer and my homemade ones are better than the store bought ones and much healthier! But I've had a rip roaring headache going for about three days and I didn't want to cook so I took the easy way out. Umm, at least it's low in carbs and we'll have it with steamed spinach, also low in carbs.

Don't hate me because I'm such a lamer....

March Recipes to try

I love cauliflower, just about any kind of cauliflower. Raw, boiled, steamed, grilled, sauteed, or stir fried, I'll eat it. And I enjoy leeks or at least I think I do. I haven't had leeks (that I know of) in years so I'm not positive about that. But I found a nice sounding recipe for naturally low in carbs Cauliflower Leek Soup so it's on my list of recipes to try this month. The recipe calls for 3 cloves of garlic and I happen to have several cloves of awesomely delicious roasted garlic snagged from Newk's so I'll use those.

Speaking of roasted garlic from Newk's I'm obsessed with that stuff and the only way for me to get it is to go to Newk's. While I really do love their food, eating there isn't very thrifty and the sandwiches certainly aren't low carb so I've decided to try my hand at roasting garlic. I know it, it aint no big thing but I haven't done it before and I've been a little hesitant to try it but I've decided to bite the bullet. So, my other recipe to try this month is roasted garlic and the recipe is from simplyrecipes.com, one of my favorite cooking blogs. If I can roast my own garlic I can stay the heck away from Newk's and a little more freely indulge my passion for garlic.

Wish me luck!

February 28th - March 6th Menu - late but still good

I'm late getting my menu posted this week. Between work and life I just haven't had a lot of time. But better late than never, right?

Sunday night was YOYO (You're On Your Own) night at our place. We had way too many leftovers for comfort so we took the opportunity to reduce them a little. I like nights like that since it means I don't have to cook much, if at all, and the cleanup is minimal.

Last night I prepared a beef roast with carrots, potatoes, onions and mushrooms. The man person had left a little of his homemade salad dressing (olive oil, the juice of 1/2 a lemon, and Spike) on the counter so I poured that over the roast and vegetables before popping them in the oven. The vegetables were very good but the meat was tougher than we like so we ate a little of it and some of the vegetables and I considered what to do with the meat to make it more tender.  I decided using it in soup or stew would be an efficient way to use it so I cut the uneaten roast into bite size chunks and used about 1/4 of it and the leftover vegetables with a few more fresh veggies to make tonight's dinner which I just called 'Leftover Soup'. I discovered awhile back that stir frying the soup vegetables brings out their flavors so that's what I do. I just throw them in the wok with a little olive oil and when they're almost done I add the meat, stock, and spices, cover, and let it all simmer awhile. The result is a rich, robust soup with a nice combination of flavors. It's slightly different each time, too, since I vary the vegetables and spices. Tonight I used a little potato, a few green peas, carrot, onion, and some asparagus with rosemary, garlic, pepper, and chipotle seasoning. Mmmm, it was quite tasty and there's enough left for lunch tomorrow so we'll have that and dinner will be chicken fajitas made with leftover chicken.

The rest of the week we'll have:

Chicken in homemade Alfredo sauce served over thinly sliced and gently steamed zucchini with a salad and fresh green beans

Meat loaf with faux mashed potatoes (cauliflower) and salad

Omelets with Carbquick rolls

and Saturday will be another YOYO night to use up whatever leftovers are in the fridge. Another soup might be in the picture but we'll have to wait and see.

Oh yes, I haven't forgotten about posting the pictures of the zucchini lasagna but they're on another computer that I can't get to right now. As soon as I can, I'll get them and show them to y'all. Mmmm, that was good stuff!

Enjoy your food!

February 21st - 27th Menu

This week's menu isn't particularly exciting (is mine ever??) but it's thrifty and low in carbs. For the most part. Last night, Sunday, we went to Wingstop and I indulged in garlic parmesan wings and a few of their addictive fries. My insulin dose must have been right on, though, because two hours after eating, my blood sugar was 84. And this morning my FBG was 95. Woot! The addition of Lantus to my insulin regimen helps a lot, too. It's been five days since I've been back on Lantus and my blood sugar is so much better it's amazing.

On to this week's eats!

So, tonight for dinner we're having roasted chicken, a nice salad, and steamed spinach. I don't get off until 6 PM so it will be a late-for-us dinner but a good one.

The rest of the week we'll have, in no particular order:

Chicken salad sandwiches/lettuce leaf wraps made with leftover roasted chicken

Zucchini lasagna with salad, Carbquick bread sticks, and steamed green beans

Hearty vegetable soup with the remaining bread sticks

Meat loaf, salad, and zucchini and red pepper "fries"

YOYO (You're On Your Own) night when we dig through the fridge eating leftovers

And that's it for this coming week's dinners. For more great menu ideas, visit Laura's Menu Plan Monday and jump right in.

Have a great week and enjoy your food!

Zucchini and Red Pepper "Fries"

I had a craving today for french fries and decided to have some much healthier zucchini and red bell pepper instead of giving in to the fry temptation. Oh my, they were good and even if you aren't diabetic or worried about the carbs in your food, you really should give these a try.

Here's the very simple recipe, inspired by the amazingly, incredibly, awesome smashfries (can you tell I like them?) at SmashBurger.

Red bell pepper, cut into strips
Zucchini, cut into strips
Garlic
Salt
Pepper
Rosemary (I use dried whole leaf from my mother's yard)
Olive oil

Heat olive oil in skillet or wok. Toss vegetables with seasonings and stir fry to preferred tenderness. I like mine a little crunchy so it took just a few minutes to go from wok to plate.

Of course, you can use other vegetables and cut them any way you want but I like this combination.

Are they as good as Smashburger fries? Ehhh, we're not comparing apples to apples so that's hard to say. However, these make a fantastic snack or side dish and they're certainly much lower in carbs than the Smashbloodsugarspike.

Enjoy!

Free Atkins goodies!

For those of you who, like me, are a little slow on the uptake, Atkins offers some free goodies when you register with their site. It's free to register and you get all this:

Quick Start Guide
3 Nutrition bars
Pocket carb counter
Access to their recipes

and more! No, I don't work for Atkins.com and I don't follow the Atkins plan but I have in the past and might do it again and I'm a fan, especially for those who are struggling with diabetes and/or high lipids and hypertension.

So, if you or anyone you care about needs to lose weight or get that blood sugar under control, tell 'em about this great freebie!

Farmhouse Beef Casserole - mixed reviews

I got in from work at about 5:20 tonight and made the Farmhouse Beef Casserole I mentioned in yesterday's entry. It took a little while to prepare the ingredients but I did it while watching the tail end of the Cowboys/Eagles game (take that, you Eagles!) and the time passed quickly.

I like this dish but the man person said, and I quote:

"I wouldn't want that often but it wasn't bad."

He isn't really into casseroles for the most part so for him to really like any casserole is rare. Keep that in mind and don't let his words sway you into declaring this dish as "don't try".

Here are some things I really like about this dish; the thrifty ingredients, the great smell while it's cooking, and the fact that it's satisfying for the tummy. One thing I didn't like about it though; the taste was a little blander than what I like and I think it needs a little more something though I'm not sure what. I did make a few changes to the recipe and they're noted in parentheses after the original. My additional notes are after the recipe.

Farmhouse Beef Casserole

Olive oil cooking spray
1 small russet or all purpose potato
1 cup shredded low fat mozarella cheese (I used cheddar as I have a glut of it right now)
1 lb extra lean ground sirloin (I used ground turkey as I had it on hand and only used 1/2 lb)
1 medium yellow onion, chopped (I use about 1/4 of an onion but more would have been better)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1-14.5 oz can no salt added diced tomatoes with juice (See below)
1 Tbsp chili powder or to taste
2 cups shredded green cabbage (I don't shred cabbage, instead I just slice it thin then dice it)
salt (optional) (I used a little celery salt)
freshly ground black pepper
1-3 tbls purchased taco sauce (I omitted this)
6 slices pickled jalapeno chili peppers (optional) (I omitted this)


Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly coat a 2 qt casserole dish with cooking spray. Peel and grate the potato into a bowl. Stir in 1/4 cup ot the cheese and spread evenly over the bottom of the prepared dish. Bake 15-20 minutes or until potato is browned and crispy. Meanwhile, brown ground sirloin, onion, and garlic in a large nonstick skillet, breaking up the beef with a wooden spoon as it browns. Discard any excess fat. Stir in tomatoes with their juice, chili powder and cabbage. Season with salt & pepper to taste. Saute, stirring for a minute or two. If mix seems too dry add 1 Tbsp of the bottled taco sauce, adding up to 2 Tbsp more, if needed. When potatoes are done, spoon beef mixture on top of potatoes. Top with remaining cheese and jalapeno slices (if using). Bake for 25-30 minutes till casserole is hot and bubbly. Serve at once.

Calories 235 (40% from fat), 24g protein, 11g total fat (4.8g sat. fat), 12g carb., 2 g fiber, 38mg cholesterol, 471mg potassium, 357mg sodium
Exchanges: 3 lean meat, 1 carb (1/2 bread/starch, 1-1/2 vegetable

Here's a picture of the crust, which I made according to the directions.
 
It's very good as is but I think to reduce the carb count I might try making it with shredded cauliflower. Since we need to be careful of fat and not just carbs, I used ground turkey breast instead of beef and since I don't have a stove I put the turkey, garlic and onion in my handy dandy Pampered Chef small Micro-Cooker (bought at a garage sale for a quarter!) and cooked it all for 4 minutes, stopping twice to break the meat up a little. When it was cooked through, I let it cool, strained it well, and used clean hands to break the meat up really well.

Since I was using only half the called for meat, I figured I needed a little less liquid than what the original recipe called for so I reserved the juice from the tomatoes rather than mixing it in with the meat and cabbage. I did use some of that juice a bit later but only about 1/3 of what was in the can.

From there I followed the original recipe.

I'll try this recipe again but with some changes. As I mentioned, I'll use cauliflower instead of potato and will use more onion than I did this time but I think I'll add a little bit of homemade taco seasoning to the meat, garlic, and onion to give it that extra flavor. I might even put a little pico de gallo on top, too.

All in all, this is a hearty dish and I think it's one that lends itself to versatility. If you don't have one of the ingredients, use something else. Make it your own and if you do, please share with me what you did! I'm always looking for inexpensive but flavorful recipes.

Sweet potato treat on the fly

Lunch this afternoon was homemade vegetable soup, the last of the turkey tenderloin, seasoned with garlic pepper and basil and topped with homemade pico de gallo, and a delicious dessert made with sweet potato.

White and red potatoes spike my blood sugar but a moderate amount of sweet potato doesn't. I usually eat it with butter and pepper but today I've craved something sweet and decided to put my half of the sweet potato to good use. I didn't feel like doing a lot to it, though, so I came up with a simple and easy treat.


I baked the sweet potato and cut it in half. I mashed the potato, cut the peel in small pieces and added it to the potato. To that I added a splash of Half and Half and half a splash of vanilla extract. I mixed it all well, put it in a small bowl, and topped it with a dollop of Redi-Whip, one of my favorite I need something sweet and need it now things. It's almost carb free, doesn't spike my blood sugar (in moderation) and just plain ol' tastes good!

The resulting "pudding" was creamy, smooth, and just sweet enough. Next time I'll add a little cinnamon and maybe some cardamom or some cinnamon seasoned chopped walnuts but for a lower carb dessert on the fly this is awesome! And the best part is it was less than 15 grams of carbs.

If you like sweet potato and crave something a little sweet, try this idea and let me know what you think of it.

Cottage Cheese & Egg Breakfast Muffins

Sooooo...my experiment with the muffins didn't go so well. They taste fine but they're a little bland and don't present nearly a pretty a picture as Kalyn's do. I had one for breakfast this morning along with three slices of fresh tomato and I'll take one to work today for my snack. The man hasn't tried them yet...

Blood glucose before the muffin and tomatoes was 86. Blood glucose after breakfast was 109! Okay, maybe I need to re-think these little gems. If I can eat one now and then without a spike, I'm game!

I made a few changes to the original recipe, using Better N' Eggs, omitting the green onion, and using a little less cheese and soy flour rather than almond meal. The differences all combined to make a muffin that was okay by and large but not something I'd make again. However, I do think the original recipe is probably very tasty so I'll make them again a little closer to her recipe. I'll probably use more cheese, almond meal, and perhaps throw in some Spike for that extra zing it adds.

If you're looking for good ideas for breakfast try Kalyn's Cottage Cheese and Egg Breakfast Muffins but use the original recipe first and see what you think.

A new breakfast muffin recipe

In my never-ending quest for breakfast ideas, I turned to Kalyn's Kitchen, one of my favorite low carb cooking blogs and I wasn't disappointed for I found a recipe for Cottage Cheese & Egg Breakfast Muffins. The picture of the muffins looks fantastic and I'm going to make this recipe today. I don't have almond meal so I'll have to run to Granary St. to get it but that's a simple thing.

I've tried a few of Kalyn's recipes and they've all been tasty and fairly easy to make. If you haven't looked over her blog, give it a try and let me know what you think.

I'll post a review and pictures of the muffins after I've made them.

Tuesday stuff or where do low carb & low cholesterol meet? Or do they?

Well, our nutritional and exercise lives just got harder. The man found out yesterday his cholesterol is "through the roof" but he didn't get the exact number. He sees the Dr tomorrow and I'm sure he'll learn more then. In the meantime, what to feed someone who is a Type 2 diabetic maxed out on Glucophage and needs to control carbs but who also needs to watch fat and cholesterol intake?

The typical lower fat, lower cholesterol foods are likely to spike his blood sugar. Oatmeal, one of the major players in the cholesterol lowering food lineup spikes him and gives him major heartburn. He's willing to try organic oats to see if perhaps there's something used in the processing of the others that causes the heartburn but that doesn't help with the spike in blood sugar it causes. We have the same basic issues with bread, legumes, fruit and some vegetables. They either cause major heartburn, spike the blood sugar, or both.

Last night's dinner was the last of the leftover salmon, green beans, and mixed greens.

Today's lunch was salad, a little blackened fish, and a small amount of peas and carrots.

Tonight's dinner will be a few baked chicken wings, salad, and broccoli. We ended up eating a fairly low in fat but moderate in carb chicken and vegetable dish from the freezer. We had it with salad and peas and carrots.

See a pattern developing? I do. Boredom! Just like low carb is after months and months...

We have two major obstacles: breakfast and snacks. He's an egg eater and eats at least two eggs every morning for breakfast. He's willing to try 1 egg with the equivalent of an egg beater type product but that still gives 7 eggs a week if he eats that each morning. He really needs to eat four or fewer eggs a week so I'm researching and looking for more breakfast ideas that don't include fatty meats, eggs, fruit, high carb vegetables, or oatmeal. Good luck! He's used to snacking on meat, cheese, and whatever else he desires but that's got to really be brought into control.

On the brighter side of things, we do have the advantage of having joined the gym last week and we've been faithful about going. We even got up at 5:15 this morning, headed over there, and worked out for 55 minutes before I had to shower and dress for work. We know that exercise and losing weight will help both the blood sugar and the cholesterol but we still have to figure out the nutrition/diet part of things.

If you have any brilliant ideas on this, please share. You can either post suggestions here or on the diabetes blog. My brain is fried from all the thinking!

Menu Plan Monday

Since our weekend experiment in modified low carb didn't work out too well, it's back to not-so-modified low carb for us. Connie left four of her low carb cookbooks with me and took two of mine. We're going to look through them for recipes to help spice up our diets and hopefully ease the boredom issue. She also brought some leftovers with her so we'll eat those first and I'll cook when the spare food is gone.

In the cooking arena of my life, I have a goal to try two new recipes a week, at least one of them low carb and the other must either be low carb or easily adaptable to low carb.

We're going to the gym daily and went twice yesterday. The exercise definitely affects the blood sugar but right now I see no pattern or consistency so it's still something of a crap shoot. You can read more about our lives with diabetes in all its glory at the Diabetes blog Connie and I have.

So, here's our menu for the week, in no particular order except for last night's dinner, which is listed first:

Grilled salmon on a very small bed of dirty rice served with green beans and spinach (I've asked Connie to post the recipes for the salmon and rice on the diabetes blog as they're both absolutely fantastic!)

Beef Stroganoff, tossed salad, broccoli, and brussels sprouts

Stir fried chicken and vegetables served with steamed spinach parmesan

Bigass salad

Beef, cheese and jalapeno sausages served with a small pasta salad made of Dreamfields pasta, fresh vegetables and a light dressing

Night out

YOYO night when we eat all the leftovers from the week

I'm really trying to keep our diet from being so dull and predictable but it isn't easy.

Again, thank you to Laura for hosting Menu Plan Monday. It really does benefit my little family and I appreciate the opportunity to participate. If you haven't participated, why not? It isn't hard and it will save you time, money, and stress! So hop to it. ;)

The trouble with low carb eating...

is boredom!

My sister was here from Dallas this weekend and we had a nice time. She went to the gym with us Friday and though she has cracked ribs from a recent auto accident, she walked the indoor track with me and did a little time on a treadmill. Yaaay, Connie!

She and I both have been struggling with our nutrition. Because we're Type 2 diabetics and overweight we need to lose weight and we absolutely must keep the blood glucose in line. For both of us, carbs are the main culprit in blood sugar spikes. Although protein and fat are important factors, carbs have a quicker and sharper impact on the blood sugar so for the most part we really limit carbs. But a life with strictly limited carbs, both simple and complex, quickly becomes boring and staying with the program gets harder and harder. Connie and I both keep hitting the carb wall and then we go on a binge eating things we absolutely shouldn't. And we know we shouldn't. But how to stop?

That's the question. Yes, it's a matter of self control and discipline but it's also a matter of simply getting bored with chicken, fish, and low carb vegetables and finally losing it. It's horrible and we both know we have 'food issues' but we haven't figured out just how to deal with them. We just kind of muddle along as best we can, trying to keep the carb count down and praying the next day doesn't become a binge day. But really, it's next to impossible to eat very low carb all day, every day. There has to be a better way, right?

Connie recently purchased the Food Lovers Fat Loss System so she brought it with her and we read over the books, talked about the program, and tried it for a couple of days but the high blood sugar readings, lethargy, and general blah feeling we both experienced made it clear that this plan won't work for us. So, it's back to low carb we go.

Although I've known for years that regular exercise helps my blood sugar I just recently joined a gym and can tell a difference already. I feel better after the workout, I'm sleeping better, and a good one hour workout lowers my BG quite a bit. Now, don't think I like exercise. I'm truly a slug, dear readers. However, I do enjoy the improved mood and increase in energy I have after a workout and I really enjoy the reward of lowered blood sugar and if exercise will get me those then exercise is what I'll do. I also hope the exercise increases my insulin sensitivity.

But even if I go to the gym every day, I see no way I'll be able to eat a "normal" diet. Here's an example of why. After the work out this morning, my blood sugar was 109, down from the pre-workout of 180. Great! An hour later it was 82. I ate a measured and weighed lunch of two ounces of chicken fried steak with two teaspoons of gravy, two Tablespoons of mashed potatoes, and one small steamed broccoli spear. I drank water and two hours later the blood sugar was 217. What??? A 135 point difference from that small amount of food? Yep and it's disgusting and depressing. Numbers like that make me want to just say to hell with it and enjoy my food even if it means I have a shorter life. I don't feel that way all the time but I do feel that way occasionally.

I won't give up, though. I've been in this battle almost ten years and I'm not ready to declare Diabetes the winner. I might have to eat very low carb unless I go to the gym afterwards and work it off. And it might be that as I lose weight I can handle more carbs. I don't know. I do know that I can't live on strict low carb for the rest of my life but I can't handle ridiculously high blood sugar readings, either. There must be some kind of compromise and I have to find it.

Can you tell I'm frustrated?

If you have suggestions, encouragement or thoughts on this, please share with me.

Lime-y Salted Chicken

While Connie and I were in Eddyville, Kentucky we went to Echo Charlie's Bayside Restaurant, a nice but somewhat overpriced little eatery at the marina. The waitress recommended Bubba's Key West Salt Wings, cautioning that if we ate them we'd be puffy with water retention the next morning but we thought what the heck and ordered some anyway. I have to say that never in my life have I had chicken wings so good! Until I ate those wings, my all time favorite was My Way Wings, a recipe of my own creation and one suited to my particular tastes. And those still rock, by the way, but Bubba's Key West Salt Wings have snap and pizazz that are hard to beat! I'm not normally impressed with salty food and these wings were very salty with a definite lime and garlic taste that really appealed to me. I couldn't get enough of them even if they were horribly messy!

Connie and I figured we could make them at home or something very close at the least. By taste, we figured the wings are marinated in a mixture of butter, lime juice, olive oil, kosher salt, a lot of garlic, and some oregano. They definitely have something green in them as you can see in the picture below.




Okay, so maybe you can't tell much (the picture was taken with my cell phone) but try!

Today I decided to try to re-produce those wings but had no wings, nor did I have Kosher salt and massive amounts of garlic. Hindsight tells me I should have just waited until I had wings, Kosher salt, and more garlic! Instead, I used chicken thighs, a salt blend, and the garlic I had. I marinated 6 thighs for about thirty minutes in a mixture of:

1 stick melted butter
1 Tablespoon of olive oil
1 Tablespoon of crushed garlic
1 teaspoon of garlic pepper seasoning
15 twists of the Loretta Spicy Sea Salt grinder
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
juice of a large lime

Then I baked the thighs at 350 until done.



Here's the finished product - good chicken but not what I wanted.

The wings didn't taste like butter, salt, lime, or garlic! Obviously I didn't use enough of those ingredients but lordy, 1 stick of butter for 6 wings should be enough! Perhaps it was just that the seasonings were off but the wings were bland compared to those I ate in Kentucky.

I'm going to attempt this again but will have wings, a lot more garlic, more lime and Kosher salt on hand.

In the meantime, you might try this recipe, adjusting it to suit your family's tastes. As I said, it was good - it just wasn't what I wanted. If you try it, do let me know. And if you've eaten Bubba's Key West Salt Wings and have ideas on how to make a copycat, please let me know! I really can't see taking a vacation to Kentucky every time I crave them!