Learning To Say “No” Again

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This morning I find myself sitting down with a cup of coffee and a book I read more than a year ago – Better than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives by Gretchen Rubin. I find myself in need of remastering one simple yet special word.

In a world where nearly everything is at your fingertips, it’s a word you don’t hear very often — “No.”

“No” was my essential tool in losing 150 pounds over 4 years.  But if you don’t use it you lose it. And I haven’t used it for a long time.

The Vacation Is Over
I just got back from a weeklong visit with family in Texas. It was fun but I discovered I lost the ability to tell myself “no” when it came to snacks, desserts and alcohol. I told myself, “Your on vacation. Enjoy it.”

The problem is my vacation has lasted 373 days. Read More

Gumbo!

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Here is a low carb attempt at gumbo that turned out pretty tasty.  I’ve made LCHF approved gumbo before, but this is the first time I made it with roux. For those of you from New Orleans, please forgive me. I didn’t use wheat. Instead I combined coconut and almond flour with butter.

Still it came out tasty.  The husband was able to try some before I added the shrimp and he loved it.

Grilled Thai Steak Salad

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I’ve been caught up in a whirlwind of chores, home repairs and working out that blogging has taken a back seat (unfortunately).  But the good news is that my energy level is up. I don’t know if it’s due to changes in my supplements, the mindfulness is kicking in, my increased workout schedule or a combo of the three.

Just a couple of big projects to wrap up and then regularly scheduled blogging and cooking videos can commence.  Whew!

Anyway, here is a great way to start your day:  Grilled Thai Steak Salad.

Yep, that’s right. A salad for breakfast.

Perfecting The Butter Burger

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butter burger 2

My second attempt at perfecting the Butter Burger. I’m closer with this one.

I’m finally feeling a heck of a lot better after being in bed for the last 6 days. I got hit with a nasty cold. I made the mistake of thinking I bounced back pretty quickly on Sunday. I felt great and it was a beautiful day. So after walking the dogs, grocery shopping and a few errands, rather than resting I decided to do some grilling for lunch.

So I started my second attempt at a butter burger. My first didn’t go as well as I hoped. You are supposed to put a pat of butter in the middle of your ground beef before it hits the grill. Well I found that it just melts out and the burger isn’t any more juicy for it. Read More

‘Foreign Diets’ Are Dieticians’ Unicorns

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An interesting read was making the rounds this weekend in the twitterverse. It was a perfect take down of the latest variation of the Mediterranean diet. According to this version, the people of the Mediterranean don’t eat red meat or butter so neither should you. Wow!

Just one tiny problem. The article’s writer, Joanna Blythman, is an investigative food journalist and someone who has actually traveled around the Mediterranean. She’s learned about their most popular foods. Turns out, dishes aren’t so free of red meat and butter. You can read the article yourself.

diet myths

Sorry, but there isn’t a mythical foreign diet. The best way to get healthy and stay that way is to eat real food and avoid processed foods (a.k.a., fake food) rather than healthy fats.

Time For Some Saucy Meatloaf

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I was never a big fan of meatloaf. Just too dry for my liking. Whenever my family had it, I’d secretly wish we’d just had burgers. Because Dad’s burgers were awesomely juicy.  I always had to have a large beverage on hand with any meatloaf to try to choke it down. Ugh!

Well those days are gone. Just adding some of my tomato sauce to the mix did the trick. It smells and tastes like lasagna without the carb-loaded noodles!

I made this one for mom. She pretty much devoured it.

Enjoy!

Slow Roasted Pork Belly

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OK, this video is way longer than my other ones. But the pork is absolutely delicious. While I make 2 slight modifications (1 due to lack of ingredients, the other to add more healthy fat), it isn’t my recipe. I recreated a Gordon Ramsay dish and I have to say the man knows his stuff!

One of the joys of cooking I’ve discovered is using new ingredients. This dish includes two: star anise (which looks like little ninja throwing star!) and cardamom pods. Awesome aromatics that I plan to use again!

Lemon Herb Chicken Casserole

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This video is actually two recipes in one. The first is for my lemon herb chicken. The chicken comes out so tender, juicy and delicious. Normally I use chicken thighs with skin. But the second recipe — a creamy chicken casserole — calls for no skin.

The casserole recipe is from The Ketogenic Cookbook and is wonderful. You can use any leftover chicken for the dish, but my lemon herb chicken a nice flavor.

Both are tasty and easy to make.

Brussels Sprouts, Bacon & Creme Fraiche

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For St. Patrick’s Day I ended up making a corned beef brisket but forgot to buy the cabbage. Thankfully I had some Brussels sprouts in my fridge. They are the same species as cabbage and green too!  Whew!

I was planning to add bacon to the sprouts when I came across this recipe in The Real Meal Revolution. For some reason I never thought to lightly saute steamed Brussels sprouts in the rendered bacon fat. Add in creme fraiche and awesomeness happens.

Chicken Stuffed Peppers

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My dad use to make stuffed peppers when I was a kid. Green peppers, diced onions, cheese, ground beef, hot sauce and “milk.” Actually I think the milk was really cream of mushroom soup, but it’s not like that’s something you can tell 5 food-fussy kids. A man’s gotta do what he’s gotta do, right?

Anyway here’s a version from The Complete Guide To Fasting by Dr. Jason Fung (yes, a fasting book with recipes!). This recipe replaces ground beef with chicken and tosses in some spices and grape tomatoes.

Easy to make and, like other recipes from the book I’ve tried, very yummy.