Giving Organ Meats A Shot

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liver

I’ve never had organ meat but this year I’m giving it a shot. Nutrient rich calf liver is first up. Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhoto.net and mister GC.

In my quest to become fearless in the kitchen, I’ve decided I’m going to give organ meats a try, starting with liver. I have no idea how to cook organ meats or how they taste, but I’m spending part of the day flipping through Julia Child’s Mastering The Art Of French Cooking. Her recipes are simple and easily turned low carb by substituting almond flour with wheat flour.

But mainly I’m reading Julia to build up my courage.

Why Organ Meats?
I’ve read in different books that mentioned how our ancestors ate all parts of an animal, but specific parts were more desirable than others. Eyes and organs were preferred over muscle meat (what we eat today).

Organ meats are nutrient powerhouses and liver is one of the best. Nutrients include high amounts of A, multiple B vitamins, folic acid (awesome for someone like me in the early stages of IVF treatments), iron, cooper, iron, and C0Q10, important for cardiovascular function. Take that multivitamins! Read More

DYI Strawberry Ice Cream

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ice cream done

My quickie strawberry ice cream took about 5 minutes to make using just 3 ingredients. It taste better than the real thing (which is loaded with sugar).

For a nice, New Year’s Eve treat I decided to “whip” up some homemade ice cream. While I really want to play with the husband’s ice cream maker (wow, that sounds inappropriate!), I wanted something quick. Like under 10 minutes.

I had frozen strawberries and asked The Google for help. But every recipe I found for strawberry ice cream was loaded with sugar or a low carb alternative. I’m not opposed to sweeteners, but strawberries are already sweet, why do I need to add anything?

So that got me thinking (a very dangerous thing!). What if I just add whipped heavy cream? No sugar. No honey. No Swerve.

It took a total of 5 minutes of prep time and 3 ingredients. The result? Awesomely creamy strawberry ice cream that mom and the husband devoured. Read More

Weekly Weigh In: Down 1.6 Pounds

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weigh in jan 4

In January 2012 I weighed 325 lbs. As of today I’ve lost over 140 lbs. To continue my quest to optimize my health, I’m giving up alcohol.

I start the new year weighing 184.6 pounds. That puts my total weight loss at 140.4 lbs. since I started this little journey in 2012. I attribute the loss mostly to my January challenge — no alcohol for 30 days.

Alcohol Causing My Weight Loss Stall
As I tracked my food I got suspicious that the cause of my weight fluctuation was my wine. Oh how I do love the Nectar of the Gods, but my intake was much higher than normal over the holidays.

Also I started experiencing heartburn right before bed, something that hasn’t happened since I switched to a LCHF diet. Hmmmm….something was amiss.

While wine is low in carbs it slows or stops your weight loss. And if you’re not careful it packs on the pounds too.

I wasn’t careful. Read More

Reinventing Deviled Eggs

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deviled eggs

These devilish eggs include more than a few drops of Frank’s Hot Sauce between the egg white and the creamy, bacon-infused yolks. Yum!

After a fun grocery expedition with mom yesterday morning, my plan was to spend the afternoon food prepping and cooking a few meals. Well that went up in smoke when I got home. I felt exhausted…that happens when you wake up at 3:00 a.m. because a cat is walking on your head.

The husband suggest I take a little catnap. That little nap turned into 3 hours of solid sleep.

So I spent the evening in the kitchen, fixing dinner, chopping veggies and making snacks for the week.

Deviled eggs are one of my favorite go to snacks. Not only can you whip them up in no time, you can really get creative in your toppings — bacon, olives, fresh herbs, jalapenos, chorizo sausage, horseradish, smoked paprika, crab…

Ugh, I’m drooling all over my keyboard.

Devilish Eggs
Last night I made The Domestic Man’s devilish egg recipe. He adds a few drops of Tabasco sauce between the egg white and the yolk.

Well I love everything hot, so I had to make it. I just added some chives and my new sugar-free bacon. Yum!  Now I have to admit my hand got a little heavy when I was adding the hot sauce. But in my defense, that’s the way I roll.

I’m not expecting these to last the weekend. So that means guacamole deviled eggs are up next!

Fun With Deviled Egg Toppings
Not sure what you can do to add some zip to your deviled eggs? Not to fear, there are lots of great recipes online to inspire you. Here’s a few of my go to recipe sites.

 

 

Resetting My Goals: Shooting For Optimal Health

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new life

Since I’ve lost 140 lbs. and my doctor told me I was healthy, I needed a new health goal to set my sights on in my march to lose another 30 lbs. My upcoming IVF treatments were key in coming up with this new goal. Image courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net and mrpuen.

Despite my procrastinating, I came up with my new health goal fairly quickly the other day. I’m totally committed to optimizing my health to improve my chances of a successful IVF treatment and pregnancy.

Seems sensible. Although I’m not sure what “optimal health” really means.

I spent some quality time researching the definition of optimal health. But there really isn’t one. Because we are all so different, the optimal weight, nutrient levels, BMI, muscle mass, athletic performance, etc. isn’t the same for any one person.

Defining Health
I stumbled across an interesting article over at Paleo Leap on defining optimal health. Basically the article confirmed what I thought. You can’t define it. There are so many variables — weight, BMI, muscle mass, athletic performance, sleep, etc.

As a starting point, the article included a working definition of health I liked:

Health is the mental and physical energy, vitality, and resilience to live joyfully in your own body and face the challenges of your life.

Okay…so how does one live like that all the time? Read More

Weekly Weigh-In: Nothing!

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Despite the travel over the last couple of months and lots of stress eating, I've stopped gaining weight. Time to get back to basics and become a fat burning machine.

Despite the travel over the last couple of months and lots of stress eating, I’ve stopped gaining weight. Time to get back to basics and become a fat burning machine.

The good news is I’m holding steady despite a pretty stressful week. The bad news, I saw a bad habit – stress eating – come back with abandon. Ugh!

So this week I’m going back to basics. I’m working on a simple menu – just tried and true meals without a lot of moving parts. So plenty of eggs, steak, healthy fats (in the form of sauces, avocado and butter), and some leafy greens.

I’m also starting to cut back — way back — on my coffee intake. I was up 8 cups a day and my water intake dropped significantly. Of course, with each cup of Joe I added 1 teaspoon of heavy cream. I ran into problems with cream before. When I cut back, I started losing weight again. This time I’m limiting myself to no more than 2 cups of coffee (all decaf by the way!). While this limits my cream too, I’m still going to try to enjoy drinking my coffee black.

Time To Get Moving Again
Since the end of August I haven’t been able to exercise as consistently as I like. I know that exercise doesn’t cause weight loss, but I tend to eat smarter when I’m working out. When I don’t workout, I start feeling restless and that can get me into trouble in the kitchen.

I’m headed back to my parkour gym this week. After my first 2-hour class, I haven’t been back due to my travel schedule and just too much going on at my house. My plan is to take the 90-minute intro to Urban Fit (weight training) and the parkour class for folks over 35.

Oh, and despite the cold weather I’m walking everyday.

Lots of muscle soreness is headed my way this week.  Yay!

Avocado & Basil Dressing

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Just combine all of your ingredients in a food processor. You'll have a great tasting salad dressing in minutes.

Just combine all of your ingredients in a food processor. You’ll have a great tasting salad dressing in minutes.

Avocado and basil…two wonderful flavors joined to make a healthy, tasty and creamy salad dressing.

I found it recipe on the Nom Nom Paleo app — a must for every healthy kitchen. An app review is coming soon (hint: it is awesome!).

The dressing reminded me of a creamier version of my pesto, with the avocado flavor taking the place of my beloved walnuts.

It’s a pretty thick dressing thanks to the avocado. If you want it a little thinner, I suggest adding a more lime juice. But not too much more…you really want to keep the great avocado-basil flavors. You can also just use a couple of tablespoons of water.

If you rather not thin it, I’d suggest tossing the dressing and salad in a bowl before serving.

For dinner we had Chorizo-Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms (that recipe will be up tomorrow). I just added a side of mixed greens with tomato and a tablespoon (half the serving size) of the dressing on top. Yum!

Avocado & Basil Dressing
Net Carbs: 1g
Weight Watchers Points Plus: 3
Servings: 2 tbsp/serving (total of 8 servings)

Ingredients

  • 1 medium Hass avocado
  • 1 C basil leaves, packed
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • fresh lime juice from 1.5-2 limes
  • Kosher salt
  • ground black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
  • 1/4 C extra virgin olive oil
  • 1-2 tbsp water (optional)

Directions

  • Remove the skin and pit from the avocado and place in a food processor. Add in the basil leaves, garlic, lime juice, salt, red and black peppers, and olive oil.
  • Mix all the ingredients until well blended.
  • If too thick, try adding water or juice from 1/2 lime.

Enjoy!

 

Loaded Cauliflower Muffins

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This little side dish is a great way to play with veggies. Next time I plan to add broccoli and diced red pepper to my Cauliflower Muffins.

This little side dish is a great way to play with veggies. Next time I plan to add broccoli and diced red pepper to my Cauliflower Muffins.

Made with cauliflower, almond four and flax seeds, these spongy muffins are a nifty little side dish for dinner. This recipe is from George Stella’s The Complete Low-Carb Cookbook. The recipe makes 12 muffins total, so you’ll have plenty of leftovers.

I did make the mistake of chopping the cauliflower too small, which resulted in over cooking it. The cauliflower ended up too mushy rather than crunchy in the muffin. Lesson learned for next time.

While the bacon, cheddar and Parmesan makes for a nice flavor, I needed a little more punch. I ended up salting my muffins and melting a little butter on top. Yum! Read More

Smokey Joe Burgers – Healthy, Simple & Delish

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Thanks to this burger recipe, Smoked Paprika is now my favorite seasoning. It is truly amazing.

Thanks to this burger recipe, Smoked Paprika is now my favorite seasoning. It is truly amazing.

Like most households, ground beef is a quick, easy, go to protein for dinner. The problem is that burgers can get pretty dull. Thanks to a few of my low carb cookbooks, I found a few recipes to kick my bun-less burgers up a notch.

This particular recipe comes from Rozanne Gold’s Low Carb 1-2-3 and has only 4 ingredients. It takes 3 hours for the ingredients to create a great flavor, but it is worth it.

Smokey Joe Burgers
Net Carbs: 1.5g
Weight Watchers PointsPlus: 6
Servings: 6

Ingredients

  • 2 lbs. ground sirloin
  • 1 medium onion, grated (enough for 2-1/2 tbsp of onion pulp)
  • 2 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp salt

Directions

  • 3 hours before serving, place the sirloin, onion pulp, smoked paprika, and salt. Using your hands, mix the thoroughly (but don’t over mix).
  • Shape the sirloin into 6 large, thick patties. Individually wrap each patty in foil and refrigerate for 3 hours (no longer than 3) to bring out the flavor.
  • After 3 hours, pre-heat the broiler. Remove the burgers from the foil and place them on a rimmed baking sheet and broil, about 6″ from the heat for 3-4 minutes on each side until they reach desired doneness. Serve immediately.

Healthy Loaded “Potato” Soup On Cold, Winter Day

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My faux potato soup hit the spot on a very cold day. Cauliflower is an amazingly versatile veggie.

My faux potato soup hit the spot on a very cold day. Cauliflower is an amazingly versatile veggie.

The wind is howling, rain is on the way and it’s terribly cold outside. Time for soup! Yep, I’m in soup mode.  Earlier in the week I tossed cauliflower, onion, green beans and beef in some broth and made a veggie beef soup.

But I’m craving potato soup. Yum!

I love potato soup but it’s too high in carbs for me to enjoy at the moment. What’s a low carb girl like me, with a desperate need for potato soup, to do? Switch out the potato with a medium head of cauliflower!

Cauliflower?  Oh, yes.

This soup made a wonderful lunch on a cold winter day. Plus it’s outrageously fast, filling and easy to create. Most importantly I got my potato soup fix with just 4g of net carbs. Read More