Mediterranean omelets and knife & fork burgers

Rain, rain, go away, come back some other day! Like the day after I leave for spring break!!! No, I don't wish the dreary rain on anyone else... I'm going to have to get busy packing at some point but I'd rather watch TV and think about what I'm going to do on our break...
Tonight my husband spent a good bit of time in our low carb kitchen. He fixed a really nice meal. Mediterranean style omelets with 2 cheeses, spinach & chopped green onion - my omelet was yummy. For a side, we split a nice crispy apple, cut into slices. I absolutely love sour apples especially when they're sprinkled with salt and topped with the new peanut butter I've been buying. This was a great meal that would be perfect for any meal.
Speaking of my husband, one of his favorite things to eat is burgers. He calls his burgers "smothered burgers" but I heard another term for them on the Rachel Ray Show the other day - knife & fork burgers. I like that name! She explained that her mother used to make them & that's what she called them. So what's a smothered burger or a knife & fork burger? Burgers with no bun or bread, piled so thick with low carb toppings that you have to eat them with a knife & fork. Delicious!
Another thing my husband made this week was something a little special for my daughter. When our kids were much younger, he used to make roast beef sandwiches smothered with melted cheddar cheese. He says is secret is cooking the roast beef in butter & I agree with him on that - they are absolutely great even without the bread.
So I'll leave you with this thought - have you ever considered your favorite sandwich & thought about coming up with a low carb version? You could use low carb bread, or 1 slice of low carb bread for an open-faced sandwich, or no bread. We do this often with all kinds of sandwiches - I prefer no bread or sometimes 1 slice of low carb bread cut in half. By eating this way you kind of wean yourself off of the bread rollercoaster and you appreciate the toppings much more. The meat & cheese are usually no carb or very low carb and there are a lot of toppings that are also no carb or very low carb.
I'll be posting the recipes later for the omelets & the roast beef "sandwiches". Time for me to go. Hope you have a nice evening! Take care!

Easter eggs, egg recipes & scotch eggs

Good evening! I certainly hope that you’ve had a great day so far! The weather here is so much better today. The day started out very overcast, chilly & extremely foggy. Now it’s a beautiful, sunny day. Welcome Spring!
Well, let’s get down to business – I can’t wait to tell you what I made yesterday in my low carb kitchen. My husband was so darn excited, he couldn’t hardly contain himself!
First of all, do you ever wonder how in the world you could eat all of the Easter eggs you end up fixing? When our kids were growing up we explained to them that we would dye Easter eggs and leave the door open so that the Easter Bunny could come inside, get in our refrigerator and take the eggs outside to hide them. We told them that we were helping him out by providing our own eggs and also that he would like to see all the eggs we dyed. Speaking of all the eggs we dyed, we always let each of our kids dye at least 1 dozen eggs and then some more, too. Normally we dye, 3 to 4 dozen eggs. Yes, that may be overdoing it, but our kids, including us adults, are pretty artsy and we really enjoy the “artwork” we create.
The eggs were normally outside for just a few minutes, so we’d put them back in the refrigerator. Then we’d try to eat them all up before we ended up throwing a good majority of them away later in the week. Prior to this year, we’ve mostly used the eggs for egg salad and deviled eggs. But this year I’ve been on a quest to come up with some ways to use all the eggs. So whether or not you dye eggs or even celebrate Easter, I’m determined to share with you some nice recipes for boiled eggs. The first recipe I posted a couple of weeks ago: jalapeno-spiced egg salad for 1. You can double or triple this recipe for more servings.
My next recipe is what I made for supper last night and my husband was so excited! So here’s my new recipe creation - scotch eggs. My husband has begged and begged for me to try to come up with a low carb version of this recipe. So I gave it a shot and the eggs turned out really good – just ask my husband and daughter! So, you may be wondering what in the world is a scotch egg. Well, it’s a hard boiled egg, that is basically wrapped with ground breakfast sausage and baked. I also made a Dijon cream sauce for dipping, that was really good – especially with a few drops of hot sauce. So if you’re looking to try something a little different I would definitely suggest scotch eggs. If you have big plans for the Easter holiday, you could make these eggs ahead of time and warm them prior to serving. They would be great for breakfast or as an additional side dish for a meal.
Stay tuned for more recipes tomorrow. Time for me to get ready to watch American Idol - we can’t wait to see what’s in store this week. I’ll be back tomorrow. Have a good evening & take care!

Spring, Easter traditions & ham

Good evening! Hope you had a great weekend! I’m so glad that spring is finally here as is the lovely spring rain. I think it’s been raining for 2 days, but it’s supposed to be sunny tomorrow. With the new season comes a whole new list of recipes that I’d like to share with everyone.
Since Spring is here it also means that Easter is just around the corner, too. I’m really looking forward to Easter although my [immediate] family won’t be getting together for the holiday. I think maybe we’ll have our own little holiday celebration the weekend after Easter. We’re not getting together this year because my sons’ band is on tour and they won’t be getting home until late in the evening on Easter. But of course, they’ll still get an Easter basket!
When I was a child, Easter was always a big celebration for our family. My mother normally did a lot of sewing of Easter dresses for me & my 2 sisters. I remember the last Easter dress my mother made for me – I was 16 or 17 and the material was a light blue fabric with a tiny raised flower design. The dress was a sun dress and she also made a very short jacket to go with it, which was almost sleeveless. On the Saturday night before Easter we got about a foot of snow! I still have the picture of my mother & I in our new dresses and sandals, standing in the snow.
Speaking of my mother, the first “Easter” recipe I’m going to share with you, I learned from her. Easy baked ham marinated with diet cola. Although my mother always used a regular cola for marinating. It’s very easy and I always get a lot of compliments on the recipe. Whenever someone asks for my recipe, they always look at me funny when I tell them what it is but it is very, very good. I like to serve this ham for Easter and I also like to make this for our New Years Eve party, whenever we get the chance to have one.
Another recipe I’d like to share with you today is strawberries & cream jello dessert. We used to grow strawberries in our backyard when I was very young. My mother always said they had to get rid of them because the kids wouldn’t stay out of them – we’d eat them straight from the plant. I think strawberries or just about any other kind of berries are my favorite fruit, they're also one of the most low carb fruits. This recipe is made from jello, strawberries & heavy cream.
I hope you add these recipes to your recipe collection. Stayed tuned for some more recipes tomorrow. Hope you have a nice evening! Take care!

busy, quick & easy

Good evening! I don't know about your household, but sometimes mine just seems pretty darn hectic. My sons are getting ready to go on a tour with their band, so they've been trying to practice as much as possible. One of the band members just flew in 2 days ago, they leave Friday so they need to practice, practice, practice. My youngest son lives at home, he always gets a little nervous before they leave. But I think the rest of the band does, too. So they're trying to do a bunch of different things at once - including building a new bench seat for their van & attaching regulation seatbelts.
And then there's my daughter, Lori - she's a senior. Tonight she went with one of her friends to look at prom dresses and to go out for dinner. She's also been applying for scholarships & talking with colleges. She's been studying a lot, too. And planning for spring break & working on a fund raiser - which reminds me, why do they always have to do that darn cookie dough fund raiser at schools? I hate to even ask anyone to by that sugar laden stuff! Oh, but wait they have sugar-free chocolate chip cookie dough this year... that even makes it worse - it's labeled as "sugar-free" but I guarantee it's not low carb.
So, anyway, I'm sure you have times that you're really busy, too, and the quicker you can put together a meal the better. Eating low carb doesn't mean you have to cook a big meat meal every night. In fact, with the warmer months just right around the corner, we tend to eat a lot of meals that are quick and easy. Some require no cooking - like tonight's meal. My husband picked it up on his way home. Peppered turkey breast, cheddar cheese, slaw mix, pork rinds, apples and blueberries - just so that we could have a variety and because he wasn't sure who might be here for supper. So he and I both had peppered turkey breast, cheddar cheese, a quick slaw made from slaw mix, salt & mayo and some pork rinds. Less than 5 net carbs for each of our meals. Blueberries are low carb, too, and if we eat an apple we normally share a smaller one, so that's only about 5 to 6 net carbs per serving.
So, in summary, eating low carb can be quick, easy and require practically no preperation. I hope this gets you to thinking about your preferences and some quick and easy low carb meals that will suit your family.
Now that we've finished our supper, all band mates have left for a bit and my daughter is at church, it's time for a little rest, relaxation and TV watching with my husband. Hope you have a good evening! Take care!

the boys are back in town

So happy tonight:) My sons' band, Be My Doppelganger, is going on tour on Friday. Their drummer moved about 2 months ago - from Evansville, Indiana to Reno, Nevada. We sure have missed him! He flew in yesterday so that they could all practice for a couple of days before heading out on their 2 week tour.
So they all met here this afternoon to get in some practice time. They also brought my favorite daughter-in-law with them. Okay, she's my only daughter-in-law and I love hanging out with her. Also, Dave from St. Louis is here - he's going on tour with the boys.
We love it when the boys come over to practice. I call them boys although the youngest is 21! I really enjoy hanging out and visiting with them and I love to cook for them, too. Normally, in my low carb kitchen, I fix something ahead of time - usually one of their favorites like spicy pork loin - it's cooked in a slow cooker with jalapenos. Between the 4 of them, they can devour a 4 to 5 lb pork loin in a matter of a couple of hours.
But, I didn't plan ahead today, so instead I made easy baked pork loin, sauerkraut, a tossed spinach salad & creamy mock mashed "potatoes" made with cauliflower. I added a couple of handfuls of shredded cheddar cheese to the cauliflower after one of the boys in the band, Ryan Dunn aka Fun Dunn, asked if I was making the cauliflower with cheese - he was so excited. They all loved the meal including my husband and daughter. I think they all went back for seconds.
Now that they're finished eating I better go check on the state of the kitchen and get it cleaned up. Have a great evening! Take care!

corned beef & cabbage - St. Patrick's Day is Wednesday!

Good evening! Hope you've had a good day! What a busy weekend. Saturday was especially fun - got to watch my husband play drums & sing with Natasha Neely. She did a great job. And the band sounded absolutely awesome! One of her backup singers, who also sang a couple of songs by herself, was on the soap opera "The Young & The Restless" when she was a child. How cool is that?
When we came home Saturday night, I headed straight for my low carb kitchen to get my brisket cooking. Oh, I forgot - first we had to stop on the way home to pick up a beer for the recipe. I was hoping to use an Irish beer, but they were all out. So I settled for another dark beer. Anyway, the recipe calls for beer but you can also use a non-alcoholic beer.
So with only 2 more days until St. Patrick's Day - I have finally added my latest recipe in honor of the special occassion. If you're looking for an Irish recipe for St. Patrick's Day I highly recommend this recipe for corned beef & cabbage.
My next series of recipes will be in honor of Easter. Traditionally, my family's main course is almost always ham & I have a great, easy recipe for baked ham. I learned this recipe from my mother. And speaking of my mother, after I got married & my parents were left with an empty nest, my mother started making homemade Easter candy. Solid chocolate eggs, peanut butter cups, white chocolate delicacies, and many more delicious treats. I inherited all of her molds so I'm thinking about trying to use them to create some low carb treats!
I wonder what I'll make... be sure and stay tuned for some treats that will be sure to satisfy your candy cravings! Well, it's time for me to go. Hope you have a great evening!!

green dream dessert & no/low carb snack ideas

Good Saturday morning! I hope your weekend is getting off to a great start! We have big plans today - my husband is performing (playing drums & singing backup vocals) with an up-and-coming country artist - Natasha Neely. I'll be going tonight to watch them, along with some of our family and friends. They'll be performing at Goldie’s Best Little Opryhouse in Owensboro, Kentucky at 7 p.m.
For the last couple of days I've been trying to figure out a computer problem, so I haven't spent too much time in my low carb kitchen. The computer problem is finally resolved - yeah! And I have a couple of new recipes for you. First of all, as promised here's my 3 ingredient green dessert that kids young and old are guaranteed to enjoy - St. Patrick's Day green dream dessert. Sugarfree jello, water & heavy whipping cream go together in less than 5 minutes, so there's not much prep time. I hope you give this a try & you enjoy it, too. Isn't it pretty?!
If you're looking for a "sweet" no carb snack, how about jello? I buy a package of 12 premade single serving, assorted flavors, sugar-free jello from my local grocery store. It's normally found in the dairy section. It's a quick, easy no carb snack. During the warmer months, I also use sugar-free jello frequently for other no/low carb desserts. I'll be posting some of these recipes soon.
I don't know about you, but I love jello - eating it kind of makes me feel like a kid again. I don't know if schools still serve jello, but as a child I remember our schools served it frequently. Although, I didn't particularly care for the jello with the shredded carrots in it... I think someone thought up that idea just to get kids to eat their carrots.
Speaking of kids, my daughter Lori, came up with a new recipe last night and it was so good, I've posted it on the website - pork rinds with pepperoni & cheese. Pork rinds are such a versatile no carb snack [be sure to check labels, some flavored pork rinds contain carbs.] When we first started our low carb lifestyle, we craved a crunchy, salty snack! I had never eaten pork rinds before but I decided to give them a try. At first, I'd have them with melted cheese or a dip because I wasn't really a big fan of them. Now, I really like pork rinds and always keep them on hand for a quick snack.
Well it's time for me to get a few things done this morning. I will be posting my corned beef & cabbage recipe later this weekend - just in time for St. Patrick's Day, which is this coming Wednesday. Have a great day!!

like a boy scout (or girl scout, in my case) - [almost] always prepared...

What a beautiful day! I was so excited to get off work a 1/2 hour early today to enjoy the beautiful weather - 70 degrees and very sunny. It was so sunny that I bypassed the kitchen and headed out on a lovely walk with my husband. We only live a few blocks from the downtime area & when the weather is nice, we like to walk.
Speaking of the weather being nice, I'm not sure about you, but when it's nice outside I tend to spend less time in the kitchen and more time outdoors. Even if you typically spend less time in the kitchen when the weather is nice, it doesn't mean you have to sacrifice a nice low carb meal. So I wanted to blog about what I keep on hand so that we can fix a meal in a jiffy!
We keep the following in the freezer - chicken breasts, fish fillets, beef patties & pork patties. Sometimes I have chicken wings & shrimp, too. Tonight, my husband wanted to cook, so he whipped up a really nice meal - fried pork patties & leftovers (creamy coleslaw and Irish heritage cabbage). I like to keep frozen meats & fish in the freezer because that ensures we almost always have something on hand for a quick meal. I know some people never eat leftovers, but I truly appreciate being able to have enough extra for another meal. Sometimes we have our leftovers for another dinner meal or one of us eats it for lunch or a snack.
We also keep the following in the refrigerator for quick meals - fresh spinach leaves, cabbage, cauliflower, cheese, cheese and did I mention cheese? If you keep these items on had you can also fix something from the freezer along with a salad, slaw or maybe even just slices of cheese. We just love cheese!
Because I keep stuff in the freezer & refrigerator, it makes taking my breakfast & lunch to work very easy - in fact, it's much easier than trying to go out to grab a meal. For breakfast, I fix either some type of eggs or my hot milled flax seed cereal. Most of my work lunches consist of a cooked fish fillet (microwaved in the morning, sprinkled with lemon pepper) and a large fresh spinach salad. My version of spinach salad is so easy - parmesan cheese, olive oil & balsamic vinegar - and only 1 to 2 net carbs.
I think you get the idea, the more prepared you are the easier it is to follow a low carb lifestyle. Before we began this lifestyle, I assure you I wasn't very prepared for meals and like many other families, we ended up eating lots of meals outside of the home because either we didn't have anything or enough ingredients on hand to make a meal. Or we ordered pizza because that was so easy! When we started our low carb lifestyle, that curbed our restaurant eating because it was easier to eat at home. That also helped me learn that it's much easier to be prepared than to have to stop at a grocery store on the way home from work - this is one thing I hate to do but I used to all the time before our low carb lifestyle.
I hope these low carb ideas help you! If you ever have any questions, just let me know. Oh, about the low carb St. Patrick's day dessert that I said I'd post tonight - sorry, but you'll have to wait until tomorrow for the recipe. A long leisurely walk with my husband took priority tonight! Hoping you have a nice, relaxing evening...

pelts in the fridge, pelts in the fridge, looking like a fool with your pelts in the fridge

I've had a pretty good day & I hope you have, too. This morning was pretty strange, though. I work in a large cubicle area - the office space is pretty big & the cubicles are very big, too. Our cubicles are separated by dividers that are about 6 feet tall. So you can't see all the way through the room. So, not everyone knew what occurred but I guarantee by the end of the day the word got out!
My desk area is 3 rows of cubicles away from our kitchenette. Typically in the morning there is a lot of traffic flowing through our kitchenette with folks getting coffee and whipping up a little breakfast. I was just working away this morning when I overheard one of my coworkers saying something to another coworker and at first I thought she was kidding. Until she said something like I'm not kidding and something about this being an office or workplace.
Being my normal curious self, I had to figure out what was going on. So here's what all the commotion was about - one of my male coworkers brought in a large plastic trash sack that was about 2/3's full of animal pelts. And yes, I did say animal pelts. The problem was, he decided to place them in our freezer!! Yuck!! Long story short, the pelts were almost immediately removed from the freezer and returned to the owner, in order for them to be removed from the premises.
What a day! But one of the best parts of my day is that my husband was more than willing to whip up a new recipe tonight for supper. Okay, he did say as long as it wasn't some kind of "crazy" recipe. I think to him "crazy" means lots of prep and steps involved. The recipe was for Irish pork & cabbage soup. The recipe calls for pork breakfast sausage & while that was browning, my husband chopped the vegetables. As soon as the pork was browned, you simply dump in the liquid, spices and veggies. The soup only took about 25 minutes to cook and the flavor was delicious. Sorry, folks, no pictures tonight. We were too hungry to eat!
I think tomorrow night, I'll probably be in my low carb kitchen cooking up another recipe for St. Patrick's Day. I think I might try a dessert that will please even the most finicky kids & it'll be green, too. And, of course, it will be extremely low carb but the kids won't even notice. I also guarantee it will be super easy with only a few ingredients. Are you intrigued?
I hope so! It's time for me to go. Hope you have a nice evening!

in the low carb kitchen with my husband...

Thank you to my wonderful husband for helping me cook this evening! Well, actually, he did most of the cooking - at least 95% of it! I am very blessed with a husband that likes to cook! One of his favorite things to cook is fried fish.
So, tonight, in my low carb kitchen, he whipped up a very nice meal which consisted of quick & easy tilapia, creamy coleslaw and a new Irish recipe - Irish heritage cabbage. This dish is traditionally made with Irish bacon, but I was unable to find Irish bacon, so I substituted regular bacon. If you decide to try the recipe and you're in my neck of the woods, so to speak, let me know where you find it because I'd love to try it. I researched the recipe and found that it is often served with red wine vinegar on the side. I love vinegar, but my husband, not so much! I had my vinegar on the side & he had his salt and pepper on top. After adding the vinegar to my cabbage, I didn't think it needed salt and I'm not a big fan of pepper, so I skipped the pepper.
I thought the recipe turned out great & the smell was wonderful! I love the aroma & taste of nutmeg - oh, did I tell you the recipe calls for nutmeg? Not something I would normally think of putting on cabbage, but it was really good. Here's a picture of our wonderful meal ~ doesn't it look great? Am I making your mouth water?

Well, I think it's time for a little TV with my husband. I'll be back with another low carb spin on a traditional Irish recipe tomorrow... not sure what it will be, yet, as I have quite a few more Irish recipes up my sleeve... see you tomorrow!!

St. Patrick's Day ~ the history, traditions, parades & recipes

My goal for this week is to provide you with some traditional-types of Irish recipes. Of course, I'll be switching things up in order to modify the recipes - making them much more low carb than the traditional version. So I've spent a good deal of the day researching traditional Irish recipes and legends. First of all, do you know the story of St. Patrick?
St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, is one of Christianity's most widely known figures. St. Patrick was born to wealthy parents near the end of the fourth century in Britain. He is believed to have died on March 17. At the age of 16 he was taken prisoner by a group of Irish raiders who were attacking his family's estate. The raiders transported him to Ireland, where he spent 6 years in captivity before escaping. During his captivity he turned to his religion for solace and became a devout Christian. When he escaped, he returned to Britain. It is reported that Patrick was visited by an angel in a dream telling him to return to Ireland as a missionary. He studied for more than 15 years and was ordained as a priest. He then returned to Ireland to minister to Christains already living in Ireland and to begin to convert the remaining Irish to Christianity.
The Irish have celebrated this holiday for over 1000 years. Traditionally, Irish families celebrated St. Patrick's day by attending church in the morning and celebrating in the afternoon. Lenten prohibitions against consumption of meat were waived & people would dance, drink & feast - on the traditional meal of Irish bacon & cabbage. However, the first St. Patrick's day parade took place in the United States. Irish soldiers serving in the English military marched through the streets of New York City on March 17, 1762. The parade helped the soldiers reconnect with their Irish roots and the fellow Irishmen seerving in the English army. This parade is the world's oldest civilian parade and the largest in the United states, with over 150,000 participants. Each year, nearly 3 million people line the 1.5 mile parade route to watch the procession, which takes more than 5 hours.
My first recipe, in honor of St. Patrick's day is St. Patrick's Colcannon. Colcannon is traditionally made from mashed potatoes or cabbage, butter, salt & pepper. It can also contain milk, cream, leaks, onions, chives, garlic, boiled ham or Irish bacon. An old Irish tradition was to serve colcannon with prizes of small coins concealed in it on Halloween. Colcannon is typically eaten in autumn & winter. This Irish tradition also inspired a song "Colcannon" or it's also called "The Skillet Pot." How neat! A recipe that has inspired a song and it's been sung by many artists. The beginning lyrics are:
Did you ever eat Colcannon, made from lovely pickled cream?
With the greens and scallions mingled like a picture in a dream.
Did you ever make a hole on top to hold the melting flake
Of the creamy, flavoured butter that your mother used to make?

And the chorus is:

Yes you did, so you did, so did he and so did I.
And the more I think about it sure the nearer I'm to cry.
Oh, wasn't it the happy days when troubles we had not,
And our mothers made Colcannon in the little skillet pot.

If you'd like to hear the entire song, here's a link to the Black Family performing this traditional song!
I hope you've enjoyed this little bit of history. And more importantly, I hope you try this recipe & you enjoy it, too. My husband likes it so much, he wants me to make it once a week!

warmer weather & new recipes

Good evening! What a day, the weather was absolutely beautiful here today and I am really looking forward to more warm, sunny days. It was so nice today that we worked in the backyard for hours. We had a couple of tree stumps - one was about 4 feet tall and the other was over 7 feet tall - that we worked on cutting down. The stumps were left over from trees that had to be massively trimmed thanks to bad storms last summer & fall. My husband and I really didn't mind the work because the weather was so nice!
To start off our day, I whipped up a breakfast casserole in my low carb kitchen. With only 3 ingredients + salt & pepper, it only took about 5 minutes of prep work, 30 minutes to bake, a few more minutes to eat and ZERO net carbs per serving. It was very good and my husband and daughter really enjoyed it! Paired with a strong cup of expresso with heavy whipping cream & sweetened with splenda - this started off my day just right!
The weather was so nice, I just couldn't stand the thought of starting off the day in the house, so I jumped at the chance to ride with my husband to neighboring Newburgh, Indiana. While he setup his drums for his gig this evening, I took a leisurely stroll along the riverfront.
For dinner this evening, it was burgers for my husband, cheese for me & chicken nachos for my daughter. I've been using low carb tortillas for years and, luckily, my local grocery store started carrying them. Yeah! We use the tortillas for wraps, breakfast burittos or quesadillas, tortilla chips, tacos, nachos, etc.
One more thing, I've had people stop & ask me or email me about the beans that were shown in our video (courtesy of our local newspaper). The beans are black soy beans. I've emailed the recipe to several readers, and wanted to make sure I posted it as soon as possible. You can find the recipe for mexican-style black soy beans here.
Thanks so much for all your emails and well wishes! Have a great Sunday!

a little road trip & no time in my low carb kitchen today...

Bright & early this morning, my daugher, Lori and I left for Northern Kentucky University. Lori wanted to visit the campus again to help her decide if this is really the college for her. We were so rushed, we didn't have time for me to fix breakfast. Okay, maybe if I would have gotten out of bed earlier, I would have had time to fix breakfast:)
We knew we needed to get gas and since the little convenience store, less than a block from our house, has gas and food, we decided to go there. We gassed up the car and then went inside for some snacks and breakfast. They have a pretty good assortment of freshly made breakfast foods - every kind of biscuit you can think of, some kind of hashbrown thing that is about the size of a big finger (weird, but true), chicken strips & some type of a corn dog.
So you may be wondering what in the heck us low carbers were doing trying to come up with a hot breakfast selection at this convenient store. Actually, it's pretty easy - a biscuit with meat, egg & cheese - and throw the biscuit away!!! If you're tempted by a biscuit like this, remove the biscuit and throw it in the trash immediately. Out of sight, out of mind - right?
Okay, so we wanted some snacks, too. I opted for pork rinds & Lori grabbed a package of beef jerky. I also picked up a few drinks, 2 bottled waters, one for each of us, sugar-free green tea for me and a "Fuze" brand drink for Lori. The "Fuze" drink is a fruity kind of drink with very few carbs, I think 2 or 3 per serving.
We ate our breakfast and drove for over 3 hours. Then we stopped for lunch. Lori really gave this a lot of thought, trying to decide which fast food restaurant would be best for a low carb lunch. We decided on a Big Boy restaurant. We both had a salad from the salad bar with low carb items. I had a burger and Lori had a chicken sandwich. We both threw away our buns, which made our lunches pretty low carb.
We visited the campus, listened to a speaker, went on a tour and came home. We were so tired! So, we ended up having supper (to-go) from a local "food bar" type of restaurant. Lori & Bradley went and picked up the food and did really good, making sure they stuck to low carb for Lori and I. Poor Lori, she wanted to drive all the way to and from NKU so that she could have the experience of knowing what it would be like to drive the distance to the campus. She ate her supper and went straight to bed. She was so tired.
And speaking of being tired, I am too!! I'll catch back up with you tomorrow! Have a good evening!

very thankful today!

Hope you've had a good day - I certainly have. I wasn't really looking forward to today because I had an all day meeting scheduled from 8 am to 5 pm. Everything was going ok until about 8:45 when I received a call on my cell phone from my sister-in-law. Usually if she wants to tell me something during the work day, she'll email me. Immediately I was concerned & thought something might be wrong with my Dad.
I left the meeting room and answered the call. She wanted to let me know my brother, Donnie, was in the hospital. The cell phone reception in the building was bad, so the call kept cutting out - all I understood was something about a new motorcycle, 4 broken ribs and a broken clavicle. We got cut off. She didn't answer when I called back so I was extremely concerned. Shortly thereafter, my brother called with some witty remark - I could tell the pain meds were working pretty well.
Fortunately, I was able to make a break in my meetings to go visit with him. He is so lucky. He "laid the harley down" and then got back on it and rode it home. After my sister-in-law got home and realized he could only lift an arm high enough to get a cigarette to his mouth - she made him go to the emergency room. That's my tough brother! Seriously, he was very lucky, no helmet & he also has a big patch of raw skin on the side of his head. I'm so thankful he's going to be okay!
While I was visiting, my sister-in-law, Patti told me that they've been trying some of our recipes. She said they had the crispy fried tilapia the other night and she said it was great. She talked about other recipes they're gonna try. Also, one of the ladies I met with today, said she saw the newspaper article and emphasized that she even read it. Then my coworker that I talked about yesterday, Brenda, said that I'm trying to help everyone to work on a low carb lifestyle. She also added that she fixed fried chicken parmesan for her family for supper last night. She's told me before that her family loves this recipe. Too cool!
Today, my husband talked to someone at our bank branch about our article and living low carb. Then he went to a local gift shop and the person working at the counter recognized him and asked him some questions. My son, Bradley went to the post office and someone asked if he was related to us. That sparked yet another conversation about low carb! I'm so happy we are able to help other people that are interested in our healthy low carb lifestyle.
I almost forgot, here's 2 new recipes: cauliflower "hashbrown" casserole and
creamed spinach. I hope you have a chance to try them! Have a good evening!

new recipes, breakfast & carb-filled card board box

Good news - tomorrow my son Matt is coming over and he's going to write down the recipes he made over the weekend!! They were all so good and all so low carb, too. Plus he said he might even do some more cooking - sounds great to me.
Speaking of cooking, most mornings I start the day out in my kitchen - after getting ready for work. My daughter, Lori has started low carbing so I've been cooking breakfast for her each morning. Most mornings I've been fixing her a couple of slices of bacon and some eggs. I've also added cream cheese or Cabot's white vermont cheddar cheese. Both options are absolutely delicious added to eggs!
After getting Lori's breakfast going, I put on my espresso - I have an espresso maker the kids bought for me several years ago and I use it almost every day. I use about a 24 ounce cup with a lid, add about a 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream, 2 tablespoons of splenda and several handfuls of ice - then I add in my espresso and I enjoy the most amazing coffee drink all the way to work. I also prepare my breakfast, lunch and any snacks that I want for work. Usually my breakfast consists of eggs & cheese or a flax seed meal "cereal" concoction - you can find the recipe on the web site under breakfast, if you're interested.
For lunch, I usually take whatever is leftover from supper the night before or sometimes a salad or fish that I microwave. Most of the folks I work with brown bag it, too. But since it is the beginning of a new year, they're all starting D-I-E-T-S! And I mean every kind of diet you can think of but mostly the kind that requires them to warm a carb filled card board box. Later in the day, I hear them asking if anyone has candy!
Fortunately, after hearing our story, one of my coworkers is trying to maintain a low carb lifestyle. She's preparing to shop for her dress for her son's wedding. So she's been asking all kinds of questions and I'm really proud of her. Today, she said she didn't have time to make her breakfast so she walked across the street and bought eggs. She said she was really thirsty for some milk but when she checked the label and determined a little bitty carton of milk contained 11 net carbs - she said she'd rather save those carbs for peanut butter! I'll keep you posted on her progress.
I hope you've had a great day! It's time for me to retire to my kitchen and whip up a little something for supper. I'll catch you tomorrow!