What have I been eating?

Haven't posted anything in a while. Things have been hectic since we came back from a family visit in Georgia. So, what have I been eating lately? Well, I thought I would show you some pictures of what I eat. I subscribe to a lot of blogs and for the most part, I get my recipes from those. I am not to the point where I can create my own recipes from scratch and post them yet. That is my ultimate goal. In the meantime, I will just have to get my ideas from others. Don't worry, I always give credit where credit is due. Unless I come up with a recipe on my own, or make several changes to something, I link back to my original source for the recipe. So, without further ado, here are some pics of a handful of things I have made and the story behind them.
First up is Better Butter Chicken. This is the one recipe I can't give you. See, I got it out of a book and I would not re-post it without permission from the author, Sarah Fragoso. She authored the book Everyday Paleo and that's where the recipe came from. I purchased this book when it became available in Nook format and it was well worth the $10 I spent. Lots of great recipes and other info if you are trying to transition your family to this way of eating. So, how was it? It was excellent! I had it over some steamed broccoli with half of  a Sandwich "Muffin" to sop up the sauce with.

My 2-year-old liked it too!

Up next is breakfast from one morning. I had some center-cut bacon leftover in my fridge, so I decided to make a sandwich. I once again made my trusty Sandwich "Muffin" and scrambled up an egg. I topped it with a slice of Deluxe American cheese and voila! Breakfast is served. It was quite tasty and reminded me of the bacon, egg and cheese biscuits I used to get at McDonalds only way better!

Last up is a recipe I came across on a Pinterest board  for donuts, and had to check it out. I am very glad I did because these were some of the tastiest donuts I have ever had. And they are low carb to boot! These were created by the genius over at Your Lighter Side. The only changes I made were in the glaze. I did not have any 80% chocolate and did not want to run to the store to get some. So I just used 1 ounce of unsweetened chocolate and upped the sweetener amount. I also made them in a standard donut pan. I will definitely be making these again!

My donuts fresh from the oven!

These came out of the pan fairly easily.

All glazed up and ready to eat!

Seriously, who needs Dunkin' Donuts?

So, there are some of the things I have been testing out and happily eating. I hope you will try some of these recipes yourself and see how tasty and satisfying eating this way is.

Pancakes for Breakfast

I was in a pancake mood with the first hint of Fall outside today. I put some center cut bacon in the oven and went to work on the pancakes. They take a little bit of work, but they are definitely worth it! Fluffy and satisfying, I served mine up with some sugar free maple syrup. YUM! You can find the recipe I used here. Check out the blog while you're there, too. She makes some seriously yummy stuff!

So, what's going on with your blog?

This may be a question you are asking. After all, I have billed my blog as a fitness blog, so what's up with all of the recipes and no exercise stuff? This is true, and I may be changing the theme of it as I am truly passionate about cooking and baking, too. We will see what time holds for me. In the meantime, I am going to give a little rundown on what has transpired so far on my journey. So, back in January, I decided to start dieting and exercising to lose my accumulated baby weight. I started exercising 4-5 days a week and eating a low-fat diet. Needless to say, I was great with the exercise. I felt better, had more energy and was sleeping better at night. My diet, not so much. I was dealing with constant cravings, always feeling hungry and just not satisfied when I finished a meal. An hour after I was done, I was looking for a snack. Needless to say, this aspect of my journey was extremely frustrating. And to top it all off, the weight was not coming off! I felt like my appetite was out of control. So after 8 months of low-fat dieting and exercise, what did I have to show for it? Yes, my clothes were a little looser, and  I definitely felt better but I was extremely disappointed by the crawling rate of weight loss. At that time, I had only lost 6 pounds in 8 months. Talk about being frustrated! So then, I came across a documentary in Netflix. This documentary really got me thinking about the way I was eating. If you have not seen it and have the Watch Instantly option for Netflix, go watch it today! The documentary is called Fat Head. I really began to think about some of the things he was saying and agreeing with some of the stuff. So, I then began to do my own research starting with one of the books cited in the movie. It's called Good Calories Bad Calories by Gary Taubes. This is a great book with a lot of factual information. It's not an exciting read and is very tedious, but it's got a lot of good information that refutes the low-fat diet that we have all been brainwashed to believe in. So after more research on the internet and finding some great blogs on the subject, I felt confident in my decision. I decided to start eating low-carb. So how did my first week go eating low-carb? I lost 5 pounds. I had finally found a way of eating that works! I know, you may be thinking, "eating all of that fat can't be healthy"! Oh, yes it can. We have all been led to believe that fat is bad and we must put our trust into "healthy whole grains". Have you ever noticed you don't just see grains? It's always "healthy whole grains", like it's one word. Needless to say, I have had some raised eyebrows and questions from my family. "You're not eating carbs? Not even whole grains??" No I'm not. So how do I feel now? I finally feel like my appetite is under control.  I love to eat this way. Food is flavorful and satisfying when it has fat in it. And to top it all off? I feel SATISFIED when I finish a meal. I am not looking for something to eat an hour later. Sometimes, I can go 4 or 5 hours before I feel truly hungry again. When I do feel like I need a snack, I find that I only need a few bites of something to satisfy me. So you tell me, is eating low-carb really bad for you? The difference in my appetite is proof enough for me. If you are like I was, always feeling hungry or not satisfied, or counting the hours until your next "cheat meal", then maybe you should looking into eating low-carb too. After all, there is PLENTY of information out there about this way of eating. Just do me a favor before you blow this off. Do your due diligence. Give it a try yourself, or at least look at some of the information out there that dispels the low-fat diet. Some good books to look at are:
Good Calories Bad Calories by Gary Taubes
Why We Get Fat and What to Do About It by Gary Taubes
Wheat Belly by Dr. William Davis
Eat Fat Lose Fat by Dr. Mary Enig
The Great Cholesterol Con by Dr.Malcolm Kendrick
How I Gave Up My Low-Fat Diet and Lost 40 Pounds by Dana Carpender
These are just a few of the sources I found. There are tons of blogs to look at as well. Just look at the blogs I follow. So, this is where I am now, and why I changed my diet. To date, I have lost 12 pounds eating this way. I finally feel like I can lose all of the weight I gained during my pregnancies. I finally feel like I am in control of my eating. It's a good feeling!

Frozen Strawberry Yogurt

So, I have been missing ice cream lately, but I didn't want to get a sugar-free one from the store that has God knows what in it. After some debating, I decided to try my hand at making some frozen yogurt. Thinking back to my childhood, I started remembering the times we would visit my grandparents and eat really unhealthy food. One of the things I remember eating was my grandmother's homemade strawberry ice cream. Cold and creamy, and probably loaded with tons of sugar! It's one of those great childhood memories I wanted to see if I could recreate for my children without all of the sugar. I remember seeing a show on the Food Network where someone had taken a bag of frozen strawberries and put it in the food processor with some sugar and milk. I decided to use that as my inspiration. I went to the store to see if I could find some whole milk Greek yogurt, which is not so easy to find in large grocery stores in this area for some reason. All they have is fat free stuff.  Not wanting to make the drive downtown to Whole Foods for just yogurt, I decided to improvise with my recipe. I ended up using heavy cream to make up for the fat missing from the yogurt. I had a half bag of frozen strawberries in the freezer, so I went to work. I was pretty pleased with the results. The finished product was definitely creamy, with only a  slight lingering quality you get from most low carb ice cream recipes that call for lots of cream. I think next time, I will go to the effort to find full fat Greek yogurt, or just make my own with this really easy recipe I found. I posted a couple of pics with the ingredients I used and the   finished product before it went into the freezer. You could probably make this with fresh fruit and put it into an ice cream maker as well. Enjoy!


Frozen Strawberry Yogurt
8 oz frozen strawberries, or whatever berries you would like
¼ cup xylitol 
¼ cup Zsweet or granulated erythritol
1½ cups fat free Greek yogurt
1 cup heavy cream
In a food processor fitted with the S blade, place the frozen berries and sweeteners. Pulse until it's the consistency of coarse sand. Add the yogurt and cream. Pulse until everything is incorporated. Check for sweetness and place in freezer-proof containers. If you let it freeze solid, be sure to let it sit on the counter for at least 15 minutes to soften up again.

All of my ingredients

The finished product. Yum!