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!

Cookies!

Well, I have been slowly trying different recipes that I find on the internet and I came across one that I had to try. It's for Tiramisu Cookies. I found this little gem over at All Day I Dream About Food. A blog after my own heart. Carolyn, the author of the blog, comes up with some incredible desserts and baked treats. She shares some interesting similarities to me. She is a stay-at-home Mom of 3, just like me! She is also diabetic, I am "genetically predisposed" for diabetes; one of the reasons I decided to look into eating low carb in the first place. I am amazed with the creativity she puts into some of her recipes. This one is no exception. I did tweak the recipe a bit, per her advice on her post. Instead of doing 2 different fillings, I left out the cocoa powder and just mixed everything else together into one filling. The filling came out a little too sweet, so I think next time I will cut back on the sweetener. I will leave the original amount of sweetener there and you can adjust as you see fit. I don't know if I would still call these tiramisu, though. Don't get me wrong, these cookies are divine. However, I think I would liken them more to a mocha cookie. I can definitely see a peanut butter adaptation of the filling. I think I will try that out and post the results here. So head on over and look at the original recipe here. I am just posting my recipe for the filling with my changes. I hope you give these a try. They are definitely worth the effort!

Mascarpone Filling:

4 oz mascarpone cheese

1 tbsp coffee liqueur, such as Kahlua

⅓ cup powdered erythritol

2 tsp strong-brewed coffee

For the mascarpone filling, whisk everything together until combined.  To assemble, spread the bottom of one chocolate cookie with the mascarpone filling and press together to make a sandwich. Repeat with remaining cookies. Chill in refrigerator 20 minutes to set fillings.

So what about sandwiches?

So what do you do when you are craving a sandwich, but you have sworn off bread? Well, nowadays there are many options open to you. Enter your friends almond flour and coconut flour. Both are low-carb (speaking in net carbs here) and gluten free. With all of my perusing of the web and various blogs, I have come up with my own recipe for sandwich bread which I am quite happy with. Until I can get a Magic Line Loaf Pan, I will continue to use this recipe. There are many variations of it on the Low Carb Friends site. I just picked one and tweaked it a little bit. You can make it sweet or savory, depending on what you add to it. I was craving tuna for some reason, so I got my can of Tonno in olive oil and added some homemade Mason Jar Mayonnaise to it. The results were very satisfying!

Sandwich "Muffin"

Makes 1

¼ c. Almond Flour

1 Tbsp. Chia Seeds (you can also use flax seed meal)

½ tsp. Baking Powder 

Pinch of Celtic Sea Salt

¼ teaspoon onion powder

¼ teaspoon garlic powder

1 Egg 

½ Tbsp. Butter, Melted

In a small bowl mix dry ingredients and set aside. In another small bowl whisk together egg and melted butter.  I like to melt the  butter in the ramekin dish you bake it in. Add the wet to the dry and mix well. Spoon mixture into 6 oz. ramekin and microwave for 50 seconds to 1 minute. (Mine was perfect at 1 minute).

Dinner last night

Well, I tried a recipe last night that I saw online a few weeks ago. It intrigued me, so I decided to follow this blog and I am glad I did! If you have never checked out Your Lighter Side, you should! Jamie aka "Carbarella", comes up with some tasty stuff that is delicious even though it is low carb. If you are one of those people who think eating this way is boring, then you should check out some of the blogs I subscribe to. Anyway, back to dinner. I decided to try a recipe I had seen posted for Chili Cheese Tots. Just looking at the picture made me want to try it. I have to say the results were good enough that I will definitely make this again! The Cauli Tots will have to be worked on a little bit. I don't think I squeezed out enough liquid when I made them and they definitely need to be baked a little longer. Here are some pictures of my endeavors. This recipe is basically 3 recipes in 1. Don't let that intimidate you though, I made it last night for dinner and was able to get it on the table in a little over an hour. You could also make the Cauli Tots in advance and pop them in the oven when you are ready to make dinner. Without further ado, here are the pictures of the 3 components and the final product which was then inhaled by yours truly! Head on over and check out the recipe here. You won't be disappointed, I promise!

Here's the finished Cheese Sauce. I made this while the tots were baking.

I made the Chili while the Tots were in the freezer.

Here's the tots after I pulled them out of the oven. I think next time, I will leave them in there longer.

And lastly, the finished product. It was delish!

Bacon, Leek and Cheddar Quiche

Well, I have been subscribed to several blogs now for a while and I have been collecting recipes like crazy. One of the places I go to time and time again is, Linda's Low Carb Menus & Recipes. There are so many good recipes and menu ideas for anyone who wants to get started eating low carb. It's definitely a great resource. One of the recipes I found there was for a Leek Quiche which I had planned to make for breakfasts this week. As I started to get all of my ingredients out, I began to think, "I bet bacon would be great in this!" And so, I began to tweak the recipe a little bit as I made it. I cooked up bacon and then sauteed the leeks in the bacon fat instead of using butter. I used Sharp Cheddar cheese, because I had 3 blocks of it in my fridge. I have to say, the results were pretty darn tasty! So, here is my first contribution in the form of recipes in my blog. It will definitely not be the last! I hope you try it and like it as much as I did!

Bacon, Leek and Cheddar Quiche
Adapted from Linda's Low Carb Leek Quiche recipe
6 slices bacon, chopped
1 large leek, sliced and rinsed of any visible dirt
8 oz sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
3 eggs
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
In a large skillet, saute the bacon until it's as crisp as you want it. Remove from the pan, but leave the drippings. Place the sliced leek in the pan and saute until softened, about 5 minutes. In a greased pie plate, add 3/4 of the cheese. In a bowl, beat the eggs, heavy cream and seasonings, set aside. When the leeks are done, remove from skillet and drain on a paper towel. Sprinkle the bacon and leeks over the cheese in the pie plate. Pour the egg mixture over everything, making sure to distribute it evenly. Sprinkle the top with the cheese. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes until the cheese is slightly browned on top. Let stand for a few minutes before serving. Enjoy!
Here's what mine looked like after I took a slice out of it. I couldn't wait to taste it!

It's been a while...

So, I haven't posted anything in a while. I have been pretty busy the last few weeks doing my research. I decided to just try not eating any starch or sugar for a week and see what would happen. Now mind you, I have been working out and trying to eat healthy since January with very little progress. So, how did my experiment go? Suffice it to say, I was ecstatic when I got on the scale and had lost 5 pounds! Really? I have been busting my butt for 8 months, fighting my cravings, trying to eat low-fat and the most I lost in a week doing that was 1 pound. I don't exercise for a week and just cut out carbs and I lose 5?!? Needless to say, I decided to go whole hog with this for a few reasons. The first being, when I eat this way, I don't have cravings. I also noticed that I get full on less food. I don't feel the need to stuff myself. Sometimes when I was eating a meal that would be considered "high-carb", I would notice that I would have to force myself to stop eating. I would sometimes eat until I was uncomfortably full. I have not done that once since I started eating low carb. Another reason I decided to stick with this approach is because of my "genetic predisposition". My mother, her sister, their mother and her sister were all diagnosed with type 2 diabetes when they were in their 40s. I am in my late 30s right now, so this is definitely something I want to pay closer attention to. I am NOT going to go the same way they did. I have watched my family members succumb to the affects of diabetes and I refuse to let that be my fate. My mom battles with her blood sugar daily. It's extremely difficult for her to try and undo her eating habits at her age, but she is making a great effort at it. After looking at all of the options of low carb diets out there, I chose the one that's been around the longest: Atkins. I chose it because there are scads of recipes and menus for it, and there are plenty of bloggers who live a low carb lifestyle. They have been my saving grace through all of this. Also, the Atkins site itself has LOTS of information and recipes along with forums and a community of people to connect with. I am doing my first phase of the diet right now which is called Induction. So far, I feel good. I don't snack in between meals like I used to and when I get hungry, it's not the ravenous hunger I used to experience. Now I don't know if this way of eating is for everyone, I can only speak for myself. As for what's right for you? I would definitely encourage you to try it for 2 weeks before you make judgements. I would also say watch the documentary Fat Head if you are freaking out about eating all of that fat. It's a very interesting take on how the current dietary guidelines got started and why. That's all for now. I will keep you posted as developments occur.