As I've mentioned, I try to eat real most of the time and avoid processed foods for the most part. But I'm not particularly zealous about it. If you are then you won't like this recipe.

This came about because Sav-a-Lot had the Veggie Ranch dip for 50¢ on its sell-by date. I normally wouldn't have bought it but knew I could make some sort of sauce with it, and this is what I ended up with.

I've been buying those 20 oz packages of ham and turkey when they go on sale for $1.49/pkg. They're good to have in the freezer for something fast; we eat 1-2 of these packages a month, usually on sandwiches or I fry some in bacon fat to serve with a couple of sides, or whatever. This is the first time I've used it in a casserole. While any leftover turkey or chicken will work, this is just what I had and what I used; you will want to alter this recipe to add liquid and salt if you use (cooked) fresh.

Filling:
20 oz pkg turkey breast meat (as described above)
1# frozen broccoli/cauliflower/carrot blend
10 oz box chopped spinach
16 oz carton Veggie Ranch dip

Thaw veggies; chop turkey and vegetables into bite-sized chunks; toss all above ingredients in large mixing bowl until thoroughly mixed; spread into greased 9x12 baking dish; set aside.

Topping:
2 large eggs
3 Tbsp olive oil (or melted butter, coconut oil, bacon fat, or other fat; I just used the olive         oil because it was sitting right there on the counter within reach)
1/2c half'n'half (I would have used cream if I'd had it)
1c Carbquik
1/4c Parmesan Cheese (from the can)

In SAME MIXING BOWL, without cleaning first, beat eggs; add olive oil (or fat of choice) and cream; beat until mixed well, incorporating as much of the filling leftovers from the sides of the bowl as you can; mix in CarbQuik. This will be a bit thinner than biscuit dough but not nearly as thin as pancake batter - should be spreadable.

Drop by spoonfuls on top of filling, then lightly spread to cover. Sprinkle parmesan cheese over top; bake @ 350 for 20-25 minutes until top is browned.

NOTES:
- No salt is needed, there is plenty in the meat; you will need to add salt if you are using fresh meat rather than processed. I don't use pepper, but by all means add it if you like it. There is also a lot of liquid in the turkey I used, which mixed with the dip to thin it out a bit; you may need to compensate if you use real meat.
- Using the leftovers in the mixing bowl in the topping will add some acid (from sour cream in the dip) which will work with the baking powder in the CarbQuik to give some rise to it. The finished topping won't be thick or heavy (like dumplings) but rather a light tasty crust.
- This isn't the healthiest of the meals I prepare due to the processed turkey, dip, canned parm, and CarbQuik - but it is cheap, and it is easy, and it is low carb, which is what this blog is about....and it is SUPER SUPER delicious, hubby and I really loved it, I will probably prepare it once a month although not in a weekly rotation.


 
I have been eating more than usually low carb/high fat lately. For almost 3 weeks actually, with only 2 carbier* meals during that entire time. I'm down 13#. Golly - wasn't expecting THAT! Thought I'd take off 20# or so, but now I'm not so sure, as just with the 13# I'm dealing with increasing saggy flab and I hate that so much, it is the whole reason I choose not to lose any more weight than I already have.

But if I eat the way I feel the best, I automatically lose. Whether I want to or not. Since my Nissen Fundoplication 2 years ago, I tend to lose weight more easily. I lost 40# in the 7 months following that surgery and I was eating more carbs during that time as well; I've been gaining/losing by a few pounds ever since, depending on how in balance my macronutrients are. The lower the carbs/higher the fat, the more I lose - and the better I feel, of course...but I'd rather be at a higher weight than bumping my tummy skin with my knees when I walk!

Anyway, not sure how this will all turn out, maybe I'll keep the weight loss going (keeping the fat content this high is NOT EASY but it means my weight goes down easily) until I can't stand the flab anymore. Or maybe I'll change my mind again...all I know is that we are eating so well these last few weeks - like royalty! And it's all low carb/high fat, delicious, cheap, and easy!

* to me, a "carbier" meal means one that either has one carby food in it, or has more carbs than I would usually eat in a meal. Carbier doesn't mean going crazy and eating every carby food in sight. I usually do have 1 carbier meal every week.
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This was our breakfast/lunch today. And it was DELICIOUS! My 3YO grandson had his with ranch dressing; he eats EVERYTHING with ranch dressing! As you can see, it is very cheesy. But this is a teaser. I plan to do a post showing how it was done the next time I make it. So you'll have to wait until then...sorry!

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This was our supper tonight. Meatloaf, baby corn, and mashed "taters" with lots of cheese and butter.

The meat loaf was just ground beef with finely chopped onion, crushed porkies (pork rinds), an egg, some of my ketchup, and seasoned salt. 

The baby corn (just 10gN for the whole can!) always tastes just a tiny bit pickled to me. So tonight I rinsed it, added just a drop of EZSweetz to about 1/4c of melted butter with some salt, and simmered it in that. It helped.

The "taters" are from a box. Once or twice a month we have them as a guilty treat. They're probably awful for us, but we're not paleo eaters, just low carbers, so we do indulge. There are 17gN per serving; doesn't matter - they're great! You could, of course, sub fauxtatoes with cauliflower, as I usually do.

Between these 2 meals I've been full all day. No snacks, no need for anything else except coffee, tea, and water.

Is it so awful that I love my own cooking so very much???

 
I will start moving my recipes here from my blogger pages, and hope to have them all moved by the end of the year. I will also save the entire blog from over there to a pdf file, which I will make available for download, if anyone would like it. It will contain my menus, past shopping lists/costs, and general lowcarb-related posts; I don't think that the program I'll be using will save all of the comments that were posted to the blog, I'm sorry about that...

As of the 1st of the year (2013) I will be blogging only here, and no longer at my blogger site.  In the meantime, what you see here will be copies of the recipes I had there, ordered by date as they were originally, and I plan to add some photos as well, if I have them available. (I'm usually too impatient to take pictures of my meals before I eat them!)

And that's that :).

 
This is something I made just today. I wanted warm creamy comfort food and this absolutely filled the bill!

First I rinsed, drained, and lightly chopped some shirataki noodles. Then I crumbled ground beef into a pan with the noodles and cooked it until the beef was browned, and added about a half-cup of frozen asparagus that I had left, chopped into 1/2" pieces, plus a can of mushrooms and 2 Tbsp of Knorr Alfredo Sauce mix to coat it all with 2 Tbsp of butter and a little sea salt. When the butter was melted I added a cup of cream, and let it come to a boil, stirring constantly, then down to simmer until the sauce had thickened.

This is just very basic, and, although delicious, could be easily modified with any meats or vegetables you might have in the house, and any spices you'd care to add as well. If I liked spicy, for example, I might have added pepper flakes. And now that I'm out of frozen asparagus, I could see adding green beans or brussels sprouts (halved probably), or spinach. Certainly it would work with chicken or pork also. But it was quick, easy, cheap, basic, filling, comforting, and low in carbs. Perfect!