I started the day with some cheese melted in butter with bacon, so naturally I wasn't hungry for many hours. Later this afternoon I nibbled on some ham slathered with full fat mayo.

Tonight I didn't want a huge supper so this was it. Tuna salad (just canned tuna, mayo, and some chopped onion) on a slice of store-bought low carb bread (which I hardly EVER eat!), with some slices of swiss on top, put under the broiler. And some frozen cauliflower chunks, tossed with olive oil and sea salt, put on the top shelf of the oven @ 400; tossed when starting to brown with parmesan (from the can) and garlic powder, then left until golden brown with crispy bits.

A lot of food on my plate, too much for me actually, but have plenty of leftover cauliflower to reheat for snacking tomorrow.

Sometimes the simplest meals are the best!

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.

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!

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???

This was our Christmas Dinner. The sandwich wasn't low carb. Well, it wasn't TOO bad, at about 30gN per big slice of bread. You can see how huge it was on this 9" plate - I ate half of a sandwich (or 1 slice). The bread was sourdough, and it was fried in loads of butter, with 5 kinds of cheese inside. And that's all I'll say about that!

Parenthetical note, without the parentheses: On special days, when I eat carbier, like Christmas, I still try to keep my total carbs under 100gN. Today I had probably half of that. Just a steak for supper later. YAY for me!

I've posted a tomato soup recipe before, and it will end up here eventually, as I'm still working - but not very hard - at moving all of my recipes here from my old blog. Anyway, I made it differently today, and I think it's even better!


Here is how I made today's version:

2 large cans crushed tomatoes (NOTE: if you are here from the NF group and want to eat this during early healing, substitute tomato sauce so there are no chunks or seeds!)
1 big can of tomato juice
24 oz container of full fat ricotta cheese
7 drops EZSweetz (or equivalent)
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 Tbsp dried basil flakes
2Tbsp balsamic vinegar
pint of half'n'half
grated asiago for garnish

Using a BIG pot (mine was bigger than a dutch oven and about 2/3 full), warm the first 2 ingredients until they steam, stirring to prevent scorching; this will make the cheese melt more easily.

Whisk in the ricotta cheese until fully melted.

Whisk in remaining ingredients EXCEPT half'n'half and asiago; keep whisking as you bring soup back up to a simmer.

When fully blended and starting to simmer (it will be pretty thick at this point) stir in the half'n'half and return to a simmer. Once it is simmering, lower heat to medium low, cover, and let simmer, stirring occasionally, for 15-20 minutes.

Ladle into soup bowls; grate asiago cheese over the top.

This is about as "cheap and easy" as it gets! We got a pork tenderloin @ $1.89/lb, sliced into 3/4" slices; there were 3-4 slices per pound. So these two lovely slices of meat were about a buck. Onions were around 70¢ for both. The can of mushrooms was 59¢. The beans were about 1/5 of a bag that cost under $3, so let's say 60¢. This is a great meal for 2 for well under $4! I did coat the onions and the meat with olive oil, as well as the bottom of the pan...and then sprinkled seasoned salt over the whole thing before I popped it into the oven. 350 for about 25 minutes. And then dinner! Low carb. Cheap. Easy. Pretty on the plate. And DELICIOUS!

This is on my plate. I cut up the onion (it still held its shape - if you like your onions mushy, slice it in half horizontally before roasting) and slathered it with butter after I took this picture. I have to say, this is a favorite meal of mine. If the onion is too carby for you, certainly eat just half of one, or substitute the root vegetable of your choice; just be aware that many root vegetables will take longer to cook, and may need a head start.

I've looked at so many ketchup recipes online but frankly, for someone like me who wants "cheap and easy" my eyes just glaze over. I am not a ketchup connoisseur by any stretch of the imagination; I just like to slather something on my burgers or dip my steak into. (If you ARE a connoisseur, by all means feel free to stop here, before your sensibilities are offended!)

Early in the spring we scored a dozen bottles of Heinz low carb ketchup at an Amish store really cheap. I'm sure I blogged about it, as I did keep track of all of my food purchases throughout Jan-June of this year...anyway, they were well under a buck if I remember correctly. Anyway, last week we ran out, so I had to buy more. But in the meantime apparently Heinz shrunk the bottle AND raised the price! So I'm not buying anymore. Period.

And that leads us to tonight. With steaks in the broiler I didn't have time to mess around with long ingredient lists and lenthy instructions. So (which I usually do anyway) I just went to work...

As I've stated before, I don't measure. I just DO. So these measurements are approximate. You can just put them all in a bottle or jar, and shake or mix it all together. (NOTE: this will be thinner than regular ketchup; that doesn't bother me at all but if you want to thicken it up, let me know how you do it ok?)

1 sm. can (8 oz) tomato sauce
2T Worchestershire sauce
1/4t sea salt
1/4t garlic powder
1/2t onion powder
2 drop EZSweetz (liquid sucralose, equal to 4tsp sugar)
1 drop stevia glycerite
2 tsp. apple cider vinegar

That's it. Seriously. That's IT!

My husband was also pleasantly surprised, and delighted. I hope you will be too!

I was planning to wait until Jan. 1st to move all of my blogs from blogger over to my Weebly site. Meanwhile, I have been frozen from blogging. By my own brain. Having to do things twice, or copy/paste, or decide which site to post what every time I wanted to blog. For the last 4 years, 2 months, and 1 day my brain just stops - or freezes when it is overwhelmed. And apparently all of this change has overwhelmed it because I have been unable to blog after the first few times caused a chaotic response (the "warning sign")... (Yes, I know, "but you seem so normal!" lol!)
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So I decided that December 17th is as good a day as any to just do it. From now on, ALL of my blogging will be done at my new site. I will not be using blogger at all, and will eventually take the blogs down, once I get them archived.
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I seriously need to be blogging. For a couple of months now I approach both sites with fear and trepidation, literally, and simply can't think of what to post when I log in to either site (even though my mind is full of posts until I sit at the computer!).
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Thanks for your patience. Once the logjam is gone from between my ears, the river should start flowing again! :)

When making yogurt, the biggest thing is making sure everything you use is squeaky clean so you don’t grow the wrong “bugs”.

I boil water in my dutch oven to sterilize it, stir my big spoon around in it, then pour the boiling water into my gallon thermos and put the lid on, then set it aside.

In the dutch oven I bring my “milk” (a gallon of whole milk mixed with a quart of heavy cream works great, and you have some of the mixture left over for sauces, your coffee, or whatever!) almost to a boil but not quite, stirring constantly; you heat it over medium until there are little bubbles around the edges, and it starts to steam. If it scalds at all it won’t culture (you can either make a vat of soup or throw it away if it scalds), so you can’t really do it more quickly over high heat…but it goes a little faster if you bring it to room temp first.

Remove the “milk” from the heat and let cool until a skin forms on the top. Remove that, then in a small bowl temper about 1/4-1/2 (I don’t measure) plain yogurt with a little of the warm milk, then stir it all into the pot.

Pour the extremely hot water out of the thermos, immediately add the milk mixture back into it, cap it tightly, and set it on top of the fridge for about 24 hours. I've left it up to 36 hours, and have eaten some at about 20 hours...it's all good...

It’s very easy, the most tedious part is the stirring.

(Just as a side note: before I start this I put some baking soda and some vinegar into my kitchen drain; it bubbles while I work, and then after I pour the water out of the thermos the drain and pipes are fresh and clean! Just sayin’…)

You can flavor it in your dish with just about anything, sweeten it, or whatever when you serve it. My favorite way to eat it is with a drop of liquid sucralose, a splash of vanilla, and a generous sprinkle of cinnamon.

Once you taste your own yogurt - rich and satisfying, creamy and thick - boughten will always taste like a cheap imitation!

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 :).

In an effort to simplify, I am moving my page content from blogger. I expect to have this accomplished by the end of 2012. My previous blog posts will be saved as a single downloadable PDF file; a link will be provided. And I will be going through those posts to copy and paste the recipes themselves into this space.

Blogging at Weebly.com is simple. Just post blog entries. Period. No housekeeping, no extra work. Just blogging. I hope you will enjoy reading here as much as I enjoy using it :).

Tonight I made a "triple meat" dish. Sounds strange but was SO GOOD! As always, super easy...not as always, a little pricier - but I didn't have to buy the can of crab meat ($2! I'd never buy it!)

I started with b/s chicken thighs, which I flattened. Onto each piece I put a generous blob (technical culinary term) of a mixture of cream cheese and crab meat - 1 block and 1 can, respectively. Then I rolled them up, wrapped them in bacon, and stuffed them - literally - in a Pyrex loaf pan; after 90 minutes in a 325 oven they were done. SO EASY but fancy-looking and delicious! No seasoning required.

With it I served some Dreamfield's penne pasta tossed with chopped spinach and butter, seasoned with sea salt, and sprinkled some Italian blend shredded cheese.

GREAT MEAL!