Crazy Idea

Sometimes, I am not known for having sane, normal, make sense ideas.  This is probably one of them.  We've decided to go low carb and lose the weight that has been slowly creeping back on ~ with a lot of help from us.  That idea in itself isn't crazy, but doing it in the month before vacation is. 

But we did it and we have both lost weight.  I have a specific goal and pray that I reach it (sorry, not sharing that part!)!  And, of course, we get easily bored with the same old thing to eat....so my research into recipes is beginning and I found some awesome ones on pinterest and the Atkins site. And in this age of electronic everything ~ I have decided to print out the recipes I find and make us a Low Carb cookbook ~ its so much easier to do it this way for me, then I can see the page (my kindle likes to "go to sleep" from being on 1 page for too long), keep referring back to it, and make notes of any changes we make.

We have made Impossible Cheeseburger Pie (using THM baking blend in place of the flour "THM-Trim Healthy Mama"),  and the Shepherds Pie using mashed cauliflower in place of mashed potatoes.  They were both delicious!  The recipes are readily available online.  I also fried chicken strips the other night, using the THM blend for the breading ~ yum!

Also, I found on Amazon some Bobs Red Mill Low Carb baking mix and have ordered it to use.  We renewed our Amazon Prime Unlimited subscription and I've downloaded 4 or 5 books to read for this lifestyle.

We will be taking our little tote with approved goodies on our vacation and refreezing our freezer packs everynight to keep everything cool.  I know there will be some "cheats", and I know that they will be....like Mickey ice cream sandwich, a Gaston's cinnamon roll, and a chocolate mousse from France.  But I am hoping to avoid the sandwiches, buns, etc.  And exercise will be taken care of by the huge amount of walking.

chicken strips/fingers

Shepherds Pie

Thankful for ~

a lot of new recipes
this journey with my husband
initial success
Atkins bars
vacation anticipation

Impossible Cheeseburger Pie

I was looking for a new recipe to try for dinner last night that involved ground beef ~ I already had some browned and wanted a simple recipe!  I looked through my Low Carb Pinterest Board for my Tortilla Soup recipe but ran across the Impossible Cheeseburger Pie recipe.  It looked interesting ~ I made a few changes since I didn't have the exact ingredients.  Dinner was a hit and we've already thought up a few ingredients to spice it up, we thought it needed a little something extra.  Like ~ season salt instead of regular,  the addition of chopped up bell peppers would have been good, and some good dollops of worchestershire sauce.  All that being said ~ we ate it ~ Greg and Will had seconds and took it in their lunches today too!  I doubled the recipe and made 2 pans and we have a whole one left.  It will be frozen and pulled out for a future meal.  We had lady peas with it.  Quite a tasty dinner.

Here is a link to the original recipe ~ http://lowcarbyum.com/cheeseburger-pie/.   I love her site, and can't wait to explore it more! 

Here is the recipe ~ and the changes I made last night ~

*1 pound ground beef or venison burger
*1 cup shredded onion
*1/2 teaspoon salt
*1/3 cup coconut flour (I used the THM baking blend for the 2 flours)
*3 tablespoons almond flour
*1 teaspoon baking powder
*1 cup unsweetened almond milk (I used regular milk)
*4 large eggs
*1 1/2 cups shredded cheese
*tomato (optional) didn't use

Instructions ~
1. Cook ground beef and onion in skillet until meat is brown, about 8-10 minutes.  (I drain mine in a colander to get the extra grease off)
2. Spread beef mix into pie plate and sprinkle with salt.
3. Mix together coconut flour, almond flour, baking powder, almond milk and eggs.
4. Pour the egg mixture evenly over the meat. Sprinkle about 1 cup of cheese on top.
5. Bake at 400 degrees for about 25 minutes.
6. Remove from oven and top with optional tomato if desired, and remaining cheese.
7. Bake an additional 5 minutes.

Makes 8 servings. About 2 net carbs per serving.

My net carbs would change some because of the milk change in the recipe.  I used the THM blend because I had it, but Kroger now carries a gluten free baking blend, so I will try that when the other is used up.

I used my square pyrex pans. And cut my pan into 9 squares.  1 square was plenty for me but my guys at 2.  They also have 2 each packed into their lunches.  Greg thought that bacon would make a nice addition, so we may try that next time and brown it with the ground beef and onion.

But, even with the changes we are talking about ~ when my husband takes his first bite and utters "this is good", I know its a keeper!

Thankful for ~

folks that share recipes on Pinterest
having an easy print recipe button on the blog (which I don't know how to do)
finding recipes that don't include lots of fancy ingredients
an easy dinner to serve with a vegetable side
leftovers for lunches

Reading & Jumping (ha ~ not at the same time!)

So, I've been hearing about a book written by 2 sisters "Trim Healthy Mama" or THM.  Its advertised as a common sense guide to satisfy your cravings and energize your life.  Sounds good!  This book is 600 pages long ~ and I read it...over 2-3 weeks.

It seems to be a pretty common sense approach to food ~ "God has given us all the food groups and he wants each one to be enjoyed in a balanced way.  Every give God gives is good.  Why should w shun any of his gifts?  Why would we dismiss their value with a 'we know best attitude'? " pg.xvi.

Greg and I both did the low calorie/low carb diet from our local hospital ~ we spent $1000's on the tests, blood tests, office visits, and food & we lost a combined total of 130 pounds.  Awesome results! But you really can't live on 800 calories a day.  And when you transition off the strict, mostly liquid diet ~ you gain some of the weight back. (And I say mostly liquid because we didn't last long on just drinking the shakes, we missed chewing!)  Now, in defense of the program, we did not take advantage of the nutritionist and that probably would have helped us.

We did great keeping the weight off for over a year after we stopped going and we switched to the Atkins plan...much more affordable.  Then we went to Disney last fall and its pretty much been downhill ever since.  Argh, honesty stinks.

I am ready to make changes.  Prayerfully, they will be lifestyle changes and not a "diet". 

The book seems to me to be a combination of Atkins ~ high protein, low carb with more vegetables and fruits thrown in.  I've eaten 2 apples in the last week and enjoyed every bite!  You should eliminate white things from your foods...potatoes, regular flour,  rice, sugar.  Use Stevia or similar products for your sweeteners.  Use xantham gum or glucomannan as thickeners for recipes (ordered the glucomannan from amazon but don't have it yet).  Use almond flour to bake with.

The book includes lots of recipes to get you started.  There are facebook pages dedicated to this book and its recipes.  And of course tons of pinterest boards for ideas.

I am hoping this will not be a big "leap" for us to switch too.  I think we can take the atkins mentality and add to it.

And yes, it would probably help if we weren't doing this in the middle of a huge move ~ retirement ~ job hunt, etc.  But we generally don't do most things the easy way! 

Now I need to purchase my own copy of this book ~ my sister will want hers back!

Back to the title ~ reading the book & jumping on the bandwagon!