More food

Having eaten enough chips and dip (Ruffles + Lipton Onion Soup Mix dip) to very nearly make myself puke yesterday afternoon, today I've redoubled my efforts to have good, low carb options at hand. (Although, I have to say that the occasional overindulgence could be a good diet trick for me, in that I really don't care if I never see another chip + dip, let alone eat it, again. Bleeeeechhhhh.)

So, today I've got happy little Peanut Butter...Bloops? They're certainly not "cups". See for yourself:

These are pretty simple, and quite tasty, I must say.

1 c. natural (no sugar) peanut butter

1/2 c. Splenda

1/4 t. vanilla

1 16 oz. bag GOOD semi-sweet chocolate chips (I'm partial to Ghiradelli, myself)

Mix first three ingredients. Melt chocolate. Shape peanut butter mixture into small balls (size is up to you). They will be kind of goopy...do your best. Dip into chocolate, set on wax paper to cool. Dust with cocoa powder b/c it's pretty.

You have to work pretty quickly with these...if you linger, the peanut butter ball will melt into the chocolate, and you'll quickly have a little pot of goo. Tasty goo, yes, but not quite what you're going for, really.

I also made a low carb pumpkin pie, using Laura Dolson's recipe. (She's my hero.) But I just used my almond meal crust (1 1/2 c. almond meal, 3 T butter) instead of the pecan one she suggests. It's looking good, but I haven't tasted it yet. Update on taste tomorrow.

I also recently made the cauliflower souffle thing (I follow the recipe except for adding 1/4 c. sauteed onion), that I describe in the For the Love of Side Dishes post. It's really a very happy food. You will want to roll in it. Or possibly rub it in your hair. Or both.

Low Carb Snickerdoodles

Another happy low carb baking day. These are Low Carb Snickerdoodles from a recipe on Recipezaar.com. They're quite tasty, I'm happy to say, except that my almond flour seems on the verge of going bad, so there's a bit of a tainted taste, dammit. Not too bad...not enough to keep me from eating these bad boys. Still, it's annoying. It's a new bag of flour, and I've kept it refrigerated, so it must have been old to begin with. Fred Meyer doesn't keep the almond flour in the refrigerated section. Guess we'll be buying it elsewhere from now on.

Yesterday's Low Carb Menu

Yesterday, I had:

Cheese stick
Milk
Coffee w/Splenda

Leftover steak
Leftover cheesy cauliflower souffle-thing
(as some of the comments suggested, I added some sauteed onion and used seasoned almond flour--instead of the breadcrumbs--for more flavor.)

Dry roasted peanuts
Milk

Sugar-free macaroon

Grilled bratwurst
Sugar-free coleslaw (bag of angel cut cabbage, 1/4 c. Splenda, 1/4 c. mayo, 1/4 c. apple cider vinegar);
Milk

Homemade sugar-free blueberry icecream...recipe later.

I love this diet.

Baking Low Carb

Yesterday was low carb baking day at Casa Canis. All recipes were, in my opinion, wonderful successes, and I shall be eating well this week! It's also fun that many low carb baking options are gluten free...which is a boon to my DH, who has a gluten intolerance (Celiac Sprue).

Coming from the oven, we had:

Vital Wheat Gluten Loaf

(Obviously, this is the exception to the gluten-free comment I just made.) For this one, I started with this Flax/Vital Wheat Gluten Loaf recipe: http://www.lowcarbrecipes.org/index.php?m=recipes&a=view&recipe_id=27. But I made some modifications...4 large eggs instead of 5 medium and almond meal instead of flax meal. It is good, but as you can see, came out pretty flaaaaat. It's a little eggy tasting, too...but honestly, not too bad. It is definitely more bready than many egg-based low carb baked products I've tried. Next time, I'm going to double the recipe, so that it makes a larger, more normal sized loaf. I may also use less egg, and maybe a bit more of the flours. A work in progress, this is still a very nice bread-alternative. Last night, I had a few slices with a yummy spinach dip, and this morning, I had two toasted slices spread with peanut butter/chocolate yumminess (recipes below).

Cheesy Garlic Crackers

The starting recipe was http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/snacks/r/flaxcrackers.htm (I honestly don't know how I'd live w/o About.Com). The modifications I made on this one (partially inspired by one of the reviewer's suggestions) were: almond meal instead of flax; Asiago cheese instead of Parmy; 1/2 t. garlic powder instead of 1 1/2 teaspoons; and did not grease the parchment paper. Perhaps it was the almond meal's fault, but when I mixed in the 1/2 c. water, it was extremely soupy--the recipe talks about rolling this out (and the reviewer refers to rolling the mixture into balls)...well, there was no way to roll the glop that I'd created. So, I splatted teaspoonfuls of the mixture onto the parchment paper and then patted them into 1/8 inch thick circles with my fingers. They only needed to bake for 12 minutes, so as the recipe suggests, don't set the timer for the full 15 minutes and then walk away...keep an eye on them for those last 5 minutes. Crunchy and satisfying, these are REALLY tasty. DH downed quite a few of them by just compulsively popping them into his mouth. A+++ on the snack-o-meter.

Sugar Free Coconut Macaroons!

By now, you might be very surprised to hear that I followed the actual recipe, as is! (Hey, I'm capable of recognizing perfection when I do see it.) Again, from About.com: http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/desserts/r/locarbmacaroons.htm. The only comment I have is that I did use powdered Splenda, which made the comments in the recipe regarding sweetener and water a little confusing. I believe I was following the directions by mixing the 1 c. Splenda in with the coconut, and using 2 T of water. Also, I must just have really LARGE eggs, because I easily had 1/2 c. egg whites from 3 eggs...so that's all I used. Okay, so I lied. I didn't follow the recipe blindly. But only a fool does that, anyway.

Spinach Dip: http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/snacks/r/spinachdip.htm. On this one, again a few modifications. Because I really wanted to simulate the old Knorr Swiss soup mix recipe for Spinach Dip, I did take the option of using mayo for 1/2 of the sour cream; I added 3 T. of chopped sweet onion and a can of water chestnuts, chopped up; then for seasoning, I followed the OR option (because I don't have the patient to order or find Penzey's Buttermilk Ranch)...the only change I made to the seasonings was to cut the onion powder down to 1 t. (because I'd put in the chopped onion already), and for the powdered herb option, I just used poultry seasoning. This dip turned out very well--very close to the Knorr Swiss recipe that I know and love. The only change I'll make for next time is to cut back some (I'll have to experiment with how much) on the mayo/sour cream b/c the dip ended up a bit soupier than I'd like...even though I did squeeze out the spinach and patted dry the water chestnuts very thoroughly.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Yumminess Spread: this is my own creation, so far as I know. I was trying for some delicious, bonbon-like peanut butter balls, so I mixed together 1 c. natural (no sugar added) peanut butter and 1 c. powdered Splenda, + 1/2 t. vanilla. My plan was to roll this into little balls and then coat them with cocoa powder. However, as anyone who's worked with natural peanut butter knows, the batches can be inconsistent. Sometimes you get a jar that, once mixed, congeals nicely in the fridge...while other times, you can end up with slop. Well, this jar was of the slop variety, so there was NO WAY this was rolling into balls. So I took about 1/4 c. of cocoa powder and stirred it into the peanut butter mixture (slop), stopping when it looked attractively swirly. I had no idea what to do with this slop until this morning, when I felt in my soul that it would make a delightful spread for my Vital Wheat Gluten Loaf. And I was right. Much happiness at my breakfast table this morning. A spread is born! Fans of Nutella, take note.

I HEART Almond Meal!

I went on my first real diet when I turned 30. I had gained 30 pounds, which put a total of 147 pounds on my 5'4" frame. I was shocked and appalled (which seems kind of quaint to me now, 15 years later, given that I'd love to get DOWN to 147...but more on that later). So I joined Weight Watchers and followed their program to the letter, and within 6 months, I'd dropped 27 pounds.

I kept that weight off for 7 years, but not because I practiced good eating habits. No, during that time I became a Vegan, and so simply by virtue of limited food choices, I didn't pig out as much. No more doughnuts in the office, no more diving into co-workers' birthday cakes, etc. I also started studying Karate, and so I indulged in extremely intense workouts 4 - 5 times a week. I gained some weight, but it truly was muscle: I weighed 127 pounds, but I could fit into size 2 pants. I was in heaven, eating all the Vegan food I could find, building more muscle than most people use in a lifetime, and being thrilled each day by my powerful little body.

But after 7 years, my enthusiasm for Vegan food waned. My enthusiasm for Karate disappeared. I got a new job with more responsibility. Then a year later, we moved 1200 miles away, to a whole new part of the country. More stress, a much harder job, completely unrestrained eating, and no exercise program to speak of made me yo-yo up to 170 pounds.

I was shocked at how difficult it was to control myself. The desire to eat and the sheer volume of calories that I could easily pack in was alarming. I would always feel hungry, I would always have an irresistable desire to eat. There was no processing it, no getting around it, no letting it wash over me, no distracting me from it. The best I could do was hold my breath, and of course, that didn't last very long. Soon enough, I'd be overwhelmed by the thrashing, scream-from-the-depths-of-my-soul desire to eat...eat with no restrictions, eat without end. I decided to count how many calories I was consuming on one such day, but I stopped (counting, not eating) when I reached 3500. What on earth was wrong with me? How could someone my size have the need--and that's what it felt like, a NEED, not a want--to eat that much food? Not finding any answers, I would wrap myself in warm, fuzzy denial, and keep eating for six months at a time. Then I'd swing back around to accepting the true need to DO something about that, and start the cycle all over again.

Oddly enough, the yo-yo-ing (while having the dual benefits of being unhealthy and discouraging) was extremely instructive to me. In trying several of different diets (Carbohydrate Addict's Diet, Weight Watchers again, South Beach Diet, and then just plain Low Carb), the success I found was temporary, but the knowledge I gained was permanent. I learned that my irresistable desire to eat was caused entirely by carbohydrates...and not just bad carb's (white sugar, white flour, processed crap, etc.), but even the good carb's, as described in South Beach. I was actually surprised to discover that on a true Low Carb diet, I was able to lose weight while being physically satisfied. No more flailing about in frustration with unsuccessful attempts to suppress an appetite gone mad.

BUT, there was trouble in this paradise. Where were the baked goods? The only low carb flour I was aware of at the time was Soy, which I do not like (perhaps I filled my Soy punch card by being Vegan for 7 years.) I could stay on Low Carb for a while, eating dairy and low carb veggies and meat and sugar free jello, but eventually I would want a muffin for breakfast, or a quiche with a pie crust. I would get bored. I would feel, this time mentally, deprived.

But recently I came back around to being "up for" another crack at losing weight. I figured I'd start with Low Carb, since that was where I'd had my most recent, most promising success. Could I solve the baked goods snag? Hurray! An internet search for Low Carb recipes introduced me to my new best friend: Almond Meal.

Ahhhh, my lovely Almond Meal. With you, I can have my cake and eat it, too. In the last three weeks, I've had cheesecake bars, muffins, quiche...and I've lost 6 pounds. I'm giddy. I'm gleeful. This could last.

I know that I still have to find a way to live in this world filled with office birthday parties, dining out, and holidays. I know that it's unreasonable to think I'll forego all carb's forever. So I still have to tackle the "keeping it off" part of this equation; however, in the past 8 years, I've not even been able to get my arms around the "getting it off" piece. Until now. Until my darling Almond Meal.


My favorite quiche recipe:
http://www.recipezaar.com/88539


Using this crust:
(Note: this is a sweet crust recipe; for the quiche, I left out the sweetener and added 1/4 t. salt. I did not bake the crust first--I simply patted it into the pie pan, then added the quiche ingredients.)
http://lowcarbdiets.about.com/od/desserts/r/almondpiecrust.htm