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Weekend Low Carb Wrap Up - Week Eleven

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Mon, 17 Jun 2013 03:29:00 +0000

Welcome to week eleven! It's been a good week! I've only lost one pound but I had been stuck on the same weight for the past two months, so any loss is a win in my book! Been doing excellent in staying on track and watching carbs.

I recently joined a group of people that are trying to lose weight. Some are doing Atkins Low Carb - High Fat, some are on Weight Watchers, some on Skinny Fiber, some counting calories, but the point of the group is the support that we are all receiving from each other. The tips and ideas are great too.

I mentioned how I was stalled and not losing any weight and what I was eating and how frustrated I was and several told me that I was not eating enough fats. I explained that I really don't like fats, yuk! I like lean meats and always remove the fat on my chicken but told them I was willing to try eating more fat. I never thought I would purposely eat more fat, but I did and I did lose 1 pound. I will continue throughout this next week and see what happens.

My co-worker Angie was nice enough to make a recipe we've been seeing all over the web called "Fat Bombs", see the picture below. These yummies consist of coconut oil, almond butter, liquid Stevia, cocoa powder and melted butter. She found them on the website My Low Carb Road to Better Health - High Fat, Moderate Protein, Low Carb.

Let's see, what else did I eat throughout the week? One thing was a tried and true friend...my Cajun Chicken Drumsticks and Broccoli Slaw. I love these and could eat them morning, noon and night! And now I am even eating the skin so it's a good thing that the rub I use on it gives it such great flavor!

Oh...one of the members in the group asked all of us how we "Latinize" our low carb foods. Well my mom cooks for me pretty often and all she needs to do is add jalapeno and tomato and it's Mexican food for me!

Here she takes steak and cuts it into bite size pieces instead of strips and makes her version of steak fajitas. She also makes this wonderful dish that she has made ever since I was a little girl. She takes Anaheim Chile Peppers and roasts them over an open flame, peels the skin off and then stuffs them with Monterey Cheese and microwaves them for a bit to melt the cheese. Kind of a Chile Rellano without the breaded outside. I love them! All I add is a salad.

Earlier today my sister accompanied me to do my weekly grocery shopping. We were on our way to eat at Applebees and we saw that right across the street there was a Farmers Market going on so we went over to check it out. And it was a good thing we did because we found these yummy baked veggies!

They had all kinds. In the picture below are Beet Chips and Carrot Chips with Garlic. They had samples and it's a good thing they did or we never would have tried them!

I also bought a bag of Okra Chips, which I didn't take a picture of because earlier today I went to go visit my dad for Father's Day and I took them to him and he was in Okra Heaven! He loved them and in a couple of days I will take him the beet ones and then later the carrot ones. I'm sure he will love these as well. They are baked by a company called The Kloster Company, but I could not find a website for them.

We bought some other goodies at the Farmers Market. One of the items was a Raspberry Pomegranate Vinaigrette so tonight for dinner I made myself a refreshing summer salad of Romaine Lettuce, Avocado, Cucumber, Strawberries and Red Onion and topped it all with the Vinaigrette and some cracked black pepper. It was one of the most delicious salads I've ever had!

And lest you think that I didn't have any fats today, this is what I had for lunch at Applebees!

I asked our server to bring me some butter and he was kind enough to bring me about 1/4 cup of melted butter which I drizzled all over the veggies and on the steak. I ate every bit except for the carrots!

As I said...it's been a great week and I feel fabulous and I know I look much better and my clothes are feeling looser. It is only one pound I've lost on the scale, but it's not just about the scale. It's about feeling better and feeling better about myself!

Photo Courtesy of Trains Fitness

Chaos Cook or OCD Cook? Which are you?

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Tue, 11 Jun 2013 15:00:00 +0000

I've never been much of a cook. When my kids were little, I would make simple things, grilled cheese sandwiches, burgers, hot dogs, mac and cheese, mashed potatoes. Then came the glory years when all I would do was call my son on the way home and tell him, "I'm at Wendys, Panda, McDonalds, Jakes Tex Mex, Burger King, etc., what do you want for dinner?" Ahhh...those were the days, no cooking, no shopping, no dishes to be done after dinner!

But recently, I've decided to eat healthier, which means that you have to shop and cook and of course you have to clean up afterwards. I was reading a blog the other day about how people are using their laptops in the kitchen rather than cookbooks. One person mentioned that it's not a good idea for her to use a laptop judging from the state of her cook books and how she is one of those cooks that drags out every pot and pan and has them all piled up alongside cookie sheets and cutting boards. With all that going on her laptop would definitely not survive for long.

When I cook I always need a recipe, so when I find a recipe I like I email it to myself at work and on my personal email, I pin it on pinterest, I share it on facebook and I print it out! Most of the time what I printed out ends up in a pile of mail and bills to be paid so I have to resort to using my laptop. Luckily I am a very neat and organized cook, almost too neat and organized (not so neat and organized with mail and bills).

So I have started using my laptop in the kitchen quite a bit, but I'm always worried that I'm going to get something on it and ruin it or make the keys all sticky! They need to invent something to hold your laptop while you cook. Here's a picture of my kitchen and I think maybe I need to invent something to hold my laptop on the ledge of the window over the sink. Something that would hold it in place and not let it fall into the sink and keep it above the counter so I couldn't get it all sticky and messy.

But back to my cooking technique...I am a very OCD cook. I clean as I go. I have to use all the proper cooking tools. If a recipe calls for 1/4 teaspoon of pepper, I use my measuring spoons, no guessing or a dash of this and a palmful of that for me! My mom on the other hand salts her food by just using the box of Morton Salt! (Don't tell her I told you that though, just between you and me!)

So I use tons of dishes and bowls and cutting boards and pots and pans too, but I wash everything as I go and put it away, which means it takes me hours to make a simple dish, but I just can't bring myself to leave the counters and sink a mess to be cleaned up afterward. I'm an OCD cook. So if I ever invite you to dinner and you tell me, "Cool, you cook and I'll clean up" you are getting a deal because other than the plates and utensils and glasses we use to eat, everything will already be washed up before we sit down at the table!

So are you a Chaos Cook or an OCD Cook like me?

Weekly Low Carb Wrap Up - Week Ten

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Sun, 09 Jun 2013 20:03:00 +0000

This should actually be week thirteen but I've been bad and not done a weekly wrap up for four weeks now! But I'm going to get better because as you can see from my previous post I'm killing my Sugar Crush addiction and focusing more on blogging and napping! My two favorite things!

But...just because I have not been posting a weekly wrap up does not mean I've gone off the low-carb wagon! Oh no...I've been doing good, well maybe not good but I've been trying.

I've always been a believer in only weighing in once a week on Friday mornings. For the past couple of months every single Friday I have weighed exactly the same! I was getting so frustrated because no matter what I did I wasn't losing weight!!!

So two weeks ago I decided I was going to weigh myself every day to see if I could detect a pattern...see how scientific I am? What I found out is that I was defeating myself. On Friday's I would weigh myself and then that evening I would go out an eat just a few chips with salsa (ok, maybe a whole bowl). Then on Saturday I would go out shopping with my mom and I might eat a few more chips and salsa, maybe a frozen strawberry margarita, then Sunday I usually make a nice meal for my mom and my kids and I might have just a smidgen of mashed potatoes or some Doritos casserole.

I found that all those little cheats made me add 3 to 4 pounds by Tuesday and then even though I was good and ate low carb the whole week all I was really doing was losing the weight I gained over the weekend and therefore by Friday when I weighed in I was still at the same weight! Silly me! Defeating my own self! Grrrr!

So this weekend I have stayed true to my low carb plan and have not partaken of any carbs! At least not more than the 20 to 25 allotted during the induction phase of Atkins. This weekend we have had a heatwave, so yesterday morning, before it got too hot I made some tuna salad, some chicken salad, some guacamole and some turkey, cream cheese and pickle roll-ups Plus I made some detox water.

Turkey, Cream Cheese and Dill Pickle Rollups, Guacamole and red pepper strips for dipping! Recipe for the roll ups can be found at http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2011/02/easy-recipe-for-ham-and-dill-pickle.html

My son found this wonderful video for me, three ways to cook eggs in the microwave, here's a picture of the ones I made and the video is posted below.

Scrambled Egg in a Cup in the Microwave

I also mentioned that I made Lemon Detox Water yesterday and I've been faithfully drinking it today. It's so simple to make, just slice lemons into a pitcher and fill with water then let sit in the fridge overnight. I also added a lime and I wanted to add cucumbers and fresh mint, but I didn't have any. I found information on detox water at fitsugar, but I've seen it all over pinterest too!

Again this morning before it got too warm I made a turkey roast tenderloin and a pork roast tenderloin. I buy the Jennie-O Turkey Roast Tenderloin, the Savory Roast flavor is below, they have several different flavors, the one I made today was Island Marinade and it had a sweetness to it that was excellent!

I cook it exactly as I do the roast tenderloin, you can go HERE to see how I do it.

I hope that my detox water and careful planning of food and snacks for this weekend helps me to finally start showing some results!

If you have any good low carb meals you make feel free to share them with me. I'm always looking for new things to cook. Have a great week everyone!

The Candy is Crushing my Will to Blog!!

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Fri, 07 Jun 2013 14:22:00 +0000

There is a new addiction out there in the world. One more dangerous and deadly than crack cocaine.

One that steals your will to be creative, that ruins your friendships, that keeps you from blogging! Well maybe it just keeps me from blogging, but anyway, what is it you ask?

It's a wolf in sheep's clothing and it's called, CANDY CRUSH!!!

Wikipedia says of this wolf "Candy Crush Saga is a video game for smartphones and Facebook that was released on November 14, 2012.[1] It was developed by King. As of March 2013, "Candy Crush Saga" surpassed FarmVille 2 as the most popular game on Facebook, with 45.6 million average monthly users.[2][3] It is a variation on their browser game Candy Crush.

It looks innocent enough...sweet little candies, who doesn't like candy? The object of the game is to line up three little candies and that makes them disappear and you score points. Each level gets gradually more difficult and combinations of candy appear. Striped candies and candy bombs...oh my! Before you know it you would sell your soul just to move on to the next level.

For the past few weeks I have been mesmerized and addicted! I even got my co-worker hooked so I didn't have to be ashamed to be playing the game alone during breaks and lunch hours.

Hello, my name is Alicia and I am a Candy Crush Addict.

As of today I am going to break the bonds of addiction by following the 12 Steps to Breaking the Candy Crush Addiction.

1. Admit that I am powerless over these sweet little candies and that my life has become just one big Candy Bomb waiting to explode!

2. Decide that I will not click on the Candy Crush app button to the left of my Facebook wall.

3. Admit that I will not download this application to my smart phone as I know I cannot control it on my PC.

4. Make a decision to turn my life back to blogging, to help take my mind off of those sweet little candies and those happy little crackly noises the game makes.

5. Realize and admit that "one more level" will never be enough and I will never find satisfaction and true happiness at the click of a mouse on a bright little candy.

6. I will admit to myself, to my blogging community, to my facebook friends and family and to my partners in crime, my fellow candy crushers that I need their support on a daily basis to rid myself of this addiction.

7. I will attempt to drag my friend Angelica back from the precipice of the danger I placed her in when I first sent her an invitation to play this harmless little game.

8. I will make the decision to not be an enabler and I will not send lives and extra moves to fellow Candy Crush addicts.

9. I will continue to remove myself from the Candy Crush addiction by blogging more and visiting my blogging buddies more and finding new interests that don't involve candy or Candy Crush.

10. When I feel the irresistable urge to play Candy Crush, when my fingers are itching and I know that I cannot fight the monkey on my back alone, I will turn off my computer and find other interests in the real world and not the world of CandyLand.

11. I resolve to spread this message of hope against this devastating addiction to other's that might need my help and to be there to slap their silly little hands and knock those mices, meeses, mouses? out of their hands!

12. And finally, I make the decision today to stay away from Candy Crush...just as soon as I pass level 49...or at least until I pass level 50 because that would make it an even number and half of a hundred and I can stop at that point, I know I can. I will have the willpower because I will follow the above 11 steps...after just "one more level" though...ok?

The Ugliness of Reality TV - From Left to Write

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 19:02:00 +0000

Have you ever watched the Jerry Springer Show? If you are a fan, you may want to quit reading now, fair warning!

For those that have never watched the show let me wrap it up by saying it’s a show promoting all the ugliness that is America on reality TV shows.

Jerry and his staff have a knack for finding those people that would sell their momma’s souls for their 15 minutes of fame and a little bit of cash!

The majority of their episodes deal with “Are you my daddy” and “Who is my daddy” and couples that have affairs with other people. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen anything else on Jerry's show.

I tried to find a video I could post for anyone that hasn't seen the show but after watching a few of them it just got so depressing. Human beings at their worse! The shows that deal with paternity are so sad and pathetic and I feel so sorry for the children involved…but the ones dealing with infidelity are the ones that anger me the most! It just seems to me that on the show and in real life, that whenever one spouse cheats on the other spouse, the spouses always forgive each other but are angry at the person that the spouse had the affair with.

I think I've posted before how crazy I think that is. To my way of thinking, if you are married to someone, they promised to love you and be true to you and they broke that promise to you. The other person that they had the affair with, be it a man or woman, that other person never made a promise to either spouse....so why would you want to beat them up, like they do on the Jerry Springer Show and yet they choose to forgive the cheating spouse?

This just does not make sense to me! I don't want to spoil the book that I read this month for my book club, From Left to Write, so I won't say anymore, but the book inspired me to write this post.

This post was inspired by the novel Those We Love Most by Lee Woodruff. Every family has its secrets and deceptions, but they come to surface when a tragic accident changes the family dynamic forever.. Join From Left to Write on June 6 as we discuss Those We Love Most. You can also enter to win a live video chat with Lee Woodruff! As a member, I received a copy of the book for review purposes.

Weekly Low Carb Wrap Up - Week Nine

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Mon, 13 May 2013 01:12:00 +0000

I have to be honest, I had a lazy week, ate some things I shouldn't have eaten but all in all tried to stick with the program. I think it's just the fact that the weather has gone crazy here! Can you believe it's almost 100 degrees today, Mothers Day! And it's only May! That doesn't bode well for the rest of the summer!

I had thought to try to BBQ today for Mother's Day but since I knew it was going to be 100 degrees I instead made a Doritos Chicken Casserole. Trust me, this is in no way a low carb dish, but I made it for my son as a special request, cause isn't that what moms do?

Photo Credit: blogchef.net

Doesn't that look yummy? Trust me it was. I have to admit I had a bite, ok...more than a bite but less than the whole casserole dish...promise. It is Mother's Day after all!

Back to the wrap up though. Early on in the week I made those wonderful Easy Cajun Chicken Drumsticks and that's pretty much what I ate for lunch the whole week. I also ate a lot of hard boiled eggs and Foster Farms Chicken Wieners for snacks. I ate some avocados and steamed zucchini and roasted asparagus throughout the week, so I stayed in the eating plan, I just didn't make anything new and exciting.

But I do want to have something interesting to blog about especially for those of you that may be following my weekly wrap-ups just to get ideas on what else you can eat low carb. Many of you who follow me on facebook thank me for sharing these recipes so let me tell you now that they definitely are not my inventions! As I've said before when it comes to cooking I am strictly a "cook by the recipe" kind of cook. I may occasionally tweak a recipe here and there but I've never truly invented a low carb dish.

Lucky for me there are dozens of great low carb bloggers out there that share wonderful recipes, tips and ideas and I always give them credit in my posts but today I want to list a few for you so you can go visit them, show them some love and if you want to tell them I sent you that would be just great!

1. I Breathe...I'm Hungry - This is one of my favorites for great recipes that are easy and do-able and I usually have the ingredients for. I found the recipe for the Easy Cajun Drumsticks on her blog! Mellisa Sevigny is the brains behind this blog and I love her recipes so much that I bought her online cookbook, The Gluten Free Low Carber! At $9.95 it's a deal and a steal!

2. Linda's Low Carb Menus - You can't be a low carber and not have heard of this amazing blog! I have made many of her recipes, her Make Me Stuffed Peppers, her Broccoli Slaw, and my co-worker has made her No-Bake Jello Cheesecake many times! Her website is very well organized and has photos which I always love to see so I know how close I am to the original when mine is done.

3. Living Low Carb One Day At a Time - Really this is what I do, just take it one day at a time and if I mess up I don't beat myself up, I just continue on...one day at a time! My co-worker made her Tuscan Chicken Soup and it was wonderful! Everything a soup should be, hearty and filling and comforting, yet low carb. I have pinned lots of her recipes to try in the future but you can just head on over there and try some for yourselves...don't wait for me!

So there you go, three great websites to visit if you are interested in eating healthier, low carb, paleo or gluten free!

Hoping the weather cools down so I will have the energy to try some new recipes this week but I'm not promising anything because not only it is going to be hotter than hell around here this next week but my co-worker will be on vacation the whole week and that means double the workload for me, so I'm going to be one busy and tired and hot little puppy!

Hope you all have a great week! Happy Mother's Day to all the wonderful mothers out there including my own wonderful mother and my little sister Lisa!

My sister Lisa, my mom and ME!

Weekly Low Carb Wrap Up - Week Eight?

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Mon, 06 May 2013 04:22:00 +0000

Notice my little question mark after the title? The last wrap up I did was April 15th and that was week seven. I went a bit AWOL after that last one. BUT...I have kept my low carb lifestyle going. It's not a diet, it's a way of life so there's no turning back now! So that's about three weeks of low carb goodies I have to show you.

To be honest, I have not had a lot of time to try new recipes. I have pinned several in Pinterest that I will be trying out in the future, but for right now my priority is being with my dad. I mentioned a few posts ago that he had taken a fall and broken his pelvis. He's in an assisted living facility and I try to visit him at least once a day, sometimes twice. On the bright side he is getting better and his break has healed enough that this next week he will be beginning physical therapy!

Dad and I. Celebrating his 82nd Birthday!

Just yesterday we celebrated his 82nd birthday and he was in a wonderful mood. Happy and talkative, enjoying his family and eating Nopales (cactus) which is his favorite dish. My sister made them for him and now that I think about it, Nopales are low carb, I sure wish I liked them but unfortunately I don't like them or mushrooms either.

My dad holding his containers of Nopales (Cactus) cooked with scrambled egg and onion.

One new thing that I have found and tried and really like are Persian Cucumbers! I love any kind of cucumber but especially these as I am not really fond of all the seeds in the middle and hate scooping them out before I slice them. With the Persian Cucumbers I found I didn't have to. They are super crunchy and I like to dust them with Pico De Gallo powder, which is very spicy and then drizzle them with a bit of lemon. So delicious and low carb. Really satisfies that craving for chips and salsa!

Another new item I tried was courtesy of my co-worker and co-partner in this low carb lifestyle, Angelica. She made the most delicious low carb lasagna! Yes, you heard right, low carb lasagna! But Alicia, you say...pasta is very high in carbs! I know, I know! But not when your pasta is made from Zucchini! This photo doesn't do this dish justice, but trust me it was fabulous!

Low Carb Zucchini Lasagna!

In previous low carb wrap ups I've done I've mentioned the Easy Cajun Drumsticks that I've made and I love them, but I decided to try to make them with boneless chicken breast. My son loved them and I thought they were delicious, but I really love them as drumsticks much better. They are just more flavorful and not as dry. Served them with a drizzle of lemon to cut the spiciness a bit and steamed some broccoli. I love eating low carb!

Easy Cajun Skinless Chicken Strips

One of the things I do miss eating on a low carb lifestyle is burritos and tacos. But I found a great new way to kinda/sorta eat a burrito and/or taco. Use a leaf of lettuce! In the photos below I show you several different fillings that I've tried and they were all 100% delicious!

Shredded Beef Romaine Lettuce Taco with Green Beans and Roma Tomatoes

Beef Carnitas Romaine Lettuce Tacos

Chicken Salad Romaine Lettuce Tacos with Slices of Cucumber

Didn't those all look delicious? And so easy. Almost anything you can wrap in a tortilla you can wrap in a lettuce leaf.

This next dish tastes much, much better than this photograph would lead you to believe. The original recipe calls them Buffalo Balls. They are from an awesome low carb website, I Breathe...I'm Hungry!

I followed her recipe almost to the letter, the only thing I changed is that I added Parmesan Cheese as I didn't have and don't particularly like Blue Cheese. They were really delicious and my co-worker/friend/co-low carber Angelica really loved them as well. You use Frank's Red Hot Sauce...this stuff is fabulous! Meatballs are a really easy way to eat low carb.

And last but not least...a low carb tip for you. A quick and easy Breakfast or mid morning or mid afternoon snack are hard-boiled eggs. I usually just peel two in the morning, cut them up and put them in a plastic container, add a dollop of mayo and some salt and pepper and head out the door. At snack time I just open up the container, mix everything up and eat. Easy, tasty, flavorful!

So there you go. Hopefully I redeemed myself from missing previous low carb wrap ups and we will see what this next week hold for me. Have a good one!

Where are the Interesting People?

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Thu, 02 May 2013 19:42:00 +0000

Oh my goodness! I am so bored. Thinking of joining the Army just so I can have some excitement in my life. Oh c’mon…who am I kidding, the Army wouldn’t take me if I paid them!

Image Credit: TopTimeLineCovers

Do you ever have those moments at your job when it just become repetition? I’m having one of those days/weeks/months/years! I would just like a little excitement, something out of the norm. But as I constantly hear from everyone I complain to, “You should just be grateful you have a job!” I am…I’m grateful! But is it too much to ask that things get a little more interesting?

I work in insurance…I know, that sounds boring just from the get-go. But interesting people have to buy insurance right?

Image Credit: MailOnline.com

Keanu Reeves for instance. I’m sure he owns a house, cars, boat, definitely he owns a motorcycle? So why isn’t he walking into my office looking for insurance? Someone has to provide it for him right? Plus I’ll throw in lunch and a weekend trip (with me)! Yowza!

Image Credit: The History Channel

I specialize in transportation insurance coverage, why can’t Lisa Kelly from the show Ice Road Truckers wander in or call me looking for insurance? I’m not sure I have a market for someone who makes a living driving a vehicle weighing over 80,000 pounds over ice covered Alaskan wilderness, but wouldn't it be fun just to chat with her? She and I would probably become BFF’s and maybe she would invite me along on a trucking trip with her, that would be a blast!

Image Credit: Forbes

Taylor Swift reportedly just bought a small $17M cottage in Rhode Island. Ok, so I’m not licensed to sell insurance in Rhode Island, but again… wouldn't it be just awesome and out of the ordinary to have her call me for a referral? I have Google, surely I can find her an agent in Rhode Island that would help her…plus I have some great song ideas about ex’s too!

How about you? Does your J.O.B. float your boat or is it just the job that pays the bills?

Disclaimer: Just in case my boss reads this post. Love my job, love my clients, love my co-workers, just need a challenge and some excitement thrown in!

The Oz Principle and Don't be Afraid of the Word NO!

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 19:43:00 +0000

At work, we are reading this book called The Oz Principle, it’s a voluntary book club and we will have discussions throughout the reading of it, but I read the beginning of Chapter 1 and I see something that I believe in and voice a lot but never thought to find it in a book called the Wizard of Oz. It really opened my eyes.

“Who are you?” asked the Scarecrow when he had stretched himself and yawned, “and where are you going?”
“My name is Dorothy,” said the girl, “and I am going to the Emerald City, to ask the great Oz to send me back to Kansas.”
“Where is the Emerald City?” he inquired; “and who is Oz?” “Why, don’t you know? She returned, in surprise. “No, indeed, I don’t know anything. You see, I am stuffed, so I have no brains at all,” he answered sadly. “Oh,” said Dorothy; “I’m awfully sorry for you.” “Do you think,” he asked, “if I go to the Emerald City with you that Oz would give me some brains?” “I cannot tell,” she returned; “but you may come with me, if you like. If Oz will not give you any brains you will be no worse off than you are now.” “That is true,” said the Scarecrow. --The Wizard of Oz, L. Frank Baum

There have been many times in my life that I have given up on something I wanted or needed because I would talk myself out of it. Thinking to myself that someone would tell me no or some other obstacle would stop me or prevent me from achieving my goal.

But with age comes wisdom! Several years ago when I was trying to get pre-approved to buy my first home, the bank gave me a number that they would approve for me. It was about $10,000 less than the asking price of the home. I was doomed. I called my sister and we cried on each other’s shoulder, sad that this was not to be, my pretty little house was just a dream…a far-away, unreachable dream.

As we drove to the house to let the seller know that I was not approved for their asking price it dawned on me that I was approved for a certain amount. What if instead of saying, “Sorry, I can’t give you your asking price,” and walking away with my tail tucked between my leg I said to them, “I can’t give you your asking price, but I can offer this.” What did I have to lose? I already didn't have the house and had lived my whole life without it. I was already resigned to the fact that the bank would not pre-approve me for what I wanted and I wasn't going to get the house anyway. I would be no worse off than I was now, but I at least needed to give it a shot, right?

So I did it, I offered them the amount that I was pre-approved for and lo and behold…they accepted my offer and I got the house. So I learned a valuable lesson, DON’T BE AFRAID OF THE WORD NO! Reach for what you want, in the end you will be no worse off than how you started. If you go into a situation with a mindset that you have already been defeated, then the only thing that defeated you was YOU.

Weekly Low Carb Wrap Up - Week Seven

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Tue, 16 Apr 2013 03:30:00 +0000

My weeks are still jam-packed with trying to take care of and spend time with my dad, but that hasn't stopped me from continuing to eat healthy.

I unfortunately don't have a lot of time to try new things so I'm sticking with the tried and true, meaning I made those delicious Cajun Chicken Drumsticks again. I made a whole pack of them, which was sixteen! And that is pretty much what I ate every day.

But that's ok because they are little morsels of deliciousness like no other! And....they are only $4.54 for the whole pack!

I ate them with salad and with green beans and with avocado, something different each day and yet they never did get old.

I have another whole pack thawing out right now that I plan to bake tomorrow. So bear with me while I help to get my dad healthy and back on his feet again and then I'll definitely be trying new things during the week.

The Best Laid Plans

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 03:19:00 +0000

This post was inspired by the novel Afterwards by Rosamund Lupton. After witnessing her children's school set ablaze, Grace attempts to find the arsonist as her teenage daughter lies in a coma in Lupton's suspense thriller. Join From Left to Write on April 11 as we discuss Afterwards. As a member, I received a copy of the book for review purposes

I have to tell you that I really enjoyed this book. Many of the others in our group mentioned how difficult it was to read because they put themselves into the place of the main character Grace and her child who was in a coma, but for me it was different because of what I and my family are going through right now with my dad.

My dad who is will be 82 years of age in a little less than a month took a spill recently and fractured his pelvis. He has been residing in an assisted living facility and is slowly healing. It's been a long two weeks and I've been spending all the time I can with him. This was unexpected...of course it was, it was an accident and they wouldn't be called accidents if they were expected right?

I have always tried to make sure that if anything happens to me my kids would be protected financially. They wouldn't be rich or anything, but there would be enough for them to bury me and have funds left over for them to go to school or put a down payment on a home or something. But I've never thought about what would happen if I became hurt, in a coma or unable to take care of my physical needs and I had to be in a skilled nursing center or an assisted living facility?

You can bet that I will begin to prepare for that now. I am learning with my dad's fall that trying to navigate the rough waters of Medicare, parts A and B and Medical and in-home health care while trying to be supportive to my dad and wanting only to spend time with him helping him to heal and not having to deal with all the other crap is tougher than you might think and I don't want my loved ones to suffer through this as well.

In the book they didn't really go into finances and insurance and how they were going to pay for hospital stays and medications, but in real life the reality of those things can devastate a family at a time when they need to be supportive to each other.

Plan people...plan. You know the old saying, the best laid plans of mice and men? Tragedy will strike all of us one day, rich or poor, good planner or bad, so wouldn't it be better to be prepared?

.

Weekly Low Carb Wrap Up - Week Six

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 04:10:00 +0000

Ha! Bet you thought I forgot to do my weekly low carb wrap up right? Never fear, I'm just a little bit late. What with taking care of my dad and all I'm getting a little bit behind. But I am still trying to stick to my new way of eating. So while I didn't try a whole bunch of new things, I did try two.

But first, thanks to everyone who wished my dad well and prayed for him and my family. He's getting better and stronger every day and I'm hopeful he's going to heal well and be able to go back to his little home where he has his independence.

So this week I did get industrious one night and I made stuffed bell peppers. I checked out a whole bunch of different recipes that I had pinned on Pinterest. I love Pinterest, it makes it so easy to save things you want to find later!

Aren't these beautiful? I used a recipe from Linda's Low Carb Menus and Recipes. She has more delicious low carb recipes than you can shake a stick at! I used her recipe for Make Me Stuffed Peppers! I tweaked it a bit because I had way too much hamburger meat and in order to get my son to eat what I didn't use in the bell peppers I had to make sure I didn't cook it with onion. So I browned the ground beef in a pan with salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder, then took out what he was going to eat and added raw red onion and Roma tomatoes in the meat left in the pan.

I also had tons of Monterey Jack cheese in the fridge, so I used that instead of Cheddar and....I used red bell peppers! I'm such a rebel! So here they are after I've boiled the peppers in water for three minutes, then stuffed them, placed them in the pan and topped them with cheese.

Here they are, fresh out of the oven. All warm and gooey. Don't they look good? I think next time I will sprinkle some diced green onion when they come out of the oven, just for flavoring.

The night I made these I ate them with a simple green salad with ranch dressing and it was so good. It's nice to have a comfort food and these definitely were that!

I took some to work the next day and my co-worker and fellow low-carber Angelica ate one and she loved it! She's not a big fan of bell pepper but she loved these and said she is going to try making them. I'm excited to see what she does cause as I've said before, she's an outside the box thinker and I'm sure she'll put her own little spin on them!

Here is the bell pepper just nuked in the microwave for lunch. A healthy, delicious and filling lunch!

That night when I got home dinner was easy because I had all these stuffed bell peppers, so I just made a quick pork fried cauli-rice (rice made from riced cauliflower...it's delicious!) My second new thing I tried this week. You take your riced cauliflower and saute it in a pan with some olive oil and butter, season it with salt and pepper and cook for a couple of minutes. I added diced up ham and cooked that another minute then I moved the whole concoction over to the side for a bit and scrambled a couple of eggs in a bowl and cooked them in the side of the pan until they were set then blended them with the rice, sprinkled green onion, a shot of soy sauce and sesame seed oil and a healthy shot of Sriracha Sauce cause I love me some spiciness. See my beautiful little stuffed pepper in the background there? Yum!

Because I am so good at eating left overs I can make a whole bunch of these and eat them non-stop morning, noon and night until they are all gone. In fact I ate one again today at lunch!

So that was it for new things this past week. Bear with me, I have tons of new recipes I will be trying and I may even invent a few of my own. But until my dad gets better and gets back home, I will be spending at least a couple of hours every day after work with him, making sure he eats and that he's not too lonely and that he know how very much I love him.

Have a good week!

No Soliciting...this means YOU!

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 18:08:00 +0000

I’m not having a good day! Actually yesterday was a bad day too, so maybe I’m not going to have a good week?

I thought once a woman got to a certain age and a certain bodily function stopped, PMS was supposed to stop with it? Because that is sure not the case with me! Once I a month I still get really, really, really super irritated with the stupidity of people. The unfortunate thing is that I don’t realize it was PMS until a few days later, then I think, “Oh yeah…that’s why I was such a witch!”

But even though this is not a good day and I am feeling PMSey…I don’t think that I am wrong in being angry at people that can’t read and are too stupid to understand a simple concept written in plain English and posted on the door to our office!!

I realize, soliciting may be a big word to some people, but I am pretty sure that the lady that was here just now trying to sell me a deal on a Vegas getaway knew what the word meant. I told her quite nicely that I wasn’t a big fan of Vegas, don’t like all the cigarette smoke in the casino’s and she said, “Oh yeah, I totally agree, who wants to get cancer while on vacation” and then she proceeded to continue to try to tell me about their package!! I had to be rude and say, “No, seriously…I am not interested and walk away from her!”

That bugs the crap out of me, that someone can disregard a very nice request for “no soliciting” and come in and solicit anyway and then they FORCE ME to be rude to THEM!

I was just sitting here working and minding my own business and this little chick comes in here with her little spiel about Vegas!!!

And she’s not the only one, we get people coming in here all the time trying to sell us gym memberships, teeth whitening packages, paintings, purses, sunglasses, watches… heck, just this last Friday a man came in selling fresh meat out of this truck! Like I’m going to feed my family meat out of the back of some stranger’s truck!

Nope, I am not having a good day today. How is yours going?

My Hero is Broken

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Sat, 06 Apr 2013 03:14:00 +0000

Dad and I at his birthday last year in May, 2012

It is said that a girl's first love is her dad...never have I believed that more than I do now. My dad was my first love and the only man I have always been able to count on. It is difficult to see someone you love get older and weaker, especially a man like my dad who has always been so strong and independent. I still see him with "little girl" eyes as my big strong dad that will be here forever to guide and protect me, my hero. But now my hero is broken; now it is I, along with my family that is having to guide and protect dad.

Dad and I out to breakfast a few months ago.

Dad has been having problems with his legs and equilibrium. He gets dizzy if he rises too fast or turns too quickly. Unfortunately he's not the most patient man in the world (at least not with himself) and he doesn't wait to make sure he's steady before he takes off walking so he ends up falling. His pride has kept him from using a walker or a cane, no matter how much we all nag him about it.

A few months ago he fell running to get the phone and he cracked four ribs. The Sunday before Easter Sunday while turning to lock his door before going out for his afternoon walk he somehow fell again and fractured his pelvis. He doesn't remember how he fell or why.

Dad lives alone in a gated retirement community. He is surrounded by other elderly people and he has coffee in the recreation room every morning and has made many friends there, so we had not worried much about him as we felt it was the safest place for him, and it was except for the fall.

Dad is the toughest person I know, he fractured his pelvis, reached up and unlocked his door, scooted backwards on his butt until he made it across his living room to his phone and called my sister-in-law and told her he had fallen!!! Can you imagine the pain he must have been in? She got there and immediately called an ambulance to transport him, scared that if she moved him (not that she could have as dad is 6 foot 3 and weighs 215 pounds) she might cause him further injury.

Dad and two of his grandsons, Isaac and my son James in the ball cap.

I was sitting at home on a Sunday afternoon doing nothing, looking forward to writing my post on my weekly low-carb wrap up. I had just applied hair color to my hair and was sitting in my kitchen with no make up on, wearing sweats with my hair full of hair dye sitting atop my ahead, loving that I was able to be a slob for the afternoon with no chores, errands or obligations when I got the call that dad had fallen and was in the emergency room with a broken pelvis!

Anyone that has ever colored their hair knows that you can't just run out the door with hair dye on your hair, you risk losing all your hair, so I had to jump in the shower first and rinse out all the color. I took the quickest shower of my life and my son and I picked up my brother and we all headed to Bakersfield, which is about 25 miles from where we all live.

My dad teaching his two sons his secrets to BBQ-ing!

We got to the ER room and got a chance to see dad. He wasn't in any pain at that point thanks to morphine, they were doing tons of tests on him and we waited to see what was going to happen. They of course admitted him and made him comfortable and we went home. The next day I went to work and put all my ducks in a row and told my employers that I was going to be at the hospital with my dad and headed over there.

Dad was in good spirits but a little out of it and he got more out of it as the day progressed. I blamed the morphine and thought that he would get better once he didn't need it anymore, but dad has continued to get more confused in incoherent as the weeks progress.

We knew that dad would not be able to go back to his apartment and take care of himself. We were fortunate that he qualified to be moved into an assisted living facility. He is still there and he seems happy. He has days when he knows where he is and why he is there and then he has days when he thinks he is at work and is surrounded by the people he worked with.

Today he finally had a good day, he understood where he was and why and he wanted to know when he could start walking again. I had to tell him it would be another four weeks and even then he would have to do therapy first. But he took it in stride and said that was ok, he likes where he is and he likes the girls that take care of him and he told me not to worry about him.

He told me to go ahead and go home so that I wouldn't end up driving at night and to not worry about coming to see him if I was busy because he was ok. That's the dad I know and love and remember, the one that always thought about me first before himself! I have full faith that he is going to recover, but the fact that my hero is broken...even in only temporarily breaks my heart.

My dad and his youngest grandchild, Melissa.

With Your Own Money

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 17:23:00 +0000

Do you remember your first clothing purchase? The very first article of clothing that you ever bought “with your own money”? I do!

I remember that it was 1977 and I was working at a small variety store in our little town called Cornets. Remember that store? It was what Wal-Mart or Target is now, a place where you could find anything from baby clothes to candy, patterns and fabric to rakes and brooms, women’s underwear and motor oil!

I was working there part-time while I attended Bakersfield College where I was earning my Associates Degree in accounting even though I am the worst mathematical mind in the history of numbers…but that is another story for another time!

There was a small clothing store in Shafter, right on main street, called Johnson’s Department Store. It was a very fancy store in my eyes and I would go in there often with my mom and just look around. One day I saw a sweater and I fell in love. This sweater, it was no big deal, nothing unusual or fabulous about it, the only reason it stood out for me is that it was pink and I loved pink and I had never owned anything of my own that was pink (my mom’s fav color was red, so my closet abounded with red clothing).

The Sweater was almost identical to this one.

The sweater was $34.99…a fortune in those days. I tried it on and swooned when I caught my reflection in the mirror and saw how drop dead gorgeous I was in pink! But I knew my parents couldn’t afford it so I told my mom that it didn’t fit or I didn’t like it…some excuse, I don’t remember now. But I dreamed of that sweater off and on for weeks. I was drawn to it every time that I went back to the store. Obviously I was the only one enamored of this sweater since week after week it was still there!

One day while visiting and lovingly fondling my sweater I saw a sign that said “ASK US ABOUT OUR FREE LAY-AWAY PLAN”. So I asked and was amazed to realize that for a mere $5.00 I could have them place the sweater in their lay-away bin and I could come back each week on payday and give them another $5.00 and once the balance was paid I would own my sweater! I was beyond happy to know that finally my beloved sweater would be mine, so I put that puppy on lay-away!

Every Friday I faithfully went in and paid the $5.00 and in just a few short weeks, about 8 of them, that sweater belonged to me. I was so proud of myself and so happy to have something so gorgeous hanging in my closet there amongst all the red clothing my mom had bought for me!

I went back to Johnson’s Department Store after that and continued to put clothes on lay-away for a few years until I switched jobs to a Montgomery Wards Store and they gave me a credit card…it was all downhill from there, you know how it is once you get into credit card debt! But I always remember how proud I was of myself for being able to buy my own clothes and not having to rely on my parents, it was a great feeling! Do you remember the first thing you ever bought “with your own money”? How did it make you feel

Weekly Low Carb Wrap Up - Week Five

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 02:35:00 +0000

This has been a tough week for me! But even with all that has happened this week which I'll detail more about in another post to follow later this week, I managed to lose one pound! Yay!!!

I know, it's not a lot, but imagine if you were to lose one pound per week? How many pounds would you lose in one year??? I can see you all doing the math. Let me make it easy for you...it would be 52 pounds!!! Amazing when you realize slow and steady wins the race!

The bad thing about deciding to lose weight and eat better is that as human beings, we are a very impatient bunch! We are used to getting everything now! We don't stop to think that we didn't put on 30 extra pounds in a week, it took us a good 6 months to a year or more, so what makes us think we can lose it in a week?

That is my mantra...slow and steady wins the race. I'm not just learning how to lose weight, I'm also learning how to cook and eat delicious food that can be eaten by me and my whole family alike. As I get older and realize that I want to avoid diabetes, which runs in most families, I know the only way to do it is to eat better and exercise.

With that being said, let me tell you that while I stuck to my eating plan this past week, I really didn't have much time to try new things. But thank goodness for my co-worker, who decided to try to make a cookie using almond flour and coconut. I believe she found the recipe on the blog, I Breathe...I'm Hungry. These cookies are called Almond Joy Cookies and they are low carb and gluten free.

Almond Joy Cookies

We both discussed the fact that they were good, but could have used a little more Splenda to make them sweeter. We realize that would have upped the carb count, but as long as we are only going to eat one every once in a while it really wouldn't kill us. She too felt that maybe it would have helped to add some cinnamon for flavoring, but all in all, they were pretty good and went well with our morning coffee. She also made some cheesecake which I forgot to photograph.

I usually like to try to make a nice meal on Sundays. It's a throwback to my mom and dad who always used to BBQ on Sunday. They would make enough food to feed an army! Last Sunday I made another Pork Tenderloin, but this time I made it the way my sister does, kind of like a pot roast. I loaded it with veggies. It look beautiful and tasted pretty good, but my familia is not big on the baked veggies and I myself like them only slightly steamed and still crunchy. But it's a pretty dish, don't you think?

For this pork tenderloin I used a very simple dry rub, just salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder, then I braised it in a cast iron skillet, added the raw veggies and into the oven it went.

This Sunday was Easter Sunday. I was going to BBQ but it was windy in our neck of the woods and a bit chilly, so I decided to just make my famous (well famous to my family) Taco Bell Teriyaki Hamburgers with Guacamole for my son and daughter, and then for myself I decided to try a couple of new recipes that I've pinned on Pinterest.

The first was an Easy Cajun Chicken from...you guessed it, I Breathe...I'm Hungry! I just love her blog, so many wonderful recipes that are super easy to make. So easy that even I can do it!

I did it exactly like her recipe except that I did not have any dried thyme so I just didn't use it. I had bought a huge pack of chicken drumsticks at the store the day before and I washed them, dried them, rubbed them with olive oil and then made the dry rub of salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder, cayenne pepper and dried oregano and tossed them in that, placed them on a foil lined cookie sheet and baked them at 400 degree oven for about an hour.

They were soooooooooooo good! The skin was crispy and spicy as heck! And the meaty part of the drumstick was juicy and delicious. I made the whole pack which was about 5 pounds so I will have plenty of leftovers to carry me through the week.

To go along with it, I tried another Pinterest recipe which I found at Linda's Low Carb Menus and Recipes called Broccoli Slaw. This was very similar to my Broccoli Salad except it didn't call for bacon and onions, so I improvised a bit and added onion salt and when I served the slaw on my plate I added bacon bits.

I also added some guacamole that I made for the burgers. I froze some of the guacamole as a test as I have been seeing on Pinterest that you can freeze avocado and they are really inexpensive right now. I bought these for 50 cents each! So here was my Easter Sunday Dinner...yummy no?

So that's it for this week's wrap up. I didn't get a chance to exercise as I had hoped, but I did stay busy doing other things, which again I will post more about later this week. I'll try to exercise this week, but again...not sure it's going to be possible since I'm a pretty busy gal lately. Have a great week!

Weekly Low Carb Wrap Up - Week Four

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 02:24:00 +0000

Since beginning my low carb eating regimen I've lost 12 pounds. I'm kind of stuck now or what is known as "being stalled" or "plateauing". Call it what you will it's really irritating!!!

Last week I did a little experiment on myself. I have been following the Atkins recommended 20-24 carbs per day and that is how I lost the 12 pounds, but I've been stuck at the same weight for about 3 weeks now. This week I stayed under 17 carbs per day. I know that sounds awful, but it really wasn't because you can still eat protein and fats to a point that you truly feel satisfied so it's not like when you count calories and you get to 1200 calories and you can't eat anything else the rest of the day. You will see in my wrap up that I continued to eat delicious food, just less carbs.

So I only lost 1/2 pound eating under 17 carbs and that bums me out. The reason it bums me out is because I think that in order to unstall myself I'm going to have to turn up the exercise and physical activity portion of my regimen..which doesn't require much since I've been doing literally nothing!

That is my goal for this next week. I'm going back to 20-24 carbs but I will be exercising every single day and we will see what the scale says on Friday morning...wish me luck!

So on to the food wrap up, I ate some of my normal things that I eat each week, my turkey salad, which I don't think I've pictured on my blog before. It's just ground turkey sauteed in a pan with some taco seasoning, then I make a gorgeous salad with every veggie we have in the fridge, bacon, shredded mozzarella cheese and ranch dressing and top with the turkey...I love it!

But I did try some new things and knowing that I would have to put something new in my weekly wrap up made me a little more energetic and inspired me to try something new.

First off though, my co-worker made a wonderful low carb soup last weekend and brought me some for my lunch on Monday. I love my co-worker, she's a doll!

Doesn't that look delicious? She got her inspiration from the Tuscan Chicken Soup recipe shared by Karen at Living Low Carb One Day at a Time. Angelica, my co-worker is one of those outside-the-box cooks that sees a recipe then adds her own spin, but me...I play it safe and follow the recipe to the letter! The soup was delicious and really hit the spot for a nice lunch. Thank you Angelica!

I wanted to make something new to share with her too, so one night when I was feeling especially energetic I decided to try to make Lemon Almond Shortbread, sounds delicious doesn't it? I saw the recipe on the blog, I Breathe... I'm Hungry! I followed her recipe to the letter and you can find the recipe on her blog HERE.

If I'm going to be honest, I have to say that while it looks beautiful it was not as sweet as I had hoped. Next time I am going to put a bit more Splenda, even though it will increase the carb count and I am going to add some cinnamon, maybe some anise for flavoring. It has the most delicious crunch though!

Didn't it photograph perfectly? I'm in love with these pictures!

I also tried another Atkins Frozen Food, this time it was the Italian Sausage Primavera. I loved everything about it except the sausage but I'm not a big fan of sausage. If you like sausage though you would probably like this meal.

The only other thing out of the ordinary that I ate this week was my lunch I had yesterday when I was out shopping with my mom.

She had been wanting to go to a restaurant called Famous Dave's. It's a BBQ place and it surprised me that she has been wanting to go for so long as she's not a big fan of BBQ When we first got there I told the hostess that it was our first time there and they treated us special, they even gave us a free bottle of their BBQ sauce and a free appetizer next time we go there. Which may not be soon as mom didn't like it! Seriously! After all that time of her wanting to go she didn't even like it. But I did!

Because I had to stick with my low carb diet, I ordered their Southside Rib Tips which came with french fries, but I requested a substitution for their broccoli and they were more than willing to do that for me. I love them! I was a little bad in that they served us Bread and Butter Pickles. I adore Bread and Butter Pickles, but of course they have sugar, but I only ate at the most 6 pickle chips...Yum!

That was my week. I ate well, I feel great, my clothes are fitting better each and every day. If I can just get that stinking scale to move I will be happy.

Another Reason for my bad mood! Will it never end?

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Sun, 24 Mar 2013 22:39:00 +0000

I hate home ownership! I used to be so happy when I was renting my little apartment.

But everyone would bug me and tell me that I was throwing my money away and that home ownership was the way to go.

I remember taking off on weekends and not worrying about the lawn or weeds or tree trimming or repair and maintenance of coolers, air conditioners and heaters. No buying of filters or weed and kill. Ahhh, life was grand then.

But I listened to all those people that told me I was throwing my money away, that I needed to make an investment and buy my own home. So I did...and here I sit, on a Sunday afternoon wondering where I am going to take a shower tomorrow.

Millivolt System Thermo Coupler

See...my water heater died. It has an "inoperative Millivolt System Thermo Couple". The man from the gas company said so and told me to call the manufacturer, Whirlpool. So I did and their representative told me she was going to send me an email to do a check and reset and if that doesn't work then to call them back and they would send me the part that is broken, the Thermo Coupler. That little do-hickey pictured here, which is roughly only about $8.00. It may as well be $8,000 because I don't know how to fix this so I will have to call a plumber!

And in order to check to give them the Mulimeter reading so they know if it is the Thermo Coupler I have to buy a Multimeter reader *sigh*.

I was so happy having a landlord...

The Reason for my Bad Mood

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 02:39:00 +0000

Why do people have to be so petty!

It is so much easier to be nice, to smile, to open the door for someone else, to stop and let a car get in front of you in heavy traffic, to give someone the shopping cart and you grab the next one.

I'm not the nicest, most polite person in the world, nope...that honor belongs to my sister who has the biggest heart and the nicest smile. Me...I have to try because most of the time I am pretty self absorbed, but I do try.

Today after work, I stopped at the grocery store to pick up some baked chicken drumsticks because I have been craving them all day and I love the ones that WinCo Grocery Store bakes in their Deli Department, they are huge and seasoned to perfection.

I'm in my car looking for a parking space. The parking lot is such that there is a row of parked cars to my right and to my left and instead of being parked at an angle, they are parked straight across from each other, something like this.

So I'm heading north and another car is heading south and we come to the space shown above that I've labeled "My Space". I put on my turn signal, even though it's a parking lot letting them know I am going to take the parking space. I did this because I saw there was another space exactly across, I didn't just try to steal the space, even though we both got there first and I had the right to the parking since they would have had to cross in front of me to use it. So I park and they park in the space across from me.

We both exit our cars at the same time and I smile at them and say, "I wasn't trying to steal the parking spot, I knew there was another one right across for you." And the woman says, "Then why didn't YOU take it?" And still being nice I say, "I didn't want to cross in front of you so I figured it would be easier for us each to take the space on our side." And she said, "Oh yeah, well isn't that just a great excuse", then she turns her back to me and walks off and her husband muttered something and they laughed and I had to bite my tongue to keep from saying, "What did you say?"

That ruined my whole shopping experience and made me sad. That a complete stranger would be rude and ugly to another complete stranger over a stupid parking spot! Why do people have to be ugly to each other? I just don't get it!

Weekly Low Carb Wrap Up - Week 3

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 01:35:00 +0000

Darn it! I have to get better at this! I've been doing this low carb wrap up for a few weeks now and I'm not getting any posting done during the week. I think I'm going to have to start posting this stuff on a daily basis for two reasons:

1. It will make for more posting throughout the week.
2. I forget what stuff I made during the week and comments I wanted to make on it.

I'll do the best I can during the week since it is American Idol season and I love them and won't miss it for anything in the world!

Have you all been hearing about the health benefits of Kale? I know I have, and aside from the health benefits I've been told that Kale Chips are the next best thing to Tortilla Chips. May I just tell you right now that is ~~a big fat lie~~ a bit far-fetched! Yuk! Kale Chips are not the thing for me! Now those of you that love them, don't hate me, they are just not for me, just as Seaweed Chips are not for me even though I know those that love them.

The photo above is where they are all washed and dried and seasoned and ready to be baked. I used the recipe from the very excellent low carb blog, I breathe...I'm hungry...

I'm pretty sure it's not the fault of the recipe or the blog or the blog creator, Mellissa Sevigny, it's just that kale chips are not for me, just like I don't like mushrooms, it's just a matter of personal taste.

I baked them just as she instructed and tasted the ones that burned a little bit and tasted the ones that were perfectly crisp and nope...not for me. I want to think that maybe it was the Soy Sauce or the Sriracha Sauce so I am going to try to make it one more time with a different recipe that just calls for olive oil, salt and pepper. I'll let you know what happens.

One new item I did try this week is the new Atkins Frozen Meals. I tried the Crustless Chicken Pot Pie. I gotta say, it wasn't bad. It didn't taste like a pot pie, but the chicken was fresh and delicious white meat with a very nice tenderness, not dry at all. The veggies were pretty good and the sauce was rich and gooey. It didn't seem like a lot at first and I didn't know if I was going to get full, but it was very filling due to the fact that there was quite a bit of chicken and the pieces were pretty big. I would definitely recommend this and I will be buying it again. Right now Wal-mart is the only store carrying them and of course, they don't carry them at the store I go to!

Atkins has a whole line of them and I also purchased the Italian Sausage Primavera which I will probably try for lunch tomorrow. You can see their whole line on the Atkins website.

I tried another new thing this week, I tried making Buffalo Roasted Cauliflower. I used a recipe from a new blog I've found via Pinterest. The blog is called Closet Cooking because the blog owner, Kevin is "Cooking in a closet sized kitchen".

Again, I don't blame Kevin for my not being thrilled with the recipe, I think that I just don't like roasted Cauliflower. I love Cauliflower, but just not roasted. I may try it steamed as I did like the flavor of the buffalo sauce.

I served the dish alongside a favorite dish of mine that my mom makes, you can see it below. She chops up steak and pan fries it in oil and when it's done she adds chopped tomato and jalapenos and it's almost like a steak fajita except there is no onion as mom can't stomach onion (I love, love, love onion!). See those burnt parts on the cauliflower? Those parts are supposed to have a delicious nutty taste, they just tasted burnt. You can't see the buffalo sauce very well, I actually added more later.

That night I went to bed wondering what to do so I wouldn't waste the rest of that cauliflower. Voila! Overnight a wonderful idea came to me, why not fry it up with some scrambled eggs? Hence is born my Scrambled Egg Buffalo Roasted Cauliflower!

The egg really cut down on the burnt taste and the marinating overnight of the cauliflower with the Franks Red Hot Sauce made for a spicy delicious breakfast. It made enough for two servings and I put it in plastic containers and enjoyed it two mornings at work. The office smelled awful, but we opened the door and aired it out and it was ok. I recommend this dish if you love spicy. Just make Closet Cooking's Buffalo Roasted Cauliflower and chop it into bite-sized pieces and heat it in a pan with some butter and olive oil, then throw uncooked scrambled egg in and cook to your desired egg consistency. Yum!

Now...let's see, what else did I try this week that was new and exciting? Oh yeah! I made a pork tenderloin that was to die for!! I almost killed my mom making it but she said the flavor was almost worth it. I used a cast iron skillet on the stove top and seared the whole tenderloin while it had the dry rub on it. Because of the Cayenne Pepper in the dry rub, it makes it noxious to breath. It didn't bother me but it drove poor mom out of the house!

I've actually made this dish before and blogged about it here. My daughter found this recipe a while back and asked me to make it for her. The original recipe was adapted by a recipe from the blog, Little B Cooks: Chronicles from a Vermont foodie, quite a title!

The first time I made it I used the exact recipe as Little B posted on her blog, but when I went to go get the recipe out of my little personal cookbook where I write down recipes I like, I noticed that I had jotted down some notes. I said my family didn't care for the cinnamon and to leave out the glaze if making low carb as it does have brown sugar....so I did that, it was smack your mama delicious! I believe I served steamed broccoli with it, but I don't remember now.

And my co-worker, who loves to cook and try new low carb dishes made a tasty little dessert for us and she brought them to work and we had one every day for our 3pm break. They are these delicious creamy little bites of heaven! It's called No-Bake Jello Cheesecake and it has just 3 carbs each! Really satisfies a sweet tooth! She found the recipe on a really excellent low carb website, Linda's Low Carb Menus. I love this site!

Can you believe they are made with just 4 ingredients, one of them being water? Unbelievably delicious!

So that was my week! Hopefully I can do even better in trying out new things this next week. I'm also going to try to cut down on my carbs from 20 -24 to 17 -20 carbs per day as I'm stalled right now and haven't lost any more weight. I feel lighter and my clothes fit better. Health wise I feel great! No indigestion or that yucky bloated feeling after eating, but it's always nice to see that scale drop too. So wish me luck and if you have any low carb ideas for me, I'd love to hear them!

Oh yeah...my co-worker and I also started walking during our lunch hour. She can walk for miles, but then again she's the same age as my daughter. I made it almost a mile and then told her she had to go get the car...hahaha. No I made it back to the office but I guess I bit off more than I can chew and need to ride my stationery bike more before I tackle a mile again...but it's a start!

Have a great week all!

Weekly Low Carb Wrap Up!

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 01:17:00 +0000

It's that time again! Time to prove to myself that I did well sticking to a low carb lifestyle and that I'm not eating the same old thing day after day.

Last Sunday, after I posted my first Weekly Low Carb Wrap Up, I was feeling motivated and decided to make a little treat for myself and my co-worker for the next day. I've made this dessert before and I had pinned the recipe from sheknows.com.

Recipe

* 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
* 4 teaspoons Splenda
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa powder
* Sugar-free Cool Whip (optional)

Directions
1. Place whipping cream, Splenda, vanilla and cocoa powder in a blender or a bowl if you want to use a mixer as I did.
2. Blend or whip until creamy and smooth.
3. Spoon mixture into serving dish, or plastic container for travel to the office as I did.
4. If you want, top with Cool whip and sprinkle with cocoa powder.
5. Enjoy...delicious!

Monday evening when I got home I had expected to marinate some chicken for about a half hour but my mom had made Pork Carnitas. I love Pork Carnitas. Usually when she makes them we have them in tacos.

She fries corn tortillas in oil until crispy but not crunchy, then we add the carnitas, lettuce, cheese, salsa and cotija cheese. But since I can't have the corn tortillas I made myself a Pork Carnita Salad.

See...almost the same thing as the tacos, just no fried corn tortillas. Did I miss the fried tortilla shells? Yes, I have to be honest, I did. But was I satisfied with this salad? Yes...and low carb. Lots of crunch even without the taco shells since I added yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced radishes, finely chopped celery and topped it all with some sour cream and about a tablespoon of my mom's salsa. I didn't even use any kind of dressing.

I went ahead and marinated my chicken in this great product I was introduced to by my co-worker. McCormick's Grill Mates.

You just mix with some oil and water and then place your chicken in there and leave it for 30 minutes or more, I left it overnight and then in the morning before I left for work I wrapped it well in foil on a cookie sheet and when I got home I just popped it into the oven!

I almost had a catastrophe! See...it popped up too much. I've never had this happen, wondering if maybe it was the marinade that made this happen. Found out from my co-worker the next day that it's best to not cover it before putting it in the oven, so can't wait to try it again.

Here's the end result, it was so good! Moist and tender and very flavorful. Served it with some steamed broccoli and then I made a salad of bell peppers and Roma tomatoes marinated with a little Italian dressing and some dehydrated onion as I didn't have fresh. It was such a great meal!

I had the left over chicken and broccoli for lunch the next day and it was even better!

Also this week I had a great steak my mom made along with some zucchini squash she steamed and some green beans with tomato. I had some of the bell pepper and Roma tomato salad left so I threw it on top of my steak like a relish. Another great meal! I can't believe how easy and delicious it is to eat low carb!

Friday I had not planned for as my sister and I usually go out to dinner on Friday nights and get caught up with our week. But this week she was suffering from allergies, plus she had a birthday party to attend. So I stopped at Von's Grocery Store for their 5 for $5 fish meal. I added the left over zucchini ..I love left overs. My mom and daughter don't eat left overs but I think food gets better the next day. I also purchased a great e-book and made my own home-made low carb Tartar Sauce.

I couldn't believe that homemade tartar sauce would be so good but it was much better than store bought. The e-book I bought was from Mellissa Sevigny from ibreatheimhungry.com.

So simple to make too!

* 1/4 cup mayonnaise
* 1 tablespoon dill relish
* 1 teaspon prepared mustard
* 1 teaspoon lemon juice

Combine in a small bowl and serve alongside your fish..mmmmm! I highly recommend buying the book! It's called The Gluten Free Low Carber and you can buy it HERE.

Last week I also mentioned I was going to try to make the low carb crackers with Pepper Jack Cheese and I'm so glad I did, they are delicious !! Really satisfy that craving for chips and/or crackers! And you have those tiny little bits of jalapeno in there. These took a little bit longer to cook in the microwave American cheese took 60 seconds but I had to cook these an additional 60 seconds.

So lets see what new things I can try this coming week or what old things I can reinvent low carb. Have a good week everyone!

It's Nice to be Appreciated!

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Thu, 07 Mar 2013 16:04:00 +0000

It’s so nice to be appreciated!

This weekend I commented on a blog about a post on daffodils . They were so pretty and brought such joy to my heart that I commented that I was going to pick up some flowers for my desk at work to brighten my day.

Then imagine my surprise when I received these!!!

Our bosses just randomly sent these to my co-worker and me with a simple note that said “Our Sincere Thanks for your work efforts and loyalty!”

I thought that was pretty nice and we received them on Monday so we have been able to enjoy them all week! It’s so nice to know we are appreciated!

Weekly Low Carb Wrap Up!

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 23:13:00 +0000

I thought I would start doing a weekly low carb wrap up on Sundays to showcase some of the delicious things I've been able to eat during the week on a low-carb diet. I have two reasons for doing this:

1. I want to push myself to try new things, foods and recipes. If every single week I am just posting the same old tired pictures of fried eggs and taco salad then feel free to call me out on it and tell me to get more creative!

2. I just like to show off and I love blogs with pictures. I could tell you I ate a taco salad, but wouldn't you love to see just what it looked like? No? Yes? Well doesn't matter because I'm posting pictures anyway!

And since I'm linking up to Mosaic Monday I've created a sweet little mosaic of a few of the more unique (at least to me) low carb foods I've tried this week.

I eat a lot of turkey taco salads, but this week I switched it up and tried a tuna salad (pictured bottom right).

I love Romaine lettuce and I slice up about three of them each week, I wash it and put it in a lettuce spinner then put it into a plastic container like the one shown below. Then I seal them all well and place them in the crisper section of my fridge and they hold up pretty well. This one I ate on a Friday and see, the lettuce still looks fresh and green. There's also a few radishes and celery chopped finely in there.

It's a super simple tuna salad, one you all probably make quite often. Just tuna, mayo, Lawry's Seasoning Salt and pepper, oh and my favorite, sweet pickle relish. I know that sweet pickle relish adds about 2 carbs but I just love it and it wouldn't be tuna salad to me without it. I topped it with some slivered almonds for some crunch and slices of avocado for decadence and creaminess. I didn't even need dressing!

I had a few of my cheesy crackers (pictured bottom center) left that I made on Tuesday and I chomped on those at the same time. It made for a delicious lunch!

Then the other night my mom said my daughter April had bought some asparagus and asked her to cook it. Mom said she had boiled it in the past and should she make it like that again. I told her I would look up a recipe on youtube (mom loves to watch recipes on youtube). I found this great one from ChefEvelyn TV. She simply places the asparagus on a foil lined cookie sheet, sprinkles extra virgin olive oil, kosher salt and pepper and tosses the whole thing with her hands, places in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes and Voila! Roasted cauliflower that was to die for!

Mom had planned to make fried ham sandwiches and chips for dinner, so I asked her to just fry two pieces of ham for me and I had a boiled egg that I cut in half and added a spoonful of mayo, salt, pepper and paprika to and added some of the roasted asparagus and I had a delicious, easy meal without a lot of drama! It just takes imagination! The asparagus was nutty and delicious!

A new recipe I tried this week was an Orange Creamsicle Mousse. Remember eating Orange Creamsicles? I used to love them!

But they have 20 grams of carbs and 12 grams of sugar, so it's not something that I can fit into my carb count...unless I were to just eat one bar the whole day and nothing else, but who am I kidding, if there is a box of these puppies in the house I'm eating them all!!!

So I got lucky and found a great recipe at genaw.com. Linda has a ton of great recipes on her website and I plan to try a lot of them in the coming year. She had this one listed under desserts/Butter Mint Mousse. While the Butter Mint Mousse seemed intriguing I only had lemon, vanilla and orange extract in the house and so I tried the orange. It looks pretty light in this picture but it's actually a pretty orange color.

Orange Creamsicle Mousse
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/4 granular Splenda or equivalent liquid Splenda
1 tsp orange extract
3 drops yellow food color
2 drops red food color (I used 3 and it still seemed a little light to me.
1 tbsp sugar free instant vanilla pudding mix

You simply pour the cream into a mixing bowl, add the rest of the ingredients and using your mixer beat it on low speed until blended then beat on high until thick and fluffy. This is 4 servings with 5 net carbs if you use the granular Splenda and 3 net carbs is you use the liquid Splenda. It's a creamy, delicious treat!

And last, but not least I tried something that I've been thinking of trying since forever! I riced a cauliflower and made Asian Pork Fried Rice......oh my gosh was it ever yummy!

First..ricing a cauliflower? Yeah, I had no idea how to do that but I found this great video on youtube. There are other ways of doing it, like with a food processor, but since I don't have one and I do have a blender, this was the next best thing. It's a short video so please watch it. It was made by Robin Sue at Big Red Kitchen.

Pretty cool huh? I love that there are so many low-carb, gluten-free, paleo, vegetarian blogs out there with cooks that love to experiment and share these wonderful tips, videos, ideas and recipes. I am so grateful for them!

So I riced my Cauliflower and then followed the basic simple instructions on another video by another awesome low-carb chef, Kent Altena at Atkins Diet Geek Blog. He's made hundreds of videos and I've not had the chance yet to watch more than 10 or so and can't wait to see all of them. He also has an inspiring weight loss story to tell! Here's his video on making "Faux Fried Rice" using riced cauliflower.

I did basically the same thing, except I had no bacon, so I fried about a cup of my riced cauliflower for about 4 minutes with some olive oil and butter and salt and pepper, then added diced ham and some left over chicken kabob from dinner with my dad and sister the other night.

Then after another two or three minutes of frying that up, I moved it all to the side and added one scrambled egg, fried the egg a bit then incorporated the rice, ham, chicken mixture in, added a shot of soy sauce and a small shot of sesame see oil and about a tablespoon of Sriracha Sauce (I love this sauce, it is my favorite seasoning of all time!). Stirred it a little longer and ended up with this little beauty.

Every week I post a zillion low-carb recipes on Pinterest, and I definitely think it's time to start trying some of them, otherwise this will be true of me!

Have a great week everyone and please feel free to head over to Mosaic Monday at Little Red House to see what everyone else is sharing.

The Bliss Point of Cheetos

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 05:20:00 +0000

You know how they say "You can't eat just one" about Lays Potato Chips? Well that's how I feel about Cheetos. More precisely, Cheetos Crunchy.

I love them to pieces and am totally addicted to them. I can sit and eat until I've eaten the whole bag!

Cheetos are what I used to love to snack on at work to help me relieve stress and they just plain make me happy.

Unfortunately Cheetos don't fit into my new low carb, gluten free style. Check out the nutrition information. 21 little pieces of heaven are 13 grams of carbs! When you are trying to stay within 20 to 24 grams of carbs per day you would use up your whole carb count with just a small snack, let alone eating the whole bag!

For me the hardest part of eating low carb is not being able to eat Cheetos or chips of any kind. So I am always looking for low carb alternatives for crunchy salty snacks.

Today I was checking out low carb recipes on Pinterest and I found a recipe for Cheese Crackers on Low Carb Layla's blog. I am just amazed that people come up with these low carb snacks and meals!!!

So I thought I would give them a try. According to Layla you take a slice of Deluxe American Cheese. Yes, that's right, a slice of plain old American Cheese. She states she's only had success with the Deluxe brand of American Cheese but all I had was regular Kraft so I gave it a try and they came out beautifully!

Pardon the horrible photo but it was about 8pm and I took this with my cell phone camera in my very much unlit kitchen. Aren't they adorable? And they are very, very good and make your whole house smell delightful! So much so that my son came out wanting to know what that heavenly scent was and I had to make a couple of batches for him.

It's easy peasy...you take a slice of cheese and cut it into sixteen pieces, then you place the pieces on a piece of parchment paper. I cut mine into a circle and reused it for about 20 batches. You place the small squares of cheese around the edge of the paper and then what ever you have left over in the middle. I actually ended up liking the ones in the middle better than the ones outside, they browned a bit more and were crunchier.

The time you set the microwave for depends on your microwave. Layla says hers come out perfect at 38 seconds but I have to run mine for 60 seconds, my first ones were a bit chewy.

I am having fun trying out these low carb recipes that I find on Pinterest. I also tried making an Orange Creamsicle Mousse tonight but haven't had a chance to taste it. I'll try to photograph it tomorrow, I'm taking some to work to share with my co-worker/friend who is also low-carbing it with me.

Abuelita Chocolate - Low Carb Style

noreply@blogger.com (Alicia) — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 17:41:00 +0000

For some reason my mom only made her homemade Hershey's Cocoa when it was raining. She would send my dad to go and pick us up at school, she didn't trust the bus driver to drive us when it was raining and the roads were slick.

We would come in, cold and wet and smell the cinnamony goodness of her cocoa. It was so thick and creamy and delicious. It hit the spot on a cold day. She would serve it in a bowl instead of a cup and we would sip it slowly with a spoon, that's how thick and delicious it was! Mmmmm!

I have only found one product that is almost as good as the one my mom made. It's Abuelita Hot Chocolate, and while you can make it from scratch with chocolate blocks, I love that they make it in an instant. But alas...the carb count is a killer! Each envelope has 19 net carbs. When you are trying to stay within 20 to 24 carbs per day, then having this is out of the question.

Today I was lucky enough to find a lower-carb hot chocolate. I found this recipe at Radical Geekery. The Radical Geek calls it Hot 'Cocoa'nut Milk and she uses coconut milk, water, vanilla extract, cocoa powder and maple syrup.

I tweaked it a bit to bring the carb count down. I used Goya Coconut Milk, Water, Vanilla Extract, Hershey's Cocoa Powder, granulated Splenda for sweetness and cinnamon to help make it as good as my mommy's.

I went ahead and used the whole can of coconut milk and did the math to figure out how much of each product to use and I have to say, it's wasn't bad. Not as good as my mom's, not as good as Abuelita, but definitely hearty and heart-warming. I drank a small cup and then poured the rest into a container and I'm going to keep it in the fridge so I can warm up a little bit whenever I have the urge. I may also try to add it to coffee as I love chocolatey tasting coffee.

Here's the nutrition facts. As you can see it's still 9.2 net carbs, but that's certainly much more doable when you're counting carbs and just crave a sweet treat. And as cold as it has been here lately this really hits the spot!

Speaking of loving chocolate in my coffee, I found this great product. It's Nestle's Coffee-mate sugar Free Creamy Chocolate.

The best thing about this product is that it only has 1 carb per teaspoon!! I put 3 teaspoons in my coffee each morning.

You can also find sugar-free Hazelnut and French Vanilla and Vanilla Caramel. They need to invent a Raspberry Vanilla and a Dulce de Leche, Ohhhh and a Creme Brulee! That would be heavenly. I've kind of been wondering what it would taste like if you whipped this up with heavy whipping cream? Hmmm, might have to try that one.

What's your favorite winter drink? Tea, Cocoa, a hot toddy?