Cheese, glorious cheese!

Cheese, glorious cheese!

If you have to give up bread, at least you can keep your cheese habit on the ketogenic diet. Recipe »

Pizza? On a diet?

Pizza? On a diet?

With a limited amount of sauce and a delicious crust made of cauliflower, pizza can remain a staple of your diet. Recipe »

A world of bacon

A world of bacon

The ketogenic diet will challenge your imagination. How many ways can I use bacon in one day? Oodles and oodles of possibilities. Recipe »

Wheres the beef?

Wheres the beef?

The mainstay of the keto diet is protein. Steak, chicken, seafood, and low-carb veggies keep you feeling full and happy. Recipe »

The perfect ending...

The perfect ending...

With some heavy whipping cream and cocoa, you can enjoy the same delish desserts you\\\'ve always craved. Yum! Recipe »

 

BLT in a pita goes southwest with some chipotle dressing

I was craving a BLT. I decided to recreate the sandwich without bread by eating it from a bowl, with mayo drizzled on top. However, the recipe changed as I started to experiment.

First, I microwaved some of that ready-in-a-minute bacon. I like it crisp, so I overcooked it a bit.

keto BLTThen I tossed some mixed greens in a medium-sized bowl, chopped up one slice of tomato (go lightly; there are a few carbs), and threw in the bacon.

Hmmmm. What if I put it in 1/2 a low-carb pita bread?

I use Sophia’s whole wheat pocket pita. One pita is 7g, and I usually only use half.

low-carb-pita-breadI stuffed the mix inside the pita, and went to the fridge for some mayo…where I discovered a new dressing we love: Hidden Valley Farmhouse Southwest Chipotle.

The entire “simple BLT” idea because a southwest salad in a pita. Carb total – The pita is 3.5g, the dressing is 2g and the tomato is <1g. Total = <6.5g

Keto / low carb pizza crust – made from cream cheese

This is my all-time favorite crust. The cream cheese gives it a great flavor. It’s a very thin crust, but it’s the best one I’ve found on the keto diet. I’d love to give credit to the creator, but it was one of those low-carb recipes passed around on Facebook.

1 (8 oz) package of cream cheese, room temperature
2 eggs
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
Preheat oven to 375.

Lightly spay a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray. With a handheld mixer, mix cream cheese, eggs, pepper, garlic powder and parmesan cheese until combined. Spread into baking dish. Bake for 15-20 minutes, our until golden brown. Allow crust to cool for 10 minutes.

Top with low-carb pizza sauce (or enchilada sauce) and toppings. Bake 12-15 minutes, until cheese is melted.

Trouble in Keto-ville, but good news about cholesterol

My last post was a few months ago. Seems like yesterday. Here’s a rundown of the events (in terms of the keto diet and related issues).

Number one: gained weight back.

Sigh. I had lost nearly 40 pounds by late fall of 2012. I knew I’d NEVER stop eating on the keto plan. Well, I was wrong.

Slowly, over the course of a few months, I binged on carbs, went back on keto, binged on carbs, returned to the plan, binged on carbs…well, you get the idea.

I closed my eyes to the clothes that got a little more snug – as long as I could. I knew I had to weigh in, or risk gaining it all back through poor planning and avoidance issues.

So, instead of ignoring the problem, I actually WATCHED the scale indicator climb. And went back on, and went back off the keto plan.

Last month, I started getting dizzy spells. Great. I figured I yoyo-dieted my way into type 2 diabetes or worse. I am a doctor-avoider, but it was time; ten years with no check up is foolish. I have whatever I have, and I’d better well face it head on.

So, I found a primary care physician and went for an exam and blood tests. He discovered that I have extremely high blood pressure: 180 over 100. This was news to me. Last time I checked, it was 130 over 90. Well, that was quite a while ago.

I’m on meds, and the bp has gone down. I’m still getting dizzy, but I’m going to get an eye exam, since it only seems to happen at work after an hour or so on the computer. Home on weekends=fine. Or it could be stress. Whatever.

keto-pyramidHere’s the good news for keto dieters.

I’m often told by “carb eaters” that keto is dangerous. “You eat foods with all that fat? Your cholesterol must be sky high!”

WRONG

My bad cholesterol (LDL) was high; HOWEVER, my GOOD CHOLESTEROL (HDL) WAS SOOOOO HIGH, that the overall report is excellent! The doctor gave me his blessing to continue with the keto plan, suggests I incorporate walking and get back to it. I’m going for a complete physical in about a month. We’ll see if we can conquer this dizziness issue.

I also need to conquer this diet issue. I’ve had a relatively good week. Keto breakfast, lunch, and dinner. A few bad snacks, but mostly it’s been no/low carb eating every day. I CAN DO THIS!

Graphic from http://loveabetes.blogspot.com/2013/02/what-am-i-eating-today.html

I love blue cheese dressing: good recipe here

This blue cheese dressing is really creamy and has a nice, tangy flavor. I don’t always bother with every ingredient, but I always use the garlic powder and Worcestershire sauce. Yummy.

Original recipe makes 2 1/2 cups

  • 3/4 cup sour cream
  • 1 1/3 cups mayonnaise
  • 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 4 ounces blue cheese, crumbled

Directions

  1. In a large bowl, whisk together the sour cream, mayonnaise and Worcestershire sauce. Season with mustard, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Stir in blue cheese. Cover, and refrigerate for 24 hours before serving.
Bill's Blue Cheese Dressing
http://allrecipes.com/recipe/bills-blue-cheese-dressing/

Day 9: More success: eggs, kabobs, chili, and almonds

Off to a good start Monday and more of the same on Tuesday.

Breakfast was an omelet and bacon at home. I had a nice relaxing breakfast and some leftover time to blog (I have 4 of them, so it’s tough to keep up.)

Lunch: more leftover chicken/veggie kabobs.

goldSnack at work: Salt and vinegar almonds. I wrote about buying them in another blog. Well, my dozen cans arrived, and I was a bit disappointed. The brand I ate the other day (Gold Emblem from CVS) tasted exactly like salt and vinegar potato chips. The Blue Diamond brand only has a slight vinegar taste, plus some type of tangy chili-like flavor. They’re okay, and I like them enough to eat as a daily snack, but I much preferred the Gold Emblem brand almonds. I’ll have to see if I can find them in bulk.

After work, Rick and I went outside on the deck. It still isn’t very warm in Michigan, and I’ll bet it was in the high 30’s. I lasted about a half hour. I HATE the cold.

I drank a Michelob Ultra 2.5 grams of carb beer and 3 small pieces of andouille sausage dipped in mustard. For dinner, I reheated the Cincinnati chili from Sunday.

For dessert, I made keto-friendly chocolate mousse.

Day 8: Finally, a perfect day

And by perfect day, I mean I stayed on plan all day.

We were going to go to the diner, but we were running late, so I opted to throw together a quick omelet and microwaved bacon.

My lunch was a luxury: Rick made me some chicken kabobs (minus skewers) for me to take during the week. He is the most supportive husband a woman could ask for, especially since he actually likes bbw’s (big beautiful women). He knows I want to lose weight, and he does all he can to support me, even going out of his way to think up the plan to make chicken/veggies for my weekday lunch.

So, I reheated the chicken, didn’t have a tortilla as I had planned (too stale), and that was that for lunch.

Snack was almonds.

Dinner was at Albert’s for trivia night. I had the chicken club salad (grilled chicken), and Jim gave me one of his french fries.

Dessert was at home later: an Adkins bar.

Whew. It felt good to be back on track.

Day 7: Cincinnati Chili over spaghetti squash

It feels odd seeing “day 7” again. I started the plan more than a year ago. I actually forgot to weigh myself this morning (Freudian issues?).

I rose relatively early for a Sunday and made myself some eggs and bacon. I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast at home with the NYT puzzle.

We attempted to visit our daughter Cindy at the Ram’s Horn where she works. I was already trying to plan what keto offerings I could choose from, but, unfortunately, the restaurant was packed and her station was full.

On to a new Mexican restaurant we’ve never tried. In keeping with my new “no all or nothing,” non-perfectionistic attitude, I ordered a cheese/onion enchilada and a bean enchilada. Not keto. Okay.

Back to the plan: dinner was Cincinnati Chili over spaghetti squash. We haven’t had it in awhile and it sure was good!

I have no idea if this middle of the road kind of low carb idea will work. I guess I’ll find out soon.

 

Day 6: Better, not great

Saturday progress:

Brunch – coneys (ate the buns and about 10 fries)

Dinner – Steak with onion cream sauce and a side of cauliflower mashed potatoes. Delicious!

Photo Mar 23, 8 25 50 PM

Photo Mar 23, 8 32 00 PM

That’s it. It was a short day, and I hit the hay early. Since I’ve never done “low carb” and only strict keto, I’m not even sure how many carbs were in the buns and fries, so let’s take a look:

buns = 18 grams carbs each
fries = a little bigger than shoestring, so I’ll say 15 grams to be safe

So I went over 33 grams from “non-keto” eating. And then I went right back to keto-friendly for dinner.

That’s something I’ve decided to try. I’m working on getting rid of this all or nothing attitude, where I screw up one meal, then go on a binge for the rest of the day. Instead, I ate the carbs at brunch, then went back on the keto plan for the rest of the day.

My son (who is doing very well on the keto plan) proposed an interesting idea –

He suggested that I add up my carbs by the WEEK instead of the day. That would definitely help rid the “I’m a failure” attitude that is so pervasive after one binge meal. I’ll think about trying that next week.

Day 5: The birthday party

It was Friday, and I had a good start with a keto-friendly breakfast (eggs/bacon, of course).

I was only working until 1:30, then my son/wife, niece/husband/kids and I were getting together at 3 to celebrate my dad’s birthday. My dad died last May, and his great-grandson Owen decided we should get together as usual and have a party for him. We ordered his favorite pizza, I made the cake he always baked, we watched some videos of him, and had some pictures out.

llrcakeIt was nice, and I decided to go for a cheat meal and just enjoy it. I had 4 pieces of pizza (with crust) and some lemon/lime refrigerator cake.

Breakfast and the party food was all I ate for the day. At home that evening, I was pretty hungry, and made the unwise decision to have a glass of wine. Maybe it was thinking about and missing my dad, but I ended up eating no more, but drinking a bottle of wine. Sigh. Bad decisions all around.

I’m pretty sure the carb count was astronomical. Let’s start over tomorrow.

 

Day 4: Macaroni Grill on keto and movie night success

Thursday is date night. We keep our dates economical, and we discovered that Thursday night is a great night to go to Macaroni Grill.

First of all, they have good happy hour deals between 4 and 7 pm nightly. Wine is $3 a glass, and appetizers are 2 for $9. On Thursdays, they also have a deal where you can buy a bottle of wine half off.

Here’s how to handle this while working the keto plan:

  1. Order bottle of Chianti ($30, half price = $15)
  2. Order two appetizers that are (hopefully) keto-friendly – peppadew peppers with goat cheese and balsamic vinaigrette
  3. Order husband a $5 sausage pizza
  4. Ignore bread and oil
  5. Drink one glass of wine and follow up with multiple glasses of water

Note that BOTH plates of peppers became mine. It was like a $9 gourmet meal.

2013-03-21 17.13.56

The total bill is about $30. This is not exactly the cheapest meal one could hope for, but it’s very good for Macaroni Grill, plus half a bottle of wine goes home with us for another night. In our hey dey, we had lots of money to throw around and we would rack up a $100 check at M.Grill, so this seems like a good deal.

As for the movie night success part, see my blog about salt and vinegar almonds here.

Here’s a peppadew pepper recipe. It’s basically the peppers stuffed with goat cheese and drizzled with balsamic vinegar. YUM.