Right now my hubby's tomato plants are producing like gang busters and I have been reaping the rewards. He has been making salsa and I love it. I have noticed something interesting, my fasting blood sugar is perfect and it all started when I started eating the salsa. His recipe uses lime juice as the liquid. He makes it with cherry tomatoes since we have loads of them, garlic, red onion, jalapeno peppers, seeded and de-veined, salt, and dried red pepper, I think he has been using guajillos and cilantro.
I love this stuff and I could drink it. I have been chowing down with my Way Better Tortilla chips, they have lower carbs than the other tortilla chips out there, you know you have the right bag, if it has a sunflower on the front. My grocery store carries them.
Even being bad last night with 4 sugar free Oreos and a huge glass of milk, my blood sugar was normal this morning.
We canned 6 pints of salsa yesterday. If you want the recipe we used for canning, the Ball Big Blue Book of Canning has the recipe. It is the Spicy Salsa. It is fantastic. The heat is mild for me. It might not be for others, I just know I love it hot.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Saturday, May 4, 2013
Cooking with Coconut Milk and Peanut Butter
The other day I had pork tenderloin chops sitting in my fridge and not know what to do with them, I decided to try something out with my wok. I grabbed a can of coconut milk, the chunky peanut butter, and my spices. I used coconut oil as my base, since it is better than other oils on the market. I have a big old jar of it. It is my go to oil for stir fry.
Here are the list of ingredients I used:
Bangkok Blend seasoning from Penzey's Spices
Chili Garlic Sauce by Huy Fong Foods, Inc.
Pork Tenderloin chops
Wok
Coconut Milk
Coconut Oil
Szechuan Pepper Salt Roasted by Penzey's Spices
Bag of frozen veggies, your choice
Bulgur or quinoa instead of rice.
Prep meat:
Season your meat with the Bagkok Blend and the Szechuan Pepper Salt, both sides. Slice meat into strips or cubes, your choice.
Get your wok ready, I use medium high heat, add your tablespoon of coconut oil and wait for it to get hot. Add meat, and cook until done. Now, take the bag of frozen veggies and cook in the microwave until done. Now, add those same veggies into the wok. Add a tablespoon of chunky peanut butter, or if you have smooth, you can use it as well. Add your can of coconut milk and mix. Let it cook for about 5 minutes to get all the flavors to blend.
Serve over bulgur or quinoa for a lower carb experience.
I generally use my rice cooker to make my bulgur or quinoa, it is simple, no fuss. No guessing how to cook it. Always use double the amount of liquid to amount of dry ingredients. It is like cooking rice.
Here are the list of ingredients I used:
Bangkok Blend seasoning from Penzey's Spices
Chili Garlic Sauce by Huy Fong Foods, Inc.
Pork Tenderloin chops
Wok
Coconut Milk
Coconut Oil
Szechuan Pepper Salt Roasted by Penzey's Spices
Bag of frozen veggies, your choice
Bulgur or quinoa instead of rice.
Prep meat:
Season your meat with the Bagkok Blend and the Szechuan Pepper Salt, both sides. Slice meat into strips or cubes, your choice.
Get your wok ready, I use medium high heat, add your tablespoon of coconut oil and wait for it to get hot. Add meat, and cook until done. Now, take the bag of frozen veggies and cook in the microwave until done. Now, add those same veggies into the wok. Add a tablespoon of chunky peanut butter, or if you have smooth, you can use it as well. Add your can of coconut milk and mix. Let it cook for about 5 minutes to get all the flavors to blend.
Serve over bulgur or quinoa for a lower carb experience.
I generally use my rice cooker to make my bulgur or quinoa, it is simple, no fuss. No guessing how to cook it. Always use double the amount of liquid to amount of dry ingredients. It is like cooking rice.
Friday, April 26, 2013
A Better Taco Salad
This is a better for you version of the classic taco salad. I know most people think of this dish as something to avoid. Well, it can be made better for you.
What you will need for this dish:
ground sirloin
Pace Picante Salsa, green lid, which is mild, if you can't handle the heat, get the blue lid.
taco seasoning
skillet
bag of salad, I used the Italian blend
bag of tortilla chips, I used a lower carb and better for you, chip.
sour cream, 16 ounce tub
shredded Mexican cheese or Colby cheese
Season your ground sirloin, place in skillet, turn on the heat, brown the meat. Drain any fat, pour in your picante sauce and lower heat, cook for about 10 minutes.
Open bag of salad, place in bowls, open bag of chips, and add 5 chips to each bowl. Place shredded cheese on top of chips, open sour cream, and mix. I used 2 tablespoons of sour cream on my bowls.
Turn heat off of meat mixture, I used a soup ladle to spoon my meat mixture over the sour cream.
Enjoy!
Hubby's reaction...he loved it! He did say that he would have loved a bigger bowl of it.
What you will need for this dish:
ground sirloin
Pace Picante Salsa, green lid, which is mild, if you can't handle the heat, get the blue lid.
taco seasoning
skillet
bag of salad, I used the Italian blend
bag of tortilla chips, I used a lower carb and better for you, chip.
sour cream, 16 ounce tub
shredded Mexican cheese or Colby cheese
Season your ground sirloin, place in skillet, turn on the heat, brown the meat. Drain any fat, pour in your picante sauce and lower heat, cook for about 10 minutes.
Open bag of salad, place in bowls, open bag of chips, and add 5 chips to each bowl. Place shredded cheese on top of chips, open sour cream, and mix. I used 2 tablespoons of sour cream on my bowls.
Turn heat off of meat mixture, I used a soup ladle to spoon my meat mixture over the sour cream.
Enjoy!
Hubby's reaction...he loved it! He did say that he would have loved a bigger bowl of it.
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Chicken Enchiladas with Green Salsa
I just made these today and they are completely gone. The hubby loved them so much he finished them off. Don't let the name enchiladas fool you, they are simply easy and will be gone if you do not make enough.
Carbs...forget your diet with these...they are carb laden. They contain flour tortillas and two enchiladas will do it for me.
What you will need to make these...
Chicken shredded from a rotisserie store bought bird.
Flour tortillas, I used the fresh ones from the store.
1 tub of 16 ounce sour cream
1 to 2 packages shredded Mexican or Colby Jack cheese
1 jar of green salsa, I used Native Texan Hatch Chile Salsa Verde, you might buy 2 to be safe
Baking pan
oven
Aluminum foil
Fresh cilantro
Crank up your oven to 350F. Get your chicken shredded, put is aside in a bowl. Get out your flour tortillas, place one flat into your baking pan, grab a spoon, mix the sour cream, open your cheese bag, and open the salsa, this will work well if two people are working on this recipe, or one can do it by themselves. My hubby helped me on this and it went way quicker.
Place the shredded chicken in the flour tortilla, add some cilantro, sour cream, cheese, and salsa to the tortilla, now wrap it into a tube, place the seam side down in your pan. Keep repeating this process until you have as many enchiladas as you want to cook. Be sure to leave some salsa in the jar, or if you are like me, just buy another jar. I always take the left over salsa and pour it across the backs of the tubes of enchiladas. Be sure to spread it almost to the edge of each tube. Now, take some of that lovely shredded cheese and sprinkle this over the top of the salsa. Cover with foil and bake in that preheated 350F oven for 1 hour. Hubby did mention that he likes it a little crispy on top, if you like them this way, then 15 minutes before done, pull off the foil and let it finish baking.
Let them cool a bit before getting them out of the pan, they will come out better than when hot.
Enjoy!
Carbs...forget your diet with these...they are carb laden. They contain flour tortillas and two enchiladas will do it for me.
What you will need to make these...
Chicken shredded from a rotisserie store bought bird.
Flour tortillas, I used the fresh ones from the store.
1 tub of 16 ounce sour cream
1 to 2 packages shredded Mexican or Colby Jack cheese
1 jar of green salsa, I used Native Texan Hatch Chile Salsa Verde, you might buy 2 to be safe
Baking pan
oven
Aluminum foil
Fresh cilantro
Crank up your oven to 350F. Get your chicken shredded, put is aside in a bowl. Get out your flour tortillas, place one flat into your baking pan, grab a spoon, mix the sour cream, open your cheese bag, and open the salsa, this will work well if two people are working on this recipe, or one can do it by themselves. My hubby helped me on this and it went way quicker.
Place the shredded chicken in the flour tortilla, add some cilantro, sour cream, cheese, and salsa to the tortilla, now wrap it into a tube, place the seam side down in your pan. Keep repeating this process until you have as many enchiladas as you want to cook. Be sure to leave some salsa in the jar, or if you are like me, just buy another jar. I always take the left over salsa and pour it across the backs of the tubes of enchiladas. Be sure to spread it almost to the edge of each tube. Now, take some of that lovely shredded cheese and sprinkle this over the top of the salsa. Cover with foil and bake in that preheated 350F oven for 1 hour. Hubby did mention that he likes it a little crispy on top, if you like them this way, then 15 minutes before done, pull off the foil and let it finish baking.
Let them cool a bit before getting them out of the pan, they will come out better than when hot.
Enjoy!
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
The Lasagna Experiment
Last night, we decided to try completely no carb lasagna and found out some things about it.
First of all, do not use provolone cheese between the layers. It turned out really greasy and gross. Too much cheese. So, we will be experimenting with veggies between the layers, next time we make it.
If you love cheese and think you can handle the whole mess, I used provolone slices in place of polenta and noodles. It was gooey and very rich.
Hubby did mention that if you need a good laxative, this will do it.
I think the next phase of this recipe is either going to be zucchini, or eggplant. We will figure it out. Our goal is to make it totally carb free.
When we find the right combo, I will post it on here.
First of all, do not use provolone cheese between the layers. It turned out really greasy and gross. Too much cheese. So, we will be experimenting with veggies between the layers, next time we make it.
If you love cheese and think you can handle the whole mess, I used provolone slices in place of polenta and noodles. It was gooey and very rich.
Hubby did mention that if you need a good laxative, this will do it.
I think the next phase of this recipe is either going to be zucchini, or eggplant. We will figure it out. Our goal is to make it totally carb free.
When we find the right combo, I will post it on here.
Thursday, April 11, 2013
Kale Chips...What the Heck Are Those?
I planted kale in my spring garden and I found a recipe for Kale chips. Everyone seems to think the things are addictive and they can't be all that bad for a person, can they? So, I was perusing one of my magazines and came across several recipes for kale chips. Since I have a copious amount of kale in my garden, I went picking. I came in with my stems and promptly pulled the stems off like the recipe said and rinsed the leaves.
Here is what I used for the recipe:
1 Misto sprayer filled with olive oil
shredded cheddar cheese
pepper grinder filled with my favorite Tellicherry black peppercorns
cookie sheet
oven
Kale leaves about 1 cup.
Rinse kale leaves, after de-stemming, place on cookie sheet, crank up oven and preheat to 300F. Spray the leaves with the Misto filled with olive oil, place shredded cheese on top, lightly grind pepper on leaves.
Place in pre-warmed oven and bake for 20 minutes.
Mine came out all dry and crispy. I think the baking time should be reduced to about 15 minutes. I over peppered mine and they were extra bold and zesty. My first impression, I need to grow more kale since this could be a really addictive snack. Hubby didn't like them.
I think other flavors are going to be in the works over here. If you have a dehydrator, you can also dehydrate them but, that takes forever. I wanted instant gratification. I did get it.
Carbs 8 grams.
Here is what I used for the recipe:
1 Misto sprayer filled with olive oil
shredded cheddar cheese
pepper grinder filled with my favorite Tellicherry black peppercorns
cookie sheet
oven
Kale leaves about 1 cup.
Rinse kale leaves, after de-stemming, place on cookie sheet, crank up oven and preheat to 300F. Spray the leaves with the Misto filled with olive oil, place shredded cheese on top, lightly grind pepper on leaves.
Place in pre-warmed oven and bake for 20 minutes.
Mine came out all dry and crispy. I think the baking time should be reduced to about 15 minutes. I over peppered mine and they were extra bold and zesty. My first impression, I need to grow more kale since this could be a really addictive snack. Hubby didn't like them.
I think other flavors are going to be in the works over here. If you have a dehydrator, you can also dehydrate them but, that takes forever. I wanted instant gratification. I did get it.
Carbs 8 grams.
Bacon...Need I Say More?
I have been craving bacon lately. I admit, since I am a type 2 diabetic it shouldn't be on my diet. Ha! I love bacon. It is salty, it is crunchy, it is chewy, it is Amazing!
So, what is a girl to do? Cook it, silly! I have been eating it and enjoying myself. How has this affected my blood pressure? It hasn't. Yep, I have been eating it and my blood pressure is normal. I have had it on low carb bread sandwiches, I have had it for breakfast with my egg. I am finding I can't get enough of it. This is usually a bad thing for those of us who are diabetics. I have noticed it fills me up more than my yogurt for breakfast and I eat less.
I still stay away from the uncured stuff since it is loaded with salt. Gack! Check out a package of normal bacon and then the uncured stuff and see the difference in salt. It will amaze you.
I have learned to read labels since this whole endeavor began. I learned that there are some things that might look good until you read that it is completely awful for you. I still buy chips, I know it isn't right but, read the labels and get the kind of chips that are portioned out. I buy Pr$ngles in the snack sizes. They are portioned out and each little container is 11 grams of carbs. This is perfect when I need that little bit of carb in my diet. It makes a great snack with a bag of 100 calories almonds or almonds and walnuts. I don't want to ever go into ketoacidosis. No thank you, it sounds so completely scary from what I have read.
If you haven't had the displeasure of the miracle noodle, I would have to say it all comes down to texture, if you are a texture person, trust me, you won't like the miracle noodle. It was completely awful for me. I am no way a noodle junky, I have learned all because of the miracle noodle. For those people who leave reviews that it is just like pasta, they are unbelievable LIARS! It is not pasta and NEVER will be pasta. My take on it is this...I can have it once a month or even once every 2 months, it is no longer a staple in my household.
I am proud to say that the last bag of rice left my house the other day. My sister called in need of rice, my niece was sick with diarrhea and my sister was completely out of rice. She called and I took her the last bag. I no longer have rice in my cupboards. Yay! I kicked that habit but, good. Slowly I am working on my other bad food habits.
I keep a food log and I write down each day what I eat. I have noticed that if I do not do this, I eat anything and everything. Not a good thing. I also have switched to frozen yogurt instead of ice cream. I buy the Blue Bell individual cups in a big old bag, when I need ice cream. This way, I am limited in my serving size. No more big old bowls of that. I love the individual frozen yogurts that come in a box. They are my go to when I need something a little bit sweet. They work out nicely since their carb count is low.
If you are just starting out as a diabetic, may I suggest...go see a dietitian. It will save your life. I learned how to eat all over again with my dietitian. She recommended to me a book that has helped out so much...you will think again about eating fast food with this book. It grossed me out to see what I was eating each day and the horror of it all. The book is The Calorie King, Calorie, Fat, and Carbohydrate counter. It completely changed the way I look at Fast Food and why I will never eat a burger again at the Golden Arches. No way! Just the amount of fat and carbs. It will blow you away. If I do have a burger, I do go for the kids portions. They are so much better for me. The carb count is way better.
Be aware...if you are reading this book in the car with other people who are not diabetics, you will be called the FOOD POLICE! I didn't realize how bad I had gotten until my sister point blank told me to just STOP! I looked at her in shock. Okay, what was I telling her to get her so upset? I then realized that I was trying to be healthy for myself but, other people do not appreciate it. Oh well. If they want to kill themselves with food, then let them. If you want to eat better, do it.
The best thing I did was go out to a all you can eat restaurant and just sit there and watch. Yep, watch to see what other people pile on their plates, it will gross you out. Just the amount of bread being consumed in this country...amazing! I do not miss it. I find that I now drool in the produce department. It used to be for sugar laden snacks and greasy burgers. No more.
Then it comes down to do I eat it and feel completely awful...the guilt and the ugh feeling...or eat something healthy and clean? Then there is the whole bacon thing...if you really want it, eat it. It doesn't give me the ugh feeling at all. I do not feel guilty for consuming it. Let's face it, Bacon is Fantastic!
So, what is a girl to do? Cook it, silly! I have been eating it and enjoying myself. How has this affected my blood pressure? It hasn't. Yep, I have been eating it and my blood pressure is normal. I have had it on low carb bread sandwiches, I have had it for breakfast with my egg. I am finding I can't get enough of it. This is usually a bad thing for those of us who are diabetics. I have noticed it fills me up more than my yogurt for breakfast and I eat less.
I still stay away from the uncured stuff since it is loaded with salt. Gack! Check out a package of normal bacon and then the uncured stuff and see the difference in salt. It will amaze you.
I have learned to read labels since this whole endeavor began. I learned that there are some things that might look good until you read that it is completely awful for you. I still buy chips, I know it isn't right but, read the labels and get the kind of chips that are portioned out. I buy Pr$ngles in the snack sizes. They are portioned out and each little container is 11 grams of carbs. This is perfect when I need that little bit of carb in my diet. It makes a great snack with a bag of 100 calories almonds or almonds and walnuts. I don't want to ever go into ketoacidosis. No thank you, it sounds so completely scary from what I have read.
If you haven't had the displeasure of the miracle noodle, I would have to say it all comes down to texture, if you are a texture person, trust me, you won't like the miracle noodle. It was completely awful for me. I am no way a noodle junky, I have learned all because of the miracle noodle. For those people who leave reviews that it is just like pasta, they are unbelievable LIARS! It is not pasta and NEVER will be pasta. My take on it is this...I can have it once a month or even once every 2 months, it is no longer a staple in my household.
I am proud to say that the last bag of rice left my house the other day. My sister called in need of rice, my niece was sick with diarrhea and my sister was completely out of rice. She called and I took her the last bag. I no longer have rice in my cupboards. Yay! I kicked that habit but, good. Slowly I am working on my other bad food habits.
I keep a food log and I write down each day what I eat. I have noticed that if I do not do this, I eat anything and everything. Not a good thing. I also have switched to frozen yogurt instead of ice cream. I buy the Blue Bell individual cups in a big old bag, when I need ice cream. This way, I am limited in my serving size. No more big old bowls of that. I love the individual frozen yogurts that come in a box. They are my go to when I need something a little bit sweet. They work out nicely since their carb count is low.
If you are just starting out as a diabetic, may I suggest...go see a dietitian. It will save your life. I learned how to eat all over again with my dietitian. She recommended to me a book that has helped out so much...you will think again about eating fast food with this book. It grossed me out to see what I was eating each day and the horror of it all. The book is The Calorie King, Calorie, Fat, and Carbohydrate counter. It completely changed the way I look at Fast Food and why I will never eat a burger again at the Golden Arches. No way! Just the amount of fat and carbs. It will blow you away. If I do have a burger, I do go for the kids portions. They are so much better for me. The carb count is way better.
Be aware...if you are reading this book in the car with other people who are not diabetics, you will be called the FOOD POLICE! I didn't realize how bad I had gotten until my sister point blank told me to just STOP! I looked at her in shock. Okay, what was I telling her to get her so upset? I then realized that I was trying to be healthy for myself but, other people do not appreciate it. Oh well. If they want to kill themselves with food, then let them. If you want to eat better, do it.
The best thing I did was go out to a all you can eat restaurant and just sit there and watch. Yep, watch to see what other people pile on their plates, it will gross you out. Just the amount of bread being consumed in this country...amazing! I do not miss it. I find that I now drool in the produce department. It used to be for sugar laden snacks and greasy burgers. No more.
Then it comes down to do I eat it and feel completely awful...the guilt and the ugh feeling...or eat something healthy and clean? Then there is the whole bacon thing...if you really want it, eat it. It doesn't give me the ugh feeling at all. I do not feel guilty for consuming it. Let's face it, Bacon is Fantastic!
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