Community Course and Getting Back to Salads

Today I was super excited to see my Low Carb Coaching and Weight Loss Course added to the local community center guide of classes.   I'll start offering my classes in January!  I'm doing a bit more foot work to hang posters and promote the course but I certainly hope this is the start of something great!

Now that I'm maintaining my weight, I am having a little fruit and it's a great add to salads.
I created a Pear, Pecan, Chicken and Feta Spinach Salad with a red wine vinegar and olive oil dressing.  Total Carb Breakdown:

Pear, Pecan, Chicken and Feta Salad

1/4 cup diced fresh pear - 6.38 carbs / 1.3 fiber
1/8 cup pecans -whole - 2 carbs / 1 fiber
1/4 cup chicken - 0 carbs / 0 fiber
1/8 cup Feta - .77 carbs / 0 fiber
1/4 cup sliced black olives - 2 carbs / 1 fiber
2 cups Spinach  - 2.2 carbs / 1.4 fiber
Oil and Vinegar dressing - 0 carbs / 0 fiber

Total carb count: 12.2 carbs / 4.7 fiber

Looks great and tastes great too!

Here's a few things I am looking forward to trying in the coming months:
Cauliflower Tortillas and pizza crust!
Cauliflower and Egg scramble
Making my own salad dressings!
Enjoying some fruit, like apples and pears in salads
Marinating my own vegetables!
Making Coleslaw!
Making raspberry jam!
Building a garden and looking at getting chickens.

My pantry is almost completely empty of boxes!  I can't believe it.  I'm getting down to the true cost of making things without processed foods.  I'll start to develop a list of staples to have on hand that will allow someone to have a low carb diet and make a plethora of dishes throughout the month.

Happy Carb Counting these last few days of the year!  Enjoy your time with family and friends.

A Birthday Sleepover - A.K.A - A Carb Filled Weekend

Home Made Birthday Cake - No Box Cake Here!

My daughter turned 10 this week.  Crazy how time flies by.  We are still in the moment of wanting a birthday party and I'm at the moment in my life where I really don't want to plan one and I certainly don't want to pay for one.  I talk her into a sleep over at home for a few friends.  We custom make her invites, I decide to use only what's on hand for the celebration and outside of buying the birthday gift, we'll have down home home made birthday party.

Before I know it, I'm planning an overnight for 13 girls.  I tell myself, I'm okay with this.  We'll get through this and it won't be so bad.  Meanwhile, my husband makes arrangements to spend most of the evening in our room watching TV and my son, luckily scores a friends birthday invite party for the same night.

It's an early out day at school and it's raining, so even though we are only 4 houses away from school, we have to pick the girls up with the suburban. We have an early snack/dinner - Pizza!  I made the dough in my bread maker.  While the two large cheese pizzas are in the oven we start on the cake.  This is touted as one of the highlights of the party...making the cake, so sporadically in between hiding and seeking, the girls help me make the cake.  A chocolate fudge cake.  After the pizza and loads of dress up, two girls decide it's enough and they are done with the party and they want to go home.  This is before three other girls are yet to arrive and before the cake.   I don't know if these girls are going to miss something or are wise beyond their years.

We are missing just one party girl when it becomes obvious to most of the girls that the cake is almost done and they come into the kitchen to the smell of something chocolatey which of course must be good. The pressure is on for that cake.  I keep asking them to wait but it becomes apparent that will not be possible so we forge ahead with the cake and agree no present opening till our last guest arrives.

I cut the cake into two equal sections and decorate it quickly with whipped cream - 1 carb per tablespoon!  Quickly we put on recycled birthday candles, you know the ones you can't quite throw away from all the years past.  I put them on, we magically have 10.  We sing happy birthday and they literally dig into that cake.  It's gone...within minutes with a little brownie bite size left for our last guest.  Okay....that was good.    Our last guest arrives, has the rest of the cake and we are on with the rest of the party.

We play a little Pictionary, a little more dress up and make up and then we convince them we can watch a movie and I'll rent one from On Demand.   We chose "Blended" with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore.  The kids loved it and watched it, the whole time.  Meanwhile we go through 10 bags of microwave popcorn.   As the movie comes to an end, I'm asked for vegetables, carrots or celery sticks with peanut butter.  We are out of the celery but have tons of carrots.  I do several and slice them up in thick julienne style pieces.  I'm proud of them for wanting something other than pizza!

They play some more, it's getting late.  I hear from some of the girls that a few have fallen asleep.   Others are making a video together, having a blast.   It's now almost 11 PM.  They are hungry again.  I have a few more pizza dough rounds left.  I offer pizza.  Pepperoni and Cheese this time.   It's ready by 11:30 and they settle into watching a free movie - The Tooth Fairy and have moved all the sleepover things into the living room and it's apparent to me this is where the sleep will occur.

I make it to the end of the movie and the teeth brushing for most...and back to the floor in the living room with the lights out and TV off and I fall asleep to the chatter of 1/2 the girls as the other 1/2 have managed to sleep.

In the morning, I wake up on my own.  It's 7 am.  My daughter wanted me to make beignets which I had just learned how to make last week, followed up by homemade doughnuts, which I've NEVER made, but the bread machine has a recipe for the dough so I'll try.

I decide to do the doughnut dough first and that was a good call because it will be an hour and half before it's done in the machine and then would need to rise for 40 minutes, be shaped and rise for another 40 before I can even fry them.  Most of the girls will likely be gone before I even start doing the doughnuts.  I make the beignets.  

They are so much quicker and relatively LOW CARB!  To me anything that is under 25 carbs for a meal is low carb on my maintenance plan.  When I'm trying to lose weight it's 12 carbs a meal or less staying under 50 carbs a day.  Most people eat 370 carbs a day so any reduction will help someone eat considerably less.  I've been doing a low carb lifestyle since Sept of 2013 and I've lost a total of 50 lbs.   There is only 1/2 cup of flour in the recipe.  The recipe makes 24 beignets.   Here is the carb break down:

1/2 cup flour - 46 carbs
2 tsp sugar - 8 carbs

2 eggs - 2 carbs
1 tsp vanilla extract - .5 carbs
1 tsp of powdered sugar - 2.5 (per three beignets)
Total Carbs - 59 / 3 per beignets - a serving of 3 beignets - 7.3 carbs!

I was greeted with various looks of "What is that!?" when I served them for breakfast.  I don't believe any of the girls had tried beignets.  But after the first first round they wanted more.  I made 3 batches of beignets in the time it took the doughnut dough to finish in the bread machine.

We did eventually do the doughnuts, with just 4 girls left, and they disappeared before I could take a picture.  I have a feeling I'll be making those more often, and maybe I'll make those into gifts - they looked pretty awesome.  I have to admit the experience of making the doughnuts and all the GREASE that they need to fry, I don't know if I'll ever have one again.  Well, maybe just one.  Carbs in one glazed doughnut is 22.  I'm actually able to have one.

All in all, it was a pretty awesome birthday party...something we likely should have been doing for birthdays all along.

In the new year, I'm going to start experimenting with low carb bread and dessert recipes as well as lots of one pot meals as I try to get my kids used to stews - with all the fresh, homemade bread I'll be making!

Have Tupperware...Will Travel

My favorite tupperware: bento box

I just came back from a vacation with my family over the Thanksgiving break.  One could say this was a strategically planned vacation to keep me from having to cook on Thanksgiving or that I wanted to take advantage of super low airfares for traveling on a major holiday.  It was a little of both.

I have to tell you...it was absolutely dreamy traveling on Thanksgiving!  The airports were empty and the flight crews were happy and celebratory.  The stress was off because I suspect everyone had already gotten to where they were going.  We usually have Thanksgiving on the beach near our home.  It's a magical event because like the airports...the beach is empty and for almost the entire afternoon - ours.   I look forward to doing our next Thanksgiving dinner back at our beach.

The super salad tupperware with built in silverware

I haven't traveled for awhile and I certainly haven't done any air travel with my two kids and husband for over a year.  With all the changes happening with bags and snacks and food charges, I put a lot of planning into our trip.  I was going to have to pack some low carb snacks for myself, so why not pack some for all of us.  We would be traveling for almost 17 hours (cheap airfare - usually means at least 1 stop) plus we decided to drive to a major airport, which for us is four hours a way - this time San Francisco.

The packing snacks got out of hand and I ended up packing breakfast, lunch, dinner and snacks. I planned every travel day meal except for Thanksgiving which I'd let my kids eat out in the lovely New York, JFK airport.   How the heck did I get all that food through security? Especially sauces, butters, anything liquid based.   I did pack mayo, mustard, salad dressing, peanut butter, salsa, sour cream, and jelly.  The security screening is okay so long as the items are under the 3 oz limit on each container and they are in a quart size bag and each passenger.  So we had 4 - quart bags, each packed with food stuff along with toothpaste and shampoo. 

The 2 oz. containers in a quart bag

In the end, I saved an incredible amount of money on food.  Our total expenses on the way was $3.00 which was my break down to buy headset on the flight - long flight, forgot my book :-(.  On the way back we spent $100 on a nice meal where everyone got to choose their own appetizer, entree and special drink!  I was surprised how inexpensive that dinner was.  What did I choose?  I had a BACON CHEESEBURGER on a half bun with a glass of wine!  30 carbs!  WooHoo!

Here's a look at my special tupperware which made it easy for me to serve meals on planes and in airports.

I've started a Pinterest posting board for The Carbometer.  Follow there athttp://www.pinterest.com/thecarbometer/

An Experiment or For Real - Lifestyle Changes are For REAL

Arrival of eggs - 24 hours in transit

Almost a year and a half ago, I set out to lose a little weight - for real.  I was beyond what type of diet would work best to drop a few pounds quickly and I really needed to drop a few pounds forever.   I chose the low carb way because it was recommended by my doctor and after a few weeks of doing it, it was EASY.

A lot of things in life we do because they are easy and quick.   A lot of times, when we set out to do things in that manner, we do them unprepared.  That unpreparedness leads us to sporadic and likely not lasting results.  My 20 lb weight loss goal moved to be a 47 lb goal after I had managed to make the diet a lifestyle change.  Now at a 50 lb weight loss, I do have the feeling that I can achieve anything.

Unpacking - Did they make it!?

I can change my life in some pretty drastic and unimaginable ways and be successful and HAPPY.   It all depends upon how I set out to define both the successful and the happy.  Weight loss is great. Not having a job is not so great and now, I'm redefining myself in a way I did not think would be possible or in a way in which I could possibly be happy.

One of the goals I have is that I am only going to do things I truly enjoy for the next 15 years.   That's quite the statement when I have two kids who are in Jr. High and Elementary school.   I realized the only way I was going to be happy in my career would be to surround myself with those efforts.  I was never ever going to be able to replace my past position which was incredible in allowing me to do all relatively good things with an extremely exceptional and wonderful community of like minded folks.

What this means for me is an extreme hit to the bottom line.  After an analysis of my personal costs and what I had access to, I realized I wasn't so bad off and if I did a few key things in the right way....I'd be fine, maybe even happy.  I just didn't know if those that have no option but to follow me would think so.  I'm going to share just one of the major efforts I've undertaken to change my overall lifestyle.  The food budget.

Why the heck is there a picture of bubble wrapped eggs on this particular blog?  It's because I brought them with me on my vacation.  A vacation planned YEARS before I ever set out to lose a few pounds.  A vacation that was essentially paid for and perhaps today, doesn't fit my new lifestyle but one I am determined to make not only a great vacation - but one which will lead the way for how I live my life going forward - No matter how poor or wealthy I may find myself.

Looking good....

Since we had 1 free bag check per flyer...I thought what the heck...I 'll packed the eggs in my checked luggage.   Yep, 18 eggs.  Along with almost everything else in my fridge and freezer at the time.  Where we are staying - we have a full kitchen and inside laundry.  I figured if they didn't make it...I'd be doing a lot of laundry.  I had looked into buying groceries at our destination and it would be pretty expensive and more importantly would take away time from our experience.  I planned we would bring enough for breakfasts, most dinners and the occasional lunch. By the time I was finished, I had two luggage bags full of 80 lbs of food.

Thus...the eggs in my luggage.

 With my new low carb lifestyle and my process of reinventing myself and only doing good things, I find myself with a limited and one could say, stretched budget.   My grocery budget is $500 a month.  It sounded do-able.  I looked back at what I had been spending on groceries before my reinventing ...and that was about it.  What I didn't look at was how often we ate out.

They look amazing!  

Oh...I failed at first.  And now I'm starting to gain ground.  The first month - I missed the grocery budget by almost $500.  I was still buying boxes, I was still even though we weren't eating out, we were eating fast-food at home.  I realized that really is what processed boxes are - a relatively fast-food and very expensive.  I also started using our freezer for something more than decorative ice cubes and ice cream.  I freeze lots of things and I buy in bulk now.  I rarely go to supermarket, I find myself pulling out the recipe box and lining up recipes I have items on hand for.

I recently dreamed about my grandmother.  She passed away in 1999 at 98 years old.  She experienced years of drastic economic crisis living through both World War I and World War II and the depression.  She had a big purse.  Inside that purse she carried a small picnic, an arsenal of bathroom tools; clippers, tweezers, kleenex, bandaids, chap stick and toothpicks at all times.  I remember being on a trip with her and complaining because I was hungry and we were nowhere near or stop for lunch.  She pulled out of her purse a baggie with a pickle and butter sandwich in it.  That was the best sandwich I have ever had to this day.  She was so happy to share it with me. I'm trying to be more like her.

This little exercise of bringing my groceries on vacation, which involved 24 hours in transit which included at least five hours of driving, two domestic flights and not including the at least hour it took me to carefully wrap the eggs box covered with bubble wrap and shipping tape inside box covered with bubble wrap and shipping tape....was one step in that direction of being more like my grandmother.

One small crack but still usable!

I always wondered why she had pickle and butter sandwiches?  I know now, it's because both items won't spoil, regardless of temperature in a purse for at least 24 hours and they were relatively cheap items at those times and pickles were usually made at home - in fact all the items could be made at home.  I may even try to make my own pickles.  That will be right after I build the chicken coop and the greenhouse....

Happy Carb Counting and Budget Pinching!

Hearth and Home and a 50 lb weight loss.

Beautiful jacket made by Leona!!

I've hit an incredible milestone.  One, I actually never set out to accomplish.  I've slid to 122 pounds, a 50 lb weight loss.  I don't know how long I'll stay here.  I had no expectation of getting here, but here I am.

I ate an ice cream cone...gave me a stomach ache and tonight I had a slice of homemade pizza...a real slice, not just eating off the toppings.  It was an incredibly thin crust so I suspect it was around 23 carbs.  I also had a meatball sandwich for lunch.  I have, in fact consumed 75 carbs today.  I'm actually still in a low carb range.   Just a reminder, low carb is a diet of 130 carbs or less a day.   I normally am at 30 to 50 carbs a day.

It's getting colder.  I wore my favorite jacket today.  My incredible friend made it.  Thank you Leona. I received 12 compliments on it today!  It's true, I counted.  I had thought I had lost it.  I have been mourning it's loss for at least 3 years.  I had to move to find it.   There are a few things in this world which bring you home.  With the smell of fires lingering in the air, I feel I'm home, with my amazing wool masterpiece of a jacket, I feel I'm home. With my homemade cheese and pepperoni pizza, my kids feel like they are home.  Tonight..for the first time, they both told me, it was the best pizza they had ever had.

Harvest of Memories cover photo

I've made some serious life changes in the last few months.  I've had to make a lot of changes, I've had to come to accept a few things I don't think I would have ever accepted.  I'm growing up at 44 and I have yet to really figure out where I'm going to go, beyond the point of knowing I very soon need to start sharing with you my story.  How I got to here, from there.  Why I left the best place on earth to pursue magical dreams only to seek out the comforts of home.  On Dec. 13, I'll launch a new blog called Falling Out of Oz.   I hope you'll join me there.   Until then...enjoy the smell of the hearths in your neighborhoods, hold your loved ones close, have a lovely Thanksgiving.

This holiday try the pumpkin cheesecake and the spaghetti squash muffin recipes.   But more than
anything...believe in yourself at this time of reflection and thanks.   I've been working on editing a book of poems I wrote a LONG time ago, highlighting it with pictures of my kids at the same time of when I experienced the poems, it's been a lingering project.  The book of poems is called "Harvest of Memories" and it will be the 2nd edition and available online through Amazon..hopefully by the new year.

For those who know me..I miss you!! Happy Thanksgiving!  Happy Carb Counting!

Experimenting with Spaghetti Squash and -2 and Counting

Spaghetti Squash Muffin with Sour Cream and Salsa

I have just discovered a very yummy way to have something bread like without the flour!  I'm head over heels in love with how incredibly easy it was and the different things I could do with this new information astound me.   I have been trying to figure out how to use spaghetti squash as a base for things like eggs Benedict, a tortilla like wrap...I just see that there are a lot of possibilities with the squash that I just LOVE to eat.

Today, I was messing around and decided that I'd see if anyone had made spaghetti squash muffins.  I found a few recipes, but I didn't have all the ingredients.  One was too simple, I almost didn't take it seriously.  I was desperate so I thought, okay I'll try this one.

Super simple:

Take your spaghetti squash that has already been cooked and prepared.  If you don't know how to do this, please look it up, there are several ways but I prefer the oven method.

1 lb of spaghetti squash - prepared - 31 carbs / 8.8 fiber
4 eggs - 4 carbs

Whisk the eggs, pour over spaghetti squash and mix together.

Spray muffin pan, spoon in mixture into muffin pan.  Bake at 375 for 25 minutes.   AMAZING!

This made 12 muffins so 3 carbs each!!  Eat up! Tsp of Sour Cream and Salsa add a 1.5 carbs.

I had one with butter...and then I had one with sour cream and salsa and then my mind went nuts with all the ways I could serve this.  As a side with grilled chicken or steak.  As a base for my eggs Benedict, add other stuff to the mixture for a breakfast muffin or a lunch muffin with cold cuts and cheese....So pleased with myself.  You must try.

-2 and counting.  I am now 2 lbs below my target weight.  I'll be changing up my workout at the beginning of December to tone.  I want to try to make sure I don't gain weight in the process of toning so I'm actually a little excited to be starting that process with 2 lbs to spare. 

I'm also celebrating a new low carb coaching participant this week!  Yeah!  I hope to be able to help as many people as possible achieve their weight loss goals and change their lifestyle so they never have to feel like they will gain the weight again.  If you are interested in having a low carb coach, just let me know, I work virtually and in person so please don't let distance keep us apart.

Happy Carb Counting!  Gobble up some spaghetti squash as part of your Thanksgiving dinner!

Hop Scotch with the Bathroom Scale

How important is to weigh everyday?

There have been many times when I thought my scale was broken.  Usually the thought crossed my mind when I was on a really long weight plateau or when the scale was going up instead of down, I would shake the scale a little and be like..."come on...give me a good number!"

Yesterday, my son told me after his escapade in the bathroom where he supposedly washed his hair that the scale seemed broken.  I asked him what could possibly have broken the scale?  Did he drop something on it?  No.....unless his jumping up and down on it had something to do with it stuck on 255 lbs  Hmm.  I guess I'm really lucky it made it this long without breaking sooner as I'm sure, whatever version of hop scotch he was playing with the scale, was likely happening every time he took a shower.

Now what!?  I'm not really in the mood to go find another scale, but I suppose I'll have to.  I'll mess with it, see if I have any mechanical magic in my hands to make it come back, but being that I burned out the motor in the coffee grinder this morning doesn't give me much hope.   How helpful is the scale anyway?  Since I've already made my goal weight, I could just go to the gym in the morning and weigh there...right?

We'll see...I'm going there today.  What I dislike about using multiple scales is that they are all different.  The weight I get at the doctor's office is always different than what I had on my scale.  It causes a sense of anxiety when I use another scale. Will it say I weigh more? Will I not have made my goal weight on this particular scale?  Great...now I'm dreading the gym.

I read an article about how weighing everyday isn't healthy.  They suggest weighing twice a week or even once a week.  Weighing everyday for me was a good reminder that I was watching my weight.   So I disagree, yes some days I did weigh more than the day before and that made me correct.  I don't know what I would do if I would have gone a whole week without weighing and find out that I actually went up a lb instead of down a lb.  For someone who lost on average less than a 1 lb a week that's a full week set back.

Anyway, I guess I'll be scale shopping....anyone have any recommendations?

For those following my pumpkin experiment on how long a pumpkin can feed a family. I still have pumpkin bisque left that I'm eating...I can't believe that 1 pumpkin provided me with so many meals. I'm experimenting with banana squash.  I'm going to make lasagna next with the banana squash replacing the lasagna noodles.

Happy Carb Counting!

PS...Just continued messing with the scale and I fixed it!!