Low Carb Egg Muffins

Low Carb Egg Muffins

Oh yes, look what just came out of the oven! I mixed up 7 eggs, some cooked kale, 4 slices of bacon, 1/2 pound cooked sausage, and 1 1/2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese, put them in muffin tins in the oven and I have breakfast for the next couple of days....although they look so good that I may have to eat them for lunch and dinner too!

Unstuffed Banana Peppers

Unstuffed Banana Peppers

I like a little spice in my life, but don't like food that is so spicy that I need a fire extinguisher! Banana peppers are a great option for those on a low carb diet who want some mildly spicy food.  When our local CSA gave us banana peppers, I came up with this delicious creation that I will make again and again!  Enjoy!

Ingredients:
8 small to medium banana peppers, sliced into small pieces
1 pound cooked ground beef
4 oz softened cream cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup no-sugar-added spaghetti sauce
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup almond flour

Mix all ingredients into a baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. I separated this into 4 servings when it was done and it was perfect for lunch! This would also make a great dinner too!

Low Carb No-Guilt Brownies

Low Carb No-Guilt Brownies

I have tried several different low-carb chocolate cake and brownie recipes, and this one is by far my favorite!  It's not too sweet but yet has plenty of flavor.  It's the perfect treat to satisfy your chocolate cravings while producing no feelings of guilt, and no high blood sugars!  These were easy to make, and will become something I make weekly in our house.  My youngest daughter even devoured it, and she is tough to please when it comes to low-carb recipes.  Hope you enjoy this one as much as my family and I did!

Ingredients:

1 cup almond flour

1/2 cup swerve sweetener

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp cocoa powder

3 eggs

1 stick butter, melted

1/2 cup Lily's chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix all ingredients except Lily's chocolate chips in a mixing bowl.  One all ingredients are mixed and a fluffy mixture has formed, mix Lily's chocolate chips into the mixture with a spoon.  Transfer mix to an 8x8 baking pan and bake for approx 30 minutes.  After cooling, I cut the brownies into 12 servings.  Enjoy!

Zucchini Chips

Zucchini Chips

Having a craving for potato chips that are high in carbs and processed junk?  Zucchini chips are a great alternative and help to satisfy the cravings for potato chips without sending your blood sugar on a spike.  All you need is a food dehydrator.  These can be prepared the night before, placed in the food dehydrator, and by morning you will have these delicious treats!

Slice the zucchini thin, a mandolin slicer is a great tool for this.  Then lay out all the zucchini on the food dehydrator trays.  Brush each slide with olive oil, then sprinkle with a mixture of parmesan cheese with some garlic salt mixed in.  Place in food dehydrator at 135 degrees.  Cook times will vary, but for mine it took approximately 12 hours to come out perfect and crispy like potato chips (my food dehydrator typically takes longer than most recipes call for).  This is a simple way to make a great alternative to those chips you may be craving, and you don't have to worry about any blood sugar spikes or other negative effects to your body by eating potato chips.  These are addicting though, just to warn you!  They are delicious!  Enjoy!

What Do I Eat While on Vacation?

What Do I Eat While on Vacation?

At home, you do not have to limit yourself to certain food choices since just about anything can be made low-carb using the right ingredients. However, it can get a little bit tricky when you are away from home. Restaurants, themeparks and hotels are full of sugar and carbs. You may ask why not just eat whatever you want on vacation? A few days of eating sugar and carbs is fine, right? Let me explain what happens when I eat carbs, my sugar spikes high after a meal no matter what insulin dose I would take to cover those carbs. So even if I would eat a meal with so-called "good carbs" like whole grains, my 1-hour post prandial reading would go to 200 or higher, because insulin that is injected through a pump or syringe does not work the same as a human pancreas. Dr. Bernstein explains this in his book, but essentially what happens is your blood sugar spikes after eating until the dose of insulin hits you, then it goes lower. This would put me on a rollercoaster ride with my blood sugars, making me feel extremely tired, thirsty, and irritable. I want to be full of energy on vacation, so I chose not to eat the carbs. I can eat at just about any restaurant, I just have to make the right food choices. Sometimes I bring some of my own food or condiments from home to help out. Here's a guide of what I ate for a day while away on vacation to help you make the right food choices for optimal blood sugars and feeling your best while away from home.

Breakfast

You can't go wrong with bacon, eggs, and sausage! Any breakfast place would have these options, like the buffet breakfast at our hotel. Omelets are a good choice too with vegetables and cheese. This plate was delicious and keep me full of energy all morning.

Lunch

Salads are always a safe choice, just be careful of a few things. Of course, you want to leave out any fries or croutons. Go easy on the tomatoes as well since their carbohydrate count is higher. A few baby tomatoes doesn't spike my blood sugar, but too many will. Another important thing is to watch the dressing. The safest option for salad dressing is red wine vinegar and olive oil. Many places offer this option. However, some offer balsamic vinegar instead of red wine vinegar. Stay away from balsamic vinegar! It contains 5 grams of carbohydate per 1 teaspoon, and if you put lots on your salad, you easily just added 30 carbs to your salad just with dressing. If a restaurant doesn't have red wine vinegar and olive oil, I order blue cheese or ranch, full-fat versions of course. Sure, these processed dressings have man-made fats which are not good for you, but they only have 1-2 grams of carbohydrate per serving. If I have to chose between carbs and man-made fats, I will choose the man-made fats and have normal blood sugars for the day and eat natural good fats at home. This chicken salad with blue cheese dressing was delicious and kept my blood sugars steady all afternoon. 

Dinner

Meats such as chicken, steak, pork, or fish are always great choices. Restaurants always want to serve these dishes with high-carb side dishes. I always substitute a vegetable and put lots of butter on them. One thing to be careful about is the sauce or marinade the meat is covered with. Lots of traditional sauces and marinades are packed with sugar. I love ordering ribs without the barbecue sauce and bring my own little plastic container of Walden Farms barbecue sauce to add. I always carry a mini-backpack with my blood meter and supplies, so an extra small container is nothing to carry! You could also ask to hold the sauce and add butter or sour cream to your meat if you don't carry barbeque sauce with you like I do! This meal was delicious and like the others, kept my continuous glucose monitor at a flat line of stable blood sugars. 

For snacks, I usually pack my own almonds, sessme seeds, or pumpkin seeds. You could also prepare some low-carb treats at home and bring them along. It does take some planning, but maintaining a low-carb diet is something completely possible while on vacation.  Thanks for reading this and hope it will help to guide you into the right food choices while away from home!  

Pancakes, Pancakes, Pancakes!

Pancakes, Pancakes, Pancakes!!

One of my favorite things to eat before starting the LCHF (low carb high fat) diet was pancakes with syrup.  Of course, it shot my blood sugar up to 400 and we all know what damage that does to the body.  One of the many great things about the LCHF diet is that anything can be made using the right ingredients.  Recently, I found a pancake syrup at the store that does not contain any carbs and does not raise my blood sugar at all.  The brand name is Walden Farms and they make different flavors of syrup, and it actually tastes great!  After stocking up on this syrup, I made lots and lots of pancakes!  There are three main ways to make pancakes that comply with the LCHF diet.  I explored all three methods and of course taste tested them all.  Below I'll explain the three methods and let you know which pancakes I thought tasted the best.

1. The Cream Cheese and Eggs Method

This recipe uses the main ingredients of cream cheese and eggs.  For the recipe, visit I Breathe I'm Hungry.  You can add different flavorings such as vanilla extract, cinnamon, or even cocoa powder to your pancakes.  The batter is pretty thin and it makes thin pancakes, so if you like your pancakes thin, this may be the recipe for you.  I thought they tasted great and came pretty close to what regular pancakes would taste like.

2.  The Coconut Flour Method

This was the first time I have ever tried making anything with coconut flour.  If you have never tried it, know that a little bit goes a long way.  I used a mere 2 tbsp of coconut flour for this recipe and it fluffs up so much that it really takes over.  The other thing about coconut flour is the texture of it.  It's very sandy, so if you are someone who is sensitive to textures, this may bother you.  Unlike the first pancake recipe, this recipe makes very thick pancakes.  You'll see in the top picture that the batter was very thick and almost the consistency of dough.  I spread it out in the pan with a fork to make a pancake shape and to flatten it more.  I thought the pancakes were delicious and did not mind the sandy texture, in fact I kind of liked it after the first couple of bites.  Find the recipe at No Pain No Grain.  I cut the recipe into a quarter and made that for just one meal.  

3.  The Almond Flour Method

Last, I tried the almond flour method of making LCHF pancakes.  I have to say, I saved the best for last!  I think this method made the pancakes that were closest to traditional pancakes I used to eat.   Everything from the ease of making, to the consistency of the batter, to the taste of the pancakes was very similar to traditional pancakes.  Like the other recipes, you could get creative and add your own flavors such as vanilla extract, cinnamon, or cocoa powder, and those are just a few of the options.  Get the recipe from Wellness Mama.  I also cut this recipe into a quarter for one meal.


So if you thought that the LCHF diet is restrictive and does not allow you to eat the foods you love, this is just one of the many examples that regular foods can be made low carb.  Just two pancakes and a glass of almond milk kept me full of energy all morning and I never felt hungry.  Eating all three of these types of pancakes also kept my blood sugar within normal range.  Below is a picture of what my Dexcom showed after eating the almond flour pancakes at 7:30 a.m.  Now go enjoy those pancakes and good health!

Eggplant Chips

Eggplant Chips

Ingredients:

1 Eggplant (or if you are like me, you make 2 or 3 at a time!)

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1 cup mozzarella cheese

1/2 olive oil

Note:  these amounts are approximate, the amount will change depending on how large your eggplant is and how many you make at a time

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Slice eggplant into rounds.  Place on baking pan and brush with olive oil.  I allow a good amount of olive oil to soak into each slice of eggplant.  Then in a bowl, mix together parmesan cheese, basil, oregano, and garlic powder.  Sprinkle on top of eggplant slices and spread out so that it creates its own thin layer on top.  Below is a picture to show what the sprinkled layer on top will look like:

Now place into oven and allow to cook approx. 15 minutes on this side, until the sprinkled layer has completely melted and looks like this:

Now, using a fork, flip each slice of eggplant over to the other side.  Now, on the new tops, sprinkle mozzarella cheese.  Mine look like this before cooking:

Place back into oven and cook for another 15 minutes approximately, until the cheese starts to brown.  They are delicious and make a great side dish for a meal!   As far as carb information for eggplant, 1 cup of eggplant equals 5 total carbs or 2.5 net carbs.  Enjoy!