Chopped salads = easiest weeknight dinners!

My body has been craving salads, which is unusual for late December. I think that it is telling me to get some nutrients after my holiday indulgences, and I agree. I haven't been doing very well with the ketogenic lifestyle lately, and it is time to get back on track.

Whenever I crave salad, I want something interesting and somewhat gourmet, but I don't always have a lot of time to wash and prep my veggies. I am also somewhat picky about salad greens, because I can not tolerate the chunky white parts of lettuce, so I take a lot of time to go through and remove all of them whenever I make a salad. I discovered these new(ish) Dole chopped salad kits, and they are good! They are easy to eat, since everything is chopped into little pieces, and there isn't much of the chunky white parts to pick out.

We stopped at the grocery store on the way home from work tonight, and I got a Sunflower Crunch chopped salad kit, which has cabbage, kale, carrots, sunflower seeds, bacon bits and a sweet onion citrus dressing. It was $3.49. I also got a rotisserie chicken for $6. Rotisserie chicken is the best thing ever for low carbers. I don't have time to roast chickens! Nor do I really care to touch raw chickens. $6 is such a low price to pay for the convenience of getting one ready to eat. And they are always so juicy and delicious. We took our ingredients home, chopped up the chicken, dumped the salad and chicken into a bowl, tossed with dressing, and devoured. You can't get much easier and healthier than that! And, compared to our usual habit of going out to eat all the time, it was very economical at just under $10 for two people. I've made it my New Year's resolution to eat way more of this meal in different variations- I am thinking around three times a week. Besides Sunflower Crunch, these chopped salads also come in the following flavors: Sesame Asian, Bacon & Bleu, BBQ Ranch, Chipotle Cheddar, and Summer Garden Blend. (Dole should be paying me for this free advertising, but they're not!) That will ensure I am getting all kinds of good vitamins and protein, and it will be so fast and easy. That is a resolution that I think I can stick to!

Thanksgiving salad

organized for your viewing pleasure

A few weeks ago, Kent made a turkey because we not only wanted a traditional turkey dinner, we also wanted leftover turkey to make jambalaya and for this salad I dreamed up. This is like a Thanksgiving dinner in salad form, and it is delicious! I invented this salad around one of the balsamic vinegars I got from Allspice in Des Moines- a cinnamon pear flavored one.

Thanksgiving Salad

Salad:
1 bag pre-washed butter lettuce
2 cups leftover turkey meat
2 pears, thinly sliced
1 cup dried cranberries
4 oz apricot Stilton cheese
1/2 of a red onion, thinly sliced
4 oz pecan halves

Dressing:
1 part cinnamon pear balsamic vinegar (or use Alessi pear infused white balsamic)
1 part Splenda
1 part olive oil
splash of water to thin

Toss salad, shake dressing, et voila! Makes 2 large meal sized servings.

nom nom nom

Emily's Cabbage & Kielbasa Soup

It's no secret that I love cooked cabbage. When Kent makes it for me, he first boils it, then transfers it to a roasting pan and drizzles it with garlic butter before crisping off the tops under the broiler. I wanted to make a soup that had a similar taste of garlicky buttery goodness, but with meat and potatoes to make it a complete meal. This is what I came up with, and it turned out amazing! So amazing, in fact, that I ate four bowls of it in a row. If you want to be extra low carb, omit the canned potatoes, but I figured it was okay fat ratio-wise, as long as I topped each bowl with a pat of butter and let it melt in. Heavenly. I wanted a giant pot of this soup, but this recipe can easily be halved. 

Emily's Cabbage & Kielbasa Soup

128 oz chicken broth

26 oz cream soup base (or 3 c half and half)

1 head of cabbage

1 onion

1 head (approx 8-9 cloves) or fresh garlic

4 kielbasa sausages (2-14 oz packages)

2- 14 oz cans of sliced or diced potatoes

2 T butter (more for garnish)

2 T olive oil

freshly cracked black pepper

In a large stock pot, heat olive oil and butter. Chop onion, add to pot. Sautee for 5 minutes. Peel and mince garlic, add to onion, continue to sautee for a minute, then add chicken broth and cream base.  Core cabbage and chop into one inch squares. Add to pot. Slice sausages in half, then into half rounds and add to pot. Rinse canned potatoes and if using sliced potatoes, cut each slice in half before adding to pot. Bring soup to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Simmer for 15 minutes, or until thickest parts of cabbage pieces are tender. Serve with a pat of butter and cracked black pepper for garnish.  

Makes approximately 16 servings.

Cool as a cucumber

I love cucumbers! They are my favorite vegetable, besides cabbage or course. I REALLY love when coworkers with overflowing gardens bring in heaps of cucumbers to share! They are especially perfect for the height of summer when it is hot outside, you need to cool down and don't really feel like expending much energy on cooking. Because cucumbers are so full of water, they are very hydrating and good for your skin when you consume them. You can also just put slices on your eyes to reduce puffiness. I love when snacks double as beauty products! Here are two ultra lazy non recipes centering on cukes.

Refreshing!

Cucumber Mint "Spa" Water

Want to pretend you are relaxing at a fancy spa? Put those extra slices on your eyes and sip an icy glass of this! 

1 small cucumber
1 bunch fresh mint
1 1/2 liters of filtered water

Peel and slice cucumber into thin slices. Put in pitcher. Leave mint leaves attached to stems. Rinse off, then gently rub each leaf between your thumb and index finger to release their oils. Add to pitcher, fill with filtered water and refrigerate. I have found that you can get at least one refill pitcher' worth of water out of your original cucumbers and mint.

Cucumbers with Guacamole

1 cucumber (I like English seedless ones)
guacamole in a pouch
Johnny's seasoning salt

Slice cucumber. Lay slices on a plate and sprinkle with Johnny's. Squeeze a dollop of guacamole on each slice. Devour entire plate without guilt!

Two notes on ingredients: I have tried various brands of ready made guacamole, and the best one, both for flavor and price, is Aldi's Little Salad Bar brand. It comes in a two pack of pouches, which keeps it fresh longer, and is very convenient to squeeze out. I prefer the mild flavor, as the spicy is pretty hot. It is only $2.99. If you are not familiar with Johnny's, I highly recommend it! The original seasoning salt goes great on  everything, and they have lots of various blends for specific foods, like poultry or seafood. Kent is really into grilling and smoking meats, so we use a lot of this stuff! It is gluten free, and contains MSG, which in my opinion is what makes it so magical, but if you are sensitive to that, it is also available without MSG.

I hope you are enjoying a summer bounty of cucumbers like I am!

Out of town, out of ketosis, oh well.

I spent last week in Chicago for a convention, and took the opportunity to diverge from my ketogenic ways for a little while. I was focused on eating cheaply, and getting things that I would not be able to find at home. I was a little worried that I would reverse some of my weight loss, since I would be away from Kent's good influence, our magic exercise machine, the Noblerex K1 vibration plate unit, aka "The Jiggler," and my usual routine. I am pleased to say that despite having some blatant keto-cheato moments (cough, Magnolia Bakery, ahem), I actually lost three pounds upon my return home. I chalk that up to the sheer quantity of steps I took- I was walking miles all over the giant convention center and the streets of downtown Chicago exploring. For the most part, besides the bakery sweets and the burger and fries, I ate pretty well, even when consuming carbs. I made an effort to always have a salad for lunch, and incorporated vegetables into as much as I could. Sometimes, you have to think of what nutrients you want to give to your body, rather than what you want to avoid. Here are some of the highlights from my week in Chicago!

Naughty: There was an amazing buffet at the kickoff party for the convention. I did eat carbs, but a lot of the things pictured, I only had a bite or two of. 

Post party hotel bathroom selfie! We stayed at the Palmer House Hilton, downtown Chicago. 

Neutral: My new favorite restaurant- Roti Mediterranean Grill. It was amazing! It's like the Chipotle of Greek food. I still felt virtuous, despite the carbs. 

Nice: A couple of my salads for lunch- Southwest Chicken and Asian Chicken. These were both from a cafe inside the convention center, and I was impressed with how good they were. 

Naughty: A double cheeseburger with sauteed onions, mushrooms and mayo, plus cajun seasoned fries. I had heard great things about Five Guys, and they didn't let me down!

Naughty: Magnolia's famous vanilla cupcake, as seen on Sex and the City. I couldn't help but wonder, "Was it the best cupcake I've ever had?" The answer is yes. 

Naughty: personal sized pistachio cheesecake. Swoon.

Nice: Bacon and Blue cheese steak salad

Naughty, yet again: I had to return to Magnolia one more time for a slice of birthday cake. If it makes it any better, it WAS my dinner. 

A fruity spinach salad with pomegranate vinaigrette from the Corner Bakery Cafe next to the Palmer House. Eaten outside on the sidewalk while waiting for the chartered bus! 

It was a great week of adventure out of town, and I made some awesome memories. But I am very glad to be home and back into the routine! 

Cooking with dog!

Arrroooo! (That's a dog howl...) I don't mean cooking dog meat! I am talking about this fun Japanese cooking show that Kent showed me the other night. The narrator/host of the show is a French poodle, who is voiced by a Japanese guy attempting a French accent. It's ridiculous, but entertaining. This is the episode that we watched, and decided to try to make these ourselves. I'm not going to post the recipe, since it is all clearly spelled out in the video.

We were already familiar with shirataki noodles- pasta made from konjac, a high fiber root, that have zero calories and zero net carbs. We hadn't yet tried to use them for an Asian noodle bowl, but our favorite Vietnamese restaurant recently closed, so we have to do it ourselves now. We had a few differences between our version and the video recipe. We used ribeye instead of sirloin steak. We used splenda + stevia instead of sugar in the sauce. We left out the bean sprouts. Kent added both fresh ginger and jarred garlic to the sauce. It didn't make sense to us to not include garlic! We garnished ours with fresh mint and Thai basil, as well as some fresh jalepeno slices that we let soak in the sauce while the noodles chilled.

Here are our results!

Tasteful noods.

Shirataki Noodle Bowls

2 pouches Miracle Noodle shirataki noodles, drained and rinsed well
2 ribeye steaks (charcoal grilled)
1 cucumber, cut into matchsticks
1 tomato, diced
2 eggs, scrambled into a thin omelette and sliced into strips

Sauce:
3 Tablespoons soy sauce
4 Tablespoons rice vinegar
1 Tablespoon Splenda
1 Tablespoon granulated stevia
2.4 oz water (we used a 1 oz shot glass to measure this out)
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon minced ginger
3/4 Tablespoon minced garlic

Garnish:
1 fresh jalepeno, sliced
fresh basil leaves
fresh mint leaves

Drain and rinse noodles after removing them from their bags. Boil in water for a minute. Drain and pat dry. In a dry skillet, cook noodles briefly to remove any excess water. Set noodles aside. Mix sauce, and spoon half of it over noodles. Set remaining sauce aside for finishing bowls. Slice the jalepeno and put the slices in the bowl of sauce. Grill steaks and make omelette. Let omelette cool and cut into thin strips. Also slice steak into strips. Set eggs and steak aside. Cut up vegetables. In two bowls, place half of the noodles in each. Top with steak and egg strips, cucumber and tomato. Garnish with basil, mint, and jalepeno slices to taste. Top with half of remaining sauce in each bowl.

The next day, I used the leftover ingredients as part of a delicious Asian salad. Kent turned the leftover sauce into a salad dressing, by adding some vegetable oil and a little more sesame oil to it, then shaking to combine in a jar.

Yum! 

Asian Steak Salad

Grilled sirloin steak, sliced into strips

butter lettuce

sliced cucumbers

sliced radishes

shredded carrots

shelled edamame

peanuts

Asian vinagrette dressing- soy sauce, rice vinegar, minded garlic and ginger, sesame oil, stevia/splenda, and vegetable oil

Shake up dressing, adjust ingredients to taste. Combine all other ingredients in a bowl and toss. Easy!

No compromise cheesecake!

I've gotten used to adjusting my expectations when it comes to diet desserts. I love the keto fat bombs that we've been making, but as delicious as they are, they are not the same as good old sugary candy. It's not a flavor issue, it's more of a texture thing. I wasn't sure what to expect when Kent told me about this cheesecake recipe. I was worried that it would seem fluffy and fake. I am very pleased to say that it seems like normal New York cheesecake- nice and dense and decadent! Not only is this cheesecake sugar free and low carb, it also happens to be gluten free! I have a feeling this will be a holiday standby for here on out.

Right on the money!

Individual Keto Cheesecakes

1/2 stick of unsalted butter (410 cals, 0 carbs)
1 cup almond meal (720 cals, 8 net carbs)
2- 8 oz packages of softened cream cheese (1600 cals, 16 carbs)
1/2 cup of Splenda, plus 1 Tablespoon (0 cals, 0 carbs)
1/4 cup of granulated stevia (0 cals, 0 carbs)
2 tsp vanilla (0 cals, 0 carbs)
2 eggs (148 cals, 1 carb)

(239 calories, 2.08 carbs per cheesecake)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place paper muffin liners in a 12 cup muffin tin. In a microwave safe bowl, melt the butter. Add the almond meal and the tablespoon of Splenda, and stir to combine. Divide this mixture into 12 spoonfuls and place one spoonful in each muffin cup. Using an oiled shot glass, press it down to cover the bottom of each liner. In a stand or hand mixer, combine eggs, Splenda and stevia, vanilla, and cream cheese. Mix on low to combine, then increase speed to remove lumps and make smooth. Spoon filling into each muffin cup, and smooth tops with a spoon. Bake for 17 minutes. The tops will not brown, but they will slightly puff up and crack. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before eating.

We topped ours with diced strawberries and whipped cream, which will add a couple more carbs. Other stir in ideas or toppings could be blueberries, raspberries, shaved Choco Perfection chocolate bars, or citrus zest. I saw on Pinterest that someone suggested making your own almond meal using almonds dusted with cocoa powder. You could also just add cocoa powder to the regular almond meal mixture. This is a great base recipe that will work with a lot of variations. Now, the hardest part will be controling ourselves, so that we can each eat one of these every night for the rest of the week!