For those who don’t know, this is keto/low carb french toast! Today, I made french toast dippers in my corn stick cast iron pans (and they turned out better than I have ever made them).
This is one of the easiest recipes! It’s full fat cream cheese, eggs, and melted butter in a ratio is 2:2:1. That means it can easily be adjusted up or down!
Once all of the ingredients are at room temperature, place them all in a bowl and blend until smooth. You can use a Kitchen Aid, a food processor, a blender, a stick blender, etc.
Pour into a greased baking dish (just about any will work: loaf pan, 13×9 casserole, muffin tins, etc.) and bake 30 to 45 minutes (or until brown).
I did not grow up eating many root vegetables, so when I found a recipe for chicken soup that included parsnips and turnips I was highly skeptical. After I made it, I was hooked! There can be no chicken soup (or broth) without them! In this video, I am not only making soup but am canning broth. For the specifics on the equipment (and tools) you will need, please read my Home Canned Meat post. I am not including a nutritional analysis with this recipe. This recipe is so variable and I have no way of knowing how many carbohydrates are in the strained broth.
Place all of the ingredients for the broth in a large pot (or slow cooker, electric roaster, or pressure cooker). Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down to medium or medium low (you want it at a slight boil). Depending on your cooking method, let cook for 4 to 12 hours (you want everything cooked to absolute mush). Strain the broth from the solids, making sure to remove all bones.
Place the broth back in the pot. If you used whole pieces of chicken, separate the meat from the bones (once cooled enough to touch).
If you are going to can your chicken broth, you can evenly distribute your chicken meat between all of your jars and top with broth or just leave the meat out. Process in a pressure canner for the recommended pressure (and time) per your elevation. Remember that this broth can be used just like store-bought chicken broth. You do not want to over-season the broth prior to canning it to allow you the flexibility to use the broth however you wish.
Now, if you aren’t canning your broth, throw the rest of the ingredients in the broth, bring to a boil, then turn down to medium. Let it boil until everything is cooked. BAM! You have soup for days! 🙂
Canning meat at home is one of the easiest canning you will ever do! The only special items you need are a pressure canner (not a pressure cooker), jars and pickling salt. If you want to keep canning after you try this, I would also suggest a tool set. I will be including links to these items on Amazon but, aside from the pressure canner, you can get most of these at a local store. This is the picture I took at Ace Hardware. LOOK AT ALL OF THESE GOODIES! I have never seen so many canning supplies in person! There were so many I ended up buying more than I intended (they had 1/2 gallon jars!!!!).
This is my pressure canner.
It’s a Presto 16-quart pressure canner and holds 7 quart jars (16 quarts is the total liquid the pot holds). There are times I wish I had a bigger one but it would make it too heavy to move around if I did have a bigger one (which means, maybe, I should get a second one). Now, even though mine isn’t the largest, it IS heavy. You cannot use canners on glass top stoves! If that’s what you have, you could use them on a stable/secured turkey fryer base (you don’t want it tipping over), a propane grill, or a tabletop electric burner (as long as it can handle the weight). You need your heat source to be easily adjustable, so wood or charcoal would be much more difficult.
Pickling salt: why do you need this? Well, table salt has iodine and anti-caking agents (which can change the color of the foods and leave liquids cloudy), whereas pickling salt is just that: salt. Officially, this is the only salt you can use for canning. Unofficially, I have used kosher salt and never had any issues.
Now, you will need jars. For meats, I like to use pint or 12-ounce jelly jars. They are perfect for a meal (or adding just a little meat to a dish). Every grocery store I have been to in my area has canning jars but if your stores don’t, here’s a link to the best deal I found on Amazon. You don’t need anything fancy. How many jars will you need? It depends on how much meat you want to can. Roughly 1 pound of raw meat will fit in a pint jar.
Canning meats at home is simple once you have all of the right tools.
Ingredients
Home Canned Meats
Instructions
Instructions
Wash jars and lids.
Cut meat into cubes.
Place in a clean jar, packing the meat down to ensure there are no air pockets. Continue to fill, leaving 1 inch of space between the meat and the rim of the jar.
Pour 1/2 – 1 teaspoon of pickling salt on top of meat (amount of salt depends on your tastes).
Pour some vinegar on a paper towel and wipe the rim of the jar (this is to ensure there is no residual fat or liquids from the meat). Place lid on top of the jar, then screw on the ring. Do not over tighten the ring or it will be virtually impossible to remove later.
Process in your pressure canner for the amount of time required (I am at sea level, so I process at roughly 12-15 pounds pressure for 90 minutes). Remember to add about 1 tablespoon of vinegar to your water to prevent mineral buildup on your jars.
Turn off heat and allow the natural release of pressure (let sit until the pressure gauge is at 0).
Remove jars from canner, placing them on a towel. Let them cool (and seal).
Remove the rings, wash the jars with soapy water, write the contents and date on the lid, then store in a cool, dark place.
As long as the seals hold, these should last for at least a year.
I don’t typically crave meatloaf often (it’s not a dish my husband enjoys) but for some reason I had to have some this week. Why? I want a leftover, cold meatloaf “sandwich”. I want the mayonnaise and mustard, mostly. So, I am slapping a slice of this onto a leaf of iceberg lettuce and BAM! I have my cravings met! I let this cool in the refrigerator, sliced it, placed each slice between parchment paper, and threw those into the freezer.
This recipe is totally adaptable. You can add diced bell peppers, salsa, cheese, tomatoes, jalapenos, etc. As you can see in the video above, I added caramelized onions and sauteed mushrooms.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Use either a baking sheet with baking racks or a broiler pan, to allow as much of the fat to drain away while baking. Line the bottom with aluminum foil for easier clean-up.
Place all of your ingredients in a large bowl. With your hands (gloves help), squish all of the ingredients together. You want to make sure the seasonings and onion are well incorporated.
Pour out your meat mixture onto a platter and shape it into a loaf. Place the platter into the refrigerator to let it solidify (about 15 minutes).
Now, take your meatloaf out of the refrigerator and transfer it to your baking tray. Place it in the oven and bake for roughly 1 1/4 hours (or until a thermometer reads 160 degrees F). You can serve immediately or let cool for easier, less crumbly slices.
Nutrition Per Serving (includes sugared ketchup): 193 Cal; 19 g Protein; 10 g Tot Fat; 4 g Sat Fat; 4 g Mono Fat; 0 g Trans Fat; 7 g Carb; 0 g Fiber; 5 g Sugar
Young ones (well, anyone younger than me, aka 50 and younger), please don’t be like me.
I treated my body like it was immortal: nothing I did or didn’t do would have a lasting effect. Despite the little things (which just kept building up) I felt when I turned 30 years old, I kept right on rolling, downing that Crunch Berry cereal while doing virtually no physical activity. The scale didn’t matter, how my body felt didn’t matter, all I cared about was what goody I was going to put in my mouth next to drown out my emotions. I told myself I didn’t care what anyone else thought and I didn’t. The problem was, I just didn’t care, period.
I only looked in the mirror with “tunnel vision”, seeing only my face to put on tons of makeup (to cover up my blotchy skin and apply contour to my double chin) and fix my highly damaged hair but never looking at my body. I cannot remember ever looking at my body just out of the shower.
The year I turned 42 years old, after YEARS of warning signs, was the year my body stuck up its middle finger at me and said, “I’m done”. Thankfully, I have never had high blood pressure or high cholesterol but I became allergic to just about everything, I got sick if anyone looked at me funny, and I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Through diet and exercise over the past 8 years, I have reduced my A1C from 9.0 to 5.7 (my first ever fasting blood sugar was 400). I am very proud to officially no longer have type 2 diabetes and did it on my own.
Unfortunately, there is only so much proper (for me) diet and exercise can do after 42 years of neglect and abuse. Here is a partial list of the issues I am dealing with:
Allergy shots for the next 5 years
Gallbladder removal 7 months ago
Severe intestinal issues that were not resolved by removing the gallbladder. I am still undergoing testing to figure out what is causing this (upper endoscopy, MRI, so much blood work the technician knows me by name). Next will probably be scheduled for a colonoscopy (if none of the current tests reveal anything).
Just had a TIA (mini-stroke) in my eye last week. There was no permanent damage but this means more tests (went to the lab two days in a row this week and have 2 MRI scans next week), more doctors (in addition to my allergist, dermatologist, ophthalmologist, primary care, and gastroenterologist, I have an appointment with a neurologist and am waiting for a referral to a cardiologist) AND I had to stop exercising because that TIA could possibly lead to a full-blown stroke (can you say stress?).
To be brutally honest, I have no idea how much of what is still wrong with me could have been avoided if I had cared about myself earlier in life but now, I will never know. All I can do is hang on, say a few prayers, and do whatever I can to get through this so I can (once again) start over on my fitness journey. As soon as I am given some sort of clearance, I am hitting the weights and my neglected exercise bike (there will also be some digging in the yard going on, too, since I was not able to finish planting before this all happened).
So, you young whipper snappers, please. Take a good, hard look at your lifestyle. Take into account that you will not be in your 20’s forever. Our bodies age, whether we want them to or not. How old do you want to feel when you are 30, 40, or 50? Do you want to be able to do whatever you enjoy or would you prefer to get out of breath walking to the mail box? Do what is best (not easiest) for your health now so you do not end up like me.
One dark and stormy night (a relief in Central California) we really didn’t want to barbecue in the rain (and we were low on charcoal). So, my husband made a tri tip roast in the oven. If you aren’t accustomed to this cut, here’s the Wiki about it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tri-tip.
How we (my husband as I watched and took pictures) made it:
Oven Roasted Tri-tip Roast Ingredients:
1 beef tri tip roast
Your choice of seasonings
Season your roast (we have been using McCormick Montreal Steak seasoning lately). Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Place a heavy skillet (we love our cast iron) on the stove and heat on high. Once the skillet is hot, add about a teaspoon of oil to the pan (or spray with Pam). Place the roast in the pan and sear it for about 4 minutes (as you can see from the photos, it wasn’t that brown this time and turned out better than ever). Flip it over and sear the other side. Now, place the skillet in the oven (do not cover) and let cook until you are happy with the doneness.
The basic rule of thumb is 10 minutes per pound. We baked ours for almost 20 minutes and removed the tri tip from the oven when the thermometer read 135 degree F.
While resting (we let it rest for 10 minutes before cutting) it reached 140 degrees F.
That’s it! To serve, either slice it thick (against the grain) like a steak or thin (think roast beef). My favorite way to eat it is with some cheese and avocado (OH! Maybe some horseradish sauce, too!). Tri tip is great leftover, too! Either dice it and add to scrambled eggs, pan-fry and serve with fried eggs, or just grab a piece and munch away! Here’s some pictures (unless you do not like this setup, I think I will post any recipes I/we create before any pictures because I HATE having to scroll a mile just to read a recipe).
Browning in cast iron skilletOur meat thermometer from Home DepotRestingMedium Rare (almost medium) 140 degree internal temperature
Well, I had my gallbladder removed on Thursday and not only is today hubby’s first day back to work but this is my first morning without feeling the need to take any pain pills! I am pretty sure I was a bit paranoid I wouldn’t wake up with the alarm, since I was bright eyed 2 hours before the alarm went off! I am thinking a nap may be in order later today, since I am not sure how “occupied” I can be if I cannot lift more than 5 pounds.
I have spent the past month or so preparing for this surgery. With fall threatening to become a reality, I wanted to get as much physical labor finished as I could so I wasn’t fighting weather once I was healed. So, would you like a rundown? I am very happy!
We have been living in this house for almost 6 years and it’s amazing how long upgrades/improvements/plans can take when a person keeps changing their mind (cough). The front yard is at the most 20 feet from the house to the sidewalk and raised. I knew before we moved in that I did not want lawn out there. So, after clearing as much of the lawn and weeds as possible, I was given a few small agave plants. So, I decided those would become my neighbor/crackhead deterrent. I planted some along the neighbor’s driveway and the rest along the front of the house. Then, I left them alone. This was a huge mistake!
April 2015
I did not realize just how big these plants get, nor what their growing habits were. They multiply prolifically, not only in the soil but within the plant themselves. Agave also likes to move whatever is in its way (not excluding house siding). So, when I decided I wanted to remove the concrete shingles, I didn’t realize the size of the job ahead of me.
June 2017
This is just over a year after that first picture and these plants aren’t just sharp, they are like hypodermic needles that (at least on me) tend to cause immediate infection. So, I had to don a face shield (the kind used to protect your face when using a grinder), thick clothes (that I still got poked through) and a machete to cut the leaves back so I could get close enough to dig out the plants.
Just one root ball, on a smaller plant.
Between me chopping away, digging, then having to take a break to recuperate, then finally asking my husband for help (here he is with his mad machete skills):
He can actually hit the same cut multiple times! He’s a god!
Completed a week before my surgery, we now have an almost naked front yard (I will not remove the agave next to the neighbor’s driveway until my husband has a section of fencing ready to go).
Almost naked yard!
Once I recover, then it’s time to work on removing the cement shingles. I could replace the lost/broken ones but I really hate them. Every time we turn around, one of them is breaking. When we first bought this house, we both agreed that the bulk of any “money” we would sink into the house was in sweat equity (there is no way putting in granite counter tops in this neighborhood would pay off). I want the original siding back. I love wood and so far, there doesn’t seem to be too much damage to the siding underneath the shingles (and there aren’t 50 coats of paint on it).
I am a new member of Instagram, so if you want to follow along, check me out here!
Well, a link to this cookbook was posted today and, since I’m a nut for old cookbooks, I had to check it out. What surprised me is the fact that this cookbook seems to support a low carbohydrate lifestyle!
It supports the use of “diabetic flours” (one of which is almond flour) in bread making and it lists free foods (those you can eat to your heart’s content) as mostly meats and low carbohydrate veggies.
Unfortunately, some of the items needed may not be available any longer. Aleurnat Flour: Made from aleurone, a protein found in protein granules of maturing seeds and tubers. If there is someone smarter than me who can figure out if this is available for purchase anywhere, please share!
January of 2010, as I have noted before, I was rushed to the E.R. I had developed an allergy to scallops, which branched out to all fish/seafood, then to latex, then to certain chemicals, etc. Two months later, I was diagnosed with not only type-2 diabetes but my Vitamin D levels were in the single digits. I worked on the diabetes and started taking Vitamin D supplements but I read that many adult-onset allergies can be “outgrown”. I told hubby that I would test myself in 5 years.
Fast forward to Monday of last week. I was sitting here, thinking, and then a realization hit. I hadn’t had to wear a face mask in public in about 4 months. I also hadn’t had to wear one when working outside in the yard. So, I decided to test myself. See, in 2010, when we were scouring the house of all fish-related products, we tested Worcestershire sauce. I put a little on my finger, touched my tongue, and was immediately hit with an itching wave that shot down my tongue, into my throat. I performed this test on Monday of this past week and nothing happened. So, I decided to try some actual fish.
As of this moment, July 25, 2014 at 3:40 pm, it has been an hour since I ate a grilled tuna steak and having NO REACTION WHATSOEVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OMG! I just realized I can now start posting fish recipes! 🙂
Next test (next pay day) … shrimp. That’s what I miss the most. AND I may be able to handle it. My allergy to fish had gotten so bad that just walking near the aquariums in Bass Pro Shops made be unable to breathe last year and today I shoved my nose (not literally) into a bag of fresh mussels and had no reaction. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am! I’ll go measure myself and post my number on my stats page (I bought my first new pair of shorts and they are a comfortably loose 32 inch waist) and am 2 pounds down from last week (164 pounds).
Yeah, that’s what I thought. Only old people get sciatica. Then, one day a few years ago, I got this shooting pain that started at my rear end and ran down my thigh. By the time it had gotten unbearable, I looked to Google. When I discovered what it was, I told my mom and she giggled, “You are getting old”. Well, I fought back. I found some stretches on my own that, a few weeks into them, relieved the pain. After about 6 weeks, the pain was gone completely and I never had an issue with it again. That is, until two weeks ago.
Just after I started exercising again, I noticed that if I sat too long, my lower legs would almost fall asleep (I didn’t realize that’s what it was … I was just not able to fully walk properly. Then, I felt my calf, and it was numb). I thought, maybe it’s just lack of circulation, so I started rotating my ankles, getting up more often, bouncing my legs up and down like I was nervous, hoping that keeping the blood flowing would rid me of this annoyance. Well, yesterday was a banner day. Instead of numbness, both legs were tingling, like they had been asleep but were waking back up.
So, back to Google.
It turns out THIS is sciatica, too! I had thought sciatica was just the pain but no. There’s a muscle in your rear end called a piriformis (to read more about this check out this article: http://www.spine-health.com/wellness/exercise/stretches-and-exercise-sciatic-pain-piriformis-syndrome). It runs from your tailbone across to your hip and if it gets tight, it can pinch the sciatic nerve and cause numbness. What the heck? So, I get to add another set of stretches to my ever-growing arsenal of stretches.
One that I used to do before … I don’t know if I came up with it on my own or saw it somewhere but I stand in front of a wall. I keep one leg straight, lift the other foot off the ground, then, using the wall, I turn my body, stretching my straight leg at the hip. Then I repeat for the other side. The other one was standing with both feet on the ground, legs straight, then slowly push my hip out to the side just to the point where I feel tightness up the side of my hip, hold, then repeat on the other side. All these stretches must be very gentle and you must ease yourself into them. So, my conclusion from all of this? I’m either really working my glutes deeply or I’m not positioning my feet correctly when performing my cable exercises. Either way, if I ever want to be able to sit for longer than 5 minutes stretches of time, I will be stretching every day. I need to finish reading the book, “Becoming A Supple Leopard“. My brain is so disjointed it’s like I don’t have enough time in the day for everything.
“. My brain is so disjointed it’s like I don’t have enough time in the day for everything.