BBQ Pork Chinese style

Posted by leannekarella on May 22nd, 2013 |Filed Under Recipes | Leave a Comment

So I’m in Alaska, visiting family, and my mom pretty much hands me a pork loin and tells me to makesomething with it. So, I made my low-carb bbq Chinese bbq pork and roasted veggies. It was fabulous!

Need to marinade for at least 12 hours, 24-36 is even better.

Marinade recipe:
1/3 cup soy sauce (I use low sodium)
1/3 cup Splenda
1 Tblsp Teriyaki sauce
1 1/2 Tblsp lemon juice (or one packet of True Lemon)
2 Tblsp Worchestershire sauce
1 Tblsp dry mustard
1 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp chayanne
2 cloves garlic, minced
10 drops red food coloring (to make it look like Chinese restaurant’s)
about 3 lb pork loin.

Mix all ingredients well and put pork loin in a gallon size ziploc. Pour marinade over it and squeeze out as much air as possible before sealing. Keep in fridge, turning it over about every 4 hours, until ready to cook.

Place in a baking pan with sides, that has been lined with foil. Place on a baking rack for best cooking, but not absolutely needed. Bake at 425 degrees for about 45 min (use a thermometer to make sure you do not overcook it). Once it’s at 160 degrees, pull it out and let it rest. The temp will continue to rise past 165. Leave it sit at least 20 min. Slice, and eat with some spicy mustard.

The grilled veggies were the same recipe I used on another post.

Place desired veggies on a foil-lined baking sheet. Toss with a little olive oil. Sprinkle lightly with salt and garlic powder. Place in 425 degree oven until nicely wilted yet still tender-crisp.

Shirataki Style Noodles

Posted by leannekarella on May 15th, 2013 |Filed Under Helpful Hints For Cooking, Recipes | Leave a Comment

I’ve had a few questions pop up about how good are these noodles and how do you cook them.

This is a photo of the package of my favorite brand. I do not care for the Miracle Noodle brand, though the texture is slightly more noodle-like than the Asian brand I buy at the Asian market.

When you open the package, there is a very slight fishy odor. They are sold in the refrigerated section of the store, and they are packed in water. They last a very very long time in the refrigerator unopened.

Miracle Noodle brand actually does not need to be refrigerated, but I find they have a stronger fishy odor and that the taste does not rinse out.

I open a package and unknot them. They are bundled to be dumped into soup, in a fancy little knot, but I like to eat them like spaghetti noodles, not in a clump. I put them in a colander with a very fine mesh (the noodles are very thing) and rinse very well with warm water. I put on a small pot of water to boil, and once it’s boiling, I dump in the noodles, and bring the water back to a boil, then take them off and rinse them in the colander once again. Done. Ready to use.

Now, what you have is something with zero flavor, but these take on the flavor of anything you cook them in. If I’m going to eat them as plain noodles with a little I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter Spray and some parm, instead of putting them in plain boiling water, I will do the quick boil in beef or chicken broth. Adds a nice little flavor. I have also, after cooking them in beef broth, drain them and then drop them on a warm (not hot) non-stick skillet until they are dry and serve them with a little soy sauce and sesame seeds for an Asian flair.

I use these in pasta sauce as well. I still boil them quickly, but then put them in a pot of sauce at a low simmer for about 1/2 hour. It tastes the BEST if it sits overnight, but a 1/2 hour is pretty good too.

This brand I use… the Ingredients are: Konjac Flour, Water, Calcium Hydroxide.
Calories for the entire bag (I eat about 1/2 a bag at a sitting) 15 cal; 7.5 carbs; 7.5 fiber (zero net carbs!)

Pie-less Chicken Pot Pie

Posted by leannekarella on May 14th, 2013 |Filed Under Recipes | 1 Comment

So, I think it’s actually called “pottage” but that’s a word that sounds bad in my ear, so I’m going to call this a pie-less pot pie.

Basically, I made chicken pot pie filling in a casserole dish and it was SUPER YUMMY and there’s only 2 servings left out of a 6 qt casserole since my hubby and kiddo had seconds and thirds! Hubby had some rye bread with his.

Fairly easy to throw together too!

Yes, I used some veggies that I’m not supposed to eat, because I wanted to see if it would really taste like pot pie, but I also used a ton of broccoli and cauliflower, so I pushed the corn and carrots to the side.

In a deep casserole dish… I’ll give you what I used, though 6 qts is a LOT for a typical household. Remember that the veggies do cook down though.

First, spray the dish with non-stick spray.

Layer from bottom, everything cut into bite-size pieces

5 chicken breasts
1 onion
1 bag frozen carrots/peas/corn/green beans
4 cups broccoli
4 cups cauliflower
1 lb mushrooms

Set the casserole aside and in a pot on the stove….

1 qt fat free, low sodium chicken broth
a little extra low sodium chicken bullion
1 cup sugar free almond milk (to make it creamier)
garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, crushed dried rosemary (to taste)
1 tsp xanthan gum to thicken

Once this is bubbly, pour over the veggies in the casserole, cover the dish and put in 350 degree oven for about 1.5 hrs or until the chicken is cooked through and the veggies are tender.

For the calorie count, I only counted the things I actually ate (about a cup of cauliflower and a cup of broccoli and 3 oz chicken, and 1 cup of fat free chicken broth)

Yummy, easy, fast-to-make low cal/fat dinner.

Posted by leannekarella on May 6th, 2013 |Filed Under My Thoughts, Recipes | 1 Comment

Ingredients:

1/2 pkg shirataki noodles
8 oz chicken breast, sliced think to cook fast
2 portabella caps
2 cups favorite veggies
Seasonings of choice
Grated Parmesan (optional)
Olive oil for frying

I fast fried my chicken, because it was too hot to turn on the oven to broil it, and too much work to light the grill. Using about 2 Tbls oil, I fried each breast piece for about 3 min on each side using a tiny bit of Red Robin seasoning and garlic/herb no-salt seasoning.

In the same pan, using the same oil, I took out the chicken and put in the two portabella caps, face down, and put the lid on to let them wilt a little, but not enough to get mushy.

I prepared my shirataki noodles, while everything else cooked, and put them right on the plate with a little I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter spray and a light sprinkle of parm.

I put my mushroom caps on a plate, put the chicken on top and used my low-carb bbq sauce.

On the side I had 2 cups of steamed cauliflower.

Entire meal: 337 calories; 60 protein; 7 fat; 23 carb; 12 fiber (11 net carbs)

Ham & Egg wrap

Posted by leannekarella on May 2nd, 2013 |Filed Under Recipes | 1 Comment

Hungry today, so I needed a bigger, more solid lunch than just salad, as I usually do. This was today’s creation.

3 leafs romaine
3 slices Great Value 97 % fat free deli smoked ham
1 slice Go Veggie American style cheese slice
1/2 cup 100% liquid egg whites
1 Tblsp fat free mayo
as much deli mustard as you want!
a couple deli style dill spears

Fry up egg whites with whatever seasoning you prefer, cut into 3 strips.
Spread mayo and mustard on three large lettuce leaves. Fold ham slices in half and place one on each leaf. Cut the cheese in 3 slices. Place warm egg over cheese to make it a little melty. Add pickles and YUM!

This plate = 228 cal; 31 protein; 6 fat; 12 carbs; 2 fiber

Back in the game!

Posted by leannekarella on April 26th, 2013 |Filed Under My Thoughts, Weigh In Updates | Leave a Comment

I only lost 5 lbs in the last month, because I’ve been enjoying life a little too much on this diet. I hit that 250 lb mark and decided to have a little fun because that was my first goal, and I hit it much, much sooner than I ever hoped I would.

I did not go off the deep end, but the fat content of the food I was eating was high, and I was enjoying 12-14 or so ounces of meat a day instead of the 8-10. I stayed in ketosis, but my calories per day were edging up toward 1200, which as I’ve said before, is my “maintaining” calorie count. And I must admit my veggie intake went down a bit.

I had THE appointment with my heart surgeon on the 24th, and he said “let’s do it”. I will be making the actual scheduling in the coming week, and it will be sometime in October. This is because I have lots and lots of travel plans for the summer I refuse to miss out on.

What got me back on track with the diet was going to lunch AND dinner the day of the appointment - spent the day with my hubby. I ate BREAD at lunch… I make no excuses. I was doing a little panicking about the surgery, everything the doc told me would happen - it is open heart surgery after all…And I had some comfort food. All well and good, it wasn’t that much. Dinner … ugh!

Let me back up and say that again, my veggie intake had gone down… I wasn’t getting enough fiber lately, if you get my drift… Then I ate a HUGE dinner, and ate things I know threw me out of ketosis and I stuffed myself. I have not over eaten since starting this diet 4 months ago. Honestly, I have reasons it happened… I was totally starving by the time we got to the restaurant, it was a ‘grill your own meat’ thing and my hubby kept making me these really awesome little steakettes…. I ate potatoes… I went way off diet.

And I PAID for it! Gas cramps by the time I’m getting ready for bed, so sleep sucked all night. And then up in the morning with dry heaves. Oh yeah, I was in bad shape, at first thinking I got food poisoning. Nope, just too much food! And then ALL DAY the next day I felt like I’d been hit by a truck! I felt heavy and lethargic and just downright gross… And I know that’s from the carbs. And now, a day later, I have rib aches from the dry heaves. Oh yeah, so much fun.

See, I maintain I don’t feel guilt about eating off diet. But when I feel like this, I think, I KNOW, it was so not worth it! It was one day, but it got me back in the right frame of mind. 2 days now, I’m TOTALLY 100% back on IP plan, and I will stay there for the next 30 days until my brother’s wedding. That day all bets are off!

As of today, exactly 4 months on plan, I weigh 245 lbs. That’s a total loss of 37 lbs so far. I’m hoping to be down to 235 by the wedding.

My goal is to be down to 220 by the surgery (6 months from now) and I set the easy goal of only 25 lbs from now because this IS a summer of travel, and though I “plan” to stay OP, I am not 100% sure I can maintain it constantly. I’d like to be down to 200, but as long as I make 220, I will feel good. This is just reality in my mind. I learned my lesson on spring break. I know I can maintain while traveling, since I did that on spring break and was around really bad food. At least the traveling I will be doing this summer is to visit relatives, and they’ve all been WARNED not to get weird about my strange eating habits, and to not take any offence to me supplying most of my own food. Everyone I’m related to COOKS, but most of it isn’t stuff I should be eating…probably ever, let alone while trying to lose weight. I am SO going to miss my Aunt Millie’s pies!!!

Puree Soup

Posted by leannekarella on April 23rd, 2013 |Filed Under Recipes | Leave a Comment

One of my favorite soups growing up was my mother’s broccoli/cheese soup.

Since broccoli is higher in net carbs, I try to eat less of it than I’d like. I LOVE broccoli. And since you’re not supposed to eat cheese on IP… Well, I came up with a…wouldn’t call it a close second, because it really tastes nothing like my mother’s broccoli/cheese soup…but it’s got the same texture, and I really enjoy it.

I’ve made it a few times now with a few different ingredients, but this one’s the simplest, and to me, the tastiest.

1 head cauliflower
1 large onion
2 cups raw spinach (the more you add, the greener the soup)
1 quart beef broth

Chop up the onion and cauliflower and cook it till very very soft in the broth. Seasoned only with a little garlic powder and black pepper. Add in the spinach and when it’s done, pull from the stove. Either using a blender or an immersion blender, blend until smooth and creamy.

I top mine with about 1 tsp feta for just a little zip. I put cheddar on my daughter’s and she thought it was “the best!”

Without the cheese for a 2 cup serving: 56 calories; 4 protein; 1 fat; 11 carb; 3 fiber (8 net carbs)

Egg Drop Soup

Posted by leannekarella on April 23rd, 2013 |Filed Under Recipes | Leave a Comment

I am not going to post a picture, because there’s something unappealing about a picture of this dish, but it tastes soooo yummy I barely got any! My hubby was eating it constantly since I made it.

Super duper easy!

Cooked down bones of one chicken. Skim off any fat and remove bones. Add 2 Tblsp low sodium Better Than Bullion and fill the 6 qt pot about 2/3 full with additional water.

Thinly slice one whole onion. Dice up 1 head romaine. Slice a whole bunch of mushrooms (the more the better in our book!) Chop up a few sticks of celery. Cook this till veggies are tender.

Season carefully with pepper, garlic powder and soy sauce. Let this simmer for about 15 min so the flavors soak through.

Now, you can either use egg whites or whole eggs. I used whole eggs on this last batch. For 6 quarts, 3 large eggs is plenty.

Bring the soup to a softly rolling boil. Beat the eggs in a mug until they are smooth. I use my immersion blender. Then, gently, gently slowly pour the eggs into the boiling soup. The boiling will break up the egg and you have your egg “drops.” Let cook another 5 min or so, and serve. Keeps well in the fridge for a few days.

Rutabaga Beef Soup/Stew

Posted by leannekarella on April 17th, 2013 |Filed Under Recipes | Leave a Comment

Okay, not sure this picture does it justice, but this is very yummy. For a 2 cup (very generous) serving, it comes out to (this is approximate depending on the veggies used) 130 calories; 11 protein; 3 fat; 15 carbs; 5 fiber (for 10 net carbs). This is a picture of my very full 6 quart stock pot. (12 servings!)

Either this is a veggie meal with extra protein, OR I use Nectar unflavored protein powder and turn it into my protein lunch. Sometimes if I’m in a hurry, I’ll use a packet of IP soup to add the protein, but that really changes the flavor, of course, and ups the sodium a LOT.

Of course, you can use any veggies you want that aren’t “illegal” on the diet.

For this particular pot, I used some marked-down beef ribs and cooked it down yesterday with just pepper and a dash of salt in the water. I let it sit overnight in the fridge and skimmed off the hardened fat this morning, so this is virtually fat-free. I de-boned the ribs and chopped up the meat and threw it back in the broth.

Put it back on the stove and start chopping up and throwing in veggies. For this pot, I used 1 - 28 oz can of diced (make sure it’s sugar free) tomatoes with juice, 1/2 a rutabaga (I use all the leftover veggies in the fridge), the center leafy parts of the celery stalks, a bunch of green onions (because I was out of regular onions), 1 head of romaine, and I had about a half of a big bag of spinach that was wilting, so I threw that in too. For seasoning I just added a bit more pepper (I love pepper) and a little bit of beef bullion because all the veggies tend to make the beefy flavor too light. Does not need extra salt, because the tomatoes had sodium. Then I put the lid on and set it to simmer and let it go for about 3 hours so all the flavors cook and the veggies (including the rutabaga) get nice and soft. Toward the end I use about 1 tsp of xanthan gum sprinkled very lightly over the top then mix it in so that it has a slightly thickened stew texture. Sometimes I just leave it as soup. Either way, this is not just a diet food, the hubby and kiddo love it too!

Milk Substitute at it’s BEST

Posted by leannekarella on April 17th, 2013 |Filed Under My Thoughts | Leave a Comment

I’ve never been a big milk drinker on its own, but I love milk in my hot chocolate, and so many of the protein mixes would taste so much better if they were made with milk. Also, pouring water on my IP alternative cold cereal is just gross. Come on! Right?

So, as with everything else, I went in search of an alternative that’s low carb and lactose free. Though I’ve not followed the 100% lactose free on this diet (using some extra-sharp cheddar every now and then for flavor, and some feta on my salads or in my salad dressings) I try not to go overboard and keep it very small.

So, the first thing I tried was Almond Breeze. I of course got the unsweetened kind. The original tastes pretty nutty and nothing like milk. I used it in my coffee, and that was about it. Ten I tried the same brand of the unsweetened vanilla. It’s, again, very nutty, but then I’m thinking, what do I expect since it’s made of almonds, but the vanilla was pretty good when mixed in with the chocolate pudding or hot chocolate protein mixes. I couldn’t bring myself to put it on the cereal, though.

Well, last week I was in the health food section of the grocery store, going to buy another Almond Breeze, when I spotted Silk Pure Almond Unsweetened Vanilla in the cooler section. Hmmm. I’ve had Silk a time or two, and know it’s creamy, but that was long before I needed to stay away from milk products. Anyway, the Silk is 10 calories less per cup (a plus!) at only 30 calories for 8 oz. It is mostly fat (making it not IP compatible) but it only has 1 carb but also 1 fiber, meaning zero net carbs!

Ohhh it’s GOOOD! And it has the SAME amount of Calcium as a cup of skim milk!!!

I got it home and opened it and tried a taste. No, it’s not milk. But it’s not nutty either. It has a nice, light vanilla flavor that goes with everything! And this weekend, my breakfast treat was a bowl of IP cinnamon cereal with the Silk on it. YUM! Yum! YUM!

I have about a cup a day since I got it. 4 oz in my Nectar Vanilla Bean Torte and instant coffee lattes. 4 oz in my pudding/shakes. I add another 4 oz of ice water to both, but the Silk adds just the right creaminess that’s so good. And it makes the BEST IP alternative hot chocolates!

Since I live in Canada, I bought it here, but on my trip to Washington yesterday, I found it in a regular grocery store there, so it’s widely available.


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