Taco "Pasta" Bake

I found a recipe on pinterest.com a while ago for something called a Taco Pasta Bake. Apparently the original recipe has been deleted but here is what it is:
Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 3/4 box of penne pasta
• 4 oz cream cheese
• 1 package of taco seasoning
• 3/4-1cup water
• shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:

• Brown the ground beef in a skillet, drain the meat. Add the taco seasoning and cook according to the package directions, adding the appropriate amount of water and bringing to a simmer. After that is incorporated, melt in the cream cheese. Then stir in the cooked pasta and 1/2 cup of cheese. Pour the mix into a greased baking dish, top with more cheese. Bake at 350 until bubbly and melted. 

It was delicious and we ate it often. I decided I would make this into a low carb recipe because we liked it so much. I made sure to buy the lowest carb cream cheese I could (the weight watchers brand) and read the labels on the taco seasoning, or make your own.
Here are the tweaks I made to the recipe:
Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1 shredded spaghetti squash
• 4 oz cream cheese
• 1 TBS of taco seasoning
• just a dab of water
• shredded cheddar cheese

It is cooked exactly the same and I think I may like the low carb version better. It's has a great amount of crunch and a tiny bit of sweetness from the squash.

I served it with a side of yellow squash sauteed with a bit of butter, red pepper flake, and garlic salt. It was very good and it's a definite "do again".

Get out there and COOK!

Quick Tip

Did you know that Carl's Jr. has low carb options? Well they do! The burger is supposed to have 9 carbs, which is pretty high in my mind. But I don't eat all of the ketchup and I remove the tomato which cuts down the carbs significantly. There is also a chicken sandwich but I haven't tried that yet. I love the burger! It's satisfying, delicious, and huge!

But here's the real tip, do NOT try to eat it while driving. It will be all over your face and possibly all over your car. Take this guy home or pull over. Driving while eating this is probably dangerous for your health.

Happy Low Carbing!

Breakfast-A-Go-Go

This morning we made low carb pancakes, you may be thinking "what the what?!" but it's good, don't worry.

We used to make this recipe a lot because Andy has a serious sweet tooth and he LOVES pancakes. Like when we went off of the diet the next thing he ate was a pancake. I'm not a huge breakfast fan and even I think these are good. They are not the fluffy, cakey pancakes but you still the feeling you are eating a pancakes.

Obviously I didn't go the syrup route, but you definitely could. I used this recipe (but I doubled it):

Ingredients

• 2 oz cream cheese
• 2 eggs
• 1 packet stevia (or any) sweetener
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 
• (I added a bit of vanilla and lemon juice just for a bit more flavor, but it's good without those added ingredients)

Instructions

• Put all ingredients in a blender or magic bullet (or blender, or food processor). Blend until smooth. Let rest for 2 minutes so the bubbles can settle. Pour 1/4 of the batter into a hot pan greased with butter or pam spray. Cook for 2 minutes until golden, flip and cook 1 minute on the other side. Repeat with the rest of the batter.

Another reason I love this recipe is because these are ingredients you will always have in your refrigerator when you are on a low carb diet.

Now, go! Create! Eat! Have a BLAST!

Sleepy House Comfort Food

We've been "sleep training" around here... So I've been flipping exhausted. Wednesday night was the absolute worst. Carter and I basically didn't sleep at all, so Thursday night I was so out of it that I totally forgot about dinner. Andy stepped up to the plate and made dinner. And he struck it out of the park! We had had a roast earlier in the week so he took the leftover meat and added garlic powder, onion powder, chili powder, red pepper flake, and cumin. Let that simmer in the pan for a little bit while he made the "rice". He used this recipe:


MEXICAN "RICE"
10 ounces fresh cauliflower, grated, 1/2 medium
1 small onion, slivered, 2 1/2 ounces
2-3 tablespoons butter or oil or a combination
1/2 cup salsa
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/8 teaspoon granular Splenda
In a very large skillet with a lid, sauté the onion in butter and/or oil until tender. Stir in the grated cauliflower, then the remaining ingredients. Mix well. Cover and simmer 10-12 minutes until the cauliflower is tender, but not mushy, stirring occasionally.
Makes 6 servings
Can be frozen
Per Serving: 56 Calories; 4g Fat; 1g Protein; 5g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 3g Net Carbs 
 http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/mexican_rice.html

It was so insanely good. He totally won the cauliflower race. So we put the "rice" in the bottom of our bowls then put a bit of meat on top, then some sour cream and cheese. We didn't miss the carbs AT ALL! It was so good.  

The Good, Bad, and Yucky

Yesterday we had a beef roast which I put in the crock pot with a packet of brown gravy and a packet of ranch dressing mix. I mixed the two with a bit of water. Yes, there are a bunch of carbs in the "sauce" but that's ok because we don't eat the sauce. As a side dish I made garlic mash cauliflower and it was... well... cauliflower. I tried everything I could think of to make it taste less cauliflower-ish and I failed. Hard. I added garlic, salt, pepper, cream, sour cream, butter, rosemary, all to no avail. Ok, Cauliflower, you win. Andy straight up refused to eat it and I gave it the old College Try, but it was yucky. Truly yucky.
Cauliflower:1 Stacie:0

Tonight we had Balsamic Mustard Chicken. I used this recipe

Ingredients

• 8 boneless chicken thighs;
• 1 tbsp. Dijon or homemade mustard;
• 1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar;
• 1/2 cup of olive oil;
• 2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice;
• 2 tbsp. fresh rosemary, minced;
• 1 garlic clove, minced;
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste;

  Preparation

• In a bowl, combine the mustard, balsamic vinegar, garlic, rosemary, lemon juice, and season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Slowly pour the olive oil in with the mixture while whisking.
• Place the chicken in a marinating container (glass or plastic; don’t use metal) and pour the mustard balsamic marinade on top. Place in the refrigerator or leave on the counter, covered, and marinate for about 30 minutes.
• Preheat your oven to 375 F.
• Transfer the chicken to a baking dish and empty the remaining sauce on top.

• Place in the oven and bake for 1 hour or until the chicken is cooked.

 http://paleoleap.com/mustard-balsamic-baked-chicken/

And Holy Moley, it was good! I used chicken breasts instead of chicken thighs simply because that's what we had. I typically cut my chicken breasts in half so they cook faster, like in half the time, faster.

As a side dish we had bacon green beans. They were delish too!
We winged it on that one. We cut up a few pieces of bacon, cooked them up, added a bag of French cut frozen green beans, saute them around a while. Then add a tiny bit of sugar free maple syrup. So good!

Creamy Cheesy Chicken

I used this recipe, but I doubled it so we will have lunches:

Ingredients

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (I used boneless skinless strips)

4 oz softened cream cheese

2 tablespoons softened butter

2 tablespoons whole cream 

1 tablespoon minced onion (I omitted this simply because I didn't have any)

1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt

1/2 cup of shredded cheese (I used cheddar and I used more than 1/2 a cup)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375. Lightly grease a 9x9 inch (we used 9x13) baking pan with nonstick cooking spray and place your chicken in without overlapping. 

2. Mix the cream cheese, butter, cream, onion, and spices and spread the mixture evenly over the chicken. 

3. Spread the cheese on top and bake for about 45 minutes or until chicken is done. Let it rest and cool a bit after taking it from the oven. 

 http://www.sugarfreelikeme.com/2013/12/creamy-cheesy-chicken.html

It was super amazing! Andy was seriously impressed! Ours was a little runny because we used frozen chicken but it didn't bother us at all. Instead of inced onion I used garlic powder because we didn't have minced onion and we are garlic fans.
For our side dish we had spaghetti squash with spaghetti sauce. My sweet friend, Megan, made spaghetti sauce over the summer and, holy guacamole, it's awesome.
To make spaghetti squash you cut that sucker in half and clean out the seeds and pulp with a spoon. Then you place the halves in the microwave with damp paper towels laid on top. I microwave for 12 minutes and then let them sit for a bit in the microwave. If you look at the squash and it has started to separate then it is time to "shred" it. Be careful! That stuff is crazy hot when you take it out of the microwave.  Then mix it with your sauce and put a little Parmesan cheese on top! 
This is definitely a do again! 

Low Carb Lovelies

Happy New Year! 2013 was a big year at the Wolf household. But with a new year comes new ideas. I know everyone makes resolutions to lose weight but we aren't really looking to just lose weight. We are looking to feel better. Andy and I did Atkins/low carb high protein in 2012 and it was the best we've ever felt. We had more energy, we slept better, we were happier, etc. But after finding out I was pregnant we just went a little food crazy, which we are paying for now. After doing a bit of research I have come to the conclusion that I might be a little gluten intolerant. Which explains why I felt so darn good after we cut out all gluten. The whole 4-5 months we were low carb-ing life, I didn't have one headache/migraine; my skin cleared up of PK, acne, and eczema; I actually felt rested when I woke up in the morning (instead of taking an hour to actually get out of bed), my stomach never felt upset, and I honestly was never hungry. It was truly amazing.
In any case, we are dying to feel better again. So low carb here we come! I will be posting my weekly menus here along with the recipes I will be using. I may let you know if we lose weight or not and I will stay accountable here. If I cheat, you will know. If I make great progress, you will know.

Here is this week's menu:
Sunday: Creamy Cheesy Chicken with saucy spaghetti squash
Monday: Roast with Mashed Garlic Cauliflower
Tuesday: Mustard Balsamic Chicken with Bacon Green Beans
Wednesday: Grilled Chicken with Spaghetti (squash) and Pesto Cream Sauce
Thursday: Baked Fish and zucchini mix
Friday: Steak and spaghetti squash au graten
Saturday: Shredded Chicken Taco lettuce wraps
Sunday: Cheeseburger Pie

I will check in later this week!