Big ol' tub of tzatziki.

So, this will be a random update, but just wanted to let you in on a little secret. Do you find dinner a bit boring on this diet?  Are you so sick of grilled chicken breast that you would rather throw it out the window than eat it?  Yeah, I do sometimes.. but I have the solution to stupid, plain chicken.. Tzatziki.  I was at Costco looking up and down the isles and saw this on the shelves.  It was about 5 bucks for a pretty large tub that didn't expire for at least 2-3 months... So I got it.  For those that don't know what tzatziki is, it's a Greek cucumber based sauce that is usually made with sour cream or Greek yogurt, garlic and dill.  You probably know it as the yummy sauce that comes on a gyro.  Mmmmm..

So It has 2 carbs for 2 tablespoons.  That is plenty to dip boring chicken in.  I'm sure if you search around you can find a recipe if you don't have a Costco membership.

Something else I find awesome on this diet.. whole roasted chickens that can be purchased at the grocery store.  This should be your go-to food when you're just not in the mood to cook.  They're about $5.99 and worth every penny!  Just bring them home, pop a veggie into the microwave and BAM! instant meal.  I find the tzatziki sauce extra enjoyable on these.  Oh, and Costco, by far, has the best roasted chicken around.

Other than that.. today has been pretty decent.  Had two cups of coffee.. so that addiction has yet to fade.  I had two scrambled eggs for breakfast mixed with a pinch of shredded cheddar.  A string cheese for a snack and an iceberg lettuce salad with bacon bits (for 10 bucks, you can get a huge bag of the "real bacon" bits at Costco) a couple black olives and some shredded cheddar.  I think I used up all my cheese carbs for the day.. boohoo.. but will make due.  Pork chops for dinner!!!! Recipe to come.

TACO TACO TACO!

I love me some tacos and knew I wouldn't be able to give them up without a fight.  There's something about homemade tacos that are just spectacular... The oozing of red/orange looking water that drips down my hand due to the packet of Lawry's Taco seasoning (who am I kidding.. store brand!), the perfectly diced tomatoes, the sour cream.. gotta love sour cream.. and finely shredded cheese.. It's all just wonderful and one of my favorite meals.  So I made it diet friendly.

TACOS WITH LETTUCE SHELLS

Ingredients:

1 pound ground beef.  (spend the extra 30 cents and get it as lean as you can)

1/2 pack taco seasoning.

one head of iceberg lettuce

water.  (Do I have to add water to my ingredient lists?)

finely shredded cheddar cheese

one diced tomato

2 teaspoons of light sour cream

Cholula hot sauce.

Cook up ground beef as you normally would. Drain.  Rinse with hot water a couple times to get all the icky grease off.  Return to burner.  Add seasoning.  I add it before I add water because I feel it sticks to the meat better.  Add a little over 1/2 cup water,  not the full 3/4 the package calls for. Stir and simmer until the water has cooked out.  I only use half a package of seasoning because A) I think it's plenty of flavor and B) it cuts the carbs in half.. duh!

While the meat is simmering, dice your tomato.  Take your head of lettuce and hit the button (hard thing on the bottom) against a hard surface, like your counter top or husband's head.  This will push it in and will pull right out.  Cut the head down the middle so the leaves are halved. In lieu of tortillas, use the lettuce leaves.  Put meat, one tablespoon of sour cream, a sprinkle of cheese and tomato in each lettuce leaf, then load it up with Cholula.  

Yeah, yeah, yeah.. It's just tacos.  The same tacos you've made one million times... but try it with the lettuce.. I promise, you will fall in love.

Side note. Cholula hot sauce.  This stuff is awesome.  It's not extremely hot and has a great flavor.  To steal a line from the inferior Franks Red Hot Sauce,  "I put that *bleep* on everything!"  And what I'm super excited about, while I was just googling Cholula to make sure it was spelled correctly, I saw that they are making a Cholula flavored beef jerky! What up! I will definitely support the Sasquatch.

So there you have it.  Easiest. Recipe. Ever.

A total revamp!!!!!

Well, I guess after one post it isn't really a revamp.. but whatever! It's my blog, I'll do/say what I want!

Anyway..

So I've decided it's about that time (To bring forth the rhythm and the rhyme! Bad Marky Mark reference? I think not.) to get my diet in order.  I need to lose this baby weight that should have been off over a year ago. I know, I know.. you're all thinking, "OMG! so is she not going to post her delicious recipes showing off her awesome cooking skillz?" but don't worry.. I will still post everything I do.. now it will just be low carb/low gluten. I know it can be a bit difficult finding decent recipes for this kind of diet, so here I will be, the Urban-Suburban Kitchenista to the rescue!  I will be posting my recipes, along with the occasional picture, for the world to see!  And hey, my sweet hunny-bunny of a husband bought me a pretty awesome apron for Christmas.. so I need an excuse to show it off.

To be blunt, I've chosen this kind of diet because it works.  It helps shed pounds quick, and takes you off of food that should have been limited in the first place.  The only thing with Atkins/Gluten free, the weight can come back.  So instead of a diet, I'm going for more of a lifestyle change.  This way, I can learn to limit yet still indulge, if that makes sense. I just need to learn not to crave the bad stuff.. like pop.  I love pop almost as much as my first born.. so this will be hard.  I like diet pop.. but diet pop to me is a gateway drug.  I start with diet pop... then it leads to regular pop. then it leads to double big gulps.. sigh. So it just need to cut it out completely.


Well, today was day one.. and I'm still motivated, so it's been an easy day.

Today I have had: One 2 eggs omelet with 2 slices of American cheese and a Caesar salad, no croutons.  I had a large Dunkin Donuts coffee and 3 large glasses of water with lemon.  I think I'm off to a decent start!  I will slowly start weaning myself from my other crack, also known as coffee, in hopes to transition into a decaf tea. Ew.. but I will force myself to love and enjoy it, I guess.

 The motivation lessens as the weeks go on, but I'm pretty serious this time, so hopefully it will stick

OK, I'm done babbling.  Look for my recipes.

I have a can of pumpkin and it's buring a hole in my cabinet!

There's something about fall that just inspires me to do things like cook, craft and decorate.  My head gets full of great ideas and while most leave when I begin my 4th consecutive hour of mindless TV watching, some just keep taunting me.  I was at Trader Joe's last weekend and saw an end cap with pretty much an angelic light beaming down upon it. Canned pumpkin.  I was immediately drawn to it.  I have been going through an unexpected pumpkin phase/obsession so I couldn't wait to go home and use it. 

Well, it's been over a week and there it sits.. all alone, begging to be used.  I try not to coddle my canned goods, so it doesn't know that I've been dreaming of different ways to use it.  Do I want to make some kind of whip? Coffee drink? Cookies? Entree?  The possibilities are endless!  I went to my beloved www.allrecipes.com to get some ideas on ways to use it.. but can't decide on just one.

Being that my husband, Jim, is a 32 year old child and doesn't want to try anything that even somewhat sounds "different," I have to find a way to make my dishes sound appealing... What what's more appealing than Chocolate?  Pretty much nothing, so I have chosen to make Chocolate Chip Pumpkin muffins. 

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup canned pumpkin
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1.     Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease and flour muffin pan or use paper liners.

2.     Mix sugar, oil, eggs. Add pumpkin and water. In separate bowl mix together the baking flour, baking soda, baking powder, spices and salt.. Add wet mixture and stir in chocolate chips.

3.     Fill muffin cups 2/3 full with batter. Bake in preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes.

Sooo.. I didn’t have any nutmeg.  I have no idea how I can call myself a holiday enthusiast and not have the most basic holiday spice. I also did not have any cloves.. ugh. I rummaged through my cupboard and found a small thing of pumpkin pie spice.  I bought it a while ago when I was determined to make my own pumpkin spiced latte (again, obsessing over pumpkin.)  That is a blend of cinnamon, ginger and nutmeg, so I thought it would work.

I ended up making one tray of large muffins and one tray of mini. I  Since I’m not much of a baker, I thought I would just throw the minis in about a minute after the big muffins. Well.. they were dry. Blah. The large muffins turned out quite nice, though. I put a little extra ginger in the batter and I thought it gave it a nice taste.  Now, I may be a little biased because of the chocolate chips, I mean, what’s not better with chocolate chips? But these were pretty good.  Not going to lie, they were not the best things ever.. but enough to put an end to this sick pumpkin obsession. 

 Pumpkin baking? CHECK!