Jalapeno poppers

I love recipes that are easy to make and yummy. Jalapeno poppers are a great low-carb snack. Hollow out some jalapenos, stuff (but don't mound) with cream cheese, wind a slice of bacon around the little boat and bake at 375 or grill. Easy peasy.

I've made these before, but I took a different tactic this time that I picked up at Linda's low carb recipes. Instead of using a strip of bacon, which can take too long to cook and then you end up with overcooked jalapenos (I like them a bit crunchy) or raw bacon or oozing cream cheese, she recommended pressing the stuffed jalapeno into some already cooked bacon crumbles. Now I always have bacon crumbles on hand. I cut and fry up a package at a time and leave them on some paper towels to drain, then stick them in the fridge to use in recipes or salads.

Here is the finished product:

Per popper is about 45 calories and .5 net carbs. Maybe a little more because these jalapenos were especially large. Make sure to wash your hands well after making or eating these babies. I just rubbed my eyes and ouch!

Yummy, yummy bone broth

I am the type of girl who loves to eat meat and chicken down to the bone. Like, pick it clean. And then open the bone and eat the marrow inside. :) My husband is not. When we were dating, we went out for chicken wings once (love me some wings) with my younger brother. There was a distinct difference between the wings consumed by me and my brother, which were nothing but the bare bone, and my now-husband's wings. It looked like he took one bite from the center of each wing. He's getting better, but I used to affectionately refer to him as the "wing waster."

But I digress. I saw this yummy-looking recipe for bone broth on the Nom Nom Paleo website here: Slow Cooker Beef Bone Broth I went to Central Market (like Whole Foods) and got soup bones and oxtail. Chopped up some onion, threw in leftover matchstick carrots, bay leaves, 2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar, and enough water to cover it all. The AC vinegar helps extract more minerals from the bones.

I simmered the whole thing for over a day. Once I strained the broth with a mesh strainer, it was liquid gold. And yes, I ate the marrow.

This broth is so nutritious. Maria Emmerich explains it better than I ever could. If the broth was made correctly, it will look like gelatin once it cools. Beef jelly, if you will. The fat layer on top can be skimmed off and you can cook with it! My hubs keeps looking sideways at my beautiful broth and wants no part of it. I managed to sneak some in by simmering canned green beans in the broth. Now to get my toddler to eat it...

Cilantro-marinated chicken with chipotle cream sauce

A week in and I'm already neglecting the blog! Rest assured that I'm still making low-carb, gluten free food. I'm still not loving to cook though.

Onward and upward. This is one of my fave things to eat in the world. It is a lot of work and a lot of dirty dishes, but so worth it. I admit, I had a little help with this one.

This recipe was created by Tre Wilcox of Top Chef fame. When my husband and I lived in Milwaukee, we saw him cook this recipe during a demo at a home show. He is one of the best Top Chef contestants ever (IMHO), and I am a total fangirl. I sooo wanted to go up to him afterwards and tell him he was robbed of the title (twice!) but I couldn't get the nerve. I saw him browsing through the home improvement booths and I paced around him in wide circles trying to psych myself up to approach him. Couldn't do it. Tre is the one that got away.

A link to the recipe is here: Tre's cilantro chicken with chipotle cream

On the side is a slaw with jicama, red pepper, cilantro, olive oil and lime. I love cilantro, can you tell?

Like I said, this recipe is by NO means easy. But so worth it. The chipotle cream sauce will have you licking the plate. Carbs are minimal and depend on how much chipotle and veggies you use. I could eat this every day of the week but I do not have the time and patience to recreate this every day. Nor do I like dirtying half the dishes in my kitchen.

Starting out...

This morning was my first day cooking for the family. I got up early and started chopping, slicing and prepping for two relatively easy recipes. First up is a breakfast casserole. This recipe is not for the faint of heart. If fat scares you, stay away! This recipe has about 10 eggs, heavy cream, 2 cups of cheese, butter and a pound of sausage. Yum!

I found this one in a low carb forum here. The only tweaks I make is that I use about half an onion, fresh mushrooms, and spicy sausage. One square is about 4 net carbs and 500 calories. I eat it with a little avocado. You know, for added fat.

We had some overnight guests that ate some as well, and I'm not sure they liked it. I forgot to take a picture until after everyone ate a piece. Six squares left so we've got breakfast for a few days.

While my casserole was baking, I started on some crock pot chili. This is my own creation, I guess, meaning I threw in a mish-mash of whatever I found in the fridge:

Almost a pound of stew meat
1 pound 80/20 ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 jalapeno, chopped
1 cup tomato puree
1.5 cups of roasted tomatillo salsa (homemade)
1 can of Rotel tomato with green chilis
cumin, salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste

I sauteed the onions and jalapeno in a little olive oil, with some cumin and garlic powder. I added in the ground beef, added more spices, and browned the beef. I set that aside and cooked the stew meat with more spices. I threw everything into my vintage crock pot, added the Rotel, a cup of tomato puree I found lingering in the fridge, and poured in some tomatillo salsa. Calorie counts are not exact but I'm estimating that 1.5 cups is about 400 calories and 5 carbs. I just ate some for lunch with sour cream. You know, for added fat.

Here is a pic of the chili simmering happily:

Resources

So, I'm eating low-carb, high-fat, gluten-free, aspartame-free. I'm jumping in feet first and cooking as much as I can. My husband has agreed to join me on this journey.

I wanted to share some of my resources: there are lots of people that actually create these wonderful recipes, and can explain it better than I. I'm going to post my experience with recreating the recipe, and the calories and carbs. That's all I'm counting.

I have a fabulous array of cookbooks at the ready...

But the real stars are the low-carb bloggers. I hope they don't mind me linking to them (in no particular order):

I Breathe...I'm Hungry
Your Lighter Side
DJ Foodie
All Day I Dream About Food
Maria's Nutritious and Delicious Journal
24/7 Low Carb Diner
Splendid Low-Carbing
Atkins Diet Geek
Peace, Love and Low Carb
Healthy Indulgences
Living Low Carb, One Day at a Time
Low Carb Layla
Hold the Toast
Linda's Low Carb Recipes and Menus

If you see one I missed, let me know.

Introduction

I love food. I love eating. For health and weight-loss purposes, I am moving to a low-carb, gluten-free way of eating and that is not conducive to a lot of eating out, especially fast food. So, I need to start cooking, which I hate. I am short on time, patience, and I am not one of those people who find cooking relaxing. It makes me nervous, I don't know which flavors go together, and my food tastes like resentment most of the time.

But 2013 is the year that I am going to start cooking. I am armed with new cookbooks and recipes. Starting around mid-January, I'm going to take my favorite low-carb recipes and try to make them. I'm no chef, and I rarely, if ever, make anything that's not based on someone else's idea. I'll give credit where credit is due.

Let's see if I can turn my love of food into a love of making it for myself. Join me, won't you?