Happy Turkey Day!
I'm truly thankful for my health!!! for my low carb lifestyle and for all the added energy that it gives me and the improved quality of life that I'm able to live now that I'm healthy again. I'm also thankful for my friends, family and my doggies and a bunch of other stuff. But I'm also thankful to you people who actually read all this stuff that I post!
This is going to be one long post..... go get a drink, run to the restroom, take your dogs outside etc.... LOL
This was my table, I didn't decorate at all, but I wasn't hosting a big dinner either. I just have this need to be in the kitchen cooking on Thanksgiving or else it doesn't seem like a holiday to me. It just reminds me of my Grandma and part of her is still with me, especially in the kitchen. :)
This was my plate, turkey breast, smoked ham, green beans with bacon, fauxtatoes and 1/4 cup (10 carbs) of stove top stuffing. The stove top didn't taste as good as it did last year... I've been low carb since 2003 but I always still liked my stove top. I ate it last and I wasn't that hungry by the time I got to it, so that might be why, but I could have done without it and not missed it.
The Low Carb Pumpkin Cheesecake and Pie, I had to try both of my creations! (This picture was taken sometime around 5am)
This is what happens when you bug me and keep asking me if dinner is ready yet.
This is comparing 2003 to 2010.
Wednesday evening I left to go run errands and stock up at Walmart because I refuse to go to Walmart during the busy Christmas time. I'll go at off hours but I prefer to just avoid it. So I went to Walmart, Target, PetCo, CVS, the gym and the grocery store. This cargo area is like 5 feet front to back and 4 feet across and well.... it was pretty full. Then I had to haul all this inside and put it all away, then start cooking. So I was starting to wonder why I went to the gym again when I just have to run around even more??? I really really needed my workout though, needed the stress relief so I was glad that I went and glad I left early so the grocery store was still open too! LOL
I think this was probably one of my quickest grocery shopping trips. I got in the store 20 mins before they closed and it wasn't my normal grocery store so I had to hurry and find everything. I should note that I piled 10 bottles of powerade zero on top of everything shown here and ran up to the register at 9:57......
I got Gouda and Monterey Jack cheeses.
Both of these had 0 carbs, but some brands of cheese do have carbs so check the labels.
I used chicken, smoked turkey breast, salami, pepperoni with the gouda and monterey jack cheeses. I used the lettuce pieces like crackers, but you can serve crackers in addition for any high carb eaters. All of these meats and cheeses were 0 carbs, but check the packages because some brands and varieties do have carbs. I did end up with a lot of water retention from the extra sodium and I drank 6-32 ounce bottles of Powerade Zero for a total of 2400 mg of sodium.... so that wasn't good but I was awake all night, got 3 hours sleep the night before then was awake all day, all night, took a 2 hour nap and got up to go cook some more. Plus I had been out shopping and at the gym and I was very thirsty. I drank other crystal light type drinks too but the sodium in the Powerade Zero's were too much, but I didn't get dehydrated..... >_>
Medic!!!! I crinkle cutted my finger..... part of it was pretty deep and given how many days it took for it to close I maybe should have gotten a stitch or two, but I just put a hello kitty band-aid on it and kept going. I'm disease free and wasn't preparing food for a crowd so it wasn't a health risk or anything.
Celery Whips! I like making these, they are so fun. Basically you use a Pampered Chef egg slicer to slice the celery stalks down a few inches. You can do this with a knife, but it takes longer.
Then you soak them in ice water for a few hours or even over night.
Then the ends of them curl up and look pretty. Here's my veggie tray.
The normal pumpkin pie in the oven.
The normal pumpkin pie out of the oven.
The normal apple pie in the oven.
The normal apple pie out of the oven.
Cutting out leaf shapes in croissant dough and coloring them with food coloring.
The rolls baking. They ddin't really puff up like normal when rolled up because I re-purposed the dough and kneaded them more.
The finished rolls. I was told that they tasted like crescent rolls still, so they weren't ruined by being flatter.
Now for the lower carb desserts. A can of pumpkin, not pumpkin pie filling, this is pumpkin.
There is 14 carbs in this entire can of pumpkin and I split it in half for the two desserts.
The first one got 2 packages of cream cheese and 1 and 3/4 cup of pumpkin, lots of cinnamon and some nutmeg and vanilla. I ended up using 4 packs of splenda, 4 eggs, 2 tbsp of heavy cream. All the heavy cream I find in the store says less then 1 carb per serving. But that's got to add up so I try to count it anyway. But it's very annoying to me. I end up counting it as .5 carbs and the atkins carb counter says .4 so hopefully that's pretty accurate. That would mean this first one had 7 carbs of pumpkin, 16 carbs of cream cheese, 1 carb from the cream and 2 carbs from the splenda for a total of 26 carbs and I cut it into 16 pieces, so 1.6 carbs per piece if made this way. The next time I make this I'm going to experiment more and add more eggs and maybe less pumpkin and use more of the spices instead.
The second one I used a sugar free vanilla pudding mix, 1 and 3/4 cup of pumpkin, 10 tbsp of heavy cream, 4 eggs, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice that is just spices and no sugar and 2 packets of splenda. I was trying to make something without cream cheese so my Mom could eat it, she can't have cream cheese or cheese at all, she's allergic to it. She wasn't here with me, but I wanted to find something she could make herself at home. So this one would have been 20 carbs from the pudding mix, 7 carbs from the pumpkin, 5 carbs from the cream, 1 carb from the splenda for a total of 33 carbs. I also cut this into 16 pieces so it would have been 2.06 carbs per piece.
The batter tasted really good for both of them (I was trying it before I added the eggs). The first one tasted more like a pumpkin cheesecake and the 2nd one tasted more like pumpkin pie. I'm not done experimenting with them. But can only make so much at once. This wasn't bad for my first time playing around with it and not really following a recipe.
I got some of this, but I don't like the carb count.... I was hoping to use it to make some sugar free carmel but now I'm not so sure. I might try it out in something else. There's 2 carbs in 1/2 a tsp.... teaspoon, not even a tablespoon....
The pie batter is on the left and the cheesecake batter on the right.
I put them in the oven on 350 for about 30 minutes. The horrible thing is I didn't time it, I had to check my Facebook post to see what time I posted the picture of them going in the oven, because I remembered how long after putting them in that I posted it..... L O L
Here they are out of the oven.
I found that whip cream in a can is less carbs then I can find in a frozen tub.
The Reddi-Wip was the same carb count as well.
Patriots on the big screen + Veggie Tray + Meat Tray + a barking beagle who wanted the veggies.... he didn't care about the meat and cheese, he wanted that broccoli!
My youngest beagle was begging all day long.... I didn't even have anything in my hands. He was under foot hoping I would drop something and begging anytime I looked at him! LOL
They are cuter when they're sleeping!
See what I mean.... can't take a bite of anything without them staring at you.
The ham in the oven.
The turkey breasts. I'm not a big turkey fan unless it's deli turkey, so I prefer turkey breasts this way there's not a ton of leftovers. I seasoned them up and put a little country crock light on the top.
Both the ham and turkey in the oven.
The sweet potatoes covered in brown sugar and marshmallows..... they make me light headed just looking at them, they are so loaded with sugar! But everyone always loves them and wants more.
My first time making Fauxtatoes.
There's 15 carbs for the whole bag.
I cooked them in chicken broth for extra flavor, not sure if I liked that addition or not since I've never had them with just water.
They were still a bit lumpy, I might try cooking them a bit more next time.
I mixed in 2 tbsp of heavy cream, bacon and monterey jack cheese.
Here they are in the bowl.
Green Beans with bacon and a little chicken broth.
The Stove Top.
Fruit Salad....... this is all carbs.... don't even ask, just don't smell it and don't look at it too long. It's worse then the stuffing!.
The Smoked Ham.
The Turkey Breasts.
The fire.
My oldest beagle.
My youngest beagle.... where else..... he's by my feet. LOL
I checked my pedometer when I sat down to take a break before cleaning up the kitchen. It said 9.41k and only 3k of that was on the treadmill. The rest was from all the errands, shopping and walking around cooking and taking stuff from room to room and going back and forth to the kitchen. I was standing up for most of the day and my back was hurting from the extra skin pulling on it and my legs kept going numb and were pretty swollen by the end of the day and the next day. I measured my calf because it looked so puffy and it was a full 2 inches bigger the next day then it normally is.... I'll be so glad when my surgery is approved so my legs will stop going numb and my back will stop hurting.
This was part of the mess in my kitchen. Just looking at this picture makes me want a nap or a maid! :)
At this point the thought of dirtying another dish made me just hold this piece of low carb pumpkin cheesecake in my hand.
I didn't go out shopping at midnight, I waited until morning. I posted this pic and said if no one heard from me within the next 24 hours to check all Police Stations in the Greater Boston Area. LOL. I was a good girl and got home without causing any trouble over Black Friday specials.
I didn't run anyone over with my shopping cart or my car. There was troopers all over the highways so I wasn't even speeding and I didn't pass anyone on the right who was going too slow in the left hand lane and wouldn't move over. I didn't give anyone the "California Salute" (flip them off), didn't shoot out any tires, windows or throw any rocks. Nor did I tell anyone off, kick or bite anyone and I didn't incite any riots either.... I'm such a trouble maker!!! LOL. But I'm happy to admit that I'm totally done with all of my Christmas Shopping!!! I do have to finish making a few things, but I have all the supplies to make them with. :)
