Keto Foods: Bacon Walnut Brussel Sprouts

Figuring out what I can stand to take the time to cook, and then to eat... is a massive part of my challenge. I'm the size I am for a reason: Cereal, grilled cheese or KD for dinner? One Pot? Simple? Yes please!

I'm very rearely allowed to buy cereal any more. Because it WILL be gone in 2 days. Maybe.

So: Most recent:

Heat pan, but bacon fat from fridge into pan. As needed.
Get brussel sprouts. Rince, cut off the ends, and chop in half. Add to pan.
Salt / Pepper
chopped garlic
Once sprouts are nicely caramelized on one side, flip, and add handful of walnut pieces
Cook until slightly soft. Never mush your vegetables! Should be tender, not squishy!
If preparing for leftovers, remove a portion now, so wont much on reheat.

Optional add ons:
- Parmesan cheese
-blue cheese
-whatever the hell else you want
-Onions/caramelized onions
- bacon bits

It's so delish it's become an easy go to!

Book List

Books, sites, and other things I find useful:

Weight loss/goals tracking journal:
I looked high and low before finally finding the perfect journal: It's small and purse sized, has a two day spread for each day, and doesn't follow any particular restrictions. it comes with stickers, and a weighloss tracking chart grid that is a lot of fun to use!
The Ultimate Pocket Diet Journal  - Alex Lluch.

Keto/weight loss/food or Recipes:

http://mariamindbodyhealth.com/

Brains: 

The Brain That Changes Itself: Stories of Personal Triumph from the Frontiers of Brain Science - by Norman Doidge 

Self emotional healing books: 

Tapping into success
The Dark side of the light chasers

Virtual places I like: 

www.pepperplate.com -- best online storage for the recipes you come across

Keto-focused

With recent reading I've learned:

- Your brain is very much malleable and can be reshaped/trained to work in new ways

- Sugar and glucose have the same effect on your brain and body as cocaine and alcohol, you can very easily be addicted to sugar. 

-Ever food/beverage producer in the world knows this, and so makes their products as addictive as possible

- The health pyramid is a fraud: and they care dick all for your health.. it's just your dollars they want. Basically, nearly everything they say is a lie. Instead of taglines like "How to eat healthy"... they should reaveal their plans to be: "How to stay addicted to foods and develop diabetes". If you're here.. you might already know.. grains of any type convert to sugar/glucose/make you addicted/fuck up your system. Avoid them. If you want change in your life. 

So... With this in mind.. forward onto owning my body... and kicking all the ill-meaning corporations out of it. 

I have joined a group on Facebook .. Keto for weight-loss. I am seeing remarkable results from these people in very short time periods! So... to battle my friends! 

Is it safe?

Is it safe to come out??? I've been hiding over here.. behind my pillar of shame...
I havn't really been couting or tracking or.. anything.. since my last post. Though I was amazed, and thankfull, a few days ago when I steped on the scale and found my body had been kind to me.. and stayed a low weight. But then I've been bad these past two week.. food wise... time to get back on the band wagon. I'm not beating myself up though..I know this is how it goes for me. If I had a "no derailments allowed".. I'd never make it to where I want to be.

So.. I've put up a goal board.. it has some pictures of sexy bodies. I honestly thought those images would help me out more.. but so far.. it's kinda dissapointing. Oh well. I've started playing roller derby.. or more to the fact.. learing how to be a ref for roller derby. Actually derby sounds far too dangerous... all I read about are torn ligaments with cadaver grafts, or metal pins having to be inserted into bones... um... NO THANKS!! I'll get a T-Shrt that says WUSS!!! and proudly wear it.. and stick to being a ref. Besides.. the refs apparently have to learn to skate better than the players.. so there's some pride in that. And apparently the refs skate as much, or more, than the players.. it's non stop motion. HF. said he lost 40lbs in the first 18 months he was reffing. I 'm so psyched! And from what I've done so far.. skating.. learning to skate, is more fun that exercise... so.. sk8on!! In my area, I seem to have 4 nights of opportunity. The other bonus is, refs are always in demand and float about the leagues.. and it's free.. which I'm very happy about in my current situation.. I don't have $50 a month for it right now otherwise. It also counts as volunteer work.. sweet!So.. free skating lessons, free gym/social club, what's not to love!? There's a lot to love, that for sure. I'll admit it. I was totally drawn in by the outfits and the attitudes. I saw it.. I wanted to be it. Simple as that. Though I definitely need to take better care of my body... I need to really start doing yoga, and stretches. I need to be taking health supplements for ligaments and between the bones joiner materials. And I need to do a better job of cutting out gluten. I tried making a gluten free bread tonight. I didn't have olive oil, so the  net told me i could sub equal amounts of apple sause, same with coco flour for xanthum gum. The batter was a liquid in the pan, when it's suppose to be like muffin batter. I added more flour, and I should have added another egg. It crumbled right apart... there's no chance of slicing it. damn. didn't stop me from frying crumnbs in not soy butter and making myself a grills soy-cheese sandwhich! Tasted not too bad.

Tommorow, I need to hit up a grocery store. And re invigorate myself with healthy recipies, and buy a steamer. Food has been pretty gross lately.. time to change. BTW.. my derby number is eitehr 126 , 128, or 12X, as a weight goal!

Today I win in the kitchen.

I'm proud of myself for coming up with some very low point, yet filling food. Normally when I decide to throw ingredients together, I'm rarely happy with the result. But now I've done it twice, creating fairly quick, low point yet somewhat yummy food.

Yesterday's Skillet:

(that is.. things I threw into a pan and then happily ate)

1 small onion, chopped

2T Natures Soy butter

5 small canned potatoes, sliced thin

SM bunch of spinach

4 sliced mushrooms

2T FF cottage cheese

Salt n' Pepper

Water as needed.

Total points: 5. Ohhhh yeah!

And it made a nice heap of food on a small plate.

Today in the soup pot:

2c roughly water. (I never measure water if I 'm hacking it)

1 bouillon cube, I think low sodium/vegetable

4T mixed lentils, 1 scoop each

2 sm onions, chopped

Pinch of Cayene pepper, and chives

.5T pre-diced garlic

1 pkg spinach shirataki (soy) fettuccine noodles RINSED!!!!

1c mushrooms, sliced

5 cherry tomatoes, squished!

1T Hosin sauce (or something else for flavour)

1 bunch fresh spinach, torn up (throw in at end, it'll cook FAST)

1 egg, stirred in pot (throw in at end, it'll cook FAST)

*note: noddles are ridonculously long, be sure to cut them before serving, or cut against side of bowl with spoon.

It makes enough for 2 servings IMHO, and the total for both servings is 5P+.

Bonne Appetite!

I'd love to hear about others low point mish-mash meals!

* The picture used is one from the net until I eat the rest of mine, when I'll try to take an image. I didn't have a roll or oil with it.

Kale chips: Definilty don't knock it until you've tried em!

Trying something new: Kale chips. I can definitely get behind these! I saw someone mention them somewhere online, and took note. They are supposed to be chip replacers.. something that would be most welcomed in my home! I soon saw them at The Nut House, my local bulk food store, for $7.99 a bag. Ouch!! That's a little steep since you can buch a HUGE bunch of Kale for anywhere form $1 - $2.50. So.. To the grocery store I went!

To make the Kale Chips, I fisrt cut the leaves off the stems of half a bunch of Kale, rubbed the leaves in sesame oil, both sides, (1.5T) then sprinkled with salt and sesamee seeds, both sides. Both recipes I read said to put in the oven at 350 for 11-15 minutes, but I think 8 is more accurate for my stove, as a good portion was burnt! One source recommend using wax paper, but I use as few one-time-use products as I can, so I decided to nix it. So.. in the oven they went, with the timer set for 11 minutes. They are done when the tips just start to turn brown. Mine were in too long, and were sporting black and brown tips when they came out. Still, those portions very easily crumbled off, and the rest was quite edible.

Results: I wouldn't coat them with oil as I did last time, I think next time I'll use a spray, as they were way too oily for my stomach. I'm looking forwards to playing with different flavourings, especially Dill Pickle, which I can't seem to get enough of lately. This I think is a GREAT alternative, or.. additive... to your snack table for the health conscious at your next get together. I very large bowl's worth can be made at once, though it'll dissapear quite quickly I bet. They are very light, and cripsy. I think "Crispy Air" would not be too far off the mark as a description, and yet they still are very satisfying, and somehow akin to Pringles.. you can't eat just one... or one bowl full...

I am looking forward to playing with different small light seeds, ground nuts, and other flavourings. Oh, and with the baking, Kale looses all of it's bitterness. There's little taste aside from what you sprinkle them with, and the salt comes through very strongly, a little goes a very long way.

I honestly wasn't sure I'd like em.. but I was curious enough to go for it. I'm SO glad I did.. I'm sure the popcorn will be happy for a break, or companion.

A can by any other name... is sweeter!!!

So in other news, canned fruit is sneaky!!

I bought two small cans of crushed pineapple yesterday from two brands, Delmont and one from Dole. I wonder what's up with them both starting with "D"..

I wanted to compare them for taste. I noticed they had different nutritional values (points), which I though odd.. one was worth 1 extra point for a cup of fruit. Looking closer, I noticed that the Pineapples grown in the Philippines have more sugar than those grown in Thailand, so they count higher. Of course, before even looking at this, my tongue chose the sweeter pineapple in my taste test... no surprise there! But a word to the wise... which I guess most of you already knew... the same product from different companies will have different points values. So I guess it's worth it to figure them out while in the grocery stores. Have fun!