Keeping frugal, trying to stay somewhat low-carb.

Eats lately: Boneless pork chops with veggies sheet pan meal (a maple gravy was spooned over each chop on our plates-made with real maple syrup that I was gifted), tomato & mozzarella slices with a splash of olive oil and balsamic vinegar and steak smothered with mushrooms/onions/peppers, lettuce salad with sunflowers and cheese and mushroom smothered steak and salt & vinegar roasted fingerling potatoes.

A Frugal Doing:  These pictures are from this past fall. Dad had a good crop of leeks in the garden and we just weren't eating them quickly enough to eat fresh. So I dug the rest up, cleaned them really well, then sliced and dehydrated them. I didn't keep track of how long they were on the racks, though they were on overnight and then some. That small kitchen sink full of leeks gave me about 6 sandwich baggies full.

I'm hoping to get back on the low-carb bandwagon. I haven't fallen completely off, but pretty close. My weight's stayed pretty much the same. Though I am afraid that one of these times that I hop on the scale it is finally going to have caught up with me. A friend has finally started a "diabetic type of diet" (aka low-carb) and while we no longer work together and see each other as often, it is still nice to have a friend that understands the how and why of eating this way. Sadly, she is the one who gifted me a quart of real maple syrup that I have used on several occasions, ha ha... I have a new job in a convenience store where cheap eats are abundant and has added to my failing. I've recently started to bring my own lunch and am continuing to work on that. Meeting for coffee at friends' homes is another challenge for me as there's typically goodies on hand. I warned them at the last one that if I bring something in the future it will be made to suit my needs. Selfish aren't I? Anyway, here's to keeping a better diet and keeping a better record of it, too!

Are You Staying Frugal?

Eats lately:
Coconut Curry Chicken over rice w/dark chocolate balsamic glazed veggies, Brussels Sprouts & Quinoa Turkey Salad w/cheddar slices, "fathead" style crusted Margarita Pizza, grilled chicken with bacon/3 Alarm Cheese/fried onions/sriracha mayo, grilled chuck eye steak w/crockpot cooked Brussels Sprouts and salad, coffee beans won from a favorite author (yum, yum).

Frugal Doings Lately:
**After roasting a turkey for supper, I simmered the carcass and scraps in the crockpot overnight to make a broth that I then froze. I love to have a container of broth in the freezer now and then to make a quick soup when I don't feel like cooking or want to go anywhere.
**Picked up several hours of work at the coffee shop which should net us about $45 and I made $20 in tips that went into my crazy-cash-stash. It had gotten pretty low as I haven't worked there for months.
**Attended a 2hr long cooking class through work and earned $50 more on my paycheck for doing so.
**My name was drawn on a facebook contest of a favorite author! I won a signed book and a couple other items related to her book series. LOVE this!
**Cashed in points at a survey site for $12.
**Read two new books, by two of my favorite authors, from the library.
**Made a baked spaghetti with leftover meat sauce and noodles that I'd frozen from the last spaghetti supper we'd had. I just dropped the frozen ball of spaghetti into a casserole pan, dumped in the slightly frozen meat sauce and added some chopped salami and shredded mozzarella. I think everyone liked it better this go round that the first! So glad to free up that space in the freezer and not have to throw out so much wasted food.
**Bought a Sam's Club membership through Groupon again. For $45 we get a year's membership, $20gc for in store, free dinner rolls, free scalloped potatoes, $10 off a $13 cheesecake, $10 off a spiral ham costing up to $20.
**Made turkey and dumplings with a leftover turkey breast and a few peas that I'd socked away in the freezer and we always have the rest of the ingredients on hand.
**Picked up a free jar of salsa that a nearby grocery store had a coupon for.
**Stocked up on cheese at 99cents per 8oz package. Limit of 3 per customer so "J" and I each went through the line and bought a total of 6.
**While digging to the bottom of our chest freezer for chicken I discovered 6, yes, 6 big pork roasts! I see pork carnitas and pork with roasted veggies in our near future, ha ha! I love home freezer shopping!
**Brought more used coffee grounds home from the coffeehouse for the blueberry bushes.
**Picked up a 3pk of microwave popcorn for free from a grocery store coupon.
**Spoke with a friend who mentioned that she will be doing her third annual garage sale in June and she welcomed me to bring some stuff over to sell, too. I've had garage sales before but have gotten too lazy to set up and we aren't in an ideal location. So this will work out perfectly.
**Received a lovely long black and white striped skirt from same friend mentioned above.
**J's mother gave him a large bag of dried cranberries that she couldn't use. He will use these, mixed with some nuts and chocolate bits, as a trail mix for snacking on while on the road for work.
**Received a gallon of 2% milk from one of my bosses leftover from an event we'd hosted. Oh, and a lemon from that same event. I also brought home some roasted garlic cloves, maybe a head's worth, from another work event! Yay - I love garlic!

What I've Seen Lately:

 That is smoke from the fires in Canada that blew through May 6. Oh, and a neighbor's horse.

These crocus came up middle of April.

Frugal Doings & Eats

What I've Been Eating Lately:
Full fat Greek style yogurt w/stevia sweetened cherries and homemade granola, Caprese plate, chicken thighs w/roasted cabbage, roast beef w/carrots/potato and salad, birthday cake (didn't eat the WHOLE thing).

Frugal Doings Lately:
**Brought home a bunch of emptied dinner roll bags from work. They're a thicker plastic than the storage bags that I use for my freezer, so I've been double-bagging some items into them.
**Made a batch of (not low-carb) Cranberry & Orange Scones that I had all the ingredients already for. It was my contribution towards a coffee gathering on a Sunday afternoon. Did a second coffee gathering where I'd made brownies, offered crackers/cheese/salami/nuts using all items we already had.
**Downloaded a couple of free apps from the apps store pre-loaded on my tablet. One for tv programs and one for movies. They've allowed me to see several things that I'd have to wait quite some time to see either in Redbox or on the waiting list at the library. Sadly it is a bit buggy and doesn't always work.
**Ordered  from Amazon 3lbs of golden flax meal for roughly the same price as one pound at our local grocer. (Later found it not to be frugal as it is at Sam's Club for under half of the Amazon price!)
**Made lower carb peanut butter bars a couple of times now. These have taken care of my candy bar and sweets cravings and I've typically got all the ingredients in my pantry as I use them in other ways.
**"A" didn't want some coffee grounds that she'd bought over a month ago as they were already opened and she didn't feel it was fresh anymore. It makes a perfectly acceptable cup of joe for myself and "J".
**Spent a couple hours with friends making a Chocolate Ganache Tart. Teaching them this recipe helped build support as they are beginning a reduced sugar way of eating. Hanging out with friends = Free entertainment.
**Started adding in exercise time riding my stationary bike now and then and Leslie Sansone walking dvd's more often.
**While not really frugal, I signed up for a bellydancing class with a friend. For $46 we meet an hour each week for the next two and a half months for class. Affordable workout and socializing, though.
**Saved enough Jumbo egg cartons to start some seeds indoors. Also purchased a bag of potting soil.
**Bought some seeds from an Etsy seller that cost far less than ordering from any of the seed catalogs, especially the shipping. Additionally, they are organic seeds and a couple are for heirlooms.
**Used one packet of the seeds as a gift enclosed with a birthday card for my father.
**Used past Valentine and Anniversary cards from "J" to compile a birthday card for him. It was funny to see his face as he recognized the cards.
**I started using the library again and checked out a new book by a favorite author and am making a list of a few other new books coming out by favorites to request, too.
**Printed a day pass for Sam's Club and bought a few items that I use regularly from there. While I paid an extra 10% for not being a member, I still saved over our local grocer. I go there with a friend who has a membership, too, but she was unable to go at the time.
**Printed a coupon for a free sundae for "J" at Culver's for his birthday treat.
**Bought a new battery for our Escape in hopes that it would get it up and running (it died overnight during a cold snap). It didn't. Bought a fuel pump for our Escape. "J" and son, "D", will attempt to do this replacement under the supervision of a mechanic friend. We will likely still give some $$ to this friend, but it'll be less than at the garage. Vehicle maintenance has been killing our paychecks... grr. We will recoup some of the cost when "D" starts working again and sell him the Escape for dirt cheap.
**Made "A" and my dad's birthday cakes from scratch. "A" had a purple cake and Dad's was a pineapple cake with brown butter frosting. Neither of these were low-carb. But both were good.
**Accepted a pair of jeans that got too big for a friend who has cut way back on sugar and recently lost 16 pounds! Yay, for her... and me! She is now a size smaller than me so that will motivate me to try harder, too. Must. Not. Eat. Fries.

Tangy Lemon Cake and a little of this & that...

Tangy Lemon Cake with Glaze
(adapted from Honeyville's recipe)
1 & 1/2c fine almond flour
1tsp baking powder
1/8tsp pink salt
lemon zest of 1 lemon
2tsp lemon juice
1/2c butter, softened
4oz cream cheese
1c xylitol
5 eggs
1tsp homemade vanilla extract  
Glaze
4T butter, softened
juice of 1 lemon
1 & 1/2c powdered xylitol
1tsp cornstarch

Heat oven to 350. Mix almond flour and baking soda and salt in a bowl, set aside. Zest (I did this onto a small plate), then juice lemon (squeezed into a bowl and hand picked out the seeds) and set them aside. In another bowl, beat butter and cream cheese with xylitol. Once mixed, add eggs and extract and beat until blended. Then add in the almond flour mixture, beat, add in zest and 2tsp of juice, beat. Pour into a greased 9"pan (I used a springform pan). Bake 35mns, test for doneness, adding more time as needed. 

According to their site you should be able to make a soft frosting with the remaining lemon juice, butter and powdered xylitol. Mine did not come together. Maybe because it was xylitol rather than sugar? I don't know. But whatever the reason, I ended up adding 1tsp of cornstarch and heating this to a simmer on the stovetop until the xylitol was dissolved and it thickened slightly, maybe five minutes total. I think you could easily use a little xanthan if avoiding cornstarch. But this is an acceptable amount to me and gave a result that I expected. I set it aside to cool, alongside the cake that was cooling. Once the glaze was just barely warm, I spread it onto the cake, making sure to let plenty slide and soak along the edge - and still had about a 1/4c leftover which I refrigerated for later use. You could halve the glaze recipe and still end up with plenty enough to give an extra bit of zip and gooey-ness. 

What have you been eating recently? The first pic is of a Strawberry Pretzel Salad (no, I don't think it's really a salad, either) that I made-over by switching out strawberries with raspberries, using sugar-free jello and replacing the sugar in the cream cheese layer with xylitol and stevia. I know I should have gone further by making a nut crust. But the whole reason I made this was to use up the few pretzels left hanging around from Christmas. Do a quick internet search for Strawberry Pretzel Salad and you can create it however you would like.

The second pic is a recipe from Better Homes & Gardens. I tried to find a link on their site, but it wasn't being very user friendly for me. It's called Soy-Ginger Pot Roast and is from the March 2014 issue. It was great, though I would add more ginger next time, or go with a smaller roast than what I did - mine was huge.

Cleaning tip - Frugal recipe:
I'd come across someone's comment on another blog about how she made up a batch of homemade stain-remover. While she did not include a recipe in her post, a quick internet search yielded a simple recipe. It is simply 1 part original, blue Dawn dish soap to 2 parts hydrogen peroxide. I made up a small dish using 2T Dawn and 4T hydrogen peroxide, giving it a gentle stir to mix. I then used a small spoon to ladle it onto large stains and dribble it onto small ones. I also used an old toothbrush to give a quick scrub... to my scrub tops. (I tried it on an old one first that was going to be thrown out anyhow due to a torn snap to make sure no fading or "bleaching" would occur.) Let me tell you, it was getting downright embarrassing to wear my grease splattered scrubs to work. I've tried store-bought stain removers and I've tried various soakings already - to no avail. Unbelievably, as simple a recipe as this was, it worked. I was able to save a couple of my sweatjackets from the rag heap, too. Sadly, it did not work on the little blop of hair dye on the sweatjacket.

Pics above show the grease stain in the first pic and the "after" photo. I apparently forgot the flash for the second photo, but the grease stain was completely gone. Yay!

 These two, above, show various grease spatters. Pics below show them gone. Woot, woot!

Mmm... Alfredo Sauce... and a couple frugal holiday gifts.

Super-Simple Alfredo Sauce
(adapted from this recipe at allrecipes)
1/4c butter
1-8oz pkg cream cheese
1/2tsp garlic salt
2tsp minced garlic
1c h&h
1c milk
3oz parmesan & romano cheese shreds
1/4tsp freshly ground black pepper
1tsp dried parsley

Melt butter over medium heat, add cream cheese, stir until all's melted and combined. Add garlic salt, garlic, h&h, milk, pepper and parsley. Whisk. Add shredded cheese while continuing to whisk. When melted and slightly thickened, remove from heat and serve.

Changes I'd made to the original are cutting the butter in half, using minced garlic in place of powdered, substitute half of milk called for with half & half, used stronger flavored cheese so I could use less, at least doubled the pepper and used fresh coarsely ground.

We ate about 4 or 5 servings at lunch and there looks to be about the same amount left. So I'm guessing this serves about 8, depending on how saucy you like your meal.

I was very surprised to have been so satisfied with this served with beef meatballs and steamed chopped broccoli. For one thing, I am not a big broccoli fan. Second, I'd been mighty tempted to make some Dreamfield's pasta so I could enjoy it like I normally would. But I'm learning to like a new normal, I guess. Who knew I would look forward to the leftovers of this for lunches in the upcoming couple of days?!?

Has everyone else been "behaving"? I certainly have not. Just too darn many goodies. It's been an all-out pig fest for me since about Dec.19th. And, boy, have I paid for it. I've felt pretty yucky each day, and I finally jumped on the scale yesterday to see the damage. There was a 5-6 pound increase. But I began easing back into eating better yesterday. My sweet tooth has been assuaged with some dark chocolate covered dried berries that I'd received at Christmas in my stocking from J, which I try to just eat a small handful of. I've also cut back on the amount of diet soda I was getting into (trying to replace with carbonated coconut flavored water but don't like it), gave away some sugary treats I'd been gifted, froze some dark chocolate gifts that I can't bear to part with and have dug out the Atkins, South Beach, Protein Power and Belly-Fat Cure books that I have and placed them by my side of the bed to peruse through each night.

On a different note, here's the wool mice I made with the scraps from the coat I'd used to make mittens:

I stuffed them with catnip for fun, too. The boys like to bat them around.

I also made my nieces and nephews each a candy sleigh. I included a gift card on the sleigh. The sleighs were an idea I saw on another blog. But because these were for teens, I wanted to include the gift cards.

Steak with Tarragon Butter

I decided to try to stay away from regular steak sauce by giving what is, basically, a compound butter a whirl on top of my steak. It was really good, especially with the fried veggies that I also topped the steak with. Oh. Yeah. That is a lot of butter. Yum.

Steak with Tarragon Butter
(adapted from a Better Homes & Garden Low-Carb book... I think)
1/4c butter, softened
1 clove garlic, minced
1tsp lemon juice
1/2tsp dried tarragon, crushed
2lb beef steak, cut into serving size pieces

Combine butter through tarragon. Refrigerate while grilling or broiling the steaks. Serve with the tarragon butter. Serves 6.

Chipotle Mayo Recipe

Last week I repainted our dining chairs white and recovered the seats with green burlap. Weird choice, I know, but I liked the way it looked and the price was spot on. One of our chairs is a mismatched freebie I picked up off of Craigslist and finally got around to tying it in with the others by doing a little sanding/painting/recovering. 

 

I made burgers last week and we used this mayo to top them. If you like a bit more spice, increase the chipotle powder. You may not need the bbq sauce either, but I thought it needed a touch more sweetness. I'm not normally big on mayo, but this made the burger. Of course, I made awesome beef burgers to begin with, too, and that definitely helped. I'll have to post next time I make them... so good. Oh, I also had a blop on my eggs which works, too.

Chipotle Mayo
(adapted from several on Food Network and ?)
1/2c mayo
1/4tsp chipotle powder
s&p (to taste)
juice of 1/2 lime
1/4tsp minced garlic
1tsp bbq sauce

Place all ingredients in blender cup and whir until well mixed. Sour cream would work wonderfully in place of the mayo for a "cooler" flavor.

Took a few shots of what I've been eating for breakfast. Just for fun. While I know that strawberries are a higher sugar berry than raspberries or blackberries, it's what has been on sale. My wallet dictates what I purchase.

 

 I love eggs.

Creamy Taco Soup

Looking for something a little different that uses up leftover taco meat?  I adapted Cheri's Creamy Southwestern Taco Soup to use up what I had in the freezer from our last taco night. (Clicking on the recipe name mentioned previously will bring you to Linda's Low Carb Menu & Recipes where I got it from.) The following is how I made it work for our supper tonight:

Creamy Taco Soup
approx. 1 lb leftover taco seasoned ground beef
1Tbsp minced garlic, heaping
1 - 8oz pkg. cream cheese, cubed
1 - 14.5oz can diced tomatoes with chilis, including liquid
3c hot water
3 beef bouillon cubes
1/4-1/2c frozen corn kernals

Combine water and bouillon and set aside to let bouillon soften or dissolve.
In pot, reheat taco meat.  Add cream cheese and stir until melted into ground beef.  Add tomatoes and corn and beef broth/bouillon water.  Simmer gently over low heat until all's well combined and heated through.  

We got 4 servings, with about as much still leftover for a lunch some time in the next couple of days.  I served with a sliced avocado, some tortilla chips and a dish of blackberries.  Make changes as necessary to fit within your desired carb limits, such as skipping the corn/tortilla chips.  You could also switch in canned broth, or even use ground turkey and turkey broth leftover from the holidays.


11/25 - Did a 2mile walk with a Leslie Sansone video.  Felt great.
11/26-11/28  Taking a break, felt sore in ribs from yesterday... I'm so lame.  The other couple of days?  Between work and the dentist... there was me just being lazy, I guess.
11/29 - Did a 3mile walk with a Leslie Sansone video.  By the time I finished I had warmed up and could turn the heat down.  So I got to be a little frugal, too, ha ha.  Some of the upper body work caused a little soreness in my chest.  I continued to do the moves but on a smaller/lower level.  This somehow made me feel a sense of relief as it further proves to me the chest discomfort I've been having is very likely muscle pain.

Singapore-Style Fried Rice

Singapore-Style Fried Rice
Serves 6-10
(adapted from an old issue of Woman's World magazine)
3T olive oil 
3tsp sesame seed oil
1 large onion, diced 
1/4c diced ham 
1 large red bell pepper, diced 
1/2 large green bell pepper, diced 
1 bunch bok choy, stems and leaves chopped
2 medium portabello mushrooms, sliced
1 can sliced water chestnuts
2tsp finely grated, peeled fresh ginger 
1T minced  garlic, heaped 
1 lb. sliced beef & pork, cut into bite-size pieces 
3 large eggs, lightly beaten 
1 1/2 teaspoon curry powder 
4c cooked basmati rice, cold 
2T low-sodium soy sauce  

Prepare your vegetables.  If you haven't any leftover or pre-made rice ready, get it done and rinse with cold water.

 
Heat 2 teaspoons of the olive oil and 1 1/2tsp sesame seed oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add onion, peppers and ham and stir-fry 4 minutes or until veggies start to soften.  Move to a bowl.

 
Return skillet to heat; add 1 tablespoon of the olive oil & 1 1/2tsp sesame seed oil. When hot, add meat and stir-fry until cooked through. 

Add the reserved onions/peppers/ham, bok choy, mushrooms, water chestnuts, ginger & garlic and curry powder on top of the meat and gently stir-fry until bok choy wilts.  Add rice on top and drizzle soy sauce over and fold rice under to bottom of pan. Gently let fry while you make the scrambled eggs in a seperate small skillet with the remaining oil.

When eggs are set, turn off skillets, spread scrambled eggs over fried rice and carefully fold in.  Serve with additional soy sauce or red chili pepper sauce at the table.  So, so good.

...112... It's going much too slow...

But that's what I get for cheating for several days in a row, I guess.  Bah-humbug.

How about a totally different type of recipe?  Bet you've never tried this before.  It was completely unusual.  However, strangely good.

Coffee-Crusted Sirloin*
(from BHG Biggest Book Of Low-Carb Recipes)
1 lb boneless beef top sirloin steak, about 1" thick
1/4c balsamic vinegar
2 tsp finely ground coffee beans
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp finely chopped shallot
1 Tbsp butter
2 tsp all-purp. flour
1/2c low-sodium chicken broth
1/4c  light cream or half-and-half
1/8 tsp black pepper


Place steak in a shallow dish.  Drizzle with 2 Tbsp of the vinegar.  Let stand for 15mns, turning once to coat.  In a small bowl combine coffee grounds and salt.  Drain steak, discarding vinegar.  Rub coffee mix into both sides of steak.  Grill until desired doneness.  Meanwhile cook shallots in hot butter for a couple of minutes until tender.  Stir in flour, then add broth.  Cook until thickened and bubbly.  Cook for 1mn more, remove from heat and stir in cream and pepper.  Then stir in remaining 2 Tbsp vinegar.  Slice meat and serve with sauce.

Serves 4 at 7g carbs prepared as directed.

*I used nearly 2 lbs. of a thinly sliced steak called Milanesa.  Therefor, I just rounded up and doubled everything else.  I omitted the salt, used minced garlic in place of the shallots, used regular broth, and used heavy whipping cream in place of the light cream.  I stir-fried some fresh veggies (with a shot of soy sauce) that I wanted to use up, then placed the cooked meat back into the pan to reheat.  I served it with whole wheat spaghetti for the family, low-carb pasta for me.  We then just drizzled the meat over our individual servings.

Day 70 on BFC

Breakfast> egg bake, Ezekial toast w/butter & jam, blackberries, coffee (s/c=3/2)
Lunch> Ezekial with peanut butter (s/c=4/2)
Snacks> hot chocolate, few pumpkin seeds (s/c=2/1)
Supper> taco salad (s/c=2/2)
Total s/c for today - 11/7

I went over my carb count by 1 serving.  Maybe.  I mostly followed the taco salad recipe that was in the book, with the exception of replacing the tortilla with the wonton salad toppers.  A couple Tbsp. of those are low carb, I would guess lower than the tortilla that the recipe actually suggests.  But to be safe I counted it the same as Jorge's recipe.  Which puts me over.  Looking back I think I could have had the blackberries and went without the toast for breakfast.  Lunch was something squeezed in quick as I only had five minutes to quickly eat something before having to serve the next group of kids.  Shoot.

Day 53 Belly Fat Cure

Friday, Oct.28
Breakfast> fried eggs w/mozzarella & salsa, 1 Ezekial toast w/butter, coffee (s/c=0/1)
Lunch> 1 Ezekial toast w/chicken salad, 6 Mission Tortilla Triangle chips w/salsa & sour cream (s/c= 0/2)
Snack> 1 mini York pattie, SoBe (s/c=0/1)
Supper> bunless burger w/chia seeds added, 13 potato chips (s/c=3/1)
Total s/c for today - 3/5

I added 3Tbsp chia seeds to about 3lbs lean ground beef, as well as a little A1 sauce, couple chipotle peppers and their adobo seasoned sauce.  While they were good and moist, next time I'd add a couple more chipotles.  We made 9 burgers with that amount of beef.