Hello There!

Hello. I’m not Cindy. I’m Jennifer.

We do have a couple strong mutual interests. First, we married very difficult, rambunctious, charming, men who happen to be brothers. Clearly these men were put on earth specifically to cause us grief under the guise of laughter and mirth. Or vice versa. I’m not totally sure. Second, we both LOVE food. Other than this, we are pretty different.

Our cooking and eating styles are completely different. I cook for 2-6 in the same week and host holidays that may exceed 20 guests. I play with food a lot. I like trying out new recipes and techniques, but only with simple ingredients. You most likely won’t ever see higher end items in my recipes. You will see a lot of budget friendly items. We are a restless, large bunch and so are our meals. The inspiration could come from anywhere in the world, some show we watched, or just experimenting.

While I am always working on my weight and health, I don’t make any significant progress. Willpower is just not my thing. If I work really hard I want to be able to drop a size or a daily medication. So far, I’ve lost close to 20 pounds and am still a size 16 and they have added pills instead of taking them away.

Why low carb then? Because low fat/low sodium didn’t work at all. I gave up egg yolks and salt and sauces and loads of red meat. My cholesterol went UP. TWICE. Low carb makes nice, family friendly meals, picnics, it is interesting and has taken a full inch off my waist and some of the fat out of my face. I would probably do a lot better if I would stick to it, but I adore bread and ice cream, and sitting on my fat, lazy butt binge watching a show stuffing my face with popcorn.

For that reason, I will just be posting recipes without a lot of preamble but feel free to grill me with questions and suggestions.

Here’s hoping I do not bore you all to death!

Believe in YOURSELF!

 

I’ve always believed in KARMA, whatever you do comes back to you, e.g. if you do something good, something good will happen to you, and vice versa.

So Success, what is MY definition, well I believe , accomplishment of an aim or purpose. Did I succeed at Success, well you decide.

When I was a child, I thought there was MORE. That life held so many option for me  it was just a matter of getting to them. As I got older, LIFE got to me first.

I dropped out of High School and was married at 18, and a baby on the way by 21. Still through all this in my head were the Dreams of Making a Difference. By that I just wanted to make my MARK do something special, help someone,Find something no one else has yet to discover.

I collected travel books from the Travel company down the road, thought maybe I could Travel to Egypt, take some unbelievable photos and through them ,make someone smile at the photo and encourage them to find their adventure. 

The need for wanting to help and touch a life and encourage was a need I had, but I was not very educated, a housewife and mother. 

When I reached my 30’s (36 to be exact) I had a second child. I decided It was time I try to find something to fulfill the urge to make a difference. I went back to school received my GED and Started College, my career was to be a EMT/Paramedic. This was my chance to make a mark and to ease the feeling of a life without purpose.

I completed School, but before I could take my final Testing I was having to go through a very difficult life change, Divorce. I decided the best thing for myself and my children was to get a Job and work towards my state testing while I get life straight again. Not hard to guess what happened, I never made it to my Testing. Finding time to raise my two kids, study, work and do Clinical s was impossible. 

I remarried at 40 and had another child, my beautiful baby girl. My new husband was very supportive and together we decided to open our own business, a pet shoppe. Our business did well and I touched so many lives with that career, I was very happy. Unfortunately we had to close our doors. Since then, I’ve been trying desperately to find my niche again. And I hope I did ♥

So did I Succeed in Success, I think so. But I still would love to do more 🙂

I’m hoping that through this Website (blog) I will be able to help someone, good people, to find good Health and a Better life. If not for several maybe just one.

If you’ve stopped by to read or take a look, I thank you. Take Care!

                      

Low Carb Cheesy Stuffed Spinach Mushroom Caps

                    These Mushroom caps are so delicious. This is one of my                                                                         Family favorites. I make this alot!

Ingredients 

1 dozen good size portabella mushroom caps, 

1 cup  spinach chopped 

1 cup Pepper Jack cheese chopped small or shredded

1/2 cup colby chopped small or shredded

3 to 4 tablespoons of butter, melted

salt and pepper to taste

LETS COOK!

PreHeat to 350

Lets Grap our mushrooms and core them out, not too sure of the proper terminology  lets just say core. I use small spoon and its handle, no worries if it breaks the ‘Shroom a bit.

                                         

In mixing bowl add your Spinach

Next lets get all our yummy cheeses ready.

 Here you can see both types of cheeses combined, I chopped together. I had slices left over from our sandwiches that needed to be used, you can use the slices or the chunks. This recipe is really very forgiving. Thats the way I love to cook, easy peasy!

Now lets toss our yummy cheeses in to our mixing bowl with our chopped Spinach.

 Hand mix well.

Get your Pan ready, lets put 2 tablespoons of olive oil in our pan and spread even on bottom only.

Lets Get Stuffing!!

Grap a Mushroom cap and cup it in your palm of your hand,with your other hand just reach in and stuff. So much fun to play with our food.

                        STUFF….

Place Stuffed ‘Shrooms in our Pan. You may have to sqeeeeeze!

Wow looks GREAT already, lets melt some butter..

 Pour over ‘Shrooms evenly.

Salt and Pepper lightly!

Place in oven for about 20 to 25 min.

When cheese looks melted and bubbly its time to remove from oven.

  Sooooo Good!!

This is a great side dish for most any meals, when i made these a couple nights ago i served them with Grilled lemon pepper wing and Zucchini straws. I will show you how to do the Deep Fried Zucchini straws as well.

I really hope you guys enjoy, feel free to tweek any of my creations I show you, I’m just trying to keep your Low Carb Lifestyle as easy as possible. Heres to Better Health, Smile!

Its Possible

Stepping out of my old way of eating and stepping into a new way of eating, is a difficult thing. Well that’s what the majority of us think.
But lets walk this way for just a bit .

Let me help you , for example a typical lunch: I would grab a sandwich some chips and maybe something to satisfy that sweet need after. Wow, realizing  now the carbs and sugar in such a simple lunch is amazing. The bread and the chips alone would have kept me on the track to become a full Diabetic and unhealthy.

Another example that most of us do and I was no exception. Going through the drive through at fast food restaurants. Its understandable when your a busy mom or dad, but just a cheeseburger, diet coke and small fries is nothing BUT Carbs. Your protein source would be the Hamburger patty.

I started off my Diet that I’m on now with simple food swaps, take for example pizza, I Love Pizza, all day  every day. I started doing some research on how I can loose weight and have my pie too. Found a simple crust made of cheese, added homemade pizza sauce(low sugar) and most any topping I wanted, yummm! Yes I figured away I could not sacrifice the things I love and still be healthy. (Side note make sauce ahead and refrigerate keeps really well for a week or freeze).

For Snack what  I did was I made Zucchini chips. Very simple and you don’t need a dehydration machine your oven works fine for that, and you can season with anything you like. I’ll post recipe at bottom. I will also post the foods that I believe to have made my weight loss stall, those I will post under a new category on the webpage.

By week 3 all cravings had stopped and I noticed the weight going down and my energy picking up. Food was easier than I thought, and I was FULL. Hard to say that when your Dieting.

Dinner super easy, let me share one of tips for cooking a protein, quick! Salmon,Chicken breast, Pork chops all love this method. It takes 10 to 15 min. pan fry method. Take fresh rosemary and thyme chop really good,heat a skillet with extra virgin olive oil on med high,salt and pepper your protein,when the skillet  gets somewhat hot, lay your meat in and coat with fresh herbs. Let protein cook on med high until almost half way up and then flip.
Easy Peasy, you and your family have a great protein that can be the star of the dinner table and it to less time than driving to the place with the Shiny Yellow Arches.

Week 4-5-6 I found myself challenging my taste and exploring different recipes. It’s actually FUN, I’ve kinda made a food challenge out of it.  I don’t cheat on my plan because I would only be cheating myself, and always remember if there is something you really love or crave,  there’s alway a swap for it.

 

Week 7  I find I’ve settled in more, I’m getting a fantastic list of foods and recipes together myself and my family enjoy. I’m also learning, about spices and different foods I would have never thought to eat.

Well today, I’m pleased to say going into week 11, I have surpassed my expectation on weight loss with this plan. Ive lost a total of 23 lbs. and I love my new lifestyle changes. 

My Body seems to be going through a Calming factor, I’m feeling good, accomplishing a lot more in my day. With 12 weeks as my goal approaching in the near future to give this way of eating and living a chance to prove itself, I have to say all is accomplished. I will continue with no set boundaries and enjoy the exploration of new foods and recipes. 

Diets don’t have to make you crazy or bitchy. They can be life changing I know mine has.
Wishing everyone success and Good Health!

 

 

ZUCCHINI CHIPS

1 or 2 zucchini
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt (I like sea salt)
—
Pre heat oven to 225
1 or 2 zucchini sliced thin (like a chip)
Place on paper towels and then towels on top press lightly to get out some of the moisture
Lay on a sheet pan covered in parchment paper (important)
Place oil on chips with a cooking brush and then sprinkle with salt (less is more trust me!)
Bake 225 for about 2 hours.

Thank you to internet google for clipart.

Broccoli Mushroom Cheese Casserole

There are many ways to prepare Broccoli, but this my friends is one of my favorites and the left overs (if there are any) are very versatile. 

Our Ingredients

2 lbs Frozen Broccoli crowns – cook and drain WELL.

1 cup sliced mushrooms 

1/2 cup onion diced well 

2 cloves of garlic minced

1/2 cup diced celery 

1/2 cup mayo or Substitute 

2 tablespoons of Butter

4 oz cheese for mixture your choice I used Cheddar. 

4 oz cheese for Topping again your choice, I used Cheddar.

Salt and Pepper to taste.

And Here We Go !

In a large pot cook Broccoli and Drain WELL!

Pre Heat our Oven to 350.

 

 

 

Grap your Saute pan and lets melt some Butter on Medium High Burner.

 

Next lets add our Onion,Celery and Saute.

 

Next lets add our Garlic and Salt and Pepper

 

Stir and slightly cook then add your Mushrooms.

             

Saute Mushrooms in Pan until Tender, DoNot over cook!

Remove from Burner, Lets get the baking dish ready. Small to Medium backing pan glass or Aluminum, spray lightly with pam.

 

Take your Drained Broccoli and add to pan Mixture. Add your Mayo or Sour Cream. Incorporated well!

Place ingredients in your baking pan. Add your yummy Cheese on Top,and lets place it inour 350 oven!!

           

Cook for about 30 to 40 minutes until cheese is bubbly on top!  

Lets see what we got!     

 

Look what we did!!! This is such a good recipe to play with, I had it with Chicken,Salmon and yummy Pan fried Pork Chops.

Hope you guys enjoy, Stay Healthy and Smile!

 

Pardon my Progress

                                                           

Hey Guys and Dolls. I’m trying to figure out how the page works. Getting my Catigories to work, ugggg,  I’m having a few issues, with some reading I hope to figure it out.  But, I  want to let you know I’m still here, and I have some great advice and super tasty low carb lovin’ coming your way. 

Sincerely Cindy 💁

Meaty Low Carb Marinara

I love a good pasta sauce, but always poured from a jar and added my own meat.

After learning about preservatives and all they do to our bodies I started making my own.
I must note they do say low sugar, but buyer beware, there are hidden sugars in the ingredients list.
Pasta sauce is easy, so let’s get started.

THINGS YOU WILL NEED:
1 lb. Of ground turkey or beef
2 Tbl. Extra virgin olive oil
1 small onion
2 cloves of garlic minced well 1(28 oz) cans of crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup water
1teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoons dried fennel seed
1 teaspoon of Italian season
1 teaspoons dried parsley 1teaspoons salt
2 teaspoon pepper

Instructions
Cook and brown ground turkey or hamburger.  Remove and drain grease.
In a deep fry pan or dutch pot heat oil, add minced onion and garlic. Simmer just 2 min. (Don’t cook too high)
Add meat tomatoes and spices.
Mix well and bring to a boil reduce that heat and simmer for as long as you can, no shorter than 30 min. Good sauce takes time. If you have and hour let’s go an hour. Keep a check on heat as to not dry out, just thicken. Add bits of water if it starts to dry.

Top on your favorite low carb pasta dish, or use with chicken parm. Or eggplant parm.
Omit the meat if you want to go reg. Marinara. ..yum!

This is Easy, I promise. You can store leftovers in fridge for a week or freezer.

ENJOY 🙂

I Love Pasta!

One of the first things on a low carb that hit me hard were the words, NO PASTA.

Ok deep breaths. I found a substitute, in fact I found a couple of substitutes.

My first substitute I tried was Speggetti Squash. 

What to do with this, well you slice it in half length wise.

Pre Heat 400 degree. Scrape out seeds. Line an oven tray with foil. Season the spaghetti squash with extra virgin olive oil (lightly), salt, and pepper. Place face down and cook for about 30  minutes until fully cooked. Pull from oven carefully and cool.

When squash is cools,grab a fork and start making magic,as you fork out squash a speggetti like strands ..yeah!! # youdidit

Top or toss with my marinara recipe or meat sauce. My husband loves Alfredo.
Parmasan cheese is great too.

Hello world!

Me and my Daugter 2005.

In the photo above 10 years ago I felt great, looked good and had no health issues, weight 125. here is my story.

Thank you for stopping by, I’m hoping I can touch some folks with my ideas and recipes. Me, well I’m Cynthia I live in the South East of Georgia were southern food reins supreme.  At 51 years young I discovered I was developing Diabetes and having Menopausal symptoms and  hypertension, extremely tired all the time. One blood test after the other everything was fine except for my ups and downs with my blood sugar. After some brief instructions from the doctor and givin a prescription or two, I was on my way.

After several months of trying to change portion size eating better foods, less fat, salads  omg I felt like a bunny, in fact I was so misarable eating salads I felt sorry for our pet bunny and started changing his food from fresh to mixed with a verity of goodies.

Another trip to the doc. Not much had changed.  I saw a movie about Food healing,getting away from preservatives,I decided to try a style of eating I touched on some years ago. It was called The Belly Fat cure by Jorge Cruise. Since most of my weight was around my midd presenting itself like a large donut I was trying to hide. In this plan you count your sugars and carbs. Simple, not quite. There’s some math and label reading involved. But otherwise a really good concept.

Starting on the Carb/Sugar plan I allowed myself  12 weeks to feel better, look better and have some overall improvement. Around the 4 th week I started really getting into the low carb plan. I didn’t crave  anything. If I did I found a substitute that was low carb. I started studying Atkins,Paleo and all the other Carb cutting sites and services. Getting more and more involved and tiring to figure out why this plan was working and working well. Could I live like this forever,  I came to the conclusion that this was a life changer.

Going into my 8th week I decided to take the world on this trip with me. If your having problems on yo yo diets,can’t find time to cook, don’t know what to cook, I’m going to try to help.

I’ve got a family to cook for and a home I’m remodeling not to mention a house full of pets and a chicken coop.

My stats, well starting I was 163 and after 7weeks I’m 148 and have no Menapausal symptoms and a lot more energy, I still take hypertension mess. But intend on speaking to doc about getting off when I’ve reached my 12th week. I’m not a professional doctor or nurse or dietician. This is just my options and recipes that myself and my family love. from breakfast to main course it’s all going to be in here.

I’m going to keep the recipes as Simple as possible, but I do have to warn you, if you don’t cook…we are going to learn. In my recipes everything is from scratch absolutely NO preservatives. Your going to learn real flavor. Please don’t be scarred we are going to have FUN!!

So HUGS to everyone and thanks for stopping by.