B&B Breakfast

Fantastic low carb breakfast at the quaint B&B I'm staying at.

 

Crown Valley Brewery - Ste. Genevieve

At a brewery with friends with limited bar-type foods. Got a pastrami sandwich minus the bun. Topped with sauerkraut and lots of Swiss cheese.

 

Audubon's Grill & Bar - Ste. Genevieve

Cordon bleu-style chicken breast stuffed with local goat cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, spinach, ham, herb oil, and a tomato basil cream sauce. I knew this would be breaded, but it's really easy to just peel that off (I keep my salad plate to discard).

Served with 2 sides - I selected snap peas and a salad.

This was a really fantastic meal!

Cheesy salmon & broccoli

✔ Cheesy salmon & broccoli
✔ Riced cauliflower (with Walden Farms maple walnut syrup & cinnamon)
✔ Rustic Faux Wheat bread with swiss cheese spread.

8 net carbs

Roasted Chicken

Roasted chicken w/Walden Farms 0 carb BBQ sauce
Mozzarella cheese stick (homemade)
Peas
Broccoli w/ cheese

7 net carbs

Turkey & Cheese Sandwich

Turkey & Cheese on Rustic Faux Wheat bread
Cole slaw
Raw carrots
Fried "apples" (zucchini)

35+g protein, 8 net carbs

Sausage

4oz sausage
4 oz garlic, mash cauli faux-tatoes
2 oz dill pickles
40g (1.4 oz) peas

7 net carbs (although carbs from dill pickles have no BG impact so I bolus as if 6 carbs.)

Ginger sesame chicken

Ginger sesame chicken*
Hard boiled egg w/smoked sea salt
Peas (40g)
Dill pickles
Homemade kiwi watermelon jello

6 net carbs. 32g protein.

* I used the Asian dipping sauce from my Asian Potstickers recipe and mixed it with rotisserie chicken.

Type 1 Diabetes Cell Wallpaper

For all my T1 friends here is a pic you can save to your/your child's cell phone in the event of an emergency to alert emergency personnel.

Save the blank pic below to your phone. Use a photo editing app that allows you to add text (I like Phonto for this). Add your/your child's name to the top white box and a contact number to the lower box. 

I saved that and texted it to Samuel's phone and saved it as a pic. Then add that as your wallpaper/home screen pic. I moved all of Samuel's app icons to the other screens so nothing else is showing on the screen. How it looks on his phone below.

Hot Dogs

Hot dogs, cole slaw, dill pickles, raw carrots, fried "apples" (zucchini). 6 net carbs.

Strawberry Watermelon Daiquiri

Add the following to a blender:

2 1/2 oz rum
1 1/2 oz Jordan's sugar-free strawberry watermelon syrup
1 oz lemon juice
2 handfuls of ice

Blend well & enjoy.

Low Carb Whiskey Sour

Why in the name of all things holy haven't I thought of this before now?!? Whiskey Sour's were my absolute last hold out when going low carb. Most people probably hold onto potato chips, or fries, or ice cream. Not me. I'm a Whiskey Sour girl and this just popped in my head about 5 minutes ago.
3 ingredients, SO GOOD and about 1.5 carbs.

2 oz whiskey (good quality)
1 oz lemon juice
1 oz sugar-free vanilla syrup (I use Jordan's).
Shake with ice and strain over lots of ice.

Turkey & Cheese Rolls

Turkey & Cheese Rolls (with a little mayo, mustard and herbs inside)
Sauteed "apples" (zucchini), riced cauliflower with a tiny bit of peas. Green beans for one kiddo, cole slaw for the other.  6 net carbs.

You may notice the turkey in each looks slightly different (same weight though). The turkey on the left is from the deli counter - it has 1 carb per serving and has dextrose as the 2nd to last ingredient. Samuel CAN eat this, but it's not ideal, so just my daughter and I eat this. The turkey on the right is Samuel's - it has no sugar and is 0 carbs.

Tuna Salad

Tuna salad on mixed greens, topped with cheddar cheese. Dill pickles, raw carrots, and a hard boiled egg. My son has guacamole and my daughter has green beans. 5 net carbs.

Sonic

Thursday night is my daughter's dance class so we eat out. This is my one night of the week I don't cook. We alternate picking and tonight was her night. She decided she wanted to go home to eat because she wanted my Hot Buttered Sweet "Rice" (aka cauliflower). Say what?!? But, but... I don't wanna cook! And I have a headache. Sigh.

We compromised. We went to Sonic for burgers - our first time there trying to do low carb. I learned you ask for your burger with "no bun - put in a boat instead, please". Sweet! We got 1/2 lb double bacon cheeseburgers and added our low-sugar ketchup at home. And the Hot Buttered Sweet "Rice", of course.

Yes, my 6 yo really ate a 1/2 lb burger, 2 pieces of cheese & 2 pieces of bacon...and a big bowl of cauliflower. And at the rate she's growing, she's gonna be 6+ ft. tall.

 

Fluffernutter sandwiches

Fluffernutter sandwich (my Rustic Faux Wheat bread, almond butter and Walden Farms marshmallow fluff), raw carrots, cheese stuffed olives, swiss cheese, & green beans.

6 net carbs

Country Skillet at Bear Foot Cafe

This skillet per the menu has bacon, sausage, ham, potatoes, green peppers, onions, cheese topped with eggs, and served with toast. 

I ordered it without potatoes or toast for an awesome low carb, high protein meal. And it was delicious!  They also have a Mexican version with ground beef I'll try next time.

Strawberry Watermelon Lemonade

This is so good and refreshing! Almost 0 carbs (just a small amount from the lemon).

✳ 3 Tbsp (40g) Jordan's Strawberry Watermelon Sugar-free Syrup
✳ 2-3 packs of True Lemon (or 2-3 Tbsp lemon juice)
✳ 8 oz cold water
Stir well, pour over ice.

Optional...
Add 1-2 oz of vodka or rum for an adult beverage.

Olive Snack Packs

These little olive packs make great on-the-go snacks for the kids and help develop their palattes for non-sweet things.

Wedding Excitment

My kids were in their first wedding today so we had a lot of "firsts", excitement and some nervousness. I honestly didn't know what all this would equate to blood sugar-wise.
We had to arrive at the church at 11:30am for prep/photos, but the wedding wasn't until 3pm. And because of Samuel's shirt being tucked in and his suspenders, he couldn't wear his "gear belt" that holds his CGM and phone which shares to my phone - meaning Mama was flying blind because he was often in one part of the church and I was in another.

I brought our own lunch so we ate our normal foods. I broke away to check on him, but much of the day he just had instructions to come get me if his CGM beeped. I simply had to trust the process - we do what we do because it gives as predictable results as possible.

They had a taco bar at the reception (how cool is that?) so I think we could have chosen wisely, but there were about 400 guests and while I know our friends would have told me to jump the line to make his plate, that many people made me a bit nervous with his pre-bolus timing. So we went out to eat instead. It turned out the only small spike of the day was because the restaurant served the food quickly so his pre-bolus was cut a little short. But, in all, I'm REALLY happy with today's control.

 

Kids Coffee

The kids really like coffee and I like the idea of them learning to like bitter flavors (something I still struggle with). I don't want them having a ton of caffeine so I give them about a quarter cup of coffee, a tsp of coffee extract to up the coffee flavor, a drop or two of liquid stevia and add unsweetened almond milk.

Samuel is working on his English and sipping on his coffee. 😂❤☕

Bear Foot Cafe - Local Restaurant

My daughter and I tested a new restaurant in town. I'd previously dismissed it - I just assumed it was all breaded bar food (I have no idea why I thought that!). A lot of course was high carb and wheat-laden, but I think we found more here than at many restaurants. She had a bunless burger (I forgot to say "cheese"burger...whoops!) and a salad with no croutons and I had a gyro salad minus the pita bread (totally surprised to see this in our small town!).

✳LC Planning Tip✳
I took a picture of all menu pages so I can study it at home. I'll need to ask the restaurant some specifics when I take Samuel (ex: bread crumbs in the burgers?, sugar in sauces?, etc), but I find leisurely looking at the menu at home and forming a plan allows me to make better choices when I'm there.

Easter 2018

My kiddos non-food themed Easter baskets. Filled with stuffed animals, stickers, trinket-toys, What's in the Bible DVD's, t-shirts & art supplies.  There's a small bag in there of 7 homemade 0-carb chocolates.

Reality Check

I've "felt" like our control has been off. Colds, flu, growth, winter blues, etc. I decided to do a home A1c to see if how I feel has any validity.

A1c is up a tad at 4.8, but still fine. Standard Deviation not as tight as it has been so hopefully being past sickness will help that. Not as bad as I feared.

This is his 6th straight A1c in the 4's. 10th in a row at 5.0% or less.

Low Carb Easter Chocolates

We try not to make food the focus of celebrations, but I do like to include special treats so 1) my kids don't feel left out or deprived and 2) to teach them that just about anything can be made delicious and still be low carb. 

The kids Easter baskets are primarily non-food items, but I did want them to have a few pieces of chocolate. I made these 0 net carb chocolates by melting KNOW brand chocolate chips (sweetened with allulose) in a bowl over simmering water. Put in an Easter mold and threw it in the fridge for the day. Popped them out and put in little baggies. I'll put them in their Easter baskets Sunday morning. 10 - 15 minutes of work and no blood sugar spikes. WIN!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Martini

5 oz unsweetened vanilla almond milk
2 oz vodka
1 1/2 oz Jordan's Sugar-free Peanut Butter Cup syrup
1/2 oz heavy cream

Shake above with ice and strain into martini glass. You can either prep martini glass with sugar-free chocolate syrup and/or peanut butter sauce.

To make peanut butter sauce, at VERY low heat, microwave 1 tsp creamy PB with a few drops of water (stirred) for a few seconds, stir, then drizzle in glass.

About 1 - 1.5 net carb(s).

Low Carb Irish Coffee

Today was beautiful and sunny and then it quickly turned cold and gloomy, which made me want something warm to drink. This hit the spot!

8 oz hot coffee
2 oz Irish Whiskey
1 oz Jordan's Sugar-free Irish Cream syrup

Add above to coffee and stir. Top with homemade whipped cream sweetened with more of the Irish Cream syrup. 💋

Heath Bar Martini

1 oz Jordan's Sugar-free Toffee syrup
1/2 oz Jordan's Sugar-free Mocha syrup
1 1/2 oz vodka (or chocolate vodka!)
6 oz unsweetened vanilla almond milk

Prep martini glass by drizzling a little sugar-free chocolate syrup in the glass. Shake over ice and strain into prepped glass.

Less than 1 net carb! 

Bread Baking Tip

The next time you have your ingredients out to make low carb bread, take a few extra minutes to pre-bag the dry ingredients for several loaves. Then all you have to do each time you want to make bread is to mix up the wet ingredients and bake!

The dry ingredients for 3 loaves of my Rustic Faux Wheat bread fits in a quart bag. I make up 4 of these bags at a time.

Five Guys

Five Guys double pattie, double cheese burger bowl. Lettuce, tomato, pickle, grilled mushrooms (for me; none for Samuel), green peppers, mayo and mustard on the side.

Hardees 1/3 lb Thickburger with Cheese Combos

✅ No bun - subbed a low carb lettuce wrap. No ketchup, no onions.
✅ Subbed a side salad instead of fries.
✅ Diet Coke - a special treat for them.

Happiest 2 kiddos in the restaurant despite no fries, cookies or milkshakes.

Iced Chocolate Mocha Martini

🔸🔸This can be made alcoholic or virgin! 🔸🔸

Holy moly, this might be my favorite drink concoction yet! 1.5 net carbs!

1 Tbsp Jordan's Skinny Mocha Syrup
1 Tbsp Hershey's Sugar-free Syrup
1 Tbsp heavy cream
1 - 2 oz vodka (optional, omit to make virgin)
2 oz cold espresso or strong coffee
1/2 cup vanilla almond milk

Prep martini glass by drizzling a little more Hershey's Sugar-free Syrup inside. Shake well over ice and strain into chocolate-prepped martini glass.

Apple Martini

2 parts Jordan's Skinny Appletini Syrup
1 part vodka
Shake well with ice and strain into martini glass.

0 carbs!

 

Low Carb Corn Dogs

We've been having lots of fun lately with low carb corn dogs (and other fun fillings).
I most frequently fill with hotdogs, sausage links, mozzarella cheese and cinnamon "apple" zucchini. 

 

KNOW Foods

Low carb pre-made foods are a rare find. I recently ordered a variety of things from KNOW foods to try. KNOW foods are non-GMO and FREE of grains, wheat, gluten, dairy, peanuts and soy. They're made from things like almonds, coconut, eggs whites, flaxseed and chia. The sweetener is allulose which isn't supposed to be digestible. I bolus for the net carbs and have had no spike.
Here's my thoughts on what we've tried:

Vanilla marshmallows - not much flavor and weird texture. Kids like though. I keep in freezer and cut into 8 mini marshmallows for hot cocoa.

Cracker thins - at first thought they tasted burnt, but decided it's actually a nutty almost gingery taste. We like with ranch dip or a sweetened cream cheese dip.

Cookies - 4 flavors - not sure why they're called cookies - they're really like muffin tops. Not a ton of flavor. The kids like these, but hubby and I don't at all. These are HUGE - kids have only had a 1/4 if one.

Mini Chocolate Chips - really good. I like these way better than Lily's chips!

Wraps - good texture and feel. Minimal taste, but that's to be expected so you taste what's inside. These don't really "wrap" or they break. More like a folded pita.

"Maple" syrup - No one likes this, not even the kids. And my kids like almost everything!

The biggest issue is price - $10 for each of these small bags, but I had a 20% off coupon and got free shipping so look for deals! https://knowfoods.com/

Diabetic Alert Seatbelt Cover

I've been meaning to get one of these for a long time. Samuel wears a diabetes alert bracelet or necklace 24/7, but in the event of a car accident where he and I are unconscious, I wanted something very visible.

I ordered this from a company called HelpBelts.com on Etsy for $12 that included shipping. If you search something like 'diabetes seatbelt' on Etsy you'll find a few different sellers/styles. This one is a faux-suede, snaps closed and has a pocket inside to store a medical info sheet. I don't love the medical sheet that came with it, so I'll make/print my own customized one.

This is the "standard" wording, but they also customize. They also make them for autism, epilepsy, etc.

Teaching Willpower

Teaching willpower to my 6 yo... Lol.

We both had taco salads at a Mexican restaurant - ate just the insides - not even a nibble of the crispy, crunchy wheat flour shell. 💪💪💪

And Evie ordered an "Unsweet" tea. The waiter made us clarify 4(!) times that she meant Unsweet. I guess kids don't order that a lot in our town?

Starbucks in a Can

Found this little gem at Wal-Mart while running errands this morning. I've since found it at several gas stations.  Most Starbucks drinks have 36+ carbs. Even the other varieties of these little Doubleshot Espresso cans are 18 carbs. But this one is only 5 carbs!

Hardees/Red Burrito

Fast and low carb. 5 tacos from Hardees/Red Burrito dumped out of their shells. This was way more meat than I was expecting, probably a good 6-7 oz. Decent if in a pinch.

A1c From a Different Perspective

A friend of mine made this great graph for us. The horizontal dotted lines are blood sugar/glucose (BG) averages - the green line is a healthy BG. Notice the T1D Exchange average A1c is 8.4%. T1D Exchange is the largest repository of T1 data - meaning the average T1's BG average is 8.4% when it should be about 5.0%.

All the numbers on the squiggly blue line are Samuel's A1c's since diagnosis 6 years ago - our journey. The vertical lines are major milestones on our journey. Some were better moves than others - but we learned from them all. I don't compare Samuel to any other T1 - his journey is his unique story.

One thing to keep in mind about diabetes is that having diabetes doesn't by default mean you'll have complications. High BG and sharp high/low swings are the cause of damage. When your pancreas stops working a memo ISN"T sent to the rest of the body telling it start slowly failing. Your body doesn't know if BG is being maintained by the pancreas or insulin injected via a syringe.

Being a human pancreas isn't easy. But I can't think of anything more important for my sons long term health than keeping his BG as close to a non-diabetics as I can.

 

Low-carb Roll-out Pie Dough

It looks a little intimidating, but it's really easy and a very forgiving dough. It can also be made ahead of time.  "Apple" pie is shown, but could be filled with whatever you want.  You could even use to make savory pies (you might want to omit the sweetener).

This pie is built in a few stages, which also makes it easy to prep for a busy holiday.

I made the bottom crust, baked it and put in the fridge overnight. I also made the "apple" filling the day before. 

On serving day, I put the "apples" in the crust. I pulled the top dough from the fridge, rolled it out, covered the filling and baked again.

 

Sausage Gravy & Egg Breakfast Pizza

• Crispy Low Carb Pizza Crust. Used sage as the spice (search blog for pizza crust).
• Top with sausage gravy. I cook it to reduce it down so it's quite thick. (search blog for sausage gravy)
• Bake at 400° for about 8-10 minutes until sausage gravy is a bit bubbly.
• Top with over easy eggs (or however you like your eggs) and crumbled bacon.

I make the pizza crust and the sausage gravy the day before to make quick assembly in the morning.

Ruby Tuesday for the Win

My dinner date. 

We started with a salad and raw veggies - dressing for his salad was just vinegar & oil.

He had grilled chicken (no sauce) and grilled zucchini.

I had blackened fish and baked brussel sprouts with white cheddar, bacon and sauteed onions. He had a few of my brussel sprouts, but I was careful to avoid onions (spike city for him).

I mostly just ate the salad l so I had enough leftover for a light lunch too.

A1c = 4.7%

Yesterday I posted that I was reviewing data to prep for our Endo appt today. All went really well and my A1c prediction was spot on - 4.7%.

The best parts about today's visit...

Our Endo...
📌  had no issues and only praise.
📌  spent a good amount of time with a med student in the room explaining what we do, why, & our results.
📌  agreed that I can refer her as a pediatric doctor that supports low carb, alternative insulins - Regular, Tresiba, etc.
📌  she's VERY excited to read a soon-to-be-released Harvard study done on low carb diabetes management to share with colleagues.

Low Carb Angel Food Cake

My husband is an angel food cake snob. Or perhaps I should say connoisseur. Last year for his birthday I made 7 (yes, 7!) different low carb angel food cake recipes and we honestly didn't like any of them. He came to me last week asking if I'd try again. This time I decided to try my hand at developing my own recipe. Since there isn't regular flour in it, I needed to find something for the structure of the cake so I turned to protein powder. I thought my snob, er, connoisseur would object, but he really liked it!

T1 Friends - this is LC, but high in protein so take that into account when bolusing. Protein powders vary so recalculate for yours. For reference, mine is 3 carbs and 27g of protein per scoop (35g), so with the egg whites that make each slice of cake <1 carb and 9g of protein!

This recipe is really simple! But you do need to be patient. Angel Food cakes are known for deflating (even flour ones) so follow the baking and cooling techniques to hopefully keep falling to a minimum. And even if it does, it still tastes great! Besides, whipped cream covers a multitude of sins! 

In order to get a good rise and avoid deflating, be sure to not over beat the eggs/protein powder mix in step 6!

Here are a few step by step pics.....

Vanilla already added. Now adding the dry ingredients a bit at a time...

 

The egg whites will deflate some from adding the dry ingredients... that's okay.  Just get the dry ingredients incorporated... don't over-beat at this point!!!...

 

After 40 - 45 minutes of baking... you want a deep golden brown. If in doubt, let it go the full 45 minutes so the inside gets done.  It will deflate some as it cools!...

 

Then invert and finish baking like this.  If your pan doesn't have "legs" the cake doesn't rise higher than the pan edges so you should still be able to invert - the cake itself shouldn't fall out. If you have 2 or 3 little ramekins (or anything oven-proof) you could place them on the stone/cookie sheet and set the pan on those so air can get underneath...