Low Carb in... Orlando, FL

My most recent work trip took me to Orlando, FL.  I had beautiful weather the whole time and lots of great low carb food. Here are a few of my favorites (or ones I remembered to take pics of).

This is actually on the way to Orlando via a layover at Charlotte Douglas Airport.  There's a great BBQ restaurant there.  Smoked turkey, green beans, tomatoes cucumber salad...

A great grilled salmon salad with pecans, pears, bacon, and an avocado ranch dressing.  The pears were a bit sweet so I just had one...

When I travel I mostly stay at Hilton hotels (points, baby!) and particularly Embassy Suites because the stay includes a really good breakfast...

This Chicken Florentine and mixed grilled veggies was amazing!...

Another reason I love Embassy Suites is because every night between 5:30 - 7:30 they have an "Evening Reception" included with your stay.  Free snacks, wine, beer and mixed drinks for 2 hours.  Yes please!  Depending on the hotel location, some are more low carb friendly than others.  This one is Orlando was great.  Here were some of my snacks...

Grilled chicken house salad with feta, vinaigrette dressing and French onion soup, no croutons...

Simple blackened salmon and grilled veggies...

My co-worker and I went to this fantastic Korean BBQ restaurant.  I love being able to order a variety of meats and cook it how I like it.  And I love all the sides on the table. We had... Ribeye, Beef Bulgogi, Marinated Pork, Shrimp, and Steamed Egg Bowl.  A few pics...

Meatball sub, minus the sub, topped with marinara and melted cheese.  My waiter though ordering like this was genius! 😂
Roasted asparagus, zucchini, and peppers...

On my way home and another layover in Charlotte.  This time I went to Bad Daddy's Burger Bar.  They have lots of great burgers or you can build your own.  This is one has Monterey jack cheese, 3 pieces jalapeno bacon(!), 3 pieces of Maplewood smoked bacon and baconnaise.  No bun of course.  I was stuffed, but it was awesome!...

Homemade Low Carb Fishsticks

This is really just my corndog batter made into fishsticks.  I wasn't sure how they'd turn out, but everyone really, really loved them.

I sauteed some tilapia (use whatever fish you like) and seasoned it really heavily so the flavor carries through the breading.  Cook until almost done; set aside to cool.

Make corndog batter (use search feature on blog to find the recipe).

Pre-heat corndog maker and get going!

Cut your fish into corndog-sized strips.  Add a little batter, fish, and top with batter.

Bake until golden brown.  Add some super-easy sides and dinner is done. I also made a tarter sauce using homemade mayo, dill pickle relish, Tajin spice, and hot sauce.

Packed to the gills fish sticks at about 1 net carb each.  Haha... get it?  Packed to GILLS.  See what I did there?  😂🤣🐟🐠

Low Carb in Nashville, TN

I was just in Nashville, TN for a week and found it an easy city to stay low carb in.  I ate in nice restaurants, bar-type restaurants, my hotel restaurant, mall restaurants and even a gas station when I was in a pinch.  All of them offered something I could eat.

I also drank a lot of coffee from a lot of coffee shops and every single one of them had sugar-free syrups/sweetener and didn't bat an eye when I asked for my latte be made with heavy cream or half and half.

Here are a few of my favorites...

Grilled Salmon with pureed butternut squash and charred brussel sprouts.

Some days I work from secure facilities where I have to be metal detected and have bags searched.  I dislike having to leave just to go through that process again.  So I always take LC snacks in so I don't have to leave.  I also had jerky, but forgot to take a pic.

Seafood stuffed tilapia with grilled shrimp and a cream lobster sauce.  It was amazing!

Hotel room service of beef brisket chili with no beans.  Topped with cheddar cheese and dill sour cream.

My hotel had an omelet bar.  I watched the person in front of me get theirs made and the egg mixture clearly had some sort of batter in it.  This is a restaurant trick to make omelets light and fluffy. And full of hidden wheat and carbs.  I asked for my omelet to be made with fresh cracked eggs, which the cook had handy right at his station.  Sausage, bacon, pepper, tomato omelet - yummy.

My co-worker and I checked out a winery where we got a block of gouda to go with our wine.  Great light snack.

Grilled chicken sandwich - no bun - topped with melted gouda and aioli.

I had some really good coffee in Nashville.  This was one of the prettiest from a coffee shop in the Gulch.

I went to a cool restaurant downtown that made me a craft whiskey sour that I asked to not be sweet. The bartender did a great job - beautiful and tasty.

And at that same cool restaurant, I got a delicious salad with strawberries, pecans, feta, red onions, and blackened salmon.

Over-easy eggs with chipotle sauce, lots o' bacon and sausage.

This day I was driving in a 3 vehicle caravan and we only had a few minutes to stop for lunch.  Look what I found at a rural gas station in TN!  Pepperoni, cheese, almonds, and a hard boiled egg.  Add a diet soda and I'm all set.  Score!

Grilled chicken smothered in cheese and mushrooms and southern style green beans.

I had a great time in Nashville.  Every time I travel, I'm convinced more and more that staying LC can be easy peasy!  Happy travels!

Sausage Turtles Snack

Morning snack was a pre-cooked sausage patty that I quickly browned in a skillet and added a few pecans.  It wasn't until I put it on the plate that I realized they looked like turtles.

 Fast, easy, low carb, protein snack.

Breaded Pickles

Grind plain pork rinds in a food processor with your spices of choice (no salt though) until fine.

Dry baby dill pickles well.  Coat in egg, then roll in the pork rind breading.

Place breaded pickles on a wire rack over an aluminum foil covered baking sheet.

Bake at 400° for about 15 minutes.  Serve with dip of your choice.

Valentine Chocolates

We made our own low carb Valentine chocolates using a mold and a cute heart tin from Hobby Lobby.

Add 6oz oz of Lily's or KNOW chocolate chips with 1 tsp of refined coconut oil.  Melt in a microwavable bowl at 50% power for 45 seconds.  Stir.  Melt again at 50% power for 25 seconds.  Stir again.  Repeat another time or two until smooth.  Put into silicone molds.  Place in fridge to set. 

This makes 15 chocolates in the size you see in the pic.

Spicy Buffalo Breaded Baked Chicken

Breaded baked chicken with a spicy buffalo mayo sauce, cinnamon "maple" cauli rice, and raw green peppers.  4 net carbs.

Search the blog for the Breaded Baked Chicken recipe.

Sauce is made of homemade mayo (or your favorite no-sugar store bought), your favorite hot sauce, and sweet paprika.  Mix well.  Thin with unsweetened plain almond milk until just thin enough to drizzle.

Cinnamon "maple" cauli rice is steamed cauli rice drizzled with Walden Farms 0 carb maple walnut sauce, and sprinkled with cinnamon.

Chicken Nuggets (or Turkey)

Mix together:
1 lb ground chicken or turkey
1 oz parmesan cheese
2 Tbsp. ranch dressing
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp Old Bay seasoning
A few dashes hot sauce
1 egg
2 Tbsp coconut flour

Mix until well combined. Roll into balls and shape into nuggets. I get 25 nuggets.

Breading:
1/4 cup almond flour
1/8 cup parmesan cheese
1/8 cup walnut meal
1/4 tsp Old Bay seasoning
1/4 tsp sweet paprika

Mix seasonings and roll nuggets to coat. Deep fry for 5-6 minutes.

0.3 carbs per nugget (depending on ingredients).

Sloppy Joes & Cold Sides

I made a big batch of cole slaw and carrot "apple" salad today to last several days.  Threw together some Sloppy Joes on Smartbuns and dinner was done.

About 8 nets carbs.

Use the search feature on the right side of the blog to find all of these recipes.

Breaded Baked Chicken

This is a really easy way to make breaded  low carb chicken.

Grind up plain pork rinds in your food processor until really fine.  Or put in a bag and whack with a rolling pin or mallet, but get them really fine. Then add your favorite seasonings.  I don't add salt because the pork rinds are really salty.

Then do your basic egg wash/coat in the pork rinds technique.  If you want your chicken really crispy and no soggy bottoms, places the breaded chicken directly on a metal rack.  (Whoops!  I forgot my rack at first. I put my chicken on it, but forgot to retake my pic.  Do as I say, not as I do.)

Then bake in a 400° pre-heated oven for about 20-25 minutes until 160° inside.

Fast and easy dinner.  High in protein and very low carb or even no carbs in the breading (depending on your seasonings).

Our Journey in a Snapshot

One of the things I'm asked most often by parents of newly diagnosed T1 diabetic kids is what our journey looks like.  I break our journey into 3 phases (red, yellow, green), which I've outlined on this 7 year long graph of Samuel's A1c history.

Each phase was an important stepping stone to the next.  I wish we hadn't gotten stuck in the middle (yellow) phase for so long, but at the time we were in our Low Carb journey completely on our own (no online support/groups), but I don't regret the phase.  It was an important way for us to learn.  I have to see WHY things works - either for the good and the bad.

Part of the reason I feel like we have such good control now isn't because I read a book [Diabetes Solution] and it told me what to do (although that WOULD work if that is how you learn!).  Our control is because we know what NOT to do because we tried doing "our" version of Low Carb.  After about 2 years of not getting the results we wanted, we re-read Diabetes Solution and binge watched Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes University videos on YouTube.  We buckled down and made massive changes to follow the book/videos.  That is result you see in the consistency in the 3rd and final (green) phase of the graph below.

No super mom/dad powers.  No rocket science. No quantum physics degrees.  Just a mom and dad that took a while to realize the book they read was spot on and decided to follow it with only a few exceptions that we don't feel are "core" deviances. ❤️

First Eye Exam: Diabetic or Not?

I took Samuel for his first eye exam today.  After indicating he was T1, the Tech asked me his A1c, average BG for the past month, and time since dx. Our Doctor came in and did the normal exam (20/20 vision), then she said there are 2 scans she does for diabetics.  I explained his A1c his been 5.0 - 4.5 for 3 years straight and was under the impression retinopathy occurred from high BG.  She readily admitted damage is from high/uncontrolled BG, but also felt the tests were a good idea to give us a base-line for his first exam.  I agreed.

She did an OCT test to check his retina thickness and look for leaking fluid.

Then she did a really cool retina picture.  It clearly showed his entire eye, all the blood vessels, macula, optic nerve, etc.  After this test she got really excited an animated.

Moment of truth...

"Despite only being 8yo, since he's had diabetes for 7 years, I fully expected to see some damage.  If you hadn't told me he's diabetic, I would have had absolutely NO idea he was.  And I've suspected people are diabetic before they've known and sent them to their GP where they've been diagnosed".

She then spoke directly to my son telling him that how his Mom & Dad take care of his diabetes is really, really great.  Then she pulled up some retina pictures of other diabetics and showed us the damage high/uncontrolled BG has done (my son's eye on the left/uncontrolled BG eye on the right...zoom in!).

I've been close to tears several times today.  Seeing something so visual (no pun intended) to validate the importance of what we do has been huge to all of us today.

Fast Unplanned Dinner

Thursday night is my daughter's dance class, so we go out to eat and I get a night off cooking.  She's been under the weather today and decided she didn't feel well enough to go (nor did I want to get other kids sick).

Unfortunately, I didn't have anything prepped for dinner.  But I did have some carrot "apple" salad made.  And some zucchini bread in the freezer that I toasted.  And some pre-cooked breakfast sausage from Costco that I browned in a skillet.  Throw in some scrambled eggs, and we have a fast, filling, low carb dinner.

About 6 net carbs.

Mexican: Something New

My husband I recently had a date-day and decided on Mexican for dinner.  My go-to is usually some sort of salad because it's easy to make low carb.  But, I wasn't super hungry and I wanted something I could take home for leftovers. 

I usually skim over the chicken dishes at Mexican restaurants, but this jumped out at me.  Grilled chicken breast, covered in salsa verde, cheese, and pico de gallo, with fresh sliced avocado on the side.  It was really delicious and I got 2 meals out of it!