Carrot Cake Cookies

Hehe I finally baked something low carb that I would give to company and fight the dog over. Better yet the dog won't turn his nose up at these and will join in the fight. What is it you may ask? Well, another blog I read posted a recipe for Carrot Cake Cookies. I was tentative at first but they looked very good. I must be honest here, one of my favorite desserts is Carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. So I looked at the recipe and made some changes. o.O and NV..I promise I will try the brownies soon!!!

Here is my version of Gork's carrot cookies.

1 cup coconut flour

1 cup almond flour

1 cup shredded coconut

2 large carrots ground up

1 medium zucchini (shredded)

1/2 cup sweetener of choice

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp of Cinnamon

1/2 tsp of Nutmeg
1/2 tsp baking powder
3 T coconut oil
3 eggs (well beaten)

1. Pulse all ingredients but the eggs and vanilla in a food processor until well combined.
2. Add the pulsed ingredients to the beaten eggs and vanilla and mix.
3. Form into cookies and place on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

Frosting
4 oz cream cheese
2 T sweetener
1 tsp vanilla
a dash of cream

Mix all ingredients in a mixer until nice an creamy. Spread on the cooled cookies and enjoy!


Verdict
A very good replacement for carrot cake, and I will be experimenting with these to see what flavors I can make so I can use them as road food, without the frosting ofcourse.
a link to the inspiration

http://cavemanfood.blogspot.com/2009/05/son-of-groks-carrot-cake-caveman.html

May 30th, 2009

Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs and Bacon

Lunch: At McD's with the munchkins...same ole same ole.. double quarter pounder with cheese..hold everything but the meat and cheese hehe

Dinner: 2 Pork Steaks and Cheesy Bacon Broccoli

May 29th, 2009

Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs and bacon

Lunch: 1/2 pounder with cheese hold the buns and condiments

Dinner: Half a tomato, green salad and 2 pork sirloin steaks

Just the Cheese Crackers

Product Name: JUST THE CHEESE

Flavor: Crunchy Nacho Cheese

Carbs: .5 gram per serving

I was really excited to try these crackers. One of the things I have missed since changing to a low carb life style is chips, you know any and all kinds of chips, with my favorite being Doritos and Cheetos. I was hoping that this product would be similar to those. It was not. The serving size is small only half an oz and there is not enough to be satisfying treat or snack by itself.

Now, this is where things get interesting! These salty but tasty crunchy little nuggets lend themselves in making other things that are drab by themselves spectacular. They can be used as croutons, ground up over vegetables to give your veggies some pizazz, mixed with your kind favorite nuts to knock the taste up a notch etc. I am looking forward to trying the different varieties to see how they can spice up my everyday dishes.

Taste: Rather salty. I could not tell it was nacho cheese flavored.

Ingredients: Cheese, powdered cellulose, maltodextrin, onion powder, spices, natural flavors, garlic powder, oleoresin paprika, citric acid.

Price:$ Not too expensive

Verdict: As a stand alone snack to satisfy a serious hunger pain..not even close. The show ends before it begins. As a salad topper, or addition to nuts, cracked on top of veggies etc. or other endless ways that you can use this product absolutely delicious.

So put some crunch back in your life again and try some. I will!

Flavors: Classic White Cheddar Cheese, Zesty Pizza Cheese, Crispy Cool Ranch Cheese, Crunchy Nacho Cheese, and Kickin' Jalapeno Cheese

website: www.specialcheese.com

May 28th,2009

Breakfast: 3 egg, bacon, cherry tomato, garlic, daikon sprout and Parmesan cheese scramble.

Lunch: Steak and Creamed spicy broccoli.

Dinner: Spicy Chicken and a green salad.

Snack: Ross sugarless chocolate

Today, I am going to post all three of my meals so you can get a good idea of what I eat and the portions. I hope this helps any person that is contemplating going low carb see a variety in what you can eat while living low carb.

Breakfast: Scrambled Eggs and Bacon

Lunch: Spicy Pork Stirfry

Dinner: Sliced Porked fried in garlic and Herb butter and a green salad with three kinds of sprouts and JustCheese Crackers as croutons.

Snack: 3 small pieces of sugarless chocolate

I will be doing a write up of some several products that I have been trying out. :) The first being..Yes, you guessed it the JustCheese Crackers.

Hope all is well. LC

May 26th, 2009

Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs

Lunch: Pork Stirfry with mushrooms, asparagus, and soybean sprouts.

Dinner: Beef Steak and Green salad w/homemade dressing.

Will write more specifics later.... I hope :)

May 25th, 2009

Breakfast: None
Lunch: None
Dinner: Teriyaki Pork and a green salad.
Snack: 1 oz of almonds

Today, I felt the lingering effects of my cold and really had no appetite. However, I am feeling better everyday. So I should be bacl to full speed tommorrow. I figured out how to make a simple teriyaki using a splash of organic tamari shoyu(soy sauce) and Lan Guo.

Really, Tasty and easy to boot. To make it buy some paper thin slice beef or pork. Season with salt and pepper. Fry the meat with a little oil and ginger in a fry pan. After you turn the meat once add a tsp to table spoon of tamari shoyu and a tsp to table spoon of sweetener of choice. ( I used Lan Guo) Stir Fry the meat to coat the meat and voila. Teriayaki is done. Try this and add shoyu and sweetener to taste. This is for about 8 ozs of meat. Start small and figure what you like and be creative..add some onions, peppers, leaks, green onions, or sesame seeds for variety.

Enjoy :)

May 24th, 2009

Breakfast: 3 scrambled Eggs
Lunch: Stir fried pork with shirataki noodles.
Snack: 28 grams of almonds
Dinner: Teriyaki Salad with three kinds of sprouts, cherry tomatoes and cucumbers.
Snack: 28 grams of almonds.

It's good to be back :)

May 24th, 2009

Sorry for my prolonged absence. I caught a very bad case of the flu and was in bed and miserable for the last several days. But the good news is that I am back and I will be posting again. I also stayed on plan during my little prolonged absence..but it was monotonous.. green salad and pork steak for dinner and eggs for breakfast. That was all I could reall handle.

May 17th, 2009

Breakfast: None was in bed.. ;(

Lunch: 4 egg asparagus, mushroom and cheese scramble with salsa.

Dinner: Green Salad w/sprouts, cucumbers,grape tomatoes and 2 pork sirloin steaks.

May 16th, 2009

Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs with some taco meat and cheese mixed in.

Lunch: Small green salad and left over chicken drumlets.

Dinner: Green salad and 2 pork sirloin steaks. ( Can you tell I was tired and cranky..salt pepper and mayonnaise on plain lettuce.)

Sorry this is so late getting posted..I caught a cold..LOL Another bad bad news tidbit is my wonderful heavy duty scale that I ordered from the states died..*cries* So last night cough and all I got on the Internet and ordered another brand of scale and with any luck it will be here by weigh in.. ( No, I am not trying to cover up any slowed weightloss.. well, I don't think so anyway..LOL )

I have product reviews lined up.. hopefully, I can get them up by Thursday.

May 15th, 2009

I snacked between posting yesterdays and today's menu.. this is what I ate last night about 11:00pm.

Late night snack: Soy Tortilla Chips (will do a product review tmrw)

Breakfast: 3 Scrambled eggs & Parmesan Cheese

Lunch: Double Quarter Pounder minus everything but the meat and cheese

Snack: 2 Oz's of Cashews

Dinner: Fried Chicken Drumlets and Green Salad and a Virgin Margarita :)

Dessert: 2 Russell Stover Pecan Delights (Net Carb) Please check out product review :)

Last night, I my order from Amazon and Netrition arrived from America. So now I have many things to try and experiment with. I will be doing product reviews on everything, so I will try to get you some good information to make your future purchases easier. Some products I even ordered three different brands of the same thing so I can do side by side comparisons. (Pancake syrup for example) Unfortunately, because I had a few too many chips last night I refrained from making LC pancakes this morning. I will wait till next weekend which means I will put off NV's brownies until the weekend after next.

Anyway tonight I used coconut flour for the first time. I added cayenne pepper, garlic, paprika, salt, white pepper to the flour to make the breading. The coconut flour was very similar to regular flour in taste, in fact, I would have never known it was low carb had I not made them my self! hahaha

May 14th,2009

Breakfast:3 eggs

Lunch: Hamburger steak with cheese.

Dinner: 3 pork sirloin steaks and stir fried veggies.

Lotte O ZERO Non sugar chocolate

I found this new product as I was shopping for some snacks for a movie. The thing that really caught my eye is that this chocolate is fortified with fiber. ( One 50 gram box contains the same fiber found in 3 heads of lettuce) So I decided to give it a whirl and tossed it in　my basket along with the cashews and almonds.

Taste

Wow, if Milk Chocolate is your thing than this is for you. The taste was rather sweet, and was similar to Swiss or Austrian chocolate rather than a Hershey wannabe. If I did not know better I would have thought that this chocolate contained sugar as there was no after taste. Texture wise again, very similar to a good Swiss Milk chocolate.

Sweeteners

hmmm... this is where we run into some problems. There is no Maltitol but the chocolate is sweetened with a cocktail of Lactitol, Aspartme, L-something and sucralose.

Verdict

Yes, I would buy this again on a special occasion. But due to the innovative use of sweeteners I think that this is something that I will eat every once in a blue moon even though it is a good source of fiber and wonderful tasting product.

May 13th,2009

Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs with smoked cheese and salsa and a cucumber, tomato and broccoli sprout salad.

Lunch: spicy fish fillet and a green salad with a homemade vinaigrette.

Dinner: Hamburger steak and sauteed mushrooms and asparagus and miso soup.

Last night I went to a movie. On the way, I stopped by a Cosmo Drug store (like a Walgreen Drug Japanese version) to get some snacks for the movie. I picked up a 35 gram pack of cashews and 35 gram pack of almonds. As I was walking to the checkout stand I noticed a new kind of sugarless chocolate so I bought a box. I will write up a review for it today. Yes, I ate these after I published my menu for yesterday so I am noting those foods here :)

I seem to be in a good rut as far as the foods that I am eating and I am really trying to add more fish into my diet. Unfortunately, I don't care for most fish.. but there is nothing better than shrimp, crab, lobster and abalone, which are not the best for a LC diet and cost prohibitive. :( So I am trying to come up with ways to eat fish once a day. If any of you know of some good recipes let me know.

PS I went to Star Trek. For anyone that is in to Sci-Fi movies it was rather good. One of the better Star Trek movies that I have been to.

May 12th, 2009

Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs

Lunch: none

Dinner: Fillet Mignon cooked to absolute perfection smothered in sauteed mushrooms and asparagus and a green salad with homemade sesame dressing.

On a sour note, I did not sleep as I was reading the last of the "Twilight Series" and as usual I could not put the book down. So I sleep through lunch..

On a positive note, I am finished with the series so I can sleep well tonight! :)

So for dinner I was famished, so I cooked up a wonderful LC dinner that was fit for royalty! :)

See you tmrw :)

May 11th, 2009

Breakfast: None

Lunch: Left over soup from yesterday

Snack: 3 pieces of sugarless chocolate

Dinner: 2 Chicken Breasts and a Green salad

You know one of these days I will learn. I love reading books, all different kinds of genre and recently I decided to start reading the Twilight series to find out what all the fuss was about.

I find the series very entertaining, and readable. These books are something that you don't have to think about, but you get to let your imagination go. Unfortunately for me when I start reading a book that I get into I don't stop. Alas, I was reading the book until I finished it at 7:00 am this morning. I need to follow my rule of never picking up a book after 10:00 pm because I won' t put it down.

So no breakfast this morning. A bad habit to get into that I must stop now.

Anyway, hope all is well.

May 10th, 2009

Breakfast: 3 eggs scrambled with some Parmesan cheese

Lunch: Slice of Cheddar Cheese and Atkins Bar

Dinner:2 spicy Salmon Fillets and a bowl of Creamy Bokchoy and Tomato soup

Today, I caught up on some sleep. I ate breakfast at around 7:00 am did some stuff around the house and sat down the sofa. I woke up 3 hours later...LOL. Then I made a shake for lunch but some how the cream cheese wrapper ended up in the mixer.. so I threw it away and ate an Atkins bar. I also ordered some sugar less chocolate made here in Japan. Will be doing a product review soon. I tried a couple pieces of it.. but you will have to wait to find out what I think about it..hehe. Eat well and be happy.

May 9th, 2009

I pulled an all nighter getting stuff done..so I am adding times to show what I ate as I went to bed at 7:30 am..

2:30 am 1 oz of cheddar cheese and 2 glasses of crystal light

3:30 am 3 scrambled eggs and 3 sausage links

5:30 am　Atkins Bar

11 am Atkins Bar

3:00pm 3 eggs spinach and cheddar cheese

7:00 pm A repeat of last nights dinner but now all leftovers are gone...

Really, tired.. so I am not providing any pictures.. see ya tmrw :)

May 8th,2009

Breakfast: 2 scrambled eggs

Lunch: 1/2 Pounder from McD's no bun no condiments

Snack : Slice of cheddar cheese and Atkins Bar

Dinner:2 small pork sirloin steaks and 1 cup of stewed cabbage

Dessert:4 strawberries

I went to the library with the kids and did some shopping. However, there was really nothing on sale so we went home and watched James Bond. o.O and I slipped some U2 songs on to my daughters i-pod we will see how she likes them.

Tamari Shoyu (Tamari Soy Sauce)

The other day I went looking for a new soy sauce to use in an oriental dressing that I thought up. I was looking for a Tamari soy sauce because it is lower in carbs and is made by collecting the liquid that comes from making miso (fermented soy bean paste). Why is this important? Most soy sauces are made using wheat in the fermenting process but in a true "Tamari Shoyu" there is no wheat involved so it is gluten free and lower in carbs.

Tamari is much darker than regular soy sauce and has a richer and deeper somewhat smokey flavor. In fact, one of my favoite cocktail sauces is made using Tamari shoyu.

( Take 2/3 cup of ketchup, 1 T of Tamari Shoyu and 2 tsps of raw ground wasabi and mix together) Grab a bowl of iced boiled shrimp and enjoy :)

Tamari can be used in marinades, stocks, dips, dressing anywhere that you would normally use Soy Sauce. I went to three different stores before i found what I was looking for.

Although rather pricey, @$6.36 per 500 mil bottle I found exactly what I wanted with the added bonus of it being organic. I used it in a new sesame dressing that was just divine. This Tamari shoyu has a deep rich flavor and is great for adding a little extra flavor to hamurgers, pork chops, chicken and steaks. This product is exaxtly what I was looking for and I will definately be buying this again.

PS Make sure read the label carefully when looking for Tamari Shoyu in the United States as there are many Tamari Shoyu wannabes..if you catch my drift :)

May 7th, 2009

Breakfast: Another 3 egg, sausage, creamed spinach scramble garnished with salsa.

Lunch: LC Shake Strawberry

Snack: 2/3 cup of stewed cabbage

Dinner: Fried chicken ( thigh meat with LC flour, Parmesan Cheese and spices) and a small salad.

May 6th, 2009

Breakfast: Eggs, creamed spinach bacon and sausage scramble

Lunch: Strawberry LC shake

Dinner: Hamburger steak, stewed cabbage with bacon and butter, a small salad and miso soup.

Well, today was comfort food. My mother used to make a cabbage dish by browning some bacon, adding a full head of cabbage quartered and 1 stick of butter in a pan large enough to hold the cabbage. Then the heat is turned to low and the pan is covered and the cabbage simmers for 45 minutes.. until it is tender but not mushy.. :) I did the same thing today but I have no time to stew something for 45 minutes so I put the above ingredients in a pressure cooker and cooked for 5 minutes on low (once pressurized). The result was comfort food just like Mom makes.

Over all a wonderful dinner :)

May 5th, 2009

Breakfast: 3 eggs and bacon

Snack: Atkins BAr

Lunch: LC Shake

Dinner Pork ShabuShabu salad with homemade sesame dressing.

May 4th, 2009

Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs

Lunch: Strawberry LC shake with cookie crumbs and cream cheese

Dinner: Steak, steamed brocoli, and green salad.

Dessert: LC Jello

A disaster becomes a sucuess

Today, I ventured back into the kitchen to do some low carb baking. I found a recipe for snickerdoodles and changed it slightly, (it calls for all splenda..I used LakantoS instead) Unfortunately, the cookies spread out to thin and were to soft to place on a cooling rack.

Hmmm.. I think next time I will baking powder instead of baking soda... and less butter.. Anyways, as the cookie wafers cooled they crisped up... so I thought how can I use these.. I tasted the shreds and they were tasteful then I thought hmmm.. strawberries and fresh creme and voila I put them together and got a wonderful LC dessert.

Kids are truly funny

Last night I was goofing around with my daughter and teasing here about her recent development of pimples. I was chasing her around the room and when I finally got my paws on her I was laughing so hard that my mouth was gaping open. Well, my child did the unthinkable act of stuffing the small piece of toast in mouth.. I was shocked and my own reaction shocked me even more! I darted over to the garbage and started spitting out the piece of bread as if it was poison. Once I felt that most of the intruding carb monsters that had entered my mouth had been dispelled enough, I made extra sure by going over to the sink and rinsing out my mouth and gargling water.

After, I finished.. I pondered, what the rush was and why I acted so quickly over small piece of toast. It was at that moment that I realized how committed I am to this new lifestyle and how big of part it plays in my life. My daughter on the other hand was acting rather sheepishly and started to apologize. She was almost on the verge of tears. So I asked what was wrong? She replied, "Dad, I did something really mean to you! You are being so good about your diet and I tried to make you break it just so you wouldn't pop my pimple."

I looked at her and she looked at me. Then we started laughing so hard it was unreal about the events that had transpired. I told her, "Well, I guess I won't try to pop any of your pimples!" and she said, "I won't try and sabotage your diet!" and all was good.

Then today, we are making cookies and I was experimenting with sweeteners, I made some cinnamon sugar out of splenda, LakantoS and another sweetener that is a mixture of sucralose and erythritol. I decided to give it the "Kid test!" so I told my daughter to make a piece of toast and bring it to me. She looked at me with a befuddled expression on her face and I said, "Really, Go make a piece of toast!" She left the room and made a piece of toast. She brought it into me and looked like she was about to cry.. I buttered the toast and then sprinkled the Cinnamon sugar over the toast and cut it into four pieces. Then I proceeded to give each of my children a piece of the piping Cinnamon toast. My daughter let out a huge sigh of relief, this time it was my turn to looked at my daughter with a befuddled expression.. and she said," Dad, when you said make me a piece of toast I thought you were going to give in on your diet! I thought about telling you "NO!" but I couldn't do it after what happened last night." I started to laugh saying, I thought we were over that?? She said, "Yeah, I know but.." I stopped her and gave her a big ole bear hug and said, " Emily, No worries! I love you and always will." All was good again as we munched on some fresh baked snicker doodles....

May 3rd,2009

Breakfast:Scrambled Eggs
Snack:Atkins Bar
Lunch:Steak and creamed brocolli.
Dinner: 3 pork sirloin steaks and 1/2 cup of creamed spinach.

Dessert: Making cookies we will see how they turn out..

May 2nd, 2009

Breakfast: 3 Scrambled Eggs and Bacon

Snack: Atkins Bar

Lunch: Bacon Cheese burger Meat Balls & Green Salad

Snack:Atkins Bar

Dinner: Lunch was so good I repeated it with left overs :)

Today, I decided to make a new recipie. I took ground beef and I added garlic, soy sauce, cumin, cardamon, cayenne pepper, salt, pepper, mayonaise, ground cabbage, Parmesan Cheese and eggs and mixed it thouroghly. I cut up cheddar cheese into 3/4 inch cubes and pushed them into the meatballs and enclosed the cheese in the meat. Then I sliced some bacon up and placed them on top of the meat balls and baked for about 30 minutes.. results were Yummo :)

I suggest everyone try these :)

May 1st, 2009

Oops... some how I got off a day...

Breakfast: 3 scrambled eggs and bacon

Lunch:I was out and about so a double quarter pounder w/cheese no bun, mustard,pickles, onion or ketchup and 5 small yakitori from a street vendor

Dinner: Salad(lettuce and broccoli sprouts) and 2 pork sirloin steaks.

Dessert:Yogurt Cheese, Strawberries, Blue Berries, Cream and Natural sweetener.

The picture is a little funny because I used frozen blueberries :) Nothing wrong with them just frozen..I placed this back in the fridge for 2 hours and then mixed it up.. it was a little tart..but I rather liked it. Newvision had an article up about yogurt that stated that in the process of making the yogurt carbs are lost so you can actually count half of the carbs that you normally would. If you want more info on that please check out her blog.

Yogurt Cheese

To make yogurt cheese, scoop the desired amount of yogurt into a coffee filter and let drain in your fridge for about three hours or over night you will get something that resembles a cross between sour cream, ricotta and cream cheese. (to make it sour and use like sour cream add a little lemon juice and stir..let set for 15 minutes before serving..)Make sure you put something beneath the coffee filter and holder..if you don't you WILL have water all over your fridge! Also make sure you use non sweetened sugar.

If you want to try something funky.. I was thinking that if you can buy yogurt sweetened with Splenda you might be able to make a cool flavored dip or frosting for a cookie or even a spread for a flax cracker.. unfortunately I don't have that option available here.. but someone please try it and let me know how it works. :)

Now, you might ask why I have incorporated yogurt into my diet. Well, here in Japan there are many cases of pylori caused infection if the stomach or digestive tract and yogurt and broccoli sprouts help keep that unhealthy bacteria found in our stomachs in check. If you want to find out more check out the blog "Healthy Fellow" here is a link:http://www.healthyfellow.com/203/broccoli-sprouts-and-ulcers/.

April 29th, 2009

Breakfeast: A hearty 3 egg, bacon, Parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese and spinach scramble.
Snack: Atkins Bar Peanut Fudge Granola Bar
Lunch: 2 pork sirloin steaks and 2/3 cup of fresh steamed broccoli
Dinner: Salad including 2 kinds of sprouts, 2 kinds of lettuce, tomatoes and homemade vinaigrette sweetened with Splenda and a steak.

Monthly Weigh in

Although weight loss was very slow during the first half of the month.. I ended up losing 12 pounds for the month. During the first part of the month I was eating pecans everyday because I bought them in bulk at Costco. I stopped eating any Atkins bars, and I swore off artificial sweeteners hoping that I could increase my weight loss and be even more healthy eating all natural snacks (pecans, strawberries etc) however, that was not the case. I started eating Atkins bars again, about a week ago.

In conclusion, I have decided that I will reintroduce nuts on a daily basis when I am within 15 lbs of my goal. Until that time I will not swear off them but will eat them sparingly. At that time I will also go more (LC) whole foods. As for artificial sweeteners, I will still eat them sparingly, however, I have about 50 packs of crystal light and 20 packs of Jello (sugar free variety) I will use them. But when they are gone I will not replenish them. I have found a drink mix that is sweetened with Stevia that will be here shortly for me to try. I will do a product review, Iwill also do product reviews on Atkins bars.. but it seems Atkins is doing another flavor change and some of my favorites are no longer offered. I only have about 30 bars left from my original purchase back in January.