Breakfast

Quick post today about breakfast.  I found out very early on that I can't eat any carbs for breakfast.  I have to start my day with just protein......no toast, fruit, or anything carby.  For me, it sets the pattern for the day with my sugar.  If I eat any carbs first thing in the morning, it jacks my sugar and I have trouble maintaining it throughout the day.  So......what do I do?

I make sure that the only thing I eat first during the day is protein only.  I usually eat 1 egg and 2 slices of bacon.  I use regular bacon or turkey bacon.  Eating this everyday does not bother me like the hamburgers did.  Sometimes I eat my egg scrambled, sometimes I make egg muffins, but most of the time I eat a boiled egg.  I started doing this because it was faster to have the eggs ready and not have to cook before I left to teach for the day.  Now that I have retired, I do it because I tend to sleep later, and it keeps me from having to cook and eat later. HA!

I used to boil up about 6 eggs, so I had them for the week.  That was okay, but after a couple of days in the fridge, they got kinda hard to peel.  I would end up throwing away a good chunk of the egg because it was stuck to the shell.  It was still easier than cooking each morning, but it was irritating trying to peel them.  Then, I tried the already boiled and peeled eggs that you can buy at Walmart.....ummmmmm........NO!  They tasted like little pieces of cardboard.  Not that I have actually ever eaten cardboard, but what I imagine it would taste like. I still like the egg muffins, and would make them up and freeze them.  They were great to take out of the freezer, pop into the microwave, and eat.  The one thing I did not like about them was that I put my bacon inside them, so that would be all that I ate at breakfast.  It always felt like I was getting ripped off by eating just an egg muffin!

Since I have gotten my Instant Pot, I am back to eating hard "boiled" eggs.  They are SIMPLE to cook in the pot, and super easy to peel.  Yes, even days after cooking them!

I use the 2-8-5 method of cooking them.  I put a half dozen eggs on the trivet in my instant pot insert, and add a little over a cup of water.  After sealing the lid, I set the pressure cook button and set it for 2 minutes.  Once it gets done with the 2 minutes, I let the air release naturally for 8 minutes.  I then release the remaining air, take the lid off and remove the eggs.  I put the eggs in a bowl with ice and water for 5 minutes.  Once the 5 minutes is done, I drain the water, dry the eggs, and let them cool for a few minutes before sticking them in the fridge.

The peel will slip right off of one just removed from the pot.  The next day, the peel will still come off very easily, but I run it under water as I am peeling it.  I also squeeze it a little to allow the water to get inside the shell.  This helps it to peel right off!  They are just as good on the 6th day as they were on the first, and peel just as easily!

This is my method for starting my day and setting the pattern for my sugar.  Hope this helps someone along the way!

Instant Pot Pork Chops

I don't do pork chops a lot, but I do like them every once in a while.  I decided to give them a shot in my Instant Pot.  I cooked pork chops in the pot about a week or so ago, and they were the BEST I have ever eaten!

The first thing I did was melt some butter in the bottom of the insert pot of my 8 quart Instant Pot.  When the butter was melted and hot, I tossed my chops in to brown them on each side before pressure cooking them:

Once I had them browned up the way I wanted, I removed them from the insert pot and removed some of the butter.  I put them back into the pot and put green peppers and onions on top of them.

Finally, I covered them with crushed tomatoes. I used 2 large cans to make sure I had enough liquid in there while cooking them.  I also added about a cup of water, just to make sure they didn't dry out because crushed tomatoes don't have a lot of liquid with them.

Once I had all my ingredients in the pot, I put the lid on and cooked them for 15 minutes.  I let the air release naturally when I cook meats, because I think it makes them a little more tender.  This is what they look like when they are done:

They are so tender that you can cut them with a fork.  The tomatoes, onions, and green peppers do add a few carbs but not many.  The only carbs I get is from fruits and veggies, so I eat my chops with them.  I like the tomatoes and peppers on mine, but you can eat the chops without them if you choose.

I also tried some pork chops with a dry bar-b-q rub.  I started out by browning them, just as I did with the others.  Then I pulled them out of the pot, cleaned it, and added 2 cups of water so it was ready to cook when I was ready to add my chops.

I put the chops on my steamer tray and added the dry rub to each side.  This is the rub that I used.  It has 0 carbs!  I think I got it at the meat market here, but am not sure.  I bet you could find it online if you are wanting to try it.

  

The steamer tray is one I got from Walmart, and it fits perfectly in my 8 quart pot.  There are others that can be used, but this one works well for me.

I put the chops on the steamer tray into the pot and set the time for 15 minutes.  Again, I let the air release naturally when they were done cooking.  They were just as tender as the ones I did with the tomato sauce!  You can see in the picture below where I pulled a small piece out with a fork to taste them.  They are really good, and have no carbs because the rub was carb-free!

I love cooking this way because the clean-up is SO easy!  It also cuts down on the fat from the meat. The meat sits up away from the water, so any fat that cooks out drops down into the water and away from the meat.  However, because it is pressure cooking them, it helps seal moisture into the meat and it doesn't get dry!  Win-Win!  No messy, stuck-on pans to clean, and lower fat!

These are 2 ways I have used my Instant Pot to cook pork chops.  Both ways make them the most tender chops I have ever had.  

I hope this helps give you some different ideas for cooking meats.  I know the same old things get so boring after a while, so trying new things really helps.

I Want Pasta!

I wanted to share a quick post today about pasta.  I love pasta, but we all know that pasta does not love diabetics!  I did find some pasta that is lower in carbs than regular pasta!  It's in the frozen section at Walmart.  I am sure you could find it at other places, but that's where I usually shop. 


It is made by Bird's Eye, and it's made from zucchini and lentils. It comes in a steamable bag and cooks in 4 minutes.  It has carbs, but they are complex carbs and will not normally jack your sugar.  There are about 2 servings per bag. There are 22 carbs in each serving with 2 dietary fiber, so that means 20 carbs per serving.  Regular elbow macaroni has 43 carbs for 1 C cooked, so this is a HUGE difference.

When I am wanting spaghetti, this is a great alternative.  It gives me that "Italian" taste that I am wanting, but does not give me the carbs!  I get the original flavor kind and add my low carb pizza sauce! I use Great Value Pizza Sauce. I tried it because it was the lowest in carbs, and it is REALLY good! I'm not one that has to use name brands anyway, so this works well for me! I may add hamburger or pepperoni, and I usually add Parmesan cheese.  It really satisfies that desire for spaghetti. 

I also use it to make macaroni and cheese.  I simply cook the pasta, add cheddar cheese and heavy whipping cream (it is REALLY low in carbs.  I don't use much, so it does not add much fat).  It is a fantastic alternative to mac and cheese when I want that. 

One thing I have learned about using these noodles is to wash them really well with hot water after cooking so that there is no bean-type juice on them.  They taste really good, but when I am using them for other things besides just eating them plain.....which I really don't do......I want the water washed off them so it does not over-power the flavors I am adding.

These come in several flavors, but I have only had the cheddar cheese penne pasta and the original flavor.  Those are the only 2 flavors that they have had here.  I really want to try some of the other flavors, especially the Fettuccine Alfredo and the Spaghetti with marinara.

Hope this is helpful for those of you who are like me and love spaghetti, but really can't eat it without paying the consequences.  I am always on the lookout for alternatives to the "bad" foods that I like.
Have any of you tried any of these?  If so, what did you think?

Back to Burgers?

I told you I would share with you some of the things I have cooked using my instant pot, and that's what I am going to do here today!  I spoke last time about being tired of hamburger patties every day.....and I was.  I do, however, still like them on occasion.  Remember how I talked about hating the clean-up from cooking them?  I mean, what do you do with all that grease??   I want to share with you how to cook them in "the pot" with very little clean-up to do.  What about all that grease?  Yep, you don't even have to worry about that!!

The first thing you need to do is get some hamburger.....well duh!!!  I usually get the already made patties.  I buy the 100% Angus package at Walmart.  They are kind of expensive, but they are usually lower in fat, and taste better to me.  They come 12 to a package, so that makes for a lot of meals!  I don't cook them all at one time.  I freeze some of them. I'll talk about that at the end.

Once you have your hamburger, you need squares of aluminum foil that are big enough to wrap around each burger.  They need to be about this size or maybe a just little smaller:

Now, put your hamburger in the middle of the foil.  You can add anything on top of it that you want.  You can add mushrooms, green peppers, real onions, cheese, or anything else you might like on a burger. I used Italian seasoning on some once, and they were pretty good.  I usually put minced onions, garlic salt, and pepper on mine. Here's what mine look like:

Once you have added all your ingredients to the top of the burger, wrap it up like this:

After you have put the trivet in the bottom of the pot and added 1 and 1/2 C of water, put the burger packets in your Instant Pot.  You will need to place them in the pot in kind of a scattered stacking pattern.  You don't want them all stacked up on top of each other all the way.  I am using a 3 qt. pot, so I can only do 4 at a time.  I really don't want to cook more than that at one time, because I don't like how they taste after about 3 days or so.  I have an 8 quart pot as well, but use the 3 quart for the burgers since I don't want to do more than 4 at a time.   This is how I have to stack them:

Notice there are 2 on bottom, but they are not stacked completely on top of each other. The steam and pressure can get between them and cook them more evenly......at least I think so anyway!  HA!

You are now ready to cook the burgers.  Put the lid on, and make sure the air escape valve is set to sealed.  Using the Pressure Cook setting, set the time to 12 minutes and hit start. When the 12 minutes are done, let the air release naturally.  Mine takes about 8 minutes to release on its own.  Once the button has dropped back down all the way, remove the lid.  I always turn the release valve to open just to make sure there is no pressure left in the pot before removing the lid.  I'm chicken careful that way! 😅

Use a pot holder to remove the packets of burgers, because they can still be hot.  Place them on a plate to cool, or eat them up right then!  I don't unwrap all the burgers when they are done.  I put the wrapped ones in the fridge and unwrap them when I am ready to eat them.  It keeps the grease with them, and makes them not as "dry" when microwaving them to eat.  I wipe the excess grease off after heating them. They will be the MOST juicy burger that you have ever eaten.....even heated up in the microwave!  And the best part???  Just wad up the foil with the grease in it, and toss it into the trash!  Easiest. clean-up. ever!!!  Add a salad or whatever sides you want, and enjoy the best burger you have ever had!

You will need to empty the water from the steel pot insert once it cools.  Wash the steel insert pot with warm soapy water, dry it, and put it back into the pot ready to use next time!  You also want to leave the lid off the pot to let it dry.  I turn mine upside down on top of the pot to let it air dry.

Remember that I said I buy a package of 12 patties and that I don't like to cook more than 4 at a time?  Well, I prepare all of my patties on the same day.  I cook 4 of them, and freeze the rest of them.  I add all my ingredients to the top of the burger just as if I am cooking them at that time. I wrap them up in the foil packet, and stick them in my freezer.  The best part??  I can simply take 4 of the frozen burgers out, place them in the Instant Pot, and cook them just like they are fresh!  It does not take any more time to cook them from frozen as it does from fresh!  As the pressure is building in the pot, it is defrosting them!  The cooking time is EXACTLY the same, and the taste is EXACTLY the same!

This is one of the ways that I use "The Pot."  Next time, I will share with you how I cooked asparagus and pork chops!

I hope this helps some of you who are struggling to eat right with your diabetes.  I truly do understand!  I have been there, and I still struggle at times.  Finding out how easy the Instant Pot is to use and how fast it cooks has helped me tremendously!  That was one of the biggest struggles for me was when the hunger would come on so quickly that I would get sick to my stomach if I did not eat soon.  It made it so easy just to grab something to keep the nausea away!  This has helped me so much with that sudden hunger!

I would love for some of you to comment to let me know if any of this is helpful to you or not.  Also, please feel free to ask any questions!  If I have absolutely no idea of the answer, we will find it together!

I'm Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!

So, I have taken about a year off, and have not really been eating right.  While I did not gain the weight back, I can definitely tell a difference in how I feel.  I went back to being prone to getting sick with a lot with sinus issues and bronchitis.....even pneumonia.  So.............it's back to eating right!

I have to be honest.  One of the biggest struggles for me was having to cook for each meal, or cooking a lot of the same food at once and eating it for several meals in a row.  It got really old and boring after 2 years of doing that.  It was a chore for me to get motivated to bake chicken or fish, because I knew it would take a while, and those are things that don't heat up well, to me anyway.  The clean-up also stunk!  So...I ate mostly ground beef patties and occasionally would do other meats.  I also HATED cooking the beef patties because of the clean up.  Yeah, I really am not a kitchen kind of person!  I did it out of necessity and tried to be creative with my cooking.  While I was working, and after teaching all day, I wanted to be able to relax and not worry about what I was going to cook for dinner when I got home.  Therefore, I usually cooked up several hamburger patties at a time and would eat those for days.  When I first started eating this way, it really did not bother me, and I didn't really think about it.  Once I started eating "real" food again though, it got tough to go back to eating the same ole stuff day after day. Looking back, I see that it was worth it to get to where I am right now, but boy it isn't easy to go back to that place.  So why now?  What changed?



Enter the Instant Pot!!

I absolutely cannot believe I did not have one of these things before now! It is the easiest, tastiest way to cook meats and veggies!  It is easy to be creative using it as well!  I can cook fish fillets in 4 minutes from frozen!  4 MINUTES.....did you catch that?  No oven to heat up, no pans to scrub, and the taste is out of this world!  BEST. FISH. EVER!  I can also cook a chicken breast in 4 minutes, and the clean-up is simple!  No stuck on gunk to scrub!  💗💗💗

While I can say it was nice to not have to worry about cooking just the right food while eating "real" food, I can also say that eating right makes me feel so much better! And now?  I am actually excited about cooking and trying new things.  I don't dread eating right because I can eat different foods for each meal! I don't even dread the clean-up!  I will post next time about things that I have cooked in my beloved Instant Pot.  I will post recipes as well!