Southern Fried Okra.....well, sort of!

Who doesn't like fried okra?  Ok, well maybe people from the north, but if you are like me, a good ole southern girl, you LOVE fried okra.  Being diabetic though, this is not something that would be on your list of things to eat. The corn meal would add too many carbs to make it a good choice.  HOWEVER, I have found a way, thanks to my sister, to have fried okra.

Wash and cut the okra just like you would if you are frying it.  Roll the cut okra in a beaten egg. Then, roll the okra in grated Parmesan cheese.....yes, the kind in the shakeable can.  Heat a skillet with a small amount of oil.  I use olive oil because it is best for you.  Put the okra in and fry it up.  It tastes just like regular fried okra, but has a small amount of carbs.....about 7 per cup.  The parmesan crisps up just like corn meal would.  Add salt and pepper, and eat it up!  It is absolutely DELISH!!!!

Let Them Eat Cake.....CHOCOLATE!

I found a recipe for the BEST chocolate cake......EVER!  Well....ok, maybe not ever....but definitely since I have made these lifestyle changes.  It only takes about 3 minutes and it is wonderful!  It only has 4 net carbs, and it did not raise my sugar.  I am working on an icing recipe to go with it.  I don't always want something sweet, but when I do, I usually want chocolate.....and I LOVE cake!  I usually eat blueberries with cocoa almonds when I am wanting "sugar."    This was the perfect solution.  I used a cereal bowl to make it in, and split it with my husband.  It was just enough to take that craving. I love that I am finding things that seem normal to eat.  What I am finding is that searching for Paleo recipes seems to bring me to recipes that I can eat without them raising my sugar.  I am on a journey to keep my sugar normal!  I know it is best for my body, so I get excited when I find things that I can eat and feel normal.  The recipe is posted on my recipe tab at the top.  I try to post new ones as I find them.  If any of you find any good recipes, please share them, as well!  We can travel this road together!

Fried Cabbage.....well, sort of

I love fried cabbage.  To be honest, I love cabbage in any form, and it is good for you.  I used to make fried cabbage with ground beef added to it, and it was yummy!  I found another recipe and tried it the other night, and it was really good, too!  It has ground beef, onions, garlic, cabbage, salt, pepper, and tomatoes.  It was very filling and did not raise my sugar at all!  I think I will try adding some "noodles" to it.  I put noodles in quotations because I do not use real noodles.  I have found some shirataki noodles that have 2 net carbs for the entire package.  They are not made with grains, so they are VERY LOW carbs.  They take on the flavor of whatever you cook them with.  It is like having spaghetti without the spaghetti!

I found these at Walmart by the salad section.  There are 4 carbs per serving, but 3 of those are fiber.  

I think they will be great in my cabbage goulash.  (my name for this dish...)  I am also going to try them with some very low carb spaghetti sauce I found.  I will let you know how that turns out!

 

Another Pizza

I wrote previously about making pizza using cauliflower for a crust, but I have found a new recipe!
This one uses cheese for the crust and is MUCH LESS time consuming than the cauliflower recipe. The mozzarella cheese has less than a carb per serving.  It took seven cups, which is about 31 carbs total.  The sauce has about 24 carbs per jar.  The toppings have no carbs, except for the cheese.  Total carbs for the whole pizza is about 60.  If you cut it into 12 pieces....I cut it into more than that.....it is about 5 carbs per slice!

This is the crust after I took it out of the oven.  I brushed melted butter mixed with garlic powder on it before I added the toppings.

This is what it looked like with the toppings added before I baked it again.

This is what the final pizza looked like.  It was very good, but since I am not really a cheese person, it was kind of heavy for me.  I will DEFINITELY make it again, but next time I will use less cheese for the crust so it is not so thick.  The recipe is on my recipe tab at the top of the page.  Check it out!

Fried Chicken....Yes, I said Fried Chicken!

Who doesn't love some good fried chicken?  I know I do, but being diabetic puts a damper on that.  Or does it?  I have found a way to get fried chicken with NO CARBS!  I use coconut oil (VERY good for you and will not add cholesterol) to fry it in.  I take some coconut oil (I use solid not liquid) and put it in my pan.  Allow it to melt and heat up just like regular oil.  I put my chicken (I use chicken tenderloins) in the pan and let them really brown up on both sides.  Then, I turn the heat to medium low and allow them to cook the rest of the way.  They are crisp, just like fried chicken and taste like fried chicken but have absolutely NO breading on them.  Here is what they look like:

It looks like real fried chicken, doesn't it?  It tastes like it, too!!

Crackers

Every time I go to Walmart, I am always on the lookout for new stuff to try.  Today was no different. 

I knew that I was making tomato soup, and I had decided that I was going to get some of my flat bread, cut it into small pieces, bake it, and try to make some crackers to go with my soup.  As I was headed over to get it, I noticed some boxes above the fancy cheese section near the deli.  I went over to see what they were, and I found some crackers!!!  Here is what they are:

Ok...so they are Crisps instead of crackers....but they are crackers!  They have 11 carbs in a serving of 9 crackers.  There are 0 sugar carbs and 0 dietary carbs.  I chose the cracked pepper flavor.  They had another flavor, but this one sounded better to me.  So how did my sugar do after eating them?  Well...before I ate, my sugar was 88.  1 hour after eating, it was 124.  2 hours after eating it was 98.  These readings are after eating 2 cups of my tomato soup and 9 crackers.  I added bacon to the soup to add protein so that I am not eating just carbs.  I guess you can say I had my crackers and ate them, too!!  Dinner was really great....tomato soup and crackers!  Excited that I now have found a substitute for regular crackers....which I have not eaten since September when I gave up all processed foods!  I think these would be great with cheese, also.  They have a great texture and wonderful flavor.  They are VERY thin but taste great!

Slaw

So....I have been out of commission for about a week with a kidney stone.  UGH!!!  Not fun at all!!!
I ended up with a UTI on top of that....so let's just say it has been a memorable week....and not in a good way!  I am pretty sure that the change in diet and weight loss contributed to the stone coming out.  The doctor said it was definitely possible.  Added to that is the fact that I began drinking the warm lemon water about 2 months ago.  Lemon water will help clean your kidneys and will dissolve uric acid....which is what most stones are made of.  I think I got just the right combination of all these to cause the stone to pass!  Not intentional...but glad it is done!!  LOL!!  It was a very small stone, but painful none the less.  Anyway...enough of my yuck!  I wanted to post about some very good slaw I found.  You may be familiar with it, but it was like gold to me when I found it.  It is called Green Giant Fresh Broccoli Slaw.  It has 5 carbs per serving and 4 serving per bag.  It has 2 dietary fiber, which leaves 3 net carbs.  It does contain 2 sugar carbs.    I just mix it with my Just Mayo, salt, and pepper.  It is delicious with a hamburger patty or chopped sirloin, or steak!  It makes for a great lunch.  The first time I ate it, I felt like I was eating something that I should not eat....it was that good!
I love it and thought you might as well!  Here is a picture of the bag.  I get it at Walmart in the fresh veggie section.

What are some things you have found that don't spike your sugar?  I would love to hear about them!