Behind starburst eyes

If You Don’t Succeed, Try, Try Again!

For my weekly weigh in and measurements this week, I’d lost a total of 9.6lbs since I started 3 weeks ago, and 1.5inches off my waist!

Then I had a rough day, I’ve gone back to university, so I have papers due because it’s nearing the end of the term, I was struggling to write one of them. Add in being scared about going for a CT Scan for the lump on my sternum and I made the bad decision to eat my feelings.

For the last 2 days I have enhaled carb filled, processed crap. I’ve also gained back 2lb cause when I go overboard, I’m damn good at it! So, I’m back up 2lb but I say it was a bad choice not a terrible one because I’m learning. I’m learning how deeply I really connect food with comfort. I am reminded of how many times that special time with my mom who passed away almost 3 years ago included “special foods”. I’m learning how vital it is for me to have at least a couple of pre-made comfort style keto foods frozen for myself.

To that end, I’ve found a delicious keto friendly chicken pot pie recipe, that at 3g net carbs means I can have 2 servings if I feel the need to do so without sabatoging my hard work!

The delicious recipe below is the creation of Kasey Trenum who you can find cooking up all kinds of fantastic recipes on her blog: Kasey Trenum

Ingredients
For the Chicken Pot Pie Filling:
2 tablespoons of butter
1/2 cup mixed veggies could also substitute green beans or broccoli
1/4 small onion diced
1/4 tsp pink salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 garlic cloves minced
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup chicken broth
1 tsp poultry seasoning
1/4 tsp rosemary
pinch thyme
2 1/2 cups cooked chicken diced
1/4 tsp Xanthan Gum
For the crust:
4 1/2 tablespoons of butter melted and cooled
1/3 cup coconut flour
2 tablespoons full fat sour cream
4 eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup mild cheddar cheese, grated
1/3 cup Mozzarella Cheese, grated
1 1/2 tsp parsley (to sprinkle on top)

Instructions

  • Cook 1 to 1 1/2 lbs chicken in the slow cooker for 3 hours on high or 6 hours on low.
  • Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  • Sautee onion, mixed veggies, garlic cloves, salt, and pepper in 2 tablespoons butter in an oven safe skillet for approx 5 min or until onions are translucent.
  • Add heavy whipping cream, chicken broth, poultry seasoning, thyme, and rosemary.
  • Sprinkle Xanthan Gum on top and simmer for 5 minutes so that the sauce thickens. Make sure to simmer covered as the liquid will evaporate otherwise. You need a lot of liquid for this recipe, otherwise, it will be dry.
  • Add diced chicken.
  • Make the breading by combining melted butter (I cool mine by popping the bowl in the fridge for 5 min), eggs, salt, and sour cream in a bowl then whisk together.
  • Add coconut flour and baking powder to the mixture and stir until combined.
  • Stir in cheese.
  • Drop batter by dollops on top of the chicken pot pie. Do not spread it out, as the coconut flour will absorb too much of the liquid.
  • Bake in a 400-degree oven for 15-20 min.
  • Set oven to broil and move chicken pot pie to top shelf. Broil for 1-2 minutes until bread topping is nicely browned. Sprinkle dried parsley on top.

Nutrition

For 1/8 of the pie: Calories: 297kcal | Carbohydrates: 5.3g | Protein: 11.6g | Fat: 17g | Fiber: 2g

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Step 3: Kill it with fire

Every blog posting about buying a used trailer to fix up will tell you that more work is needed than you think.

Naively, I ignored the myriad of warnings 😦 and I ended up finding this:

While I knew from the back that one small section of floor would need to be replaced I had no idea how bad it actually was or the real reason why.

I’d been told the back corner ripped when it was moved as a deck was attached to it and not properly unattached before they moved it, the real truth was much, much worse:

Carpenter ants, hundreds of them living and swarming throughout the entire inside of the walls and floor. The more we removed hoping it was the last “bad” section the more we found 😦 Was it hard on the kids and I to realize we wouldn’t be travelling this summer and that our plan for this trailer was not going to go anything like we’d thought…yep!

But as we took the entire trailer apart, separated each type of material, recycled what we could and brought the rest in multiple loads to the dump, I was able to help them to see that even though we plan, life doesn’t always go according to plan and we have 2 choices: Give up or give it all we’ve got to create a solution.

For this specific case we simply started again but from the ground up lol. Which meant our new first step was cleaning any loose rust from the chassis and then treating it with tremclad.

Now the real building begins! With just over 5 weeks left until I begin University again and the kids start their homeschooling year again the race is on! Do I think the whole thing will be finished in 5 weeks, no I truthfully don’t. BUT we’ll have the floor, walls, and roof done at least and that will give us more time to work on the inside of it on weekends as it gets cooler.

As we build a tiny home now instead of fixing up a trailer we’ll learn lots, work hard, and grow a dream and memories together. Wish us luck! 😀

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Herb and Garlic Bread

With 7 people in our home we go through at least one loaf a day, but we too are trying to limit trips to a store as many are most likely doing as well during this time; so our family has been making our own bread. This herb and garlic bread gets gobbled up super fast!!!

Ingredients:

7 cups of flour
2 1/4 teaspoon of quick rise yeast
2 1/4 cups of warm water
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 tablespoon of salt
3 tablespoons of olive oil
6 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
2 tablespoons of Italian Spice blend

Instructions:

1) In a large mixing bowl add warm water, then sprinkle yeast and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Leave until the yeast has become frothy on top (about 10 minutes)
2) While yeast is activating chop 6 cloves of garlic, add to a small bowl with oil and Italian seasoning blend.
3) In a separate bowl mix 6 cups of flour, salt, and 1 tablespoon of sugar.
4) Add oil, garlic and spice blend to water and mix.
5) Add flour to water and mix.
6) Gradually add the last cup of flour until the dough is no longer sticky. (Depending on the humidity you might be closer to 1/2 cup not a whole cup)
7) Knead the dough until soft.
8) Place dough in a greased bowl and let rise for an hour.
9) Punch down, then separate into either fist sized balls on a greased baking sheet or 2 loaf pans and let rise once more.
10) Preheat oven to 350F and bake until golden brown (buns take approximately 20-30min, bread takes approximately 45-60min).

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as our family does!

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