Cheesy Ham & Brocolli Soup - 10g

My friend made this for a playdate one time and I asked for the recipe between bites while my son and I devoured it. It's so yummy, very quick to throw together and perfect for a fall day!

It does have potatoes, but I just pick out the chunks and leave them for my husband and kids so I'm only eating a little bit of what's been pureed into the soup.

I do not peel the potatoes because there are lots of nutrients in them, I don't want my kids to be picky about not eating the peels and peeling takes a lot of time - which I do not have! I buy the pre-cubed 16 oz package of ham so I get more protein in the soup and don't have to cut the ham up. I also use dried, minced onions and jarred minced garlic so I'm not having to chop those things either. I'm all about time-saving short cuts! Because of that, it literally takes me 15 minutes or less to throw this together in the crockpot.

I do think that the next time I make it, I'll add more broccoli and ham to it so I don't leave my family with basically just potatoes. I should add that I have an 8.5 quart crockpot so I have plenty of room to bulk up my recipes.

 

I just realized what this reminds me of: Olive Garden's Zuppa Tuscana. It's a less spicy, more garlicy, broccoli-instead-of-kale, ham instead of sausage potato soup... which is basically like a completely different soup, but it has that same feel/similar taste to it. :)

Cheese Ham & Brocolli Soup
I believe it's from Southern Living Busy Mom's Cookbook but I've tweaked this recipe to my own liking.

5 large potatoes, cubed
16 oz ham, cubed
1 medium onion (I use 1/4 cup dried, minced onions)
3 14 oz cans of chicken broth
3 cups brocolli florets
1/2 tsp + salt
3 tsp + minced garlic
3/4 tsp + pepper
2 cups whipping cream
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Cook all ingredients except cheese and cream in crockpot on high for 1 hour. Reduce to low for 6 hours, or until the potatoes are tender.* Food process half the mixture then return to pot and stir in cream and cheese. Cook on low for 30 minutes or until warmed through.

Makes 14 1-cup servings

*I switch this up depending on what my day looks like. You could technically cook it on high the entire time and it'll be done in 3-4 hours or you could cook it all day on low and it'll be done in 6-8 hours.

The counts

These are based on how I make it, and I only put "2 potatoes" into the recipe calculator since I don't eat the chunks in the soup.

Net Carb: 10g

Protein: 13.7g
Fiber: 1.5g
*All counts listed are based on my best guesstimation and not necessarily correct. Remember to check the specific nutritional content of the brands you are using as each one is different.

alfredo sauce - 3.5g

It's been drilled into our heads that alfredo sauce is bad because of the fat content, but as a low carb dieter who loves meat and cheese, I already know that my fat intake is higher than your average eat-low-fat-or-your-heart-will-explode-American.

(For the record, I recently had bloodwork done to see how my thyroid was doing and it came back fabulous. Cholesterol, triglicerydes, everything was perfect.)

When I came across this alfredo recipe stuffed in my cookbook, I started to flip right past it. I'd tried it before and it just never turned out that great. I looked at the ingredients though and realized if I substituted the milk for heavy cream, it would make it lower carb and thicker. I searched the store for the right cheese and ended up getting Kraft's Italian Five cheese, which is a blend of provolone, romano, asiago and parmesan. Yum. I increased the garlic, added more cream than the recipe called for and this time, the sauce came out perfect. It is so good!

I combined it with some Dreamfield's low carb linguine, 1 cup of broccoli, 1/4 cup of tomatoes and some Purdue chicken nuggets. While my toddler inhaled it, we had the following conversation:

Me: What do you think of the alfredo sauce?
Son: Nope. I'm not afraid of the sauce.
Me: lol! No, the sauce. It's called "alfredo." Do you like it!
Son: Ooooh. Yes!

He cracks me up.

The total meal was 19g, which is higher than my goal of 15g per meal, but I didn't have any non-breaded chicken on hand. Three of the nuggets alone were 7.8g. In the future, I'll be sure to have some grilled chicken ready to go for this so my meal is only 11.2g!

Carrie's Alfredo Sauce
8 oz Kraft Italian Five Cheese (blend of provolone, romano, asiago and parmesan)
8 Tbs butter
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 cloves of minced garlic
1 tsp salt
3/4 tsp pepper

Over medium heat, melt the butter, then stir in the cream until mixed. Add the salt, pepper and garlic then add a little bit of cheese at a time, stirring with a whisk until it's melted before adding more.

Makes about five 1/2 cup servings.

The counts

Net Carb: 3.5g

Protein: 7g

Fiber: 0.1g

*All counts listed are based on my best guesstimation and not necessarily correct. Remember to check the specific nutritional content of the brands you are using as each one is different.

sticking to it!

Things are going well in my low carb world.

I've gotten into a great groove with eating low carb and not really having to think about it. I don't keep track every day but I know I'm keeping it below 60g.

Let's see... for example, today I had:

Tea with sugar                               8g (I generally use Swerve so this is usually 0g)
My Wrap                                        8g
water

Handful of almonds                       2g

double 1/4 pounder w/cheese       10g
(no bun) 
diet coke                                         0g

Our Salad - doubled                     12g
water

Cheesy Ham & Brocolli Soup   10g
(The recipe is coming up next week!)
water

Total today: 50g!

My weight has plateaued with 5-10 more pounds to lose. I know that if I could get some exercise in, it would melt right off but I just can't seem to find the time with a 3-year-old and 1-year-old keeping me busy. Any free time I've had has been preoccupied by setting up the most awesome haunted Halloween birthday party for my niece. It's this weekend, so hopefully after that's all done, I'll be able to work exercise back into my routine somewhere!

Chicken Pot Pie - 22g

I don't remember where I got this recipe, but as soon as I made it, I knew it would become aregular. Both my kids will eat it, it's pretty simple to throw together, makes enough to have leftovers the next day.

I don't make this as often as I used to because technically it's really not low carb. When I first started making it, I wasn't following my low carb diet at all because I was pregnant with constant nausea and a meat'egg/cheese aversion. When I did start watching carbs again, I was allowing myself 25g per meal, which may be crazy high to some doing low carb, but this totally worked.

I also used to add a potato and a bottom crust to it, which would put it at more like 35g+ so those are out fo sho.

Chicken Pot Pie
1 Pillsbury pie crust
1/3 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup butter
1/2 tsp pepper
1 3/4 cups chicken broth (1 14 oz can)
1/2 cup milk
2 1/2 cups shredded chicken or turkey
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables

Pre-heat oven to 425. Line casserole dish with foil. (I like an easy clean up!)

In a pan, cook the chicken. I generally add some salt and pepper to the meat while cooking.

In a large, deep saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. With a whisk, stir in flour, salt and pepper until well-blended. Gradually stir in broth and milk, stirring and cooking until bubbly and thickened.

Pour cooked chicken and vegetables into the pan and mix it all together. Spoon the mixture into the casserole dish and top with a pie crust. Because the crust is round, you will have to gently stretch it and cut off one of the sides to make it cover the entire pie.

Bake 30 minutes or until crust is golden.

Makes 8 servings

The counts

Net Carb: 22g

Protein: 19g

Fiber: 2g

*All counts listed are based on my best guesstimation and not necessarily correct. Remember to check the specific nutritional content of the brands you are using as each one is different.

Gruyere and Bacon Spread - 9g

I love Pinterest.

There. I said it.

I'm generally quite resistant to new fads. I'll hear about them, roll my eyes and move on. I don't jump on bandwagons immediately.

This was how I was with Pinterest. And then it seems everyone I know had joined and every day there were multiple Facebook posts and I kept seeing these brilliant ideas, so I finally gave in and clicked over, which was death to my No Way Am I Joining stance.

(I should note that Facebook was one fad that I did jump on. I think I was the first of my friends to get on there. It was lonely for a long time.)

Anyway.

Pinterest. I joined but I am happy to say that I'm not just a pinner. I've already lost count of all of the things I've tried. Crafts, household tips, Halloween ideas for my niece's Haunted House Birthday Bash we're doing this year in our basement, and, of course, food.

When I saw this pin, I knew I would be trying it as soon as I could get to the store. I didn't care if it was low carb or not. It was going to be eaten by me.

I did change a couple of things. The recipe calls for 3 1/2 CUPS of onions. Holy onions, Batman! That's overkill, right? Especially since I don't love onions. And our garden onions are insanely strong. I cut it down to 1 cup and it was still quite oniony. I also used full fat sour cream because I'm a daredevil like that and I just had regular mayo. I have no idea what "canola mayo" is and saw nothing at the store that mentioned canola oil in it. :::shrugs:::

Carmelized Onion, Gruyere and Bacon Spread
Adapted from Cooking Light November 2011
cooking spray
1 Tbs butter
1 cup chopped onion
4 ounces Gruyere cheese, shredded and divided
2 Tbs chopped fresh chives, divided
1/3 cup mayonaisse
1/3 cup sour cream
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
4 bacon slices, cooked and crumbled

Preheat oven to 425. Heat a large cast iron skillet over medium high heat. Coat the pan lightly with the cooking spray. Melt the butter. Add onion and saute for five minutes, stirring frequently. Reduce heat to low. Cook 20 minutes or until golden brown, stirring occassionally.

Reserve 2 Tbs of cheese. Combine remaining cheese, onion, 1 Tbs chives and remaining ingredients in a bowl.

Transfer the mixture to a 1-quart dish coated lightly with cooking spray. Sprinkle with reserved cheese. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown and bubbly. Sprinkle with remaining chives and serve on baguette slices.

~~~~

I used a wheat baguette in the bakery department of my Kroger. The bag says a serving is 6 pieces and 24g, which is way more than I could eat, so I kind of made up my own serving size for this to make it more low-carb and appetizer appropriate. I think the dip made about 20+ spoonfuls. It's hard to tell because I lost count because we ate it so fast. ;) Delish!!

The counts

Dip

Serving size: 2 Tbs.

Net Carb: 1g

Protein: 2g

Fiber: >1g

 

Bread

Serving size: 2 slices

Net Carb: 8g

Protein: 2g

Fiber: .5g

*All counts listed are based on my best guesstimation and not necessarily correct. Remember to check the specific nutritional content of the brands you are using as each one is different.

tuna casserole - 19g

When a friend offered to set up a meal calendar when my daughter was born, I jumped at the idea. I mean, free, healthy, ready-to-eat meals when you have a newborn are like gold and I knew I'd be starving from nursing and exhausted from not getting any sleep so there was no way I was turning that offer down.

My neighbor signed up to bring us tuna casserole and I admit that I wasn't sure I'd like it. I'd never actually had tuna casserole. I liked tuna salad sandwiches okay. I love sushi with tuna rolls and white tuna being my favorite, but sushi grade raw tuna is way different from canned. When she told me what was all in the casserole, I probably made a face:

Canned tuna. eh.
Peas. yuck.
Mayo. blah.
Pasta. Carb heaven.
Cheese. Yum.

I'm glad I'm willing to try new things because I think I ate the entire casserole single-handedly in a day. I added mushrooms to bulk it up some and because I like mushrooms. :) My neighbor's recipe uses egg noodles, but thanks to Dreamfields Pasta I was able to make it lower carb!

Tuna Casserole
2-3 cans tuna, drained
1 can peas, drained
1 can mushrooms, drained
1 can cream of mushroom soup
6 Tbs mayonaisse
2-3 cups mozzarella cheese
1 box Dreamfields Low Carb Penne Pasta

Boil pasta, drain and set aside.

While pasta is cooking, mix the rest of the ingredients, saving some cheese to sprinkle on top.

Combine everything into a casserole dish, sprinkle cheese on top and bake at 325 for 30 minutes or until cheese is brown.

(Or, if you're lazy like me, just combine everything in a tupperware dish and skip the baking part because you're too hungry to wait 30 minutes and the hot pasta warms up the rest of the food so it can be eaten immediately. :)

Makes about 6 servings.

The counts

Serving size: 1 cup (Technically, a serving of the pasta is 1/2 cup.)

Net Carb: 19g

Protein: 47g! Wow. Tuna has a lot of protein in it.

Fiber: 12g

*All counts listed are based on my best guesstimation and not necessarily correct. Remember to check the specific nutritional content of the brands you are using as each one is different.