NOLA Munchkin's Thunder Cheese

1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

1 cup monterey jack cheese, shredded

1 cup mayo

1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

3-4 green onions, chopped

dash red pepper flakes [to taste, you may want more or omit it altogether] 

dash cayenne pepper  [to taste, you may want more or omit it altogether] 

Mix all ingredients together and chill in fridge. It is quite edible right after it is made also.

My tweaks:

I added 2 seeded and chopped jalapeno peppers and 3 slices chopped crispy bacon. 

Origins:

Our dear friends NOLA Munchkin and Scootr Bud introduced us to Thunder Cheese from Canseco's Market on Esplanade in New Orleans. over a year ago and we loved it! They do too so NOLA gradually let his taste buds decipher the recipe and started making it at home. [MUCH CHEAPER TRUST ME] He was generous to give us this recipe and agreed to let us share it here. 

Cauliflower Mash

I have been reworking this recipe for years trying to get it as close as possible to a mashed potatoes type consistency and finally have it down to a science. After numerous requests it seems time to get it out of my head and onto my blog. 

Cauliflower Mash

*One medium to large head of cauliflower

*One stick of butter (not margarine)

*One container of onion and chive cream cheese

*Heavy whipping cream

*Salt, pepper, and granulated garlic

Equipment: pot with lid, (a steamer basket if steaming is preferred) colander, lots of paper towels, hand-held potato masher, electric hand mixer, large bowl.

Steam or boil cauliflower til done. 

Line colander with two layers of paper towels. 

Drain cauliflower as much as possible, then dump into paper towel lined colander. Cover cauliflower with a couple more layers of paper towels and use the handheld potato masher to begin to press down on the paper towels, pressing as much water out as possible. 

You will need to change out the paper towels frequently and keep pressing until no water comes up through the paper towels as you mash. This will significantly compress your cauliflower by about half, normally.

In an appropriate sized mixing bowl, slice up the stick of butter and dump the butter and the entire carton of cream cheese into the bottom of the bowl. 

Dump the hot cauliflower on top of the cream cheese and butter in the bowl. Season with salt pepper and granulated garlic. Use your hand mixer to begin whipping the cauliflower with the cheese and butter underneath. Add a splash of heavy whipping cream as often as needed to make the mixture creamy. Mix on high to break up all of the chunks. Adjust salt, pepper and granulated garlic as you go. 

*Reheats well in the microwave and freezes well, also. 

**I occasionally swap out the onion and chive cream cheese for garlic and herb cream cheese. I have used generic and Philadelphia brand and the Philadelphia brand seems to taste and melt better.

 

***Mashing out the water in the cauliflower by hand while swapping out soaked paper towels isn't fun but the end result is well worth it! 

It pairs well with Mississippi Pot Roast and as the mashed potato layer in Shepherds Pie. 

Close up view of the fluffiness and consistency. 

Day Three-Hello Knees!

My knees began speaking to me over the holidays. They say things like, " Stop getting up and down!" and, " Do you realize we can make your life miserable beyond your wildest dreams?"

They have my full attention, especially since they were bothering BEFORE I started back the gym. Since restarting the gym they are really talking, more like shouting, really. The topic of joint inflammation came up at a recent Christmas party, and the folks that brought it up are in the medical field so I listened a little less skeptically than I usually do. These folks mentioned taking turmeric daily, along with 4-5 whole black peppercorns, swallowing them all whole. They said it had really helped them with joint inflammation and just in general, physically. I was intrigued.

The conversation stayed with me for days til I found myself in the organic health section of Lucky's Market staring at several types of turmeric supplements. Interestingly enough, black pepper was mentioned on a couple of labels as well. I bought the Solar Ray One Daily Turmeric Root Extract 600mg. The info I read online indicated it needed to be at least 95% Curcumin, which this was. I had the jumbo bottle of whole black peppercorns from Sams Club at home already and I was set.

This morning I woke up, bones aching and knees screaming from last night's session at Planet Fitness. I decided to give it a go. Four whole black peppercorns and a turmeric capsule later I went about my day, actually forgetting I took it. [10am]

At 5pm I realized I had not only forgotten I had taken it, but I had forgotten that my knees hurt. They had for the most part, hurt much less than before taking it. To put it briefly, I am sold.

Hopefully as I take the weight off I will take the Turmeric less until I no longer need it.

On another note, since January 1st I am down 4lbs/160lbs I need to lose. 154lbs to go.

I'll take it!

Thoughts on 2018-Looking Forward from today, Jan. 1, 2018.

0lbs/160lbs is where I am starting. I need to lose 160lbs. With God, sensible eating, and regular exercise I will do it.

Will be weighing every day. The first 30days of January I will be doing everything possible to make 30 days straight at the gym. I have lots of buddies to go with so I have support, there. 

Today I had much improved eating and did a total of 1hr cardio at the gym. 30/30 treadmill/elliptical.

Looking forward to more of the same, tomorrow.

Cheers to the future!

2018-Gonna reboot the blog.

2018 is here and not a moment too soon. I am overhauling ME this year beginning today, January 1, 2018.

Rebooting means logging food choices, weight losses and gains, and keeping a real commitment to my health.

Honestly, I feel poorly a lot of the time. I also know that I will feel worse before I feel better. Short term this is going to stink but long term it will be worth it.

Today I actually made it to the gym. Did 30min on the elliptical and 30min on the treadmill. I feel like I have been hit by a truck and cannot wait to go to bed, lol. All in all, I hit every goal I set for myself today, New Year's Day. So that makes me feel better even if my body is steadily complaining.

Food choices today::

64oz of water

atkins bar

2 cheese wheels

8oz low carb chocolate milk

16 oz coke zero

at Lucky's-

1 coconut chicken tender

2 hot wings

salad w.bleu cheese dressing

pint of unswt tea-no sweetener

2 tbsp peanut butter with 4oz stevia sweetened dark chocolate [Lily's]

Chik filet-12 nuggets, yogurt, lge coke zero.

 

It is not completely low carb yet [chicken nuggets and yogurt] but it is a far cry from all the junk of the holidays. I know the scale will respond.

 

 

Let's go 2018!

 

 

Homemade Cauliflower Rice

They say that necessity is the mother of invention and I have to agree. I have been subbing out rice in my low-carb cooking with riced cauliflower from Sam's Club so recently when I went by there to get some, they had none. Needless to say I was pretty panicked as I was cooking for several friends who are doing low-carb and they were expecting the LC version of homemade chicken & rice and I was about to fail to deliver.

I went online and started looking for ways to make riced cauliflower from scratch myself and there were tons of recipes. I have yet to try a recipe of the Pioneer Woman and have been a long-time follower of her blog from the days BEFORE she was on the Food Network so I clicked on her recipe first.

I'm glad I did. I ended up making the oven roasted version and it was delicious.  I used rosemary sea salt, black pepper and a garlic parsley blend of spices and olive oil as opposed to her suggestion of spices and avocado oil.

I tried to rice the cauliflower 3 ways and by far the food processor version was best. First I tried the magic bullet. It riced the CF into a pulp almost. Then I tried chopping it by hand, which was better than the magic bullet but time-consuming, messy and tiring. Last but not least was the food processor. I pulsed it and kept it a rough chop to maintain some bulk to it and it came out great.

After ricing, I spread the cauliflower out in a pan and mixed it with the spices and some olive oil, stirring well. I spread it out again and roasted it for 30min. at 425 degrees, stopping every ten minutes to stir it up.

Here are some pics:

Just finished roasting:

 Up close shot of plain roasted cauliflower

 Mixed together as chicken and cauliflower rice:

And here is a link to the original recipe:


Cauliflower Rice--Original Recipe

Five stars--will be making again! And will be using roasted cauliflower rice for chicken and sausage gumbo, too!

Sugar Free/Low Carb Cream Cheese Pound Cake

This chick Hilda can cook! I just made her Cream Cheese Pound Cake recipe and it was fantastic! It is made with almond meal/flour and the best price I have found locally in Panama City FL. on that is at Grocery Outlet in the Bob Red's Mill section. Below is the recipe and a link.

I wish I had taken pics of mine but it disappeared very quickly.

Hilda's recipe calls for Swerve sweetener. I  found it locally at Fresh Market in Pier Park.

1 ¼ c almond flour

¾ c of swerve or other sugar substitute

1 tsp baking powder

¼ tsp of salt

4 eggs

3 ½ oz cream cheese

4 tbs softened butter

1 tsp of vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a mixing bowl mix with an electric mixer on high beat the butter with the sugar substitute until well mixed then add the cream cheese next add the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla. Next add all the dry ingredients until well combined.

In a well- greased cake or loaf pan bake for 30 to 40 minutes until golden brown on top.

Click Here for the link on Hilda's Site