Thought I would share a link to a little tumblr blog I came up with. It's a little project that my baby Abigail and I have been working on during our days off together. Hope you like it.

Daddy Daughter Days

Mushrooms blah!



Why so many mushrooms?



So the new Atkins Swedish Meatball meal is pretty tasty. The meatballs are hearty and tasty and the have a pretty good tasting gravy with the meal. The problem I have with this meal is my own. I am not a mushroom guy. I think they stink and have a gross consistency. The taste is kinda funky too. And while I understand that some people love them, they just aren't for me. I can tolerate them in some dishes if it's not too strong and overpowering. In this particular meal however it is covered with mushrooms. I personally have to ration my bites with mushroom so I can make it through the meal.



Regardless of my own childlike eating habits the meal is pretty tasty. Again the gravy is decent and the meatballs seem hearty enough. This would probably be good to eat with a little homemade cauliflower rice too.



What do you think? Do you like this one?

In an attempt to be a bit daring I decided to improvise my own lettuce wrap recipe. Something simple with not a ton of carbs or sugars in it. So many of the packets you find in groceries stores have a lot of sugar in the sauces. It shouldn't be too hard to have wraps that are easy and dont have a lot of extra stuff in them to bring up the carbs. I therefore attempted to limit my ingredients.  

1 pound of ground Pork Sausage
1/2 Yellow Onion Diced
1 Cup Diced Broccoli
1 Tablespoon Fish Sauce
1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
1 Tablespoon Splenda Brown Sugar
1 Head of lettuce of your choice. I used Iceberg

The first thing I did was cook my pork Sausage. After the meat is browned, drain off your grease. 
I then added onions and broccoli to the pork and let those cook for about 3-4 minutes. 
Added the Soy Sauce, Fish Sauce and Brown Sugar. Let that cook in the pan for another 2-3 minutes. 
Taste it, depending on your preference you can always add more sauce to increase the taste. Add to the lettuce of your choice.

My wife and I thought this was pretty tasty. The flavor was good and they were pretty filling. All together it only took me about 15-20 minutes.

My only other thought is that the next time I make these I think I will add some chopped peanuts into the mix so that the wraps had a little bit of a crunch with them. But even as they are they are pretty good. 

If you try them, share your thoughts. 

I can't remember if I have posted these before or not, but we are big fans of this flavor of Blue Diamond Almonds. The jalapeño smokehouse has a great taste and isn't wen really hot. Just has a good flavor. I highly recommend it for your arsenal of low carb snacks.

I decided to be a little ambitious the other day and make my own jalapeno poppers.

All in all I think it turned out to be pretty successful however I probably could've cooked them a longer. My poppers still had a little bit of a crunch to them and a good jalapeno popper should be a little bit more cooked and soft. Even so it's a great low-carb appetizer and easy to make. Here's what you do:

1. Get some fresh jalapenos. Cut off the ends. And sliced down the side.

2. Fill each jalapeno with some cream cheese.

3. I added a little bit of Schmucker's sugar-free raspberry jam. This will add a little sweetness to contrast the creaminess of the cream cheese.

4. Lastly I wrapped bacon around each jalapeño and stuck a toothpick threats of the bacon but not fall off.

5. Stick them in the oven at 400°. And let them cook. It's important at about halfway through the process to turn the poppers so the bacon gets cooked on both sides. Often times bacon wrapped around something doesn't get cooked very evenly so it's okay to let your bacon Chris it up a little harder than you might normally like it breakfast. Because the other sides probably going to be a little undercooked.

You can play around with the cooking time yourself and decide what you like best. And maybe and try some different jams. It's low-carb, it's tasty, and A great snack for movies, Sporting events, or even little get together.

When I decided to try one of Campbell's slow cooker sauces I expected something that tasted little bland. Maybe something that's a little bit more in the vein of a stew. When I try the Moroccan Spiced Stew I was thoroughly blown away.

When I was looking at the selection of sauces they had in the store I was drawn to this particular one because it involved chicken. That appealed to me because my wife and I had a lot of chicken in our freezer at the time and finding new ways to use it seem like a good idea. Neither of us are very big on olives and when I saw that the sauce did contain olives I was a bit skeptical at first. My opinion started to change the minute I walked home and smelled the aroma that the slow cooker was producing from the result of the sauce simmering with the chicken all day. It smelled delicious.

And the taste was in that much different. What's great about this particular meal is that it has a good amount of spice it taste like something I go to a Thai restaurant or a Mediterranean restaurant and order off the menu. We served ours with the rice which of course means added carbs. But if you wanted you could easily use it cauliflower rice substitute or just have a plain like a stew. Sauce doesn't lack any flavor. My wife and I even used some low-carb tortillas to dip into the stew and act almost like pita bread. The great thing about this two for us is we really didn't even taste the olives that much. It blends into the flavor of the sauce so well that it's not a hindrance.

This is a perfect meal to have on a cold day you don't want to do a lot of cooking. You could do it on a hot day as well and it will be just as delicious but there's something about the spiciness of the sauce going along with the chicken that really set the tone for the rest of your evening.

We are definitely going to check out some other slow cooker sauces by Campbell's. This one was a hit and incredibly easy to do. The fact that my wife was able to make this meal by herself at home while handling our newborn is a testament to that. Any moms out there know that cooking a meal with a baby is no easy task.

If you are looking for a protein shake that is low in sugary and may be a better substitute for the Atkins drinks, look no further. Premier Proteins Shake are really ow carb.

What may be my personal favorite is the Premier Protein Strawberries and Cream flavor. It does a great job of offering a sweet taste without having that chalky taste that some other protein shakes have. It almost tastes like strawberry milk. Its very cream and goes down smooth. 

At two carbs per shake you can't beat that and it has a bunch of vitamins in it to help you get what you need. It's probably not going to fill you up by itself, but with a small snack you could easily make this a meal. 

I should mention that the Costco near us stocks these in bulk if you want to save a little money and stock up.

Got the occasional craving for the saltiness of potato chips or need something to satisfy that late night crunch you are looking for? Well, After doing some searching I came across a great snack that has a pretty decent carb count. Veggie Straws have a simple tasty and due to their light airiness you can have quite a bit of them in a single serving. 

Each Straw in the bag has its own veggie tasty, but they all work together great and the saltiness is great for sitting by the TV to watch the game or your favorite movie/tv show. 

Serving Size is about 38 straws with about 15 carbs per serving. 

It's not tiny, but  its much better than other snacks. if you are doing induction then you probably should avoid them, but if you have lots your weight and are just maintaining, these are a great option. 

    Over the months I have posted several quick reviews about the products made under the Atkins Diet brand name. Since there are so many different products available with new ones being added all the time, and since they are such helpful snacks to get through the day, I thought it might be a good idea to post them all here in one place for people to find. 

Shakes
Wild Berry Shake Review
Cafe Caramel Shake Review
Milk Chocolate Delight Review
Strawberry Shake Review


Bars
Dark Chocolate Almond Coconut Crunch Bar Review
Chocolate Chip Granola Bar Review
Peanut Fudge Granola Bar Review
Cinnamon Bun Bar Review
Carmel Fudge Brownie Bar Review
Peanut Butter Bar Review
Caramel Chocolate Nut Roll Review
Mudslide Bar Review
Carmel Double Chocolate Crunch Bar Review
Cookies N Cream Bar Review
Chocolate Hazelnut Bar Review



Snacks
Atkins Peanut Butter Cups
Chocolate Peanut Candies

Frozen Meals
Farmhouse Style Sausage Scramble
Tex-Mex Scramble
Steak Scramble
Chicken and Broccoli Alfredo
Beef Merlot
Italian Sausage Primavera
Italian Style Pasta Bake
Chili Con Carne
Crustless Chicken Pot Pie
Roast Turkey Tenders with Herb Pan Gravy
Meatloaf with Portobello Mushroom Gravy
Sesame Chicken Stir-fry
Shrimp Scampi

Coming Soon: Swedish Meatballs