You can't tell but that picture, is two geniuses at work in the kitchen.

    Last night a friend of mine and I made an arrangement with our wives that if we were given the time to hang out together so we could watch one of our favorite TV shows, The Walking Dead, while they drove someone to the airport we would cook dinner for them that night. Well, it worked. We got the extra time to finish watching the Walking Dead season 2 finale (which was awesome by the way. Love the intro of Michone) and when we were done it was off to the store to plan the meal. As it turned out it was fairly low carb to boot.

The Menu
Savory Lemon Pork Chops - Savory seasoning, lots of butter, and lemon salt.

Sweet Green Beans - We found a recipe for a sauce to drizzle over them that is similar to the green beans they serve at Outback Steakhouse. So yummy with a hint of sweetness to them. These were a huge hit.

Cheesey Broccoli with Peppers - Velveta cheese and broccoli, with fresh jalapenos dices inside. This was awesome. I guess I love the cheese and pepper thing though. I'll never do broccoli the same again.

    Atkin's make a Carmel Fudge Brownie bar and it's great. It's exactly what it says it is. That is, a brownie. If you have been missing the taste of fudge goodness, this is a great way to substitute that in your life. Don't get me wrong, it's no substitution for the real made from scratch brownies, but it's pretty good. Tastes like those Little Debbie Brownies that are really bad for you. Fudgey and sweet. Perfect to satisfy a quick craving or a snack later in the evening.

3 Net Carbs

    My wonderful parents came to California all the way from North Dakota to see the play I am in. We had a lot of fun together and got to spend some great time enjoying their company. Lots of playing cards, good food, and hanging out. My show closed this weekend too so its back to a normal schedual.

Chili today, Hot Tamale!

    Today for lunch I tried something new. A company based in Oregon called Hometyles makes low carb chili and they were nice enough to send me some to try. They go the simple route and use real meats and beans for their recipes and because of that they say it only has 4 carbs per serving. That I can get behind. Four carbs for a meal I can make in seconds! Sounds like a dream.

    I tried their Beef Chili recipe. I just tossed it in the microwave and in 90 seconds it was ready to eat. Hot and bubbly. When I first looked at the chili I wasn't sure what to make of it, but upon further inspection there's alot of texture which I liked. The texture comes from the beans that they use and the real beef. I actually even got a nice big piece of beef in one of my first bites. Some chili come out of a package more like a paste but this uses real ingrediants so it looks like chici should. Nothing on the ingredients list that doesn't sound like it shouldn't be there which is a great plus too. The second thing I noticed, as I do with any chili is the nice little ring of orange around the bowl. A lot of people look at this like grease, but a proper chili has a nice ring of oil from the chili powder in it. Its normal, and it meant to be. This chili has it and it should.

    The Beef Chili has got pretty good flavor. Not too spicy either. If I had the time I would have loved to add some cheese and diced onions to the top. It would have really taken it to the next place. But even on its own its flavorful enough and filling. I wasn't hungry for more when I was done. I was full and content. 

    I liked it. There really isn't anyone else around that offers an option for us low carb folk that like chili. Its nice to know we have something available with little beans and lots of flavor. I may even try this again with a low carb tortilla and a hot dog. Why not.

If you want to try it you can order it on their website. Homestyles Beef Chili With Beans

    Last night my wife and I were trying to decide what to do for dinner. We had a couple chicken breasts we pulled out of the freezer to use, but didn't know what to really do with them. We decided in a quick last minute decision to make Low Carb chicken tacos. I had made up our own taco seasoning recently so we cooked up some chicken and added some spices for a yummy fast dinner. You can always purchase taco seasoning in the store, but most taco packs are just a mix of stuff you may already have. Take a look on-line for a good taco season mix. 

    These photos are not the prettiest in the world, but the tacos were pretty easy to do. You can't go wrong with tacos in our house.

    This past Saturday I went with two of my good friends, Rene and Ed, out for a bit of a geek field trip. For the first time this year in Anaheim, CA WonderCon was held instead of its past location in Northern California. To those of you that don't know what Wondercon is, it's a comic book convention. Nerds gather to talk shop, debate over who would win in a fight, and show their costumes off to each other. It's by the same people that do Comic-Con only much smaller. It's a fun spectacle to look at and I enjoy it because its a great chance to pick up a couple new books to read at a cheaper price as well as see some interesting art. 

    Anyway, the day started out kind of rainy and gross so the three of us decided to stop and get breakfast together before we hit the show floor. We ate at a Denny's nearby. Denny's isn't really known for being the best food in the world and not always the fanciest in appearance either. But to my low carb readers out there I will say this, Denny's knows how to give options. If you want a low carb breakfast you can't beat the Grand Slam. At Denny's they allow you to "build your own" by picking out 4 items for your breakfast. So if you want a plate of eggs, bacon, and sausage you can have it. Maybe just a plate of bacon. Fresh fruit? How about sausage and eggs only. Its all up to you. You wont get stuck with pancakes or hash browns you wont eat. You'll get everything you need. And its reasonably priced.

    Anyway, After breakfast was done we headed over to the convention hall to see the show. I have to say, it was pretty entertaining. They is a lot to look at, and if you really want to immerse yourself in geek things this is the place to do it. We saw Jedis, Ninjas, Zombies, and other characters that I didn't not understand. Actions figures abounded and comic books were everywhere. Seems like the hot character to be this year was somebody from Adventuretime show on Cartoon Network. Anyway here are some quick photos I snapped.

p.s. By the way, I feel the I should mention the Mustache I have in these photos. It's for the play I am in. It is not a lifestyle choice.

    The other day I was craving an old American favorite that I just don't get to enjoy like I used to. Mac and cheese. Obviously the carbohydrates in Mac and cheese mostly come from the Mac potion of the meal and it's hard to have Mac and cheese with out the noodles. However there is a way to do this with the invention of low carb noodles and you can do it really easy in no time at all.

    Since this is POOR Mans Atkins and not Fancy Mans Atkins I went the cheap and easy route to make my Mac and cheese. Really there's only two things you need for the recipe. Mac and cheese. The cheese part is simple. Velveeta cheese brand melts extremely well and is the perfect choice for this type of recipe. All it requires is to be melted and your in good shape. Yes, you could use fancier more delicious cheeses and cook it in a fancier way, but guess what, I don't have the time for fancy today. I used about two ounces of cheese for my recipe and that's about 3-4 carbs according to the package.

    Part two of the recipe is the Mac part. I mentioned Dreamfield's low carb pasta in a past post and said that it may not be for everyone and I can't even say for sure that it works, although I personally believe it does simply based off the "results" I get of it passing through my system. Yes I just went there. All that to say, make the noodles( I used spaghetti noodles) and add the cheese and you have some low carb old school dinner. You can even add some peppers, or do what I did in my recipes and add some yummy thick cut bacon pieces for a little extra flavor. It was so tasty and only took about 10 minutes to make.

Carb per serving : around 10

    Here is a better picture of the Rubios Chipotle Ranch Chicken Salad I had for lunch yesterday. It's a staple item for me on work lunches as Rubio's is right down the street from me. I did a write up on it in the past that you can check out if you want to know more.
Rubio's Low Carb Chipotle Ranch Chicken Salad

    I had brunch from yesterday with my wife. We tried a new place by our home called Champagnes Deli and Grill. It's kind of a deli/market restaurant. with fresh sandwiches and stuff. They have brunch items, and we love breakfast, so we gave it a try. I went with the Green Chili and Cheese Omelette. Not to shabby. It came with potatoes, but I subbed in fresh fruit.

    My work had a company meeting two days ago. It's usually a quarterly thing that occurs every so often to keep us updated on the progress of things. Its one of those meetings where we all sit together and an executive gets up in front of everyone, makes some mediocre jokes that everyone laughs at, then shows us some charts on the company's progress, and give a nice little speech about working hard and staying focused. It's all that usual white collar stuff. Really kind of boring but we do it because we have to. The plus side on those days at my work is that they provide lunch. Usually it's a local food place that caters with a food truck. Two days ago they brought in a local burger place called The Habit.

    Let me first say that the Habit makes a pretty good burger. They have a variety of things on their menu that we could get off the truck too. A burger is the staple but they also have a Tri-tip burger, Tuna burger, and BBQ Chicken sandwich. They also provided fries, onion rings, and sweet potato fries to those that want them. The food seemed fresh, full of flavor, and not really that greasy which I think is a good accomplishment when being made on a truck.

    The problem for me was that I felt a little trapped in what I had available for me to eat for lunch. I know that I could eat whatever I want, and don't have to eat carbs, nobody was forcing me. But sometimes you feel trapped based on your options available. That's how I felt during the lunch meeting. So I ate my burger with the bun, and I ate sweet potato fries. I didn't have to, but I did. Maybe it was just the fact that the truck was there and I was in a weak moment. Anyway the point is this, you will eat bad on occasion and sometimes it may be slightly out of your control because of your options. When you do, you may want feel guilty afterwards. That's OK sometimes, it keeps you in check. However, sometimes you don't have to feel guilty. Look at the moment as fate telling you to enjoy your food. It's an opportunity to practice moderation. Don't eat the whole burger, or all the fries. Find a way to make up the difference later. Maybe you have carbs for lunch but something very low carb for dinner. Balance is the key. 

    I wish I could say I had this all down but I am still learning this myself. The more I talk about it the easier it hopefully will become for me. How do you handle these situations of feeling trapped by options?