If you read this blog frequently you might know I eat hot dogs often. They are easy to cook, low carb friendly, and childhood favorite so it becomes a great choice for me. Regardless of the easiness to cook at home, not many people understand the concept of a hot-dog minus the bun when you go out into the world. Sporting event vendors, movie theaters, and fast food workers all seem to look at you oddly when you order the hotdog sans bun, and to be honest it feel like your meal is missing something. Because of this I have been on a bit of a quest to find a fast food place that can do the bunless hotdog that will sustain me as a meal and not make me feel foolish for ordering it that way. My searched caused me to contact Wienershnitzel directly, the hotdog fast food king, to see what they would say about getting a lettuce wrapped dog from them....

    After this, I decided to give them a try and see what kind of stares would follow. 

    Wienerschnitzel is an interesting place. I would guess that their target market is men as every time I have ever gone it has had 80% male and I would assume that most of women there were dragged there by significant others. Also, one would think that the lively red and yellow colors on the walls would make it a more exciting place to eat in, but this perticular day it was so quiet you hear the mustard squirt.

    I approached the counter and went for the chili cheese dog. I spoke with authority. "No bun please. Lettuce wrapped if possible." I did not receive stares, but she did explain to me that wrapping the dog might be a little tricky as they do not have lettuce leaves so she offered an alternative.

    What I received back was not to far off from the order. It wasn't wrapped by any means but was closer to a salad, It tasted pretty good and was a self enclosed meal. It was a hotdog, chili, cheese, and lettuce salad. The key to what makes this work is the chili. This adds substance to what you are eating and the best part is they don't use beans in their chili. No bean means fewer carbs. 

    It was good. I ate alone, as did most of the men their that day.

Per Chili Dog
Carbs - 5
Dietary Fiber - 1
Net Carbs - 4

Home Sweet Home.

Over this past Easter weekend I was lucky enough to take some time to fly back to my hometown of Fargo, ND. A bunch of my extended family was getting together for the holiday so I decided to join them for the festivities. We ate, we took family bike rides, we laughed, we BBQed, and had caught up with each others lives. I had a great time with my family during this time but I also realized just how much traveling is an obstacle when you are trying to maintain order in your low carb life. There are really several things that hit me all at once every time I travel home that can lead to problems in my diet.

1. Traveling Breaks the Routine.
I usually have those standard places that I know are nearby, tasty, and have my favorite low carb options. Its convenient and I build up a routine of what to eat. When you get to a another place in your travels you don't have those luxuries and are often at the mercy of whatever is available. That might mean in an airport food court, at an unknown restaurant, or just the low carb cooking of friends and family.

2. Your Favorite Foods of Yesterday Make a Comeback.
Whether its my mothers homemade carmel rolls and eggbake breakfast or the deliciously wonderful Taco Johns, traveling home for me becomes difficult because I am now surrounded with tastes and food options that I love and have an almost nostalgic quality to them. Restaurants and recipes that old Tim once took part of on a more frequent basis seem to show up and appear to be irresistible and since I know I can only get these things in this limited window of time, it becomes even harder to say no.

3. The Dilemma of the Holiday
Not all trips occur on holiday's but this one did and many often do, and holidays in my house are celebrated with food. Lots of fresh baked treats, homemade meals, and snacks everywhere. On top of all the food that shows up on the holidays we all know how much of a social experience it can be to partake in certain food with people. They want you to enjoy it and its hard to say no when everyone is moaning about how wonderful the squash cookies with marshmallow frosting are (Thanks Nicole).

Knowing these things can be half the battle for me when I travel home, and it seems like each trip I am getting better at using restraint, but its still difficult and. will always be. But one shouldn't let these thing stop your enjoyment of quality time with friends and family.

I did want to highlight a restaurant in Fargo that my Mom and Dad took me to called The Spitfire Bar and Grill. I had an outstanding Cobb Salad here. It was loaded with lots of Bacon, Cheese, Tomatoes, and Avocado. Very fresh and very hearty. I could barely finish it and it was the lunch size. I had my salad with a Mexi-ranch dressing to give it a little bit of a non-traditional kick and I think that it tasted great. I may get some spicy ranch to keep around for some of the salads I get at places that I want to change up the taste for. Also, the place smelled amazing and if I was hungrier at that particular visit I might have gone with the BBQ because the smell of meat was in the air. Man, when is Yankee Candle going make a wood-fired BBQ scented candle?

My wife made some delicious stuffed chicken the other night that was very low carb and had a ton of flavor. I don't really know for sure that it fits into our quick and easy category here at Poor Man's as I didn't cook it, but the recipe seemed easy enough to me. It was very tasty to and the fact that it was wrapped in bacon was of course a real hit with me. Why couldn't a fast food place make a sandwich like this?

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 4 slices bacon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, mix mayonnaise, spinach, feta cheese, and garlic until well blended. Set aside.
3. Carefully butterfly chicken breasts, making sure not to cut all the way through. Spoon spinach mixture into chicken breasts. Wrap each with a piece of bacon, and secure with a toothpick. Place in shallow baking dish. Cover.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour, or until chicken is no longer pink in the center and the juices run clear. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 165 degrees F (74 degrees C).

One Chicken Breast
Carbs - 5
Dietary Fiber - 2
Net Carbs - 3

Its easter weekend!

Go eat some Eggs!

Carbless eggs. :)

    Had breakfast at Mimi's cafe the other day. So good! I am a sucker for a good breakfast. They have a lot of great meals to chose from here from tasty omelettes, eggs and bacon meals, to tasty salads too. I went with an omelette and subsituted some fruit for the potatoes that come with it. It was really yummy. Ask for some of their salsa on it. Its really good. :)

Marti Gra Omelette w/ fresh Fruit
Ham, Spicy sausage, Bacon, Cheddar Cheese, and tomatoes


Nom Nom Nom
Nom Nom Nom

Asian food is some of my favorite. Seems like most of it is out of bounds for a low carb diet when you consider how sweet, all covered in noodles, or even how fried some of the items are.  They always include a good amount of veggies, but it’s all the other stuff and the sweet sauces that will get you into trouble.

My wife and I found a packet by sunbird to make some beef and broccoli at home that met the perfect qualifications for me. Cheap, very easy, and low in carbs.  All you need with the mix is: Beef, Broccoli, Onion, & Soy sauce.

It’s really is pretty easy too. It only took me about 10 minutes to make and was really tasty. Most grocery stores will have mixes like this available in there Asian food section, so if you can’t find this brand they may have another, just check the label though cause some brands will have much more carbs than others.

Carbs - 16
Dietary Fiber - 4
Net Carbs - 12

Guest-Post From A Friend of Poor Man's Atkins Who is Not On Atkins Himself

"If I eat that, it might make me die." 

If you have a non-Atkins-following-person/friend/family member who has just ordered an enormous dessert and is pestering you to partake with him or her merely for the sake of some kind of sugar-communion, this simple statement can be an effective way to get that person to shut up. 

Because if I had to guess (and this guess is an educated one, based on observing Mr. Poor Man's Atkins) (and myself, too),  I might suggest that the greatest temptation to cheat on Atkins must come when the Atkins-follower is out with friends, and the friends order their food as usual, without regard to the number of carbs contained within that food, and then invite the Atkins-follower to share their disregard. Dinner with friends is a communally enjoyed experience, so when the Atkins friend has limitations upon his diet, and refuses in some way what everyone else is eating, it can seem almost as if that friend is not participating wholly in the friendship itself. 

This is, of course, not true, but I can tell you as a friend-of-an-Atkins-follower that the temptation to tempt that person is strong. Even though I know that Tim is on Atkins, and that his experience with Atkins has been a tremendous success, I still try to get him to order this, and this, and this, and then to have waiter bring them all together on one plate with one enormous spoon, just like I do. When Tim does not do this, I almost feel offended that he will not choose to cheat with me. (Cheat on food, duh.) This is where the statement at the top of this post, although a bit hyperbolic, can be very effective. The Atkins-follower can allow his friend to see that his decision to refuse certain foods has everything to do with his health, and nothing to do with his friendship.

Because the Atkins-follower's forbearance causes the non-Atkins-follower to confront his own food choices. We almost always feel a little bit guilty when we order a great big dessert, so we want someone to do what we're doing, because it will make us feel less guilty. But, if you are on Atkins, you ought not to allow your carb-devouring friends tempt you with salvos of guilt with regards to your friendship. 

Take a bite of your Cobb salad, look your friend right in the eye, and say to him "Do not you wish me to live long enough to enjoy our friendship?" 

Works on me every time. 

A friend of Poor Mans Atkins
-Rene J. Scheys


You can read more musing by Rene at his blog: Might As Well Ask For More Consciousness

El Pollo Loco. The Crazy Chicken. Chicken So good its nuts.

Chicken is a mainstay for us low carbers so it was only natural that eventually I would end up at a fast food place called El Pollo Loco. Because no matter what, I know they at least have chicken. Its good chicken too. It is full of flavor and grilled over an open flame so it very healthy. Unfortunatly many of the menu items they incorporate the chicken into have high carb counts. There is one thing on the menu that's pretty tasty however. The Grilled Chicken Salad (it doesn't sound like much, but give it a chance.)

I like cilantro. I don't think I always have. I may have not even known what it was prior to moving to California. I mean Its not like the Midwest is known for their fields of fresh cilantro. After I came here I began to recognize this sweet new taste in many different Mexican dishes I would eat. The flavor sticks out to me a lot more now and I must say I appreciate what it brings to the right meal. The salad I had today for lunch was that right meal.

Salad includes
Romaine & iceberg lettuce
Cotija cheese
Cilantro
Pico De Gallo salsa
& tasty Chopped Boneless chicken breast.
Creamy Cilantro Dressing
(Salad comes with Tortilla Strips and Corn, but ask to take it off to drastically drop the carbs down)

I like to add a small side of guacamole for a little extra flavor to the salad and you can always add a little more salsa if you want some extra fiber. The dressing goes a long way since its so creamy as smooth so less is more here. This salad has a real nice fresh taste to it unlike many other fast food salads that feel premade and sit in a cooler waiting to be ordered. All in all for a fast food salad, I give it 5 stars. i really liked it.



One Salad (minus tortilla strips and corn)
Carbs - 13
Fiber - 5
Net Carbs - 8

FACT: I LOVE Cinnamon rolls. I mean seriously love them. They haunt my dreams. Just ask my wife. That being said yesterday some things went down.

Yes I went to America's Cup Self Serve Frozen Yogurt

Yes I know that frozen yogurt has carbs.

Yes they had No Sugar Added Cinnamon Roll yogurt.

Yes I had some 

and Yes, I regret nothing.

"Part of the secret of success in life is to eat what you like and let the food fight it out inside."  ~Mark Twain

I halfway believe this at certain times.