Smashed Cauliflower

This is how we love our cauliflower instead of mashed potatoes

Smashed Cauliflower

6 cups cauliflower, steamed, drained and smashed
1 tbsp butter
1/4 cup Fried onions rings (like French's)
4 tbsp light sour cream
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
3 tbsp Ranch seasoning

After cauliflower is smashed, add the rest of the ingredients and mix well.

Servings per recipe: 8
Serving size: about 1/2 cup
Calories per serving:  80 calories

Roasted Vegetables

We eat a lot of roasted vegetables.  I have discovered my kids will eat almost any vegetable if it is roasted.

Here are some of the vegetables we use often but you can roast most anything. 

Roasted Vegetables

2 large sweet potatoes

8 large carrots

7 medium beets

olive oil spray (11 seconds)

1 tbsp chili powder

1 tbsp smoked paprika

1 tbsp Greek seasoning

salt and pepper to taste

Cut all vegetables into medium size pieces and place on pan. Sprinkle seasonings evenly then spray with olive oil spray.

Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes until tender and browned.

Servings per recipe: 8

Serving size: about 1 cup

Calories per serving 72

You can roast almost any vegetable.  We have roasted Brussel sprouts, mushrooms, bell peppers, broccoli and cauliflower.  Just adjust the calories according to the veggies you use.  You can also change the seasonings to match what you are serving.  If you are doing and Asian meal then use Asian seasonings and so on.

Kale Chips

This has become one of our favorite snacks since starting this diet.  There are a lot of different recipes out there for these but we like these spicy ones the best.

Kale Chips

5 cups Kale chips
2 tsp Greek seasoning
2 tsp chili powder
2 tsp smoked paprika
2 tsp crushed red pepper
salt and pepper to taste
15 sec olive oil spray

Pour kale onto baking pan.  Sprinkle seasonings evenly over the Kale. Spray with olive oil spray.
Bake @ 275 for 7 minutes. Stir. Cook another 7 minutes.

If you can wait, they are better once they cool. They become crispy.  My kids can't hold off.  They are usually gone before they cool.

Servings per recipe: 5
servings size: about 1/2 cup
Calories per serving: 45

Chicken and Okra Gumbo

I'm from Louisiana so I love Gumbo.  Here is an easy low cal recipe that is delicious. I skipped the sausage and just made a small roux.  This cuts the calories but not the taste.

Crock Pot Chicken and Okra Gumbo

4 (4oz) chicken breast, cubed
8 cups okra, frozen
1 tbsp worchestire sauce
2 tsp onion powder
Slap ya mama (or other Cajun seasoning) to taste
2 cups old black coffee (I use what's left from the morning or even the day before)
4 cups water
salt and pepper to taste

 Add all of the ingredients to crock pot. Make a roux and add to crock pot (see recipe below).  Place on high and cook 8-10 hours (the longer it cooks the better).  You may have to thicken towards the end with 2 tbsp cornstarch and about 1/2 cup water.  Mix the cornstarch and water well then add some of the warm liquid from the gumbo before pouring it in so it doesn't clump. Do this at least an hour before ready to serve so it can come to a boil again.

How to make a roux

4 tbsp canola oil

1/2 cup all purpose flour

Pour oil in a cast iron pan. Mix in flour.  Cook over low to medium heat stirring constantly with a metal spoon.  Keep cooking until the desired color (I make mine dark. I stop cooking when the roux is about the color of  black coffee). This is a slow process.  Just be patient. Keep the fire low.  A roux can burn easily.

Makes 9 servings
Serving size: about 1 cup (probably a little more)
Calories per servings: 165 calories

Serve with 3/4 cup cauliflower for a total of 187 calories. Very delicious meal.

Asian Slaw

This is another recipe that's so easy I'm embarassed to put it on the blog.  But it's so good and quick and low cal.  You just have to try it.

2 pkg shredded cabbage (for coleslaw)
1 bottle Simply Dressed Ginger Sesame Dressing

Mix together and chill about 30 minutes.  Its delicious.  Awesome quick side dish

Servings per container: 9
Serving Size: 1 cup
Calories per servings: 123

I've also made it in single servings 1 cup shredded cabbage and 2 tbsp dressing - calories per serving this way 98.

Cauliflower used for rice or potatoes

We use cauliflower a lot.  As a substitute for rice or potatoes.  So here is the recipe for both

Cauliflower for rice

2 heads of cauliflower

Cut cauliflower off core. Place in colander and rinse well.  Steam in colander until tender.  Put cauliflower in bowl and with a spatula chop until fine. (about the size of rice).

For Potatoes

After cooking cauliflower mash with potato masher or put in a blender or food processor until the consistency of potatoes.

Serving size 3/4 - 1 cup
Calories 22-29 calories.

That cuts the calories drastically if replacing your rice or potatoes.

3/4 cup of potatoes is 149 calories
3/4 cup rice is 154 calories. - Big difference.

Video of Joe making his biscuits

It's finally here!  The video you've all been waiting for!  A video of Joe making biscuits! He'd make a good food network host. LOL!

Diet tips

People ask us all the time since we have started this diet "What are ya'll doing?"  So I decided to give a few of our tips. And please understand, we are a family that loves to eat.  The more decadent the better.  We are like most people out there.  We were on prepetual diets that failed constantly.  I have even taken diet pills.  Yes, they worked, but within two years I weighed more than before I started.  My husband and I were really concerned over our weight as well as our children's.  We have lamented over this for a long time but nothing seemed to work.  When we started this diet (actually my husband started first) the kids and I thought it would be like so many other times he sai,d he was going to loose weight. It would last 3-4 days,. No weight loss. He gets aggravated and gives up, leaving us unable to stick to the diet because to drown his sorrows he wanted the biggest, most fattening hamburger he could get.  After a week of this diet he was loosing weight, he was excited and not giving up.  It took the kids and I about a week before we got excited.  Once we knew he was going to stick to the diet, we knew we could.  So the whole family got on the band wagon.  We all started eating 1200 calories a day with very low carbs and very few sweets.

We basically eat meat and veggies. But occasionally, we do have ice cream or girl scout cookies or what ever we are craving AS LONG AS WE HAVE THE CALORIES FOR IT.  Especially with the younger kids the rule is if you have the calories and want to eat it, then eat it. But we have noticed on the weeks we eat more sweets we tend to lose less weight.

The first month we stuck to the no carbs or sweets. No breads, pasta, rice and very little fruit. Except for Christmas day we did not stray from that for the first month. Then the second month we did an occasional ice cream cone from Mcdonalds or smoothie  Only about twice that month.  By the end of January, Joe had lost 35lbs and my self and the older two had lost almost 20lbs.  Audrey had reached her goal of 12lbs and Camille had lost 15lbs.  Not bad for 2 months of dieting.

It has become easy to follow.  We check calories before we eat the food so we know how much we are eating.  Several times we have decided "it's not worth the calories".  My son, Royce, has decided he can't eat a peanut butter ball again. 110 calories per ball. You know how many we used to eat at Christmas. The whole container. Can you imagine how many calories we were consuming.  The same thing with Girl Scout cookies (the 4 girls are GS so we have tons of cookies in the house this time of year) We ate the serving size - not the entire box (like we did in years past). 4 thin mints for 160 calories, 2 samoas for 150 calories, 2 tagalongs for 140 calories.  One morning after I got off work, I ate 2 tagalongs and 4 thin mints and enjoyed every minute of it.  I did go 100 calories over my calorie goal but it was a conscious choice to do so and I don't do it every day.  Usually we are way under our calorie goal.  In fact, I had to make a rule in the house that the kids have to eat 1000 calories a day.  Sometimes, at the end of the day, they have only eaten 500-600 calories. It just depends on what we eat.

We try to keep the meals around 300-400 calories. It's become a game to try to get supper the lowest amount of calories I can.

We still have gravies and spaghetti sauce. We just eat it over spaghetti squash or cauliflower.  We eat almost no bread.  Anything you would eat on bread, we now eat on a salad.  Oh, and we discovered yogurt dressings.  Much tastier than light or fat free dressings.

We try to eat high protien meals because protien keeps you fuller longer. Some people worry that my younger kids and teens aren't getting enough vitamins.  But trust me we eat so much more healthier than we did before.  We would go all week without eating a vegetable before we changed our way of eating.  The kids don't drink milk like they used to (we went from 8 gal a week to less than a gal). But we do eat cheese sticks and yogurt.  We love to snack on baby bell cheeses. Light or regular.

We eat more fresh veggies these days. But don't think you can't afford to eat healthy. Now that the entire family is on the bandwagon, we are saving a lot on groceries.  I'm not buying junk food and we are eating a lot less, I mean a lot less.  1200 calories as opposed to 2000-3000.  Big difference.

We also eat a lot of  Schwan's food.  Very easy, quick and convienient.  They have a Live Smart line that is very low cal and healthy but there are also other things that are low cal.  I get the cheese burgers, corn dogs, pepperoni rolls and meatball sandwiches.  These make a quick low cal lunch for the kids.  I also enjoy the English muffin turkey breakfast sandwich.

I hope this helps some. I know I've been long winded but just trying to share what we do.  Trust me if our family can do it, anyone can.

Omlets. Yummy!

We have discovered omlets.  If we eat an omlet mid morning then we aren't hungry until supper. You can put just about anything you want.  One of my favorites are broccli and cheese.  The kids favorite is a turkey pepperoni omlet with cheese.  So that is the one I'm going to post.

Turkey Pepperoni Omlet

1 egg
1/4 cup egg beaters
1/4 cup mozerrella cheese
8 slices turkey pepperoni
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp Siracha
1 tsp pizza seasoning
1 tsp chives
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil spray

Mix egg and egg beaters well.  Add pepper flakes, Siracha, pizza seasoning, salt and pepper.  Spray small non-stick pan with olive oil spray.  Heat pan over medium heat.  When pan is hot add egg mixture.  Place cheese and pepperoni on 1/2 of pan.  Let eggs cook for about 3 minutes until bubbly on top.  Fold egg mixture in half.  Cook another 1-2 minutes the flip folded eggs with large spatula.  Cook another 1-2 minutes until eggs are cooked through.  (Sometimes the eggs will fall apart when trying to flip but don't worry then you will have scrambled egg omlet)

You can add anything you like. Mushrooms, spinach, different kinds of cheeses, tomatos.  The list goes on and on.  Just adjust the calories for whatever you add. 

Servings size 1 omlet
Calories per serving: 235 calories

Lemon Pepper Tilapia

This is such an easy recipe I hate to even list it as a recipe but it was very good and low calorie so I think it's worth sharing.

Lemon Pepper Tilapia

10 Tilapia fillets 4 oz a piece

Mustard  and lemon pepper to taste

Place Tilapia fillets in a glass baking pan.  Coat well with mustard and season with lemon pepper seasoning to taste.  Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20 minutes.  

That's it.  Really! That's it.  It came out so good and flaky.  Perfect for weeknights when you need a quick meal

This is how it looks after seasoning. I forgot to take a pic after we cooked it. Sorry. 

Servings per recipe: 10

Serving size: 1 fillet

Calories per serving: 110

AND WE ATE BISCUITS - YES JOE'S BISCUITS

And let them eat biscuits, or is that cake? Well for those who have eaten my husband Joe's biscuits, they know his biscuits are way better than cake any day.  Yes, we had decedent homemade biscuits for supper. 2 1/2 to be exact with apple butter, honey and butter.  And still 145 calories under my goal for the day.  I love this diet

So the recipe is going on the blog.  No, they are not healthy but every once and a while you just need them.  And, this is also for all those we work with who have been wanting the recipe.  Probably tomorrow I'll put the video on here of him making them, but for tonight its just the recipe. He made them a little different tonight, a little smaller and a little less oil, to help with the calories but the video has the original recipe.  These we had tonight were just as good as the original

Joe's Homemade Biscuits (lighter version)
\4 tbsp canola oil
4- 4.5 cups Self Rising Flour approx
2/3 cup butter flavor Crisco
4 cups butter milk (full fat)

Heat oven to 475. Pour oil into bottom of cast iron skillet or biscuit pan.  Place pan in oven and let heat while mixing dough.

Cut Crisco into 4 cups of  flour until crumbly.  Add the buttermilk in increments and stir until well mixed. The consistency you want is slightly sticky but not runny.  Add more flour if needed to get desired consistency

Take hot pan out of oven (carefully). Powder hands with flour (you need to do this every time before you take a pinch) and pinch off approx an egg size amount and shape into biscuit shape (doesn't have to be perfect). It should make 17 biscuits. Oh, and again, drop the biscuits in the pan very carefully. The pan and oil are very hot.

Cook 6 min on bottom rack, then 6 min on top rack then place under the broiler for a few minutes until brown.
Take a stick of butter and smear approximately 1 tbsp over entire batch.

If you come up with 17 biscuits the calories are 200 per biscuit.  Well worth the calories. Trust me!

Jalapeno Poppers

We love Jalapeno Poppers.  Our favorite is Pioneer Woman Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Popper but way too many calories. So I changed it up some to make it lighter but still yummy.

Jalapeno Poppers

20 jalapeno peppers
16 oz light cream cheese
1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp smoked paprika
6 slice bacon fried crisp, drained well and chopped
1/4 cup BBQ sauce

Preheat oven at 350 degrees

Wearing gloves, slice jalapenos in half length wise and remove seeds and veins. Then rinse well.

Royce washed these and didn't take the veins out so the poppers were quite spicy

Mix cream cheese, cheese and seasoning with mixer until well blended.  Stir in chopped bacon.


Spoon small amount of cream cheese mixture into each jalapeno half.  Place on grill pan (I put foil in the bottom of the grill pan for easy clean up). Bake for 30 minutes.


 Brush each popper with small amount of BBQ sauce and bake for another 10 minutes.


Servings per recipe: 20
Serving size: 2 poppers
Calories per servings: 90 calories

We had 2 servings of  these, baked lemon pepper talapia and a salad for supper tonight for a total of 355 calories

Cheesy Baked Spaghetti Squash

This is a definite do over.  We loved this. Cheesy Baked Spaghetti Squash. Again the original recipe came from Skinny Taste  http://www.skinnytaste.com/2013/01/baked-spaghetti-squash-and-cheese.html. This one  I didn't change too much.

Cheesy Baked Spaghetti Squash

8 cups spaghetti squash (3 small)
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 cups 1% milk
1 cup chicken broth
2 tsp onion powder
ranch seasoning, salt and pepper to taste
1 cup part skim mozzarella cheese
3  - 1/4 inch slices of Velveeta cheese (cut into cubes)
4 cups baby spinach
4 tbsp Parmesan cheese

Cook spaghetti squash. The easiest way I have found to cook it is to take a knife and stab the squash several times (5-6).Heat oven to 375 degrees. Place the whole squash directly on the oven rack and bake for 1 hour.  Once the squash has cooled some (about 15 min.) cut squash in half with a knife. Scoop out the seeds in the middle. Then with a spoon scoop out the inside. It will come out in strings and look like spaghetti. Set aside. (You can also season the squash with some ranch and salt and pepper)

 For the sauce:

Heat butter and oil in sauce pan over low heat. Add cornstarch and cook about 2-3 minutes. Add milk while whisking constantly. Once mixture is smooth, add chicken broth and seasonings. Stir constantly once you add the milk.  Once mixture starts to warm whisk in mozzarella and Velveeta cheeses and spinach. Bring to boil and remove from heat once it is thick. Make sure to to stir constantly and keep on low heat. It can burn easily.

Mix together sauce and spaghetti. Place in baking dish and top with Parmesan cheese. Bake at 375 for 20-30 min until bubbly.


Servings per recipe: 8
Serving Size 1 cup
Calories per serving: 173 calories

Lower Cal Bang Bang Shrimp

Here is what we had for dinner last night, Bang bang shrimp.  I found the original recipe Banging Good Shrimp on www.skinnytaste.com. She has some awesome recipes.  We get a lot of our ideas and recipes from this web site. I tweaked this recipe a little to suit our taste.

Lower cal Bang Bang Shrimp

Sauce
2 tsp ground chili paste
1 cup light sour cream
3 Tbl mayonnaise
1/2 cup chili sauce
3 Tbl Siracha

Mix together and set aside

3 lbs peeled shrimp
2 Tbl cornstarch

Mix together shrimp and cornstarch







Heat 2 Tbsp oil in a large skillet. Add shrimp when oil is hot. Cook shrimp for 3 minutes.





 Add sauce and cook another 2-3 minutes until shrimp are cooked

Serve immediately.  Enjoy
Servings: 7
Serving size: 3/4 cup
Calories per serving: 200





We served this with Cheesy Baked spaghetti squash and grilled asparagus (recipes to follow soon - hopefully) for a total of 413 calories for the meal.  Very delicious and satisfying.

Meet the family

Taken 1 week after starting the diet

I am a wife, a mother, and a registered nurse. I work part-time at the local hospital and I homeschool my children. My husband is also a registered nurse and works full time at the local hospital and also pastors the local Primitive Baptist Church. My in-laws also live with us. My family loves to cook and eat.  As a result we are all overweight (except for the youngest child).

We started a family diet on December 1, 2012 after a shopping trip to buy new winter clothes. My husband had to go up a pants size and became very discouraged.  We started eating 1200 cal/day low carb and low sweets.  This has made meal time challenging but fun. I have to keep food  interesting with lots of variety. My kids aren't the chicken nugget, burger kind. For their birthday dinners they ask for steaks and seafood. (however, my youngest, Ava, could eat her weight in McDonald chicken nuggets). In 3 months the family have collectively lost 166 lbs (that's equivalent to 2 1/2 of our children - scary)

I plan on posting recipes we use for our meals.  I basically use normal foods, not diet.  We have replaced finely chopped cauliflower for rice, mashed cauliflower for potatoes and spaghetti squash for pasta.  This saves a ton of calories.  We also use myfittnesspal.com to track our calories. It makes life very easy.

For snacks we eat a lot of 100 cal packs of beef jerky, boiled eggs and pickles. We have also discovered special K pastry snacks and granola squares (both less than 100 cal). Joe, my husband, eats a lot of fish steaks and sardines (the kids and I don't care for those). We have recently found No pudge fudge brownies that are made with yogurt and you can make one brownie at a time. Just be careful not to eat too many sweets because it adds carbs and can slow down weight loss.