Iced Tea

I don’t really like drinking water – it seems too flavorless to me. Before this diet, I would drink plenty of soda, vitamin waters, powerades, teas, and coffees. Well, all of the diet drinks are out because they have artificial sweeteners, (which cause similar insulin effects as real sugar) and I’m trying to cut down on caffeine as my stomach doctor tells me that caffeine can cause heartburn. So, I’m not left with very much sadly. Caffeine free iced tea has become my consolation. It’s really easy to make, and you can use just about any kind of tea, from black teas to green teas to herbal teas. There’s a lot of interesting tea flavors out there so there’s plenty of variety to keep me from getting bored with one taste. I just bought the Rishi Blueberry Red, which is a blend of rooibos, hibiscus, licorice root, and blueberries.

How to make iced tea:

1. Boil some water in an electric kettle or on the stove (make sure the water actually boils). I use the Aroma AWK-115S electric kettle because it’s so easy. (I tend to forget about things on the stove, which then usually ends in a mini emergency with the fire alarm blaring away.)



2. Pour the hot water into the tea pot with the tea bag (I use one of the Rishi tea bags with about 1.5 liters (or 50 oz.) of water. Then let it cool for a few hours before taking the tea bag out and pouring the tea into a jug to put into the fridge. Of course, you can take the tea bag out earlier if you want a weaker tea. You also don’t have to put it into a jug before putting into the fridge – I just prefer it as my jug is prettier!
3. If you’re in a hurry to drink you iced tea, just put some ice cubes into a glass and pour the tea in.

To make it look even prettier, you can add some freshly crushed blueberries into the tea after it’s been refrigerated. Another favorite tea of mine is barley tea (they serve it in many korean restaurants). You can buy the Marubishi barley tea online at amazon.com or you can probably find it at your local oriental supermarket. Of course, you don’t have to make cold iced tea. You can also drink all of these teas hot!

Chocolate Almond Dessert

I hate prix fixe menus now because it forces me to get a dessert course that I can’t eat! I’m usually forced to eat a few berries while watching everyone else at the table gorge themselves on chocolate fondant or strawberry cheesecake, or some other tempting dessert. I miss desserts. Sigh!

I’ve searched through many of the low carb dessert recipes out there (and I try lots of the pre-made low carb desserts too), but it just seems wrong to replace sugar with Splenda or some other fake substance. (Fake sugars have similar insulin effects as eating real sugar, so it really shouldn’t be part of a low carb diet – I know, there’s disagreement there!) Anyway, my solution is the chocolate almond dessert (yummy and low carb!)

What you will need:

1. 2 tablespoons of almond butter (other nut butters are good too like peanut butter, although some diets won’t allow peanuts). I get fresh almond butter from wholefoods,ama
2. 2 pieces (56g) of Baker’s unsweetened baking chocolate (or some similar unsweetened dark chocolate above 75%). There is 8g of net carbs in the 2 pieces of Baker’s.
3. 1 teaspoon of coconut oil (optional).

Cooking instructions:

1. Place the almond butter and the chocolate together in a microwavable bowl and place on the high setting for 1 minute or until the chocolate melts.
2. Stir the mixture until the almond butter and melted chocolate are evenly distributed.
3. Using a piece of kitchen towel, spread the coconut oil on all the sides of the container that you want your chocolate to be molded into – this can be a bowl, the bottom of a glass, or just a piece of tin foil. I went for a tin that I had lying around, but the bottom of a glass for a round piece of chocolate would work well too!
4. Spoon the chocolate almond butter mixture into your oiled contained and place into the refrigerator for 2 hours.



5. Take the chocolate bar out of the container – you might need to use a knife to scrape around the edges for it to pop out. And there you have it – a praline-like bar of soft delicious dessert. If you want more nuts, you can also add chopped up hazelnuts (or other nuts) on top of the chocolate bar after it has been in the fridge for about 10 minutes. You can also cut the bar into strips and put onto low carb ice-cream from an even for better dessert!

Slow Cooker Pot Roast

There are some simple inventions that I wish I could have thought of! Toilet seat covers is one of them (I never understand why people laugh at me when I tell them that!) and the slow cooker is another. I’ve always hated cooking meat. I usually either undercook the meat or burn it until it disintegrates into bits of black soot. The slow cooker is simple. It’s pretty hard to undercook it or overcook it! No matter what you do – the meat always comes out tender and full of flavor! So, here’s my recipe (modifications you can make to the basic recipe are at the end):

What you will need:

1. Slow cooker. I have the Presto 06001, which doubles as a convenient deep frier, but I would probably recommend one with a timer as well as temperature settings, like the Hamilton Beach 33967.
2. 2lbs of beef (I like to use a cheap cut like the bottom round roast, but you can use most cuts that would be suitable for a roast). Cut the meat into 1lb pieces like the ones shown in the photo.
3. 2 cups (0.5 quarts or 500ml) of soy sauce (you can use the gluten free or low sodium or even coconut aminos depending on what you’re avoiding in your diet).
4. 3 tablespoons of sea salt.
5. 1 tablespoon of onion powder or minced onion.
6. 1 tablespoon of garlic powder.
7. 1 tablespoon of cilantro leaves (this is optional – you can also use fresh cilantro).

Cooking Instructions:

1. Put all the ingredients into the slow cooker.
2. Fill the slow cooker with enough water to cover the meat (approximately 4 cups). You can let the meat marinade in the slow cooker with no heat for 2 hours so that the meat is more flavorful, but this is optional.
3. Put the lid onto the slowcooker, turn on the heat to 325F, and cook for 8 hours.

Wasn’t that simple?? I like the 8 hours cook time because if your slow cooker doesn’t have a timer (like mine), then you can put the meat in just before bed and then voila it’s all cooked when you get up in the morning. You can then take it out of the slow cooker, place it on a plate to cool for a bit and then stick it into the fridge.

You can eat the meat just by itself or with some extra soy sauce or chili sauce for more flavor. I like to put the meat in the fridge so that it hardens a bit and then to cut it into thin slices. I then dip it in soy sauce or chili sauce.

Modifications

1. For a more Chinese flavor to the meat (as if the soy sauce wasn’t enough!), you can add in 3 or 4 star of anise and 1 tablespoon of Sichuan (or SzeChuan) peppercorns (see photo). I buy these down in Chinatown, New York. I’m sure your local Chinese supermarket will carry them, or if you prefer, Amazon.com also sells them!
2. For a more traditional pot roast, replace the soy sauce with 3 cans of beef broth.
3. If you want some tasty vegetables with your pot roast, try adding some carrots or daikon (also known as white radish, Japanese radish, Oriental radish, Chinese radish or lo bok). Cut the carrots or radishes into half inch thick slices and throw them into the slow cooker an hour before the meat is done. All the flavor gets cooked into the veggies, making them soft and delicious.

Protein Shake Recipes

You don’t have to be a body-builder to drink protein shakes.  They’re great-tasting and nutritious and can make a great breakfast or snack.  What I love about them is just how fast and simple they are to make.  Breakfast takes less than 5 minutes with these!  Click on the links below for more information – there are recipes and more info on protein shakes.

Recipes:
1.  Berrytastic Shake
2.  The Low Calorie Thick Shake
3.  Black and White Shake
4.  Simple Chocolate Shake

More Info:
1.  Which protein powder is best?
2.  Which “milk” (water, coconut milk, regular milk, or almond milk) should you use?
3.  Why drink protein shakes?
4.  How to make your shakes thicker?
5.  Which blender is best?