Non-Food Product: OXO Kitchen Supplies

OXO seems to be my favorite brand for kitchen supplies. My favorite knife, a paring knife, is my go-to for everything: fruit, cheese, veggies, sometimes even meat, opening stubborn containers.... It has a nice, soft, non-slip handle.
The knife in question:

The knife seems to be out of stock, but there is a similar knife on oxo's website; it has a different handle though.
















I also found out that our oven mitts are oxo brand. These are nice because the silicone is further heat-resistant, and is super easily to rinse off if stuff gets on them. Accidentally stick your thumb in the casserole? No problem. Just wipe it off. The downside to just cotton/cloth is the staining; and the downside to just silicone is the lack of heat-resistance. These combine both for the best of both worlds. We've had these for years. There's a small rip in the joint between the thumb and the index finger on one of them, but otherwise they've help up remarkably well. There is a magnet embedded in them, so they'll sort of stick together or to metal. They don't stick to my fridge. Too heavy.

There are several different colors available: Cherry (Red), Licorice (Black), Blueberry (shown-Blue), Key Lime (Green), and from Amazon only, Lemon Chiffon (Yellow)















The meat tenderizer is also oxo brand. It's quite heavy, and pounds any cut of meat out, even ones with a good bit of connective tissue. Works great on chicken breasts too. Also great for crushing nuts, cookies, crackers, etc. for a recipe.

They also make mixing bowls with a non slip silicone bottom! How cool is that? No slipping or sliding when you're putting some elbow grease into a mixture. :) If I find any other oxo products in my house, I'll try to add.

Update: No Recipes for a While....

Hey, just wanted to let you know that I will be unable to cook pretty much anything good enough to put on the blog for a while. Mostly because my kitchen looks like this:

right now. I literally don't have a kitchen. All I have is the fridge, the oven/stove, coffee pot, and if I brought it up from the basement, the slow cooker. No counter to put it on though.

Anyway, I'll be sure to post before-and-afters of the beautiful kitchen when it's all done. I'm also super busy with both summer classes and 27 hours of work a week right now, so I'm lucky if I get to eat anything besides bars or (costly) delicious take-out/pre-cooked stuff from Wegmans. I hope you're having a good week and that you had a relaxing Memorial Day weekend. :)

Low Carb Products: A better list *(UPDATED: 11/4/15)*

Here is a good list of products that may make your low carb life easier. When possible, I've included a link to each product.

Coffee Creamer
CoffeeMate Italian Sweet Cream
(see my post on homemade coffee creamer and my gripes about Nestle)
This is my favorite, you don't need to add any extra sugar substitute.

Coffee
Kahlua French Vanilla or Original Coffee

Miso Soup
Edward and Sons
1 packet makes 2 servings of soup; split one with a friend! ~3.5g net carbs per serving

Pumpkin Seeds, unshelled:
BIGS Lightly Salted and Roasted
1/3 c= 3g net carbs

Pudding
Jell-O Sugar Free Dulce de Leche (Alex's favorite)
note: many sites list the carb info wrong. The actual package says 10g carbs - 4g sugar alcohols = 6g net carbs

All of their other sugar free products

Wegmans Brand Sugar Free Pudding
They have Chocolate, Dark Chocolate, and Vanilla Chocolate Swirl, 14g - 8g sug alc.= 6g net carbs
This is delicious topped with a few sliced strawberries. The dark chocolate is my favorite.

Kerrygold Grassfed Skellig Cheese
My favorite real cheddar cheese.

Kerrygold Grassfed Irish Sweetcream Salted Butter
The absolute BEST butter on the market. Sweet, creamy, extraordinarily flavorful and rich. Beautiful golden yellow color due to the cow's grass diet. It's so good you could eat it by itself. Also available in unsalted (silver package).

Safeway Brand Refreshe flavored waters
Available in lemon, lime, berry, and pomegranate flavors. No calories. Sorry, no picture

Smuckers Sugar Free Jellies, Marmalades, and Jams. Available in Apricot, Blueberry, Boysenberry, Cherry, Concord Grape, Orange Marmalade, Peach Preserves, Raspberry, Blackberry, Strawberry Jam, and Strawberry Preserves. All are sweetened with Splenda. They do have two that are sweetened with Truvia: Blackberry Jam and Strawberry Preserves. 5g total - 4sug. alc. =1g net carbs

Blue Diamond Almonds
Roasted and Salted 5g - 3g fiber = 2g net carbs
They have 5 traditional flavors and 6 "bold" flavors: Honey Dijon, Jalapeno Smokehouse, Wasabi and Soy Sauce, Habanero Chili, Lime 'n Chili, and Salt and Vinegar
28 nuts=170 calories

Wild Planet Salmon and Tuna
Best tasting tuna I've ever eaten. It's so good you can eat it straight from the can without adding anything! This company works hard to keep their fish populations sustainable, and keeps dolphins out of nets. No farmed fish is used.
See their sustainability standards here

Sustainable Seas Tuna:
This is another brand of tuna I like.

Wegmans Tom Tom Sauce:
a chili-garlic sauce with a red miso base, this sauce is wonderful on stir-fried veggies, chicken, or pork. Probably on fish too.

DaVinci Sugar Free Syrups
They have a TON of flavors, sweetened with Splenda, not malitol so it's easy on the stomach. These can be used in drinks such as alcoholic drinks and coffee, but also in desserts and cooking where granulated or powdered sugar products just won't work.

Pepperidge Farm Carb Style Bread, 5 g net carbs
Good for when you or your kids really need/want bread, but you want to limit carbs. Ok for those on a low carb diet, but not for Keto or Paleo.

 

G Hughes Sugar Free BBQ Sauce

Very yummy, albeit sweet if you like sweet BBQ sauce.



Mission Carb Balance Whole Wheat Tortillas
6g net carbs

Wonderful for making enchiladas; they're nice and large. For smaller tortillas, see next in the list.



Tumaro's "Low in Carbs" brand of wraps
range from 4-7g net carbs, available at Wegmans
The Multi-Grain only has 4 carbs and is the perfect size for snacking.

Lemon Mint Water and Revised Hot Cocoa

I made this lemon mint water on a whim tonight to go with dinner. It was delicious. It reminds me of metro water, a brand that uses mint as a flavoring.

Lemon Mint Water

handful fresh mint leaves,  washed
1/4 c. santa cruz organic lemon juice
1 liter/quart filtered water

In a small sauce pan, bring the mint leaves, lemon juice, and 1 cup of water to a boil. Press on the leaves with a spatula or spoon to bruise them so they release their flavor. Turn off the heat and let the mixture cool. You can add some ice cubes to speed this up. Either mix this concentrated mixture to the liter of water and serve, or add a bit of the concentrate to each glass and add ice and water. The "concentrate" can be easily stored in the fridge if you are low on space.


This hot cocoa recipe is made with real cocoa and doesn't give you a stomach ache from the sugar free Hershey's chocolate syrup I was using before. It tastes a lot more real.

Hot Cocoa

1/3 c. heavy cream
2/3 c. water
1/4 c. sugar free coffee creamer
2 tsp. cocoa powder
1 squirt stevia extract

Mix all in a mug and microwave until hot. Stir until all the cocoa is dissolved.

Feta Basil Burgers

This is a recipe that I made up, and it turned out pretty good.

Feta Basil Burgers

1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. ground sausage (16 oz.)
4 oz. crumbled feta cheese
a handful of Italian basil leaves, washed and chopped
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. garlic powder or 1 tsp. fresh minced garlic
1/4 c. Parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp. lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
1 8 oz. ball fresh mozzarella (for topping burgers with, don't mix this in)

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Use your hands to combine all ingredients thoroughly. I put some nitrile gloves on to do this- easy clean-up. Shape into patties about 3 1/2 inches wide and about 3/4 inch thick. Place on a baking pan and bake at 350 F for about 25 minutes or until internal temp reaches about 165 F. Place a slice of mozzarella on top and serve. Adding extra basil is optional.

Hot Spinach Artichoke Dip

Alex had been wanting a hot spinach dip. The difference between hot and cold spinach dip is usually there is more cheese in a baked dip, and more mayo/sour cream in a cold dip. Cold dip sometimes has an onion soup mix pack in it.

Hot Spinach Artichoke Dip

2 10 oz. pkgs. frozen spinach

1 10 oz. jar marinated artichokes

8 oz. full fat sour cream

1 8 oz. bag shredded cheddar/mozzarella/colby/whatever

1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp. lemon juice

1 and 1/3 c. parmesan-romano grated cheese

1/2 c. heavy cream

1 tsp. garlic powder (or several minced fresh cloves of garlic)

1 tsp. onion powder (you could saute a shallot and 1/4 an onion in butter instead, if you wish)

Thaw and drain the spinach. I put mine in a colander and run hot water over it while breaking it up with my hands. Drain artichokes, rough chop them into ~1/2 inch pieces. Combine everything in a baking dish and mix well. Bake at 350 F for about 25-30 minutes. Check after about 20 minutes to make sure the edges don't burn. Remove from oven when the edges are golden brown and starting to crisp.

Cucumber & Blueberry Salad with Feta

I am posting dinner tonight in 3 separate entries so each dish can be found easily. This dish is a Wegmans recipe. My coworker demo'ed it all day to the public, and most people loved it. So I tried it and decided that since it was already pretty low carb, I'd make it and post it here. Wegmans makes it super easy to make their recipes because it usually includes pre-made sauces or dressings, pre-chopped veggies, or pre-portioned and seasoned meat. If you don't have a Wegmans near you, you can still easily get all of the ingredients.

Cucumber & Blueberry Salad with Feta

3 cucumbers, or 1 large cucumber ("Greenhouse Grown Seedless Cucumber"), enough to equal 4 cups
2 c. fresh blueberries (I don't recommend frozen for this dish) (for lower carbs, use only 1 cup of blueberries)
1/2 c. Wegmans brand White Balsamic Vinaigrette* or Greek dressing
3 Tbsp. chopped fresh mint leaves
1 c. crumbled feta cheese

*If there's no Wegmans near you, you can make your own:

White Balsamic Vinaigrette
¾ cup extra virgin olive oil
¼ cup white balsamic vinegar
1-2 packets of Stevia
pinch of garlic powder
1 Tbsp lemon juice (I like Santa Cruz organic lemon juice, best on the market)

salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/4 tsp. Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp. xanthan or guar gum

Mix all ingredients except for oil. Mix in oil and shake well. Use 1/2 c. of this dressing in the salad.

Wash the cucumber(s), blueberries, and mint leaves (pick leaves off stem). Cut cucumber(s) in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds with a knife or spoon. Slice cucumber into long, thin slices, then mince into 1/4 inch size pieces. Chop mint leaves. Mix the cucumbers, blueberries, mint leaves, and feta in a large bowl. Sprinkle salt and pepper over to taste. Pour over the dressing and mix thoroughly. Chill or serve immediately.

Product I Love: Edward & Sons Miso-Cup: Instant Miso Soup

Miso soup is a Japanese traditional food. Miso is made by fermenting soybeans with salt and fungus. The stock into which the miso paste is mixed into is called dashi. Sometimes miso soup contains small cubes of tofu, shiitake mushrooms, or strips of nori (seaweed). I found an instant miso soup that I love. It only has 4 carbs per serving. Each packet contains 2 servings worth of powder. It comes in seaweed and golden vegetable. This is a good alternative to chicken broth when you need your electrolytes. You can also turn this into a dish by adding the things listed above (tofu, mushrooms, nori). Enjoy! 

Cinco de Mayo Chicken with Cauliflower Rice and Sour Cream Sauce

This recipe ended up tasting a lot like our baked chicken wings, but less spicy. I really liked it, and while it's not really "Mexican" in flavor per say, it's still delicious. If you have cilantro and lime juice, you could add that to the rice instead of my turmeric. I just wanted the yellow color but didn't have any saffron.

Cinco de Mayo Chicken

1 lb. chicken thighs
2 Tbsp. chili powder
1 tsp. mustard powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. paprika
1 tsp. oregano
1 Tbsp. cumin

Mix all spices on a plate. You can adjust the spices to taste. Place a cookie rack on top of a baking sheet. I put a silpat between them to make the grease easier to clean off. Coat the chicken in the spice mixture and place on the cookie rack. Bake at 375 for 20-30 minutes.

Yellow "Rice"

1/2 head cauliflower
3/4 tsp. turmeric powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 c. Wegmans basting oil (or grapeseed/corn/veggie/olive oil)

Wash and rough chop the cauliflower into large pieces. Place pieces into a food processor/Ninja and pulse until cauliflower resembles rice. In a nonstick pan, heat oil. Add all spices and mix into the oil. Saute cauliflower in oil until completely yellow, and some of the water is evaporated, about 5 minutes.

Sour Cream Sauce

1/2 c. sour cream or plain greek yogurt
1/2 c. heavy cream
1/2 tsp. salt
dash of black pepper
pinch of garlic and onion powder to taste

Mix all ingredients and serve over the chicken and "rice".