Drunken Roast Chicken

I made a few changes to this recipe from what the cookbook said to do. The book said to bake it and I grilled it instead. I had to change an ingredient too. The original recipe said to use plum sauce. The plum sauce was too high in carbs so I used Sugar Free Damson Plum jelly that I get at the local Amish Market. It is only 3 carbs per serving. Even my husband loved this recipe and wants it again.

I was a bit surprised that my husband even ate the plum sauce mixture to dip the chicken into but he loved it. He is my very picky eater. The red pepper flakes makes it a bit spicy and the plum jelly makes it a bit sweet. The two together was perfect.

Drunken Roast Chicken

6 boneless skinless chicken breasts

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup dry sherry, divided

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/2 cup Sugar Free Damson Plum jelly

2 teaspoon Chinese hot mustard

Place chicken in large marinating dish. Combine soy sauce, 3 Tablespoons sherry, garlic, ginger and red pepper flakes in small bowl; pour over chicken. Marinate in refrigerator up to 4 hours.

Meanwhile, combine plum jelly, mustard and remaining 1 Tablespoon sherry in small bowl until well blended. Set aside.

Cook chicken on grill until cooked thoroughly. Serve with plum sauce mixture.

Sesame Chicken

I tried several new recipes this past week and will be sharing them this week. I won’t be giving a weekly menu this week as my entire menu will be new recipes from the new Chinese cookbook that I shared two weeks ago.

This first recipe I made when Caleb was over the other day. He loved it. My husband swears that he is allergic to it. I can’t imagine what he would have a reaction to since nothing in it is anything that he hasn’t had before. Oh well. I loved it and plan on making it for myself again.

Sesame Chicken

1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast

1/2 cup teriyaki sauce (Read labels. I found Kikkoman had the lowest in carbs. Some of the other brands were shockingly high.)

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 Tablespoon vegetable or peanut oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Tablespoon sesame seeds, toasted

1 teaspoon dark sesame oil

Cut chicken into 1 inch pieces; toss with teriyaki sauce in medium bowl. Marinate in refrigerator for up to 2 hours.

Drain chicken, reserving marinade. Stir marinade into cornstarch in small bowl until smooth. Set aside.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add peanut or vegetable oil; heat 30 seconds. Add chicken and garlic; stir fry 3 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Stir cornstarch mixture; add to pan. Cook and stir 1 minute or until sauce boils and thickens. Stir sesame seeds and sesame oil.

Serve hot.

Grandma Time With Caleb

I took Thursday and Friday off from work and spent both days with Caleb. I had so much fun and looked forward to this for over a week. Caleb of course did not disappoint me. He was such a wonderful bubbly little boy both days.

Last week the hospital volunteers where I work had a fund raiser and I bought Caleb a tunnel that you can attach two tents to at each end. I first gave Caleb the tunnel without the tents attached and he loved it. Just look at this face.

Caleb really loved his tunnel but he quickly left it to play with a few of his other toys. It is amazing how you can buy him something new but he still goes back to playing with the favorite toy from when he was 3 months old. I just love seeing his toys all over the living room. Some people the clutter would stress them out but once he goes home it all goes neatly back into his corner bookshelf.

When Caleb arrives he always goes looking for my cat. He always finds her and says, “Cat Cat”. He knows that he has to be easy with her and Chessie will let him pet her twice before bolting off to a hiding place. Thursday Chessie hid behind a recliner.

Caleb could still see her but did not attempt to get to her. He periodically went to take a peek at her and always told me it was a “Cat Cat, Meow Meow”. When he plays with his farm set he always holds the horse up and says, “Eeyore”. That is the name of his pony. He loves his pony.

Caleb will constantly come to give hugs and kisses. He is such a precious little boy. He cracks me up. I asked him if he needed me to change his diaper and he said, “No”. Of course I checked and he was wet. He got changed anyway. lol

After having him for two days my house was very quiet today. I got a lot cleaned and organized but would have gladly traded a clean house for another day with my little man.

He is very good at feeding himself. He even ate applesauce without making much of a mess. I tried a new recipe that I will share this week and he loved it too. It is amazing how much food this little guy can consume. I didn’t see how it could be physically possible but he kept putting it in. What a guy.

Knitting and Crocheting

I learned to crochet as a child. My mother crocheted a lot while we were small. We had pretty white capes for church and plenty of vests that were so popular back in the 60s and 70s. I have crocheted afghans, potholders and many other items and always secretly wished that I could knit too.

I met a nurse where I work that teaches a knitting class at the hospital each week. I signed up and am having so much fun. I have a really pretty scarf started but have made a potholder and two pair of flip-flops.

I don’t wear flip-flops but I made a pair for my daughter-in-law and my daughter that turned out very cute. I will give Kristin hers tomorrow but can’t give Samantha hers until August when she comes to visit.

The first thing that I made was the potholder. I know it isn’t fancy but I am quite proud of myself. Yeah I know it just looks like a square to you but I am very pleased with it.

The flip-flops are actually a very hot pink but the picture doesn’t really show how vibrant the pink and purples are. The white looks kind of gold too. I am not sure what is up with my camera.  The yarn is funfur. I really enjoyed working with this texture.

The following two potholders are crocheted. I made the long one to go under my long casserole dish when I use it on my dining room table. The smaller one I got the pattern online but once I started it I realized that the pattern had some drastic flaws in it. Luckily I have crocheted long enough to figure out what should have been done.

I enjoy most forms of crafting. I am sure that my husband would probably like for me to choose one hobby and stick with it but he never complains and just smiles at me. I have my own craft room and plan on working to organize it a bit better tomorrow and next weekend.

I have so many knitting patterns pulled out to make and am getting quite a stockpile of yarn. This is very fun.

Italian Cheese Bread

Before being diagnosed with Diabetes I loved going to Little Caesar’s weekly for their buffalo wings and Italian Cheese Bread. I have been looking for a good low carb recipe for this for over a year and have finally found something that I can live with.

Let me begin by saying that if you are newly Diagnosed with Diabetes or newly eating Low Carb you may want to wait a bit to try this. This is not going to be as wonderful and high carb as the original recipe.  The first time that I had this I thought it needed something more so I gave it a boost and was very pleased with the end result.

The original recipe came from here.

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn18/Tolepb/4912_109755198658_505833658_2842629.jpg?t=1245793418

If you go look at the picture from their site you will see that my bread looked nothing at all like hers. It did not rise as high but it was still good. Her recipe called for Parmesan and Romano Cheese. I added Asiago cheese as well.

Once it is done you will want to slice it into thin pieces and place it on its side. Coat with real butter and very heavily coat it with additional Parmesan Cheese and be heavy handed with the garlic. The first time I did not add enough garlic or Parmesan. Place under the broiler for a bit to brown. This was wonderful to me.

As you can see below I made my own Buffalo Wings using the recipe from this blog and 2 hours after eating when I tested my blood using my Glucometer my reading was only 103. What you see on the plate below was my entire meal.

Italian Cheese Bread

1/2 cup soy flour
1/3 cup soy protein
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 cup sour cream
3 tablespoons olive oil
½ cup of Kraft blended Parmesan, Romano and Asiago Cheese
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Water as needed

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Grease a standard loaf pan with butter. Combine flour, protein, eggs, baking powder, sour cream, oil and cheeses in a bowl and mix well. (Yes, I use my Kitchenaid mixer with the flat beater). Add water, if needed. Dough should be firm but not over. Place dough in greased loaf pan and bake 25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool slightly, slice, and slather with garlic butter. You can also toast under a broiler or in a toaster over topped with your choice of cheese.

Garlic Pepper Tenderloin Roast

This recipe was very good. We had this two nights in a row and I was a little disappointed that it was not enough for three night. I will definitely use a larger pot roast next time.

I got this recipe from the Taste of Home Backyard Grilling Cookbook but made two changes to it. The first was instead of using Tenderloin Steaks I used Tenderloin Roast. I also did not cook it on the grill. I put it in my crockpot and let it slow roast all day while I was at work. It smelled heavenly when I came in from work.

Garlic Pepper Tenderloin Roast

 1 ½ teaspoons minced garlic

1 teaspoon ground mustard

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon pepper

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon dried thyme

¼ to ½ teaspoon Cayenne pepper

2 teaspoons olive oil

4 beef tenderloin steaks- or two nice size tenderloin roasts

 In a small bowl, combine the first nine ingredients. Rub roasts with this mixture. Place in crockpot on low and cook for eight hours. Since this did not fill the crockpot well I loosely placed aluminum foil over the roast about an inch above the top of it and then placed the lid on the crockpot.

More New Cookbooks

I bought two new cookbooks over the weekend while shopping with Donna and David. They are not low carb recipes but I found many recipes that are low carb or can be converted to low carb easily.

The first is the Favorite Brand Name Made Simple Chinese

I have really missed Chinese food since becoming a Diabetic. I am hoping to try these recipes in the next few weeks to meet that need.

The next book is Favorite Brand Name Made Simple Appetizers.

My son, Stephen is always asking for appetizers instead of a main entree for the meal. I hope that I can find several things in here to make him happy and keep me on track with my weight loss. I am almost to goal. My doctor said to only lose about 7 more pounds. I am sooooooooo close to goal I can taste it.

Wish me luck.

My Weekly Menu 06/21/2009

I know that I slacked off this week but work was enormous and I was totally drained everyday when I made it home. I promise to try to do better this week. I am once again working on my freezer stash and needed very little from the grocery store. I sent my husband to the store for bread, produce and milk. I love weeks like this.

Once again the menu is from prior recipes. I do have a new recipe in the oven as I type and if I like it I will share it with the blog later this week. I really hope that I do like it. I have been looking for an Italian Cheese Bread recipe that I can enjoy with my Italian recipes or Buffalo Wings.

This week our menu will consist of the following.

Day 1- Meatloaf

Day 2- Leftovers

Day 3- Steaks

Day 4- Leftovers

Day 5- Pot roast and vegetables

Day 6- Leftovers

Day 7- Wings- looking for a new recipe possibly.

I bought two new cookbooks yesterday while shopping with Donna and David. I also bought a few other things that I will be sharing with you later in the week. Good luck to everyone this week. Remember to plan ahead to be in control of your good health. The choice is yours.

Weekly Menu for 6/14/2009

It is hard to believe that another week has gone by so quickly. My son, daughter-in-law and grandson just left. They came for dinner and to watch Nascar. I have never watched a Nascar race before. I spent most of the time playing with Caleb. I gave him his Lego farm kit. They are the bigger Lego’s for his little hands to stack more easily. He really seemed to enjoy playing with them.

For dinner I served the baby back ribs and the cabbage on the grill recipe from this blog. Everyone seemed to enjoy it. Caleb kept going, “MMMMMMMMMMMM” after each bite. He is so cute.

This next week is going to be a rough one at work and I need my meals to be as simple as possible. This is my plan for the week.

For breakfast I am eating Pancakes from this site and am adding berries to the batter. You can find the recipe here.

http://grace2882.wordpress.com/2008/07/04/low-carb-pancakes/

My weekly dinners will be the following.

Day 1- Leftovers from the weekend.

Day 2- Leftovers from the weekend.

Day 3- Blackened Chicken using this recipe.

http://grace2882.wordpress.com/2009/05/02/blackened-chicken/

Day 4- Leftovers

Day 5- Out for dinner with friends

Day 6- Steaks on the grill- new recipe to come

Day 7- Buffalo Wings using this recipe.

http://grace2882.wordpress.com/2009/02/02/buffalo-wings/

My produce purchased for this week includes cucumbers, zucchini, carrots, cabbage and strawberries. I don’t plan on making a low carb dessert recipe this week. Instead I bought some Carb Smart Chocolate Ice Cream. As I said this week is going to be very difficult at work and I needed to simplify things as much as I can.

Have you planned your menu’s in an attempt to control your Diabetes? Failing to plan is planning to fail.

Caleb and Eeyore

As I have mentioned before, my amazing grandson, Caleb has a pony. It is a very cute miniature pony named Eeyore. Caleb is in love with this pony. My son was telling me this morning that when they go to his in-laws home that as soon as Caleb gets out of the car he starts running towards the barn yelling, “Eeyore, Eeyore”.

He calls all horses and ponies Eeyore no matter how many times they tell him the correct name. When I showed the picture below at work to my co-workers they all asked if they had dyed Eeyore’s hair and the answer is no. This is Eeyore in all of his natural glory including Caleb in his natural glory too.

My son took this picture with his cell phone so it is a bit bright but still perfect.