Peanut Butter Low Carb Sugar Free Cookies

I miss sweets sometimes, so I have been experimenting with Keto dessert recipes.  One that I have tried that has been successful is peanut butter cookies.  This recipe is easy- and comes to us from Kalyn's Kitchen.

All you need for this recipe is peanut butter, Stevia, an egg, vanilla, and a little bit of water and baking powder.

1 large egg
1 cup Stevia
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup creamy natural peanut butter
1 tsp. water

"In mixing bowl, use electric beater to beat together the egg, Granulated Stevia or sweetener of your choice, baking powder, and vanilla for about a minute. Add peanut butter and water and beat together."

Then make into small balls and press down with a fork. 
Bake at 350 for 15 minutes and voila!

They taste pretty good, very flaky/powdery when it hits your mouth.  Great for a sugar craving.   I plan to make these again.

Well.... results are in!

I mentioned a while back that I was planning on doing this diet for a month, see what the end results are, and then decide whether to continue during the summer.
Well, the results are in.....

I have lost 20 pounds over the past month on this diet!

Holy crap!

Now let me say that if you are thinking about hopping on the Keto train, there are some things you should know.  Results vary for everyone.  Just because I lost 20 pounds doesn't mean you will.  I was addicted to Coke and Mountain Dew (like a few a day).  Cutting that out of my diet probably had a lot to do with my results.  Plus I do zumba regularly and a couple weeks ago got an elliptical for my garage that I use.

Secondly, you can't just do this diet without taking some supplements, like potassium and magnesium. Leg cramps come with this diet (along with some other negative effects that I will save for another post). Because of these mineral imbalances, I have made an appointment with my regular doctor to check all of the important levels in my blood.  

So, will I continue this diet? Yeah- probably for the summer.  Then I will have to study up on ways to come off of it gradually.  Wish me luck.  I will try to put regular updates on this page throughout the summer.

Keto Pancakes

Breakfast is the hardest part of this diet.  Since I cannot have carbs or sugar, that eliminates many of my favorite foods for breakfast (biscuits, waffles, pancakes..... I could go on and on).  I found a recipe for Keto pancakes on Pinterest and decided to give it a whirl.   This recipe comes from Girl Versus Dough:

Ingredients

• 4 eggs
• ¼ cup milk
• 3 tablespoons coconut oil (liquid state, not solid*)
• ¼ cup coconut flour (see link above in post for my recommendation!)
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon sea salt

(I didn't have "sea salt" so I just used the regular stuff)

To make these Keto friendly, I also substituted Stevia for the granulated sugar

Directions:

1.  Melt your coconut oil.

2. Mix your coconut oil with eggs and milk in a large bowl.

3. In a separate bowl, mix all of your dry ingredients.

4. Add the ingredients together and mix until there are no lumps.

5. Grease griddle with butter and drop by ladels to make pancakes.

6.  Cook each side 1-2 minutes (when bubbles form -- flip).

7.  Serve with berries and sugar-free syrup :)

NOTE: This recipe only made 6 small pancakes (and yes, it took 4 eggs!).

This recipe turned out very good actually -- and my kids ate them.  My daughter said she could tell they weren't normal pancakes, but she still thought they were good.

Pinterest Fail- Keto Chocolate Peanut Butter Fat Bombs

One thing you cannot have while on Keto is Reeces Peanut Butter Cups  (yumm), so some people on Pinterest have created their own Keto versions of the delicious treats.

According to these bloggers, you simply substitute a lot of healthy ingredients for the unhealthy ones. 

For this Pinterest trial - I turned to a link on Pinterest to Beth Mansfield's post at Faebook. 

Her ingredients:
1 Cup of Coconut Oil (melted)
1/2 Cup of Natural Peanut Butter (melted)
1 Teaspoon of Stevia
8 Tablespoons of Cocoa Powder (unsweetened)
1/2 Cup of Butter (melted & salted)

According to the recipe, you simply place all of the ingredients in a pot and melt until all of the ingredients are combined.  Then pour it into mini foil cups and put it in the freezer. Freeze for 30 minutes.

You have to eat these right out of the freezer, because they will start to melt and turn back to coconut oil if you leave them out.

Ok -- so we did this, and they looked pretty good.  I thought to myself "heck yes -- this is going to be awesome."

Then I tasted one.... and wanted to vomit!  I guess if you are really into cough syrup with a cocoa flavor, then these are for you.  Otherwise, don't waste your time!

Pinterest fail!

Keto Sausage Balls - Success

As all of my close friends will tell you, I love making sausage balls for special occasions.   Truth is, I don't even need a special occasion to make them.  My children love them, family members love them, and I love them.

When I started this diet, I looked around on Pinterest for things I could make that would be "like carbs." I stumbled upon this sausage balls recipe from Keto Size Me.

I went out, bought Almond Flour, and decided to try the recipe -  and it works!  My son ate 5 of these the other day.  (Now I can tell you that they don't taste exactly like the Bisquick version- but they are a good substitute)

Here's what you should do:

Gather all of the ingredients.  For this recipe, you need a pound of sausage (we like the spicy sausage best), almond flour, butter, an egg, parmesan cheese, bag of sharp cheddar cheese, baking powder, and salt. 

What the recipe link above doesn't tell you is whether to brown the sausage before you add it to the mixture you make.  I always brown my sausage first - even with the Bisquick recipe.

Mix up your egg, butter, salt, and baking powder first.  Then add your almond flour, parmesan cheese, cheddar cheese, and sausage.  Mix well.  The pic below is what your mixture should look like before you turn it into balls.

Then use a large spoon and your fingers to make the sausage balls and put them on a butter lined baking sheet.  Cook at 350 for 16-20 minutes. 

Let me know if you try it and if you like it.  This is one recipe that I plan to repeat. 

The Keto Diet

I recently decided to go on a diet.  I haven't been on one since I was in high school, and I have been hearing good things about the Keto diet from friends (including my good friend Kelley -- more on that later).

For those who haven't heard of the Keto diet, it's like Adkins on crack.  There is a state of the body called Ketosis, where your body actually runs off fat instead of sugar.  To do a Keto diet, you have to cut all carbs and sugar from what you eat.  It is not for the faint of heart.

Now, those who know me well will tell you that I am a Mountain Dew-aholic, and I eat carbs all the time (I mean, who doesn't?).  I really think I can do this though, and it will hopefully make me feel a little better (more energy please...).  

I have now been on the diet exactly two weeks, and I have tried some very interesting Keto recipes from Pinterest.  My next few blog posts will be about those that worked well, and those you shouldn't waste your time on (if you are on this diet).

I told myself that I would do this diet for a month and then check my results.  I will post my results on May 19th.  If I haven't lost any weight, you can bet your bottom dollar that I will be heading over to a donut shop.  If I have though, I plan to keep this up for a while.

I hope you enjoy the next few posts.  Let's hope I can keep this up ;)

School Supplies -- Should I Order a Coursepack or Buy Items Myself?

My little girl heads off to Kindergarten this year -- which means that it is the first time I have been faced with buying school supplies.  At our Kindergarten orientation, we were given a school supply list, as well as a note about how we could order from their in-house system called EPI Packs.  Here's what the Kindergarten list contained:

Elmer's Glue 4 oz (4)
No 2 Yellow Pencils (12)
Plastic School Box (1)
Crayola Crayons (4)
Facial Tissue (1)
Blunt Scissors (1)
12x18 Solid 50 CT Construction Paper (2)
12x18 Bright White 50CT Construction Paper (2)
Blue Plastic Pocket Folder
Red Plastic Pocket Folder
8x10 Ruled Spiral Notebook Red BL 36 CT (2)
Spiral Wide Ruled Notebook
Expo chisel Tim Dry Erase Markers 4-pack (2)
Elmer's Small Glue Stick (2)
12x18 Manila Paper 50 CT
Pink Bevel Eraser (2)

For those of you who have know me a long time, you have probably followed me in the past on my money saving blog, The Clearance Chick. When I found out that the price of these items was $46 from the school, I looked at the list and thought to myself "I know I can find this stuff cheaper than that."  In the past, I have helped numerous people find super cheap school supplies (like crayons for a quarter or erasers for a penny.  Surely those deals still exist, right?

So, I decided to try my luck at buying these items myself and seeing how much money I could save. I didn't really go to lots of stores -- only two (Office Depot and Walmart). Here were my prices:

Elmer's Glue 4 oz (4) - $.50 each
No 2 Yellow Pencils (12) - $1
Plastic School Box (1) - $0.47
Crayola Crayons (4) - $0.25 *Office Depot Special*
Facial Tissue (1) - Free
Blunt Scissors (1) - $2.47
12x18 Solid 50 CT Construction Paper (2) - $3.95 each
12x18 Bright White 50CT Construction Paper (2) - $3.95 each
Blue Plastic Pocket Folder - $.41
Red Plastic Pocket Folder - $.41
8x10 Ruled Spiral Notebook Red BL 36 CT (2) - $3.29 each
Spiral Wide Ruled Notebook - $.17
Expo chisel Tim Dry Erase Markers 4-pack (2) - $5
Elmer's Small Glue Stick (2) - Free
12x18 Manila Paper 50 CT - $.97
Pink Bevel Eraser (2) - $1

Total price: $37.28
*note: the glue sticks were free, as were the facial tissue -- simply because we already had them at our house -- but you could get these for an additional $2 (with no sale) - meaning that the total would be $39.28

This means that saved about $9 by buying these items myself.  I can then use that money on school fundraisers. 

My Advice
So -- if your child likes shopping for their own school supplies, I'd suggest buying them on your own -- even at Walmart (it will be cheaper).  If you do even more comparison shopping, you can get these items even cheaper.  But if you don't have a lot of spare time and don't want to deal with trying to find deals on school supplies, I'd suggest buying the school pack.