Going out

It is really hard to go out and find places where we can eat healthy and that is delicious, and even harder when you need to find a quick place to eat =/

So below are a few suggestions that we love to eat.

This is a turkey sandwich with bacon, avocado and tomato. I asked to bring the sandwich without a bun and they brought it wrapped in a lettuce. What really makes it good and worthy of ordering at a restaurant is the protein; bacon and turkey. It is a must that they are good, if they are then the dish is very good and I actually got full and barely finished it. Go ahead and try it at a restaurant or it at home, it is very easy to make.

 Oscar ordered a burger without a bun, and we loved it! (when we go out to eat we share food)
Again, the meat makes the dish, we ordered it with a house salad, and you can see his face, he is very happy with the option. The burger ordered is from kobe beef.

I also love ordering seafood. This dish has mahi mahi and srimp accompanied with asparagus with a tomato sauce. This dish is from Cheesecake factory and it is in their Skinnylicious menu "Mahi Mahi and Shrimp Veracruz"
we both have tried it; it is cooked perfectly, their sauce is really soft and has a unique taste and their vegetable is also nice and tender.

Recipe Review: Loaded Potato Soup

What I love about cold weather is enjoying a nice warm soup. We love creamy potato soups but it has a lot of carbs, so searching online we saw many people making it with cauliflower instead and at first I hesitated in making it since it did not sound too appealing. However, we ended up making it as an appetizer and it came out delicious! So it is definitely one of my favorite soups now.

This is loaded "potato" soup. This soup has only 265 calories, and 7 grams of carbs

 

The soup is from this website:

http://iowagirleats.com/

 

Ingredients:
8 slices center-cut bacon, chopped (half used for garnish)
1/2 small onion, chopped OR 1 teaspoon onion powder
1 celery stalk, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
salt & pepper
4 cups shredded or grated cauliflower (1/2 large head)
2 Tablespoons water
2 Tablespoons flour
2 cups chicken broth, divided
2 cups 2% milk
3-4 dashes hot sauce (or more or less)
2-1/2 cups (12oz) shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided (half used for garnish)
2 green onions, chopped (optional)
Directions:

1. Whisk together flour and 1/4 cup chicken broth in a small bowl then set aside.
2. Saute bacon in a large soup pot over medium heat until crisp. Using a slotted spoon, transfer bacon to a paper towel-lined plate then remove all but 1 Tablespoon drippings from the pot. Add chopped onion (if using,) celery, and garlic to the pot then season with salt and pepper and saute until vegetables are tender, about 4-5 minutes.
3. Add cauliflower and onion powder (if using) to the pot then stir to combine. Add water then place a lid on top and steam cauliflower until tender, stirring a couple times, about 5-7 minutes. Add remaining chicken broth and milk then turn up heat and bring to a boil.
4. Slowly whisk in flour/chicken broth mixture while stirring, then turn down heat and simmer for 3-4 minutes, or until chowder has thickened. Turn off heat then stir in 2 cups cheddar cheese until smooth, then stir in half the cooked bacon. Taste and adjust salt, pepper, and/or hot sauce if necessary. Serve topped with remaining shredded cheese, cooked bacon, and green onions, if desired.

Beef Pad See Ew Low Carb and Gluten Free!

We love Thai food and one of our favorite dishes is Beef Pad See Ew! So we had to find a way to eat it and feel less guilty about the amount of carbs and calories. So we tried it a couple of times and we got it just right. Besides being good for you it is very easy and quick to make.
What really makes the difference is the type of noodle you use, the best one we have had has been the noodles made from Konjac and Chickpea flours.

 You may find these type of noodles in the refrigerated section of a supermarket, mainly supermarkets that are health conscious or Asian.  We use this type of shirataki noodle because of its thickness and it looks more similar to the original version.

It is very good and you can barely tell the difference, and the best part you can lots of it!

NY Botanical Garden

The week before Halloween we went to the New York Botanical Garden. We love to go every time the season changes. The exhibition of Japanese flowers was great and the plant that got my attention is the one below. When you walk you see it like this and think is it a beautiful arrangement of many flowers. BUT you go around to see the grandiose arrangement and is ONE plant!

Making the time to go to the NYBG is so worth it!

Cheesecake time!

For the past three weeks we have made a cheesecake every week, it is nice to have a sweet treat waiting for you after work. It is pretty easy to make but it just takes long. We like to make it on a Sunday night so it is ready to be eaten the next day and can be eaten during the week. We made three types: pumpkin, key lime, and Lucuma. These cheesecakes are low carb, gluten free, and lower calories than the regular cheesecake bought in a restaurant or bakery. 

We took the recipe from www.intoxicatedonlife.com

Ingredients:

For the crust: 

1 cup almond flour

4 tbsp coconut flour

3 tbsp flaxseed meal

1/4 xylitol we used 2 tbsp Stevia Baking Blend

1/2 cup butter

For the cheesecake:

2 1/2 pounds of cream cheese

1/8 tsp salt

1 1/4 cup xylitol or 1/2 cup and 2 tbsp SBK

1/2 tsp stevia powder

1/3 cup sour cream

2 tsp lemon juice

2 tsp vanilla

2 large egg yolks

6 eggs

Method:

Cut cream cheese into 1 inch chunks and let it stand at room temp for 45 minutes

Mix all crust ingredients into a 10 inch springform pan 

Preheat oven to 500 degrees

For the next steps we put it on a mixer on #4 on the KitchenAid. After every step stop mixing

and scrape the bottom, just do a minute for each step. Do not over mix.

Start mixing the cream cheese

Add salt and xylitol or SBK, one half and then another half

Add sour cream, lemon juice and vanilla

For pumpkin cheesecake: we used 1 1/4 cans

For key lime, we squeezed 10 limes

For Lucuma we unfroze 1 1/4 bags

Add egg yolks

Add two eggs

Add two more eggs

Add last two eggs

Pour into springform pan and bake for 10 minutes

Reduce oven to 200 degrees and bake for 1 1/2 hours

After you remove the cheesecake run a knife between the cake and the pan

Cool countertop for 3 hours

Wrap tightly with clear plastic and refrigerate overnight.

This crust is really good, we really like this over the regular crust.

I like to put the cheesecake on top of a tray with water

Pumpkin cheesecake

Key lime cheesecake

Lucuma cheesecake

Awesome fishing day!

We started fishing over the summer, and now it is our time to fish during the fall season. 

Now we are fishing for striped bass, this fish is a lot harder to catch than the fluke.

the day was nice, windy, and the view was beautiful :) 

I have to be honest, I was very afraid to get a bite and for it to be big, because I did not

think I was able to reel it in and maybe brake the rod or fall over :/

Before catching my first striped bass my line broke twice! 

Oscar and I caught one each, and they were big! I could not held them both lol 

The boat was filled with stripped bass and blue fishes, everyone got a fishes and lots of them!

It was a massacre 

I felt so proud of myself lol

Oscar got sea sick and on the way back he was feeling better. At least enough for one picture :)

We met great people, we always love the crew they worked so hard, and the captain is so 

committed. We had a great day!

Mini-Vacation

This is our third time in Utah, we usually like to go whenever we feel like we need a break from New York and breath fresher air. It is always good to see family and enjoy the beautiful scenery Utah has to offer.



 

The first day we went to American Fork Canyon. The day was cloudy but it did not rain, and it was very cold! Oscar took this picture of me, the wind is blowing a lot and I am freezing. Thankfully the other days we had nicer warmer weather. This place we visited for a short time, we wished we could have had more time to explore it more.




The next day we went to State Park Capitol Reef. Thank goodness we got to go! The ride was more than 3 hours and I do not like long trips, but I am grateful that we visited. It is a beautiful state park, and we drove around since we didn't have the time to hike. It was a nice experience and we would love to go back. We met people that had been in hiking for 18 miles! (2 days) That is quite an experience =)

This was a part of the park called "The Grand Wash" and you may not enter if there is a storm coming.           

                                                                                                                                                                                                                   

We made a quick stop and helped this woman scout folding the flag, it made me feel so patriotic! lol

 Another day we went to Snow Bird

 There was a huge festival and I saw this sign. I guess Peruvians are everywhere =)

 My favorite place to eat is at the Lion's House, it was so delicious!

 Love going around Temple Square.

This day was beautiful!

 We were just driving around on our last day and we spotted this place. We were so lucky to find it.

We had a great time together, and are thinking on going back next year =)

Gluten Free Breakfast Recipe

Blueberry Coffee Cake

Source: Elana Amsterdam, Paleo Cooking Book

Serves: 8

Cake: 

2 cups blanched almond flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

4 large eggs

1/4 Spectrum all- vegetable (I didn't have it so I used 1/4 cup melted butter)

1/4 cup coconut sugar

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup frozen blueberries

Optional: 1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk (my tip)

Combine a bowl the dry ingredients, and in another bowl the wet ingredients (whisk the eggs first).

Then add the wet ingredients to the dry until combined smoothly.

I added 1/4 cup of unsweetened almond milk, so that the batter can be smoother.

Then add the frozen blueberries and stir well into the batter.

Topping

1/4 cup Stepctrum all-vegetable shortening

1/4 cup coconut sugar

1/2 blanched almond flour

1 tbsp ground cinamon 

I used the 1/4 cup melted butter instead of shortening.

Add the batter to the cake pan and add the topping over the cake batter. Put in the oven

350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes.

I love the recipe, the only thing is that it is about 350 calories per piece.

Watch out you don't over it!

Dessert: Chocolate Zucchini Bunt Cake

I saw this recipe online, it looked very good so I had to try it because when I am in the mood for sweets I have to make something happen lol. So I used the ingredients I had in my pantry already.

2 cups of finely grated zucchini 

After grating the zucchini add salt, place on sieve, mix both and let the water drain for about 

an hour. After the hour, squeeze as much water left as possible and put aside.

In a medium bowl mix all the dry ingredients: 2 cups of almond flour, 1/2 cup of cocoa powder,

1/3 cup of soy flour, 1/3 cup of unflavored whey protein powder, 1 tbsp baking powder, 1 1/2 tsp 

of cinnamon, 1/2 xanthan gum.

Beat 1/2 cup of butter with 2/3 cup of Truvia Baking Blend, until it is smoothly combined.

Then beat in 4 eggs, zucchini, and 1tsp vanilla extract.

Then add half of the dry ingredients, add 1/3 cup almond milk, and then add the rest of dry

Ingredients. Beat all together until well combined.

Spread batter into pan and put in 325 degrees oven for 45 minutes. 

Then make the glaze, melt one stick of butter, 2 oz of chocolate, 3 tsp truvia baking blend,

And 1/4 cup of cocoa powder.

Pour glaze on top of chocolate and spread evenly.

Time to eat!

This recipe was by blog, "All Day I Dream About Food" for the exact recipe check it out :)