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