Sizzling Slimmers July Challenge

[JMCM1]

Welcome home!

The almond butter is called Earth Balance or some hippie thing. It's just almonds and salt. I think I lost 5 pounds stirring it - bonus!

[CarolynF]

Yes, welcome home, MKay..Get some rest... I made some donuts with "pork rind" flour and they did taste "off"..

Yes, that almond butter is hard to get stirred up..

[sjl330]

Welcome home MK.

I bought my almond butter at Costco and it's very runny. I've stirred and stirred and it still drips right off the spoon!
I don't think the pork rind flavor will bother me on a hamburger bun. I like pork rinds though. In small doses.

DH liked the buns I made. I got 8 muffin rounds. I was able to split each round into 2 pieces to use as buns. So I guess that would be 16 slices which makes them go farther and I'm not adding all those extra calories, etc. It was a yummy cheeseburger!

[Serena11]

Mmmm, almond butter bread sounds so good. I don't do much baking or cooking, but this looks pretty simple. Thanks for posting the recipe, I am going to see if I have any old bread pans hiding in my cabinets. They are probably rusted by now, oh well, additional iron.

Thanks Jess for all the info on watching out for the gluten, very helpful. I feel better about it all today. I went to the market and found a number of things that advertised gluten free, and this wasn't even the health food store so I can imagine all the great stuff that is available.

I found some really good little brown rice and seaweed crisps and topped them with brie, red pepper hummus, and eggplant dip. Yum. Happy to be gluten free now!

[sjl330]

Well, I'm happy to report a loss today. I didn't think this would happen as I ate 2 of those buns yesterday! So no bad reaction here from them, so far. I really want to try the other recipe now but I think I gave DD my old coffee grinder when I got the new burr type one.

[JMCM1]

I wish we lived closer. I think I have 4 or 5 plus the burr. I think I could spare one for you!

I have the same problem with wand blenders....it comes with traveling a lot for work and worrying I wouldn't have all the equipment I need for some imagined recipe or awesome bean grinding.

[CarolynF]

Hi ladies..

I just made the Almond Butter Bread using my almond flour in my processor with about 2 Tbs. of oil..then added the other stuff in the processor..It made 6 muffin top muffins..They look good..I cut one in half, like Sandy did..It would make a nice sandwich/hamburger bun...Toast would be good...

Congrats on your loss, Sandy...

Was at 151 today...Dh is gone this week, so I need to chisel off a pound before he comes back..LOL..

[TuscanGirl]

Hi!
I lost 1.6 while I was on vacation!!
yay!
Must have been all that walking/climbing/and eating gluten free!

Judy -

The almond butter is called Earth Balance or some hippie thing. It's just almonds and salt. I think I lost 5 pounds stirring it - bonus!

I've seen that one. Is it good?

Carolyn - since ALL the cool kids are doing it - I guess I'll have to make the bread too!
I don't have a muffin top pan though.
Suggestions on what I should use?

Serena - I read somewhere that long grain wild rice is considered a grass and is gluten-free!

Sandy - thanks for the recipes!!

[JMCM1]

So many posting weight losses, even after vacationing! Congrats!

I really like that Earth Balance almond butter, despite the price. Since I've never been a cool kid in my life, I am determined to make the bread Sandy & Carolyn are talking about and I'll make my own almond butter too.

I tried to make those cream cheese muffins on another thread people rave about. It's 2 pkgs. cream cheese, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup Splenda (liquid OK and mixing sweeteners possibly preferred) and I think 1/2 tsp. vanilla. I halved the recipe and used DaVinci cookie dough flavor for my 1/4 cup of sweetener and added 1-1/2 tsp. cocoa powder.

It did not resemble a chocolate cheesecake for me.... I am sure I didn't cook it long enough. It didn't fall, but it's still pretty loose and just isn't sweet enough.

Of course this means I'll double-down, do a full recipe and who knows what will happen!

[TuscanGirl]

Judy - you're in with the cool kids now!
You can even sit with us for lunch!

[CarolynF]

Mary Kay...I think Mt. Everest's sister helped you lose.. Hmm..You can use a medium sized bread pan well sprayed...There are pictures on that site.

Judy: Chocolate is hard to sweeten without mixing erythritol with the Splenda..It should have firmed up like a cheesecake, though..I'm sure you didn't cook it long enough, especially when you are adding 1/4 cup of liquid to it..

[JMCM1]

I was hoping you would chime in Carolyn. Thank you!
I will not be deterred from little cheesecakes. They just probably won't contain chocolate the next time....

[TuscanGirl]

Originally Posted by CarolynF

Mary Kay...I think Mt. Everest's sister helped you lose.. Hmm..You can use a medium sized bread pan well sprayed...There are pictures on that site.

Thanks!!

[CindyCRNA]

I ordered the kelp noodles from Netrition. I'll report back when they arrive.

[CarolynF]

Cindy: If you like them, I'll send you mine..I bought 4, tried one and couldn't get it soft..I guess they are better cut up and raw in salads..I'm anxious for you to try them..

[CindyCRNA]

Originally Posted by CarolynF

Cindy: If you like them, I'll send you mine..I bought 4, tried one and couldn't get it soft..I guess they are better cut up and raw in salads..I'm anxious for you to try them..

Oh, no, you tried them! Dang! I was hoping these would be better.

[CindyCRNA]

[sjl330]

That looks like my Bailey pup!!! How cute!

[JMCM1]

How funny!

[TuscanGirl]

Thanks Carolyn

[Serena11]

Cindy-- Thanks, I really needed a laugh tonight. Rough day today w/family. You know.

Congrats Sandy, Carolyn and Mary Kay on your losses! I am dreaming of getting down around 150, sounds so good.

At least with all the stress today, I stayed on plan. I think it's getting easier. I bought some really great pate, which goes wonderfully on the rice crisps. I am starting to want bread, so I'm hitting the health food store tomorrow to see what they have. No time to bake yet.

That's interesting about the wild rice Mary Kay. I guess I will be trying a lot of rice products now; love rice noodles, hope they are gluten free, and there are those yam noodles too. Want to see what you think of the kelp noodles Cindy.

BTW, Judy I think you are very cool.

[sjl330]

Be very careful subbing rice products for gluten free if you're trying to lose. I just read this week that rice flour has more carbs and I think caloires too than wheat so do your research. The article was about people giving up wheat and just grabbing gluten free foods and gaining weight, so just be careful.

I had a book club dinner last night and it was at a Chinese restaurant. Now that's a struggle to find something low carb! I settled on lettuce wraps but they were way sweeter than the normal place I order them. I also had a small bowl of hot and sour soup. I was up about 1/2 pound so not too bad for Chinese!

[JMCM1]

Sandy I adore Chinese. And I haven't had a bite of it since my start date of 6-4-2012.
And I lost 10 pounds that first month. Now 2 weeks later (not too long a wait, I think), I am down another half pound. I am so happy to have found this way of eating.

Serena you are funny. My kids' favorite sport is to point out all my uncoolness. It's pretty funny to me, too. Of course I dish it out, too. Gotta keep 'em on their toes!!

I confess, Serena, I was thinking of the article Sandy read (in my imagination, Sandy, we read the same article) where newly-diagnosed celiacs were eating all the carby not-wheat things. But they are still quite high in carbs usually. I don't know exactly what you are eating, but I imagine you are reading the labels.

There is a woman who has posted here, pooticus, who has a website fluffychixcook. If you slowly assemble a few ingredients, you will be able to make your own "bread" that is still low carb, has reasonably few calories and no wheat. In fact, the recipe Sandy linked earlier is quite simple. But there are so many "bread" recipes and cheese cracker recipes.

Get some almond flour and coconut flour and you will be amazed how quickly these things come together. No kneading and rising and they are honestly good. If you do it once, you'll be able to see how you'll do it again.

There IS a lot of cooking with this way of eating... if only we had unlimited time.... I probably wouldn't use it to cook all the time! HA!

[JessBunny]

I made the almond bread last week but I forgot to post about it. I made a tiny batch of the bread in a super small loaf pan and then cut it up to make a grilled cheese. It turned out ok, I think the picture should be posted below if I did it right. It didn’t get the crispy butter fried bread crunchiness I was looking for but the flavor was still pretty good and it was very filling.

As I’m super cheap I make most of my own nut butters with my food processor. Just put the nuts in the processor blend for a bit add a smidge of oil and blend until smooth. I sometimes have to give my processor a few breaks so it doesn’t overheat though. I also have been making all my own nut flours with a cheapy coffee grinder and that’s been working out pretty well so far but it does take a little time to grind up the nuts. I really like the freshness of it though.

Judy: I love the cream cheese muffins and make them all the time. It is a recipe that benefits from the powdered sugars over the liquid in my experience. I will sometimes use the super concentrated splenda but I haven’t enjoyed the ones made with the DaVinics as the sweetener as much. I usually use a blend of splenda with fiber, erythritol, and a few drops of stevia and that combo works really well for me. If you like to use the higher volume liquid sweeteners I would turn back the heat about 25 degrees and cook them for longer. When you take them out of the oven the tops should be slightly puffy but still light colored with small cracks in the muffin center, and no giggly gooey center. If they still look shinny and gooey in the middles they aren’t done yet. I haven’t tried adding cocoa powder, but it sounds like a good idea. I usually pound up some nuts to make a little nut crust on the bottom of the cups and chop up a lindt dark chocolate bar and add it to the mix.

Grilled Cheese.jpg

[JMCM1]

GREAT help, Jess thanks!
I need specifics.

I have bought so many different sweeteners but I know it will be experience that will teach me where each is best used. I'm glad you make those cream cheese muffins - they sound so easy and good and I'll probably make a full recipe today. My mother's birthday is tomorrow and I'd like to serve that as a dessert we can all enjoy.

I'm going to make the recipe as-is but I will be using a mixture of your recommendation - Splenda, erythritol and a few drops of Sweetzfree or Stevia - I have both. Sorry to bug you, but for the full recipe, do you know how much of the Splenda with fiber and how much erythritol?

Where do you buy your nuts to process yourself? I have a Samsclub in town, but no Costco. Also have a Whole Foods. And I am happy to order from netrition.

[JessBunny]

Judy: I’m not super exact on my ratio of splenda to erythritol. I get out a ½ cup measuring cup and spoon a bit less than half with splenda and the rest of the measuring cup as erythritol. I then take it and run it for a quick blend through my blender to powder it up. (My current brand of erythritol has been resistant to dissolving unless I powder it, you may not have this issue with yours) I add one dropper full of stevia glycerite into my muffin mix before blending. If you have the regular stevia I would go with about 15 drops, more or less depending on how sweet you like it. Once you get your first perfect batch they get to be one of the easiest things to make. I eat them for breakfast on a regular basis.

I get my nuts at either BJ’s (like a Sams or Costco) or my local grocery store’s bulk case. I like getting from the bulk case because I can try lots of different nuts and it’s cheap because I only get the small amounts that I need at the time. I don’t have any of the Whole Foods or Trader Joes or other fun grocery stores near me. Most of my stuff comes from the internet or a regular grocery store. But you can use any nut that you like, it doesn’t matter where they come from. If they taste good as a whole nut they typically will taste good as a flour. So far I’ve done almond, walnut, hazelnut, macadamia, pecan, and cashew. All of them have worked fine. But if you do make your own go gently and pulse on the processing of the high fat nuts or they will turn to nut butter very fast.

[JMCM1]

Jess, gotcha - can't thank you enough!

I have both stevia glycerite and just regular liquid stevia (I didn't want to be limited, or give myself an excuse to go off plan. I may have over-bought. HA HA)

I think I said Sweetzfree earlier and I meant I have EZ Sweetz. I will measure the dry powders and add a few of my potions to get it right. It seems perfectly wonderful for this way of eating. Once I get it right, I'll try the chocolate again.

[JessBunny]

Oh Judy before I forget, a trick with the muffins. Use an electric mixer and beat those suckers like crazy. You'll get a lighter finer texture after baking if you beat them really well and incorporate some air into the batter.

[JMCM1]

Carolyn is your Slow Burn on a DVD? Or is it the book by the Eadses?

[JMCM1]

Originally Posted by JessBunny

Oh Judy before I forget, a trick with the muffins. Use an electric mixer and beat those suckers like crazy. You'll get a lighter finer texture after baking if you beat them really well and incorporate some air into the batter.

Oh thank you. I had read that thread until my eyes blurred, and on someone's authority thought the cream cheese shouldn't be too much beaten.

Will change my authority to Jess, now!