Sunday, March 25, 2018

Keto - Low Carb Croque Madame




A year ago this week, we were staying in Paris. I've been missing Paris quite a bit and already plotting when I can return. One thing I miss quite a bit are croque monsieur and croque madames, These are essentially toasted open face ham and cheese sandwiches (topped with an egg makes it a madame), Unfortunately, these are not the lowest carb foods. At least they weren't until I figured out to make them low carb.  I had a couple of ideas in mind and will probably give each a try but the key to this croque madame is a lower carb bread that I recently discovered, Sara Lee Delightful with a net 13 carbs for 2 slices.  My quick instructions to assemble below.



Low Carb Croque Madame 

2 slices of Sara Lee Delightful bread
1 Tbs. butter melted
2 slices Gruyere cheese
2 slices of nice ham (I used Boar's Head)
2 eggs, prepared over easy


I buttered 2 slices of bread on one side and placed them on a baking sheet, butter side down for 4 min. Once the bread had started to toast I pulled out and topped with ham and cheese.  I put the slices back in the oven under broil until the cheese was nice and bubbly.  Once done, I topped each slice with an over easy egg.

Perfection.


Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Keto-friendly Supplements by Mansports




I've recently started taking some supplements to help with burning fat and insuring that I am getting enough water each day. I have come across a brand, Mansports,  which is keto-friendly and has great products that I have started using throughout the day. Since I get a keto-audience on this blog, I thought it might be valuable to those readers. 

**I have no relationship with Mansports other than the purchases I have made with my own money.

Mansports products are made with zero or at max, a low sugar content.  All the products I have been using are zero sugar and have not negatively impacted me staying in ketosis in any way.  I have not tried all the products available but have three great products so far that have become part of my normal routine.


  • Mansports Iso-Amino.  You add a scoop of this to a tall glass of ice water and it has a similar effect as adding Crystal Light to your water but the flavors are over the top good, just like candy.  So far I have tried grape bubble gum which legit tastes like grape gum and Rainbow sherbet which I think tastes most like Fruity Pebble Cereal which I still really enjoy.  Both help me drink a ton more water and stay hydrated which is also helping with my weight loss.  Other flavors that they have and that I am anxious to try are: Pineapple Express, Fruit Smash, Dorks (Nerds-candy flavor), Green Apple and so many other flavors.



  • Mansports L-Carnitine.  L-Carnitine is a fat burning booster. I keep this in my refrigerator and take a shot each morning to help me burn more fat throughout the day.  L-Carnitine comes in Lemon Drop, Rainbow Sherbet, Blue Razz, and Mango.




  • Mansports Iso-Protein.  Proteins are heavily used by the keto community because they can be used to replace flours in baked goods such as cakes and cookies.  Mansports has an array of awesome flavors which can be mixed as a shake or are great to use in keto-baking.  I recently tried using the Confetti Cake Protein to make pancakes and they are my favorite yet.  So good.  Other flavors of protein available are Sprinkled Donut, Loopy Fruit (Fruit Loops), Blueberry Muffin, Peanut Butter Bits, and the list goes on....


Since buying these supplements, I have noticed a couple of things:


  • I am losing weight again.  Although I have been back on keto since January my loss has been a lot slower than the past.  Once I incorporated these products in, I have started seeing results faster.


  • My sweet tooth is gone.  I am not craving sugary-flavored things because my body thinks it is getting this because of the candy and baked good flavors.  


You can buy Mansports products on their website and they frequently run specials like 20-30% off.  This is good because some items can be pricey.  Amazon also has a selection of Mansports products but you won't find the variety offered on their website.  

Monday, March 19, 2018

Hawaii in the Spring



We booked our next adventure to Oahu, Hawaii this spring.  Josh and I were trying to think of summer destinations for our family vacation and I joked, we could go to Hawaii.  This has been a joke in our house because every time I go looking at flights to Hawaii (any island) from the Midwest, it is always $1200+ per person just for the flights!  On a lark, I checked again and I saw that flights were down in price this spring.  I have many sites and tools that I use for travel hacking so I started to get excited, maybe... just maybe it was possible.

Success!  I found round trip tickets for $550 a person.  And just like that, we are headed to Hawaii.  I also managed to have saved up 2 nights on Hotels.com over the last year of free stay, so we are also getting a nice deal on our hotel in Waikiki for the week.

We are looking forward to hanging out at the beach and exploring the island but I would lying if I didn't mention that this trip is also feeding my family's kawaii and Japanese-culture addiction. My girls are already talking about eating bento boxes for lunch each day and perusing all the Sanrio and San-X goods they can find.

I'm looking forward to our trip and can't wait to share our adventure with you.

Saturday, March 17, 2018

Final Girls: A Novel by Riley Sager Book Review





Each year, I set a goal for how many books I want to read using the Goodreads App on my phone.  I usually come up short of meeting my goal  but I find that it keeps me motivated to read throughout the year which is something I want to do, love to do, but can sometimes lose sight of with all the competition of TV shows, crafts, Internet browsing, and plenty of other unproductive activities.  Reading isn't unproductive to me, though. It feels like one of the most productive things that I can do.

I also love that I can listen to audio books on the Audible App and multi-task. My favorite thing to do is listen to a book while working on cross-stitch projects.  I'm pretty much obsessed with cross-stitch these days spending hours each evening listening to books and stitching away.  It is my happy place.

I came across the book Final Girls by Riley Sager on Audible while on-sale during the holidays and had been waiting to finish to other book, The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter (not a favorite),  that I was reading before starting Final Girls.  To be honest, I usually have about 4-5 books going at once because my taste changes each day and the platform with which I want to read as well changes.  It isn't unusual for me to have a book going on my Kindle, an audio book, a paperback or hardback book on my nightstand, a professional book for work in some medium, and another book on the Kindle app on my phone.  I know it is strange to read two separate books between the Kindle App and the Kindle itself but that's apparently how I do things....

Final Girls is a mystery-thriller-horror; a genre that I have started reading more the last few years.  The novel is about a final girl named Quincy Carpenter who survived a massacre at a cabin where she and friends were staying and brutally attacked one night by an escapee from a mental institution.  Quincy is one of three final girls that have all survived similar horrific experiences and she hates the thought of being considered a final girl, constantly gawked at and treated like a rare gem.  She just wants a normal life and to forget the past, pushing the awful memories down deep.  When another final girl turns up dead, the story all three final girls intertwines, forcing Quincy to deal with the events that occurred the night of the massacre.  The story moves back and forth between present day and the past, the night that the massacre happened at the cabin.

I loved this book.  It was well written and so suspenseful I couldn't stop.  Situations and people aren't at all what they appear to be. While I had some speculation of the ending, my opinions changed over and over throughout the book leading toward the revealing explanation of what is really happening and happened in the past.  It is rare that I don't turn on the TV for a week but that is what happened this last week... I raced through this book, spending 2+ hours happily listening and stitching my evenings away.

I highly recommend if you are a reader who likes the suspense with plenty of twists and turns along the way.