Strawberries

 

 

I am loving strawberries right now.  Especially strawberries that adorn my low-carb cream cheese pancakes.

Cream Cheese Pancakes
2 eggs
2 oz cream cheese
1 tsp. sugar substitute
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. baking powder
Coconut Oil spray or Kerry Gold butter for the griddle

Heat griddle and prep with coconut oil or butter.  In blender mix first 5 ingredients until well blended.
Pour batter on griddle and cook approximately 2 min per side until done.

Strawberry Topping
1/2 C. Strawberries, sliced
2 Tbs. sugar substitute

Combine strawberries and sugar-substitute and let sit overnight in the fridge.

Serve on top of pancakes with Cool Whip if desired.

11-Month Keto Weightloss Update

It was 11 months ago that I started my weight loss journey and started leading a Ketogenic lifestyle.  My hope was that I would be down 100 pounds by the time I hit my one year anniversary... assuming that I stuck with it.  Sticking with a diet was something I just never was able to do until Keto came into my life. The most I had lost at any true attempt was 30 pounds. I distinctly remember how I felt 11 months ago -- emotionally stronger but disappointed in my body. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to do the things in life that I wanted to do like travel and keep up. I was constantly sleepy, walked slowly, and didn't feel good a lot of the time.  My blood pressure was high, my blood sugar was high, and I was on a fast track to a significant health event. Never mind the day to day aches, exhaustion, and moodiness.

As I am closing in on my one year anniversary,  I wanted to share my progress update. I believe the last update I provided here was a weight loss of 67 pounds.  I am now 86 pounds down and 14 pounds away from my one year goal.  At this point, it doesn't matter if I don't make 100 pounds in a year... I am just so dang proud of myself for making it this far.  I am now at the back of my closet - I can fit into all my old clothes (some of which are even now too big on me).  I can put on clothing that was I was wearing a year ago and have one of those moments where you hold the fabric away to see the gap. (I haven't made it into standing in one pant leg though!)  I will provide a one year update on the anniversary but until then I will continue to Keto on.

Here is a recent Keto Friendy meal that I had for dinner -

2 Grilled pepperjack cheese stuffed sausages
1 serving of grilled eggplant and zucchini - I can't wait to make more of this, so so good.
1 Tbs. Sriracha Mayo

Literary Tour Guide to the United States Books - THe SOUTH! NORTHEAST! MIDWEST!

This weekend my husband and I went out and hit up some garage sales.  It was a nice Saturday for getting out and we hadn't been to a  garage sale in a long time.  We hit up about 10 different sales and found a few good deals.  While visiting one sale that I believe belonged to a former English teacher, I came across three books that I was obviously meant to find.  I had never heard of the "A Literary Tour Guide to the United States" books before. They are a part of Americans Discover America Series. There were three of them - The Northeast, The West and Midwest, and South(!) and Southwest.  I was surprised to see Target stickers from long ago still on the books. The books are in excellent shape considering the age. 

I had to check out my own state of Kansas in the West and Midwest volume (by Rita Stein) to see what was highlighted.  It is a sad little chapter that focuses mostly on William Allen White but makes mention of Langston Hughes growing up in Kansas for part of his life. 

I checked out the South and Southwest volume  (by Rita Stein) most extensively as my southern literature, southern gothic in particular, is my absolute favorite genre.  There was mention of many of my favorites including William Faulkner, Eurdora Welty, and Flannery O'Connor. Flannery O'Connor is an absolute favorite and I have visited one of her homes in Savannah Georgia which has now been made into a museum.

The Northeast volume (by Emilie C. Harting) covers many places that my husband and I toured when we did our Literary New England vacation a few years back.  Walden Pond (Thoreau), Wayside (Nathaniel Hawthorne's home), Old Manse (Ralph Waldo Emerson & Hawthorne lived there), Louisa May Alcott's house (now also a museum) and the resting place of many literary greats all are in Concord, MA.  If you love that kind of thing, it is a truly memorable experience. 

I can't wait to dig into these further and plot our next vacation spots!

Keto-Friendly, Sugar-Free, Diabetic-Friendly, Low Carb ButterBeer Recipe

Our recent trip to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter has left me with a hankering for Butterbeer.  Now let me be clear, I already loved all things cream soda and butterscotch so it wasn't a hard sell.  Once I returned from our trip and jumped back onto Keto I thought to myself, "surely I could create a Keto-Friendly version of Butterbeer so I can continue to enjoy it while on keto."  I had to seek out a couple of ingredients but all were easily found at my local grocery store.

Keto-Friendly Butterbeer Recipe
Makes 1 Serving

Ingredients:
1 Can Diet A&W Cream Soda Chilled
1/4 C Heavy Whipping Cream
2-3 Sugar-Free Werther's Originals (the smaller ones)
1 Tsp. Butter (the real stuff)
1 Tsp. Sukrin Gold (great low carb alternative to brown sugar and is optional in this recipe)
1/2 C Ice Cubes


To make the Butterbeer froth, in a saucepan, melt butter and sukrin over low heat. Add heavy whipping cream and Werther's Original candy. Stir over low heat until candy has melted into mixture. Remove from heat.

In a blender (I just upgraded to a Ninja Blender and I love it!) add Cream Soda and Ice. Blend until nice and smooth and pour into glass. Careful removing the lid because there will be some pressure from the carbonation.  Pour froth mix over the top of cream soda.

Enjoy!

Vacation Recap - A Suprise Week in Orlando -- Best Places to Stay and Eat!

When my husband and I realized that we had a whole week left of vacation each to use up by the end of May (or else we lost it), we decided we would try to fit in a second family vacation this year.  We have an upcoming trip to Costa Rica that we have been planning for awhile so we wanted to do something within the US that we could make more cost effective.  A trip to Orlando, FL hasn't really been a cheap vacation for us in the past.  Of course, our past trips have centered around Disney World and we had decided that we wanted to spend the week getting to explore some of the other things in Orlando.  I managed to get nearly free airfare on Southwest when we traded in credit card points for miles earning us free tickets.

My girls are at the age that they love all things Harry Potter.  My youngest has been reading the books and doing audio books for awhile now.  I personally never really got into it and I'm not sure why other than I saw the movie and haven't read the books and the first movie wasn't that impressive to me... I'm probably in the minority, I know.  We decided that Universal Studios would be our destination this time with plenty of time dedicated to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.  We also decided not to tell them we were going to Orlando for the week.  We decided to tell them we were going to visit my sister's family in KC for a week (since they just got a swimming pool and we wanted to try it out).  They were truly confused when we drove to the airport instead of hitting the turnpike.  My gullible girls lasted all the way to Orlando still without figuring out the surprise. Would you believe they actually thought we were flying to Kansas City from Wichita?  Of course, as time wore on, they knew something was up but not what.  Thank goodness for mobile technology.  Because their heads were wrapped up in their phones and tablets, they didn't notice the signs or announcements at the airports.

We arrived in Orlando late on a Monday evening.  We headed straight to our condo-hotel to get some sleep.  I'd mention the place we stayed but it wasn't my favorite in Orlando.  We have stayed at Floridays, Caribe Royale, and Disney Swan & Dolphin in the past and those are all much better options and places I would recommend (especially Floridays if you are looking for a home away from home with a lot of space and amenities). 

Tuesday we got up and decided to do some exploring.  It was two years ago the same week that we were in Orlando going to Star Wars week at Disney and a lot can change in that city in that amount of time.  We hit an outlet mall for a little bit, stocked our fridge with some snacks, did some swimming in the pool. We had some dinner at Bahama Breeze.  I am typically not one for chain restaurants but Bahama Breeze is an exception.  We go there every time we are in town and have never been disappointed.  We also spent a good amount of time exploring Disney Springs (formerly Downtown Disney) and it has really changed since our last trip.  We were able to get some Japanese food for lunch from Morimoto Asia.  Also, do you see that pink box above, that is a Cupcake ATM by Sprinkles Bakery.

Wednesday morning we got up and headed to Universal Studios.  Right now Universal is running a special, buy a two-day pass (two-parks) and get the third day free.  We decided to go to the older park first although not much was the same since I was last there, maybe 15 years ago.  We were actually a little disappointed because Jaws, Backdraft, Twister, and Earthquake are all gone now.  Of course, they made room for some pretty neat things including the Simpson's Springfield Area and Harry Potter World.  I admit, the Simpson's area was my favorite.  We had lunch at Krusty Burger and it was actually pretty good.  The ET ride is still there so we managed to get that in.  Their is an are dedicated to Sponge Bob Square Pants which was pretty cute.  The girls really liked the Men in Black ride.  We did the Terminator 3D ride which was neat but kind of dated now.  We then hit Diagon Alley in Harry Potter World.  Even for someone who isn't a huge fan, I'll admit it was really neat.  We got our ButterBeer and walked around exploring.  So many cool things to check out at different shops.  A lot of the shops were facades though and I kept thinking they could do so much more with the space.  We ended the day with riding the Rock It Roller Coaster (not me, I personally hate roller coasters) as my husband and oldest love them.

 

 

Thursday we decided to make our beach day.  We drove up to Daytona Beach for lunch (fresh seafood!) and swimming.  I got a little sunburn on the back of my neck watching the girls swim. The girls did more swimming at the pool later and we called this our relaxed day.

Friday we headed back to Universal but headed to Island's of Adventure this time.  We stopped in at a burger-sushi fusion restaurant called The CowFish at Universal's City Walk.  I had never heard of it before but it was really great.  By far one of our best dining experiences this time.  They have a huge menu you can check out here.  We headed towards the Dr. Seuss area first and the girls did quite a few rides there. It is definitely aimed at younger kids but my girls didn't care, we all love Dr. Seuss.  After that we headed towards the Harry Potter side at Islands of Adventure. There was more roller coaster riding (husband and kids) and ButterBeer drinking (me).  We then headed to the comic area which was really pretty neat.  Lots of places themed after old school comic strips like Blondie, Beetle Bailey and Hagar the Horrible.  We then found the Marvel area with all the stuff that my husband loves and more rides to check out there.  We then took Hogsmeade (the train) from Island's of Adventure back to Universal Studios so we could cover more things we missed over there.  We stayed until closing.

 

Saturday was our Megacon day which I covered separately.

Sunday was another slow day with less walking.  We had thought we would go back to Universal for our third day but after walking at Megacon our feet were worn out.  We did some light shopping and exploring.  We did discover a great Latin restaurant called Sofrito Latin Cafe which I wish I would have discovered earlier in the trip.  Very authentic and not too pricey.

Monday we headed back to Wichita on an early flight. 

Must Read Works of Southern Literature

I came across this article this week on BookRiot and wanted to share for those that love Southern Literature as much as me. A fine list indeed.  And some I need to get to reading!

http://bookriot.com/2013/06/20/100-must-read-works-of-southern-literature/

MegaCon!

We have been contemplating taking our family vacation to ComiCon in San Diego for a couple of years now but have been hesitant to do so, not sure if the girls would tolerate the walking, the sitting, and listening... and be as interested as we were in going.  While in Orlando a couple of weeks ago, we learned that MegaCon was going on the same weekend that we were visiting.  We checked out the guests list and were surprised that so many people we liked were also attending.  We had an extra day that we figured we would end up at Disney's Magic Kingdom but instead used it to attend MegaCon.  We figured it would give us a good idea if ComiCon was something we would want to do in the future. 

MegaCon didn't disappoint.  It was far larger than I imagined it would be.

It was also incredibly geeky and loads of fun.  The girls were disappointed that they hadn't packed costumes but still had blast. 

One of my favorite actors (and celebrity crush), John Cusack was there:

Walking Dead actors Lennie James (Morgan) and Tom Payne (Jesus) were also there! Norman Reedus (Darryl) was planned but ended up not making it.  I wasn't going to spend $80 to meet these actors but I certainly would have to meet Darryl!

Also in attendance were Curtis Armostrong (Revenge of the Nerds & Supernatural), Ralph Macchio (Karate Kid), and George Takei.

Also in attendance were tons of Comic writers and illustrators. Some favorites for everyone in my family.

 

The creator of the The Crow

 

My Little Pony comic is a favorite with my youngest

 

 

There was a ton of vendors including Anime / Manga / and Kawaii.  I especially liked looking at the indie Kawaii brands -- Tasty Peach Studios and Lucky Squid Studios reminded me a lot of what I am doing with Kawaiian Island.

 

There was lots of Cosplay going on -- Lots of Deadpools, Ghostbusters, Harry Potter, Pokémon, Steam Punk, Star Wars, Star Trek, Walking Dead, Little Twin Stars (!), etc. 

 

 

 

In the end, she had to get some kitty gear to join in on the cosplay.