Crazy life of Chilli

[ChilliQueen]

I also made these

Easy, Homemade Keto Garlic Bread - 1g net carb - Diet Doctor

This delicious <a href="https://www.dietdoctor.com/low-carb/keto">keto</a> bread can be served as an appetizer, a snack or as a side dish. It's crispy on the outside, soft on the inside and has a lovely flavor thanks to the garlic butter. Only 1 gram of carbs per piece.

www.dietdoctor.com

the brand of psylium husk I have makes them really dark in colour but I don't mind about that, I didn't make these into garlic bread I was trying to replicate those krisproll things from the supermarket to have something to dunk in me soup, so I halved them as suggested in the recipe and popped them back in the oven just as they were to dry out. They're not bad, not as dry and crunchy as krisprolls, but they're definitely going to help that feeling of deprivation over the lack of bread/roll/krisproll when I'm having soup. They are quite salty so next time I won't add as much salt, and I wouldn't use them for anything else but for soup they will do just fine.

Food today has/will be 1 coconut muffin, tuna, cucumber, sweetcorn, chicken and lentil soup with dark purple crisp breads lol. I may have some nuts.

 

[ChilliQueen]

morning all, as an experiment I'm going to weigh everyday (but only update officially on fridays) it's partly curiosity partly hoping for ongoing motivation.

This morning I'm up 1/5lb, but that's still down 1/5 since fridays weigh in.

Happy Mothers Day to all the Mama's (hugs to anyone to whom this is a sad day for any reason)

My daughter stayed out late and as such they did not get up early to make me breakfast in bed lol, but to be honest that would likely have meant toast so it's ok. I'm not able to see my Mother today as her and my Dad are too vulnerable to expose, I'm waiting for them to have their 2nd vaccines then I'm going to bring a 'high tea' to them.

Honestly I don't care about cards or gifts, I've taught my kids as best I can to show love all year around, we have our glitches but they are very loving kids.

My daughter is 16 and is a huge support to me, she babysits when I work nights, I do pay her but it's a small amount not what overnight childcare would cost, she babysits now and then when I go out (not that anyone can at the minute) and she does the dishes when I'm working. She is generally supportive of every crazy idea I run past her, and we sometimes sit for hours talking about all kinds of anything. I'm celebrating being a mother today by being grateful. Son well he is only 8 but is always dishing out heartfelt hugs, today he was telling me if he was every a millionaire that he would buy me lots of things. I pointed out I've had more money and less money, bigger houses and smaller, but it isn't the things that make us happy.

Anyways, enough of the usual ramblings. I'm about to open the ChilliQ low carb kitchen/bakery. Todays plan is to attempt to make cheesy crackers, and pancakes. Wish me luck!

oh by the way I compared my home made 'krisprolls' mine are 91 cals and 2g carbs vs 51 cals for the brand ones and 8.7 carbs. I ate 4 with some cauli and bean soup so that would have been a lot of carbs if I'd eaten the shop ones, and they were actually ok. I wouldn't say the softer parts behave like bread and I wouldn't like that, but the crisp toasted bits were good, some of mine are a little soft but I'm just going to toast them up a little before I use them, I've put some in the freezer too.

I get confused with carbs vs net carbs, which one are we supposed to count? I typically pick the higher number.

 

[tipperary]

Those rolls look good, I might try them.
I feel for those of you that have had a rough time with relationships and especially when it causes trouble with children. I was married at 19, by 22 had 3 children and we are still here together 33 years later. The 3 kids still here in the house with me and now 3 grandchildren too. And yes, I know how lucky I am

 

[ladyfelsham]

Honestly I don't care about cards or gifts, I've taught my kids as best I can to show love all year around, we have our glitches but they are very loving kids.

Oh that's lovely, and you already have the rewards in your brilliant relationships with them xxx

I get confused with carbs vs net carbs, which one are we supposed to count? I typically pick the higher number.

In the UK we just count the net carbs .

 

[ChilliQueen]

@ladyfelsham the carb count thing is quite confusing really Once I get a proper feel for how much is in what I probably won't count I'll just try to make generally good choices.

@tipperary I'm very happy that your story has been that way, I do wonder what would have happened if 1st husband hadn't died (it was a sudden accident) we had been together 12 years at that point, perhaps we still would be, we would have been married 24 years past 1st March. I don't think about it often just now and again. Mostly I just feel for my daughter and what she's had to learn too early in life, but although her ADHD makes her a little erratic in the eyes of the outsider who doesn't understand her, I see huge empathy in her, way beyond her years. I'm not a happy person all the time I allow myself the time I need to grieve for things and get over stuff but then I just kind of think ... well I'm still alive here I gotta live you know what I mean? I have plenty to be grateful for.

Tales from the chilli kitchen... today I have made these, just with cheddar and they're pretty good, not quite up there with a ritz cracker but an ok snack for me. I would eat these with salsa perhaps, or humous, not sure they'd be nice with cheese on top but you do taste the cheese in them anyway. I would also eat these with a bowl of chilli and in fact it has inspired me to batch cook some chilli!

Keto Gluten Free Cheez Its (Low Carb, Nut Free)

These Keto Cheez Its are delicious little squares of cheesy crackers and a much healthier version for homemade cheez its! They are a Gluten Free, Low Carb, Almond Flour FREE copycat recipe! Perfect snack time treat the whole family will enjoy! These homemade Cheese Crackers truly taste just like...

www.sugarfreemom.com

I also made these, this link is to my own recipe modified from another a few years ago when I was following the BSD diet. I was going to make a coconut flour one, but as I'd bought some almond flour I figured may as well go with a tried and tested recipe. I added 3x dark choc chips to each pancake and they are yummy, my son has snaffled a few. These definitely freeze well, not sure the crackers above would.

Almond flour pancake stack - The Blood Sugar Diet by Michael Mosley

These taste just like normal pancakes. I’ve adapted the recipe from Elana’s pantry website to suit BSD and my own needs. Here is the original link https://elanaspantry.com/silver-dollar-pancakes/

thebloodsugardiet.com

So far today I've eaten a few crackers and 3 pancakes, but that will be 'lunch' lol

 

[ChilliQueen]

we had roast chicken for dinner, I had broccoli and ratatouille with mine, and I confess to stealing 2 teeny roast potatoes. But still overall a good day I'd say.

I've been super productive because sons lunch is made for tomorrow, I poured the stock from the roast chicken into my slow cooker and have some soup cooking, and the rest of the chicken shredded for tomorrows dinner, which according to my planning list is going to be chicken curry. I deliberately do that most of the time as a whole chicken does us twice. 2nd dinner either curry or pie, but obviously I'll have lower carb sides.

we have naan bread in the cupboard to use up the kids might like that instead of rice, wonder if there is a low carb version I can make...

I sound so wonderfully organised don't I? I do wish I could live up to it in my house cleaning

Tomorrow might be a challenge as left to their own devices my kids don't get up too early, meaning that not eating till lunch is a breeze. As son is back in school tomorrow we'll need to be up and about earlier, but in fairness it will be a busy start to the day with getting him up and ready and school walk then straight home to get the dog out. I probably won't realise I'm hungry until late morning anyway. I could always adjust my window to 11am-7pm as we typically eat a little earlier when school is on next day too.

I need to hem a pair of trousers for him tonight his old ones are too short! must have had a lockdown growth spurt lol.

 

[ChilliQueen]

well as expected I was hungry but it's probably all in my head.

I didn't sleep well last night at all, probably worried incase we slept in for school. I had most things ready for him last night. I got up at 0715 for a shower, and dragged the boy out of bed, his breakfast and walked to school.

I'm home now and waiting a while before dog walk as I've got a slightly dodgy tummy (I have mild IBS probably just the silly worry last night) my original plan was to come home after school and straight out with dog but don't want to be 2 miles away and need a toilet (sorry tmi)

Anyways I was in the fridge for milk for my cuppa (I know mine isn't 100% clean fast) and I picked up an actimel yoghurt drink thinking... I'll just have this till lunch but then I questioned myself... why? can I really not wait? maybe see how I feel after the cup of tea as haven't had anything to drink and the hunger may be thirst hiding? I put the actimel back. Sure enough now that I've drank my tea, I'm not really hungry anymore.

These are habitual things, I always used to come home from school run (or dog walk) and have a cuppa and a snack/breakfast. I don't need it. It should be easier to break the habit given that we've had no school since before christmas, if I don't allow myself to fall back in it will go away I'm sure.

Planned food for today, lentil soup that I made last night with home made krisprolls, and later chicken curry with keto naan bread (yep I found a recipe, I'll report back if it works out or not) and probably some nuts and pancakes I made yesterday. Lunch approx 300 cals, dinner approx 400cals (I can't quite break the habit and count a little)

Oh and weight same as yesterday (0.5lb off since fridays official)

 

[ladyfelsham]

Well done on the back to school start to the day, and all the batch cooking!

I've subscribed to emails from My Body Tutor, which has some really interesting things to say about eating habits and how to beat them - have a look. I haven't subscribed to the plan, seems a bit expensive, but get a daily motivational email.

 

[ChilliQueen]

I may have a look tomorrow and see what body tutor is like.

Update before I go to sleep, I had soup with my krisproll thingies, they had gone soft although I'd tied them into a bag in the breadbin, but I popped them in the toaster and they crisped up ok. The recipe for keto naan I tried is actually pretty good, I will definitely use it again... my dough was a bit wetter than I think it should have been but they cooked well enough and tasted pretty good with my curry. I also had a couple of my low carb pancakes and some nuts.

This is the naan recipe.

Keto Naan Bread (No yeast!) - The Big Man's World ®

This keto naan is fluffy, doughy and ready in 20 minutes! Made with low carb ingredients, this bread is perfect with curries, stews and as pizzas!

thebigmansworld.com

I didn't add the garlic, and I was low on mozarella so topped up the amount with cheddar. These are quite small but very filling i couldn't finish the one I had with my curry. They may work for mini pizza bases too.

Activity wise today I did a fair bit of clearing up and walked for over 5km with the dog, plus 2 school walks and 2 walks to shop (would have been one, I forgot my mask ) I did over 15000 steps.

I bought mince and have batch cooked spag bol for son, and have a second pack to batch cook chilli for myself tomorrow/soon, and I bought some red pepper hummus which is a fav of mine, and a google search shows it's probably not a bad choice for me right now. I think it will go down well with my coconut flour cheesy crackers I made.

Also I rejoined my weekly meditation group, which I'd stopped doing as I was never ready in time when I was having to homeschool. We only do it on zoom at the moment which isn't ideal but it does make one stop and slow down. I think I was about 5 minutes in fell asleep, woke up, fell asleep again about 20 mins in lol. I really did not sleep well last night! Think I was scared I would sleep in for sons school. I may or may not sleep well tonight but hey my sleep likes to please itself.

All in all a good day, hopefully I will sleep.

 

[ladyfelsham]

Brilliant number of steps! And food sounds great.

 

[ChilliQueen]

It'll be higher today, I walked to school and back, got my dog, called in for friend and we walked just under 8km. I'm on 14858 and school pick up will add another 2500 ish later. I'm exhausted

 

[ChilliQueen]

17262 is my current step count lol. I have no plans to walk anywhere else today though.

Mix of good and bad today, thankfully not with food though. After my walk I started not to feel well, not sure if it was my IBS continuing to play up. I felt like something sweet so I had the last of the choc chip pancakes I made with almond flour. I haven't felt that hungry and haven't eaten anything else yet.

When it was time to pick up son, I still chose to walk even though still not feeling 100%, it's so easy to jump in the car but I want to encourage him to be healthier too, he used to complain about the walk to school but he hasn't been complainy the past 2 days so I feel I should make sure I make the effort. His Dad lives a distance away so the days he is with him he can't walk to school and I think it's encouraged him to want to be driven.

I'm happy to see that he's settled happily back into school, he's outside playing with the boy from next door currently.

I still feel a bit yucky... I'm cooking steak pie for the kids tonight, but I threw the steak in the slow cooker this morning so all I need to do is peel a potato or three and bake the pastry. I think I will have the left over curry from last night with either another of the low carb naan's or perhaps some mixed root fries and I'm making an effort with water today because I've not paid enough attention to that, and it may be adding to my stomach pains.

Last positive is that most of the clothes I wear are loose or stretchy, but I have noticed today my jacket is definitely looser

 

[ladyfelsham]

Yes I'd say get loads of water down you, the low carb fibrous things like psyllium husks and almond flour and so on can easily bung you up - great step count, wish I could say the same!

 

[ChilliQueen]

morning, going to take things a bit gentler today with a shorter walk, and although I've walked to school today as usual, my son will now be with his Dad until Friday so no school walk again until after school friday.

From Friday I have 6x nightshifts too.

I never get as much done on my time off as I plan to but in fairness to myself I do a lot better than I used to.

I need to try and really get caught up over the next couple of days, and I also have a trailer tent that needs cleaned and up for sale.

 

[ChilliQueen]

I've had a weird couple of days here really. I've felt quite emotional today. I think for many who were furloughed or forced to do less through lockdown they had to face their emotions over their quieter time, but for me lockdown made me busier than ever. I had more duties added on at work, lots to think about all of the time trying to keep people safe, in addition having the kids at home all the time with no school. There were 2 periods of time we decided it wasn't safe for my kids to visit ex (one of very few genuinely mutual decisions ever made since he left) so for 6 weeks a year ago, and then 4 weeks again later they were literally my responsibility 24/7 on top of work and everything else as well. I don't think I've really had time to process much.

I have so many things I want to get done, but I think perhaps I need to just let myself have a proper break.

I am thinking now that everyone else is speeding their life back up, mine is finally slowing back down. It's nothing drastic I think I will settle again soon enough, but it's making me realise how much I would have emotionally ate this week, had I not been doing what I'm doing with food right now. I've not been 100% today but I've not fallen far from the low carb track.

Food today has been some low carb crackers and humous, with soup, 2 x little pots fromage frais, some dark chocolate chips. a pizza made with a low carb naan topped with some tomato puree mixed with lazy garlic, grated cheese and pepperoni, and I'm drinking a hot chocolate as I type.

A couple things there I shouldn't have had, but at the same time I did not reach for the biscuits, the crisps, I didn't go and buy loads of crappy sweet nonsense at the shop and eat it so I'm going to tell myself I did good.

I had to stay in for a delivery my daughter booked as she had school today, but as her and her brother have gone to ex's now until Friday so I wasn't worried about timing and walked my dog later. I usually just walk locally but today I drove to a walk beside a wind farm just a few miles away. It's rare to see anyone there and I think it's quite nice sometimes to have that solitude outside. It's not a long walk so we walked around 3 times to get to over 4km. steps today are 10196. It was a beautiful day to be up there, 13 deg C!

So, all things considered. I've had better days, but I've had a lot worse too. I am simply having 'a day'

 

[ladyfelsham]

It is a very strange time, isn't it? I've been the same, emotionally up and down, weeping at the silliest things (kittens saved from busy roads videos on YT, looking at you here!), being a bit agoraphobic, then really enjoying outside when the weather is good. The next few months are going to mean lots of change so all we can do is buckle in and keep talking about how we're feeling - and so we realise it's not just us feeling odd in whichever way.

I used to make chocolate bark rather too successfully when I was doing low carb, with nuts and coconut essence - lush!

 

[ChilliQueen]

Thank you @ladyfelsham, I know it isn't just me but it's still comforting to have someone say they're feeling it too.

This morning showed another dip in weight, now 1.5 down on last friday so that's good.

Last night I fired up my chimnea and sat outside for a while, such a calm and mild night it was lovely. Then I watched Eat Pray Love, which also made me cry haha, but I like the essence of the story. I managed not to eat anything else so I do think I did better than I would have a while ago.

I do find the night sky and a fire to be nicely calming.

Today I plan to really try and get the house in order, In advance of my nightshifts starting. Although my son isn't coming home until tomorrow, my daughter is coming home after school so I'd like to get a bunch done. and before school ends tomorrow have my sons room all sorted too. Would be good to get to my trailer tent too but that won't be likely at the moment as I'm not moving very fast! I'll take my dog out tonight. I like that she has no pattern I walk her all different times of day and it means she doesn't pester me at a particular time!

Food wise, not sure. Perhaps another low carb pizza at lunch or chilli, I'll need to feed daughter later too.

 

[ChilliQueen]

Ps I like the sound of chocolate bark.

 

[ladyfelsham]

Last night I fired up my chimnea and sat outside for a while, such a calm and mild night it was lovely. Then I watched Eat Pray Love, which also made me cry haha, but I like the essence of the story. I managed not to eat anything else so I do think I did better than I would have a while ago.

I do find the night sky and a fire to be nicely calming.

I love that movie too. Another one is Under the Tuscan Sun with the wonderful Diane Lane - can watch that over and over .

Your campfire sounds wonderful, you make me want to get a chimera too! Are they hard to get started?

 

[ChilliQueen]

I haven't seen that @ladyfelsham I'll have a look for it. I actually had no interest in Eat Pray Love to begin with, I bought the book years ago and couldn't get into it. Then one day I stumbled across a Tedtalk about creativity by the author Elizabeth Gilbert, then I bought her book 'Big Magic' on audible which she narrates herself. I love listening to her words in her own voice, it was somehow different to my own voice in my head. After that I was intrigued to know more about her so I bought Eat Pray Love on audible as well, and found I loved it in that format. I don't really understand why but I find her writing harder to read, but a joy to listen to! I love her idea of creative living and I try to make ways that I can do it too.

Chimneas are fine to use, I just pop a firelighter in the bottom then add logs or whatever it is you like to burn. I sometimes use the long lasting logs you can buy that don't even need a firelighter you just set fire to the packaging.