Super easy Keto crockpot pork chops

 My family is loving that I'm living a keto lifestyle right now. I've always hating cooking and when I did, it was usually low fat (which as we all know, is not super tasty) ...now that they are liking what I'm cooking, I don't hate it so much lol

 Yesterday I ran across a recipe on Facebook for boneless pork chops. i happened to have some in my fridge, so I hopped up and made it. It was really good. the pictures don't look that great, but trust me they were tender and yummy.

I laid the porkchops in the bottom of the crockpot (you can layer them if you need to)
 Spread Cream of Chicken soup over the top of them, then sprinkle with a packet of hidden valley ranch mix.
 Cook on high for 4 hours, or low for 8

 That's it!

 I made 5 pork chops and figured roughly 5 carbs per pork chop. There are 25 carbs in the can of Cream of chicken, so make sure you're not eating more than you're fair share of gravy :)  I served it with green beans. I bet chicken would be good like this as well.

 Again concentrating on water and weening my Diet Dr. Pepper...I said weening. Yes I am addicted....don't judge me! ;)

Down 2.5 lbs this week

 So, I think I'm finally through my plateau! I've lost about 5 lbs in the last 2 weeks and feel like I may be finally "seeing" it. I feel good, and am really not having cravings. that being said, I made "chocolate cake" today! I think it's good...but if you're expecting it to taste like real chocolate cake, you may need to lower your expectations lol

I slightly altered the 3 minute chocolate cake recipe from genaw.com 

http://www.genaw.com/lowcarb/3_minute_chocolate_cake.html

In a small glass bowl or measuring cup mix with a fork 

2 TBLS of melted butter

1 TBLS of cream (the other recipe called for water), add

1 egg

3 TBLS Log Cabin sugar free pancake syrup (original recipe called for Splenda)

To that add

1/4 cup of Almond flour/meal

1 TBLS cocoa powder

1/4 TSP baking Powder

Mix together well, cover with plastic wrap (cut a slit in top to vent)

cook in microwave 2-2.5 min. This may vary

Each cake is 2 servings. I refrigerate it and I think it tastes better warmed the next day :)

Honestly, I know it doesn't look that great lol....but I think it's good. It's dense and filling and very moist.

SO, my goal for this week is to drink more water. Between the cold and holding on to less water, my skin is looking dry...not a good look. Darn our dry electric heat!

 Hello!

 So, dinner last night was an epic fail lol. A couple of days ago I made  really yummy fried chicken tenders...they were so good! All my peeps loved them:

Combine 2 eggs and a Tbls of heavy cream in a bowl, set aside

In another bowl combine:
1/2 cup of parmesan cheese (Kraft shaker kind)
2 TBLS or Almond Flour or meal
2 TBLS Garlic Powder
1 TSP Garlic salt
1 Tsp Italian seasoning (or seasoning of your choice)

Pat dry your chicken tenders (mine were from Costco), coat with egg, then cover with crumbs, set on wax paper covered cookie sheet.
Continue until you're all done, place cookie sheet in fridge for about 10 min

I fried mine in a cast iron skillet in Olive oil...they were great!

...back to the failure: I've seen plenty of recipes where you can make them in the oven as well. Apparently not this recipe, they stayed doughy and didn't crisp up. I was able to salvage them by frying them a little bit, but the chicken was over done. Live and learn!

 Other than that, it is still going really well. I'm losing weight every day, my energy is super high.

 Yesterday was my first day doing the intermittent fasting and it wasn't hard at all. I quit eating at 8:00 PM the night before, skipped breakfast and then had lunch at 12:00. I did get up and have 2 cups of coffee (with coconut oil)

I've never really been a morning eater, but had bought into the whole  "6 small meals a day to keep your metabolism going" thing. I have to tell you, there is something very freeing not to have to think about food all day! Before I was always trying to think of decent mini meals that consisted of 200-250 calories and that were healthy...now I just have to plan 2 and maybe a snack.

 If you read the article I posted yesterday, you saw that fasting for 16 hours Greatly increases you Human Growth Hormone.

"Growth Hormone  promotes cell regeneration in the bones, vital organs and muscles, and repairing damaged tissue. It is responsible for enhancing muscle growth, burning fat, and maintaining the immune system, and even helps support healthy blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and reduces C-reactive protein." Smart Publications

Who doesn't want more of that? lol

 I think I ate about 1200 calories...I'm logging my food with Spark People. It's a free website with a large database of food. I've found it to be pretty accurate and a great way to track your calories, fat and carbs. You'll have to figure your own net carbs.

http://www.sparkpeople.com/

 If you don't know how to figure net carbs, it's very simple: You take the listed carbs minus any fiber and sugar alcohols. That's it. I'm keeping mine under 20 and they come from vegetables.

 If you've never been a fan of vegetable, give it a few weeks. when you take sugar out of your diet, you become very sensitive to natural sugars in your food. Roasting the veggies really brings that out.

 To roast your asparagus, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, and broccoli:

~ cut up your fresh veggies
~ make sure they are DRY (wash them earlier in the day or REALLY blot with paper towels)
~ Throw them on a cookie sheet covered with foil
~ Add minced garlic (I use the jar kind)
~ Drizzle with a generous amount of Olive Oil
~ Get in there with you hands and makes sure your veggies are coated
~ Salt
~Bake at 400 for 20 or 30 minutes

 I'll take a picture next time, but they will brown up a little...Soooo yummy

  Basically, I'm feeling great, not feeling deprived and am losing weight!

I'd love to hear how you all are doing in the comments section :)

              Have a wonderful day! Misty

Here we go!

  First I want to say that I am just a Mom who is looking to feel and be healthy and to lose some weight. I am not a health professional, nor am I a writer. I don't expect to get any followers, but to use this as a kind of diary as I walk through this adventure. So, if you are offended by grammatical and punctuation errors, run on sentences and just poor writing in general, you may want to click your back button lol. If you are interested in an honest look at the trials and errors of figuring this all out, feel free to pop in from time to time :)

 So, I've played with low carb off and on and have had some success. A couple of months ago I started to research ketogenic diets and was floored by the number of Dr. peer reviewed studies that show the health benefits of a diet high in fat and low in carbs. I have been so ingrained by the "low Fat" mantra, that I actually almost feared fat. I would seek out every low fat product, ate a lot of baked chicken breast, tried to skim every bit of excess fat off of my food etc. Yet still I gained weight every year. Not a ton of weight, just slightly above a healthy BMI, but still gaining a few every year.

 I was mad at myself for blindly believing the  saturated fat actually caused heart disease (according to a lot of studies, it does not, it actually lowers triglycerides and raises your good cholesterol)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2716748/ 

 Anyway, I started keto a few weeks before the holidays which was good because I didn't gain any weight and lost a few pounds. I did take about a week off, so I've been consistently eating low carb, high fat, moderate protein for about 10 days. I feel great, lots of energy and not feeling deprived.

 I'm adding intermittent fasting this week, starting today. Basically, I'll be skipping breakfast and not eating after 8:00. Here's an interesting article on this
http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2013/06/28/intermittent-fasting-health-benefits.aspx

 Well, that's the plan! I'm excited and know this is something I can do for the long run. Feel free to comment, ask questions or offer suggestions.