3/4 Cup canned white albacore tuna mixed with a bit of chopped onion and miracle whip dressing, on top of a bed of iceberg lettuce and surrounded by home grown cherry tomatoes gifted by a friend … simple, refreshing, and nutritious, albeit a bit boring.
Category: Food
-
Easy Eggs
This simple, two-egg cheese omelette is filling and almost (1.5 grams carbs per tablespoon of chunky slasa) carb free.
One nice thing about switching to low carb for a while, is that large portions aren’t necessary to keep hunger at bay.
-
A Good Trade Off
A burger without the bun.
Take on fork: a cherry tomato half, a bit of lettuce, a piece of air-fried burger. Dip it all into ketchup and then mustard and it’s a burger minus the carb-loaded bun (28-38 grams of carbs per bun).
This makes room for a filling lite beer (3.2 grams of carbs per can)
In my world, that’s a good trade-off.
-
Can You Guess?
To get back to my most comfortable weight, I intend to lose 10 lbs in the next two months.
I’ve made up a new eating program, which consists of three methods combined: 16/8 intermittent fasting, low carb, and reduced calorie.
Can you guess what bits from this plate ended up on hubs’ plate?
-
Tex Mex with a Twist
We have a restaurant here that has a diverse menu featuring the chef’s take on offerings of many locales. Each dish is a bit different than what one would expect, so it’s always a pleasant surprise.
This taco salad was the menu item I tried last week. It was a treat in both presentation and flavour!
I’m preparing my palate for our upcoming winter in Deep South Texas.
-
Birdseed for Folks
This container of Nut and Seed Brittle weighs in at 0.645 Kg (1.4 lbs) and costs $10.99 CDN ($7.91 USD)
Besides being a great source of fibre and nutrients, this treat is healthy in another way … the clamshell packaging is almost impossible to break into! I know I could put it in another container, but I decided to reseal it in this one every time.
The brittle, although quite sweet, is so full of a big variety of seeds (pumpkin, sesame, sunflower, flax) and nuts (almonds, cashews, pistachios), and coconut, that it’s surprisingly easy to bite into and chew, and one piece always tastes like more.
Best to leave it locked down like Fort Knox.
-
Guiltless Indulgence
Every once in a while, I have a strong craving for ice cream. It has to be three scoops of a good vanilla, topped with whatever my mood suggests, and no, I don’t feel a drop of guilt when I indulge.
-
The Necessary “P’s” of French Macarons
I’ve been making these darlings of the pastry world since 2022.
For a full year prior to my first attempt, I studied extensively… reading every word possible about technique and trouble shooting. I also viewed more YouTube videos than I can count.
Since the “learning phase”, I’ve made well over one thousand of these divas of desserts. I’ve finally come to a place where I understand and commit to the necessary “P’s” with each and every bake and I’m happy to say that I’m no longer intimidated.
Perfect Meringue 
Perfect Macronage 
Perfect Piping Technique 
Perfect and Stable Oven Temperature My feature photo is of my most recent bake (a few days ago) The shells are unflavoured and decorated with sanding sugar. The filling is a vanilla bean ganache dam with Saskatoon Berry jam in the centre.
My favourite thing about these fussy babies is their versatility. Through colour and flavour, I can make countless varieties with one basic recipe!
-
Reveal and Review
Here they are!!
About three weeks ago, I found a recipe for these cottage cheese/egg muffins and adapted it to my own preferences.
When I made these in my regular metal muffin pan, they were delicious, but sadly, collapsed as they cooled. In addition, despite the metal pan being well oiled, the eggs stuck terribly.
Enter the silicone muffin pan I mentioned in my Friday post about self gifting.
I used the same recipe but because the muffin cups in the silicone pan were so much deeper than in my metal pan, I added 4 eggs to the 6 the recipe called for.
In addition, because I set the silicone pan inside a metal cake pan (for stability), I had to add 12 minutes to the recipe bake time in order to be satisfied that the eggs had set.
The end result told the tale! Despite the lower fill level, the contents rose beautifully and maintained their shape throughout cooling!
They released easily from the silicone pan and clean up was a breeze!
Now, I can’t wait to try regular muffins in my new self gift!
**For those looking for a recipe, this is loosely what I’ve been doing:
Cottage Cheese and Egg Muffins (makes 1 dozen)
Preheat oven to 375°F
Whisk together 6 – 10 eggs, 1/2 cup cottage cheese and whatever spices you prefer. I used salt, pepper, and garlic powder.
Stir in whatever cheese, meat, and vegetables you prefer @ 1/2 cup each ingredient (I used spinach, green onion, red bell peppers, real bacon bits, and shredded old cheddar)
Pour into muffin pan and bake for 18 – 30 minutes (until eggs are set)
Let cool in muffin pan for about 15 minutes and then remove to a plate to continue cooling.
Store in a sealed container in fridge or freezer.
Reheat in microwave for 30 seconds to one minute if out of fridge … 2 minutes if out of freezer
**High protein, keto-friendly, and gluten free**
-
“Thank You, Self!”
Self gifting is how I describe purchasing unnecessary items, just because you’re interested in them and you want to give them a try. The likelihood of anyone else gifting them, to you is, at best, slim, so you treat yourself.
Silicone bakeware has always intrigued me.
Last week, I finally caved in to my curiosity, and bought this muffin pan.
Can you guess what I’m baking that might work better in this than in a regular muffin tin?
*Big reveal and review coming on Monday.*
Radically Retired 