I’m delighted to announce, that one week after my weekend of carbohydrate-busting dining in Charleston, S.C., I weighed and found I’d lost all the carb weight I’d picked up on that trip – plus a pound more! One solid week of focused attention on my carb intake, and it happened. The ketogenic way of eating made it easier than I thought – all the fat content of my meals kept me reasonably full. I’d lying though, if I said wasn’t hungry sometimes. I’m still not used to eating only a salad and grilled chicken for lunch, especially when you’ve spent years snarfing up fast food and bready sandwiches.
But I did get back on track. To celebrate, tonight I made a burger with a fried egg on top.
The four patties, made from one pound of grass-fed beef. I probably should have made them a little thinner.
The egg looked so lovely in the pan. Too bad I got in a hurry….
I dined on a pared-down version of this burger: I forgot to buy avocado, skipped the onion, and I rushed the last bit and flipped my perfect sunny-side-up egg into an over-easy mess. Patience is hard to come by when you’re hungry!
Keto living means upping your fat intake – and that’s easy to do when you love cheese as much as I do. (One of my friends is giving up cheese for Lent – he’s made of stronger stuff than I am.) I’m eating slices of cheese by themselves, when I’m not grating or shredding cheese into every dish I can. What’s an omelet without cheese?
To make my dishes sing, I’ve been looking for the right tools. That old-fashioned box grater I was gifted from my mother still works beautifully, but it is a pain to clean. After a little looking around on Ebay I found the answer: a Holland cheese slicer, with painted scene on the handle. Both functional and stylish. In the words of William Morris, “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” It doesn’t so much slice the cheese as grates it in thin strips.
I love the handpainted scene of the windmill.
And then there’s the ultimate shredding tool: the Microplane grater. Could I have shredded Parmesan before I got this? Yes, but it was large strips, not the fine shreds I wanted. And zest – forget it. My grocery story zester smushed every peel I tried to zest. If you want quality, yes, you will have to pay for it. But this tool has paid for itself. I love finely shredded Parmesan over salads, soups, and in so many dishes. The Microplane makes it happen.
The perfect shredder/zester, lying against the perfect block cheese slicer.
For the second weekend in a row, I fell out of ketosis. This time, I was done in by the homemade tortilla chips – not just any restaurant tortilla chips, but chips at what my friend swears is the best Tex-Mex this side of New Mexico.
We had traveled to Charlotte for a shopping trip. After a latish start, we got there about 11:30 – time for an early lunch. My friend had been telling me about this wonderful Mexican chain in Orlando (of all places) that she swore had the closest thing to Tex-Mex that she’d found on the East Coast, ever since she left Albuquerque. I said, look it up, see if there’s one in Charlotte. And yes, there is a Chuy’s in Charlotte.
A Tex-Mex take on the 21 Club
We drove to the one Charlotte location on the south side of the city. The place had a kitschy vibe with the Chihuahua bar decorated with pictures of Chihuahua dogs, the checkerboard floors, and colorful furnishing. The ceilings drew inspiration from New York’s fabled 21 Club. Instead of toys hanging down, the ceiling of the room where we dined was decorated with shiny hubcaps of all shapes and sizes. There was some serious money in rims above our heads.
Salsas Devine
For about two minutes I thought hard about staying on my Keto program. I could order a taco salad and eat around the shell. I could order fajitas and skip the tortillas. But then they brought out those homemade tortilla chips with salsa and creamy jalapeno dip. The lightly fried, non-greasy chips crumbled in the mouth, melting as fast as my resistance to the carbs. My friend couldn’t stop exclaiming over the food. She eagerly ordered the Hatch Chili salsa to go with her lunch. My tastes run more to my WASP background. I gotta be me: I’m more at home with bland, creamy comfort food, not hot & spicy. I chose from the mild side of the menu. The enchiladas with tomatillo salsa were perfect. I did try to restrain myself: I didn’t eat most of the tortillas wrapping the chicken inside. And I left most of the rice and beans (something I’ve never done before in a Mexican restaurant.) Not because they weren’t delicious; I was reining myself in. And because I was stuffed full of chips.
Every month my team goes out to eat at a different restaurant. This week, it was the locally famous all-you-can-eat barbecue restaurant Little Pigs. It’s a patriotic country place that features the flags of each branch of the Armed Services on the walls, along with the “Thin Blue Line” flag and a flag for MIA-POWs. And they serve the three styles of barbecued pork sauce predominant in South Carolina: tomato-based, mustard-based, and vinegar-pepper.
Buffet means minefield
Unfortunately, meat isn’t all they serve. There’s also the tantalizing display of casserole-type foods and starches that are mainstays of the Southern diet. Here’s what I had to pass by in order to stay on my Keto way of eating:
Fried chicken
Wings
Rice
Hash
Tomato pie
Hush puppies
Macaroni and cheese (this is considered a vegetable in South Carolina)
Mashed potatoes and gravy
Candied Yams
Corn
Candied Yams
Cut Corn
And for dessert:
Banana pudding
Chocolate pudding
What did you eat?
Believe it or not, I was able to dine quite nicely at the BBQ restaurant, and not feel too deprived. (Although I did sigh several times over the tomato pie I couldn’t have.) I filled my plate with broccoli salad made with cheddar cheese and mayo, green beans, and three types of pork: mustard-based BBQ, vinegar and pepper-based BBQ, and plain pulled pork. It was divine. And best of all – my teammates who ate all the carbs were falling asleep later that afternoon at work. Me? I had no problem powering through the day.
Rule 1: Never go on a girls’ trip to Charleston without an extra-strong dose of willpower.
Rule 2: If you’re going to cheat, don’t cheat at every meal!
Rule 3: See Rules 1 and 2.
One good thing
My friend and I went off to explore the city of Charleston, S.C. over President’s Day weekend – and that meant LOTS of walking all over the gorgeous historic district. In fact, on one day alone we walked six miles by my Fitbit. That was the shining moment of the weekend. We saw everything from the beautiful Battery to the downtown Market to scores of houses with those magnificent, long Charleston-style porches designed to catch the breezes.
A porch designed to catch as much breeze as possible.
One not-so-bad thing
We decided to take a break from the walking (12 miles total over the weekend) by taking a Carriage Horse tour. That gave us the chance to see more of Charleston – but also kept me from some more much-needed exercise!
The ugly
All those delicious meals – and the grits! Oh, my word, the grits and the biscuits (So NOT Keto) were out of this world at Miller’s All Day, a wonderful breakfast and brunch place. I think there was a way to eat keto-friendly here, but it would have broken my Southern heart.
Big, bountiful biscuit and grits: not Keto. Eggs, cheese, and bacon: Keto
All told, I weighed again this morning and found I’d gained 4 pounds. Ugh. Yuck. Oh, well – back to salads, lean meat and keto-friendly oils! A few final pictures of the Charleston trip:
It’s that time again … time to set myself up for a good week of Keto Living by planning ahead and shopping conscientiously. It feels like I do this all the time! Now that I’m doing Keto, I’m cooking at home more than ever. So, time to plan out some menus. As always, I’m turning to my new favorite cookbook, Simply Keto.
Shopping my freezer
I’ve got so much meat from my last Butcher Box delivery that I need to use up. More filet mignons mean I’m making Filet Mignon with Gorgonzola Sauce! Other dishes I’m going to re-make this week:
Keto Crackers
Twice-Baked Cauliflower Casserole (it’s the faux potato dish I love so much)
Sometimes, you just have an itch that fat or protein won’t scratch. Another fat bomb won’t do. And eating yet another devilled egg doesn’t appeal either. Sometimes, you just want a cracker. To the rescue – once again, my new Bible of Keto cooking, Suzanne Ryan’s “Simply Keto” cookbook. (Seriously – go buy this book!) I found her Keto crackers recipe – and it offers two ways of making these wonderful snacks. I choose the cheese cracker option. They don’t even need dip. They’re delicious all by themselves. See below for my photo essay of my first attempt to make these crackers.
The ingredients
Garlic powder, almond flour, cheddar cheese, salt. Oh, and you’ll add an egg yolk.
My lack of prep forced me to use the wrong type of paper. You need parchment paper!
As you can see, no parchment paper meant using Pam. And my squares don’t look anything like the book!
But the crackers turned out beautifully – only six minutes in the oven.
Ah, the cauliflower. As writer Rod Dreher once said, it’s the “Sansabelt slacks of vegetables” fit only to scoop up dips. But to someone following the Ketogenetic way of eating, the cauliflower is a lifesaver. With just a little prep, you can fool yourself into thinking you’re eating mashed potatoes! Let me show you how my attempt at making Faux Mashed Potatoes – from Suzanne Ryan’s Simply Keto cookbook, turned out. Spoiler: It was delicious.
Measure out your “mash” ingredients (beside cauliflower)
Three cheeses: cream, parmesan, and cheddar.
Time to cook!
Like boiling potatoesFry up the baconThey mash so nicely
I’ve been monkeying around with ChatGPT just like everyone else. Even though I swore I wouldn’t use it to write a post, that’s what I’ve ended up doing. Hope you enjoy the crazy stuff the machine came up with!
I thought it would be fun to ask the AI bot about Keto. Then I thought – why not test its poetry skills? Hence, a poem about Keto in the style of Shakespeare.
Oh Keto, fair diet of low-carb might,
With roots so deep, it brings forth new light.
Thou banisheth grains, and sugar's sweet vice,
And bringeth balance to body and spice.
Thy fat doth burn, and energy soars,
With strength and clarity, and health restored.
And though some may scoff, and call it a plight,
Thou standeth firm, as truth in the night.
So here's a toast, to this way of life,
With food so pure, it banishes strife.
And though it may take some effort and care,
Thou wilt reap the reward, so bountiful and fair.
So hold fast to the path, of this noble quest,
And let the journey, to health be blessed.
For Keto, thou art the diet so right,
That brings balance, and joy, both day and night.
Ok, well it rhymed. And scanned fairly well too. But – it really wasn’t the Shakesperean effort I was thinking of; I wanted a sonnet. Remembering that you have to specify EVERYTHING to a computer, I politely requested a sonnet on Keto. And this is what ChatGPT gave me. The machine does enjoy rhyming “strife” and “life.”
When I consider how my body thrives,
With Keto's low-carb, high-fat delight,
I find within my heart a newer life,
And healthier days that banish endless night.
This way of eating, though some may revile,
Is based on science, proven and true,
And brings to me a sense of power so wild,
That I with joy, my journey do pursue.
No longer do I struggle with my weight,
Or suffer from a lack of energy,
For with this diet, I am strong and great,
And feel a sense of clarity, so serene.
So let us celebrate the Keto life,
And all the blessings it brings, free from strife.
Notes from Aunt Gem 