Low Carb Shepherd's Pie

If you have read my other posts then you might know I have been on this journey of super low carb weight loss. So far it has been working and I am losing. Now closer to the goal I have been upping my fat knowing my body can take that and this way I am fuller longer with the high protein. After also looking for recipes to change up the daily same old same old I came to the realization that I was on the Keto diet. (Also it's called ketogenic diet) It is close to the Alkins diet but lower fat and working in a 3-1 ratio for proteins to carbs. So far going to a higher fat and working with a carb to protein ratio I have been fuller and happier.

With this I am now making up my new recipes to help with living in a home with a picky husband and toddler!

Here is my shepherd's pie


For meat filling

Canola oil spray
Half chopped onion
1 pound ground 85% fat beef
1 tbs garlic powder
Pinch of salt and pepper
1 tbs almond meal
2/3 cup chicken broth
1/2 tbs Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoon chopped parsley
1 1/2 cups of frozen peas and carrots

For the cauliflower mash

Head of cauliflower, chopped
Salt and pepper
Splash of milk
Cheddar cheese
Butter
Chives (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees

2. Chop head of cauliflower and place in pot to steam

3. While the cauliflower is steaming, sauté onions in oil in a saucepan over medium heat until they begin to get color

4. Add half garlic to the onions then add the beef with salt and pepper and cook until browned. Then sprinkle the meat with the almond flour stir and cook for another minutes.

5. Add chicken broth, Worcestershire and parsley and stir

6. Bring the full thing to a boil reduce the heat and simmer for about 10 mins to deduce the liquids

7. Put frozen peas and carrots in microwave bowl and defrost then until the peas are starting to cook.

8. Add the peas and carrots to the beef and stir then spoon it into four individual ramekins

9. Put the steamed cauliflower into a food processor and season with salt and pepper. Then add only a slash of milk and butter

10. Top the beef with the cauliflower and sprinkle with cheese and chives. Place bowls on cooking sheet and bake until golden brown and bubbling close to 25 mins.

After plugging the ingredients into a calorie counter this is what I came up with:
349 calories, in one bowl 20.7g fat 10.55g carbs and 31.13 g of protein

Awesome Finds on Pinterest

If you have looked on my blog it wouldn't be new that I Love Pinterest. I love everything about it. Sharing crafts or even helpful tips. My parties have gotten 75% cooler! Plus, I have even started sewing! What me.... ? Ok I still haven't put a button or a zipper in anything but hey, I am trying.
On that note we have also see the awesome photos of the remake mess ups.

I have see it all and laughed about it all. I have also, tried them and had my own nailed it moment. The biggest nailed moment is finding out that marshmallows disappear in the oven. Not sure how they get the yummy, gooey, goodness! ( I am guessing not using marshmallows but Fluff)

Let me share with you some of my real NAILED it!! These have worked out and I think turned out pretty good.

I saw this and thought I would love to do something like this for the holiday party at my husband's work party. After also going to the youtube site MakeUp Geek Gold and Glamorous Makeup for the Holidays   http://youtu.be/Ycm9fTioE98

I was able to do this

Not bad....right... I was proud of myself...

Other one you have to try...

Yes, this is the whole idea of cleaning a ceiling fan. Smoothing the pillow case over the blade and the dust falls into the pillow case and not all over your room. But what the awesome website is missing is a few tips:
     1. Make sure to hold the case closed around the blade. To get both sides of the fan blades.
     2. After each blade fold the case inward to insure not to pass the dust from one blade to the other if you are short like me and drag a little trying to get the case over the fan blade.


Lastly I wanted to try making a Ohio State outfit for my daughter but I only had a little bit of fabric left from a camera strap cover that I made my husband... (hubby is the Ohio State Fan we live in AZ)
So I found this:


I made this:


I made sure to add different textures as well as different strips of fabric. Also, I wanted to add different lengths of the strips but not too different.

She Likes it...?


Well that's it for now I will let you know if I can find more great finds!!!!

Winnie the Pooh 2nd Birthday!

Here we are again... My daughter's 2nd birthday. This time she wanted to have a Winnie the Pooh party. I have to say if you are reading this wanting to get ideas on a Winnie the Pooh party I truly hope you have more luck finding party supplies. When looking for Pooh party supplies I could only find 1st birthday, or baby shower stuff. Not at all what I was looking for.... So I took on this and yet it took a lot of work it was so much fun!




I made clouds and bees I hung them up with table clothes and balloons.
I also made a paper flag sign with scrap booking paper... It says HIP HIP HOORAY



I made this sign the same way...

I made these signs by getting old wood and using a trick with Mode Pod. Print off the computer (laser Pinter Only) but make sure you print in a mirror image. Put a thick layer of Mode Pod on the wood and place print out face down. (hit make sure you cut out the words as close as you can.) Let it dry over night and spray water on the paper and with a circle motion with your finger rub off the paper. When you rub too much I filled in the rest of the letter with a black sharpie.

 

Party activities was a coloring table, Winnie the Pooh Bounce House named  Tigger's bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy, Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! Fun! House
and a Bubble station.

Table settings. Top was the eat table with napkins and the cute picture of Madison hugging Pooh, with the Winnie the Pooh quote. Then the Madison was on the food table and the food was Honey BBQ sandwiches, Tigger Tails (Cheetos) Piglets in a blanket (Pigs in a blanket) Bouncy Bears (gummy bears) From Rabbit's garden (Veggie tray), Peanut butter and honey sandwich. And Acorns..

These are very easy. Just heat up the bottom of the chocolate kisses and stick it to the Nutty Buddies snack and do the same thing on the top for the small chocolate chip. Everyone Loved these and really didn't take anytime.

The smash cake and Honey Buttercream French Vanilla cupcakes.

My cute little one and her Winnie the Pooh outfit.

And as they left they received a goodie bag with hand painted  honey pots with a yellow cupcake liner with yellow M &M's. Plus, once they are done with the M&Ms they have seeds to plant. I found Pooh stickers and pencils. Once I was out of pencils I put honey sticks in the rest.

The Whole thing was so much fun and although some might think I was crazy to do so much I wouldn't change a thing.... well.... maybe the wind calming down would be nice....

Valentine's Crafts

                    Like most Valentine's day it's mom and dad babysitting and finding a nice place to eat. With my mother being diagnose with cancer and going through chemo, they aren't babysitting anytime soon. And that's ok.  This year I thought I would find something fun to do. I love making and giving awesome gifts and my husband likes words... He loves knowing that I love him with telling him. So I thought lets do something that does both... So here is what I came up with... I found these on Pinterest and made sure to pick the ones that were closer to him and what he likes.

  

                  Then I remembered that my husband LOVES popcorn so I came up with this one.




Plus my husband loves Almond Joy so this one was easy...

I got this to go with the other gift I got him... He's hobby is photography.

 

Just a few other fun ones... I hide them all over the house so my husband would find them through out the day. He said it was so much fun! Lastly once I knew he would be going to bed soon. I put this one on his phone charger so he would find it last.

It was so much fun and I got to tell my husband and show him how much I love him!

Pinterest Remake Christmas!

This Christmas I had grand plans to do a ton of remakes but I stayed with about eight things. First I started with my daughter's Christmas dress.

It must be said that some pins on Pinterest are Super hard to get the link they came from. But after doing a Google image  search I cam across this awesome blog:

http://www.nobigdill.com/2010/12/i-colored-olives-skirt-or-ruffle-your.html

I looked everywhere for the awesome ruffled fabric but I only could find it on this website:

http://www.rufflefabric.com/Licorice-cream-cascading-ruffle-fabric-p/rf-10licoricecrm108.htm

but 16.99 a yard was just too rich for my blood so I went with another fabric. However is frayed very easy. Also I didn't want the front of her to just be all black so I thought I would put this dress:

 I put snaps on the red sash to keep it in place, which worked somewhat well... Plus, the bow helped to hide the fraying of the bustled fabric.

I hope she doesn't look like a pirate from the front. I pared it with silver leggings a black shirt and black shoes. Plus, I added a very cute black sweater.


Next Christmas Décor:

The Card Wreath blog was gone so I had to make it on my own... But the Coffee Filter Wreath is from:
http://thefrugalhomemaker.com/2012/02/15/coffee-filter-wreath/
Here is mine:

What I did to make the Card Wreath...

I painted clothe pins green and bought a wooden hoop for hand stitching and covered it with white ribbon and red ribbon. I then hot glued the clothes pins on to the hoop. I do wish I had more clothe pins. But it worked.

The Coffee Filter Wreath was nice and I still have it up but some small tips... Try not to bend the tub getting it home. And cut down the tub. I was thinking bigger is better.... Well, it doesn't look clean or hang right because it's just too big and heavy.

Now on to Stockings:

With our new baby girl we needed to get all the stockings to come together... So I had to add a little to ours and make over our little Maddie's...

Here is what I came up with:

On my husband's I needed to make his MANLY but add a little red. I used sewing trim and added rolls going across I got the idea from this picture:

For mine I just added a ruffle with a little red fabric.

Maddie's, I bought a cheap red stocking with the fake fur on the top with the white balls. I cut the white balls off. Added a ruffle to the bottom of the top from scraps I had from another project. I then found the letters from Wal-Mart and added them to all the stockings adding a ribbon to Maddie's. I think they came together well. And didn't take long to do.

Christmas Gifts:

My sister is a Photographer so I wanted to find something personally I could make for her. I had seen the camera strap covers on Group Discount websites and thought I could make that...

I found this awesome blog:

http://www.lbg-studio.com/2010/08/tutorial-camera-strap-cover-with-lens.html

I liked this blog the best because it had a pocket for the lens cap. I then was able to make this:

I was really proud of this. One of my best sewing so far.

Then my niece got a new Easy Bake Oven for her birthday and she loves it. I thought I would buy more kits to go with it but I then thought it wasn't enough... so I added an apron. She loves Minnie Mouse so I wanted a Minnie like apron but I just couldn't find just one I like the most. Therefore I put two together to create mine. I took these:

 

And made this:

Not the best picture but I have a bow in the front and I used trim for the loop around the head and the black and white sash for the tie around the waist. I might have to make a half one for myself. I loved how it came out! I got a simple apron pattern online and then added the different elements.

This is all from Christmas and to think I wanted to do more... I guess next year... Now on to Maddie's 2nd Birthday!

Teaser... It's a Winnie Pooh Theme!