Bacon Wrapped Asparagus

I am one of those people who thinks bacon makes everything better. I have not had it deep fried or a chocolate version, but I am willing to try bacon in many ways. The most recent attempt turned out to be a new favorite at our house and completely gluten free! YAY!

Bacon Wrapped Asparagus

1 Bunch of Asparagus (or a half depending on how many you have to feed)

1 pound of bacon (can be pork or turkey)

Cooking Spray

Preheat Oven to 375. Spray a baking sheet with spray. Wrap 3-4 pieces of asparagus in a piece of bacon and lay on the sheet. Continue this process until you have wrapped as much as you want/intend to eat. Bake for 20 minutes. 

They are fantastic. We have had them twice in the past week and they will be on the menu tonight with turkey burgers. MMMM!

La Tortilla Factory - Teff Tortillas

I tried these gluten free tortillas previously and thought they tasted okay, not great but okay. I decided to try them again. I'm so glad I did. I learned to heat them up a bit longer so they are easier to fold and less likely to fall apart. I just had one for lunch stuffed with pulled chicken, mayo, cheese and hot peppers...fantastic! They are in the gluten free section at my Hy-Vee. I will definitely buy them again!

The Belly Fat Cure Update - Week 1

I started the Belly Fat Cure last Saturday. It basically removes all but 15 grams of sugar from your diet and has you use natural sweeteners like Truvia instead of Splenda and sweeteners containing aspartame. It also requires you only get 6 servings of carbs per day. Each serving is up to 20grams. Anything less than 4 grams isn't counted. So on average 120 grams per day of carbs is allowed. These should be higher fiber too. The goal is to get 25-40 grams of fiber each day.

Anyway, I bought the book at the urging of a friend, she had done it before and said it worked, so I figured I would give it a shot. Well...week 1 ended yesterday and I'm down 3lbs and 2 inches on my waist.

Start Weight: 168 on 3/12/11
Current Weight: 165  on 3/19/11

Start Waist Measure: 33" on 3/12/11
Current Waist Measure: 31" on 3/19/11

I am excited to continue to see if I can reach my goals. Goal is 158 and a 28" waist. I am 5'11" tall, so we will see what happens.

I don't feel restricted or hungry. If you are looking to try something different - give it a shot. You can get the book anywhere, it's called The Belly Fat Cure by Jorge Cruise. I found I really like the blog Me & Jorge which a woman tracked her first full year each week on a blog. It's very interesting.

Cheesy Enchiladas - HEAVEN!!

I made a recipe from The Belly Fat Cure book. I tweaked it a little bit. It was so tasty. It was the easiest recipe ever!

Ingredients
Corn Tortillas
La Victoria Enchilada Sauce
Cream Cheese, softened
Shredded Cheddar Cheese
Hamburger

Put half a can of enchilada sauce in a pie plate. Preheat the oven to 425. Heat the tortillas on both sides in a pan on the stove. Then dip the enchilada in the enchilada sauce. Spread cream cheese on the tortilla. Top that with hamburger and shredded cheese and roll it up. Put it seam side down on a greased pan. Continue thru until you run out of  space or ingredients. Top with remaining sauce and shredded cheese. Bake for 20 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes. Serve HOT!

Clemmy's Sugar Free Ice Cream

I have to admit, I was a little nervous to try this ice cream. I love ice cream, but I like it sweet. I was hopeful it would taste like ice cream. I tried the Chocolate first, it was better than real ice cream. It was fantastic! Very creamy and tasted sweet. I tried the Vanilla Bean in a protein shake. I also liked that flavor. I made a special trip to the store for more today and picked up Butter Pecan. It was awesome. Who knew sugar free and gluten free could be so good?! It's priced about the same as Ben & Jerry's, but so worth it!

Denny's in Davenport

YAY! Denny's is back! I had breakfast there twice this weekend with no ill effects. I love Dennys! I stuck to a meatlover's scramble and hashbrowns. No bread or pancakes. It was still so yummy! I forgot that they had come back to the Iowa side of the river. It's located in the restaurant portion of Flying J Travel Plaza on Northwest Blvd near I 80.

Kyocel - Psyillm Husks

I had never really tried to find a form of fiber until recently. I decided to try The Belly Fat Cure with my husband after buying the book. It suggests a fiber supplement and probiotics. I knew Benefiber contained wheat, even though it supposedly has so little they can label it gluten free, that does not make me feel better. I found the Konsyl at Walmart it is listed as gluten free and it contains only psyllium husks. Its similar to Metamucil, only its not flavored and has no added sugar, which is a huge plus on the belly fat cure.

The basic idea behind the belly fat cure is to limit sugar intake to 15 grams a day since the average person takes in 47 tsps a day...WOW! That's a lot of sugar. When I started to pay attention to the things my family and I were eating it was easy to see that everything had sugar or Splenda or aspartame in it. All these things are shown to lead to belly fat.  The diet is similar to Atkins, except you get to have 6 servings (one serving is 20 grams) of carbohydrates each day.

I have had stomach issues since I was 13 and it seems with the belly issue comes a layer of protective "cushion" to prevent me from starving to death if I ever get as sick as I was in high school - at least that's my assumption. I am hoping this is the "key" removing all the sugar I LOVE from my diet at least for a while.

Spaghetti Squash - the Mexican Version

I found this recipe on food.com too. I'm telling you - that is a great site. Anyway, I am obsessed with spaghetti squash. I want to find as many ways as possible to use it, so I can get an extra serving of vegetables in my family's diet.

The recipe is pretty basic. Split the squash and dig out the seeds and pulp.  Bake it cut side down until the rind is soft. While that is cooking you can prep the things you are going to add. I added: tomatoes, black beans, ground beef, jalapenos and "taco" spices. Topped with cheese in a baking dish and baked for about 20 minutes. I topped mine with Spicy Ortega Taco Sauce. All that was missing was sour cream, we were out.

Check this healthy way to get in your veggies but still enjoy the Mexican flare. It's such a great basic Recipe.

Low Carb Gluten Free Pizza

I made this tonight for dinner. It was fantastic. My whole family enjoyed it. I found it on food.com which is a site where I find all kinds of gluten free items. Anyway, I made the crust in a 15x9 pan that was sprayed with Pam. I cooked the cheese before adding the egg mixture, then baked at 375 for 20 minutes. After it baked and I felt it was "done enough" the sides were getting dark, so I wanted to make sure it didn't burn. I topped it with pizza sauce, turkey pepperoni, ground turkey (browned) and green peppers. It was quick and easy and I had everything but the heavy cream on hand. I substituted milk and butter for cream, it seemed to work fine.

This is definitely something we will eat again. It is probably not the lowest calorie thing, but not the worst! It has basically no carbs. It has no msg and no gluten!

Check out the full RECIPE here. Let me know if you found way to make the "crust" crispier. I used a bigger pan to make the crust thinner. My gluten eating hubby gave it two thumbs up!

Biaggi's Update

They changed their Gluten free bread -- its AMAZING!! I am not sure if its the same as the pizza crust like it once was, but I had it yesterday and can't wait to go back and have it again! So yummy. It was awesome with the oil/parmesan. I had my normal - Chicken Picante Pizza there too, it was fantastic as well!