Dinner again. Faux pizza.

Eating low carb can make you feel deprived. You can't have pizza, you can't have chips, you can't have a burger and fries at McDonald's... Having some replacements can go a long way towards helping to stay low carb. Tonight I had little pizzas... not regular pizza, but close enough for me.

The big difference is the "crust"... there is no crust. I buy some whole portabella caps and take out the stem. I wanted a very standard flavor so just used some tomato sauce, Italian mixed cheese, pepperoni and fennel and herbs.



After layering the ingredients pretty much like you do when making regular pizza, I pop them into the oven at 400 for about 10 to 15 minutes... until the cheese starts to brown.



And then enjoy the results. Delicious! And I don't need to put mushrooms on top!

Dinner and a movie...

At home... but dinner and a movie nonetheless.

Tonight's dinner was a low carb success. I got the recipe idea from 200 Low-Carb Slow Cooker Recipes: Healthy Dinners That Are Ready When You Are! by Dana Carpender. The original recipe, "I've Got a Life" Chicken, called for chicken, mushrooms, orange juice, grated zest, chicken bouillon concentrate, pepper, tomato sauce, soy sauce, Splenda, molasses, garlic and thyme.

Being unable to leave well enough alone I used a can of crushed tomatoes with chiplotle peppers and left out the thyme... thinking with everything else going on in the recipe, perhaps the peppers and thyme might clash.

I grow citrus... I grow a LOT of citrus... so I used one of my satsumas for the juice and zest.

Fast forward past the cooking to the eating part. Everyone thought it was yummy, but could be improved. I'm thinking about leaving out the soy next time... my daughter suggested leaving out the Splenda, as it tasted a bit sweet to her. The orange was very tasty but was so intense it overwhelmed the other flavors. I didn't notice any heat from the chipotles or the garlic... and no tomato flavor. My husband has a cold and has dulled senses... he said "I tasted the orange and it was good" LOL. It might just be that the oranges fresh off the tree are extreme orange... maybe all that good organic growing?

Here's what it looked like in the pot after my husband and I had served ourselves. The kitchen smells good!



Oh yeah... the movie.

It was Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince. We didn't get to the theater to see it so I ordered it from amazon.

It was like all the Harry Potter movies. I love them. They will remain classics for me.

But I love the books more.

I think I broke my retail bone

I'm a thrift shopper. My husband and I love the hunt, and we find great stuff regularly. Today I spent 25 cents on a bag of wood pieces to use in crafting, and got an oak frame out of the free box.

After dinner, we went "real" shopping... the kind where you walk into a retail store and purchase new items. My main mission was to purchase patterns for $1.99 at Hancock's fabrics, and look if anything else in the store shouted "buy me!" I have some baby patterns already, but none for the stretch cotton pants I want to make for my almost 6 month old granddaughter. I knew it would be easy to find a lovely pattern for the pants, and probably other things as well.

Not so. I really tried to find patterns I wanted to buy... but each one I saw was so ho hum, and I can draft a ho hum pattern by myself. I'm not a new crafter or sewer, and didn't need (or crave) anything else at Hancock's. All I spent in the store was some time.

A bit sulkily, I told my husband I did not want to go home... and maybe wanted to get some baby clothes at the mall. He suggested the Ellenton Outlet Mall, which has some great baby stores. We went in Baby Gap, Gymboree, Carter's, Oshkosh, The Children's Place, VF, and Hartstrings. I contemplated many items. Again, I bought nothing. I kept picturing all the great clothes I have found, from these same labels, for 50 cents, or a dollar, or $3 for a bagful, at the thrift stores I go to, quite a few of which I got "new with tags!"

The pants the baby needs? I'm going to make them, using fabric I already have, after drafting a pattern to fit her cloth diapered butt.

I did buy myself some underwear. Shoes and underwear are items I buy new.

Is this a symptom of overdosing on thrift shopping?

Maybe I don't want a cure.

Bad dog!

Being the mom to 3 dogs, I'm used to dog associated grief. Being used to it didn't help with how I felt about coming home after a nice day shopping to find that Luci, our youngest at 11 years, had decided to make our living room couch into her personal nest. Our couch is awaiting recovering, so the fabric is just artfully, yet securely tucked all around... and looks pretty good regularly. Not after Luci was done!



She didn't stop at the couch, either. The curtains and blinds need adjusting now, as well.



She didn't even have the grace to look ashamed! Perhaps she thinks I should fry her up some liver and serve it to her in a silver bowl?

Last Pair!

This is the last pair of socks I am embellishing... for now. I went back to Big Lots for another fix... um... bag of socks, but they didn't have any more in the right size. Maybe if I cast on a knitted pair I'll get over this silly need to add ruffles on baby socks? If not... I can always stalk the sock aisles for a new shipment.



My son condescended (he's 21) to come thrift shopping with me today. His find? US Divers Rocket Fins for $5. Happy faces all around. He was further pleased when the scratch and dent food store had canola oil and paraffin for a great price. He uses both in his blacksmithing. Our last stop netted him a shirt for $1. See? Hanging around with mom isn't ALL bad!

A New Christmas Pyramid

Many years ago, on a trip to Austria and Germany, my mom bought me a Christmas pyramid. Since then I've collected more, and today I found number 9 at one of my favorite thrift stores. Here it is in action:



They cost more than I am willing to pay at retail, so I was thrilled to see this one marked $20, which was $16 due to a 20% off sale that was being held. It has German markings underneath, which is great, since many now are made in China. I enjoy the Chinese ones, too... but there's something about authenticity...

On the craft front I've crocheted a few more edgings on socks for my granddaughter. This makes 5. I seem to have a problem with addiction...

Snowflake Snack... low carb!

Low carb eating can make me feel a bit deprived at the holidays. I saw these cookies made with regular tortillas dusted with cinnamon sugar and figured a few alterations could make them acceptable for low carb dieters.

I used the smaller tortillas from La Tortilla Factory, just because they are the ones available to me locally. After folding a tortilla in half, I folded it in thirds.



Using regular (clean!) scissors I cut out my snowflake. If you've ever made these out of paper you know to leave parts uncut on every edge so you won't just end up with a bunch of chips.



I put my finished tortillas on a greased baking sheet and brushed them with oil. Next time I may try egg white, like in regular cookies. They were sprinkled with cinnamon Splenda, and then I ground some chunk cinnamon on top, as well. They went into the oven on broil just until they started to brown.



They came out quite cute and I don't feel like I'm missing out on holiday treats... since I have one. The La Tortilla Factory tortillas have just 3 net carbs each, and I cut some of those off! Adding the bit of carb that Splenda and cinnamon both have, it's still a very low carb snack.



The next batch? I'm going to be really decadent and fry them!