Friday, April 30, 2010

back to the drawing board....

the low-carb version of my pineapple cake was a flop so it's back to the drawing board. I may just try substituting the splenda for the sugar and move on from there. Live and learn :)

In the meantime another great day though for my blood sugar.

everyone have a great weekend.

Trying a new recipe today.....

Hi everyone - OMG - my fasting BS was 105 this morning. Thanks to exercise and watching my portions and carbs. This really does work and I feel good! I don't feel deprived at all and my hubby is loving the dinners.

Last week we had a potluck at church where everyone was supposed to bring dessert for an Auction to raise money for the Summer Camp fund and I made a Pineapple Bundt Cake. It was the first time I had used the recipe and it was very easy, however, it called for a can of crushed pineapple. Well, I didn't have crushed pineapple but I had a can of pineapple chunks. Since it was 9pm and I didn't want to go to the store, I just poured it in my food processor and made my own crushed pineapple. (which by the way, came out great - if you are ever in a similar situation, this works). Anyway, when it came time to pour the pineapple into the batter, I just dumped it in and began mixing and suddenly thought "how big was that can of pineapple supposed to be?" I rushed over to the recipe and discovered it was supposed to be an 8 oz can --I had just added 20 oz! So now what do I do? Everyone says baking is a science and there is usually no wiggle room on a recipe - especially cakes. I decided what the heck - I'm going with it and poured the batter in the bundt pan and hoped for the best.

I peeked in the oven a couple of times during baking and it was rising and looked ok. When I pulled it out of the oven it still looked good and after cooling for 10 minutes I took it out of the pan. So far, so good. But since this was for an auction I couldn't exactly sample it without anyone knowing so I decided to let it rest over night before glazing.

Next morning I made the glaze and drizzled it over the cake - my hubby said it looked great to him so I wrapped it up and took it to church along with my lasagne.

When it came time for the auction, the first desert was a strawberry cheescake and it went for $60. The next few desserts came in between $15 and $65 and I started to get nervous. Everyone was sharing their desserts with the folks at their tables as the auction went on.

What if someone paid a lot for my cake and cut into it and it was all gummy? I leaned over to my hubby and whispered - "honey, you've got to get that cake back so bid on it". So when it came up for bid, the first bid was $15, my hubby raised it to $20 and the bidding went back and forth until it got to $35 and he finally won the bid.

When we got the cake back to the table, I finally cut into it and it looked beautiful inside! It was probably about the best pineapple cake I've ever had. It was moist and full of pineapple pieces. Everyone loved it! Of course, my hubby wasn't exactly thrilled that he had paid $35 for the cake he brought with him ;)

So - today I'm experimenting with a low-carb version of this recipe and if it comes out I'll post the recipe for all. According to the Splenda website you can make a Splenda glaze using splenda and cornstarch - so now it's just a matter of getting the cake mix correct. I'm going to try Bob's Red Mill Low-carb baking mix to substitute for the flour. I'll let you know the outcome :)

Thursday, April 29, 2010

now that's what I'm talking about.....

Just did my 2 hour post lunch reading and it's 80. That included my 20 minutes on the treadmill and 20 on my recumbent bike. Life is good :)

Atkins Chocolate Peanut Butter Bar (2 net carbs)

ok - even if I were not counting carbs I would LOVE this bar! It's super good - chocolate & peanut butter - what's not to like. If you haven't tried them yet, I highly recommend for a great snack. here's the nutritional facts:
Serving size 1 bar
Calories 240
Total Fat: 12g - Sat Fat 6g - Trans Fat 0g - Cholesterol <5g - sodium 220mg - Potassium 230mg - Total Carb 22g - Dietary Fiber 10g - Sugars 1g - Sugar Alcohols 0g - Protein 18g
totally awesome.

My BS this morning was 122 this morning - still pretty good for me :)

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Wii-Fit Plus and Sugar Free Low carb Chocolate Ice cream recipe

did I mention how much I love the Wii-Fit? Today I added my cat, Casey. What a great way to weigh your pet. This system is just too darn smart. My hubby and I both have profiles in the system so it asks who is going to be helping Casey weigh first. Then you just step on the board and it subtracts Casey's weight from mine and voila - Casey weighs 10.5 pounds. love it :)

Yesterday my Wii-fit age was 35... today, because I couldn't figure out the darn body check exercise I'm 57! I did lose 1.5 pounds though from yesterday so it's all good :)

Fasting blood sugar was 118 this morning. I totally rock! My 2 hr post lunch was 77.

Today I found a terrific homemade ice cream recipe that is super delicious. My ice cream machine makes 1 quart - the recipe was for 1 gallon so I just altered it for 1 quart.

If you like chocolate ice cream this is fabulous.
Sugar Free - low carb Chocolate Ice Cream
1 package Cook to Serve Jello sugar free fat free Chocolate pudding
1 can 2% Reduced Fat Carnation evaporated milk
4 Splenda Packettes
2 tsp Vanilla extract
2% Milk

combine pudding mix, evaporated milk and splenda in saucepan over medium heat until it begins to thicken. Using a hand mixer whisk any lumps until smooth. Cool and refrigerate mixture overnight.

Add vanilla and stir then add to freezer bucket, add enough 2% milk to your freezer fill line and stir until blended.
Freeze according to your ice cream machine manufacturer directions.
ENJOY! No one will believe it's sugar free :)
If my calculations are correct, I believe this is about 3 carbs for 1/2 cup serving (about 1/10 of the recipe).

Later all...........

CK is King

A few years ago I came across a website called Calorie King http://calorieking.com and purchased their software "Nutrition and Exercise manager" which I love. You can download a free trial of the software if you are interested. I get no endorsement $'s, I'm just a fan. I've had subscriptions to Weight Watchers on line (on and off again over the years) and that worked for tracking points, however, if you want to track everything...Calories, Carbs, Fat, Sugar, Protein, Fiber, Calcium, Sat Fat, Sodium, etc., Calorie King is a great choice. They have a membership for $12 a month or a special going on right now where you can get 12 months for the price of 6. You can try the on-line program for 7 days free.

CK also has all kinds of on-line tools and resources for members, even your own blog, community forums and most of all education on everything about nutrition. I believe there is a Windows Mobile version, too. I have a Palm Treo so I also purchased the Palm version so I can sync it up with my laptop.

There is a huge on-line database for most popular restaurant chains and it keeps growing and you can download that frequently to your laptop if you use the software version and you can sync it up with your phone. Between my laptop and my phone I can stay up to date with tracking my intake and carb count. Since I'm also trying to lose weight, I can watch my fat and calorie, too.

whether you use the on-line diary or you purchase the software CK really can help you stay on target. They will recommend daily targets or you can adjust them yourself based on what your doctor recommends. You will set a weekly check-in and CK will send you a reminder to your e-mail each week. For the check-in you can track not only your weight, but your measurements and you can make a journal entry. I'm using the journal to log my BS readings, too. BTW - yippee! my BS this morning was 118. It is steadily going down each day so watching my carbs and getting more exercise in is really making a difference!

Ok - so gotta run and get back to work have a great day!

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

I guess I'm a type 2...........

So, I went in for my annual exam and of course we did all the lab work. I wasn't surprised to hear that my A1C was 6.7 and my fasting BG was 157. Last year my my fasting glucose was 140. There is no history of diabetes in my family, however, I am "overweight" so I'll admit it, I was scared last year. I immediately went out and bought every book I could find on Amazon for Diabetes and started watching carbs. I was already doing about 40 minutes of exercise Monday through Friday. Twenty minutes on the treadmill and twenty on a stationary bicycle, so I just added some aerobics to that. After a couple of months my results were good my fasting BG was 112. My doctor said everything was fine. So I continued for a while on the low carb and exercise but, of course, since my lab work was fine, I started to drift back to my old eating habits and so, as I said, I'm not surprised to find myself with high blood sugar again.

Fortunately, I still have all the books and information at my "fingertips" lol. I'm back to watching those carbs and after 1 week, I've lost 4 pounds and my weekly average reading is 120, which is right on target.

Last year when I was being good, we purchased the WII gaming system and I started using WII-Fit. Love it, love it, love it! It's like having your own personal trainer. If I had only kept it up, I might have avoided my current situation. For Christmas last year I bought the new Wii-Fit Plus, however, I had never even opened the package until last week. WiiFit Plus is terrific. There are a lot of additional features and new exercises and games. This is really a great way to add some fun to your exercise and keep track of your progress. It's great for the family and if you're like me you can put a password on your information so no one can see your info like your weight...which my husband of 25 years still doesn't know ;)

Well, I'm off to breakfast now, Special K with berries and Lite Soy milk and back to work.

TTYL