Cranberry Pomegranate Chutney - Easy Appetizers for New Year's Eave

Who wants a bonus recipe for 2012? I love easy appetizer recipes and among my favorites are those types of things that can be thrown on top of a block of warm cheese or room temperature cheese that still look festive and inviting. Cranberry Pomegranate Chutney is one of those recipes and is a hit in the Fluffy Chix Roost.

Standing Rib or Prime Rib Roast

Denny's plate for Christmas Eve Dinner.

We began the tradition of serving a standing rib or prime rib roast and eating our “big”, fancy meal on Christmas Eve back in the 80’s.

I’m not sure how this big meal evolved into the standing rib, sometimes called prime rib, but I suspect it had something to do with the fact that Dad had become ill and had ceased hunting, which meant we no longer had fresh venison or wild goose and ducks at the ready.

He also no longer had the stamina to stand in the kitchen for up to two days cooking his infamous Pat O’ Brien Spaghetti and Meatballs or making his delectable Shrimp Creole.

Quick Carpaccio Makes a Festive Holiday Appetizer



An elegant Christmas Eve or ney Year's eve meal -
Carpaccio, Sprinf Mix Salad and Asparagus Soup.

You are gonna mock me after reading the instructions for Carpaccio and claim there is nothin’ quick about making this dish.

There are a LOT of photos and what looks like a LOT of steps. But I needed to incrementally illustrate the process I describe in the recipe in case you’ve never made anything like this before. But honestly, it takes longer to describe how to make the Carpaccio than it does to actually make it.

Low Carb Cranberry Juice

Brought to you by the letter "J".

Low carb Cranberry Juice

You might be justifiably confused by the low carb cranberry juice title. Cuz comeon! Isn’t low carb fruit juice a bit of an oxymoron? Isn’t juice fruit verboten in a low carb lifestyle? Isn’t fruit evil? Doesn’t it have deadly fructose?

Understand me now…low carb living is not black or white. It isn’t all or nothing. There IS fruit in a low carb paradigm.

It’s low carb, not no carb, and when you don’t mechanically alter the fructose, and choose fruits lower in sugar content, your body can handle it on a limited basis. (Less than 15g of naturally occurring fructose a day shouldn’t be a problem to most people – but hey, I’m not a doc or nutritionist so check with your's ok? Don’t take the word of some faceless schmoe on the internet. Swearsies?)

CarbSmart Talks About Seasonally Sane Entertainment

Crack bread - aka Bloomin' Onion Bread a
low carb, seasonally sane pre-party snack.

Yes, I know.

You know it too.

Dr. Seuss probably knew it as well and wrote a great rhyming book about it filled with Pantooza and Kerpoofles!

But I like to toot my own horn...

Just a bit.

*sigh*

I am happy to announce however, that my new article is out over at CarbSmart Magazine, your trusted

Low Carb Eggnog

Low Carb Holiday Cocktail Classics to help you remain faithfully low carb during Christmas

Low Carb Eggnog with a shaved dark chocolate rim,
dollop of no sugar added whipped cream and a dusting
of freshly grated nutmeg.

One of the things I miss the most about pre-cancer days is convenience. I miss convenience. I miss the ability to drive my cart like a girl, down any grocery store isle of my choice and pick out a quick, convenient package of something without a thought or a shout-out from my over-active conscience.

When I decided to get serious about low carb eating, my conscience became a frequent flyer. So a lot of choices narrowed down quickly, but dangit! I did still have a few crafty choices up my sleeve until the cancer hit! Like the ability to use frankenfoods such as Mootopia, the low sugar milk to make sugar free eggnog.

And double dang it! IF only the store carried some kind of low carb eggnog. I would be their puppet.

Coming to Fluffy Chix Cook for December

Christmas pre-cancer in the Fluffy House

Thought I would whet your appetites for more Fluffy Chix Cook through the month of December. I shoulda done this during November, but yeah, it's always a case of "day late, dollar short" and a little thing like plumbing leaks, replumbing the entire house and recovering from breast cancer reconstruction surgery caused delays. But hayull, those are just excuses and alibis.

Tex-Mex Baked Eggs for Breakfast, Brunch or Brinner

Tex-Mex Baked Eggs so easy and so delicious!

Thank God Thanksgiving is over for another year! I don’t know about you, but I look forward to the holiday and work towards the build-up, planning and dashing and cooking and exhausting myself in the bargain. I’m betting you do too.

This year, we had three days of celebrations and that was maybe one day too long, especially in light of surgery just a short 11 weeks ago. By the third celebration, I developed a massive headache that left me feeling sick to my tummy and weak, right at the height of the party, too! Boo sis!!!

In retrospect I should have skipped Saturday to save up for Sunday. But I tried to do it all. Does that sound familiar? We forget limits!

Low Carb Turkey Hash

What to do with leftover Thanksgiving Turkey when you want something different!

Leftover Thanksgiving turkey gets new life with versatile
turkey zucchini hash.

Here’s a leftover turkey recipe out of the ordinary. Aren’t you sick of leftover turkey and gravy? Me too!

This easy Turkey Hash makes a killer “breakfast-for-dinner” or “brinner” as our sock monkey boys like to call it after a full day of BFS (Black Friday Shopping). We enjoy eating it with a fried or poached egg on top so the yummy richness of the egg yolk adds to the comfort experience of the meal. Sliced tomatoes are all you need to go with this low carb hash. I promise you won’t even miss the taters!

And the cost of the meal is ridiculously cheap at $3.26!

Hope you enjoy your Black Friday shopping!

WaWa's Low Carb Southern-Style Dressing (Low Carb Stuffin' for All You Yankees)

Dressing v. Stuffing - Does it REALLY matter what you call it as long as it's low carb, easy and good?



Thanksgiving at the Fluffy Chix Cook house, complete
with large roasted turkey and low carb dressing or low carb
stuffing as some of your might say.
(click to enlarge image)

 If you tuned in and read Fluffy Chix Cook’s latest article over at CarbSmart Magazine you would be very familiar with a lesser known, but no less important, war between the states, or as we DFSW’s (Delicate Flowers of Southern Womanhood) refer to as the Great Unpleasantness. Nope I’m not talking about battles about states’ rights, or taxation without representation, or about economic embargoes on cotton and sugar cane.

Turkey Stock With Taylor Dry Sauterne

This is part of our Thanksgiving secret to great Turkey Gravy and Low Carb Turkey Dressing

Turkey Stock with Taylor Dry Sauterne makes the secret
difference to your Thanksgiving Gravy and Low Carb
Thanksgiving Turkey Dressing.

To many of you, this recipe for turkey stock cooked with Taylor Dry Sauterne will seem like a giant pain in your behonkus. You will doubt my sanity, question my grasp on reality, and perhaps even question my parentage and the legitimacy of my birth.

Fluffy Chix Cook understands.

The holidays approach and herald perhaps the biggest food oriented, family-intense day of the year. Many of us must walk that treacherous tight rope between our low carb world and the land of the infidels (carb monkeys). Many of us, despite living low carb, must continue to appease the carb monkey gods with gifts of thickened gravies, high carbage dressings, taters, gooey sugar-packed baked sweet potato marshmallow and pecan casserole, and pies out the ying yang. I feel your pain. It's my pain too. But...

Low Carb Cornbread in Time for Low Carb Thanksgiving Turkey and Dressing

Hopin' and prayin' the low carb cornbread looks
a fraction as good as this one does!

Apologies for being late with this recipe and with the absence of pictures. I wanted to at least get it out there for anyone who wants or feels like being a recipe tester! I hope to get to test it before Thanksgiving Day, but the way the week is looking, I don’t see it happening. When I do test it, I will place photos in this recipe and confirm the rating.

This is a test recipe. I’m putting it up because if any of you want to make a low carb version of our grandmother, WaWa’s Dressing, this low carb cornbread recipe will help you make the dressing low carb. It is such a delicious high carb dressing, that I can’t imagine it wouldn’t be awesome as a low carb version.

Cooking Wine or Cooking with Whine

Add a little wine aka vino to your cooking and watch your family's face light up!

Time for "Cawfey Tawk" - Texas Style. This
morning's topic is cooking wine and whaddaya
do with 'em!

Good morning chil’rens! It’s the lead-up to Thanksgiving and you know what that means doncha? Yep, it’s time for Coffee Talk – Texas Style. It’s time to be frank with the beans. Oh heck what am I sayin’? We’re low carb and don’t eat beans…or do we??? Ok then, let’s whine about some wine instead! A subject that BC (Before Cancer) was near and dear to my heart.

I get asked all the time, “Susie, how do you make these dishes TASTE so awesome?”

Or sometimes I hear, “Susie, comeonnowalready! For cryin’outloudwoman! Why are there so many gol’darn ingredients in your dishes? And why does it take all day to read your instructions? Just slap some lipstick on that pig and let’s eat it!”

Other times it’s, “Whooooooo dogggey. Good vittles.”

Bonus Recipe - Pumpkin Sausage Soup - Low Carb Fun!

Pumpkin Sausage Soup served in a roasted
mini jack o' lantern

Pumpkin Sausage Soup and fall = low carb comfort food delux! Serve that same soup in roasted jack o' lanterns and you have a one-pot-wonder soup that's perfect for pre-trick-or-treating and Halloween partyin'! Fluffy Chix Cook came up with a bonus recipe over at CarbSmart Magazine for the Budget Low Carb Cooking or the Feed 4 Under $10 series.

In case you missed Part I of Ghoulishly Grisly Low Carb Dinners where I show everyone how to make a meal for a family of 4 that's festive and fun for under $10! I made Guts 'N' Worms (Polish Sausage and Cabbage with Caraway Seeds and Apple) and Monster Claws (Breaded Oven Baked Chicken Fingers with Spicy Asian Mustard Dipping Sauce) and I don't mind tellin' you, the "boys" just couldn't keep their little monkey paws off of either of those dishes - although they did tell me, the scary names are what sold it to them. They were prepared not to eat either dish till I got creative and remarketed the dishes to them under new, exciting, and daring names. (The little buggers.)

And now we bring you Part II - a Bonus Meal! Yummy low carb Pumpkin Sausage Soup with a twist! I add smoked turkey leg to mine and make a rich smoky broth and add the turkey meat once it's tender and moist. Combined with the breakfast sausage it's fabulous!

Low carbers either love it or hate it. I love this soup. Especially when I make it with the Fluffy Chix spin on it! Using smoked turkey leg or smoked meat like ham hocks, neck bones, turkey wings, turkey breast, ham, or smoked sausage gives an earthiness to the plain ol' pumpkin

Mashed Cauliflower, Rutabaga and Turnips – 2 Ways

Low carb winter mash gives starchy potatoes the heave “hoe”!

Roasted Winter Mash - Low carb roasted cauliflower,
rutabaga and turnips by any other name is perfect with
creamed gravy and low carb Wienerschnitzel.

Fall is upon us all and you know what that means, doncha? (Well, except for us…we're in coastal Texas, remember? We're still locked in summer's death grip and 90 degree weather.) But for most of the country, fall is synonymous with soups and stews, and crock pot roasts and slowly baked meats of all kinds, and pan gravies and well, umami out the ying yang!

Comfort food dude and dudette! 

Fall = Comfort Food

And before we know it, Thanksgiving will be upon us and everyone will be scrambling to decide the side dishes that let’s face it ARE the stars of the really big Thanksgiving Show.

I figured we could get started early with a few Thanksgiving sides and Fall/Winter Classics that will free you from the demon starch monster – ol’ Idaho Ike himself, the tyrannical potato. I don’t know how many low carbers’dreams have been squelched by falling off the low carb wagon and having those rusty wagon wheels

Ghoulishly Grisly Low Carb Halloween Budget Meals

 Polish Sausage with Cabbage, Caraway and Apple and Oven Roasted Chicken Nuggets are Low Carb
but just don't sound as scary as Guts 'N' Worms or Monster Claws!



Happy Low Carb Halloweeny!



Remember the old joke, "What's worse than finding a worm in an apple?"

Heehee!

Ok, humor me here. Admittedly the two meals I made for the CarbSmart Budget Low Carb Cooking article this month sound a lot scarier than they look!

The Budget Low Carb Cooking October article impressed the "boys". The re-naming really helped present my case because they thought the scary named dishes tasted way better than the counterparts with plain ol' boring names.

For some reason I have a tough time getting them to eat cooked cabbage but dangit! They will eat those grisly worms like nobody's beeswax - slurping and drooling and trying to gross everyone at the table right off their feed! Especially if I tell them they better not eat 'em!

Eating to Beat Breast Cancer - Part 2 and 3 of a 3 Part Series is Up at CarbSmart

Nutritious and delicious bone broth a la Dr. Mary Enig
and Sally Fallon was one of the items I ate while undergoing
treatment for Stage IIIC Breast Cancer.

Whooooooo doggey. Seems like I'm always apologizin' for bein' away. I leave you guys sittin' there wonderin', "Why don't she write?"

You'd be forgiven for thinking I mighta gotten shot by an arrow and fell dead, plumb off my wagon as I was headin' west - like that poor fellow in Dances With Wolves. But I haven't. Sadly, my time at the puter is limited these days as is time in the kitchen. I have to rebuild the muscles in my back because they get very fatigued, which sets off a huge storm of pain.

You see, I had my angels' wings clipped as part of the reconstruction surgery 1 of 3-4 on Ginger and Mary Ann 2.0. Smaller, stronger, perkier and best yet, the replacement pair are not supposed to conspire to kill me like the original pair tried to do last year.

WARNING! DANGER WILL ROBINSON!
Graphic images of angel wingectomy (Latissimus Dorsi Flap Procedure) ahead. Look away if you can! I cannot be responsible for makin' you hurl.

Poor Man's Beef Stroganoff with Buttery Cabbage Noodles

Eating like poor folk doesn't equate to eating poorly.

Big steaming bowl of low carb Poor Man's
Beef Stroganoff with Buttery Cabbage Noodles.

Thanks for your patience last month as I prepared for a major surgery on the girls. Team Save Second Base has been a provisional success and assuming I continue to heal and don't start to reject my self-donated (autologus) tissue transplants, I should theoretically wind up with a pair that won't try to kill me like the originals - who were unceramonously voted off Survivor Island last November 1, 2011.

All I can say is, whooooo doooooggggggey! Finally!

I’ve been waitin’ and waitin’ for fall to arrive here in Texas and it looks like if I blinked, I may have just missed it. I’m pretty sure we had two days and two nights of fall last week, but I was in an

Eating To Beat Breast Cancer _ Part I of 3 at CarbSmart Magazine

Happy October everyone. I pray that fall finds you hail and hearty and firmly in the Group of 7.

What is the Group of 7, you ask?

Well, the latest facts and figures on breast cancer indicate that 1 out of every 8 women will be intimately affected by breast cancer in their lifetime. 1 of every 8 will hear, "I'm sorry, you have breast cancer."

I invite all of you to join me over at CarbSmart for the three part series Eating to Beat Breast Cancer. You'll learn that having cancer is no easy feat. You must learn an entirely new language as quickly as possible in order to make treatment decisions and understand odds and outcomes. You're faced with conflicting information everywhere you turn. And you have no idea if you should be juicing or going vegan or eating low fat or do you gamble on low carb nutrition.

It's confusing and scary and maybe one of the most ghoulishly garish (hat tip to Halloween) trips you will ever take if you are that unfortunate 8th woman out (or man, since men are a quickly growing breast cancer population).

Join me please for the October Breast Cancer Awareness month. Remember to Coppafeel at the same time, ok?

I do wish I had a donate button on the site. I would like to collect and contribute toward funding nutritional studies. Maybe next year...

I hope to be back here soon with a tempting fall treat - Poor Man's Beef Stroganoff with Buttery Cabbage Noodles.

Yummy!

What a Difference a Year Makes! Breast Cancer 0 - Survivors 1





October 2, 2012 Update

What a difference a year makes. This pic
was taken in September 2011. Knee deep
in the middle of chemo. Bald, no eyebrows,
all my upper lashes gone. Oh my. I
was starin' down the barrel of a double
mastectomy loomin' on the horizon.

One week ago today at this very moment, I was listening to Pink Floyd playing Comfortably Numb over the OR's airwaves and floating on a cloud of phentanyl-induced euphoria.

I'd arrived at the hospital at 5:30am and had spent the early morning stressing about how I would possibly make it through a surgery where a large amount of the surgical time would be spent with my ginormous Texas behonkus face up in the air as the surgeons removed the donor flaps from both of my lower shoulder blades.

Luckily I have no memory of them flipping me over, nor of said behonkus hangin in the air, large and in charge. The surgeons assured me that what happens in the OR stays in the OR.

The surgery went very well. I can't say enough about the professionalism and compassion of my surgical team, anesthesia team and all the health care professionals who were part of my care. I was able to leave on Friday and probably could have come home Thursday, except my family care team felt like I needed an extra night of great pain meds in order to spare their sanity.

I've had wonderful family help. The patience of my sweet sissy Khakki and my gracious Denny approaches saint-hood. My other sissy Nannie has also been a god-send and has patiently applied love and solace with equal stint. I truly don't know how I would have managed without their love and support. Khakki and Denny have taken turns with 3am "feedings". That's code for 3am pain med time where they have to get me out of the deep recesses of the recliner chair and help me to the potty and then help reposition drains and dressings.Finally, returning me to the recliner and settling me in for the next 4 hours.

I can't report yet on the status of Second Base. I'm pretty sure Team Save Second Base were victorious. I just haven't seen the "new girls on the block" yet in order to report. I do know that I have two speed bumps between my shoulders and navel and so am hopeful!

The prayers from many sectors, including my online family have also helped so much! Thank you! Each and every one of you who have offered prayers on my behalf - thanks to you and thanks be to God. Without God at the helm, I have no doubt things would have been completely different. In total, things have gone amazingly well and I look forward to seeing the doc tomorrow and having a few of the eight drains removed.

I look forward to getting back to business next week some time and giving you a new recipe of tempting low carb fare.

Thanks for sticking around and checking in!

MUAH!

********************************************


I thought very hard about whether to interrupt the regularly scheduled program to put something non-food related on the front page again. (I don't count giving you updates about articles being published elsewhere, because those too are usually food related or diet related.)

But I'm going to be away for a few days. Don't know exactly how long. I'm having the first of 3 or 4 breast reconstruction surgeries on Tuesday morning. Many of you already know this from hints that have been dropped or comments from Facebook, so it won't be a big surprise. But a few of you may not know this and may wonder about my absence.

In fact, this month as I've prepared to be away for surgery and recovery time, I've been very slow to post new blog posts. I generally try to get up 6-8 new posts a month or more sometimes! Apologies for leavin' ya hangin'!

Here's hopin' for more fun and yummy low carb recipes soon! I just didn't want any of you wanderin' away or sittin' there worried say, "Why don't she write?"

Prayers and well-wishes appreciated!!!

Easy Asian Dino Wings a Perfect Weeknight Supper



Dino Wings - all the flavor of wings, 10 times the size, 1/10th
the cost!

 You had me at easy. But now you're just talking trash by callin' these cheap...

Full Recipe: $5.35
Per 2 Leg serving: $0.90 each

I asked you guys to vote on your next post here on Fluffy Chix Cook. The majority voted to do Chile Rellenos, but one of the last comments struck a chord. The person mentioned that I had been concentrating on Tex-Mex too much.

Now, for a Texan those are fightin’ words. You could almost lose your card-carryin’ status if you were to say something that heretical. A Texan is born and raised on Tex-Mex and if you don’t eat it at least twice a week your tummy will think your throat’s been cut. And that craving doesn’t ease if you leave the state, either. You will miss and pine for Tex-Mex and the specific essence of Texana the rest of your life.

Kitchen Sink Chile Rellenos - Low Carb Tex-Mex Goodness

Hard to believe Chile Rellenos are Low Carb

Low Carb Oven - Roasted Kitchen Sink Chile Rellenos
taste perfectly sinful!

Well kiddy troopers, I solved the dilemma of which comes first the Asian Dino Wing or Kitchen Sink Chile Rellenos by publishing these two post simultaneously! Crafty!

I will try to get back to post more images on how to make these, but I’m pretty pressed for time right now. It’s likely you will not see me much over the next couple of weeks. I’m having the first of 3 to 4 reconstructive surgeries starting next Tuesday. The first surgery will be a big one at somewhere around 7-8 hours long. They will be taking 2 muscles from my shoulders and implanting them into my chest wall so that there is living muscle capable of holding up my implants. I don’t have any muscles left cuz they took it all

It's Football Season - Party Low Carb Texas-Style

I'm pleased to announce Fluffy Chix Cook and Susie T's latest article is published over at CarbSmart Magazine. The article touches on how to maintain carb sanity during football season when every weekend brings a 3-day party of Texas-sized dimension!

Dr. Richard Feinman of SUNY Downstate and the Nutrition & Metabolism Society fame, helped me understand biochemistry 101 as it applies to alcohol and partying - even low carb style. Thanks Dr. F! (Ahem, any errors in the explanation rely solely on my chemistry-challenged brain and its exceeding imperfection at grasping biochemistry concepts!)

I want to invite each of your to drop by and post a comment or tip with your favorite advice for navigating downfield in low carb success! Hey, maybe you would share one of your TNT recipes for dips and tailgating party food that you and your family love?! Super! I'm hoping we can get a big old long post of recipes to share!!! I started the ball downfield with my family favorite: Queso with Meat.

Thanks in advance and hope to see you there soon! (Oh and if you would be so kind, don't forget to +1 the article!) MUAH! And muchas gracias!

Here's the link:

Scoring a Low Carb Touchdown For The Home Team

Choose Your Next Post - Asian Dinosaur Wings or Chile Rellenos

Kitchen Sink Chile Rellenos tastes decadent but is
low carb and oven fried.

Ok crew. It's a grudge match of Texas-sized disorder, I mean, Texas-sized proportions! Or maybe I mean it's a grudge match of proportion distortions? Or epic proportions? Meh...

Regardless, what I'm lookin' for is feedback.

Have we gone too far with the Tex-Mex? Do you need a break from all things chile?

Do we need to switch gears and head to the opposite end of the spectrum to keep ya happy and motivated?

Tex-Mex Pulled Pork Street Tacos – More Low Carb Leftover Love

Leftover Love, Lucky Leftovers, Lazy Leftovers – Embrace the Quick and Easy Meal

Low Carb Street Taco.
Tex-Mex Pulled Pork on a homemade low carb Tortilla
with cabbage, onion and jalapeno relish and cotijia cheese.

Lazy Leftovers and Tex-Mex continue to reign supreme in Fluffy Chix kitchen stadium. Hell, people, you just cooked a 420lb hog with me a few days ago, we gotta use it somehow! (Ok, it was an 8.5lb pork shoulder, but do we have to be technical?) And with everything going on this week, I’ve relied heavily on leftovers. Lazy Leftovers. Or maybe it should be Lucky Leftovers? Yep, freezer diving was the Olympic Event of the week.

On Sundays, I like to cook some kind of roast beast. It could be a pork shoulder, or pork loin, or beef chuck, rump roast, tri-tip, eye of round, or whole chickens – even if they don’t provide the protein in the Sunday evening meal. I love making a Roasted Sunday because I generally buy meat when it’s under $2.00/lb, but I take personal pride when I get it for under $1.00/lb! Score!

Low Carb Enchiladas Verdes - Lazy Leftovers Strike Back

Hatch Green Chile Fest continues to reign supreme in kitchen stadium!

Low Carb Green Enchiladas with Pork or
Enchiladas Verdes de Puerco - gluten free (if you can have
dairy), Paleo and diabetic friendly. And the best part?
They are Girlish Figure Approved (GFA!)
A moment on the lips,
forever off your hips!

I figured for once you might appreciate if I finish an idea thread with all the associated recipes before running off on another tangent! I hope by now you aren’t bored with the whole Green Chili Festival thing! We have so many recipes to explore! The next two posts will be recipes that build upon using an element or elements of things already made. Let’s call them Lazy Leftovers. Or Sloppy Seconds – your pick!

One of the things I love about planned abundance – that’s a nice way to say, “That Susie, she cooks like she’s cooking for 10 people instead of 2 adults, 5 sock monkeys, a little toy dog, a stuffed giraffe, and the little dog’s stuffed sock monkey baby. Hey wait! That is almost 10 isn’t it? But none of the menagerie eat much…

So one of the things I love about cooking in batches is that it allows me to morph dishes into really fantastic complex, multi-step dishes at a moment’s notice and with little effort. I look like a culinary wizard, but really I’m just Lazy Susie, taking shortcuts and scoring points in the kitchen.

Tex-Mex Pulled Pork Shoulder - Hatch Chile Fest Continues

Tex-Mex Pulled Pork Shoulder Makes An Easy Addition to Hatch Chile Fest and Opens Low Carb Possibilities!


Green Chili made with Tex-Mex Pulled Pork Shoulder and
a slowly simmered Hatch green chile broth. I'm an
equal opportunity chili lover! Ha!

Some people in New Mexico claim the main question on everyone’s mind is, “Green or Red?”

They don’t care about anything else. They just want to know if you belong to the Green Tribe or the Red Tribe. And by tribe, I mean, are you someone who eats your food with a hearty slather of green chili or do your enchiladas glow redder than Rudolph’s nose.

Well, since we pinched green chili from New Mexico anyway, that same argument exists here in Texas, too. But it gets a little more complicated with us Texans. We also want to know if you want to ditch both green and red in favor of Tex-Mex Chili Gravy. Oh my…chili gravy…

For those of you who might be unaware, there are two kinds of chili gravy in Tex-Mex cooking. Logic will tell you, “Heck fire. Chili gravy is the broth left over after you’re done pickin’ all the car-nayyyy outta the

A Texan Talks Goin' Green with Tex-Mex Tomatillo Sauce

Goin’ green in Texas is much bigger than simply addressing the state of planetary and energy conservation...

Tex-Mex Tomatillo Sauce tops Enchiladas Verdes.
Low carb and delicious!

Go green! Yep I said it. It’s Hatch green chile season here in Texas and in what I suspect are other lesser known areas of the universe.

Oh come on!

You and I BOTH know that Texas is the center of the universe. Nah, let’s be real…me, myself, and I living in Texas and talkin’ about tempting low carb comfort food – that’s the REAL center of the universe! Trick question! See? You have to stay on your toes to keep up. I may be fluffy, but I’m fast!

To a Texan, Green is so much more than a state of social consciousness.

Yes, so Hatch chiles. Well honestly? Texas annexed ‘em. Even though Hatch is officially located in the southwest sector of New Mexico just north of the New Mexico – Texas state line. According to New Mexico True, the official travel site for the entire state of New Mexico, even though New Mexican cuisine spans 400 years and claims to blend Spanish and native American cultures and cuisines...I (and most Texans) firmly believe anything remotely hot or Tex-Mex or "southwestern" in nature, at least food-wise,

Low Carb Tex-Mex Sloppy Joes To The Rescue!

Hiho Silver! Away!

Low Carb Tex-Mex Sloppy Joe with a side of Bing cherries!

I know, YOU know, I know… that everyone and their brother, most especially God and his Son are aware that I am slightly obsessed and geeked out about food, nutrition, how nutrition relates to health and wellness and cancer prevention.

Everyone under the sun also knows that I’m, oh let’s just be kind and say “fixated” on having my proverbial cake and eatin’ it too! I want healthy food that tastes awesome! I want comfort food to conform to my specific low carb diet. I want agents of rescue. I want the Lone Ranger of Low Carb to ride up on Trigger and sweep me away to a land of Texas splendor…

In case you just arrived at the scene of the crash, what the captain is really sayin’ here (or what I really mean) is that I want to continue to get a pleasure fix from food, have that endorphin rush from what I put in my “mouf”, while simultaneously eating food as if it

Sambal Oelek Green Beans With Garlic - Another Veggie Tale in the Land of Low Carb

Pardon me while I Bubba Gump the “hay-ulll” outta summer veggies - again? Let's talk Sambal Oelek Green Beans with Garlic - just for grins!

Sambal Oelek Green Beans with Garlic a summertime
staple in the Land of Low Carb. 

Veggies are synonymous with summertime. This is the second post dedicated to Fluffy Chix highlighting or rather, exposing the fact that for most, low carbing isn't simply about meat and more meat on top of meat, served with a side of meat and a wad of fat.

And when somebody says, "Low Carb", it doesn't = "No Carb" (with a wad of fat).

These veggies just scream summertime! And Fluffy Chix Cook or have cooked and talked about most of 'em already, this summer.

Yes, Virginia, You Do Eat Veggies On a Low Carb Diet

Summertime Tomatoes Shine In This Easy Caprese Appetizer Bites Recipe

Caprese Appetizer Bites make a quick
and delicious low carb appetizer!

I always get a chuckle from some of the assumptions made about low carb living. One of the biggest gross generalities about low carbers is that we don't eat any veggies and that we eat SO much protein. People always want to know whether or not I eat veggies at all…and don’t get me started about the questions that usually begin with, “How can you eat all that fat?”

The irony is that I eat way more veggies on a low carb diet than I ever did eating SAD (Standard American Diet). And summertime with its vegetable bounty is one of my favorite seasons. Honest, this is straight from the mouth of a low carber!

*the crowd makes a collective gasp and swoons*

And tomatoes, a summertime superstar, offer great options for quick and easy recipes! From salads to ingredients in main dishes and veggie side dishes, tomatoes brighten the summertime plate. Every spring, my blood starts pumping as I plan recipes highlighting the new tomato season.

I’m going to focus the next couple of posts on quick and easy vegetable dishes that feature some of the summer’s brightest stars, and why not kick this off with the beloved tomato? I want to illustrate that our low carb lifestyle isn’t all about the meat, although it’s lovely to fearlessly chow down

Fluffy Chix Cook Included in Newly Released Low Carbing Among Friends Vol II Cookbook

Low Carbing Among Friends - Vol II.
is ready to go!

I woke up this morning thinking Christmas arrived early on the last day of hotter-n-hell-July! Only, much to my chagrin I didn’t see no “damn Sannieclaus” anywhere…but I DID see that Jennifer Eloff and Company has the Low Carbing Among Friends – Volume II book hot off the press and ready to mail!

Ok, ok, I will explain about the “damn Sanniclaus” thing in a minute. I promise! And I just swannie-swear those “boys” will drive me to drink and it’s only 10am here in Hell, er I mean Houston-in-July.

(You remember our sock monkey boys: Buddy, Tony, Kevin (all named for NASCAR drivers), Schylling (our adoptee from the Islands), and Zippy (named for Tony’s former Crew Boss), their little toy dog WeeWee, and WeeWee’s stuffed baby, Skeeter. Oh and their “Geraff”, whom I thought was named Geff because the “boys” get tickled by alliteration and if you’ve never heard a sock monkey laugh – you really should! But the geraff’s name is actually Stretch, as I was informed by Zippy not too long ago.)

Anyways, the “boys” are jumpin’ up and down beside me sayin’, “Ommmmmm! Mamasaidaswearwordgetthepalmolive!” Alternating with, “I’m tellin’ Dayyyyyyy-uddddd-yyyyyy!”

The little snitches! I’ll fix them, my pretties! *evil cackling*

So back to the Low Carbing Among Friends – Volume II…I’m so excited! Not only because this is a very cool cookbook collaboration between 8 low carb authors and a group of low carb friends from our low carb community as the "extra author”. The book talks about 11 authors so we will just have to buy the book and count them to understand where they appear!

Cheap Texas Labor Day and CarbSmart

Happy Monday everyone! Just wanted to give you a head's up. The new article about throwin' a low brow, low carb, Labor Day Party Texas-style is up on CarbSmart.

Thank you to all my helpers and friends from LCF, who gave great ideas for the Labor Day Party on a tight budget.

Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to use any names, etc due to TOS issues, please know I appreciate each one of you!!

I hope you will come check it out and leave me a hello!

I will be back soon with some bit of ridulous nonsense!

The Low Carb of Convenience

Quick Skillet Meals and Organization Make Low Carbing Easy and Convenient

How do you balance the convenience of takeout foods with the nutrition and goodness of eating a low carb, whole foods diet? Easy weeknight dinners can represent daunting feats of strength for many of us working-class dogs. And finding the right balance of time management and good stewardship of your body and those of your mate and children – is hard even for seasoned home cooks.


You work your keester off at the office, the warehouse, the hospital, the outdoors, the factory, the “insert-your-job-here” and you’re pooped by the end of the day. You want convenience. You want to go home and eat a meal set on the table by Mom. How do you balance a low carb lifestyle and healthy whole food nutrition when you barely have the energy to stand up long enough to fix a meal?

Nekkid Potstickers Bring Asian Comfort to Low Carb and Paleo Lovers

Low Carb Potstickers served with Low Carb Chicken Lo Mein
are soy free, sugar free and healthy.

What on earth can we eat on low carb? Navigating through the mine fields of food selection can be tricky for those of us following a low carb or Paleo lifestyle. It’s difficult enough in the grocery store, but dining out makes food choices and food selections even harder.

You might “think” you’re adhering to special low carb or Paleo limits, but because the restaurant may add ingredients of which you might be unaware, it makes dining out dicey.

Making good food choices while dining out gets even harder when expanding your palette to include cuisines with exotic flavors and flare, such as Asian foods. And on top of all that, when you add other health needs such as thyroid disorders, type 2 diabetes or cancer recovery, food selection becomes a very windey, very narrow, steep path - uphill.

For instance, take this edict I received upon the successful completion of treatment for

Tuesday Taco Nights are Low Carb FUNctional Food

Tuesday Tacos Put the FUN back in tacos!

Low Carb Cheese Taco Shells are a FUNctional Food!

At the Fluffy Chix Roost and Sock Monkey Habitat (or as some uncharitably refer to us - the Looney Bin) , the “boys” would choose Tuesday Taco Night any night we let them. It could be Thursday and we’d ask what they want for dinner and they’d reply, “Tuesday Tacos”. They don’t have very large brains and in their minds Tuesday and Tacos are indelibly fused.

Being the true TexMex lovin’, Texas boys they are, they believe TexMex should secede from the food pyramid and form its own pyramid. Barring that, TexMex should at least become the 5th food group. And if TexMex did indeed become a 5th food group, Tuesday Tacos would become the iconic emblem to epitomize said food group.

Leading Low Carb Guide, Carb Smart Magazine Makes SusieT a Contributing Writer

Hey y’all! Watch this!

Fluffy Chix watching this...

I believe Jeff Foxworthy described that command as, "The last words you most often hear comin’ out of a redneck’s mouth." (Ahem, you might be surprised to hear this, but Texas has our fair share of rednecks, and quite a few still perch on the limbs of my family tree…) 

In Texas, you hear those words a lot. I mean a lot. A LOT! In fact, you hear those words from Fluffy Chix Cook, a lot!

You also hear me say, “This is a true story.” Cuz right before a Texan is apt to tell a tall tale, he or she will preface it by informing you in solemn honesty, "This is a true story. I 'Caint' - Texan for 'can't' - MAKE this stuff up!"

But, it is.

A true story. Swearsies.

Hand to heart, I just up and wrote Dana Carpender one day! Yep, just up and wrote her. Turns out you increase your odds of success by asking. You should write that down. It’s important. (Oh, I’ll get to what I asked soon…be patient!)

Okra and Tomatoes a Southerner's Summer Love

A Song of The South...the sweet lure of gumbo and okra 'n' 'maters.

Okra and Tomatoes - a summer Southern Classic!

“Are you a complete idiot?”

“No!” I replied with reason.

“You must be!”

“Why do you say that? That’s harsh,” I continued.

“Because you must be a moron to drive your readers away like you are.”

I instructed, “You shouldn’t end a sentence with “are”. There are better sentence structures.”

“Ok, let me rephrase this for you,” the heckler continued. “Because you must be a moron to drive your readers away like you are, dumbass.”

Salmon Salad Niçoise – IS the Big Salad

Salmon Salad Niçoise embodies summer.

Salmon Niçoise Salad is a graceful and elegant
main course salad.

Ah yes, the “big salad” of Seinfeld fame. I can’t help but think of Elaine every time I build a salad – which is daily.

I have at least one “big salad” per day. I admit it. They take different flavors and I would rival any of my big salads against the ones featured at the Seinfeld diner.

I play favorites, too. My current favorite big salads are a chopped salad, which I make almost every evening as part of our supper, and the more artfully arranged, Queen of Composed Salads – the Niçoise Salad, that’s a meal in and of itself.

I call the Salad Niçoise a “destination salad” because you don’t just “happen” or back into this salad. You plan and take measures to arrive at the Salad Niçoise as your main course. And oh my, the scenery in the making is outstanding. It is a deliberate and proud salad.

Low Carb Knock Off of James Coney Island Chili

Baseball, Low Carb Coney Island Hot Dogs, Apple Pie and the 4th of July!

Nothing like a panic, right?

Low Carb Coney Island Chili Cheese Dogs with Dill
Relish, Onion and Mustard along with a side of
Oven Fried Green Tomatoes and Oven Fried Zucchini
makes for a patriotic 4th of July.

Seems I live life like that these days. You know, July 4th, falls on the same date each year. You can see it comin’ down the tracks like an old steam train. There’s no missing it. So how is it I forgot to give you a recipe that takes care of your 4th of July needs?

Panic ensued.

Mea culpa. I will now say 5 Our Fathers and 10 Hail Marys and I shall endeavor to keep that from happening in the future.

Because of the rush, I won’t even bother telling you a long drawn out story from my mis-spent youth, nor regail you with songs of the South. I will simply get straight to it.