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.