I don't talk about it on the much because it's boring, but way back at the beginning of Lent I "gave up" white carbs (sugar, flour, potatoes, and rice) and by Easter I'd lost a bunch of weight -- about 25 pounds. It's been a weird experiment for me because I love sweet and salty snacks at night, but I've been trying to keep up with it and so far I'm down close to 40 pounds. So, um, yay? Except I'm getting into that scarily familiar territory where LoseIt! tells me I only get a frighteningly small number of calories per day. Eek!
Generally I don't buy into "low carb" diets because it seems that a lot of people do it "wrong" -- or, at least, in a way that seems weirdly unhealthy. You know how I love bacon, but in general it doesn't sound like a good idea to eat rashers of bacon at every meal. Some people at work do that and I fear for their cholesterol levels. Although I do love me some bacon IN MODERATION every once in a while.
I'm not really following a specific plan on this particular diet, but if I needed to but a name to it, I'd probably say it's something like "South Beach with Butter." We've mostly been eating more veggies in general, trying to eat more protein, and I've been trying to eat fewer than 100g of carbs every day (which is about 1/3 of what the
USDA recommends for a 2,000-calorie diet). I'm maybe not eating as much fruit as I should, but I am eating a lot more vegetables more regularly than I was before, so I'm calling that a wash.
One of the things I've been doing is eating a lot of eggs with turkey sausage or low-fat ham for breakfast. I know the jury is out on eggs (go ahead, do a Google search on "are eggs healthy" and look at the wide range of responses you get), but I watch the rest of the fat that I eat and keep an eye on my cholesterol, and I think that eating two hard-boiled eggs a day is fine. I have been eating mostly
Eggland's Best brand eggs, or organic eggs, and when I eat scrambled eggs I usually mix in some egg substitute (that is largely because of calorie considerations, but they're lower in fat and cholesterol, so it certainly helps).
But it gets boring eating the same thing every day for weeks on end, so I decided to start mixing it up lately. Via Pinterest I found a website called
Kalyn's Kitchen that features a lot of South Beach recipes, and I've been using her
basic instructions as inspiration for "egg casseroles" that I can make ahead and reheat for breakfast. These are the last two that I made -- they're really good so I decided to share them in case you get likewise inspired. (BTW: I would check the ingredient labels on the individual products you're using, but these dishes are also gluten-free the way I made them.)
Ham-and-Egg Casserole
Makes 4-8 servings, depending on how big you cut them and your specific ingredients
(When cut into six servings, ~250 calories per serving)
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil or butter
- 8 oz. diced ham
- 1 large bell pepper, diced
- 6 large mushrooms, chopped
- 1 cup assorted shredded reduced-fat cheeses*
- 2 Tbsp. shredded Gouda*
- 2 Tbsp. green onion tops (or 1 Tbsp. dried chives)
- 5 whole eggs
- 1 cup Egg Beaters, cheese-and-chive flavor
- Seasoning salt, to taste
* NOTE: You can use any kind of cheese in this, really. I didn't have enough of any one kind of cheese so I used a mixture of reduced-fat 4-cheese Italian blend and reduced-fat 4-cheese Mexican blend, plus that little extra bit of Gouda because I love Gouda. You can leave the Gouda out, obviously. I don't recommend using fat-free cheese for baking applications, as in my experience the texture gets "plastic-y." YMMV.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 8"x8" baking dish with cooking spray (optional). Heat oil in large skillet. Add ham, pepper, and mushrooms. Saute until vegetables are softened. Drain if necessary, then spread in the bottom on prepared baking dish. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then cover with shredded cheeses and green onions. Open whole eggs into a bowl and break the yolks. Add Egg Beaters and seasoning salt and LIGHTLY beat just until blended. Pour egg mixture over ingredients in baking dish. Lightly stir with a fork just until combined. Bake at 350°F for 25-35 minutes or until eggs are set and lightly browned. Remove from oven, allow to cool, and cut into servings.
Chorizo-and-Egg Casserole
Makes 4-8 servings, depending on how big you cut them and your specific ingredients
(When cut into eight servings, ~175 calories per serving)
- 1 Tbsp. olive oil or butter
- 6 oz. chorizo, chopped (about 2 links -- made with turkey preferred)*
- 1 large bell pepper, diced
- 1 can (15 oz.) diced tomatoes with green chiles, drained, rinsed, and patted dry*
- 1 cup reduced-fat Mexican cheese blend (or cheddar)
- 2 Tbsp. green onion tops (or 1 Tbsp. dried chives)
- 5 whole eggs
- 1 cup Egg Beaters, Southwestern flavor
- Seasoning salt, to taste
* NOTE: Turkey chorizo is hard to find. I couldn't even find any in my local Wegman's, and they have everything. So if you're using regular chorizo (as I did) and you're watching your total fat, you might want to swap out one of the whole eggs for the Egg Beater equivalent. I would not go too crazy here, though, as I don't think Egg Beaters set as nicely when baking as real eggs do. Also, this dish as prepared is slightly spicy -- not super spicy, but it does have a nice Tex-Max kind of spice. If you want it hotter, you can use hot chorizo (I have been told such a thing exists) or you can use chili-seasoned tomatoes or even tomatoes with jalapeños. If you want it less spicy, you can use regular diced tomatoes, or serve it with a little bit of sour cream on top.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 8"x8" baking dish with cooking spray (optional). Heat oil in large skillet. Add chorizo and pepper. Saute until pepper is softened. Drain if necessary, then spread in the bottom on prepared baking dish. Allow to cool for a few minutes, then cover with tomatoes, shredded cheese, and green onions. Open whole eggs into a bowl and break the yolks. Add Egg Beaters and seasoning salt and LIGHTLY beat just until blended. Pour egg mixture over ingredients in baking dish. Lightly stir with a fork just until combined. Bake at 350°F for 25-35 minutes or until eggs are set and lightly browned. Remove from oven, allow to cool, and cut into servings.
