Day 5 Meal Plan

Well the beauty of a blog is the opportunity to think through a project and make changes accordingly before anything goes to print.  Such is the case with this blog.  Alexx and I have been experimenting with recipes for over a year now, trying to settle on the best combination for a rotation of 15 meal plans.  When I first started this blog, we thought it would work to do one posting at a time with a collection of recipes that we felt worked for a full day's meal plan.  But now that we have been doing this for a year, we are finding that based on what is in the cupboard and the refrigerator, it might not be the most convenient approach to have the same combination of meals each time we do the rotation.  So, moving forward...I'm going to be revamping some of the meal plans.

And here is a special treat for you!  We have the full plan outlined now for what the intended rotation will be, but when we print the cookbook, we will have a full index of recipes so if you decide to mix it up you can do that.  We will be testing each meal for Alexx's glucose reaction to the meal and we will provide you a copy of the form we use, so that you can do your own glucose tracking.  If you don't have a good reaction (glucose spikes more than 20 points after 1 hour from beginning the meal) then you can adjust the meal to meet your specific needs.

We have aligned Breakfasts, Lunches, Snacks, Dinners, Side Items and Desserts for each day.  Our meal plans will balance by the end of the day to meet our goal for a distribution of Carbs/Fat/Protein to be 15-20% Carbs/65-70% Fat/15-20% Protein.  If you are following the same plan but decide to mix up the meals than just watch the nutritional values so at the end of the day you are meeting your goal.

So for now, I won't change the first 4 meal plans as they have already been calculated, but they will be changed in the cookbook.  Moving forward, I might have some recipes repeated, and I'll refer you back to one of those meal plans.  Yay for flexibility!!

We have also found that Alexx's glucose numbers tend to be high in the morning when he first awakes. So now we are shifting his eating schedule just a bit.  He now has two snacks and three meals but the portions are all smaller and the times have shifted to accommodate our schedules.

Day 5 Wakeup Snack: 6:30 AM

Almond butter on a cracker.

Day 5 Breakfast: 9:30 AM - Hash and Eggs

 This is one of those breakfasts that Alexx says "Oh, boy!" when I tell him we are having hash and eggs for breakfast.  This is not your typical hash that you would find at a breakfast restaurant.  This has consists only of meat and non-starch veggies.  What brings the excitement to Alexx is what kind of meat I choose for the hash.  You can really choose any meat that you wish, and depending on leftovers it might be ham, chicken, or beef, but usually it is chorizo sausage...and that is his absolute favorite.  If I'm not using chorizo sausage, then I use the spices that give chorizo it's great flavor: cumin, chili, cayenne pepper.  So no matter what I put in the hash, he loves it because of the spices.  The eggs are just fried in olive oil and steamed at the end with whatever cheese I have on hand.  On this particular day it was cheddar, but gouda, provolone and Swiss are also favorite choices.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup cooked and drained (remove as much fat as possible before adding to the cooked veggies)

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 tablespoons chopped onion

2 tablespoons chopped green pepper

2 tablespoons chopped zucchini

2 tablespoons chopped mushrooms

2 drops Franks hot sauce

1/4 tsp Cajun spice 

2 eggs

1 ounce cheese, shredded

1 tablespoon water

Salt, pepper and additional Cajun spice to taste

Saute the veggies until the onions are translucent and the mushrooms are tender.  Add the sausage and mix well.  Move the hash to one side of the pan to make room for the eggs.  Crack the eggs into the skillet and when the white of the egg begins to set add the shredded cheese.  Add the water and cover the skillet.  Continue to cook for 2 minutes.  Yolks will cover but should remain soft.  Slide the hash onto a plate from one side of the skillet.  Add the cooked eggs on top of the hash.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

I serve this with Alexx's cocoa.  Since he doesn't drink coffee, he gets a mug of hot chocolate each morning with his breakfast.  I mix in the magic bullet blender: 6 ounces almond milk, 1 teaspoon Truvia; 2 teaspoons dark cocoa; 3 drops Sweetzfree; 1/4 tsp peppermint extract.  I heat the mixture for 1 minute in the microwave and top with a tablespoon Rediwhip.  It brings a guaranteed smile and good morning kiss when served!

Nutritional Values will be added at a later time.

Day 5 Lunch: 2:00 PM - Tuna Salad Salad

This is an easy lunch and it's nice to serve it on a day that I don't serve a lettuce salad with dinner.  

Ingredients:

Iceberg lettuce wedge

Tuna salad scoop: 1/2 can of tunafish mixed with 1 tablespoon mayo, 2 tablespoons avocado; 1 hardboiled egg, chopped; 1 tablespoon green pepper; 1 tablespoon either chopped onion or jalapeno peppers.

Top lettuce with chopped almonds, 1 ounce feta cheese, 1 ounce sliced apple, 1 ounce sliced cucumber, and 2 tablespoons Roka Blue Cheese Dressing

Serve with Kali Parmesan Crisps (http://kalithebakinggoddess.com/creations/original-parmesan-crisps/)

Do you remember Alexx's excitement when we discovered he could eat Culver's Vanilla Frozen Custard without increasing his glucose more than 20 points?  Well, such is the case with his absolutely favorite chocolate candy.  We discovered Mouses Chocolates (www.mouseschocolates.com) when we were traveling through Ouray, Colorado.  Their chocolates are so high quality that we thought perhaps we could test them and see if they spiked Alexx's glucose.  We figured the worse case scenario would be that it is the last time he will ever taste their heavenly dark chocolate toffee.  Well let me just say there were more shouts of joy 1 hour after he consumed a 2 ounce bar of the toffee.  His glucose rose 11 points - well within the safe range.  So for an early Christmas present, we just received a 1lb box of Mouses chocolates.  So this was his dessert for lunch.  More typically it would be 3 squares of Endangered Species Dark Chocolate with Hazelnut toffee as although pricey, it's not as expensive as Mouse's chocolates.  If you really want a treat though - they ship! 

Nutritional Information:

Calories: 654; Carbs: 35; Fat: 50; Protein: 30

Day 5 Dinner: 6:30 PM - Spicy Fish on Veggie Bed, Aunt Bea's Peas & Peanut Salad and The Best Cheesecake

This is one of the changes I mentioned.  You will find this in Day 3 Dinner Meal Plan that I have already posted.  The Day 3 new dinner meal plan will be Barbecue Chicken and Cauliflower Mash. I'll make those changes to the blog in the future.

The dessert however will now be cheesecake.  I have only made this recipe in the large springform pan and it's a favorite every time that I serve it for company.  I am adjusting the recipe now though for a small springform pan that is perfect for serving the two of us.  The topping for the cheesecake can be as simple as sour cream, mashed berries heated, or a melted square of dark chocolate.  But it's tasty enough to eat all by itself.  It lasts quite a while in the refrigerator without drying, but I would recommend the smaller version unless you are entertaining.

The Best Cheesecake

Ingredients:

12 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup ricotta cheese

1/4 cup sour cream

3/4 cup sugar substitute

3 Tablespoons heavy cream

1-1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1-1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

2 large eggs

Directions:

Prepare the oven by putting a shallow roasting pan with one inch water in it and place it in the oven. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. 

In the heavy duty blender (Vitamix) combine the cream cheese, ricotta, sour cream and sugar substitute.  Blend on high speed for 30 seconds or until well blended and a fine consistency.  In a separate bowl whisk together the cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and eggs.  Put the Vitamix at low to medium speed and slowly add the liquid.  Turn the blender off as soon as all the liquid has been added so you do not overmix it.  Pour the batter from the Vitamix into a small springform pan that has been coated with coconut oil.  (If you use a large springform pan you will need to double the recipe.)  Put the pan in the roasting pan water bath.  Bake it for 10 minutes (15 minutes for a doubled recipe) and then lower the temperature to 275 degrees. Continue to bake the cheesecake for an additional hour (90 minutes for a doubled recipe) or until the top is lightly browned to a golden color and the cake has started to pull away from the sides.  The center should no longer jiggle.  Turn the oven off and leave the cake in it until the oven is completely cooled (approximately 2-3 hours.)  Remove the cake from the oven and refrigerate it for an additional 4 hours or overnight.

Top with your choice of toppings mentioned above.  

Nutritional Information and photo will be added later.

Day 5 Bedtime Snack: 10:30 PM - Berry Whip

This varies depending on the season as to whether I have fresh berries available or frozen.  I only like to buy organic berries and they are not always available fresh at the market.  During the summer months I can usually always find them in the Farmers Markets, but during the winter months I notice organic berries are either scarce or not available at all in the produce section.  In that case I head to the freezer and I can usually find either organic frozen raspberries or wild blueberries.  I serve the fresh berries either with Cool Whip or Redi Whip if I'm tired.  If not, I will whip heavy cream and add some vanilla stevia.   I also have been known to serve frozen berries without thawing them and topping them with almond milk.  The combination is kind of like ice cream!

Day 1 Blog

Day 1 Lunch (see details below)

So the plan of this blog is to provide 15 Days of Meal Plans that meet Alexx's requirements for a ratio between 20:50:30 of carbohydrates: fat: protein and 15:65:20. This lo-carb meal planning is what keeps his glucose levels at a manageable range of 100-126 and his A1c levels below 5.2. We are continuing to monitor his blood lipid levels every 3 months, with the exception of 6 months in the summer when we are traveling in our RV. Our plan is to create 15 meal plans that we can rotate through the summer keeping meal planning and grocery shopping easy.

We would appreciate your feedback on any of the recipes that are included in the blog. In order for a recipe to be a part of a daily meal plan it has to have received a score of 3.5 or higher on Alexx's rating scale of 1-4. A 3.5 is his "very good, yes, I like this" rating and a 4.0 is "oh, my, I love this!" rating. (Pretty much anytime there is chocolate in the ingredient he rates it a 4.) Eventually, we would like to have all 4 ratings but that may take a while. We'll see how it goes. I have been creating and revising recipes for the past year and now I will put them together into meal plans that meet the ratio and rating criteria.

So check back regularly. It takes a few trials to come up with a full day's meal plan that balances things correctly. Sometimes one meal might be higher in one area and lower in another than what our goal is, but we try to balance things by the end of the day. When we do this, we find his glucose numbers do pretty well.  Alexx only tests one meal a day as he gets tired of pricking his fingers. But which ever meal is tested that day, we will include it in the blog at that time. Eventually, we will have every meal plan tested as we rotate through the meal plans every 15 days.

Day 1 Breakfast - 7:00am

• Breakfast Nut Granola (see recipe below) - 1 servings (1/4 cup)
• Almond Milk - 1/3 cup
• 1 tsp sesame seed oil mixed with 2 tsp olive oil
• Frozen blueberries, thawed - 2 tbsp
• Cottage Cheese, 1/2 cup, 4% fat
• 1 Tbsp flaxseed oil mixed with 1 tsp ground cinnamon

I mix the sesame seed and olive oil into the Breakfast Nut Granola before adding the Almond Milk. The cottage cheese is mixed with the thawed blueberries, flaxseed oil and cinnamon.

Nutritional totals: 518 calories; 32 carbs, 44 fat, 57 protein (This is more carbs than he usually has for breakfast, but he welcomes a change from eggs. By the end of the day, his carbs will be in the correct ratio for his goals.)

Breakfast Nut Granola

• Introduction
• Gluten Free, Grain Free, Low-Sugar, Dairy Free cereal option! 
• Minutes to Prepare: 15
• Minutes to Cook: 30
• Number of Servings: 14

Ingredients:
Shelled pistachios, 1 oz
Raw cashews, 1 oz
Macademia nuts, 1 oz
Sunflower seeds, 1 oz
Sesame seeds, 1 Tablespoon
Almonds, 2 oz
Walnuts, 2 oz
Pecans, 2 oz
Coconut flour, 2 Tablespoons
Flaxseed meal, 1/4 cup
agave nectar syrup, 1 Tablespoon
20 drops vanilla creme Sweetleaf
Ground Cinnamon, 1 Tablespoon
sea salt, 1/2 teaspoon
Liquid Aminos, 1 teaspoon
Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon
Sesame Oil, 1 Tablespoon
Fresh Ground nutmeg, 1 teaspoon

Directions:

1. Pulse the nuts, flaxseed, and flour until the nuts are rough ground – like big gravel pieces
2. Mix into a bowl with ¼ cup olive oil, 1 Tablespoon sesame oil, 1 Tablespoon Agave Nectar, and 20 drops of vanilla crème stevia, salt and spices
3. Spread the mixture on a baking pan that has been rubbed with coconut oil.
4. When the mixture is evenly spread, spray with liquid aminos and sprinkle an additional tablespoon of olive oil.
5. Roast at 275 degrees for 30-45 minutes, stopping every 15 minutes to toss and redistribute the mixture evenly.
6. When the mixture is evenly roasted and fragrant, shave fresh nutmeg overall. Let cool and then keep in airtight containers. Keeps well in the freezer.

Serving Size: Makes 14 one-quarter cup servings

Tips: Serve with almond milk and berries of choice. A little goes a long way! The next time I make this I will substitute sugar free maple syrup for agave syrup and will be able to lower the number of carbs in the mix.

Nutritional Information per single serving of 1/4 cup:
Calories 112.7; Net Carbs: 17.8g; Fat: 9.4g; Protein: 44.5g

Day 1 Lunch - 11:00 am (see photo at top of page)

• Mission Carb Balance Tortilla Wrap, 1
• Hormel Natural Choice Turkey slices, 3
• Romaine Lettuce, 1 inner leaf
• Egg Salad made with 1 hard boiled egg, 1 tablespoon of peppers (red, green and jalapeno), 1 tablespoon raw onion, 1 tsp. flaxseed oil, 1 tsp olive oil mayo, 1 tsp spicy mayo
• 2 slices Nature's Own no nitrate bacon, center cut

Use the above ingredients to make the wrap.

Serve the wrap with 3 medium strawberries, an additional hard boiled egg sliced in two and topped with spicy brown mustard, and 1 maple chocolate chip cookie (see recipe below.)

Nutritional Information for Lunch:
Calories: 627; Carbs: 22 g; Fat 45g; Protein: 29 g

Alexx likes egg salad and the Mission Carb Balance tortilla is as close as he can get to having bread. The fiber content in this tortilla is very high so the net carb is just 4.

Glucose testing on this lunch was 104 at the start and 110 after 1 hour.

Maple Chocolate Chip Cookies

• Easy to make and so tasty!
  
• Minutes to Prepare: 5
• Minutes to Cook: 10
• Number of Servings: 21

Ingredients:
Dry Ingredients:
Honeyville Blanched Almond Flour, 1+1/4 cups
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp soda
1/3 cup chopped raw walnuts
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips

Wet Ingredients:
1/4 cup grapeseed oil
1/4 cup Walden Farms Pancake Syrup
1.5 tsp pure vanilla extract (sugar free)

Directions

1. Blend the dry ingredients in a small bowl. 
2. Blend the wet ingredients in a 1 cup measuring cup. 
3. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until evenly blended. 
4. Prepare a small cookie sheet with parchment paper and preheat the oven at 350 degrees. 
5. With a teaspoon, measure evenly 7 scoops of dough on the sheet. 
6. Press each scoop flat. 
7. Bake for 10 minutes. 
8. Repeat for next two batches of cookies. 
9. Let the cookies cool completely and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. They also freeze nicely.

Serving Size: Makes 1.75 dozen small cookies
Tips: A sugarfree maple syrup can be substituted for the Walden Farms Pancake Syrup but will slightly alter the nutritional components. I use a small cookie sheet in the RV stove, but a large cookie sheet could easily be used and accommodate more cookies at one time. I have also successfully made these on a pancake griddle when I don't want to heat up the oven in the RV!

Day 1 Snack - 2:00pm
Alexx is not a great fan of vegetables but knows he needs to include them in his diet.  He goes by the "old boot" philosophy...if you put enough cheese and bacon on anything it is tolerable...even an old boot!

This is the mixture in his salad bowl:
Iceberg lettuce, chopped, 1 cup
Kale, 1 leaf, chopped small, approx 3 grams
Green onion, chopped, 1/4 cup
Green peppers, chopped, 1/4 cup
Cucumber with peel, chopped, 2 tbsp.
Feta Cheese, crumbled, 1/4 cup
Hormel Natural Choice, no nitrate bacon, 1 slice crumbled
Blue Cheese Dressing, 2 tbsp.

Nutritional Information:
Calories: 353; Carbs: 11g; Fat: 13g; Protein 10g

Day 1 Dinner - 6:00pm
Pancakes are usually saved for a breakfast entry and Alexx's favorite pancakes will be shared on a different meal plan day.  On this day, we have our version of Pigs in a Blanket.  I used to love to make Swedish Pancakes, but since flour has been eliminated from our diet, I had to find an acceptable substitute.  This is as close as we have come so far and we are pretty happy with the result:

• Beefy Blankets (see recipe below)
• 1/2 cup sliced strawberries
• 2 Tbsp whipped cream

Total Nutritional Value for the meal:

Calories: 611; Carbs: 17g; Fat: 51g; Protein: 20g

Beefy Blankets

Minutes to prepare: 15
Minutes to cook: 20
Number of servings: 2

Ingredients:
Ricotta Cheese, whole milk, 2 Tbsp.
Egg, 1 large
Sugar substitute, 1 Tbsp
Vanilla extract, 1/4 tsp
Cinnamon, ground, 3/4 tsp
Organic Butter, 1 Tbsp
Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 3 tsp divided
Open Nature Uncured Beef Franks, 4 franks
Sugar Free Maple Syrup, 1/4 cup

Directions:
1. Saute the franks in 1 tsp olive oil on medium low heat.
2. In small blender pulse together until blended: ricotta, egg, sweetener, cinammon, vanilla
3. Stir in the remaining 2 tsp of olive oil to the batter
4. Heat a crepe pan or skillet to medium heat and add the butter to melt.
5. Make one crepe at a time with 1/4 cup of the batter.  Tip the pan so the batter spreads evenly.
6. Cook the batter for approximately 1 minute.  You will see the crepe setting.
7. Turn the crepe carefully to cook the other side.  (If you are confident the crepe won't land on the floor you can try flipping it!)
8. Repeat until all four pancakes are made. (If you can keep them warm in the oven that is nice.)
9. Roll one frank inside each pancake.
10.  Top with sugar free syrup and serve.

Nutritional information for a serving of 2 Beefy Blankets:
Calories: 572.5; Net Carbs: 9.9g; Fat: 49.2g; Protein: 19g


Day 1 Late Snack - 10:00pm
Alexx absolutely loves dessert and when he was diagnosed with diabetes he sadly said goodby to his favorite eating establishments of Dairy Queen and Baskin Robbins.  We never dreamed we would be able to add desserts into his meal planning, but with a little bit of research and trial and error in the kitchen has resulted in some very nice options.  Consequently, we are including 15 desserts in our meal planning so every day there is something to look forward to for sweetness.  Sometimes a recipe will make a larger portion than for the two of us, and sometimes I don't care to have dessert (that is a hard concept for Alexx to comprehend) so he will have the remaining portions on the following day(s).  Despite that, we have included 15 different recipes for desserts.  All our desserts have been tested on friends too so they work well for entertaining too. It's such a treat for Alexx to be able to eat the same food that everyone else is eating and all enjoy it.
All the desserts are tested so that we know they don't spike his glucose numbers.  But that's just Alexx. Everyone does not respond the same to ingredients, so if you are using our recipes for a diabetic person, please be sure to have them test the foods to see how they react.  Hopefully, it will be as successful as it has been for Alexx.  (Oh, by the way, I don't like to cook every day so sometimes he just gets a Carb Smart ice cream bar.  They are only 9 net carbs per bar and they fill the bill quite nicely.)

• 1/2 cup frozen vanilla custard
• 1 Tbsp. Smuckers Sugar Free Fudge Topping mixed with 2 tsp walnut oil
• 5 halves chopped walnuts
• 1 Tbsp Redi Whip topping
• fresh berries for topping

Nutritional Information for the snack:

Calories: 302; Carbs: 14g; Fat: 27g; Protein: 4

Low Carb Frozen Vanilla Custard

Minutes to prepare: 5
Minutes to cook: 20 plus overnight to chill custard and 30 minutes in the ice cream maker
Servings: 4 scoops of 1/2 cup each

Ingredients:
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
2 egg yolks
3 Tbsp. powdered stevia
1 Tbsp. sugarfree vanilla syrup
1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Directions:
1. In a small saucepan mix the cream and milk and stir over medium-high heat until foam begins to appear.
2. Remove pan from heat.
3. Beat egg yolks and sweeteners until light and fluffy - about 2 minutes.
4. Gradually pour the cream mixture into the egg yolk mixture and whisk constantly so there is no curdling.  If any lumps form, remove them.
5.  Place the bowl with the combined mixture over a saucepan of simmering water and stir constantly with a wooden spoon, cooking until the custard thickens enough to coat the back of the spoon.
6. Remove the bowl from the heat and continue to stir the custard for 2 minutes.
7. Stir in the vanilla extract and syrup.
8. Cover the bowl and let it cool to room temperature before placing it in the refrigerator.
9. Chill overnight in the refrigerator.
10. Transfer the cold custard to the ice cream maker and use as directed.
Nutritional Information for one 1/2 cup serving of ice cream:
Calories: 88; Carbs: 8g; Fat: 8.1g; Protein: 1.8g

Total Nutritional Information for Day 1 Meal Plan:
Calories: 2401; Carbs: 94g (15%); Fat: 198g (67%); Protein: 121g (18%)

Day 4 Meal Plan

Breakfast - 7:00 AM

• Chocolate Chip/Raspberry Pancakes
• Chicken Andoulie Sausage
• Alexx's Cocoa

Some days it's nice to just look at the cookbook and say, "It's Wednesday, Day 4 - it's chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast today" and some days I just want to create an omelet out of what is leftover from last night's dinner.  So don't feel tied to the seemingly structured approach to this cookbook.  You can definitely change things up when you feel like it, and know that I do too.  But if I ask Alexx on ANY day - "What would you like for breakfast?" you can be assured he will respond, "Chocolate Chip pancakes!"  And this is from someone who never cared for pancakes.

Really?  Pancakes for a lo-carb diet?  Yes, because remember, I use almond flour instead of wheat flour. And these pancakes are tried and true (with the Alexx taste buds) and I would match them against any IHOP pancakes that are reported at 720 calories, 103 net carbs, 23 g fat, and 20 g protein for 4 pancakes. The key is a little goes a long way.  By adding just 3 dark chips per pancake, Alexx gets a hit of great chocolate that satisfies his craving for chocolate and my using dark chocolate chips he gets the advantage of anti-oxidents to boot!

I use my little blender to mix the egg, oil, and milk and then stir it into the dry ingredients.  If you make these ahead of time, you will need to add some liquid before pouring the batter on the griddle.  I just add about a tablespoon of water so the nutritional value doesn't change.

Chocolate Chip/Raspberry Pancakes

Ingredients:
Mix in the small blender:
4 Tablespoons almond milk
1 egg (any size is fine - if not a large just add enough water to make 1/4 cup.
1 Tablespoon grape seed oil

In a separate bowl mix:
1/2 cup almond meal
2 tablespoons raspberries
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt

Need 14 dark chocolate chips

Mix the liquids and solids together gently and pour onto a heated and greased griddle.  (I use about a teaspoon of coconut oil to a griddle heated to 375 degrees.)
Make four pancakes with the batter and bury 3 chocolate chips into each pancake.  When bubbles begin forming on the pancake (approximately 2 minutes), flip the pancake.  Let the pancake cook for at least another minute or two before sliding it onto the serving plate.  Top with a few raspberries and a couple chocolate chips for garnish.  Serve with  1 tablespoon organic butter and 2 tablespoons sugar free syrup.
3 pancakes of the 4 it makes (I eat the 4th for my breakfast):
Calories: 472; Net Carbs: 17g; Fat: 45 g; Protein: 8 g

The breakfast also includes a cup of Alexx's cocoa and a Chicken Andoulie Sausage.  Yes, it clearly makes a happy way to start this chocoholic's day despite being a diabetic.

Nutritional Information for the full breakfast:
Calories: 409; Net Carbs: 27g; Fat: 31 g; Protein: 19 g

 Lunch - 12:00

• 2 oz Cheese divided
• 6 oz Ham slices
• 1 slice nut bread

     By now you know we enjoy going to the local Farmer's Markets for fresh produce, eggs and meat.  But what I forgot to mention is the fabulous array of goat cheeses that we have found in our travels.  There are all kinds of reasons to eat goat cheese over cow's milk cheese, such as it is lower in saturated fat and higher in protein as well as lower in calories than cheese from cows milk.  But frankly, we love the taste of it!  Besides making a good lunch, I love serving goat cheese and crackers with a drink before dinner.  Depending on the aging process, goat cheeses vary so if you try one and don't like it...try another.  The vendors at the Farmers Market usually have samples available.  In Montrose, UT, we found a wonderful vendor that had a 6 month aged cheese that was more like a Parmesan texture, a blue cheese, and a soft cheese.  I could easily have bought all three, but due to the expense we just opted for the soft cheese as it works best for spreading on crackers or bread.
     For the meat and cheese portion of the meal, I just spread the cheese in two Hormel's Natural Choice turkey or ham slices and roll them up.  They are easy to eat and a perfect complement with the bread.

     So this is a quick lunch and easy to prepare if you have made the nut bread and brownies in advance. Neither of them take long and they both are quite delicious.  I have made the nut bread with zucchini, pumpkin, and squash depending on the time of year.  My sister uses zucchini and adds raisins.  Alexx doesn't care for raisins and doesn't need the added sugar, so I skip them.  I know people who have tried this with carrots too, but again, the glucose value in carrots is too high for Alexx.  I tend to like the texture of the bread best when I use acorn squash or pumpkin.  

     The key is to roast the vegetable yourself instead of buying canned.  The flavor is richer and the texture is better - plus there are no additives in fresh vegetables.  (I quickly cook the squash in the microwave.  I buy the smallest size I can find and cut the gourd in quarters.  I place the quarters upside down in a microwave safe pan with 1/4 inch of water.  Microwave for 15 -20 minutes until you can easily stick a sharp knife through the skin.  Scrape the pulp away from the skin and store in the refrigerator for up to a week.  It usually will make about a cup and I can make two loaves of nut bread with it.  If I don't have enough squash or pumpkin I use pure applesauce to fill in.)

Nut Bread/Muffins

Dry Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup almond flour
• 1/4 tsp. sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. soda
• 1 Tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp. mace
• 1/4 tsp. stevia (I use Truvia)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Wet Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup roasted acorn squash or pumpkin
• 1 Tablespoons organic blue agave nectar
• 1 Tablespoon sugar free maple syrup
• 3 large eggs beaten
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Mix dry ingredients and wet ingredients in separate bowls until evenly blended.  Combine the wet and dry ingredients in one bowl and mix with a large fork just until blended.  Do not over mix. (I like to use a Foley fork to do this instead of a mixer, but the wet ingredients can be mixed in a bullet blender before mixing with the dry ingredients.)  Line a small loaf pan with parchment paper and grease with coconut oil. (You can also use muffin cups if you prefer.  It will make approximately 10 muffins.)  Bake the loaf for 35 minutes or the muffin cups for 25 minutes. (Sometimes I double the recipe and do both muffins and a loaf.  The muffins freeze well.)  Serve the bread after it has cooled at least 30 minutes but is still warm.  Add a pat of organic butter if you wish.
Nutritional Info:
Calories: 236; Net Carbs: 4.9g; Fat: 21.2 g; Protein: 7.5g

Nutritional Info for the full lunch: Calories: 563; Carbs: 11; Fat: 40; Protein: 42

Dinner - 6:00 PM

• Salad
• Cajun Chicken Lavosh
  
• Best Brownie 

Perhaps the hardest food item for Alexx to relinquish has been pizza.  Actually, he hasn't given up trying to find a pizza that doesn't spike his sugar.  We have found a few - Grimaldi's New York Pizza and Paul Newman's frozen pizza are two we have discovered. I have tried to make homemade pizza with gluten free crusts and cheese crusts, and just about everything I could think of, but none of them satisfied his taste for pizza, until we tested Lavosh cracker bread as the base for his pizza.  Bingo!  It doesn't spike his sugar and the topping is exactly what he loves.  So now we have a dinner "pizza" that he can count on every 15 days which makes him very happy.  And when we are fortunate enough to land in a town that has a Grimaldi's he also get's to indulge then!  (There actually are quite a few and they seem to be opening more of them around the country.)  The key to making the lavosh is finding the cracker.  It's usually in the international foods section of the grocery story, but sometimes it's in the bakery.  You just need to ask.  If the grocery store doesn't carry it, you might find a Mediterranean market that carries it.  This is the one I find most often: 

It has three crackers to a package and each one makes a large "pizza" that is usually enough for dinner and lunch the next day or an evening snack.  The cracker keeps well, but if you don't think you will use all three within a month, then you might want to invite the neighbors over!  It's a great party meal!

Cajun Chicken Lavosh

Ingredients:

1/2 lb chicken breast

1/4 cup olive oil separated

2 T lime juice

1 tsp jalapenos

salt

1 cup mozzarella cheese

1 cup Havarti cheese

1 cup Swiss cheese

1/2 cup chopped red onion

1 cup chopped green peppers

2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese

2 tablespoons cooked and chopped bacon

Directions:

Mix 2 tablespoons olive oil, 2 tablespoons lime juice and 1 tsp jalapenos with salt and chicken breasts.  Refrigerate for 1 hour.  Add 2 tablespoons olive oil to a skillet and saute marinated chicken breasts until slightly pink inside.

Layer remaining ingredients on lavosh in this order: Mozzarella, Havarti, Swiss, onions, peppers, Parmesan and bacon.  Drizzle olive oil over the top.  Bake at 475 degrees for 15 minutes and edges of lavosh are browned.  Serve immediately.  This keeps well in the refrigerator for lunch and snack leftovers.

Nutritional Info:
Calories: 515.4; Net Carbs: 24.5g; Fat: 34.4g; Protein: 24.8g

Best Brownies - from Elana's Pantry Blog

I have tried many different brownie recipes and adapted many as well. But none have been as good as the recipe I found from Elana's Pantry.  I change her recipe only in the area of the sugar and chocolate so I can reduce the carb count.  She uses regular chocolate and honey but I have used substitutes.  Grain free brownies can often be dry.  These are not!  They are moist every time and topped with a bit of no-sugar-added ice cream they have become one of Alexx's favorite desserts.  (Dreyer's mint chocolate chip is his favorite but he only gets about 2 tablespoons to keep the carb count down.) They freeze well so I can always have some on hand.

Ingredients

• 16 ounces creamy roasted almond butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup sugarfree maple syrup
• 1/4 cup agave nectar
• 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup dark cacao powder
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup sugar free chocolate chunks

In a large bowl, blend almond butter until smooth.  Add eggs, agave, maple syrup, and vanilla.

Blend in cacao, salt and baking soda, and then the chocolate chunks.

Pour batter into a 9x13 baking dish.  Bake at 325 degrees for 25-40 minutes.  Makes 24 brownies.  I freeze them in 6 packages of 4.  (When I'm in the RV I make 1/2 the recipe and use my small baking pan.)
Nutritional Info per brownie:
Calories: 199; Net Carbs: 7.8g; Protein: 4.1g

Nutritional Info for the full dinner:

Calories: 1,430; Carbs:74*; Fat: 99; Protein: 66
*This is a very high carb count for a typical meal for Alexx, but for whatever reason, this meal does not raise his blood sugar more than 15 points for the meal.  So we keep it on the list as a special meal - he loves it so and the numbers don't always tell the whole story.

Snack - 10:00 PM

Alexx only needs to eat something light to get his pills down at night.  Smoothies fit this bill quite easily.  I like to use whatever I have on hand, but I also always have frozen fruit available in case the refrigerator is low on fresh fruit.

In a small blender add and pulse:

1/3 cup Diet Cranberry Juice

1/3 cup Almond Milk

3 frozen strawberries or 1/4 cup frozen berries

1 Tablespoon nutritional yeast

1 Tablespoon flaxseed oil or meal

2 ice cubes

Nutritional Info for this single serving:
Calories: 180; Net Carbs: 6.1g; Fat: 14.8g; Protein: 4.5g

Nutritional Information for the entire day:

Calories: 2,582; Carbs: 121; Fat: 185; Protein: 131

18.12% Carbs - 62.26% Fats - 19.62% Protein