Loaded Cauliflower and Buffalo Chicken Casserole

From my Facebook "Just Us Friends Losing Weight Together" Files.  Obviously season to taste.  If it looks too spicy for you then cut back on some of the spices, etc.

Loaded Cauliflower and Buffalo Chicaken Casserole

by Maria McWhinnie

Ingredients

• 2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 large cauliflower (florets)
• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 1 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 Tbsp freshly ground pepper
• 1 Tbsp paprika*
• 2 Tbsp garlic powder
• 6 Tbsp hot sauce or buffalo sauce
• Topping:
  • 2 cup Fiesta Blend Cheese or a mix of Cheddar & Monterey Jack
  • 1 cup crumbled bacon
  • 1 cup diced green onion

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400F. In a large bowl mix together the olive oil, salt, pepper, paprika, garlic powder & hot sauce.
2. Add the cauliflower florets and stir to coat.
3. Scoop the cauliflower into a cooking spray coated 9 x 13 inch baking dish, leaving behind as much of the olive oil/hot sauce mix as possible.
4. Bake the cauliflower for 30-35 minutes, stirring every 10-15 minutes, until cooked through and starting to brown
5. While the cauliflower is cooking, add the cubed chicken to the bowl with the leftover olive oil/hot sauce mix and stir to coat.
6. Once the cauliflower is fully cooked, remove from the oven.
7. Top the cooked cauliflower with the raw marinated chicken.
8. In a bowl mix together the cheese, bacon & green onion and top the raw chicken with the cheese mix.
9. Return the casserole to the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked through and the topping is bubbly delicious.
10. Drizzle with ranch dressing or blue cheese.
11. Serve with extra hot sauce and/or ranch dressing.
12. 
    

Serve with a simple spinach side salad (spinach, cherry tomatoes, pecans, grated parmesan)

Nutrition Information (per serving)

Servings: 8

Calories: 282.1

Total Fat: 20.3 g

Total Carbohydrate: 6.2 g

Dietary Fiber: 2.6 g

Italian Casserole

I've gained back a little bit of what I lost but am still down almost 20 pounds so considering that I've finished one week of vacation, I think I'm still doing good.

On my yahoo group, somebody posted an Italian Casserole which is low carb.  4 net carbs per serving.

I thought it looked particularly good and might make it one day.

ITALIAN CASSEROLE 

1 pound ground beef
1/2 pound Italian sausage
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons onion, chopped
1/2 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
8 ounce can tomato sauce
Salt, to taste
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning, or to taste
4 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded, 1 cup

Topping: 

1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup freshly shredded parmesan cheese *
4 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded, 1 cup

Brown the meats along with the garlic, onions and mushrooms; season with a little salt and pepper. Drain fat; stir in the remaining ingredients. Adjust the seasoning if necessary and put in a greased 7x11" baking dish.

Combine the topping ingredients and spoon over the surface of the meat mixture. Spread evenly with a spatula. Bake at 350º about 40 minutes until the topping is nicely browned.

Makes 8 servings

* The canned kind of parmesan works just as well and costs less.

Per Serving: 463 Calories; 38g Fat; 24g Protein; 5g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 4g Net Carbs

Diabetic Cookery from early 1900s

One of the people in my facebook group posted this and I thought I'd share with you. 

http://www.archive.org/stream/diabeticcookeryr00oppeiala#page/n0/mode/2up

Here is a mini book reader in case you need to use it to read the book.

Updates and recipes

It's another Saturday which means it's another weigh in.  Not bad.  I lost another 1.8 pounds.  That makes it I've lost 22.2 pounds since May 5th.

I've branched out on my eating so it will probably slow down now.  Also when I start to exercise and when I start to tone up, I've been tone that the weight will slow down or stop for a bit because muscle weighs more.  Who knows.  Me gaining muscle instead of fat is a weird concept so we'll see.

Some things that I want to make this week are:

Cheese crisps = take cheese slices about 1/4" thick and microwave them to melt and crisp up.  The recipe says that it is good as a dipper and they used dried dill and chives on a dollop of sour cream.

Chocolate dessert = take around 40-80 g of Dark Chocolate (as dark as you can enjoy) and one egg.  Less chocolate will create a lighter cakier texture, more will create a denser brownie like texture.  Basically melt chocolate in a mug using your microwave.  Beat egg into the melted chocolate and microwave again 30 seconds at a time.  Usually takes around 1.5 minutes.  tip on plate and eat after it cools a bit.

cream cheese pancakes

crepes - using ricotta cheese, eggs, artificial sweetener, salt and butter. Only .8 carb per crepe.

Mocha Latte clouds = butter, cream cheese, 2 tsp instant coffee crystals, unsweetened cocoa powder, vanilla extract, artificial sweetener

I also bought Atkins Advantage Snack/light meal bars.  Coconut Almond Delight Bar.  2 net carbs for it and I hope to have this as a snack.  Working 10 hour days tends to throw off the schedule of eating.  I sometimes forget to pack something either for lunch or snack for office.  I'll probably keep them at work for when I need something to carry me until I get home.

I'm also trying Detox water today.  It has fresh lemon, cucumber, ginger and mint leaves.  It's steeping right now so I'll report on how it tastes.  I don't mind lime in my water so we'll see how it goes.

That's all to report right now.

Until next time .....Have a good day.