Keto adventures, knee pain, moving forward, Novo Renew

Monday Runday

With storms looming I knew I needed to get this done despite 87 degree temps and strong winds. The first mile was easy, the last two not so much. My breathing was the only thing I struggled with, thankfully. I’ve got happy IT bands and knees thanks to @novorenew finally. If you like to give it a try by clicking HERE Use Michelle25 at checkout to save 25% off your order. What are you waiting for? This stuff is amazing!!!

For dinner I made a simple skirt steak seasoned with low sodium taco seasoning and salt and pepper over a cabbage salad with blue cheese dressing.

How was your Monday? Did you work out? What’s on your dinner plate?

Cheers!

Michelle

Keto adventures, Recipes

Meatballs with marinara sauce and ricotta cheese!

Tonight we had meatballs and marinara sauce topped with ricotta cheese. I know I’ll be eating carbs tomorrow for Sunday’s race so wanted to eat healthy today. Yum!! And so easy!! 1 lb of ground beef, 1 egg, 3-4 tsps of almond flour, salt, pepper, garlic powder, oregano, red pepper flakes (seasons to taste, about a tsp each) and 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese. Form the meatballs and sear on all sides. Top with marinara sauce and transfer into a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes. For the last five minutes remove and top with ricotta cheese and return to the oven that’s been turned up to broil for five minutes. Voila!!

What’s your favorite weeknight meal? Do you have any races this weekend? Good luck if you do!!

Cheers!

Michelle

Keto adventures, weekly wrap up

Weekly wrap up

This week we celebrated our one year anniversary of closing on our house here in Florida.

Hard to believe it’s been a year since moving in!

Work was fairly uneventful which is a good thing.

I got two tough runs in. One solo.

And one with our neighborhood run club. We’ve missed previous weeks due to our daughter’s voice lessons being on Fridays so it was a blast to be able to go!

We had another quiet weekend at home. We incurred some much unwanted debt with our move and our doggy vet bills over this year so we’re trying to get caught back up. We did enjoy another weekend of fun and sun at our neighborhood pool.

Speaking of dogs-can you get any cuter than this?

He’s worth every penny.

❤️🐾❤️🐾

We are on point with Keto eating. We’ve wrapped up our 6th week and I’m down almost 6 pounds and the hubby is rounding out at an 18 lbs weight loss! Our goal is to continue with this lifestyle once we hit our goal weight, but allowing ourselves a cheat day every now and then. Here are some of my easy, go-to meals.

How was your week? Tell me something good!!

Cheers!!

Michelle

Keto adventures, moving forward, running

Milestone Monday!

Well wasn’t this a pleasant surprise. My blog 6-7 years old, and is just my tiny little space to share some of my passions so it’s always fun to see it hanging in there between moments of lapse. Life, moving, deployments, and everything else in between have kept me pretty busy. But I’ll always have this little space in the universe.

Today I wanted to get a few miles in after work. I walked the first mile, and once the cloud and thunder rolled in, I ran the last mile and cut it short for safety reasons. The lightning here is no joke!

We’re starting week 6 of Keto and we’re hanging in strong. I didn’t weigh myself this morning but am still at around a 4-5 lbs weight loss.

How was your day? Ever have your run cut short due to weather?

Cheers!

Michelle

Keto adventures, moving forward

Weekend of relaxing!

We had a nice and quiet weekend finally. Lots of pool time and fun with neighbors.

I even tried my first Keto pizza. I think it was way too much cheese for me. But it was tasty. It was actually better cold lol! These buffalo wings, though. Amazing.

I was in a funk all last week so praying for a better week, this week.

How was your weekend? Ever try Keto pizza?

Cheers!

Michelle

Keto adventures, Recipes

Four weeks of Keto-recap!

We’ve been doing the Keto diet for 4 weeks now. While I’ve wanted to cheat with soft pretzels at Disney and chips with my work lunch’s, I’m proud to say I’ve refrained from it all!

I am down 4.5 lbs and my hubby is down 13+ lbs!! I still have five lbs to go and happy with the slow and steady loss.

Our weekend was quiet and today was another glorious day in the sun at our neighborhood pool!

Dinner was baked wings and cauliflower mash.

How was your weekend?

Cheers!

Michelle

Keto adventures, Recipes

Spicy braised spinach and shrimp

It doesn’t get much easier than this, y’all. Here’s what you need:

✔️ 1 bag of baby spinach. (Enough to fill a large mixing bowl. It shrinks down by a third).

✔️ 1 lb of shrimp. I get the deveined and peeled once because heck, it’s easier.

✔️ 3 pieces of bacon: cube it and render off the fat. Drain on a paper towel and dispose of the grease in the pan. Don’t wipe out the pan, though! Save that yummy goodness.

✔️ half of a white onion-diced finely

✔️ 2 cloves of garlic-minced

✔️ red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to taste.

✔️ teaspoon of coconut oil

Once you’ve rendered the bacon, set it aside. In the pan you cooked the bacon add the coconut oil and sauté the onions, garlic and red pepper flakes. Once soft, add in the shrimp and cook for about two minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add in the spinach, and gently fold in to the pan. It will shrink down pretty quickly. I like mine with a bite so I only cook it until slightly wilted.

This whole meal took a total of 10-15 minutes and was a big hit!!

What’s on your plate tonight?

Cheers!

Michelle

Keto adventures, Recipes

Pork chop Keto meal

Tonight I made a simple pan seared pork chop, cooked with just a pat of unsalted butter in a cast iron skillet. I seasoned it with some Cuban seasoning I got from a place called, “The Spice house” in St. Petersburg, FL.

I paired it with cheesy cauliflower purée. Boil half of a head of cauliflower until soft and save about 1/4 cup of the cooking liquid. Add a large tablespoon of cream cheese, 1/2 cup of mozzarella cheese and salt and pepper to your food processor (blender will work fine as well), and then add the cooked cauliflower on top. Blitz on high until smooth. Add a little of the saved liquid if needed to thin out the purée.

The avocado crema was simply 1 avocado, 1/4 cup of sour cream, juice of one lime, salt, pepper and cayenne with just a drizzle of olive oil.

Voila!

I’ve been having a blast coming up with new Keto friendly recipes, and hope you are enjoying them! What’s your favorite low carb dish?

Cheers!

Michelle

Keto adventures, Recipes

Keto beef stroganoff recipe

This one is super easy, y’all.

Sautéed garlic (1 clove) and about two tablespoons of red onion in coconut oil. Add some chopped mushrooms and red pepper flakes if you like a little heat. Cook until soft-3-4 minutes. Add a cup of heavy cream and cook down for a few minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. While this magic is happening, “zoodle” three zucchini’s and brown 1 lb of ground beef in a teaspoon of coconut oil and season with salt and pepper and a little season salt.

Add the zoodles to the sauce, mix well and then add the beef-draining any excess grease before adding. I added a little mozzarella for some creaminess and served!!

Have you ever had zoodles? What’s your favorite low carb meal?

Cheers!

Michelle

Keto adventures, moving forward, Recipes

Labor Day laboring.

We got rained out today and I was initially pretty bummed to spend a day inside. But when my youngest daughter came home from the mall with a gift for me, I was instantly cheered up.

Once our groceries were delivered via Shipt, I dove in for meal prep and dinner prep. I chopped a bunch of veggies, made some baked chicken and made turkey burgers for dinner. I also made egg, spinach and mushroom “muffins” for quick easy meals this week.

Here’s to week three of our Keto diet! I am shooting for another good eating week and 3 runs this week, weather permitting. I was so pleased I had two good runs last week and a 6 1/2 mile walk at Epcot over the weekend.

What are your week goals? Do anything fun for Labor Day?

Cheers!

Michelle