Category Archives: pork rinds as breading
Day 27: The Superbowl snacks that never were
Lost: 0 Total weight loss: 13.5 pounds
The scale seems stuck; however, my clothes are looser, so I try not to let that bother me.
Yesterday, I planned to make some cool keto snacks for Superbowl Sunday, but the day got away from me. I ended up noshing all day after a thrown-together “leftovers” breakfast.
I was up by 9, but got busy doing things before breakfast. By noon, I was very hungry, but we only had one egg! I reheated the turkey Cincinnati chili from a couple nights ago, and spent more than 20 minutes trying to get a leftover piece of spaghetti squash to cook. While waiting, I peeled the eggs I made yesterday and created another dozen deviled eggs. I also slow cooked a pound of bacon that Brandon and Lindsey picked up for me at the Eastern Market Saturday.
The chili/spaghetti squash was to be the only meal of the day. Lunch was on the run, so to speak. I had work to do for clients, plus it was house cleaning day. In the midst of vacuuming, I was famished, so I had some almonds, 2 deviled eggs, and 2 pieces of the bacon.
Once the house was clean, my stepson George, wife Beccy, and granddaughter Danielle showed up for the big game. Rick made them little pizzas.
I did take some time to makes some FAILED mozzarella cheese sticks (string cheese, halved, battered in pork rinds and fried in olive oil). The original recipe called for a parmesan cheese crust, but I thought the pork rinds would make them more authentic. Turned out not to be true: they were gooey and clumped together when I pulled them out of the pan. To me, they tasted like melted cheese mixed with pork rinds, or, in other words, GAK. Rick and the others said they liked them. Not sure if they were just being polite.
I ate 2 more eggs, more almonds, and whipped us up some chocolate “mousse” from heavy cream and added strawberries. It was a hit! I had to make up a second batch.
Still well under my protein, and with some carbs to go, my last snack of the day was 2 pieces of bacon and a glass of almond milk. I need to set aside some time to plan this week’s meals, because grabbing food willy nilly isn’t fun. I’d also still like to try the snacks I planned to make, including some crispy cheese puffs and lime cheesecake.
I learned about a new vegetable while searching out Superbowl snacks: marrow. I plan to try frying up some low-carb marrow chips this week.
vegetable marrow
Cultivated in England, this green, oval summer squash can grow to the size of a watermelon. It’s closely related to the ZUCCHINI and can be cooked in any manner suitable for that vegetable. Because of its bland flavor, vegetable marrow (also called marrow squash ) is often stuffed with a meat mixture. It’s available in limited supplies in some specialty produce markets during the summer months. See also SQUASH.
Day 16: More uses for pork rinds
Lost: 1 pound Total weight loss: 10.5 pounds
Finally, the numbers continue to drop. LOL. Of course, it’s only been two weeks, so I can’t complain about a 10-pound weight loss. Especially since this has been so easy to accomplish.
Yesterday, I ate the usual breakfast, but deviated from my lunch pattern and had leftover cauliflower and one slice of eggplant.
I had a pre-dinner snack of a cup of Greek yogurt with two tbsps of natural peanut butter stirred in (YUM) because I knew the chicken would take awhile to cook.
For dinner, I decided to try frying chicken strips with pork rind coating. My son, Brandon, had some good luck with it, although he used bacon grease as a frying medium. Since I don’t have any, I used olive oil.
I pulverized one whole bag of rinds in the food processor and used almost all of them. At around $1.80 per bag, that made the entire chicken dinner come to about $5 for both of us, which isn’t bad at all. I think I’ll do as Brandon suggested and process a couple of bags in advance and just keep them on hand in a container to use as breadcrumbs.
The chicken turned out very well. Rick loved it. I thought it was a little bland, so I added Frank’s redhot buffalo sauce and dipped the “wings” in blue cheese dressing. We had the inevitable cauliflower mashed potatoes left over from the night before as an accompaniment.
No dessert tonight. Somehow I went over a little on the carbs. Rick was out of Taco Bell hot sauce and used the verde packet instead. 2 carbs! Who knew? The hot packets are zero carbs each. I also am not sure whether I was actually on track or went over by 4. It depends on which nutritional info I use for the yogurt. I’ll have to investigate the actual package when I have time.
Day 15: Experimenting with pork rind crumbs
Weight loss: .5 pounds Total weight loss: 9.5 pounds
Well, the scale finally moved in the right direction. Not that this diet has been hard to “swallow.” LOL
Yesterday’s breakfast and lunch didn’t deviate from the usual pattern. When I find something that works, I stick with it.
After work, my brother took over hospital visiting duties, so I went straight home and continued building my new desk. This thing came with hundreds of pieces, and Rick and I have been assembling it bit by bit since the weekend. When I finished, it was about 7:30 and I was famished!
Due to Murphy’s Law, I was unable to quickly get online using my Macbook. I just wanted to find a quick and easy dinner idea. Rick discovered that our two heads of cauliflower had started to mold, so I decided to check out what other veggies needed cooking ASAP.
I cleaned the cauliflower, micro’d and made into garlic mashed potatoes. Then I grabbed one of the eggplant, sliced, and dregged through an egg wash. I dipped the slices in ground up pork rinds (a GREAT breading option!) and fried in olive oil. Once fried, I sprinkled a little shredded mozzarella on top of each slice.
Rick and I enjoyed the meal alot. The fried eggplant was quite tasty. I didn’t even taste the horrendous pork rind flavor.
I’m going to try doing this same method with some chicken strips.