Tag Archives: Keto

Making Christmas Memories

18 Dec

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

Whew! This has been a busy week! Tuesday we hauled the artificial Christmas tree down from the attic along with containers of ornaments, garlands and stockings. After we finished adorning the tree my daughter and I began our Christmas baking.

Christmas baking with my daughter, working side by side in the kitchen, is time I treasure. Making memories of laughter, tasting and collaborating to get the taste just right is one of my favorite holiday things to do.

My daughter made butter cookies in Florida and wanted to make them again for us and we were both craving gingerbread so we added it to the baking list.We follow a Keto eating plan so our deserts and treats don’t always look the same as traditional versions. For instance instead of a dark colored gingerbread, we made a gingerbread bundt cake with a lemon glaze. Without the addition of molasses, the batter lacked the trademark deep rich color and I didn’t want to sacrifice the flavor as well. To try to capture it I added some maple extract and a smidge of expresso powder. Next time I will add a bit more expresso powder. We decided to shave some sugar free pumpkin spice white chocolate on top, then sprinkle with a few whole chips, Definitely not the look of gingerbread but definitely good!

Wednesday arrived rainy and cold. Tuesday we ran out of almond flour, so a trip to town was needed to continue baking. While at the store, I picked up some vegetables to make a pot of beefy vegetable soup. Yesterday we ran out of energy before the Thin Mint cookies my daughter baked were dipped in chocolate so while she dipped, I chopped veggies for soup.

After our supper, (The soup was yummy) we relaxed with soft Christmas music and our TV fireplace. (Don’t judge LOL)

We also watched a livestream of The Little Drummer Boy by King and Country.

Covid has been horrid but an upside to the isolation is free livestream events. We aren’t concert goers so I am getting to enjoy music I would not have otherwise. One of our favorite Christmas traditions is attending Candlelight at Walt Disney World and that won’t be happening this year. A musician friend is recording “One Beautiful Night, A musical and narrated presentation of the Christmas Story. ” It will go live December 23, 2020 at 8pm. Our daughter, Rebekah is one of the narrators. She managed to work in setting up and recording in between baking.

Thursday the temperature only reached 38 degrees. Too cold for me to be anywhere but indoors. I took it as a sign to stop procrastinating and get the Christmas gifts wrapped. Finishing that, I took on sending out Christmas cards. The internet was down, but I refused to get involved with tech support horrors until I finished my tasks. While I worked on them, our daughter spent time doing rewrites on her latest novel and my husband finished a painting. It was a good day.

Now it’s Friday. I don’t have a plan for the day, but I am sure that will quickly change and I plan to enjoy it all.

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Seeking Peace-Eating Fried Chicken

2 May

My mother made the best fried chicken. She didn’t do anything fancy, flour, salt and pepper. Then she cooked it slow in a big cast iron skillet covered with a lid. The secret to her chicken was the oil she used…bacon grease. If you haven’t had fried chicken cooked in bacon grease, you missed out on some good eating.

As the chicken approached being done, she turned up the heat to give it a nice crisp skin without all the heavy batter coating.

Before we began eating Keto, Friday was pizza night. I have tried several pizza crust recipes to continue the tradition but I am not good at it, so we switched to Friday Fried Chicken night. It is not a great Keto choice but it keeps my husband happy and willing to eat on plan the rest of the week. And as a plus for me, a supper with no meal planning!

Two weeks ago as we were digging into the chicken, I watched as my husband speared a chicken breast and resentment welled inside me.

Why does he assume he should get first choice?

My oldest brother always was given the choice piece and as the youngest, I got a leg. This was not the first time this memory of my childhood rose up. I chastised myself for feeling petty again.

Silently I vowed this resentment has to stop.

I confessed my resentment of my brother and my husband to God and asked him to remove it from my heart and mind. The following Fried Chicken Friday I waited for my husband to choose his piece, then watched as he moved it to his plate.

I felt resentment free!

One single incident of long buried resentment doesn’t seem like much, I know.

Why would I be concerned about an ancient deed? In my case, that ancient deed triggered resentment and holding on to past injustices was a crack used to turn a simple family meal into a banquet of simmering anger.

Love: Love can flow more freely when I release past hurts, no matter how trivial they seem.

Joy: I chose with joy to eat a chicken thigh this week.

Peace: The past two weeks God has been recalling memories of myself as a child. It’s kind of like He is dusting and cleaning up my past. Making it shine.

I'm a winnerAfter my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience.  Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites,  Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix

In addition to blogging, I work as the publicist/marketer/ amateur editor and general  “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books  where we frequently host the best in up and coming authors.

My 2019 goal is to use my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media. You can visit Real Life Books and Media You Tube Channel if you would like to view some of the mini-videos I have created for our church, Gateway Community in Titusville, Fl.

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Singed Again

7 Mar

On the Porch

Onisha Ellis

 

 

MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE. No part of my hand was singed or nicked in the making of these muffins. After my experience on Tuesday with the curling iron, I started off Wednesday by singeing a finger just below the knuckle, on a Belgian waffle maker. This hurt less than the curling iron, but left a blister. Maybe avoiding small electrical appliances would be a safe choice in the future. But then again, maybe not. A couple of years ago I was testing something in the oven and my pointer finger drifted up and touched the oven element. Youza! That burned. I am left handed and my husband is doesn’t like me to use sharp knives because from his right handed point of view, I look like I am going to stab myself.  I very seldom do so but after my electrical injuries, I am going to stay far away from an electric knife!

Wednesday was a perfect Florida Winter day. Loads of sunshine, a brisk breeze and a high around sixty degrees. It has been a warm winter and I didn’t want to waste this glorious day inside.   After my finger singeing we decided to drive up to Daytona to check out Academy Sports, a chain new to our area, although they do have them in Orlando. I would have preferred to go to one of the river parks, stand of the banks with outspread arms like in Titanic and savor the wind. But it would have been chilly

 

 

After strolling through several of the stores at the mall, we had a late lunch at one of our favorite places before driving home.

 

 

 

It was a good day.

 

PS The banana nut muffins are low carb, Keto and the recipe is in the  Keto Gatherings cookbook by Kristie Sullivan. My husband had one after they came out of the oven and gave them two thumbs up.

i almost forgot. Here is the video from last Sunday. 

 

 

 

 

I'm a winnerAfter my retirement, I decided to re-learn the canning and preserving skills I learned from my mother but hadn’t practiced for twenty years. I titled the blog Old Things R New to chronicle my experience.  Since then I have been blessed to have six other bloggers join me, DiVoran Lites, Bill Lites,  Judy Wills, Louise Gibson, Janet Perez Eckles and Melody Hendrix

In addition to blogging, I work as the publicist/marketer/ amateur editor and general  “mom Friday” for my author daughter, Rebekah Lyn. I also manage her website, Rebekah Lyn Books  where we frequently host the best in up and coming authors.

My 2019 goal is to use my love of photographs and words to be an encourager on social media. You can visit Real Life Books and Media You Tube Channel if you would like to view some of the mini-videos I have created for our church, Gateway Community in Titusville, Fl.

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