It's HOT

Yes...it's finally gotten HOT here in central Ohio.  Can't believe we didn't use the pool until mid-late June this year!  The temperatures just never stayed up there...and sure wasn't worth heating the pool for the outside air to be too cold!!

I'm back in to 'serious' Keto eating.  I've pretty much maintained since the first of the year and decided it was, once again, time to 'take the plunge' with tracking on my Carb Manager app.  So far, so good!

Hubs doesn't care for it, but I LOVE a fathead pizza.  I made this recently when he was out of town.  I used the recipe from Simply Keto cookbook, which is my favorite fathead pizza (so far at least) and also my favorite Keto cookbook I have.

Hubs smoked ribs and wings for the 4th of July.  I usually do wings in my air fryer, but we thought, since he was already smoking the ribs, we'd do the wings that way too.  They were good, but we all decided we preferred them in the air fryer.

Tomorrow we've got the 'littles' for most of the day and the granddude is going to help make his momma a birthday cake for her birthday (Sunday).  He loves to be a little sous chef!!

She's ONE...

Our little Sweat Pea turned 1 today!  Her party was over the weekend.  I made the Smash cake, along with 4 more small cakes with the leftover batter.  I used THIS recipe for the cake and THIS one for the butter cream frosting.  That's been my go-to chocolate cake recipe for awhile since it's so moist and light in texture.  I usually just MacGyver the frosting...but actually used a recipe this time!

Her momma, PopPop & I took her to lunch today.  Can't believe she's already ONE!

Like I did for her BigBro, I've been taking photos of her every week for her first year and will work on her photo album  soon.  It was such fun to make the album for Grant several years ago...I'm sure I'll have just as much fun with this one for Ella.

It's been awhile...

...since my last post.

I'm still eating Keto, and have been (seriously) since early last May...after several months the autumn before 'dabbling/doing dirty keto'.   Hubs joined me this time.  He has now lost all he needs/wants to but I still have a few lbs. to go.

Last week I made these Snicker Bars.  OMGoodness are they tasty! HERE is where I found the recipe.  All I had in the house were Spanish peanuts.  Next time I want to try just plain (salted) dry roasted...I think we'll like them even more.

Road Trip/Bucket List Vacation...

Hubs & I got back last Friday from a 4,000 mile road trip...and Bucket List vacation.  Our main goal was to go to Mt. Rushmore.  I also knocked 4 more states off my list...South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana and Nebraska.

Day 1  (Oct. 20) ended in Davenport IA.  We had enough time to check the place out and walk up to the Skywalk that overlooked the Mississippi River.  Amazing!!  We had a great dinner at Lynn's BBQ & Saloon.

Day 2 had us driving all the way west...then all the way north...before we were finally OUT of Iowa!!  We stayed in Wall SD in a little (individual) log cabin.  It was very cozy and nice...and the people we met the next morning at breakfast were so friendly!!  Dinner was at a recommendation from Yelp at Two Bit Saloon.  I have to say...the was the first time Yelp was totally WRONG.  This place did not fit a 4-5 star rating!!

Day 3 took us to The Badlands, Ellsworth AFB Museum, Minuteman Missile and seeing Mt. Rushmore lit up at night.  WOW!  Dinner was at Gas Light in Rockerville SD...and our hotel was in Rapid City SD.

This is us at the Badlands.  Almost like a mini Grand Canyon without all the color.

And...we saw the most spectacular sunset on our way to dinner near Rapid City SD!!

Day 4 was Custer State Park and Mt. Rushmore.  Luckily, we stopped at the Visitor's Center at the state park.  We happened to hear them talk to someone else about 'the tunnels', so I asked.  From the scenic drive around the state park, there are 3 tunnels (the direction we were driving).  When you get through 2 of the tunnels, Mt. Rushmore is straight ahead.  The 3rd tunnel it's in your re-view mirror.  There are just no words to describe the beauty of that monument!!  Dinner at Firehouse Brewing Co. in Rapid City was pretty good!

Day 5 we drove 2-1/2 miles up a curvy, gravel/dirt road...THEN hiked almost 1/2 mile up the mountain on a gravel trail to get us to Mt. Roosevelt.  Spectacular views!!  It was soooo  worth the effort to get there!!  Then we were off to North Dakota & Montana...hey, have to check them off my list, right?!  We stayed that night in Sundance WY to be ready for our next day's outing before heading home.

Mt. Roosevelt

Day 6 was fairly short drive to Devil's Tower.  We kept seeing it in the distance, but once close up, it was unbelievable!!  Then we started the trek home.  We stayed in Rapid Falls SD...and it was there, at Taphouse 41, that I had my best meal!!  Bill had a burger, I had a burger salad.  Oh.My.

You can see how tasty it looked...well, it was very tasty!!

This photo is of us in Custer State Park.  Weather was beautiful our entire trip (just rained a very short time on our way out...and again on our way back, while driving).  But...it was VERY windy the entire time!!

Day 7 was another driving day, staying in Peoria IL.

Day 8 had us arriving home early/mid afternoon.

It was a long drive, but it was one of our best vacations for sightseeing.  I'd recommend it to everyone!!  Our only complaint was the food...or lack thereof in tastiness.

P.S.  AND...I lost 1 pound while on vacation!!!

Not much going on...

Just a quick little post to say I've not been doing much in the kitchen where I've photographed food.

On Labor Day, I started on a Keto/LCHF (low carb high fat) way of eating.  I'm doing well eating this way...and it's much easier than I thought it would be! And boy, do my joints ever feel better with the extra fat in my diet!!!  I'm still working on a 'grove' to get things rolling with new recipes.  What it comes down to is the need to be more organized and do a monthly menu plan, which I did all the time when raising my 3 kiddos.

Here I was making my dad's famous grilled chicken.  The 'sauce' is nothing but butter, Worcestershire, vinegar, salt and water.  Low & slow & SO delicious!!  The boys were over for dinner and I just forgot to snap a picture of the finished/cooked chicken.

Here's my dad's special sauce:

• 1
  pint water                                                Heat all ingredients till butter melts.
• 1
  pint vinegar                                             Keep it warm throughout grilling.
• ½
  lb. butter                                                 Use mop/squirt bottle to keep sauce on chicken
• 3
  Tbsp. salt                                                       throughout entire grilling.
• 2
  Tbsp. Worcestershire                             Grill on med/low until chicken is very tender, 
                                                                         adding sauce often.                                                               
  
  This is a LOT of sauce.  I usually cut the recipe in half if I'm only doing a couple of chickens.  I either cut them in half or quarters & start the grilling process with skin side DOWN.

This was a quick cabbage, onion & smoked sausage dinner I threw together.  No recipe needed.  Just browned the sausage & removed from pan while sautéing the onions & cabbage.  Then threw it all together.  We like our cabbage on the 'firmer' side.  It was delicious.

• 
  

Apple season...

Hubs went out Sunday to an orchard near us and picked a bag of Gala apples.  This was his reward. This is not a dinner plate...it's a platter!!

There is no recipe for this.  I had leftover pie dough in the freezer from all that pie making I did around July 4th.  I let it thaw in the fridge overnight, then made this galette  yesterday afternoon

For the apples, I sprinkled with Fruit Fresh while I was cutting them, to keep them from browning.  I added boiled cider, a pinch of apple pie spice and a little drizzle of vanilla.  I mixed about 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar and Instant ClearJel...then added it to the apple mixture.  You need to mix (completely) the ClearJel with the sugar to keep the thickening agent in the jel from being a globby mess.  Of course, I brushed it with some milk and sprinkled sugar on the dough!  It was baked on a parchment lined baking sheet, at 375, about 50 minutes.  The apples were still a little firm (the way I like them).  Add some vanilla bean ice cream...aahhhh 

Yummm...

I see Peach Crisp in my near future!!

Yesterday we went to a local orchard after hubs got an email saying they had way too many peaches and were selling 'as is' (aka...not sorted, just put in a box when picked) and at a very good price.  So...for now...we brought home a 1/2 bushel.  Some for instant gratification (my breakfast smoothie was wonderful), some to give to my daughter and some to be diced, flash frozen then vacuumed packed.

Oh.  I'm also making vanilla bean ice cream today to go with the Crisp.

Hopefully, I'll not be so excited about making the Peach Crisp that I'll forget to take photos!!